Showing results by narrator "Carly Robins" in All Categories

It's the dead season in Leavenworth, Washington. The throngs of Oktoberfest crowds have headed home, and the charming Bavarian streets are quiet and calm - momentarily. Villagers use the reprieve to drink in the crisp fall mountain air and prepare for the upcoming winter light festival.

It’s like a page ripped from her diary when Christine Briscoe finds herself dancing with Gavin Fortunado at his sister’s wedding. It’s like a scene from her dreams when the flirtatious attorney asks her to be his - pretend - girlfriend. But there is nothing make-believe about the sparks between the quiet office manager and the sexy Fortune scion. Considering Gavin’s reputation, she might be heading for heartbreak. Or maybe, just maybe, straight down the aisle!

Ben is having a difficult week. After five whole years of “drinking from Mommy’s boobies”, he suddenly has to step aside for his new baby sister, Beatrice, who may or may not be human. Mommy says he has to “support her appearance no matter how humiliating it is for us as family”, but that’s hard to do when your sister has branches for arms and legs.

Michaela Dunn, living on present day Cape Cod, dreams of getting into an art school, something her family just doesn't understand. When her stepfather refuses to fund a trip for a poetry workshop, Michaela finds the answer in a local contest searching for a poet to write the dedication plaque for a statue honoring Captain Benjamin Churchill, a whaler who died at sea 100 years ago. She struggles to understand why her town venerates Churchill, an almost mythical figure whose name adorns the school team and various tourist traps.

Is there such a thing as an antisocial butterfly? If there were, Greta Oto would know about it - and totally relate. An entomologist, she far prefers the company of bugs to humans, and that's okay - people don't seem to like her all that much anyway, with the exception of her twin brother, Danny. But they've recently had a falling out, so when she lands a research gig in the rain forest, she leaves it all behind. But then Greta learns that Danny has suffered an aneurysm and is hospitalized, so she abandons her research and hurries home to be there for him.

Angi Guilardi needs a man for Christmas - at least, according to her mother. What she really needs is to grow her fledgling catering business. Partnering with Magnolia’s Wildflower Inn holds promise, but when her mother falls ill, Angi’s pulled back to the responsibility of the family restaurant. While she balances work and her eight-year-old son, romance is the last thing on her mind...until Angi runs into Gabriel Carlyle.

Nate doesn't know what kind of trouble Bianca is in. He only knows that he is honor-bound to protect her. He owes her brother that much. And ever since Nate Fortune found out he is related to the world-renowned Texas family, he's braced for the unexpected. But nothing could have prepared the former navy SEAL for the reappearance of Bianca Shaw. The shy teenager Nate used to know as "Busy Bee" has blossomed into a beautiful young woman—and she's just arrived at his Paseo ranch with a suitcase and her four-year-old son in tow.

When Quinn Southerland discovers his foster mom's hospice nurse is Tess Claybourne, he's surprised—and not in a good way! He still hasn't forgiven the former high school queen bee for how she treated him. But recently widowed Tess has learned a lot about life—and herself. And Quinn starts to wonder if he could be wrong about her. Is there room in his damaged heart for forgiveness…or love?

Escaping from a cheating fiancé in a “borrowed” car, Sienna Pierce can’t think of anywhere to go but Crimson, the hometown she swore she’d never go back to. And Crimson Sheriff Cole Bennett has a lot at stake in keeping the town on an even keel. On the surface, they have nothing in common. Unfortunately, there is nothing superficial about their feelings for each other!

When Emma Cantrell’s marriage imploded, she learned a fast and painful lesson about trusting her heart. Then, on a visit to Magnolia, North Carolina, to see her brother, an elegant, if dilapidated, mansion for sale presents the opportunity to start over. Risking everything on her dream of opening the Wildflower Inn, Emma buys the house…just as the storm of the century hits, severely damaging the structure. But a chance meeting with Holly, a bride-to-be in desperate need of a new venue, gives her hope.

Meredith Ventner knows a wounded creature when she sees one. Though her temporary new neighbor may be - on the surface at least - a successful, drop-dead gorgeous doctor, she recognizes the deep hurt Ryan Sorensen is carrying, and it’s catnip to her soul. But even though Meredith is the youngest, scrappiest and single-est of Magnolia’s most famous sisters, she’s committed to expanding the animal shelter on her newly inherited farm. She can’t waste her energy on a man who’s only passing through town.

Carrie Reed has always been known as her hometown Good Girl, yet she still loves Magnolia, North Carolina - after all, this is where her newly discovered sisters, Avery and Meredith, live. But Christmas is on its way and with it, her first love. Dylan Scott is back in town and planning on changing everything she’s ever loved about Magnolia with his real estate development project…but not without a fight.

For 30-year-old Frankie Simon, selling movie memorabilia in the shop she opened with her late mother on Hollywood Boulevard is more than just her livelihood - it’s an enduring connection to the only family she has ever known. But when a mysterious package arrives containing a photograph of her mother and famous movie stars Glory Cartwright and her husband at a coastal film festival the year before Frankie’s birth, her life begins to unravel in ways unimaginable.

Even and Odd are sisters who share magic. Lately, though, it seems like that’s the only thing they have in common. Odd doesn’t like magic, and Even practices it every chance she gets, dreaming of the day she’ll be ready to be a hero. When the hidden border between the mundane world the sisters live in and the magical land they were born in shuts abruptly, the girls are trapped, unable to return home. With the help of a unicorn named Jeremy, they discover a wizard is diverting magic from the border to bolster her own power.

Stella lives with depression, and her goals for junior year are pretty much limited to surviving her classes, staying out of her parents’ constant fights, and staving off unwanted feelings enough to hang out with her friends Lin and Katie. Until Kevin. A quiet, wry senior who understands Stella and the lows she’s going through like no one else. With him, she feels less lonely, listened to - and hopeful for the first time since ever.... But to keep that feeling, Stella lets her grades go, and her friendships slide.

Amateur sleuth Sloan Krause returns in The Pint of No Return, another delightful cozy by Ellie Alexander - this time investigating a movie star who's murdered not long after arriving in Leavenworth, Wash., to film his latest project. No other festival compares to Oktoberfest in Leavenworth, Washington. The whole town is buzzing with excitement over this year’s activities and eagerly awaiting Nitro’s latest offering, Cherrywizen, made with locally sourced cherries. But local brewmaster Sloan Krause is tapped out.

Forget all those other roommate romances you might have listened to. Heather and Chris don’t hate each other...very much. And they don’t have sex all the time...at least not at first. Chris doesn’t go around shirtless, flexing his muscles and driving Heather wild...too often. And he doesn’t get jealous and possessive every time she goes out with another man...well, maybe occasionally. But they definitely don’t fall in love...right away.

What does it mean to be a millennial in this chaotic world? Beyond Snapchat and Tinder, the consumerist culture we’ve inherited, and quarter-life crises, can a millennial aspire to more? Alison Lea Sher argues, yes, we can! Packing herself up in an RV, Sher embarks on a road trip, interviewing 150 of her millennial peers as they begin their adult lives. From kids heading straight to Wall Street after college, to those sleeping on it, Sher asks: “Who are you; what should you do; and how can you step into your destiny as a stakeholder in society?”

In a smart and funny new novel by the author of the critically acclaimed Small Admissions, a family’s move to New York City brings surprises and humor as their lives merge with the captivating world of Broadway. In an audiobook that delivers laughs, warmth, and delightful wish fulfillment, Poeppel dives into celebrity culture and modern motherhood with her trademark style.

Wannabe actress Dani Steele's résumé resembles a cautionary tale on how not to be famous. She's pushing thirty and stuck in a dead-end insurance job, and her relationship status is holding at uncommitted. With unbearably perfect sisters and a mother who won't let her forget it, Dani has two go-tos for consolation: maple scones and a blog in which she pours her heart out to her celebrity idol. He's the man her father never was, no boyfriend will ever be - and not so impossible a dream as one might think.