Showing results by narrator "Amy Rubinate" in All Categories

Lily Robinson and Sean McGuire have nothing in common. She guards her independent lifestyle with a ferocity that hides a fear of love and the pain it can bring. He’s always been a rolling stone, making his own way. But with the sudden deaths of a couple close to them both, the two become joined in grief and a knowledge that they must step up and care for the three orphaned children. With little more than hope and dedication, these five embark on a cross-country road trip filled with the ups and downs, the joys and frustrations that make up a family.

Boston expat Maura Donovan has been getting accustomed to Irish living, complete with an inherited house and a pub named Sullivan’s. But now, her mother has returned - and she’s brought Maura’s half-sister in tow. To make matters more confusing, a handful of Cork University students are knocking on Maura’s door, asking about a mystical fairy fort that happens to be located on Maura’s piece of land. Then one of the students disappears after a day of scoping out the fort, and Maura uncovers a decades-old corpse.

Right before the start of her freshman year, Emma's family unexpectedly moves to England. The book club is stunned, but thanks to videoconferencing, they can keep the club alive. They decide to tackle Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, a particularly fitting choice. In England, Emma deals with a new queen bee, Annabelle, who makes her life miserable. And back home, Annabelle's cousins - who have swapped homes with the Hawthornes - whip the rest of the school into a frenzy.

When town troublemaker, Louella Drummond, drops dead in front of Isolde Quinn's pet store just minutes after threatening both Issy and her cousin Graeme, the police in the small lakeside town of Silver Hollow assume it's from natural causes. Until it's discovered that Louella was murdered. Not just any murder, though. Murder by paranormal means. Dark magic that could only have been performed by a powerful witch.

In turn-of-the-century America, a young girl dreams of a world that stretches beyond the confines of a quiet life on the family farm. With little more than her wit and a cigar box of treasures, Mable steps away from all she knows, seeking the limitless marvels of the Chicago World's Fair. There, a chance encounter triggers her destiny - a life with a famed showman by the name of John Ringling.

Imagine having your own personal mentor - someone encouraging yet honest, supportive yet empowering, who could help you set and achieve your goals, turn your moments of doubt and fear into sources of strength, and discover what you’re truly capable of when you’re at your best. Kendra Levin is that mentor. And with The Hero Is You, she’s here to help you do the best writing of your life - and live your best life while doing it.

In December 2011, 21-year-old Victoria’s Secretmodel Kylie Bisutti stunned the fashion industry when she chose faith over fameand fortune and made the switch from supermodel to role model. In I’m No Angel, Kylie shares her story - from her early years struggling to make it big in the cut-throat world of modeling, her big break winning the Victoria’s Secret Runway Angel competition, and the disillusionment and spiritual warfare that followed, to the moment she realized she could no longer reconcile her career with her Christian beliefs and surrendered her life to God.

After solving her first murder and leaving the Helsinki Police Department behind, Maria Kallio thought that a move to the neighboring city of Espoo would signal a fresh start - a chance to not only put her new law degree to use but to nurture her budding romance with Antti Sarkela. But when she discovers the strangled body of a new acquaintance, old habits die hard for the redheaded sleuth - especially since the accused is not only the victim's fiancé but a member of Antti's family. Though she works as a legal counselor, Kallio soon finds herself unofficially investigating the murder, now labeled a sex crime.

Pub owner Maura Donovan hasn't seen her mother for over 20 years, so when she suddenly shows up in Maura's pub, Maura's not sure what to expect. Her mother is trying to find a life for herself back home and has taken up a position working with the new owners of the Crann Mor hotel just outside Skibbereen. That is until her new boss is found dead in the gardens, dumped down the hillside behind the hotel.

Snow is a rarity in Maura Donovan's small village in County Cork, Ireland, so she wasn't sure what to expect when a major snowstorm rolled in around Sullivan's pub. But now she's stranded in a bar full of patrons - and a suspected killer in a long-ago murder. Maura's been in Ireland less than a year and hasn't heard about the decades-old unsolved crime that took place nearby, let alone the infamous suspect, Diane Caldwell.

After months of maternity leave, tough-talking Espoo police detective Maria Kallio is ready to return to work. But before assuming her new post as head of the Violent Crime Unit, she vacations with her husband and daughter on the island of Rödskär. There Kallio learns that, one year earlier, her ex-boyfriend Harri had mysteriously fallen to his death from the isle's steep and treacherous cliffs.

Callie Henderson had to fight to put her tragic past behind her, but now the up-and-coming player in the hospitality industry is well on her way to happiness. She has her sights set on the lead renovation position at the Sunset Harbor Inn—an inn that just happens to be owned by Sam Edwards, the man who comforted her in her grief and gave her one night of passion before walking away.

Detective Harry Jordan sees his lake home as a respite from solving crimes on the streets of Boston. The Osborne family views their cottage as a way to avoid the distractions of life - especially for Wally Osborne, a famous horror writer who seems to need the peace and quiet more than anyone. One night, Harry is walking alongside the lake when the night is rocked by an explosion: the Havnel house is engulfed in a conflagration, and young Bea is seen fleeing, hair on fire, and plunging into the lake.

Willow Parsons’s two new best friends are getting married, putting her squarely on the sidelines of romance - which suits her just fine. After the nightmarish situation she escaped from, featuring the ultimate Mr. Wrong, she is more than happy to spend her days slinging drinks in Dempsey’s Bar & Grill, and her nights alone. But her Anchor Island refuge has just one catch: muscle-bound charmer Randy Navarro. Everyone in town knows that Randy, owner of the local fitness club, is a giant teddy bear. Everyone, it seems, except for Willow.

One night in San Francisco, three women make a birthday wish believing it can't possibly come true. Liz is turning thirty. A successful nurse, she has a good career, but no man to share her life. All her friends are married, and she's alone, still trying to outrun a tragedy from her past. Then she meets a handsome stranger. Angela, a member of a large, loving Italian family, is facing thirty-five with no baby in the nursery. Eight years of infertility treatments have put a strain on her marriage. Will she have to choose between her husband and having a child?

A mysterious death brings Deputy DeeDee Clawson to the scene of a movie being filmed at an old mansion in Silver Hollow. Tucker Rockwood, the star of the movie, is found dead, a stake through his heart. Lots of people might have wanted to kill Tucker, but when DeeDee's investigation points in the direction of the movie's producer, Caine Hunter, she thinks she has her man. As if investigating this murder isn't enough, DeeDee has something else hanging over her head: an arranged marriage....

When Silver Hollow witch Adele Brundage curses the town with a plague of toads until her killer is found, Isolde Quinn and her cousins find themselves thrown into a dangerous world where someone will go to any lengths to keep a decades-old secret. Armed with their witchy powers and unconventional pet familiars, the Quinns set out on an investigation that puts them in the path of a dangerous killer who will stop at nothing to keep their secrets buried. And when that path intersects with hunky FBI agent Dex Nolan, it's a blessing and a curse.

Sophia Prescott is still mending from the embarrassment of a highly publicized divorce from a pro football player, and the now-single mother is back in Sunset Cove, surrounded by the supporting love of her family and the Sand Queens. Sophia doesn’t think there’s any hope for starting over until an unexpected trip to the pediatrician’s office gives her a second chance after all.

In the mid-19th century, Leonie Russell works alongside her husband, Junius, an oysterman in the Washington Territory. At night she continues her father’s lifelong obsession - collecting artifacts and studying the native culture that once thrived in the area. On her 37th birthday, Leonie discovers a mummy protruding from a riverbank - a mummy that by all evidence shouldn’t exist. As Leonie searches for clues to the mummy’s origins, she begins to feel a strangely mystical connection to it. When Junius’s long-lost son, Daniel, appears one day, a native elder insists that Leonie wear a special shell bracelet for protection.

Years before synchronized sound became the norm, projected moving images were shown to musical accompaniment, whether performed by a lone piano player or a hundred-piece orchestra. Today film music has become its own industry, indispensable to the marketability of movies around the world. Film Music: A Very Short Introduction is a compact, lucid, and thoroughly engaging overview written by one of the leading authorities on the subject.