Showing results by narrator "Lauren Pedersen" in All Categories

Tough-as-nails Kenzie King has finally earned her place as a tactical medic on a SWAT team. But not everyone on the all-male team accepts her. She has to work harder and longer than anyone else to prove herself. Cole Garrison is a man with deep faith who is finally ready to settle down and build a family of his own—if he can find the right person, that is. Kenzie sure has set off his interest meter, but trouble seems to follow in her wake. Since she joined the team, someone has begun to ambush and pick off team members, one by one.

Detective James Holton has been honorably discharged from the Army Criminal Investigation Division due to wounds sustained when an IED blew up near him. Now with the Lake City Police Department, he's rooming with his good buddy and partner, Cole, while he figures out his family dynamics. Physician Assistant Lainie Jackson is eighteen months out from an attempted murder perpetrated by her ex, which ended when she managed to grab the weapon and shoot him. When he appears to have survived and is back to finish the job he started, Lainie insists it's not possible.

When Jesslyn McCormick was just seven years old, a devastating house fire killed her parents and two younger sisters. Now the fire marshal of Lake City, Jesslyn is determined to find the person who started the fire that robbed her of her family. As the twenty-fifth anniversary of her family's deaths approaches, a string of fires—including at Jesslyn's church—brings up all those old feelings and offers new evidence.

What happens when an evil queen envies a princess for her beauty? How does the poor son of a farmer become the killer of giants? And what price is too high for a mermaid to become a human?

Air Marshal Kristine Duncan is not on duty when a hijacker attempts to seize control of the plane she and her friends are on as they head out on a much-needed vacation. Jumping into action and aided by FBI Special Agent Andrew Ross, Kristine thwarts the attack and the plane lands safely. But as the investigation into the incident gets underway, Kristine and Andrew are confused at every step. Nothing about the investigation goes as it should, and each layer they peel back just reveals another layer of perplexity.

Many workers believe that to compete with other top talent they must embrace a culture that rewards long hours and constant connection to work. Businesses and society have encouraged this by endorsing busyness, overwork, and extreme commitment as the most valued traits in workers. But more often it's an implicit contract, a buildup of organizational and cultural norms and the adoption of new technologies that increasingly make it easy to tether people to work. Either way, this workaholic behavior is unhealthy and counterproductive for workers and for organizations. It's time to fight back.

After losing my husband three years ago, I'm ready for a fresh start for me and my daughter. I appreciate all of my parents' help, of course, but I can't live with them forever (and I don't want to). Dr. Drew Reed, my father's coworker, informs me his basement (turned income-property) is available for rent. And he also needs a part time nanny. Lucky for him, I can do both! But living in such close proximity, seeing him in those dang sexy surgical scrubs, and watching him with our girls . . . is making my heart thaw in ways I never expected. But am I ready to love again?

If you read (or listen to) nothing else on artificial intelligence and machine learning, listen to these ten articles. We've combed through hundreds of Harvard Business Review articles and selected the most important ones to help you understand the future direction of AI, bring your AI initiatives to scale, and use AI to transform your organization.

An anthology of time’s most beloved stories, written and adapted by the world’s most well-known fairy tale authors, and narrated by a variety of great storytellers.

If Adele Marten’s troubled childhood taught her anything, it was that family is everything. So when the time comes to keep a promise she made to her dying friend, she knew she would do whatever it takes to reunite a father and son...who have never met. Even risk her fragile heart.

One in four American workers says their workplace is a "dictatorship." Yet that number almost certainly would be higher if we recognized employers for what they are—private governments with sweeping authoritarian power over our lives. In this compelling book, Elizabeth Anderson examines why, despite all this, we continue to talk as if free markets make workers free, and she proposes a better way to think about the workplace, opening up space for discovering how workers can enjoy real freedom.

Jill's wedding to police chief Greg King is just days away, at a historic Spanish mission with a courtyard full of olive trees. But the folks in South Cove are more intrigued by what kind of ceremonies might be going on behind the walls of New Hope. Jill isn't fond of the man, but his followers seem nice, and they buy a lot of books. After a distraught woman stops by at Coffee, Books, and More with a picture of her daughter, who she believes needs rescuing from the suspected cult—and then Matthews's body is found, at Jill's wedding venue of all places—Jill makes a commitment to solve the case.

My name is Kirstin Hill. I'm a simple girl trying to figure out life in a small town. There are a few things you should know about me before we begin. I grew up in the city. I'm a teacher, a first-year teacher (some of you understand that significance). And finally, when it comes to cooking, I'm a disaster. Maybe none of those things seem story worthy, but trust me—I have a story. I call it The Cupcake Dilemma, and it literally changed my life. How? I'm glad you asked. It all started with an extra assignment delegated to me at school right before Valentine's Day.

Some days you're on fire at work; other days you're burned out and easily distracted. How can you maintain your drive, make consistent progress, and expend your energy wisely? This book will help you identify what's behind your flagging engagement and productivity—and provide the expert research and advice on what to do about it.

We have all heard of post traumatic stress, but few of us think about the possibility of post traumatic growth—the positive ways in which we can be transformed by our trauma. Yet this is precisely what can happen when we face our hurts, struggle through the rubble of our broken relationships, and unearth the ways God wants to use our trials to refine and mature us.

In the face of hardship, you need perseverance and determination. You need grit. But how do you build it? This book explores how you can persist in difficult situations. You'll learn how to convince yourself to do hard things, find support in trying circumstances, and know when you're pushing yourself too hard. This volume includes the work of: Angela Duckworth, Misty Copeland, Shannon Huffman Polson, and Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic.

American exceptionalism is rooted in the idea that individual rights come from God and government is only in place to preserve and protect those rights. But America's losing sight of that concept. America's turning into a country where the government grants rights and privileges to only those the government deems worthy—and takes them from those it deems unworthy. This is not how the Founding Fathers envisioned the nation; this is not how the concept of inalienable rights coming from a Creator works. Rather, this is how Marxism, communism, and collectivism spread.

Politics can be infuriating. From unjust policies to unholy politicians, there are justifiable reasons to be upset or walk away altogether. Yet we must stay involved if we are to protect and sustain our fragile nation from the divisions that threaten it. With more than two decades of experience working in the highest levels of government, insider Denise Grace Gitsham offers a remedy to America's dark political reality: Christians filled with light, love, and Christ's heart for unity.

When Christians date, they're not looking for a one-night stand or a hook-up. Instead, they're looking for someone to marry and share their life with, as they try their best to live the gospel of Jesus Christ together. Their standards and expectations are high.

When life throws us non-stop challenges and curveballs, how can we have any hope of building a fulfilling and intimate marriage? How do we move from stressed and stretched to energized and inspired, finding the strength to transform both our lives and relationship? Robert Paul and Tara Lalonde equip husbands and wives with practical, biblically based tools to transform their personal lives and grow their marriage into something they’ll both love