Showing results by narrator "Cris Dukehart" in All Categories

When Melissa Francis was eight years old, she won the role of lifetime: playing Cassandra Cooper Ingalls, the little girl who was adopted with her brother (played by young Jason Bateman) by the Ingalls family on the world’s most famous prime-time soap opera, Little House on the Prairie. But behind the scenes, her success was fueled by the pride, pressure, and sometimes grinding cruelty of her stage mother.

Catch the holiday spirit with this magical collection of beloved Christmas tales. Christmas favorites from L.M. Montgomery, O. Henry, Willa Cather, Hans Christian Anderson, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Mark Twain, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Bret Harte and Anthony Trollope are lovingly recorded and presented here in one enchanting volume.

The book club is about to get a makeover. Even if Megan would rather be at the mall, Cassidy is late for hockey practice, Emma's already read every book in existence, and Jess is missing her mother too much to care, the new book club is scheduled to meet every month. But what begins as a mom-imposed ritual of reading Little Women soon helps four unlikely friends navigate the drama of middle school.

It's a dream come true for Megan, who's jet-setting to Paris for Fashion Week with Gigi. Meanwhile, back in Concord, Mrs. Wong decides to run for mayor, so Emma and Stewart team up to make her campaign a success. Jess and Cassidy are also hoping for victories - Jess in the a cappella finals with the MadriGals, and Cassidy in the national hockey championships with her teammates. In the midst of it all, the girls - along with their Wyoming pen pals, who drop in for a visit over spring break - dive into Charlotte Brontë's classic Jane Eyre.

Holly, jolly, and downright deadly—the third Santa Fe Café mystery unwraps surprises both naughty and nice . . . It’s the most picturesque time of theyear in Santa Fe, and Chef Rita Lafitte of Tres Amigas Café hopes the twinkling lights and tasty holiday treats will charm her visiting mom...

Could the book club break up? When Jess is offered an anonymous scholarship to a prestigious boarding school, she's not sure that leaving home - and her friends - is what she wants to do. Meanwhile Megan's grandmother comes for a long visit and turns everything in the Wong household upside down; Emma crusades against her middle school's new uniforms; and Cassidy finds out there's a big change ahead for her family.

Aaron thinks genre fiction is an affront to the fiction-writing craft. He often quotes the essayist Arthur Krystal, who says literary fiction "melts the frozen sea inside of us". Ironically Aaron doesn't seem to realize that he's emotionally frozen. The vivacious Laurie, lover of flamingo-patterned attire and all things hot pink, is the one person who might be capable of melting him.

Adelaide - heiress to the wealthiest man in the Ceithren Empire - has felt a void since her sister's death. Just as she's resigned herself to the empty life her father chose for her, a relic from a world that shouldn't exist plunges her into chaos. Clark - son of the greatest terrorist the empire has ever known - is still reeling from his father's death. Since then, his life has boiled down to two things: his brothers and his next mission. When his mission to bring back a mystical artifact goes awry, he's forced to choose between getting the job done and saving the life of a socialite.

In the lonely years following the death of her fiancé, Helen is unable to move on with her life. But life itself is moving on around her literally: The building of a dam is forcing her small town and her family home to relocate. But the construction project means more than the loss of a home. Helens brother, Robbie, who disappeared without a trace 15 years earlier, suddenly resurfaces. As he re-enters his sisters life, he reveals the secret of why he left in the first place: a secret that tore their family apart, and affected Helens life in more ways than she ever realized.

I wake in the night knowing something is wrong. Carly, mate of my heart, is next to me, and I hear my son’s breathing. They are safe. But someone, someone cries out with a despair I can’t ignore.

The unspooling of Toni Lee Wells' Tiffany and Wild Turkey lifestyle begins with a trip to the Luckett County Jail drunk tank. An earlier wrist injury sidelined her pro tennis career, and now she's trading her tennis whites for wild nights roaming the streets of Rose Hill, Georgia. Her wealthy family finally gets fed up with Toni Lee's shenanigans. They cut off her monthly allowance but also make her a sweetheart deal: Get a job, keep it for a year, and you'll receive an early inheritance.

Shane’s bad day gets worse when his sanctuary on the mountains is invaded by an un-Collared wolf, who thinks attacking him is a great idea. Shane has no intention of getting involved in this lady Lupine’s complicated life, but there’s something about her that raises his protective instincts to the highest they’ve ever been. Freya McHugh is in search of her brother, who disappeared from the city where the two of them had been living as human.

Chosen as the Guardian of her Montana Shiftertown, wolf Shifter Rae Lyall is facing opposition - for no woman has ever been selected for this powerful position. Still adjusting to the new authority thrust upon her, Rae travels to train with Zander Moncrieff, a Shifter healer, tasked with teaching her about her new role and its responsibilities. A polar bear Shifter, Zander wears no collar and follows no rules but his own. Rae finds him arrogant and demanding, yet compelling and intriguing. Zander has no wish to mate, but the sassy Guardian is drawing him out of his shell.

In a diner in the middle of nowhere, lonely waitress Addison Price has seen a lot of unusual drifters come and go, but none has ever captivated - and intimidated - her like the imposing fugitive who wields a broadsword with incredible skill. But when he risks everything to protect her, Addison's fear turns to empathy - and empathy to desire - as she learns more about her savior. Soon she's more than willing to help the crushingly sensual white tiger and his cubs in a passionate bid for freedom - whatever the cost.

Things aren't going well for private investigator and mom Margie Peterson. Her husband, Blake, is claiming his taste for drag queens is "just a phase." Her first-grade daughter isn't fitting in at her new posh elementary school, Holy Oaks Catholic School. And her hippie mother has swept into town and replaced the family's store of processed foods with seaweed snacks. To top it all off, a late-night phone call from her boss, Peaches Barlowe, has pulled Margie into a very strange murder case, one that involves the Holy Oaks headmaster, George Cavendish.

With a husband who works long hours trying to make partner and two rambunctious kids that are running her ragged, Margie Peterson is like any other worn-out suburban mom. When she decides to take a job as a PI for a seedy local detective agency, everything changes. It doesn’t take long for Margie to get in over her head: Her first day on the job she totals her minivan, mistakenly enters a drag contest, and winds up in the bathroom with a dead transvestite. But when Margie finds her home number in the victim’s phone, things really start to get interesting.

Having run into the bank to take out cash for her son's school fair, Angela Hawkins Crow is surprised to find herself in the middle of a hostage situation. The hostage-taker is none other than Billy Mendelson, a young man suffering after a violent armed robbery attack at his home. Angela has read about the crime but is mystified by his behavior, even as he hustles her into a vault with several others. Billy was a stellar student and so much more before the events of that fateful day. How can he subject others to such violence?

Daphne Mayfield sought a moment of quiet in a park - a break from city life, a tense relationship, and chronic overwork - but then an elderly woman makes a desperate plea. Daphne is reluctant to get involved when she's not sure what's happening, but she wants to help the stranger. Is the rambling old lady the victim of a crime or a victim of dementia?

It's Atlanta's senior year of high school, and she is officially infamous. Not only has she saved herself from a predator, brought down an untouchable dogfighting ring, and battled a pack of high school bullies, but she's also proclaimed to the Internet her willingness to fight for anyone who needs help. And Atlanta can't believe what's coming out of the woodwork. From an old friend to a troop of troubled girls with connections to a local fracking company, there's definitely fire in the water.

You don't mess with Atlanta Burns. Everyone knows that. And that's kinda how she likes it - until the day Atlanta is drawn into a battle against two groups of bullies and saves a pair of new, unexpected friends. But actions have consequences, and when another teen turns up dead - by an apparent suicide - Atlanta knows foul play is involved. And worse: She knows it's her fault. You go poking rattlesnakes, maybe you get bit.