Showing results by narrator "Marguerite Gavin" in All Categories

Packed with authentic Southern flavor and characters as colorful as an azalea in full bloom, The Secret Lives of the Kudzu Debutantes serves up stinging one-liners and earthy wisdom in equal measure.

Celebrated author Jim Harrison, whose robust, tender, and deeply felt books have made their mark on the American literary landscape, here delivers a collection of three novellas infused with all the wisdom and generous spirit that his readers have come to expect.

One afternoon while standing outside her newly renovated Malibu house, Diana Poole sees a woman across the highway waving at her, but Diana doesn't recognize her. Still waving, the woman walks into the oncoming cars and is killed instantly. Why would anyone do such a thing? The next night, still horrified by the accident, Diana is held at gunpoint by a man demanding the dead woman's scorpion. What kind of scorpion? A live one? A brooch? A pendant? Diana searches the accident scene and finds a diamond-encrusted object in the shape of a scorpion.

Lydia is having a party - it's a party she hosts every year for six women friends who treasure the midwinter bash. Over a table laden with a feast of food and wine, the women revel in sharing newsy updates, simmering secrets, and laughter. As this particular evening unfolds, Lydia prepares to make a shattering announcement. Lydia's announcement shocks them all, they rediscover the enduring bonds of friendship and find their lives changing in unexpected ways.

Eadie Boone, an artist and former beauty queen, tackles everything with gusto and flair. But tailing her wayward husband is proving to be an exasperating chore. Nita Broadwell, a good Southern girl from a good Southern family, is jolted out of complacency when she discovers condoms in her husband's shirt pocket. Meanwhile, she is slipping into a steamy romance with a hunky handyman 13 years her junior.

Evie Rosen has had enough. She's tired of the partners at her law firm emailing her at all hours of the night. The thought of another online date makes her break out in a cold sweat. She's over the clever hashtags and the endless selfies. So when her career hits a surprising roadblock, and her heart is crushed by Facebook, Evie decides that it's time to put down her smartphone for good. (Beats stowing it in her underwear - she's done that, too!) And that's when she discovers a fresh start

Stuart's got problems...It's raining. He's bored. And worst of all, he's new in town, so he's got a lot to worry about. But what does a kid like Stuart need in order to have an adventure? A cape, of course.

Are we living the good life - and what defines good, anyway? Americans today are constructing a completely different framework for success than their parents' generation, using new metrics that TEDWomen speaker and columnist Courtney Martin has termed collectively the "New Better Off".

When Fran moves back to her idyllic beach town to take over the family cafe, she also develops a knack for solving bizarre murders.... In the middle of Fran's date night with Matt, at Cape Bay's best Mexican restaurant, Fran's favorite waiter drops dead. Everyone else thinks Pablo had a stroke, but Fran believes he was murdered because he had been getting strange, threatening notes in his apron at work. As Fran digs deeper into another murder case she shouldn't be involved in, she learns her beloved waiter had some secrets stewing in his personal life.

Proven tips and tools. There are a lot of resources out there for managing anxiety. However, many of them are based on opinion rather than science. Dr. Craig April, founder of the April Center for Anxiety Attack Management, relies on the latter. By employing cognitive behavioral therapy, a research-proven method for anxiety treatment, listeners can find the breakthrough they desire.

It's almost Christmastime in Cape Bay, and another murder has everyone in town talking. A despised new drama teacher at the local high school is killed in the school's parking lot. The police arrest a beloved teacher, Mrs. Crowsdale, but everyone else thinks she is too nice to murder anyone. Mike, however, says they have solid evidence that proves she did it. Sammy is particularly devastated. Mrs. Crowsdale was her favorite teacher and still her hero. Sammy begs Fran to find the real culprit.

Renowned executive coaches and global leadership strategists Jane Hyun and Audrey S. Lee offer lessons on the vital skill of “flexing” - the art of switching leadership styles to more effectively lead people who are different from you, allowing managers to successfully manage the multicultural workers of today and tomorrow. Flex offers a proactive strategy for managers to navigate and leverage diversity effectively in this new global economy....

Career Courage serves as a personal coach through the soul-searching and planning process ahead, whether you're a college grad contemplating choices, a seasoned professional seeking new directions, or a stay-at-home mom preparing to reenter the workplace. Packed with exercises and stories of inspiring second acts, the book poses tough questions about motivation, confidence, character, risk tolerance, and more.

Dragons arrived on Earth nearly a year ago, decimating modern civilization. Bailey Monzac discovered she was born to slay them the day they appeared. Though she has ruthlessly killed hundreds since then, she somehow fell in love with Aidan—a dragon shifter—along the way. Their relationship hasn't been easy, and it's about to be tested again.

In a Victorian-era German asylum, seamstress Agnes Richter painstakingly stitched a mysterious autobiographical text into every inch of the jacket she created from her institutional uniform. Despite every attempt to silence them, hundreds of other patients have managed to get their stories out, at least in disguised form.

It's August 1952 and seven-year-old Nickel sets off for a day at the seashore with her mother, aunt, and cousin Leroy. Leroy is recently motherless and frightened of the world around him. Nickel delights in tormenting her cousin, but the sisters try to coax him out of his shell by telling stories about their own childhood trips to the shore. Only years later can Nickel see that day for what it truly was - a life-changing lesson about family and the pleasure and heartbreak that comes with it.

Caruso-Cabrera presents a modern and smart approach to correcting the economic woes of the nation. Denouncing the hypocrites, she calls out the radicals on both sides of the spectrum who have frustrated voters and left fiscally conservative but socially liberal Americans feeling like a people without a party. Caruso-Cabrera maintains that by focusing on socially invasive policies, our country has lost its course.

Wits Guts Grit is inspired by the many what-if questions acclaimed science writer and mother of two Jena Pincott asked herself as research on the invisible forces that shape our minds and health has emerged and grown over the past decade. What if we identify the microbes that support stress resilience, find ways to expose our kids to them, and then test them?

Ever since dragons invaded Earth, Bailey Monzac and other survivors have had to adjust to a new world order. But a new threat is emerging that could destroy everything they've been struggling to rebuild - for both man and beast. There's an artifact out there that can control dragons, and many would seek to possess it for dark purposes. It's going to be up to Bailey, her dragon shape-shifter ally Aidan, and their friends to embark on a long and arduous quest to recover the relic before it falls into the wrong hands.

Jenny Weston and her mother, Dora, have been receiving strange midnight visits. The town of Bear Falls, Michigan, has its own elusive and highly secretive poet, Emily Sutton, who has lived her life cloistered away with her sister in a house at the edge of Pewee Swamp. But now, Emily has started leaving scraps of poetry in Dora's little free library, and Dora makes it her mission to befriend the sheltered woman.