Showing results by narrator "Julia Motyka" in All Categories

Whether laughing to tears reading Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great or clamoring for more unmistakable "me too!" moments in Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, girls all over the world have been touched by Judy Blume's poignant coming-of-age stories. Now, in this anthology of essays, 24 notable female authors write straight from the heart about the unforgettable novels that left an indelible mark on their childhoods and still influence them today. After growing up from Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing into Smart Women, these writers pay tribute to one of the most beloved authors of all time.

Eighteen years ago a teenage pregnancy changed Kate Worthington's life forever. Faced with many difficult decisions, she chose to follow her heart and embrace an uncertain future with Glenn Ferguson, her devoted first love...and the father of her baby. At the same time, in another part of the world, sixteen-year-old Ryan Hamilton makes his own share of mistakes, but learns important lessons along the way.

Dozing in the backseat of her father's car, Mary Ann Hubbard is the happiest eight-year-old in the country. It's 1935, and she and her parents are going to spend Fourth of July weekend with her headmistress and the Zimmerns, whose daughter, Lolly, is Mary Ann's best friend from school. While the two little girls frolic in the attic, endowing the rambling old house with wonder, creativity, and imagination, their parents are downstairs, mired in all the pleasure, pain, and occasional childishness of adulthood.

The Shaughnessy brothers have spent the years since their mother's untimely death taking care of each other and trying to make their father proud. The oldest son, Aidan, is hardworking, handsome, successful - and still single. Sure, he'd like to have his own family someday, but who has the time?

Aubrey Burke is on the run from an about-to-be-disastrous mistake when resort owner Hugh Shaughnessy catches her climbing through his office window. Until Aubrey tumbled into his life, Hugh had relied on work and discipline to safeguard a heart damaged by family tragedy. Now his careful world will never be the same.

Kidnapped by a mysterious warrior, she's swept away to a hidden island paradise filled with pleasures…and secrets. Abducted from a trade fair, Lady Avril de Varennes awakens on Asgard Island, an enchanted paradise cloaked in mists and mystery, kept secret from the world for centuries. Against her will, Avril weds her arrogant captor, Hauk Valbrand - even as she vows to escape. Hauk believes himself beyond the reach of love, until his fiery captive bride begins to melt his heart of ice.

She may never reach her royal wedding if she can't resist the rugged mercenary assigned to protect her. Disgraced ex-knight Royce Saint-Michel was banished from his homeland because of an impulsive act that cost him all he held dear. Now, he has the chance to reclaim his birthright - if he agrees to protect a princess on a journey that may prove deadly to them both.

Like an electric current, arcing from ear to ear through the New York underworld, the word comes; he’s here. The city has a new Master of vampires, House Altau, and the existing, unaffiliated community is now facing a sentence of death.

The storm builds, and one of the leaders of that community, Livia or Julius, must chose to be the lightning conductor to save the rest from destruction. But will that be an acceptable sacrifice to Altau?

Riley Shaughnessy knew that to stand out in his large family, he'd have to go big. Making a name for himself as a musician wasn't easy, but he followed his dreams to rock-star success. But the relentless expectations of fans is not helping the slump he's in now. So of course the person who attracts him is the woman who is not impressed by fame. Which gives Riley Shaughnessy a lot to prove.

When fire ravages Wyoming land, fireweed is among the first plants to return, brightening a blighted area with the joy of its blooms. Small-town lawyer Taylor Anne Larsen faces the challenge of doing the same for the pain-ravaged heart and disbelieving soul of ranch foreman Cal Ruskoff. Armed with the same grace and grit as the wildflower fireweed, Taylor also has allies - a matchmaking friend, the Wyoming winter, high-octane mutual attraction, and a rescued puppy who slips past Cal's defenses.

Jamie Bond is a former cover model who switches gears to take over the family business: The Bond Agency, a high-powered P.I. firm located in Los Angeles that specializes in domestic espionage - catching cheating husbands. Jamie's assembled a team of other disenchanted former models to help her take names and kick derrieres among L.A.'s wealthiest philandering husbands.

Darcy Shaughnessy has gotten used to her overbearing brothers chasing away any man she wants to date. But a chance meeting with a brooding - and deliciously handsome - artist is about to make this holiday season one to remember.

Anna can tell Quinn anything, except the big secret she's been hiding for years - that she's fallen in love with him. Now Anna is determined to make a life for herself that doesn't include hopeless pining. But just as she's ready to move on, Quinn seems determined not to let go - and the way he's looking at her might be enough to finally change them from best friends to best everything.

Maya Alexander is the organized-and-in-charge office manager of the Bond Agency, Los Angeles's premier PI firm, specializing in catching cheating husbands. But when Maya is thrust into the field to catch her first mark in the act, she realizes this case is personal. Her mark just happens to be her ex-fiancé... and things did not end well between them. Can Maya prove that he's repeating his past mistakes with his current wife? Or is something more sinister happening in this Beverly Hills couple's life?

He's always looked to the stars. Now she's the brightest light in his universe. Brilliant astrophysicist Dr. Owen Shaughnessy feels more connected to the cosmos than to people. He's great with calculations, but when he leads a team of scientists to study a famous meteor shower, he doesn't factor in his free-spirited artist assistant, Brooke Matthews.

Five years ago a night of forbidden passion between Remi and Julien, the heirs of two powerful and competitive horse-racing families, led to a feud that is threatening to ruin both farms. Now Remi must find Julien again - but when she does, her need for Julien is just as strong and just as forbidden...

Detective Gabriel Hugo has never been able to forget Kate Franklin. Eight years ago he let down his barriers and made love to her, but guilt and regret tore them apart.

Now she's the prime suspect in the murder of her second husband, an ambitious congressman. The FBI wants Gabe to use his connection to Kate to prove her guilt. Unfortunately his desire for Kate is as intense and forbidden as ever. Kate is shocked to be a suspect and that the lead detective is the man she always wanted. Eight years ago Gabe hadn't been willing to hear that she was in love with him, and nothing has changed.

Ambitious Paige Walters is ecstatic when she's hired to recruit musicians for a literacy campaign - it's her chance to prove she's got the chops to make it in the family business. When Dylan steps in, she immediately dislikes him and vows not to let the fallen idol screw it up. But as the work brings Paige and Dylan closer together, their attraction grows...and so do their challenges....

Double the passion - and seduction - as New York Times best-selling author Megan Hart and international best-selling author Tiffany Reisz weave two provocative tales about power, bad-boy lovers and secret desires!

Her name is Bond. Jamie Bond. And she is licensed to kill any pre-nup you can throw at her. Catching cheating husbands became Jamie Bond's life when her father was shot and wounded on the job, forcing Jamie to take over the family business: The Bond Agency. But three years later, the P.I. is shocked when the gun that wounded her father surfaces during a high-profile murder trial. Is this the connection Jamie's been waiting for to finally nail her father's shooter?