Showing results by narrator "Susan Bennett" in All Categories

What is it about the South that has inspired so much of America's greatest literature? And why, when we think of Flannery O'Connor or William Faulkner or Harper Lee, do we think of them not just as writers but as Southern writers? In South Toward Home, Margaret Eby - herself a Southerner - travels through the South in search of answers to these questions, visiting the hometowns and stomping grounds of some of our most beloved authors.

Everyone knows that Gina Townsend is a saint, always taking care of everyone around her. And now she's trying to be a mother to her six-year-old niece, Amanda Jane. But the girl's biological father isn't helping matters. The scruffy, gangly boy Gina remembers has returned to Glory a sexy, successful man, but Reed Hollingsworth is the only thing standing between her and losing Amanda Jane to foster care.

Byron Hawkins doesn't want to be responsible for anyone ever again. The former Black Ops soldier is better at taking lives than saving them. But on a mission in Tunisia to deliver a package to safety, Byron is dismayed to find that the precious cargo is actually a hostage rescue, and that his orders are to take Damara Petrakis back to U.S. soil and hide her in plain sight - as his newlywed wife.

In Glory, Kansas, the best bakery in three counties not only brings together ingredients for sweet treats, but is the place where - through the powerful mix of friendship, community and a well-stocked kitchen - a wounded hero can forge a forever kind of love. Back in the hometown he left behind five years ago, Jack McConnell has returned battle-scarred and feeling like half a man. But Betsy Lewis only sees the hero who once saved her life and set her heart on fire. Now she's burning to save him in return.

Captain Tess Bailey and Shade Ganavan are still the galaxy's Most Wanted, and with revolution in the wind and the universe on the brink of catastrophic war, the situation couldn't be more desperate. Despite the Dark Watch scouring the known sectors for them, rebel leaders have handed the crew of the Endeavor a delicate and dangerous mission: break into Starbase 12 and free renowned scientist Reena Ahern. She's the only one who stands a chance of tipping the odds in their favor for the first time in decades.

It's 1994 and Lenore Littlefield is a junior at Briarwood School for Girls. She plays basketball. She hates her roommate. History is her favorite subject. She has told no one that she's pregnant. Everything, in other words, is under control. Meanwhile, Disney has announced plans to build a new theme park just up the road in Virginia, a "Technicolor simulacrum of American history". When the threat of the theme park begins to intrude on the lives of the faculty and students at Briarwood, secrets will be revealed and unexpected alliances will form.

When The Risk of Us opens, we meet a 40-something woman who deeply wants to become a mother. The path that opens up to her and her husband takes them through the foster care system, with the goal of adoption. And when seven-year-old Maresa - with inch-deep dimples and a voice that can beam to the moon - comes into their lives, their hearts fill with love. But her rages and troubles threaten to crack open their marriage. Over the course of a year, the couple must decide if they can be the parents this child needs and finalize the adoption - or give her up.

In the early 1920s, the accelerating destruction of the California redwoods is more than nature-loving Marion Baker can bear. After throwing herself headlong into the work of the Save the Redwoods League, she meets the handsome Frank Duncan—only to find out he’s the son of one of the area’s worst timber barons. Though deeply disappointed, she realizes she could have an opportunity to convince him to rescue her favorite grove of trees from his father’s greedy grasp. But as she grows to love Frank, will she be able to persuade him?

Almost everyone, young and old, likes to try their hand in the kitchen. But oh my! Disasters can happen to anyone (and we like to keep them quiet). What to do when everything falls apart? Well, just call the Little Chefs! They’ll put everything to rights in a jiffy. And everyone will give you yards of credit. The Little Chefs will never tell!

An ice fisherman is savagely mauled to death in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, and an eyewitness claims the man was attacked by a hodag. There's just one problem with that: it's well known that the creature is not real and was created by a local hoaxer. So how could an imaginary creature be chomping on local sportsmen?

Major Megan McClung is the first female United States Naval Academy graduate to be killed in action since the school’s 1845 founding and the highest-ranking female U.S. Marine Corps officer to die during the Iraq war. Be Bold is Megan’s inspirational story of defying steep odds, making the ultimate sacrifice and paving the way for a new era of women at war.

Only one thing can make veterinarian Noah Cuthbert return to Magnolia Harbor—his mother's failing health. He'll do anything to help his family, including taking a short-term gig at the local animal clinic. What he doesn't count on is getting up-close-and-personal with the clinic's new manager, a woman whose love and compassion for every stray that crosses her path has him rethinking his plans to head back to his big-city life...

Jessica Blackwood is trying to make her architectural design firm a success, and she's off to a great start, thanks to a recommendation that leads to the job of the century-designing a house for a wealthy but reclusive bachelor. The only problem? Jessica's new client happens to be her old high school nemesis. The bigger problem? He's no longer the cocky boy who once tormented her, and suddenly she finds herself intrigued by her new client.

In 1931, the creation of the new Great Smoky Mountains National Park threatens Rosie McCauley’s home. Rosie vows the only way the commission will get her land is if they haul her off in a pine box. When a compromise offers her and her disabled sister the opportunity to stay for Rosie’s lifetime, her acceptance sets her apart from the other mountain folk. And the bond she’s forming with ornithologist and outsider Benton Fuller only broadens the rift. Eighty-five years later, Kieran heads back to the national park to find answers to her great-grandmother’s mysterious death.

Physicians enter their professions with the highest of hopes and ideals for compassionate and efficient patient care. Along the way, however, recurring problems arise in their interactions with some patients that lead physicians to label them as "difficult." Some studies indicate that physicians identify 15 percent or more of their patients as "difficult." The negative feelings that physicians have toward these patients may lead to frustration, cynicism, and burnout.

Parents know that sleep is vital for children but often don’t know how to help their school-aged child sleep independently without the stalling, arguments, and emotional turmoil. Banish Bedtime Battles presents a straightforward plan to do just that. With expert guidance, parents can help their child develop critical coping skills essential to increasing confidence and competence at bedtime (and beyond!). Armed with the powerful strategies presented in this book, parents will be ready to use their personalized six-week plan to solve their child’s nighttime struggles.

Hen isn’t a little chick anymore. She’s spread her wings and can get a job done just the way she likes it. She can grow wheat herself, she can wheelbarrow it home by herself, and she can turn it into delicious bread—all by herself! No need to bother offering Hen a helping hand of any sort, thank you. She’s got it covered! But then comes Fox … and Fox loves to eat all kinds of tasty things. So when Pig, Horse, and Cow discover that Fox has paid Hen a visit, should they step in and offer assistance that Hen hasn’t asked for?

Jillian (Jewels) Whitman lives with her mistakes and tries to move past the biggest one of her life—Dillon Bleu—rocker and once best friend. After saying goodbye to the lakeside trailer park of his youth, Dillon sets out to make something of himself only to discover all he needs is his Jewel. After hitting it big in the music industry, Dillon heads back to ask for a second chance. Only … nothing is ever as easy as it seems …

Savannah Monroe dances with demons from a complicated past. Families believe ghosts can be well hidden deep in the ancestral closet, but forget all too easily that those ghosts haunt with abandon. Savannah has to face each one of hers as she heads home again to Bay Creek, South Carolina, after running away over five years ago. The closer she gets to home, the clearer the realization becomes that some skeletons need to be dealt with and properly buried.

Rose, the mother of twentysomething aspiring writer Jules, has waited three months for answers about her daughter’s death. Why was she swimming alone when she feared the water? Why did she stop texting days before she was last seen? When the official investigation rules the death an accidental drowning, the body possibly lost forever in Central America’s deepest lake, an unsatisfied Rose travels to the memoir workshop herself. She hopes to draw her own conclusion—and find closure. When Rose arrives, she is swept into the curious world created by her daughter’s literary hero.