Showing results by narrator "Elisabeth Ashby" in All Categories

Pregnant at fifteen after gleefully losing her virginity to pansexual neighborhood strongman Francis Anthony Mozzarelli, she is robbed of her baby by a pack of nefarious nuns and her embittered papa has her sterilized without her consent (legal in 1935). With the help of a besotted Francis and her top-secret meatball recipe, a devastated Bella embarks on a riotous quest through Depression-era Coney Island sideshows, the tawdry world of peek-a-boo striptease routines, a queer mob marriage, and a tasty collection of wisdom-filled recipes to find her lost child, herself, and maybe even true love.

No one is at all sure what a book wraith might be, but whatever it is definitely has the battered tomes in the Library of the Sapphire Wind very worried indeed. Figuring out what a book wraith could be is hardly the least of the challenges that the newly formed House of Rough Diamonds will face as the motley assortment of members-including three women who are literally "out of this world"-attempt to secure ownership of the Library.

Dar Roberts, corporate raider for a multi-national tech company, is cold, practical, and merciless. She does her job with razor-sharp accuracy. Friends are a luxury she cannot allow herself, and love is something she knows she'll never attain. Kerry Stuart left Michigan for Florida in an attempt to get away from her domineering politician father and the constraints of the overly conservative life her family forced upon her. After college she worked her way into supervision at a small tech company, only to have it taken over by Dar Roberts's organization.

Egg freezing is rarely about women postponing fertility for the sake of their careers. Rather, the most-educated women are increasingly forced to delay childbearing because they face a mating gap—a lack of eligible, educated, equal partners ready for marriage and parenthood. For these women, egg freezing is a reproductive backstop, a technological attempt to bridge the gap while waiting for the right partner. Their stories reveal the extent to which it is logistically complicated, physically taxing, financially demanding, emotionally draining, and uncertain in its effects.

What if you could reach the most innocent part of yourself and treat that essential being with kindness? Author Natasha Levinger teaches how to locate this inner child, get to know them, and parent this most vulnerable part of yourself so that you can self-soothe even when the world around you is chaotic. By eliminating false personal narratives and creating a nurturing inner voice, you can heal past traumas and live in the present with understanding and grace

"You’re just too sensitive!" "That didn’t happen. You must be imagining things." "I don’t remember saying anything like that. You must have misunderstood me." Do these phrases seem familiar? Perhaps a little too familiar? If you hear them often, you might be a victim of abuse - gaslighting. It might mean that someone is manipulating you, making you not trust yourself. Someone is trying to take control of your life.

Stunning, stubborn, and independent, Philadelphia Fox lost her best friend because of the fabulously rich and powerful Lightfoot family of Washington state. Now she's got her friend's controlling shares in Lightfoot Industries—an inheritance that brings Nick, the family's prodigal and supremely attractive son, knocking at her door.

What could possibly go wrong in a wealthy matriarch's country home when her dilettante son, his restless wife, and his widowed brother live there together? Strong Passions, rooted in the beguiling times of Edith Wharton's "old New York," recounts the true story of a tumultuous marriage.

Long before Delaney McPhearson learned of her destiny, a brave group of women defended a heritage that would one day aid us all. The history of the forces working to protect the world extends far beyond the time of Delaney McPhearson. One of the first tests of those chosen to defend the good in the New World dates back to one of the uglier times in American history: the Salem Witch Trials.

Six months have passed since Delaney McPhearson went missing. And during that time, things have not been going well for Jake Rogan. He's been heading up the search for Laney. Every lead he's run down has only led to frustration and disappointment. But now, a situation has developed that steals his attention. And that's not the only thing that is being stolen—children are disappearing across the globe. Jake has a new mission and a new goal—to find those children.

Life has not calmed down for Delaney McPhearson now that she has become the ring bearer. For the last few months, she, Henry Chandler, and Jake Rogan have been finding the camps of the teenage potentials left behind by Amar. In their search, they've come across something they didn't expect: More children are missing, but these children are younger—much younger. One of the largest lines of investigation leads them to legends of an ancient race of giants. But are they getting closer to the missing children or heading down a path that will only lead them farther away?

Instead of mentors, they got monsters. That's what Xerak, Vereez, and Grunwold think when three strange creatures shimmer into being within the circle of Hettua Shrine. Their conclusion is reasonable enough. After all, they've never seen humans before. As for Margaret Blake, Peg Gallegos, and Tessa Brown—more usually known as Meg, Peg, and Teg—they're equally astonished but, oddly enough, better prepared. Age and experience have accustomed them to surprises.

A Southern white writer, educator, and activist, Lillian Smith (1897-1966) spoke out all her life against injustice. In Killers of the Dream, her most influential book, she draws on memories of her childhood to describe the psychological and moral cost of the powerful, contradictory rules about sin, sex, and segregation—the intricate system of taboos—that undergirded Southern society.

Negative, broken, lie-filled sentences fill your head as you work, play, and go about your life. These scripts are sidelining you, maligning you, harming you. What if there were another way? What if your life didn't have to be defined by what others say? Or even by what you say to yourself over and over? What if you knew that beauty and life are yours to be found and you finally danced in the freedom that awaits you? There is more for you, friend—so much more.

The ghost of gaslighting past can linger long after you’ve broken free. A gaslighter’s sneaky and slippery tactics can leave their mark deep within you. Recovery and true self-actualization are absolutely possible, with the right guidance. Countless victims, like you, have recovered using the techniques outlined in this book. Many of which are absolutely free and can be started immediately.

You’re just too sensitive! That didn’t happen. You must be imagining things. I don’t remember saying anything like that. You must have misunderstood me. Do these phrases seem familiar? Perhaps, a little too familiar? If you hear them often, you might be a victim of abuse called gaslighting. Gaslighting can happen everywhere, and nobody should have control over your emotions and feelings - nobody but you.

In the company of the "inquisitors," Xerak, Grunwold, and Vereez, the three newly appointed mentors rediscovered the Library of the Sapphire Wind, and, within it, revelations that transformed the young people's pasts into a vast tangle of lies and half-truths. But there are still questions to be answered. Before they are done, Meg the retired librarian, Teg the archeologist-turned-mage, and the multi-talented, ever surprising Peg will deal with kidnappings, betrayal, arcane artifacts, romantic intrigues, and the inescapable reality that past lives cast long shadows.

Eighteen-year-old Jewel, reliving her memories, finds herself suddenly thrust into the pas,t living in the world of mortals. Only this life and this version of herself is different. Yet, one thing stays the same, she finds herself in the path of Anubis, an Egyptian god. She needs him even though it could cost her everything. But Anubis just sees her as an annoying complication to his quiet life he just can’t have - at least that’s what he tells himself. Even as he is drawn to the beautiful, dangerous goddess.  

This compelling and compassionate mystery takes place in the quirky island town of Key West, Florida, where 21-year-old Jillian Dougherty, a newly graduated Boston nursing school student away from home for the first time, finds herself completely absorbed into the island's homeless population. Meet the island inhabitants that live under the bridges, behind the hedges, and on the edge of sanity in this tourist-island mecca. 

In a community full of supernatural powers, 18-year-old Jewel longs for a life of normalcy. But nothing in her life is ordinary. And suddenly she discovers she's more abnormal than she ever realized - complete with a past she never knew existed. Once a goddess from ancient Greece, Jewel is the main reason everyone has their special abilities.