Showing results by narrator "Mia Hutchinson-Shaw" in All Categories

Essie has always seen herself as someone defined by her ambitions, a cold and independent woman, whose only soft spot is her husband. She never imagined herself as a mother, but then she finds out she’s pregnant. As her difficult pregnancy transforms her body and life into something foreign to her, her husband spends the nights pacing in the attic, and the house begins to whisper.

As Hollywood prepares for its most glamorous evening, five actresses compete to see who will claim the top prize. With humor, wit, and an insider’s insight, The Talent peels back the layers of women who are in the business of being perceived. And while they work to push their careers forward and maintain the public’s goodwill, all five are forced to confront truths about themselves that they would rather ignore.

A Mississippi woman pushes through the ruin of the Roman Colosseum, searching for plants. She has escaped her life, apprenticed herself to catalog all the species growing in this place. Crawling along the stones, she wonders how she has landed here, a reluctant botanist amid a snarl of tourists in comfortable sandals. She hunts for a scientific agenda and a direction of her own.

For aspiring cinematographer Luna Roth, coming out as bisexual at twenty-four is proving more difficult than she anticipated. Sure, her best friend and fellow queer Romy is thrilled for her—but she has no interest in coming out to her backwards parents, she wouldn't know how to flirt with a girl if one fell at her feet, and she has no sexual history to build off. Not to mention she really needs to focus her energy on escaping her emotionally-abusive-but-that’s-Hollywood talent manager boss and actually get working under a real director of photography anyway.

Lila Greer has always loved mysteries, even when they scare her. When a spooky storm blows into Blue River Creek and Lila is startled awake by a strange shrieking shadow, she knows something is afoot. Stranger still, Lila and the Questioneers discover that on the night of the storm, someone broke into Iggy’s parents’ art gallery and stole all the paintings for the new exhibit. Could the mysterious shrieking shadow have something to do with the missing artwork?

Rebecca Parcell is eager to reach Paris to marry Daniel Alloway, who's gone ahead to take up a new post there. But their idyllic prenuptial life unravels when they accept an invitation to reside with Dr. Benjamin Franklin, America's brilliant, enigmatic ambassador to France. A murdered man is found on the roof of Dr. Franklin's home outside of Paris, and he calls upon his two new houseguests–former spies for George Washington–to investigate.

Months after Jess escaped from the set of Stuck in the '90s, the nostalgic reality show she believed was her real life, the teen star is getting to know the outside world for the first time. But she can't outrun her fictional life forever—or the media empire that owns it. After Like-Life Productions tracks her down and forces her boyfriend to return to the show, Jess teams up with an underground network fighting to uncover Like-Life's schemes. To expose the truth, Jess must go back to the set and take Like-Life down from the inside . . . but getting revenge might just cost her everything.

Lila Greer is full of worries. Even the smallest things—from cabbages to cardboard—fill her with dread and What Ifs. So when her family makes a big change—moving to a new town—the worry and What Ifs only grow. What if things go wrong? What if no one likes her? At first, Lila feels right to be worried. In her new home, everything is strange. The new kids, the new smells. Lila feels alone and invisible. But there’s one person who sees her: Lila’s teacher, Ms. Kern.

Catherine’s first memories were of the fae and the misfortune they brought. No one believed her and told her she was insane. When Catherine arrives the country estate of Thornwood, she is determined to put her past and the fae behind. That is until she meets Ray Thorn. Ray introduces her into his world of the mesmerizing and deadly faery. Then a woman is murdered by one of the fae. She knew she shouldn’t have trusted a fae. But as more bodies turn up, Catherine realizes they’re targeting women like her, and she is their next victim. Is trusting Ray worth the price?

Everyone knows Kurt was difficult to work with, and after he got into a fight with both director Marnie Mason and artistic leader Arthur Winston, he promptly decided to quit the show. In deep financial trouble, the Eastbrook Playhouse depended on a big name like Kurt to keep afloat. With reporters coming in from the Big Apple to Tasha’s little corner of Connecticut, she realizes it's up to her to save their local theater and keep her community safe. After all, the show must go on…but what do you do when the killer could very well be one of your loved ones?

Philadelphia, June 1780. George Washington's two least likely spies return, masquerading as husband and wife as they search for traitors in Philadelphia. Months have passed since young widow Becca Parcell and former printer Daniel Alloway foiled a plot that threatened the new nation. But independence is still a distant dream, and General Washington can't afford more unrest, not with food prices rising daily and the value of money falling just as fast.

After author Jess Keefe ended things with her long-term boyfriend, she moved in with her brother in hopes that family could help her not only heal from the break-up but also evolve into a healthy adult. But that fantasy ended when Matt’s heroin addiction came roaring back after lying dormant for years, leading to a fatal overdose one October night. Thirty-Thousand Steps is a powerful and transformative memoir that interweaves the author’s obsessive training to becoming a distance runner, along with her focused research into the science of addiction in the shadow of grief.

Rosemary Grey, professor of history at Paperwick University, and amateur sleuth, has never been busier. She and her best friend Jack Stone are hosting an exhibit on campus, Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and on Saturday, Rosemary is marrying the love of her life, Seth Maguire. A monkey-wrench is thrown into the works however, in the form of a long-lost uncle, a long-guarded secret, a robbery, and a murder. Rosemary and her friends will quite an adventure as they work together to solve the mystery before it’s time to say I do.

Imagine a world where a man's life force is the battery for a woman's magic. Anointed by Blood is a twisted love story about teenage witch Neave, cursed—like all her kind—to suck the life from her true love, Lachlan. He will live, but their Bind is a cancer, depriving him of the life only women can enjoy. Oppressed, broken, bitter—Lachlan’s on the lowest rung of the Order of Witches and he’s going to burn it all down. The price of revolution: his heart, his sanity, and Neave’s life. He’s prepared to pay it.

Rosemary Grey, who’s just getting settled into the charming town of Paperwick, Connecticut, is looking forward to the holiday season. She’ll be moving into her snug cottage at Jack and Charlie’s farm—so she’ll have her best friends right next door, and she’s loving her new job as a history professor at Paperwick University. The fact that she sees the shy Professor Seth McGuire on campus might have a little something to do with the smile on her face and the spring in her step. But Rosemary soon discovers that the cozy, tucked-away village, has a longstanding mystery in its midst.

Poetry. Literary nonfiction. Fiction. Drama. LGBTQIA studies. Women's studies. Compiled in one book for the first time, featuring both new and out-of-print pieces, the contents of The Judy Grahn Reader span four decades of work by the prominent writer and activist. This volume contains writing from every phase of Judy Grahn's career, including poems from all of her major poetry collections, a number of her groundbreaking essays, as well as selected fiction and the full-length play The Queen of Swords.

Kenna Heron is best known in her village for being a little wild-some say "half feral"--but she'll need every ounce of that ferocity to survive captivity in the cruel Fae court. Trapped as a servant in the faeries' underground kingdom of Mistei, Kenna must help her new mistress undertake six deadly trials, one for each branch of magic: Fire, Earth, Light, Void, Illusion, and Blood. If she succeeds, her mistress will gain immortality and become the heir to Earth House. If she doesn't, the punishment is death-for both mistress and servant.

Author L. M. Montgomery first brought Anne Shirley onto the page in 1908, and this independent and inspiring character has been capturing readers' hearts ever since. The story of an orphaned girl who is sent to Avonlea on Prince Edward Island to live with the Cuthbert family includes adventure, romance, and an ensemble of iconic characters like Diana Barry and Gilbert Blythe.

Calamity comes and a queen will rise amidst blood and thorns. After losing her power, Catherine is at last able to accept who she is: half fae and the queen ascending of the Thorn Kingdom. But severing her connection to magic, has had disastrous effects. Thorny, bark-like growths are spreading across her body and if they continue, she will turn into a tree.

Catherine thought she would be content with her garden and a quiet life. But she longs for connection. When she tries to reach out to others, disaster strikes. Creeping vines emerge from Faery choking the gardens of Thornwood, corrupting the minds of those who encounter it and turning them into raving zombies. Among those infected is Catherine’s niece. To stop the spread, they must find the plant’s origin and destroy it. Catherine’s magic can do that if she can learn from Ray. As her magic flourishes beneath his tutelage, so do her feelings that she’s tried to deny.