Showing results by narrator "Michelle H. Lee" in All Categories

Inspired by the life of Easton’s grandmother, White Mulberry is a rich, deeply moving portrait of a young Korean woman in 1930s Japan who is torn between two worlds and must reclaim her true identity to provide a future for her family.

Hazel wants a new life. She’s thirty years old, single, and her private investigation business is months away from folding. Her luck takes a turn when Madeline Hemsley, a mysterious socialite, pays Hazel a visit with an offer too enticing to resist. An orphan girl has disappeared from a children’s home—The Orphanage By The Lake, as the locals call it—and Madeline wants Hazel to find her.

Taking an analytical approach to Hogwarts's irascible, protective Potions professor, author Lorrie Kim presents a closer look at how Dumbledore's double agent operates behind the scenes throughout the Harry Potter series. By examining the story from Snape's point of view, this in-depth exploration pierces the defenses of the wizarding world's famed Occlumens, revealing the man for who he truly is: one of pop culture's most memorable heroes.

1506, Joseon. The people suffer under the cruel reign of the tyrant King Yeonsan, powerless to stop him from commandeering their land for his recreational use, banning and burning books, and kidnapping and horrifically abusing women and girls as his personal playthings. Seventeen-year-old Iseul has lived a sheltered, privileged life despite the kingdom's turmoil. When her older sister, Suyeon, becomes the king's latest prey, Iseul leaves the relative safety of her village, traveling through forbidden territory to reach the capital in hopes of stealing her sister back.

Fighting to survive is a way of life for 17-year-old Everly. After years living on Seattle’s streets, she is so close to finding a home and saving her best friend from losing her life to drugs the same way her mom did. But when Everly breaks her number one rule to save an enemy, her carefully laid plans are derailed when she’s kidnapped to the land of Faery. According to the mysterious stranger who saves her life, the portal won’t reopen for six weeks. To stay alive, Everly reluctantly joins his band of rebels fighting against the evil queen.

Debra Grant, spouse of esteemed attorney Tug Grant, was brutally assaulted in her Minnetonka home on Wednesday morning and died later that afternoon at Park Nicollet Hospital. Debra, a Macalester College graduate, was a scout leader, a member of the Scenic Heights PTA and a beloved member of the Christian Women's Ministry. Tug was in the headlines in 2018 for defending a member of the Minneapolis Combination (MN mafia) after the boss was accused of murdering a Disciples gang member.

In a race to stop an ancient evil from destroying the worlds as they know them, Sunny comes to a startling, heartbreaking realization: if she chooses love—everything will burn. Sunny Cho aspires to be the dullest, least interesting person in any given room, which can be challenging for a nine-tailed fox spirit. So she drifts from city to city—staying clear of any and all attachment—and keeps her fox buried deep inside her. It is better this way. She would rather live as half of herself than risk losing control of her terrible powers.

Emery Jung is living his dream. Known by his stage name M, he is loved by millions of fans around the world as a member of the rising K-pop group NEON. But all fame comes with a cost, especially when one slip-up can have viral consequences.

1506, Joseon. The people suffer under the cruel reign of the tyrant King Yeonsan, powerless to stop him from commandeering their land for his recreational use, banning and burning books, and kidnapping and horrifically abusing women and girls as his personal playthings.

A reborn beauty is already turning heads at school! The old Hero-King Inglis was thrown far into the future, reborn as a beautiful girl. Now, together with Rafinha, her lifelong friend, and Leone, an aspiring knight the two met on their journey to the capital, Inglis studies the ways of war at the royal knights' academy—where she's turning heads with her battle prowess more than for her looks! School life isn't all about making new friends, though, as she hears rumors of a Rune-Eater that targets knights.

Joseon (Korea), 1758. There are few options available to illegitimate daughters in the capital city, but through hard work and study, 18-year-old Hyeon has earned a position as a palace nurse. All she wants is to keep her head down, do a good job, and perhaps finally win her estranged father's approval. But Hyeon is suddenly thrust into the dark and dangerous world of court politics when someone murders four women in a single night, and the prime suspect is Hyeon's closest friend and mentor. Determined to prove her teacher's innocence, Hyeon launches her own secret investigation.

Inglis and her friends decide to protect Ripple at the academy until the problem of her attracting magicite beasts is solved. As the academy's elite are gathered, Inglis makes the acquaintance of a young man who's the only current student with a special-class Rune and a Runeless girl who shows exceptional strength. Inglis is already feeling great as the number of strong people around her continues to increase, and when she hears of a Steelblood plot to assault the palace, that same excited grin is back on her face.

From his deathbed, Hero-King Inglis, the divine knight and master of all he surveys, gazes down on the empire he built with his mighty hand. Having devoted his life to statecraft and his subjects' well-being, his one unfulfilled wish is to live again, for himself this time: a warrior's life he'd devoted himself to before his rise to power. His patron goddess, Alistia, hears his plea and smiles upon him, flinging his soul into the far future.

Most of us want to choose inclusive, respectful, and empowering language when communicating with or about others. But language—and how we use it—continually evolves, along with cultural norms. When contradictory opinions muddle our purpose, how do we align our word choices with our beliefs? Who has the final say when people disagree? And why is it so hard to let go of certain words? Afraid of getting something wrong or offending, we too often treat words as right or wrong, regardless of context and nuance.

Abby Rodier was a “drop-box baby,” a Korean orphan whose mother could not take care of her and left her as an infant. Abby’s tumultuous experience in the American foster care system has led her to live a solitary and guarded life, closed off to almost everyone except her best friend Iseul, whose parents took Abby into their home as a child.

With the hieral menace Ripple now safe and the school in a reconstruction phase, Inglis—former hero—king and current talk of the town—is summoned by the king himself to the palace, where she's offered a promotion to captain of the Royal Guard! This leap up the ranks is as unconventional as it would be desirable to almost anyone else, but Inglis turns it down as a matter of course, preferring to someday fight on the front lines.

Nineteen-year-old never-been-kissed keyboardist Paisley Kim has gotten good at hiding things, including the panic attacks she experiences before she steps on stage with her high-profile band, The Painted Daisies. To her bandmates, she’s still the baby, the one who needs protecting. But to troubled bad boy Jonas Riccoli, she’s the hope for a future he never thought possible, and he’s much more than a boy she befriends at the studio. But their long-awaited reunion and the ensuing sparks are destroyed when Paisley’s sister is found murdered.

Claire Pedersen and her husband are relocating from NYC to the Catskills—they have found a terrific deal on a property in foreclosure. The house has been in April Ives’s family for three generations, but the single mother of three children from two different fathers needs the money. Claire and April are instantly antagonistic, but the sale proceeds, and renovations begin. Soon after, Claire’s husband develops an erotic fascination with Anna, a young member of a nearby religious community called The Eternals. Two marriages—and one pregnancy—swiftly and dramatically end.

When a widowed, aging mother allows Green, her thirty-something daughter, to move into her apartment, all she wants for her is a stable and quiet existence like her own. Ideally, a steady income and a good husband. But when Green turns up with her long-term girlfriend in tow, her mother is enraged and unwilling to welcome their relationship into her home. Her daughter's definition of family is not one she can accept. Green's involvement in a campus protest against unfair dismissals of gay colleagues throws her into deeper shambles.

The electric, unsettling, and often surreal stories in Let's Go Let's Go Let's Go explore the alienated, technology-mediated lives of restless Asian and Asian American women today. A woman escapes into dating simulations to forget her best friend’s abandonment; a teenager begins to see menacing omens on others’ bodies after her double eyelid surgery; reunited schoolmates are drawn into the Japanese mountains to participate in an uncanny social experiment; a supernatural karaoke machine becomes a K-pop star’s channel for redemption. In every story, characters refuse dutiful, docile stereotypes.