Showing results by author "Melanie" in All Categories

Jocelyn Banks has always felt like an outsider in the ballet world. She was raised in rural Louisiana, taught to scrap and hustle for the life she wanted. And ever since Jocelyn found ballet, she has been able to take her life into her own hands. After years of success at the North American Ballet, she is now on a hiatus to enjoy life in London. But in an instant, Jocelyn’s world is turned upside down and she’s forced find a way back into the ballet world. But the ballet scene in London is completely different from the one in America.

Max wishes he could go back in time to before he was diagnosed with ADHD, before he grew to be the tallest kid in his class, and before he and his best friends went into the woods in the middle of the night. Max doesn’t remember what happened after he left his friends Will and Joey and the older kids who took them there. He’s not sure if he wants to remember. Knowing isn’t going to make Joey talk to him again, or bring Will out of his coma.

If you have a family member who suffers from mental illness, but refuses to seek treatment, you may feel like you're caught in a trap. If you try making life easier for your loved one, you wind up perpetuating dependency and entitlement. If you push for treatment, you are met with resistance or outright animosity. And when you reach out to professionals for help, you are told that nothing can be done unless your family member is ready to change. So, how can you escape the "family trap?"

In this remarkably clear and companionable audiobook, leading complex systems scientist Melanie Mitchell provides an intimate tour of the sciences of complexity, a broad set of efforts that seek to explain how large-scale complex, organized, and adaptive behavior can emerge from simple interactions among myriad individuals.

It is 1914, and 25-year-old Frances Marion has left her (second) husband and her Northern California home for the lure of Los Angeles, where she is determined to live independently as an artist. But the word on everyone's lips these days is "flickers" - the silent moving pictures enthralling theatergoers. Turn any corner in this burgeoning town and you'll find made-up actors running around, as a movie camera captures it all. In this fledgling industry, Frances finds her true calling: writing stories for this wondrous new medium.

Fitzwilliam Darcy must marry before his next birthday or lose his inheritance. He has never met a young lady who caught his attention, until the swollen river during a storm brings Miss Elizabeth Bennet to Pemberley. Not knowing if her father is dead, and needing protection, will she agree to marrying the man who risked his life to save her from drowning? What will happen when their family and friends begin to arrive at Pemberley? Note: Chapter 20 has a sexual scene at the end of the chapter. It is the only sexual scene in the book. Also, This author is grateful for the services of Kay ...

For much of her life, Anne Morrow, the shy daughter of the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, has stood in the shadows of those around her, including her millionaire father and vibrant older sister, who often steals the spotlight. Then Anne, a college senior with hidden literary aspirations, travels to Mexico City to spend Christmas with her family. There she meets Colonel Charles Lindbergh, fresh off his celebrated 1927 solo flight across the Atlantic. Enthralled by Charles’s assurance and fame, Anne is certain the celebrated aviator has scarcely noticed her. But she is wrong.

It was like seeing a ghost. When my late husband’s twin brother moves back to our small town, I want to avoid him. Everything about Wes reminds me of the man I lost and the life we’d planned together, and after 18 long months struggling just to get out of bed, I’m finally doing okay. I have a new job, an amazing support group, and a beautiful five-year-old daughter to parent. I don’t want to go backward. But I’m drawn to him, too. He understands my grief and anger and guilt like no one else - and I understand his. Before long, that understanding becomes desire, and that desire becomes uncontrollable.

Hazel Elliot never looks back. If a door closes, she burns the whole house down. But when she’s invited to her father’s wedding, she’s forced to return to Lockett Prairie, Texas, for the first time since she fled for college. Ash Campbell has been in love with Hazel since she dated his best friend in high school. Now, Ash and Hazel’s relationship is limited to playful feuding over the best chair in their favorite coffee shop, but his attraction to the prickly girl from home has only grown stronger.

Everyone says Lauren Tranter is exhausted, that she needs rest. And they're right; with newborn twins, Morgan and Riley, she's never been more tired in her life. But she knows what she saw: that night, in her hospital room, a woman tried to take her babies and replace them with her own...creatures. Yet when the police arrived, they saw no one. Everyone, from her doctor to her husband, thinks she's imagining things. A month passes. And one bright summer morning, the babies disappear from Lauren's side in a park. But when they're found, something is different about them.

There is nothing like hiding a secret identity from your roommate besties to complicate... everything. And when they decide I need a love life makeover, I can't tell them why I don't have time for their schemes. Retirement home nurse by day, lead singer of a rock band by night. Not on the schedule: Men. I'd rather cuddle with Bernice, the hangry boa next door. I can't think of an excuse fast enough to get out of betting my prime parking space against them finding me true love, but luckily, they pick the worst possible guy for me.

Twenty-six-year-old Paige Redmond, single mom and go-getter, can't wait to give her daughter, Evie, the Christmas of her dreams. Nothing can get in Paige's way, not even her newly purchased fixer-upper cottage needing way more fixing than she planned.

On the morning of August 15, 1945, Captain Jerry Yellin flew the last combat mission of World War II out of Iwo Jima. Today, Captain Yellin is a sharp, engaging, 93-year-old veteran whose story is brought to life by best-selling author Don Brown.

Modern times are stressful - and it's killing us. Unfortunately, we can't avoid the things that stress us out, but we can change how we respond to them. In this breakthrough book, a clinical psychologist and neuroscience expert offers an original approach to help listeners harness the power of positive emotions and overcome stress for good.

After one year of marriage, Crown Prince Arthur and his lovely, albeit accident-prone wife, Princess Tessa, are preparing to bring an heir to the tiny kingdom of Avonia. With all eyes on Tessa, she's determined to be one of those fabulously fit pregnant women. She could do it too if it weren't for all the freshly-baked scones. Soon dubbed the Cowntess of Camembert, Tessa wants to go into hiding until after the baby is born, but royal life won't wait, and she needs to figure out how to make the best of a desperate situation and win the people over once and for all.

Cadence just wants to help Airlie. Instead she’s trapped in a double life at the Guild. And with nomad delegations arriving for a royal tour, everything is only growing more complicated. As the threat from both the raiders and the fallen kingdom grows, Cadence and Zeke’s charade is stretched to a breaking point as they fight for their friends. But how can Cadence keep everyone safe when she’s growing less sure of who she can trust? Desperately searching for a way to help Cadence from afar, Airlie must find a way to unleash her own power before it’s too late for both of them.

Americans know something is wrong in their government. Senator Whitehouse combines history, legal scholarship, and personal experiences to provide the first hands-on, comprehensive explanation of what's gone wrong, exposing multiple avenues through which our government has been infiltrated and disabled by corporate powers. Captured reveals an original oversight by the founders and shows how and why corporate power has exploited that vulnerability.

The 1930s was a magical age in Hollywood, with Shirley Temple and Mickey Rooney, Bette Davis, and Clark Gable lighting up the silver screen. But Deanna Durbin’s fame surpassed them all. Born in Canada, Deanna was “discovered” by star-maker Eddie Cantor, producer Joe Pasternak, and director Henry Koster, and she quickly became the world’s most celebrated star. She saved Universal Studios from ruin, she was a favorite of Winston Churchill and Anne Frank, and she became the highest-paid woman in America.

Astraia Holmes, sister of Sherlock, is baffled by a series of bizarre and brutal murders committed by a dragon-like assailant, and desperately wishing to impress her brother and solve the crimes, she teams up with a mysterious and brilliant young woman Madeleine Barquist. Sherlock suspects an ancient malevolence at work, and he fears for Astraia's safety. The signs point to a Chinese dragon god cult known as the Ya Zi, a warrior society originally formed 2,000 years ago to assassinate enemies of the emperor.

Fitzwilliam Darcy and his sister, Georgiana, journey to Bruges, Belgium for Georgiana to study with some of the finest art masters. They meet Mr Thomas Bennet, an art history professor at one of the universities there, and his two daughters, Jane and Elizabeth. The Bennets are part of a group trying to restore the stolen works of art taken by Napoleon's army when they plundered Belgium. One piece of art in particular was the Bruges Madonna, sculpted by Michelangelo. Along with Colonel Fitzwilliam, the Bingleys, Lord and Lady Matlock, the search for the missing art leads through Belgium ...