Showing results by narrator "Laurel Laurel" in All Categories

Minimalism is for rich people who live in big, empty, white homes, right? Wrong. Minimalism isn't just about displaying your food staples in glass jars or having chic Scandi furniture. It can be a beautiful, enriching, and life-transforming practice that, at its core, is all about re-establishing what holds value in your life and letting go of what does not.

Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce was born on 24th June 1842 at Horse Cave Creek in Meigs County, Ohio. His parents were poor but they introduced him to literature at an early age, instilling in him a deep appreciation of books, the written word and the elegance of language. In 1891 Bierce wrote and published the collection of 26 short stories which included ‘An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge’. Success and further works including poetry followed.

Months before she’s set to walk down the aisle, assistant district attorney Brooklyn Lewis suffers an unthinkable loss. It’s bad enough her fiancé is violently taken from her, but along with her grief, she must also process the fact that the man of her dreams was unfaithful. Friends and family want to see her heal, but Brooklyn doesn’t know how to move on from the trauma and deception until she discovers she’s not the only one broken by this tragedy.

King David of England and King Philip of France face a holy war neither man wants to fight....

With a face chiseled in arrogance, Antonio Emmanuel Rivas pushes all my buttons. The younger artist acts like my gallery, and everything in it, belongs to him. Including me. Secretly, I crave Antonio's dominating hands all over my body like I'm one of his signature pieces. But he's a tyrant. A monster. Trouble. He's dangerous for my business and heart. While the beast chases me relentlessly, I wonder if the man I should hate is also the man my soul can't live without.

Written for audio format, this collection of six science fiction stories draw on themes of arrival, discovery and destination. Commissioned especially for Audible, and narrated by outstanding performers, these stories evoke the traditional storytelling of West African Jali as the unknown and distant are brought to life for audiences.

When something is forbidden, it becomes maddeningly tempting. Judas Barron, for example. Wicked blue blood and heir to a severely twisted cutthroat society. Everyone knew who he was and what crew he ran with - a clandestine group of filthy rich kids surrounded by ominous secrets. Secrets that were rumored to be dark, dirty, and stained with blood. It was never my intention to get tangled up with them, but Judas and I had a secret, too - one he was determined to make sure I took with me to my grave, which meant keeping me by his side.

College campuses have become flashpoints of the current culture war and, consequently, much ink has been spilled over the relationship between universities and the cultivation or coddling of young American minds. Philosopher Sigal R. Ben-Porath takes head-on arguments that infantilize students who speak out against violent and racist discourse on campus or rehash interpretations of the First Amendment. Ben-Porath sets out to demonstrate the role of the university in American society and, specifically, how it can model free speech in ways that promote democratic ideals.

In 1887 young Nellie Bly sets out for New York and a career in journalism, determined to make her way as a serious reporter, whatever that may take. But life in the city is tougher than she imagined. Down to her last dime and desperate to prove her worth, she comes up with a dangerous plan: to fake insanity and have herself committed to the asylum that looms on Blackwell's Island. There, she will work undercover to document—and expose—the wretched conditions faced by the patients. But when the asylum door swings shut behind her, she finds herself in a place of horrors.

No one knows I’m possessed by evil.... Everyone thinks that I’m a hero...that I’ve driven the darkness from the land. What they don’t know is that I’ve driven it into myself. I'm fighting a curse that will lead to the death of all I love. Fortunately, my Fated Mate Lain senses something is wrong. When he learns about the curse, he vows to help. We must delve deep into the dangerous mysteries of my past in hopes of finding a cure. But as the darkness tries to drive a wedge between us, I don’t know if our relationship will survive. Or if any of us will.

One question from an ex-lover. One text message from a complete stranger. The same answer to both...yes. Scarlett Bell has found a way to move beyond a dark past that threatened to take her best friend, Kinsley, from her. Now 10 years later Scarlett has everything. A multi-billion dollar fashion and beauty empire. A fabulous New York apartment filled with everything a girl could need. And an awesome best friend. What more could she want? Love, marriage, and a baby. Everything her best friend has. One ex-boyfriend could give her everything she thinks she wants.

It was hate at first sight. Just not for Blue. He’d loved what he’d seen. Tall and thin with long blond hair and gorgeous blue eyes, Anna Hayes was absolutely beautiful. She also wanted absolutely nothing to do with him. As a professional hockey player, that was a rare thing for Blue Anderson. He was young, rich, good looking, and in the best shape of his life. He wouldn’t say he had to beat women off with a stick, but...maybe he had to brush them off with a broom.

It is the winter of 1143 and all is not well in the court of Owain, King of North Wales: His future in-laws are untrustworthy; the Norman lords on his eastern border are restless; and among his wedding guests lurks a cold-blooded killer.

Supernatural bounty hunter Alice Werner loves her job. She gets paid the big bucks to take down her targets and doesn't ask her clients too many questions as long as the money's good. But when a girl goes missing and the case feels all too familiar, Alice can't help but act. Concern for the girl's safety draws her into a risky case. Compassion keeps her involved when the stakes begin to rise. Desperation forces her to call on an old flame for help.

A distilled, crystal-like companion to H is for Hawk, Birds Art Life celebrates the particular madness of chasing after birds in the urban environment and explores what happens when the core lessons of birding are applied to other aspects of art and life. Moving with ease between the granular and the grand, peering into the inner landscape as much as the outer one, this is a deeply personal year-long inquiry into big themes: love, waiting, regrets, endings.

Madisun Dumas, a.k.a. The Wraith, is close to achieving her goals. She faked her own incarceration, so now the government will leave her alone. She wiped out ISO-1 in South America and added their top man to her kill list...then she found out who was really in charge. An honest-to-God alien. Taking on aliens is outside her wheelhouse and she knows it. There is only one person on Earth who can help her: Amelia Lockheart, the Full Metal Superhero. There's a problem, though. Compared to Madi, Arsenal is a goody-two-shoes, and working with her could cause a conflict Madisun doesn't want.

Attorney Sabre Brown's day is going well until she walks into her office and finds a dead man sprawled across her desk. When, Bob, her best friend and colleague is suspected of the murder, and Sabre's minor client has information that might clear him, Sabre has a dilemma. How does she help her best friend without betraying the confidence of the child she is sworn to protect?

Wynn Powe comes from a long line of powerful women, but when an elusive enemy draws too close for comfort, Wynn pursues a creature who can put an end to the fight. But when the powerful Guardian she calls forth makes her heart beast faster and her breath quicken, she must handle something she didn't count on at all - an earth-shattering attraction to the monster himself. Enter Knox. He may be a newly summoned gargoyle, but he possesses all the skills and memories of his race...and that includes protecting the beautiful woman he's bound to.

Max Montgomery was at the height of his career, playing the best hockey of his life, and lucky enough to have a starting spot on a team that was actually a contender for the Cup. And one by one, his friends were falling in love. Love. Now that was a dirty, four-letter word if he’d ever heard one. Max had experienced love and all of its aftereffects and where had that gotten him? Lonely, living in an apartment, and paying alimony to a woman who’d left him at the merest sign of a hiccup in their marriage.

Gertrude Stein’s pioneering triptych Three Lives portrays the lives of three working-class women in the fictional American town of Bridgepoint (Baltimore). A progenitor of the "stream of consciousness" technique later adopted by Joyce and Woolf, Stein takes us into the minds of three distinct women, who are each trapped in their societal positions. "The Good Anna" follows a stern but kind German immigrant, "Melanctha" the tragic life of an African-American woman of the same name, and "The Gentle Lena" a dreamy and unopinionated servant whose passiveness becomes her undoing.