Showing results by narrator "Nick Podehl" in All Categories

In a beautiful, tragic testament to the liberating power of forgiveness, Kate Grosmaire finally tells the whole story of her daughter's death at the hand of her boyfriend - and the stunning, deliberate forgiveness and help that Kate and her husband offered to the young man who shattered their world. That forgiveness meant not only telling him face-to-face that they forgave him but even working to reduce the time he would spend behind bars.

What if you could paint with reality? Elijah Brighton can bring a girl back from the dead, travel outside his body, and absorb a lifetime of memories from anyone he touches in the fugue state. Everyone seems to think he's the prophet they're waiting for...including the girl he's falling in love with. The truth is, the fugue is bleeding over into reality, bringing his sketches to life and haunting him with visions of a girl in metal armor. She stabs him with her blade and denounces him as any prophet worth the name - and it's not like he disagrees.

In the tradition of Colson Whitehead's Zone One, a visionary debut novel about shelter, escape, family, violence, and dumpster diving. It's the story of a restless group of young squatters. They've run away from their families and their pasts, questing after knowledge of their most wild selves, roaming the half-empty suburbs of America, occupying the homes of the foreclosed or vacationing, never staying in one place long enough to attract attention while shoplifting beer at the local Speedy Stop.

During the summer of 1987, from their tree house fort in the woods, neighborhood boys Tim, Scott, and Luke spot a man holding a gun to missing 16-year-old Molly Peterson's back. The problem is, nobody believes their story, not even the police. As search efforts to find Molly dwindle, the boys know that she, and the man with the gun, are nearby - and that they must now find and save Molly themselves.

This CliffsNotes study guide on John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men supplements the original literary work, giving you background information about the author, an introduction to the work, a graphical character map, critical commentaries, expanded glossaries, and a comprehensive index, all for you to use as an educational tool that will allow you to better understand the work. This study guide was written with the assumption that you have read Of Mice and Men. Reading a literary work doesn’t mean that you immediately grasp the major themes and devices....

The issues that ultimately wreck marriages - money and monogamy, career and kids - are hard to gauge until you're actually hitched. So after a few years of dating, Jill Andres and Brook Silva-Braga mapped out 40 revealing challenges simulating the issues that could tank or strengthen their union. For a month they swap credit cards; for a weekend they borrow a baby. An embarrassing lunch with their exes tests their trust issues. Sexual gymnastics are required to recreate TV love scenes.

Jacob Freisten's goal in life is to be unnoticed. He's perfect at gliding past the jocks' lockers and sneaking into his English class. But he won't be unnoticed now. If he wants to pass English, he has to work on the stage crew of the school production of The Wizard of Oz. Jacob, who's usually in a fog anyway, gets the job of running the fog machine. The problem is that Maria Tresser, the girl of his dreams, is playing the Wicked Witch. Jacob has already made a fool of himself in front of Maria. How can he face her again?

Derek's brother Ronny isn't himself.... No, really. Ronny's body has been taken over by the long-dead soul of a man named Virgil Black. Lucky for him, Virgil is one of the good guys. Not all of them are. In fact, a Legion of evil souls is staging a serious comeback. And they're staging it at Bayou Malpierre, the site of Derek's most horrible nightmare. That nightmare is about to get even worse. . . .

Nestled in the Pennsylvania countryside, Florence University frames an idyllic college world, complete with cute coeds and handsome jocks - not to mention plenty of booze and sex with virtually no responsibility. For three seniors, the vagaries of life have rarely been so terrifying. Drawn together by their struggles for identity, the three students form a fateful friendship that will change the courses of their lives forever. Sexy, fast paced, and layered with intimate insight about life’s most formative years, The Fall is a compelling coming-of-age story.

Sebastien Ranes has drifted aimlessly since graduating from high school six months ago. Down on his luck, the 19-year-old is recovering from pneumonia, working a dead-end job, and living in a shabby makeshift bedroom in the basement of his mother and stepfather’s home. Looking to escape his lousy situation, Sebastien robs a local grocery store and makes off with $4,800 - but not without the store’s security cameras spotting him. Driven to a state of panic, Sebastien is hit by a drunk driver.

People in Merit, Wisconsin, always said Jimmy was...you know. But people said all sorts of stupid stuff. Nobody really knew anything. Nobody really knew Jimmy. I guess you could say I knew Jimmy as well as anyone (which was not very well). I knew what scared him. And I knew he had dreams even if I didn't understand them. Even if he nearly ruined my life to pursue them. Jimmy's dead now, and I definitely know that better than anyone. I know about blood and bone and how bodies decompose. I know about shadows and stones and hatchets. I know what a last cry for help sounds like.

Egil and Nix feature in the sword and sorcery novels, The Hammer and the Blade, A Discourse in Steel, and A Conversation in Blood. Their stories are pacy, filled with action and wit. They are a cross of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, spiced with a bit of Conan and Indiana Jones.

Warrior-mage Indris grows weary in his failed attempts to thwart the political machinations of Corajidin, and he faces the possibility of imprisonment upon his return to his homeland. Moreover, Indris’s desire for Corajidin’s daughter, Mari, is strong. Can he choose between his duty and his desire...and at what cost? Left alienated from her House, Mari is torn between the opposing forces of her family and her country - especially now that she’s been offered the position of Knight-Colonel of the Feyassin, the elite royal guards whose legacy reaches back to the days of the Awakened Empire.

In these absorbing and exquisitely made novellas of relationships at home and abroad, both historical and contemporary, we meet the ferocious Simone Weil during her final days as a transplant to New York City; a vulnerable American grad student who escapes to Italy after her first, compromising love affair; the charming Irish liar of the title novella, who gets more out of life than most of us; and Thomas Mann, opening the heart of a high-school kid in America.

Dr. Sheridan Doyle - a fastidiously groomed and TV-friendly forensic psychologist - is the go-to shrink for the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office whenever a twisted killer’s mind eludes other experts. But beneath his Armani pinstripes, he’s still Danny Doyle, the awkward, terrified, bullied boy from a blue-collar mining family, plagued by panic attacks and haunted by the tragic death of his little sister and mental unraveling of his mother years ago.

For Lance (level 19 zombie sorcerer), and his friend, MrsKeller (level 23 hobgoblin brigand), life's a battle, and then you die. And then you rez. And then you battle again. At least that's how it is in Discordia, the addictive online game that makes real life seem dreary in comparison. At his new school, Lance feels weird and out of place, but in beautiful and complex Discordia, his zombie sorcerer is doing great: leveling fast, learning new skills, and making friends.

Boldly go where no geek has gone before! You keep your action figures in their original packaging. Your closets are full of officially licensed Star Wars merchandise. You’re hooked on Elder Scrolls and Metal Gear, but now you’ve discovered an even bigger obsession: the new girl who just moved in down the hall. What’s a geek to do? Take some tips from The Geek’s Guide to Dating. This hilarious primer is jam-packed with cheat codes, walkthroughs, and power-ups for navigating the perils and pitfalls of your love life with ease.

The CliffsNotes study guide on Hinton's The Outsiders supplements the original literary work, giving you background information about the author, an introduction to the work, critical commentaries, expanded glossaries, and a comprehensive index, all for you to use as an educational tool that will allow you to better understand the work. CliffsNotes Review tests your comprehension of the original text and reinforces learning with questions and answers, practice projects, and more.

Against all odds, - A God has returned - to Earth. Chance Kyrien is turning seventeen, and on this day he will be confirmed as a Puriman and learn the shape of his life to come. Young Chance is ambitious, rebellious, but also fiercely devout, and his only thoughts are about farming and wine-making - and marrying the girl he loves. But in a shocking burst of violence, Chance's dreams are shattered. Now he must survive against hellish forces to face his ultimate foe: a long-forgotten god whose destiny is intertwined with his own.

The CliffsNotes study guide on Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea supplements the original literary work, giving you background information about the author, an introduction to the work, and critical commentaries, all for you to use as an educational tool that will allow you to better understand the work.