Showing results by narrator "Emily Woo Zeller" in All Categories

Meet nine courageous young adults who have lived in the United States with a secret for much of their lives: they are not U.S. citizens. They came from Colombia, Mexico, Ghana, Independent Samoa, and Korea. They came seeking education, fleeing violence, and escaping poverty. All have heartbreaking and hopeful stories about leaving their homelands and starting a new life in America. And all are weary of living in the shadows.

Wealthy participants in the "companionship" program choose to upload their consciousness before dying, so they can stay in the custody of their families. The less fortunate are rented out to strangers upon their death, but all companions become the intellectual property of Metis Corporation, creating a new class of people - a command-driven product-class without legal rights or true free will. Sixteen-year-old Lilac is one of the less fortunate. But when she realizes she’s able to defy commands, she throws off the shackles of servitude and runs away.

When a powerful viceroy arrives with a fleet of mechanical dragons and stops an attack on Anlei's village, the villagers see him as a godsend. They agree to give him their sacred, enchanted River Pearl in exchange for permanent protection - if he'll marry one of the village girls to solidify the alliance. Anlei is appalled when the viceroy selects her as a bride, but with the fate of her people at stake, she sees no choice but to consent. Anlei's noble plans are sent into a tailspin, however, when a young thief steals the River Pearl for himself.

In this stunning debut, Laura Lee weaves unforgettable and eye-opening essays on a variety of taboo topics. In “History of Scars” and “Aluminum’s Erosions”, Laura dives head-first into heavier themes revolving around intimacy, sexuality, trauma, mental illness, and the passage of time. In “Poetry of the World”, Laura shifts and addresses the grief she feels by being geographically distant from her mother whom, after being diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s, is relocated to a nursing home in Korea.

Tyson Yang never imagined that one day he’d be the de facto spokesperson for an illegal community garden. But when the once-rat-infested-but-now-thriving Harlem lot goes up for sale, Ty can’t just let all their hard work get plowed under. Even if he is irresistibly drawn to the lovely but infuriatingly stubborn real estate associate. Magda Ferrer’s family is already convinced this new job will be yet another flop in her small but growing list of career path failures. But her student debt isn’t going anywhere.

Pears is a divorced 40-something living with her mother in Queens when the unsexiest pandemic ever hits the country and smatters her potential love life. If her mother wasn’t enough to cock block her, this virus does a double cock block of trapping her in masks while dosing her in hand sanitizer.

In modern day Beijing, Mei Wang is a unique entity--the first successful female private detective. Now she faces her toughest challenge yet: When beloved Chinese popstar Kaili disappears, Wang must unravel a mystery filled with family secrets and the shadowy truth behind China's labor camps....and reveal a secret no one would ever expect.

Twenty-four-year-old Natasha Wiley lives in America-Five-a high-tech, underground, utopian settlement where hunger and money do not exist, everyone has a job, and all basic needs are met. But when her mentor and colleague, Jeffrey, selects her to join a special team to venture Outside for the first time, Natasha's allegiances to home, society, and above all to Jeffrey are tested. She is forced to make a choice that may put the people she loves most in grave danger and change the world as she knows it.

Seventeen-year-old Lily Hu can't remember exactly when the question took root, but the answer was in full bloom the moment she and Kathleen Miller walked under the flashing neon sign of a lesbian bar called the Telegraph Club. America in 1954 is not a safe place for two girls to fall in love, especially not in Chinatown. Red-Scare paranoia threatens everyone, including Chinese Americans like Lily. With deportation looming over her father - despite his hard-won citizenship - Lily and Kath risk everything to let their love see the light of day.

You think you know the path to victory? Then tell me how you'll win. Will you buy triumph with gold and favors? Will you marshal armies and trade in blood? Or will you be the hand in the dark, your fingers on the strings? Whatever you decide, know this: If you put the innocent at risk, you will answer to me. I am the keeper of secrets and the teller of lies. I am the shadow of death and the bringer of light. I will become a Knight of the First, and the Orders will crumble.

Crime writer Julia Gooden has just completed the most important story of her life - a book about her beloved brother's childhood abduction and how she found his killer after 30 years. But that hasn't taken her focus off her day job - especially with what looks to be a serial killer terrorizing the city. Female runners are being snatched off jogging trails, then slaughtered in abandoned churches. As Julia begins investigating, with help from Detective Raymond Navarro, she realizes just how personal this case has become.

Once upon a time, Aveda Jupiter (aka Annie Chang) was demon-infested San Francisco’s most beloved superheroine, a beacon of hope and strength and really awesome outfits. But all that changed the day she agreed to share the spotlight with her best friend and former assistant Evie Tanaka - who’s now a badass fire-wielding superheroine in her own right. They were supposed to be a dynamic duo, but more and more, Aveda finds herself shoved into the sidekick role, which is not at all comfortable.

Skybright is plunged into the terrifying Underworld where demons are bred, while Stone, stripped of his immortal status, must find a way to close hell's breach before more mortals die. Meanwhile, Zhen Ni, Skybright's former mistress and friend, is now wed to the strange and brutish Master Bei, and she finds herself trapped inside an opulent but empty manor. When she discovers half-eaten corpses beneath the estate, Zhen Ni worries that Master Bei is not all he seems.

From the author of book-club favorite The Salt House comes a deeply affecting novel about a teenage girl finding her voice and the military wife who moves in downstairs, united in their search for the true meaning of home.

The Best Life Stories by Reader's Digest are 150 of the best hand-picked real-life tales of resilience, joy, and hope - all in 150 words or less! It's 1985. Mom, what's happening? Send me a package.

Everything in Evie Tanaka's life is finally perfect. As a badass superheroine, she defends San Francisco from demon invasion on the regular. Her relationships with superhero partner Aveda Jupiter, little sister Bea, and hot, half-demon husband Nate have never been stronger. Maybe it's possible for a grad-school dropout turned put-upon personal assistant turned superhero to have it all? Just when she thinks life can't get any better, Evie learns she's pregnant. Everyone around her is overjoyed...but Evie has major doubts about whether she's cut out for motherhood.

The emperor is dead. Long live the emperor. Lin Sukai finally sits on the throne she won at so much cost, but her struggles are only just beginning. Her people don't trust her. Her political alliances are weak. And in the northeast of the Empire, a rebel army of constructs is gathering, its leader determined to take the throne by force. Yet an even greater threat is on the horizon, for the Alanga - the powerful magicians of legend - have returned to the Empire. Lin may need their help to defeat the rebels and restore order.

Nell Young has lived her life in and around maps. Her father, Dr David Young, was one of the most respected cartographers in the world. He's also just been found dead - in his office at the New York Public Library. Nell hadn't spoken to him in years - ever since he fired her after an argument over a seemingly worthless highway roadside map. A map which was mass produced - and every copy of which is being found and destroyed. But why?

As an Exorcist-in-training, Rui is tasked with purging the city of Revenants, souls of the dead who have returned to feast on the energy of the living. For Rui, the fight is personal - a Revenant murdered her mother, and she wants revenge. But Rui's first encounter with a Revenant is nothing like she expects. And when she is nearly killed protecting Yiran, the spoiled, magicless youngest son of one of the most powerful families in the Exorcist Guild, Rui uses a volatile spell to transfer her magic to him.

Fennel and Peree are finally together and safe from the scourge in the protected village of Koolkuna. Except, on the day of their partnering ceremony, the children of the village are stolen away - Fenn's loyal companion Kora among them. If Fenn is to survive the threat of the scourge, rescue the children from the sisters, and have a hope of making a life with Peree in Koolkuna, she must face her fear of failure and loss and become the leader she's destined to be.