Showing results by narrator "Annette Romano" in All Categories

Andrea Carter is finally pulling her own weight on the Circle C Ranch she loves. The only thing she loves more than helping to run the ranch is spending time racing and stunt-riding on her horse Shasta, with the help of wrangler Riley Prescott. Little does she know that when she and Riley stumble onto a mysterious cut in the fence around her brother's prize calves, life is about to get far more exciting - and dangerous.

It's 1943, and the world is at war. Audrey Draper is committed to the war effort, and beyond that, to finding her own personal and financial independence. And she is not alone. Ruth Evans also chooses to seek employment. As a waitress living on her own, she not only searches for freedom, but also a way to fulfill an important promise. And then there's young Amelia, a 15-year-old rape victim who is being forced to return to a dark and dangerous home.

Jada Baker might be a millennial, but she was born to worry - about her mom, her job, abused animals, and the growing hatred she sees playing out in the news every day. But she also believes that the system will work, that goodness will win over evil, and that she can find a love as rich and deep as the love her parents have for one another. And when Amie Luca, a veterinarian whose compassion and dedication to helping mistreated animals captures her heart, Jada finally begins to trust that she has found what she’s been searching for all along.

Andi quickly discovers that a cattle drive is a dirty, dangerous business with little sleep and the same food day after day. Between late nights, dust, mosquitoes, and an abrasive cowhand trying to win Andi’s attention, it is definitely not a holiday. Andi grimly determines she will stick it out. When a river crossing goes wrong and Chad is shot in a gunfight with suspicious men who have been shadowing the herd, Mitch the trail boss finds himself dangerously shorthanded.

Andi Carter has just turned nine. She and her palomino, Taffy, are old enough to be a real horse-and-rider pair at last! With a beautiful new saddle, Andi's sure she is ready to learn to trick ride like her friend Riley used to do before he left the ranch. Sadly, big brother Chad knocks down any trick-riding plans, but Andi cheers up when she discovers a new friend at her special spot. Her fun with Sadie is soon threatened, though. They are caught in the middle of a boundary quarrel between the two families. Both Sadie's pa and Chad are stubborn as mules and neither will back down.

When the Circle C ranch decides to host a rodeo competition with two other ranches, dozens of cowboys are eager to prove they're the best riders and ropers in the valley. But they're not the only ones who want to show off their skills. Andi aims to lasso her way to the prizes, even if big brother Chad says the contest isn't for kids.

When public defender Rian Coulter moved to Pensacola, Florida, from Birmingham, she thought she'd escaped the specter of a vicious serial killer preying on young women. A killer that was never caught. Now, police are discovering new victims. All young women, all brutally savaged, all with their hands and feet bound together behind them.

This is so embarrassing. Andi's teacher, Miss Hall, is sick - and Mother is the substitute teacher...But it turns out embarrassment is the last thing Andi needs to worry about when two outlaws kidnap Andi and her mother after school in a case of mistaken identity! Now they're being held in a remote cabin until Mother can teach the man in charge how to read - and he's willing to go to any length to make it happen. Andi must escape and find help. But can she lead a rescue party back to Mother before the outlaws take their new teacher - and disappear forever?

Andi Carter has gold fever! Someone near town has struck it rich. Now Andi can't stop wondering if there might be some of the glittery metal in the creeks on the Circle C ranch. Her brothers agree that she might find something that sparkles. But they laugh whenever they talk about it. Andi is determined - when she finds gold, she'll be the one laughing!

When Fresno is hit with an unexpected outbreak of deadly scarlet fever, Andi Carter is scared. Her town friends are getting sick and school is closed until it passes. Far from the danger, at least Andi has her horse Taffy and plenty of work on the Circle C ranch to distract her. But is she really safe? First one ranch hand, then two, and then her brother Mitch fall ill. Mother is convinced that the only way to protect Andi from this terrible disease is to send her far away to fussy Aunt Rebecca in San Francisco.

Callie plans on a smooth senior cross country season - then finds herself holding the keys to the nuthouse when she agrees to be team captain. Her coach expects her to blend the girls into a championship-caliber team to take on perennial champs, Fairchild Academy. Callie escapes into her running, even as running the team makes her crazy. Mark, the boy's team captain, makes her crazy, too. Callie struggles to manage the team, but Mattie, a fast redhead with an eye on Mark, complicates everything.

Molly & Magnum is a fun and exciting adventure about Molly, a blue and gold macaw, and her best friend, Magnum, a Great Dane. Their owner, Mindy, loves the outdoors and also loves animals. Mindy's family continues to grow with even more animals and birds. Mindy's life goes from being sad and lonely to being full of joy and happiness. Mindy goes on a hiking trip in the mountains and finds more than she expected.

When Martha’s spirit guide arrives before dawn and leads her back to the ancient land New Mexico, she knows this is a dream. Why would these people of the canyon imagine she could help them face the drought, or the persecution of the mysterious Man-With-Three-Spirits? But her husband Glen faces a different dilemma. Why can’t the doctors explain why Martha won’t wake up?

This volume features 20 self-identified female authors writing about intersectionality, including women of color, disabled, transgender, and GLB/GSD (Gender and Sexual Diversities). We have curated amazing short fiction, flash fiction, poetry, essays, and art. It's personal, political, and a great listen.

With a magical amulet in hand, three friends are whisked back in time to the Salem witch hunts, a terrible time in our history. When Tituba, the Parris' slave, secretly teaches the children a lot more than housekeeping, like voodoo, fortunes, and spell casting, it leads to utter chaos in the village. Ultimately, Emily, Megan, and Ben uncover a hidden secret which may alter the course of history.

The Widow (La Viuda) is 92 years old. She lives in a house filled with photos and coins, jewels, and a sable coat. Aware that her memory is failing, but burning with desire to record the story of her life on paper, she hires Gabriela, a 19-year-old Mixteca from Mexico. Gabriela is one of the few survivors of a massacre and treacherous journey to El Norte. Gabriela and the Widow is a story of chaos, revenge, and change: death and love, love and sex, and sex and death.

Honor, an orphan, finds her way to the Victorian boarding house where she thinks her mother might have birthed her. World War II has just ended, which alerted many Americans to the world beyond, but Honor and Billy's lives are limited to the dead-end town of DeForest Junction, Ohio, and its nearby notcherie, where exotic women sell their bodies to the rail men.

The soul is an individualized electric charge in the massive cell that we call the cosmos. And our cosmos is a functional organism in the body that we call God, or infinite intelligence. Drawing from mythology, spirituality and depth psychology, the author takes a brief look at the nature of the soul in order to offer an alternative approach to existing in the world. If you're interested in the inner life, then this is the book for you!

Jeanne Les Flambeaux is the underachiever in her very accomplished restaurateur family. No one ever expected her to amount anything, so she hasn't. When her lover, Johnny, steals the family jewels, Jeanne must find him and the jewels before her family discovers their loss. Fortunately she's aided in her task by Crane, a talking crystal skull who only speaks to her. Together they embark on a wild and wacky journey across the Great American Southwest.