Showing results by narrator "Tara Sands" in All Categories

After growing up in cheap motels, moving from town to town with her sister and mother, Cheyenne Christensen is grateful to be on her own. She’s grateful, too, for the friends she found once her family settled in California. But she’s troubled by the mystery of her earliest memories, most of which feature a smiling blonde woman. A woman who isn’t her mother. Although Cheyenne has repeatedly asked for explanations, the people who could help aren’t talking.

Plum Kettle does her best not to be noticed because when you're fat, to be noticed is to be judged. She is biding her time at a job answering fan mail for a popular teen girls' magazine until she can afford weight-loss surgery. But lately she is being followed by a girl in outlandish clothes and combat boots.

To celebrate her 14th birthday, Sammy’s newly found, long-lost father takes her and best friend Marissa on a cruise. As Sammy navigates her feelings about this new relationship, she and Marissa become involved in another family’s bizarre drama which includes the mysterious disappearance of the wealthy matriarch and suspicious activity by the greedy heirs.

Bobbie is on a mission. She’s already survived one encounter with Logan, the zombie-herding jerk who attacked her village and turned her brother into a zombie. And now she won’t rest until she stops his evil plan to conquer the Overworld with his zombie horde. But the closer she gets to foiling Logan, the further away she gets from her original goal: finding a cure for her zombie brother.

My name is Gwen Frost, and I go to Mythos Academy, a school of myths, magic and warrior whiz kids. And now there’s also Loki, the evil god I helped set free against my will. On the bright side, I finally got a date with Logan Quinn, the hottest—and deadliest—Spartan at Mythos. But I should have known it was destined to end in disaster.

Local weather reporter Suzanne Maretto craves nothing more than to transcend life at her suburban cable television news station and follow in the footsteps of her idol: Barbara Walters. When she concludes that her unglamorous husband is getting in the way of her dream of stardom, the solution seems obvious: Get rid of him. She seduces a 15-year-old admirer, Jimmy, and persuades him to do her dirty work. Mission accomplished, Suzanne takes to the airwaves in her new role as grieving widow, in search of a TV deal. If that means selling Jimmy down the river, she’s ready.

Sammy and her friends are startled when they interrupt what seems to be an attempted murder on Halloween. While trick-or-treating at a spooky old, house, they find the door open, and inside a man is tied to a chair while a fire rages on the floor. A robbery? But what valuable could be missing from the home of a reclusive old man?

Mara is a proud and beautiful slave girl who yearns for freedom in ancient Egypt, under the rule of Queen Hatshepsut. Mara is not like other slaves; she can read and write, as well as speak the language of Babylonian. So, to barter for her freedom, she finds herself playing the dangerous role of double spy for two arch enemies—each of whom supports a contender for the throne of Egypt. Against her will, Mara finds herself falling in love with one of her masters, the noble Sheftu, and she starts to believe in his plans of restoring Thutmose III to the throne.

It's Christmas, but leave it to Sammy Keyes to find trouble even in the midst of the holiday parade. Trying to help a friend, she reluctantly volunteers on the Canine Calendar float, only to have the famous cover dog dog-napped on her watch! The animal's owner orders Sammy to find the dog before the $50,000 ransom being demanded comes due.

Elizabeth O'Connell has survived one of the worst betrayals a wife can imagine. Finding out that she wasn't the only woman in her husband's life meant the end of her marriage and a year of personal hell. Now she's focusing on her new business and raising her two kids. Carter Hudson isn't part of her plan. When he's introduced to Liz by well-meaning friends, her dislike is instant. But as she spends time with him, Liz realizes she likes having Carter in her life.

When Kari Baxter is assigned an essay about what she wants to be when she grows up, her mind goes blank. She doesn’t want to grow up; she wants everything to stay just like it is. But Kari comes to realize that while making time stand still isn’t possible, she can enjoy every moment with her best family ever. Meanwhile, Ashley Baxter feels the same way. She is worried her siblings are growing up too fast. When she wins the role of Wendy in her school performance of Peter Pan, Ashley gets an idea. Maybe she and her siblings can pledge to never grow up at all!

Atlantic City, 1934. Every summer, Esther and Joseph Adler rent their house out to vacationers escaping to “America’s Playground” and move into the small apartment above their bakery. Despite the cramped quarters, this is the apartment where they raised their two daughters, Fannie and Florence, and it always feels like home. Now Florence has returned from college, determined to spend the summer training to swim the English Channel, and Fannie pregnant, after a miscarriage, is on bed rest for the duration of her pregnancy. The apartment is bursting at the seams.

No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with "freaky" scars on her arms. Even Echo can't remember the whole truth of that horrible night. All she knows is that she wants everything to go back to normal. But when Noah Hutchins, the smoking-hot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket, explodes into her life with his tough attitude and surprising understanding, Echo's world shifts in ways she could never have imagined. They should have nothing in common. And with the secrets they both keep, being together is pretty much impossible....

The weirdest back-to-school story in the history of the world! Plus bonus content!

While looking out the window with her grandma's binoculars, Sammy witnesses a crime across the street at the Heavenly Hotel. What's worse, the thief saw her spying! As Sammy attempts to find the burglar who has made several other hits in the neighborhood, she finds herself trying to keep him from uncovering her - or worse, the police discovering that she's living illegally with her grandmother in the seniors-only housing!

Air Force pilot Andromeda "Andie" Kim dreams of being chosen to join NASA so she can go to space. Instead she's stolen by savage kidnappers from a dystopian future where fertile women are needed for breeding purposes. All she wants is to escape and find a way back to her time before she's sold as broodstock and stuck in this ruined world forever.

Sammy Keyes finds herself in the wilderness helping eco-friendly Girl Scouts save the endangered condor. Leaving behind the city life of her grandma's senior complex and shopping malls, Sammy encounters scorpions, poison oak, and biting flies, along with clues that help her uncover the culprit who shot the baby condor and kidnapped its mother. Once again, Sammy's story is a satisfying mix of adolescent issues and fascinating mystery that will thrill listeners.

Working at the mall is supposed to be fun. Trish’s job at Muffin-Mania is hardly intellectually challenging and her boss is a piece of work, but it’s worth it to have a job in the same building as her two best friends, the Hanson twins. And the hot guys who hang out there are an added bonus. But something isn’t right about this mall. It’s the oldest mall in the state, remodeled over a dozen times without rhyme or reason, and there are many strange nooks and secret passages behind the bright gleaming storefronts. Someone has been stealing housewares, furniture, and food, and now a mysterious man with ash-gray hair and a whisper-soft voice has started harassing Trish on the phone.

A girl who believes trust can be misplaced, promises are made to be broken, and loyalty is an illusion. A boy who believes truth is relative, lies can mask unbearable pain, and guilt is eternal. Will what they find in each other validate their conclusions, or disprove them all?

In this 14th title in the popular series, Sammy is hoping for a fun Halloween for a change. But dressing up as zombies and cutting through the cemetery assures that the teenage sleuth and her pals are soon immersed in a satisfyingly suspenseful adventure full of secrets and surprises - not the least of which is a trick-or-treat bag with human skulls!