Showing results by narrator "Nick Podehl" in All Categories

When Ira Fishman wins a prize in the machine outside a candy store, he’s disappointed it’s not the squirt gun he had his eye on. The little black plastic box looks like a camera, but when Ira presses the green button on top, nothing happens. After dinner that night, Ira can’t believe what he sees in his room: a boy with the same clothes - and face - as Ira! He tries to get this second Ira to leave, but it’s no use. Deciding to have a little fun, Ira makes the boy go to school in his place - but it’s a disaster.

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.

Nickel is a survivor. Raised by the state in abusive foster homes, he escapes at the age of ten to live his life the way his father wanted him to: not as a civilian, but as a warrior. Nickel pays his way by blackmailing pedophiles he tracks down online, selling marijuana to high school students, and working as a private investigator in between. Money talks, but for kids, Nickel works for free. This time, it’s Arrow, a beautiful high school girl, who needs help.

A few months after doctors tell him he has only a year to live, a precocious fifteen-year-old from a small town in Virginia has an intense reaction to The Catcher in the Rye. Deriving inspiration from J. D. Salinger’s narrative, Daniel Landon begins to question the intentions and authority of those around him in his own search for identity in the face of death.

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.

The United States prides itself on being the world’s melting pot, but during a long, hot summer in coastal North Carolina, three young people will put that theory to the test. A German named Tillmann is vacationing in the States with his girlfriend and corresponding with an African American colleague about the evolution of blues music.

Russia, 1945: For Petka, a rambunctious 12-year-old boy with dreams too big for his tiny village, the prospect of invasion is dangerously thrilling. He watches the Red Army troops march off to engage the enemy, and wages his own war - against boredom, bullies, and his lot in life as a bastard in a backwoods world. Secretly raising a wolf in his grandmother’s goat barn, happily raising hell with the local troops, stowing away in a shipment of bootleg booze destined for the combat zone, and defying death by the noose, Petka eagerly takes all he can from life.

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?

Genius girl, Bounce, and her two drifter sidekicks, Wiggins and Orange, are holding the Frog hostage. As the stakes grow higher and the guilt and tension mount, Wiggins begins to question his complicity and must choose where his loyalties lie. Not for the faint of heart, Adam Rapp’s mesmerizing narrative told in alternating viewpoints ventures deep into disturbing territory. A powerful, unforgettable story.

This audiobook focuses on issues specific to high school age kids, ages 14-18. Teens in high school have mainly moved past worrying about puberty and cliques, so stories in this book cover topics of interest to older teens such as sports and clubs, religion and faith, driving, curfews, growing up, self-image and self-acceptance, dating and sex, family relationships, friends, divorce, illness, death, pregnancy, drinking, failure, and preparing for life after high school.

Ever open your locker and find that some joker has left something really weird inside? Seventh grader Dorso Clayman opens his and finds a dead body. Thirty seconds later, it disappears. It’s not the first bizarre thing that has appeared in his locker and then vanished. The ultimate gamesters have decided to make Dorso and his buddy Frank the target of some strange techno-practical jokes. They’ve hacked into the time line, and things from the past keep appearing in the present. Soon, the pranks aren’t funny anymore - they’re dangerous.

Cooper Redmond has only one thing on his mind: tagging as many bases as possible by the end of sophomore year. He’s already picked out a prime target: the divine Prudence Nash, whose sexy serpent tattoo haunts his dreams. But when Coop is paired with the infamous “Hot Dog” Helen for a semester-long Health project on safe sex, his hopes of making it to the Majors are suddenly DOA. It’s going to take something seriously epic to resuscitate his reputation.

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. . . .

Jeff the Game Master returns in Manipulating Magic, a unique spin on the LitRPG genre, not just providing the perspective of the players, but also of one of those mystical, magical, all-powerful GMs we all dream of being.

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 forty 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...

It's been over a year since the System came to Earth, bringing blood and monsters in equal measure. Having left Whitehorse, John and his team travel down to British Columbia, running into new dangers from aliens and humans alike. Faced with new challenges and new enemies, John and his friends seek to free human settlements from Galactic control in North America.

Back when things were normal, Orrin the Timid tried saving his best friend, Daniel the Popular, from a runaway truck. But he failed, and the resulting crash landed them both in a world of magic, monsters, and levels. There, Orrin grew from a mild-mannered sidekick into a legit powerhouse, unlocking Administrator-level powers unlike anything else. Still, things are tough for the former zero.

Having retrieved a legendary weapon from the depths of the Sepulcher of Sealed Swords, Lien—better known as Edge—begins to look into its origins and the strange connection he feels to it. With the blade at his side, he plunges into the depths of a dungeon, hoping to finally prove his worth to his family and friends. After facing a series of dangers and puzzles, he discovers a mysterious encoded tome within a hidden chamber. The room holds hints to his sword's past, but he has precious little time to unlock the weapon's secrets.

Will the Ancients secure their everlasting reign, or can the immortals truly be stopped? As continents clash and races either unite or crumble, alliances become the key to survival. But in a world rife with traps and betrayal, which allies can be trusted? For Tarak, the time for mischief and games is over. To save a world on the brink of destruction, he must uncover the origin of all sorcery. But unlocking its secrets comes with a price. Faced with challenges unlike any before this, Tarak will be tested in ways no one else has.

It’s swoon meets the Hunger Games in THE SELECTION series! Two captivating Selection stories – ‘The Prince’ and ‘The Guard’ plus an early sneak peek at ‘The One’, Q&A with Kiera Cass and more… ‘The Prince’: Before America arrived at the palace to compete in the Selection...