Showing results by narrator "Maria McCann" in All Categories

When the Bough Breaks presents a breakthrough concept of mourning, documenting the process of evolution from initial grief to an altered outlook on life. Excerpts from interviews with fifty parents who lost a child from age five to forty-five trace the road from utter devastation to a revised view of life, resulting in a work that is a tribute to resilience and the indomitable human spirit.

How fast can charity fundraiser CeCe Barclay’s unimpeachable society life come tumbling down? One minute she’s speaking before Chicago’s glitterati. The next, her financier husband is wanted for embezzlement. Her assets seized and her fall mortifyingly public, CeCe grasps for refuge—and employment—as a sorority housemom at Eli Whitney University, her daughter Hayden’s alma mater.

Dakota Kilroy, a twenty-eight-year-old investigative journalist, is haunted by the unsolved disappearance of her best friend, Maddy Montgomery, who went missing at the age of fifteen. When financial difficulties force her to move back home to Santa Monica, California, she cannot take the unanswered questions anymore. Determined to find out what happened to Maddy, Dakota starts ShadowCast, a true-crime podcast to publicize the case. But little does she know that the man responsible for Maddy's disappearance all those years ago is listening in and tampering with her investigation.

No rest for the weary, right? Alex has barely strapped on her magical training wheels when a gorgon slithers into town! Medusa isn’t just seeking asylum, either. She expects Alex’s help in breaking her own family’s infamous curse. Old hatred runs deep in creatures with such long memories, and keeping the entire town from going after Medusa with their own torches and pitchforks may prove impossible.

It wasn’t until I lost everything—my home, my marriage, even my career—that I started to wonder if our “family curse” might be more than an unfortunate turn of phrase. Now turning forty-five, the age at which every woman in my family dies, I need answers not only for myself but for my two daughters. And I’ll see every specialist in the country if that’s what it takes. But when a lifelong friend discovers a link between my strange family history and an abandoned estate, I can't pass up the opportunity to learn what happened before the death certificates started piling up.

Follow an adorable facility dog as she helps a child with appendicitis. Facility dogs are specially trained to help kids through medical experiences—from lifting spirits, motivating movement, modeling the power of play, and more.

Follow an adorable facility dog as she helps a child through a diagnosis of epilepsy. Facility dogs are specially trained to help kids through medical experiences—from lifting spirits, motivating movement, modeling the power of play, and more.

Amid the social turmoil of 1968, the last poor farm in Vermont is slated for closure. By the end of the year, the twelve destitute residents remaining will be dispatched to whatever institutions will take them, their personal stories lost forever. Hazel Morgan and her husband Paul have been matron and manager at the Sheldon Poor Farm for the past 20 years. Unlike her husband, Hazel refuses to believe the impending closure will happen. She believes that if she just cares deeply enough and works hard enough, the Sheldon Poor Farm will continue to be a safe haven for those in need.

It's the early 2010s, and 17-year-old Yesenia Rivera hates everything about herself: her brown skin and wide nose, her curly hair and hand-me-down clothing, and her inability to fit in with either the Mexican girls or the white girls at her school. So when her mother's new job requires them to uproot their lives and move to the Pacific Northwest, Yesenia devises a plan to remake herself completely.

There was a time when women’s health was repressed and breast cancer wasn’t discussed, but Shirley Temple Black, Rose Kushner, and Evelyn Lauder refused to be silenced. Their courage ignited a movement that changed the way society addresses breast cancer. When these “radical sisters” were diagnosed, they faced a medical world of myths, outdated protocols, and a shocking lack of research. Breast cancer awareness was absent, and treatment options were scarce. Yet, Shirley, Rose, and Evelyn became trailblazing advocates for breast cancer research, early detection, and women’s health.

After raising twin girls as a single father and spending his days on construction sites, Ford was ready to live out his early retirement on his terms, which included solitude and fishing. So he ditched the big city, moved to a town the size of a postage stamp, and bought a house in the middle of nowhere without a neighbor in sight. His recluse plans hit a snag when the abandoned house down the road is suddenly inhabited by a woman who bears a striking resemblance to his childhood crush and her four kids.

Emelda made a mistake she'll regret for the rest of her life—and it's put Kane in danger. Now, she has to right that wrong, and time is running out. She'll have to face unholy monsters, killer spy drones, and not one but two shadowy global organizations that want her dead. Or worse. To save Kane, she'll have to become something she'd never thought she had in her. Their pack of two is broken, and to save Kane, she will have to be clever. Fearless. Dangerous. Emelda Thorne will now be a lone wolf.

Claire Leccese is a romance novelist who writes happy endings for a living. Quite ironic, since she’s spent a lifetime battling demons from childhood trauma and has been anything but happy. She is plagued by self-doubt and an inability to trust people who claim to love her. Along comes Sydney Howard, a younger successful artist who rocks Claire’s world and “lit an agreeable blaze inside my belly…” However, as Sydney falls in love with the older woman, Claire’s fears overtake her and she runs away, vowing never to see Sydney again.

A desperate murder committed by Angela Miller’s mother tore Angela’s life apart and brought her to Martha’s Vineyard to live with her wealthy grandparents. It’s where her cousin, Kiki King, was born and raised, and Kiki now wants nothing more than to see the world beyond its sandy perimeter. Kiki’s mother escaped it. She took a late-night swim off Tashmoo Beach and was never seen again.

The last 60 years of dietary advice, warning women to avoid fat, have actually worsened women’s health. If you’re approaching menopause, in menopause, or are interested in improving your health naturally, here is a book that explains the history of menopause, the evolutionary benefits of this life event, and how to eat the right foods to help you enjoy what should be the longest and most fulfilling part of your life.

Avery Stone will do anything to have the family she didn't have growing up—even marry a man she doesn't love. Or at least that was the plan until she woke up on her wedding day with feet so cold she might as well name them Elsa…from Frozen, get it? After asking her deceased Grammy for a sign that she is doing the right thing, she receives a news alert on her phone announcing the newest cast member of Fairytale Love, who just happens to be the man she shared the best two weeks of her life with five years earlier and who she's loved and pined after ever since.

She came to the well alone to escape the whispers. A life marked by scandal had taught her to keep her head down and her heart guarded. But one afternoon, under a searing sun, a stranger speaks to her—not with judgment, but with curiosity, insight, and unsettling compassion. When this mysterious man threatens to upend everything she thought she knew, she faces a choice: bury her truth forever, or let it set her free. Set against the vivid backdrop of first-century Samaria, Davina blends rich historical detail with timeless questions of identity, shame, and second chances.

1955. In the sleepy seaside town of La Jolla, CA, rookie cop Jake Stirling saves the life of infamous crime writer Raymond Chandler, earning the respect of his hard-nosed captain, Wade Lennox, who served with Jake’s father, a police detective whose suicide two years earlier shocked the town and shattered Jake's family.

Time is running out for Kane. His human body is rapidly aging, and he must unlock secrets that can transform him back into a wolf before it's too late. Only Cal Davis holds the key. And their "pack of two" is not the only one searching for Cal. But they have a lead. Dr. George Fineman has known Cal since he was a boy and has been quietly helping him survive in the British Columbian forest. If Kane and Emelda can convince Fineman to reveal Cal's hideaway, they will finally get the solution they seek.

In 1944, Petra Reynolds, a tender 12-year-old farm girl, resided in a tranquil Midwest town. Removed from the atrocities of World War II, Petra’s innocence is kept intact. However, she knows polio has already killed or maimed thousands of Americans. Petra’s friend, Benjy, a polio survivor, uses a wheelchair. Quarantine signs posted throughout town fill her with dread. There’s nowhere to hide. Petra’s life took an unexpected twist when, due to a playground incident, she found herself in the school‘s infirmary alongside the notorious eighth-grade rebel, Chester Harrison.