Showing results by narrator "Kate Wisniewski" in All Categories

As World War II looms ahead, Velma and Jack Gooding's joy of welcoming a healthy son into the world is soon overshadowed when Jack falls gravely ill with Tubercular Pneumonia. To aid his recovery, the family moves to a small farm, where Jack slowly recovers and eventually takes on part-time work. The attack on Pearl Harbor, a turning point for all Americans, propels the Goodings to California. There Jack builds B-17s, while Velma manages their home life with now two young sons.

When introverted loner Penny transfers to a Midwest university in search of the all-American college experience, she finds herself under the intoxicating influence of Stella, a glamorous, damaged sorority girl with a razor–sharp wit and a bottle full of secrets.

Even though Rixie thinks Amos is innocent, she informs Amos that he’s under investigation for race fixing and if convicted, could spend time in prison. She devises a plan to suspend Amos from the track and ship him and his rescued dog off to an equine assisted therapy center. With Amos helping rehabilitate women prisoners and fighting for their rights, Rixie explores the track’s underworld, establishing relationships with a colorful cast of characters as she unravels the mystery that brought her here.

As a "Jumper" who navigates ships through grimspace, Sirantha Jax is used to kicking ass. So why is she suddenly chosen as an ambassador of peace?

Carnivalesque is the perfect escape—if you can score an invitation and find its secret location. The carnival boasts exhibits like glow-in-the-dark bumper cars, King's Court speed dating, a pitch-black maze you could get lost in, and thousands of teens—dressed up, in costume, and wearing Mardi Gras masks to protect their outward identities. At Carnivalesque, privacy is paramount. No cell phones. No press. No social media, which makes it the perfect scoop for seventeen-year-old journalist, Mackenzie Davis.

Regret nothing. Sirantha Jax has the J-gene, which permits her to "jump" faster-than-light ships through grimspace. She loves nothing more than that rush, but the star roads have to wait. Her final mission takes her to La'heng, a planet subjugated during first contact. Since then, the La'hengrin homeworld has been occupied by foreign conquerors.

During the war against murderous, flesh-eating aliens, grimspace "jumper" Sirantha Jax decided to go it alone. The cost of her actions: the destruction of modern interstellar travel—and the lives of six hundred Conglomerate soldiers. Now she's on trial for dereliction of duty, desertion, mass murder, high treason . . . and her life.

Based on the life of author G. L. Gooding's mother, Velma Steele, The Road to Resilience continues the saga first introduced in Where Courage Began. There, the audience met five-year-old Velma, her young siblings, and her suddenly widowed mother Alice. Now, it's Christmas Day 1924, and young Velma is still breathless from the dramatic events of the previous night. She remembers with joy participating along with many of her community in rallying around an isolated family in a moment of great need.

Budding artist Dinah Zimmerman is recovering from a relationship with the boy next door who happens to be hounding her to get back together. When she visits the famous Carnivalesque one night, she meets Harvey—a smooth talker who asks her to dance. But their dance is interrupted when several of his exes bathe him in milkshakes and douse him with water balloons. Dinah has little interest in dating yet another bad boy. Nonetheless, her plans are derailed when Harvey offers her exactly what she needs-space from her ex.

John Quincy and Louisa Adams’s unexpected journey that changed everything. American Phoenix is the sweeping, riveting tale of a grand historic adventure across forbidding oceans and frozen tundra—from the bustling ports and towering birches of Boston to the remote reaches of pre-Soviet...

A blizzard rages outside a ramshackle Iowa farmhouse in February of 1921. Five-year-old Velma and her older sister stand near a glowing Isinglass stove charged with minding their two younger brothers. Velma senses that her father is dying in the nearby living room, and she wonders if her mother can possibly survive the raging snowstorm in her brave effort to get help.