step sister story Audiobooks

“It’s like the meanest, wildest monkey running around my head, constantly looking for ways to bite me.” That was how Kirsten Pagacz described her OCD to her therapist on their first session when she was well into her 30s she’d been following orders from this mean taskmaster for 20 years, without understanding why. Initially the tapping and counting and cleaning and ordering brought her comfort and structure, two things lacking in her family life. But it never lasted; the loathsome self-talk only intensified, and the rituals she had to perform got more bizarre. By high school she was anorexic and a substance abuser, common "shadow syndromes" of OCD. By adulthood, she could barely hide her problems and held on to jobs and friends through sheer grit. Help finally came in the form of a miraculously well-timed public service announcement on NPR about OCD -- at last her illness had an identity. Leaving the OCD Circus reveals the story of Pagacz’s traumatic childhood and the escalation of her disorder demonstrating how OCD works to misshape a life from a very young age and explains the various tools she used for healing including meditation, cognitive behavioral therapy, yoga, exposure therapy, and medication.

Few of us know how to navigate the territory of traumatic loss successfully. Sweet Sorrow shows how we can respond and grow stronger from loss and suffering. Written by a psychologist and certified bereavement trauma specialist in the decade following the loss of her husband, father, mother, and only sibling, this carefully considered work provides perspective on grief and healing over time. This longer-term approach allows readers to have a more complete and accurate picture of the oscillations of grief over time. The book describes not only the immediate agony of the author’s losses, but also the process of starting over and making a successful new life as a single person full of hope and joy. Sweet Sorrow combines the author’s psychological expertise and clinical experience with the compelling art of memoir to illuminate the surprising ways in which loss survivors can grow and even thrive to achieve wholeness after heartbreaking, traumatic losses. Using findings from post-traumatic growth, as well as evidence-based psychological approaches, Sweet Sorrow illustrates through story and example, ways for grief survivors to start over, to manage chaos and stress, to let go, and to heal with new strategies and re-storying. Sweet Sorrow also provides resources and recommendations for self-care, as well as tips and suggestions for all of us trying to respond creatively and helpfully to those around us suffering loss. Ultimately, Sweet Sorrow is a book of inspiration intended to companion readers through the processes of loss and grief much like a helpful Sherpa might guide a lost traveler.

After taking her stepsister’s place, Yvonne Miller is married into a wealthy family. To take back her family business, she plots each step she takes carefully. Everyone knows Stephen Anderson is a cruel and ruthless person. Yet, his ugly and uncultured wife has him wrapped around her little finger. Stephen doesn’t mind that his wife’s an ugly duckling. On the contrary, he dotes on her excessively. When he hears gossip about his wife being ugly, with cosmetic surgeons offering her discounts, he whirls into a rage. “These blind dogs! My wife’s the most beautiful woman alive!” he insists.With that, a rumor spreads in Northerna City that Yvonne is Stephen’s retribution for his past misdeeds… Until one day, Yvonne returns from abroad drop-dead gorgeous, sending shockwaves all across the city. However, she doesn’t show up in Stephen’s life again. “What do you take me for, coming and going as you please?” he demands. Stepping aside to present the young kid behind her, Yvonne says in chagrin, “My child’s father?”

The right love is worth the wait... Wyoming – 1966 Calvin McKay can't understand his twin brother Carson's rush toward the altar—until he lays eyes on the bride's younger sister, Kimi. But at age sixteen, she's far too innocent for him to pursue…yet. Still, something about that little blonde tornado gets his blood pumping and his heart all twisted up. Kimi West is used to boys chasing after her, but Cal McKay is a man— all man—and his hot kisses are like nothing she's ever experienced. But he's a rancher, tied to the land, and she can’t wait for the day she can escape from Wyoming and see the world. After a tragedy sends Kimi running from her family two years later, Cal gives Kimi a place to stay—oh so many tantalizing reasons to stay with him—while she sorts out her plans. She'll have to decide whether the adventure she wants is away in a new frontier or right there by Cal's side. And Cal has to trust that by letting her go, Kimi will find her way back to him.

AN AMAZON BEST SELLING BOOK FOR KIDS! This entertaining, illustrated, middle grade chapter book is the series opener. Sign up for the spelling bee? No way! If there's one thing 10-year-old Texan Sophie Washington is good at, it's spelling. She's earned straight 100s on all her spelling tests to prove it. Her parents want her to compete in the Xavier Academy spelling bee,but Sophie wishes they would buzz off. That's until her irritating classmate, Nathan Jones, challenges her. There's no way she can let Mr. Know-It-All win. Studying is hard when you have a pesky younger brother and a busy social calendar. Can Sophie ignore the distractions and become Queen of the Bee? Here's what Goodreads reviewers say about Sophie Washington: Queen of the Bee: "Another great Sophie Washington book. Super cute. My 11-year-old loves these books." "As someone with a 10-year niece who is in fifth grade like Sophie, I believe that she would love this book and the rest of the Sophie Washington series by Tonya Duncan Ellis." "This series will go far. The story is down to earth, realistic and easy to read." This is the first book in the Readers' Favorite five star rated Sophie Washington book series that includes: Sophie Washington: Queen of the Bee (Book 1) Sophie Washington: The Snitch (Book 2) Sophie Washington: Things You Didn't Know About Sophie (Book 3) Sophie Washington: The Gamer (Book 4) Sophie Washington: Hurricane (Book 5) Sophie Washington: Mission Costa Rica (Book 6) Sophie Washington: Secret Santa (Book 7) Sophie Washington: Code One (Book 8) Sophie Washington: Mismatch (Book 9) Sophie Washington: My BFF (Book 10) Kids Ages 8-12 Click above to get your copy today!

Available for the first time as an audiobook, New York Times bestselling author Eric Jerome Dickey’s thrilling short story Harlem “People called me Harlem. I dubbed myself after that dangerous neighborhood that I’d never seen. I read life is rough in Harlem, and a black man isn’t expected to live to see twenty-five. I was twenty-three. The clock was ticking.” When Harlem gets off on a murder charge due to insanity, the asylum he’s sent to feels worse than death, with one exception: the beautiful nurse Daphane. As their relationship grows, so do the stakes: she has the ability to help him escape, and he has the ability to set her free from her abusive relationship. Yet Harlem has one big secret: he was perfectly sane when he committed his crime. But in the end, Daphane’s own secret may be the deadliest of all. . . .

He turns back to me that evil lust filled glint in his eyes I have seen on his face for the past year. ‘You’re such a little cock tease, you think you can walk around in your little shorts and skirts like you do thinking there is no consequences you’re going to learn exactly what that means now open up my girl,’ my eyes widen in horror as he thrusts his hips towards my face. Aurora Anderson and her mother Sarah flea in the middle of the night after suffering from abuse from the one man they both thought they could trust. They plight takes them as far as the Silver Brooke Pack where Alpha Matthew Reynolds welcomes them in. A romance transpires between Sarah and Matthew where the two marry forcing Aurora to join her new family where she meets her four new step brothers each more handsome than the last. Still recovering from her trauma, she is confused by her feelings towards her new brothers, despite their taunts and unkind words she feels the undeniable pull. On her 18th birthday she gets her wolf only to learn that she is mated to not one but all four of her step brothers. She fleas for fear of rejection, she knows what this could mean for her mother and after seeing her finally happy after so long so doesn’t know what to do. Will Aurora and Sarah both find a way to have their happy ending? Will their past come back to haunt them? Can Aurora even handle having four mates? What other secrets have been hidden that threaten their futures?

“Papa explains the war like this: ‘When the elephants dance, the chickens must be careful.’ The great beasts, as they circle one another, shaking the trees and trumpeting loudly, are the Amerikanos and the Japanese as they fight. And our Philippine Islands? We are the small chickens.” Once in a great while comes a storyteller who can illuminate worlds large and small, magical and true to life. When the Elephants Dance introduces us to the incandescent voice of Tess Uriza Holthe, who sets her remarkable first novel in the waning days of World War II, as the Japanese and the Americans engage in a fierce battle for possession of the Philippine Islands. The Karangalan family and their neighbors huddle for survival in the cellar of a house a few miles from Manila. Outside the safety of their little refuge the war rages on—fiery bombs torch the beautiful Filipino countryside, Japanese soldiers round up and interrogate innocent people, and from the hills guerillas wage a desperate campaign against the enemy. Inside the cellar, these men, women, and children put their hopes and dreams on hold as they wait out the war, only emerging to look for food, water, and medicine. Through the eyes of three narrators, thirteen-year-old Alejandro Karangalan, his spirited older sister Isabelle, and Domingo, a passionate guerilla commander, we see how ordinary people must learn to live in the midst of extraordinary uncertainty, how they must find hope for survival where none seems to exist. They find this hope in the dramatic history of the Philippine Islands and the passion and bravery of its people. Crowded together in the cellar, the Karangalans and their friends and neighbors tell magical stories to one another based on Filipino myth and legend to fuel their courage, pass the time, and teach important lessons.

Inspiration for Brave Girls Who Love STEM AZ is a young girl who finds herself in a robot building competition. Can she use girl power to overcome crashes, explosions, and hackers to beat school bully and three-time champ? Smart and strong is the new pretty. In this funny, action-packed story about STEM for kids, the talented AZ fights gender stereotypes and learns tough lessons on leadership. With the help of her quirky friends, Li and 10, the team builds a feisty robot named Ada. Together, they work hard, solve puzzles, grow in confidence, and learn the importance of friendship and collaboration. Calling all girls who code, techgirls, Grace Hopper fans, and stemettes. Written to raise awareness about the challenges faced by women in science and engineering, She’s Building a Robot celebrates voices from diverse socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds. More importantly, it gives girls in science the opportunity to relate to strong, brave, smart characters. If your child enjoyed books like Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls , The Fourteenth Goldfish , Women in Science , or Hidden Figures Young Reader’ Edition , then She’s Building a Robot is your next read!

Adina Daugherty became pregnant after being framed and gave birth to quadruplets. Her younger sister stole two of those children to tie herself to the Winters family, while Adina faced death to escape with the other two children. Five years later, Adina returned triumphantly. Since her sister loved pretending to be pure despite her rotten heart, she would torment her. As for her other two children? She would snatch them back! Duke Winters pinned her against the bed and said, “Why don’t you steal me as well?”Adina sneered. “Dream on!”But right after saying it, she puked. “So… how many children this time?” Duke asked.