From #1 New York Times bestselling author James Patterson, six kidnappers pursue a whopping ten-figure payout in this thrilling novel featuring “breakneck pacing and loop-the-loop plotting” (Publishers Weekly).

Five members of a billionaire’s family. In different locations. All kidnapped at the same moment.
Two children taken from a private-school bus. A film producer and a movie star grabbed at a hideaway resort. A beautiful wife whisked off the streets of Beverly Hills. 
A patriarch wants his family back. The cash, gold, jewels, are crypto are all ready.
There’s only one problem: a brilliant, very stubborn FBI agent. Special Agent Nicky Gordon doesn’t want to pay the kidnappers. 

Not a dime.

Billion-Dollar Ransom By James Patterson & Duane Swierczynski, Read By Cynthia Farrell (Audiobook Excerpt)

The Last Soul Among Wolves is the brilliant second installment in Melissa Caruso's Echo Archives series, a whip-smart adventure fantasy featuring cursed relics, sapphic romance, and a magical murder mystery. 

All Kembral Thorne wants is to finish her maternity leave in peace. But when her best friend asks for help, she can’t say no, even if it means a visit to a run-down mansion on an isolated island for a will reading. She arrives to find an unexpected reunion of her childhood friends—plus her once-rival, now-girlfriend Rika Nonesuch, there on a mysterious job. Then the will is read, and everything goes sideways.

Eight potential heirs, half of them Kem’s oldest friends.

Three cursed relics.

The rules: one by one, the heirs will die.

The prize for the lone survivor: A wish. And wishes are always bad business.

To save their friends, Kem and Rika must race against the clock and descend into other realities once more. But the mansion is full of old secrets and new schemes, and soon the game becomes far more dangerous—and more personal—than they could have imagined.

The Last Soul Among Wolves By Melissa Caruso, Read By Moira Quirk (Audiobook Excerpt)

In early October 2023, Palestinian Plestia Alaqad was a recent university graduate dreaming of a career as a journalist. But by the end of November, her homeland was unrecognizable—and she was broadcasting videos of violence and destruction to millions online, known across the world as "The Eyes of Gaza."

On the morning of October 7, 2023, 21-year-old Plestia Alaqad wakes to a flurry of messages and headlines: Gaza under bombardment. Civilians flee waves of Israeli strikes. In a few short days, she and her family will be at the epicenter of a violence that is all too familiar for Palestinians—but this time, she knows, things will never be the same.

A series of diary extracts from the weeks following October 7, The Eyes of Gaza is a gutting, on-the-ground record of the turmoil and destruction endured by the men, women, and children of Palestine. As Alaqad flees from neighborhood to neighborhood, from hospital to hospital, she documents all she sees—the destruction of beloved homes, the waves of bombs, and most of all, the boundless bravery and generosity of her people—all the while trying to memorize the faces of those around her "so somebody will have known them before the end," wondering if, one day, her own journal will be discovered admist the rubble.

A document of the indomitable Palestinian spirit, told through the voice of one ordinary young woman, The Eyes of Gaza is a tribute to Alaqad's beloved Gaza, a paean to the courage and endurance of Palestine, and a manifesto of hope for its future.

The Eyes of Gaza By Plestia Alaqad (Audiobook Excerpt)

The story of Boudicca, the notorious warrior queen who led a legendary rebellion in 60 CE against the Roman Empire in Britain. This book by acclaimed Wolf Den Trilogy author Elodie Harper follows Boudicca's meteoric rise and devastating fall through the eyes of her youngest daughter, Solina, who seeks revenge against Rome.
 
Boudicca—infamous warrior, queen of the British Iceni tribe, and mastermind of one of history’s greatest revolts. Her defeat spelled ruin for her people, yet still her name is enough to strike fear into Roman hearts.

But what of the woman who grew up in her shadow? The woman who has her mother's looks and cunning and her father’s druidic gifts, but a spirit all of her own? The woman whose desperate bid for survival will take her from Britain’s sacred marshlands to the glittering facades of Nero’s Roman Empire . . .

The narrative arc and emotional heart of the book is Solina's complex relationship with Rome, and what resistance means in the radically different world she finds herself in after her mother's fall. After she is taken to the Empire's capital by the ruthless Roman general Paulinus, she will have to decide what it truly means to be Boudicca's daughter.

Forced to fight. Determined to succeed. Meet Solina. Boudicca’s daughter.
 
This epic and emotional novel is perfect for fans of Madeleine Miller’s Circe and Constanza Casati’s Clytemnestra.

Boudicca's Daughter By Elodie Harper, Read By Nathalie Emmanuel & Elodie Harper (Audiobook Excerpt)

A guide to talk to your kids about tough, existential topics like climate change, war, pandemics, and more, in order to create a healthy home, and process your emotions so that you can take meaningful action. 

Everyone—especially young children, teenagers and young adults—now reports higher levels of anxiety than ever before. Yet there's no playbook for parenting today. From the climate crisis to gun violence to political upheaval to racism, parenting in these times means bearing witness to chronic levels of uncertainty amidst societal and planetary transformation. Many are succumbing to fears and despair by becoming cynical “Doomers” (those who are extremely pessimistic or fatalist about global problems such as climate change and pollution).    

In Raising Anti‑Doomers, psychotherapist Ariella Cook‑Shonkoff reveals that Doomerism is nothing more than fear or despair gone wild. We have a choice in breeding this response further into our culture—or not. Her book helps parents help themselves, and in doing so, help children, and future generations. Ultimately, when we reset our parenting dials to respond to present day needs and circumstances, we breathe hope back into the world by raising resilient generations to come—this book offers that hope at a time when we are desperately in need.

Raising Anti-Doomers By Ariella Cook-Shonkoff, Read By Rebecca Gibel (Audiobook Excerpt)

Long before The Brothers Grimm, there was a sisterhood of writers who defied the patriarchy and launched a literary craze with their feminist fairy tales—these are their stories.

In 17th century Paris, a group of women who called themselves conteuses (female storytellers) came together to weave the very first fairy tales. One of them, Marie-Catherine d’Aulnoy, coined the term ‘fairy tale,’ and some of these stories contain many familiar elements that appear in tales like Rapunzel and Beauty and the Beast. Unfortunately, these women and their tales have mostly been forgotten to history.

Women of the Fairytale Resistance uncovers seven of these writer’s biographies—which are just as compelling as their fairy tales—and retells 12 of their original stories. The women were mostly young noblewomen who were forced into undesirable marriages and did not have the freedom to give their opinions, travel, or choose who they wanted to love. They used their stories as a way of subtly complaining about their husbands and critiquing the oppressive reign of King Louis XIV. The female-empowering, gender-bending tales combine themes like romance, fantasy, escapism, and their protagonists control of their own destiny—something the writers deeply desired in their own lives.  

This unique and entertaining book will have you rethink everything you know about traditional fairy tales.

Women of the Fairy Tale Resistance By Jane Harrington, Read By Hope Newhouse (Audiobook Excerpt)

From a groundbreaking neuroscientist, a book that will reshape the way we understand how our brain perceives the world around us—for readers of Adam Grant's Think Again and Lisa Genova's Remember.

How does your brain decide what it's seeing, from the physical world to other people? For decades, scientists have tried to understand how our brains work, not realizing that the answer lies much closer to home. New research in neuroscience and psychology suggests that the brain is doing the same thing that the scientists are: using past experiences to build theories of how the world works, and using these models to predict and make sense of it. Through this process, your brain constructs the reality that you live in.

Daniel Yon takes the research one step further, uncovering how your brain colors your perception of the world, the judgements you make about other people, and the beliefs you form about yourself. These mental processes help us navigate the world—but can also lead us astray, causing us to believe outlandish conspiracy theories or to see things that aren’t really there. By understanding the ways each of our brains construct our realities, we can better engage with other communities and make more informed approaches about mental illness. With cutting-edge research and transformative practical applications, A Trick of the Mind will revolutionize the way you think.

A Trick of the Mind By Daniel Yon (Audiobook Excerpt)

From a bestselling author, a "warm, witchy, and full of heart" family story that is the queer love-child of Practical Magic and The Parent Trap (Sarah Beth Durst).

Beatrice Barnard doesn't believe in magic. She definitely doesn't believe the predictions of the celebrity psychic who claims that she will experience seven miracles...and soon after, she will die. When she discovers her husband is cheating on her, Bea flees to Skerry Island, off the Pacific Northwest coast, in desperate need of solitude. Immediately upon arrival, she finds her life on the line as a rogue woodchopper blade almost kills her. Her survival feels like a miracle.

And then things get more miraculous when she discovers her twin sister, Cordelia, whom she never knew about, and her mother Astrid, who supposedly died when Beatrice was two years old. Astrid and Cordelia reveal that Beatrice is an immensely powerful witch who can commune with the dead, like all the local Holland family witches. When their twin magic is joined, it shines like a beacon to the Velamen family, whose malevolent spirits are locked in an age-old struggle for magical dominance over the Hollands.

Beatrice doesn't know what to believe, but she begins to fear that the seven predicted miracles may occur, and that her imminent death will rip her away from her rediscovered family. Beatrice resolves to learn everything she can about her own power, in the hope of saving herself. But when her niece, Minna, goes missing, Bea's own life suddenly seems much less important. Beatrice must join her mother and her sister to save Minna, even if she dies in the process.

The Seven Miracles of Beatrix Holland By Rachael Herron, Read By Xe Sands (Audiobook Excerpt)

From the bestselling author of Unschooled, an exploration of new, low-cost K–12 learning models that favor individualized, learner-centered education

Across the United States, parents, teachers, administrators, policymakers, and ordinary citizens are increasingly frustrated by the rigidity and standardization of modern schooling, and they are seeking alternatives. Openness to different learning models reached new heights during the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to accelerate.

Entrepreneurial parents and teachers are responding to the growing demand for learning models that challenge the status quo. They are creating micro schools, learning pods, homeschooling collaboratives, online learning networks, and other flexible educational models that provide specialized, individualized education, often at a lower cost than traditional private schools. Joyful Learning shares the experiences of these everyday entrepreneurs who are reimagining learning in their communities, showing parents what is possible for their children and encouraging aspiring school founders to take their own enterprising leaps. Blending fresh storytelling with straightforward advice, Joyful Learning is an inspiring, relevant, and timely book for parents looking for different education options for their children, as well as would-be education entrepreneurs hoping to launch their own creative learning solutions. 

Joyful Learning By Kerry McDonald (Audiobook Excerpt)

Read by Read By J. Michael Tatum & Brina Palencia

Thanks to the silversmith Fran, Lawrence now has a map of the North. But Lawrence's gladness at the thought of finally being able to take Holo back to her home is short-lived, as upon revisiting Lenos he is embroiled in the strife surrounding a forbidden text. It is said that this mysterious book contains details of methods that threaten the land of Yoitsu itself. But in trying to get his hands on the book, Lawrence, who must return to the marketplace, finds himself running out of time to head for Yoitsu with Holo...Pressed into making a decision he may ultimately come to regret, which option will Lawrence choose?!

Sabramov lesson3 assignment part4

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