Melba Sibrel has narrated 14 audiobooks on Listento.it by 11 authors, with an average listener rating of 5★ across 5 ratings. The most-rated is To Win Her Favor.
To Win Her Favor
Summary
“If you read one historical novel this year, make it To Win Her Favor. It will linger with you long after the last page.” (Colleen Coble, USA Today best-selling author of The House at Saltwater Point) A gifted rider in a world where ladies never race, Maggie Linden is determined that her horse will become a champion. But the one man who could help her has vowed to stay away from thoroughbred racing forever. An Irishman far from home, Cullen McGrath left a once prosperous life in England because of a horse racing scandal that nearly ruined him. He’s come to Nashville for a fresh start, hoping to buy land and begin farming, all while determined to stay as far away from thoroughbred racing as possible. But starting over proves harder than he'd wagered, especially when Maggie Linden's father makes him an offer he shouldn't accept yet cannot possibly refuse. Maggie is certain that her mare, Bourbon Belle, can take the top purse in the inaugural Peyton Stakes, the richest race ever run in America. Maggie only needs the chance to prove it. To give her that chance, and to save Linden Downs from being sold to the highest bidder, Maggie's father - aging, yet wily as ever - makes a barter. His agreement includes one tiny, troublesome detail: that Maggie must marry a man she's never met. A man she never would have chosen for herself. Set against the post-Civil War history of Nashville’s historic Belle Meade Plantation, the most influential thoroughbred stud farm in America’s history, To Win Her Favor is a passionate, stirring, and highly acclaimed novel listeners won’t soon forget. “To Win Her Favor is a beautiful love story, not to mention a story of faith that shines through in the darkest circumstances. From the very beginning, I lost my heart to Cullen and Maggie and yearned for the moment when they would lose their hearts to each other.” (Robin Lee Hatcher, best-selling author of Who I Am with You) “Tamera Alexander is one of my favorite authors, so I expect a lot from her novels. To Win Her Favor is captivating beyond expectation! This novel has everything readers are looking for - rich characterization, page-turning intrigue, a heartwarming romance charged with tension, and more!” (Cindy Woodsmall, New York Times and CBA best-selling author) “Tamera Alexander has done it again. Her imagination and skillful pen intertwined with history takes the reader on a beautiful journey. To Win Her Favor is sure to stir the heart and open the mind.” (Jenny Lamb, Director of Interpretation & Education, Belle Meade Mansion)
©2015 Tamera Alexander (P)2015 Zondervan
To Wager Her Heart
Summary
Can a railroad man and a Southern belle turned teacher find a way to work together to achieve their dreams in the new reality of the post-Civil War South? Sylas Rutledge, former gambler and new owner of the East Line Railway, invests everything he has into this venture, partly to see if he can do it - but mostly to avenge his father. One man holds the key to the railway's success - General William Giles Harding of Nashville's Belle Meade Plantation. But Harding is champagne and thoroughbreds, and Sylas Rutledge is beer and bullocks. Sy needs someone to help him maneuver in high society, and when he meets Alexandra Donelson, he quickly decides he's found his tutor. Spurning her family's wishes that she marry, Alexandra Donelson is pursuing her passion for teaching at Fisk University, the first freedmen's university in the United States. But her family does not approve, and ultimately her father expels her from the family home and cuts her off completely. Through her friendship with Mary Harding, Alexandra is thrown together with both General Harding and Sylas Rutledge. And she soon finds herself falling in love with a man whose roguish qualities and adventuresome spirit smack more of recklessness than responsibility. Sylas Rutledge will risk everything to win the hand of the woman he loves. What he doesn't count on is having to wager her heart to do it. Set at Nashville's historic Belle Meade Plantation, To Wager Her Heart is a sweeping Southern love story about a nation mending after war, the struggle to move a country forward, and the courage of a man and woman to see themselves for who they truly are - and can be - with each other.
©2017 Tamera Alexander (P)2017 Zondervan
The Legend of the Bluebonnet
Summary
When a killing drought threatens the existence of the tribe, a courageous little Comanche girl sacrifices her most beloved possession - and the Great Spirit's answer results not only in much needed rain but a very special gift in return.
©1996 Tomie dePaola (P)2018 Listening Library
Make Way for Ducklings
Summary
Mrs. Mallard was sure that the pond in the Boston Public Gardens would be a perfect place for her and her eight ducklings to live. The problem was how to get them there through the busy streets of Boston. But with a little help from the Boston police, Mrs. Mallard and Jack, Kack, Lack, Nack, Ouack, Pack, and Quack arrive safely at their new home. This brilliant, amusingly observed tale of mallards on the move has won the hearts of generations. Awarded the Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children in 1941, it has since become a favorite of millions.
©2018 Robert McCloskey (P)2018 Listening Library
Documentary Superstars
Summary
The first book to trace the rise of documentaries as mainstream entertainment.... When did documentaries get glamorous? Documentary Superstars looks at the history of documentaries and traces their transition from hands-off to in your face. Exclusive interviews with Michael Moore, Morgan Spurlock, Errol Morris, George Clooney, Sacha Baron Cohen, Morgan Freeman, Al Gore, and more of the biggest names in the field show the impact of the documentary style on mainstream movies and on our society. From cinéma vérité to the inserted narrator, from the “balanced” point of view to the charismatic commentator (à la Fahrenheit 9/11), to the documentarian starring in his own narrative (as in Supersize Me) to filmmakers’ innovative use of cameos, pseudocameos, and archival footage, and much more, Documentary Superstars examines the way in which this evolving art form has changed - and changed us. Newfound box-office clout makes documentaries big business Interviews with Michael Moore, Morgan Spurlock, Al Gore, Sacha Baron Cohen, more Includes career advice for new documentary filmmakers
©2008 Marsha McCreadie (P)2013 Audible, Inc.
Snowmen at Christmas
Summary
Snowmen at Night shared with us the magical, slip-sliding adventures of snowmen after dark...but have you ever wondered what snowmen do for Christmas? Well, now’s your chance to find out! The snowmen are back, and this time they’re celebrating Christmas - the snowman way! This snappy and entertaining companion to New York Times best seller Snowmen at Night depicts all the best parts of the holiday, replete with icy treats and a snowman Kris Kringle. Told in the same bouncy verse as the original, Snowmen at Christmas is perfect for a snowy evening read-aloud.
©2005 Caralyn Buehner (P)2018 Listening Library
Pink and Say
Summary
When Sheldon Russell Curtis told this story to his daughter, Rosa, she kept every word in her heart and was to retell it many times. I will tell it in Sheldon's own words as nearly as I can. He was wounded in a fierce battle and left for dead in a pasture somewhere in Georgia when Pinkus found him. Pinkus' skin was the color of polished mahogany, and he was flying Union colors like the wounded boy, and he picked him up out of the field and brought him to where the black soldier's mother, Moe Moe Bay, lived. She had soft, gentle hands and cared for him and her Pink. But the two boys were putting her in danger, two Union soldiers in Confederate territory! They had to get back to their outfits. Scared and uncertain, the boys were faced with a hard decision, and then marauding Confederate troops rode in. In this Civil War story passed from great-grandfather to grandmother, to son, and finally to the author-artist herself, Patricia Polacco once again celebrates the shared humanity of the peoples of this world.
©2017 Patricia Polacco (P)2017 Listening Library
High Strangeness
Summary
The suspect in a double murder has an alibi that is out of this world. All is not well at the Wellness Center, an exclusive psychiatric clinic on Florida's mostly placid Tango Key. An orderly and a staff psychiatrist have been brutally murdered - and the female mental patient believed to be responsible has escaped. The missing woman claims she was once kidnapped by a UFO, and when homicide detective Aline Scott takes up the chase, she quickly discovers that she is not alone. The flying saucer story might not fly, but the suspect's link to a hardcore UFO encounter group and its charismatic leader is for real. So is the mysterious device implanted in the dead psychiatrist's head. Aline knows there's a connection - and so does whoever is stalking her. Soon her search leads her into places she was never meant to know about - and into a close encounter she may not live to tell about...
©1992 T. J. MacGregor (P)2013 David N. Wilson
Perfume of Paradise
Summary
On a lush caribbean island, love and magic ignite a fiery passion.... Terrified of her impending marriage, beautiful Elene Larpent scents her body with a Haitian voodoo perfume guaranteed to bewitch the wealthy landowner and ensure his devotion. But just moments into the wedding, a violent slave uprising interrupts the consecration. Elene escapes - only to be captured by a ruthless band of men. On the verge of certain death, she is saved by handsome Captain Ryan Bayard. Then, amid the exotic breezes of St. Dominique, Elene and the captain discover a lust as sultry as the Caribbean air. In her passion, Elene quickly forgets the magic potion she had applied to her delicate skin. But Elene must wait to see if it is true love or the dizzying aphrodisiac that inflames the captain's desire. For the uninhibited pair have much in store before the perfume's power is fully unleashed....
©1995 Patricia Maxwell (P)2012 Audible, Inc.
Rabbit Hill
Summary
Winner of the Newbery Medal It has been a while since Folks lived in the Big House, and an even longer time has passed since there has been a garden at the House. All the animals of the Hill are very excited about the new Folks moving in, and they wonder how things are going to change. It's only a matter of time before the animals of the Hill find out just who is moving in, and they may be a little bit surprised when they do.
©1977 Robert Lawson (P)2018 Listening Library
Snowmen at Night
Summary
Have you ever built a snowman and discovered the next day that his grin has gotten a little crooked, or his tree-branch arms have moved? And you've wondered...what do snowmen do at night? This delightful wintertime tale reveals all! Caralyn Buehner's witty, imaginative verse offers many amusing details about the secret life of snowmen and where they go at night, while Mark Buehner's roly-poly snowmen are bursting with personality and charm. From the highly successful team that created such winning titles as Fanny's Dream, Snowmen at Night is fabulous, frosty, and fun!
©2018 Caralyn Buehner (P)2018 Listening Library
Come Sing, Jimmy Jo
Summary
Written by Newbery, National Book Award, and Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal winner Katherine Paterson The Johnsons are becoming country music stars. They're on TV and the radio - and it's all because of James. His voice and his guitar playing bring the songs to life, and make the audiences beg for more. Most kids would love it. Not James. He's had to change his name to "Jimmy Jo", dress in clothes he hates, and turn into someone else. Will he ever be able to cope with the fame?
©1985 Katherine Paterson (P)2018 Listening Library
When I Was Young in the Mountains
Summary
Caldecott Honor Book! "An evocative remembrance of the simple pleasures in country living; splashing in the swimming hole, taking baths in the kitchen, sharing family times, each is eloquently portrayed here in both the misty-hued scenes and in the poetic text." - Association for Childhood Education International
©1993 Cynthia Rylant (P)2018 Listening Library
Time of Wonder
Summary
Winner of the Caldecott Medal! For fans of Blueberries for Sal, One Morning in Maine, and Make way for Ducklings. "Out on the islands that poke their rocky shores above the waters of Penobscot Bay, you can watch the time of the world go by, from minute to minute, hour to hour, from day to day..." So begins this classic story of one summer on a Maine island from the author of One Morning in Maine and Blueberries for Sal. The spell of rain, the gulls and a foggy morning, the excitement of sailing, the quiet of the night, the sudden terror of a hurricane, and, in the end, the peace of the island as the family packs up to leave are shown in McClosky's poetic language brought to life.
©2018 Robert McCloskey (P)2018 Listening Library