Pam Dougherty has narrated 22 audiobooks on Listento.it by 16 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.6★ across 5 ratings. The most-rated is Soda Politics.
Soda Politics
Summary
Sodas are astonishing products. Little more than flavored sugar water, these drinks cost practically nothing to produce or buy yet have turned their makers - principally Coca-Cola and PepsiCo - into a multibillion-dollar industry with global recognition, distribution, and political power. Billed as "refreshing", "tasty", "crisp", and "the real thing", sodas also happen to be so well established to contribute to poor dental hygiene, higher calorie intake, obesity, and type 2 diabetes that the first line of defense against any of these conditions is to simply stop drinking them. Habitually drinking large volumes of soda not only harms individual health but also burdens societies with runaway health care costs. So how did products containing absurdly inexpensive ingredients become a multibillion-dollar industry and international brand icons while also having a devastating impact on public health? In Soda Politics, Dr. Marion Nestle answers this question by detailing all of the ways that the soft drink industry works overtime to make drinking soda as common and accepted as drinking water for adults and children. Dr. Nestle, a renowned food and nutrition policy expert and public health advocate, shows how sodas are principally miracles of advertising; Coca-Cola and PepsiCo spend billions of dollars each year to promote their sale to children, minorities, and low-income populations, in developing as well as industrialized nations. And once they have stimulated that demand, they leave no stone unturned to protect profits. That includes lobbying to prevent any measures that would discourage soda sales, strategically donating money to health organizations and researchers who can make the science about sodas appear confusing, and engaging in corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities to create goodwill and silence critics. Soda Politics follows the money trail wherever it leads, revealing how hard Big Soda works to sell as much of their products as possible to an increasingly obese world. But Soda Politics does more than just diagnose a problem - it encourages listeners to help find solutions. From Berkeley to Mexico City and beyond, advocates are successfully countering the relentless marketing, promotion, and political protection of sugary drinks. And their actions are having an impact - for all of the hardball and softball tactics the soft drink industry employs to maintain the status quo, soda consumption has been flat or falling for years. Health advocacy campaigns are now the single greatest threat to soda companies' profits. Soda Politics provides listeners with the tools they need to keep up pressure on Big Soda in order to build healthier and more sustainable food systems.
©2015 Marion Nestle (P)2016 Audible, Inc.
Charming Coco
Summary
From international best-selling author Katie Graykowski comes a love story about fate, fame, and football.
Coco Robbins has spent the last 15 years falling out of love with Seth Charming. What started out as a schoolgirl crush, grew into a full-fledged fantasy. Too bad he had no idea she even existed.
Now as an orthopedic surgeon who’s spent the last four years working with Doctors Without Borders, she ran halfway around the world to get away from Seth only to find herself right back where she started.
Seth Charming is the quarterback of the Super Bowl winning Texas Lone Stars. He has the world at his feet, several women at his side, and all the fame and fortune he could ever want. Only something’s missing. He wants a family. Unfortunately, he has yet to meet the right woman.
When Coco Robbins strolls back into Seth’s life, he knows immediately that she’s the one he’s been waiting for . . . only now he has to convince her that she’s in love with him.
©2017 Katie Graykowski (P)2018 Katie Graykowski
Perfect Summer
Summary
High school teacher Summer Ames is trapped in the nightmare morning from hell. Her alarm clock didn't go off, she accidentally backed over the rosebush her grandfather gave her grandmother right before he accepted defeat against prostate cancer, she's wearing clothes she picked up off the floor, and when she opens the door to her classroom, the lights from the TV cameras nearly blind her. She's won Teacher of the Year, but unlike the past winners, she doesn't get a new car or a Hawaiian vacation or even new school supplies, she wins an over privileged quarterback with a bright smile and questionable intentions. Clint Grayson is an NFL quarterback in need of a reputation makeover. If he has any hope of landing a hundred million dollar endorsement deal, it will take some pretty impressive PR for the public to forget the photos of his battered and bruised ex-girlfriend. In an attempt to polish his tarnished reputation, Clint agrees to be a high school class mentor. When these two get together all hell breaks loose.
©2013 Katie Graykowski (P)2014 Katie Graykowski
Just One Piece
Summary
When Mustang Ridges receives a severed penis in the mail, she knows it's going to be a bad day. She's sure there's a body to go along with the penis, but she can't find it.
While on the hunt for the owner of the penis, she stumbles across a dead body. It's Jane Dough, a substitute teacher at Lakeside Elementary. The Lakeside Elementary PTO is on the case. It appears that Jane might have been a prostitute who supplemented her income with a little substitute teaching on the side. After vowing to vet substitute teachers more carefully, Mustang and her two best friends go head to head with Davina Hasselhoff, who runs the local brothel.
Deep in her heart, Mustang knows the she shouldn't shop at a yard sale outside of a brothel, but she can't help herself. They are selling all of Jane Dough's things. She's hoping for a clue, but all she gets is a concussion and a mummified finger.
What do a severed penis, a dead body, a brothel, and a mummified finger have in common? Mustang must figure it out before the killer sends her another body part.
©2018 Katie Graykowski (P)2018 Katie Graykowski
Trail of Thread: A Woman's Westward Journey
Summary
In this first book of the Trail of Thread series, in the form of letters she wrote on the journey, Deborah Pieratt describes the scenery, the everyday events on the trail, and the task of taking care of her family. Stories of humor and despair, along with her ongoing remarks about camping, cooking, and quilting, make you feel as if you pulled up stakes and are traveling with the Pieratts, too. This series is based on author Linda K. Hubalek's ancestors that traveled from Kentucky to Kansas in 1854. Besides the history of the times, Hubalek weaves quilting facts and quilt pattern sketches in her book series.
©1995, 2010 Linda K. Hubalek (P)2013 Linda K. Hubalek
Thimble of Soil
Summary
Follow the widowed Margaret Ralston Kennedy (a relative of the author) in this second audiobook of the Trail of Thread series, as she travels with eight of her thirteen children from Ohio to the Territory of Kansas in 1855. Thousands of American headed west in the decade before the Civil War, but those who settled in Kansas suffered through frequent clashes between pro-slavery and free-state fractions that gripped the territory. Told through her letters, Thimble of Soil describes the prevalent hardships and infrequent joys experienced by the hardy pioneer women of Kansas, who struggled to protect their families from terrorist raids while building new homes and new lives on the vast unbroken prairie. Margaret was dedicated to the cause of the North, and while the male members of her family were away fighting for a free state, she valiantly defended their homestead and held their families together through the savage years of Bleeding Kansas. Experience the terror of the fighting and the determination to endure as you stake a claim alongside the women caught in the bloody conflicts of Kansas in the 1850s.
©2010 Linda K. Hubalek (P)2014 Linda K. Hubalek
Blown to Pieces
Summary
After restaurateur Big Tommy Prather is blown to pieces in his front yard, Mustang Ridges and her two best friends are on the case. While the local police have ruled the death an accident, Mustang and the girls suspect murder. They can prove it...sort of.
As the small community of Lakeside, Texas mourns the loss of one of its most beloved citizens, Mustang, Haley, and Monica do their level best to find someone who might want Big Tommy dead. Only...every single person they interview, loves Big Tommy. He volunteered at the food pantry, coached little league, sang in the church choir, and sponsored funding raising events for every cause under the sun. In short, he was Jesus with a beer gut.
When Haley is kidnapped by the killer, all hell breaks loose and Mustang must solve Big Tommy’s murder before her best friend is blown to pieces.
©2016 Katie Graykowski (P)2017 Katie Graykowski
True Crime from Texas Monthly
Summary
In partnership with Texas Monthly, the following articles spotlighting true crime are now available in a bundle as an audio download: "The Cheerleader Murder Plot" by Mimi Swartz, read by Pam Dougherty "The Last Ride of Cowboy Bob" by Skip Hollandsworth, read by Bruce DuBose "A Kiss Before Dying" by Pamela Colloff, read by Staci Snell and Karissa Vacker "The Talented Mr. Khater" by Francesca Mari, read by Mallorie Rodak "Just Desserts" by Katy Vine, read by Lydia Mackay "The Cheerleader Murder Plot" by Mimi Swartz features a woman who went to extreme, murderous lengths to ensure her daughter's spot on the cheerleading squad. "The Last Ride of Cowboy Bob" by Skip Hollandsworth profiles the mysterious Peggy Jo Tallas who, disguised as a man, robbed banks and confounded police for years. "A Kiss Before Dying" by Pamela Colloff revisits the case of Betty Williams, a high school student who begged her ex to kill her. "The Talented Mr. Khater" by Francesca Mari investigates the ongoing exploits of international con artist and psychopath Youssef Khater. "Just Desserts" by Katy Vine is the story of a man who turned "keeping up with the Joneses" into the perfect crime.
©2018 Texas Monthly (P)2018 Random House Audio
The BIG Book on the Gastric Sleeve
Summary
The vertical sleeve gastrectomy, or gastric sleeve, can be your weight loss solution after years of struggling with obesity. Thousands of patients have successfully lost weight and kept it off after vertical sleeve gastrectomy. Making the right decisions can help you make the most out of this life-changing experience. The Big Book on the Gastric Sleeve: Everything You Need to Lose Weight and Live Well with the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy! provides the information and tips you need to make the most out of this chance to overcome obesity forever. How does the gastric sleeve work? Is the vertical sleeve gastrectomy your best option? Who will your surgeon be? What will your diet be like? How can you reduce complications and side effects? This indispensible book answers these questions and more with straightforward and complete explanations. The authors, a successful weight loss surgery patient and a nutritionist specializing in weight loss speak to those considering weight loss surgery, current gastric sleeve patients and their supporters. Learn about: Expected weight loss after vertical sleeve gastrectomy (VSG) Choosing a surgeon and paying for surgery Safely preparing for and recovering from surgery Avoiding mistakes that can slow weight loss and harm your health The VSG diet for weight loss: what, when and how much to eat Health benefits and risks of the sleeve Embracing life as a sleeve patient This complete guide covers the entire VSG journey - don't miss out on critical information that can get you the weight loss that you want and deserve!
©2013 Alex Brecher (P)2014 Alex Brecher
The School for Psychics: A Midlife Fairy Tale Adventure
Summary
Adventure, suspense, and romantic comedy with paranormal elements make for a charming romp from the tiny island of Lanai, Hawaii, to the vast Chateau of Versailles. A grown-up fairy tale and fantasy version of Da Vinci Code meets Murder She Wrote by six-time Wall Street Journal best-selling author Carolyn Jourdan, whose previous cozy mysteries with romantic suspense are Out on a Limb and The School for Mysteries. Phoebe, a private duty nurse, has a gift for knowing certain kinds of information that are none of her business, so when her new boss asks her to help him find and retrieve some extremely valuable items that have gone missing, she's happy to try to help. What the boss failed to disclose was who she'd have to work with and what they'd be up against. A fun, action-packed romp through the Loire Valley, Paris, and Normandy.
©2014, 2016 Carolyn Jourdan (P)2018 Carolyn Jourdan
Place Your Betts
Summary
Betts Monroe is a country music rags-to-riches story. As the daughter of the town slut, she clawed her way up from the bars of Bourbon Street to the Country Music Hall of Fame. She's America's sweetheart, darling of the media, and a multi-platinum star. But she has a secret. At the age of sixteen, she had a baby and gave him up for adoption because her boyfriend wasn't ready for fatherhood. Now she finds out that her precious baby boy has been living with his father from day one. Gabe Swanson is a Texas cattle baron riches-to-rags story. As the only son of the town's most prominent family, it was a huge blow when his father lost the family fortune in a Ponzi scheme. Now, Gabe is land rich and cash poor. But he has his son and family is all that matters. When Betts moves back to the small town that shunned her, all hell breaks loose. She wants her son. Can Betts and Gabe leave their past in the rear view mirror so they can be a family?
©2013 Katie Graykowski (P)2014 Katie Graykowski
Rest in Pieces
Summary
Mustang Ridges isn't a town, a stripper, or some old western movie. She's a feisty, single mom living in the small town of Lakeside, Texas, where money does buy happiness, and keeping up appearances is much more important than the truth. Six months ago on her 30th birthday, her husband decided that married life, fatherhood, and his job as the Lakeside chief of police weren't as exciting as a permanent vacation to Grand Cayman with his mistress and a million dollars in diamonds he stole from the police evidence lockup. Mustang is a pariah in a Lakeside full of piranha. But she refuses to leave - this is her home, and she figures that if she can't join them, then she'll beat them at their own game. With a little luck, some intimidation, and the help of her good friends, Monica and Haley, Mustang presides over her own little slice of Lakeside, the Bee Creek Elementary Parent Teacher Organization. All is quiet in Lakeside until Molly Miars, the kindergarten teacher, is found dead. According to the new police chief, she overdosed on heroin. That doesn't explain why her head was the only body part to make it to her funeral. Mustang and her fellow PTOers don't buy the heroin overdose for a second. Vowing to do right by Molly, the PTO decides to investigate. Quickly they find that Lakeside isn't the quiet, sleepy town it appears to be. There is a dark side - money laundering and drug trafficking. When Mustang's name turns up on a contract killer's hit list, things go from bad to worse. Can she and the PTO stay alive long enough to find out who killed Molly Miars?
©2015 Katie Graykowski (P)2015 Katie Graykowski
The Cheerleader Murder Plot
Summary
In partnership with Texas Monthly, Mimi Swartz's "The Cheerleader Murder Plot" is now available as an audio download, where the length and timeliness of a podcast meets the high-quality production of a full-length audio program. In "The Cheerleader Murder Plot", Mimi Swartz paints a scene of a place that makes the unthinkable - the plot to murder a fellow cheerleading mother and her daughter - something within the realm of possibility. To say Channelview is a dismal place is an understatement. It's the kind of place where even the slightest bit of distinction goes a long way amidst the usual doldrum of high school, marriage, kids, repeat. It's within this setting that the likes of obsessive, helicopter moms, Wanda Holloway and Verna Heath, who live vicariously through their daughters, are given terrifying credence. When both mothers campaigned for their daughters to make the junior high cheerleading squad and only Verna's case succeeded, Wanda quickly turned what could have been friendly competition into heated, lethal rivalry. Her scheme to permanently rid the competition standing in the way of her daughter's - and more importantly, her own - success, stabs at the heart of the myth of the cheerleader in Texas and the suffocation of a forgettable, small town.
©1991 Mimi Swartz (P)2018 Random House Audio
The School for Mysteries
Summary
By USA Today, Audible, and five-time Wall Street Journal best-selling author Carolyn Jourdan. This fun romp with supernatural elements, witty banter, suspense, romantic comedy, and a few paranormal elements make for an entertaining adventure set in the present day but touching on history from medieval Chartres to the Civil War. Phoebe McFarland has just lost her job as a rural home health care nurse in White Oak, Tennessee, a sleepy rural community nestled in the mist-shrouded Smoky Mountains. But then she's unexpectedly offered a ritzy-sounding position as a private duty nurse to an enigmatic scholar. Unfortunately before she can start her upscale new life, Phoebe is unwittingly caught up in a medical emergency with Nick, a total stranger. The mismatched couple is forced to cooperate as they flee professional killers who now have Phoebe in their crosshairs, as well. Will Phoebe and friends be able to prevent some scary guys from killing her and Nick over a mysterious book that's not even finished?
©2014 Carolyn Jourdan (P)2018 Carolyn Jourdan
Changing Lanes
Summary
Professional football player Devon Harding found his soul mate at the age of 17. Trouble is he can't remember her last name. For the last 14 years, he's been waiting for the universe to send her back to him. When that day comes, he nearly falls all over himself to get to her. But he plays it cool and waits for her to come to him. And she walks right past him. Pediatric oncologist Laney Nixon has only been in love once - at the age of 16. For the last 14 years, she's looked for him, but not knowing his last name has made finding him impossible. But when she comes face to face with him, she doesn't recognize him. Can Devon get her to remember the past so they can have a future? Because all is fair in love and football...and the past is just the beginning.
©2014 Katie Graykowski (P)2015 Katie Graykowski
Collard Greens and Catfishing
Summary
The Golden Girls meet Dirty Harry.... From USA Today best-selling authors Southern matriarch Lillian Summer Fairview is settling right nice into prison, until Big Martha, the toughest broad on the cellblock, comes asking for a favor. Her niece has fallen for a guy she met online, and Martha’s convinced Mr. Too-Good-To-Be-True is up to no good. All Lil’s friends have to do is investigate the guy and report back. Already tied up with a cantankerous septic system on Lil’s family estate, the grannies don’t have time for detective work. If Summer Haven isn’t in shipshape before the historic society’s inspection, they’ll be in deep you-know-what. But Big Martha is as persuasive as she is tough, and when the gals poke around, they find the guy doesn’t really exist. Will these amateur sleuths be able to track down the elusive Romeo in the scam-filled world of online dating without alerting the local police to their shenanigans, or will they find themselves in trouble right up to their granny panties?
©2020 Gwendolyn B. Lucas, Nancy Naigle (P)2021 Gwendolyn B. Lucas, Nancy Naigle
Sorry Charlie
Summary
From international best-selling author Katie Graykowski comes a love story about friendship, laughter, and Louisiana politics. Charlotte Guidry, Charlie, is Louisiana royalty. Her ancestor Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne De Bienville settled New Orleans, and someone from her family has been running either the city or the state ever since. Her father The Honorable Thaddeus Thibodaux, governor of the great state of Louisiana, is up for reelection, and Charlie is in charge of his campaign. Wagner Scott will do anything to help his candidate Jerome Breaux win the governorship including wining and dining the competition’s campaign manager. It certainly isn’t a hardship taking Charlie Guidry out on the town. In fact, he’s enjoying this assignment. He’s never met a woman quite like Charlie. She’s anything but dull. Soon, she comes to mean more to him than just a means to an end. He has feelings for her. Can he sacrifice everything he believes in for love? Can she forgive him? Fans of Susan Elizabeth Phillips and Rachel Gibson won’t want to miss this story full of laughter, love, and ranching.
©2017 Katie Graykowski (P)2018 Katie Graykowski
Snow Globe
Summary
Harold may be dying but he's still got a sense of humor. That's more than can be said for his wife, who's trying to whisk him away from the grimness of the hospital for one last holiday bash.
©2014 Monica Wesolowska (P)2017 Audible, Inc.
Getting Lucky
Summary
Lucky Strickland has lost everything. First it was her dignity and then it was her husband, and now it's her house. She's penniless, stuck at the McDonald's in Bee Cave, Texas. Her only hope, her brother-in-law, just stole her car. Eighteen months ago she was the wife of rock-and-roll legend Ricky Strickland. Rock My World, their reality TV show, was number one. Then, on the live season finale, Ricky introduced her to his mistress and their three daughters. Lucky stormed out. Ricky followed her and wrapped his car around the nearest oak tree. Will Brodie, Lucky's bother-in-law, will do anything to get her back home. Lucky needs to grieve for her husband and take care of the lawsuit the realty TV network filed. They want their money back or for her to film a new reality TV show - with Ricky's children. Two months ago Ricky's daughters lost their mother to cancer - now they have only Will. If Will can get Lucky to open her heart to the girls and to him, maybe he can finally give Lucky the family she's always wanted.
©2014 Katie Graykowski (P)2015 Katie Graykowski
In for a Penny
Summary
Honey, these are not your momma's grannies.... When Lillian Summer Fairview's husband up and dies on her, it leaves the last living member of the most prestigious family in Summer Shoals, Georgia, in a hot mess. While Lil was busy being a proper Southern lady, Harlan squandered dang near the whole family fortune on lottery tickets. To keep her financial skeletons in the closet and give him a decent burial, Lil made a deal that has now landed her in prison. Desperate to keep her troubles a secret and the family estate from falling down while she pays her debt to society, Lil entrusts Summer Haven's care to her best friend, Maggie, who recruits two more over-50 ladies to live at Summer Haven and help keep it afloat. But when Maggie discovers that Lil's restitution is 10 times the amount she "borrowed" from the federal government, she's convinced Lil has taken the fall for someone else's crime. And these gals will use every trick in their little-old-lady bags to prove it.
©2013 Nancy Naigle and Kelsey Browning (P)2014 Nancy Naigle and Kelsey Browning