Rachel Botchan has narrated 71 audiobooks on Listento.it by 46 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.6★ across 261 ratings. The most-rated is Unorthodox.
The Imposter
Summary
Katrina Stoltzfus thought she had life and love all figured out: She was going to marry John and live happily ever after. Those plans started to crumble when her father moved the family to Stoney Ridge then completely collapsed when John decided to marry someone else. Katrina is devastated. How could she have felt so loved yet been so deceived? As she struggles to face a future without him, a widow asks for her help to start a new business, and Katrina quickly agrees. She needs time to heal her broken heart, to untangle her messy life, to find a purpose. What she doesn't need is attention from Andy Miller, a farmhand who arrives at the widow's farm just when help is most needed - and who always seems to say the right thing and be in the right place at the right time. Is Andy for real or too good to be true? Deceived once before, Katrina is determined to keep her feelings in check. When a cascade of events is set in motion by some surprising information, the little Amish church is turned upside down. Soon everyone has a stake in the outcome, and the community struggles to find the best response to an imposter in their midst. Can they forgive even the most deceitful deeds? Best-selling author Suzanne Woods Fisher introduces her loyal fans to a brand-new series set in their favorite town - Stoney Ridge. As always, Fisher delivers endearing characters and plot twists that keep listeners captivated minute after minute.
©2015 Suzanne Woods Fisher (P)2015 Recorded Books
Christmas at Rose Hill Farm
Summary
Bess Riehl is preparing Rose Hill Farm for her Christmas wedding, but her groom isn't who she thought it would be. Billy Lapp is far away from his Amish roots working as a rose rustler for Penn State and wants nothing to do with Stoney Ridge, his family, or Bess. And that suits Bess just fine. Why should she think twice about a man who left without a word, without any explanation? It's time she moved on with her life, and that meant saying yes to Amos Lapp, Billy's cousin and best friend. But as Bess and Amos' wedding day draws near, her emotions tangle into a tight knot. She loves Amos. Yet she can't forget Billy. When a "lost" rose is discovered at Rose Hill Farm, Billy is sent to track down its origins. Get in, identify the rose, and get out. That's his plan. The only catch is that he's having a hard time narrowing down the identity of the lost rose, and he can't get those tropical blue eyes of Bess Riehl out of his mind. As the history of the lost rose is pieced together, it reminds Bess and Billy - and Amos, too - that Christmas truly is the season of miracles. Join best-selling, award-winning author Suzanne Woods Fisher for an Amish Christmas to remember. Filled with heart-twisting moments amid the sweet anticipation of love, this story will charm listeners into the holiday spirit.
©2014 Suzanne Woods Fisher (P)2014 Recorded Books
Egypt's Sister
Summary
Chava, the Jewish daughter of a royal tutor, vowed to be faithful to her childhood friend Queen Cleopatra. But after they argue, Chava is ripped from her family and her privileged life and sold into slavery. When she finds herself alone in Rome, she must choose between love and honor, between her own desires and God's will. New York Times best-selling author's newest biblical-era series. Five decades before the birth of Christ, Chava, daughter of the royal tutor, grows up with Urbi, a princess in Alexandria's royal palace. When Urbi becomes Queen Cleopatra, Chava vows to be a faithful friend no matter what - but after she and Cleopatra have an argument, she finds herself imprisoned and sold into slavery. Torn from her family, her community, and her elevated place in Alexandrian society, Chava finds herself cast off and alone in Rome. Forced to learn difficult lessons, she struggles to trust a promise HaShem has given her. After experiencing the best and worst of Roman society, Chava must choose between love and honor, between her own desires and God's will for her life.
©2017 Angela Hunt Communications, Inc. (P)2017 Recorded Books
Esther
Summary
Best-selling author Angela Hunt Returns to Biblical Fiction. An ambitious tyrant threatens genocide against the Jews in ancient Persia, so an inexperienced young queen must take a stand for her people. When Xerxes, king of Persia, issues a call for beautiful young women, Hadassah, a Jewish orphan living in Susa, is forcibly taken to the palace of the pagan ruler. After months of preparation, the girl known to the Persians as Esther wins the king's heart and a queen's crown. But because her situation is uncertain, she keeps her ethnic identity a secret until she learns that an evil and ambitious man has won the king's permission to exterminate all Jews - young and old, powerful, and helpless. Purposely violating an ancient Persian law, she risks her life in order to save her people... and bind her husband's heart. Esther marks best-selling author Angela Hunt's return to biblical fiction. In each novel she explores an example of a Hebrew Old Testament woman - a woman whose physical beauty influences those around her and can change the course of history.
©2015 Angela Hunt Communications, Inc. (P)2015 Recorded Books
Widowish
Summary
Melissa Gould’s hopeful memoir of grieving outside the box and the surprising nature of love. When Melissa Gould’s husband, Joel, was unexpectedly hospitalized, she could not imagine how her life was about to change. Overwhelmed with uncertainty as Joel’s condition tragically worsened, she offered him the only thing she could: her love and devotion. Her dedication didn’t end with his death. Left to resume life without her beloved husband and raise their young daughter on her own, Melissa soon realized that her and Joel’s love lived on. Melissa found she didn’t fit the typical mold of widowhood or meet the expectations of mourning. She didn’t look like a widow or act like a widow, but she felt like one. Melissa was widowish. Melissa’s personal journey through grief and beyond includes unlikely inspiration from an evangelical preacher, the calming presence of some Real Housewives, and the unexpected attention of a charming musician. A modern take on loss, Widowish illuminates the twists of fate that break our world, the determination that keeps us moving forward, and the surprises in life we never see coming.
©2021 Melissa Gould (P)2020 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.
The Paris Children
Summary
Paris, 1935. A dark shadow falls over Europe as Adolf Hitler's regime gains momentum, leaving the city of Paris on the brink of occupation. Young Madeleine Levy - granddaughter of Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish World War I hero - steps bravely into a new wave of resistance and becomes the guardian of lost children. When Madeleine meets a small girl in a tattered coat with the hollow look of one forced to live a nightmare - a young Jewish refugee from Germany named Anna - she knows that she cannot stand idly by. Paris is full of children like Anna - frightened and starving, innocent casualties of a war barely begun. Madeleine offers them comfort and strength while working with other members of the resistance to smuggle them into safer territories. But as the Paris she loves is transformed into a theater of tension and hatred, many people are tempted to abandon the cause - and the country. And amidst the impending horror and doubt, Madeleine's relationship with Claude, a young Jewish Resistance fighter, as passionate about saving vulnerable children as she is, deepens. With a questionable future ahead of them, all Madeleine can do is continue fighting and hope that her spirit - and the nation's - won't be broken. A remarkable, paranoramic novel, The Paris Children is a story of love and tragedy that illuminates the power of hope and courage in the face of adversity.
©2020 Gloria Goldreich (P)2020 Recorded Books
A Daring Venture
Summary
Dr. Rosalind Werner is at the forefront of a groundbreaking new water technology - if only she can get support for her work. Nicholas, Commissioner of Water for New York, is skeptical - and surprised by his reaction to Rosalind. While they fight against their own attraction, they stand on opposite sides of a battle that will impact thousands of lives. As a biochemist in early 1900s New York, Doctor Rosalind Werner has dedicated her life to the crusade against waterborne diseases. She is at the forefront of a groundbreaking technology that will change the way water is delivered to every household in the city - but only if she can get people to believe in her work. Newly appointed Commissioner of Water for New York, Nicholas Drake, is highly skeptical of Rosalind and her team's techniques. When a brewing court case throws him into direct confrontation with her, he is surprised by his reaction to the lovely scientist. While Rosalind and Nick wage a private war against their own attraction, they stand firmly on opposite sides of a battle that will impact far more than just their own lives. As the controversy grows more public and inflammatory and Rosalind becomes the target of an unknown enemy, the odds stacked against these two rivals swiftly grow more insurmountable with every passing day.
©2018 Dorothy Mays (P)2018 Recorded Books
American Kill Switch
Summary
Why do some societies collapse into lawless savagery while others prove resilient and lasting? On Zero Day of the first and last cyberwar in human history, the internet went dark, transport and power grids collapsed and cities began to starve, showing just how vulnerable the world could be to a targeted campaign of online sabotage. This final instalment of this prescient epic of civilisation collapse finds the small ragtag band of survivors come together to face a new, but eerily familiar threat - the rise of a fascist militia among the ruins of a failing country. With American Kill Switch, John Birmingham’s End of Days trilogy comes to a high-octane, thrilling conclusion.
©2021 John Birmingham (P)2021 Audible, Ltd
Distant Echoes
Summary
It feels like paradise, but deadly secrets lie beneath the waves off the coast of Kauai. Sometimes, Kaia Oana thinks her dolphins are more humane than humans. As a mammal intelligence researcher, Kaia has learned a thing or two about the goodness and intelligence of dolphins - and as a natural scientist in close proximity to weapons developers, she's learned a thing or two about humans as well. When a tourist catamaran explodes off the coast of the Hawaiian island of Kauai, Kaia and her trained dolphin, Nani, rush to aid the search and rescue effort. After hours of searching, an exhausted Kaia is pulled from the water by Lieutenant Commander Jesse Matthews of the US Navy. Lieutenant Matthews is accustomed to following protocol - and a civilian-dolphin rescue is not typical operating procedure. But when his colleagues ignore the possibility that missile research had something to do with the sunken catamaran, Jesse recruits Kaia and her dolphin to help him conduct his own investigation. The olive-skinned mermaid had impressed him - in more ways than one. As their rogue investigation takes them into the waters surrounding the sunken boat - and their personal chemistry takes them into other uncharted territory - Kaia and Jesse discover that they have become targets themselves. Someone doesn't want them snooping around that wreckage...someone desperate enough to kill.
©2014 Colleen Coble (P)2019 Recorded Books
A Season to Celebrate
Summary
Make it a merry Christmas with four stories of the special way the holidays warm our hearts. Christmas Homecoming by Fern Michaels Former Air Force Pararescueman Kevin Matthews is back home in Texas, working at his family's Christmas tree farm while deciding his next move. Or maybe he won't move at all, if sparks keep flying with the town's new surgeon, Kate Stafford. An Unexpected Gift by Kate Pearce Widower Billy Morgan wishes his grown children still needed him. Good thing his longtime friend, Bella, does. She's planning her son's Christmas wedding, and Billy is happy to help. Along the way, they just might discover their own occasion to celebrate. Christmas in Blue Hollow Falls by Donna Kauffman Attorney Moira Brogan expects her brother's Christmas wedding to be a peaceful affair. She doesn't expect to be cornered by an unwanted lothario, rescued by a gorgeous Aussie chef - or be swept off her feet by said chef. Nursing a broken heart, the last thing she wants is a new romance. But Hudson Walker has other ideas. Holiday Homerun by Priscilla Oliveras Event planner Julia Louisa Fernandez dreams of a life in Chicago. But her family in Puerto Rico expects her to take over the catering business. Former pro baseball player Ben Thomas knows what that's like - and when they meet, he might be the one to inspire a winning strategy, just in time for the holidays.
©2018 Kensington Publishing Corporation; 2018 Fern Michaels, A Christmas Homecoming; 2018 Kate Pearce, An Unexpected Gift; 2018 Donna Kauffman, Christmas in Blue Hollow Falls; 2018 Priscilla Oliveras, Holiday Home Run (P)2018 Recorded Books
The Missing
Summary
In Beverly Lewis' enthralling sequel to her New York Times best-selling novel The Secret, two young ladies - one Amish, the other English - join forces to solve the mystery of a mother gone missing and a disease gone wild. Will these hurting souls find what they seek - or will they discover much more?"
©2009 Beverly M. Lewis (P)2010 Recorded Books, LLC
Where the Heart Leads
Summary
In this sequel to Kim Vogel Sawyer's ACF Book of the Year Waiting for Summer's Return, a man wrestles with profound, life-changing decisions in 1904. With a college diploma safely in hand, 20-year-old Thomas Ollenburger is torn between his Mennonite roots on the Kansas prairie and his affluent life in Boston society - and by romantic entanglements in each world. And now even Heaven seems deaf to questions about his choices of vocation, wife, and home.
©2008 Kim Vogel Sawyer (P)2009 Recorded Books, LLC
The Telling
Summary
With The Telling, Christy Award-winning author Beverly Lewis delivers the stirring conclusion to her New York Times best-selling Seasons of Grace trilogy. As an Amish young lady leaves Bird-in-Hand in a fancy car to search for her mother in Ohio, she wonders if her mom really wants to be found. She also hopes her Englisher friend—determined to forgo traditional medicine—can find the healing she seeks. But she has no idea her mom is following clues of her own.
©2010 Beverly Lewis (P)2010 Recorded Books, LLC
The Newcomer
Summary
In 1737, Anna Konig and her fellow church members stagger off a small wooden ship after 10 weeks at sea, eager to start a new life in the vibrant but raw Pennsylvania frontier. On the docks of Port Philadelphia waits bishop Jacob Bauer, founder of the settlement and father to ship carpenter Bairn. It's a time of new beginnings for the reunited Bauer family, and for Anna and Bairn's shipboard romance to blossom. But this perfect moment cannot last. As Bairn grasps the reality of what it means to be Amish in the New World - isolated, rigid with expectations, under the thumb of his domineering father - his enthusiasm evaporates. When a sea captain offers the chance to cross the ocean one more time, Bairn grabs it. Just one more crossing, he promises Anna. But will she wait for him? When Henrik Newman joins the church just as it makes its way to the frontier, Anna is torn. He seems to be everything Bairn is not - bold, devoted, and delighted to vie for her heart. And the most dramatic difference? He is here; Bairn is not. Far from the frontier, an unexpected turn of events weaves together the lives of Bairn, Anna, and Henrik. When a secret is revealed, which true love will emerge?
©2017 Suzanne Woods Fisher (P)2017 Recorded Books
The Love Letters
Summary
When her sister falls gravely ill, 20-year-old Marlena Wenger takes on the responsibility of caring for her infant niece, Angel Rose. Worried that this turn of events portends a more complicated future than he is prepared for, her beau ends their relationship. Marlena is devastated but is determined to give Angel Rose the best care possible. Though from the Beachy Amish herself, Marlena meets Ellie Bitner, an Old Order Amish mother who offers quilting and needlepoint classes. They soon form a bond, and Marlena is drawn into the circle of Ellie's family. Ellie's handsome cousin seems rather taken with Marlena, but after her recent breakup, she is cautious where her feelings are concerned. But things begin to change when Ellie's young son, Jacob, discovers an older homeless man camped out in the nearby abandoned mill. Suffering from some cognitive disorder, the man has few prospects and fewer possessions - among them a small clutch of letters apparently from his own courting days. Could these letters be the key to the old man's identity? And can they bring healing and hope to Marlena and Ellie as well?
©2015 Beverly M. Lewis, Inc. (P)2015 Recorded Books
The Return
Summary
As the Amish settle in America, Tessa wishes Hans would notice her. When tragedy strikes - close to home and close to her heart - she discovers the cost of true love. Beautiful and winsome, Betsy Zook never questioned her family's rigid expectations, nor those of devoted Hans, but then she never had to. Not until the night when she's taken captive in a surprise Indian raid. During her captivity, Betsy faces brutality and hardship but also unexpected kindness. She draws strength from native Caleb, who encourages her to find God in all circumstances. She finds herself torn between her pious upbringing and the intense new feelings this compelling man awakens within her. Handsome and complex, Hans is greatly anguished by Betsy's captivity and turns to Tessa Bauer for comfort. Eagerly, Tessa responds, overlooking troubling signs of Hans' hunger for revenge. When Betsy is finally restored to the Amish, have things gone too far between Hans and Tessa? Inspired by true events, this deeply layered novel gives a glimpse into the tumultuous days of prerevolutionary Pennsylvania through the eyes of two young, determined, and faith-filled women.
©2017 Suzanne Woods Fisher (P)2017 Recorded Books
The Atonement
Summary
The mistakes of the past haunt Lucy Flaud, who years ago stopped attending the activities for courting-age young people in her hometown of Bird-in-Hand. Now 25 and solidly past the age of Amish courtship, Lucy has given up any hope of marriage, instead focusing her efforts on volunteering in both the Plain and fancy communities of Lancaster County. Yet no matter how hard Lucy strives, she feels uncertain that she'll ever find redemption. Dale Wyeth has a deep mistrust of modern-day "advances" and the dependency they create. The young Englisher's interest in living off the grid is fueled further when he meets Christian Flaud, Lucy's father. Dale appreciates the self-sufficient ways of the Old Order Amish, and Christian invites him to learn more about them by staying at the family farm. As Christian and Dale grow closer, developing a father-son rapport, Lucy begins to question what Dale's being there might mean for her. Could God be testing her? Or is it possible that even the most unworthy heart - and two people from very different walks of life - can somehow find a new beginning?
©2016 Beverly M. Lewis, Inc. (P)2016 Recorded Books
Anna's Crossing
Summary
When Anna Konig first meets Bairn, the Scottish ship carpenter of the Charming Nancy, their encounter is anything but pleasant. Anna is on the ship only to ensure the safe arrival of her loved ones to the New World. Hardened by years of living at sea, Bairn resents toting these naive farmers - dubbed "Peculiars" by deckhands - across the ocean. As delays, storms, illness, and diminishing provisions afflict crew and passengers alike, Bairn finds himself drawn to Anna's serene nature. For her part Anna can't seem to stay below deck and far away from the aloof ship's carpenter, despite warnings. When an act of sacrifice leaves Anna in a perilous situation, Bairn discovers he may not have left his faith as firmly in the past as he thought. But has the revelation come too late? Amish fiction favorite Suzanne Woods Fisher brings her fans back to the beginning of Amish life in America with this fascinating glimpse into the first ocean crossing as seen through the eyes of a devout young woman and an irreverent man. Blending the worlds of Amish and historical fiction, Fisher is sure to delight her longtime fans even as she attracts new ones with her superb and always surprise-filled writing.
©2015 Suzanne Woods Fisher (P)2015 Recorded Books
Certain Girls
Summary
The eagerly-awaited follow-up to Jennifer Weiner's blockbuster best seller, Good in Bed Listeners fell in love with Cannie Shapiro, the smart, sharp-tongued, bighearted heroine of Good in Bed. Now Cannie's back. After her debut novel - a fictionalized (and highly sexualized) version of her life - became an overnight bestseller, she dropped out of the public eye and turned to writing science fiction under a pseudonym. She's happily married and has settled into a life that's wonderfully predictable. As preparations for her daughter Joy's bat mitzvah begin, everything seems right in Cannie's world. Then Joy discovers the novel Cannie wrote years before and suddenly finds herself faced with what she thinks is the truth about her own conception - the story her mother hid from her all her life. When Cannie's husband surprises her by saying he wants to have a baby, the family is forced to reconsider their history, their future, and what it means to be truly happy. Radiantly funny and tender, with Weiner's whip-smart dialogue and sharp observations of modern life, Certain Girls is an unforgettable story about love, loss, and the enduring bonds of family.
©2008 Jennifer Weiner (P)2011 Simon & Schuster
Saving Amelie
Summary
Increasingly wary of her father's genetic research, Rachel Kramer has determined that this trip with him to Germany - in the summer of 1939 - will be her last. But a cryptic letter from her estranged friend, begging Rachel for help, changes everything. Married to SS officer Gerhardt Schlick, Kristine sees the dark tides turning and fears her husband views their daughter, Amelie, deaf since birth, as a blight on his Aryan bloodline. Once courted by Schlick, Rachel knows he's as dangerous as the swastikas that hang like ebony spiders from every government building in Berlin. She fears her father's files may hold answers about Hitler's plans for others, like Amelie, whom the regime deems "unworthy of life". She risks searching his classified documents only to uncover shocking secrets about her own history and a family she's never known. Now hunted by the SS, Rachel turns to Jason Young - a driven, disarming American journalist and unlikely ally - who connects her to the resistance and to controversial theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Forced into hiding, Rachel's every ideal is challenged as she and Jason walk a knife's edge, risking their lives - and asking others to do the same - for those they barely know but come to love.
©2014 Cathy Gohlke (P)2016 Recorded Books