Showing results by narrator "Sean Crisden" in All Categories

I knew Carrie was the one, despite my friends' attempts to convince me otherwise. The heated kiss we shared that night before I left for college sealed the deal. There was just one problem. She wouldn't touch me with a 10-foot pole. "I've known you since you were 12," was her first excuse. "Your family wouldn't approve of this," was her second. By the time I reached my 30s, when I was finished with all of her denials, her final excuse turned my world upside down. "I'm not good enough for you," she had said, her words breaking my heart.

Chloe hasn't had the easiest childhood. With a mother who was absent most of the time, she practically had to raise herself. Determined to start a new life and leave her demons behind, she heads to West Virginia University with her best friends Amber and Logan. On the first day of classes, she spots a student who takes her breath away. Drake is a pierced, tattooed bad boy, and no matter how hard she tries to fight it, he's all she can think about.

Can a person’s life change in just one day? How about seven? This is the story of seven pivotal days in Evan Donaldson’s life. Evan was a teenage street hustler when Father Valentin talked him into coming to Saint Bartholomew’s Academy. In that one day, Evan’s entire life changed. That’s the day he met his roommate, Clay Mueller, and the day Evan began to live. But Evan’s life would change again and again, from abuse to first love, to separation and heartbreak, and eventually to starting his own family.

If anyone knows about denial, it’s Seattle firefighter Rico, who has feelings for the sexiest, most bad-ass, straightest guy in the world, his roommate, Joe. Since Joe has no idea Rico is bi, acting on his feelings could mean the unthinkable: losing Joe’s friendship. So instead, he makes do indulging his kinks at a local sex club and pretending the routine isn’t getting old. When Rico’s feelings grow stronger, not only for Joe but for Joe’s regular hookup, Kelly, he can’t pretend anymore. He needs to get closer to the two people that light up his body and heart.

A male escort takes on an inexperienced client and breaks the first rule of rent boys: don't get attached. After updating his Rent Boy blog profile, well-endowed porn star Ty receives a text from a sexually inexperienced client. Andy, the client, asks Ty to provide him with the necessary know-how so should he ever get a date with the guy he's attracted to, he'll be fully prepared. Little does Ty know that this hookup will lead to a friendship that will subsequently change his life.

Grounded proposes a new approach that's designed for actual humans who must grapple with these forces. This new paradigm speaks to our better selves. Based on the author's "Healthy Leader" model, it focuses on the six personal dimensions that fuel- and refuel - the world's top leaders: physical, emotional, intellectual, social, vocational, and spiritual health.

Who is the greatest dunker of all time? Which version of the Michael Jordan was the best Michael Jordan? What is allowed and absolutely not allowed in a game of pickup basketball? Basketball (and Other Things) presents listeners with a whole new set of pivotal and ridiculous fan disputes from basketball history, providing arguments and answers, explained with the wit and wisdom that is unique to Shea Serrano.

Trapped in a dead-end job in his Ohio hometown, watching the girl of his dreams move on to a glamorous new life in a big city - Donald McDougal's aimlessness has held him back for a long time. When a lightning strike grants him superhuman powers, he jumps at his chance to finally be somebody. But the new abilities and the pursuit of superheroic fame come with a price tag, and it may not be one he can afford.

Evan Lennox is going nowhere fast. She's living with her grandparents after her parents bailed on her, she got kicked out of her posh private school, her ex-boyfriend proved to be the biggest sleaze imaginable, her former best friend is a back-stabber, and her current best friend is stuck in backwoods New Jersey. To top it all off, one teeny, tiny fire she lit to burn some memories of her ex goes a little out of control and winds up igniting a good piece of a very powerful family's pecan orchard.

"I'm darkness, Maddie. Stay away from men like me. You'll only get hurt." At one time my life was simple. Easy. But that was before the war. Now I was no longer an average college student. I was a survivor. A woman living in a ravaged world. My future was not bright and my life was far from perfect. The war had taken so much from me . . . but it wasn't finished yet. It wanted more. It wanted my heart. My soul. The one person I couldn't live without.

In June 1985, a young Black man named Darryl Hunt was falsely convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the rape and murder of a white copyeditor at the local paper. Many in the community believed him innocent and crusaded for his release even as subsequent trials and appeals reinforced his sentence. Finally, in 2003, the tireless efforts of his attorney combined with an award-winning series of articles by Phoebe Zerwick in the Winston-Salem Journal led to the DNA evidence that exonerated Hunt.

Thelonious 'Monk' Ellison's once-acclaimed writing career has bottomed out: his latest manuscript has been rejected by seventeen publishers. He seethes on the sidelines of the literary establishment as he watches the meteoric success of We's Lives in Da Ghetto, a first novel by a woman who once visited 'some relatives in Harlem for a couple of days'. Meanwhile, Monk struggles with real family tragedies – his aged mother is fast succumbing to Alzheimer's, and he still grapples with the reverberations of his father's suicide seven years before.

Richard Tillson was happy with his life... well... sort of. He has spent the last few years of his life making a name for himself in the dance community, has a very expensive apartment in Manhattan and he knows he's gorgeous. So why is he so miserable? Enter Vernon “Vet” Tate. The older brother of Richard's best friend Amanda Lynn. The first time the two men meet it's when Vet is saving Richard's life from an oncoming vehicle.

Tommy Wilkins has always loved Christmas. Not just because he loves to dress up as a very naughty elf, but because it seemed as if Christmas was the time of year when everyone was happy and went out of their way to make others happy. So with that thought in mind, Tommy sets out to make this Christmas the best Christmas that the Tate pack has ever had. But it seems as if one thing after another goes wrong.

Raine Baumer is living the party life in Chicago, indulging in short relationships with little emotional commitment. But after he’s severely injured in a gay bashing, close friend Geoff arrives to take him to the country to recuperate. There, Geoff and his partner, Eli, treat him like part of the family, and Raine meets Jonah, Eli’s brother, who is exploring life in the world outside his Amish community. Jonah and Raine’s mutual attraction draws them together, but they may not have a chance to explore it.

Jake has too many wild oats to sow to fall in love - or so he claims. Besides, he's much too busy with his band, the Wayward Sons, to go looking for romance. His reticence has nothing to do with his embarrassing crush on Chris, the band's lead singer and Jake's erstwhile best friend. But that was before enigmatic wanderer Parker McAvoy signed on as the band's new lead guitarist. He can only deny his attraction to sweet, dorky Parker for so long before the urge to do something about it becomes impossible to ignore.

Maddy and Reid have seen their fair share of trials and tribulations, of love and loss. Facing down the biggest challenges of their young lives, they managed to survive and endure. With the future stretching out before them, they must learn to navigate new and unfamiliar paths.

Rachel Kramer Bussel's newest collection brings to life the popular fantasy of having sex on an airplane, from commercial jets to private planes and even aboard Air Force One. Couples and strangers alike manage to find ways to surreptitiously get each other off as they fly the friendly skies, spicing up their sex lives with a dash of exhibitionism, excitement, and danger. In these steamy stories, readers encounter seductions by strangers, naughty flight attendants and perverted pilots, a female flying instructor who takes two male students under her wing, and a couple who take advantage of the latest in in-flight technology.

Derek is facing yet another Christmas where his life feels out of control. He has a new career that doesn’t feel like his, and parents who would just love to see him settled down. All he needs is a temporary buffer for the parties he has to attend, and for his parents to leave him alone. Enter, Luke. Luke is 20,000 dollars short for the renovations on Halligans, his family’s bar in New York’s Financial District. A favor for a buddy has him agreeing to play the part of boyfriend to a guy with more money than sense.

Four months ago Robert Edward “Arie” Hawkins lost his sister and the rest of her family in a plane crash. Now his parents have decided it’s time for him to marry and carry on the family name. Arie knows it’s most likely the grief talking - especially from his mother, who’s taken to putting more than ice in her iced tea - so to escape Mississippi, Arie calls his best friend, Robbie, and arranges for a visit. Life is always changing at the Michigan farm where Robbie lives.