Showing results by narrator "Alexander Cendese" in All Categories

What was I thinking, trading my last painting for a "lucky" necklace? Instead of good fortune, the cursed trinket saddled me with a stocky, heavily tattooed ghost named Prudence. Determined to make the most of things, I struck a bargain: I'd help him with his problem if he'd help me with mine. En route to Oregon to help him shed his spectral existence, my ghostly companion becomes something more, and causes me to make a few unexpected discoveries about myself. Now I'm craving a connection that should send me running for the hills, and time is against me.

Neil Josten is the newest addition to the Palmetto State University Exy team. He's short, he's fast, he's got a ton of potential - and he's the runaway son of the murderous crime lord known as the Butcher. Signing a contract with the PSU Foxes is the last thing a guy like Neil should do. The team is high profile, and he doesn't need sports crews broadcasting pictures of his face around the nation. His lies will hold up only so long under this kind of scrutiny, and the truth will get him killed.

Ansel Bray, an artist known around the world for his tragic hiatus from the canvas. Ansel Bray, a broody, handsome man not known by me, at all. Long dark hair, blue eyes, and dimpled cheeks. I've never met her, but her image is imprinted in my mind. An angel muse who inspires me to paint again.

Hank Jensen doesn't believe in monsters - not the kind Stephen King writes about at any rate. Hank is one of New York's best criminal profilers, and he loves his job. But when he meets the Bristol Butchers, all that changes. They are a pair of psychopaths - cannibals. He chases them in spite of the disabling curse they cast on him, in spite of their threats to his family, and when he catches up to them, his horror begins. They claim to be gods - immortal, omnipotent - and they change into monsters before his eyes.

Neil Josten is out of time. He knew when he came to PSU he wouldn't survive the year, but with his death right around the corner he's got more reasons than ever to live. Befriending the Foxes was inadvisable. Kissing one is unthinkable. Neil should know better than to get involved with anyone this close to the end, but Andrew's never been the easiest person to walk away from. If they both say it doesn't mean anything, maybe Neil won't regret losing it, but the one person Neil can't lie to is himself.

Dr. Will Cummings is the star of a medical reality show that's practically blown up overnight in popularity, and I'm the new nurse at his practice. Unfortunately for me, I'm also the nurse who made a completely awkward first impression by introducing myself while he was in the middle of a pap smear and ending the day by accidentally showing him my ta-tas. Yes, that's right. I gave my new boss a peep show. Gah. You'd think I'd have already put in my resignation and moved to Alaska, but no. I'm still here, getting to know just how much more Dr. Will is than a handsome face.

Connie and Preston Whittier raised their six children in a once-grand mansion in Manhattan. Even though the children are now adults, the house remains the heart of the family and somewhere they all love to return, particularly in times of stress. But when Connie and Preston's skiing trip in Europe ends in tragedy, the future of the family and their home is called into question.

Hanna is devastated when just a few weeks before her wedding, her fiancé drops the bomb that he doesn’t want to marry her. With the wedding bought and paid for (and completely non-refundable!), she decides to give it away to a deserving couple. Hanna chooses a pair of strangers that fate seems to put in her path, and then embarks on rearranging the wedding details with the help of the new bride-to-be’s brother.

Forty-years old and still reeling from a public and painful divorce, Thalia Blackwood is looking for a fresh start, somewhere far away from her upside down life. When she's offered a new job as the sports therapist for a football (soccer) team, she jumps at the chance. This is just what she needs to leave the heartbreak and shame of Manchester behind, trading it in for the warmth and hopeful vibrancy of Madrid.

I was tired of working the police beat in Northern Cali. Exhausted - my whole body was yearning for a place I hadn't been in years, my old home. When my mama died, I knew I had to come back, and a pay bump and new job as police chief sealed the deal. I got away from heartbreak. I always promised myself I wouldn't come back. But Kendall Vincent - he might just get me to stay for good. But when two gay kids get hurt bad by a gang of thugs, I realize that Abingdon needs me far more than I thought.

Levity works the streets of Welcome Boulevard, begging people for money. It keeps food in his belly, a leaky roof over his head, and he gets to do it with his best friend, Clove. No, it's not the ideal life, but he does what he must to survive.

You’re cordially invited to the wedding of Maximoff Hale & Farrow Keene, and according to Celebrity Crush - the ceremony for this American prince and his tattooed bodyguard is going to be the event of the century. There will be no wedding crashers. There will be no drama. There will be no fighting. Everything will be perfect. Nothing will go amiss during the happiest, most anticipated occasion of the year. But then again... They don't call it the Hale Curse for nothing.

College sophomore Ethan Follett never says what's on his mind and never wants to rock the boat. Out in the open, things couldn't be better, but secretly Ethan yearns for some real excitement in his life. He finds it in cocky frat boy Greg Sanderson, who challenges every rigid, preconceived notion Ethan lives by. Soon, their sparring relationship turns sexual, and these enemies-with-benefits "get their freak on" all over campus. Yet the more Ethan comes out of his shell, the more Greg retreats into his, working overtime to keep his ladies' man public persona intact.

Five years ago, I ruined the best thing I had in my life and ran. Now, I'm finally back to make things right. I need Circus's forgiveness, and then I can finally move on. I'll leave Sunbury for good this time and never look back. Maybe then I can finally live life as an out gay man - without my family ever finding out. But earning his forgiveness isn't as simple as I hoped it would be. He's going to make me fight for it. And I don't blame him at all.

I wasn’t a keeper. Guys just didn’t pick me, and after one too many threw me away, my heart couldn’t take it anymore. When I was traded to the Buffalo Warriors, I knew things wouldn’t be any different. Skate. Score goals. Work out. Repeat. That’s my life. I’m living the dream by playing professional hockey, and I have some amazing friends. I’m happy. Really, I am. Or at least I’m trying to be. Until the night I run into Luca.

Theodora Morgan is fashion royalty. Founder of a wildly popular online shopping service, she is one of the most successful businesswomen in the world, although she prefers to keep a low profile, especially in recent months. It was a year ago when the unthinkable struck her family: her husband, industry mogul Matthieu Pasquier, and their son were kidnapped and held for ransom—a nightmare that ended in tragedy. The case has gone cold, despite evidence linking the crime to Matthieu’s Russian competitors. Theo has reluctantly gone back to work running her company.

I would do anything for my best friend. Well. Almost anything. When she begs me to come on a weekend getaway so I can bond with her new boyfriend, I can't say no-no matter how badly I want to. After all, who will keep an eye on the guy; he's your stereotypical, professional football player (emphasis on PLAYER) and I don't trust him with my friend's heart.

When I'm captured by demons and forced into the fighting pits of the Seventh Circle of Hell, I need to stay alive long enough to claw my way back to Heaven and destroy the archangels who betrayed me. Four dangerous men stand between me and my vengeance. A deadly Nephilim in self-imposed exile. Hunger incarnate, ravenous for an angel. The heir to Satan's sinful throne. And the prince who bound my soul to his until I win my freedom. They think I'm still pure. They think I'm innocent.

On the surface, I've got it all. I'm the starting goalie and captain of the Colorado Bulldogs hockey team. I've got more money than I know what to do with. I can count an entire team of elite athletes as my friends. And according to the pundits, I'm an eligible bachelor. That's the image everyone sees, but it's just a role I play, a part dictated by my career. So, those questions I have about why I don't crave sexual contact the way my teammates do, questions I'm afraid to ask with the world watching… I decided a long time ago it didn't make sense to look for answers until after I retired.

Peace on Earth isn’t everyone’s cup of tea in Charlotte MacLeod’s “A Cozy for Christmas”. Peter Lovesey’s “The Haunted Crescent” delivers a holiday ghost story with a twist. A training session for department-store Santas turns up Saint Nicks who are anything but angels in Isaac Asimov’s “Ho, Ho, Ho”. Marcia Muller’s “Silent Night” finds a tough private investigator searching San Francisco’s Tenderloin district - and discovering something unexpected.