Showing results by narrator "Abby Craden" in All Categories

Nineteen-year-old Whit Conrad leaves her conservative Pennsylvania home for sunny California, looking for independence, a fresh start, and a place to stash her grief. She promptly finds a job at a tattoo parlor, a craptastic first apartment, and one friend - Ryan - who is a little less friend, a little more benefits. Deo Beckett is a soulful surfer with a passion for tattoos and beautiful women. On the eve of his twenty-second birthday, he finds himself living with his grandfather, recently unemployed, and seriously adrift.

After an op in Istanbul goes sour, all Alexandra Poe wants is a little down time, and a chance to finally sell off the family vacation home in Key Largo which carries too many painful memories. Instead, she finds herself on a private Bahamian island, working with Deuce and Cooper to relieve a human rodent of some very sensitive codes, and to take down one of the world's most notorious terrorists. Just another job for Stonewell International. Or is it?

Come Closer, Cowboy: Mallory Brandt needs a change. The kind of change that makes a gal close her Hollywood bar, move 1,400 miles across the country, and start a new life in Blackfoot Falls, Montana - in four weeks. Daring Her SEAL: Devil-may-care Navy SEAL Levi Brandon faces a terrifying task: telling Ashley Dixon that their faux wedding during their last mission together was actually real.

Ashley Bowman has always been impetuous, but even she is a little shocked when she chains herself to a palm tree in the Florida Keys hours before a hurricane is due to blow in. It's all with the hope of saving her childhood home from a heartless Miami developer. But the moment she meets Roman Díaz, she realizes he does have a heart - it's just encased in ice. Ashley's determined to get Roman to crack…even if she has to drag him all over the eastern seaboard to do it.

Maverick Rylan won't apologize for who he is - the Raven Riders Motorcycle Club vice president, a sought-after custom bike builder, and a man dedicated to protecting those he loves. So when he learns that the only woman who has ever held his heart is in trouble, he'll move heaven and earth to save her. Alexa Harmon thought she had it all - the security of a good job, a beautiful home, and a powerful, charming fiancé who offered the life she never had growing up. But her dream quickly turns into a nightmare....

A beautiful student is missing. Did she leave on impulse, or was it something more sinister? When the young woman's grandfather pleads for help, journalism dean Meredith "Red" Solaris agrees to help search for the student, but doesn't know she may have to risk everything to find her. Worse yet, without solid evidence, Red and Detective Joe Morgan have little basis for investigation.

Cohen Rodriguez, Deo's hilarious, über responsible best friend in Lengths, got dumped by his longtime girl because he's "not impulsive enough," and he's burned up. But maybe, just maybe, she's more right than he wants to admit. So he starts to date. A lot. But no one really feels like the one. And the more girls he dates, the more Cohen's convinced she isn't really out there. Luckily he has Maren - the girl with the sexy voice who always cracks the best jokes. They've been talking daily for a year…on the phone. What started as all work soon blooms into friendship.

Cole Vargas has battled the demons that have plagued his nightmares, but winning the heart of the woman he destroyed is going to be the fight of his life. When Cole returns home wounded from his latest mission, his only thoughts are of the woman who still owns his heart and getting strong enough to stand on his own two feet in front of her, to beg for her forgiveness. Olivia Lafierre had her own nightmares to deal with since Cole said good-bye to her.

What if you were haunted by strange and terrible dreams in the night? But what if they were not dreams, but preludes of the truth? What if you met the woman of your dreams in a nightmare? What if you learned that you were doomed to a terrible destiny, and that there was nothing that you could do to escape it? This is the fate that befalls Jack Thornton, a former Marine lieutenant who served with the famed "Walking Dead" in Vietnam and who is now a lawyer in San Francisco. His quiet, ordered life begins to unravel, however, when his nightmares begin to shape his waking hours.

Every baseball player knows to keep his eye on the ball and swing for the fences. Each base counts, but a home run is the goal. No one wants to strike out. This is true both on and off the field. Ellie had been my best friend since we were born, and we had a plan - get out of the tiny Alabama town we'd grown up in and go to college...together. But even life's best-laid plans could throw a powerful curveball. Rather than attend classes, I was now the starting pitcher for a Major League team.

Chase MacKenzie is not the man for Maura Jenkins. A self-proclaimed life-long bachelor, and unapologetic about his distaste for monogamy, a woman would have to be a masochist to want to fall into Chase's bed. And Maura is no masochist. Chase has one strict rule: no strings attached. Which is fine with Maura because she doesn't even really like Chase. He's arrogant, cocky, and let's not forget bossy. But when he aims that crooked grin at her, she goes weak in the knees. Not that she has any intentions of falling for his charms.

Walsh Clark has survived a lot--alcoholism, the break-up his band, Lush, and the betrayal of the love of his life, Tammy DiLorenzo. Now Walsh is hiding out on a ranch in north Texas, working to stay sober and steer clear of his old life.Tammy DiLorenzo knows how to be one thing: Walsh Clark's girlfriend. Together since they were fourteen, Walsh and Tammy are a rock and roll institution, and she's not about to give that up, even if Walsh has run away to hide.

Mike Owens is the devil. Sexy, snarky, and as lowdown as they come, he's one of the world's greatest guitarists and one of Portland's most notorious bad boys. Jenny Turner is an angel. A preacher's daughter, she's a good girl with a great voice and a dream to hit it big in country music. When these two opposites meet, the attraction is undeniable, but something's stopping the bad boy from pursuing what he desires most. Can this angel handle the truth behind her devil? Or will his secrets be too Lowdown and Lush?

Ten years ago Lush bassist Colin Douglas met the love of his life. Then she broke his heart. Now, in a small Texas town, in the midst of the breakup of his band, Colin has found Marsha, and he has no idea what to do with her. Marsha O'Neill hasn't had it easy. Since losing Colin nothing's gone right for this east Texas waitress - except for Sean, her six-year-old son. She's worked hard to give Sean what he needs - the best of her. Then a hot bass player walks into her bar and she knows the world isn't done screwing with her yet.

When billionaire Lucas Carrington returns to his New York mansion, he never expects to find beautiful stranger Kate Whitley making herself at home. Invited by his aunt to stay, he soon discovers she's a woman in need. She's raising funds for her sick daughter, so he agrees to let her stay - temporarily! Kate may not belong in Lucas's high-society world, but she sees there is more to this tycoon than the headlines suggest.

Ashley Bowman thought she had a lot at stake when she chained herself to a palm tree in front of her late grandmother's vacation resort. But that was before she met real-estate developer Roman Díaz. With one hot kiss from his perfect lips, everything changes between them. Suddenly, saving her happy memories seems less appealing then making some new memories…the kind you don't want to share with your grandmother.

Melanie Hoffert longs for her rural North Dakota home with its grain trucks and empty main streets. But like many, she followed the out-migration pattern to a more urban life. When she returns home during harvest to confront the silences that have kept her at arm’s length from her childhood community, she finds it’s not easy. When asked if she's found a “fella,” rather than explain that she dates women, she stops breathing and changes the subject.

Nate Myers graduated from UCLA medical school at the top of his class, ready to follow in the footsteps of his father, a superstar cardiothoracic surgeon. Six years later, Nate's career is being ruined by a malpractice suit. Questioning himself for the first time, he retreats to a Montana cattle ranch to visit his uncle and gain perspective. There he meets a beautiful young woman named Avelina who teaches him more than he ever knew about matters of the heart.

Former Black Ops soldier Logan McCabe is in high-tech heaven. The "smart" apartment he's staying at has it all - luxurious amenities, walls that change color, and a seductive and nearly naked woman in the living room. Now that's everything a man can ask for. Except Kensey Roberts is no pixel pinup...and the sexual tension between them is most assuredly real.

Acclaimed author Lauren Slater ruminates on what it means to be family. Lauren Slater's rocky childhood left her cold to the idea of ever creating a family of her own, but a husband, two dogs, two children, and three houses later, she came around to the challenges, trials, and unexpected rewards of playing house. In these autobiographical pieces, Slater presents snapshots of domestic life, populating them with the gritty details and jarring realities of sharing home, life, and body in the curious institution called "family."