Showing results by author "Kate Hawthorne" in All Categories

The American Classics Collection is a century-spanning collection of 17 classic novels, short stories, essay, and poetry by American authors, read by a cast of incredible narrators including Kobna Holdbrook-Smith; Nathan Osgood; Robert G. Slade; Jonathan Keeble, and more. Included here are stories by some of the greatest writers of all time, including Ernest Hemingway; Mark Twain; F. Scott Fitzgerald; Edith Wharton; Frederick Douglass; and H.P. Lovecraft, amongst a host of others.

Liam Luckett is on an adventure. He's dropped out of his master's program without telling his overbearing parents and set off on a road trip across the country. Armed with little more than his guitar, he's looking for his best life. He never expected his car to break down in the middle of nowhere Vermont with a huge storm pending, leaving him stranded and at the mercy of a hunky local mechanic.

At 18, Landon Miller was sure about two things - he was a submissive and he was going to be with Gregory Douglas for the rest of his life. That was until parents and school got in the way, and he found himself in New York, thousands of miles from the man who had learned how to take him in hand. Years later, behind the bar at Rapture, the BDSM club he's built on a foundation of disillusioned dreams and broken bricks, Landon finds himself face to face with his favorite memory and greatest regret - Gregory.

The inevitable is understood by each and every one of us who faces the final calling. So too are the effects on those left behind. The memories are there but the empty space, the void can never be refilled. It remains a dark, unreliable pit of loneliness. The sadness and often depression, the lack of will to continue may swamp us all. Unquenchable, undeniable. But loss can, after mourning, give the opportunity to reappraise the lost and how we can each move forward. In the literary world an accessible balance can be given.

Gil Valentine knows three things: he doesn't want kids, he doesn't want a relationship, and he likes to be alone. He spends Sundays tinkering in the garage, cruising on his motorcycle, and enjoying the luxury of a bed that he doesn't have to share. After his last relationship with his best friend's brother ended in disaster and nearly cost him a friendship, Gil swore off anything that might lead to complications.

I know my way around the bedroom and the playroom, so I should have known that flirting with my older—and dominant—boss was a recipe for disaster. But by the time I realize I'm in over my head with the disgustingly rich and perfectly commanding Robert McAvoy, it's too late to turn back. I want him and I crave the way he makes me feel, even if it's confusing and threatens everything about the life I've built for myself. I'm not a submissive. I'm not meek and I'm not mild, but when Rob is around it's easy to see the appeal in all of those things.

The American literary tradition has, in a far shorter span of time than others throughout history, achieved a glowing and glittering reputation. From its transatlantic roots it has absorbed the sons and daughters of other cultures, other lands and made them part of her own. Within this melting pot of styles, genres and wordplay one fact stands out: In the American short story, Literary tradition has a strong, vibrant and almost inclusive history, if you know where to look.

A Mer prince on the run from an arranged marriage and a melancholic vampire don’t have much in common, but fate doesn’t care about that kind of thing. Adrian has three days. After fleeing his palace in the depths of the ocean, Adrian finds himself on land, with legs, and in the arms of Chad Bonaventure, a twenty-four (or four) year-old vampire who would rather be anywhere besides alive--or alive adjacent, as it were. Chad has forever.

ARCHIE: I can count my regrets on one hand, and they all have to do with the same person . . . my childhood best friend, Owen. There's not much I can do to make right all the hurt I caused at twenty, but living a decadent and hedonistic lifestyle where I don't even give myself the opportunity to make those kinds of mistakes again is a good enough start. I have great friends who love me, even if they don't know the truth about what kind of man I used to be. But when Owen shows up in Los Angeles ten years after I last saw him, that's all about to change.

Step beyond the lamplight and into the gilded darkness of a vanished world. Ghost Stories from the Gilded Age is a classic ghost story anthology featuring eerie tales by female authors who defied convention—Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Edith Wharton, Kate Chopin, and more. Narrated by an all-star ensemble of Audie, SOVAS, and One Voice award winners and nominees, this haunting audiobook collection blends Gothic elegance with supernatural unease.

Finally ready to dip his toe into a lifestyle he's only been a bystander to, Callum Jardine convinces himself long-distance is the safest bet, and he activates an online dating profile. Almost immediately, he receives a message from DaddyJM, a handsome, older man who lives across the country and offers Callum far more than he ever expected.

Joel Reading was lonely. Nineteen years old, estranged from his family, and seemingly unable to ever get a second date, he'd surrounded himself with the things he loved most: old books and old music. When one date got out of hand before it even began, Joel found himself displaced from a flooded apartment and on the doorstep of a handsome and older stranger more than willing to take Joel in for the night.

Verity Jones has always been true to themself; even when it meant coming out as nonbinary at a young age and losing the love of their friends and parents. Years later, Verity is ensnared in a complicated, consuming, but purely platonic relationship with their best friend Landon. When Landon's high-school sweetheart re-enters the picture, Verity finds themself alone for the first time since college. Content with the status quo, Aaron Hoffman finds his tight-knit circle of friends shaken up when Gregory introduces him to Landon, and Landon's roommate and business partner, Verity.

Justin and Micah Townsend thought they had it all. With six happy years behind them, Keith tumbles into their world and throws the expectations for their life and their future to the wind. Keith Warren thought he'd made the right decisions. After fleeing an abusive partner and starting over in a new city, he's now getting an education about things he never knew existed. With Justin and Micah leading the way, Keith focuses his energy on being a good submissive and a deserving partner.

Pursuing your best friend's dad is never a good idea, but Cameron Motel is feeling reckless. His life is about to change, and Luke is older, attractive...and he represents something Cameron has never had before. Stability. Luke didn't mean to get involved with his son's best friend, but Cameron needed a strong hand and Luke was willing to deliver on his promises. This thing between them is supposed to be a secret, but something as big as love can't stay hidden for long.

Ever since college, I've kept everyone at a distance. I'm not deserving of the love my friends have found, so I know better than to go looking for it. But they're on to something when they tease me about my long-term friend with benefits. I can't stand the idea of losing Val when he realizes I'm not the man he thinks I am, so it's better for me to keep things the same as they've always been.

My family is old money and my life has been mapped out since before I was born. Become a lawyer, buy a house, get married, and carry on the family name. I have the job and the house, but instead of the marriage, I'm happy playing the field. Finding out that I've been secretly married for half my adult life was a plot twist I didn't see coming. Carter Emerson Royce IV is everything I used to want to be. I haven't seen him since college, and now he's asking me to come to New York and pretend we're the perfect picture of domestic bliss. Considering the history between us, it's the least I can do.

I've never taken relationships seriously because I’ve never met anyone worth being serious for. I don't love them and leave them, but no-strings-hookup might as well be my middle name. Getting dared to kiss a gorgeous stranger with eyes like the ocean and hair like a cloud sounds like a surefire way to add another name to the list of men I've taken to bed, but before the night is over, I'll be proven wrong for the first time in my life. Rose Baker isn't like any man I've ever met before and one kiss—one night—in a hotel with him isn't anywhere close to enough.

Faster than he could unmake a bed, Eddie’s life is turned upside down and he’s out of school with nowhere to go but a home that’s never been his. When he gets to Cherry Creek, the first face he sees is Charlie Motel, his best friend’s brother and also his lifelong crush.

Jackson Bishop doesn't know what's real. He had a birthday. He met a man. He buried his mother. He got lost in the woods, and then.... Jackson woke up. It's his birthday again and his mother is alive, but the man from his dream is selling him a coffee and he doesn't know Jackson's name.