Showing results by narrator "Christina Traister" in All Categories

Christmas has never brought out the best in the MacDougal family. Still, year after year, they gather together in the Blue Ridge Mountains to try to make the season merry and bright. But this year is an especially strained one, with Shayne’s impending divorce, Morwenna’s slavish devotion to work and Bobby’s reluctance to face what life has to offer. They’ve never felt less like a family. Then, in the midst of a snowy sibling shouting match, a mysterious stranger appears.

Kate McKenna is a photojournalist with a renegade reputation - and a fearless streak that lands her in an experimental hot air balloon, flying over the Rio Grande with the infamous Nick O’Brien. She wants to capture the real man behind the brilliant inventor, but to do that she needs to survive a crash landing in a lawless land and the ruthless bandits who take them hostage. As they conspire to escape their captors, Nick’s fierce protective instinct ignites a deep, primitive desire.

Waiting for Prince Charming to ride up on his white horse and make you happy? Don’t waste your time.You hold the reins of your own happiness. We women have all the power, knowledge, and confidence necessary to create the life we want - without relying on a man to do it for us. We just need to learn to use our innate gifts and start living deliberately today.

Expanded and updated with a new epilogue, Madeleine Blais’ book tells the story of a season in the life of the Amherst Lady Hurricanes, a girls’ high school basketball team from the Western Massachusetts college town. The Hurricanes were a talented team with a near-perfect record, but for five straight years, when it came to the crunch of the playoffs, they somehow lacked the desire to go all the way. Now, led by senior guards Jen Pariseau, a three-point specialist, and Jamila Wideman, an All-American phenom, this was the year to prove themselves.

Once a privileged son of the South, Hunter Calhoun now stands a widower shadowed by the scandal of his wife's death. Burying himself in his success with breeding thoroughbred racehorses, he's left his family to crumble and forgotten how to comfort his grieving children. When a prized stallion arrives from Ireland crazed and unridable, Hunter is forced to seek help for the beast. Removed from the world of wealth and social privilege, Eliza Fylte has inherited her father's famed gift for gentling horses.

Elaine St. James has it all - a thriving career as an elite Manhattan publicist, A-list best friends and a gorgeous, high-profile boyfriend her parents adore. But when Byron breaks up with her on Christmas Eve, Elaine is faced with the prospect of spending the holidays alone…until the man she loved long ago reappears, much like a ghost from Christmas past.

Ace reporter Jack Riley was determined to keep open the Brooklyn youth shelter he volunteered at. But his privileged boss, Madeleine Langston, was the one obstacle standing in his way. He knew Madeleine could help grant the kids’ wishes, though - all he needed was some faith, hope...and a well-fitted tux!

After two years away, Katie Lantz returns to her Amish community nine months pregnant—and unmarried. With nowhere else to turn, she nervously knocks on her family's door, fearing she'll be shunned. Yet the handsome stranger who now owns the farm welcomes her in—just in time for Katie to give birth. Carpenter Elam Sutter and his kindly mother care for Katie and her newborn in a loving way she never dreamed was possible. But in the face of a heart-wrenching choice, Katie learns just what family, faith and acceptance truly mean.

What happens when you think you have it all, and then, suddenly it’s taken away? Willa Chandler-Golden’s father changed the world: with his self-help best seller Is It Really Your Choice? Why Your Entire Life May Be Out of Your Control, millions of devoted fans found solace in the notion that everything happens for a reason. Though Willa isn’t entirely convinced of his prophesies, she readily admits that the universe has delivered her a solid life: a reliable husband, a fast-paced career.

Beneath his controlled demeanor, attorney John O’Rourke is a man in turmoil. Since the death of his wife, he has been juggling the rigors of a controversial capital murder case and the demands of raising two children. As 11-year-old Maggie and 14-year-old Teddy long for the past, they must also contend with the hostility that swirls around them since their father took on the defense of a despised killer - including a brick through their window one autumn morning.

A year after forest fires ravaged the town of Crow Valley and claimed the life of Dale Jepson―karaoke legend, local prison guard, and all-around good guy―the community hosts a high-stakes karaoke competition. But when a convicted murderer escapes from nearby Crow Valley Correctional, residents discover there’s more on the line than local, perhaps even national, karaoke fame.

The first time I met Malcolm Shepherd, I whispered in his ear. I had my reasons for doing it, which he knew nothing about. It probably seemed a bit odd to him, and he undoubtedly got the wrong idea about me. Because of that, one thing led to another and we ended up kissing only ten minutes after our first introduction.

It was a surreal evening when I finally got to see Micah Lacey live in concert. He played a sold-out show, and I had front row tickets. It was like nothing I had ever experienced before. Micah said some things to the audience near the end of the performance—some personal things about his own life. I wasn't normally the type of person to follow clues, but Micah's songs and his life before stardom seemed interesting.

I was heartbroken and oblivious the first time I met Warren Manning. I wasn’t a fan of country music, so I had no idea who he was. We had a brief but heartfelt conversation, and Warren left my life as quickly as he entered it. A few months later I discovered just how famous he was. It was cool that I had met him once, but I figured I would never see him again.

She's out of your league. It was a cliché term and one that no man ever wanted to hear. But it defined Micah's relationship with Claire Alexander. She was so out of his league that he had given up hope from day one. A relationship with Claire was not a possibility. She simply would never be his. He was broken and she was too good for him—out of his league in every way. Micah and Claire were friends. That's all they had ever been and all they would ever be.

Isaac Alexander had just experienced the most vivid and stirring dream of his life. The dream, a t-shirt, and a woman he just met were all oddly connected. But the woman was gone just as quickly as she appeared, and he only came to realize she was his destiny after it was too late. Isaac thought had no way to find her and no hope of ever reconnecting. He would need the help of a hopeless romantic to hatch the most bizarre plan if he ever wanted to see her again.