Showing results by narrator "Nick Podehl" in All Categories

Eighteen-year-old Benjamin Nefer seems to have it all: great looks, incredible football skills, and smooth moves that have won - and broken - the hearts of countless girls at his high school. But his hellish home life has left him feeling empty inside, unable to experience real feelings. He thinks he's fine being this way forever... until he meets a beautiful and witty 17-year-old girl named Charlotte "Charlie" Austin.

Rosa Guerrero beat the odds as she rose to the top of the corporate world. An attractive woman of a certain age, the longtime chief of human resources at Ellery Consumer Research is still a formidable presence, even if her most vital days are behind her. A leader who wields power with grace and discretion, she has earned the devotion and loyalty of her staff. No one admires Rosa more than her doting lieutenant Leo Smalls, a benefits vice president whose whole world is Ellery.

Deklin will become a villain to rival the gods… somebody should probably tell him. For now, Deklin's just a fourth-year magi looking for a post-midterm vacation from Earth. When a failed portal spell strands Deklin on a dangerous, massive worldshard, he unwillingly embarks on an adventure where spire climbers compete for ever higher standings, and cultivators bind magical aspects to strengthen their spirits. Transformed into a dragonblood and branded as an outlaw, Deklin is forbidden from advancing past the first threshold alongside his growing band of exiles.

It’s been fifteen years since Mandy Reasoner was murdered - a crime for which her boyfriend, Duke, was convicted. But when high school students and best friends Betty and June discover that Mandy was June’s long-forgotten aunt, they decide to pursue the mystery. Galvanized by the growing community who doubts the evidence against Duke and is rallying to free him, the two girls start on a path that will bring them not only to Duke himself but smack into Nickel, tough-as-nails teenage P.I. attempting to keep his own life together.

Virginia finally had the chance to explore a relationship with Aaron when he asked her on a date. She had been waiting, hoping that the widower and his young son, Buddy, would welcome her into their lives. But a terrible tragedy strikes on the night of their first kiss, crushing their hopes for a future together.

Only a few short months have passed since Meghan and Shannon successfully retrieved Kellan from a brutal life in Claudius’ Rome. The Soulborn struggles with how Order, Chaos, and Creation have all left their mark on Kellan during his time as a gladiator. Neither Kellan nor Shannon is given much time to ponder these changes. Upon their return from Rome, Sentinel and Soulborn are caught up in the first act of the culminating struggle between Creation and Destruction.

Paige Langford has it all: wealth, beauty, and ambition. Yet when her boyfriend’s betrayal costs her both her dream job and her reputation, she retreats to her brother’s rural home in Indiana to heal and figure out the rest of her life. There she meets Ryan Malloy, a gruff, hard-drinking cowboy whose surly temper can’t hide the pain in his eyes.

William and Serena struggle to recover from the devastation wrought upon their home by the forces of Sinskrill. They want nothing more than peace, but they have to fight on. They know that the war between the two islands, one spanning millennia, is reaching its denouement. Both Arylyn and Sinskrill - magi and mahavans - prepare for the final conflict. Warriors are trained, readied for the battle neither side truly wants. Indeed, peace might even be a possibility if not for the Servitor, Serena’s father.

During the summer of 1987, from their tree house fort in the woods, neighborhood boys Tim, Scott, and Luke spot a man holding a gun to missing 16-year-old Molly Peterson's back. The problem is, nobody believes their story, not even the police. As search efforts to find Molly dwindle, the boys know that she, and the man with the gun, are nearby - and that they must now find and save Molly themselves.

When driven by a goal, the impossible oft becomes doable, like slaughtering an entire coven of the Twice Cursed God’s adepts without mercy, or leading a legion of demons to storm the last bastion of the Cursed Princedom. But as the impossible hurdles keep on coming, even that drive may not be enough for Krian to escape Demon Grounds, make it to the higher plane, reunite with his sister and friend, and exact vengeance on his mortal enemy....

Roman was never supposed to escape the locked plane that was his prison. And yet, somehow the impossible task became possible with the help of new friends, and despite the tricks of old enemies. Too intrepid was the demon driven by the fury of battle, the sorrow of defeat, the bonds of unbreakable friendship, and the longing for his beloved. But when gods themselves join the fray, the chances of victory fall from slim to none.

Kellan Thorne loves the Christmas season. He plans a well-deserved rest consisting of parties and watching Christmas classics. However, fate has different plans for Kellan and his Soulborn who find themselves swept up with gods, goddesses, and mantles of immense power. As the eternal battle between order and chaos continues to play out, Kellan quickly finds himself at odds with forces beyond both his understanding and ability to control. To safeguard all those he holds dear, Kellan must breach a celestial treasury sealed shut at the dawn of creation and pull forth a wizard's soul.

Dakkon’s in trouble. Things have gone horribly wrong. But so long as there’s still a glimmer of hope, it’s not too late, is it? With such high stakes, failure isn’t an option. He’s got to stay crisp. Frosty. Focused. Dakkon needs luck, skill, and a meteoric rise in power, however success won’t come so easily. Nature is cruel. Predators come in all shapes and sizes, especially when the land is warped by magic.

The best-selling author of The Wonder of Boys offers a holistic and uplifting look at how to celebrate life after 50. Written with Gurian’s courageously optimistic outlook on life, The Wonder of Aging is a comprehensive and comforting road map of what to expect in the second half of your life - and how to celebrate it. The elder years can be a journey into something richer and deeper, full of hope and meaning rather than a sense of fate, and this audiobook gives you the tools to revel in them to the fullest.

In the near future, to escape the crush and clutter of a packed and polluted Earth, the world’s elite flock to Atopia, an enormous corporate-owned artificial island in the Pacific Ocean. It is there that Dr. Patricia Killiam rushes to perfect the ultimate in virtual reality: a program to save the ravaged Earth from mankind’s insatiable appetite for natural resources.

On an isolated Texas ranch, Dr. Lucy cares for abandoned animals. The solitude allows her to avoid the people and places that remind her of the past. Not that any of the townsfolk care. In 1959, no one is interested in a woman doctor. Nor are they welcoming Calvin and Justin Bell, a newly arrived African American father and son.

Matt Gratton and his two best friends, Sean and Coop, always set themselves a summer-time goal. This year’s? To see a real-live naked girl for the first time. As far as Matt is concerned, they’d have better luck finding the lost city of Atlantis. But seeing a girl in the buff starts to seem like child’s play compared to the other summertime goal Matt sets for himself: to swim the 100-yard butterfly (the hardest stroke known to God or man) in order to impress Kelly West, the hot new girl. So what if he can’t manage a single lap, let alone four?

Merlin’s final words haunt the Sentinel’s dreams. Kellan’s eidetic memory replays them with perfect clarity each night since he breached the guff and withdrew three human souls. Now, more than a year later, both he and his Soulborn wife are visited by an entity who channeled Universal power to enter our world from another. This Emissary of Destruction provides the young Sentinel with a gift of unimaginable power and a dire warning. This combination sets Kellan on a journey which takes him to the land of Fae. There he must gain support from the Fairy King and Queen.

A great war encroaches following the turbulent events of patch 17, casting a menacing shadow over both Demon Grounds and lands of the light races. Roused from a millennia-old slumber, dark gods seek to exact vengeance for their past defeat. Max finds himself at the epicenter of it all - with the lives of his woman, his friends, and all his people in the Wild Wood dependent on him. Two unlikely heroes must stand - and endure - against all odds: one a Black Demon from an ancient prophecy, the other a fabled Gray Lion....

First Thrills will include never-before-published stories by New York Times best-selling authors including Lee Child, Stephen Coonts, Jeffery Deaver, Heather Graham, Joan Johnston, John Lescroart, Alex Kava and Deb Carlin, Michael Palmer (with Daniel James Palmer), Karin Slaughter, and Wendi Corsi Staub.