Showing results by narrator "Thom Rivera" in Romance

On the eve of his 90th birthday, a bachelor decides to give himself a wild night of love with a virgin. As is his habit - he has purchased hundreds of women - he asks a madam for her assistance. The 14-year-old girl who is procured for him is enchanting, but exhausted as she is from caring for siblings and her job sewing buttons, she can do little but sleep. Yet with this sleeping beauty at his side, it is he who awakens to a romance he has never known. Tender, knowing, and slyly comic, Memories of My Melancholy Whores is an exquisite addition to a master's work.

Havana, Cuba, 1947. Young Patricio flees impoverished Spain and steps into the sultry island paradise of Havana with only the clothes on his back and half-baked dreams of a better life. Blessed with good looks and natural charm, he lands a job as a runner at El Encanto - one of the most luxurious department stores in the world. Famous for its exquisite offerings from French haute couture to Arabian silks, El Encanto indulges the senses in opulent extravagance. It caters to visiting Hollywood stars, rising politicos, and prerevolutionary Cuba’s wealthiest power players.

Abandoned with his two younger brothers, Milo Vega was placed in foster care. Now a 20-year-old high-school senior covered in gang tattoos and working as the school’s janitor, he is living a life vastly different from the one he was destined for. When another foster joins the family, this one from the psychiatric facility, Milo’s skeptical. A rare genetic condition makes her unlike any girl he’s ever seen, and he wants nothing to do with the one he calls Ghostgirl.

Milo sold his soul to the devil to save an angel. Now he’s after revenge. There are worse prisons than the lush estate of a notorious drug smuggler in Mexico. Mercy lives out her days alone and hidden from the world, but her sleep is riddled with nightmares of the muti and all the boys and girls just like her who weren’t lucky enough to get away.

The four Tutheridge siblings grew up under the savage dictatorship of their wealthy and powerful father. Isolated on a small island in the Puget Sound, his three sons and daughter have little hope for finding love. Given their unique personalities and internal demons, romance seems unlikely. But when their mother secretly engages a team of matchmakers, hope blossoms for this lonely, slightly odd family. As long as they don’t know they’re being matched, they just might get their happy ending.

Since the loss of my husband, matchmaking has been my solace and mission as I pair souls meant for each other. However, letters from a sensitive and insightful bachelor from across the country have me wondering about my own destiny. Together, Matthew and I successfully paired the Tutheridge siblings, but as our shared project ends, can a new story begin? With some trepidation, I agree to travel from Boston to Whale Island. Will I find love again in the arms of Matthew Goodwell?

During WWII, Avelino Carrillo spent four harrowing years in the South Pacific with one thought driving his survival: to return to his beloved home in Napa Valley. The Carrillos have a history in the valley that stretches deep, like grapevine roots in the soil. For a century, they worked the vineyard at their family home, la Casa de los Sueños, until they lost the property to a wealthy land baron. Now, Avelino is determined to reclaim the land and home he loves so much.

It is a time for upheaval in Cuba: the time to build a new society. Even from her position of privilege, idealistic divorcée Carmela Vasconcelos sees the waves of uprising and is caught up in the excitement. Persuaded by her brother, Lucas, she flees her wealthy home to join Fidel Castro’s rebels. In the mountainous jungle of the Sierra Maestra, Carmela meets Ignacio Deheza, a charismatic Argentinian socialist fighting on behalf of the insurrection. On the training fields of a revolution, they bond in the cause - and in a blind passion that stirs their blood and soul.