Showing results by narrator "Clark Linden" in All Categories

The stories in Chicken Soup for the Soul will encourage listeners to stay upbeat, because there's always a brighter way to look at life. This collection includes 20 Stories about love and letting go.

At 28, writer Kayleen Schaefer's brother was one of the most promising young filmmakers in Hollywood, having shot to success as the writer and director of "Chapter 27," starring future Oscar-winner Jared Leto as John Lennon’s killer Mark David Chapman. Then, five years later, to the surprise of those closest to him, he left it all behind - abandoning his career, his family and his life, without telling anyone where he was going.

The Armstrong brothers are wealthy, wild-at-heart bad boys—until their father's will demands they prove themselves and marry in order to inherit their fortune. Eldest brother Cooper channels his reckless spirit into becoming CEO of his own airline. The only thing better than the adrenaline rush of flying is his one-night stand with a stunning stranger. At first he doesn't recognize the fiery barista he clashes with years later at an airport coffee shop.

The year is 1928. Kate Moore is looking for a way out of the poverty and violence of her childhood. When a chance encounter on a transatlantic ocean liner brings her face-to-face with the handsome heir to a Chicago fortune, she thinks she may have found her escape - as long as she can keep her past concealed.

ER nurse Lindsey Helm used to be strong. Then a late-night attack at the hospital nearly killed her and left two close colleagues dead. Now Lindsey has retreated from the world. She knows she needs to move on, but every hint of danger seems threatening—including a certain sexy flyboy who's determined to show Lindsey what she's missing. But falling for F-18 pilot Maverick Armstrong is a risk she can't afford...

An Absorbing Errand uses stories of artists' lives, personal anecdotes, and insights from the author's work as a psychotherapist to examine the psychological obstacles that prevent people from staying with, and relishing, the process of art-making. Each chapter is devoted to a problem intrinsic to the creative process and illustrates how these very obstacles, once understood, can become prime sources of the energy that actually fuels the mastery of art-making.

After a life of wrong turns and lost hope, can true love be more than a bittersweet fantasy? Melinda Andrews arrives on the Oregon coast with a dream of running the Sea Glass Inn. Still reeling after an unexpected divorce, Mel believes she has missed her chance to find love. All she wants is to make her business a success and regain her independence. She locates the artist who inspired her move so she can commission more paintings for her new inn. Pamela Whitford runs a gallery in a small seaside town, planning events and supporting other artists while neglecting her own talent.

A deadly supercolony of ants with razor-sharp claws that pierce skin like paper and stinging venom that liquefies its prey is killing in Manhattan. The desperate mayor turns to the greatest ant expert in the world, Paul O’Keefe. Paul calls on his ex-wife Kendra Hart, a spirited entomologist. When the ants launch an all-out attack, Paul and Kendra hit the dangerous, panic-stricken streets of New York, searching for a coveted queen. It’s a race to unlock the secrets of an indestructible new species, before the president nukes Manhattan.

Nina Granville believes her business trip to Alaska will give her a short respite from the merry-go-round that came with her engagement to Congressman Terrence Donnelly. But instead of allowing her the peace she craves, Nina's getaway from the public eye means that no one witnesses her abduction into a very cold hell.

Escaping her broken marriage, successful author Elena settles into a hastily arranged sublet. Shattered, on the verge of coming unhinged, she’s unable to sleep, write, or even unpack. Then she discovers an innocent pastime to occupy her restless days and nights - watching her neighbors through the kitchen window. The Storms seem like the perfect family, but the more Elena sees and hears, the more she believes that there’s something terribly wrong in the house next door.

A driven workaholic, CEO Caasi Crane has sacrificed all semblance of a personal life to build a West Coast hotel empire. But business as usual will never be the same when the man Caasi trusts with all her heart abruptly resigns. Having to replace her top manager isn’t the end of the world - or at least it shouldn’t feel like it. So why does it hurt so much to lose him?

I Just Haven’t Met You Yet details Tracy Strauss’s dating history and her journey to dismantle the effects and stigmas of an abusive past, break free of destructive relationship patterns, and ultimately conquer her fear of truly being seen by the world, flaws and all. The author shares the transformative lessons she learned and self-empowerment she achieved while passing each hurdle along the way to finding the love of her life.

Carrie Hansen won’t let her failing health stop her from fulfilling her own last wish. Vowing to transform an aging plantation house into a beautiful wedding venue, she plans to live out her last days celebrating happiness. But between renovation problems and family interference, Carrie fears she’ll never see anyone walk down the aisle. Civil War soldier Thomas Gentry took his final breath back in 1861 and has been haunting the crumbling manor ever since. So when the new owner messes with his routine and starts renovating the place, he vows to preserve the status quo.

Growing up, Cat Friessen didn’t always know who she was. In fact, her earliest memory is of being alone in a silent world, terrified and misunderstood, left like garbage in a Mexican orphanage. The memory haunts her, and it’s one she’s never shared with her parents Neil and Candy Friessen, who have given her their name, their love, and a surgery that changed her life for the better. Now 19, Cat struggles with her sheltered existence and the fact that she doesn’t really fit in.

Working alongside his brothers to build a new veterans center, Brandon just wants to get the job done. That all changes when his uncle asks Chloe—the beautiful and confident daughter of a famous chef and food critic—to design the center’s kitchen. Brandon and Chloe have a steamy chemistry, but he struggles with allowing himself happiness, and Chloe is a perfectionist determined never to be in a long-term relationship. Now Brandon has to convince her to finish this job with him.

Melanie Hansen loved her younger sister, Carrie. But when Carrie moved to Missouri to restore an antebellum house, Melanie was pretty sure her baby sister had lost her mind. Then her worst fear comes true: Carrie dies. When a letter arrives, asking Melanie to return to Celebration House, she has no choice but to leave all that she knows in Seattle and travel to Missouri. All Melanie wants to do is find a buyer. But that’s a difficult task with all of the restrictions her sister and the local historian, Zach Oakes, put on the sale of the house.

Beth Kozera promised her best friend, Carrie Hansen, she would stay and manage Celebration House in Carrie’s absence. How she regrets that promise! She has no idea how to run an event venue. Since when did brides become so demanding and grooms so lecherous? Plus, she can’t boil water, let alone supervise a sit-down dinner for 200 guests every weekend! Thank goodness for Joshua - or, at least, she thinks. But when Beth offers his mom a job overseeing the kitchen, Josh shows his patriarchal colors - so much for tall, dark, and haughty.

Scarlett Hughes is overly involved in the lives of everyone around her, especially her neighbors, including: a young goth girl who chalks her very traditional wishes on the sidewalk; a forgetful mailman; and an older couple whose main excitement in their lives are the formal-sounding scam emails from foreign lands promising large sums of money.

Marcy Payne has been flying crop-dusters over the farms and ranches of Three Rivers for two decades. When her father passes away, she unexpectedly faces losing the family business unless she gets married. Her livelihood—and the legacy she cherishes—are on the line. Wyatt Walker, a former rodeo star, learns of Marcy's predicament and seizes the chance to keep her in his life. With the same fearless determination he used to tame bulls, he proposes to Marcy, diamond ring in hand.

Callie Foster is struggling to keep the Shining Star Ranch from going into foreclosure. Despite getting help from the neighbors, the ranch’s debts keep piling up. Determined to keep the ranch that has been in her family for generations, she refuses to sell, even when potential buyers make generous offers.