Reader's Choice 2023 - First Love - Top 9 - Stories

It's college. Matt should be worrying about classes, friends, and parties. Not a baby. At least his supervisor is cool when he shows up to work with his infant brother in tow. The owner on the other hand? Matt's sure he'll be an issue. Except, Seamus helps Matt more than anyone.

Zak is a shy quiet 15 year old whose mother gets him a summer job at a local ranch. Zak's sure it's going to be the summer from Hell until he meets 16 year-old ranch hand, Dusty.

At fifteen, CJ moved to the District of Columbia when his step-father discovered the teen was gay and banished him from their Miami home.

In Washington, living with his biological father and his partner, CJ blossoms thanks in part to the guidance provided by his father’s gay friends.

Life in the Old West was harsh. The work was hard, but the men were harder, and death.... well... it came easy. Boone had no one until he met Coy, a handsome cowboy with a good heart. Their friendship was quickly formed, and meant everything to him, but after five years of being at each other's side, it was time to move on. Coy didn't need him anymore, and Boone wanted someone made like he was. Finally accepting that was never going to be Coy, and tired of being rootless, he sets out to find a home... land that was his, and a place he could belong. Coy? Left on his own, what path will he take?

The object of Parker Montgomery's crush is big man on campus Colton Butler, who is much more than he appears to be. Colton has been watching Parker from a distance, patiently waiting for the day when he will finally be able to claim his destined mate. When Parker is threatened by a rogue wolf, Colton's instincts take over and he finds that his actions have consequences that threaten to tear his pack apart.

After losing his mother at sea, teenage sailor Trevor Carlson pours himself into running the Atlantis while navigating grief, family pressure, and a guarded love life. As his world expands from school and friendship into romance and dangerous adult secrets, a high-stakes chain of criminal conspiracies and deadly threats forces him into a long voyage toward truth, survival, and hard-won freedom.

Nash Cushman had a good life. Nominated for 'Man of the Year, he had a good job, a great husband, and a community of people who loved him. Until he didn't. Through it all, life and love found a way. One man got what he never knew he wanted (or needed) while the other got the impossible.

After his mother’s death, sixteen-year-old Rory is sent to Arizona to live with the father he’s never known. Angry, grieving, and completely out of place, he expects nothing from the desert except heat and disappointment. Instead, he finds family, truth, and the possibility of first love. But learning to belong means facing the past—and risking his heart.

Ethan Scott tires of life in the city after several years of living on the streets and decides a trip to the mountains is the change he needs. Little does he know what direction that change will take.