Reluctant socialite Coraline Baxter longs to live a life of significance and leave her mark on the world. When her local suffragette group asks her to climb Mount Rainier to raise awareness of their cause, she jumps at the chance, even though she has absolutely no climbing experience. If she can do it, any woman can do it. And after her mother issues an ultimatum–that Cora marry the man of her mother’s choosing if she is not successful–Cora must do it. But she can’t do it alone.
Noted mountain guide Nathan Hardee initially refuses to help Cora, but has a change of heart when he sees what is at stake. He knows enough about the man Cora’s mother has chosen to know that the headstrong young woman should have nothing to do with him, much less marry him.
Climbing Rainier will require all of Cora’s fortitude and will lead her and Nathan to rediscover their faith in God and humanity. These two loners make unlikely partners in righting a wrong and may just discover that only together is the view most glorious.
I answer with a kiss. A kiss I initiate. My glasses lift up as our faces meet and I reach up to pull them off, holding the stems in my hand as it lingers at his neck.
If a kiss can be perfect, this one is, crossing time and space to pull emotional tendrils together. I’m kissing him for seventeen years of confusion and craziness, for seventeen years of rejecting a piece of me that was just fine to begin with, for seventeen years of being defined by a fellow tween’s impulsive move.
He’s kissing me back for his own reasons, and whatever they are, they’re mighty fine, as his mouth takes mine and tells it stories that make my heart smile. Hands around my waist, he pulls me close, belly to belly, my coat still on but unzipped, the press of his flat torso and muscled terrain achingly tactile. My hands go up behind his neck, fingers brushing the ends of his short hair as his tongue uses a kind of energy I have never encountered before.
Breathless, we break apart, then come together again, the world spinning slowly without us, our bodies here but the rest of us, on every plane, lost in each other.
The cool air against my lips is the first sign that he’s pulled back. I open my eyes to find him so close, staring deeply, chest rising and falling as the scent of him mingles with the frankincense and rose oil I put on earlier today.
“So?” he asks.
“So… what?”
“Is that a yes?”
“You think that was a no?” One arm still around him, unable to let go, I cover my mouth with my hand, laughing.
“I think I need a clear yes, Fiona.”
On tiptoes, I kiss him lightly, then drop back, body pulsing.
Regina Scott started writing novels in the third grade. Thankfully for literature as we know it, she didn’t sell her first novel until she learned a bit more about writing. Since her first book was published, her stories have traveled the globe, with translations in many languages, including Dutch, German, Italian, and Portuguese. She now has had published more than fifty works of warm, witty historical romance. Regina Scott and her husband of more than 30 years reside in the Puget Sound area of Washington State on the way to Mt. Rainier. She has dressed as a Regency dandy, learned to fence, driven four-in-hand, and sailed on a tall ship, all in the name of research, of course. Learn more about her at her website.
Enter to win print copies of all three books in the American Wonders Collection, a collection of nine vintage-style postcards from the parks featured (the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, and Mt. Rainier), and a poster that speaks to the heart of the story: The best view comes after the hardest climb.!
Title: Feisty Author: Lynn Stevens Series: Ridder U Hockey #1 Genre: New Adult Contemporary Sports Romance
She’s too trusting…
Elora has never been so cold. Growing up in the tropics did not prepare her for a new life in Minnesota. For the first time, she’s living in a place that doesn’t float and her best friend isn’t also her family. Everything is a new experience, a new adventure. Including hockey. The arena is freezing, but the game is fierce, fast, and fascinating. She can’t take her eyes off the action… or off a certain player.
He’s wary of everyone…
Wyatt is done with puck bunnies. He just wants to play, go to class, and be left alone. The opposite sex dishes out nothing but misery. School and hockey must come first. Then he meets Elora, and she’s totally clueless about hockey, about school, about a little bit of everything. And she’s the opposite of the ice queen who crushed his heart. But he’s not ready to light that lamp.
When Elora suffers a crisis of confidence, Wyatt’s willing to help her regain her faith in people, especially him. Even if it takes confronting his past to have a future.
Can Wyatt show Elora that he’s the man she thinks he is or will they end up being two ships passing in the night?
Lynn Stevens flunked out of college writing her first novel. Yes, she still has it and no, you can’t read it. Surprisingly, she graduated with honors at her third school. A former farm girl turned city slicker, Lynn lives in the Midwest where she drinks coffee she can’t pronounce and sips tea when she’s out of coffee. When she’s out of both, just stay away.
Title: The Lies Between Us Author: Yolanda Olson Genre: New Adult, Dark Contemporary Romance
Running away has always been something I’m good at.
I’ve run far away from home and back again thinking that each time would be the last.
But things are a lot different lately. I’ve learned that tides turn, seasons change, and sometimes, people do too.
I haven’t seen Hoyt Blackburn in a decade because I was so convinced he wasn’t worth my time anymore. I guess this is where I’ve changed since I found out that his execution is one of those inevitable things that life handed him. I can’t ever remember him being a bad man, yet I can’t shake that something isn’t right about what’s happening to him.
Maybe it’s because I miss him.
Maybe it’s because I wanna lay eyes on the man one last time. Will he remember me? Will he even care? I don’t know; the only thing I can honestly say for sure is that there are still some secrets we have left between us that have to be spoken before he draws his last breath. Otherwise, when that day comes, they may have just killed me too.
Yolanda Olson is a USA Today Bestselling and award-winning author. Born and raised in Bridgeport, CT where she currently resides, she usually spends her time watching her favorite channel, Investigation Discovery. Occasionally, she takes a break to write books and test the limits of her mind. Also an avid horror movie fan, she likes to incorporate dark elements into the majority of her books.
You can keep in touch with her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
