Willow Aster is the author of USA Today bestseller, True Love Story, In the Fields, Maybe Maby, Fade to Red, Lilith (formerly known as Whore), 5,331 Miles, Miles Ahead, The Kingdoms of Sin series, and co-author of The End of Men series with Tarryn Fisher. Willow loves nothing more than writing the day away—anywhere will do. Her husband and two children graciously put up with her endless daydreaming; otherwise, the writing would never get done. She’s also an avid reader, and has been known to walk, cook, and clean with her nose in a book. She’s lived in Texas, Tennessee, Indiana, and California, but Minnesota has captured her now and doesn’t seem to be letting go. Although shy, this lifelong writer and artist is convinced that the best part of this career for her is meeting and connecting with readers, authors, and all of those in this community of lovers of words.
Laura Pavlov writes sweet and sexy contemporary romance that will make you both laugh and cry. She is happily married to her college sweetheart, mom to two awesome almost grown kids, and dog-whisperer to a couple of crazy Yorkies. Laura resides in Las Vegas where she is living her own happily ever after.
Tessa James is the author of dark contemporary romance. She adores writing broken characters you won’t help but fall for on their journey to find themselves and fight for what they love. Her stories are for the hopelessly romantic who enjoy grit, angst, and passion.
When she’s not writing, you’ll find her consuming way too much coffee, making endless to-do lists, and spending time with her daughter and cats in small-town Ohio.
A SMOLDERING COURT. A DIVIDED PEOPLE. A WARNING FROM THE GODDESS.
With the Court of Shadows in ruins, Evelyn Wolfrik has one goal – to rebuild.
After an encounter with the God of the Forest himself and a summons from the Court of Light, Evelyn’s future seems anything but certain.
Leaving the forests, her pack, and fledgling Court behind, Evelyn travels to the white mountains of the Court of Light. Deep in the mountains, navigating not only a frigid court but also challenges and trials she never could have foreseen, she risks losing more than just her crown.
K. Rea is a part-time romance writer and full-time mom. When she isn’t writing or playing with her daughter, she’s reading and crafting. She lives with her husband and family in Florida.
I met her first. I loved her first. But my best friend swept her away, and since then, my heart’s been imprisoned.
I promised myself I would let my feelings for her go, let all of her go, and let them live their happily ever after. But now he’s gone, and I’m left picking up the fractured pieces of her broken heart.
Suddenly, my life’s been derailed, thrown off course, off track. I promised myself I wouldn’t let my feelings for her come surfacing back.
But seeing her again?
I don’t know if I can keep that promise. She’s thrown me off the path I set forth for my imprisoned heart. But now, am I forced to break that promise I made to myself so long ago?
***To stay up to date with all things Bella, including all exclusive content, make sure you sign up for her newsletter here: bit.ly/BellasNewsletter
She loves all books, but her favorite genre to read, as well as write, is romance. Bella loves creating heartbreaking stories that will deeply touch her readers, but in the end, a good HEA is usually the turnout. Whenever Bella is not typing away on her computer with a nice hot cup of coffee, she loves spending time with her family and friends. Her favorite places to go are the movies, the beach, or just on a good plain old road trip. Some of her must haves are coffee, chocolate, pizza, music, & movies.
Have you read any of Bella’s books and are a true fan?
Welcome to the sweet small town of Blink, Maine, a town so tiny, it hardly ranks a dot on the map. Thankfully for Lillian Mahoney, Blink is as warm as the people in the tiny coastal town…well, all except for one: grumpy local Caleb Wright. So how does she end up as Caleb’s employee?
Marissa Clarke is a multi award-winning, RITA® nominated author of romance for adults and teens. She lives on an island in the middle of a river. Seriously, she does. When not writing, she wrangles her rowdy pack of three teens, two Cairn Terriers, and one husband.
Inexplicably, her favorite animal is the giant anteater and at one point, she had over 200 “pet” Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches. The roaches are a long story involving three science-crazed kids and a soft spot for rescue animals. The good news is, the “pet” roaches found a home… somewhere else.
She also writes young adult novels as Mary Lindsey for Penguin USA. www.marylindsey.com. She loves to connect with readers and can be found at www.marissaclarke.com and on Twitter at @MaryL_MarissaC
For sneak peeks at upcoming projects and chances to win prizes, join her Facebook street team group, Camp Clarke: www.facebook.com/groups/CampClarke/
To receive updates and insider information on Marissa’s upcoming books, subscribe here: www.tinyurl.com/marissanews
When twenty-five-year-old Erin flees London for Cornwall and takes a job at Hookes End, a huge house clinging precariously to the Cornish cliffs, all she knows about it are the stories people tell. The owner, reclusive novelist and butterfly enthusiast Maggie, has kept the curtains of her dusty house drawn for many years. But now she is dying, and Erin, seeing the shadows that cross Maggie’s face, wants to help in any way she can.
Years ago, Maggie’s only son Lucas ran away to the other side of the world and the searing heat of the Costa Rican jungle. Maggie is desperate to see Lucas again – there is something she needs him to know.
Erin wants to help Maggie find peace. But when she travels to the warm white sands and tropical butterfly gardens of Costa Rica to find Lucas, it becomes very clear that he is hiding something too.
As Erin unravels the webs of deceit entangling mother and son, she learns about the terrible tragedy that changed their lives forever: the night when a little girl in a fairy nightdress went missing. But with Maggie’s time fast running out, is it too late for them to find the forgiveness they need to move on?
A heart-wrenching page-turner about a family ripped apart by guilt and lies. Set against the storms of the Cornish coast and the silvery sands of Costa Rica, The Butterfly Garden is a story of love, loss and letting go. Fans of Jojo Moyes, Harriet Evans and Lucinda Riley will be gripped.
The Butterfly Garden by Sophie Anderson really packs an emotional punch. Two family dramas unfold on the pages, and both have some pretty shocking revelations. Erin is a young woman that is returning to her hometown “in disgrace” and the topic of gossip everywhere she goes. But she needs a job finds a place with an old woman, Maggie, that needs help writing her final book.
Erin and Maggie gradually become close in their own odd and special way. They seem like a rather unlikely pair, but their relationship is something very special. Maggie’s last book is different than what she usually writes, and Erin soon finds herself on a trip to Costa Rica to deliver the manuscript to Maggie’s estranged son, Lucas.
Costa Rica was incredibly beautiful, and I would love to see all the places Erin visited, but the storyline fell a little flat there. The characters all seemed so contradictory to themselves. While I understood Lucas’s on and off again personality, the rest seemed like pieces that didn’t fit the puzzle. Erin’s whole time here seemed as if it didn’t quite fit – which is odd because Lucas is a vital part of the story.
Erin’s family has their own issues they will need to confront as well, and her time with Maggie helps her realize that secrets aren’t always meant to hurt. This family secret takes the story in a somewhat different direction but still maintains the theme of parents and their children.
I enjoyed the story a lot, and I wish I could have seen how everyone turned out beyond the ending. I feel like there is still so much to say about their lives and their impact on the people around them.
**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**
Title: Mimic Author: C.L. Denault Series: The Prodigy Chronicles #2 Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction Romance
Three simple rules. One secret skill. Let the game continue.
In 2012, one cycle of an ancient calendar system came to a close. Humanity predicted its downfall, but it wasn’t the end of their evolutionary climb. It was the beginning.
Willow Kent is discovering that life as a second-phase prodigy comes at a price. Trapped in the London Core, her choices are limited, made difficult by her forbidden romance with Reece and the presence of a new commanding officer who establishes harsh rules. With unpredictable skills and a growing distrust in her birth parents, she is struggling to play the Core’s game. But when opportunity arises in the form of a mysterious shapeshifter, Willow realizes there’s more to her own evolution than meets the eye. She soon learns that keeping secrets is a key move, and the more dangerous they are, the greater her need to evolve into the powerful prodigy nature intended her to become.
But those closest to her have their own secrets, and her status has made her an easy target for betrayal. Who will she turn to…when nothing is as it seems?
Mimic is the second book in The Prodigy Chronicles, a Hunger Games meets X-Men dystopian romance series about a young girl struggling to control her immense powers and find her place in a city filled with enemies.
The blow shouldn’t have stunned me. I’d grown up in a tavern, defending myself, and had spent plenty of time training with Kane and Tem. I knew how to take a hit.
This was more than a hit. Kristoffe’s swing was fast and brutal, with a force behind it that rivaled my own—enough to knock me off my feet and send me flying down the hall.
Sensations took over. There was the feel of backward motion. Loss of control as my body hit the floor. More motion from sliding, and the hot sting of my flesh scraping tile. Ceiling lights blurred into white lines. Pain throbbed in my cheek.
But it was the tightness in my throat that hurt most. The tiger clawed like mad as we slid. Her screams pierced the fog in my brain, parting it, carving out a path. If I didn’t stop her, she would use it to climb up and take control.
Let me in!
I managed to shake my head.
You need me!
“No,” I whimpered, bumping into the limp body of an elevator guard. One of his arms stopped me, and I sat up quickly, recoiling. He was spread-eagled, face down among his comrades, his fingers wrapped around a retinal scanner. I cringed. Was he dead? Had the tiger killed them all? Then my eyes fell on the laser resting at his hip.
Take it.
I couldn’t. I’d never fired one before.
He’ll kill us!
Not sure who she meant, I jerked my head around. The man with the sabre was still gone. But Kristoffe and his patrol were marching in my direction, dragging Toby with them. He struggled violently until one of them drove a fist into his stomach. A savage tug tore through my belly. Gasping, I leaned over, fumbling for the guard’s laser.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Kristoffe signaled for his men to stop, but continued walking toward me. He didn’t waver, not even when I grasped the laser in both hands and aimed it at him.
“That’s far enough,” I said.
He kept coming.
“I’ll shoot.” My finger instinctively hugged the trigger. “I mean it.”
Spreading his arms, Kristoffe made a target out of his broad chest. His smile was icy. “Go ahead, then. Shoot.”
Was he bluffing? I couldn’t tell. He might have a defensive shield. On the other hand, he might go down with one shot. There was no way to know. But somehow, he’d survived the tiger. This laser was my only hope.
Do it, the tiger spat.
My pulse spiked. “I will shoot.”
He kept coming.
Shoot him!
“Stop,” I cried, my hands shaking.
But he didn’t stop, and the closer he came, the harder I choked on the tiger’s fury. Her strength was more than I could handle. He was only a few feet away when her hissing cry forced me to pull the trigger. A matching cry left my lips. The laser clicked, shuddered—
C.L. Denault is a speculative fiction writer who loves dreaming up tales of adventure and intrigue. A former systems analyst, she gave up her nerdy code-writing skills to care for her family (including a son with special needs) and currently lives among the vast stretches of cornfields in Illinois.
Writing and working out are her biggest passions, along with coffee and sci-fi. When she’s not hanging out with her husband and kids, she can usually be found at a library or tucked away in the shadowy corner of a hip coffeehouse. She’s also been glimpsed sneaking into her garage, late at night, to work on her time machine.
She enjoys connecting with people—especially those from other planets, nearby dimensions, and the future. To find her, just visit her website or social media pages. Or use a Stargate. Whichever is easiest.
When wild-child Aggie Corelissen shows up for an interview with the last person she’d ever want to work for, golden-boy entrepreneur Max Treadwell, she has one goal—to not be offered the position. While she hates to disappoint the two matchmaking grandmothers who’d pressed Max to hire her, she wants nothing to do with a pity job. Besides, the guy could easily win Mr. Pompous Ass of the year.
The last thing Max wants is to offer Aggie a job. The woman, a mixture of bizarre and annoying, has gone through at least a half-dozen employers this year already. He might’ve promised Grandmother he’d hire her, but if Aggie doesn’t take it because he’s more than a little un-charming, that won’t be his fault. After all, his company is on the brink of a major land acquisition, and the last thing he needs is a screw-up as a personal assistant.
With neither of them willing to disappoint their grandmothers, the interview becomes the stuff of legends, and somehow, before either can blink, they’re suddenly stuck working together.
Aggie’s determined the only way out is to be the worst assistant ever and get fired…
Max knows his grandmother would kill him if he fired Aggie, so he’ll just have to be so awful she quits…
But what happens next, no one could have seen coming.
About Lisa Wells
Lisa Wells writes romantic comedy with enough steam to fog your eyeglasses, your brain, and sometimes your Kindle screen. On the other hands, her eighty-year-old mother-in-law has read Lisa’s steamiest book and lived to offer her commentary. Which went something like this: You used words I’ve never heard of…
She lives in Missouri with her husband and slightly-chunky rescue dog. Lisa loves dark chocolate, red wine, and those rare mornings when her skinny jeans fit. Which isn’t often, considering the first two entries on her love-it list.
For months I stood by, an understudy waiting in the wings, preparing for my time to shine.
I never imagined he would watch in the audience that night.
Canon Holt.
Famous film director.
Fascinating. Talented. Fine.
Before I could catch my breath, everything changed.
I went from backstage Broadway to center stage Hollywood.
From being unknown, to my name, Neevah Saint, on everyone’s lips.
Canon casts me in a star-studded Harlem Renaissance biopic, catapulting me into another stratosphere.
But stars shine brightest in the dead of night.
Forbidden attraction, scandal and circumstances beyond my control jeopardize my dream. Could this one shot—the role of a lifetime, the love of a lifetime—cost me everything?
It’s a guttural command. He bends me over the arm of the couch, and my hands hit the cushion for support, to steady myself. At the sound of the condom tearing, my inner muscles contract, bracing for him. He spreads my cheeks and, slipping his whole hand between my legs, cups the trembling flesh. I’m unprepared for the swipe of his tongue. For the subtle abrasion of his beard scraping the inner skin of my thighs. For the sound of him eating me. I push back against his face, helpless, no shame. Digging my nails into the cushions, I widen my legs to give me more, to take more for myself. He grips my thighs, holding me steady for his devouring mouth until, with a sob that sails over the rooftop, over the city, I contract around his delving tongue. The orgasm hits hard, tightening the muscles in my thighs and calves. With staccato breaths, I bury my face in the couch, biting my lip to the point of pain.
“Canon,” I beg. “Stop teasing me and—”
He shoves in, and the words tumble back down my throat, recessing into the shock of this pleasure.
“Jesus.” Need shreds my voice to ribbons.
He coasts his hand up my back, gently cuffs my neck. Ass in the air, I rise up on my toes, begging for breath, petitioning for more dick. He gives it to me, pushing impossibly deeper.
“So damn good,” he grunts behind me.
I hope I never get over how perfect he feels inside me, like I was molded to his specifications. Shaped for his dimensions. I moan and reach my hand back to pull at one of my cheeks, widening the way for his cock. It feels like he goes where no dick has gone before, deeper, better. Somehow I feel each thrust in my heart. His every touch plays on my emotions, and tears sting my eyes. His hand tightens at my hip, and he slides the other hand up my arm, finds my hand on the couch and laces our fingers together. He sets a frenetic pace that sends the blood singing through my body again. The cushion absorbs my scream as I come, and I punish the soft cotton with clawing nails. With his voice strangled, his fingers fisted in my hair, he comes.
Collapsing against my back, a heavy, happy burden, his breath stilted and warm at my neck, he snakes one muscled arm around my middle, clutching me. After the urgent, feral coupling, it’s a cherishing hold. I cross my arm over his at my waist and tangle our fingers. It’s fragile and sweet, this moment, like flakes of sugar disintegrating on your tongue when you’ve barely had time to taste.
A USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author, Kennedy Ryan and her writings have been featured in Chicken Soup for the Soul, USA Today, Entertainment Weekly, Glamour, Cosmo, TIME, O Mag and many others. A RITA® Award winner, Kennedy writes empowered women from all walks of life and centers those who have found themselves perennially on the margins of traditional storytelling.
Her Hoops Series (Long Shot, Block Shot and Hook Shot) and All the King’s Men Series (The Kingmaker, The Rebel King and Queen Move) have been optioned for television. An autism mom, Kennedy co-founded LIFT 4 Autism, an annual charitable initiative, and has appeared on Headline News, Montel Williams, NPR and other media outlets as an advocate for autism families. She is a wife to her lifetime lover and mother to an extraordinary son.
My truth is gone, stolen by a monster. The One who trades my father’s life for hers.
Brandon Montgomery is more than a psychopath. He’s the spawn of the Dark Circle Society and is determined to resurrect it.
Men of his kind have no conscience. No soul. No goodness left. Now, he’s taken my fiancée.
I’ll do anything to get her back.
Anything.
Even if it means I become the man I never wanted to be.
The kind who fights evil with bloody knuckles and shards of glass.
The man who’ll fight for her and keep on fighting.
But when I find the woman I love, something’s not quite right.
The spark in her eyes is gone and so are her memories.
When her captor makes a move we couldn’t predict, our world spirals out of control.
My battle to rescue her body is one thing … but the fight for her soul will be merciless.
Love & Retaliation is a dark, gritty, and emotional new adult novel. It’s recommended for readers who enjoy darker romance. May contain triggers for some readers. ** This is not a standalone novel and Love & Vengeance MUST be read first.
J.A. Owenby lives in the beautiful Pacific Northwest with her husband and cat.
She’s a published author of six short stories, and she is currently working on her ninth full-length novel. She also runs her own business as a professional resume writer and interview coach–she helps people find jobs they love.
J.A. is an avid reader of thrillers, romance, new adult, and young adult novels. She loves music, movies, and good wine. And call her crazy, but she loves the rainy Pacific Northwest; she gets her best story ideas while listening to the rain pattering against the windows in front of the fireplace.
