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Three Reasons You Should Read This Hallmark Romance:
A Cottage Wedding by Leigh Duncan is a really sweet misunderstanding-type romance that shows how love can be made a priority.
Tara’s conflict over what to do feels very real, and while she tiptoes around the lying game, she never crosses so far over that I stop liking her – it was a nice balance.
We get to learn more about the history of Heart’s Landing and the Captain’s Cottage, and it is truly swoon-worthy.
It’s more than a charming small town― it’s a premier wedding destination. But will one journalist ruin Heart’s Landing forever?
Tara Stewart’s boss at Weddings Today magazine sends her to Heart’s Landing to debunk its romantic legends. This could devastate the many local businesses who cater to weddings, from Forget Me Knot Florist to Dress for a Day.
The locals convince Jason Heart, the handsome descendant of the town’s founder, to show Tara around the town. But can he persuade her to believe in the romance?
A Cottage Wedding takes us back to the beautiful Heart’s Landing and a little deeper into the inner workings of The Captain’s Cottage. Jason and his team are determined to make the #1 wedding venue again, and they are pulling out all the stops. It isn’t just the Cottage’s reputation on the line, but the entire town.
Tara shows up to review Heart’s Landing when her editor backs out at the last minute. But she comes with an ulterior motive. One that she finds very hard to keep in mind as the people, places, and history of Heart’s Landing win her over. But her career and the life she always wanted are on the line.
I really enjoyed the history that was revealed in A Cottage Wedding. While Tara’s initial reason to dig into it isn’t the best, what she uncovers is amazing and beautiful and lovely and… I think you get the picture. And Jason’s love of the family home is evident in every action.
The big conflict in this book worried me at first – as I’m not a fan of mistaken/false intentions, but this one may have changed my mind. The regret over misleading is real, and Tara never takes joy in her deception. In fact, it eats at her every time she thinks about it. And the inevitable blow-up was quite believable. I love that it came down to truth and history to save the day – and those things really showed that love should be the greater motivation.
I fell even more in love with the town and its residents. It was a joy to come and visit and to witness another Heart’s Landing love for the ages.
**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**
After his scandalous fight with Mad Max, Stone was banned from the professional fighting world. Turning to a wild and reckless life filled with women, alcohol, and drugs, Stone thought that his life was officially over. With nowhere left to go, Stone takes a job as a bouncer in a Las Vegas Club.
Ember grew up in a trailer park in the middle of nowhere. Once she graduated high school, she took off for the big city lights of Las Vegas and never looked back. She has no idea what she wants out of life yet, but she knows she will never go back to the world she left behind.
One night, after a couple of customers get a little too rowdy in the bar, Ember finds herself being saved by the last man she ever would have expected– Stone Cold, the infamous bad boy fighter who was shunned from the MMA fighting world. When their eyes lock, both Stone and Ember realize there’s more to the other than they ever could have imagined. Ember see’s strength in Stone and he finds hope in Ember.
Will they be able to save one another and help build the lives they are both destined for?
Quickly, our kiss deepened, and Ember crawled over my lap, her heated core warming against my jeans as she slightly rocked.
I began to trail light kisses down her neck and Ember let her head fall back, giving me more access to her sweet skin.
“Aren’t you tired from earlier?” she asked, but we both knew she was enjoying this.
“I could never get tired of you,” I sighed.
Ember stopped kissing me and stared deep into my eyes. “Stone…”
“Ember, don’t fight this. We both know how amazing we could be. You wouldn’t believe how good this could get,” I said, winking.
“Oh yeah. We are both royally screwed up, Stone. You think that’s good?” she asked.
“I do. I’m on track to getting back into professional fighting and you have dreams, too. I’m going to make a lover out of you,” I said, making sure she was still looking at me.
After moving to London, Amelia Glendale landed her dream job as a lawyer at the Queen’s Charitable Foundation. But when the queen dies, Amelia finds herself working for her longtime royal crush, Prince Leo – and his stuffy older brother Prince Edmund.
Charismatic Prince Leo was once known for his hard-partying ways, but has settled down and thrown himself into a life of philanthropy. He’s Amelia’s perfect man and she’s sure they’d get along if she wasn’t too star-struck to speak to him.
Prince Edmund has always been the sensible brother and dutiful heir, until a scandal of epic proportions leaves his reputation in tatters. With his comfortable existence disrupted, he sees a chance to build a life and relationship where he is more than just his position.
Thrown into the princes’ orbit, Amelia discover that maybe the perfect man for her isn’t the prince she expected. Will Amelia get her fairytale ending, or will the pressures of life in the spotlight be too much to bear?
This feel-good romantic comedy about love, friendship and tiaras is perfect for fans of American Royals and The Royal We.
I know it’s been a long day, but would you like to come back with me for dinner? Lucy and Emma are coming over for a post-trip debrief, and I’m sure they’d like to see you.”
“I’d love to, but I promised Penny I’d have dinner with her. She’ll disown me for sure if I stand her up.”
“Are you sure? Am I going to have to get down on my knees and beg?”
Now that’s an image. How am I meant to say no to that?
“Alright, I’ll come for dinner. But I’m going to have to leave early—eight p.m. at the latest. Don’t let me lose track of time.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.”
Walters is standing squinting out the window as the flight attendant disarms the door. He turns around and walks towards us.
“Excuse me, Your Highness. It seems we have an issue.”
“What’s the matter?”
“There are photographers on the runway. We’ve called airport security, but it may take a while to clear them.”
“Are the cars ready to go outside?”
“Yes, sir.”
“In that case, let’s just get to the cars quickly and head out.”
“Are you sure, sir?”
“Yes, quite sure. I don’t want to spend an hour waiting for airport security to deal with it.”
“As you wish, sir,” Walters responds. He strides back to the door and nods to the flight attendant who opens the door.
With the door open, Walters walks towards the stairs with Edmund and me following behind.
“What are we having for dinner then? Have you got your chef on standby?”
“I’ll have you know that I don’t have a chef.”
“But you can order food from the kitchens at the other apartments, right?”
“Well, yes, Helena has extra kitchen staff, so they can cater for the rest of us. But that’s not the same as having my own dedicated chef.”
“Oh, of course not, Your Highness. You’re the picture of the everyman. The public would never question the cost of the monarchy again if they knew you were here sharing chefs,” I say, rolling my eyes.
No response. Eddie is frozen at the door with his back to me. Oops, maybe that one went too far.
“Hey, I’m sorry. It was just a joke…”
“It’s not you,” Eddie says stiffly. “It’s them.”
My gaze follows Eddie’s hand as he gestures out the door to the runway. On the ground is a pack of at least forty people with cameras and microphones. There are flashbulbs going off everywhere and photographers and reporters jostling and yelling over each other, trying to get our attention. This is not what I pictured when Walters said there were photographers here.
Watching the scene down on the ground, I try to figure out how so many people got here so fast. Is this what it’s always like when Eddie goes out? There were reporters following us around in Kenya, but it was nothing like this. They were a small group of pre-approved professionals. Something about this pack is far rougher and more volatile.
“What do we do?”
“They’ve already seen us, so I say we keep our heads down and get to the cars as fast as possible. You’d better head back to your flat. If they get photos of us going into KP together, things are going to escalate quickly.”
“Right, of course. Okay, I guess I’ll head home.”
Eddie walks down the steep stairs and I follow, watching my feet and trying to pretend that this is a totally normal experience that I am completely fine with. The facade doesn’t last long.
Halfway down the stairs, the wind dies down and I’m hit by a wall of sound. Everyone on the ground is yelling. Reporters are shouting questions, airport security officers are screaming at the reporters to move back and Walters and the PPOs are urging Eddie and me to move faster and get to the cars. Making my way across the tarmac to the car, I keep my head down and catch bits and pieces of the questions being hurled at Eddie through the chaos.
“Why did you cheat, Edmund?”
“What did Sibella say?”
“Give us a kiss!”
“How long have you been seeing her?”
After what seems like an hour, I make it to the car, and a PPO opens the door and starts pushing me in. As he does, I look up and see a lone reporter with floppy brown hair and tortoise-shell glasses staring at me. Not Eddie, me. “Oi, Amelia! How does it feel to finally catch a prince?” Before he can say anything else, I’m shoved into the backseat and the door slams shut next to me.
“Camden, is it, ma’am?” the driver asks, looking at me in the rear-view mirror.
“Pardon?”
“We’re headed to an address in Camden?”
“Oh, yes. Thank you.”
“Don’t worry, ma’am,” he says, his eyes softening. “You’ll get used to it.”
I write funny stories about people falling in love. Mainly princes and princesses because I’m a bit of a royal family tragic. Also because writing about royalty is the closest I’ll ever come to wearing a tiara that isn’t made of plastic.
I live in Australia with my husband and three small humans. In my seventeen seconds of free time each day I love reading romantic comedies, watching cheesy Netflix movies and baking cakes which I absolutely do not eat most of myself.
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Starfighter Training Academy. It was just a game. The newest, hottest video game release of the year. Choose a role. Build the perfect hero who joins you on missions to save the Vega star system from the evil Queen Raya and her merciless Dark Fleet.
Play for hours? Check. Obsess over the in-game romance between your avatar and the sexiest alien you’ve ever seen? Check. Win? Beat the heck out of the game? Check and check.
Open your door at 3:00 in the morning to find that smoking hot alien you thought you made up in your head standing there? Um… okay.
Wake up on the other side of the galaxy with that same alien insisting you’re his… and that you haven’t been playing a video game, but completed the training program to become the first Starfighter from Earth?
I rolled over and blinked at my alarm clock. Three freaking thirty in the morning?
I must have been dreaming.
The pounding repeated, louder.
No one came to my door this late. Ever. Hell, no one came to my door at all unless I had a delivery or one of my neighbors needed something. I threw off my covers and slipped my toes into cold slippers.
“Coming!” Was my apartment building on fire? Was it the police? Had the neighbors been screaming at each other again? She really needed to kick that deadbeat boyfriend of hers to the curb.
The pounding intensified, and it was obvious that whoever was on the other side of the door had no problem waking up the entire building.
“I said, I’m coming!” I opened the door and stopped dead in my tracks. A huge man stood in the hallway wearing a helmet of some kind, as if he’d been riding a motorcycle. Which was crazy because it was cold and wet and not motorcycle weather.
He removed the helmet, and I stepped back. My eyes widened in recognition. Black hair, those familiar sparkling green eyes. Perfect olive skin. Full lips. Square jaw. A familiar uniform with a crest on his chest, the one I’d just seen on my gaming screen.
“Jamie.”
I stared, my throat and mouth frozen. Holy shit. That voice. I knewthat voice.
He was as big as I’d imagined. No, bigger. Broader. More intense. That gaze, it bored into me, past my flannel pj’s and to a place that left me speechless. My heart pounded, and I feared I was losing my mind. Hallucinating. This had to be a dream.
“Jamie Miller, you must come with me.”
“Um… what?” I finally said.
“You are the first Starfighter. And you are mine. Queen Raya has mobilized the Dark Fleet, and together we must save Velerion.”
Grace Goodwin is a USA Today and international bestselling author of Sci-Fi and Paranormal romance with nearly one million books sold. Grace’s titles are available worldwide in multiple languages in ebook, print and audio formats. Two best friends, one left-brained, the other right-brained, make up the award-winning writing duo that is Grace Goodwin. They are both mothers, escape room enthusiasts, avid readers and intrepid defenders of their preferred beverages. (There may or may not be an ongoing tea vs. coffee war occurring during their daily communications.) Grace loves to hear from readers.
“You went and fell in love with an ultralight? That’s like a spider falling in love with a butterfly. They’re both arachnids, but the entire universe knows they don’t belong together.”
I needed an out. I needed to be someone who wasn’t trapped in Las Vegas. I went to that club looking for nothing and everything, and there he was. Jaxon’s hands on my hips were just what I was looking for, and for just one night, it was easy to be someone I wasn’t.
Then our signals went haywire. We’ve been looking for the gatekeeper for a long, long time so we can go home, and a new possibility just came up. It was my job to bring them in.
Only it was him. Jaxon Gray. Turns out, he comes from one of the most dangerous crime families in Sin City. But I’m not the only one after him. There are others who want him just as bad, and they’ll kill me to get to him.
Now we’re on the run together. He should be scared. He’s seen me shift, and it’s not sparkly or pretty. But he doesn’t cower when he sees the other side of me—my shadows, my claws, my fangs. With a curious gleam in his eyes, he asks to know more.
This is dangerous. He’s about to manifest. And as soon as he does, his biggest impulse will be to kill me. But it’s too late for my heart, I can’t walk away. So, the million-dollar question is: will what’s happened between us be enough for him to overcome his instincts?
He grabs the front of my dress and backs me up in ten quick steps before I have a second to react. The others yell after him, but Ascelin stops when he plants my back against the glass wall of Nisha’s office.
“What the hell do you think you are doing?” he hisses in a low voice, right in my face. “Running off with him? Letting him put his hands on you? What is wrong with you, Serena?”
I shake my head, wondering how he could possibly know.
But then my hand rises to my lips.
He saw the burn.
And the perfect handprint burned through my dress, all the way down to the skin of my lower back.
“Why?” Ascelin barks, loud and aggressive, right in my face.
The others stand back, watching, but none of them intervene. They can see the evidence of what me and Jaxon did, right on my face, just as easily as Ascelin can. They saw it on Jaxon’s lips, as well.
“We don’t always get to choose who we fall for,” I answer quietly as I look away from them all.
“You went and fell for an ultralight?” Ascelin roars as he snaps me back against the glass once more. “That’s like a spider falling in love with a butterfly. They’re both arthropods, but the entire universe knows they don’t belong together.”
Keary Taylor is the USA TODAY bestselling author of over twenty novels. She grew up along the foothills of the Rocky Mountains where she started creating imaginary worlds and daring characters who always fell in love. She now splits her time between a tiny island in the Pacific Northwest and Utah, with her husband and their two children. She continues to have an overactive imagination that frequently keeps her up at night.
Rydaria lives as a prisoner in a tower library. Captured as a child, her past is a mystery. Maintaining the literary treasures within her care, she studies the world through books that give her a glimpse of the freedom she craves.
A scribe by trade, Crispin has devoted the last three years of his life seeking the lost heir of Avalene. He travels to Worthenave’s famed library in hopes of finding the key. Instead, he discovers a new mystery, a beautiful librarian who is locked in with her books every night.
As the days pass, Crispin must choose. Rydaria’s precarious situation is deteriorating. Meanwhile, his duty demands he leave before the Duke of Worthenave uncovers his quest. Still, the scribe can’t bring himself to abandon the captive in the library tower, even if it costs him his mission.
Inspired by Rapunzel and East of the Sun West of the Moon
Distantly the noon bells sounded as I lifted the first of the scrolls into place. Hoping that the stranger would leave for his meal, I continued to replace the scrolls until at least a score of minutes had passed. The last one slid home with satisfying ease. Dusting myself off a bit, I descended to the first floor to check if my meal had arrived.
It had.
Only one meal, the standard shavings of meat, a small loaf of bread, a pot of salted butter, and a bit of yellow cheese, lay on a tray at one end of the table. The jug of ale and a wooden cup sat next to the food.
The stranger still lingered. His satchel lay half-empty next to a mess of supplies and logbooks, scratch paper, and empty ink bottles covering the other half of the table. Pens in varying states of decay or disrepair were scattered about as though someone had sought a functional implement in haste and found them all lacking. Then, all of it had been shoved toward the end of the table to make room for the tray and such. The delivery boy had shown his customary lack of concern for anything beyond his task.
“Just push anything that is in the way aside.” The stranger himself stood next to the shelves where I had directed him, bent over the oldest log on the shelves.
“There is plenty of room, thank you,” I replied as I set about breaking the loaf into pieces. “Did you take your meal in the great hall?”
“I am well enough for now, thank you.” He didn’t look up from his perusal of the ledger.
From all I had read, large men seemed to require vast quantities of food. I glanced at the invader. He definitely fit the definition of large, but he didn’t have the manner of a warrior. I had seen many of those from my window perch and at my tower’s gate over the years. Though, I would definitely not consider him flabby or soft either.
As I considered the best descriptors for him, he lifted his gaze from the ledger and met my gaze. One golden-brown eyebrow rose in a silent question.
“You do not have the appearance of a man who skips meals regularly.”
“True, I don’t usually, but this is an exception.” He gestured to the laden shelves around us. “I have no way of knowing I will be allowed in again tomorrow.”
I shrugged. “I suspect you will. Worthenave likes showing off his collection, and admirers cannot fully appreciate it in only a single survey.”
“I prefer not to risk it.” His attention returned to the page.
Breaking my bread into two hunks, I opened up one of the linen napkins on the tray. Spreading it out, I set the bread hunk, half the cheese, and the meat shavings on it. I then folded the linen so that the food wouldn’t fall out.
Delivering the bundle took a bit more bravery, but I forced myself to act before I thought on it over much.
“To hold you until the evening meal,” I explained as I dropped it on the open shelf near his elbow. I returned to the table to focus on my own meal.
For a few moments, I feared he would reject it, or worse, take offense that I had not believed him. Only the sounds of him eating put me at ease enough to devour my own meal efficiently. As I cleared away the remnants, he approached and dropped the crumpled napkin on top of the pile.
Rachel Rossano specializes in clean romantic fiction set in historical-feeling fantasy worlds. She also dabbles in straightforward historical romance and not-so-strict speculative fiction. A happily married mother of three children, she divides her time between mothering, teaching, and writing. She endeavors to enchant, thrill, entertain, and amuse through her work. A constant student, she seeks to improve her skills and loves to hear from readers.
Marketing executive and mother of two, Jade Kelly can now add cancer survivor to her list of successes. But while her life looks good on paper, four months out of treatment, Jade realizes she hardly knows her college-age children and she and her husband Nick are little more than housemates.
Determined to start over, Jade schedules a family vacation to a lakefront cabin. When her kids bail and Nick stays home to handle a last minute work crisis, Jade heads to Chammont Point alone, determined to dust herself off and figure out what to do with the rest of her life.
While she’s away, the life she thought she had unravels. Secrets, lies, and old wounds drive Jade into new adventures and new relationships. With the help of family and new found friends, Jade learns starting over sometimes means finding a brand new restarting point.
Jade was thinking anything would be a welcomed distraction when the door swung open.
“Knock, knock,” Darby sang as she poked her head in without actually knocking. Nor did she wait for Jade to invite her in before entering. She held out a plastic container from the grocery store and lifted a bottle of wine. “I thought you might need these. I hope you like mint brownies and red wine.”
Jade had always adored both. However, she’d completely altered her diet after her diagnosis. She’d never been a heavy drinker, but as soon as she’d read that alcohol and junk food increased the risks for the type of cancer she’d had, she’d cut those indulgences from her life. She hadn’t had either in over a year. “You didn’t have to do that.”
After easing her offerings onto the table, Darby faced Jade. “Yes, I did. I am really glad your ankle didn’t get hurt worse. That’s definitely worth brownies and a moderately priced bottle of Malbec.” She grinned. “And…” She opened the door again, reached out, and then spun dramatically. “Look at these.” Darby beamed as she held up two gold-painted crutches covered in gems of varying size, shape, and color. “I dug them out of my closet for you to use as long as needed.”
Jade widened her eyes as she stared in shock. Gaudy was an understatement. The display before Jade was atrocious.
“Wow,” Jade said for lack of any other words. “Thanks.”
“I, too, sprained my ankle once.” Darby set the crutches against the coffee table and within Jade’s reach. “You should never do cartwheels on a stage. While wearing vinyl platform boots. And drinking heavily.”
“Yeah,” Jade said, drawing the word out a bit. She didn’t have to think too hard to see the image Darby had created. “That sounds like it would be a bad idea.”
“Speaking of drinking, let’s get to that wine.” Darby turned toward the table where she’d left the bottle.
“Oh, thanks, but I don’t drink,” Jade said.
Darby stopped, frozen in time for a few beats, and then spun around and cupped her ear as if she hadn’t heard. “I’m sorry, what?”
“I don’t drink. I had… It’s bad for my health. I’ll take a glass of water, though.” Jade could almost see the gears in the other woman’s brain spinning as she processed the information. Jade had almost slipped in the bit about her cancer, but sometimes the words still stuck deep in her chest like a fist not ready to release its hold. The ability to share her struggles as freely as she’d heard others with major illnesses do was not something she’d mastered. She suspected she’d get there, but that was a skill she had to work on.
“You don’t drink? How do you get through the day?”
Jade giggled as Darby stared with obvious confusion. “Slowly.”
As a teen, Marci Bolden skipped over young adult books and jumped right into reading women’s fiction and romance novels.
Marci lives in the Midwest with her husband, two kiddos, and numerous rescue pets. If she had an ounce of will power, Marci would embrace healthy living but until cupcakes and wine are no longer available at the local grocery store, she’ll put that ambition on hold and appease her guilt by reading self-help books and promising to join a gym “soon.”
As an affiliate at retail sites, I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases. See my disclosure for more details.
Three Reasons You Should Read This Dual Timeline WWII Historical Fiction:
Beyond This Broken Sky by Siobhan Curham presents a non-traditional war hero that I absolutely fell in love with.
As an ambulance team, Ruby and Joseph make an interesting pair, and it really allows them to get to know each other under some very trying circumstances, and they build a bond that may be hard to break.
The story of London being bombed (repeatedly) was vivid and there were times I could almost feel the ground shake, feel the heat of the flames, and hear the crack of impact.
1940, London: An unforgettable novel about the strength of the human spirit in the face of war and the remarkable women who put themselves in danger on the front lines during the Battle of Britain.
As a volunteer for the ambulance service, Ruby has the dangerous task of driving along pitch-dark roads during the blackout. With each survivor she pulls from the rubble, she is helping to fight back against the enemy bombers, who leave nothing but destruction in their wake.
Assigned to her crew is Joseph, who is unable to fight but will stop at nothing to save innocent lives. Because he is not in uniform, people treat him with suspicion and Ruby becomes determined to protect this brave, compassionate man who has rescued so many, and captured her heart. Even if it means making an unthinkable choice between saving her own life and risking everything for his…
2019: Recently divorced Edi feels lost and alone when she moves to London to start a new life. Until she makes a discovery, hidden beneath a loose floorboard in her attic, that reveals a secret about the people who lived there in the 1940s. As she gradually uncovers a wartime love story full of danger and betrayal, Edi becomes inspired by the heroism of one incredible woman and the legacy that can be left behind by a single act of courage…
A sweeping tale of bravery and self-sacrifice that shows that even in the midst of war, hope and love can bloom. Perfect for fans of The Alice Network, The Secret Messenger and The Lost Girls of Paris.
The main story in Beyond This Broken Sky takes place in London during the WWII air raids. Ruby seems to be a carefree, nothing can go wrong, sort of gal. But when she is teamed up on an ambulance team with the Joseph, a conscienscious objector and the man who lives in the upstairs apartment, we see a much different side to her.
Joseph is not the standard hero of a story. Instead of the brave soldier, we have a pacifist. As a conscienscious objector, he is subjected to a lot of derision from the peopl of London. They don’t understand why he can’t join the fight alongside their husbands, brothers, sons, fathers. But Joseph is a hero in another way. His is kind and compassionate, thoughtful, and pretty selfless. And I loved when Ruby decides that he’s an ok guy and starts to stand up for him a little.
But there’s a lot more to this story than Ruby and Joseph – although they do the place as our mains. Kitty is the sweetest, most vulnerable person I’ve seen on a page in a long time. And if there’s a heartbreaking romance in this book, it’s going to be her. But romance isn’t the main theme. The main theme is overcoming, moving forward, and living life to your fullest with no regrets.
And this theme carries over into the present dya side of the story. I felt like this didn’t fit quite as well as some of the dual timelines I’ve read recently. It almost felt unnecessary and unconnected. I enjoyed Edi, and Pearl was a hoot, but most of their story just left me confused. In the end, it all comes together in an interesting way – but I’m not sure if it was really needed.
**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**
Siobhan Curham is an award-winning author, ghost writer, editor and writing coach. She has also written for many newspapers, magazines and websites, including The Guardian, Breathe magazine, Cosmopolitan, Writers’ Forum, DatingAdvice.com, and Spirit & Destiny. Siobhan has been a guest on various radio and TV shows, including Woman’s Hour, BBC News, GMTV and BBC Breakfast. And she has spoken at businesses, schools, universities and literary festivals around the world, including the BBC, Hay Festival, Cheltenham Festival, Bath Festival, Ilkley Festival, London Book Fair and Sharjah Reading Festival.
Title: Guiding Gaia Author: Tish Thawer Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
She awoke to save us, but it may already be too late.
The world is in chaos. Stars are falling from the sky. Floods, hurricanes, and fires rage across the land. And the only being strong enough to stop it is stuck in teenage form … again.
Reborn, Gaia has come to Earth to battle through the strife and discover if the world is worth saving.
Tasked with guiding her, it falls to me to help her weather the storms, and hopefully, find a place where she can be at peace. But time is running out, and her patience is waning. Now, I fear if the human race doesn’t destroy the world … she will.
Our initial four months were hard. The dynamics of bringing back a goddess beyond her own will required a certain amount of cosmic interference—hence her being reborn a teenager instead of simply awakened as the true goddess she was. With myself an eternal thirty-five, I’d been able to witness the world throughout the centuries. However, the moment she awoke, we were deposited on Earth together, and found Gaia’s powers and memories to be limited, forcing her to learn all she could about the modern world and its customs today. Luckily, money wasn’t an issue, as I’d been divinely gifted a limitless amount in the form of a little, black charge card I’d been putting to good use. But no amount of computers, books, or even the iPod I bought her could negate the frustration of being cooped up in a hotel for four months while learning to ease her way back into a world she, herself, had created. Hence the random storms due to her emotional outbursts.
How could the gods put something like this on a teenager? I rubbed a hand over my face. “Honey, I know things haven’t been easy, but I’m truly honored to serve as your guardian, and it’s not something I take lightly.”
“Ugh … you’re always so uptight.” Laughing, she turned back to the dark-tinted window, her red hair shining in the soft morning light. “It’s so beautiful here.” I took a quiet breath, swallowing my sigh. Watching her process this world anew was often a heart-breaking task. She was the ancestral mother of all life, consort to Uranus—the creator of the heavens and the sky, and mother to the Titans themselves. She created all we see and know, and was now tasked to evaluate the chaos that enveloped that same world, deciding if it was worth saving or not. So far, I couldn’t tell which way she was leaning. It would take us completing our mission before she regained her full powers and all of her original memories—both of which she’d need to make her final decision. So, in times like these, when she still noticed the beauty around her … I took note.
Author Tish Thawer writes young adult fantasy and paranormal fiction. From her first paranormal cartoon, Isis, to the Twilight phenomenon, myth, magic, and superpowers have always held a special place in her heart.
Best known for her Witches of BlackBrook series, Tish’s detailed world-building and magic-laced stories have been compared to Nora Roberts, Sam Cheever, and Charlaine Harris.
Tish’s books have been featured in British Glamour and Elle Magazines. Tish has worked as a computer consultant, photographer, and graphic designer, and has bylines as a columnist for Gliterary Girl media, RT Magazine, and Literary Lunes Magazine. She currently resides in Missouri with her husband and three wonderful children, and operates Amber Leaf Designs, an online custom swag retail store.
Madalynne Life can be cruel and unexpected, ripping your heart out when you least expect it. You never think it can be you, and then it happens and you’re left to pick up the pieces of your broken life. I was grieving, understandably so, each stage pushing me further and further from him. There was never a doubt in my mind that Parker and I were soul mates. No one had ever made me feel the way he did, and I didn’t want them to. Through all the hard times, he was there. Parker was the only person I could lean on, the only person I could talk to about my feelings. He pulled me out of my depression. He helped me see the light again.
Parker She was hurting, and I wanted to be there for her. When my brother Bo passed, I slipped into a deep depression, and even though I pushed Madalynne away at every turn, she never gave up on me. I owed her my life, and I wanted to spend the rest of mine making her happy. Even with our connections to others, my love for her never wavered. It was something embedded in my bones, so deeply she would always be a part of me. That’s why I never gave up hope that somehow, someday, we would be together again.
My Forever is the third book in the Infinite Love series.
“You’re making the biggest mistake of your life you know,” my best friend, Kendall Walker, states as we approach the front doors of our high school.
“About what?” I ask, my hand on the door handle, frozen, waiting for an answer.
“Pushing Parker away—you’re going to regret it, Maddy. He’s amazing and you know it.” Her green eyes twinkle when she speaks about him. Kendall has a soft spot for Parker because his best friend also happens to be her boyfriend. We all
grew up together.
“Kendall, you have no idea what I’m going through,” I snap, causing her to jerk backward, her blond curls whipping back with her.
“Oh, I’m sorry I don’t know what it’s like to lose a brother in war…but you forget my mother died when I was four years old. Try experiencing that and then come back and tell me I have no idea what you’re going through.” Her tone is hurtful, and guilt immediately washes over me.
“Kendall.” My fingers reach for her arm. “I didn’t mean it like that. I’m sorry.”
She stares back at me, her icy green eyes piercing through me. I couldn’t move a muscle even if I tried. “You know what, Maddy? Save it. I’m tired of your bitchy attitude and your selfish ways.” She turns on her heel, tearing open the front
