The Sweet Gum Café smells like grease and coffee and something sweet that’s been sitting too long on a heated rack.
Lark slides into the booth across from me, glancing around like she’s cataloging everything at once.
“This feels very… you,” she says.
“Should I be concerned?”
“You probably should be.”
I huff a quiet laugh. And just like that, the edge of the day softens. Something I’m afraid only Lark could do.
“Tell me something about yourself. Something I can’t find out by asking any person in this room.”
Her inquiry should have been expected, but panic rushes through me at the same time.
“The me you know now wasn’t always me,” I say.
Her brows rise in that way that asks me to continue without saying a single word.
“What changed?”
I hesitate, afraid to show her that part of myself, then answer anyway.
“I was the town goofball for a long time. In my large family, it was a way to guarantee I got some attention. Funny T-shirts, silly slogans, things like that. I just wanted to make people laugh.”
Lark smirks and says, “I can see that about you.”
“Yeah, then there was a fire at my parents’ farm,” I say. “Nothing big. But I was there.”
“And?”
“And I didn’t know what to do, like I was frozen on the spot.”
Her expression doesn’t shift into pity, so I keep talking.
“I watched everyone else move like it mattered,” I say. “Like they knew exactly how to fix it.”
“And you didn’t.”
“No.”
I exhale slowly.
“It was as if suddenly I felt like the current version of me was taking up space, taking away the air they needed to breathe. I didn’t like that version of me.”
Her gaze holds mine.
“So you became someone else.”
“Yeah. Someone my family and the town could be proud of.”
She doesn’t respond right away, just watches me, like she’s seeing something new. Something she didn’t expect.
I shake my head slightly.
“What you do matters, Holt. You matter, always did.”
I’m trapped between two controlling males and I’m not sure if I’ll survive their domination games.
The Elders made their move and now the future has been thrown into chaos.
With Seifiek missing and Axel biding his time, I’ll delve into my studies for as long as I’m allowed at the Academy—or as long as I can survive. There’s a dark secret within the Collegium, one that I need to understand if Rowa, Zeke, and I are going to make it out on the other side of this mess and new enemies are fighting me every step of the way.
The worst being a third powerful male who has set his sights on me. He is delighted by the realms on the verge of war. Chaos is his home and madness is his bedmate.
He’s as ancient as time itself and he’s set the future on a course where I’ll become his queen.
Ivy Quinlan knows how to find people. But this time, she might be the one who’s truly lost.
Ten years ago, private investigator Ivy Quinlan slammed the door on her Boston life and started a new, untraceable one in Maine. Or so she thought. For years, she’s made a living slipping into other people’s lives—catching liars, exposing secrets, and getting out clean. (Or mostly clean. She tries.)
Until Frazier Morello—the guy she never got over or forgave—shatters her peace with a problem that makes no sense: a missing influencer who looks exactly like Ivy.
Not similar, identical. Same voice. Same laugh. Same everything.
Kelsey Chillingham vanished three days ago, and the internet is obsessed. The only lead the police have is Ivy, and they’re not going to let her go without a fight. Which leaves Ivy–who’s spent her life not knowing where she came from–at the center of a story she never asked to be a part of.
Now Ivy is chasing a case that’s dangerously personal, tangled up with the one man who still has the power to wreck her, and getting closer to a truth that refuses to stay buried. With time running out for Kelsey, Ivy must rush headfirst into her past no matter the cost.
Ivy has spent years running from her past, and now it’s on her doorstep—wearing her face.
The crowd shouts as I smile, hugging my girl close. I twirl her around the stage, feeding their cheers while planting a show-stopping kiss on her sinfully red lips. Our fans scream at our love, both excited and envious of what we have. But little do they know that, in spite of the goddess wrapped in my arms, my eyes look past her and gaze into those of another. My loverboy.
She thought I was lying. The first time we met, she dismissed me as a smooth-talking stranger with a cheap pickup line and easy smile…and decided to walk away.
I should’ve forgotten her. I didn’t.
Now she’s on my doorstep—surprised, breathtaking, saying my name like she owns it. And all I can think about is pressing her against the wall and stealing the words from her mouth.
Because she’s wrong about me. I’m exactly who I said I was—the artist her boss is desperate to sign. The man behind the metalwork her boss can’t stop talking about.
Now she’s here to convince me to agree to an exclusive show.
I might. On one condition. I get what I want. And what I want… is her.
📖 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐘𝐨𝐮’𝐥𝐥 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 ✔️ Heavy Banter ✔️ Mistaken Identity ✔️ Negotiation Romance ✔️ City Girl/Country Boy ✔️ Dominant Energy ✔️ Creative/Artist Hero ✔️ Opposites Attracts ✔️ He Yearns For Her
❤️Review Indy has been sent by her boss to Whispering Oak to meet the artist whose work in metal has drawn attention to convince them to participate in a show. After spending a day trying to find this person she is surprised to find out that he was the man she met in the pub the night before who she rebuffed because she didn’t believe him.
Toren was drawn to Indy from their first meeting and when she showed up at his door it only reinforced that feeling. He is willing to do the show as it will allow him to show Indy they belong together
The heat between them radiates off the pages and now that Indy is in his life Toren is willing to make whatever changes are necessary to keep her.
The Savage Kings crowned Sage Sachs their queen, but is she truly prepared to serve them? As one of the hottest bands soaring to stardom the Savage Kings need to repair their reputation. Who better to help them with that than the straight-laced, responsible Sage? But how much can it be repaired when they are contracting her to be in a very public polyamorous relationship with them? Sage is quick to fall for the sweet Collin Pernicious and fun Kellan Malicious, it’s the other two members that draw her in and terrify her at the same time. Drew Ferocious screams danger while causing her body to burn in ways she didn’t know were possible. The same rude, crude Gabriel Vicious that sends her fleeing when he’s in character wormed his way deep into her heart. Sage doesn’t know if she can meet the needs of four strong, sexy men, but does she really have a choice?
Birdie Whiskey has spent years watching love find everyone else. She has a successful chocolate business, an incredible family, and a full life. All that’s missing is someone to share it with. When she gets swept up in a single, unforgettable night with a mysterious stranger, she believes it’s finally her turn. But the man who knocks her off her feet is the last man her family would ever accept.
**
From New York Times bestselling author Melissa Foster comes The Whiskeys: Dark Knights at Redemption Ranch, a small-town, big-family series of standalone romance novels featuring fiercely loyal, insanely sexy bikers who give horses—and people—a second chance. Buckle up for a wild ride in Hope Valley, Colorado, as these big-hearted badasses and their sassy sisters wrangle in their forever loves. No cliffhangers, no cheating, and always a happily ever after.
I can’t decide if my new summer tenant—a devastatingly handsome hockey player and single dad—is the answer to my problems or the start of a new one.
When big-city developers threaten to buy up my small town, I need to save the rental cottage next door from demolition. I have a plan . . . until Daniel Sutton checks in.
Six-four, a face chiseled by the gods, and a body built by a career on the ice, I’m knocked sideways. He’s charming with me and adorable with his son. And when we touch, it’s electric.
But two things change everything. The pipes break in the cottage, and his agent calls. Before I can stop myself, I’m offering him a place to stay, and Daniel is offering me the answer to my problems. He’ll buy the cottage for me if I help him clean up his reputation.
Sounds simple enough. But when I start to fall in love with him, even though I know he’s leaving in a few months, it’s suddenly more complicated than ever.
I’m willing to take a chance on us and pour my heart into a letter. But with him skating on thin ice, he’s going to have to sacrifice something—me or his career.
I just hope XOXO, Summer isn’t the last thing I ever say to him.
Angela Casella lives in Asheville, North Carolina in an almost-one-hundred-year-old house with her daughter, two dogs, and an ever-changing number of fish. She worked as a developmental editor for years, both as a freelancer and at Random House in NYC before she started writing (inspired by her friend and frequent co-author Denise Grover Swank!). Now, it’s become an addiction, and she’d rather not be cured, thank you very much.
She comes from a loud Italian American family, so she basically has a phD in bickering…er…banter.
Their secret fake relationship began with a little white lie…
Nora
My ginger beer brewery is, quite literally, my life. Unfortunately, I’m about to lose it. My male business partner’s new fiancée is insanely jealous, and it’s only a matter of time before she forces him to quit.
So I ask him what it’ll take for her to back down.
A boyfriend.
I make one up, telling her it’s too early to introduce him, which works up until she walks in on a heated private conversation between me and Cormac, my soon-to-be stepbrother.
She comes to a wild conclusion: the reason I’ve been keeping my boyfriend secret is because it’s him.
I should definitely set her straight. Cormac is the last person I’d ever date, and not just because our parents are about to get married. I’ve known him since high school, and he’s awkward, introverted, and has the people skills of a houseplant.
But I’m desperate enough to tell the worst lie ever.
Cormac
Nora begs me to be her secret fake boyfriend–an act that only has to work on two people.
Any sane man would refuse, but I’ve promised my father to make peace with her. So I present her with an offer: dog sit my corgi for a weekend, and I’ll be the fake boyfriend of your dreams.
She accepts quickly, because she’s never met my dog.
There’s only one problem: I had a huge crush on Nora in high school, and the more time we spend together, the more I realize it never went away.
**A standalone romcom in the Babes of Brewing series**
Note: There are TWO different versions of this romcom:
1) A spicy open door version with some strong language and sex scenes
2) A closed door version with mild language and only kissing.
💜Review💜 When Nora became partners with her best friend, Jose, in a brewery she thought it would be the perfect arrangement until his jealous fiancé decides to make things difficult. As a way to appease her Nora claims she has a boyfriend and the only one she can think of to play the part is Cormac, the man she has an adversarial relationship with and is about to become her stepbrother.
Cormac is intelligent, a little quirky and so different from Nora. When Nora needs a pretend boyfriend he is willing to accept the position in part because of their family and in part because of the feelings he has always had for her. What could possibly go wrong?
The banter between them is sure to bring a smile to your face, the chemistry and connection between them never in doubt as two opposites find the perfect balance in each other.