It’s my senior year at the Asylum. After this, it’s either college or padded walls for life.
They say fake it until you make it, and I’ve gotten really good at faking it.
Well, I was really good, until she came along.
A blonde transfer student with a sharp tongue and a superiority complex makes me want to see her insides.
They call me a sociopath, a maniac, unbalanced.
But here, I am king.
Repent your sins and beg forgiveness, baby girl.
Prayers won’t save you from me.
— Avery —
I never expected my parents to deliver me to this hellscape.
They want this place to cure me, to make me into a good girl, to save me from starvation.
An arrogant creep with dead eyes made me his target instead.
He’s sick and twisted, and I’m tired of his games.
He says he’ll stop if I go with him to the basement, to the place forbidden and kept under lock and key.
Everyone knows, though, you don’t go down there and come out alive.
Author’s Note: Wicked Vile King is recommended for those 18+. It features mature themes including, but not limited to, an explosive heat level, bullying, and, like my other novels, struggles with mental illness.
Narrated by: Shane East, CJ Mission, Desireé Ketchum
Releasing: January 23, 2025
From Wall Street Journal best-selling author Giana Darling comes an MMF romance between an Italian chauffeur dreaming of stardom and the power couple who offer him the deal of a lifetime…
Everyone in Naples told me I was tall, dark, and handsome. An Italian with golden eyes made for fame on the silver screen, even when I was just the young patriarch of my broken, scattered family.
I may have beauty and talent, but opportunities are scarce in the theatre and film industry.
That is, until I become chauffeur to the lovely and glamorous Savannah Meyers, wife to one of the most revered actors in England.
She notices me…in more ways than one.
Before I can check my impulses, I find myself falling for Savannah and her promises.
Only, instead of enraging her husband, Adam Meyers, they approach me to make a very scandalous proposition.
Live with them as their lover, and they will make all of my wildest dreams come true.
Giana Darling is a Wall Street Journal, USA Today and Top 40 Bestselling Canadian romance writer who specializes in the taboo and angsty side of love and romance. She currently lives in beautiful British Columbia where she spends time riding on the back of her man’s bike, baking pies, and reading snuggled up with her cat, Persephone, and Golden Retriever, Romeo.
That last stroke on the last hour of the last day has magic in it.
Sounds like a fairytale, doesn’t it?
I’ll tell you another secret.
It’s not.
Find out more in this spicy collection containing exciting stories from USA Today best-selling and award-winning romance authors curated by The New Romance Café.
Listening to her tell her story of the hell she endured over the past years leaves me speechless. It also leaves me so fucking angry. “I just want to be free of them.” The desperation in her voice cuts me to my core.
I vow to do whatever is in my power to make that happen for her. “Harmony,” I say her name as if I’ve said it my whole life, as if I was born to say her name. Pushing her hair behind her ear, I then trail my finger from her ear to her collarbone. Trailing my fingertip down the side of her neck. “Harmony.” It sounds like a plea more than anything else. When my finger gets to her collarbone, my head leans forward, placing a kiss on her neck, right under the hinge of her jaw. The feel of her heart beating as fast as mine makes me kiss her again softly. Her hand comes up to my cheek. My cheek now rubs with hers as we move our faces so our mouths meet. The kiss is soft, the need to pull her into my lap and bury my hands in her hair and kiss the ever-loving shit out of her is more than my need for my next breath. Her tongue slides into my mouth for a split second, and I feel more alive than I have in my entire life. The need to taste her fills me. The need to take her makes my body come alive. The need to have her and only her is something I’ve never known I needed, and I haven’t even had her.
“I can’t do this,” she murmurs. My heart sinks to my stomach as I move away from her. “I can’t drag you into this.” She gets up to stand, my hand falling from her, and the cool air hitting where it was just resting on her warm skin. “I refuse for them to take anything more from you.”
Part of Natalia’s training as a Royal Protector included serving with the Marines for six months . She has been trying to deny her feelings for Ryan, her commanding officer, and it is only when her time comes to an end that they act on them. She returns to Limaji to serve the royal family however when she learns that has been injured, she needs to see him.
Ryan has devoted his life to serving his country, but Natalia has him questioning his future. After being rescued he finds himself staying at the palace while he heals but not only do they find themselves trying to find out what they mean to each other but that the danger is far from over.
Ryan and Natalia’s journey isn’t only about healing physically but emotionally as well as they have both been through traumatic circumstances but with the help of friends and family they find their way back to each other.
Meet Kat Mizera:
USA TODAY Bestselling Author Kat Mizera was born in Miami Beach with a healthy dose of Wanderlust. She’s lived from coast to coast, and everywhere in between, but home is wherever her family is. A devoted mom and wife to her wonderful and supportive husband (Kevin) and two amazing boys (Nick and Max), Kat loves to travel the globe with her adventurous, hockey loving family. Greece is at the top of that list. She hopes to one day retire there, spending her days writing books on the beach.
Kat is former freelance sports writer who now writes steamy hockey romance about her favorite fictional teams, the Las Vegas Sidewinders and the Lauderdale Knights. The library of novels she’s penned also include sexy contemporary stories about baseball stars, alpha sex club owners, bodyguards, rock stars, and royalty. Regardless of genre, her books about bad boys with hearts of gold will steal your breath, rock your world and melt your heart.
To find out about Kat Mizera’s upcoming releases and giveaways, sign up for her newsletter here
✨TEASER: SOMETIMES YOU FALL by @harlowjamesauthor is coming January 17th! This will be a simultaneous release in Audio with the amazing narrators Sebastian York and Samantha Brentmoor!
It’s just my luck that I get pulled over by the grumpiest cop in the county on a day when I’m already running late. Deputy Ashton Gannon looks like he stepped out of a catalog for broody lawmen, all sharp jawline and piercing eyes that could stop traffic—and my heart.
Then he runs my license, and I’m hit with the news: I’m a wanted woman.
Ashton
Patrolling someone else’s beat is bad enough. Add in a little red car flying past me like the speed limit is a suggestion, and I’m ready to ruin someone’s day.
But then Emily Smith looks up at me, and suddenly, I’m the one who’s hit hard. She’s gorgeous, with her big (color) eyes and curves for days. But the badge doesn’t care about pretty faces, and when I run her license, I see she has a warrant for her arrest. Great.
I’m a by-the-book kind of guy, but for her? I’d throw the book out the window. She might be flighty, and I might be too serious, but I can’t let her slip through my fingers. Not now. Not ever.
DEEP BENEATH THE STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO, a murder victim is dumped at an archaeological dig. A note pinned to his shirt warns we will bury you.
The question is, who is you?
Desperate to learn what happened–and what might happen next–investigators bring in forensic geologists Cassie Oldfield and Walter Shaws. They have a reputation for reading the rocks with an X-ray eye, and unlocking a case.
The key to this case is finding out where the victim took his final steps. Tracking mud from his boots, the geologists follow the mineral trail to a startling site at the city’s wild edge.
As they rush to learn the connection between this unlikely place and the dig on the other side of the city, they unearth the meaning of we will bury you.
Word by alarming word.
• All books in the series are standalone novels and can be enjoyed in any order.
All my life, I’d been dreaming of two things: shining in the spotlight on stage and falling in love. When I landed the lead part in the spring musical junior year, it felt like everything was falling into place. Especially when my childhood best friend came waltzing back into my life. Only, he’d gone from a scrawny pre-teen to a handsome athlete, and it was hard to take my eyes off of him.
Especially when he ended up as my co-lead for the musical. But our friendship meant too much to me to risk. I wasn’t sure my heart could survive losing him again.
Parker
Transferring to Castleton University for my senior year was my chance to start over and focus on lacrosse and getting my degree. What I didn’t expect when my teammates dragged me to a party was finding the girl of my dreams… also known as my childhood best friend.
I was supposed to be focusing on lacrosse. Not volunteering to be the lead in the musical with her. Or fake dating her.
Except for when I saw her in my jersey, smiling just for me, I had a hard time remembering why this was supposed to be fake.
Which was why I intended to prove that I was the happy ending she’d always dreamed of.
They think my greatest gift is my ability on the ice. But they’re wrong.
I’ve been hailed as the guy who has it all when it comes to hockey. Powerful people have invested their time and money, determined to turn my potential into their reality.
The most influential of those people? Graham Jenkins—former NHL player and the General Manager of the Dallas Destroyers. The second he set eyes on me in the little leagues, he piled all his resources into my success. And when the Destroyers were awarded the first-round draft pick, he didn’t hesitate to snap me up.
He thought I was the golden boy, the star that would make his team as successful as his playing career. Only I wasn’t. Instead of unleashing my potential in front of the goal, he discovered my real talent—secrets.
And I have many that I will never share. One for every scar disguised beneath the tattoos painting my body, along with the childhood memories either buried deep inside my broken mind or drowned out by empty bottles lining my kitchen counter.
There’s only one secret I wish I didn’t have to keep. She’s also the addiction I know I’ll never kick. A detox my heart could never survive since it only beats for her. And even years after we were torn apart, my fixation hasn’t changed. Although neither have our circumstances—I’m still the broken boy, suffocated with trauma. And she’s still Mia Jenkins, the good girl, and daughter of the man who offered me everything except his blessing to date her.
But one thing about addiction? It never seeks permission.
TW include: Abusive parents, domestic violence, substance abuse, off page child loss (not involving the main characters) mental health rep namely PTSD, off page discussion of self harm.
I wear my emotions on my tattoo-covered sleeve, I say all the wrong things and I revel in pissing off a certain redhead far more than I should. In other words, I’m the last person the court would choose to parent any child, let alone three of them.
Yet being their father is all I want.
So when the woman I love to hate offers to help make all my dreams come true, I jump at the chance. Marrying Ava is a convenient solution: she’s my kids favorite person and the court will absolutely approve of the woman who runs the biggest charity in Boston.
But there is nothing convenient about the way I feel when she fights with me, or when we kiss. And I’m not sure which I enjoy more.
This marriage may have a time limit but I’m beginning to think I’d like to keep my wife. She’ll probably fight me on it, but as they say, all’s fair in love and war.
♡ public displays of “she’s mine, and I’ll burn the world down for her”
♡ unhinged hockey friend group
♡ girl group bonding
♡ poor girl/rich boy
♡ tracks her without her knowledge
♡ only soft for her
♡ he falls first
♡ touch her/ look at/ breathe near her and literally die
♡ virgin FMC & MMC
♡ somno w/ prior consent
♡ birth control refusal/tampering
♡ mirror play
♡ s*xting
♡ co*kwarming
♡ no third act break up
♡ no other woman drama
If he can’t have her, no one can. Hayden Lockwood harbors a dark obsession with Madison Caldwell. The brooding hockey captain’s unhinged infatuation began the instant he laid eyes on the most untouchable girl on campus. The night his mother and her father were found slain amidst their affair, Hayden couldn’t tear his eyes away from the girl who didn’t shed a single tear. Hayden’s fixation on Madison deepens as he watches her every move, intervening at every imposing threat and sabotaging any potential suitor.
Madison can’t avoid the hothead hockey player when their surviving parents find comfort in each other and decide to marry. As their parents’ wedding approaches, a violent attack on campus forces Hayden and Madison to make life-altering choices. When someone threatens to expose the dark secrets of their elite circle, Hayden is forced to reveal just how obsessed he is with Madison, and how far he’s willing to go to protect her.
Kings of Castlebrook are elite hockey legacies born to cause trouble on and off the ice. Please read Pucking Obsessed with caution as it contains dark themes, and please note that this book is not enemies to lovers and there is no malice between the main characters.
Jill is a Texan, born and raised. She manages the hectic social calendars for her three active children and occasionally spends an evening with her dashing husband. Aside from being an author and a mom, she’s a travel junkie and loves to read when she is not lost in her own stories.
With Jill’s books, you can count on confident heroines, plenty of steamy tension, and deliciously assertive leading men. There are no guarantees in life, but with her books, you know everything will work out in the end. However, a perfect ending would not be nearly as satisfying without a seemingly insurmountable challenge. Jill loves to add plenty of adversity in her stories, creating unforgettably dynamic characters and sneaky plot twists you will never see coming.
❤️Review❤️ After being away for four years Sante is back and the main reason is Amelie, when he met her he was drawn to her in a way he hadn’t expected however their lives took them in different directions. He wants to explore what could be between them and isn’t above some subterfuge to ensure that happens.
Amelie has two driving forces in her life and that is her family and ballet. She is intrigued by Sante but also cautious as she believes it is best for everyone if she distances herself from him, but he doesn’t seem to agree.
Both Amelie and Sante have dark pasts which only makes their relationship more compelling. The chemistry between them is intense and the surprises keep coming as they take us on an action filled journey.
.png)
