I came to Whispers to start over. Just me, my baby, and a bakery that smells like second chances.
No more judgmental glances. No more family who treated me like a stain they couldn’t scrub out. Just flour, sugar, and the quiet hope that I can build a life worth living.
I didn’t expect to meet Griffin.
Grumpy, gorgeous, and maddeningly closed off, he’s the town’s most elusive billionaire and the man who built homes for the rich but never made one for himself.
He sees me. Not just the bump or the baggage, but the woman underneath. And when he looks at me like I’m the only thing that’s ever made sense, I forget how to breathe.
But trust isn’t something I can afford. My past has taught me to be wary of everyone. Even if the grumpy builder says he’s ready to fight for something real.
The Devil and His Fawn by Charity Ferrell is now live!
The devil has decided he wants me … And what he wants, he gets.
After being expelled from three universities, I’m sent to Saint Vale University, a secluded college for the world’s richest and most corrupt heirs. That’s where I learn about the Night Sons, a secret society of masked men who rule the campus from the shadows. Every year, each Night Son claims a Fawn—a female student chosen to serve as a pawn, plaything, or … sacrifice.
Once a Night Son chooses you, your fate is sealed.
When Enzo Marchetti, son of the most feared Mafia boss in the world, selects me, I’m pulled into a world of manipulation, obsession, and violence.
The harder he tries to break me, the more I refuse to bend. And the more obsessed he becomes with owning me.
He starts seeing me as more than just a Fawn. And I begin to see the man behind the mask. Because beneath Enzo’s ruthless exterior is someone who’s loyal to his brotherhood and dangerously protective of the people he loves.
But when my past comes back to haunt me, Enzo faces an impossible choice: Honor the oath he swore … or destroy everything for the girl he was never supposed to want.
Tropes:
Dark academia
Secret society
Morally grey hero x good girl
Touch her and die vibes
Mafia families
The Devil and His Fawn is a dark academia romance and the first book in the Saint Vale Series. This book can be read as a standalone.
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🖤Review🖤 Blair didn’t know what to expect when she found herself at St. Vale University, but it certainly didn’t include attracting the attention of Enzo or all that it would entail. After all that she has been through she isn’t about to bend to his will even though the depth of his dark side will surprise her at times.
Enzo comes from a powerful family and isn’t a man that you want to get on the wrong side of. He isn’t certain what it is about Blair that brings out the possessive side in him but the one thing he does know is that he will protect her from everyone except himself.
Blair may be still feeling the impact of her past but Enzo is just the man to bring out the fight in her and Enzo may be dark and dangerous, but he allows Blair to see another side which he has hidden deep and the heat between them fire.
Gideon had been dreaming and dreaming and dreaming, a dream he never seemed to able to wake from. And to call it a dream was as broken a description as a child could crayon draw. A nightmare mired in the macabre was the signpost planted in the blood of its concrete. A nightmare shivving his spine and soul with every moment it crawled forward
It was filled with all those he loved, calling for him, pleading, screaming, to save them, to help them and yet he could do nothing but sleep, nothing but dream, circling on repeat over and over again.
And the images were a caricature of a reality cracked in madness, Shira and So’Sha, grown, blades and death in their eyes, Shadow and Moon standing on two legs, L’Sana and Ari in a cage dreaming their own dreams, chained in their own devils, flashing images of a universe at war with itself, the Shadowborn whispering again and again ‘Soon Gideon, soon….be ready..”
He wanted to shatter his prison, wanted to howl, wanted to reach out to those that were his world, his everything but only sleep and dream, sleep and dream…the true War had come and he was drowning within his own mind, choking on the detritus of impotency, eternity in chains that didn’t give a shit.
“I will slaughter them all!!”
Gideon would wake and people would die, a thousand times over they would die!!!
He screamed this at himself, over and over, lost in the dream, in the macabre broken of breaking. It was the prayer he kept lamenting to no-one, kept spitting into the pillow of his insanity as the bars to his cage, tightened, crushing his flesh and his hope, endlessly cruel, endlessly ambivalent.
He would wake, a promise, and a killer would come with him.
Sometimes love isn’t part of the plan. Sometimes it’s the backup plan.
Lucas Hale built his entire life around football. The franchise quarterback. The GOAT. The man everyone on his team counts on.
Recovering from a devastating shoulder injury, the veteran quarterback signs with the Lone Star Rebels for one last chance to prove he still belongs in the league.
There’s just one problem—Dr. Emery Porter.
The Rebels’ new injury specialist isn’t impressed by Lucas’s charm—or his determination to push through pain.
She’s seen the scans. She knows the damage. And if she clears him to play, it might mean destroying his career for good.
But the more time they spend together, the more dangerous everything becomes. For Emery’s career. For Lucas’s future. And the harder it becomes to remember where professional boundaries end—and where love begins.
Because if Lucas keeps playing, he could lose everything. And if Emery stops him . . . she might lose the man she’s fallen for.
Sometimes the biggest risk isn’t losing the game. It’s losing what you never thought you wanted.
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🏈Review🏈 Lucas isn’t sure what the future looks like without football so even though he is recovering from a serious injury he isn’t about to end his career that way even if it means signing as the backup for a new team. The one roadblock he hadn’t expected was Emery as not only was she hired by the team to help the players with their injuries but his feelings for her are far from professional.
Working for the team is a fresh start for Emery as she tries to leave her marriage and her ex in the past. Lucas was there for her when she needed someone the most however the more she learns about his injury the more concerned she is about his return to the field especially as the feelings between them escalate.
Lucas and Emery are both facing challenges in their careers which is further complicated by the fact that they are also employed by the same team. The characters are relatable and their journey is filled with emotion, witty banter and a love that neither saw coming or could walk away from.
🩵Review🩵 Claire has come to town looking for answers when it comes to the disappearance of someone she loved. It was the loss of this friend that changed the course of her life, and she can’t afford to be distracted from her mission by anyone and that includes Asher, her boss.
Asher is balancing his career as a MMA fighter and helping at his family’s orchard which doesn’t leave much time for anything or anyone else. When he meets Claire he is surprised by the intense feelings he has for her, but he also knows that her quest is placing her in danger and he is determined to protect her from everyone and that includes herself.
I enjoyed seeing the relationship between Asher and Claire as his protective nature and her independence has them challenging each other in the best ways as they take us on an adventure filled with emotion, intrigue and romance.
Meet R.C. Stephens
R.C. Stephens is a top 100 Amazon bestselling author. She writes contemporary romance novels ranging from hot hockey players to romantic suspense.
When she isn’t in her writing cave she is raising three lovely children with her adoring husband.
Her books are filled with humor, heartbreak, emotion and true love.
Born and raised in Toronto, she loves the winter, but Spring and Fall are her favorite seasons.
Lark Carrington came to Coral Bell Cove for a fresh start. A fading inn, a quiet life, and a chance to rebuild something steady after everything she’s lost. She didn’t expect her first real connection to come in the middle of chaos.
Holt Wright is used to being underestimated—long before he ever put on a uniform. The easygoing one. The goofball. The brother no one expected much from. Until he became a firefighter. Now, when the alarm sounds, he’s the one people trust when it matters most.
The one who shows up.
The one who stays.
Even for her.
What begins as a single moment—smoke, heat, and the steady presence of the man who pulled her back from the edge—turns into something neither of them can ignore. Long days restoring the Carrington Inn. Late nights that feel a little too honest. A connection that builds slowly… and burns deeper than either of them expected.
Because Lark doesn’t trust easily. And Holt is still learning what it means to be the man people finally believe in.
And when the past Lark tried to outrun starts to catch up with her… they’ll have to decide if this is just a spark—or something worth risking everything for.
At First Spark is a tender, slow-burn small-town romance about healing, showing up, and discovering that sometimes the person who saves you… is the one you choose to stay for.
In High School, Daphne Elliot was voted “most likely to become a romance novelist.” After spending the last decade as a corporate lawyer, she has finally embraced her destiny. Her small town steamy novels are filled with flirty banter, sexy hijinks, and lots and lots of heart.
Daphne is a coffee-drinking, hot-sauce loving introvert who spends all her free time in her garden. She lives on a small farm in New England with her husband, two kids, two dogs, twelve backyard chickens and a hive of Italian honeybees.
As a single mom rebuilding my life from scratch, I don’t need help. And I definitely don’t need the attention of a six-foot-three maple farmer with a beard and a hero complex who looks at me like I’m a problem he didn’t sign up for.
My landlord is broad-shouldered, permanently unimpressed, and entirely too comfortable telling me when I’m wrong. I think he’s grumpy, rigid, and overprotective. He thinks I’m chaos in Crocs.
Falling for Josh Lawrence was never part of the plan.
But then he starts showing up.
For my son when he’s overwhelmed.
For my daughters when they need someone steady.
And for me when my hands won’t stop shaking.
I didn’t come to Vermont looking for a protector. I don’t need rescuing. But somewhere between harvest festivals, pumpkin canoe races, and quiet mornings in the sugar shack, the man I swore was just an annoyance becomes my safe place.
And when my dangerous past resurfaces and threatens the new life I’ve built, the grumpy maple farmer next door becomes my fiercest protector, ready to stand by my side while I fight for my family.
Because it turns out maple farmers are a lot like their trees: quiet, stubborn, and surprisingly sweet when the pressure builds.
🍂Review🍂 When Celine and her three children move to Maplewood she is looking to escape the past they endured and have a fresh start. She isn’t sure what to make of Josh as he is equal parts grouchy and equal parts supportive and patient when it comes to the way he cares for her and her children.
When Celine and her children come into Josh’s life he is feeling out of his depth as it is unlike anything he has ever known or felt before. As he spends time with them all he wants to do is be there for them even if that includes protecting them from their pasts.
Josh is patient and understanding as he shows Celine and her kids that he is unlike any other man they have known and that they can trust him. The banter is entertaining; the romance is heartfelt and the relationship that is forged between Josh and the way he knew exactly what Celine and her children needed.
Evie is a rising star with a compelling voice who has been asked to sign the national anthem at a hockey game. As part of the engagement, she agrees to meet the team before the game where she shares an unforgettable encounter with Kingston.
Kingston is a professional hockey player who is smitten by Evie from their first meeting. When she leaves before the game is over he starts flirting with her through direct messages to convince her that he isn’t looking for a good time but a future.
The banter between them was entertaining and Kingston was determined in his pursuit and not about to give up until he claimed the woman who stole his heart.
She’s here to expose hockey’s biggest flaws. He’s the complication she never planned on. Neither one is prepared for the sparks that fly every time they collide.
Why you will love this book: 💙Friends to Strangers to Lovers🏒Hockey Romance 💙Single Dad 🏒She Plays Hockey/Women in Sports 💙Forbidden Romance 🏒Next Gen Langfield, but can be read as a standalone
There are only two things I’ve ever truly wanted in my life. To be a goalie in the NHL and JJ Hanson.
In a twisted way, both dreams have come true. Rather than a spot on the roster though, I’m now the first female goalie coach in the NHL. JJ Hanson’s coach, specifically.
Not only is he one of my players—making him totally off limits—he’s also a single dad and still technically married. Oh, and thanks to my father’s meddling, he’s now my roommate, along with his cousin and her three kids, my sister and her four-year-old twins, my cousin, and JJ’s daughter, who I unfortunately adore.
Yup, I’m living with six kids under the age of five, and the only man I’ve ever loved.
There was a time when JJ was my closest friend, and for one perfect moment, he was mine. Now we don’t even talk. JJ is determined to change that, though, and when opportunity strikes and suddenly both of my dreams are within reach, I have to make a decision. Can I step out onto that ice as the first female goalie in the NHL and trust JJ with my heart?
I’ve never been one to walk away from a challenge. Maybe the only way JJ and I can move forward is to go back to the start.
Paper Rings is a friends-to-lovers, single-dad, second-chance hockey romance with dual POV and a dual timeline featuring a Brownstone like Mother Faker and many of your favorite characters from the Langfield Brothers’ family. It is the first book in the New Romantics Series and a complete standalone
Billionaire bad boy, Harrison Bennett, is the most popular boy at Stanthorpe Academy… and he’s suddenly obsessed with me?
Genevieve Fresh off a breakup and deep amid a personal sexual revolution, I throw caution to the wind and let loose for one night. Just my luck that the angry, broody boy from English, who looks like he’s good with his hands and may or may not star in all my nighttime fantasies, is suddenly interested in more than my notes. He is a walking red flag, but it turns out I’m colorblind. It’s senior year, and you only live once, right? Let’s hope I can survive the inevitable heartbreak.
Harrison My obsession with Genevieve is my deepest secret. What she calls broody indifference, I call self-preservation. I fell for her instantly three years ago, but I’ll ruin her if I get too close. And then one night, all the planets and stars align, and I know I can give her what she needs. Now, I need to convince her to be mine forever.
This steamy standalone instalove high-school romance is bully-lite, dual POV, no cheating, and a guaranteed HEA.
📕𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐘𝐨𝐮’𝐥𝐥 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 ✔️ New Adult ✔️ High-school ✔️ Bully-lite ✔️ High-steam ✔️ Billionaire MMC ✔️ Tristin and Rory in an alternate universe
❤️Review❤️ When Genevieve transfers to Stanthorpe Academy it is unlike any school she attended before and the transition isn’t made easier by Harrison, an entitled fellow student, who is anything but friendly. She has had feelings for him for a few years, but it wasn’t until a few years later that his animosity for her were hiding how he really felt.
Due to his complicated family situation Harrison has tried to protect Genevieve by not letting her into his life. That situation comes to a head when she ends her relationship with her boyfriend and now he will do whatever is necessary to claim her as his own.
A little turmoil and intense chemistry collide as Genevieve and Harrison finally acknowledge their true feelings for each other and the love they were meant to share.
Kari's Book Reviews and Revelations 