New Releases

And Then There Was One

By Michele Castleman

Friends & Community
Amateur Sleuths
Bisexual
Friends to Lovers Romance
Blue Collar
Police / Cops
Lawyers
Children / Families
College Life
Financial gap/Class disparity
People of Color

Six weeks after Lyla Smith dragged her sister’s dead body onto the Lake Erie shore, she escapes her small Ohio town to work as a nanny for distant relatives on their remote private island. Plagued by strange memories and drowning in the guilt she tried to leave behind, Lyla struggles to break up with her boyfriend and forget her feelings for her sister’s girlfriend. Especially now that she has met another girl on the island who seems to be flirting with her.

Lyla’s first family dinner is a tense affair, and mid-argument the matriarch, Crystal Payne, takes a sip from her wineglass and dies. Suddenly everyone is a suspect. From rival interests in Crystal’s corporation to family secrets that won’t stay hidden, there are too many people with a motive for murder, and Lyla’s trapped with an unknown killer.

The only way to save herself is to be free of the secrets that drag her down. But when the killer strikes again, it’s only a matter of time before Lyla drowns.

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Digging for Destiny

By Jenna Jarvis

Food
Pirates
Good girls/Bad girls
Friends & Community
Animals 
Asexual/Aromantic
Bisexual
Friends to Lovers Romance
Magic
Close Quarters
Military
Disability
Enemies to Lovers Romance
Other Worlds
Dragon Circle Series | Book 2
Financial gap/Class disparity
People of Color

Kella Mabaki, dragon slayer extraordinaire, devoted sister, and celebrity hero of Jeenobi, has become a nobody by choice. Unable to continue hunting the dragons still tormenting her people and distanced from a brother she no longer understands, Kella is adrift in the city that was once her home. When she’s captivated by a rumor that could mean the end to the dragon sickness plaguing her land, she becomes obsessed with learning the truth of it. Nobody or not, she’s never been one for standing still.

Dragonrider Litz is torn when Kella reappears in her life, devoted to a quest she appears to have invented. Despite her beloved cousin’s disappearance and her growing doubts toward the empire she serves, Litz is experiencing an unexpected period of stability in her life. Kella’s arrival and the brewing war between their nations forces Litz to make a choice. Her country, career, and family, or the chance of making a better world with the woman she hasn’t been able to forget?

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Hot Hires

By Nan Campbell and Others

When business turns to pleasure, romance ignites. 

In New York is Losing Hope by Nan Campbell: With thirty-five on the horizon and still single, Hope Mason is abandoning her beloved New York City to try her luck in bright, shiny Los Angeles. One problem. This New Yorker is terrified of driving, an essential skill for Californians. She hires instructor Val Caceres to teach her how to drive off into the sunset, but Val could be the one thing she doesn’t want to leave behind.

In Two Women, Two Weddings by Alaina Erdell: Aarti Singh’s brilliance in cardiology hasn’t diminished her longing to be an event planner, even if familial expectations demand a career in medicine. Meanwhile, Jo Samuels’s love life has taken a back seat to her demanding chef career and her desire to keep her life simple. When Aarti hires Jo to cater a wedding, their attraction is undeniable, but how can they fall in love when they’re struggling to be true to themselves?

In For Love or Money by Jesse J. Thoma: Short-seller Frances “Frankie” Sender has always been good at picking winners, but her skills might make her the ultimate loser when a company she is researching frames her for a crime. Her only chance at staying alive is Dakota “Oz” Osborne, a woman with a million-dollar reason to toss her in jail. They’ll have to trust each other and avoid the easy cash out if they want the stock to rise on a chance at love.

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McCall

By Patricia Evans

A McCall Romance | Book 1

Sara Brighton, Savannah’s rising star in the competitive culinary scene, is devastated when her historic riverside restaurant burns to the ground. Finding herself without the creative chaos that has defined her world for the last decade, she impulsively decides to pack up her life and return to McCall, Idaho, the last place she remembers being truly happy. 

Sam Draper, head of the Lake Patrol division of McCall Police Department, is less than pleased to see another entitled tourist putting down roots in her picturesque hometown. Still, Sara surprises her by helping her swerve a professional disaster, and Sam returns the favor by teaching Sara to drive the ski boat languishing at the marina. 

Their chemistry heats up under the summer sun, and they are falling in love, at least until Sara decides to buy her late father’s iconic diner and turn it into yet another pretentious gastropub. Can they build a future amid the ghosts of the past that surround them?

Reprint. Originally published Sapphire Books Publishing, August 2018.

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One and Done

By Frederick Smith

California
Close Quarters
Enemies to Lovers Romance

One night of passion and possibly one more chance at love…

Determined, motivated, goal-driven, and eternally single, Dr. Taylor James is an accomplished university administrator in San Francisco determined to get his campus successfully through an upcoming accreditation process. The process could set him up for his ultimate career goal–to be one of the only Black and openly queer university presidents in the US. Taylor gives himself just one day a week to have fun and let loose with friends–a one and done Sunday Funday brunch in the Castro District.

Dustin McMillan is a consultant and project manager who reluctantly returns to the Bay Area, his hometown, for an assignment. The first in his family to finish college, earn a healthy six-figure income, and have choice and agency in his life’s direction, Dustin is fearful that returning home could mean falling back into roles that he’d thought he’d resolved by moving miles away…and equally fearful of falling back into bed with one sexy and toxic ex-boyfriend who still lingers in his memories.

One chance encounter. One night of passion. Will Taylor and Dustin leave it at one and done?

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Promises to Protect

By Jo Hemmingwood

Friends & Community
Animals 

Park ranger Maxine Ward has a duty to protect the colony of people who live on the Georgia state park in-holding. They call themselves Tree City and treat Max as one of their own. The conservation work they do is important, and Max is more than happy to run interference between Tree City and the city of Blue Falls, Georgia.

Her commitment to protect Tree City is put to the test when social worker Skylar Austen takes a special interest in the commune. Her style of care isn’t exactly endearing herself to the community. Skylar, like Max, is a Blue Falls local and her reputation precedes her. Just not in the way she would like. Max remembers Skylar’s famed exploits from high school and is reluctant to have her anywhere near Tree City. It may have a little something to do with Max’s unresolved feelings for Skylar, but she’s never going to admit it.

As their feelings for each other deepen and outside pressures arise to threaten Tree City, Max and Skylar must put their differences aside to protect the people they care for, including each other.

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Sacred Ground

By Missouri Vaun

Amnesia
Bisexual
California

Demon hunter Jordan Price has a sacred calling she can’t escape. But when her target turns out to be an innocent, the truth shakes the foundations of her belief. Betrayed, conflicted, and badly wounded, Jordan retreats to consecrated ground to recover.

Grace Jameson wakes in a shallow grave, terrified and alone. She stumbles toward a light in the thick woods with no memory of how she got there. The light from a cabin window guides her through the darkness until she collapses.

The last thing Jordan needs is a beautiful stranger showing up in the one place she thought was truly safe. She’s certain Grace is not who she claims to be, but as the days pass, an overwhelming attraction builds between them. Doubts are vanquished by desire until Jordan discovers Grace’s demonic secret. Jordan is honor bound to hunt her, but Grace may be the only thing standing between Jordan and certain death.

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The Land of Death and Devil’s Club

By Bailey Bridgewater

Police / Cops
Medical Romance
Louisa Linebach Mysteries | Book 2

Special Liaison to the FBI Louisa Linebach may have defied all odds by identifying the bodies of three missing men in the Kenai Peninsula, but she won’t be satisfied until the man she’s sure is responsible for their murders is behind bars.

Mr. Drew is secretive, smart, rich, and well-connected, and it’s going to take more than regular police procedure to catch him. Louisa has a plan—a stakeout with Kenai Fjords National Park as home base. As Louisa watches Mr. Drew’s crew coming and going, she begins to put together how the operation works with the help of Seward Police Chief Mikey Harper; Louisa’s love-interest, medical examiner Anna Fenway; and National Parks Service ranger Dolly Agapov, who has a very personal reason for wanting the mysteries surrounding Mr. Drew solved.

The case is turned upside down when Dolly’s grandchild, Ryne, goes missing—and it’s not clear whether Ryne’s been ensnared by the crime ring, or if they’re risking their life to help Louisa. Only one thing is for sure. If Louisa doesn’t catch Mr. Drew soon, the body count will rise.

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When You Smile

By Melissa Brayden

Have you ever had a crush on your babysitter? Taryn Ross sure did. Sixteen-year-old Charlotte was sophisticated, thoughtful, gorgeous, and fun. Taryn counted the minutes until they’d hang out. But Charlotte and her family moved away. 

Now a transfer student at Hillspoint University, Taryn is ready to officially come out when she runs into a familiar face at a party. Charlie, now a grad student, insists on walking a drunk Taryn home. To the detriment of Taryn’s heart (and libido), Charlie has only grown kinder (and hotter) with time.

Charlie Adler has a five-year plan: finish her MFA without any hiccups, figure out a timeline for her engagement, and become an acclaimed fiction writer. Easy, right? That is until Taryn shows up at Hillspoint and shakes up her world like a snow globe. This Taryn is different: soulful, brooding, and all grown up. Charlie’s never been attracted to a woman before, and isn’t dating your one-time charge against the rules? If only their toe-curling, mind-dulling, body-aching chemistry would calm the hell down.

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Adrift

By Sam Ledel

Bisexual
California
Financial gap/Class disparity

Janeth Castro never expected to be the most prominent bootlegger in Southern California. After growing up in Central Mexico and falling into her role in the business, she’s torn between supporting her family values and living life on her own terms. The last thing she needs is a white woman protesting at her door.

Alice Covington is many things: a pickpocket, a drifter, and now a daughter of the Prohibition movement. Under her mother’s cruel eye, she follows the protests to a mysterious mansion by the sea. Determined to play by her parents’ rules—which include not falling in love with a woman—she is surprised to find the great house host to the most surprising, and attractive, rum smuggler in town.

Janeth and Alice are caught in storms that neither can seem to escape. Obligation, fear, and old guilt claw daily at their hearts, and their chance meeting leads to an unexpected romance that may be just what they need to find safe harbor.

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A Heart Divided

By Angie Williams

Bisexual
Children / Families
Military
Enemies to Lovers Romance
Non-Binary Gender
Virgins/First Love

Wanda Baker’s life was never the same after killing her abusive stepfather. With nowhere to hide, she steals a soldier’s uniform and falls in with a battalion of Confederate soldiers, redefining herself as Jack Logan. Even though done out of necessity, he soon realizes living as a man reflects his true self in more ways than just the clothes he wears. The world finally sees him as the man he knows he is.

After the war, Jack finds work on a horse ranch owned by the widow of a Union soldier, Emma Stevens. She’s the most beautiful woman Jack has ever seen, but being a veteran of the Confederate army that killed her husband isn’t the only thing keeping them apart.

Emma hates that she needs the enemy’s help to manage her husband’s beloved ranch, but with fewer qualified men left after the war, she's forced to accept she has no choice. She and her young son must place their trust somewhere, and Jack is her best hope of keeping the ranch and her husband's legacy intact.

Their differences are too hard to ignore, but only love can heal a heart divided.

 

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Cabin Fever

By Tagan Shepard

Close Quarters

Morgan Allen arrives at her first national trade show expecting to make a splash and a ton of sales. She didn’t expect her biggest rival, Shelby Howard, to be there, stealing her thunder and all her clients. Why couldn’t Shelby just stay home and let Morgan have this one? After all, Shelby doesn’t believe in her product, not like Morgan does. She’s just successful because she’s charming and magnetic with a killer smile and legs for days.

Still, Morgan has a heart. When a major snowstorm cancels both their flights home and Morgan snags the last rental car, she offers Shelby a ride. That kindness turns into a nightmare when bad cell reception and a missed exit leaves them stranded in a secluded hunting cabin with a wrecked car and no way to call for help.

The longer they’re stuck together, the more their feelings grow. Could Morgan really be falling for the woman who might just cost her everything? And that’s nothing compared to the question that plagues them both once they’re finally rescued. Do they really have feelings for each other, or was it just cabin fever?

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