Romance Books

Judit has one duty: to guard the chosen one, he who will unite two warring, star-spanning houses in marriage. Simple, if she wasn’t already in love with the bride-to-be. As far as anyone knows, Annika has been raised to be the perfect bride and future matriarch. Secretly, she’s an assassin ordered to usurp the chosen one’s mind and kill anyone who gets in her way.
 
When the political landscape shifts, murders and abductions threaten to tear the galaxy apart. Judit and Annika race to uncover the source of the strife. It must be someone powerful and bold enough to risk throwing whole star systems into ruin, someone who could change destinies and bring two lovers together, if they survive.

Wedding coordinator Faith McKenna doesn’t believe in the happily-ever-after that she promises her clients. So she has no qualms about giving a few brides one last fling on the side before they commit for life.
 
When maid of honor Rachel Union catches her best friend fooling around with the wedding coordinator before her wedding day, she swears she’ll out Faith to everyone if the bride doesn’t make it down the aisle. Against her better judgment, Rachel agrees not to tell the groom, but she vows to keep a close eye on Faith until after the big day. But spending time with Faith challenges Rachel’s opinion of her as shallow and opportunistic.

Two BFFs decide to spend Valentine's Day together and discover the true love they've been seeking in all the wrong places. 

Previously published in The Perfect Valentine, ed. T. Szymanski and B. Johnson (Bella Books, 2006).

Judge Camille Avery, newly appointed to the federal court, is finally back on her dream career path. She’s determined not to let any mistakes, past or future, get in her way, but a complex murder case and undeniable attraction to her rebellious law clerk threaten Camille’s carefully planned future at every turn.
 
Attorney West Fallon is a social justice crusader, reluctant to put her career plans on hold to clerk for a federal judge, even if the judge is the man who saved her life. When he’s suddenly forced to retire, West is stuck clerking for Judge Camille Avery, an infuriatingly stubborn—okay, brilliant, intense, and sexy—law-and-order jurist who seems just as unhappy to be saddled with her.
 
As Camille and West explore their growing desire and challenge the boundaries of their work and personal relationships, a big case threatens to destroy both their careers. Can their love survive?

Praise from Lambda Literary Review: "Sidebar is a love story with a refreshing twist. It’s a mystery and a bit of a thriller, with an ethical dilemma and some subterfuge thrown in for good measure. The combination gives us a fast-paced read, which includes courtroom and personal drama, an appealing love story, and a more than satisfying ending."

Looking to find harmony, Ella Townes leaves a big Philadelphia college and returns to the mountains where she spent her youth. She quickly makes a friend—Cassidy Ryan, a woman with Down syndrome who is the neighborhood busybody and sister of a very attractive ER doctor whom Ella finds equally charming. Under the watchful eye of Cass, Ella and Reese begin a promising friendship. Then Ella writes a scholarship in memory of a childhood friend who was murdered, and things begin to unravel. The scholarship stirs interest in the cold case, and soon the murderer is maneuvering to protect his secret. After Cass is brutally attacked, Ella and Reese question her. The killer’s identity becomes clear, but after twenty years, is there enough evidence to bring him to justice? 

Charlie Dickerson is desperate to get away from small-town minds and all the painful reminders of her ex. What better way than to travel halfway around the world? A wildlife rescue exchange program in Australia looks like the perfect solution to her current predicament.

Pip Atkins has an innate affinity for wildlife, but people are another story. When she’s tasked with looking after an American wildlife carer on a work exchange, the thought of someone shadowing her every move for twelve whole months represents the ultimate nightmare.

Worlds apart, but forced together, Charlie and Pip struggle to find a middle ground, as they discover they have more in common than they think.

Taylor Crenshaw is a lifelong Democrat, but her parents are staunch Republicans. To make matters worse, her ultraconservative father has just been elected president. Although she prefers to live her life openly, her father would rather she stay in the closet. When she meets Robby Rawlins, will she choose to give in to her father’s demands or follow her heart?
 
Robby Rawlins works at an antique store by day. She spends her nights anonymously skewering politicians in her blog. President Terry Crenshaw’s anti-gay rhetoric gave Robby plenty to write about during a contentious campaign, but a chance meeting with his daughter leaves her at a loss for words. Getting the scoop has always been Robby’s goal. Now it might come second to getting the girl. Unless she can find a way to do both.

Self-made business owner Dale McGuire has always enjoyed two things in life: women and fast cars. Now in her mid thirties, she’s restless and can’t work out why. Then one day a ten-year-old boy turns up, claiming to be her son, and her simple ordered world turns upside down.
 
Rebecca Harper bears the emotional scars of her father’s crimes, and now she has two rules: never let anyone get too close, and never admit weakness. Thanks to an anonymous egg donor, infertility didn’t stop her from having her son Jake. Now pregnant for a second time, she’s horrified when Jake brings home the woman he believes is his other mother.
 
When distrust turns to understanding and passion, can Dale and Rebecca, two women bound by fate, make a family neither expected?

With the holidays over and the New Year beginning, Chloé Deveraux and Amelia Winters are finally in a position to concentrate on themselves and their new love. Chloé hopes that she and Amelia can finally stop worrying and start living.

The course of true love is never easy, however, and Chloé and Amelia struggle to keep their love strong in the face of mounting complications. Family conflict and a woman from Amelia’s past conspire to keep the two lovers apart. These problems, combined with Chloé’s desire to leave Amelia’s art dealership, may act as the ultimate blow to their tenuous romance. Can Chloé and Amelia overcome these threats, or is it time to move on?

Sequel to A Palette for Love

Jay "Flash" Reynolds has a brilliant future as a trauma surgeon until a truck on a rainy night changes her life. Assistant chief medical examiner Olivia Price is more at ease with the dead than the living—at least the dead never lie. All she needs to do is listen to their stories. What she doesn't need is a surly new resident who would rather be somewhere else.

Two women, one with a damaged body, the other a damaged spirit, challenge each other to dare to live again.

Nearly fully recovered from a car accident that caused a major concussion, Edie Black is hopeful about returning to her life as a freelance journalist and college teacher. A series of bizarre incidents and the persistent feeling that she’s being followed make Edie question the reliability of her thoughts and instincts. Edie meets Skye Kenny, a brilliant and shy former soldier, and their immediate connection has Edie confessing her paranoid thoughts. Skye convinces Edie she is in real danger, and together the two women discover that information was embedded in Edie’s brain during her concussion recovery and whoever put it there will do whatever it takes to get it back. On the run, Edie and Skye must uncover who is behind this plot while keeping Edie and her mind intact. Trusting Skye with her life, Edie can only hope she can also be trusted with her heart.

Jamie Maddox is worried about her grip on reality. Has her consciousness really been transported back to 1560, landing in the body of Blanche Nottingham? Not good, since Blanche, a lady-in-waiting for Queen Elizabeth I, is plotting a murder. The other possibility that Jamie faces? She’s had a psychotic break that has trapped her in an Elizabethan fantasy while another personality—let’s call her Blanche—has taken control of Jamie’s life and is jeopardizing everything.
 
Jamie is repeatedly zapped back and forth between the present and 1560 (or in and out of that twisted fantasy). Betrayal, murder, thunderstorms, and two doctors complicate everything as Jamie and Blanche battle to control Jamie’s body. Just as Jamie is running out of both hope and time, help—and love—come from a most unexpected place.

When campaign organizer Trevor Connelly comes to Indianapolis to help local advocates fight their Republican state government’s religious freedom law, she finds that’s not her only challenge. Librarian Gail Moore would rather avoid both politics and romance, but with Trevor, she finds it hard to resist either.

Can two women from different worlds overcome their misgivings and find true love?

Darcy Flynn, a former police officer in East Quay, works as a night guard and a private investigator. Framed for a bad shooting while on the force, she is set on finding out the truth about what happened.

Sabrina Hawk, a successful accountant with an impressive client list, still suffers the aftereffects from an assault during her college years. Victim-blaming on campus was bad enough, but she loathes the authorities for mistreating her.

Darcy notices Sabrina often works late, and the elegant blonde stirs her innate protectiveness. Sabrina finds herself able to relax around Darcy. A mutual attraction develops, but then Sabrina’s office is subjected to several break-ins. Wary of the police, she hires Darcy to investigate. Darcy fears Sabrina’s reaction once she learns Darcy was a cop—a cop who left the force in disgrace.

Animal rescue worker Iris Mallery thinks she has created a stable and secure home for herself, but when her small town is battered by an earthquake, Iris needs to rebuild not only her own life, but the lives of the displaced dogs and cats now filling her shelter.
 
The quake’s effects are personal for Iris, but not for seismologist Casey Radnor. Casey is a scientist above all else, logical and disconnected from the natural disasters she studies. When she rescues a stray dog from some rubble, she finds herself caught up in the lives of Iris and the others affected by the quake, despite her best efforts to remain professional.
 
The beautiful San Juan Islands in Washington State become the epicenter of both the earthquake and the collision of Iris's and Casey’s hearts. Can love bind the shattered fragments together again?

In this sequel to Escapades, Mel O’Brien has a string of bad luck with women but is determined to take another chance with Susan Maloney who’s new to the women’s community in which Mel lives. Susan Maloney moved to Maybon Tir looking for a new start after a bad breakup. She is determined to stay single and happy.
 
Things seem to be going Mel’s way until Susan’s ex, Dorinda, shows up in town, determined to take Susan back. Will Mel be able to win Susan’s heart? Or will she crash and burn once again?

Cody Walsh leaves Arkansas for California. Lured by stories of opportunity, even for women, Cody disguises herself as a man and prepares for the arduous journey west. 

Lillie Ellis leaves New York to accept a post as a schoolteacher on the frontier near a small homestead she just inherited from her uncle. Lillie’s ultimate desire is to become a painter, and she hopes the Kansas frontier will offer her the freedom to follow that dream. In the nineteenth century, a young woman has few options in the East that don’t revolve around marriage and motherhood. Lillie is interested in neither. 

Cody rescues Lillie after a chance encounter in Independence, Missouri. Their destinies and desires become entwined as they face the perils of the untamed West. Despite their differences, they discover that love’s uncharted frontier is not for the weak in spirit or the faint of heart.

"Crossing the Wide Forever is a near-heroic love story set in an epic time, told with almost lyrical prose. Words on the page will carry the reader, along with the main characters, back into history and into adventure. It’s a tale that’s easy to read, with enchanting main characters, despicable villains, and supportive friendships, producing a fascinating account of passion and adventure." –Lambda Literary Review

Can the truth really set you free? Genevieve Applegate is tired of her stagnant life and she’s ready to make a change by going after her dream job in New Jersey. The listing seems ideal when Genevieve scans it, but a big surprise comes at her interview: Out Shore Magazine is an LGBT publication. She’s willing to work around this detail with an innocent lie, one she’ll keep from her longtime boyfriend as well as her new boss, Harper Davies. Out Shore has been Harper’s main focus since her heart was broken years ago, but Genevieve may be the one to change that with her fresh perspective and charm. While both women enjoy what they learn about each other, Genevieve is most surprised by what she learns about herself. Pretending to be a lesbian has never felt more honest.