Gaze

Behind the lights, camera, action of Hollywood lies the real world and the real lives of the A-list.

Alix Somers has it all. New job hosting a primetime dating show, new beach house, and the new face of the queer scene. Fans chase them, paparazzi stalk them, and Hollywood loves them, but the interviews and parties aren’t bringing Alix happiness. Just when they think they’ve had enough, a run-in with a beautiful stranger gives them something they thought was lost. Hope.

Marianna Smith hates Hollywood. Her ex-girlfriend dumps her the minute she finds fame, and most of her friends are looking for the next big break. What’s the draw? It’s fake people pretending to be other people. She’s perfectly happy being a teacher and making extra cash working for her aunt’s catering business. Until Alix leaves her swooning.

They say opposites attract, but they have totally different dreams. No Hollywood love story is perfect, right?

Sawyer Noel’s car troubles leave her coasting into the dreamy town of Ladybug Junction, Alabama, on her way to the Fetch Veterinarian Conference. She tries to make the most of it, but cell phone signal is limited, and the library is the only reliable place for Wi-Fi. The attractive, carefree librarian with her wild, curly hair and infectious smile helps the time go by quickly, and suddenly Sawyer isn’t in such a rush.

Macey Burr loves helping people. She happily throws herself into her work solving problems and enriching the lives around her. When a sexy stranger rolls through town, Macey goes out of her way to make the doctor feel at home. It’s easy to see past Sawyer’s hard exterior and impossible to ignore her full lips, sparkling blue eyes, and brilliant mind.

When life seems to be too good to be true and love is within reach, Sawyer and Macey discover the truth about Ladybug Junction, and the cold light of reality tests the hearts of these dreamers.

Josie Lockner scores big when she’s awarded a summer artist-in-residence in the small beach town of Goda, Massachusetts. The Wellingtons are the perfect host family and Revere Estates the best backdrop. She’s more than ready to capture the beauty of nature with her pencils and brushes. Falling for the Wellingtons’ quiet neighbor, Olivia Monteclair isn’t in the picture, but just because it won’t last forever doesn’t mean she can’t have some fun. 

Olivia’s peaceful days are interrupted when Josie, with her infectious grin and sunny disposition, crowds her space. Was Olivia ever that young or that hungry about life? She isn’t in the market, not after her devastating heartbreak, but there’s something about Josie that brings out a lightness she’s missing from her life. 

Both cherish the time spent together, but when the summer ends and their temporary romance melts into the real deal, reality gets complicated.

Once the first female quarterback of her high school team, Sutton McCoy has since landed her dream job as the offensive coordinator for the new NFL team the Connecticut Cheetahs. When the team recruits established quarterback Grayson Moats to lead them, Sutton’s heart is crushed. Grayson isn’t the problem. Sutton’s fifteen-year crush on his wife, Parker O’Neal, is.

Parker is living a life full of regrets dating all the way back to high school when her parents made her end her relationship with Sutton because there were too many rumors about her, not all of them good. When Grayson accepts the new quarterback position with the Cheetahs, he consults Parker first, knowing the three of them have history. But it’s not like she can tell him the truth, that Sutton still occupies so much of Parker’s head and heart.

Interfering in the personal life of the star quarterback and convincing Parker to walk away from her family were never in Sutton’s game plan. But standing on the sidelines when a second chance at true love comes their way proves all but impossible.

Music runs through Annie Foster’s veins. A jingle writer by day and hostess of Coffee & Chords, an open mic night at her best friend’s coffee shack, by night, Annie is doing exactly what she loves. Hitting the big time was never her dream. She has enough followers online to know her music matters. If it’s the right combination of success and happiness, why does she feel empty inside?

Bristol Baines is top of the pop charts, internet famous, and so lonely she could cry. She was tossed into the business at fourteen, and any other kind of life wasn’t in the cards. Living the dream with everything at her fingertips really means a life of disguises, secrecy, and failed relationships. Success has been a big disappointment, and she’s ready for a fresh start even if that means walking away from fame.

Serendipity brings Annie and Bristol together, and their undeniable attraction keeps them close, but will their different paths drive them apart?

Fate intervenes on behalf of love when characters are unexpectedly stuck together. With too much time and an irresistible attraction anything could happen.

In EF5 by Kris Bryant, wedding photographer Alyssa Bates is running late to a job she desperately needs when officer Katy Emerson pulls her over for speeding. She gets a warning from the sexy woman in uniform and the sirens alerting them to an approaching tornado. Their only option is to shelter in an abandoned diner where they must resist temptation and fight for their lives. 

In Trapped Tycoon by Amanda Radley, trainee investor Clara Foster spends her weekend at the office catching up on paperwork when the ice queen owner Francesca Burford arrives. Francesca doesn’t know who the shy employee is, and she doesn’t much care, until they attempt to leave the office at the same time and get trapped in an elevator.

In Wings Over Boston by Emily Smith, flight paramedic Ryland Matthews and pilot Tess Goodwin have an uncomplicated past that included a no-strings tryst before they went their separate ways and never looked back. That is, until a medical emergency and an unlikely coincidence leaves them grounded together in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do but relive history and ignite the passion neither can forget.