Contemporary Books

Siblings Riley and Aidan Gordon are survivors. Together, they survived an abusive childhood, and when a fiery accident incinerates all they have—except for each other—they survive that, too. The tragedy leaves them with burdens and pain beyond their years, but it also sets them free to forge their own paths. Aidan's road to happiness seems smooth and carefree. But Riley continues to struggle, her only saving grace being a passion for music that helps soothe her damaged soul. As their paths diverge and college looms, Riley will have to depend less on Aidan and more on herself. Fear of failure drives her, but will finding love derail her single-minded determination to succeed, or will it open the door to the family she's always wanted?

Seventeen-year-old Raven Walker has never had a boyfriend. She's never really been interested in boys. But she was always too afraid to examine what that might mean. Until she meets Morgan O'Shea and finds herself inexplicably drawn to her.

As their friendship develops, Raven is forced to face the possibility that her interest in Morgan might actually be attraction and that she might be gay.

Acknowledging the possibility opens Raven's world to the excitement of her first romance, but it also leaves her struggling to come to terms with her sexuality and the impact it will have on her relationships with her family and friends.

For seventeen-year-old Tabitha "Tabby" Morton, life sucks. Big time. Forced to move to London thanks to her father's new job, she has to leave her friends, school, and, most importantly, her girlfriend Amy, far behind. To make matters worse, Tabby's parents enroll her in the exclusive Queen Victoria Independent School for Girls, hoping that it will finally make a lady of her.

But Tabby has other ideas.

Loathing her new school, Tabby fights against everything and everyone, causing relations with her parents to hit rock bottom. But when the beautiful and beguiling Eden Palmer walks into her classroom one day and catches her eye, Tabby begins to wonder if life there might not be so bad after all.

When Amy drops a bombshell about their relationship following a disastrous visit, Tabby starts to see the need for new direction in her life. Fighting her own personal battles, Eden brings the possibility of change for them both. Gradually, Tabby starts to turn her life aroundand it's all because of her.

Couples reunite in these tales of long lost love:

Like Jazz: Cassidy "Cazz" Warner, a smart, sporty, reticent newcomer to the senior class at Claiborne High, unwittingly attracts the attention of its most popular girl: Sarah Perkins, a bright, athletic, charismatic beauty. Ten years later, Cazz unexpectedly runs into Sarah during a fraud investigation at Sarah's charitable foundation. Their attraction is rekindled, but Cazz's investigation places their lives and their growing relationship in danger.

Homestead: Tess Rogers grew up in the midst of chaos and uncertainty, but she always knew one thing to be true—one day six hundred acres of prime farmland would be hers. R. Clayton Sutter plans to develop NorthAm Fuel's newest shale refinery operational in the rolling hills of Upstate New York. When Tess and Clay square off on opposite sides of the heated debate, past and present collide in a battle of wills and unbidden desire.

Picture Imperfect: Paloma and Deanne Vargas thought they were destined to grow old together until their fourteen years together end. Deanne is determined to get their marriage back on the road to happily ever after, by way of Memory Lane—and Lover's Lane.

Mackenzie Campbell has no idea her life is about to fall apart. She’s bright and attractive with a good job, a comfortable home and an impending Christmas wedding she’s been planning for months. So when her girlfriend bails less than two weeks before the nuptials, Kenzie’s picture perfect Christmas world begins to crumble around her. 

Determined to hold on to at least some shred of her dignity, Kenzie snags her best friend, Allison, and flees the cold of the Northeast to take the honeymoon anyway. The Rainbow’s Edge is an enormous LGBT resort in Southern Florida, and its atmosphere of sun and fun seems to be just what Kenzie needs to help take her mind off of her lost relationship. But can a few hot dances, a mysterious suitor, and a handful of rum runners help her figure out what it is she really wants?

Would you face your biggest fear, to save the one you love?

Nicola Jackson escapes from her abuser, only to realize she has no one to turn to and nowhere to go. In a twist of fate, she accidentally bumps into Jenny O'Connor, the most popular girl at school. They strike up an unlikely friendship. As their trust in each other develops, they share their darkest secrets, and their relationship blossoms into a secret romance.

Jenny loves Nicola, but she is fearful that if their secret relationship is discovered, she might lose her family, friends, and her seemingly perfect life.

Nicola confronts her abuser and blackmails him to leave for good, but things go terrifyingly wrong. Jenny is left with a life-changing dilemma: should she face her fear and accept who she is, or let Nicola take the blame and pretend their relationship never happened?

Sparks fly when twenty-year-old Holly Croft, star of the UK soap Portobello Road, meets Elise Manford, the actress who's going to play her on-screen love interest in the soap's first ever lesbian storyline.

Enigmatic Elise's super-confident attitude and unwelcome advice drives Holly to distraction at first, but as fans go wild over the storyline, and the pair start to spend more and more time together, Holly begins to see another side to her costar. Liking what she sees, Holly slowly finds herself falling in love, but can she ignore her growing attraction to Elise when the lines between fact and fiction begin to blur?

Abbey Brooks, Gila High freshman-to-be, never thought a hellish day of shopping at the mall with her best friend, Kate, could change her life. But when she orders French fries from the flirtatious Hot Dog on a Stick Chick, she gets more than deep-fried potatoes. Abbey tries to ignore the weird, happy feeling in her gut, but that proves to be as impossible as avoiding the very insistent (and--rumor has it--very lesbian) players on Gila High's girls' basketball team. They want freakishly long-legged Abbey to try out, and Abbey doesn't hate the idea. But Kate made Abbey pinky swear to avoid basketball and to keep away from the you-know-who girls on the team.

Sometimes promises can't be kept. And sometimes girls in uniform are impossible to resist.

Is it possible to fall in love with someone you've never met? Imogen Summers thinks so because it's happened to her.

Immy is a normal eighteen-year-old, with a normal life, a normal family, and a normal boyfriend. But when she finds herself falling for a girl on an Internet message board, a girl she knows only as the mysterious Fickle, her so-called normal life is suddenly turned on its head.

As her relationship with Fickle develops into more than just friendship, Immy finds another message board friend, the sweet and lovely Freddie, the perfect person to confide in. But can Freddie stay out of it when she starts to fall for Immy herself? Things are about to get complicated...

One mixed-up girl, one dull boy, two hot distractions. How does one figure it all out?

Life sucks when you're seventeen years old, confused about your sexuality, and the girl of your dreams doesn't even know you exist. The sudden entrance of a hot new emo at school only adds to the confusion.

Clemmie Atkins thinks she's in love with her school friend, the mysterious and alluring J. Devastated that J doesn't even seem to know she exists, Clemmie tries to escape her feelings by dating the nice but dim Ben. Unfortunately for Clemmie—and Ben—J just won't leave her head, or her heart.

Until...

In walks sexy new-girl, Hannah Harrison. Before long, dreams of Hannah begin to eclipse the impossible thoughts of J and the boredom of Ben. Clemmie has exactly 365 days to discover herself, and she's going to have a blast doing it!

Devin Kelly—Air Force brat. Band nerd. Bookworm. Loner. After the death of her father, she and her mother move to Los Angeles to start a new life. Devin is "welcomed" to her new school by Jason, an arrogant bully who promises to make the rest of her senior year miserable. Things turn around, however, when beautiful, intelligent Melanie Parker, who happens to be Jason's sister, comes to her rescue. Devin is inspired by her new friend, and for the first time, begins to excel in school and is able to nurture her inherent musical talent. As Devin's and Melanie's relationship grows, Devin finds herself becoming increasingly drawn to her new friend's vivacious spirit. Devin's newfound confidence is severely tested, however, when Jason's bullying takes a violent turn...and she realizes that her feelings for Melanie are more than platonic.

A romance ebundle by Julie Cannon:

Come and Get Me: What would you do if an irresistibly desirable but utterly untouchable woman whispered to you, If you want me, you'll have to come and get me? That's exactly the dilemma that Elliott Foster, CEO of Foster MacKenzie, faces when she meets the alluring Lauren Collier, Chief Legal Counsel of a Fortune 500 company.  Suddenly Elliott finds herself on a roller-coaster ride of passion and discovery that promises to be the ride of her life.

Heart 2 Heart: When love is more than a matter of the heart...heartbreak may be unavoidable. In the aftermath of a shattering personal loss, Detective Kyle Bain buries her pain in the routine of fulfilling her professional and family obligations. Lane Connor is struggling with a broken heart of her own. As Lane and Kyle take the first tentative steps toward rebuilding their lives and exploring the attraction between them, secrets surface that threaten to destroy it all. 

Heartland: Two strangers collide on an empty country road...accident or fate? Political strategist Rachel Stanton, jaded and disillusioned by the scratching, clawing, and mudslinging of the campaign trail, books a week at the Springdale Ranch for a much-needed vacation. Shivley McCoy has spent the last four years casting out her own painful past, and after her first meeting, is quite certain she'll never see her again. She hadn't bargained on fate throwing them together.

Uncharted Passage: Two women on a vacation that turns deadly face down one of nature's most ruthless killers—and find themselves falling in love. Hayden and Emily face death, disease, despair, and imminent death, and find in themselves and each other the strength to deny the tsunami two more victims. But can their intense bond survive outside of the extreme situation in which it was forged?