College: four years when anything goes and rules are made to be broken. A time for freedom, experimentation, and guiltless pleasures. Come join the co-eds for a homecoming bash, crash a girls-only party, and enjoy study hall where the topic is Eros. From roommates with benefits to sexy sorority initiations, hot professors demanding extra credit after class and summer vacation threesomes, this collection is required reading for anyone looking to earn an A in sex-ed.

Selena Miller accepts a job in Wolfgang County, jumping at the chance to get away from her overbearing family. Crippled by anxiety, she’s determined to start a new, independent life.

As Second of the Wolfgang pack, Caden Wolfgang is used to having her orders followed without question. When the Alpha allows a human to work in the heart of their business, Caden is horrified. Haunted by a childhood tragedy at the hands of a human, Caden makes it her mission to keep Selena from threatening everything they’ve built.

When contempt turns into attraction and passion flares, can their love survive Selena learning the truth of what the Wolfgangs really are?

When Samantha Monteiro launched Perfect Match, Inc. a few years ago, she never imagined her matchmaking business would be booming while her own love life floundered. When her business partner drags her out of hiding to attend the wedding of one of their successful client matches, she meets a dancer with a dark past and a penchant for secrecy who excites her in a way she hadn't thought possible. Samantha wonders if Lucinda Moss is the key to solving not one but two matches that have eluded Samantha since everything around her fell apart or if she is destined to find love for everyone but herself.

In a world where nothing is constant, Lucinda has learned to keep herself emotionally at arm's length and given up on the chance to find true happiness. Can the notorious Miss Match help her forget her troubled past?

Publishers Weekly says: "In this sweet, sensual debut, Riley brings together likable characters, setting them against a colorful supporting cast and exploring their relationship through charming interactions and red-hot erotic scenes....Rich in characterization and emotional appeal, this one is sure to please."

Surrounded by dead crewmates, marooned above an unknown planet, the bridge crew of the Atlas awakens from a crash with extraordinary mental abilities. When their most powerful member jettisons their passengers to the planet below, they have an unprecedented opportunity: they can become gods.

Two hundred years later, Lieutenant Cordelia Ross is a paladin serving the Storm Lord, her city’s patron deity. Her faith is absolute until her people are attacked by a native species, harmless creatures turned devious by an unknown hand. Cordelia tries to solve the mystery of their development before they kill anyone else, but the secrets surrounding them are too deep. As orders from the Storm Lord begin to value obedience over integrity, Cordelia wonders whose side her god is really on.

Rachel Duncan, a Montana rancher, has led a self-sufficient life and kept her complications of the heart to a minimum. She is as tough as her horses and believes nothing can stop her from winning the one-hundred-mile in one day horse race, the Tevis Cup. She has a horse who can do the job, the Arabian mare, Kestrel. The element of the team she isn’t so sure of is her new veterinarian, Dr. Margaret Carson. Margaret proves herself to the reluctant Rachel, broadening her vistas to discover a tender side, one capable of loving and being loved.

Cassidy Holmes doesn’t want a “real” job. Buying storage units and selling the contents isn’t the easiest way to survive, but she wouldn’t have it any other way. She has no desire for a relationship, but when she meets Erica, everything she thought she wanted begins to change. 

Erica Jacobs is a career postal worker with odd hours. Who wants to date a woman who’s asleep by eight o’clock every night? She yearns for the type of relationship her parents have, but finding the right woman isn’t easy.

Cass likes taking a gamble on storage units, but not in her love life. Erica might very well be the one, but Cass is determined to fight it. Every step of the way.

The ancient Chimú believed their people came from three eggs: the rulers from a gold egg, their wives from a silver, and the workers from a copper egg. 

Archeologist Claire Adams receives a mysterious package that lures her to Peru in search of a treasure-filled tomb. She must find the tomb before looters do. She’s helped in her quest by old friends and by a strange connection to an ancient copper egg. Claire’s ex, Sochi Castillo, has her own plans for the tomb. She has two jobs—one within the law, one considerably outside it. If Claire finds the treasure first, Sochi is going to steal it. As Claire and Sochi are drawn into a web of intrigue, betrayal, and greed, they discover that love complicates everything.

Seventeen-year-old Nadya Gabori lives a life of secrets in the island city of Storm’s Quarry. By day, she is the dutiful Nomori daughter, but by night, she sprints across rooftops, testing her abilities of speed and strength, abilities no normal girl should have. And she keeps her growing feelings for her friend Kesali from her conservative family. If her secrets were discovered by her people, the price would be banishment. 

But when a murderer strikes again and again while a prophesied storm bears down on the city, Nadya disguises herself and uses her gifts to fight the chaos that threatens her home. When Kesali’s life is put in peril by the madness, Nadya will do anything to save her, even if it means risking all and revealing she is the one the city calls the Iron Phoenix.

Jo Adams and Rhonda Black reconnect after ten years apart. Rhonda’s twin daughters were Jo’s best friends in high school. With the significant age difference, Rhonda cannot believe Jo, twenty years her junior, will want to be with her long-term.

Jo knows what she wants, but can she convince Rhonda she’s in this relationship for the long haul?

Rhonda feels caught between a desire to explore a new opportunity for love and the
daughter whose response she does not understand. Can she and Jo navigate the
reactions and responses of Rhonda’s family and deal with their own fears and doubts to find a lasting love?

Olivia Bennett is on the tenure track at Cornell University, the resident expert on Southern women writers. After moving to upstate New York from Atlanta, she falls in love with and purchases an old, run-down farmhouse. The only catch: she knows nothing about renovating a house, taking care of land, or snow. Joss Bauer is a New York native who grew up in her family’s construction business. She has a soft spot for old houses, but no patience for overpaid debutantes who want to play at country living. When Olivia hires Joss to do the renovations on her new home, the sparks fly, in more ways than one. It turns out both women have a lot to learn about life, love, and the meaning of home. But when a scandal threatens Olivia’s professional reputation, it puts her priorities and her newfound love on the line.

Publishers Weekly says: "Rey’s frothy contemporary romance brings two women together to restore an ancient farmhouse in Ithaca, N.Y....[T]he women totally click in bed, as well as when they’re poring over paint chips, and readers will enjoy finding out whether love conquers all."

In the middle of a three-week fishing trip, commercial fisherman Roberta (Bert) Coughlin rescues Alissa Cooper from her burning yacht and has no choice but to take the pampered rich girl along. 

Alissa and Bert are from very different worlds. Bert struggles to succeed with the whims of Mother Nature. Alissa owns a successful advertising agency and is the epitome of high class and high fashion. When Alissa volunteers to help on the boat, Bert is more than a little surprised at how well she does. 

The attraction between them grows, and one stormy night their pent-up desires crash together like the waves against the ship. When the ship returns to port, both women realize their lives are too different for anything other than their brief affair. They are simply too different. Their families are too different. Their lives too different. Then why do they keep coming back to each other?

Three stories by three talented crime writers—Carsen Taite, Ali Vali, and Michelle Grubb—each packing her own special brand of heat.

In Hammersmith by Michelle Grubb: Officer Belinda Riley knew the signs of a suicide bomber, but this time she was blind to the obvious. This time she didn’t want to believe what was right in front of her eyes.

In Bow and Arrow by Carsen Taite: Bounty hunter Luca Bennett has always lived on the edge of the law, but now she’s living with a cop and doing her darnedest to stay out of trouble. When an old enemy resurfaces, will the shady ways of Luca’s past come back to haunt her? 

In Hell Fire by Ali Vali: Dr. Abigail Eaton stumbles into a massacre, but once someone tries to kill her it seems like no accident. While hunting for the perpetrators of a sex trafficking empire, Agent Riley Abbott saves Abigail from a professional hit and discovers the young mother might be the key to more than just her case. Riley takes Abigail and her family to what she thinks is safer ground, and runs right into the arms of reputed mob boss Cain Casey.

Jesse Garrett still grieves the death of her partner four years ago. The only thing that makes her feel alive are the nameless women with whom she shares her bed. And her art. When the opportunity arises for her to travel to Paris to study art, Jesse agrees to leave her dead-end job and take her chances in Paris.

Odette owns a café across the street from Jessie’s dorm. Jesse frequents the café, mostly to see Odette with her silver hair and deep green eyes. It’s attraction at first sight.

Their love burns hot until Odette has a stroke, leaving her unable to remember Jesse. Will Odette ever remember her or must Jesse spend the rest of her time in Paris alone?

Murder is a seductive story that keeps Detective Jill Rogers hypnotized and soothes her road-hungry feet. Money and murder—the world’s most fascinating subjects. Jill quit romance when she left Sophie Walsh, the love of her life, starved and hurting. Love is for sunny, squishy people, and Jill is dark. 

 A few things Jill knows for sure: the more violent the crime, the closer the relationship is between victim and murderer. Murder investigation is a two-piece puzzle. One piece is the crime scene and it forms half the picture; the other is the witnesses and suspects. Ideally, the two halves come together and form a complete whole and the case is solved. If they don’t, either Jill made a mistake or someone is lying. And she doesn’t make mistakes.

When seeing dead people is more than a movie tagline.

Circe Latham’s secret has always set her apart from everyone, but these days she uses it to bring home those whose lives are stolen too soon. Alongside her search dog, Zelda, she is able to make a difference, and the chance to work a case with Deputy Sheriff Diana Erni is an exciting challenge. Until the case takes a deadly turn and her own life hangs in the balance. In order to save herself, Circe must do the one thing she swore never to do again: share her secret. Will her trust in Diana be strong enough to save her life or will she too fall victim to a killer?

An anthology of short fiction featuring the finalist selections from the 2016 Saints+Sinners Literary Festival.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Loo Rolls by Aaron Hamburger
• Emma’s by Vince Sgambati
• Greedy Prayer by R. Dale Smith
• Mr. Sissy in Sin City by Thomas Westerfield
• The Weirding Path by Bryan Collins
• Last Dance by Darrow Farr
• The Most Unusual Sweet Potato Competition by Rich Barnett
• Discretion, 1957 by Sally Bellerose
• Trumpet in D by Jerry Rabushka
• Do Unto Others by N. S. Beranek
• Frenchy Retires by Lee Lynch
• The History Professor by Andrew Willett
• Sweet William by ’Nathan Burgoine
• Fallen Angel by Carol Rosenfeld

When you fall in love, if it’s real, it’s forever. But what happens if the woman who gave your life meaning now hates you, for all the wrong reasons? Do you walk away? Claire chooses to stay, knowing her partner will never love her again. Her happiness has been stolen, and her future seems unclear.

That is until Regan arrives.

Regan is an angry woman running from problems. Faced with challenges, she moves to Devon to sort out her dead brother’s estate. From the moment she meets Claire, they seem destined to clash. As they do, secrets begin to unravel that test them both but which offer the chance for love.

Dr. Kate Morrison doesn’t know how or why someone would create human bombs that are triggered by touch. But when Sergeant Andy Wyles blocks Kate from touching the patient who collapses in her Vancouver ER, Kate joins the investigation to demand answers, regardless of the danger. As the two women work together to find those responsible for creating an army of human weapons, Kate finds it increasingly difficult to ignore her feelings for the fiercely protective and unrelentingly perceptive cop. The investigation escalates, and Kate gradually begins to trust Andy, not only with her safety but also with the difficult details of her past. With lives at risk and her heart on the line, Kate must search for a way to defuse the bombs and save her patients, even as she questions the intensifying connection between herself and Andy.