Small Town Romances | Tags

Sydney Carter is shocked to discover her maternal grandmother, a woman she had never met, just recently passed away and left Syd her farmhouse in Iowa. She has questions about her grandparents that she hopes to find the answers to while preparing the farm to sell. 

Abigail Price, a neighbor of Syd’s grandmother, has lived on her grandmother’s farm in Iowa for most of her life, leaving only to promote her latest novel. In helping Syd find the answers she’s looking for, they develop a mutual attraction and deeper feelings for each other.

Syd has to return to her life in Chicago, but will Abby stay in Iowa, or will she give the big city, and love, a chance?

Jannika Peterson arrived in Grangeton, New Hampshire, with a broken heart and a new job managing the local bookstore. She has a gift for pairing readers with the perfect books, but her matchmaking skills don’t extend to her love life. Love doesn’t stand a chance against her well-protected heart.

Eighteen years ago, Lee Thompson was Jannika’s summer camp counselor, and Lee has never forgotten the beautiful girl with the unusual name. Still healing from her wife’s sudden death, Lee hopes her new job in a new town will help her to begin a new chapter. 

When Jannika and Lee reunite, their instant connection feels like a gift, but neither is ready for a second chance at love. Unable to deny their attraction, will they finally get on the same page when it comes to love?

Dakota Scott has spent her entire adult life trying to outrun her past, but even the privilege and reputation her family name affords her haven’t helped her forget. Her mother’s mental illness and the memory of the night that haunts her from so long ago won’t release her. When the one woman with the power to set her free shows up, Dakota is drawn to her, but she is a painful reminder of everything Dakota has been trying desperately to escape. 

When Jessie Weldon returns to her hometown after thirty years of avoiding it, she knows she has demons to face and a conflicted past to resolve, but she has no idea love awaits her. Can she give her heart to Dakota with the tragic past that lies between them?

There'd been a Rivers at the helm of Argyle Community Hospital for six generations, and Harper Rivers was set to take her father's place whenever he decided to hang up his shingle. Unfortunately, the board of directors had other ideas—they accepted a buyout offer from a health care conglomerate with plans to close the hospital's doors to the community that depended on it. And Presley Worth, a high-powered corporate financier, came to town to oversee the closure. Funny thing was, no one asked Harper, and she had no intentions of following anyone's orders but her own—no matter how beautiful, smart, or commanding the new boss might be.

Fifth-generation lobster-woman Mat Pero loves her traditional Portuguese family and living in the lesbian hub of Provincetown, even if they feel like two different worlds. Or two different lives. Since she has no plans for them to collide, it’s not a problem.

Graham Connor is a romantic at heart, but she hasn’t had a date in over a year. She vows to let loose and have a little fun, and the charming and confident Mat is more than happy to help. 

But casual hookups aren’t supposed to include romantic dinners and meeting the family. Can Mat see beyond the heartbreak that led her to keep her worlds so separate, and will Graham be waiting if she does?

Bree Principal and Linda Morton have sacrificed their personal lives for career and family. Now, in her late sixties, Bree is forced to return to her hometown in East Texas, where she begins to discover things about herself she has refused to acknowledge for fifty years. Do both she and Linda—who is finally out and proud—have the courage to claim the type of life they've never allowed themselves to embrace?

Betrayal is a wound that rarely heals.

A devastating accident that claims the life of her Olympic-bound mount lands Jessica Black and her new stallion at Cherokee Falls Equestrian Center, where she is teamed up with an arrogant, womanizing trainer. Skyler Reese is a former gold medalist, now blacklisted as a professional rider. The sparks that fly between the two women are anything but friendly at first, but the heat between them changes to passion as Skyler helps Jessica prepare for the upcoming competition. Still, a dark secret Jessica is hiding threatens both her bid to win a spot on the U.S. Equestrian Team and Skyler's triumphant return to the eventing circuit.

Coal Davis is a horse rancher who has been raised in a family where money and power have ruled her life, and not in a good way. She has returned home after her grandparents' death to accept a new family role that she does not want. Unfortunately, that role requires her to have to deal with her father or risk the loss of a program that sick children depend upon.

Jay DiAngelo is the contractor hired to work on the home Coal Davis has inherited. With her dark hair and honey eyes, being a contractor isn't her only skill. She lives from paycheck to paycheck trying to pay off a debt that could cost her a home that is very special to her. Working in the town of Woodside is a risk, since a relative has tarnished her family name. But pride is everything to Jay, and since she'd never ask for a handout, she'd rather take the risk and chance going hungry than beg for help.

Both have a lot to lose. A relationship would be risky, but if they can overcome the obstacles keeping them apart, they could build something priceless.

When it comes to family secrets, Southern gentry would rather let sleeping dogs lie.

Abigail Wetherington believes the evil that stalks her family in the streets of London is a sleeping dog come back to bite them. So with her last breath, she implores her beautiful granddaughter, Lillie, to flee to the family's polo estate in South Carolina and seek the protection of someone Abigail has come to trust—Swain Butler. What Lillie doesn't know is that she is putting herself in the hands of a woman who may be the biggest family secret of them all.

Be careful, Abigail cautions Lillie. If sleeping dogs must be roused, then call them forth softly.

Two would-be lovers and a decidedly inopportune murder spell trouble, no matter which way the cards fall.

Nothing ever seems to go right in Addy Cooper's life. She loses her job in California when her boss is arrested for importing Russian brides and exporting bootleg copies of yet-to-be-released movies. Her partner, upon hearing that Addy is unemployed, dumps her for the butch UPS delivery driver. And to top it all off, the grandmother who raised Addy and Tommy, her mentally disabled brother, dies suddenly when a piece of space debris the size of a Kenmore dishwasher lands on her, killing her instantly.

Returning to the small town she grew up in, Addy is forced to support herself and Tommy by taking on boarders. Her life appears to be returning to normal until she finds herself caught between two love interests, both of whom suspect her of murder. What more can go wrong? Plenty.

Professor of Archeology Henrietta “Harry” Knight becomes Countess of Axedale upon her father’s death and takes a sabbatical from Cambridge University to begin refurbishing the long-neglected and run-down Axedale Hall. The child of a loveless marriage, witness to her father’s infidelities and her mother’s pain, Harry has no intention of ever falling in love.

Annie Brannigan is a survivor, remaining positive through hardships. As an agency housekeeper, she moves from post to post with her daughter Riley, taking care of people who have everything she will never have. Annie’s greatest wish is to find her happy ever after.

Can love restore the countess’s heart and the crumbling Axedale Hall, or will the first foundations of love turn to dust?

Best-selling romance author Jenna Hardy, aka Cassandra Hart, sprints through life from one appearance to the next, always on deadline, always in demand, always on the arm of a different beautiful woman. She has no personal life because her entire existence is public, and part of her appeal. She loves the tempo, the power, the thrill until the pace catches up to her and she collapses at a book signing. Her doctor orders rest, her editor wants a three book series yesterday, and her attorney informs her she has just inherited a farm in the backcountry of Vermont. Divine intervention or Fate's little joke? The only thing that might possibly save her from dying of boredom during a summer of forced R&R is a dalliance with Gardner Davis, the local vet. Unfortunately, everything about Jenna's high-profile lifestyle is exactly what Gard wants to leave far, far behind, that and a dark secret that haunts the new life she's made.

In the small town of Maybon Tir, Joey Scarpetti is the resident playboi. She swore off relationships after college, and her reputation is well deserved. Until she meets Samantha Brewer. All Joey was looking for was a little fun, but she finds herself developing feelings for Samantha.

Samantha is still grieving the loss of her partner and is three months pregnant. She doesn't think she's ready to move on, especially with someone of Joey's reputation. Joey is terrified of Samantha's pregnancy but soon warms to the idea of a family. But is Samantha ready to lay her lost love to rest? Joey struggles to convince Samantha she's the right one for her, but feels helpless competing with a ghost.

Both women have reasons for avoiding the relationship, but sometimes the pull of true love is too strong to ignore.

Success for Marc Ryder means riding out eight seconds on the back of an angry rodeo bull. She's exactly the type of wild and reckless person artist Bridgette LeRoy has avoided since the senseless death of her brother. But circumstances throw them together, and Bridgette is drawn into a tumultuous ride of attraction, passion, and denial. When she realizes it's the only way to protect her battered heart, Bridgette's desperate mission to stop Marc's suicidal return to the rodeo becomes a race in which every second counts.

Shay Maguire doesn’t realize how much of a fresh start she wants until she meets local newspaper editor Mel Baker in rural Tomson, Montana. But can she swallow being on the “dark side” of a town-wide development controversy if Mel sees her as the enemy? Jeopardizing revenue with her anti-development crusade, Mel earns Shay’s respect and empathy, but frustration mounts when Shay learns fear of devastating financial loss keeps Mel from revealing her lesbianism.

What Shay doesn’t know is that Mel’s life is controlled by a much stronger family secret. With both her newspaper and her love hanging in the balance, Mel is put to the test. Should she stand her ground? And will Shay still be there when the dust settles?

Mac closed her eyes because that's how one traditionally prepared for prayer, and she was in need of divine intervention. A hiccup of laughter almost bubbled out of her. What kind of merciful goddess would cast her, shirtless and prostrate before a roaring fire on a stormy night, subject to the tender ministrations of the straightest woman on the eastern seaboard?

Mac is a new therapist at Fireside, a domestic violence shelter in rural Virginia. Mac hopes to find answers here—answers for the women and children she works with, and to her own lifelong restlessness. Perhaps she'll even learn the identity of the small ghost who's been following her all her life.

Abby is the shelter's doctor—irresistibly alluring, and straight as a stick. Mac and Abby, devoted to those they serve, discover equal passion for each other while fighting to protect all they love.

Fireside is a story of love, friendship, healing, and laying our ghosts to rest at last.

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?

Businesswoman Treat Dandridge sells her very successful business and moves to the peace and quiet of rural Vermont. There she begins falling in love with Mickey Heiden, a carpenter who, unbeknownst to Treat, is in the Witness Protection Program. Shortly after their first meeting, a threatening presence from Mickey’s past resurfaces. Despite Mickey’s efforts to protect Treat, their relationship and their lives are in danger. 

Can love survive dangers of the past?

A romantic intrigue novel.

Eve Eddison describes her ideal woman to her best friend, Roxanne, over pints in their local pub a few days before she travels to the Scottish Highlands. There she falls head over heels for an enigmatic local, Moira Burns, and the usually reticent Eve wants more than a holiday romance. Forestry officer Moira Burns has no intention of letting go—either of past pain or for present pleasure. If that means she misses out on her chance at happiness, so be it. Convinced Eve is headed for heartbreak, Roxanne advises her to let Moira go…but has Eve found her ideal woman at last?

From the breathtaking Highlands of Scotland to the buzz of a Leicester gay bar, family and friendship are tested to breaking point, as letting go proves painfully hard.

"Take a day off, curl up and lose yourself in this lovely lesbian romance by debut novelist Anna Larner. And you'll adore the gorgeous cover designed by Sheri Halal too!" DIVA

Some things are better than chocolate...

Molly O'Brien is a sweetheart. Her friends and neighbors all think so. While she enjoys her quiet life running the town bakeshop in Applewood, Illinois, she wonders if there could be more. After losing the love of her life four years prior in a plane crash, Molly thinks she's ready to navigate the dicey dating waters once again. However, you can't always pick who your heart latches on to. When Jordan Tuscana, the beautiful younger sister of her lost love, returns to town, Molly finds her interest piqued in a manner she wasn't prepared for.

As secrets are uncovered, Molly and Jordan must figure out how to navigate the difficult terrain of their multi-faceted relationship. Especially when something much deeper seems to be bubbling between them.

Kate Beecher, a young woman from Boston, looks ahead with a sense of restless longing to the life her family and friends expect her to embrace. She doesn't know what she wants, or who, until she moves with her family to the wild Montana Territory of the 1860s. Just eighteen and quietly struggling against the social constraints of the era, Kate meets a woman who fires first her imagination, and then her dreams. Jessie Forbes, a fiercely independent but touchingly tender rancher, finds in Kate the passion she had unknowingly sought all her life.

This is the story of their struggle to love in a land and time as cruel as it was beautiful.

2nd Edition

Kellen Ryan has taken the survival skills she learned on the streets and used them to create an elite search-and-rescue operation, as well as the first home she’s known in forever—a sanctuary in Haven, Colorado, high in the Rockies. 

A small mountain town was the last place Harvard-educated Dr. Dana Kingston expected to find herself. Still, when she’s offered an opportunity to partner with Kellen’s operation and develop a medical triage center, Dana follows her heart.

Dana falls hard and fast for the enigmatic Kellen. But she quickly realizes Kellen’s heart is as carefully guarded as her past, and breaking through will take time. Except time is the one thing they may not have, because a deadly threat has returned, and this time he plans to finish what he started.

Freelance reporter Emma Ferguson’s assignment to write about a missing member of a local furniture royalty family turns into a murder when she talks to the only survivor of the founding family. While she tries to mine literary gold from the crumbs of a decades-old mystery, commitment-phobic Carter West seems more interested in maintaining the status quo, another puzzle Emma is eager to unravel.

Park ranger Carter West has been dedicated to her family and their close-knit community all her life, so when Emma Ferguson starts poking around in the past, Carter does whatever is necessary to maintain the life they’ve established—including keeping deadly secrets.

If you're going to bet a long shot, you have to be prepared to lose.

Equine veterinarian Tory Greyson has always played the safe bet. That is, until she runs into a very cute, opinionated, jobless journalist. The small town of Cherokee Falls is just a pit stop for Leah Montgomery while she figures out how to put her career back on track and deal with her grandmother's slide into dementia. Tory is unable to resist when Leah talks her into putting money on a long shot at the track and then spending the winnings to buy a wild pony. Will Tory take a chance on Leah, too? Or will she stick with the safe bet and pursue Bridgette LeRoy, the calm, Zen-centered artist who arrives to teach at the local college?

KC Hall loves her family, her small East Texas town, and her best friend, Emma Reynolds. All of that takes a backseat when her lover beckons. Lonnie is blond, beautiful, and willing. She's also married and a lifelong friend of KC's mama.

KC knows the affair is a bad idea, but she just can't help herself. When presented with the lush landscape of Lonnie's body, KC subscribes to the philosophy of "orgasm first, think later." Unfortunately, a secret that big is impossible to keep in a close-knit community where everybody knows everybody else's business. The scandal would hurt her entire family.

Emma is KC's exception, the one woman she loves enough to not have sex with. When Emma confesses that she's loved KC since high school, KC is terrified. One wrong move and she could lose Emma completely.

Is she willing to let her family pay the price for her good time? Or will she turn to Emma to discover the true meaning of love and devotion?

Successful but suffocated by the demands of her corporate career, Shaw Daily walks out on it all. She returns to her grandparents’ rural property in Cooper’s Creek, North Carolina, with a plan to hide out and reboot her life to be simple and stress free. But escapism eludes her when her attentions are captured by small-town beauty Kate Elkins.

Kate has spent almost her entire life in Cooper’s Creek. For Kate, the bonds of small-town life are a source of strength and comfort. When her aging mother weakens, Kate takes a leave from teaching to care for her. Romance is the last thing on her mind when she bumps into her unrequited teen crush Shaw Dailey just back from California. Long-buried feelings resurface for Kate, but all Shaw sees is a beautiful woman saddled with the responsibilities she is finally free from.

Sometimes a sacrifice is the purest form of love.

Rhea Daniels is a survivor. Just released from prison for the murder of her pedophile father, she is trying to put the past behind her and build a new life. When Rhea goes to work for Morgan Scott, an ex-priest with a big heart and a damaged soul, Rhea is challenged to face her wildest dreams and worst nightmares.  

And Morgan isn’t without challenges of her own. When a man with a grudge comes to claim his revenge, she learns that, sometimes, there is no clear line between right and wrong. And sometimes redemption is about being willing to take a stand.

Lucy severed the connection to her first love when the seduction of college life pulled at her desires. Now in their thirties, Lucy returns home to cover a story where Detective Erica Chance plays a central character. Erica has spent a decade trying to banish the memory of Lucy, and on the surface, she has succeeded. Now, the reporter is back in her life, insisting she is a valued resource in the search for their hometown’s first serial killer. Old wounds are opened and new enemies are discovered as Lucy tries to take her chance.

Maggie Jordan can’t wait to convert an historic Nantucket home into a B&B and move on to her next project. However, her intention to flip it for a sizeable profit is something she must keep to herself if she hopes to win the acceptance of islanders and popularize the business. She can’t afford to grow attached to the house, or succumb to Nantucket’s quaint charms, and definitely must not fall in love.

But neither can Maggie resist the conundrum that is Ellis Chilton, a reserved, solitary islander and mariner since childhood. Seemingly content being attached only to her boat and the ocean, Ellis projects a refreshing air of independence, an aura of conviction and grit that tugs Maggie ever closer to a decision that will alter both their lives.

For lesbians in Provincetown, seductive Sable is more than just a bedroom voice on late-night radio. Through her talk show, Nightlight, she is a fun, anonymous friend and confidante, until one mysterious caller attracts her attention. Behind Sable’s “mask,” Murphy Callahan allows herself to enjoy the no-strings radio relationship—she’s mourned the death of her partner for three years—and ignores the growing attachment as their very public conversations push permissible limits.

But when local tradeswoman Riley Burke enters her life, Murphy faces a difficult choice:  continue the safe “night voice” fantasy or risk the reality of falling in love. If only she could have both…

Andi Massey lives a secluded life in rural Tennessee. Since a brutal attack, she has avoided emotional connections. She is certain she has nothing left to offer anyone, but secretly wishes her life could be different.

Gwen Palmer has never been afraid to go after what she wants. Betrayed and tired of meaningless sex, she leaves her roots in the big city, seeking the quiet and peace of the mountains. The last thing she wants is another emotionally distant relationship.

Andi and Gwen find that small town life has a way of bringing them together whether they like it or not. But all may be lost when Andi comes face-to-face with her past and the man who has vowed to destroy everything she loves. Can Andi and Gwen overcome their past hurts and fearsas well as present dangersand accept love without boundaries?

Nine years after leaving the small Scottish town where she'd grown up, Tag Grainger is forced to return following the sudden death of her fatherand back to a life she's long since put behind her. After inheriting a share in a family business she wants no part in, Tag is overwhelmed by the dark clouds of her past: her brother can't forgive her, the nephew she adored doesn't remember her, and everywhere she goes there are whispers about how she abandoned her family.

With her old wounds reopened, Tag longs to escape again, until the appearance of the intriguing and spirited Freddie Metcalfe forces her to reevaluate much more than she thought she needed to. But while Freddie is nursing her own broken heart, can she help Tag reconnect with her family and move on from her past?

Army veteran Catherine Daye long ago accepted her passable looks, mediocre talent, and average intelligence. In fact, she bought a rundown farm on seventy acres to retreat from the world and live out her simple, ordinary life. Atlanta marketing superstar Autumn Swan’s world is anything but simple. Constantly plugged in to what’s trending on social media, it’s her job to keep her clients ahead of the competition. When her favorite cousin dies suddenly, she finds herself the owner of a modest country home, guardian to a sullen, tomboyish ten-year-old, and neighbor to an intriguing woman who isn’t as ordinary as she appears.

Reese Conlon, Lt.Col USMCR, is the new sheriff who has heads turning amidst speculation as to who will be the first woman to capture her attentions.

Doctor Victoria King has been betrayed by love once and refuses to risk heartbreak again.

Brianna Parker, the teenaged daughter of Reese's chief, fears her father's wrath when he learns that she loves another girl.

As these three women struggle to live and love in freedom, they risk their hearts and souls to give one another a Safe Harbor.

After a life of wrong turns and lost hope, can true love be more than a bittersweet fantasy?

Melinda Andrews arrives on the Oregon coast with a dream of running the Sea Glass Inn. Still reeling after an unexpected divorce, Mel believes she has missed her chance to find love. All she wants is to make her business a success and regain her independence. She locates the artist who inspired her move so she can commission more paintings for her new inn.

Pamela Whitford runs a gallery in a small seaside town, planning events and supporting other artists while neglecting her own talent. Since being deserted by the love she thought was forever, she refuses to let anyone close enough to hurt her again. But Pam can't resist the struggling new innkeeper, and she agrees to paint for her even though it means opening herself up to creativity and the vulnerability that goes with it.

Can they learn to trust again and discover a second chance at love?

Marine biologist Tess Hansen has left her high-tech lab at Evergreen College and returned to Washington’s northern coast to take care of her aging parents. Although her new job studying orcas in the Pacific excites her, she finds life in the small town where she grew up to be stifling and boring. Until she meets Brittany James.

Chemist Britt James has made the move from a hectic city to the rural coast as well, but she embraces the isolation. She’s looking for a way to reconnect with the environment and make amends for the damage her chemical company has done, and Tess’s center for orca research is a top contender for her endowment. 

Change has become an unwelcome part of Tess’s life and a desperate hope for Britt. Can these two women find a place of refuge with each other?

Three women caught in a web of secrets and dark desires

Rooke Tyler lives a solitary life in a small town on the Hudson River, carving intricate headstones in an exclusive cemetery for the county's wealthy families. At night she pours her dreams and desires into the figures she sculptswaiting for the woman she senses in the stone.

Adrian Oakes knows there are things in life that defy rational explanationshe has spent her life avoiding casual contact with others, because sometimes what she feels draws her into a world of dangerous attractions and dark desires.

Melinda Singer, a beautiful seductive art dealer, wants both women and will stop at nothing to have them. When fate brings the three together, passion and destiny ignite.

Wolf expert Maddox “Ripp” Rippington knows nothing about her past and has only ever felt at home among her wolves at Willow Creek Wolf Sanctuary. When the Sanctuary is shut down, she’s lost. The only clue to her past is a birth certificate with the name Ansel Wolfgang on it, but she has never been brave enough to track her father down. Until now.

Kindergarten teacher Kyra Wolfgang is more than attracted to the mysterious human who arrives in Wolfgang County, a human as dominant and confident as any wolf she has ever met. For the first time in her life, Kyra knows the passion she has always longed for. But with the Wolfgang Alpha and Second distrustful of Ripp’s sudden appearance and her claim of a connection to the pack, does Kyra and Ripp’s love stand a chance?

A Wolfgang County Novella

Major Sorla Reardon, wounded in Iraq, returns home to the family farm in Australia to heal both her body and her soul. She pushes herself to rebuild her family's legacy while battling the PTSD that threatens to overwhelm her.

Local saddler and horse trainer Riley Johnson knows that to get along in a small town, one simply has to make the best of what life hands out. Riley's philosophy is to keep life as uncomplicated as possible. And falling in love with Sorla is as complicated as it gets.

As Sorla's dream is realized, Riley's predictable, safe world begins to unravel. Secrets are revealed as prejudice and ignorance run wild. Having only ever walked through life alone, Riley must now learn to trust another, as danger dances ever closer.

Just because you’re through with your past, doesn’t mean it’s through with you.  

Margaret Beringer didn’t have an easy adolescence. She hated her name, was less than popular in school, and was always cast aside as a “farm kid.” However, with the arrival of Courtney Carrington, Margaret’s youth sparked into color. Courtney was smart, beautiful, and put together—everything Margaret wasn’t. Who would have imagined that they’d fit together so perfectly? 

But first loves can scar. 

Margaret hasn’t seen Courtney in years and that’s for the best. But when Courtney loses her father and returns to Tanner Peak to take control of the family store, Margaret comes face-to-face with her past and the woman she’s tried desperately to forget. The fact that Courtney has grown up more beautiful than ever certainly doesn’t help matters.

Named one of The 10 Best Romance Books of 2017 by Vulture: "This small-town second-chance romance is full of tenderness and heart."

Emerson Lange knows that life comes with no guarantees. After her parents’ unexpected deaths, she drops out of medical school and moves to Provincetown to pursue her real passion—art. Darcy Belo is also no stranger to life’s unexpected twists and turns. She never expected to become a single mother at twenty-two, but she has no regrets over moving back home or the life she’s built with her son. 

A chance meeting at a wedding sparks an instant attraction between them, but pursuing it is not without complications. Neither woman is looking for love, but when their summer romance reveals the promise of so much more, each of them must confront their notions of love, the future, and what it means to be a family.

Praise from RT Book Reviews: "As expected in a small-town romance, Summer's Cove evokes a sunny, light-hearted atmosphere that matches its beach setting... Emerson's shy pursuit of Darcy is sure to endear readers... Darcy desires romance yet is unwilling to disrupt her son's life to have it, and you feel for Emerson when she endeavors to show how there's room in her heart for a family."

Veterinarian Trip Beaumont likes being a big fish in a small pond. There’s hardly an animal she can’t heal or a woman she can’t charm within fifty miles of Pine Cone, Georgia—except for the irritating and elusive new cop who keeps leaving parking tickets on her truck. 

Officer Jamie Grant has never liked rule breakers, but she’s especially incensed when she discovers Trip owns the truck that is constantly parked illegally. She’s searched carefully for a quiet, eclectic community to settle down with her drug-sniffing—albeit gastric-challenged—canine partner, Petunia. Instead, she finds herself on a collision course with the woman who stole her college girlfriend and broke her heart after an ill-conceived threesome.

Artist Clay Cahill retreats to her hometown of Pine Cone, Georgia, when she’s betrayed by a woman she thought cared and the pressure of the New York City art world becomes too much. Setting paints aside, she takes a job at her grandfather’s garage seeking the restorative comfort of small town life where women are sweet and life flows as slow as molasses.

Manhattan art gallery owner River Hemsworth is preparing for a show when she’s informed her aunt has bequeathed her a local gallery in Pine Cone, a place where the idea of fashion is anything with a Carhartt label. En route to review inventory and unload the property quickly, River wrecks her car and Clay comes to her rescue.

If River can convince Clay to start painting again, she may be able to pull off the show that will make her career and quench the desires she never expected to feel again.

Police Officer Grace Booker’s life is good—but not quite everything she'd hoped. When a good deed goes wrong, she’s left with Dirty Harry, a raucous African parrot who really hates her. When Harry becomes louder and more neurotic, Grace takes him to the new local vet, Dr. Dani Wingate.

Recently laid off from her dream job as a zoo veterinarian, Dr. Dani Wingate accepts a temporary position in tiny Pine Cone until she can get back to her life in the city. The only thing she wants more than a lesbian who can do uncomplicated relationships is a one-way ticket out of town.

Dirty Harry brings them together, but their unexpected attraction keeps the sparks flying.

Over the course of a year at Cannon Beach, tourists and locals alike find solace and passion at the Sea Glass Inn.

Melinda Andrews and Pamela Whitford own the Sea Glass Inn at Cannon Beach on the Oregon Coast. After an oil spill threatens their shore, Mel and Pam join members of the community as they fight to heal the beach and its inhabitants while finding creative ways to keep businesses alive until the tourist trade recovers.

In these four novellas, Pam and Mel’s guests and neighbors find healing for themselves as well. From local residents, including a baker and a bookseller, to a visiting author and a Department of Fish and Wildlife Officer, these women come to the ocean in need of comfort, inspiration, and renewal. They not only discover these qualities at the inn, but they also find what they need most: love.

Val Montague travels back to her childhood home of Hemlock, Oregon, to handle the estate of her dead mother. All she wants to do is follow her mother's wishes, liquidate the assets, and leave town.

Cam Nelson, a high school dropout and town outcast, has struggled to establish a small business and leave behind her "good-for-nothing" reputation.

When they meet, Val's rather unpleasant trip becomes much more bearable. Soon, however, peculiar and dangerous events begin to plague her when she begins to suspect her mother didn't die the way everyone said she did. And soon Val realizes that in this eccentric, woodsy beach town, a chance for romance just might lead to death.

Isabelle Ashford inherited her late aunt’s country home with a simple plan: a quick flip for a healthy profit, then off to buy her dream house by the water. But the house seems to have its own ideas. Startling discoveries reveal well-kept family secrets, drawing Belle into the mysteriously tragic life and death of her father’s young cousin.

A flirtatious friendship with Deputy Sheriff Ally Yates blossoms into romance as they search for answers, hoping the clues they uncover will lead to the identity of a child predator and possibly, a murderer. Now with her plan for a short, uncomplicated stay in Danville foiled by the growing mystery and her undeniable feelings for Ally, Belle must decide whether to stick with her original plan for a clean getaway back to the Connecticut shore or to follow her heart’s lead.

Some soul mates can never be forgotten.

Jordan was in love with her best friend, Sophie, in high school and no one knew…least of all Sophie. After fleeing without a trace before graduation, Jordan vowed never to return to Monarch, the butterfly obsessed town along the Central California coast.

Ten years later, Jordan owns a successful soul mate matchmaking company where she finds love for others, but has little use for it herself. Sophie runs the Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary and has yet to forgive Jordan for disappearing from her life. When Jordan is forced to return to Monarch, will their soul mate connection deepen or will differing goals tear them apart?

From Great Danes to Pomeranians to polydactyl cats, in the rural town of Novi, Michigan, veterinarian Dr. Jaylin Meyers treats them all. But being brought up in the foster care system, she's learned not to count on anyone staying around.

New vet tech Kristen Eckert has no time for a relationship. She'd much rather take care of horses, shoot skeet, or ride her Appaloosa. Their mutual attraction takes them both by surprise, and they are drawn into a relationship.

But Jaylin is frightened by the idea of relying on someone else and withdraws. When Kristen is injured in an auto accident, can Jaylin find the courage to risk her heart with Kristen or will she let her chance at love vanish forever?

They say you can't go home again, but Raine St. James doesn't know why anyone would want to.

Rory St. James was disowned after she came out at seventeen. She rebounded by moving to Chicago, changing her name to Raine, and putting down her hometown to audiences around the country. Now, ten years later, too old to be considered a gay youth, broke, evicted, and fresh off a much needed breakup, Raine St. James is forced to accept a job teaching at Bramble University in Darlington, the town she's been publicly bashing for the last decade.

Beth Devoroux was born and raised in Darlington. Despite losing her parents at a young age, she is well loved by everyone who knows her. She leads a comfortable life with good job at Bramble University, a long-term but closeted relationship, friends that she can count on, and everything she thinks she wants, so why is she so drawn to a rabble-rouser like Raine St. James?

Can Raine and Beth face their pasts and come to terms with their differences in order to have any hope for a future together?

What would you change about your past if you had the chance? What if you didn't have a choice?

Stevie Geller doesn't do conflict. She likes her job as a successful novelist and playwright because it allows her to peacefully ensconce herself in her New York City loft, avoid human interactions, and leave personal drama for the page and stage. When her agent asks her to return to her hometown of Darlington, Illinois, to accept an award, she agrees only because he promises the process will be quick and easy. One panic attack and concussion later, Stevie is forced to confront her past in ways that seem to defy reality. As if befriending a social outcast and confronting high school bullies weren't enough, she also finds herself falling for a closeted teacher. Along the way, Stevie must decide if some things are worth fighting for. In her rush to escape the past, will she leave behind a better future, or are some conflicts really timeless?

Secrets lead to nothing but trouble and heartbreak.

Newly arrived in the small Southern town of Oakboro, Salem Lacy is planning to keep a low profile after an ill-timed step out of the closet cost her the corporate job and high-powered friends she had in Atlanta. That plan derails when Salem meets the mysterious and beautiful Knox Bolander, a woman who is whispered to cause odd and sometimes dangerous things to happen. When a fire that occurred twenty years earlier on the Bolander estate threatens to destroy Salem's chance to rebuild her life, she must decide if she will risk everything again for this secretive woman who has been rarely touched and never loved.

It’s a long weekend among six friends whose lives have intertwined through years of U-Hauls and regrets, almosts and what-ifs. As that poorly timed snowstorm whirls into town, it threatens to kick pent-up desires and tightly held secrets over the edge—especially for Jessie, who can’t stop thinking about her best friend Hadley.

Meanwhile Brie’s past overshadows her present-day, and the Lasleys just hope to enjoy their much-anticipated wedding anniversary. If everyone would just keep it together for the next few days, and if this snow would taper off, they just might pull off Sunday’s celebration. Drama free.

Advance praise from Foreword Reviews: "Truth or Dare is an entirely fun read. It’s a low-tension slice-of-life meditation on the way that lives intersect....This book is a must for fans of multiple-character structures and shows like The L Word. Truth or Dare is charming with its stories of queer women falling in and out of love. It is smart, funny, and romantic—the perfect read for a snowy night in."

When the hallowed halls of academia become the stage for murder, newly appointed Dean Beth Ellis's search for the truth leads her to unexpected discoveries about her own heart.

For Beth Ellis, Grafton College and its faculty and students are her home and family. But the president of the college rubs everyone the wrong way, the new English professor on campus isn't much more popular, and Beth has her hands full trying to keep the peace as various campus factions quarrel. Still, she didn't expect a tenure battle to end in murder.

Sally Sullivan left the Chicago police homicide division and returned to her hometown where, as chief of police, she expected her greatest challenges to be dealing with car accidents and drunk drivers. But faced with a murder investigation with more motives than evidence and an inexperienced staff, Sally finds small-town policing isn't as simple as she thought. Neither are her growing feelings for Beth Ellis.

As Sally and Beth's different worlds collide, their desire to solve the murder is complicated by their unexpected attraction. A second murder on campus places the survival of the college itself, their tenuous relationship, and even their lives in jeopardy.

Leslie Harris's visit to her upstate New York lakeside family home after a decade of triumphs and disappointment resembles a nightmare more than the quiet vacation she'd hoped for. The unexpected appearance of much-changed town girl Devon Weber, with whom Leslie shares a secret that haunts them both, rekindles an old heartache—and reminds Leslie of just why she left.

Even though her attraction to Dev comes roaring back, the one thing Leslie doesn't want is to pick up where they left off, especially not when she already has just the life she wants—a rewarding high-power law practice, a condo in Manhattan, and a lover who satisfies her without demanding the intimacy Leslie avoids. Unfortunately, environmental biologist Devon Weber doesn't play by Leslie's rules. Two women whose lives turned out far differently than they'd once imagined discover that sometimes the shape of the future can only be found in the past—and love is strongest When Dreams Tremble.

Royal Duval is the pride of her grandfather, Duke, from whom she learned all about faith, ambition, and women. After her father passed, Royal inherited his part of the family business: running bootleg whiskey. The back roads of Georgia had been perfect for the dissemination of the much sought after illegal elixir until the local Baptist minister, Abraham Porter, decided to make prohibition his mission, and Royal the target of his evangelical wrath.

Lovey Porter, Abraham's daughter, is the living embodiment of chaste beauty, until she meets the charmingly handsome Royal Duval. Their growing attraction for each other challenges every belief that Lovey holds dear and calls into question every truth she felt sure was absolute. Even if she must defy her father, in the end, Lovey has to find her own path to faith and love. She alone must decide whether that path leads to Royal.

Women, funerals, guns, and rattlesnakes. What could go wrong?

Jill O'Hara, award-winning journalist and inveterate egotist, is about to find out. When Jill is summoned to her hometown Prairie View, Montana, to bury her father and clean up his messes, she assumes a few tedious days of signing papers and delegating responsibilities will complete her obligations. But Jill's duties as Dean O'Hara's daughter soon become less mundane and more menacing. To complicate matters, Jill's first love, Annie Doyle, lives in Prairie View and despite Annie's blistering past betrayal, Jill still desires her. Fortunately, Sheriff Rae Terabian, a woman with a uniform, power, and shady associates, deliciously distracts Jill from her obsession with Annie.

Amidst her customary confusion over women, Jill is forced to confront her father's treacherous legacy, battle the extremes of the northern Montana wilds, and face down survivalists bent on silencing her. Despite the remote location and severe peril, she discovers the possibility for one more chance at love.

Lia Brooks has a broken heart and a burning desire to escape New York City. She decides Provincetown is the perfect winter escape to find some peace and regroup. Alex McKinnon is the pastry chef and proprietor of The Flour Pot Café in the heart of Provincetown. She loves owning her own business and the easy, no-strings-attached relationships that come with living in a gay tourist mecca. When Lia appears in the café, the attraction is immediate. The passion between them promises more than a casual affair, but it's never that simple. Women from Alex's past pop up at the most inopportune times. Then there's Lia's ex, who brokers deals for a living and is unaccustomed to losing. Will Alex and Lia be able to overcome the roadblocks and find a happily ever after?

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?

Sheriff Reese Conlon and Doctor Tory King face the challenges of defining their lives and future together. Tory's pregnancy forces her to examine her personal needs and goals while Reese struggles with her escalating anxieties over conditions she cannot control.

Twenty-year-old Brianna Parker makes a sacrifice for love that threatens not just her happiness, but her life, when she returns home as the newest member of the Sheriff's department.

A life-threatening accident, a suspicious fire, and the appearance of more than one woman vying for Bri's attentions make one Provincetown summer a time of transformation as each woman learns the true meaning of love, friendship, and family.

Finnian Kane, famous master of illusion, mentalist, and renowned atheist, has a crisis of faith after her sister’s death. She rents a cottage in the village of Axedale in Kent, desperately trying to find a safe haven from the intrusive media to grieve and work out how to move on. 

The Reverend Bridget Claremont makes it her mission to help the enigmatic Finnian find her faith in life again. Bridge has long yearned for a life partner, and her best friend’s wedding has intensified that desire. But when you’re a lesbian vicar in a small English village, it’s not easy to find your perfect match. 

Their chemistry is clear from the start, despite their different beliefs and Bridge insisting Finn isn’t her type. But will the mentalist find the magic that can charm the vicar?

No matter how much we plan, life—and people—have a way of surprising us.

For Doctor KT O'Bannon, a near-fatal tragedy derails a career and disrupts everything she thought she knew about herself and her future. Battered and nearly broken, she turns for solace to the one woman who knows her best, her ex-lover Doctor Tory King. Their unexpected reunion in Provincetown uncovers old wounds, forges new bonds, and awakens long-buried passions. While Tory's lover Sheriff Reese Conlon struggles to uncover a deadly drug ring and Officer Bri Parker navigates the torturous path between friendship and desire, Tory and KT—and those who love them—are forced to examine the boundaries of love, friendship, and the ties that transcend time.

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. Then she discovers not even that truth can be counted on. Tess's stepfather has kept important secrets, and Tess's dream of breeding a line of organic dairy cows suddenly goes up in a burst of smoke and flame.

R. Clayton Sutter is an expert at managing just about anything—money, businesses, and people. Getting NorthAm Fuel's newest shale refinery operational in the rolling hills of Upstate New York shouldn't be much of a challenge, but then, she hadn't counted on dealing with vandalism, petitions, and a woman she'd never expected to see again—one who still haunts her dreams.

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.

Carrie Longmire loves life with a passion—whether it’s her job as a hospital CEO’s admin, star pitcher for the hospital’s softball team, or her latest romantic possibility, she gives 110 percent and won’t take less from anyone else. Maybe that’s why she’s still single. She’s never met anyone who could convince her they wanted anything more than a fling. Friendly was fun, but not where she wanted to hang her heart.

Gina Antonelli had big dreams once, of riding her athletic achievements all the way to West Point and being the first in a long family line of soldiers to serve as an officer. When that dream died along with the girl she’d planned to marry one day, she’d vowed to forget about happily ever afters. Love hadn’t gotten her anything but a broken heart and a ruined body.

When Gina agrees to renovate Carrie’s soon-to-be new house as a favor to her brother’s boss, she doesn’t welcome Carrie’s overtures at friendship or her own unexpected attraction.

A Rivers Community Romance

Praise from RT Book Reviews: "Love After Hours, the fourth in Radclyffe's Rivers Community series, evokes the sense of a continuing drama as Gina and Carrie's slow-burning romance intertwines with details of other Rivers residents. They become part of a greater picture where friends and family support each other in personal and recreational endeavors. Vivid settings and characters draw in the reader..."

Some people work to pay the bills or send the kids to school or afford playtime. Ex-Army medic physician-assistant Glenn Archer works, as much as she possibly can, to atone for all the lost lives on her conscience. No matter how many patients she helps save at the Rivers Community Hospital, it will never be enough, but it helps her look at herself in the mirror in the morning. Mariana Mateo needs to make a new life, one without the daily reminders of all she’s lost and far away from the suffocating sympathies of her well-meaning family, and moving to a place as different as possible from the bustling LA she grew up in seems like a good idea. A cousin she hasn’t seen in twenty years is the only person who knows her in the tiny upstate New York farming community, and that’s just the way she wants it. When working side by side with Glenn Archer in the ER makes Mari remember what desire feels like, Mari determines to ignore the feelings, which isn’t all that difficult since Glenn is as unapproachable as the beautiful but remote mountains.

A Rivers Community Novel

Flannery Rivers is content to let her sister Harper carry on the family dynasty—at the Rivers hospital where they both work and on the home front. Now that Harper is settled and soon to be happily married, Flannery can ease back into her life of casual flirtations and find all the excitement she needs in the ER. She's even got her next playmate all lined up, or so she thinks.

Abigail Remy is a city girl who accepts a position at the imperiled country hospital in the hope of finding a stable, safe community for her teenaged trans son. Unfortunately, when she arrives to work, she discovers the current ER chief is less than happy to be replaced by a fresh-out-of-residency newcomer.

Add unexpected attraction to the incendiary mix of city and country, fire and ice, tradition and change—and the prescription is combustible.

The frontier might be dangerous, but only if you have something to lose. Can two outcasts find refuge in one another's hearts?

Dr. Vance Phelps lost everything in the War Between the Statesher professional future, her place in Philadelphia society, and her faith in herself. She travels to New Hope, Montana with no hope of happiness and no desire for anything except forgetting. There she meets a trio of women, all of whom will play a pivotal role in her liferancher Jessie Forbes, her lover, Kate Beecher, and Mae, a frontier madam. Mae, used to standing alone against physical danger and social sanction, fiercely guards the well-being of the lost young women who come under her careshe just never expected one of them to be a doctor, wounded in body and soul.

A devastating hurricane brings insurance investigator Ashley Walker back to Provincetown, the last place she wants to be. Not only must she deal with the dangerous consequences of the natural disaster, she has to fight her soul-shattering need for the woman she left behind.

While Reese Conlon and Tory King deal with the challenges of a community in turmoil, a new threat emerges that proves to be even more deadly than the ravaging storm. A silent killer stalks the night, drawing ever closer to the one woman he believes to be his. Soon, no woman is safe, including Tory.

The sixth in the Lambda Literary Award-winning Provincetown Tales.

The lives of two women and the community that shelters them shatter in a single night of violence.

Ex-gang member Mica Butler is running from a past that just may kill her if she's ever caught. Paramedic and ordained priest Flynn Edwards struggles to recover her faith in herself and find absolution for her greatest failure. Sheriff Reese Conlon fights to embrace the joy of new life while a dark threat bears down on her partner, Doctor Tory King.

In one explosive night, the destines of all involved change forever as a man with nothing to lose threatens to take anyone in his path with him to the grave.

Seventh in the award-winning Provincetown Tales

Nora Calhoun keeps her life just like her Provincetown B and B, neat and tidy. She’s thrilled when her niece Graham comes to stay with her while completing her graduate fieldwork aboard the Dolphin Fleet. She’s less than thrilled when Graham starts hanging out with Willa Lange, a sexy wanderer who works for the Fleet and seems to have her sights set on Graham. 

At the encouragement of her sister Emerson, Will’s short stay in Ptown becomes a fresh start. She’s doing great—a decent job, a place of her own, and new friends. But when she meets Nora, she finds herself pining for more. The only problem? Nora is fifteen years her senior and doesn’t like her. Can the women overcome past hurts and find love or will their affair leave battered hearts in its wake?

Amidst war abroad and upheaval at home, Reese Conlon and Tory King face their gravest challenge to their life together.

In the continuing saga of the Provincetown Tales, Reese Conlon's obligations to family and country are put to the test as war engulfs the Middle East, while her partner Tory King must come to terms with the true price of love. While friends and family struggle with the fears and uncertainties of a world in strife, the small seaside town becomes home to newly arrived art gallery owner, Ricarda Grechi, a woman whose underworld family connections make danger her constant companion. Life doesn't get any safer when State Police Detective Carter Wayne takes a sudden interest in Rica, but it does get more complicated.

When love, duty, honor, and family are in conflict...four women and those who love them struggle to survive the unforgiving storms of change.

The fifth in the saga of the Provincetown Tales.

The winds of fortune are fickle guides...and happiness or heartbreak may be the destination. For Provincetown local Deo Camara, the only winds that have ever blown her way have been cold and lonely, and she doesn't expect things to improve when she is drawn into a family crisis against her will. Despite a decade of estrangement, however, Deo can't turn her back on the call of blood, no matter how high the price in heartache. Dr. Bonita Burgoyne is pleased with the changes she's made in her life...she has a rewarding new job and is looking forward to renovating the historic sea captain's house she has just purchased. She's content, and that's all she needs to be, or so she thinks until she hires Deo to head up the renovations. They have nothing in common except a shared legacy of betrayal by those they'd trusted the most, and an impossible attraction they would both prefer to ignore. Meanwhile, Bonita's new associate Dr. Tory King and her partner, Reese Conlon, must cope with the aftermath of the winds of war and the approaching fury of a very real gathering storm.

The last time Brody Clark left the Rivers, she walked away from her life—her foolish dreams, her few friends, and the secrets she'd kept from everyone. For ten years she'd told herself there was nothing in her past she cared about—not the family who'd given her a home or the one girl she never stopped thinking about. But now she’s back as part of the new medevac flight crew, for at least as long as it takes to finally bury her ghosts.

Val Valentine, DVM, planned on a big city boutique vet practice with high profile clients, easy hours, and lucrative profits. All until the man who was more father to her than her own asks for her help, and she ends up back in the backwater where all she has are bad memories.

Brody figures cutting her ties to the past would be a hell of a lot easier if she could only avoid the woman she’s never been able to forget. Since Val never even knew she was alive back in high school, that shouldn’t be too hard now. When their lives collide, both women discover what might have been is closer than they think.

Alissa Reeves came out for Hannah Desarno. Hannah is smart, beautiful, and has just gone missing. Worse, she isn’t Alissa’s first girlfriend to disappear. Eighteen months ago, Alissa was caught kissing bad girl Lana Meyers. Too scared to admit her feelings for Lana, Alissa let her friends blame Lana. Weeks later when Lana disappeared, no one in their small town thought much of it until months later when her body was found.

With Hannah gone, Alissa finds herself following clues that will help her discover what happened to both girls, and the truth will change everything.

Kat Jackson is successful despite her estrangement from her parents and the loss of her wife. She’s resigned to live alone while struggling to maintain her dream ranch. When she falls for weekend cowgirl DJ Callahan, she soon fears all she knows to be true may be a cruel façade developed for her own protection. 

DJ Callahan is a corporate lawyer who lives in the moment, never limiting herself to any one relationship. When DJ arrives at the Jumpin’ J Ranch, she has no plans to become involved with Kat, let alone open the door to her own past, which bubbles just below the surface, threatening to destroy her entire existence as a “big city lawyer.” 

Having everything she could ever want in life, twice, is something Kat never expected. When she gets a second chance at love, following her heart will prove the hardest decision of all.

Two years ago, Ariel Montgomery left her wife and ran away from the beautiful estate of Sea Oats after an enormous argument. Older and wiser now, Ariel has returned to Sea Oats to try to save her marriage—only there is something sinister going on at Sea Oats. As Ariel tries to win her wife’s love back, she begins to suspect her own life is in danger, and has to find out the truth about what is going on at the beautiful mansion by the sea.

This collection of Lee Lynch's columns chronicles over a quarter century of queer life in the United States, from the last decades of the twentieth century into the twenty-first.

"From the beginning of my writing career, I just wanted to write about lesbian/gay life as I experienced it. Like so many, I came from a place of great isolation. At the same time, being gay filled me with great pride and joy. Writers Jane Rule, Isabelle Miller, Radclyffe Hall, Valerie Taylor, Ann Bannon, and Vin Packer gave me inspiration and even the lesbian companionship I needed as a baby dyke. More than anything, I want to give to gay people what those writers gave me. And I want to do it well enough that my words might someday be considered literature and, as such, might endure because, as open as some societies have become, there are always haters, and cycles of oppression. Our writers strengthen us, offer a sense of solidarity and validation that we are both more than our sexualities and are among the best that humanity offers."

Samantha Weller, a forensic scientist turned paranormal novelist, owes her life and writing career to a crow that saved her from certain death. When she buys an old bookend that looks like her avian muse, her world begins to resemble the plots of her novels. 

Determined to find the mate to her bookend, Samantha and her antiquarian sidekick, Liz, go on a search leading them to the beautiful and wealthy Gwen Laraway. Samantha is instantly smitten, but the age difference has Gwen second-guessing Samantha’s interest. 

Meanwhile, Liz is crushing on Gwen’s niece, Isabel. As clueless as she is sensuous, Isabel hasn’t had a date since her high school prom ten years ago, and she’s petrified to act on her sudden attraction to Liz.

Romance seems to be blooming all around, but problems arise when a restless ghost emerges from the ether to roam the dark corners of this haunting tale that explores the quantum mechanics of immortality.

Who says you can’t go home again?

Philadelphia real estate broker Devyn Winters is at the peak of her career, closing multimillion-dollar deals and relishing it. She’s pretty much blocked out her formative years in Dreamer’s Bay, where the most exciting thing to happen was the twice a year bake sale. Unfortunately, a distress call hauls her back home and away from the life she’s constructed. Now the question is just how long until she can leave again? And when did boring Elizabeth Draper get so beautiful?

Elizabeth Draper loves people, free time, and a good cup of coffee in the warm sunlight. In the quaint town of Dreamer’s Bay, she’s the only employee of On the Spot, an odd jobs company. She remembers Devyn Winters as shallow in high school, but now everything about Devyn makes her lose focus. Though her brain knows Devyn is only home temporarily, her heart didn’t seem to get the memo.

"I love this book. I want to kiss it on its face. I also want to go to Dreamer’s Bay, so I can eat the donuts, hang out on the beaches, and maybe even join in on the Saturday night cornhole game with Devyn and Elizabeth. Instead, I’m going to stick Beautiful Dreamer on my to-reread-when-everything-sucks pile, because it’s sure to make me happy again and again." —Smart Bitches Trashy Books

Adi Bergeron doesn’t want to be discovered. Discovery could lead to her arrest or worse. She just wants to keep flying under the radar, safe and anonymous. She may have to give up the life she’s built for herself when the restaurant she works in is chosen to be featured in a culinary magazine. 

Reporter Griffith McNaulty has had a rocky year. She’s struggling to rebuild herself after having her reputation destroyed and her heart broken by a previous interview subject. She’s jaded and hesitant to accept the flimsy story Adi presents as her past. The relationship that develops between them cements Griffith’s need to find Adi’s truth. Can she get to the root of Adi’s fear or will the past destroy them both?

The camera doesn't lie, but sometimes it captures a story worth killing for.

When Jeff Conant, the new executive director of San Francisco's Frameline Film Festival, takes a header off the Golden Gate Bridge, he is considered just another statistic—one of the thousands who've leapt from the landmark to commit suicide. But Jeff was also a childhood friend of reporter Velvet Erickson, who refuses to accept the coroner's ruling. Although unconvinced, Yoshi Yakamota reluctantly agrees to investigate Jeff's death. Diving into the victim's life, the Blind Eye Detective Agency uncovers potential suspects, but no real indications of murder.

What did happen on the Golden Gate Bridge that night? Did an independent filmmaker inadvertently capture the event on camera? When a Blind Eye team member is attacked, it becomes painfully clear that someone has a secret worth killing for—and with Yoshi dangerously close to exposing it, they may strike again.

Nothing is easy about life above the Arctic Circle. Except, perhaps, falling in love.

Bryson Faulkner embraces the challenges that come with making a home in one of the most beautiful but unforgiving places on earth: the isolation of the endless wilderness, the harsh and unpredictable climate, the predators that lurk about her remote cabin. And even the most perilous dangers of all—those that await her when she takes to the skies as one of Alaska's most daring bush pilots. The only thing missing is a special woman to share it all with, but she's resigned herself to the fact that few people can thrive in such an extreme environment.

Everything Karla Edwards thought she knew gets called into question when a series of events turns her comfortable and well-ordered life on its ear. Her partner leaves her, her mother dies, and Karla learns she has a sister in Alaska she never knew. She takes a leave of absence from her job as an ER nurse in Atlanta and heads to the far north, seeking answers and adventure. She finds all that and more when she crosses paths with a sexy bush pilot who opens her eyes to new possibilities. But can she open her heart as well and learn to trust again?

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."

Greyson Cooper is exactly where she wants to be in life when she sets out on a section hike of the Appalachian Trail. When she’s abducted and placed into slavery in a fight club, she isn’t about to be a part of their barbaric plan and does everything she can to upset the ranks, even if it costs her life. 

Olivia Danner has worked hard for everything she has; all that’s left is her dream job and someone to share her life with. But her plans are cut short when a man who wants her as his personal prize kidnaps her.  

Together in captivity, Olivia and Greyson become players in a game of deceit and violence. To survive and escape, they will have to figure out whom they can trust. If they can get out alive, the next challenge will be forging a path to lasting love.

Contemporary Gay Romances is the third collection of short fiction by legendary novelist and memoirist, Felice Picano (The Lure, Like People in History, Ambidextrous). It is also his most diverse in terms of the times, places, themes, characters and situations he writes about. Filled with the unexpected, the true, and the amazing, Contemporary Gay Romances moves with ease from gas-lit, upper class London, to a future, climate-altered Bay Area; from semi-rural Florida to Southern California beaches, to an extrasolar planet where people have surprising existences. His characters range from ordinary American suburban housewives to extraordinary children, from grieving young geologists and memory-haunted middle aged men, to British Midlands soccer stars and 22nd Century war heroes. Picano subtitled this collection of stylish, unique, and moving works "Tragic, Comic, Mystic & Horrific," and they are all that and more. The ten tales include prize winners as well as stories published here for the first time, and are as different from any standard "romances" as you can get, but they will linger in the mind and memory.

Grieving widow Lana Mills pulls American Michelle Devereaux from the raging floodwater of the Kennetcook River, and immediately becomes entangled in Michelle’s pursuit of a lost Acadian treasure. Following the clues from one historical Acadian settlement to the next, they search for a golden cross bequeathed to an Acadian priest by France’s King Louis XV.

But dangerous men are also on the hunt for the cross and for Michelle. Canadian Mountie Emily Stone has been patiently waiting for Lana to be open to the possibility of love once more, but perhaps she’s waited too long. Now she must find and help them before Lana not only loses her heart to Michelle and her obsession, but possibly her life as well.

Agent Luce Hansen returns home to Willow's Ridge to catch a serial killer who has been murdering young women. It's the case she's been waiting for, the case that compels her to return to the small town she turned her back on nineteen years ago, the case she plans to ride from the Ohio BCI all the way to the FBI.

The case worth risking her shaky relationship with her lover, Rowan. But the horrors of the case recall the unsolved murder of Luce's first girlfriend, and Luce is forced to confront the local ex-gay ministry that haunted her youth. When the past crosses the present, will Luce lose everything she's worked so hard to build?

Special Agent Luce Hansen’s Thanksgiving vacation with her new lover, forensic pathologist Harper Bennett, is cut short when she’s tasked with recapturing Deadeye, a vicious serial predator who has escaped custody. The timing couldn’t be worse, especially when Bennett seems to be struggling with the realities of Hansen’s work and questioning whether she’s willing to risk building a life with a woman who puts work first, even when the job puts her in the line of fire. 

Hansen can’t put aside the chase even with her relationship on shaky ground. On the anniversary of Deadeye’s first kill, two brothers are shot while jogging along a quiet country road. Before Deadeye can claim another victim, Hansen and her team must track a killer who has proven to be an expert at hiding in plain sight. The stakes, both professional and personal, get even higher when Hansen is cut off from her team in rural Ohio and must fight for her very survival. As Bennett frantically searches for clues to Hansen’s disappearance, Deadeye’s hunt draws ever closer to home.

February 1862. The War Between the States has been raging for nearly a year with no end in sight. Philadelphia socialite Wilhelmina Fredericks is safe from the war’s clutches, yet she feels compelled to do her part to bring the madness to an end. Accordingly, she disguises herself as a man, takes up arms, and heads South to join the fight. What could possibly go wrong?

Clara Summers’s father and older brother are serving in the Confederate army. Forced to look after her two younger brothers as well as the small Tennessee farm the family depends on for its livelihood, Clara has no time for or interest in love. Then she meets a handsome Union soldier named Wil Fredericks, and her loyalty to both her family and the Southern cause is put to the test.

Vicar Dan Miller is firmly in the closet in his new parish. Could the inhabitants of a sedate Hampshire village ever accept a gay priest? Trickier than that, how can he hide his attraction for one of his flock, Steve Dexter?

Encouraged by his ex-partner to seize the day, Dan determines to tell Steve how he feels, only to discover that Steve's been getting poison pen letters and suspicion falls on his fellow parishioners. When compassion leads to passion, they have to conceal their budding relationship, but the arrival of more letters sends Dan scuttling back into the closet.

Can they run the letter writer to ground? More importantly, can they patch up their romance and will Steve ever get to kiss the vicar again?

Maria Romonova watched as her family was slaughtered while she was spared…sort of. Today she is Sasha Rudin and very few know her true identity. She has one mission: to find and put an end to the alliance of monsters that turned her into a vampire. A chance encounter with Dee Arkin, a far too curious novelist, leads to complications Sasha could never have imagined. Danger, peril, and most surprising of all, love. Together they fight the forces of darkness that want to rule the world, and pray they succeed before those very forces destroy their chances of a future together.

Animal Control Officer Randi Hansen was blindsided when her girlfriend left her for a smooth operator. Determined to keep her heart safe, she never takes home the same woman twice. A recent transplant from San Francisco, Eleanor Bremer’s struggling to make a life for herself in small-town Florida. She’s determined not to risk her teaching position, and fears coming out in a town much more conservative than she is used to. 

When Randi rescues Eleanor from a rogue alligator sneaking into her backyard, she’s immediately drawn to the beautiful damsel in distress. But she refuses to live in secret. Eleanor must decide what matters most or lose her chance at love.

Jake Finnigan is already having the worst day of his life when the corpse of notorious tabloid reporter Susan Crane is found locked in the trunk of her car on the ferry where he works. Worse still, though Crane is bound, gagged, and shot in the forehead, her death is ruled a suicide. Convinced of a cover-up, Jake finds himself entangled in the investigation, much to the annoyance of his partner of nearly a decade, Sam O’Conner. As Jake and Sam uncover more about the woman’s blackmailing schemes, the list of suspects grows, and the couple find themselves skidding unavoidably into the killer’s crosshairs. 

Immortals Kendal and Piper welcome their new child and celebrate the defeat of an old enemy by returning to their home outside New Orleans. The last battle was hard but promises to bring peace to their lives for years to come. Now Piper wants to expand her power as a seer and hear Kendal’s history while they enjoy a normal life.

In the deep jungles of Costa Rica, far from the watchful eyes of Rolla and the Genesis Clan, the priests of the ancient order of Fuego have found the tablets that will allow them to finish the incantations that will awaken their greatest treasures. Some of the Fuego members believe the old stories were pure fiction, but Alejandro Garza’s family are true believers.

Far from the peace they'd hoped for, Kendal and Piper are forced into action to reach Garza and his followers before he awakens the army of dragons that sleep forgotten in the rain forests.

Disaster brought them together and, despite desire, may ultimately keep them apart.

Wind. Fire. Ice. Love.

Nothing for volunteer firefighters Gable McCoy and Erin Richards seems to go smoothly. From the tornado that nearly claims their lives to the raging forest fire that threatens to consume them, the forces of nature conspire against them.

Even a they struggle with personal uncertainties along with their growing attraction, a deadly challenge awaits that may be the final foe.

Wallace Lake, Ohio, takes care of their own. Unwelcoming of outsiders, the community closes ranks when four women are found murdered along the water’s edge. Agent Luce Hansen of the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation must find a way in before another woman loses her life to the ruthless serial killer.
 
With the help of her new team—a hot rookie and a smart, beautiful medical examiner—Luce uncovers a ring of devotion surrounding the prime suspect. As Luce works to unearth the dark secrets of this close-knit town, she learns to what extraordinary lengths people will go to protect the ones they love. And when Luce feels forsaken, both professionally and personally, she must regain trust in her most valuable investigative tool: herself.

Brynn Williams is out of prison, no thanks to Sergeant Kat Vander, who arrested her four years earlier. But Brynn is hopeful for a new future and excited to see her sister, who pulls up in a stolen car, high as a kite. Brynn feels used and trapped as they drive back to more family drama. But something happens on the way home, testing not only Brynn’s core as a human being, but her loyalty to her family as well.

Sergeant Kat Vander is one hell of a cop. She turns heads and leaves suspects shaking in their boots. So when she and her partner are ambushed and shot, the department is up in arms. But more surprising is who helped them after the attack. Brynn Williams belongs to the town’s most troubled family. She helped Kat, but now she’s on the run. Can Kat find her, and more importantly fight her feelings for a known criminal?

Brenna Wright loves discovering new artists and showing their work at her New York Art Gallery. Recluse Sinclair Grady creates magnificent stained glass windows from rare sea glass while coveting her privacy on the secluded beaches around Pemaquid Point, Maine.

When Brenna comes across Sinclair's work, she knows instantly that this is one of her biggest finds. But for Sinclair, one horrific secret from her past makes her reluctant to leave her self-imposed exile and take a chance with Brenna. And when feelings erupt between them, their chance at love sets in motion a potentially devastating series of events that could not only sabotage their relationship but could destroy Sinclair's life.

Unemployed English professor Emily Murray has been given a chance of a lifetime: to work and study inside Gnarled Hollow, the former estate of one of her favorite authors. She doesn’t believe in the supernatural, but by the end of her first day, she knows something is wrong. The house has a disturbing habit of changing dimensions—and not just physical ones. Rooms go missing, doors close on their own, and time has a strange tendency to disappear. Emily is joined by other scholars, among them the beautiful art historian, Juniper Friend. Together they begin to research the history of the house, refusing to abandon their work despite the appearance of a mysterious, frightening presence. Spurred on by their desire to uncover the mysteries of Gnarled Hollow and its ghostly inhabitant, they’re determined to uncover the truth, even if it means risking their own lives.

Award-winning teacher Clary Stone is home for the summer, helping her family and recovering from a personal tragedy. She loves her Wisconsin city on Lake Michigan, hoping to find what's left of herself in the familiar warmth and safety. At first, the city is the same, but she soon finds things have changed. Clary becomes involved in parts of the town that she's never seen or known before. The summer's odd journey leads her to the city's homeless shelter for small children.

Leefe Ellis manages the shelter and is totally unlike anyone Clary's ever met. Homeless since the age of three, Leefe reveals another side of life with remarkable courage, honesty, and humanity. Working side by side with the little children, both realize they are fellow travelers, but neither has met another person as completely different as they are from each other. It's often confusing, sometimes frightening, but always fascinating.

Christian Sutter is a broken woman. After the loss of her lover, she is plagued by survivor guilt and struggles to engage contact with others in the simplest relationships. Seeking refuge, she turns to the solitude of Willow Springs, an all-women retreat in the mountains of East Tennessee. When Christian meets a reclusive artist, her world is turned upside down again.

Elaine Barber is on the run. She is no fugitive but the victim of a vicious crime that keeps her in constant fear. A once renowned FBI profiler and psychologist, Elaine has turned her back on her career, her home, and her lover to escape the unbearable fear that someone is still out there waiting to finish what they started.

Both women will begin the journey toward healing, a journey that will take them on a collision course with the very person who can destroy them all. Can love heal all wounds? One thing is certain: the lives of the women of Willow Springs will never be the same.

No risk is too high. No adventure too daunting.

Emery Lawson reinvents herself after another near-death experience prompts a thorough reevaluation of her priorities. Empowered to live a life of no regrets, she casts aside all that is familiar to face her fears and chase her dreams. But as she heads for the wilds of Alaska, romance is definitely not on her agenda, because she's convinced she's incapable of falling in love.

Pasha Dunn has learned to expect the unexpected in her job with an adventure outfitter in the remote Alaskan interior. Adaptability is essential in such a savage and unforgiving landscape. But she's woefully unprepared when her infallible intuition tells her that client Emery Lawson is the soul mate she's been waiting for all her life. Emery is clearly determined to remain unattached, and her high-risk vagabond lifestyle is too far outside Pasha's comfort zone.

All that they think they want and know will be challenged when they are thrust into a nightmare of survival and endurance high above the Arctic Circle.

Two years after being left behind in Boston, Bree Whitely still cannot deal with the shattered pieces of the life she once had with her partner. With encouragement from her uncle, she returns home to Asheville to rebuild her life. But it's going to take more than a change of scenery to mend her heart.

Carson Harper has spent her life pursuing her career and her women. But lately, she feels that something is always missing and physical fulfillment may no longer be enough. When life wraps what she seeks within the wounded heart of another, what will she do for love knowing she could lose it all in the end?

Bree and Carson have the chance to find love if they can give up the lives they had planned for the one they were meant to live.

Archaeologist Berit Katsaros travels the world in search of treasures from ancient times. A serious injury forces her to take a break from fieldwork and accept an interim teaching job at Whitman College. She finds nothing redeeming in her frustrating sabbatical…except her sexy landlord, Tace.

When Stacy "Tace" Lomond takes charge of her brother's failing microbrewery, she discovers a passion and talent she never realized she possessed. After years of putting herself last and supporting others' dreams, she's ready to make a name for her artisanal beer among the academics and sophisticated wineries in Walla Walla, Washington. Berit might be a tempting distraction, but she's only a temporary fixture in town and in Tace's life.

Slow-crafted beer and time-worn artifacts. Both women recognize what's important in their careers, but can they learn to appreciate the value of love?

Throw a handful of women together at a lesbian resort and things can get complicated.

Malley plans to profess her secret love for Lizzie, her best friend. Lizzie is trying to get away from her ex, who incidentally tracks her down. Jessie, Malley's dangerously sexy next-door neighbor, shows up unexpectedly. Circumstances throw Malley and Jessie together, disrupting Malley's plans to be with Lizzie. Toss in forbidden desires, an unexpected love, and Malley soon finds herself in the middle of a love triangle.

Amidst the spiritual red rocks of Sedona, Malley embarks upon an unexpected journey, causing her to question her desires and face her greatest fears. Will Malley choose to play it safe in life and love or will she shatter her comfort zone and take a chance on true happiness?

Jake Myers stopped living the day she cheated death. A traumatic incident in her past has convinced her to stop planning for the future and focus on the present. Working as a lobster boat captain in Portland, Maine, keeps Jake's mind occupied, but her psyche remains scarred. Can an inexperienced greenhorn help her find the healing she so desperately needs?

Shy Silva is content to hang out with her friends on the gritty streets of South Boston. Then her family steps in. When Shy's uncle sends her to Portland to escape her friends' influence, will his actions provide her the distance she needs to break not only her friends' hold on her but her family's restrictive rules as well?

From Toothpick House to The Raid, Lee Lynch has given us our most heart-touching stories of lesbian life. Join her again in Morton River Valley when Texan Paris Collins comes to town and gets to know the characters from the acclaimed Morton River Valley trilogy.

Paris Collins changes jobs and homes every two years. Always, she leaves behind an astonished lover who refused to believe that Paris would move on. Now she's taken a job in a dying New England industrial town where she meets Peg Jacob, a tempting local from an old Yankee family. Paris gets caught up in protecting the town from environmental threats and education budget cuts. And in protecting an angry gay kid from an impoverished, frightened and angry town. Does she also want to protect herself from Peg Jacob?

Beautiful, successful Mercedes Miller is headed home for her father's wedding, to the Colorado ranch she couldn't wait to get away from, and the far-too-sexy woman she left behind long ago.

Ranch foreman Sydney Campbell isn't expecting anything from the arrogant fireball she once found irresistible, least of all a tame heart inside the beautiful body. She's not surprised when Mercedes thinks she can use her again.

Two can play that game, but when neither notices that the rules have changed, both women find they have a lot to lose.

Veteran emergency dispatcher Hillary O'Neal can handle any crisis, until she gets the call that destroys her confidence. Now she spends every shift dreading what could happen and doubting whether she'll be able to handle another tragedy.

Olivia Dennis joined the sheriff's department for the action and to fulfill the family legacy. But she could lose both when she's caught up in an internal investigation and assigned to a security desk at the communications center.

Hillary knows too well the danger the officers in the field face, and the last thing she wants is to get close to one. Besides, Olivia's obviously just as broken as she is right now. So as they get closer, she hopes their burgeoning attraction is as temporary as Olivia's desk duty.

Veterinarian Jodi Bowman has lost confidence in her skills after a series of bad outcomes leave her questioning her every move. Her assistant Cole Jameson offers the support she needs to get back on her feet, and as their mutual affection deepens, Jodi wonders if Cole might not be as straight as she appears. Cole lost everything in a workplace romance once before, and she has no interest in allowing history to repeat itself. But can she resist Jodi, and her own heart?

As wildlife carers Charlie and Pip settle into their new relationship, immigration challenges threaten to tear them apart. When all four women confront the wrath of the Australian wilderness, will love be enough to guide them?

For Erin and Jen Bennet, growing up in craft-beer-obsessed Colorado made opening Bennet Sisters Brewing their only dream. Their beer is popular, but like any small business, their brewery is never far from closing forever.

When Boston brewer Charlie Betters and his friend Darcy Fitzwilliam ask for their help, the Bennet sisters are happy for the attractive distractions. Life, after all, is more than making beer. Still, while Charlie and Jen seem to be made for each other, Darcy’s pretentiousness and her cruel remarks make a bad first impression.

Despite this, and almost against her will, Erin finds herself attracted to Darcy, but events out of their control result in a misunderstanding that might ruin the chances for love for both couples.

Praise from Publishers Weekly: "Greene’s charming retelling of Pride and Prejudice transplants the Bennets into the world of Colorado craft beer....The story beats are comfortingly familiar, with the unusual backdrop of brewing and beer competitions, modern setting, and twists on the characters providing enough divergence to keep the reader engaged....Feminism, lesbianism, and class are all touched on in this refreshing update on a classic." (starred review)

Jaudon Vicker and Berry Garland are polar opposites yet know they are meant to be together. Growing up in steamy backcountry Central Florida, they fight each other’s battles: Berry protects boyish Jaudon from bullies, Jaudon gives the abandoned Berry roots. They pledge that nothing will part them, not a changing Florida nor a changing America, not Berry’s quest for her spiritual path, nor Jaudon’s ambition for her family's business. When the war in Vietnam, politics, police, rough times, society itself, and other women threaten to come between them, their bond grows deeper. In the safety of their secluded tree house hideaway, they learn to dream, dance—and to make love.

A recipe for love:
One cup of homespun country farmer
Two dollops of hotshot city chef
A sprinkle of funky little restaurant
Increase the heat until romance sizzles.

Hannah Little doesn’t have much use for fancy chefs or fancy restaurants, but that’s exactly what Three Willows Farm needs to survive. When a local restaurant wants to feature her produce, she’s thrilled. But the contract means working with an egotistical, and (let’s face it) drop-dead-gorgeous head chef from New York City.

Chef Drew Davis can’t wait to run her own kitchen. If taking a job at some trendy farm-to-table restaurant in the middle of nowheresville will get her there faster, she’s on board. She has no intention of staying though, and that means the feisty farmer who keeps trying to tell her how to do her job can’t be anything more than a pleasant distraction.

Sometimes love doesn't play by the rules.

Rebecca Lapp is a devout follower of her Amish faith and a firm believer in the Ordnung, the set of rules that govern her life in the tiny Pennsylvania town she calls home. When she meets Dylan Mahoney, however, the rules go out the window. During Rebecca's rumspringa—the four-year period during which Amish teenagers decide whether to join the church or leave it for the outside world—Dylan, a film buff and aspiring movie critic, shows Rebecca a world she never dreamed of. The pair make plans to spend the rest of their lives together until a rift forms between their families and forces them to part ways. After much soul-searching, Rebecca decides familial loyalty is more important than her own happiness. But when her feelings for Dylan threaten to overwhelm her, Rebecca's loyalty is put to the test.

Love or tradition? Which path will she choose?

Could the festive road trip from hell actually lead to love?

Catherine Birch is a lonely workaholic who hates Christmas. This year, she is being forced to celebrate with her best friend's family in the Highlands of Scotland. Having missed her flight, Catherine reluctantly ventures on a road trip with beautiful stranger Holly Daniels.

Although polar opposites, the intense attraction between them is unmistakable. Just as Catherine begins to think spending Christmas with Holly might not be so bad, a raging snowstorm leaves them stranded in the middle of nowhere. Huddled together, with little chance of rescue, they forge a pact: if they escape, they'll make this a Christmas to remember. But will it be remembered for the right reasons?

Town manager Savannah Castillo has everything under control, just the way she likes it. But when she starts to receive unsolicited gifts and messages from a stranger, her life turns to chaos. Against her better judgment, Savannah accepts Deputy Chief Mackenzie Blake’s help in the investigation and is more than a little annoyed when Mackenzie suggests herself as a part-time, live-in bodyguard.

Savannah isn’t Mackenzie’s favorite person. She’s rude and entitled, and she always has to have the last word. Always. But when she and her daughter Eliana need help, protecting them becomes more than just a job. Mackenzie’s mission is to find the person harassing them before they cause real harm. Savannah’s fleeting and incredibly sexy smiles don’t make the task any easier, and there’s no time for distractions.

Not when someone waits in the shadows, watching and preparing to strike.

For five centuries, Lily Avergne has hunted and destroyed preternatural creatures that prey on the unwary and the innocent. Vampires, werewolves, and witches all fall at her hands. Danger is her constant companion, and to keep her own secret safe, she dares not love another. Until now.

Jayne Quarles takes her by surprise and touches her heart in a way no one has been able to do in five hundred years. Suddenly, what she fears the most may come to pass. The hunter becomes the hunted, and the love so newly discovered may be lost before it has a chance to bloom.

Arrow Bay: a picturesque seaside city of parks, mountain trails, incredible views…and corpses. An unidentified vigilante, unhappy with plans to alter the idyllic character of Jake Finnigan’s hometown, goes to extreme ends—in disturbingly creative and fatal ways—to express their displeasure. The citizens of the village are growing increasingly concerned and agitated, wondering who will be next and if the killer walks among them. Jake and his partner Sam O’Conner, who insist that they do not poke their noses into murder investigations, suddenly land in the middle of an increasingly complex and bizarre case, and as the body count grows, find themselves falling under suspicion.

City girl Alana Brendt accepts a one-year contract as an event coordinator in remote Yakima, Washington, to reboot her career. So what if she padded her résumé a little…doesn’t everyone? Then she discovers she has to lead trail rides and white-water adventures, not just coordinate them. Add a litter of puppies underneath her rickety farmhouse’s porch, and Alana is desperate enough to accept help from the local vet…the gorgeous, sexy, outdoorsy vet who is absolutely not Alana’s type. At all.

Veterinarian Tegan Evans avoids the tourist side of Yakima, venturing there only when an animal needs her. Tourists only break your heart. Still, she can’t resist helping Alana, who, despite being in over her head with rambunctious puppies and a job she is barely qualified to perform, seems determined to make a success of things.

Alana and Tegan both know they don’t belong together. Only problem is, they’re falling in love.

The policewoman got shot and she's bleeding everywhere. Get someone here in one hour or I'm going to put her out of her misery.

An ultimatum that forever changes the lives of police officer Sam Lucas and Dr. Kate Myles.

When heavy snowfall isolates the small English village of Birchenlow, a violent robbery shatters the community. Taken as a hostage and stranded with the increasingly desperate criminals, Sam is seriously injured during an ill-fated escape attempt. Already struggling to save the lives of the villagers caught up in the raid, Kate volunteers to walk straight into the lion's den. Cut off from help, with only each other to rely on, Sam and Kate must find a way to fight the odds and stay alive if the growing attraction between them is to survive.

Advance Praise for Somewhere Over Lorain Road

"The author pulls all the stops out in this gripping story of love, tragedy, and redemption set against the backdrop of a murder investigation...a five-star win with the best mystery novel I have read in years." – Alan Chin, author of First Exposure, The Plain of Bitter Honey, and Buddha's Bad Boys

“Darker and more powerful than its outline might suggest.” – Daniel Curzon, author of Something You Do in the Dark

For more than forty years, the stain of horrific allegations against their father has haunted the Esker sons. When three little boys were murdered in 1975, their dad was suspected of the crimes. The immense strain of the unsolved case shattered the family, sending the brothers reeling into destinies of death, flight, and, in the case of Don Esker, shame-filled silence.

Years later, Don returns to the family home in North Homestead, Ohio, to help care for his dying father in his final months. His dad longs for the peace that will only come with clearing his name. If Don can find the killer, he can heal his family—and himself. His own redemption begins when he becomes romantically involved with Bruce, who joins the hunt and forces Don to confront the unthinkable answer they’ve uncovered.

Sweet Creek is a story of love, community, and the changing tides of time set in a town where trannies, lesbian cops, aging gay hippies, womyn's landers, and rural couples come in search of a lesbian paradise. Two leftover lesbian hippies, now in their 50s, Donny and Chick run the vegetarian Natural Woman Foods store. In Donny, a black lesbian, and Chick, her lover, Lee Lynch continues to depict the struggles of working class butch lesbians and femmes.

Author Lee Lynch tackles broad themes that affect us all: love, death, gender, and aging in a novel rich with love, friendship, passion, and romance.

After her affair with a married senator makes prime time news, congressional aide Teal Giovanni is fleeing her shattered life. Betrayed by the lover who was her partner in a successful law practice, August Reese is waiting at a small cattle ranch to testify against a drug kingpin. Attraction sparks when Teal’s aging Honda blows its engine and she and August meet on a steamy Texas blacktop. But as the spark bursts into flame, their worst nightmare comes calling. Will they survive or swelter as the heat becomes unbearable?

Prom was supposed to be the biggest night of senior year, but for Jenny Lewis it was the night she almost died. The night someone drugged her, loaded her in a car, and dumped her body in the river. 

The next morning, her soaked prom dress was found on the riverbank. Her body was never found. People whispered that she’d killed herself or gotten drunk and stupid. People moved on, went to college, and stopped thinking about her. Months later, her ex-girlfriend and three other classmates received a text from an unknown number accusing them of her murder and claiming to have proof. 

The text? It came from Jenny, not dead and ready to figure out who tried to kill her. There’s going to be an impromptu reunion and no one is leaving until the would-be murderer steps forward.

Eadie T. Pratt sets out on a road trip in search of a new life and ends up in the middle of somewhere she never expected.

Start with one independent, urban lesbian who cashes out her life in San Francisco for a secondhand travel trailer and sets off to the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival in search of a new life. Add to this a broken-down '66 T-bird, a bunch of small-town Texas Baptists, a ton of fried food, and a church scandal. Pepper with a hot love interest and a dash of greed, and what you get is Eadie T. Pratt's road trip gone awry.

Charming biochemist Ana Mitchell has a lot on her mind—she’s about to leave on a covert mission to colonize Mars. She enlists local art student Jolie Dann to keep her high-tech farmhouse in order while she’s at training camp. Jolie soon finds herself falling for the secretive and fascinating Ana, despite knowing she may never return home.

Their relationship is challenged when the mission’s timeline is suddenly accelerated. Will Ana choose to put the universe between herself and Jolie, or will she take a chance on the one person who can keep her on Earth?

A "brilliant debut lesbian sci-fi novel..." –The Advocate, "2018's Icons, Innovators, and Disruptors"

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.

"When you love someone, there's suddenly a whole lot more to consider, to risk, to fight for."

Mackenzie "Mouse" James's life is all about firefighting. Being a firefighter fills her waking hours, leaving her too tired to think, to socialize, or to put herself out there. A large part of Sarah Macarthur's success as a doctor is due to the structure and control that she has established to help her cope when all the elements are thrown her way.

A chance encounter late one rainy night brings Mac's and Sarah's worlds together. As danger draws closer, they are tested in ways neither had ever imagined. Both must fight far more than fear—they will need to fight for the lives of those they love.

Therapist Kayla McCormick is the quiet, sensitive type who prefers her life orderly and predictable. Kayla has an open heart, but the pain of loss has taught her to avoid risks that could get her hurt. She dreams of family and forever but no longer believes she’ll have her own happy ending.   
 
Jackie Phillips hides her fear and hurt behind fierce independence and impulsive behavior. Raised in an atmosphere of abuse and neglect, she is haunted by the disappearance of her mother when she was a teenager. Determined not to need anyone, she has closed her heart and lets lust drive her encounters. 
 
When their lives converge in a classic case of opposites attracting, will Kayla and Jackie have the courage to embrace love and rewrite their own stories, when that might mean risking all?

Sometimes the ties that bind can be deadly.

When Stephen Elliot ends up face down in his chocolate mousse at the Historical Society's annual dinner, Kate Shannon and Nikki Harris are swept up in another mystery, much to Kate's chagrin and Nikki's delight. Family ties run deep in the powerful Elliot family, who pull a lot of strings in the tiny town of Truro, and it's very possible that one of those snarled knots has led directly to murder. Meanwhile, Kate and Nikki have family threads of their own that become more complicated when Kate's grandmother unexpectedly returns from Florida, and Nikki's parents, out on the farm, start taking a sudden interest in the couple's unexpected romantic relationship. Can they sort out all these tangled strands before the killer cuts the lifeline that binds them together?

Ainsley "Lee" Dencourt was born with her future drawn out as heir of the Dencourt Gallery in Washington, DC. She has mastered both fine art and the art of brushing off the responsibilities of her life. When the death of her father shatters her carefree world, Lee is caught between her decisions and her desires as she struggles to preserve his life's legacy.

For Morgan, the only thing more important than her family is art. Morgan has put her heart and soul into her education and her future—it's what got her to Yale and to Paris. She can't allow anything or anyone to come between her and her dreams of success. So why is it that every time Morgan gets a handle on life a dangerously sexy and hopelessly frustrating woman from her past appears and turns her world upside down?

From the City of Lights to the Nation's Capital, Lee and Morgan search for their place in the world of art. Is that place together—or will fear, pride, and deceit destroy what they've found with each other?

Molly Williams is a powerful hereditary witch who manages to keep her powers under control as she tries to be normal. Most of the time, it works. 

An invitation from friends Winnie and Angus is just the diversion she needs right now, and she jumps at the offer to go backpacking along the Umatilla River in northeast Oregon.  When a freak storm forces them to take shelter in a secluded, crumbling cabin, their trip takes an unexpected turn. The moment Molly touches a leather-bound book discovered in the floorboards, they’re transported back in time. 

Only with the help of the mysterious and beautiful Native American woman Aquene do they stay one step ahead of a band of witch hunters. Will Molly find the right magic to get them home before the hunters find her? Or will she risk it all to stay at Aquene’s side?

When architect Kendall Pearson finds an injured osprey on her property, she expects to simply drop it off at a local wild bird rehabilitation center and be done with it. Quick and painless, like every other relationship she has. But wildlife biologist Bailey Chase has other plans for Ken. First, as surgical assistant, and second, as the designer for her new raptor sanctuary.

Bailey protects her privacy with the vigilance of a hawk, hiding in her rescue center where she has complete control over her life and her work. Isolated on Washington's Olympic Peninsula, she's surrounded by natural beauty and plenty of solitude. Until sexy Ken Pearson walks in with a wounded bird and Bailey finds her life has been invaded by more than just an extra beak to feed.

Cade Kelly’s life revolved around her legal career until the day she testified against the largest crime family in Chicago. Now in witness protection, she’s working hard to adjust to a life devoid of the things she used to be passionate about. When she meets the smart and beautiful Emily Sinclair, Cade feels hopeful about her new life, but she learns no matter who she pretends to be, she can’t deny the pull of her past.

Emily Sinclair is settling into her role as district attorney and she’s ready to find a love interest to share in her success. Cade Kelly captivates her from the moment they meet, but she discovers that despite their undeniable attraction, Cade will challenge her at every turn. What will happen when Emily learns Cade isn’t who she thought she was, and worse, when they wind up on opposite sides in Emily’s first big case?

"I can't do this. I can't do any of this without her."

Detective Sanne Jensen (not blonde, not tall, definitely not Scandinavian) and Dr. Meg Fielding (scruffy, scatterbrained, prone to swearing at patients) are lifelong best friends, sharing the same deprived background and occasionally the same bed.When a violent kidnapping stuns the Peak District village of Rowlee, both women become involved in the case.

As Sanne and her colleagues in East Derbyshire Special Ops search for the culprit, and Meg fights to keep his victim alive, a shocking discovery turns the investigation on its head. With the clock ticking, Sanne and Meg find themselves pushed closer by a crime that threatens to tear everything apart.

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.

Jacqueline "Jaq" Bergeron—New Orleanian, suffragist, freethinker—drove an ambulance on the battlefields of Europe during the Great War. She returns home and finds herself isolated in rural East Texas, keeping house for her war-hero husband as she awaits his promised divorce and plans her escape. But then she meets Molly.

Molly Russell lives for her music, which sustains her as she cares for her son and husband, and suffers her mother-in-law. When she meets Jaq, a world she never imagined opens to hera world entirely out of reach.

With the storm of war still raging in Europe and other battles to be fought at home, can two women bound by the land and family ties find the freedom to love and build a life together?

Logan Swift has spent her life at her father's side learning the family business—Swift Funeral Home. She's seen how the death of a loved one affects the people left behind and has promised herself she'll never experience that kind of pain. But being alone isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Brooke Collier believes she's responsible for her relationship failures. After a particularly bad breakup, she moves in with her aged grandparents in order to care for them. The last thing she expects—or wants—is the attraction she has to her new next-door neighbor, Logan Swift.

As Logan and Brooke find themselves growing closer with each passing day, Logan realizes that trusting in tomorrow isn't always easy when you deal with death for a living...

How far would you go to protect the one you love?

Two years after surviving their ordeal at the hands of white supremacists, Alex Pascal and Sarah Kent have new identities, new careers, and a new home together. The FBI warned them to keep their heads down, and a small town in Maine seems like the perfect place to do this, until a chance occurrence sets in motion a chain of events that no one could have predicted. With enemies closing in and friends turning their backs, Alex and Sarah find themselves fighting not only for their freedom, but for their lives.

Aerin McLeary’s post-divorce Finger Lakes vacation is interrupted when an ominous vibration shocks her entire body, leaving her with the strange new ability to read minds along with an extreme sensitivity to sound. Fearing the consequences if her condition becomes public, Aerin has no choice but to turn to her childhood best friend and first love for help. 

College professor Olivia Ando is not happy to see Aerin again after their disastrous breakup, but she can’t resist a great research challenge. When they discover that Aerin’s body is the host for an alien being, they race against time to find the truth and stop an impending explosion. 

Will Aerin and Olivia be able to save the world or will Aerin become an unwitting instrument in the alien agenda before she can tell Olivia how she truly feels?

For Molly Kennan, senior year is already an epic disaster. It feels like the whole school knows she made out with Lily at that party, and now she’s accidentally outed herself as a lesbian. Her ex-best friend is trying to ruin her life, and school generally sucks. All she wants is to drown her sorrows in sweet potato fries, but she finds herself tongue-tied by the diner’s new waitress, Zia. 

Zia is way out of Molly’s league. Older, beautiful, and definitely way more sophisticated. It’s probably just wishful thinking, but Molly can’t help wondering if maybe Zia is flirting with her. Despite Zia’s always-there boyfriend, Molly falls hard for her, and Zia says she feels the same way. So then why doesn’t Zia break up with her boyfriend, and why does she keep so many secrets? 

Then there’s Lily, who she can’t seem to stop accidentally kissing. When your head and your heart are saying two different things, which one should you listen to?

Penelope Huntingdon-Stewart, highly successful clean-eating food vlogger and owner of the website Penny’s Kitchen, is looking for a new direction for her brand. At least that’s what she tells herself when she retreats to Axedale to record a new web series and write a cookbook. That sounds so much better than damage control after her only live, on-screen interview ends in an oh-so-public epileptic seizure.

Farmer Sam McQuade is immediately attracted to Penelope, but the ultra femme and high maintenance city girl seems way out of her league. When Penelope struggles to get her health on track, Quade insists on being her knight in shining armor, much to Penelope’s displeasure. Quade is annoyingly good-looking, not to mention kindhearted, and falling for her would be so easy. If only it didn’t force Penelope to face the secrets she’s hidden from everyone. Can love alone bring a complex city girl and a simple rural farmer together?

Flynn County Sheriff Elle Ashley has spent her adult life atoning for her wild youth, but when she finds her ex, Jessie, murdered two weeks before the small town’s biggest social event, she comes face-to-face with her past and all her well-kept secrets.

Not only is this Elle’s first murder investigation, it’s the town’s first in over fifty years. She must find a killer before there are any more casualties and keep her troubled little brother off the suspect list, all under the watchful eyes of a Chicago reporter.

Investigative reporter Robin Oakes isn’t a small-town kind of girl, and she’s determined to get in and out of Turlough as fast as possible. One look at Sheriff Ashley has her rethinking her plans. As pressure mounts to solve Jessie’s murder, Elle gets help from the most unlikely source—Robin, who appears to be more interested in her than getting the story.

He's going to find me, Sarah whispered. He's going to find me before you do.

One wrong step in Los Angeles leaves Alex Pascal scarred and traumatized, unable to continue the career she loves.

In England, a drunk driver shatters Sarah Kent's family.

For Sarah, leaving England to explore the North Cascades is an opportunity to regain her health and her confidence, while Alex has already abandoned LA to make the mountains her home. Drawn to the beauty and history of Desolation Peak, Sarah is hiking alone when a storm leaves her stranded. Determined to track her down, Alex heads into the wilderness, never anticipating the terrible danger she will face. Because Sarah is already running for her life, fleeing from a ruthless criminal with a mission to complete and nothing left to lose. With everything stacked against them, neither woman expects to survive, let alone fall in love. All they have to do now is find a way out.

Jamis Bachman never stays in one place for too long. Retired from the reality TV show Ghastly Incidents, she’s now a social media sensation, chasing ghosts, demons, and inter-dimensional aliens—in an effort to avoid her own.

When a desperate young couple sends Jamis a video of a poltergeist disturbance, she jumps on a plane to Sage Creek, Utah, not knowing her world is about to change forever. Ghost stories she can handle, but a violent poltergeist, a brutal unsolved twenty-five-year-old murder, and meeting the love of her life? She’s in way over her head.

Jamis thought she was the one chasing ghosts, but it seems as though something is chasing her…

Love is never easy.

But once you add a complicated ex-wife and eight-year-old daughter, you’re playing with a new set of rules. Madisen’s just beginning to figure out those rules when she meets Rae in what becomes an all-consuming affair filled with late nights and exhausted euphoria. Rae is charming. Madisen is smitten. And life couldn’t feel more perfect.

At least, that is, until her ex-wife begins to have second thoughts.

When cousins Jo and Carter Lemke hike up to their family cabin after two years away, they’re not surprised to find the place a disaster. What they weren’t expecting, however, is a mysterious presence in the cabin that seems intent on getting rid of them.

With the help of some friends, Carter’s wife, and a gorgeous forest ranger Jo can’t take her eyes off, Jo and Carter set out to reclaim their home from the presence that haunts it. As danger mounts, they'll have to decide if it’s worth risking their lives or if it might be better to leave it to the woods.

Austin’s killed a man. Escaping his nefarious past and running from those who would force him to live as a woman, Austin dreams of becoming an upstanding man and homesteading alone on the fringes of the wild frontier.

The burgeoning tent township of Molasses Pond is clenched in the bloody fist of the deadliest gunslinger the country has ever known, Lightning Jack McKade. McKade knows who Austin is. In fact, McKade knows more about Austin’s past than Austin does. He had a hand in creating it.

On the last stagecoach until spring, a mail order bride, Sahara Miller, arrives in Molasses Pond. She claims to be Austin’s and has the documentation to prove it. But McKade’s gang will do anything to have her. Now Austin must choose: Strap on his twin six-shooters to protect the bride he never wanted, or turn a blind eye and keep his dream alive.

When rancher Bobbie Del Rey walks into the veterinarian’s office with an injured pup, the last person she expects to see is the one woman she’s never allowed herself to love. The only thing more dangerous than the storm raging outside is the tempest in her heart.

Veterinarian Grace Hammond is looking for a fresh start. Haunted by her past, she hopes moving back to her hometown will help her find the strength to stand up for what she needs in matters of the heart. The moment her first love, Bobbie Del Rey, walks into her clinic—tall, dark, and soaking wet—the boundaries Grace desperately needs become paper thin.

Can the heartbreaks of the past ever truly be mended?

When she’s passed over for the role of a lifetime, Hollywood actress Gwendolyn Carter is absolutely crushed. That’s when things go from bad to worse. Home to celebrate her dad’s birthday, Gwen discovers her mom is sick and might not have much time left. She stays to help and to repair the emotional rift that has kept them apart for so long. That’s easier said than done, though, because oh-so-perfect Lila Machowicz has all but replaced Gwen as Carol Carter's surrogate daughter.

Gwen and Lila are forced to work together to support the woman they both care about, even though they’re rivals for a place in Carol’s life. The last thing either expects is an attraction as undeniable as it is inconvenient. When Lila helps Gwen rebuild trust with her mom, Gwen’s heart begins to thaw. But every family has a closet full of skeletons, and when she discovers the family secret, will she ever be able to trust Lila again?

Clementine Fitzroy, Duchess of Rosebrook, doesn’t trust dreamers. After her grandmother and famous social reformer blew the family fortune on her dream of creating a new kind of community, the family land was sold off and their coffers drained. Clementine grew up watching her mother struggle and now lives in the small gatehouse behind her former family home.

Evan Fox has a dream that could change the world and save the planet. As CEO of her family toy company, she creates fuel for the imagination. When the Rosebrook estate comes up for sale, Evan jumps at the chance to make her vision of a utopian eco community come to life.

Clementine is wary of the good-looking newcomer, but Evan is determined to win over the beautiful duchess and prove that sometimes dreams really do come true.

Riley Dawson is a psychotherapist with a lycanthropic affliction. She’s a werecoyote to be precise.

A foundling adopted by wealthy parents, Riley led a privileged life until she fell in love with Fiona Bell, an evangelical preacher’s daughter. Raging hormones, the full moon, and the pull of Fiona Bell on her teenage heartstrings triggered her first transformation. Unfortunately, her parents witnessed the change and sent her off to college with a trust fund and an agreement never to return home.

Twenty years later, Riley shares a lucrative therapy practice with Dr. Margaret Spencer. Margaret, her wife, and her gay brother-in-law are the only ones who know Riley’s secret. Afraid of risking exposure, Riley restricts her love life to online hookups. But when a family is referred for treatment and Fiona Bell comes back into her life, all the rules of the client-therapist relationship are tested and Riley’s world is turned upside down.

Praise from Publishers Weekly: "Injustice and self-acceptance drive this excellent paranormal lesbian romance...[Williams] manages to tug at the heartstrings without being preachy...Grounded in kindness, queerness, and just a hint of magic, this is sure to satisfy."

Callie Anderson’s in over her head, but she’ll be damned if she’ll give up. A young widow with a ten-year-old daughter, Callie’s determined to keep her farm at any cost, even if that means going up against the Krugers from next door who are determined to snatch her land. Callie needs to learn how to take care of her cattle and undo all the problems the Krugers have caused before it’s too late, and there’s no one more qualified to help than veterinarian Dr. Lauren Cornish. If only Lauren understood that Callie’s still the one in charge.

Recently divorced and rejected by her teenage children, Lauren’s emotionally lost and has no patience for a woman who isn’t ready to be a farmer. She’s determined to keep her heart safe this time, no matter how intriguing Callie might be. When a string of perilous accidents threatens their safety and livelihood, neither can resist their heart’s desire. Danger is looming, but falling in love may be the scariest thing of all.

After a tumultuous childhood, Harper Sims left her hometown and never looked back. She’s a partner in a successful veterinary practice and loves everything about her job and the big city life she leads with her teenage daughter.

Addison Foster had big dreams, but life hasn’t turned out the way she’d planned. Working as a veterinary assistant in a rural clinic gives her the chance to raise her daughter surrounded by the people she loves, but it’s not easy to be honest about who she really is and what she really wants in a small town. 

When Harper’s father becomes ill, she whirls into town to run the clinic, and sparks fly between her and Addison in more ways than one. Their attraction is undeniable, but Addison isn’t ready to admit her desires, and Harper isn’t sure if she’s willing to stay. 

Home may be where the heart is, but is the journey back worth the pain?

Rose Pereira is drifting through life when she’s first introduced to Stare at the Sun, an up-and-coming indie band led by the puppy-eyed Harley. The energetic group pulls her in, and she finds herself living for the first time in ages. Especially when she meets a friend of the band, Max, a trans guy. 

With his bizarre sense of humor, his gorgeous arms, and the way he talks about music, Max is a danger to her don’t-care attitude. He’s her best friend, in her corner no matter what, he makes her laugh, and he gets her.

Even when she screws everything up, Max is on her side. Pregnant with Harley’s baby, she absolutely can’t be in love with Max.

Rose is not in love. Because if you don’t fall in love, then you can’t get broken.

As winemaker at Tangle Valley Vineyard, Madison LeGrange relies on science and logic to make the best vintage possible. It’s also how she manages her life. But with her career in its prime, her accountant thinks it’s time she diversifies her income. Not a problem because her favorite café, the Bacon and Biscuit, is up for sale. What she didn’t plan on was the time she’d spend with Clementine, who has her feeling anything but logical.

Clementine Monroe loves her job managing the Bacon and Biscuit Café. In fact, after escaping a difficult past, it’s all she has. When Clementine is offered the opportunity to step out from behind the counter and buy the place, her longtime dream is about to come true. That is until it’s snatched out from under her by the very same girl she crushed on in high school. Old habits are hard to break, but Clementine has no plans to forgive Madison anytime soon.

Horror fiction writer Emily Harris just wants to be left alone with her work. But plagued by writer's block, she reluctantly agrees to join her friends at their luxurious beach house for the summer. Maybe a change of scenery will inspire her.

Local housekeeper Beck Reynolds keeps her life simple—saving for a boat and avoiding the town bullies while she attends art classes. Meeting successful but prickly Emily leaves her feeling awestruck, and she wants to make a good impression, even though Emily seems determined to run her off. But Beck's not the one who is just visiting.

Emily knows all about loss, and guilt, and rejection. Opening her heart has always gotten her hurt, and she’s absolutely not letting anyone in, even someone good, or good-looking, like Beck.

Lauren West is stuck. Stuck in her hometown over the holidays. Stuck in a Wi-Fi dead zone. Stuck watching her longtime crush make out with her ex-best-friend. The small town of Sunrise Falls thrives on gossip, and everyone’s talking about the mess she’s made of her life back in San Francisco. One festively decorated bar and two vodka tonics later, a game of truth or dare seems like just the thing to distract her. Until the dare to seduce the next woman who walks through the door brings her face-to-face with librarian Emma Prescott.

Emma’s a good girl with a mind dirty enough to make a sex worker blush. A painful experience as a teenager has left her anxious and afraid of her own desire, but when gorgeous Lauren West kisses her senseless, Emma thinks maybe she’s finally found the perfect person to help her break free. That is, until Lauren comes clean about what really turns her on and reveals passions far darker than Emma ever anticipated.

Reader Advisory: If You Dare contains explicit fantasies of non-consent.

Dr. Bennett Anderson accepts a short-term contract at a rural medical center to fill the gap year before taking the high-profile job she’d put on hold while chasing a dream that had slipped away. In a deep-rooted community where everyone seems to know everyone else, Ben is an oddity—a stranger just passing through with no plans to build any ties.

Courtney Valentine is looking for a woman exactly like Ben—smart, sexy, and not in the market for anything serious. All she has to do is convince Ben that sex-without-strings is the perfect pathway to pleasure. What could be better?

Sophia McGovern can’t seem to settle down. Memories of all her bad decisions refuse to leave her alone. So, she moves from town to town, from one dead-end job to another, keeping to herself, which serves her well—until she arrives in Ft. Devlin, Colorado. From the first day, Ft. Devlin was different. Maybe that’s why she says yes to teaching a car maintenance class at the local high school.

High school literacy teacher Pru Glynn is happy with her life just as it is. She has a great job, close friends, and a loving family. She’d like to find a wonderful woman to share it with, but she isn’t about to settle for just anyone. When beautiful Sophia McGovern swings into town, Pru can’t deny an attraction, but Sophia’s itinerant lifestyle doesn’t fit in with her deep-set roots and strong ties to family and friends.

Sophia and Pru have no intention of falling in love, but sometimes love happens when and where you least expect it.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer Suzanne (Mitch) Mitchell has been disappointed in love. She’s done playing around and is ready to get serious. The only thing veterinary surgeon Kay Gallant takes seriously is her professional reputation and the animals she saves. Women are for fun, not forever.

Dangerous drugs are stolen from the veterinary clinic, and the further Mitch investigates, the more of a suspect Kay becomes. Add to that their opposing relationship goals and the fact that Kay is only staying in Thresherton a year before she starts a job in America, and falling in love definitely seems impossible. But as pride and profession clash, their hearts just might prove otherwise.

Gia Williams is living her dream as a successful travel magazine columnist. Gia’s Gems, featuring a single, thirty-something lesbian who travels around and finds the little gay gems in each town she visits, is the best gig ever, right? There’s just one problem. Gia is agoraphobic, and she hasn’t left her house in years. Gia’s Gems is a complete photoshop fake.

Lindsey Speyer is a huge fan of Gia’s Gems, so imagine her disappointment when she accidentally stumbles upon Gia’s secret. Not knowing what to do with the information, a friend talks Lindsey into turning the tables on Gia. Gia must come to Lindsey’s economically struggling Midwestern town and feature it in her next article...or else.

Gia just needs to get through one week with one beautiful and captivating blackmailer in a quirky little town she’s never heard of. What could possibly go wrong?

Easton Gray is sent from the future to prevent the end of the human race after nanotechnology spreads rapidly, leading to danger and disaster. As an operative for the Ministry of Discourse, Easton’s only goal is to eradicate the technology.

Dr. Tess Nolan is alone, except for the company of her rescue dog, Lou. It’s not until a stranger shows up in town and her life is turned upside down that she realizes the love she’s been missing. Easton is everything Tess didn’t know she wanted, but her warning bells are sounding. There’s something too convenient about Easton’s arrival.

Caught between her need to follow orders and her growing feelings for the beautiful doctor, Easton begins to question everything she knows, leading her on an investigation that will change not just her life, but the future as well. When forced to target Tess, can Easton do what’s needed to save humanity? Or will finally finding the one person who feels like home prove impossible to ignore?

Maria Spencer is in the middle of her third divorce. She doesn't know what it is she wants, but she knows there's something she's missing. When Maria brings her Dachshund into a grooming school and meets Dana, an out lesbian, something shifts for her. Torn between her church teachings and her emerging truth, she embarks on a journey to find herself as a single woman of God.

Dana struggles to trust that Maria isn't going to decide to go back to men, and Maria strives to understand her budding feelings for Dana. When a disturbed woman becomes obsessed with Dana, they find themselves having to deal with her following their every move.

Can their mutual attraction and growing connection become too strong to deny and draw them into each other's arms?

Grace Dawson is completely over her ex, Christina. But that doesn’t mean she wants to plan her wedding proposal to another woman.

Grace dreams of the day she’ll have a romantic proposal like those she plans for her clients at Tie the Knot. She’s spent the last year reading a boatload of self-help books. No way she’s going to fall back into old patterns and date someone afraid of commitment ever again. When it comes to everlasting love, Grace is all in.

Bridget Cartwright, Christina’s personal assistant, will do anything for Christina with the hopes of getting a promotion, even plan her proposal. So what if she knows zilch about romance and doesn’t even believe in happily-ever-after? There are companies for hire that do that sort of thing.

When Grace and Bridget end up stranded together on Mistletoe Mountain, Grace has no chance to escape. Not from her painful past, not from her attraction to Bridget, and definitely not from all the romance in the air.

Remi Brenner will one day see the world. Literally. She’s one summer away from starting her degree in aerospace at MIT, but then her dad cuts off her college tuition until they repair their estranged relationship. Remi has no choice but to spend her summer with him and her annoyingly famous stepmom in resort town Gaslight Shores, South Carolina.

Harper Hebert wishes her life didn’t revolve around her family’s restaurant, a staple in Gaslight Shores for more than seven decades. When a new restaurant is opened by a famous chef and business begins to decline, Harper’s dreams of ever making it on her own are threatened.

The more Remi and Harper’s friendship blossoms into something deeper, the more Remi becomes tangled in the intense restaurant rivalry between her stepmom and the Heberts. She knows she has to tell Harper, but the truth could scare away the only person who can capture her summer and her heart.

Ali Daniels is a successful writer. Too bad she can’t say the same for her love life. After yet another failed relationship, she decides it’s time to dig deep and find out what she’s doing wrong. Contacting her exes with a questionnaire seems like a piece of cake, until she gets to her high school sweetheart and the girl who shattered her heart, Madison Parker.

Madison has made a neat little life for herself in her small hometown, whose only claim to fame is being an hour from the beach. She’s content running the donut shop her father left her and hanging with her sister and niece. The last thing she expects is for Ali to drop back into her life. After the way Ali left town twenty years ago without so much as an explanation, Madison really shouldn’t be feeling any sort of attraction, but she can’t seem to help herself.

After all this time, Ali and Madison really only have one thing in common. The girl who broke their heart may be the only one who can put it back together.

Ryann is thrilled when her friend Stuart asks her to help him plan his last-minute wedding. He moved across the country over a year ago, and she misses him like crazy. As an executive with event planning experience, Ryann’s the best person to help him fulfill his wildest wedding dreams.

However, things in Colorado are not what she expects, especially Maddie, the maid of honor for the other groom. Maddie is attractive, and while she’s certainly Ryann’s type, she has some different ideas about the wedding. Also, flirting with her is incredibly distracting, especially when Ryann just wants to keep things professional. With just two weeks to the big event on Valentine’s Day, can Ryann help Stuart to wedded bliss, and avoid his well-intentioned attempts to set her up with Maddie?

Hazel Thompson prides herself on being a beacon of earnest goodwill in Cedar Springs, Utah, where she works alongside her mother as a cook in a raucous restaurant and dance hall. But lately, Hazel wonders if she hasn’t clipped her own wings by always putting her family and neighbors first, leaving no time for her own wants.

Lida Jones, the daughter of roving Eastern European immigrants, treks West with her father in search of a better life on the rapidly developing American frontier. To help make money, Lida takes a job in the Pack Horse Library and gets to know the rowdy, tough residents of Cedar Springs. Getting close to anyone is a waste of time, though. She won’t be here long.

Hazel and Lida can’t help but get to know one another as Lida travels through on her route. When Lida’s father begins to struggle at work, Lida fears she’ll have to leave Cedar Springs—and Hazel—behind. But how can she when, finally, she’s found a place, and a person, to call home?

Winning the heart of your secret Valentine? These award-winning authors agree—there is no better way to fall in love.

In I Met Someone by Julie Cannon: Hayes Martin shares everything with her BFF Claire Wheeler. Well, almost everything. Hayes has kept a secret from Claire for years, and she can’t take it anymore. Tonight is the night she comes clean and risks it all to gain everything she’s ever wanted.

In Taking a Risk by Erin Dutton: Police officer Jo Forsythe thinks she could find the love and family she’s been longing for with Kayla McCall. Kayla’s focused on running her business, and if she was looking for love, it wouldn’t be with Jo. Can Jo win the hearts of both Kayla and the small town that’s so protective of her?

In Bouquet of Love by Anne Shade: It’s been twenty-five years since English teacher Alyssa Harris was on the dating scene, but romance is too old-fashioned for love in the digital age. Tennis coach Collette Roberts doesn’t think so and sets out to sweep Alyssa off her feet.

All Riley Robinson wants is peace and serenity. She can’t wait to spend the winter at her new cabin in snowy, remote Northern Arizona. On the way Riley meets Zoe Mitchell, a secretive woman whose barely hidden vulnerability captures her curiosity and sparks her interest.

Zoe was doing just fine until without warning she becomes the focus of a stalker. With no idea who is following her and desperate to shrug off the sense of being watched, Zoe takes off to her grandfather’s old cabin. Unfortunately, the cabin hasn’t been used in years, and the snowstorm of the century is moving in. Zoe has no intention of taking chances with a beautiful woman she’s just met, but she can’t turn down Riley’s offer of help and a warm place to take refuge.

As they face the storm and the looming threat of a stalker, Riley and Zoey just might find love in the most unexpected of places.

When your parents name you and your three siblings after flowers, the world is stacked against you. At least, that’s how Aster Lavender feels. The youngest daughter, Aster always keeps her head down and lets her siblings stand in the spotlight. She sells her gourmet doughnuts from Hole in One, the small drive-through stand in sleepy Homer’s Bluff, Kansas, and daydreams about seeing the big beautiful world. Love is never going to happen, especially when the only other lesbians in town are already married to each other.

Beautiful Brynn Garrett arrives to fill in for Homer Bluff’s only veterinarian, and suddenly every pet in town is sick. Brynn’s older, smarter, and way out of Aster’s league. Plus, she’s only in town temporarily and definitely running from something. Aster didn’t plan for a connection so strong it knocks the wind right out of her, but Brynn makes her feel like anything but a wallflower.

Audrey Adams would do anything for her aunt Ernestine. When Ernestine suffers a stroke, Audrey takes a leave from her fast-track CPA career to care for her. Only Ernestine’s hobby farm needs more tending than the patient herself. Audrey’s bitten off way more than she can chew, or harvest, or plant, or… How does one do hobby farming, anyway? 

Enter her neighbor Rowan Marshall, the sexy cider maker. Rowan’s only too happy to come to Audrey’s rescue. Which is all well and good until Audrey realizes Rowan’s angling to buy the orchard that makes up more than half of Ernestine’s pride and joy. 

It’s not long before a reluctant truce gives way to a romantic spark and forces Audrey to make the biggest decision of her life.

Sarah Campbell told one tiny white lie.

When her tech-giant employer moves her to a cottage on a small Scottish island to work on a classified, controversial, and potentially world-saving project, Sarah must keep her eco-terrorist mother in the dark to prevent her from disrupting everything. Sarah's cover story—she's fallen in love, she and her girlfriend are escaping the bustle of the city, she couldn’t be happier… But Sarah’s better at firewalls than real walls, and when she arrives at the run-down cottage, she quickly discovers she needs help. 

Pippa Kent is a widowed, semi-retired structural engineer who’s done with love. She fills all her free time running a handywoman service on the island. When Sarah calls Pippa out for the most basic repairs, Pippa can’t help but wonder—often out loud—how anyone could be so inept at home maintenance.

Then Sarah’s mother suddenly decides to visit and meet her daughter’s wonderful new partner. With little option, Sarah begs Pippa to be her fake girlfriend. Only the more time they spend faking it, the less pretend it feels.

The battle for the wastelands continues as Dani and Kate struggle to find common ground.

As White River burns, Danielle Clark wants revenge. She rejoins the Resistance, only this time, her friends are by her side. With Simon now in pursuit and her relationship with William wavering, her only hope to stay one step ahead of the fight is to trust her once sworn enemy and the general’s daughter, Katelyn Turner.

Back within the ranks of the National Armed Forces, Kate struggles to understand the push for power and dominance over the wastelands. Her time spent as a prisoner in White River has left her conflicted about her command, and her growing attraction for Dani has awakened a desperate need to protect her from a new lethal force introduced by the general.

Through it all, Danielle and Kate can’t seem to stay away from each other even as the war over the Badlands tests their loyalty to each other and to their people.

The Badlands Series Book Two

In the quiet seaside town of Inverley, nothing exciting ever happens to gently bred spinsters like Miss Arabella Seton. Content with her watercolor paintings and her cats, she is confident that no one suspects her forbidden and unrequited passion for her best friend, Caroline. 

The eldest in a family of six children, Miss Caroline Reeve has the unenviable task of shepherding her siblings into adulthood with little coin and even less patience. The only benefit to being an eternal chaperone is that no one ever expects her to marry.

When the Reeve family inherits an unexpected fortune, Caroline must take her rightful place in high society. Fortune hunters abound, and it is up to Arabella to save her from their snares and convince her that love has been in front of her all along. 

Can the heiress and the spinster discover an unconventional love outside of the Marriage Mart?

Growing up middle-class in Cleveland, Ohio, Darcy O’Brien and his sisters learn they’re about to inherit a long-rumored, immense family fortune from their great-grandfather Cooper Tiller—until a mysterious stranger from New York City swoops in and claims ownership of the estate.

When his lawyer forbids Darcy from confronting the interloper, it only fuels his determination to protect their rightful inheritance. In many ways a mirror of Coop—a masculine, hard-charging businessman from the early 20th century—Darcy’s uncertain about his ability to find love with the right man, but he secretly longs for Jake Tester and allows him to join his quest.

The journey will change their lives as they uncover Coop’s epic tale, unraveling a seventy-year-old family secret that forces Darcy to face his fears and leads to a breathtaking discovery waiting more than a century to be unearthed.

Officer Clare Sawyer, newly arrived at the University of Washington’s campus police department, hopes her investigation of a murdered professor will give her a chance to show her worth and prove to herself she made the right choice leaving the big city behind. Life on campus brings back uncomfortable memories, but she is determined to do her job and remain on the outskirts of the academic world. Until Professor Hart walks into her interrogation room…

Architectural historian Libby Hart found her true home when she entered college, and she hasn’t left academia since. She loves her friends, her job, and the gorgeous buildings surrounding her. When the harsh reality of murder brings chaos into her world, she tries to help Clare restore order on campus.

Clare and Libby are from different worlds, but the more time they spend together, the harder it becomes to ignore their growing feelings for one another—until the murderer targets Clare and danger threatens to destroy their happiness.

Master mechanic Lyle James built a successful but lonely life in Tinker Creek after rescuing his dad’s auto repair shop until an international development firm conspires with local officials to condemn the shop and steal his land.

Jose “Manny” Porter has come home to take a reporting job at the South Georgia Record, a regional newspaper where his father is publisher and editor-in-chief. As the son of a driven Anglo father and Cuban exile mother, Manny knows all about how competing parental expectations can chill efforts to even find sex—much less love.

After a night of passion, Lyle and Manny are thrown together in a fight to save Lyle’s business. Their struggles may lead to more than either expected for their community and their lives.

Firefighter Grayson Reeves barely survived a harrowing California wildfire, and the experience has shaken everything she believes about herself. Returning to her hometown of Sky Valley, NC, to heal and regroup seems like a good idea, but past mistakes and a small town that never forgets are painful reminders of why she left.

Faith Owen didn’t grow up in Sky Valley, but when an opportunity arises to relocate to one of her favorite childhood haunts, she jumps at the chance. A new environment is just what she needs to refocus on her art and regain her confidence after her last ill-fated relationship left her with loads of self-doubt.

When Faith meets Gray, she sees a suffering soul in need of saving. Gray can only see a woman for whom she could never be enough. Despite their misgivings, their mutual attraction ignites passions neither can fight.

Gathered for the first time in one collection, these short stories from Lee Lynch represent a quarter century of passionate portrayals of lesbian women. Lynch chronicles the lives of old women who fall in love, a Black firefighter seeking her place in the feminist community, bar dykes unwilling to back down, the denizens of lesbian-owned Café Femmes, and Henny—who runs an urban fruit stand while regaling her baby butch assistants with tales from her life. Iconic characters from Lynch's novels also make an appearance: Frenchy Tonneau from The Swashbuckler and Annie Heaphy from Toothpick House.

Lee Lynch’s work is considered among the classics and a cornerstone in the large and permanent foundation of lesbian literature.

A hot summer fling or true love?

When budding geologist Jessica Sterling arrives to work on her thesis while camping in Washington’s Dry Falls State Park for the summer, she shatters park ranger Clare DeVere’s hope for an uneventful season. Neither can deny their unexpected attraction, but their secrets make romance impossible.

Clare’s best friend since college, Lyn, works as one of the park’s dispatchers, and her long-standing and unrequited crush on Clare grows increasingly obsessive as Clare draws closer to Jess.

While Clare contends with Lyn’s infatuation and unwanted advances from her womanizing boss, and Jess grapples with her unexpected feelings for a woman, their fiery fling challenges them to confront their pasts.

When internet executive Crystal Tucker is given the opportunity to finally make it to the top in her company, she jumps at the chance. She just has to sell Pine Grove’s government on the future: Wi-Fi, high-speed internet, and streaming services. Should be easy, right? Apparently not. To succeed where others have failed, Crystal must blend into the community and understand why the small town is stuck in the past.

The internet café Cyber Shack has been in Janie Elliott’s family for decades. More than a place to access the web, it’s an integral part of Pine Grove culture. Meeting your neighbor for a coffee? Working from anywhere-but-at-home? Want in on the local gossip? Cyber Shack has it all, and almost everyone wants to keep it that way.

Crystal is sure Wi-Fi could really help the more marginalized residents, even if it means putting a small business out of business, but her instant attraction to Janie makes moving ahead with her plans complicated. As their spark combusts into an undeniable flame, Crystal has to come clean about why she’s really there, and what it might mean for Cyber Shack, for Pine Grove, and for her relationship with Janie.

Hoping to leave her past behind after ending her emotionally abusive relationship, Cally Pope moves to Halesbrook, a sleepy town in Gloucestershire. Content with her plans to open a glamping business in the forest and live a quiet life, she’s sworn off any kind of romantic entanglement.

Laurie Flanagan has lived in the forest all her life and has her dream job working for the forestry commission. She longs for the kind of relationship her parents have, but she hasn’t met someone who fits the bill. When she meets Cally, she feels an instant connection, only it seems Cally doesn’t feel the same way at all.

When increasingly violent acts of sabotage threaten to derail the opening of Forest Glamping and put Cally in grave danger, Laurie is the only one who believes the violence isn’t random. Together, Laurie and Cally try to figure out what’s going on, but the closer they get to answers the more Cally can’t shake the feeling her ex, Jules, has something to do with it. But Jules is dead. Isn’t she…?