Contemporary Books

A brief detour to a ranch in the middle of nowhere doesn’t lead to forever, does it?

Olivia Martinez, forced to leave her high-power Manhattan job with no prospects, is at a crossroad. Not only is she a city girl down to the tips of her Jimmy Choos, she wants to stay close to her parents, who depend on her more than they’d like to. Generally not a risk taker, Olivia steps out of her comfort zone when her best friend, Elizabeth Sutton, asks her to temporarily lend a hand at the Red Sky Ranch. After all, what can a few months change, and New York City is just a plane ride—or three—away, right?

Haunted by an hour that changed her life, Riley Mitchell escapes the memories and the guilt by riding motorcycles way too fast, skydiving, and running into burning buildings. She is good-looking, charming, and never wants for female company, as long as no commitment is expected. When Olivia returns to the Red Sky Ranch, Riley’s carefully crafted safe world goes up in flames.

Can they take a risk and cross the fire line to find love?

Kelly Lattimore dreams of using her legal skills to help those in need, but practicalities force her into the soul-crushing world of Big Law. Despite the shock of a one-night stand being her new boss, she’s determined to excel…and maybe even make her family proud of her for once.

As cutthroat as she is beautiful, the last thing high-powered attorney Jillian Briggs is looking for is an office romance. Still smarting from her divorce, she distracts herself with work and casual sex. She never planned to mix the two, but when Kelly turns out to be her new associate after their night of passion, Jillian’s carefully partitioned life is turned on its head.

Try as they might, Kelly and Jillian can’t resist their attraction. They’re determined to keep their connection purely physical, but the more time they spend together, the harder it gets to ignore their hearts.

When the opportunity of a lifetime comes knocking, Claire Brennan is ready for a break from responsibility and the stuck feeling that won’t go away. Move across the world to Vancouver for six months? Absolutely.

Stacie Farran is a career-obsessed eternal optimist, so when the opportunity to trade jobs with a colleague in Belfast comes up, she jumps at the chance. That it gives her a bit of space from her girlfriend doesn’t hurt either.

Living in each other’s shoes, Claire and Stacie discover so much about each other and get a fresh perspective on their own lives as well. When a family emergency has Claire returning home early and they finally meet, the attraction they felt from afar is real.

But Stacie’s stay is temporary. Are they on a collision course to a long-distance dating disaster or will love find a way?

Jax Bailey has built a successful career photographing famous women, but she’s blocked creatively and frustrated by her inability to hold on to a romantic relationship.

Trace Logan is independent to a fault but somehow failed to launch. The daughter of a career army mother, she’s moved around so much she doesn’t have a place she calls home, and she longs to return to school in pursuit of becoming a film editor. Working as a delivery driver, her dream seems impossible.

After reading about the gig economy, Jax’s search for a new perspective that can renew her passion, professional and personal, inspires her to break out of her rut by seeing the city through the eyes of a delivery driver. When Trace shows her the ropes, a spark ignites between them. Their differences in age and direction caution them to keep it casual, but what happens when everything they expose just pulls them closer together?

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

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

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

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

When your first girlfriend is the only one you’ve ever loved, how can anyone compete?

Princess Teddy Buckingham has felt the pressure of her destiny since she could first understand it, and finding someone to love when you’re an object of interest to the whole country is nearly impossible. Teddy learned that the hard way when her childhood sweetheart broke her heart by leaving when the attention became overwhelming.

Summer Fisher congratulates herself on dodging a bullet as she watches Princess Teddy’s latest love affair hit the news. Teddy was her first love, and now that Teddy’s been with woman after woman, it appears Summer made a lucky escape. It doesn’t help that Summer is a friend and PA to Teddy’s sister Anna. She has tried to keep her distance as much as she can, but it isn’t easy.

Queen Georgina instructs Teddy to work with Anna on a project that will launch Teddy as the new Princess of Wales. As Summer and Teddy are forced to work together, their feelings for each other resurface. Teddy’s royal profile gets stronger, and so does the public scrutiny that broke them apart. Will life under the microscope make love impossible?

London Granger gave up her modeling career for investigative journalism only to discover no one would hire her to write anything but fluff. The only way to get ahead? Investigate something people will actually read. That’s how her next assignment becomes “What’s it Really Like to Be a Billionaire?” Her boss hooks her up on a glitzy getaway to St. Kitts undercover, as the totally platonic companion of media mogul Miranda Northbrooke.

Tennyson Security protects the rich and famous, and Kayla Tennyson built it from the ground up. She has more money than she can spend, but sorting through the fakes and finding someone honest and genuine is tough. She tried with Miranda Northbrooke, and it ended in disaster. But the gorgeous writer she meets while protecting a movie star on St. Kitts just might be the real deal. Until she learns London and Miranda are at the resort together.

London isn’t sure what she expected of Miranda’s ex, but it certainly wasn’t strength and beauty. And while Kayla would like to write London off as Miranda’s new plaything, she can’t get past how smart and funny she is. London and Kayla are perfect for one another, but if London reveals the ruse, she risks not only the opportunity of her career, but Kayla’s trust as well.

Montessori teacher Sky Roberts doesn’t think twice about entering a charity raffle for a free vacation. She can hardly believe it when the winning ticket turns out to be hers, but the trip conflicts with the summer school program she’s scheduled to teach. She can’t give up on her students.

Drew Mitchell excels in her job as a travel agent, and her success makes up for never quite measuring up to her family’s gender expectations and her disappointingly single status. That’s why she’s determined to win her company’s latest competition for best travel package and be named the top regional agent.

Drew can’t believe Sky is turning down a free vacation. She has to take this trip. In a desperate attempt to get Sky to change her mind and ask another teacher to step in for her, Drew suggests they go on the vacation together. What better way to relax than with your very own travel guide? Plus, she can win the competition by keeping tabs on her travel plan as it unfolds.

As Sky and Drew travel beautiful Fiji together, they’re about to discover that the trip of a lifetime may just lead to the kind of love they've been searching for.

For some, first love is never forgotten—even when left behind. A story of queer love that never ends, new beginnings, and the town that steals two hearts from award-winning author Ana Hartnett.

Tanya Brees enjoyed an idyllic childhood in the small coastal tourist town of Coral Bay, skimboarding, racing ATVs through sandy trails, and getting into mischief with her small band of friends. Things are clear: stick with the locals and hope the high-rises don’t take over their small fishing community.

When Tanya is thirteen, Juliette Peralta walks into the restaurant at the Coral Bay Inn with her parents and catches the eye of all the teens in town, especially Tanya. Every summer Juliette spends in Coral Bay brings them closer until first love blooms. But Juliette always leaves, her parents keep acquiring property to develop in town, and Tanya can’t take it anymore. No matter how much she loves Juliette, their family values are too different, and they lose touch as adults. That is, until a hurricane forces Juliette to return to Coral Bay indefinitely.

What’s worse than still being attracted to your first crush? Realizing the storm that tore you apart has gotten a lot more complicated.

The dahlia represents love, devotion, dignity, and beauty in Victorian floriography. Piper’s new boss, Dahlia? One out of four—Dal is beautiful and that’s where the similarities end.

When Piper Fernley, Pipes the unPlugged when writing her popular blog, is knocked down by a frightened dog on her morning run, she doesn’t expect the dog’s owner to land on top of her. Or the attraction she feels for the rude woman who isn’t her type. But that’s nothing compared to the shock of finding out the woman is her new boss. Fortunately, the gig at the job is temporary, but how is she supposed to survive six weeks with a guarded, uptight woman who doesn’t even like her?

Veterinarian Dahlia Noble prefers animals to most people—they aren’t duplicitous. After a difficult childhood and the divorce from hell, Dal’s focus is her daughter and her work. The unpretentious office temp is growing on Dal, but her past, the boss/employee rulebook, and a divorce agreement mean there is no place in her life for Piper.

Sometimes when you stop looking, your heart finds exactly what it needs.

Sydney meets Reagan in an Italian café when Reagan helps her order. Instant best friends, they spend an idyllic fall sightseeing until Sydney’s semester abroad comes to an end and she returns to the States. Reagan’s a young Army second lieutenant living under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and must stay behind and complete her assignment. But their final night together—complete with a first kiss—lives on in Sydney’s mind.

Over the next fifteen years, Reagan and Sydney ricochet in and out of each other’s lives, with each parting leaving deeper longings and scars than the last. When DADT is repealed and they both end up in Washington, DC, it’s a chance for Reagan to finally win the heart of the woman she has always loved, if only the Army didn’t threaten to send them to opposite sides of the world once again.

An epic love story that traverses the complexities of duty, loyalty, and sacrifice across the decades, Sydney and Reagan know what their hearts want, but love keeps slipping through their fingers.

Julia Martin is a thriving physical therapist and gym owner with a steady relationship and even a dog. Her life is uncomplicated, simple, and fun, even if she sometimes feels like she’s missed out by never leaving the Midwest town she grew up in. That is until a heartbreak from her past comes crashing back into her world, and everything starts to spin into motion and out of control.

Raegan Holcolm thought all they wanted was a proud military career, and that’s what they had. But a sudden injury sends them back to their hometown with a wealth of pain, both physical and emotional, insecurities, and the reality that the career they’d chosen above all else has rejected them.

The first time they fell in love, Rae left Jules behind. For love to have a second chance, they’ll need to realize all along that home might have been a person just as much as a place.

It’s Emerson Fields’s last summer before she starts her dream internship at the prestigious Bardot Design Studio architectural firm in Paris. The only problem? Her application hasn’t been accepted yet. Without a backup plan in place, Emerson heads to North Carolina to stay with her aunt and uncle and resume her seasonal job waitressing at the beach…and her no strings fling with town local Peyton Reilly.

In desperate need of a Bardot distraction, Emerson asks her coworker Alice Scott to teach her how to surf. What she doesn’t expect is to fall so quickly for the Aussie surfer. While her casual relationship with Peyton is in full swing, her feelings for Alice deepen, and her future with Bardot hangs in the balance. Emerson is standing at a crossroads. The question is, which path will she take?

Seventeen-year-old Diana hasn’t left her home in at least a month, but she has the whole online world at her fingertips. Waking up each day at sunset, she logs into the vast world of Garlandía, an online massive multiplayer role-playing game. Offline, she’s labeled as autistic and treated like a freak. Online, she’s Lune, an up-and-coming video game streamer with a small but steady fanbase. As Lune, Diana can access adventure, admiration, and a future career as a pro-gamer. All she needs is to hit the milestone of one thousand subscribers on StreamLine, and she’ll be well on her way.

When Lune crosses paths with the legendary girl gamer Nocht, she may have found the key that will boost her to the upper echelon of streamers. But as Nocht begins to unravel all Lune thought she knew about gaming, friendship, and love, Diana must find the courage to risk building her dreams offline, too.

When business turns to pleasure, romance ignites. 

In New York is Losing Hope by Nan Campbell: With thirty-five on the horizon and still single, Hope Mason is abandoning her beloved New York City to try her luck in bright, shiny Los Angeles. One problem. This New Yorker is terrified of driving, an essential skill for Californians. She hires instructor Val Caceres to teach her how to drive off into the sunset, but Val could be the one thing she doesn’t want to leave behind.

In Two Women, Two Weddings by Alaina Erdell: Aarti Singh’s brilliance in cardiology hasn’t diminished her longing to be an event planner, even if familial expectations demand a career in medicine. Meanwhile, Jo Samuels’s love life has taken a back seat to her demanding chef career and her desire to keep her life simple. When Aarti hires Jo to cater a wedding, their attraction is undeniable, but how can they fall in love when they’re struggling to be true to themselves?

In For Love or Money by Jesse J. Thoma: Short-seller Frances “Frankie” Sender has always been good at picking winners, but her skills might make her the ultimate loser when a company she is researching frames her for a crime. Her only chance at staying alive is Dakota “Oz” Osborne, a woman with a million-dollar reason to toss her in jail. They’ll have to trust each other and avoid the easy cash out if they want the stock to rise on a chance at love.

Sara Brighton, Savannah’s rising star in the competitive culinary scene, is devastated when her historic riverside restaurant burns to the ground. Finding herself without the creative chaos that has defined her world for the last decade, she impulsively decides to pack up her life and return to McCall, Idaho, the last place she remembers being truly happy. 

Sam Draper, head of the Lake Patrol division of McCall Police Department, is less than pleased to see another entitled tourist putting down roots in her picturesque hometown. Still, Sara surprises her by helping her swerve a professional disaster, and Sam returns the favor by teaching Sara to drive the ski boat languishing at the marina. 

Their chemistry heats up under the summer sun, and they are falling in love, at least until Sara decides to buy her late father’s iconic diner and turn it into yet another pretentious gastropub. Can they build a future amid the ghosts of the past that surround them?

Reprint. Originally published Sapphire Books Publishing, August 2018.

Park ranger Maxine Ward has a duty to protect the colony of people who live on the Georgia state park in-holding. They call themselves Tree City and treat Max as one of their own. The conservation work they do is important, and Max is more than happy to run interference between Tree City and the city of Blue Falls, Georgia.

Her commitment to protect Tree City is put to the test when social worker Skylar Austen takes a special interest in the commune. Her style of care isn’t exactly endearing herself to the community. Skylar, like Max, is a Blue Falls local and her reputation precedes her. Just not in the way she would like. Max remembers Skylar’s famed exploits from high school and is reluctant to have her anywhere near Tree City. It may have a little something to do with Max’s unresolved feelings for Skylar, but she’s never going to admit it.

As their feelings for each other deepen and outside pressures arise to threaten Tree City, Max and Skylar must put their differences aside to protect the people they care for, including each other.