The ‘tale as old as time’ has always been a lie…

 

There was no such thing as a “beautiful girl who stumbles into an enchanted castle and falls for a beast.”

My older sister is a liar, and she’s always been far more calculated than that.

 

I don’t blame you for buying into her compelling fairytale, though.

She’s always been an incredible storyteller.

 

Truth is, deep in The Whispering Woods, far past the Seven Sinful Kingdoms, several secrets remain untold.

They’ve lain dormant for centuries, protecting the true hero of this story, a dominant “villain” destined for Hell…

 

Until now, until me.

The other Belle…

One thing Rose Riley is proud of: standing up for what she believes in while living her best life kindly.

One thing she’s not so proud of: whacking a man on the head with her handmade sign at an animal rights march.

Especially when she takes the whimpering puppy dumped on her front porch to the nearest vet and he turns out to be the man she struck . . . Awkward.

One thing Rose didn’t expect to find before going back home to Australia:

Love.

I’m an all-or-nothing man—100 percent focused on whatever has my attention.

 

First it was serving my country in the Special Forces. Then it was building my business. Right now it’s the hot blonde at the bar who’s about to become another notch on my bedpost.

 

But women never keep my attention for more than a night.

 

Until I peel off Skylar Anderson’s clothes and her mask starts to crumble, showing me glimpses of the girl she’s hiding. She’s funny, sexy and vulnerable and throws me out of bed before I can catch my breath and suggest breakfast.

 

When I start my last undercover job on a yacht, turns out, she’s one of the crew. I try, but I can’t look away.

 

Her high ponytail shows off her kissable neck that tastes like summer.

 

Her short uniform reveals the killer legs that were wrapped around me last night.

 

And her provocative smile? I know what that mouth is capable of.

 

I want to explore her body, discover her secrets and sail off into the sunset with her.

 

I might want to go all in for Skylar, but she should stay away from me. I’ve got secrets of my own and they can only bring her trouble.

 

This is a stand-alone novel.

“Did I tell you how beautiful you look tonight?”

For some reason, Landon’s compliment didn’t make me wince the way some men’s comments did. Everything about him was different and it had thrown me off kilter. His warm breath on my neck shouldn’t have made me shiver. He shouldn’t ease the ever-present knot in my stomach or have me wanting to slide my hand into his as we walked. He shouldn’t make me feel safe. “You didn’t.”

“Well, you do. Not that it’s any surprise.”

“Because you’re a gentleman who prefers blondes,” I said, nudging him gently with my elbow, trying to lighten the mood.

He pulled in a breath and scraped his hand through his hair. “I’m beginning to think I’m a man who just prefers you.”

I focused on the cobbled street in front of us. “Me?” Had I been mistaken about the ex-girlfriend in town or the girl on Tinder? I tried to hold my breath to ensure I heard his reply.

“Yeah, you. I like you. More and more.”

My stomach swooped, and I tried to think of a response. My head was telling me to run. Far away. I didn’t want to fall for anyone. I’d worked hard to stay single all these years—to keep away from temptation. But now, temptation right in front of me, I found myself rooted to the spot, wanting to know what was next. “Okay.”

“Okay?” he asked.

I nodded, unsure of what to say. Unsure of how I felt. I knew I found Landon attractive.

I knew I liked him too. But I also knew that I’d been single all these years for a reason.

He wrapped his large hand around my upper arm to steady me when I stumbled over a loose cobblestone. We stopped, and I looked up at him as he swept his thumb across my cheekbone. “I’m only going to ask you this once, and you don’t have to decide now, but stay with me tonight?”

“Landon . . .” Somehow, I couldn’t say no to him, even though I knew I shouldn’t say yes.

“Think about it.”

From bestselling author Leddy Harper comes a sizzling romance about an aspiring young chef who may discover that the perfect recipe for love involves all accidental ingredients…

Tatum Alexander is so close to realizing her dream of becoming a sous chef she can taste it, but working at her ex-fiancé’s restaurant with his new girlfriend was never in her career plan. To save face and prove she’s moved on, Tatum cooks up a lie that she’s in a relationship with her best friend’s superhot cousin. There’s just one problem: Jason only recently moved to town, and he has no idea they’re already “dating.”

Jason’s a recovering ladies’ man who shouldn’t be on the menu, but that doesn’t mean he’s immune to Tatum’s quirky charm. Giving her lie a kernel of truth, they decide some no-strings-attached fun between the sheets can’t hurt. But as Tatum’s forced to keep making up stories to cover her original fib, she has a hard time separating what’s real and what’s fake—including her feelings for Jason.

With too many tales spun, Tatum can only watch in horror as her collection of yarns begins to unravel, leaving everyone she cares about feeling betrayed. After so many lies, will it be too late to set the record straight? And more importantly, will she be able to convince Jason there’s truth in their love?

There are angels and demons at war inside my head.

I had it all figured out: finish high school, attend seminary and finally answer my calling of becoming a priest. What I hadn’t counted in the equation was her.

Grace Miller.

The girl who was always out of my reach. The girl who still makes me lose my breath with just a look.

Little did I know she would become my temptation and vice, and quite possibly, my ruin.

Now I’m standing at a crossroads, and my head is a battlefield. How do I choose sides when it means losing a part of who I am?

“Can I ask you something? It’s totally fine to say no.” She adds the last part quickly. She smiles and looks at the spot over my shoulder, her fingers tapping a quick beat on the table. She looks vulnerable, her eyes wide, allowing me to see how nervous she is. I mean, how can I say no to her?

“Sure.” I settle back on the seat and stretch my arms along the back of it.

“Can I . . . can I kiss you?” Her eyes snap back to mine, and she hurriedly adds, “I know you’re heading to Boston in a few weeks and—” She sucks in a deep breath. “I really want to kiss you. I promise I won’t try to do anything else. Just kiss you.”

Holy. Shit.

I take a deep breath, letting her words sink in, and realize I’m breathing faster than normal. My gaze falls on her mouth, and I literally stop breathing because that mouth, God help me. It’s like a gateway to a whole new galaxy where secrets and wishes are waiting to be unveiled.

I need to kiss her. I want to discover the universe beyond those full lips. I’ve been fighting the need to kiss her since I walked inside the diner and saw her wiping down the counter. But my brain is telling me it’s a bad idea and kissing her will irrevocably change me. Change my life. I know I won’t be able to come back from that. But the other part of me, the part that has a hopeless, desperate crush on this girl, just wants to drag her onto my lap and let her do whatever she wants.

“It’s getting late. We should probably lock up and leave,” she says in a small voice when I take too long to reply. She pushes her hair back before standing up and starting to stack our plates together. Her gaze meets mine briefly. “Look, I’m sorry I made this awkward. It’s not fair to you—”

I reach out, curling a finger through the belt loops on her jean shorts, and tug. But she doesn’t move toward me. Instead, her grip around the plates grows tighter, and she turns to leave.

“Gracie.” I tighten my hold, forcing her to set everything back on the table and look at me. “Come here.”

I pull her close while placing my other hand on her hip. Then, I slide both hands in the back pockets of her shorts, pulling her closer until all I can see is her face and her lips—so close to mine.

Her chest rises and falls quicker than before, and I realize mine’s doing the same. We stare at each other. I wonder if she regrets asking to kiss me. That thought makes my chest ache. Right now, in this moment, with my face inches away from her boobs, I’d do anything for a chance to know what she tastes like. My fingers skim along her arm and bury themselves in her hair. She trembles against me, so I know she wants this as much as I do.

Earlier today after leaving work, I drove home. My mind was preoccupied, and I was restless, so after taking a shower, I got into my car. And somehow, I found myself parking the truck outside the diner. Maybe this is why I came here; I don’t know. But I really want to find out.

“Do it.” My voice is a whisper. I’m almost breathless with want. I want to yank her down and kiss her myself, but she looks like she’s about to flee. So I let her come to me. “Kiss me.”

She sinks her teeth in her bottom lip as she comes closer. I’m glad I’m sitting down because my knees are shaking with anticipation. Then her lips touch mine, her eyes on me the whole time. Need has my fingers tightening in her hair as she presses her lips more firmly to mine. Her tongue peeks out, running along the seam of my lips. I groan and shift on the seat to ease the discomfort in my pants. My mouth opens, and the second her tongue touches mine, my body rattles with a shiver. This moment feels sacred. Like a blessing. It feels blasphemous and holy all at once. It scares me.

Tugging her into my lap, I fist her hair in my hands as I incline her hear further, fusing our lips together more firmly. But our noses are in the way, and we have to find the right angle to stop bumping into each other. It’s frustrating at first because I want her lips on mine and her breath mingling with my breath. Our heads finally slant in the right positions, and our lips fit perfectly. We both exhale in relief and groan at the contact.

Something in me breaks loose. Suddenly I’m pulling at her hair frantically, and my kisses become hungry and aggressive. I’m trembling and desperate and all I can think is I’ve never felt anything like this before, and I don’t ever want to stop or let her go. I don’t need to wonder if she’s enjoying this kiss too. Her hands fisted in my hair, yanking me closer and closer are all the answers I need. She’s pressing her chest into mine, and I swear I can feel her heart hammering. Neither one of us wants it to end.

We break apart and gulp for air, and my hands leave her hair, greedy to explore other parts of her, but they end up on her hips, pulling her further into me.

“More,” I beg, because right now, that’s all I can do.

Beg like my life depends on it. At this point, I feel like I’m about to go up in flames.

Kyle Hicks started with nothing. Now he’s a self-made man. And as luck would have it, his latest project as a real estate developer lands him in Cliffside Bay with his very best friends, The Dogs. At the end of his grueling work days, Kyle’s got just enough time left for his buddies and not much else. Except maybe another of his many no-strings-attached trysts with whatever sexy lady catches his eye.

Violet Ellis is struggling. She’s a single mother, the proprietor of a near-failing shop, and a champion for the historical integrity of her dear Cliffside Bay. She has enough to deal with between her three-year-old son and her languishing business, but she’s still prepared to take on real estate mogul Kyle Hicks to save the charm of the place she calls home.

When a twist of fate forces these two to put aside their differences and rely on one another, they just might find that sometimes the strongest love grows out of the hurts and the scars that we carry with us always.

The fourth installment of The Cliffside Bay Series by bestselling author Tess Thompson follows the interwoven stories of five best friends, the beach community they love, and the women who captivate them. Prepare to get lost in a wave of small town charm, men you want to take home to your mother, and smart, resilient heroines you wished lived next door.

 

Like most of her characters, Tess Thompson hails from a small town and will always feel like a small town girl, despite the fact she’s lived in Seattle for over twenty-five years. She loves music and dancing, books and bubble baths, cooking and wine, movies and snuggling. She cries at sappy commercials and thinks kissing in the rain should be done whenever possible. Although she tries to act like a lady, there may or may not have been a few times in the last several years when she’s gotten slightly carried away watching the Seattle Seahawks play, but that could also just be a nasty rumor.

She currently lives in a suburb of Seattle, Washington with her brand new husband, the hero of her own love story, and their Brady Bunch clan of two sons, two daughters and five cats, all of whom keep her too busy, often confused, but always amazed. Yes, that’s four kids and five cats. Pray for her.

The only thing more hilarious than the movies is… real life?! Fall in love with the hot new romantic comedy series from USA Today bestselling author, Lila Monroe!

 

Stylist Gemma Jones is competing for a once-in-a-lifetime promotion. All she has to do is take some fashion-backward guy from geek to GQ-worthy. The only problem? The man in question is her hairy manwhore of a next-door neighbor. AKA Bigfoot.

 

Zach Morrison has zero interest in being Gemma’s makeover mannequin. Sure, it’s fun getting his smart-mouthed neighbor all riled up, but after cashing out of his tech start-up and going through an ugly break-up, he’s taking a permanent vacation. If he wants to wear sweatpants and sleep on a mattress in the corner of an empty apartment—

Maybe he needs a little push in the right direction. But as Gemma races the clock to win her bet, she finds that Bigfoot’s been hiding a few things under his baggy flannel shirts. Like abs of steel, and a surprisingly big…

 

Heart. He has a big heart.

 

Soon, sparks are flying between this unlikely couple, but can Zach embrace a fresh start – however manscaped it might be? And will Gemma beat out her fashionista rival for the top spot – and keep the truth about their bet from Zach?

 

Find out in the hot and hilarious new romance from “the reigning queen of rom-com”, USA Today bestselling author Lila Monroe.

 

The Chick Flick Club series:

1. How to Choose a Guy in 10 Days
2. You’ve Got Male (Jan 2019)
3. Frisky Business (May 2019)

One of us is innocent and the other far from it.

 

College senior Willow Young has two goals this year: to graduate and lose her v-card. The first seems easy and the second almost impossible. Guys don’t notice her when Celeste, her roommate and step-sister, is considered the hottest girl on campus. When Ashton Westborough, a gorgeous football player, comes to her rescue in more ways than one, she stupidly falls hard for him even though the walls to his heart are impenetrable.

 

When they end up in his room… his bed, he is powerless to stop what happens next.

 

Ashton has no intention of playing professional football after graduation no matter how good he is. Though he has no idea where the future will lead him, anywhere is better than the shitty childhood he endured. One thing he knows for sure is that he’s done with love. The idea of using mindless sex to forget the past may be the best idea. When Willow and her mass of sunlit curls repeatedly find their way in his tortured thoughts, he vows not to let his darkness consume her. After one sizzling night together, he’s the one surprised to find himself unable to let go.

One night of complete surrender is all it takes.

 

Gareth Harris is Manchester United’s reclusive star defender. He has control over all aspects of his life. But a lifetime of supporting his siblings and filling in for an emotionally absent father has taken its toll.

 

Sloan Montgomery is a clothing stylist whose world was turned upside down when she found herself pregnant and moving to Manchester with a man who was never supposed to be her forever. Now recently divorced and struggling with shared custody of her daughter, control is a fleeting concept for this American living in England.

 

Both Gareth and Sloan are in need of a release.

 

A moment in time where they can forget about their pasts and family pressures…and just…

 

…surrender.

 

No one could predict what happens when both of their defences are down.

 

Surrender is part one of The Final Harris Brother Duet and concludes with Dominate. The Final Harris Brother Duet reads great as a duo, but to maximize enjoyment, check out the first three brothers’ books in Challenge, Endurance, and Keeper.

To dominate one’s heart is to truly be free.

After the harrowing attack against Gareth and Sloan, there are more than just physical wounds that must be healed.

Recovering and moving on from their dark pasts is the only way they can truly find their bright futures.

Who will surrender? And who will dominate?

Dr. Andie Fine lives, eats, and breathes her job as a trauma surgeon. Another day, another surgery, another life saved. That is, until the night a certain car accident victim lands on her operating room table. The strange connection she feels with this particular patient impacts her in every way.

 

Vaughn Bennett is a brilliant artist whose life has been defined by a specific pair of eyes for over twenty-years. The only piece of a girl he could remember from an experience he could never forget. Countless sketches and thousands of hours trying to capture her likeness have haunted him. Waking up from a coma in a hospital room is not how he thought he’d finally find her. With one look, he knew.

 

Andie is a career-focused, medical professional.  Falling for a patient is out of the question, but Vaughn is determined to win her over. He elicits something in her that she’s never realized she was missing. No matter how hard she tries to fight it, he won’t stop until she’s his.

 

Until fate has a way of complicating things.

Prologue

Vaughn

1995

It’s got to be at least ninety five degrees out here, I thought as the beads of sweat across my forehead started to become full enough to drip down my face. My mind raced as I walked home from school. Two miles or so in the hottest time of day was a small price to pay.

Ms. Hattie’s not going to be happy when Mr. Leake calls to tell her I was missing from his fifth period class. Screw him. He can call her if he wants. Whatever punishment she’ll dole out can’t possibly be as bad as dealing with Stephan and his punk friends.

They had been itching to pound my face in for days.

How was I supposed to know that bench in the courtyard was off limits?

When I was pushed in the hallway earlier, knocking my books out of my hands and scattering my folders and papers all over the halls for everyone to step on, I knew who had done it before even looking up. When the reflection of light gleaming off of the pocket knife peeking out caught my eye, I knew I was done for.

Of course they’d pick on me. I was the new kid and only in sixth grade. I hadn’t even been there for three weeks yet and already I’d found trouble.

I swear, I just can’t win.

I thought I’d finally gotten out of hell. I had known my previous foster parents were creepy. They never did anything but smack me, curse, yell, occasionally spit at me—the usual bullshit—but when I was taken away a few weeks ago and placed in Ms. Hattie’s care, I didn’t argue. I ended up overhearing that the husband had been caught “inappropriately touching” one of the girls or some such crap. What a slime ball. She was only like six years old.

Ms. Hattie seemed kind, and my new foster brother, though a little older than me, had been pretty cool so far. I should’ve told him about Stephan, but I didn’t want him to think I was a wuss. I should’ve just let the idiot cheat off my paper.

In woodshop the previous week, I’d noticed him trying to look over at my quiz paper for answers and quickly covered my sheet, shielding it from his view. After later learning that it was his second year in eighth grade after not passing the year before, I regretted trying him like that. He was bigger than me with a nasty face that always looked like he was gritting his teeth. Now he’d found a new weakling to pick on. A few days later, I got pushed and cussed at for talking to a cute cheerleader named Molly in my gym class. I learned I wasn’t allowed to talk to her when all three of them cornered me in the boy’s bathroom and threw my backpack into the urinal after one of them pissed in it.

Maybe I need to show him I’m not a pushover. Maybe I need to knock his ass out and prove I’m not one to get messed with, prove I can hold my own.

No. I need to just bide my time. Stay safe and don’t rock the boat. I have a lot to figure out in this new school and this new house before making waves.

This is definitely a nicer neighborhood than my last one,I thought as I looked around, admiring the Leave-It-To-Beaver style, a stark contrast with just the month before when I had to walk home from the bus stop in the ghetto while making sure I didn’t give the wrong look to the dealers on the corner as I passed them.In Ms. Hattie’s neighborhood, everyone had a nice yard and a garage for two cars.

I never even saw them, never heard a thing. One second I was looking forward and thanking my lucky stars for the pretty neighborhood then WHACK. It felt like a two-by-four had just been swung across my back. I fell to the ground, squirming and gasping to try to catch my breath, and a shadowed figure came into my vision, the glare from the sun up above making it impossible to see who it was. Then he spoke.

“I don’t know who you think you are, maggot, but you messed with the wrong guy.”

Stephan pulled me up off the ground by my shirt and spit in my face before the first punch struck my jaw. Almost immediately, I couldn’t see anything. Fists rained down onto my face, jaw, and nose, plowing into my stomach until I couldn’t stand up anymore. Then the kicks came, the voices of the two friends who followed him around like puppies taunting and egging him on in the background. I faintly heard laughing, felt more spit hit my cheek, and thought it was over, but then he topped it off with more pain by reaching down to grab my head with both of his hands and slamming it back down into the concrete.

Everything went black for a moment—I really didn’t know how long—and then I heard her. A girl was talking to me with a calm singsong voice, muddled and far away, but I could feel her touch like she was right there next to me.

“Don’t move anything. I saw them hitting you and they slammed your head down pretty hard,”she said with a breathy voice. I tried to get control of my breathing but couldn’t inhale without coughing, which made my head feel like it was going to explode.

“I called 911. They’re coming to help you. Do you live here? Close to here? What’s your name?”

I could barely keep my eyes open anymore. Everything was fading in and out and the room was swirling, but I wasn’t in a room­—I was outside. I couldn’t focus on anything.

“Look at me. Please try to open your eyes,” she pleaded.

I looked up and saw the prettiest girl I had ever seen hunched over me. Her wispy blonde hair was blowing around her face and her eyes were light…maybe some shade of blue, bluish with little specs of… I closed my eyes just for a second; the light was too bright.

“No, please keep your eyes open. You can’t pass out.”

I tried my hardest to keep them open, not wanting to disappoint her. She looked like a kid, maybe even younger than me. The harder I tried, the heavier my lids got, and things were fading to black again.

“Keep eye contact with me. Just keep looking right here,” she urged, bringing her face closer to mine. The sun was completely behind her head and I could see her better. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. “Keep eye contact.” She lightly touched the side of my head, her fingers slightly in my hair to keep me still. “Keep looking. Keep eye contact. They’re almost here. I can hear the sirens.”

Her breath smelled like chocolate chip cookies and her skin was like a porcelain doll. She had to be an angel, which meant I was dying. Those jerks had beaten me to death—actual death. I’m going to be in so much trouble.

“Keep eye contact. That’s good. Just keep looking right at me.” Ms. Hattie was going to kill me if they hadn’t already. The sirens were loud and growing louder the closer they got. I tried to focus on her face. I watched her lips moving.“Keep eye contact. Keep eye contact.” She kept saying it over and over, almost like she was trying to remind herself as much as me. Her eyes were mesmerizing, even with as much pain as I was in. I was staring up at her, maintaining eye contact just as she instructed, then suddenly she was gone.

Where did she go?

I felt hands on me and heard male voices, grown-up voices, and then I heard her again. I couldn’t see her anymore but I could hear her.

“Three boys…hit him with a baseball bat…punched his face…kicked him over and over…ran away…bleeding…passed out…tried to keep him awake…I don’t know his name…”

It’s Vaughn.

My name is Vaughn.

I wanted to tell her. I wanted to know her name too, but the words wouldn’t come out. The men put a mask on my face, covering my mouth and nose, and rolled my body onto my right side, the sharp pain in my ribs igniting a fire in my chest. They rolled me back over onto some sort of board, and then they lifted me up and carried me away…away from her, away from my angel.