Love Online by Penelope Ward
From New York Times bestselling author Penelope Ward, comes a new, sexy standalone novel.
We met in the least likely of places. It started out innocently enough. I was “ScreenGod” and she was “Montana,” but of course, those weren’t our actual names, just the virtual cloaks we hid behind.
Logging in at night and talking to her was my escape—my sanctuary.
Her real name was Eden, I’d soon come to find out.
From the first time we connected online, I found myself transfixed.
She was an addiction.
At first, we knew nothing about each other’s real identities…and she was adamant that we keep things that way. Anonymity had no effect on our unstoppable chemistry, though. If anything, it allowed us to open up even more in ways we may not have otherwise.
Eden was funny, intelligent, gorgeous—everything I’d ever wanted in a woman.
But I couldn’t really have her.
I had accepted things would have to stay the way they were—until the day I found a clue that led me straight to her.
So I took a chance.
And that was when our love story really began.
Crew by Tijan
To survive where I live, you have two options.
You can be a Normal–a cheerleader, jock, member of the debate team, or on the yearbook committee. You pretend everything is normal.
Or you can be crew.
You insult us? We hurt you.
You hurt us? We really hurt you.
And if you screw with us, we will end you.
My name is Bren.
I’m the only female in the Wolf Crew–the best, fiercest, and most dangerous crew there is–and we have a rule: There’s no falling in love.
Well… too late.
Please Me by J. Kenner
From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author J. Kenner comes a new story in her Stark Ever After series…
Each day with Damien is a miracle, each moment with our children a gift. And yet I cannot escape the growing sense that a storm is gathering, threatening to pull me away, to rip us apart. To drag me down, once again, into a darkness to which I swore never to return.
I have to fight it—I know that. And I am waging the battle with of all my heart. But it is Damien who is my strength, and we both know that the only way to push away the darkness is for him to fold me in his arms and claim me completely. And for me to surrender myself, once again, to the fire that burns between us.
**Every 1001 Dark Nights novella is a standalone story. For new readers, it’s an introduction to an author’s world. And for fans, it’s a bonus book in the author’s series. We hope you’ll enjoy each one as much as we do.**
Unexpected by Aleatha Roming
*Paul*
What will happen… when Jenn learns the truth that has been brewing deep inside me?
…when she learns my desires have been restrained?
…when containing them is no longer possible?
Will she flee when there’s no place to run?
Traveling to the isolation of a tropical island, we agree to lay our marriage and our future on the line. It’s the only way to face the demons—my demons—that threaten our life together.
For us to make our marriage work, we must break down barriers, reveal the hidden places, and shine light where darkness has taken root.
This reprieve from life is meant to be about us, our marriage, and our future.
It is…until the unexpected happens…
Will our marriage survive? Will we?
This suspenseful, steamy stand-alone novella follows Paul and Jenn Masters, characters previously introduced in the novella UNCONVENTIONAL. This quick, spicy story may be read completely on its own or even before UNCONVENTIONAL.
If you enjoy a fast and furious, heart-thundering ride that leaves you breathless and perhaps a bit hot and bothered, check out New York Times bestselling author Aleatha Romig’s THE VAULT novellas: UNCONVENTIONAL and UNEXPECTED.
Cowboy, Cross my Heart by Donna Grant
Naomi Pierce isn’t the type to let a cowboy sweep her off feet. It’s not her first rodeo, after all. But when she returns to her Texas hometown, she can’t help but be swept up again in the rough-and-tumble world of hard-riding, bronco-busting good-ol’-boys she loved as a girl. She might be here to photograph her Rodeo Queen best friend. But it’s one fine-looking cowboy who really captures her eye…
Brice Harper is all man, all muscle, and all heart. From the moment he rides into the stadium, he can’t help but notice the beautiful stranger with a camera watching him from the stands. It doesn’t take a zoom lens to see the sparks of instant attraction. But things really heat up when he meets Naomi up-close—and he discovers that someone is stalking her friend. Brice wouldn’t be any kind of cowboy if he didn’t offer to help the ladies out. But can the rough rider keep this spirited shutterbug out of danger—without risking his heart?
Memento Mori by Lexi Blake
Six men with no memories of the past
One leader with no hope for the future
A man without a past
Jax woke up in a lab, his memories erased, and his mind reprogrammed to serve a mad woman’s will. After being liberated from his prison, he pledged himself to the only thing he truly knows-his team. Six men who lost everything they were. They must make certain no one else gets their hands on the drugs that stole their lives, all while hiding from every intelligence organization on the planet. The trail has led him to an unforgiving mountainside and a beautiful wilderness expert who may be his only hope of finding the truth.
A woman with a bright future
River Lee knows her way around the Colorado wilderness. She’s finally found a home in a place called Bliss after years lost in darkness. The nature guide prefers to show her clients the beauty found in the land, but she also knows the secrets the mountains hold. When she meets Jax, something about the troubled man calls to her. She agrees to lead him to the site of an abandoned government facility hidden deep in the forest. She never dreamed she was stepping into the middle of a battlefield.
A love that could heal a broken soul
Spending time with River, Jax discovers a peace he’s never known. Their passion unlocks a side of himself he didn’t even know he was missing. When an old enemy makes his first move, Jax and River find themselves fighting for their lives. But when his past is revealed, will River be caught in the crosshairs of a global conspiracy?
Dagger’s Edge by Lora Leigh
#1 bestselling author Lora Leigh is back—with a vengeance—in her latest novel of passion and intrigue, Dagger’s Edge, featuring the men of Brute Force.
Ivan Resnova wants nothing more than to escape his hard, brutal past. Starting over is not so easy once you’ve been a powerful crime boss but now, instead of being punished for his alleged crimes, Ivan fears that the one woman he can’t forget is in danger of paying the price.
Crimsyn “Syn” Delaney thought the danger she’d faced was over, and that she could resume her life. She never imagined it would return with a vengeance and throw her back into Ivan’s world. But when an attempt is made on her life, she needs Ivan more than ever to keep her safe—even if she is in danger of falling deeply and dangerously in love. . .
Stygian by Sherrilyn Kenyon
Born before man recorded time, I lived for thousands of years believing myself to be something I’m not.
Someone I’m not.
Lied to and betrayed by gods, Daimons and Dark-Hunters, I’ve struggled to find my way in a world where I’ve been cursed since the moment I was prematurely ripped from my mother and planted into the womb of an innocent woman who thought me her son.
Trained as a slayer and predator, I learned to fit in and stay low. To become a tool for evil. Until I was sent to kill the one woman I couldn’t. My hesitation cost her her life.
Or so I thought. In an act of betrayal that makes all the others pale in comparison, I’ve learned that this world is an illusion and that my Phoebe still lives.
Now I will have to travel into the very pits of Hades to try and save her, even as everyone around me attempts to steal what little soul I have left. There’s only one person at my back and I’m not sure I can trust her either, for she was born of an enemy race. Yet sometimes the road to redemption is one that singes us to our very core. And if I fail to find the answers I need to save Phoebe, more than just my wife will die.
We will lose the world. Both human and Daimon.
The Duke with the Dragon Tattoo by Kerrigan Byrne
He is known only as The Rook. A man with no name, no past, no memories. He awakens in a mass grave, a magnificent dragon tattoo on his muscled forearm the sole clue to his mysterious origins. His only hope for survival—and salvation—lies in the deep, fiery eyes of the beautiful stranger who finds him. Who nurses him back to health. And who calms the restless demons in his soul…
A LEGENDARY LOVE
Lorelai will never forget the night she rescued the broken dark angel in the woods, a devilishly handsome man who haunts her dreams to this day. Crippled as a child, she devoted herself to healing the poor tortured man. And when he left, he took a piece of her heart with him. Now, after all these years, The Rook has returned. Like a phantom, he sweeps back into her life and avenges those who wronged her. But can she trust a man who’s been branded a rebel, a thief, and a killer? And can she trust herself to resist him when he takes her in his arms?
The Break Up by Erin McCarthy
Can two wrongs feel oh-so-right? This bride is about to find out—with the bad boy who makes an epic breakup worth her while.
Bella: I know I’m a princess. I’m used to getting what I want. But all I ever really wanted was a husband and a family. Unlike my sister, Sophie, I’ll never have a brilliant career to fall back on. So what’s a bride to do when she learns that Prince Charming is a cheating snake just a few days before her fairy-tale wedding? With my fiancé begging for another chance, the only way to save the wedding is to even things out with a little revenge sex—and local bartender Christian Jordan seems like the right man for the job.
Christian: If gorgeous Bella Bigelow thinks sleeping with me will somehow lead to happily ever after, I’m not going to turn her down. The guy she wants to marry is a jerk, and her sister is fooling around with my estranged twin brother, Cain. So what’s the problem—besides falling for a woman who doesn’t know what she wants out of life? All I want to do is whisk her away from that church, take her to a cabin in the woods, and act out all our naughtiest fantasies. And I may just get the chance. . . .
Tall, Dark and Irresistible by Erika Wilde
A complete stand-alone story, TALL, DARK & IRRESISTIBLE is a fun, flirty swoon-worthy romance!
When it comes to love and happily ever after, Leo Stone is a disbeliever. Having been left at the altar by the one woman he thought he’d spend the rest of his life with, he’s vowed to keep his heart to himself and enjoy the one thing he knows won’t affect his emotions . . . hot, dirty sex. Except, what’s a guy to do when a gorgeous woman asks him to be her stand-in boyfriend for a week—with benefits? Sign him up, please!
A drunken night one year ago, Peyton Bishop used Leo Stone’s name and photograph to convince her over-protective parents that she was safe living in New York City—in part thanks to a boyfriend she adored. Except Leo, the hot guy she’s had a secret crush on since college, has no idea he’s been cast in the role of her lover. With her cousin’s wedding coming up, and her parent’s expecting to meet this mysterious boyfriend, Peyton is forced to come clean and ask Leo a huge favor.
Leo agrees to be her stand-in boyfriend, but what’s a pretend couple to do when their fake feelings start to become oh-so-real?
Break my Fall by M.Mabie
“The first time I returned to Lancaster was for my brother’s funeral.
The second time was for Myra.”
For twelve years, I lived alone in my cabin, building a life with my two bare hands. I was free from their rules, their policies, and their lies.
They are a cult.
My father is their leader.
To protect my brother’s widow, I’m making her my wife. It’s her only way out.
But drawn to the purity in her deep blue eyes and the innocence of her gentle voice, I wonder if I’m not the biggest monster of them all. I have to save her from them and myself. Because every second I spend with this timid woman, I fight the urge to claim her.
Own her.
Make her truly mine.
And I know it’s wrong.
I will break her fall—if I don’t break her first.
Until We’re More by Cindi Madsen
Chelsea is smart, funny, gorgeous, and the best friend I’ve ever had. Ever since she left, I’ve been a wreck. I’ve been focused on keeping my family’s MMA gym afloat while I train and coach fighters, anything to not miss her more. But now she’s finally back, along with her grumpy, possessive cat, and things are weird between us.
By weird, I mean I can’t stop thinking about her in that way. She’s in the room next door, and it takes all my control not to storm in there, sweep her up, and bring her back to my bed. Even stranger, I’m pretty sure she’d be into it.
And this time, I’m not going to stop fighting until we’re more.
The Governess Game by Tessa Dare
After her livelihood slips through her fingers, Alexandra Mountbatten takes on an impossible post: transforming a pair of wild orphans into proper young ladies. However, the girls don’t need discipline. They need a loving home. Try telling that to their guardian, Chase Reynaud: duke’s heir in the streets and devil in the sheets. The ladies of London have tried—and failed—to make him settle down. Somehow, Alexandra must reach his heart . . . without risking her own.
The infamous rake
Like any self-respecting libertine, Chase lives by one rule: no attachments. When a stubborn little governess tries to reform him, he decides to give her an education—in pleasure. That should prove he can’t be tamed. But Alexandra is more than he bargained for: clever, perceptive, passionate. She refuses to see him as a lost cause. Soon the walls around Chase’s heart are crumbling . . . and he’s in danger of falling, hard.
Carter by J.S. Scott
What happens when you’re instantly drawn and inexplicably attracted to a man you haven’t really met?
Me? Well, I left a party like my butt was on fire when it happened to me. Arrogant, wealthy and physically perfect men were nothing but trouble, even if I was mesmerized by a man with all of those attributes.
Unfortunately, we met again–in person this time– when I literally collided with Carter Lawson in the flesh several days later, and discovered he was a man I just couldn’t stay away from, no matter how much I tried. He felt the same attraction, and was determined to make it impossible for me not to see him.
My body craved him, and as I got to know the real man behind the jaded billionaire, womanizer facade, I was surprised to discover that I actually liked him.
He’s the quintessential alpha male that I normally hate, but there’s something I see in him that nobody else does, a pain I recognize in his glacier-like eyes–because I’m just like him. Both of us are frauds
I want to crack him like an egg, and see what’s inside, but there’s no way I want him to do the same thing to me.
On the surface, I’m a successful supermodel with a great career.
Inside, I’m someone else, a woman that nobody sees–until Carter slowly breaks through my defensive walls as well as he satisfies my body, starting to open wounds that have never really healed.
But there’s only so much I can let Carter see. Revealing everything could ruin my entire life and the career I’d worked so hard to build.
So why was it so hard to lie to Carter like I’d been doing with everyone else my entire life?
Clandestine Royal by Kate Stewart writing as Gigi Thorne
Luke
Suffering due to sins of the father is typically how it goes, but as the son of a predatory and entitled mother, I’d fallen victim to the consequences of her indiscretions.
Her deathbed confession revealed my darkest secret. At my lowest point, I shared it with the two people I trusted the most.
It proved to be my biggest mistake.
For the last five years, I’d watched the woman I love reign with a man I despised. He stole my life, she allowed it, and I was about to make them both pay.
The only way to bring down a king is by stealing his queen.
Sarafina
Five long years without a single look my way. Luke believed that I’d betrayed him and I’d suffered in silence while he’d torn me apart with his playboy ways.
Set on vengeance, he refused my truth but not without doling out punishment I couldn’t resist. Little did he know I had plans of my own—if he’d only let me get close enough.
Big Falling Man by Marquita Valentine
Growing up, Tate Prescott was just my older brother’s best friend, but over the years he became my first love… and my biggest secret.
Yes, you read that right…Tate Prescott, *The Tate Prescott*, Hollywood Superstar and now the most sought after movie director in the industry is *mine*. We’ve hidden our relationship from the world for so long that it’s become second nature. The last thing we wanted was a media frenzy to rain down on us.
But after my little brother drowned at sea and I became wrapped up in the guilt of knowing that his death was my fault, I shut down… and Tate left when I needed him the most.
Four months have passed since then, and now Tate’s back in town, demanding that I give him thirty days to make our relationship work.
All I want is to forget about the mistake we made the weekend my brother died.
Only Tate’s not so easily deterred and he’s not just some big talking man from Hollywood—he’s my *husband*, and he wants a second chance to prove to me that he can win back my heart.
I still want him. I still love him. But can I forgive him for abandoning me?
Cherish on the Cape by MK Meredith
On the rocky, atmospheric coast of Cape Van Buren, Maine…
Ever practical Claire Adams has been dealt an impossible blow, she’s lost her fiancé the night before their wedding, then shortly after, her unborn child. But for everyone else, it seems, life continues on, and with all the wedding and pregnancies in town, the aching hole in her heart continues to grow. Knowing she can’t be the only person suffering from loss, she starts a coping-through-art program at the new Archer Conservation Park of Cape Van Buren. She will never have the family of her dreams, but helping other’s overcome grief is the exact kind of distraction she needs. Until she finds herself working alongside the one man who reminds her exactly why remaining single is her best life strategy.
When it comes to dating, Mitch Brennan has two simple rules: keep it casual but make every moment memorable. Only now, his life-of-the-party reputation isn’t making his run for the City Attorney’s seat easy. So he agrees to some pro bono work, consulting for the new Conservation Center—and he has one month to change people’s minds. Except escaping his playboy image is harder than he imagines, especially when he’s paired with the sexy but still grieving event planner—who is in desperate need of a happy memory of her own. But one laugh leads to a kiss, and before he knows it, he realizes he’s broken his number one rule. Now the biggest risk of all isn’t losing out on the attorney seat, it’s losing her.
Can two hearts terrified of love brave the waves or will fear keep them from reaching the shores of happy ever after?
Every Breath You Take by Faith Andrews
London Monroe is forced to accept an unwanted new reality. Her marriage is over. Her best friend is a million miles away. Her mother’s health is failing. And no matter how hard she tries, she can’t seem to make ends meet.
They say the way to mend a broken soul is to find someone to make it whole again. But she never imagined it would be him, or that love could be so . . .intense.
Discovering the unexpected will surprise her. Life will get harder before it gets easier. And the man meant to see her through it all will take her by storm.
Immersed in a whirlwind of emotion, London soon learns that there’s a delicate line between love and . . . obsession.
The Earl of London by Louise Bay
Love left me off its to-do list.
I date. I’m all for giving guys a chance. I’ve just never met the one.
Until on a spring morning in the English countryside, a tall, dark stranger emerges from the mist. Logan Steele is all tousled hair, hard chest and lips so perfect I want to reach out and touch them just to check they’re real. I’m sure that’s a thunderclap of chemistry I feel between us.
Did I mention he’s an Earl with a self-made fortune?
A billionaire who works tirelessly for charity?
And he’s so hot, watching him is like staring at the sun.
But like I said, love isn’t rooting for me.
When I find out Logan Steele is out to destroy everything I’ve dedicated my life to protect, the chemistry disappears and the hope that had blossomed my chest turns to rage.
It no longer matters that he quickens my pulse just saying my name, weakens my knees with a single touch and that he might just be the greatest kisser that ever lived.
I might believe in love but Logan Steele is definitely not the one.
A standalone romance.
The Doctor by Nikki Sloane (Live 8.29)
For years, he was a part of my life. I watched him rush to the hospital countless times, his beautiful surgeon hands racing to save lives.
After all this time, I can’t escape the truth.
I want Dr. Lowe.
Lust chokes each moment we’re together. He promises to fulfill my fantasies—every dirty, naughty desire we can dream up.
Only, I can’t have him.
He’s confident. Experienced. Seductive.
And he’s my ex-boyfriend’s father.
You Promised Me Forever by Monica Murphy (Live 8.29)
I’ve got it all, they say. I’m the starting quarterback for the best NFL team in the league. I’m rich. I’m famous. I can have any woman I want, any time I want.
Yeah, I’ve got everything—except for the one who got away. How do you move on from loving the same girl since you were in the seventh grade? She promised me forever. Until forever got too hard and at nineteen, she dumped me.
By text message.
Now she’s walked back into my life. Just as beautiful. Just as sweet. Just as smart. More grown up and incredibly sexy…
We’re older now. Supposedly wiser. This time, I’m going to fight for what I want, no matter how hard it gets.
This time, I’m going to make her mine.
Forever.
If We Fall by Nina Lane (Live 8.30)
We fell in love. Then our world fell apart.
I wished so hard for Cole Danforth. And one day, he came true. He was my first crush, my first lover,my first and only love. He should also have been my last.
But in a split-second, we were ripped apart, our lives broken, my heart shattered. After ten years, I’ve returned to my hometown, the place of my greatest joy and darkest pain.
Cole is still here, but the beautiful boy I’d loved is gone. Now he’s a ruthless, unforgiving man determined to feed both my resentment and my lust.
Then our torturous past encroaches again, trapping us in a violent storm.
