Heard It in a Love Song by Tracey Garvis Graves
Love doesn’t always wait until you’re ready.
Layla Hilding is thirty-five and recently divorced. Struggling to break free from the past—her glory days as the lead singer in a band and a ten-year marriage to a man who never put her first—Layla’s newly found independence feels a lot like loneliness.
Then there’s Josh, the single dad whose daughter attends the elementary school where Layla teaches music. Recently separated, he’s still processing the end of his twenty-year marriage to his high school sweetheart. He chats with Layla every morning at school and finds himself thinking about her more and more.
Equally cautious and confused about dating in a world that favors apps over meeting organically, Layla and Josh decide to be friends with the potential for something more. Sounds sensible and way too simple—but when two people are on the rebound, is it heartbreak or happiness that’s a love song away?
The Rythm Method by Kylie Scott
From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Kylie Scott comes a new story in her Stage Dive series…
It all started in Vegas…
After a wild and tumultuous beginning to their relationship, Evelyn Thomas and her rock star husband David Ferris have been happily married for years. Nothing needs to change, their life together is perfect. Which means that change in the shape of an unexpected pregnancy is bound to shake things up some. But could it be for the better?
**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.**
Beautifully Broken Redemption by Catherine Cowles
She’s hiding secrets.
For Anna, keeping her deepest scars hidden from the world has always been a necessity—from the bruises of her childhood to the mistake that nearly cost her everything. To keep herself safe, she must keep everyone around her at a distance—especially the man who has tempted her since the moment they met.
His demons are taunting him.
Mason has done his best to bury the past by achieving more than he ever thought possible. But even with all of his success, his life feels empty.
When tragedy strikes, Anna is left fighting to protect the only family she has left. And Mason will do anything to keep her and her loved ones safe—even if that means the ring of wedding bells.
But as a new spark ignites between them, someone is watching.
And they’ll do whatever it takes to snuff out that light for good.
Death by Laura Thalassa
He’s known by many names: Thanatos. Horseman. God’s last angel. And then, of course, there’s the one I’m all too familiar with—
Death.
The day Death comes to Lazarus Gaumond’s town and kills everyone in one fell swoop, the last thing he expects to see is a woman left alive and standing. But Lazarus has her own extraordinary gift: she cannot be killed—not by humans, not by the elements, not by Death himself.
She is the one soul Death doesn’t recognize. The one soul he cannot pry free from her flesh. Nor can he ignore the unsettling desire he has for her. Take her. He wants to, desperately. And the longer she tries to stop him from his killing spree, the stronger the desire becomes.
When Lazarus crosses paths with the three other horsemen, an unthinkable situation leads to a terrible deal: seduce Death, save the world. A hopeless task, made all the worse by the bad blood between her and Thanatos. But Death’s attraction to her is undeniable, and try though she might, Lazarus cannot stay away from that ancient, beautiful being and his dark embrace.
The end is here. Humankind is set to perish, and not even the horsemen can stop Death from fulfilling his final task.
Only Lazarus can.
The Geek who Saved Christmas by Annabeth Albert
Gideon Holiday is the perfect neighbor. Need a cup of sugar? Spare folding chair? Extra batteries? He’s always ready to help. And he’s waited years for his hot, grumpy, silver fox neighbor, Paul, to need him. For anything. But this December, Gideon would be happy if he could just get the Scrooge-like Paul on board with the neighborhood holiday lights fundraiser.
Paul Frost has no intention of decking his halls or blazing any Yule logs. Even if his spunky bowtie-clad neighbor does look perfect for unwrapping, Paul would prefer to hide away until December is done. But when his beloved younger brother announces an unexpected visit, Paul needs all the trimmings for a festive homecoming—and fast.
Luckily, Gideon is there with a color-coded plan to save Christmas. Soon Paul’s hanging lights, trimming trees, and rolling out cookies. And steaming up his new flannel sheets with Gideon. How did that happen?
It’ll take some winter magic to preserve their happiness and keep these rival neighbors together longer than one holiday season.
The Geek Who Saved Christmas is a low-angst m/m holiday romance with a guaranteed happy ending. This grumpy/sunshine, neighbors-to-lovers, found family tale features two heroes in their forties figuring out that maybe their sexily-ever-after was right next door the whole time. It stands alone and is not connected to any of the author’s other universes. However, it does contain a heaping helping of the same emotions and steamy moments readers have come to expect!
More than Hate You by Shayla Black
I’m Sebastian Shaw—CFO, pragmatist, and moneymaker. I’ve mismanaged love in the past, but when it comes to business, I’m pure shark, able to cut down any threat to my success…except Sloan O’Neill. We’re vying for the same major client, so I do what any self-respecting cutthroat does to gain the upperhand: spy on the ball-busting piece of work. She may be gorgeous and unnervingly clever, but I have skills. My gutsy hourglass-shaped roadblock doesn’t stand a chance.
Until I realize I’m falling for her.
Suddenly, everything from my objectives to my morals is cloudy. Stay loyal to my best friend and boss to win this critical client at any cost…or give my heart another chance? But the more time I spend with my redheaded adversary, the more I realize she’s not just ambitious but kind, vulnerable…and perfect for me. Sloan has no idea how far I’ll go to make her mine—but she’s about to find out.
Dark Tarot by Christine Feehan
Sandu Berdardi continues to exist only to protect his people. An ancient Carpathian, his entire long life has been dedicated to honor above all else. He knows his time has passed, especially since he has not been able to find his lifemate—the anchor to keep him sane in a world he no longer understands. But just as he truly starts to give up hope, a voice reaches out to him in the night and his world explodes into color.
Adalasia enters Sandu’s mind seamlessly, as if she has been a part of him forever. While she can see the shape of things to come in her deck of cards, her gift is both a blessing and a curse. The true course of Sandu’s quest remains unclear, with danger waiting at every turn. She cannot see everything the future holds, but she does know it is a journey they will take together.
By joining him, she will start them down a dangerous, seductive path from which there is no coming back….
Nightwolf by Karina Halle (Live 11.10)
My name is Amethyst DeMille and I’m in love with a vampire.
Sounds complicated, doesn’t it?
Yet the fact that he’s a sexy, centuries-old blood-drinking vampire isn’t what makes our relationship complicated.
It’s because we live in the same house together, work at the same exclusive club together, and he happens to be my best friend with absolutely no idea how I feel about him.
I mean, sure he’s probably seen me give him heart eyes more than once. Can you blame me? Wolf is not only a deadly, charismatic vampire with great persuasion skills, he also happens to be built like a Nordic God, all solid muscle and chiseled bone structure and haunting eyes that I sometimes think tell me more than he wants me to know. He’s the type of guy most women find themselves falling for (and not just because they might end up his next meal).
But despite the simmering sexual tension and yearning between us, I know there’s no way I’ll ever be able to tell him how I feel. After all, I’m a human and he’s a vampire and he’s told me more than once that those love stories never end well.
Too bad my heart doesn’t know the difference.
***
Nightwolf is a contemporary vampire romance with a friends-to-lovers twist set in modern day San Francisco.
This book is a spinoff of The Dark Eyes Duet but can be read as a total standalone (however, if you are reading it as a series, The Dark Eyes Duet (Black Sunshine and The Blood is Love) should be read first).
One Night with a Nutcracker by Jana Aston (Live 11.11)
My name is Jake Sheppard and I’m ambivalent about Christmas and the Christmas-themed town I grew up in. But when I find out my late uncle left me an old barn and acres of land, the decision to return home to build my dream golf course is an easy one.
Imagine my surprise when I arrive and find out I have a squatter.
An incredibly sexy squatter, with wavy blonde hair, green eyes, a free spirit… and a herd of goats.
Sutton hates my guts. Apparently evicting a non-paying non-tenant and her goats weeks before Christmas is grounds for war.
Except Sutton’s version of war includes flinging her clothing at me and, as it turns out, I might be in way over my head with this girl…
On A Night Like This by Lindsey Kelk (Live 11.11)
Within days of wishing she could change her life, Fran Cooper is acting assistant to a celebrity, on a yacht in the Mediterranean, and en route to a tiny Italian island and the glittering Crystal Ball, along with the world’s rich and famous.
When she – quite literally – bumps into a handsome American called Evan, a man able to keep his cool in the face of chaos, the magic really begins.
Evan makes her a promise: no last names, no life stories, just one unforgettable night. Yet Evan belongs at the Crystal Ball and Fran is a gatecrasher. They may be soulmates, but their homes are an ocean apart, and their lives a world apart. They’ll never meet again – unless, on a night like this, everything can change forever…
Show Down by Tawna Fenske (Live 11.11)
Blame ego, blame my need to prove I could build a business all on my own. Hell, blame my parents—God love ‘em—for thinking I’d have problems prospering with a hammer instead of a law degree.
Turns out I’m doing just fine with a chain of luxury resorts bearing my name, but it’s a cold comfort when the woman I love hates my guts. Can’t say she’s wrong, considering how things ended.
I set out to win Lauren back, scoring a spot on her family’s reality show social experiment, or whatever it’s called when someone buys an old cult compound to build a tiny town. Works for me, since I’m a builder who loves a challenge.
But getting Lauren to forgive me proves way more than challenging. Between a botched baking class, sexy bumper car battles, and a bizarrely hostile fish, it’s clear she’s in no hurry to pick up where we left off.
Good thing I’m no quitter, especially when it comes to her.
Beast by Cambria Hebert (Live 11.12)
A tale as old as time…
A charismatic man could not see beyond his own brilliant reflection, never learning that true beauty lies within. His selfish behavior drew the ire of a witch with enchantment on her wicked tongue. A fiery curse was unleashed, engulfing the self-centered man’s entire existence.
When at last the flames extinguished, he gazed upon his reflection to discover he was no longer breathtakingly handsome, but condemned with scorched flesh and twisted scars.
He was no longer a man at all, but a beast.
While the ferocious beast raged, alienating everyone far and wide a woman whose beauty was far more than skin deep lived in a world much simpler than his.
Her quiet life is disrupted when she’s ambushed, threatened and boldly steps in the path of her father’s debt. However, it’s not the thugs on her tail or the roaring beast testing her patience that threatens to be this sassy beauty’s downfall.
It’s the way her heart flutters whenever he is near, but some curses just can’t be broken and really, how could she truly ever love a beast?
The Pact by Max Monroe (Live 11.13)
But it’s not love—it’s business—a marriage pact made out of desperation so my career doesn’t go up in flames.
Sure, Flynn Winslow is a hot, broody, mysterious man that women all over the globe would sell their souls to land for real, but I have my eyes on the prize and our marriage arrangement will end in three months with no strings attached.
Right?
Or will it all go out the window when I have to move in with Mr. Mysterious and our fake marriage starts to feel remarkably real?
I wish it were as easy as telling myself, Do not fall in love with your fake husband, Daisy, but apparently, when feelings get involved, not everything that happens in Vegas knows how to stay in Vegas.
