Showing results by publisher "Podium Audio" in Small Town & Rural

I thought I had everything until I lost it all. Jess was my best friend, the mother of my child, and the only woman I ever saw a future with. When she died, I let the grief consume me, unable to see a way out of the depths I'd crawled into in the wake of her passing. All that was left of her was our daughter Emmy Lou and the threadbare memories I clung to for comfort. When it got harder to live without her, I decided to return home to Oak Ridge, Kentucky—to the ranch where I grew up and the family who wouldn't hesitate to help me pick up the pieces.

Jace Ryan is such a cliché. The star baseball player who can get any girl he wants. He's also a close-minded jerk who can't seem to understand why a guy would want to wear makeup. He won't leave me alone, claiming that what I choose to wear is distracting, that I'm a freak for being different. His bullying is annoying, and yeah, I might have been afraid once, but I won't let it get to me. I won't change who I am for anyone. And despite what he might say in front of his friends, Jace doesn't actually seem to hate me as much as he claims. Especially when we're alone, and I'm on my knees for him.

I came to Driftwood Cove to outrun the grief, the failure, and the girl I used to be. Six murals. Six paychecks. A quiet coastal town far from the chaos of Memphis. But Driftwood Cove has a way of pulling you in. And so do the men I never saw coming. Shepard—the broody librarian who makes stillness feel like safety. Gabe—the grumpy firefighter who reminds me what it means to fight. Boone—the golden retriever paramedic who makes me laugh when I've forgotten how. I told myself I didn't need anyone, that I couldn't be anyone's Omega again.

I'm Noah Carter, and this is my confession. My story is one of vengeance that twisted into a love I never saw coming. My target? Baron Hunt, the man whose ruthlessness shattered my family. The plan was simple: seduce his daughter Stella to force her father's hand, making him pay for his past transgressions. She became an unwitting pawn in a game of retribution that was supposed to end with my victory. Instead, I realized that the heart doesn't follow the rules of revenge.

Jace King is a smoking hot firefighter, a single dad and my new boss. He's also the most beautiful man I've ever laid eyes on. It's totally fine to secretly crush on the guy you Nanny for, right? Did I mention that he's also a decade older than me, works with my dad and he's a close family friend? If you looked up OFF LIMITS in the dictionary, you'd find an eight by ten photo of my sexy boss. But something happens every time we're in a room together. The attraction is almost overpowering.

At 22, I've already had my share of hell with being forced into an arranged marriage with an abusive man by parents, who couldn't care less. But Whispering Grove is my fresh start. My own apartment. My brewery job. My life, finally.

When Elara flees corporate life to open a coffee shop in the small southern town of Fairhaven Falls, the last thing she is looking for is a relationship. But when she meets Grondar, the gruff orc owner of the bakery next door, sparks fly. Literally. Grondar has been burned by human females before. He has no intention of letting the feisty little female next door get under his skin—no matter how attractive he finds her. And it certainly doesn't mean he's going to let her get away with sabotaging his business.

It's not like I planned to fall for my older brother's best friend. It just happened. With a perfect body covered in tattoos, and a dirty mouth, Roman is the kind of guy women notice—and believe me, I noticed. Even when I tried not to. When he finally gives in to temptation, there's no going back. At least for me. Too bad Roman doesn't see it that way. He thinks he needs to protect me and my relationship with my brother, but I don't need him to fight my battles. I just need him.

Football players are treated like royalty in our small town, which makes Beckham Carver their king. As the new quarterback of the Braysen Bulldogs, he's also my boyfriend's biggest rival. Add that to the list of reasons I should stay far away from him. But when my truck breaks down, Beckham makes me an offer I can't refuse: He'll repair my pickup in exchange for me tutoring him. I have only one stipulation—no one, including my boyfriend, can find out.

Lainie Eaves has no idea she's descended from shifters. She doesn't even know shifters exist because when she was born human, her grandparents made sure she would never learn the truth about her family. But now they're dead. And she's back in Hideaway Cove to deal with their crumbling old estate—and discover everything that was kept hidden from her. Hideaway Cove is the only safe haven griffin shifter Harrison Galway has ever known—a place where, as a shifter, he can live without hiding what he is. When gorgeous, curvy Lainie arrives in town, he knows at once that she's his fated mate.

Maisie Pickett's life is going great—if you count a struggling bike business, an unwanted roommate, and a not-so-charming stranger who's way too sketchy to trust. When Griff—just Griff—arrives on Michigan's Mackinac Island, where cars are a no-go and horses have the right of way, Maisie knows three things: 1. He's ridiculously hot. 2. He's clearly rich. 3. He's definitely trouble. Fast-forward one day, and Mister Tall, Dark, and Difficult shows up at her seriously understaffed shop, offering to work for nearly nothing. He can't mean it. There must be a catch.

Was it a sin to hate the dead? It was something I had pondered many times over the past ten months. Although it wasn't why I required medication to sleep at night. I wasn't truly concerned about the level of darkness that resided in my soul. It was the images of the night I had watched a bullet take down the boy I had loved most of my life. Seeing the life leave his body, the way his eyes had gone void. It haunted me. Even now that I knew he'd betrayed me. That what I thought had been real had all been a lie. Crosby Cash had been in love, alright, just not with me.

What happens when you accidentally throw a blueberry pie in your brother's best friend's face? You marry him a week later for health insurance, of course.

Her heart is wild. Only he can capture it. When Cole Ashby is appointed Laurel Creek's interim sheriff, he is determined to prove himself as the best man for the job. A devoted single dad, his goal is to lay steady roots for his young daughter. As the daughter of a Kentucky congressman, Ginger Danforth's life has always been about neat appearances. But inside, she's dying to break free and embrace the sense of adventure that runs through her veins.

With some of the strongest relationships in Shellseeker Beach facing daunting challenges, the family must come together like never before. Budding romances are tested by unexpected arrivals, and major decisions threaten to bring upheaval instead of peace on the beach. Like the tides that bring a bounty of shells every morning and night, change is the only constant…and love is the foundation that holds this found family firmly on the sands of the place they call home.

Mal's just passing through. Skylar's the small-town nurse who fixes everyone but himself. Mal swears he won't fall, but Sky's smile hides shadows he can't ignore. Those pewter-grey eyes. That sun-kissed hair. That ink. We're a mistake waiting to happen. Inevitable. Excruciating. So where's the harm in Just This Once?

Working as the head trainer at Lodestar Ranch is my chance to prove I have what it takes to be a woman in a man's world. The only problem? My boss is the world's grumpiest cowboy… and I can't keep my eyes off him.

As the festival of Beltane draws near, mysterious fires are springing up around the magical village of Myrtlewood, and Rosemary Thorn can't help but try to solve the case. Rosemary already has too much on her plate with a hoard of foundling children to house and her own teenager to raise. On top of all this, she has run out of excuses. There's nothing standing between Rosemary and her dream of becoming a magical chocolatier. Well, nothing except her own self-sabotage. Meanwhile, Athena Thorn is yearning for the fae realm and harboring a secret that could put the whole town at risk.

Starlight Grove needs a new lighthouse keeper, and Olive Autumn Harvest needs a fresh start. Preferably one with as much solitude as possible. So, her new job and isolated ocean cottage are perfect—except for the eccentric, meddling townspeople and the cat who's adopted her. When the town wins a grant for lighthouse restoration, Olive is forced to let the contractors into her space… a company comprised of three hot alphas: Easton, her golden retriever stalker, Lars, the steady, protective Viking, and Finn, who's hiding a pain that matches her own.

I abandoned our small town the moment I could, leaving my broken heart with my high school sweetheart. He and our best friend were my world growing up, but they had their reasons to stay, and I had mine to go. I tried to start over: a new city, new relationships, even a new name, but I couldn't resist going back home to celebrate my birthday before moving abroad with my fiancés. After all my hard work, I never expected to have the world I'd crafted pulled out from under me, or to come face to face with the man I still dreamed about, or for him to come with a pack that would sweep me away.