Showing results by publisher "Spoken Realms" in Contemporary

As Tampa Bay's star center, Mark Carmelo's life was hockey, and after a bitter and public break up, all he wanted to do was focus on the game. Until he saw her - the one that got away, the one he thought he'd never see again. For 13 years, Stevie West drowned in her lackluster life. Recently divorced from her “roommate” with passionless benefits, she was ready to start over on her own. Until she ran into him. The same man she'd met one year ago. The temptation that had finally given her the courage to find herself again.

I know Denver Talcott hates me as much as I hate him, but since we’re sharing custody of the same friend, I can’t get rid of him. Believe me, I’ve tried. Worse, he’s now working at the same startup as me. My dream job cannot be his dream job, because my dream is to not see him on a daily basis.

Of course Noah would come back, and right when my life is a mess. I swear we had the best carpool friendship. Until he asked me out, then changed his mind, and then asked me out again, only to ghost me. I hate him so much. Almost as much as I love him and miss him—the old him before he became the worst ever. I don’t know what to think, but I know what I’m going to do. I’m locking my heart in a vault where he can’t reach it. My crush on him may have been obvious and embarrassing, but now that he’s in carpool again, I’m making sure the only thing getting crushed around here are his hopes.

Connor Harwood is a snoop, a bad neighbor, and a tree and grass killer. Oh, and probably a criminal. I can’t forget that part. The fact that I find him to be the handsomest guy I’ve ever laid eyes on is completely irrelevant. I’ll just have to keep a close watch while also ignoring his very existence. I can do both, right?

My best friend has held a grudge against his half-sister, Lauren, forever. It’s unjustified and ridiculous, but I have to take his side. Also ridiculous? How bad I have it for her. My Lauren radar goes off the second she steps in the building. Did I mention we work together and her dad’s the boss? Yeah, she’s so off-limits I might as well start running now and never come back. Except, her family is like family to me. So, I’ll do whatever it takes to stick around, even if she hates my guts.

Jackson Waller thought fulfilling his dream would set him free. Despite his excitement to be taking over his father’s practice, the thoughtful young doctor never moved on from the demise of his high school sweetheart. So he’s shocked when he visits her grave a decade later, only to find his first love has returned to town very much alive. Maggie Keene will never forgive her dad. Unable to prove the despicable man killed her mom, she fled her hometown at age 18 to pursue singing and dancing in New York.

After a decade of playing hockey, a single injury ended Trapper Barnes’ career. But when he discovers that the woman who owns the local bakery is the girl who once shattered his dreams, the painful secret she’s been harboring all these years threatens to turn Trapper’s idyllic small-town future into a disaster. Will it take a forest fire threatening the mountain village to force Trapper and Brandi to confront their history?

Tilly Silverberg is rebuilding her life with her young son, Isaac, one potted-up plant at a time. Since her husband’s death, gardening has become her livelihood and her salvation. Hiding out in the North Carolina forest, she wants only to be left alone with Isaac and her greenhouse. New to the area, successful software developer James Nealy needs a garden. On a solitary mission to reclaim his life from irrational obsessions and relentless compulsions, he has a plan: to conquer his greatest fear. Dirt.

Stuntman Aaron Decker has his hands full raising his daughter, running his ranch, and jumping horses for a living. The new job on the set of a Western has its perks; it’s close to home and offers him a sizable paycheck. But what he doesn’t expect is to fall hard for nurse consultant Jenna Wilder. Putting a violent marriage behind her, Jenna Wilder is raising her son, writing scripts, and has sworn off ever falling in love again. But when Jenna’s past returns, Aaron must gain her trust to free her from the grips of her ex-husband’s vengeance.

Genevieve Banks is one of Hollywood’s most successful actresses. While on set in the small Oregon town of River Valley, she forms a deep friendship with her handsome male co-star. He wants more, but trauma deep in Genevieve’s past holds her back. When her closely guarded secret is revealed, Genevieve must make a painful choice: stay silent and let others suffer at the hand of the man who victimized her or confront the violence in her past and hold her abuser accountable.

Life isn't easy for Samantha Summers, daughter of an army general. Moving from one continent to another every other year helps a teenage girl learn 4 different languages in record time, but it's also killing her social life. And when a totally hot guy in her new hometown gives her hell for no obvious reason, the prospect of the coming school year makes Sam want to call it quits. There's just one thing even more unnerving than all that put together. For some strange reason, she can't seem to stop daydreaming about this impossible guy. And boy, he can kiss! Even outside her dreams...

The winter after I tossed my high school graduation cap into the air, I made a beeline for Canada, seeking solace in a six-month retreat. My mission? To care for horses and breathe new life into the charming farm of a warm-hearted elderly woman. Moonbreak Falls promises to be my haven, my escape from a life of whirlwind family drama and emotions I locked away for far too long. Just as I'm sinking into the comforting embrace of frosty days, however, Ruth's grandson bursts onto the scene like a fierce, unyielding snowstorm. This captivating hockey player has the appearance of a fallen angel.

I kissed more girls in high school than I care to remember. Yet, the only one I ever wanted is in love with my best friend. Watching Lisa's obsession with Tony has been a torture for years. But this summer, Tony got involved with someone else and asked me to distract Lisa from her grief. Heck, I'm game! Subtly, I seduce her first into my soccer team and later on to my party. She calls me an insufferable playboy. Well, she doesn't know me yet. Some one-on-one soccer training may change her mind.

Carlie Webster remains haunted by the past. After a messy failed marriage sends her packing for her small hometown, she relives the memories of her sister’s 30-year-old unsolved murder. But when rekindled sparks fly with the suspected killer’s brother, Carlie must clear his sibling’s name if she wants a shot at second-chance love.

Zane Shaw needs a fresh start. After his fiancé called off their wedding, he left his failed relationship to run the family restaurant back home. And just when he thinks he’s sworn off emotions for good, a former fling residing in Cliffside Bay reignites his broken heart. Honor Sullivan thought she had escaped her abusive background. But the terror returns when she learns the man who hurt her is out of prison. And when a dead bunny appears on her porch, she turns to her old crush Zane for the protection she so desperately desires.

Charlotte Wilde's life is a flop. She gives her heart to the wrong men and her first published book is a failure. Desperate to pay the bills, she takes a job caring for an elderly woman. Yet as Charlotte gets to work, dutifully helping Mrs. Lanigan sort through a box of old letters, distractions abound. For one thing, both women immediately become consumed with a mystery unfolding in the correspondence. And to complicate matters further, Charlotte finds herself drawn to her charge's son, Ardan, like they've known each other forever.

Krista Jameson is a romance novelist. She's also the DA's only daughter and Ethan's first love from long ago. With the success of her latest book, a crazed fan has marked her as his. When her stalker writes threatening letters to Krista's father, it forces him to hire security and unexpectedly brings Ethan back into her life. Ethan was dangerous to her heart as a teenager, the man he was now could be lethal.

The Awakening, a novel by Kate Chopin, was first published in 1899. Set in New Orleans and on the Louisiana Gulf Coast at the end of the 19th century, the plot centers on Edna Pontellier and her struggle between her increasingly unorthodox views on femininity and motherhood with the prevailing social attitudes of the turn-of-the-century American South. It is widely seen as a landmark work of early feminism with themes that are still relevant today.

Memphis Love knows three things. Money. Sex. Women. As long as it has a pond for him to dip his pole into, he's game. The small beach town he lives in doesn't offer much for job opportunities or, at least, lucrative ones. He relies on his body, the pole, and stage. Oh, and the after-hours clients. Iris, his best after-hours customer, takes him on a yearly cruise with her friends. Only thing is he didn't expect a little ray of sunshine on the ship this year. Raylan Moore has the power to rattle everything he once believed.

Just for an instant their gazes connect, then he's gone. Barrel racer Trish Barton wants to find that mysterious man in black who, in brief seconds, pushed all her buttons. A born submissive, she sees herself on her knees before him, bound by the lasso he'd held in his hand. Jake Keenan will never forget that one brief glimpse of the woman who set him on fire, a woman he'd give anything to master. How could she have taken root in his dreams after that one brief glimpse?