Showing results by author "Cara Malone" in All Categories

Hot-shot obstetrician Mercedes Stone is killing it at work, but she has a dirty secret. She’s the daughter of a hoarder. She’s built her life around her research but when her mother’s condition reaches a crisis point, she must drop everything to come home. Lily Thomas is a pediatrician quickly approaching 40 and all she’s ever wanted is a family. She’s given up on finding Ms. Right, but the day she meets Mercedes – who’s taking a temporary job at Lakeside Hospital – is the same day Lily learns she’s finally pregnant.

Ivy Chan has always known her destiny. She would be the best neurosurgeon in the state, or maybe the country. Better even than her father, whose shadow she's eager to escape.

Marley St. James is always a bridesmaid, never a bride. From her curly red hair to her dimpled smile, she’s the ultimate girl next door. She’s also a dedicated veterinarian and a total catch…so why is she doomed to watch all her friends fall in love while her own Miss Right is MIA?

Entering her second year of vet tech school, Ling is caught between her best friend and her long-time crush. Ling wants nothing more than to tell Dakota how she feels, but she can’t risk upsetting the delicate balance of their friendship–until she discovers her best friend, Amber, is the third point in their love triangle.

She’s perfectly content with her close-knit friends, her avian research at the local university, and, well, her own hand is enough to satisfy her on lonely nights. But then her BFF starts a family, Kiran’s dean denies her tenure, and she breaks her wrist trying to tame a traumatized cockatoo. In just a few days, everything Kiran cares about is obliterated.

Carmen hasn’t had snow on Christmas in 10 years. Her family has grown accustomed to beaches and extravagant tropical vacations, but she still remembers the snow in Massachusetts when she was a kid. When her dad decides to book a cabin in the idyllic, snow-capped mountains of Colorado for Christmas, the rest of the family is skeptical--why trade palm trees and warm weather for a snowbound ski resort?

As the new director of Sunnyside Assisted Living, Lauren has her hands full with everything from a budget-obsessed boss to a 90-year-old muffin-juggling resident. And now Lauren’s got a brand-new fire to put out. There’s a beautiful stranger outside her office with a fox perched on her shoulder. Grace just launched her animal-assisted therapy business with almost no start-up money and a borrowed fennec fox, but she knows furry companions will transform the lives of Sunnyside’s elderly residents. The moment she sets eyes on Lauren, Grace wants this deal even more.

It’s the most romantic time of year, and the Emerald Mountain Ski Resort staff are working overtime to transform it into a Valentine’s Day destination. Travel photographer Haley Thomas arrives on the mountain, reluctant but determined to cover the festivities for her magazine. Single and recently scorned, she’s dreading the next two weeks of couple’s massages, wine tastings, and moonlight walks surrounded by people in love. But when a white-out catches Haley unprepared and underdressed, romance is the least of her worries.

Scarlet Day, the magnetic lead singer of the all-female alt-rock band The Scarlet Begonias, is on the cusp of fame. Their first album just launched and they’ve landed a dream gig – performing on a luxury sapphic cruise to the Galapagos. To top it all off, during their first set on deck, she makes a connection with a mesmerizing woman in the crowd. Robin Barry is a solo traveler on a couples cruise, which has the potential to be painfully awkward. A veterinary researcher intent on focusing on the wildlife rather than the women, her plans change abruptly when she meets the sultry starlet.

Krys Stevens is the best trauma doctor at Lakeside Hospital. She runs the ER like a finely choreographed dance and her dedication to her patients makes up for the ones she cannot save. She’s got a small group of coworkers she calls friends and she’s a superstar at the free clinic where she volunteers. What more could an ambitious young doctor want? One day, a patient arrives in the ER intubated with a ballpoint pen and changes everything.

Nat Butler is a rock goddess. A goddess with a penthouse apartment, a long-running career, fans across the globe… and nothing real to hold onto. Her recording contract is up, and when an ugly breakup drags Nat into the tabloids, she decides the universe is telling her to take a break from LA. She’s ready to build something of her own – something real – so she heads back to her Ohio hometown to scout a local band in the hopes of starting a production company.

How many times have you walked past your soul mate before you noticed her?College senior Leah McAllister is quickly approaching a new chapter of her life, and she’s not ready for any of the things that come after graduation. The job market is grim, adult responsibility looms, and when her job writing for the school paper sends her to interview the magnetic Morgan, she even begins questioning her sexuality.

Maxine Saddler has never been in love. She knows exactly what it looks like. She’s spent years studying the phenomenon in other people, but her Asperger syndrome makes it far too anxiety-provoking to attempt such a thing in her own life. Instead, she focuses exclusively on academics. She’s 23 years old, starting grad school, and perfectly content to ignore the world beyond her textbooks. That is, until she meets Ruby Satterwhite, who makes Max want to give love one more shot.

What do you do when your life is over before it even really began? For Melody Bledsoe, the answer is to go home and lick your wounds. A former child prodigy, Melody was always the best dancer in her class - in her town, even. All that changed when she won a scholarship to a prestigious performing arts school in New York and quickly learned what it's like to be a little fish in a big pond. For Jessie Cartwright, the answer is to survive. Pregnant at 16 - and on her first date no less - Jessie had no choice but to drop out of school.

Betty wants what everyone wants–happiness, security, and a quiet, good life. She’s determined to make that happen on her own, despite her mother’s fears that she’ll turn into a spinster if she doesn’t settle down and find a husband soon.

Foxes make terrible pets but they’re fantastic wingmen. Sydney Young has dedicated her life to animals. She’s a wildlife rehabilitator on call around the clock for rescue missions all over the state and every last one of her friends are veterinarians. Waiting at home for her is a rambunctious fox too tame to be released.

Max and Ruby Saddlerwhite are newlyweds who seem to have it all. They have mastered the rules of love and navigated the challenges of a long-term relationship, and now they are settling happily into married life and beginning their careers. There’s just one thing Ruby wants – to start a family. And that’s something Max isn’t sure she can give her. She has learned to work through the challenges of life and love on the autism spectrum by researching her way through major obstacles, but a baby is a challenge Max might not be up for.

Max and Ruby have fallen hard for each other after a bitter grad school rivalry turned first into lust, and then into love. When the school year comes to an end, they’re faced with a new challenge: a summer apart. They make plans to visit each other, but when Max comes to Chicago to meet Ruby’s family, she brings with her a secret in a small package – an engagement ring that she hopes will prove her devotion. There’s only one problem.... Max has never been good at first impressions, and she fits into Ruby’s family like a square peg in a round hole.

Once they’ve been awakened to love, can Morgan and Leah ever go back to sleep? Leah McAllister is starting a new job in a bland maze of tan cubicles where she hopes to blend in with her surroundings – she’s had enough attention for one lifetime. What she never expects is to find herself working under Morgan, a mesmerizing woman who turned her world upside down when they met one year before. A lot can change in a year, though, and Morgan Park is a different person now.