Showing results by narrator "Lula Larkin" in All Categories

Harriet “Harry” and Desi Basantes spent 16 years waiting to find each other again, and now they’re weeks away from a wedding and the baby they’ve planned since high school. Desi’s sister Rachel Thompson is happy for them. Rachel might wish for her own grand love affair, but her attraction to Harry’s ex Serena Ladding doesn’t exactly spell happily ever after. Angola State Penitentiary is one of the toughest prisons in the country, but when Desi’s ex-husband Byron Simoneaux sees the chance to run, he does with only one goal in mind:

Marigold Lavender lights up every room she enters. Then, she’s left to turn out the lights and head home alone. Soft on the inside and a go-getter on the outside, Marigold just wants to make sure everyone else is okay before worrying about herself.

Romance novelist Jackie Mitchell has built a life that works: few responsibilities, friends that know she’s far from outgoing, and sex whenever she needs it. She has her past, but she doesn’t think about it. Ever. All that changes when she finds the child she gave up for adoption standing on the doorstep. Now 16 years old, Beth Weber is resourceful, a blossoming artist, and a spitting image of her birth mom. To say Jackie is stunned is the understatement of the year.

Cori Stratton’s a small-town girl. She loves making candles, and her little gift shop is her pride and joy. But when the shop’s building goes up for sale, she might lose her home and everything that makes her happy. The worst timing of all? Her landlord’s daughter Elizabeth Brennan—popular, smart, and oblivious to Cori’s existence in high school—has breezed back into town.

Cherry Davis is turning her part-time influencer gig into a full-time venture. As Cherry on Top, she’s the happy, loved lesbian lifestyle guide with an enviable relationship, friends, and wardrobe. Reputation is crucial for her business, and if she uses some smoke and mirrors to spice it up? She doesn’t hurt anybody. Everyone else does it, too. Trolls might try to tell her she isn’t being authentic, but she’s tougher than they are. Her childhood gave her a thick skin.

Public school teacher Cara Talarico is determined to pay off her student loans by the time she turns thirty-five and has sworn off everything fun to make it happen—including dating. Attending her high school reunion definitely ranks in the not-fun category. The last thing she expects is to reconnect with Lauren Havemayer, her unrequited crush from ten years ago. Having just returned from Europe, Lauren barely remembers Cara from their school days but can't deny the sparks flying between them now.

All of Aubrey McFadden’s college friends are tying the knot, and she’s been invited to five weddings. Five. In one year. Who wouldn’t want to celebrate so much love and romance? Aubrey, that’s who.

London Granger gave up her modeling career for investigative journalism only to discover no one would hire her to write anything important. The only way out of her dead-end job? Investigate something the internet will actually read. That’s how her next assignment becomes “What’s it Really Like to Date a Billionaire?” Her boss hooks her up on a glitzy getaway to St. Kitts as the companion of obscenely wealthy Miranda Northbrooke. Miranda’s only request: when they inevitably run into the ex who dumped her, London must play the role of Miranda’s adoring new girlfriend.

Owning and operating the Hummingbird Sanctuary was supposed to be the best time of Olive Zyntarski’s life. She was going to tackle the future with eyes wide open and forget about her guilty conscience. All that changes when a chance meeting with a mysterious new guest has Olive’s long-buried secrets bubbling to the surface. As marketing director, Eleanor Fitzwallace knows how to present everything in its best light—everything except her nonexistent love life. When her high school heartbreak saunters into the Sanctuary’s restaurant, Eleanor’s determined to ignore her.

Riley has spent her entire life in the same small town, in Upstate New York. There aren’t many prospects for true love, but she dreams of owning the small movie theater she manages. Hard to get when you live paycheck to paycheck. Victoria has fallen for a woman more interested in her money than her heart, for the last time. When she runs into Riley, the first girl she ever had a crush on, at their high school reunion, she’s hoping there might be a chance for the kind of relationship she’s always wanted. But Victoria can’t help wondering if Riley, too, is only after her money.

Juliette Jennings lives her life like a tightly laced corset—not that she’d ever wear one. As a business owner of a stationery store, structure is her favorite. But when her best friend and her ex fall head over heels for each other, everything unravels and leaves her exposed. Even worse, a scandalous lingerie shop has moved in next door, and its tantalizing window displays will drive away her conservative customers. If only the owner would turn off the charm, Juliette is sure she could stop imagining her in nothing but the shop’s lacy best sellers.

Taylor, a physical trainer, has just inherited her grandfather’s B&B on Maui, but there’s a catch. She can’t have the deed until the day after her one-year wedding anniversary. She’d rather stick a fork in her eye than get hitched, but the B&B is a dream come true. So all she has to do is find a woman who will agree to fake a marriage. How hard can it be?

There's only one person who would take me in after leaving my fiancé—my brother Axel. Unfortunately, he’s not the one who answered the door on that wintery Valentine’s night. That was his best friend and roommate, Reid Wilder. Copper-colored hair, dark eyes, and the number eight tattooed on his bicep. I should have turned around when he mistook me for a puck bunny and invited me in. I definitely should have said no to the drink he offered while I waited. But the biggest mistake I made was climbing into his lap and kissing him.

Gwendolyn Adams has been canceled. The Preston Prep Devils made that clear after the incident that forced my sister Skylar to leave our academy. They wanted me to leave, too, but I refused. I’m sticking around to make sure they follow through on the deal the snobby, elite crew of jocks made with the administration. The arrangement is simple. No one ever speaks about what happened to Skylar again, and no one gets punished.

To new identities, he declares, holding up his glass. To no more epic f-ups. No more partying for me. No more athletes for you. Not until we get it together. Little did I know that the night I made the deal with the tattooed, pierced, star goalie in the back room of a bar, that we were starting something--something we can't stop. Except he's on probation, and I'm looking to change my reputation as a jersey chaser willing to do whatever it took to win the quarterback's attention.

After a chaotic childhood in a long line of foster homes, Sam McKenna found her version of serenity in her friendship with Brooke Fields. When tragedy forces Brooke to become a single mother, Sam is there for her. Sam ignores the crush she’s had on Brooke since college. Their relationship is too precious to risk.

Leighton Morrow didn’t set out to ruin anyone’s life, but she has a job to do. As a development coordinator for Carrington’s Department Store, Leighton’s part of the team that plans to take over the city block for the new location, including demolishing her new favorite café, Bordeauxnuts. A shame, but that’s life. She’ll miss the apple fritters and the cute owner. But work is a No Feelings Zone and she definitely cannot give in to the ones she has percolating for Jamie. Leighton and Jamie have all the ingredients to turn their attraction into love, but it’s a recipe for disaster.

No good deed goes unpunished. I learned that lesson the hard way when I agreed to helping my friend Justin with a favor. My platonic friend Justin. A favor that helped him with his reputation, but turned mine into the trending topic at my school.

After an unfortunate incident and a forced leave of absence from the Secret Service, Arden Ryan is moving back to Chicago where she can get over her failures in the comfort of her childhood home.

Charlie Dawson is really good at running away. After the loss of her parents, she’s stayed as far away from Manhattan and her parents' hotel empire as she could—an act made easier when her brother ruthlessly cut her off from the family fortune. Closing her art gallery, abandoning her dreams, and moving across the country weren’t simple, but that was easier than grieving the loss of the two people she loved most.