Showing results by author "Monica Murphy" in All Categories

I started flirting with a guy while waiting for my car to be serviced. Now granted, he wasn’t just any guy. Tall. Dark. Hot. Mysterious. Can you blame me for wanting to talk to him? He’s in town visiting his parents. So am I. He goes to the same college as I do. Such a coincidence. Almost as if our meeting is destined. But I shouldn’t believe in that sort of thing. I am single as a Pringle and always ready to mingle. Until I keep running into Mr. Tall, Dark, and Mysterious everywhere I go.

Ava Callahan. Love of my life. Wrecker of my soul. I would have sworn on anything that what we shared was real. But she broke my trust. And then my heart. I don’t think I can piece it back together without her, but I’m sure going to try. I’m better off on my own, anyway, right? Who needs girls when you have football? If only I believed that. Look, when you need someone in your life, you don’t want to let her go. And I can’t let go of Ava. I love her. She loves me. Nothing can convince me otherwise. 

Eleanor Murray is tired. Tired of going on awkward dates. Tired of meeting men who just aren’t that into her. Tired of being set up on blind dates by her well-meaning friends. She is a believer of true love, of finding that happily ever after, and she wants it. She deserves it. But at the rate she’s going, she’s pretty sure it’s never going to happen. Until a friend creates a profile for Eleanor on a new dating app. At first, she’s reluctant. But then she makes a connection on Rate a Date, and this gorgeous, confident guy almost seems too good to be true.... 

Jake Callahan. Prince of the popular crowd. My mortal enemy. Gorgeous. All the girls want him. Quarterback. All the boys want to be his friend. He’s the most popular boy in the senior class. And he hates me. Or so I thought. What I mistook for hatred turns out to be…interest. There’s that thin line, right? It makes me crazy. I can’t stand it. Attraction, chemistry, whatever it is, I also can’t resist it. And neither can he.

Kelsey Phillips is over the dating scene. All that time and energy perfecting your profile and taking just the right picture and articulating exactly what you’re looking for, only to get the same sleazy propositions? No, thanks. She’s doing just fine on her own, so there’s no point in a fruitless hunt for “the one” that doesn’t exist. Besides, she already has the perfect man in her life. Theo is the type of friend who’s always there for a laugh, a hug, or a drink - and no propositions.

Stella Ricci is bored. Her overprotective family barely let her out of their sight, despite the fact she’s a grown woman. Yes, she loves her job at her family’s café, and she’s the best barista in the entire Monterey Peninsula, but is that enough? She’s thinking no. But what else can she do? Enter Carter Abbott. Burnt out after the never-ending grind of selling high-end real estate in Los Angeles, he’s returned home, unsure of what to do next. He needs someplace to crash temporarily until he gets back on his feet.

Working at Bliss, Sarah Harrison deals with all sorts of...interesting clientele. Yet no one sparks her interest more than Jared Gaines, the ultra-rich, ultra-sexy businessman who frequents her shop, buying delicate little “gifts” for the women in his life. But one day, Jared sends Sarah a gift from Bliss. Then another - and another. So when Sarah walks into his office demanding to know why, he makes her an offer she somehow can’t refuse: be his fake girlfriend for the weekend while attending his brother’s engagement party.

Caroline Abbott loves her job - helping engaged couples pick out the perfect save-the-date cards and invitations for their dream wedding. Working at Noteworthy means she has to deal with the occasional bridezilla, but Caroline’s always up for the challenge. Until one particular bridezilla, whose fiancé happens to be the boy Caroline shared her first kiss with, walks into the stationery store. Alexander Wilder is all grown up now, helping run his family’s successful luxury hotel chain, and is somehow even better looking than she remembers.

Diego Garcia. Class bully. Football star. My boyfriend. I fell hard and fast for the resident bad boy, and he fell just as hard for me, too. We were the perfect couple, until things turned sour. Senior year and we’re both super busy. He has football. I have volleyball. Soon enough, I hear the rumors - Diego’s cheating on me. After everything we’ve been through, I’m devastated. Breaking up with him was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. He doesn’t love me. Besides, only a few more months of school, and then I’m going away to college.

My first crush. My first kiss. The boy who ripped my heart out of my chest again and again. Over and over. I let him have it every single time. Willingly. We are that toxic high school couple you hear about, the one you witness in the hallway as they avoid each other. You laugh at them in class when they’re forced to work together, their gazes full of hatred. We are the couple you gossip about when they win homecoming prince and princess their sophomore year.... The back and forth is what kills me the most. I’m not his princess, I’m the girl he toys with when he’s bored.

Eli Bennett: quarterback at our biggest rival high school and my brother’s worst enemy. So why can’t I stop thinking about him? For one, he’s totally gorgeous, and boy, does he know it. He’s an arrogant trash talker who brings drama wherever he goes. And for some reason, he’s set his sights on me.

Jackson Rivers. My not-so-secret crush. He’s popular. Gorgeous. Talented. Also my biggest weakness. I’ve stood by him for years. Been a friend every time he needed one, but he doesn’t see me. Not like I want him to. Move on, my friends said. Find someone new. Someone who sees your worth. Someone who gets you. I know they’re right. I’m only a friend to him. He’s never going to see me like I see him. So I take their advice, and try to move on. But Jackson is always right there. 

Candice Gaines loves Christmas. Not only does she bask in the twinkling lights, sing Christmas carols, and go crazy with the decorations, she’s also in the giving spirit - donating much of her time and wealth to various charities in the local area. Charlie Sullivan despises Christmas. Though it keeps his family afloat, considering they own Sullivan Family Christmas Tree Farm, the main provider for Christmas trees on the Monterey Peninsula. He’d much rather work among the trees than deal with people. 

Eli Bennett. Magnetic. Outspoken. Infuriating. Top-ranked college quarterback. Sexy. Funny. Oh, and now my ex-boyfriend. When he makes me choose between him or a once in a lifetime opportunity, I surprise us both and don’t choose him. He can’t tell me what to do. Besides, he’ll get over my so-called betrayal and we’ll be back together in no time. But when I return from my European study abroad program, Eli is still angry. He wants me to apologize for leaving him. I want him to apologize for giving me an ultimatum. 

Whit Lancaster burst into my life like a storm. Dark and thunderous, furious and fierce. Cold, heartless and devastatingly beautiful, like the statues in our prep school gardens. The school with his family name on the sign. He can do no wrong here. This is his domain. He’s a menace on campus. Adored and feared. Hated and respected. His taunting words carve into my skin, shredding me to ribbons. Yet his intense gaze scorches my blood, fills me with a longing I don’t understand.

Eden: Josh Evans and I have been best friends forever. He knows all my secrets, and I know all of his. So when he randomly asks me to help him lose his virginity, I sort of flip out. That's a question that sends your mind to places you've seriously never considered before. Like, you know. Having sex. With your best friend. Except Josh doesn't want to have sex with me-he wants me to help him find a girl. A nice girl who's funny and smart and cute. Except he already knows a girl just like that.... 

Newly broke girl Alexandria Asher just wants to live a normal life. After her parents are sent to prison on embezzlement charges, she enrolls in college under her mother's maiden name and tries her best to pretend she's someone else. Tristan Prescott is everything Alex is trying to avoid. A seemingly egotistical, lazy, rich jerk, she dumps her beer on his head when he comes on to her one night at a party. This only spurs Tristan into action. He loves nothing more than a challenge.

Sydney Walker's new job is perfect. As the live-in nanny to the most famous quarterback in the NFL and his beautiful wife, she couldn't have it any better. Their kids are adorable. Her bosses are more than generous. Plus, there are hot football players at the house all the time. Life can't get much better than this. Until her life turns into an absolute nightmare. The media is abuzz with rumors that she and her boss, Drew Callahan, are having a torrid affair.

Annie McFarland is sick of being a shy nobody. A session at summer camp seems like the perfect opportunity to reinvent herself - gain some confidence, kiss a boy, be whoever she wants to be. A few days in, she's already set her sights on über-hottie Kyle. Too bad her fear of water keeps her away from the lake, where Kyle is always hanging out.

It's the end of summer. Just before I start senior year with my two best friends in the whole world. Dustin and Emily are everything to me. We've been inseparable since middle school, and when we're together, nothing can go wrong. But things aren't always what they seem. Em's turned into a drunken mess who parties too much. Dustin and I have hooked up a few times - and now he's ready to take our relationship to the next level. Yet I'm not sure I want things to change.