Showing results by narrator "Rose Rock" in All Categories

Ever since his career-ending injury, Pat has bounced from job to job, idea to idea, short-lived relationship to short-lived relationship. But when his father purchases the town of Sheet Cake, Pat suddenly sees his life with clear purpose: get his brothers on board with his dad's wild idea and win back the one woman who got away. Lindy was supposed to be traveling the world, not stuck in a small town, caring for her niece. But she would do anything to keep custody of Jo, even if that looks like a marriage of convenience with the man who already broke her heart once.

I’m not exactly the "take home to Mom" type. I’m too outspoken and have never met an expectation I didn’t want to challenge. And to put it bluntly, my professional career of being an intimate relationships counselor doesn’t make for polite dinner conversation.

My agent has this idea—an insanely bad idea—to reboot my Hollywood heartthrob status by having my long-lost love dump me… while I'm proposing to her on national TV. The theory? Women everywhere will swoon over poor Lincoln James, scrambling to repair his vulnerable, shattered heart. Trouble is, I don't have any kind of love—long, lost, or otherwise. To play my fake girlfriend, my agent enlists Hadley Morgan, my secret college crush. The one who dragged me to an audition that launched my career but left her in the dust.

Trust me, I'm not falling for a human porcupine. I don't do older men with baggage a mile long. Billionaires? Nope, I'm Miss Independence, thank you very much. And when a man with the emotional intelligence of a cucumber decides to boss me around? Hoo boy. Shepherd Foster and I are utterly incompatible. He still can't get over the day we met when I questioned Mr. High and Mighty's judgment. He's also holding the key—and the moolah—to my animal rescue dreams. I'm only putting up with this torture for the cute otters, I swear.

I've tried my whole life to curb my feelings for Liam, who is not my cousin, even if our family is like, well, family. After he brought a girlfriend home for the holidays last year, I decided it was high time for my crush to finally die. And since we haven't run into each other at all since then, it's been easy. (If not altogether effective.) Even our family stopped trying to push us together. But then Liam walks into my office just before Christmas, and I find out he'll be working here as a consultant. Oh—and he got special permission from my boss to have me directly under him.

I have it all. I work my dream job doing animal-assisted therapy, I live with the four best friends in history, and I own an actual pair of Louboutins. I should be content. Right? Except, ever since an adorable toddler begged me to be her momma, I want more, and an insta-family is my only chance at motherhood. Unfortunately, her absurdly hot NFL star dad isn't quite as enthusiastic about me as she is. In fact, if I didn't know better, I'd think he was avoiding me. At least until his nanny leaves abruptly mid-season.

I've never been enough for the people around me, not for my parents before they died and not for the tough grandfather who raised me. When he unexpectedly passes, leaving me the famous (and failing) Sugar Maple Farms, all I want is to sell so I can leave the weight of being a Carville behind. Until Jane shows up. The woman is smart, salty, and sexy as can be. I can't admit it, but her vision for Sugar Maple Farms is captivating. Everything about her is captivating. While we spend every day arguing, I spend every night thinking about her.

People may call me an "overachieving ice queen," but I would do anything for the people I love. So when my friends ask me to host an event at their famous farm, I'm more than happy to help… until I discover I've been set up.

After graduation, I thought I’d be off to grad school, doing research on my favorite poet. Instead, I’m renovating my late grandmother’s home and posting about the process on Instagram. Talk about a detour… But here I am. Turning Gran’s beach house into a bed and breakfast; a process that would be a lot easier if I didn’t have to deal with the grumpy lawyer living next door. It doesn’t help that the night Jake and I met, I got a little tipsy, and he had to carry me back to my hotel.

Love and happily ever after? It's not for me. I'm much happier keeping everyone at arm's length, focusing on my government cybersecurity work. Then, I push things a little too far and hack my way into trouble. When I need to lay low and stay off the radar for a bit, what better place to do so than on Oakley Island with my sisters? With limited housing options, I reluctantly agree to stay on the yacht of the very annoying Benedict King, the billionaire who has been messing—flirting?—with me since we met. I did not agree, however, to a voyage out to sea.

I said I’d never set foot on Oakley Island again. Not so long as he lived there. After my life implodes, I’m reconsidering everything. Including my reasons for avoiding the first—and only—man I’ve ever loved. I’m a high achiever. Driven. Maybe a little too driven. So when my boyfriend confesses to cheating and steals the promotion I’ve been working toward for years, I do the unthinkable for someone like me. I break. The timing couldn’t be better for me to fall apart. I escape to the idyllic Oakley Island and oversee the renovations on my late grandmother’s estate.

I get it. We were in elementary school. Just a couple of kids on the playground. But after Nash Hendrix called me Enemy instead of Emily, his stupid nickname haunted me for years. Now our best friends are getting married, and they expect me to stand across the aisle from Nash the Ruiner without killing him? Whatever. I can survive that. It’s only for one weekend. Until it’s not. When I get roped into wedding planning at all the same places Nash is fundraising, I’m ready to blow up our truce. But the more time we spend together, the more I feel like…not murdering him.

Spencer Crane thinks I’m a human tornado. I think he’s a calendar app come to life. While he schedules? I spin-out. When I spontaneously combust? He overcompensates. And this is why convincing my new boss to hire him is a completely brilliant idea. You see, workplace romance is forbidden, but attraction between total opposites like Spencer and me is a non-issue. I only wish I hadn’t discovered Mr. Clark Kent Glasses is (secretly) scorchingly hot. Even worse, he’s funny and chivalrous, and shoving me straight out of my Tess the Mess comfort zone.

People think it’s easy being Felix Dodd III, and sure, the legacy and inheritance aren’t exactly terrible. But the name comes with so many strings; my hands feel permanently tied. Like I’m stuck following in my father’s footsteps. Like I can’t trust people’s intentions. Like my grandmother wants me settled down before my thirtieth birthday. I’ve got less than zero interest in marriage, ever since my one attempt at love crashed and burned. But Grams won’t let me access my trust until I’m engaged. Which means I need a fiancée.

""To be a parent is and should be a calling. There is absolutely nothing as great, challenging, or rewarding as raising a child."" So says Über-mom Rose Rock, who has raised 10 children in addition to caring for 17 foster children in her 40-plus years as a mother. As a mother who does not shy...