Life choices separated them, but fate proves they are truly in love.
Inheriting the Willow Falls Inn from their aunt and uncle was a gift the Alden sisters couldn’t pass up. With each sibling facing upheaval in their personal and professional lives, eldest sister Gavynn sees returning to the place they called home as the fresh start they all need. But the century old Victorian picks their return to show its age with broken pipes and a mess that makes Gavynn question her choices. But the real chaos comes in the form of the handyman dispatched to rescue them.
Cade Donaldson was finding a new kind of normal after his father’s heart attack. The family construction business flourished under Cade’s management while the older Donaldson recuperated and his routine gave him much needed predictability and comfort. That is until the girl who left Cade without so much as a goodbye came crashing back into his life without warning.
The adolescent bond they formed lingers under the surface, but ghosts they each battle threaten the new future hanging just within reach.
Meet The Author:
A simple girl born in the South, raised along the Eastern seaboard, now in the wintry North who loves books, coffee, and fluffy cuddles from all the fur babies whether they are hers or not.
Who knew fighting for custody of an African grey parrot would be the perfect excuse to stay married?
Ryder King was always the one for me. He stole my heart in second grade, and I never imagined after seven blissful years of marriage, I’d give it back.
We made one tiny mistake by spending the night together during our separation period andthe judge read all about it in the local gossip column. Okay, maybe it was two or three mistakes… but who’s counting?
Instead of granting our divorce, the judge mandated us to marriage counseling. The only way to get out of our marriage without waiting another six months was if our counselor agreed we’re all wrong for each other.
That’s when the fun really started…
A probing therapist, a gossiper who knows all, and a few of my unmentionables on prominent display revealed all our secrets. Seems Ryder and I were both guilty of hiding vital truths from each other.
And what happened behind closed doors…. well, let’s just say it’s the stuff headlines are made of.
“Five glowing stars! Diamond in the Rough is the dark and dangerous world that I love from Skye Warren. You will be completely caught up in Elijah and Holly’s story from the first page to the last.” – New York Times bestselling author Aleatha Romig
A breathless dangerous romance between…
– An ex-military man who believes he has no honor left, and
– A reclusive author on a mission to save her sister
This is the complete Diamonds trilogy in one collection.
Kidnapped. Stolen. Taken. I’m thrown into a cell in a French prison. But I’m not alone. There’s someone in here with me. Someone more dangerous than the men who brought me here.
“A novel full of intrigue, secrets, lies, and a love that won’t be denied, Diamond in the Rough is easily a top read of 2020.” – Celia Aaron, USA Today bestselling author of The Bad Guy
“Stars,” I tell her, and the scene springs to life in front of me. The church basement and the cot with its white sheets dissolve into a humming dark. “There would be a million stars to look at. Skies so clear we could lie there and watch the constellations rise and set. We’d bring blankets and lay them out to watch. It would be warm if we held onto each other.”
Holly’s eyes flutter closed. The corner of her mouth curls in a smile. “Keep going.”
“We’d find a brook to drink from. Or maybe a lake, the kind that appears so suddenly. One minute there’s grass and ground. The next there’s water filled with reeds. They’d wave above the water while we slept. Or while we didn’t sleep.”
She laughs, the sound as dreamy as her eyes. Holly leans into my touch, her cheek warm against my palm. Blissfully warm. Heat means she’s alive. I haven’t stopped touching her, but I should.
I can’t.
“The ripples move through the reeds and onto the grass. They’re steady. And calm, for our camping trip. Calm water. The same sound wakes us up in the morning with the sun. Time means nothing out there. Everyone has enough.”
I don’t know what I’m saying anymore, but I keep talking. There are enough words to describe a day on the shore of the lake. A swim. An afternoon in the shade of a tent. An evening with a blazing sunset over the reeds and the water. Food over a campfire. Hot dogs and marshmallows. Innocent things. Things that make people like Holly happy. Stars, infinite stars.
Her breathing evens out. Gets deeper. I still can’t pull my hand away from her face. Not for a long time. The sunset is long over outside the church by the time I stand up and go about the second set of tasks. Getting rid of old gauze. Setting out new supplies. Counting her pills. We have enough water. There’s enough food. I turn off the overhead light and turn on an antique lamp brought down from the old church office.
It’s only when I take my seat again and listen to Holly’s deep breathing that I realize—
I wasn’t describing some fictional campground.
I was describing the woods in France where I fucked her for the first time. That’s my definition of peace. That’s the place I’d go back to if I could.
AUTHOR BIO
Skye Warren is the New York Times bestselling author of contemporary romance such as the Chicago Underground series. Her books have been featured in Jezebel, Buzzfeed, USA Today Happily Ever After, Glamour, and Elle Magazine. She makes her home in Texas with her loving family, two sweet dogs, and one evil cat.
Clara and Zac thought they were headed for their happily ever after, until a break-up slathered in betrayal left them both jaded and vindictive.
Twelve years have passed since they left Wyoming, and during that time Clara found her calling at a prestigious PR firm in California while Zac moved to New Orleans to join his Broussard cousins at River Enterprises. They thought they could forget each other and move on… until a local charity auction in their hometown of Snowy Creek sets Zac up for the ultimate revenge. If he wins, Clara will be at his mercy, forced to work for him for one full week. Tantalized by the sweet taste of revenge, he eagerly ups the ante to claim his prize.
But what starts out as a week of filthy manual labor and bitter rivalry leads to a shocking revelation. Someone has been plotting for over a decade to keep Clara and Zac apart. Can the pair band together to uncover who? Or will their rift from the past continue to ruin their chance at a blissful future?
David held up the gavel, and in just a matter of seconds, I would belong to Zac Ward for a whole week. “Twenty thousand dollars going once, going twice … sold to Zac Ward!”
If I’d have eaten lunch, it would’ve been all over the stage. That was how sick I felt. Plastering on a smile, I made my way off the stage right to my parents. My mother looked angrier than I was.
She grabbed my shoulders. “We’re going to get you out of this. I’ll pay the twenty grand myself and tell Zac to get lost.”
I shook my head. “No. I’ll get myself out of this.”
When I looked at my dad, he huffed. “I’m sorry, baby girl. We weren’t expecting twenty grand.”
“It’s okay,” I said, glancing over my shoulder. I could see Zac across the room, trying to make his way over to me. “I’m not going to give him the satisfaction of thinking he won. I just wish I knew what the hell he was up to.”
My mother grabbed my hand. “Come on, let’s go. You don’t have to talk to him. We’ll figure this all out.”
I’d waited twelve years to give Zac a piece of my mind. I couldn’t chicken out now. One way or another, I had to face him. “No,” I said, pulling my hand away. “I need to do this on my own.”
Turning on my heel, I ignored my mother’s plea and walked through the crowd with my eyes right on Zac and his on mine. The air in the room turned electric, but I wasn’t about to get burned again. The last thing I wanted was to cause a scene in the middle of the ballroom. Judging by the curious stares of everyone around, they were waiting for something to happen. Snowy Creek was a small town, and one where everyone knew everything. It was no secret that Zac and I were supposed to move away together and build a future. Some might have thought we were young and stupid, but back then, we had it all planned out. He was supposed to be my future and vice versa.
With each step I took, the people around me moved out of the way until there was a clear path to Zac. He smirked at me and it pissed me off even more. “What the hell are you doing?” I snapped, glaring at him.
He glanced around the room at everyone watching us and then back to me. “I wanted to bid on you and I won.”
AUTHOR BIO
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author L. P. Dover is a southern belle living in North Carolina with her husband and two beautiful girls. Everything’s sweeter in the South has always been her mantra and she lives by it, whether it’s with her writing or in her everyday life. Maybe that’s why she’s seriously addicted to chocolate.
Dover has written countless novels in several different genres, including a children’s book with her daughter. Her favorite to write is romantic suspense, but she’s also found a passion in romantic comedy. She loves to make people laugh which is why you’ll never see her without a smile on her face.
The thing I hated most about Scott Thompson was that he could crush my heart and he wouldn’t even know.
Lea ran from everything she knew. Her family, the boy she loved, and a past she wanted to erase. After three long years she is finally home. But the moment she sees him, she knew she made a mistake coming back. With him, there was no more running. He was hunting her, and he didn’t even know it.
The second he saw her again, he knew. He couldn’t let her go a second time. Three years ago, he let her walk out of his life and he regretted it every moment since. With Lea back and his career skyrocketing, he was on top of the world.
Or was he?
When secrets and lies start to unravel, Scott must make a choice. Protect the woman he’s always loved or be the reason for her demise.
Grief drove Alys and Fletcher apart. Their son’s destination wedding and the double-booked Valentine Suite bring them back together. Will their stay in the Valentine Suite heal their broken hearts or drive them further apart?Readers who enjoy Marci Bolden and Kristin Hannah, will love The Valentine Suite by Tracy Broemmer, an emotional and healing, women’s fiction novel.
Blurb
Grief pulls some families together and rips others—like the Hollands—apart. Two years have passed since Alys and Fletcher Holland lost two of their children in a fatal accident. But time has done nothing for Alys’ broken heart.
Her surviving son’s destination wedding means a reunion for Alys and Fletch, who divorced shortly after the accident. Alys intends to keep to herself for the wedding festivities and hustle back home to her quiet, sterile life when the big day is over.
When the double-booked Valentine Suite at the Kahalina Resort puts Alys and Fletch in close quarters, Alys soon finds it’s difficult to ignore the man she fell in love with over twenty-five years ago. Fletch frustrates her, but he protects her, too, acting as a buffer between her and the rest of his family and their son’s wedding guests.
Will their stay in the Valentine Suite drive them further apart and send them home as strangers or will their time together in the suite mend their broken hearts and put their family back together?
No idea how much time had passed, Alys stepped inside and closed the door. She padded bare foot to the kitchen for a drink of water. Bottle in hand, she rested her elbows on the counter and stared at the other bottle, the one she had begun to rely heavily on to get through even the easiest of days.
“Allie?”
“What, Fletch?” she asked with a sigh.
“Don’t drink more. Please?”
“I’m not.” She straightened and waved her water bottle at him.
“It’s after one. Come to bed.”
The words used to mean so much more. Now it simply meant that Fletch was worried that she would break open the bottle of whiskey the second he turned his back on her. She wanted to argue but only capped the water bottle and put it back in the refrigerator.
He hadn’t moved when she turned to the door. Lamplight glowed faintly from the living room, giving Alys a good look at his strong, muscular legs beneath his shorts. Deeper in the kitchen, she was in darkness and free to drink him in.
“I need—”
“Aren’t you—”
They spoke at the same time. A small smile perked his lips up, and he nodded at her. “You first.”
She was going to say I need this to end. Because she couldn’t get used to sleeping with him again. And then get used to sleeping alone again. She wouldn’t do that to herself.
“Never mind.” She shook her head.
She knew when he stepped closer that he was going to kiss her. She knew she would kiss him back. What she didn’t know was how good he would taste and how much it would hurt. He had kissed her forehead the day she walked out. Papers filed. Marriage ended. Love supposedly gone. A chaste kiss on her forehead. Before that, there had been a frenzy of hard, animal sex as they both tried to drive the demons from their minds. Kissing then had been teeth crashing and biting, and both of them cussing and crying out.
Now, though. This kiss was cautious and tender.
Not sweet. God, no. They had been through far too much to share a sweet kiss on a night like tonight after the loss they had shared. His fingers hovered near her chin, just short of touching her. His lips brushed hers, lazy and light. Back and forth. Again. And again.
The fingers of his other hand were soft on the back of her neck, under her hair. That touch was almost more intimate than the kiss. Until she gasped at the shock of how badly she wanted this. And more. And then he stroked her lips with his tongue, and she responded, and the kiss was slow and sad and so intimate, it hurt.
Tears in her eyes, she broke the kiss and backed away from him.
“Allie.”
She shook her head and held a hand up to stop him. No excuses. No apologies. She didn’t want to hear his voice right now. Because it was laced with pain, and she couldn’t handle his pain on top of her longing for him.
About Tracy Broemmer
Tracy is the author of the women’s fiction series, the Williams Legacy, and several stand-alone women’s fiction novels. She has recently dabbled in contemporary romance, as well.
Grief drove Alys and Fletcher apart. Their son’s destination wedding and the double-booked Valentine Suite bring them back together. Will their stay in the Valentine Suite heal their broken hearts or drive them further apart?Readers who enjoy Marci Bolden and Kristin Hannah, will love The Valentine Suite by Tracy Broemmer, an emotional and healing, women’s fiction novel.
Blurb
Grief pulls some families together and rips others—like the Hollands—apart. Two years have passed since Alys and Fletcher Holland lost two of their children in a fatal accident. But time has done nothing for Alys’ broken heart.
Her surviving son’s destination wedding means a reunion for Alys and Fletch, who divorced shortly after the accident. Alys intends to keep to herself for the wedding festivities and hustle back home to her quiet, sterile life when the big day is over.
When the double-booked Valentine Suite at the Kahalina Resort puts Alys and Fletch in close quarters, Alys soon finds it’s difficult to ignore the man she fell in love with over twenty-five years ago. Fletch frustrates her, but he protects her, too, acting as a buffer between her and the rest of his family and their son’s wedding guests.
Will their stay in the Valentine Suite drive them further apart and send them home as strangers or will their time together in the suite mend their broken hearts and put their family back together?
Alys Holland rested her head on the lounge chair and closed her eyes only to open them immediately. She’d only just arrived in Palos Verdes earlier in the evening—after a four-hour flight, a thirty-four-minute wait at the rental car counter, and a quick stop at a liquor store in Redondo Beach. The next two weeks that stretched out before her beckoned, invited relaxation, respite, healing. The trouble with that being that she would need to tear the scars away and dig into the pain to heal completely.
She wasn’t willing to do that. Not for Iva. Not for Fletch or Claire.
Not even for Ledger.
Still, her chest felt squeezed, painfully so. Gasping to breathe, Alys leaned forward, coughing hard at the tightening sensation. Shoulder and neck pain were sometimes symptoms of a heart attack in women; she had read somewhere that coughing could save someone suffering a heart attack until help arrived.
She wasn’t having a heart attack, though. If Iva were here, she would tell her that. She would roll her blue eyes and laugh at Alys, though usually Alys laughed, too, and laughing together took the sting out of Iva’s words.
No heart attack, though at her lowest points—and there had been so many now—she would have welcomed it. Death, sure. If there was a God, Alys would have died two years ago. The fact that she hadn’t, that she still woke in a comfortable bed every day, was why she quit believing. She would take death, gladly, and she would take the horrible pain and die in the most horrible way possible.
If only.
She heard music in the distance. Someone trying to sing an old Foreigner song, though the voice most definitely did not belong to Lou Gramm. Was it still the same band who had played at the bar two years ago?
The bar—Howie’s, no use pretending she didn’t remember the name—was just north of the main hotel where she was now. Where she and Fletch had stayed then. Still part of the resort campus, it was a family friendly bar and grill, and when they had wandered there, hand in hand one night, there was a summer festival going on. Perfect for enjoying live music and cold beer while you waited for a table.
She and Fletch had grabbed a beer—Fletch was into weird IPAs at the time and he had ordered a Firestone Walker Mind Haze, while teasing her about her simple, safe lager—and wandered over to the fence to watch the sunset bleed dark purple and a deep, flushed pink over the ocean, already black with night.
Alys thought the music was mediocre, but mostly, she remembered that incredible sunset and the feel of Fletch’s warm, solid body at her side.
She sipped from her thick glass tumbler. The glasses—everything—here was nicer than her own personal belongings. Which was saying something, because she and Fletch had done well together, and they had amassed a lot of nice things.
Lost some, too.
About Tracy Broemmer
Tracy is the author of the women’s fiction series, the Williams Legacy, and several stand-alone women’s fiction novels. She has recently dabbled in contemporary romance, as well.
Penance was inconsequential to me once upon a time. Now, for the first time in my life, it means everything. My soul depends on it. For years, I swindled wealthy women and made shady business deals, regardless of how it impacted my victims. In just seven days, I face spiritual exile. My fate is to be doomed to purgatory for my past deeds and failure to live my humanity.
My one chance at salvation? I have an assignment to complete, with rules, strict rules, and unspeakable consequences if I fail.
Whoever said good guys finish last was sadly mistaken. I’d never been a good guy. Now, I have to be one if I want redemption. ~ Luther Evans
I am Luca Valsetti, the chosen family enforcer, bringing all those who betray us to their knees. They all beg for their lives, pray for forgiveness, but I show no mercy when I make them pay for their sins and take their souls. Except for one. Scarlet Reed. The fiery redhead looked me straight in the eye as I held my gun to her head. Her piercing hazel eyes threatened to steal my soul in return. Something about them begged me to take her. Everything about them screamed for me to end her. Now she is my captive locked in my glass cage. I will learn all of her secrets. Every single one. She will pay for her betrayal, even if it kills me in the process.
Scarlet
My stupid need for the truth and for justice left me at the mercy of a cold-blooded killer. But deep down, I’m not certain that Luca Valsetti wants to kill me. I know he believes he has no choice but to follow his brother’s orders and the rules of his syndicate. But I see the hint of doubt that surfaces whenever he’s around me. I don’t miss the skip of his heartbeat, the pause in his breath, and the undeniable lust in his eyes. I see that he is a broken man underneath his hard exterior, just as vulnerable as any other. I will break his walls down, piece by piece, and expose him for who he really is. By the time Luca Valsetti is finished with me, he will wish he’d never even whispered my name.
Maggie grew up in between the picturesque wine region of Hunter Valley and the magni!cent coastlines of Newcastle in Australia. It is the perfect place to raise her three children with her partner.
She simply cannot survive without her daily doses of caffeine and won’t say no to a glass or two of wine.
This is Maggie Kay’s third novel, she first started writing poetry as a young teenager, pouring her feelings, thoughts, and manuscript ideas into pages of notebooks. Writing became her passion, her dream, and her obsession.
Her heroes are dark and intense alpha males and her heroines are strong, sassy, and full of bite. Together they create a world of passion, pleasure, and pain.
I’ve never had anyone look at me the way he looks at me, like I could be his whole world.
Ford is different from other guys. For starters, he doesn’t know about my troubled past—the one this small town won’t let me forget, no matter how hard I try. Being with him, I can be myself. Without judgment. Without pretending. He’s unlocked a part of me I wasn’t sure still existed.
Just as quickly as we find each other, it’s time to say goodbye. Ford might feel a world away, but reading his letters and sharing starry nights with him keeps us close until I can be back in his arms.
Ford
From the first moment I laid eyes on her, I knew I needed more time.
While on leave with my best friend from the Army, I finally meet his cousin, Shayne. She’s unexpected—in the best of ways. I quickly realize she could be exactly who I need her to be—my everything.
As long as my life belongs to the military, I can only offer her promises and distance. Maybe getting in involved while enlisted is a mistake, but I’m not ready to let her go. From afar, we find something neither of us was looking for, and it’s all possible beneath the fallen stars.
New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author Kaylee Ryan has been crowned the Queen of Swoon by her readers. With nearly fifty romance books under her belt, she’s known for penning happily ever afters with heart. When she’s not writing, you can find her with a book in her hand or hanging out with her family where she resides in her home state of Ohio.
USA Today Bestselling Author Lacey Black is a Midwestern girl with a passion for reading, writing, and shopping. She carries her e-reader with her everywhere she goes so she never misses an opportunity to read a few pages. Always looking for a happily ever after, Lacey is passionate about contemporary romance novels and enjoys it further when you mix in a little suspense. She resides in a small town in Illinois with her husband, two children, and three rowdy chickens.
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