Shen comes a new, star-crossed lovers romance about loss, love, and meeting The One when you are too young to know how to keep them. Sometimes you meet people who are out of this world, so you make them a part of yours. A one-night stand born from vengeance in a foreign land. An explosive chemistry neither of us could deny. We signed a contract on the back of a Boar’s Head Pub napkin that said if we ever met again, we would drop everything and be together. Eight years and thousands of miles later, he’s here. In New York. And he’s America’s music obsession. The intangible Irish poet who brings record executives to their knees. The blizzard in my perfect, unshaken snow globe. Last time we spoke, he was a beggar with no intention of becoming a king. But a king he became, and now I’m his servant. I’m not the same broken princess Malachy Doherty put back together with his callused hands. I have a career I love. A boyfriend I adore. An apartment, a roommate, a life. I changed. He changed, too. But Mal kept the napkin. Question is, will I keep my word?

    It is about revenge and hatred, misery and violence. I wasn’t always this way even though it was in my blood. I grew up happy and in love with my best friend until she betrayed me and walked away. After that, I fell into the deep, dark world I was meant for. Presleigh Clarke's actions turned me into the ruthless man I am today. Too bad for her, I believe people should pay for the things they have done. The more painful and messy, the better. I get off on making people bleed. It feeds my inner demon, and right now, he is starving. She crossed me once, so now she’ll know what it’s like to fear me. But not all stories end the way you think they will … mine certainly didn’t.

    “Yeah, so was I but you seem to have forgotten that part of your life.” The bet was simple. You draw a name from the hat. That’s the girl you have to seduce. The girl you have to make fall head over heels in love with you. It wasn’t hard for me to do, in fact, it was something I did all the time. I was known for breaking hearts. Sex was just that, sex. And it didn’t take me very long to get a woman on her back. And then I drew her name: Jules Peterson. My former best friend. My first kiss. My first love. She shattered my heart into a million pieces three years ago. She left me right when I needed her most. And as fate who have it, she had entered my life once again, at almost the perfect time. She was a transfer, fresh meat, and she had just put a target on her back. It was my turn to make her pay. It was my turn to break her heart. Holding onto that hate, that anger, that f*cking heartbreak. It does something to you. It breaks you, and it broke me, it tainted me, just like I would do to Jules. She used to be my everything, but now she was nothing but The Bet. **The Bet is book one in the North Woods University series. It is a full length, standalone, novel. It contains adult themes, and content not suitable for all readers. It is NOT a young adult novel.**Dear Reader, We're so happy that you are thinking about reading our newest book The Bet. We hope you enjoy it to your fullest and we cannot wait to read your reviews on it. However, we wanted to leave a little note to warn readers with sensitivity to dubious content, sexual themes, and verbal abuse. For those readers, this book may not be a good read for them. We also would like to say that while the book is entirely fiction we know that abuse, sexual, physical, and verbal is a very real thing in our world and that we do NOT condone any behavior of that nature nor do we think that it's okay to treat someone that way. Just like the makers of gory horror movies dont actually want people to be brutally murdered, we do not want anyone to be bullied or abused in any way.Again, this is fiction and while we don't always agree with the things our fictional characters do, sometimes it works for a story line. As writers, it is our job to draw out real emotions. Sometimes we will make you fall in love with a character and other times we might have you yelling at the book. With love, J.L. Beck & C. Hallman

    Then comes marriage. Then comes a—Hold up. You’re joking right? As if life works off a neat little list like that, moving down, checking things off before jumping to the next task. We’re not married. We’re not lovers. Hell, we’re hardly even friends. Noah Wilson isn’t exactly “life partner” material, and he sure as hell isn’t “father material”. He’s my older brother’s best friend, and has been off limits, sworn off, locked in the highest tower and out of reach since we met over ten years ago. With his devilish good looks, tattoos, motorcycle, and trail of broken hearts and tears, I’ve had good reason to stay away from the bad boy my mother warned me about.Until one night. One stupid, regrettable night that changed both of our lives forever. And now I only have nine months to decide our fate, to see if Noah’s rebel heart is capable of anything more than a one night stand.This isn’t a love story. This is a life story. And life doesn’t go according to plan.

    I was born a bastard and I’ll die a bastard. I learnt it at a young age, and nothing and nobody can change that. I’m on a one-way path of destruction, and god help anyone who gets in my way. I hate my life. Actually, I hate pretty much everything.That’s until I meet the kid next door. Indi-freakin’-ana. My dislike for her is instant. From the moment I lay eyes on her, she ignites something within me. She makes me feel things I thought I was incapable of feeling. I don’t like it, not one bit. When she looks at me with her big, beautiful, haunting, green eyes, it’s like she can see into the depths of my soul. It freaks me the hell out. She’s like sunshine and rainbows in my world of gloom and doom. I hate sunshine and rainbows.******** I’m Indiana Montgomery, my friends call me Indi. Despite losing my mum at the age of six, I have a wonderful life and great friends. My dad more than makes up for the fact that I only have one parent. I’m his little girl, the centre of his world. I adore him. When Carter Reynolds moves in next door, my life takes a turn for the worse. He’s gorgeous—sinfully hot, but that’s where my compliments end. He seems hell bent on making my life miserable. He acts tough, but when I look into his eyes I don’t see it. I see hurt and pain. To me, he seems lost. I should hate him for the way he treats me, but surprisingly I don’t. If anything, I feel sorry for him. I want to help him find peace. Help him find the light that I know is buried somewhere within his darkness, but, he won’t have a bar of it. He’s warned me time and time again to stay away, but I can’t. I’m drawn to him for some reason. He’s always referring to himself as a bastard. That may be true, but to me, he’s more like a beautifully, misunderstood bastard. Whether he likes it or not, I refuse to give up on him.***WARNING This book is recommended for persons over the age of 18 years, due to sexual content and coarse language.

    Sometimes they need music. Other times, only a night with a stranger will soothe the pain. On the night Isaac and I met, we tried all three. When it was over, we went our separate ways. We planned to never see each other again, but I should really know by now that plans don’t work out the way they're supposed to. It has been four years since that night, and it’s a bizarre twist of fate that lands me in need of help only Isaac can give. I don’t want to be attracted to him, but I am. I don’t want my heart to skip a beat when it sees him, but it does. And I really don’t want him to look at me that way, but he won’t stop. Because things aren't like they were four years ago. And this time? We don’t have the option of parting ways when the sun comes up.

     Through a bullet hole in a wall, I watch a man bleed to death. Those responsible think their crime died with the victim, until I identify them. What’s a girl to do when she’s being hunted by murderers witness protection can’t even stop? Run. My only refuge is a place I vowed to never go again. When it’s do or die, an eight-year-old heartache suddenly seems trivial. Besides, he won’t be there anyway. But he is. Turns out my old pain feels brand new the second his eyes meet mine. I can’t leave. I can’t stay. This snowy town that’s supposed to be my shelter suddenly exposes me more than before. With no one else to lean on, Liam becomes my lifeline. Now we’re both running for our lives, trying not to get swept away.

    Though her phobia of men and the loss of her eye sight are constant reminders it happened, Serena has no memory of the brutal attack. Now at age twenty-two, she is ready to conquer her fears and lets an old high school friend rent out the upper floor of her house. Can Will Duncan help cure Serena's insecurities or will the secrets he harbors about that night shatter her faith in men forever?

    Attorney Lanie Carmichael’s appearance is no surprise. She is dowdy, awkward, and dressed in so many layers she resembles a wedding cake, but not in an edible way. Her brazen attitude though, astonishes him, especially when she explains she has no interest in gorgeous Kyle. Lanie Carmichael is in love with Brad, and wants Kyle’s assistance in winning his best friend’s heart. Kyle gradually accepts, justifying that the mystery of Lanie has sparked his natural, thirsty curiosity. As an ambitious journalist, he also can’t resist the Pulitzer worthy scoop she offers him. However, as Lanie sheds more layers, both emotionally and physically, Kyle begins to examine his life choices, and his true feelings for this enigmatic girl. With Kyle’s support, Lanie begins to unravel the secrets of her past, and the deep pain that has quietly defined her life. As they each learn more about themselves and each other, both question how a relationship built on fraudulent lies between two broken people could ever survive.

     Seven years ago, Niklaus "Red" Volkov was offered an opportunity, one that would give him the ability to even the score with the Albanian mobsters that had tortured him for days and took the life of the only girl he'd loved. But that gift came with strings... Molded into the perfect soldier, Niklaus joined an elite group of mercenaries, loyal to a mysterious man known only as The Kingmaker. He willingly paid the price for means to fulfill the vendetta that plagued him each day. Vengeance was all he knew... And death was all he lived for... Until it wasn't... Until her...

    They never imagined the future could hold anything other than together-forever. When Lea's father dies in a tragic fishing accident, she's crushed under the weight of her grief and catches a glimpse of another type of future, one she knows she's not strong enough to face. Austin is angry. For the past fifteen years, he's believed the woman he loved with every ounce of his soul left him without so much as a backwards glance. When Lea unexpectedly returns to their hometown, all the years of heartache inside Austin bubbles to the surface and presents itself as blinding rage. Faced with the truth about the past, a newly discovered secret, these former lovers will learn that if they want to have any chance at the future they'd given up on all those years ago, they will have to rescue one another from drowning in pain so debilitating it will leave them both fighting to breathe. Contains mature themes.

    It was my dad who had hit me.I had been four.Most of my memories were much of the same and no one ever saw, no one ever fought to help, no one ever cared.Then we moved.My new neighbor cared, rescued the twelve-year-old I had been from a beating. Always thought I'd suffer the nightmare alone, I was wrong.Mace Donati saved me that day in all the ways a person could be saved.And his daughter, Mia, she became the friend I had always wanted, my conscience when my own faltered, the light that led me home when I had lost my way.The girl who grew into the only woman I would ever love.But when you realize you're more like your father than the good people who took you in and gave you a home, the only way to return their kindness is to let them go.I let them go, got so far lost in the shadows I couldn't remember who I was anymore. Mia never gave up on me. She fought for me, kept the light on so I'd find my way back.And when I did, life threw us a curveball. I had to hurt Mia in order to save her.But when my past comes back to haunt me and I almost lose her, I'm ready to fight for her...fight to find a way back into her heart while keeping the demons from my past from finishing what they started. Cole Campbell

    . . I’ve been told it’s a problem. But I see it as a passion; something that I’m good at. And who the fuck stops something that they’re good at? They want me to seek help; get my cock in check. Don't judge my lifestyle. You’re no better than me. Just admit it, you like to fuck too. Sex is what I do best; my own personal high, so I embrace it instead of being ashamed. When I'm not fucking, I'm slinging drinks at Walk Of Shame or stripping my way into your bed; another thing I'm good at. Every woman’s darkest fantasy was brought to life. So, am I stopping? Fuck no. Sex is beautiful, raw, and erotic and I get off knowing I can have it with anyone I want . . . with the exception of her. Aspen. She walks into the club swaying those hips, instantly drawing my cock to attention. She’s pure perfection. That is, until she opens that mouth, drawing me in, and for the first time in forever, I want something more than sex. I want her and she hates it. Things get dirty. Dirty is what I like; it’s how I live. But . . . she’s playing a game she can never win. Author's Note: Due to strong language and a very high amount of dirty, sexual content, this book is not intended for readers under the age of 18. This is #1 in the Walk Of Shame series of novellas that will all be standalone reads. If you're not into, cocky bad boys with filthy mouths and even filthier sex, then this series is not for you. If you are . . . then, come meet the dirty boys of Walk Of Shame.

    But eleven years ago he disappeared from their lives—breaking Erin’s trust, and her heart.When the person they both love most—Erin’s brother Tommy—is nearly killed in a terrible crash, she and Ward are thrown back together for the first time. Their lives couldn’t be further apart. Erin still lives at home, working two jobs and dealing with a series of family disasters. Ward, now a multibillionaire entrepreneur and a household name, seems determined to make amends—but it may just be too little too late. And while Erin can’t deny feeling a spark at the sight of Ward, is it a spark of love or burning resentment?At odds with one another but forced to share their heartache, have Erin and Ward really drifted apart forever, or have they finally found the anchor they both so desperately need?

    His sculpted abs and gorgeous eyes are wasted on such an arrogant man, which makes me hate him even more.Even though I’ve had a crush on him since I was ten, the feelings weren’t mutual and he’s made that very clear. He’s always loved getting under my skin and one night against my better judgment, I let him in my bed. I’ve succumbed to his manw**re ways, but that doesn’t change a thing.Because the King is about to get played at his own game—and lose.Checkmate, King.This is book 1 in the Travis & Viola duet and must be read first. Suggested for mature readers only.