But when a black-haired beauty crosses his path during a competition adventure race, he wonders if his bachelor days are numbered. Lucy Avila, recent college grad and former university mascot, isn’t looking for love when she travels to Utah with her friends to compete in Questival. She just wants the grand prize of a trip to Cusco, Peru to meet the grandmother she’s never seen, before her little Abuelita’s time is up. But standing between her and the grand prize is a Spartan-like leader of a team of firemen. Lucy likes the guy, but isn’t crazy about her chances against his team. No sooner do Lucy and Blue hit it off than they realize he was the star quarterback for her university’s biggest rival. To make matters worse, their families have long histories and prominent positions with their respective universities. From a Skylodge on the side of a Peruvian mountain to the Skybox of a football stadium, their love blossoms as they put aside rivalries. But one bad decision by Lucy pulls in hundreds of frenzied fans and causes damage to Blue’s family that may be irreparable. The only thing that is for sure … Sparks Will Fly. More books in the Park City Firefighter Romance: Station 2 Series will be available early 2018: Stone Cold Sparks by Cami Checkouts Untitled Sparks by Sarah Gay (These books are loosely related and can be read in any order.)

    Offers a selecttion of the master of human comedy's short stories from the 1930s and 1940s.

    Carol Shields' first novels, "Small Ceremonies" and "The Box Garden," each told from the viewpoint of a sister, published as one.

    A Louisiana farmer sees the image of Christ appear on the freezer door and questions the meaning of faith. In a Maine resort town, Miss Langevin, a spinster who could write a book on disappointment, now gets a chance to help another woman escape it. And in the title story, a science teacher's modest dreams and painful memories erode his existence like water entering stone.

    A lonely teenage girl falls in love with an older, married neighbor. A woman attends a party at the home of her boyfriend’s ex-wife. A schoolteacher gets fired for teaching time incorrectly to grade-school students. And a young woman recovering from a breakup receives guidance from a drunk therapist. Poignant and sharply rendered, Otis’s stories seek answers to the questions of whom we love and why, how we search for love, lose it, or find it—sometimes at the last moment and in the most unlikely places. Quirky and hilarious, these stories display a knowing affection for human strangeness.

    Take a trip to Myrtle Beach and get swept away in the romance of it all as the members of the Hunt family each find their happily ever after. The Hunt Family box set is a complete series that contains five full-length, sweet romances by bestselling romance author Brooke St. James. Meet Me in Myrtle Beach (Book 1) Paige Spears was on her way to a job interview when she first met Diane Hunt. The two of them made friendly conversation while waiting for their breakfast, and Diane ended up asking Paige to come work for her for the summer. Paige was reluctant about beginning her corporate career anyway, so she jumped at Diane's offer. As luck would have it, her first assignment was to spend a week in Myrtle Beach with Diane and her family. Paige quickly found herself in a car with a woman she'd just met, headed to a place she'd never been, and about to be on a vacation with people she didn't know. She thought she'd make the best of it and enjoy one last summer adventure before joining the real world. She had no idea this trip would change her life forever. Kiss Me in Carolina (Book 2) It's been said that the best time to find love is when you aren't looking for it. Rachel Stephens was solely focused on completing her last year of dental school and love wasn't even on her radar. She also wasn't excited about having London Ryder has a houseguest. The two weren't necessarily the best of friends, so when London came to L.A. to visit her A-list actor boyfriend, Rachel wondered why she asked to stay with her. In fact, she was beginning to wonder if this actor was really even London's boyfriend in the first place. Rachel never expected London to bring her along on a film shoot. She certainly never expected to spend an afternoon alone with the actor who might just turn out to be the man of her dreams. California’s Calling (Book 3) Charlotte Ritchie was traveling halfway across the world to attend her brother's wedding. She and a small group of family and friends planned on spending the week prior to the wedding volunteering at a rescue center in Kenya. Her new sister-in-law had grown up there with her missionary parents, and everyone thought it was the perfect way to celebrate the event. Falling in love might not have been on Charlotte's to-do list that week, but as we all know, life doesn't always turn out the way we plan. She would slip briskly into an intimacy from which she'd never recover. Back to the Beach (Book 4) Having a crush on someone who barely seems to notice you is never easy. It only leads to heartbreak and disappointment. Mia Hunt occasionally found herself in that very situation. Fortunately, her dream guy lived all the way across the country and their encounters were rare. Nico Torres had plans to spend a week on vacation with the Hunt family at their Myrtle Beach home, and Mia feared there'd be no escaping him. After their first encounter that week, she wasn't so sure she wanted to escape. She just hoped she could survive the trip without falling for him all over again. The last thing she needed was another broken heart. It’s About Time (Book 5) Evan Hunt had spent most of his adult life working as an environmentalist and living out of a duffle bag. It came as a total shock when his father suddenly confronted him about setting goals for his future. Evan wasn't much for following rules and his instinct was to simply ignore what his dad was saying. However, he decided it was time to set his sights on success just to prove to his family that he could do it.

    Best known for his controversial plays and films, his short fiction has appeared in The New Yorker and Playboy. Seductive and provocative, each potent and pithy tale in Seconds of Pleasure finds men and women exploiting -- or at the mercy of -- the hidden fault lines that separate them: In “Time Share,” a woman leaves her family at their vacation home after discovering her husband in a compromising situation; a middle-aged man obsesses over a scab on the calf of a pretty young girl in “Boo-Boo”; and a vain Hollywood actor gets his comeuppance in “Soft Target.” LaBute infuses Seconds of Pleasure with his trademark wit and black humor, and unleashes his imagination in stories that offer unflinching insight into our very human shortcomings and impure urges with shocking candor.

    In “Animals,” an up-and-coming starlet harbors a complicated attraction toward her abusive director. In “Frank Advice for Fat Women,” an ethically compromised psychiatrist is drawn into the middle of a dysfunctional mother-daughter relationship. And in “The Imp,” a supernatural possession ruins a man’s relationship with his pregnant wife.Barrodale’s protagonists drink too much, say the wrong things, want the wrong people. They’re hounded by longings (and sometimes ghosts) to the point where they are forced to confront the illusions they cling to. They’re brought to life in stories that don’t behave as you expect stories to behave. Barrodale’s startlingly funny and original fictions get under your skin and make you reconsider the fragile compromises that underpin our daily lives.

    When her best friend from high school convinces Brynn to attend their ten-year reunion, Brynn hopes she’ll have the chance to reconnect with Troy Richards, the guy who stole her heart back in middle school. Craig Dawson, an attorney in San Diego, is in a relationship that’s going nowhere and wonders why he can’t seem to commit. When he sees Brynn at their reunion, he thinks he might finally understand why. The only problem—she’s still infatuated with Troy what’s-his-name. Will Brynn find the love she seeks with Troy, or will she realize the best kind of love has always been right in front of her?

    Those trapped inside the castle are used to dealing with the volatile mix of light-fingered teens and obnoxious tourists; less so a truckload of explosives and a hidden agenda. For Catherine and her team, it's a recipe for a potentially deadly day off. Tense, twisted and laugh-out-loud funny, Siege Mentality is a day-trip you won't forget. For more from Catherine McLeod, read the Jasmine Sharp trilogy, beginning with Where the Bodies are Buried , a sample from which is included with this short story.

    Short StoryHer future is set, her life mapped out, but one unexpected meeting turns her carefully laid plans upside down.

    A young boy on a sailing vacation with his father comes face-to-face with a dangerous stranger, and witnesses a wrenching act of violence. Parents estranged from their disturbed son must gird themselves for his visit, even as they cannot face each other. And in the dazzling title story, the beleaguered crew of the first Confederate submarine embarks on their final, doomed mission during the closing days of the Civil War.Whether set aboard a Czarist-era Russian ship locked in Arctic ice, on a futuristic whaling expedition whose depredations guarantee the environmental catastrophe that is their undoing, or in a suburban basement where two grade-school friends articulate their mutual obsessions, these strange, imaginative, and refreshingly original stories explore the ways in which we experience the world: as it is, as it could be, and the dark contours that lie between.

    ABOUT JULIA GLASS Julia Glass is the author of the novels Three Junes, winner of the 2002 National Book Award in Fiction; The Whole World Over; and The Widower's Tale. Her third book, I See You Everywhere , a collection of linked stories, won the 2009 SUNY John Gardner Fiction Award. Her latest novel, And the Dark Sacred Night , will be published by Pantheon Books in April 2014. Her essays have been widely anthologized, most recently in Bound to Last: 30 Writers on Their Most Cherished Book , edited by Sean Manning, and in the forthcoming Labor Day , a collection of essays on childbirth edited by Eleanor Henderson and Anna Solomon. Also a teacher of creative writing workshops at programs ranging from the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown to the M.F.A. program at Brooklyn College, Julia lives with her two sons and their father on the North Shore of Massachusetts.

    Leanne rescues him from a rooftop in a floodplain and it is clear there is much more to the story. Can their love redeem the hurts of the past to rescue their future?Laughing All the Way by Lesley Ann McDanielWhen Jessica's friends put her up to "fixing" their commitment-phobic co-worker, Conner, she doesn't take them very seriously. Conner doesn't know whether to laugh at Jessica or tell her to mind her own business.Ghosted at the Altar by Chautona HavigAfter his fiancée, Brenna, abandons Mitchell on their wedding day, she insists she loves him and still wants to marry him. As truths come to light, her little sister, Lauren, turns sleuth to solve the mystery of why Brenna ghosted Mitchell at the altar.Five Gold Rings by Amanda TruWhen three relationship-challenged couples wish for Christmas weddings, commitment coach, Oliver, teams up with a wedding planner, TeraLyn, to help make their marriage dreams come true.

    Following the intertwined lives of a group of kickass career women, the series is a heartwarming mix of angsty romance and laugh-out-loud humour. She wished summer would never end. Violet Archer can't believe her luck. Her gorgeous new boyfriend is whisking her off on a romantic sun-drenched getaway! Well, not quite. There'll definitely be sun. But there'll also be a advertising shoot, a film crew, their eccentric best friend, Max, and one of the senior partners of their new ad agency. Oh, and of course, the teeny tiny issue that Violet's boyfriend is her best friend and soon-to-be boss, Ethan Fraser, and if anyone finds out they're together, he'll be fired. In the Santorini sunshine, can Ethan and Violet pull off a successful shoot, keep their secret hidden, and still find time for a little bit of summer sizzle? FRIENDLY NOTE #1: All of Elizabeth’s books feature realistic characters who do things real people do (like have sex) and say things real people say (like drop f-bombs). FRIENDLY NOTE #2: All of Elizabeth’s books are written in British English, not American English. We spell a few words differently.