When she’s called back to the sprawling Double R cattle ranch and her ailing father, Tess is thrown back into the world she had nearly forgotten since the death of her brother two years earlier.Unsettling memories boil to the surface for Tess, and her only pleasant distraction is the new cook Claire Redman and her son Jack. However, there is more facing Professor Rawlins than dealing with the memory of her brother or her attraction to Claire. Tess must figure a way to save the Rawlins’s five thousand acres of rich grassland. It has thrived for five generations, when her great-grandfather started the dynasty in the 1880s; now she may lose it all to an unscrupulous land developer.Set in the foothills of the Bitterroots, Tess and Claire find themselves in the fight of their lives—for love and the sea of grass.

     Alizhan can’t see faces, but she can read minds. Her mysterious ability leaves her unable to touch or be touched without excruciating pain. Rescued from abandonment and raised by the wealthy and beautiful Iriyat ha-Varensi, Alizhan has grown up in isolation, using her gift to steal secrets from Iriyat’s rivals, the ruling class of Laalvur. But Iriyat keeps secrets of her own. When Alizhan discovers that she isn’t the only one of her kind, and that a deadly plot threatens everyone like her, there’s only one person she can trust. Ev liked having a secret. None of the other girls in the village had a thief-friend. Evreyet Umarsad—“Ev” to her parents and her one friend—longs to be the kind of hero she reads about in books. But the rest of the world feels impossibly far away from her life on a farm outside Laalvur. Ev will never lay eyes on the underground city of Adappyr, the stars of the Nightward Coast, or the venomous medusas that glow in the dark depths of the sea. At least on her weekly trip to the market, Ev gets to see her thief—the strange young woman who slips by her cart and playfully steals a handful of thornfruit. When the thief needs help, Ev doesn’t hesitate. Together, they uncover a conspiracy that draws them all over Laalvur and beyond. Thornfruit is the first book in The Gardener's Hand trilogy.

    During that time, their families have grown to accept what the twenty-nine year old reformed player and her fifty year old lover mean to each other. Theirs is not just another kinky May-December affair. But a ghost from Rémi’s past rises up to threaten what the two women have found together. Can they put these demons to rest or will their love, as erotic as it is powerful, scatter like ashes to the four winds? Warning: This story contains explicit, kinky sexual acts between two consenting adults with a motorcycle acting as occasional voyeur. Number 3 in the How Sweet It Is series by the Lambda Literary Award finalist author of Bliss and Every Dark Desire. Start from the beginning with A Taste of Sin, Hungry for It, then Return to Me (a short sequel to Hungry for It), then Insatiable Appetites. All (except for Return to Me) are standalone, full-length novels featuring different couples in the group of Miami-based friends.

     She learned how to be strong again and break the shackles her old life had hobbled her with. While Paya is out making waves in London, Lenore is assigned as the driver for the contractor, McGrath, who is renovating a building for the Flotilla, which will allow people who had fallen upon hard times to have a place to call their own. The problem? Lenore finds McGrath to be the most infuriating, cocky, and egotistical woman on the planet. They mix like oil and water and Lenore wants nothing more than to throw a match on the mixture and be done with the woman. She just can’t figure out what it is that boils her blood around McGrath, though apparently all of her smug and smiling friends have an inkling… The Flotilla series is a spinoff of the bestselling London Harmony series.

    The job market is grim, adult responsibility looms, and when her job writing for the school paper sends her to interview the magnetic Morgan, she even begins questioning her sexuality. Morgan Park, a few years older and more worldly than Leah, seems to have it all – or at least she did, until her girlfriend started showing signs of bipolar disorder just as they decided to start a family together. Now her life is unraveling before her eyes and she just needs something – or someone – to hold onto. Life in a small town has been weaving Leah and Morgan slowly together, but their worlds collide in one intense meeting that leaves them each with a decision to make – follow their hearts to each other, or go their separate ways and keep sleepwalking through life. This 15,000-word novella is the prequel to Cara Malone’s debut novel, Awakened (April 2017).

    She made a lot of bad decisions, and her most recent one was renting a sailboat with a storm on the horizon. On the brink of death, Nan gets rescued by a strong, gorgeous woman. Maybe her luck is finally starting to change? Cass Finnegan lives in a lighthouse with her young daughter Annalee, just trying to get by as a single mother while dodging the judgments of her neighbors. One day, a beautiful woman washes up on the beach. Annalee thinks she's a mermaid, but Cass wonders if there isn't something even more special about her. An immediate, red-hot passion ignites between Nan and Cass, in spite of the secrets both of them are fighting to keep hidden. But for two scarred women, can love ever win? Neither of them can hide from their pasts for long. When it all comes crashing down, Annalee is caught in the middle...and the result is far more dangerous than any of them feared. Finding Her is part of the Cape Summer Romances, a collection of stand-alone romances that take place in the same town.

    These days, she spends life on the road, moving from one case to another until one day when runs run right into the path of Sheriff Mel Crane. The feisty, sexy butch cop is as determined to uncover a counterfeiting ring in her county as Agent Rossi becomes to stop a stalker obsessed with Mel and hot for her company. Dana is under the added pressure of conducting an undercover investigation of her own with a tight deadline: finding and then stopping a ring of smugglers bringing high end designer knock-offs into the states.Could their cases be related? When repeated vicious attacks on Mel and on her home accelerate the danger for her and also their attraction to each other, they become desperate to find the truth and solve the two mysteries. Can they find a way to work together to resolve both cases while coming to terms with their growing feelings for one another? Can Dana move beyond her jilted lover past and find true happiness with a small town Sheriff?

    In this honest, emotionally captivating short story collection, renowned author and National Book Award finalist Julie Anne Peters offers a stunning portrayal of young women as they navigate the hurdles of relationships and sexual identity.From the young lesbian taking her first steps toward coming out to the two strangers who lock eyes across a crowded train, from the transgender teen longing for a sense of self to the girl whose abusive father has turned her to stone, Peters is the master of creating characters whose own vulnerability resonates with readers and stays with them long after the last page is turned.Grl2grl shows the rawness of teenage emotion as young girls become women and begin to discover the intricacies of love, dating and sexuality.

    And ever since she took over her mother’s beloved Manhattan bookstore, they’ve become her home too. The only thing missing is her own real-life romance like the ones she loves to read about, and Rosie has an idea of who she might like to sweep her off her feet. She’s struck up a flirty online friendship with lesbian romance author Brie, and what could be more romantic than falling in love with her favorite author?Jane Breslin works hard to keep her professional and personal lives neatly separated. By day, she works for the family property development business. By night, she puts her steamier side on paper under her pen name: Brie. Jane hasn’t had much luck with her own love life, but her online connection with a loyal reader makes Jane wonder if she could be the one.When Rosie learns that her bookstore’s lease has been terminated by Jane’s family’s business, romance moves to the back burner. Even though they’re at odds, there’s no denying the sparks that fly every time they’re together. When their online identities are revealed, will Jane be able to write her way to a happy ending, or is Rosie’s heart a closed book?

    After scraping together enough money, and applying for the correct permit, she has set up her new ice cream trike in the affluent market town of Wilmsford. Unfortunately, her permit-approved spot puts her right outside the Gelato Parlour. Owned by Juliana Martin-Sinclair, the meticulous woman who puts the ice into ice queen. What will happen when these two very different ice cream aficionados collide?31,400 words

    Now it is up to his daughter, Tabitha, to deliver the Christmas presents. Tabitha has never been interested in the family business and would much rather run her own consulting business based out of Chicago. She is even less interested in marrying some nice young boy to take over as Santa, but there are some nice (and perhaps a few naughty) women she finds more intriguing. It all comes to a head when Allison catches Tabitha in her role as Santa. This is a novella of 25,000 words.

    No-one shuffles that frantically to hide books when you come in unexpectedly.And what would any right-minded person do when they opened the kitchen drawer to check what had been hidden? But right-minded isn't a term that's often applied to Beth.The Dildo in the Kitchen Drawer is a short story of paranoia, slippery fingers and recalcitrant dogs.

    Prepared for two weeks of sun-drenched melancholy, she finds much more than nostalgia in the house where she used to spend her summers as a child.

    Encouraged by his best friend—and secret crush—Oz to seek out his birth mother, he’s appalled to discover she’s loud, lower-class, and insists on calling him Wayne!Giles’ snobbier-than-thou, none-too-faithful boyfriend Hugh is equally horrified, and Oz, who’s always been secretive about his own family, starts acting very strangely.It seems Giles is about to learn that good breeding has nothing to do with who your parents are!LENGTH: 5,941 words

    We’ve known each other since we were young and though we’ve had our troubles we’ve managed to stay together. My parents never approved of him because my dad was rich and famous and he wasn’t. Please tell me how we got to this moment and what’s happened in our lives.Photo Description: The photo I chose showed two handsome young men— one in a suit, the other in a kilt. They both have rosebuds in their lapels, and they’re kissing as well as clasping their hands together. The background looks like a garden, and all these elements together made me think of a wedding.This story was written as a part of the M/M Romance Group's "Love Has No Boundaries" event. Group members were asked to write a story prompt inspired by a photo of their choice. Authors of the group selected a photo and prompt that spoke to them and wrote a short story.