As long as the non-offending team maintains possession, the referee allows play to continue and signals a delayed penalty by raising his arm.I’m Evan Mason, an NHL hockey player for the Chicago Blackhawks. I spend my nights roughing up two hundred pound defensemen and, at times, spend more time in the penalty box than I do on the ice.That’s my job. One night changed everything I thought I once knew about my life on, and off, the ice. A girl. A brutally beaten girl left to die in an alley.I don’t know why or how but something made me stay that night after taking her to the hospital. I didn’t know her, nor did I have an obligation to stay but something inside of me rooted me there telling me I should stay. Saving a life is worth something. At least I thought so. And I wouldn’t have been me if I just simply left her there. Any man who put his heart and soul into a game of hockey couldn’t just walk away when someone needed them. She had no one else right now. The same guy who saw determination where there was desire, now saw hope where there was once despair.I couldn’t leave. That wouldn’t be me. No, not a man that put all he had into something some called just a game. I couldn’t walk away from her holding onto life, weak and powerless to something she had no control over.So I stayed. In a room full of family members praying for their loved ones to pull through, I prayed for a girl I didn’t know and had never met before, to have a beating heart. While others’ sorrows turned to grieving pain, I sat waiting on the words of the unknown.No bond is stronger than the ones you’ll bleed for.

    How can you move forward when you're anchored to the past?When it comes to tattooed bad boys, Chase Gartner was the real deal. Partying, engaging in meaningless sex, getting into fights---Chase indulged in it all during his late teen years, thus firmly solidifying his status as a heartbreakingly gorgeous but way-too-dangerous-to-trust guy in his hometown of Harmony Creek, Ohio. Then, following one fateful night of reckless decisions, Chase's actions finally caught up to him and landed him in prison.Now, four years have passed and Chase finds himself a free man. He returns to Harmony Creek, ready to pick up the pieces and start rebuilding his shattered life. Things are off to a promising start when he meets Kay Stanton, a young woman with a tragic past of her own. Despite a powerful attraction, Chase and Kay are naturally hesitant to become involved. That's why friendship feels like the safest option. But when passions ignite and love blossoms, a relationship that is destined and meant to be can only be resisted for so long. When Chase and Kay finally succumb to their feelings they realize being together feels more right and true than anything they have ever experienced. But their love is soon tested. Chase's wild past still haunts and tempts him, and Kay is keeping a secret that could tear them apart. I Stand Before You is a journey of hope and forgiveness, coming to terms with the past and moving forward. But mostly it's a story of two damaged people who take a chance, open their hearts, and find true love. New Adult/Contemporary Romance genres. First in a series. ***warning: contains explicit sexual situations, drug use, some violence, and profanity***

    Her move allows her to reconnect with Josh, her best friend, who is more then thrilled at Norah's appearance back into his life. At the same time that Norah steps back into Josh's heart, she learns that he is in the process of being accepted into McLaren's uber exclusive secret society, the 'Lappell'. Josh takes Norah to the Lappell's glamorous parties in the hope of taking their friendship to the next level, but when Norah meets the handsome and elusive Clint Weston, a leader in the Lappell, he sweeps her off her feet in more ways then one. Norah quickly becomes caught up in an emotional tug-of-war between the two guys while also trying to deal with her own secrets that follow her every day. When Norah's past begins to intertwine with her present, what unfolds is a series of dramatic events filled with romance, mystery and dark motivations. She quickly realizes the path to real love can be paved in all kinds of lies.*NOTE: This is a new adult novel with some mature sexual content.

    But when her boyfriend of six years abruptly leaves her, she’s catapulted back into pain, nursing a broken heart. When indulging in mountains of chocolate doesn’t work, Serena decides the best way to deal with her shattered heart is to indulge in something else. A rebound... The night she swaps her usual Sprite for tequila, she meets James. The encounter is breathtaking.Electrifying.And best not repeated. James is a successful entrepreneur in Silicon Valley. A man who has amassed a fortune by taking risks. A man who has shunned commitment completely, and still does. He’s the exact opposite of Serena. But sometimes opposites attract. Sometimes they give in to burning passion. Sometimes opposites are perfect for each other. James is everything her damaged soul could want. His kisses are intoxicating, his touch out of this world. He makes her forget. He grants her peace from her pain. But as they grow closer, Serena discovers she isn’t the only one with a past. James carries the scars of a past much darker than hers. One that has left him damaged, hurt, and wary of love. A past that gives him the power to shatter her. Now James and Serena must find a way to mend one another. Or risk losing each other forever.

    These are the memories that will never fade.Join nineteen fantastic authors as they pull back the curtain and give you a peek inside that one intense moment in their characters' lives when everything changes and nothing will ever be the same again.Featuring stories from some of the hottest names in New Adult, Young Adult, and Romance including New York Times Bestselling authors J.Lynn/Jennifer Armentrout, Molly McAdams, Sophie Jordan, and Carrie Ryan.NOTE: These stories are works of fiction. If you want to know about our first times, you'll have to buy us a pet monkey first.

    A story of healing. A story of love conquering all.Nineteen-year-old Cromwell Dean is the rising star of electronic dance music. Thousands of people adore him. But no one knows him. No one sees the color of his heart.Until the girl in the purple dress. She sees through the walls he has built to the empty darkness within.When Cromwell leaves behind the gray skies of England to study music in the South Carolina heat, the last thing he expects is to see her again. And he certainly doesn’t expect that she’ll stay in his head like a song on repeat.Bonnie Farraday lives for music. She lets every note into her heart, and she doesn’t understand how someone as talented as Cromwell can avoid doing the same. He’s hiding from his past, and she knows it. She tries to stay away from him, but something keeps calling her back.Bonnie is the burst of color in Cromwell’s darkness. He’s the beat that makes her heart skip.But when a shadow falls over Bonnie, it’s up to Cromwell to be her light, in the only way he knows how. He must help her find the lost song in her fragile heart. He must keep her strong with a symphony only he can compose.A symphony of hope.A symphony of love.A symphony of them.

    Meet Cuba Hudson, the heartbreaker of Briarwood Academy:I'm the tattooed bad boy girls think they can change.I have it all: a football career, a stellar GPA, and a family that owns half of Dallas, Texas. Everyone wants to be me, but all I want is to forget...Then she shows up.Dovey Beckham arrives at Briarwood Academy and looks right through me, unconcerned that I rule the school. I wasn't part of her precious plan, and it drove me insane...so I made it my mission to claim her, to put her notch on my bedpost.She would be mine and her heart would be broken.I didn't plan on falling for her, and I sure as hell didn't plan on losing her...Welcome to Briarwood Academy...where sometimes, the best things in life are Very Wicked Beginnings.

    But admission to law school is Libby’s ticket out of Indiana and her escape from small town life forever. During a night on the town, Libby beats the most competitive athlete on campus at pool and draws more attention from him than she’s prepared for.Aidan Palowski is one of those jocks your friends warned you about—the kind that never loose—the kind that put notches in their baseball bats. As the closing pitcher on the best baseball team in the Big Ten, he’s on his way to the major leagues. Aidan always gets what he wants and Libby is the final home run he wants to hit out of the park.The last thing Libby needs is to get sidetracked by a superstar jock. Afraid that she might be on a collision course with love at first sight Libby keeps her distance, but the longer she holds out the more Aidan realizes it’s a case of lust he can’t fight.What happens when worthy opponents refuse to play their hearts out?CUTTERS VS. JOCKSThe story of two lovers who put their future goals ahead of each other’s love before they were brought to the table for BINDING ARBITRATION.

    The first thing she did when she got there, however, was run headlong into her happily ever after. Unfortunately for her, the guy was way out of her league.Collin Blake, along with the rest of his college swim team, was just visiting Los Angeles for a few days. It was something the U Cal swimmers did every year. Falling in love definitely wasn't on his list things to do while he was there.Is love at first sight even possible?Collin and Rachel thought so. They had an instant connection... right up to the point when Rachel disappeared.Can they pick up where they left off even though it’s... Three Years Later

    We couldn't exist without each other."For me, life was simple. I went to school and studied. I spent time with my friends and stayed out of trouble. I didn't drink or swear and I only dated gentlemen. I was the typical good girl with a bright future. My world seemed perfect. But that was about to change.Ryder Delaney was the one imperfection in my life. He was the bad boy, the black sheep, the one your mother always warned you about. He had only one hard-and-fast rule - Don't fall in love. But some rules were meant to be broken.We were best friends, inseparable since childhood despite our differences. I knew the real man hiding behind the tattoos and bad attitude. He knew all my secrets and dreams. But he didn't know there was one thing I wanted and couldn't have...him.But sometimes Fate has a way of intervening. Soon our world collapsed. War erupted. Darkness prevailed. Alone and on the run, our only goal was to survive and to ignore the feelings we had for each other. But love is powerful...and so is the darkness.word count: 100,285

    Never would she have imagined after breaking her grandmother’s precious Native American statue, danger, a lost treasure of Cherokee Gold and a hostage situation would arise. Nor could she predict that the one man destined to protect her and her family was her childhood nemesis and former crush, Maddox Diaz.Returning after three years in the Army, twenty-three year old Maddox Diaz is confronted with more than he bargained for when agreeing to help his childhood buddy and deepest regret, Lane. Suddenly he is thrust into a dangerous game of cat and mouse with armed and ruthless treasure seekers that results in car chases and gun battles all in the presence of the one girl who still manages to haunt his dreams and drive him wild with desire.Lane is determined to deny the sizzling chemistry with the man who stole her virginity and broke her heart. She just wants to stay alive with her heart intact. Will she be able to resist the man whose body sets fire to all her senses?Coming summer of 2013. Read an excerpt here: http://literatiliteraturelovers.com/2...

    A rich kid who’s not used to being disappointed by life, Quinn and his sociopathic half-brother Sebastian create a frat house game intended to treat girls how they see them—as simple game pieces to be manipulated for their pleasure.College sophomore Emilie Swanson knows Quinn’s reputation—after all, he did send one of her sorority sisters into therapy earlier in the semester—but the game and his charm bring them closer together and soon she starts to believe there’s more to Quinn than people think.But what if the more is something darker than a game of toying with emotions and breaking hearts?Quinn and Emilie might be falling for each other, but there are secrets he’s not ready to tell—and lifestyle changes he’s reluctant to make. She willingly stepped on the court, but if Emilie finds out she started out as nothing as a pawn in Quinn and Sebastian’s twisted game, she might never forgive him.To his surprise, Quinn finds that he might finally care about someone more than he cares about himself…even if that means letting Emilie walk away for good.

    For most of her life, she’s had to take care of herself, her younger brother Chad, and her drunk mother. She’s lived under the shadow of what her father did when she was ten years old. Forever branded by his actions.College was her escape, she could get away and finally live. Her dream was to make it in the New York Ballet Company one day. That for her meant a long road full of hard work and dedication. She didn't have time for distractions, and Levi Klein was definitely a distraction.Will Levi be able to crack through her tough exterior and really see the wounded soul underneath? Becca needs to be loved, but the question is, will she let Levi love her?

    We’re no longer just best friends…

    Her family is about to lose everything, and she has almost no chance of continuing her college education. She can't even seek solace from her high school sweetheart. He's changed. She doesn't recognize the boy she used to know— his violent behavior is escalating and it scares the hell out of her. Her whole world is crumbling, and she has no one to turn to……Sebastian “Bash” McDaniels is an up and comer in the boxing world working nights at the local college bar until he can land the fight of his dreams that will get him the hell out of Boston and away from his family's tragic past. He’s weeks from his goal when Olivia Beckett comes tumbling into his life in a flash of silky dark hair and haunted eyes. When he saves her from a potentially brutal beating, they begin to grow close, but Olivia's ex isn’t ready to let her go so easily. Bash can't bring himself to walk away, but fixing Olivia just might leave him broken…