He was smoking a cigarette, and I was lost. It was an abysmal beginning. It was the start of something huge.

    When tragedy struck and she lost the most important people in her life, she turned away from everything she loved before; shutting out every reminder of the perfect life she lost. It has been one year, three months, one week and six days since the accident; and Nicole is ready to stop counting the days she’s survived, and begin living again. On a dare from her best friend, Nicole encounters Zack Walters - the popular alternative rock star and man who signifies so much of her past – and suddenly everything in Nicole’s safe and quiet life changes. When she’s forced to face the pain she’s carried for so long, will she truly be able to heal from her past and begin to live again? Or will her new adventure ruin her completely?

    She’s my sister’s best friend. The girl I’ve known since grade school. The girl I’ve always considered off-limits. She’s the girl that crawled under a table in a bar one night and changed everything between us. Now the brain in my pants is more than willing to step up. The rules are simple. No kissing. No screwing. No falling in love. But the more I let her use my body in the name of experimentation, the more I know being friends isn’t enough. Is it too much to want it all with her? The taste of her lips. The sweetness of her innocence. The chance to earn her love. I might have a real shot with her…if her douchebag ex and my past don’t ruin everything. Note from the author Swallow Me Whole is a friends-to-lovers standalone romance. Full-length at 77,000 words. Please note that parts of this story were previously published as a serial under the pen name of Angel Allen. This standalone novel includes the complete story. For a limited time, Trashy Foreplay is included as a bonus book in this copy of Swallow Me Whole, so the main book ends at about the 58% mark.

    It's where I live. And I'm the president, mayor, and sole citizen.Reese Jackson is living her safest life. This polymath is tired of trying to fit in with a small town that never knows what to do with her. Her absentee family may have forced her into dorm life for her own good, but she goes from her classes to her room and back—no parties, no dates, and no drawing attention.Until one noisy night, when Reese gets kicked out of her dorm.Fitz Moreland is living his okayest life. He’s on his own to pay for college, but he’s scraping by with an athletic scholarship and free rent with a friend. If he can keep it together, he’s on track to graduate with a useful degree, especially now that he’s finally said goodbye to his drama-loving ex-girlfriend.Until one night, when she gets him kicked out of his house. What happens when there’s one single room left for rent in the entire town and two people who desperately need it? A merrymaking, money-seeking landlord arrives and throws them into a series of ridorkulous challenges to compete for it, of course. It’s the dorky duckling versus the BMOC. The winner will get a place to live—but the loser may just forfeit their heart.

    Desperate to rid the crime of its only witness, one of the thieves kidnaps Addie. Yet surprisingly, when a renegade thief attempts to silence her for good, Addie is saved by the very man who abducted her. Now, forced on board a cargo ship in the middle of the ocean, Addie finds herself surrounded by international smugglers who want nothing more than to throw her overboard. All except the artistic and intriguing Charlie Hays, whose strange protectiveness convinces Addie to trust him, even when common sense tells her otherwise. Yet, despite her doubt, and his unrelenting temper, their relationship develops into something much more. But, Charlie’s scorned colleague has stowed away, and as he seeks revenge against his coworker, Addie and Charlie are forced to put their new love—and lives—at risk.

    Beneath the glamor is our fragile humanness, the need to belong, be understood, and in our darkest moments we are united in our desire to find comfort and love. Tattoos: A Novel is not a story about cancer, it is a story about finding hope and meaning in the devastation that can become your life in the blink of an eye. We have seen it happen to the people we love and many have lived it themselves, life shifting rapidly like ice breaking beneath our feet plunging you into the depths. This is a story and a testament to all those who have survived the unsurvivable, lived the unliveable, pushed through just one more day; this is everyones story, this is about living life... Seventeen-year-old Marilee Mackie has everything going for her, beauty, money and a bright future. But when she’s diagnosed with cancer her world falls apart. Instead of finishing her senior year she begins the fight of her life. Nineteen-year-old Jax, an enigmatic hospital orderly, lives on the Strip, the proverbial other side of the tracks. With his sleeves of tattoos and rocker look, he’s the kind of bad boy that Marilee has always steered clear of. But when Marilee’s illness strips her bare, she searches for meaning in her life. Seeing that Marilee has lost hope, Jax steps in and helps her find purpose, a reason to live another day. From devastation the Peace Project is born. With Marilee’s money and Jax’s knowledge of the Strip, the teenagers embark on an unforgettable journey. Where Marilee learns that happiness is a choice, small acts of kindness can change lives forever, that a little good goes a long way, and that love can grow even in the darkest places of you life. But especially that rainbows can follow storms.

    But Nellie’s been hurt, only once, but it was enough to make her look at life through different eyes and off the rink she’s a timid girl who loves with no pretenses. A long time ago Owen Black was betrayed by the girl he thought he loved and the guy he called his best friend. The anguish set off a domino effect of negativity in his life and he never has fully recovered. He meets Nellie Forrester and thinks he can let it go for her. But how can you love someone when the wounds from your past are still wide open?

    Sometimes it’s where you find Mr. Random shacked up and sprawled out on what was supposed to be your new bed.Between the bear spray and the handcuffs, she discovers a terrible mistake has been made.Lochlan hasn't broken into her new home to sleep with a seedy barmaid...he owns half.With emotions running on high, Erin is determined to tough it out until a solution can be found.The tight quarters seem smaller with his accumulated clutter and bizarre sleeping schedule. It also doesn't help that he's the new lead singer for Thin Ice, an indie band on its rise to fame.What happens when a quiet bookworm gets stuck with a relentless rocker?What happens when the things you see are not the things you get?

    Definitely not a frat rat or sorority slut. I’ve never even played beer pong. I ditched the vapid, soulless high-society life of Los Angeles for the promise of something more meaningful in rural Ohio. Accepting a track scholarship for college, I tried running my way to happiness, but instead I ended up sleeping with my French professor and falling head over heels for him. When that relationship fell apart, so did I. Barely hanging on by a thread and using the most absurd coping skills, I was determined to hide behind my past indiscretions. That was, until I met Tiberius Jones. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d learn the truth about love from a six-foot-five basketball player.

    From the moment she steps foot in Rosewood High— it's clear she must go.And I'll use my power to get rid of her. The betrayal I'm reminded of each time our eyes lock must end.She's a lost rich girl, trying to recover from the death of her parents. But none of that is my concern.This is my life. My rules. My senior year. What I say goes.And I say she's done.Until she proves me wrong...

    Not accidentally, not casually…and certainly not intimately. This makes it impossible for her to confess to her best friend Adam Roberts that she’s in love with him. She can’t give him the sort of relationship he needs, so she watches in silence while he plans his wedding with someone else.Enter Nikoli Kinkaid, the campus manwhore…Nikoli is a self-proclaimed connoisseur of women, and he wants to add Lily to his list of conquests, but she wants nothing to do with him—until he makes her an offer she can’t refuse. He’ll teach her to enjoy human contact again, giving her a chance to win over Adam, while Nikoli uses all his considerable charm to seduce her.But Lily raises the stakes…Lily loves cars. Her late father was a racer, and she grew up under the hood of a car and on the racetrack. Nikoli has a limited edition 1970 Plymouth Barracuda she covets, so she informs him the terms of their deal also require he not sleep with anyone for six months. If he does, she’ll win the car. If she surrenders and ends up in his bed, his beloved ’Cuda is his to keep.In an intricate dance of control and surrender, a reluctant friendship becomes something more. Lily begins to crave things she never believed she could, and Nikoli realizes there is more at stake than his reputation. If Lily overcomes her phobia, will she crave Adam’s touch as she’s starting to crave Nikoli’s? Or will she only find pleasure from the touch of a semi-reformed manwhore?

    Her parents died in a car crash when she was ten, and she has been living with her elderly grandmother who happens to be her only living relative ever since. Allison became best friends with the boy next door, Aiden. Aiden’s family has taken her in as part of their own, which is why when her gran insists that she live in the dorms at college, Allison chooses to attend the same school as Aiden.Liam MacCoy is a college senior and quarterback of his college football team. Liam is rumored to be first round draft pick for the NFL following graduation, as is his best friend, Aiden. Liam has one focus and that’s football, that is until his little sister introduces him to her roommate Allison. Since he met her, he hasn't been able to think of anything else.Liam is not a relationship kind of guy, and Allison wants it all. She wants the romance and the family that she grew up without. Will Liam overcome his fear of relationships as well as the tangle of friendships to give Allison everything she wants?

    Dressing to the trendiest Goth fashion, Zar wears nothing but black from head to toe. Not that this warrants unwanted attention, but she is also top in her class and is looking at a full academic scholarship to Iowa State in the fall. Loudon Clarke is an all star athlete. He plays three varsity sports and has the world in his hands. Except for one thing; Loudon is failing majority of his subjects. He is about to be suspended from the basketball team risking his athletic scholarship. Zar and Loudon would normally never cross paths, until these two are brought together when Zar’s brother proposes to Loudon’s sister. With an upcoming wedding and a lot of planning Zar and Loudon are stuck with one another regardless of their differences. Zar has hidden behind the pain she deals with on a daily basis for years. Loudon has never had to feel pain nor the ignorance of his peers. Can opposites really bring these two together or will they be pulled even further apart. Only one thing is for sure, it is impossible to fight the connection of pierced love when one is willing to change for happiness.

    Fate had other things in store though, and she can be a real bitch sometimes. All he wanted was to get the job done and somehow to endure those long months playing nanny to a spoiled little rich girl. Without strangling her with his bare hands in the process. Well, it is going to be much easier said than done. All she wanted was to escape the past and live like any other girl. Her plan definitely didn’t include the arrogant, tattooed savage, with his awful mohawk and lack of social graces, whose only mission was to stick real close and mess up her life.But, people aren't always what they seem to be, are they?

    She’s eighteen.His life is exactly the way he’s always wanted it to be...stable.She’s quite possibly the very definition of unstable.Noah saved her.Georgina never wanted to be saved.Growing up, Noah Clark was passed from one relative to the next until he finally ended up living with his abusive, alcoholic uncle in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. Thanks in part to the unwavering love and support of his best friend, Ellie Turner, Noah survived those years, escaped his uncle, and grew into the man he is today. Now he runs his own business and lives a pretty normal, no-nonsense life—one where he maintains a high level of control. Georgina is Ellie’s younger sister. Four months ago, Noah saved Georgie’s life, but he thought that was where his involvement with his friend’s sister would end. Now Georgie has returned home from the recovery facility her parents sent her away to and Noah, still haunted by the night that connects them, can’t stop himself from continuously trying to protect this girl he barely knows. But is he willing to give up all of the control he’s worked so hard to build in his life and risk everything for her? Even more importantly, would she do the same for him?