That’s all Bernadette, “Bird,” Sincavage has left to go until she’s done with her probation and can be free again. Free from making payments to the supermarket she wrote bad checks to. Free from living at home with her overzealous mother who’s constantly nagging her about attending church again. Free to give her four-year-old son, Angus, the normal life he deserves. Her impending freedom and move to Moon Lake, where she’s plunked down a deposit on a brand new apartment, is so close she can almost taste it. What trouble could she possibly get into in just 13 days?But trouble does follow in the form of James Rittenhouse—someone she worked with a few years ago. At first, Bird is stunned to see James make the evening news when he’s arrested for assaulting someone in a local bar. But that’s nothing compared to the shock she gets when she discovers James hiding out in an abandoned church choir loft. Somehow he escaped police custody, broke his leg, and got his hand on a gun, which he’s now pointing at her.Although Bird doesn’t tell anyone she saw James, there’s no way she’s helping him. She can’t screw up her probation or her second chance for a new future. And she has her son’s welfare to think about. Still. If only she could stop thinking about the terrified look in James’ eyes and the fact that he’s hurt. If only she could forget that once, long ago, James helped her out, and she owes him a debt like no other. Will Bird jeopardize her future for someone who helped her out in the past? A past that holds secrets she’s not quite sure she’s ready to face? Or will she turn a blind eye and learn to live with the consequences?

    So, the last thing she needs is her husband of twenty years being 'outed' at a village charity auction - he has been having an affair with one of her closest friends. As if that weren't enough to cope with, Cassie suddenly finds herself catapulted into the head teacher position, and at the forefront of a fight to ward off developers determined to concrete over the beautiful landscape. But through it all, the irresistible joy of her pupils, the reality of keeping her teenage children on the straight and narrow, her irrepressible family and friends, and the possibility of new love, mean what could have been the worst year ever, actually might be the best yet... Julie Houston's novels are funny, wonderfully warm and completely addictive. Perfect for all fans of Gervaise Phinn, Katie Fforde and Jill Mansell.

    From Bristol to Barbados. . . .Emily Dawson has always been the poor cousin in a prosperous merchant clan—merely a vicar’s daughter, and a reform-minded vicar’s daughter, at that. Everyone knows that the family’s lucrative shipping business will go to her cousin, Adam, one day. But when her grandfather dies, Emily receives an unexpected inheiritance: Peverills, a sugar plantation in Barbados—a plantation her grandfather never told anyone he owned.When Emily accompanies her cousin and his new wife to Barbados, she finds Peverills a burnt-out shell, reduced to ruins in 1816, when a rising of enslaved people sent the island up in flames. Rumors swirl around the derelict plantation; people whisper of ghosts.Why would her practical-minded grandfather leave her a property in ruins? Why are the neighboring plantation owners, the Davenants, so eager to acquire Peverills—so eager that they invite Emily and her cousins to stay with them indefinitely? Emily finds herself bewitched by the beauty of the island even as she’s drawn into the personalities and politics of forty years before: a tangled history of clandestine love, heartbreaking betrayal, and a bold bid for freedom.When family secrets begin to unravel and the harsh truth of history becomes more and more plain, Emily must challenge everything she thought she knew about her family, their legacy . . . and herself.

    . . ? Mallory Dane has a great family (at least on the surface), is popular at school (as long as she doesn’t make waves), and dates an amazing boyfriend, Todd (who happens to be completely made up). Boys—and sex—are something Mallory just can’t deal with, so she created her “invisible guy” to avoid it all. But when Liam Crawford comes along—a real guy, flesh and bones and strumming his guitar—Mallory starts questioning her fictional relationship. Is she really willing to give up Todd for Liam? And can she make amends for the lies she’s told—even to her best friend, Tess? What if your biggest, most embarrassing secret was broadcast to the whole world? Letting go of her secret will be easier said than done, and Mallory will risk everything—her family, Tess, cheerleading, her reputation, and most of all, her heart.

    Her dad is making her spend the whole summer volunteering at the local soup kitchen.The truth is she wishes she was the care-free party-girl everyone thinks she is.She pretends it's all fine. That her "perfect" family is fine. But it's not. And no one notices the lie...until she meets Flynn. He's the only one who really sees her. The only one who listens.The truth is that Jess is falling apart – and no one seems to care. But Flynn is the definition of "the wrong side of the tracks." When Jess's parents look at him they only see the differences-not how much they need each other. They don't get that the person who shouldn't fit in your world... might just be the one to make you feel like you belong.

    Those people are fools. I’m a practiced hand at hiding from the world. The scars I bear are invisible to all but me, and I use them to sustain the walls I’ve built around myself. He knocked my simple life into disarray and infiltrated my carefully constructed defenses. The tight control I maintain is at breaking point, and ever since our eyes connected across a lunch hall, my world has been off balance. I can’t have him, and he can’t have me. I know it. He knows it. I’m just not sure that Tarrant Reigns has ever followed anyone’s rules. Everything and everyone is against us.Even his brother. Caden brought us together, but now he’s standing in our way.

    When Emmaline reads one too many reports of his scandalous liaisons in the gossip rags, she takes matters into her own hands. War-torn veteran, Lord Drake devotes himself to forgetting his days on the Peninsula through an endless round of meaningless associations. He no longer wants to feel anything, but Lady Emmaline is making it hard to maintain a state of numbness. With her zest for life, she awakens his passion and desire for love. The one woman Drake has spent the better part of his life avoiding is now the only woman he needs, but he is no longer a man worthy of his Emmaline. It is up to her to show him the healing power of love.

    Whether it’s securing a dinner reservation, a fleet of limos, or a record deal, or protecting her clients from the paparazzi, there’s nothing Beijing can’t do. She’s stacked up an impressive pile of IOUs from the world’s elite—and one day she decides it’s time to start cashing in. Before long, she’s a five-star diva running her own lucrative business, where she secures her clients their most outrageous—and increasingly illegal—desires.But Beijing has her own addiction: a man named Lootchee, who lavishes her with even more diamonds and luxury than she already has. But behind Lootchee’s charm and over-the-top romantic gestures is a selfish, high-stakes hustler who lures Beijing into a dangerous web that takes even this seasoned enterpriser by surpise, and breaks her heart in the process.Once the ball finally drops, it’ll take a ghost from Beijing’s past to rescue her—not only from those who are out to seriously harm her, but from herself.

    He needs Francesca Purnell's expertise to help find a serial killer. Sebastien tries to ignore the instant, undeniable attraction between them, but the more he resists, the more he wants her.

    . . until a feisty little firecracker comes crashing into our compound with the body of a goddess and drowning in trouble.Nova needs help, but nothing comes for free. I agree to rescue her sister from a rival club, but only if she gives her body to me exclusively. The longer she's here, the more I fall for her, but pleasure with Nova comes with jealousy, secrets, and betrayal.I can't stop the burn in my soul for this woman, though, and between the bastards brutalizing the kids in my town, and our enemies determined to take her from me, I'm almost certain Nova will do more than burn me—this time, I may get scorched.Too bad no one realizes I'd walk through Hellfire to keep Nova at my side and in my bed. She's mine, and I'll unleash my darkest demons to make sure she stays that way.

    As a plus sized woman, she's been indoctrinated with the belief that she doesn't deserve love, let alone the love of a beautiful white man. She's surprised and intrigued when Jeremy shows up at her church one day. Fate has something in store for the two of them...true love!When Jeremy returns home with Aura, neither is preppared for the backlash. Will Jeremy's family be able to set aside their prejudices and accept their son's choice for a mate? Can Aura's family and friends learn to embrace her choice and believe that she deserves the love of an extremely handsome and sexy man like Jeremy? Can they inspire compassion and tolerance in those who would tear them apart? THIS BOOK CAN BE FOUND ON LULU.COM

    She has a fierce protector and a colorful collection of friends...but sometimes she wonders if her life will ever be normal again. Though college and romance await her, embracing them requires a new kind of strength-one she isn't sure she has. Emerging from years of confusion, Cora struggles to latch hold of the sanity she needs to return to the real world. She yearns to find a place of peace...but first she must deal with the ghosts of her past. Can this mother and daughter overcome abuse, betrayal, abandonment, and the horrors of sexual trafficking, and make it back into each others arms? Facing the past is never easy. But as they chip away the layers, they might just find something beautiful beneath the mess.

    Now, over a decade later, Vashti reluctantly finds herself back in her hometown after inheriting her aunt’s B and B. Her homecoming gets off to a rocky start when the new sheriff, Sawyer Grisham, pulls her over for speeding, and things go downhill from there.The B and B, a place she’d always found refuge in when it seemed like the whole world was against her, has fallen into disrepair. When a surprising benefactor encourages Vashti to reopen the B and B, Vashti embraces a fresh start, and soon old hurts begin to fade as she makes new memories with the town—and its handsome sheriff…But some pasts are too big to escape, and when a bombshell of a secret changes everything she thought was true, Vashti is left reeling. With Sawyer and his teenage daughter determined to see her through the storm, though, she’s learning family isn’t always a matter of blood—sometimes it’s a matter of heart.

    They are both excited when Dwight is offered a promotion at work, but the downside is that the job is located in Maryland. After much discussion, Tracey decides that she does not want to leave their new house. Dwight makes the decision to accept the position and return home on weekends. Alicia Dixon has spent her life hating and not trusting men after her father mistreated her mother, but she can't help but fall for the new guy in her company... Dwight. They both try to fight their attraction to one another, but it proves to be a losing battle-Alicia is everything that his southern wife is not. When Alicia ends up pregnant, Dwight decides to end things with Tracey, but the process proves not to be as easy as Dwight had hoped.

    and there's a knock at the door. He's back, again. And this time he's not alone. * Full length standalone romance with guaranteed HEA and no cheating *