Getting a promotion, finding new friends, learning you are attracted to women…. Nia Toyomoto has worked hard all her life to prove she was the best; she graduated early from high school, college, and got the dream job in Manhattan. Becoming a partner at the tender age of thirty she thought she had it all until the law firm made demands about her personal appearance and a few other things that made her change her life for the promotion. Then she realizes having everything isn’t all that it is cracked up to be without someone to share it with… A successful lawyer in the big city, choices have to made, sacrifices and surprises await this beautiful and talented woman….does she make the right ones though?

    Seeing her city in shambles, coated in ash, and American lives lost, she enlisted to fight the War on Terror. Daniella Melo, a Rhode Island American History teacher, challenges her class to write letters to soldiers fighting overseas. With one name left and a student short, Daniella takes it upon herself to write letters to Private Taylor Phillips stationed in Afghanistan. Over the next two years, the women exchange letters, sharing stories of their daily lives: Daniella trailing after her rambunctious daughter, Jackie, and dealing with overeager seniors planning prom while Taylor trudges through sand and dirt, driving her humvee in cold deserts. Their friendship continues to grow until it becomes something so much more than either woman expect.

    Mother saved black widow spiders and the homeless. Brother Benny was Astrid’s immutable compass. He kept a straight face, his eyes glazed. All Benny wanted was to stay in one place.With all hell breaking loose, will Astrid and her beloved little brother navigate the ’70s and ’80s and survive childhood?

    But his enthusiasm quickly turns to dread when it becomes apparent that his phantom guest has also begun to notice Allan. This tale is from the short story collection, BURIED IN THE BASEMENT, by the author of The Temple of the Blind series. 9200 words

    . . Ash Greene has nothing left to lose when he stands on the curb, ready to lose his dignity. The rain is relentless and has been for days—the story of his life. With nowhere to go and no one to turn to, he only has one option if he wants to earn enough money to survive. Yet, when a chance encounter with a stranger spares him from making the terrible decision, he believes things may be about to change. Cole Harris is getting by, living his life from day to day. He's not looking for love because people like him are incapable of love. All people like him do are push others away. He has too many demons haunting his past to let anybody step foot into his despair. Yet, when he stumbles upon a guy soaking in the rain, only fate can be at work. Letting Ash into his life, Cole soon discovers a devastating reason he should treat him as he does everyone else. The only trouble is, for the first time in his life, he has met a guy worth keeping. Desperate to hold onto him, he will face the tough decision to tell Ash the truth of who he is, or hope he can keep his past buried.

    She has friends, money, a job—everything she needs to survive. Except, of course, love, which, after getting her heart broken, she avoids like the plague. Pam Phillips, on the other hand, just buried the love of her life—her husband of twenty-one years. The last thing she wants is a new friend, let alone a new love interest. When the two women meet and swap witty banter, things start to change. Kathryn can feel that familiar tug of desire in her chest as she suggests—in a smooth as silk way—that they meet up again someday. In a moment of pure insanity—or desperation—Pam decides to take a chance. What happens next changes Pam’s life forever.

    She couldn’t imagine needing more—until her golden voice was silenced. Now her quiet days are filled with her guitar and she savors every sunrise. Curious, and as a favor to a friend, she emerges to hear a rumored superstar in the making.Talent pours out of Erika Alvarez through her voice and her fingertips. She’s awed that the reclusive Dess Hampton wants to hear her sing, and then blown away when Dess agrees to sit in for a few gigs.Dess can tell that Erika is destined for the life that she once had and wants no part of, ever again. But can the magic of the music they make together, and the growing love between them, trump Erika’s ambition and Dess’s fears? How much are they willing to sacrifice for music—and for each other?

    A fluke Google search revealed that her partner of seven years, Diana, had traded her in for a newer, younger model. Seeking to retreat from her grief, Cindy signed up to be a dog foster mommy. Duke, an elderly basset hound, was just the salve she needed to soothe her jagged wounds. His big, soulful eyes reminded her that life offered much to appreciate. Every new rose bush held beneath it the hope of a playful chipmunk or elusive acorn.And then, strolling with Duke along a sunny bike path, Cindy got the call that lifted her spirits. The Worcester Art Museum needed her help. At long last, her dreams of becoming an art detective were coming true!But could Cindy shake off the shadowy tendrils of her failed relationship to focus on her very first case?* * *Sniffing Out a Crime is the first book in the Dog Fosterer Museum Mysteries series. These short stories are about 15 pages each and feature museums of all shapes and sizes. Author Lisa Shea goes to each museum personally to write up its sights, sounds, and exhibits. That way you, the reader, can take a virtual vacation to these museums! Visit Lisa's webpages to see photos and write-ups of the museums. All of the Dog Fosterer Museum Mysteries series contain no violence, no swearing, and no intimacy, so they are suitable for teens and up. You can read the books one-by-one as they are released, or you can wait for the boxed sets to be published once the series gets enough books in it. It's your choice!A portion of all proceeds benefits battered women's shelters.

    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.

    What more could anyone want?Alden McKenna has spent her entire life not growing up. Being an adult is tedious, not to mention totally boring. And requires less skateboarding. So why bother? Moving to a small beach town seems like an awesome idea. The skateboarding is good, the sun is always shining, and no one moves very fast. She even meets a hot chick like five minutes after moving there. Life is good. Except young Weston Duvall has already grown up and her reasons for doing so surprise Alden even more because she didn’t see them coming. Weston can’t trust Alden, and Alden isn’t sure she wants to be trusted. So why can’t they seem to stay away from each other?

    She left the FBI and decided to try her hand at professional poker. She’s played poker for years, but no amount of practice could have prepared her for what she’d face in Las Vegas away from the tables.Ashley Noble works security at a casino in Vegas. After a failed marriage and a disgraced exit from her position with the LAPD, she’s just grateful to have a job. When Stryker shows up in her casino, Ash is forced to face the woman she had an affair with fifteen years ago and thought she’d never see again.The attraction between the two is undeniable, but Jordan keeps her distance because of her MS. When Ash decides she’s ready to up the ante, she knows getting Jordan to call the bet will be damn near impossible.

    In reality, she’s a super-powered alien refugee who arrived on Earth as a tween and has passed as human ever since. When her editor asks her to interview Ava Westbrook, chief operations officer at Hyperion Tech, Kenzie is understandably nervous about meeting the heir to the most notorious anti-alien family in America. She certainly doesn’t expect Ava to announce that she wants to transform her family’s company into a force for good. But is Ava really as different from her alien-hating brother and father as she seems?When she agreed to take her mother’s place at Hyperion’s Seattle office, Ava Westbrook was hoping to turn over a new leaf both for the embattled corporation and for her family's name. But with a hostile board and equally antagonistic CEO thwarting her sustainable energy plans, the path to change looks murky. Add in the highly inconvenient crush she has developed on a local reporter, and Ava is certain she is swimming out of her depth. And what is her mother up to, anyway?Drum up the Dawn is the first book in a new urban fantasy series that takes place on an Earth where alien refugees live on the fringes of society, Kenzie Shepherd may well be the last daughter of a long-dead planet, and Ava Westbrook wishes everyone could just get along.

    The magic’s drying up; the girls are spoiled brats, and guardian angels poach the council’s best clients whenever they can.When her boss assigns her a VIP case, Claire assumes it’s more of the same. But Frankie, her client, seems to be the deserving underdog of the olden days. And Tamiel, the guardian angel who pops onto the scene, swears she’s there to protect Frankie, not to steal her. It doesn’t hurt she’s smokin’ hot.As the case starts to unravel, Claire is forced to examine her own prejudices and desires. Is she heading for certain ruin, or will she grab her happily ever after in this lesbian urban fantasy?Length: 35,000 wordsThemes: action · demon · fairy godmother · Fallen Angel · guardian angel · lesbian · Los Angeles · supernatural · urban

    Michelle refused to follow Sydney to California and leave her family behind in New York. Michelle knew her mother would never accept her relationship with another woman. Eighteen years later the two women cross paths again. Can they find the love they once had or are they destined to be apart?

    A war of words soon spirals into a forbidden and passionate love that covers many years.But as the years move on, troubled waters lie ahead.