She doesn’t even know how to hug. Everyone thinks she’s smart, but straight A's are way easier than making friends. Then she meets Dane, a golden-haired surfer whose easy charm and hot touch teach her what she longs to know.Dane lives for the salty breeze and a sweet wave, because that’s all he has. He’s been on the streets since he was fourteen. A drifter. Homeless. Then he meets Amy. Smart and accomplished, she’s everything he’s not. He wants to be the sort of man who deserves her.Except that means facing down his past—and that past might very well swallow them both.

    A ballerina who lies. A baseball player who believes her. Well, the truth changes everything. Tally Landon just wants to escape her tragic story if just for one night. She doesn't count on meeting Lincoln Presley, Stanford's baseball wonder, but plans to add him to her long list of one-night stands. That's the plan. Lying to him about her age and her name is just a part of her don't-get-emotionally-attached style. She doesn't count on being found out, nor on ever seeing Linc again or falling in love. Lincoln Presley's life is all mapped out. There is only baseball. With the major leagues circling their favorite prospect with a lucrative offer, he cannot afford to mess up. And, he doesn't; until he meets up with the girl he saved from the burning wreckage on the 101 on Valentine's Day months before. By the time he learns her real name and of all the lies she's told, he's in far too deep to ever really let her go. When fame and lies tear them apart, one truth remains; and fate, most definitely, has a different set of plans. This much is true.Author's Note: A coming of age story? Could be. A powerful love story? Most definitely. An unforgettable read? Most likely. Intended for mature audiences, ages 17+? Absolutely. This best selling new adult contemporary romance novel will take you on an emotional roller coaster ride and is the first book (which should really be two books) in the Truth In Lies series, but it can be read as a standalone. It is 432 pages long in 12-point type so carve out some time.

    Do you see that woman there?The one with long, wavy blond hair and blue eyes that used to sparkle?That’s me, Violet Moore.Do you see those men over there?One is my husband, Rob.A man who claimed he loved me, but proved his fist loved me more.The other is Tucker McCloud, my savior and confidant.I'm torn between what's right and my own fear.But not anymore.I’m taking my life back now.I will fight back.I will be happy.

    And you’re closer to death than I am.”My name is Parker. My body is marked with scars from an attack I don’t remember. I don’t want to remember. I choose to live my life by observation, not through experience. While people are laughing and kissing and connecting, I’m in the corner. Watching them live. I’m indifferent to everything, everyone. The only emotion I feel with any kind of depth is annoyance, and I feel it often.A text message sent to the wrong number proves to be my undoing.His name is Everett, but I call him rude. He’s pushy, he’s arrogant, he crowds my personal space, and worst of all: he makes me feel.He chooses to wear all black, all the time, as if he’s waiting to attend a funeral. Probably because he is.Everett is dying. And he’s spending his final days living, truly living. In doing so, he’s forcing me to feel, to heal. To come face to face with the demons I suppressed in my memory.He hurts me, he fulfills me, he completes me. And still, he's dying.

    And I’m hope for her heartache.”—Cole Danzer.I don’t know what makes a great love story. Is it that instant attraction when boy meets girl? The passionate kisses and the fairy-tale ending? Or is it a lifetime of tragedy, paid in advance, for a few stolen moments of pure bliss? The pain and the suffering that, in the end, you can say are worth it for having found the missing piece of your soul? The answer is: I don’t know. I don’t know what makes a great love story. I only know what makes my love story. I only know that finding Cole when I did, when Emmy and I were running from a nightmare, was the only thing that saved me. That saved us. He was more broken than I was, but somehow we took each other’s shattered pieces and made a whole. If that is what makes a great love story, if that is what makes an epic romance, then mine…ours is the greatest of them all.**Contains material that some may find disturbing. Not intended for readers under the age of 18**

    At nineteen, Savannah Dean escaped her family, leaving behind a note and the people who caused her so much pain.Now, she lives on her own and keeps to herself.At nineteen, Kent Lawson’s girlfriend betrayed him, leaving him behind with a broken heart and a whole lot of mistrust in women.Now, he lives on his own and shares himself with nearly every pretty thing that walks by but only for one night.When Savannah and Kent meet, they can’t stand each other.Kent knows she’s hiding something, and he despises liars.And Savannah has nothing but secrets.

    I just know it.” Of course, life doesn’t always work out how you want. Just ask Monroe Hartley. After burying her childhood dream, Monroe works toward a new one, determined to prove her independence. When life catches up with her, stripping away her resources, she slowly turns toward an unlikely profession. Miller Buchanan has enough on his plate; he doesn’t need to worry about anything or anyone else. Then a petite, dark-haired beauty falls into his lap and despite his personal demons, he can’t stay away. Temptation and possibility linger, but when the past comes knocking, will they trade their future for the familiar?

    It may not be the one you wanted exactly, but it will be the one you need. It will prepare you for the next step in your journey and help you learn to accept the life you are given, even if that life can be heartbreaking.

    Everything she thought she knew—heck, everything she thought she wanted for her own life—feels like a lie. The truth is love is a risk. And the true kind, the kind that lasts, might even be a fairy tale. Reeling from the divorce, Summer derails her own future by breaking up with her parent-approved boyfriend and giving up her lifelong plans for a big-city career. She moves back home, business degree in hand. Dad needs her to fill the gaps her mother left behind; Summer needs to find who she is outside of the cookie-cutter life that failed so miserably for her parents.Ford O’Neal’s future involves one person: himself. He doesn’t have a permanent address and he definitely doesn’t commit. To a place or a person. Raised by hippies, he plans just far enough ahead to secure his next stop, this one landing him at a work-study program at Heritage Plantation where he can grow his own herbal and medicinal creations. Summer is gorgeous and smart and fun to be with, the perfect way to pass five months. It won’t be love—Ford’s got too many things to accomplish, too many places to go, before he settles down. Yet Summer pulls him in, challenging him to rethink his own philosophy. When Ford’s five months are up, each of them must decide if love is really worth the risk.

    But Lauren saw something in him that caused her to question his bad-boy persona, and against her better judgment, she took a chance. She had no way of knowing that the unlikely friendship they formed would become so important to her.Or that it would end so painfully.Eight years later, when Lauren begins her new job at Learn and Grow Day Care, Michael is the last person she expects to see. Refusing to revisit the hurt and confusion of their past, Lauren vows to keep her distance from him. But staying away from Michael proves to be more difficult than she thought, despite her lingering grief and her instincts for self-preservation.As Lauren and Michael recall the friendship that changed them forever and the events that tore them apart, will they finally be able to heal? Or will the ghosts of Michael’s past prove to be too much to overcome?

    Over time, we find out who is meant to be a temporary acquaintance and who will be there for a lifetime.Easton Crawford put his modeling career before his marriage until it was ending in divorce. Years later, he is finally learning how to be the father his daughter needs him to be. He’s not looking for someone to step into the mother role—just nightly casual hook-ups. When his best friend convinces him that a good way to meet single women is to go on a singles cruise, he finds more than just a one night stand. At age thirteen, Brooke Bradley became an adult, raising her younger sister while her mother continually ignored her parenting responsibilities. Since then, Brooke has continued to take care of the people in her life, including her deadbeat boyfriend, Jared.For Brooke’s thirtieth birthday, her best friend surprises her with a cruise but fails to mention it’s a singles cruise. When Brooke meets Easton, the one man willing to be her constant, will she finally find the courage to leave Jared? Easton knows that Brooke is someone who is meant to be in his life forever, but when a health scare threatens to change everything, Brooke and Easton are faced with unanswered questions and unspoken fears.

    At twenty-three, this would be my first ‘real’ teaching assignment. Working at the elite boarding school, home to the daughters of some of the wealthiest people in the world, was a great opportunity that I would’ve been stupid to pass up.One week into my new job, and I suddenly had no idea why I chose high school…I was a seventeen year old boy once, I knew how teenage girls behaved. You can’t even imagine the hell of trying to teach thirty, hormonal driven seventeen year olds who have been cooped up, away from any male contact. I could handle the whispers every time I entered the room. I could even handle the obvious attempts at gaining my attention. What I couldn’t handle was her…Rich bitches and way too many rules. Was it any wonder that I hated school? Add to that the lack of male contact, and I was going insane. Like literally. I wasn’t used to this. A year ago I was normal. I had a boyfriend, friends and a loving family. There is nothing normal about me anymore, and nobody here lets me forget that.My name is Wrenn, and I’m only here because my aunt took me in after what happened, but my aunt also happens to be the headmistress of this academy…Can you see my problem? I’m hated for my lack of money, and I’m hated for who my Aunt is.Then he arrived. Dalton Reed. My new history teacher.Slowly, he helped me see that even in the worst situations, there is always hope.

    Honoring her mother's last wish, Lane Channing vows to follow her dreams. She takes the 'big risk' and leaves her small Kansas town behind and heads to LA, the city of dreams. She's got a stellar job lined up, an old jeep, and 20 bucks to last her to her first paycheck. Her hopes shatter when she arrives to find her job's been given to someone else. Now she's broke and if she doesn't do something fast will soon be living on the streets. Welcome to cutthroat -- Lane is most certainly not in Kansas anymore. On the cusp of success... Dillon MacAvoy has one goal -- to become a star -- whatever it takes. Even if it means honing his bad-boy can't-be-tamed-and-forever-single image. Besides the image isn't far from the truth. Dillon cares only about his younger brother and his career. He's on the brink of superstardom if he can just decide on the next right script. But for that, he needs a script reader he can trust. In a strange twist of fate... Lane Channing is Dillon's last chance. If Lane lasts the summer without becoming MacAvoy's latest conquest, she's guaranteed a job in entertainment. No problem, as long as she can ignore the heat that pulses through her every time Dillon is in the room. After all, love and commitment with a sweet, hometown girl would only ruin the Dillon MacAvoy brand.

    Security seemed more like a luxury to me, reserved for those who were fortunate enough to have picture perfect childhoods. For those who didn’t bear the ugly scars that keep me bound in constant, debilitating fear. I’ve run from that fear my entire life. But when I met him, for once, I couldn’t run anymore.He scared the hell out of me in a way that excited every fiber of my being. It wasn’t the tattoos or the piercings. It wasn’t the warmth that seemed to radiate from his frame and blanket me whenever he was near. It was just…him. The scary beautiful man that threatened to alter 23 years of routine and rituals, and make me face my crippling fear.My name is Kami and I am constantly afraid. And the thing that scares me the most is the very thing I want.“Don’t worry,” he smiled, pulling me into the hard warmth of his chest. “I’ve got you. I’ll always catch you when you fall.”And just like that, Blaine had staked his claim on the untouched part of me that no living soul had ever moved. He had captured every fear, every reservation, and crushed them in the palm of his inked hand.Author Disclaimer: Abuse is real- verbal, emotional, physical and sexual. It takes place all around us; it doesn’t discriminate against race or gender, wealth or poverty. It affects us all- those of us who’ve had to live through it, or watch it happen, even those of us who’ve only heard about it. We are all affected. We are all forever changed. This is not a story for the faint of heart; this is the story of one woman’s very real struggle through a world against her, the people who hurt her, her real life demons and the people who showed her that every gray sky, no matter how dark, has a sun waiting to break through.***Inspired by true events***

    She doesn't want to get close to anyone for fear of being hurt again. When she meets Latin superstar Victor Garza, she is shocked at how quickly he is able to penetrate her armor. She doesn't want to let him in but can't deny the chemistry they have. He has the potential to heal her wounds and open her heart but she isn't sure she can let him. Will love be enough to keep them together or will Ellie's past prove to be too much for the pair to overcome?