Never mind that he's her one-time teenage crush and a longtime friend. But when her son, Stevie, needs an expensive surgery, risking her heart is a small price to pay for her little boy's happiness. Ethan Echeverría leaves women before they have a chance to leave him the way his mother once abandoned him. Then his dad gives him an ultimatum: get married and become the owner of the family auto shop chain or stay single and lose it. Considering Ethan has always cared for Mercy, getting married might result in more than ownership of the shops and a loving father for Stevie. It could be the second chance they need. Their feelings toward each other grow, but so does Mercy's jealousy. When Ethan's past crashes into his future, will she end up heartbroken and alone again? This book is also available free of charge if you sign up for my newsletter.

    But it is in her short stories that her extraordinary talents—as a fabulist, feminist, social critic, and weaver of tales—are most penetratingly evident. This volume presents Carter's considerable legacy of short fiction gathered from published books, and includes early and previously unpublished stories. From reflections on jazz and Japan, through vigorous refashionings of classic folklore and fairy tales, to stunning snapshots of modern life in all its tawdry glory, we are able to chart the evolution of Carter's marvelous, magical vision.

    “There is a way to be cruel that seems Jamaican to me.” Tenderness and cruelty, loyalty and betrayal, ambition and regret—Alexia Arthurs navigates these tensions to extraordinary effect in her debut collection about Jamaican immigrants and their families back home. Sweeping from close-knit island communities to the streets of New York City and midwestern university towns, these eleven stories form a portrait of a nation, a people, and a way of life. In “Light Skinned Girls and Kelly Rowlands,” an NYU student befriends a fellow Jamaican whose privileged West Coast upbringing has blinded her to the hard realities of race. In “Mash Up Love,” a twin’s chance sighting of his estranged brother—the prodigal son of the family—stirs up unresolved feelings of resentment. In “Bad Behavior,” a mother and father leave their wild teenage daughter with her grandmother in Jamaica, hoping the old ways will straighten her out. In “Mermaid River,” a Jamaican teenage boy is reunited with his mother in New York after eight years apart. In “The Ghost of Jia Yi,” a recently murdered international student haunts a despairing Jamaican athlete recruited to an Iowa college. And in “Shirley from a Small Place,” a world-famous pop star retreats to her mother’s big new house in Jamaica, which still holds the power to restore something vital. The winner of The Paris Review’s Plimpton Prize for “Bad Behavior,” Alexia Arthurs emerges in this vibrant, lyrical, intimate collection as one of fiction’s most dynamic and essential young authors.

    She chose, instead, to remain in Mount Ridge, Tennessee to raise her younger sisters and help keep the family together. Now, with her sisters grown, she spends her days at family-owned Sweet Treats Bakery, hiding a wounded heart in the sweet confections she creates. Logan Daniels left town when Kate broke his heart, but now he's come home to claim what he lost four years ago, and he won't stop until he gets what he came for…Kate's kisses.

    She meets a handsome skier who sets fire to her heart. But is this sexy ski bum hot enough to keep her warm on long winter nights?In Natalie Dunbar's Knight On A Just Ski, Alexis Calhoun works on a secluded island. After nearly drowning, she is rescued by a hunky actor on a jet ski. Will their passion survive once they are off the island? Seressia Glass's Regina Lieberman in Rode Hard is in a rut. She agrees to take a ride on the back of a studly man;s custom-made motorcycle. Can these two unexpected lover keep moving when a secret threatens to derail their desire?Enjoy the Ride by Kelley Nyrae presents Evangeline Sinclair blowing off steam after passing her bar exam. She heats thes lops with a hot snowboarder in a affair hot enough to melt snow off the mountains. But will their fling last longer than a thrilling down hilll ride?SImone Harlow's Robey Wade is a girl in control of every aspect of her life until she she takes her first surfing lesson. She meets a handsome surfer who takes her on the wave of a lifetime. Will this mismatched couple learm to go with the Flow and let love rule?

    edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.