Contemporary Books

Therapist Kayla McCormick is the quiet, sensitive type who prefers her life orderly and predictable. Kayla has an open heart, but the pain of loss has taught her to avoid risks that could get her hurt. She dreams of family and forever but no longer believes she’ll have her own happy ending.   
 
Jackie Phillips hides her fear and hurt behind fierce independence and impulsive behavior. Raised in an atmosphere of abuse and neglect, she is haunted by the disappearance of her mother when she was a teenager. Determined not to need anyone, she has closed her heart and lets lust drive her encounters. 
 
When their lives converge in a classic case of opposites attracting, will Kayla and Jackie have the courage to embrace love and rewrite their own stories, when that might mean risking all?

Izzy Calabrese wants to make her restaurant a success. She has a passion for cooking and life in general. Romance is the furthest thing from her mind when she finds Mel Thomas crying after being abandoned by her husband…again. She tries to distance herself from Mel, but she keeps showing up. 
 
Clients know Mel Thomas as the CEO of her own consulting firm. She’s smart, engaging, and successful. Anyone who knows her would never think she’s insecure, but she’s more fragile than anyone knows. Her marriage on shaky ground, she doesn’t know how, or if, it can be salvaged. All she’s ever wanted in a relationship is someone’s attention. She thinks she may have found the person who can give that to her. Never in her wildest dreams did she expect it to be Izzy.

When Grace Danner finds out her great-aunt has passed away leaving her a flower shop in Ireland, she is anxious to get it off her hands as quickly as possible. Her career with the most prestigious advertising firm in Dallas has her busy six days a week, and she doesn’t have time to step away from her life to handle her aunt’s estate. She plans a quick trip to sign papers and save family heirlooms, hoping to return home before the end of the week.

She meets real estate agent Kerry Mulligan who was consigned to the property quite by accident. Their relationship starts off rocky, and as much as Grace wants to get to know the red-haired Irish beauty in the short time she is there, Kerry is nothing but business. Can Grace break through Kerry’s icy disposition and open her up to a quick affair? Even if Grace manages to seduce Kerry, can she return unscathed to the life she left in Dallas?

Praise from Lambda Literary Review: "This story is filled with loving familial interactions, caring friends, romantic interludes and tantalizing sex scenes. The dialogue, both among the characters and within Grace’s head, is refreshing, original, and sometimes comical. Forget Me Not is a fresh perspective on a romantic theme, and an entertaining read."

Eve Eddison describes her ideal woman to her best friend, Roxanne, over pints in their local pub a few days before she travels to the Scottish Highlands. There she falls head over heels for an enigmatic local, Moira Burns, and the usually reticent Eve wants more than a holiday romance. Forestry officer Moira Burns has no intention of letting go—either of past pain or for present pleasure. If that means she misses out on her chance at happiness, so be it. Convinced Eve is headed for heartbreak, Roxanne advises her to let Moira go…but has Eve found her ideal woman at last?

From the breathtaking Highlands of Scotland to the buzz of a Leicester gay bar, family and friendship are tested to breaking point, as letting go proves painfully hard.

"Take a day off, curl up and lose yourself in this lovely lesbian romance by debut novelist Anna Larner. And you'll adore the gorgeous cover designed by Sheri Halal too!" DIVA

Internationally acclaimed American journalist Josephine “Joey” Barry is considered one of the most iconic correspondents of her time, having reported on major crises from many of the world’s hotspots. But everything crumbles when rebel insurgents near the Syrian border attack and kill her team, forcing her to hide. Rescued but traumatized, she finds she can no longer cope with who she once was, breaking down on national television during a live political debate. 

Sent to England to try to get her mojo back, her path crosses the Reverend Samantha “Sam” Savage, a charismatic vicar with an appetite for compassion and motor biking. Non-believer Joey is drawn to her, not knowing Sam is struggling with her own demons. Can their love grow through such adversity?

Just because you’re through with your past, doesn’t mean it’s through with you.  

Margaret Beringer didn’t have an easy adolescence. She hated her name, was less than popular in school, and was always cast aside as a “farm kid.” However, with the arrival of Courtney Carrington, Margaret’s youth sparked into color. Courtney was smart, beautiful, and put together—everything Margaret wasn’t. Who would have imagined that they’d fit together so perfectly? 

But first loves can scar. 

Margaret hasn’t seen Courtney in years and that’s for the best. But when Courtney loses her father and returns to Tanner Peak to take control of the family store, Margaret comes face-to-face with her past and the woman she’s tried desperately to forget. The fact that Courtney has grown up more beautiful than ever certainly doesn’t help matters.

Named one of The 10 Best Romance Books of 2017 by Vulture: "This small-town second-chance romance is full of tenderness and heart."

Starting a new life in a new city is never easy, but Kelsey Peterson is managing. She owns her own specialty shop, she’s made some new friends, and she’s finally feeling like she’s ready to put down some roots in this small Chicago suburb. She’s even struck up some regular flirtatious banter with that sexy blonde she continually runs into at Starbucks. But when her business and personal life unexpectedly collide, Kelsey’s confidence in her newfound happiness starts to slip through her fingers, and the hardest part is figuring out what matters most...

In New Orleans for a conference, exhausted English professor Kit Kelly has been going through the motions in just about every regard for some time now. She’s tired of her job and sick of sleeping around, and her life is starting to feel like one long, stale rerun of similar days and nights. A chance encounter with Teddy, a local chef, stirs an enthusiasm for life she hasn’t felt in a long time, but news of an impending hurricane threatens to disrupt what they’ve just begun.

Kip Kensington owes four hundred hours of community service for a joyride gone wrong. Jordan Rice has no time for younger women with trouble written all over them no matter how sexy they might be, even if she is in desperate need of more hands—and more funds—to keep her community garden project alive. Kip’s past follows her into Jordan’s carefully constructed, and safe, world, disrupting Jordan’s orderly life and threatening to uncover all the secrets she’d locked away: secrets she guarded as closely as her heart. Together they discover the only way to build a future is to make peace with the past.

FIRST PLACE WINNER of the 2018 Book Buyers Best Contest, sponsored by the Orange County Chapter of the Romance Writers of America (Contemporary Romance)

Airlie Porter has a secret. A deep, dark, destructive secret that threatens to engulf her if she can’t find the courage to face who she really is and who she really wants to be with.

On a working holiday in Ireland, Airlie finds herself embarking on much more than a drunken year guzzling Guinness in Dublin. The previously protected bubble of denial, harbored deep within her, has threatened to pop for many years, but after a harrowing experience in a Dublin bar, the bubble violently explodes. Lost and alone, she turns to Olivia Swanson, the only person she’s ever truly loved. Married and unsettled, Olivia has her own demons to battle. Drawn together by something inexplicable, pulled apart by fear, how long does it take to become you?

Best-selling mystery writer Sam Torres loves jetting around the world, researching her next plot, and enjoying local culture, cuisine, and women. Her next stop: the Big Easy. Tess Arceneaux is a New Orleans native who likes life simple and uncomplicated. That includes shucking oysters for wealthy tourists and singing at the neighborhood bar—no pretense and no pressure. 

When Sam saunters in looking for company in addition to dinner, she sets her sights on Tess. Although Tess is hardly inclined to get involved with a woman who’s just passing through, Sam proves very persuasive. But when casual dates hint at something more, strange and sinister things ensue. Someone doesn’t want them together and will go to extreme lengths to make her point. Will looming danger bring them closer or drive them apart for good?

As Nash Wiley entered the elegant Savannah Victorian and scanned the room she had one thought: This is one gay wedding that could really get out of hand. Only a lesbian would think it was a good idea to ask her long time ex to be maid of honor and then let Ms. Ex offer up a toast after drinking way too much white wine. But the evening turns even more surreal when Nash commandeers a stretch limo and her best friend for a late night drive out to the beach, and friendship turns into something more. Champagne on ice, seat belts optional and privacy glass a must.

Quinn Burke loves being a bartender. She meets new women every night and has her choice of bed partners. That’s fine with her because she isn’t interested in anything serious after having her heart shattered eighteen months ago.

Grace Everett is perfectly content owning a bookstore, but not so much in her personal life. She wants forever, but hasn’t had much luck with relationships. She’s hoping the newest woman in her life will be the one.

When Quinn’s mother falls ill, something shifts in the twenty-year-old friendship for both women. Quinn struggles with old feelings for Grace, and Grace is seeing Quinn in a different light. They know falling for their best friend is wrong, but could it be the right kind of wrong?

Tobin Parks has been described as a cross between Janice Joplin, Aretha Franklin, Joan Baez, Reba McIntyre, and a little bit of Elvis thrown in for balance. She’s at the top of every chart, and with her sultry voice and bad girl image, she has no trouble attracting screaming fans to her concerts, women to her bed, and paparazzi to her doorstep. 

Kiersten Bradley is riding the wave of her dream. The inventor and CEO of JOLT, a popular energy drink, Kiersten is having a phenomenal year of success. When Tobin Parks comes knocking on her door asking JOLT to be the sponsor of her next guaranteed blockbuster tour, Kiersten passes. Linking her company’s name to Tobin’s is a public relations nightmare waiting to happen. Both professional and personal sparks fly when the two strong-willed, very public women meet. Kiersten will not risk everything she has worked for, even for the chance to make millions, and Tobin is determined to have JOLT has her sponsor.

Praise from RT Book Reviews:

"This book pulls you in from the moment you pick it up. Kiersten and Tobin are very different, but from the moment they get together, the heat and sexual tension are there. Together they must work through their fears in order to have a magical relationship."

Welcome to Junebug Farms, a successful, well-known animal shelter in upstate New York, where every day brings something new—love, stress, heartbreak, warmth—and not just from the animals. 

Since inheriting Junebug Farms from her grandmother, Jessica Barstow’s life revolves around it, and she has no time or energy for much else. Not hobbies. Not fun. Not love--certainly not love. And the new, young, and hip TV reporter who’s been sent to host the upcoming fundraising telethon isn’t going to change that—even though it seems like she wants to change everything else. 

Sydney Taylor has zero desire to cover human interest stories in some Podunk, upstate New York hamlet, but that's where she's landed—for now. So she’ll make the best of it until she can get something bigger. In the meantime, she is assigned to host the annual live fundraising telethon for some local animal shelter. It’s just a job; she doesn’t have time to get attached. And it doesn’t matter that the rigid, keeps-to-herself CEO of the shelter is resistant to anything Sydney suggests. Or that she’s super attractive and sexy. That doesn’t matter at all... 

The third in the Puppy Love Romances by award-winning author Georgia Beers.

In book three in the Dark Peak series, things are looking up for Detective Sanne Jensen and Dr. Meg Fielding. Dating each other seems to be working, their families are behaving themselves, and the worst of the post-Christmas crime wave is over. 

The discovery of a Pakistani girl’s body out on the moors changes all that. No one knows who she is, who hurt her, or how she came to be there. As pressure mounts on East Derbyshire Special Ops for a quick resolution, it becomes ever more apparent that the case won’t provide one.  

With the Pakistani community closing ranks, and threads of suspicion reaching farther than anyone could have predicted, the investigation leaves Sanne facing an ordeal she may not survive.

For lesbians in Provincetown, seductive Sable is more than just a bedroom voice on late-night radio. Through her talk show, Nightlight, she is a fun, anonymous friend and confidante, until one mysterious caller attracts her attention. Behind Sable’s “mask,” Murphy Callahan allows herself to enjoy the no-strings radio relationship—she’s mourned the death of her partner for three years—and ignores the growing attachment as their very public conversations push permissible limits.

But when local tradeswoman Riley Burke enters her life, Murphy faces a difficult choice:  continue the safe “night voice” fantasy or risk the reality of falling in love. If only she could have both…

The last person Nash Wiley expects to bump into over a two a.m. breakfast at Waffle House is her college crush, decked out in a curve-hugging law enforcement uniform. Nash can’t believe her luck when Ms. Crush asks to join her, explaining that she’s just getting off shift. But something seems a little off. It could be the glitter in her eye shadow, or the black lace bra peeking from her barely buttoned uniform shirt, or maybe the exotic dancers who stroll in from the local gentleman’s club and crash their private reunion. Nash isn’t sure she’s still hungry until the waitress takes her order. “How you want those hashbrowns, hon?” Ms. Crush pins Nash with a sultry gaze and answers for her. “Mmm. I’ve heard she likes hers smothered and covered.”