Showing results by narrator "Ava Lucas" in All Categories

Caroline Abbott loves her job - helping engaged couples pick out the perfect save-the-date cards and invitations for their dream wedding. Working at Noteworthy means she has to deal with the occasional bridezilla, but Caroline’s always up for the challenge. Until one particular bridezilla, whose fiancé happens to be the boy Caroline shared her first kiss with, walks into the stationery store. Alexander Wilder is all grown up now, helping run his family’s successful luxury hotel chain, and is somehow even better looking than she remembers.

For nearly 400 years, the Veil has protected us from the Fae of Alfheimr. In their absence, our lives have shifted from decadence and sin to survival and virtue under the guidance of the New Gods. I’ve spent my entire life tending to the gardens next to the boundary between our worlds, drawn to the shimmering magic like a moth to the flame. All of that changes the day the Veil shatters, unleashing the fae upon our world once again.

Paranormal women's fiction for lovers of sassy women, psychic shenanigans, and lifelong friends. Desert sunshine casts the darkest shadows. Successful realtor Julia Brooks moves to the quirky neighborhood of Vista de Lirio in the California desert and meets a riotous cast of eccentric characters. But her semi-retirement is spoiled when she finds the body of the neighborhood lothario dead in the kitchen of her brand new listing. Even more complicated? She also meets his ghost.

With The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume 3, award-winning editor Neil Clarke provides a year-in-review and 27 of the best stories published by both new and established authors in 2017.

Dante Marino’s the definition of beautiful destruction. Everything he touched, he destroyed...including me. We were friends. Then we weren't. He used me. Played me. Took every ounce of my affection and threw it away. He became my enemy, then risked everything to save me. Now, he wants me back, claiming he's changed - determined to make me his. Each vow, every possessive kiss, feels like he’s mine. But I can't forget that underneath his rock-hard body, seductive grin, and wicked promises, one thing will always remain true - he's my undoing.

For the last 10 years, he never stayed with a woman longer than it took to screw them. But then she walked in. Back then she was nothing but a little girl, but now she’s all grown up, with curves, and a smile that reminds him of everything he’s spent the last 10 years trying to forget. His attraction to her is instant, and wrong, on so many levels. He’ll do anything he can to stop it, even make her hate him if he has to. 

Ruby can’t stand lead violinist Jonathan most of the time, but she agrees to play his girlfriend at a party so he can fend off a stalker-ish fan. The only problem is that, over the course of the night, she discovers Jon’s an amazing dancer - and an even better kisser. When she’s in his arms, he’s passionate and forceful. He’s always a strict taskmaster during rehearsals and concerts, but maybe that translates into something more fun in the bedroom. With Ethan’s support and encouragement, Ruby decides to find out....

Growing up on a ranch with four brothers, Ella Mae Hawkins is no stranger to rugged, tough men. But her heart's always belonged to the one man she couldn’t have. After a secret, romantic weekend with him leaves her broken-hearted, Ella Mae accepts an opportunity to go to Paris to pursue her fashion dreams. It’s her chance to start over. Instead, she’s going there with the same stubborn man who claimed he was too dangerous for her—as his fake wife. Despite falling for her brother’s best friend all over again, this time, the stakes are higher. She’s in danger.

Rae Dixon is lucky to be alive. Fifteen years ago, she survived being trafficked and abused, escaping her captors to reclaim her life. Now, she’s running a thriving business with her best friend and raising a teenage daughter on her own. Rae’s finally in control—literally. As Mistress V, Rae is the one calling the shots catering to Oklahoma City’s elite in her private dungeon, which is fronted by a spa. But when a client goes missing, Rae’s world spins out of control.

For weeks, we retraced our steps back to Mistfell and the lingering shadow of the Veil at the boundary between realms. Traveling through the kingdom, I denied the evidence in front of me, unable to fathom that I wasn’t the lost princess of Faerie. Instead, it is Fallon who must fear the consequences of her heritage. Which leaves me with a single, unanswered question. Then, I awoke, caged high above the throne of the Queen of Air & Darkness.

The bet was simple. You draw a name from the hat. That's the girl you have to seduce. The girl you have to make fall head over heels in love with you. It wasn't hard for him to do, in fact, it was something he did all the time. He was known for breaking hearts. Sex was just that, sex. And it didn't take him very long to get a woman on her back. And then he drew her name: Jules Peterson. His former best friend, first kiss, and first love. She shattered his heart into a million pieces three years ago. She left him right when he needed her most.

Dropping a handsome billionaire CEO isn’t easy, but Jude Flores can’t forgive his betrayal. So she’s taking the steps she needs to move on - and far away - from her ex-boss, ex-lover, ex-whatever. And a good place to do it is at her father’s house in Spain. Eric Zimmerman isn’t the kind of man who gives up. Nothing is going to keep him from following the fiery dream girl who’s left him a little brokenhearted and a lot frustrated. It turns out Jude is willing to play chase. But if he wants to catch her, it’s her rules or nothing.

A brilliant, aloof lawyer, Phin Younger has always focused solely on his career and on helping people who are less fortunate. Living his life without romance? He's just fine with that. Phin knows all too well how relationships can make life messy and complicated. But the one day Emily Lassiter begs Phin to help her teenage brother. Beautiful but as fierce as a lioness, Emily is like no other woman he's met. The moment he sets eyes on Emily all of Phin's plans to avoid romantic entanglements are suddenly thrown out the window.

For weeks, he stood by my side, twisting his words into pretty half-truths. He enraptured me with his smooth temptation, leaving no corner of my being untouched. He consumed my mind and my body, then finally claimed my heart for himself. But Caelum’s true identity is terrifying enough to bring me to my knees. Then, I discovered the truth of who he is. Caldris is whispered in the Nothrek wind. The legend we only speak of with hushed words, in shuttered rooms, for fear of drawing his wrath once again.

Toni Dusi grew up knowing everyone’s business and everyone knowing hers because in Moonstone Cove, you can’t pass a restaurant, farm, or winery that doesn’t have at least one Dusi involved. Despite her family, Toni has managed to carve out a private niche for herself. She has a car shop she loves, a country cottage all to herself, and has carefully avoided any long-term romantic commitments.

How did an accomplished Southern businesswoman, wife, and mother end up living on California’s Central Coast, newly divorced, working for a stubborn winemaker and wrestling with sudden psychic powers? Megan Carpenter asks herself that same question nearly every day. She’s working her way back to the business world and starting her own event-planning business, but fate keeps throwing Megan curveballs. Her ex has an unexpected new girlfriend, her telekinetic powers keep short-circuiting, and her self-control—at least when it comes to her boss, Nico Dusi—is slipping.

Ever since Val and her two best friends had driven their car off the edge and into Glimmer Lake the year before, Val has struggled with her new abilities. She’s not exactly sure she wants to be psychic, she could live without her newfound glove addiction, and honestly no one wants to know that much about their teenage sons. But when Val’s ex-husband goes missing, and police show up at her door with questions she can’t answer, Val, Robin, and Monica are going to have to use their sudden psychic abilities to solve a mystery none of them saw coming.

FBI Agent Kristin Webster has spent the last eight years tracking and taking down the worst of humanity. She’s seen too much to believe she could ever trust a human man, but the promise of a perfect match through the Coalition’s Interstellar Brides Program has her settling into the testing chair to be matched to her alien mate. But her match isn’t a male from a distant planet, but two scarred Prillon warriors on the Colony. And when warriors begin to disappear, Kristin will take matters into her own hands.

She’s feeling the heat. Or it might be a hot flash. Sometimes it’s really hard to tell. It’s been four years since Monica lost the love of her life to a sudden and devastating heart attack. She’s held her family together and picked herself up with the love and help of her two best friends. Now Monica has a new business, a new wardrobe, and a new vision for the future. As in actual psychic visions. Dreams that manifest in reality? Monica’s still not sure why or how it happened, but she’s been seeing everything from unexpected visitors to visions of fire and destruction.

Four minutes was all it took for fate to run away with anything that resembled normal. Now Katherine is trying to place mysterious psychic visions into her previously ordered life. She’s playing referee between a displaced Southern mama and a sarcastic mechanic with a chip on her shoulder. And her quiet life has been upended by a mysterious rash of violent acts by students at her school.