Week of September 21, 2020
They were friendsโjust friends. Now theyโre something else entirelyโฆ
Jason
When I think back, on almost any given day, I see Maggie. In college, she was my best friendโs girlfriend. But, as they say, time changes things. I suppose the funeral was the turning point, when we began depending on each other. Adam asked me to watch out for her, and I did. When bad news hit, she got me through rough days. Our friendship got us through.
If luck fell on my side, Iโd make her mine in every way. But, she deserves so much more from life than my prognosis.
A decade of history binds us. One drunken night and weโre fighting. Christ, sheโs telling me to go see a therapist. If I canโt figure out how to go back to the way things were, Iโll lose the most important relationship of my life. The only one that truly matters.
Maggie
Last night, we shared tequila. I found myself hoping, like I always do. Iโd replay last night a thousand times if I could. Itโs the morning after that needs erasing. Our problem? His love for me isnโt the more kind of love. Heโs made that abundantly clear. And thatโs okay.
Some part of me knows Jason will always see me as his best friendโs girl. Because of our past, he prefers me in the just-a-friend role. I canโt lose our friendship. If he wants to stay in the friend zone, I need to accept that. Move on. Find someone else to love. Rationally, I do know this.
But convincing my heartโฆwell, thatโs another story entirely.
Returning to the dark and glamorous 19th century world of herย New York Timesย instant bestseller,ย The Gilded Wolves, Roshani Chokshi dazzles us with another riveting tale as full of mystery and danger as ever inย The Silvered Serpents.
They are each otherโs fiercest love, greatest danger, and only hope.
Sรฉverin and his team members might have successfully thwarted the Fallen House, but victory came at a terrible cost โ one that still haunts all of them. Desperate to make amends, Sรฉverin pursues a dangerous lead to find a long lost artifact rumored to grant its possessor the power of God.
Their hunt lures them far from Paris, and into the icy heart of Russia where crystalline ice animals stalk forgotten mansions, broken goddesses carry deadly secrets, and a string of unsolved murders makes the crew question whether an ancient myth is a myth after all.
As hidden secrets come to the light and the ghosts of the past catch up to them, the crew will discover new dimensions of themselves. But what they find out may lead them down paths they never imagined.
A tale of love and betrayal as the crew risks their lives for one last job.
A girlโs quest to find her father leads her to an extended family of magical fighting booksellers who police the mythical Old World of England when it intrudes on the modern world. From the bestselling master of teen fantasy, Garth Nix.
In a slightly alternate London in 1983, Susan Arkshaw is looking for her father, a man she has never met. Crime boss Frank Thringley might be able to help her, but Susan doesnโt get time to ask Frank any questions before he is turned to dust by the prick of a silver hatpin in the hands of the outrageously attractive Merlin.
Merlin is a young left-handed bookseller (one of the fighting ones), who with the right-handed booksellers (the intellectual ones), are an extended family of magical beings who police the mythic and legendary Old World when it intrudes on the modern world, in addition to running several bookshops.
Susanโs search for her father begins with her motherโs possibly misremembered or misspelt surnames, a reading room ticket, and a silver cigarette case engraved with something that might be a coat of arms.
Merlin has a quest of his own, to find the Old World entity who used ordinary criminals to kill his mother. As he and his sister, the right-handed bookseller Vivien, tread in the path of a botched or covered-up police investigation from years past, they find this quest strangely overlaps with Susanโs. Who or what was her father? Susan, Merlin, and Vivien must find out, as the Old World erupts dangerously into the New.
Isabel Lincoln is gone.
But is sheย missing?
Itโs up to Grayson Sykes to find her. Although she is reluctant to track down a woman who may not want to be found, Grayโs search for Isabel Lincoln becomes more complicated and dangerous with every new revelation about the womanโs secrets and the truth sheโs hidden from her friends and family.
Featuring two complicated women in a dangerous cat and mouse game, Rachel Howzell Hall’sย And Now Sheโs Goneย explores the nature of secrets โ and how violence and fear can lead you to abandon everything in order to survive.
The acclaimed author ofย The Nannyย andย What She Knewโhailed by stalwarts including Ruth Ware, Liane Moriarty, Rosamund Lupton, Tess Gerritsen, and Shari Lapenaโreturns with another serpentine thriller that cleverly blends atmosphere, tarnished memories, mystery, and twisty secrets from the past into a potent, intense read that will leave you questioning everything you believe.
To tell you the truth . . . everybody lies.
Lucy Harperโs talent forย writing bestselling novelsย has given her fame, fortune and millions of fans.ย Itโs also given her Dan, her needy, jealous husband whose own writing career has gone precisely nowhere.
Now Dan has vanished.ย But this isnโt the first time that someone has disappeared from Lucyโs life. Three decades ago,ย her little brother Teddy also went missing and was never found.ย Lucy, the only witness, helplessly spun fantasy after fantasy about Teddyโs disappearance,ย to the detectivesโ fury and her parentsโ despair.ย That was the start of her ability to tell a storyโa talent she has profited from greatly.
But now Lucyโs a grown woman who canโt hide behind fiction any longer. The world is watching, and her whole life is under intense scrutiny.ย A life full of stories, some more believable than others. Could she have hurt Teddy?ย Did she kill Dan?ย Finally, now, Lucy Harperโs going to tell the truth.
Cross her heart.
And hope to die.
โYou know you canโt keep a good brother down.โ
The Chaos Motorcycle Club has won its war. But not every brother rode into the sunset with his woman on the back of his bike.
Chaos returns with the story of Dutch Black, a man whose father was the moral compass of the Club, until he was murdered. And the man who raised Dutch protected the Club at all costs. That combination is the man Dutch is intent on becoming.
Itโs also the man that Dutch is going to go all out to give to his woman.
In Tessa Baileyโs latest rom-com, two enemies team up to flip a house… and the sparks between them might burn the place down or ignite a passion that neither can ignore!ย
Hair, makeup, clothing, decor… everything in Bethany Castle’s world is organized, planned, and styled to perfection. Which is why the homes she designs for her family’s real estate business are the most coveted in town. The only thingย notย perfect? Her track record with men. She’s on a dating hiatus and after helping her friends achieveย theirย dreams, Bethany finally has time to focus on her own: flip a house, from framework to furnishings, all by herself.ย Except her older brother runs the company and refuses to take her seriously.
When a television producer gets wind of the Castle sibling rivalry, theyโre invited on Flip Off, a competition to see who can do the best renovation. Bethany wants bragging rights, but she needs a crew and the only member of her brother’s construction team willing to jump ship is Wes Daniels, the new guy in town. His Texas drawl and handsome face got under Bethany’s skin on day one, but the last thing she needs is some cocky young cowboy in her way.
As the race to renovate heats up, Wes and Bethany are forced into close quarters, trading barbs and biting banter as they remodel the ugliest house on the block. It’s a labor of love, hate, and everything in between, and soon sparks are flying. But Bethany’s perfectly structured life is one kiss away from going up in smoke and she knows falling for a guy like Wes would be aย flippingย disaster.
Summer nights and star-crossed lovers! From USA Today bestselling author Sarina Bowen.
Once upon a time, he gave me a summer of friendship, followed by one perfect night. We shared a lot during our short time together. But he skipped a few crucial details.
I didnโt know he was a rock star.
I didnโt know his real name.
Neither of us knew Iโd get pregnant.
And I sure never expected to see him again.
Five years later, his tour bus pulls up in Nest Lake, Maine. My little world is about to be shattered by loud music and the pounding of my own foolish heart.
My past taught me to play it safe.
To stay far away from handsome men who promised it all.
My life was good without them. Stable, secure, predictable.
But one kiss showed me that Iโd been playing it safe for far too long.
One night, and all I wanted was more of his wildfire.
One challenge and my carefully constructed walls tumbled down.
Amidst the rubble, I realized there was more to this man than I ever dreamed.
When everything fell apart, he showed me what it meant to stay.
How to truly live.
But some demons donโt stay buried.
The past can come knocking when you least expect.
And the life heโs showing me might be shorter than either of us expectedโฆ
Lola Sullivan has been stared at by men since she was thirteen years old, but no one has ever seen the real her. Not until venture capitalist Duncan Lyman walks into her textile design studio and theyโre drawn to each other on every level. When deep passion sparks between them, along with an amazingly powerful emotional connection, they stay up all night together. By the time the sun comes up, sheโs sure sheโs found The One.
Duncan never imagined a woman like Lola existedโshe is just as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside. He trusts her in a way heโs never trusted anyone else, and he tells her everything. Everything but the dark secret from his past that could destroy their budding love. It took thirty years for Lola and Duncan to find perfect loveโฆbut will it take only thirty seconds to destroy it?
I’m a prize, a treasure, something to cherish. Or so I’ve been told.
But I know the truth. I’m a commodity recently sold to the highest bidder.
Sebastian Weber is ruthless, heartless, calculating, and my new husband. Power is the weapon he wields and control is his game.
I should fear him, resent him, but instead I’m drawn to him, craving his slightest touch, wanting every part of him.
Leaving him isn’t an option, and staying means shattering his world.
Note: Previous published in a limited run collection.
From bestselling author Kandi Steiner comes a sexy, hilarious, opposites-attract sports romance set in the lively city of Chicago…
I have a three date rule โ but itโs not what you think.
See, Iโve been told Iโm the โgood time girl,โ not the one you take home to Mom. And while that label stung at first, Iโve since embraced it โ living the wild and free life and sticking to a three date max. Thatโs just enough time to have some fun and snuff out the possibility of catching feelings. And itโs been working for me for yearsโฆ
Until Makoa Kumaka.
Sadly, he also has a three date rule โ and itโs the exact opposite of mine. From the second I meet him, all I can think about is stripping down that six-foot-five Herculean hunk of a man. But like the gentleman I wish he wasnโt, heโs making me wait.
The more time we spend together, the more I feel those pesky emotions creeping in. Iโm even tempted to trust him, but blame it on my past or my instincts, I canโt shake the feeling that heโs hiding somethingโฆ
Iโve been playing the game forever, and no man has ever won my heart โ which meant they never had the power to break it.
But maybe I just hadnโt met the right player.
Maybe Iโll wish I never did.
A little harmless flirting never hurt anyone. Unless you cross the line and have a one-night stand with your best friendโs sister. And if that didnโt complicate things enough her crazy ex-boyfriend is stalking her as well. Should have stayed just friends, but itโs probably a little late for that now.
View The Weekly Edit Archive »