September Weekly Kindle Haul #3

A steamy, full-length, standalone romance with a guaranteed HEA from Amazon Bestselling author J.H. Croix! If you like smoking hot romance with alpha men and strong women, you’ll love this series!

Sometimes what we run from leads us exactly where we need to be. 

Jessa Hamilton has nowhere else to go. So she’s packed up her little blue truck and driven to Alaska, seeking refuge at Last Frontier Lodge where at least she has family she can count on. A fender bender lands her in the path of Eli Brooks, a man of pure, well, manliness. Rugged and sexy with a smile that sends sparks flying through her, Jessa has no idea what to do with the way Eli makes her feel. 

Eli has plenty on his mind and none of it has anything to do with meeting a woman who makes him reconsider his commitment to avoiding romance. A painful past led Eli to seek peace in the land he loves—the wilderness of Alaska. Eli is a classic Alaskan—he breathes hunting and fishing. Jessa is unlike any woman he’s ever encountered—quirky, sexy, independent and…a vegetarian. 

While Jessa tries to put the pieces of her life together, a surprise from the past forces Eli to question just how much running from the past has gotten him. As they each grapple with their own ghosts, passion burns like wildfire between them. 

*All novels in this series are full-length standalone novels with an HEA.

Detective Reece Cannon stumbles upon the unsettling murder of a young woman shot at the edge of the desert.

But when a mysterious picture leads Reece face to face with an old family secret, the revelations suddenly hit too close to home.

After years of trying to bury the past, new rumors around town threaten Reece and everything she now stands for.

Is she next on the list to disappear?

Can Reece unravel the lies and put the pieces of the puzzle together before it’s too late? Who is responsible? Nothing is as it seems. The chances are slim. Will Reece recognize the charade…behind open eyes?

Meet Phoebe, who’s 28, and Laney, Dot and Maggie, who are 68, 78, and none of your business. Together they’ll prove that age doesn’t matter when it comes to friendship, belonging and an unquenchable zest for life.

When Framlingham’s famously all-female senior living home goes co-ed, a war between the sexes is declared.

Stuck in the middle, chef Phoebe Stockton is desperate to help her friends plot to keep the community that means so much to them. It’s become her life raft, too. She finds comfort in her beloved career that might finally make her parents proud. But Phoebe’s darling Nick is lining up on the other side of the battle, and their relationship is suffering collateral damage.

The stakes couldn’t be higher. If the home’s owner can’t improve business by moving the men in, he’ll have to close down the Happy Home for Ladies.

The women aren’t about to let that happen.

He told me to settle. 
He asked what was wrong with me. 
He called me an easy target. 
That was within minutes when I first met Caden Banks. 
I labeled him an *sshole, but he was more than that. Arrogant. Smug. Alpha. 

He was also to-die-for gorgeous, and my stepbrother’s fraternity brother. 

Okay, yes I was a little naive, a tad bit socially awkward, and the smallest amount of stalker-ish, but if Caden Banks thought he could tell me what to do, he had another thing coming. 

I came to college with daydreams about being with my stepbrother, but what if I fell for the anti-stepbrother instead? 

*Stand-alone novel

Can sweet and spicy make for a delicious pairing?

When barbecue food truck owner Holt Collins caters a wedding at the romantic wedding venue Falling Blossoms, he meets a woman who throws him for a loop. She may be gorgeous, but they clash immediately. He did however love the venue and makes an appointment to show it to his fiancée, only to receive a break-up text.

Devastated, Holt spends a few days trying to figure out what went wrong and what to do next. He decides to grab a bite at a local cafe, unaware that it is owned by Kayla Burton. After telling Kayla he’s no longer engaged, he later finds her kitchen in crisis and Kayla desperate for help, but unwilling to ask. He steps in and saves the day, but she hates giving up control of her kitchen, much less her heart. She’s attracted, but he’s just been jilted. Is this a rebound fling or fate working its magic?

Can a cupcake café owner find true love with Mr. Hot Holt Barbecue? 

Saying Andi’s had better days is an understatment.

Her cookie business is going nowhere fast, and she just walked in on her boyfriend screwing another woman. 

Kane and Isaiah, her online gaming partners and the cutest couple ever as far as Andi’s concerned, know exactly how to cheer her up. They’re thinking road trip to Las Vegas, compete in a national first person shooter competition for a cash grand prize, and find her a one night stand to take her mind off her cheating ex. 

Andi’s all in… except she’s not sure she can seduce a random hookup. Isaiah and Kane offer to give her some hands-on experience. With each new lesson, it becomes harder for Andi to remember the guys are just friends.

If Andi can’t put some distance between their seductive three-way hookups and her heart, it will cost their team the competition, and she’ll lose two of the best friends she’s ever had.

Dakota Brenton spends his days leading thrill seekers on adventures through the woods of Maplehaven, Vermont. He’s traveled all over the world on expeditions, but he always comes back home to the cozy town his ancestors founded. Dakota loves his free-spirit lifestyle. He comes and goes as he pleases, however, he can’t help wanting more. 

Leah Greenstead is the new fourth grade teacher at Maplehaven Elementary, a school built through a generous donation from Brenton Sawmill. Having abandoned New York City after a tragedy, Leah is doing her best to adjust to life in the quiet Vermont town. With any luck, she’ll be able to leave her past behind, stick to her rules about not getting close to anyone, and preserve what little is left of her heart. She wants to believe the world is safe again, and if that means being alone, then so be it. 

When Dakota meets Leah at a ceremony honoring his family’s sawmill, he sees his next adventure. As Maplehaven’s golden boy, he’s surprised when Leah doesn’t immediately accept his advances. He’s never had to work this hard, but he has a feeling Leah Greenstead will be worth the effort. 

Is one kind heart enough to change Leah’s mind about love? 

One Kind Heart is Book One in The One Kind Deed Series, stories centered around good deeds and making the world a better place, one couple at a time. 

Longlisted – Baileys Women’s Prize 2014

Man Booker Prize, Fiction, 2013

Canadian Governor General’s Literary Award, 2013.

It is 1866 and Walter Moody has come to make his fortune upon the New Zealand goldfields. On arrival, he stumbles across a tense gathering of 12 local men, who have met in secret to discuss a series of unsolved crimes. A wealthy man has vanished, a whore has tried to end her life, and an enormous fortune has been discovered in the home of a luckless drunk. Moody is soon drawn into the mystery: a network of fates and fortunes that is as complex and exquisitely patterned as the night sky.

The Luminaries is an extraordinary piece of fiction. Written in pitch-perfect historical register, richly evoking a mid-19th-century world of shipping and banking and goldrush boom and bust, it is also a ghost story, and a gripping mystery. It is a thrilling achievement for someone still in her mid-20s, and will confirm for critics and listeners that Catton is one of the brightest stars in the international writing firmament.

Welcome to Autumnboro, New Hampshire, where the romance is sweet, the lattes are spicy, and more than leaves are about to fall…

After calling off her fall wedding, horror novelist Amy Fox is left with a broken heart, a mega case of writer’s block, and a serious aversion to all things pumpkin spice. When she receives news that her grandfather has broken his wrist driving through a Dunkin Donuts—literally straight through the front windows—five hundred miles away, in her hometown of Autumnboro, New Hampshire, Amy has no choice but to return to check on him. If she doesn’t make sure that he’s back on his feet, Grandpa may be moved into assisted living, and Amy’s beloved childhood home will be put on the market. 

Knowing she must return, Amy worries about the only thing worse than pumpkin spice—a reunion with Kit Parker—her childhood best friend, first love, and entire reason for skipping town in the first place. As the two reconnect, a second chance seems possible…if only Kit weren’t holding on to a secret that just might unravel everything. 

Set against the scenic backdrop of the White Mountains, New Hampshire, Pumpkin Everything is a small town, sweet romance, and the perfect way to kick off the fall season! A pumpkin spice latte wouldn’t hurt, either.

He didn’t think coming home would mean falling in love

Outfielder Calvin Ramsey returns to his Texas farm home after being released from his team, an unexpected surprise sure to tarnish the family baseball legacy. But when he finds a sexy stranger acting as the temporary caretaker for his childhood home, all thoughts of baseball disappear. 

She won’t fall for another player

After losing her savings to a swindler ex-boyfriend, Josie Vance moves to Last Stand to start fresh where no one knows her unhappy past or the con that bankrupted her. But her peaceful healing time evaporates when the homeowner’s son arrives and throws himself into life on the farm—and charming Josie. She can’t risk an affair that draws attention to her or her past. Especially not when the public’s fascination with the baseball-playing Ramsey clan is at an all-time high. Can she keep her secrets, her low profile, and her heart too?

Jonathan Bracelyn pours his soul into saving the world, and he’s still nowhere near cancelling out the sins of dear ol’ dad. But when a medical crisis prompts Jon to toss his sister the ultimate lifeline, he’s forced to hang up his captain’s hat and hit pause on the one thing that makes him…well, him.

At least he has Blanka Pavlo’s heart-flooding smile to buoy his spirits. A brilliant scientist, she knows things can’t last with the do-gooder Bracelyn brother. Not even if he kisses like a dream and boasts biceps as hefty as his heart. Blanka’s learned the hard way how lonely life is in the shadow of a saint, so she’s giving the hottie hero a wide berth. 

Except Jonathan sucks at self-care, so maybe she’ll lend a hand (and other tingly parts) to help him out. Soon, they’re bonding over awkward bubble baths and a disturbingly homely cat, while struggling to remember it’s all temporary. But the harder they brace for goodbye, the louder their hearts declare they’re already in too deep. 

An irresistible obsession…

Alex is a mystery: Secretive. Rich. Way too hot for his own good.

I’m an artist just trying to make it as a potter, and why he wants me, I don’t know.

I’m starting over in this beautiful beach town, and saying “yes” to him is part of the adventure. Until yes becomes something more.

My new artist friends are quirky and cool. My teacher is alarmingly obnoxious. I’m working hard to get into the big juried exhibition. And I keep losing myself in Alex’s arms.

He’s insatiable. I’m addicted. But under his quietly forceful exterior is a man wounded to his core.

Can obsession turn into love? And can passion overcome the past?

Or is Alex the worst best thing that ever happened to me?

Bohemia Beach is a sizzling hot romance featuring an aspiring clay artist, a mysteriously wealthy/seductive/secretly sweet writer, and a colorful beach town brimming with passion, drama and humor. This is the first novel in the Bohemia Beach Series, each a steamy standalone romance set among a circle of artists in the enchanting Florida city they call home.

Beth Bradley has a problem. Everyone is expecting her successful music executive boyfriend, Charlie, to be her date for her best friend’s wedding. There’s one hitch: Charlie doesn’t exist. Unless she can think of something fast, she’s headed for the most humiliating weekend of her life.

Alex Tanner has a problem. The former Navy SEAL’s search for a double agent lands him at the Kensington Hotel, and he needs a cover to finish the job. When the sexy maid of honor blackmails him into pretending to be her lover, he thinks he’s been handed the solution.

Except Beth has a way of stumbling into trouble, and when the man Alex is hunting starts targeting Beth, Alex has to decide between duty and the woman who has stolen his heart.

In The Power the world is a recognisable place: there’s a rich Nigerian kid who lounges around the family pool; a foster girl whose religious parents hide their true nature; a local American politician; a tough London girl from a tricky family. But something vital has changed, causing their lives to converge with devastating effect. Teenage girls now have immense physical power – they can cause agonising pain and even death. And, with this small twist of nature, the world changes utterly.

This extraordinary novel by Naomi Alderman, a Sunday TimesYoung Writer of the Year and Granta Best of British writer, is not only a gripping story of how the world would change if power was in the hands of women but also exposes, with breath-taking daring, our contemporary world.

A chance meeting with a handsome stranger turns into a whirlwind affair that gets everyone talking. 

Dating is the last thing on Olivia Monroe’s mind when she moves to LA to start her own law firm. But when she meets a gorgeous man at a hotel bar and they spend the entire night flirting, she discovers too late that he is none other than hotshot junior senator Max Powell. Olivia has zero interest in dating a politician, but when a cake arrives at her office with the cutest message, she can’t resist—it is chocolate cake, after all. 

Olivia is surprised to find that Max is sweet, funny, and noble—not just some privileged white politician she assumed him to be. Because of Max’s high-profile job, they start seeing each other secretly, which leads to clandestine dates and silly disguises. But when they finally go public, the intense media scrutiny means people are now digging up her rocky past and criticizing her job, even her suitability as a trophy girlfriend. Olivia knows what she has with Max is something special, but is it strong enough to survive the heat of the spotlight?

There’s something strange about the Silver family house in the closed-off town of Dover, England. Grand and cavernous with hidden passages and buried secrets, it’s been home to four generations of Silver women—Anna, Jennifer, Lily, and now Miranda, who has lived in the house with her twin brother, Eliot, ever since their father converted it to a bed-and-breakfast. 

The Silver women have always had a strong connection, a pull over one another that reaches across time and space, and when Lily, Miranda’s mother, passes away suddenly while on a trip abroad, Miranda begins suffering strange ailments. An eating disorder starves her. She begins hearing voices. When she brings a friend home, Dover’s hostility toward outsiders physically manifests within the four walls of the Silver house, and the lives of everyone inside are irrevocably changed. At once an unforgettable mystery and a meditation on race, nationality, and family legacies, 

White is for Witching is a boldly original, terrifying, and elegant novel by a prodigious talent.

Keaton Holt knows all about the badass throwdown—on the movie set and in the bedroom. As the only sixth-degree black belt stuntman for Renegades, he’s made a career of translating those fighting skills to the big screen. He’s sown his oats and is ready for hometown and apple pie. Too bad his rough exterior is a magnet for the women who think vanilla sex includes a drawerful of sex toys that could pass as weapons of mass destruction. So when he gets a second chance with the stunning personal assistant who looks like an angel and feels like home, he knows she’s exactly what he needs—and he’s ready to use all his best moves to keep her this time.

With a demanding new boss and a chronically ill nephew, the last thing Brooke Dempsey needs in her life is one more problem. Even if that problem is a sexy stuntman who knows exactly how she likes it. Keaton is just passing through, while Brooke is just settling in. Her nephew depends on Brooke, and her life is dedicated to getting him through this health crisis, but she’s not going to make the same mistake and part ways with Keaton before taking the chance to love him—just once.
But when Keaton pushes for a future, Brooke finds her heart torn over going after the love of a lifetime or giving her nephew a lifetime of happiness.

All books in the Renegades series may be read as stand alone books. 

It’s all about that second chance…

Paradise Found is Book Four of That Second Chance Series. (These are standalone books tied together by a common theme–belief in the beauty of that second chance.)

How does one see truly–with the heart or with the eyes?

Matt Brandon has it all–wealth, power, looks, and talent. Women want him, men want to be like him. When a freak ski accident strips him of one of life’s most basic needs–his sight–he struggles to accept the possibility that his blindness may be permanent.

Enter, psychologist, Sara Hamilton, a woman who has known her own share of grief and loss and may just be the one person who can help Matt redefine his new world. Sara is every woman’s woman–she’s not a toothpick or a Cosmo girl, has never been prom queen, or dated the blond-haired god with the big white teeth. She’s honest and decent and real…and lives on the perimeter, applauding her patients’ successes, nursing them through their failures, but never acknowledging or accepting her own lackings. She’s loved and lost once and has been so emotionally scarred, she’s not willing to risk those feelings again.

Of course, she’s never met a man like Matt Brandon. As Matt and Sara explore the delicate balance between ‘blind’ trust and hope, they will discover that sometimes you have to lose everything to find what you are truly looking for…

From the New York Times bestselling author of Factory Man and Truevine, a work of deep reporting that reveals, as never before, the tragedy of America’s opioid crisis, exposing those responsible for its creation and the wholly impotent response to it. 
In this masterful work, Beth Macy takes us into an epicenter of America’s twenty-plus year struggle with opioid addiction. Dopesick is the first book to chart the tragic spread of prescription and street drugs from distressed small communities in Central Appalachia to wealthy suburbs, disparate cities, and once-idyllic farm towns, a trajectory that explains how the crisis persisted for so long and became so entrenched.
Beginning with a single dealer who lands in a small Virginia town to work at a chicken-processing plant and sets about turning high school football stars into heroin-overdose statistics, Macy sets out to answer a grieving mother’s question -why her only son died – and comes away with a harrowing story of greed and need. From the introduction of OxyContin in 1996, Macy parses how America embraced a medical culture where overtreatment with painkillers became the norm. In some of the same distressed communities featured in her bestselling book Factory Man, the unemployed use painkillers both to numb the pain of joblessness and pay their bills while under-challenged teens across America trade pills in cul-de-sacs, and even high-school standouts fall prey to prostitution, jail, and death. 
Through unsparing, yet deeply human portraits of the families and first responders struggling to ameliorate the epidemic, each facet of the crisis comes into focus. In these politically fragmented times, Beth Macy shows, perhaps the only thing that unites Americans across geographic and class lines is opioid drug abuse. In a country already unable to provide basic healthcare for all, Dopesick exposes the pioneering spirit necessary for those facing addiction to build better futures for themselves and others. 

Life is never really quiet for Hannah Swensen. After all, her mother’s wedding is a little over a month away and guess who Delores put in charge of the planning? Yet just when Hannah believes her biggest challenge will be whether to use buttercream or fondant for the wedding cake, she accidentally hits a stranger with her cookie truck while driving down a winding country road in a raging thunderstorm. Hannah is wracked with guilt, and things get even worse when she’s arrested. . .for murder! 

But an autopsy soon reveals the mystery man, his shirt covered in stains from blackberry pie, would have died even if Hannah hadn’t hit him. Now, to clear her name, Hannah will have to follow a trail of pie crumbs to track down the identity of the deceased, find a baker who knows more about murder than how to roll out a perfect pie crust–and get herself to the church on time. . .

Features over Ten Cookie and Dessert Recipes from The Cookie Jar!

It was always him. The one I shouldn’t want, shouldn’t crave, the one who could destroy my carefully built life.

Hagen Lykaios was the essence of sin, indulgence, and danger – everything I knew to avoid.

All it took was one unexpected touch, and he consumed me, left me begging, needy, and hungry for more.

He said if I entered his world he would corrupt me, own me, and change all that I had ever known…and you know what? I went anyway.

I need a woman to help me shut up my big Greek family.

And my new intern is perfect for the job, though pretending to have a relationship with her might be a little taboo. 

Good thing I’m in charge. 

Being a self-made billionaire, I haven’t spent much time looking for love. 

None actually. 

Lucky for me, it’s fallen right into my lap. 

This pretty American girl has zero sense of direction, but a good heart and a sexy smile. 

I’ve always been smitten by a woman that needs rescuing, or so it seems. 

Something tells me that she might be more than I bargained for. 

Either way, I just need her to fake it for me until it appears real. 

Funny how real it quickly becomes.

Every Good Girl Deserves a Bad Boy. ~ Weston

Ruby Ross is the rising star plus-sized fashion since she’s just signed the deal of a lifetime for a new line of retail shops across the country. Now she and her faithful corgi, Diamond, are constantly on the go overseeing the production of her franchises and getting to know all the must-meets of the fashion and beauty world. 

As the heir to his father’s enormous fitness and supplement empire, Brandon Price is constantly in the public eye. Assigning him to serve as the face of the brand, nobody ever asked what Brandon wanted out of life. And Brandon never knew either… until he set eyes on the big, beautiful powerhouse, Ruby Ross. She stands for everything his father hates, which makes him crave her that much more. 

But Ruby has way too much to do to make time for idle flirtations. Besides surviving high school as a bigger girl has her a little gun shy when it comes to romance—and especially to pretty boys like Brandon. With the help of a mischievous, little Corgi, can these two put their differences aside to find love is much more than skin deep? 

Each Celebrity Corgi Romance stands alone, but they’re definitely more fun if you read the whole series together. Get your copy of Flirting with the Fashionista and book your romantic escape today! 

An Apple Books Best of the Month Selection
A Publishers Weekly Summer Reads 2020 Editors’ Pick
A Library Journal “12 Novels Featuring Protagonists on the Autism Spectrum” Selection

From #1 International Bestseller Charlie Donlea—A chilling murder in a prestigious prep school is at the heart of this riveting new suspense novel that’s perfect for fans of Lucy Foley and Ruth Ware.Forensic reconstructionist Rory Moore and her psychologist partner, Lane Phillips,must chase down the truth behind the ghastly killings featured on the hit true crime podcast sweeping the nation. Can they uncover the hidden secrets of the school and the psychology of a killer before the next episode airs?

Inside the walls of Indiana’s elite Westmont Preparatory High School, expectations run high and rules are strictly enforced. But in the woods beyond the manicured campus and playing fields sits an abandoned boarding house that is infamous among Westmont’s students as a late-night hangout. Here, only one rule applies: don’t let your candle go out—unless you want the Man in the Mirror to find you. . . .

One year ago, two students were killed there in a grisly slaughter. The case has since become the focus of a hit podcast, The Suicide House. Though a teacher was convicted of the murders, mysteries and questions remain. The most urgent among them is why so many students who survived that horrific night have returned to the boarding house—to kill themselves.

Rory, an expert in reconstructing cold cases, is working on The Suicide House podcast with Lane, recreating the night of the killings in order to find answers that have eluded the school, the town, and the police. But the more they learn about the troubled students, the chillingly stoic culprit, and a dangerous game gone tragically wrong, the more convinced they become that something sinister is still happening. Inside Westmont Prep, the game hasn’t ended. It thrives on secrecy and silence. And for its players, there may be no way to win—or to survive. . . .