In a world where safety is a luxury and honor is found only among outlaws, two people attempt to outrun dangers lurking around each corner and the tragedies that define them.
Bonnie is an outlaw on the run. Beautiful but dangerous; her dark past stalks her like the crater beasts that roam the desert. As the notoriously cruel outlaw Jones sends his henchmen to track her down and retrieve the gun she stole from him, Bonnie hopes she can stay one step ahead. Because if he catches her, a fate worse than death awaits.
Jesse always dreamed of leaving the farm to explore the ruins of the big cities he’d heard about his whole life. He just never imagined he’d be forced to flee after strange men burned down his rural mountain town and murdered everyone he loved. Responsible for his kid brother and searching for an uncle he’s never met before, he isn’t sure he can navigate the perils of life among con artists and thieves long enough to find him.
Their two paths collide as they find themselves thrown together on the adventure of a lifetime.
Together, they may just discover that life is about more than just surviving.
TRIGGER WARNING: This book contains depictions of graphic violence, language, sexual violence, attempted rape, depictions of child abuse, and depictions of human trafficking.
Lauren Sevier & A. Smith are long time friends and co-authors from southern Louisiana. Guns & Smoke, their first joint publication, began as a “short” story after having too much wine on girl’s night. Nine years later it is now the first novel in a Dystopian/Western Romance series. The duo has plans to publish several series together in the future. A. Smith spends her time with her two rescue dogs and rescue cat surrounding herself with books and Labyrinth paraphernalia. Lauren Sevier collects antique tea cups and tries to stay sane, though as the mother of a toddler she fails brilliantly most days. She also has a growing collection of crowns and tiaras and likes to act silly on Tiktok. Look for more thrilling novels from The Fools Adventure series in the future!
Friends have a strict no-spouse rule for significant others at their seaside retreat, but this year they break with tradition.
A pastry chef, Claire’s heart is breaking. Her marriage is crumbling, but her determined mother has a plan. Claire’s annual friends retreat will be morphed into a couple’s weekend to bring a husband and wife back together. The new couple experience at Daydream Island might be the key for a second chance at love.
A numbers guy, Peter understands he’s made mistakes and he’s not certain if his mother-in-law’s surprising, but welcome, intervention will change anything. The division between him and his wife has grown as wide as the ocean and therapy sessions might only create more distance. But if there’s hope of lessening the divide and rebuilding their life together, he’ll get down on his knees and make a plea with his heart.
Will Claire and Peter get beyond their pain and follow their hearts back to the love they once shared, or will this plan ruin what’s left of their marriage.
About the Author...
SHELLEY KASSIAN is the multi-published author of several works of fiction, including the Women of Stampede novel, The Half Mile of Baby Blue. She’s passionate about the craft of storytelling and considers herself a genre crosser, given her stories navigate the margins of dark fantasy––romantasy––and romance. A history enthusiast, she’s traveled to the UK and France to explore secret gardens and medieval castles, having an avid interest in Anne Boleyn and the Tudor period. Shelley shares her life with her husband, adores her adult children and grand pets and lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
It’s been a long road to recovery since FBI Agent Cal Riggs and his hacker boyfriend Hunter Walsh’s last showdown with the treacherous Justin Barnes. His betrayal during False Flag left Cal and Hunter scarred and shaken. As their friends Sam Dupre and Rob Crawford dealt with domestic terrorism in Olympia during Penetration Test, Hunter and Cal fought to regain a sense of normalcy that never materialized.
The Bureau under the Trump Administration takes a punitive attitude toward Cal’s passion of fighting white nationalism, and his employment there grows less tenable by the day. Meanwhile, Hunter deals with the uncertainty of Barnes’s continued freedom by taking extreme steps to enhance the security of the condo he shares with Cal. No part of their lives has escaped Barnes’s poisoned touch.
When a shady corporate lawyer shows up on the doorstep while Cal’s at work, Hunter takes the meeting and discovers Barnes’s plan B: In his absence, he wants to bequeath his mercenary company, Dark Sun, to his former FBI partner and lover, no other than Callum Riggs. But what is Cal going to do with Barnes’s mercs? Can he really leave the Bureau he’s been part of since graduation? Well, if Hunter has a say, that’s exactly what Cal will do.
But life in the private sector is dangerous, too. Enemies hide in plain sight in Dark Sun’s every office, and there’s no knowing who still supports Barnes and his deadly extremist agenda. Is the mercenary company an olive branch from Barnes to the men he betrayed, or is this the honeypot that will secure their demise?
CW: Violence, brief sexual violence (not between MCs; no rape), white nationalist terrorism
Excerpt
“Feet. Off. The. Furniture,” Cal gritted out, something sparking behind his dark eyes.
“What, you’re the boss for one day and you think you can just start ordering people around?” Hunter pouted and squirmed down, pushing his feet farther onto the table.
“I’ve been the boss of you a lot longer than that.” Cal’s flat delivery and the challenge in his expression lit a fire in Hunter. It was honestly surprising they hadn’t just fucked over his seriously uncomfortable desk right in front of everyone this afternoon.
Before Hunter could act, Cal dropped Bruiser on him and then leaned down and physically knocked Hunter’s feet off the coffee table.
Hunter caught Bruiser, but quickly released him onto the couch so he wouldn’t get stuck in the middle of everything. The force with which Cal pushed Hunter’s feet turned him sideways, and he barely caught himself so he didn’t topple to the floor.
“You gonna work out some aggression on Mike Hunt?”
“You and your frakking pranks.” Cal grabbed Hunter around the waist and shoved him back on the luxurious sofa, pushing him into a corner and pinning him there with a hand on his shoulder and another on his inner thigh.
That sculpted face and its fading scars loomed inches from Hunter’s nose as Cal stared him down. “You do this crap on purpose, I’m convinced. Mike frakking Hunt. It’s like you’re begging for it. Do you have any idea how difficult it was for me to be professional today?”
“I was trying to be good. I didn’t even drop anything so you could see how my ass looks when I bend over to pick it up. Didn’t matter, though. I saw you checking me out. Wonder what Rory thinks you’re hiring me for.”
Hunter had removed his jacket when he’d gotten home, leaving him in a snug black t-shirt and the stretchy jeans. “You gonna give me a full-time job, Daddy?”
“If you play your cards right, you little brat.”
About the Authors...
They published their first co-written novel, the m/m rock star romance Black Gold, in 2010, and now have over a decade of award-winning collaborations under their exquisite belts. Recent titles include the twisted romance His Fake Prison Daddy and the Phisher King series, in which an uptight federal agent and a bratty hacker go from enemies to lovers while solving a hate crime.
Though Elder Millennial trans man Thursday and Gen X gender outlaw Clancy live three hours apart, they are inseparable. Their friendship is a perfect example of the Grumpy/Sunshine trope, which makes Thursday very happy. Clancy thinks it’s all right.
Ryder Remington is Dekk’s business partner, and when he gets a call that Dekk is in trouble, he runs to his rescue and comes across a scene that makes his blood boil. A month after the attack, when Dekk goes into heat again, Ryder tells him he’ll be the father of his children. Dekk is reluctant at first but can’t fight his urge to be with child.
Now they’re starting a family, but the thing is, they can’t stand each other. They are as mismatched as two people can get. Together they have to navigate recovering from trauma, try to tolerate living with each other, and get ready for quintuplets. If they can manage all of that, they might get their happy ending, but things never go according to plan.
Excerpt
“There’s no way in hell we’re naming the bar that.” He scratched the dark stubble on his jaw and shook his head.
I crossed my arms over my chest and smiled. “Why? It’s cute, a play on words.”
“Bars aren’t supposed to be cute,” he grumbled.
“Not everything has to always be macho and manly.” I sat at the bar with my laptop in front of me.
“Macho. Who uses that word? You know who? Someone who likes cute. For now, the bar is staying named bar.” He couldn’t even be bothered to capitalize it. The sign above the door outside seriously said bar. From where he squatted on the floor, he bore his dark-brown eyes into me, pressing his lips together. It was his go-to I’m an alpha, and you’re going to listen to me look.
“But The Ballet Bar has such a nice ring to it.”
“No.”
I stuck my nose up in the air. “Fine, always so grouchy.”
“I’m not grouchy,” he said, snarling his lip.
“Gruff.” A perfect word for him. Demeanor and looks. He was a six-foot-five wall of muscle with light tan skin and a head of thick wavy hair. He always wore dark jeans and a black T-shirt and seemed to favor the perfect amount of stubble. And if I didn’t know him and was in a dark alley with him, I’d turn and go in the opposite direction. He always looked like he wanted to harm somebody.
“Aren’t you supposed to be doing some kind of work?” he asked as he emptied the box of bottles next to him.
“Aren’t you?” I flicked my wrist in his direction, and besides, I was doing work. Someone had to keep our business affairs in order. I had just finished placing an order for a new local craft beer we were going to try.
“How did I get talked into opening this place with you?” He stood and folded up the now empty box.
“You saw the brilliance behind my plan.” Basically, I was able to front half the money to open the place. Pine Wood Falls offered a lot of assistance if you opened a business there, like land or a storefront, but there were plenty of other things needed to open a business that required capital. I had moved back to the area about half a year before and wanted something new in my life. Plus, being my own boss sweetened the deal, and my friend Lucas told me he heard about how Ryder was looking for a business partner.
He furrowed his brow and began to wipe down the counter. “And you know what?”
“You know what I know? You’re still trying to come up with a response.”
“You’re supposed to be the business end. In the back, doing the books.”
“Do you know that running a business entails more than some money and doing the books as you say?”
He ignored me and continued to wipe the counter.
“And I put up half the money, too, so I should have just as much right naming the place. You’re the one that makes the drinks, but it doesn’t make you special.” He thought since he was the alpha, he got to call the shots, but we were in it fifty/fifty. Therefore, even if he only saw me as some little omega, I still had an equal say, and I was not ready to give up my fight on naming the bar, but for the day, I let it go.
“It does. I’m so goddamn special.”
“You precious little peach you.”
“Said the ballerina.”
“Said the college dropout.”
“I went and tried. Did you ever take a college course? No.”
Well, he had me there. “I was at an elite dance academy.”
He put his hands on the edge of the bar and leaned in toward me. “For high school.”
“I was actually there until a year after high school,” I said.
“See, and you’re making fun of me. I’m a proud college dropout. You, it seems, was held back at your fancy pants school.” He smirked and threw the towel he wiped down the counter with over his shoulder.
About the Author
Sarah Havan writes all kinds of LGBTQIA+ romance, loves watermelon flavored candy, and has a vast flannel shirt collection. When not writing, Sarah loves to read and watch shows about murder.
“Jennifer Jenkins’s AMERICAN BOURBON is a compelling and potent family saga filled with evocative characters as strong and flinty as the Appalachia hills from whence they come, set against a smooth plot that goes down with an easy, supple, clean finish.” –Tony Ray Morris, author of DEEP RIVER BLUES
“Peopled with a cast of characters and a setting out of an early Cormac McCarthy novel, American Bourbon . . . starts out with a burn, working its way through you, then settling into your bones, where memories of the journey linger.” – Jeff Talarigo, Author of THE PEARL DIVER
“A day of reckoning, as thick as the fog in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains, looms over the McKinsey clan in this spirited tale of fury, whiskey and grief. And while Jenkins’ rendering of Caleb, the abusive and hard-driving patriarch who parlays an illegal moonshining operation into a multi-million dollar company, is harsh, there is grace to be found among his three grown children as they find their way back to one another. Illuminating, nuanced and heartfelt.” – Laurie Loewenstein, Author of DEATH OF A RAINMAKER
When an illegal moonshine still explodes deep in the Blue Ridge Mountains, the McKinsey family’s world-famous (and legal) whiskey, Bourbon Sweet Tea, is threatened. Government agents swarm the area, eager to implicate Sweet Tea founder Caleb McKinsey, who was a notorious bootlegger before going legit. Finding out he is dying, McKinsey’s ready to hand on his legacy. But none of his children are on speaking terms. His daughter Brigit is determined to remake the company against her father’s will, while his sons want nothing to do with their abusive father. When Caleb dangles a lucrative inheritance if all his children return, Brigit and her older brother Mack grudgingly call a truce to find missing brother Kieran. They journey to New York City, where Kieran fled after his girlfriend disappeared. As crimes from Caleb’s past promise to destroy Bourbon Sweet Tea, the only way to save their company is for Brigit to convince her brothers to embrace the family legends, and live as outlaws once again.
Jennifer Jenkins has written for Hippocampus Magazine, NonBinary Review, Up North Lit, Canopy Review, Parentheses Journal, and others. She earned two Glimmer Train Fiction Award honorable mentions and a nomination for a PEN America Short Story Award. She has also worked in the theater, with Manhattan Theatre Club, Sondheim’s Young Playwrights, and the PBS series Great Performances.
DIAMONDS MEET ROCK 'N ROLL AND SECRETS MEET THEIR END.
In a life of diamond bracelets and country clubs, I’m the perfect daughter. I get all the right grades, volunteer at all the right organizations, apply to all the right colleges.
And I hate every second of it. At the rate my life is playing out, under the strict rule of my parents, politicians and housewives will be my future.
Until I meet Harry.
Harry’s a singer in a rock band with a voice so beautiful that I actually feel hypnotized. Doesn’t hurt that he’s hot either, and with the kind, flirty personality to match, it’s the perfect trifecta. And even better, he sees the me I want to be. He sees me as the girl who can break free of the life she’s trapped in, who can control her own future.
The only problem? He knows me as Stella, my fun, carefree alter ego—so drastically different from Destelle, the girl who is trapped in the life her parents rule.
But as we get closer, I realize Harry’s keeping a secret of his own, something related to the dark past that he’s trying to move on from, and when I find out, everything we’ve built could come crashing down.
This is the fifth book in the Love in Fenton County Series, but can be read as a standalone. Check out this Opposites Attract + Hidden Identities Romance today!
Sarah Sutton is the author of YA Contemporary Romance books from a tiny town in Michigan. These standalone novels can be read in any order and are sure to leave you swooning. She’s always loved the idea of falling in love; capturing the fall through words and heart-melting kisses is one of her passions! Meet-cutes? She’ll take all of them! Accidental touches? She lives for them! First kisses? Yes, please!
