Meagan Brandy is a USA Today and Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author of New Adult and Sports Romance books.
Born and raised in California, she is a married mother of three crazy boys who keep her bouncing from one sports field to another, depending on the season, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.
Starbucks is her best friend and words are her sanity.
The last time my husband gave me an orgasm was … Well, that’s never happened.
And from the way our marriage is crumbling under the weight of his lies, it never will.
Alas, after fighting like hell for a divorce, I promise myself that I’ll never waste love on anyone else.
I don’t even want to ‘date’ anyone else.
But that’s until I literally run into a man who leaves me breathless at first sight, a man who etches his way into my memory with nothing more than a single smile and a question.
He’s an enigma who doesn’t want to give me his first name—a man who has more secrets than answers—and from the sexy smirk on his lips, I know that I should stay far away from him.
I try to keep my distance, but he pursues me anyway …
When he offers me a job I can’t refuse, I throw caution to the wind and take a chance.
I should’ve thought about this a little more.
Little do I know, this man is about to take me on a dangerous ride that might cost me everything.
Book 1 in the wickedly addictive Wasted Love trilogy.
On the surface, Talent has it all. The respect from his city, a successful law firm he shares with his brother, and a beautiful woman by his side. Nothing is as it seems. When the workday is over and the lights go down, the charming and sophisticated lawyer loosens his tie and takes rank in the mob he grew up in.
The elusive Lydia Montgomery changed everything the moment she stepped into his office and his heart a year ago. They navigate the delicate balance between their public and private lives as they delve deeper into the world of organized crime.
As a lawyer, he swore to abide by the law. As a made man, he pledged his life to the mafia.
Mary Elizabeth was born and raised in Southern California. She is a wife, mother of four beautiful children, and dog tamer to one enthusiastic Pit Bull and a prissy Chihuahua. She’s a hairstylist by day but contemporary fiction, new adult author by night.
Mary can often be found finger twirling her hair and chewing on a stick of licorice while writing and rewriting a sentence over and over until it’s perfect. She discovered her talent for tale-telling accidentally, but literature is in her chokehold. And she’s not letting go until every story is told.
I have been patiently waiting for this book to be released and Mary did not disappoint at all.
Criminal is the third book in this series and you must read the previous books to fully grasp all that is going on in this book.
In the first book, Tramp, readers met Talent and Lydia and watched them fall for one another. But their story was far from over and now we finally get more of it. Mary has truly upped her game with this book. We not only get the continuation of Talent and Lydiai’s story, but we are finally seeing how everything is starting merge together.
I will say that this was a bit slow for me in the beginning but around the 40% mark, things started picking up and Mary really started bring the suspense fully into the book. I do wish that romance and suspense blended a bit better, but it didn’t hurt the story too much.
It was great to see Lydia grow a lot in this book; she’s still 100% there but her growth was amazing. Talent has the patience of a Saint but it’s because his love for Lydia is so strong, there is no other choice for him.
I loved seeing all the secondary characters playing bigger roles in this book as we get more of the mafia parts in this book. I am really hoping to see more of Rip and the mafia side of things in the next book (read the novella Kiss of Death to get more on him) along with romance and suspense aligning more together than being separate.
Mary has definitely set us up perfectly for the next book. It’ll be interesting to see where things go next.
When she begs me to come on a weekend getaway so I can bond with her new boyfriend, I can’t say no—no matter how badly I want to. After all, who will keep an eye on the guy; he’s your stereotypical, professional football player (emphasis on PLAYER) and I don’t trust him with my friends heart.
Worse? He has the nerve to bring his single best friend Davis on the trip, too. Davis is too handsome, so funny and smart he can’t possibly be human. Grandma’s, babies and kittens all fall for his smile.
In fact, everyone adores but me **narrows eyes** What’s he hiding?
I refuse to fall for his act; at some point he’ll will drop the Good Guy act and show his true colors: he’s a player, too. He must be.
You know the saying: if he seems too good to be true, he probably is.
Sara Ney is the USA Today Bestselling Author of the How to Date a Douchebag series, and is best known for her sexy, laugh-out-loud New Adult romances.
Among her favorite vices, she includes: iced lattes, historical architecture and well-placed sarcasm. She lives colorfully, collects vintage books, art, loves flea markets, and fancies herself British.
The Player Hater is the first book in Sara’s next series, Accidentally In Love.
This story focuses on Davis and Juliet, who are both requested to join their best friends on a trip for them all to get to know one another better. However, the trip doesn’t go exactly as Juliet intended. Plus both Juliet and Davis’ best friends end of making it more of romantic getaway for the two of them and it’s left up to Juliet and Davis to find things to do.
I don’t know where to start this one. While I enjoyed this one, something was missing. Juliet was a bit prudish to me, even though Sara does her best to make sure not seem that way. Davis was a bit too easy going for me. I struggled in the beginning to see their connection. But I did enjoy that they got to know one another in a friendly way before moving into the more romantic territory immediately.
I know that with Sara’s stories, she tends to avoid epilogues but, I always just assumed because they were college romances. I was apparently wrong in that assumption and felt as though Davis and Juliet were sort of gipped of their HEA. This books ends setting up the next book, which I am looking forward to.
Overall, I didn’t hate the book, just felt like it was lacking. It was truly right down the middle for me.
“Tijan delivers on the fun, edge, and angst. Her books never fail to please!”―Kylie Scott, New York Times bestseller
The Damaged, the next unputdownable romantic suspense in The Insiders Series from New York Times bestselling author Tijan, is now available!
No longer an outsider, Bailey has a family and love that she never could’ve imagined.
Used to living in the shadows, Kash will now do anything to protect his family and his woman.
They will take on the world together…
In the meantime, stunning motives, lies, and explosive secrets continue to unfold.
1. Quinn is in jail, awaiting trial.
2. Friends might actually be enemies.
3. And what is Calhoun plotting? More importantly, will Kash discover it before it’s too late?
Everything will come to a head as passion and danger ignite in The Damaged.
Excerpt
Swish, swish. The windshield wipers were busy at work this morning. It’d been raining since late the night before, and now there was just a whole dreary feel to the day. Dark and gloomy, matching my mood. It was perfect. Swish, swish. “Are you nervous, miss?” I wasn’t responding, because this isn’t how things were supposed to be. I wasn’t supposed to wake up in the middle of the night and find the bed empty. And I wasn’t supposed to have to be escorted by one of our guards down to the apartment building’s gym to find my boyfriend , the guy I loved, the guy who was so not a secret from the entire world anymore, pummeling a boxing bag so hard that his knuckles ripped open every night. It was not right that I had to stand on the side, waiting for him to fight through his haze before he noticed I was there, and then watch as blood dripped from his hands to the floor. But all of that was happening. Because three weeks after there’d been a kidnapping attempt on me, after he had saved me, everything was just, simply, not okay. To be more frank, everything was shit. And here I was. In the back of an SUV being driven by one of my two personal bodyguards, to a school that I used to daydream about attending, while my boyfriend, that guy I had come to love so much, was heading into his own personal nightmare. Fitz, my guard, clued in on my state and didn’t ask again, but his eyes were on me . He saw. He more than saw, and I knew I’d be getting a call from Kash about two minutes after the first chance Fitz had a moment to text his boss that I was not okay. Because I wasn’t. Today was the day all my dreams were supposed to come true. Instead, I was a week late going to my graduate program and I wanted to be anywhere except where I was going. And I had no say, because the world found out in a big way I was the daughter of Peter Francis, a tech legend that I’d grown up idolizing until I found out myself, this past summer, that he was also my father. And then there was my boyfriend, Kash Colello, whose grandfather was one of the richest men in the world, but that came with strings and dangerous alliances with the dark underground of the world. My boyfriend, with his inherited wealth, now that he had come out of the shadows to the world, and whose “coming out” was even bigger than mine because of his connections and his family, was now the ninth wealthiest man in the world. Life as Peter Francis’s daughter, life as Kash Colello’s girlfriend, was a whole lot different than life had been as Bailey Hayes. There were rules and expectations and lots and lots of people watching you. So no, I was not okay.
4.5 Stars
The Damaged continues right after The Insiders and is a great second book in this trilogy.
We get to see not only Bailey and Kash’s relationship build, but we see Bailey’s relationship with everyone else develop over time. Bailey herself is moving forward, as best as she can but also still trying to come to grips with what happened to her.
Tijan does a wonderful job of building this story and give readers more details about key players in this suspenseful story. There are some filler parts and I understand why they are there, but they don’t mesh perfectly into the story. It doesn’t hurt the story in any way, it’s doesn’t help build the overall story either.
Tijan holds nothing back when it comes to twists and turns in this story. Just when readers think they are getting a grasp on things, another curve ball is thrown into the mix. I love that Tijan keeps the readers right at the edge the whole time.
The Damaged moves at the perfect pace. The story progresses perfectly and the timing of everything is on point. Tijan blends the romance and suspense beautifully and readers are literally left gasping by the end.
The third and final book cannot come out fast enough!
About Tijan Tijan is a New York Times Bestselling author that writes suspenseful and unpredictable novels. Her characters are strong, intense, and gut-wrenchingly real with a little bit of sass on the side. Tijan began writing later in life and once she started, she was hooked. She’s written multi-bestsellers including the Carter Reed Series, the Fallen Crest Series, and the Broken and Screwed Series among others. She is currently writing a new series from north Minnesota where she lives with an English Cocker she adores.
Have you ever fake dated your bodyguard? I don’t recommend it.
Especially if he’s anything like Erik Wilder: former football player, world class know-it-all and unapologetic grump.
To be clear, I didn’t want a bodyguard (hence the fake dating idea). Most days, I can’t figure out why he wants the job either. We drive each other insane, probably because we’re as opposite as two people can be.
He’s suspicious, never talks about his past and has the comfort skills of a cactus. I’m a happily ever after kinda girl who knows exactly what she wants out of life.
Erik’s words might say that the lines have to stay firm between us, but those dark eyes of his? They tell another story when he looks at me.
He’s just as stubborn as I am, but when our fake dating plan starts to feel a lot more real, it’s only a matter of time before his professional walls come crashing down.
I just have to hope my heart doesn’t get buried in the rubble.
Well, let’s see … I’m a wife and a mother. If the things that I write bring a smile to someone’s face, then I’ve done my job.
I am obsessed with Outlander (both the books and the show). I’m almost exclusively a romance reader, which means some people will never consider me a literary snob.
If I could meet one historical figure, it would be Jane Austen. I received my Bachelors in Public Relations and worked in health care marketing before I had my babies.
I hate Twitter. I do it, but I hate it. Also, if you want to get on my good side, bring me wine and I’ll love you forever.
The Plan is another amazing story from Karla Sorensen.
I started reading Karla’s books almost a year ago and so far, I haven’t read a book that I have not thoroughly enjoyed.
The blurb gives you just the right amount of information needed to jump into this story. Hell, you don’t even need to read the blurb to fully love this story. I will say that the fake dating portion is not what you think either – and that is something that I truly loved about this story. Karla takes a trope and gives it her own flare.
Karla gives her characters and their story so much life. I felt like I was watching this whole story play out in a movie. The story flowed beautifully and nothing ever felt forced or out of place. I enjoyed getting to know both Erik and Lydia as the story moved along and their banter was quite entertaining.
The Plan is told from both POVs which truly helps in getting to know both characters and understanding their mannerisms. While the story did flow extremely well, there were certain areas that I felt needed to be fleshed out a bit more, but didn’t hurt the overall vibe of the story. Karla stayed true to her characters and I felt this was a huge plus due to their ages and their social status.
Overall, another great story from Karla Sorensen. If you haven’t read anything by her yet, what are you waiting for???
He’s the man of her dreams. But their love has an expiration date.
The Mastermind, a swoon-worthy standalone novella set in the Rivers Wilde World from Wall Street Journal bestselling author Dylan Allen and 1,001 Dark Nights is now available!
He lives under a golden spotlight. I’m shackled to a past that must stay hidden.
Omar Solomon is the king of the comeback. Ten years ago his career as a star athlete ended in injury and scandal. He may have traded in his cleats for Gucci loafers, but he’s been as victorious in the boardroom as he was on the pitch.
He returns to London, wealthy, influential, and powerful beyond measure. And he spends every weekend in the pub where I work. A law student with a night job and a dark past, I’m hardly the type of woman a man like him would notice.
Or so I thought.
When he offers me a no-strings-attached affair, I forget all the reasons I should say no. He’s straight out of my dreams— with a body and a mouth made for sinning.
Our passion turns my gray existence into a vibrant, colorful life. But it has an expiration date.
When his time in London is over, we will be, too. And it will be for the best. Because he can never find out who I really am.
But my Mastermind has set his sights on a new goal: me. And this time he’s playing for keeps.
**Every 1,001 Dark Nights novella is a standalone story. For new readers, it’s an introduction to an author’s world. And for fans, it’s a bonus book in the author’s series. We hope you’ll enjoy each one as much as we do.**
About Dylan Allen Dylan Allen is a Texas girl with a serious case of wanderlust. A self-proclaimed happily ever junkie, she loves creating stories where her characters chase their own happy endings. When she isn’t writing or reading, eating or cooking, she and her family are planning their next adventure.
“I can always count on Tijan to write an action-packed, intense, emotional story that will have me invested until the very last page.”—Helena Hunting, New York Times bestselling author
The Damaged, the next highly-addictive romantic suspense story in The Insiders Series from New York Times bestselling author Tijan, is now available!
No longer an outsider, Bailey has a family and love that she never could’ve imagined.
Used to living in the shadows, Kash will now do anything to protect his family and his woman.
They will take on the world together…
In the meantime, stunning motives, lies, and explosive secrets continue to unfold.
1. Quinn is in jail, awaiting trial.
2. Friends might actually be enemies.
3. And what is Calhoun plotting? More importantly, will Kash discover it before it’s too late?
Everything will come to a head as passion and danger ignite in The Damaged.
About Tijan Tijan is a New York Times Bestselling author that writes suspenseful and unpredictable novels. Her characters are strong, intense, and gut-wrenchingly real with a little bit of sass on the side. Tijan began writing later in life and once she started, she was hooked. She’s written multi-bestsellers including the Carter Reed Series, the Fallen Crest Series, and the Broken and Screwed Series among others. She is currently writing a new series from north Minnesota where she lives with an English Cocker she adores.
“A swoon inducing romance penned in the way only BB can—with the perfect amount of witty humor and spice. Loved it!” —Kate Stewart, USA Today Bestselling Author
Group Therapy, a brand new steamy and laugh-out-loud rom-com from Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author BB Easton is now available!
From the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of 44 Chapters About 4 Men (inspiration for the 4th Most-Watched Netflix Original Series of all time, Sex/Life) comes a romantic comedy about an inexperienced psychologist who falls for one of her clients and creates a therapy group from hell as an excuse to see him after hours.
I am thiiiiis close to finally becoming a full-fledged psychologist. PhD? Check. Prestigious postdoc position, providing therapy to entitled millionaires and C-list celebrities whose pumpkin spice lattes cost more than my Converse and make excellent projectiles during their reality TV–worthy tantrums? Check. Letter of recommendation from my velociraptor-like supervisor?
That’s going to take a miracle. Not only because my boss said I have to cure our most-prized client’s writer’s block in time for him to meet his insane deadline, but also because that client just so happens to be …
Thomas F*@%ing O’Reardon.
Yeah, that Thomas O’Reardon. The wickedly brilliant, achingly beautiful, devastatingly British best-selling author whose psychological thrillers line my bookshelf at home and whose face I might or might not picture while I … you get the point. Sitting in a confined space with him; inhaling the crisp, clean scent of his cologne; gazing into his broody blue eyes while trying to remember to nod and listen and come up with suggestions that don’t involve taking our clothes off … it’s torture.
So, when Thomas casually asks me out at the end of a therapy session, I’m forced to make an impossible choice: say yes and risk losing my dream job, or say no and risk losing my dream guy. In a panic, I blurt out a third option—the only solution I can think of that will allow me to see this man after hours without it being considered a career-ending ethics violation:
Group therapy.
The only problem? I’ve never actually done group therapy. And side problem: my other clients are heathens. But what’s the worst that could happen? I mean, it’s not like I’m going to lose all control of the group and let it devolve into a chaotic, bloodthirsty, topless fight club.
He wraps his warm, ocean-scented, oxford cloth shirt around my shoulders, and for some strange reason, my eyes begin to burn. I blink the stinging sensation away and focus on my breathing as my fingers instinctively curl around the open material and cinch it tighter around my body. It feels like a hug. A hug that I didn’t realize I’d needed so badly. “Thanks,” I whisper, swallowing the emotion lodged in my throat. Thomas folds his arms across his chest and shrugs, his shoulders already tense from the cold. Say something! “So, you weren’t freaked out by what happened in there?” I ask, tilting my head toward the building where the group therapy session from hell just occurred. Please say no. Please say you’ll come back next week. “Actually”—Thomas gives me a crooked smile—“it was kind of fun.” The corners of his mouth drop along with his gaze as it drifts slowly to the ground. “I wonder what it’s like to feel that free.” “You only say that because you weren’t the one whose client had you in a headlock.” He laughs silently, and it’s the perfect example of the self-control he wishes he could let go of. “Maybe that’s why you write about psychopaths,” I add, missing the weight of his eyes on me. “So you can experience what it’s like to be that … uninhibited.” A crease forms between his eyebrows. “Wrote,” he says, his eyes darkening as they travel to a place even farther away from me. “Past tense.” With that, Thomas turns to open his car door, and I panic. I panic, and I do the dumbest thing I’ve done yet, which is saying a lot. I reach out and grab his hand. Thomas goes completely still. I go completely still. Even the wind, which had been swirling brittle orange leaves around our feet, goes completely still as the words, “Will write,” leave me on a shaky breath. I try to let go of Thomas’s hand, but he laces his fingers through mine, holding me captive. Then, he turns and captures me with his eyes as well. “Future tense,” I add, unable to look away from the restraint and madness I see warring in his eyes. Thomas’s gaze drops to my lips, and when I run my tongue along the seam instead of screaming or slapping him or prying my fingers loose, he begins to lean forward. No. He is being pulled forward. By me. By my actions. By my confusing mixed signals. I invited this. And I have to stop it. But I can’t. My brain is barking commands that my body is no longer listening to. I watch helplessly from inside my traitorous body as Thomas lifts his other hand, slides it beneath my curtain of hair, which is still tucked inside his shirt, and cups the side of my neck. His thumb caresses the ridge of my jaw, and like the strike of a match, my neglected husk of a body goes up in flames. The heat engulfs me, spreading like a forest fire as it burns away the fingerprints of every man who’s ever touched me before. It ignites something deep inside of me—an inextinguishable need. An excruciating singular desire. I close my eyes and lean into his touch. And I hate myself for it. I can’t do this. I can’t kill my career. I can’t sabotage his treatment. But as I stand here, rooted to the spot, with Thomas’s fingers laced in mine and his hand splayed across my skin, I can’t even make myself exhale, let alone walk away. Just as Thomas’s breath, warm and sweet, dances over my parted lips, as my body tenses and braces for the impact of this wrecking ball of a man, it is the voice of another man that breaks the spell. “Dr. Sterling?”
About BB Easton
Wall Street Journal bestselling author BB Easton lives in the suburbs of Atlanta with her long-suffering husband, Ken, and two adorable children. She recently quit her job as a school psychologist to write books about her punk rock past and deviant sexual history full-time. Ken is suuuper excited about that. BB’s debut memoir, 44 CHAPTERS ABOUT 4 MEN, is the inspiration for the #4 Most-Watched Netflix Original Series of all time, SEX/LIFE. Because she had so much fun writing it, BB went on to publish four more wickedly funny, shockingly steamy, and heartwarmingly honest books, one for each man in her memoir: SKIN, SPEED, STAR, and SUIT. THE RAIN TRILOGY, an epic, immersive, end-of-the-world romance, is BB’s first work of fiction. Or at least, that’s what she thought when she wrote it in 2019. Then 2020 hit and all of her dystopian plot points started coming true. Hopefully, her feel-good romantic comedy GROUP THERAPY will fix everything.
Meagan Brandy is a USA Today and Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author of New Adult and Sports Romance books.
Born and raised in California, she is a married mother of three crazy boys who keep her bouncing from one sports field to another, depending on the season, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.
Starbucks is her best friend and words are her sanity.
Friends With Benefactors by Willow Aster & Laura Pavlov is now live!
A hot, wealthy playboy. His sexy, down-to-earth best friend. What could possibly go wrong if they kiss?
Penelope
Having grown up the baby sister to four brothers and with a dude for a best friend, I know how to read men like the back of my hand.
But when I have a sexy make-out session with Beckham, my best friend, all my intuition about men goes out the window.
We never thought we would cross that line, but omg those lips, his scent, his taste–it’s all I can think about … seriously, he could bend me like Beckham, and I would so let him.
So when he offers a solution to my sexual drought with S-E-X, I have to consider it.
Right?
Beckham
Penelope has always been every guy’s fantasy–sexy, witty, and smart as hell. Let me also mention she’s my best friend, and because of that, I vowed to never, EVER go there with her … meaning I will keep my hands and lips and other body parts to myself at all times when it comes to Penelope Layne Taylor.
But lines become blurred when we kiss and it’s the best thing I’ve ever experienced.
The.
Best.
Thing.
And now all I want is Penelope to be more than my best friend.
She’s unsure we can do this, be friends with benefits … but I am here to prove her wrong.
Game on, Penelope Taylor.
Download today or read for FREE with Kindle Unlimited
Laura Pavlov writes sweet and sexy contemporary romance that will make you both laugh and cry. She is happily married to her college sweetheart, mom to two awesome almost-grown kids, and dog-whisperer to one temperamental yorkie and one wild bernedoodle. Laura resides in Las Vegas where she is living her own happily ever after. Be sure to sign up for updates on new releases. Laura loves to hear from readers!
