Déjà Date (Better Date than Never Series Book 9) (affiliate link)
A feel-good second-chance romance filled with heartfelt sparks, cherished dreams, and the irresistible charm of the city.
Melinda never expected to see Nate again—the boy who gave her first kiss and broke her heart. But when he returns to her cozy neighborhood just as she’s stepping in to run the bakery she loves, old feelings resurface fast… along with sparks she thought she’d left behind.
When Melinda learns the bakery is being sold, she sees a chance to finally pursue her dream. But her late father’s will includes a twist: she must first complete his adventurous Carpe Diem list—including going on a date that truly takes her breath away. As she checks off each challenge, Melinda discovers that healing, hope, and belonging might come from the one person she never expected to trust again.
The MacDouglas Highlander Series (affiliate link)
They say opposites attract. Aye, for magnets maybe.
The year is 1874, in the Highlands of Scotland. He is a wild and rebellious hellraiser, a rule-breaker with no regard for societal norms, scandalizing both the Kirk and the entire parish many times over.
Yet he is also an enigma, rumoured to fight for women’s rights in the Scottish Lowlands, although few in the north can believe it.
She is a timid, religious, obedient serving maid blighted by her own tragic past. Is Maggie Ross fated to remain trapped in the miserable destiny of women like herself, or does the arrival of the notorious Lachlan Gilchrist in her master’s household herald better – or worse – times for her?
Surf, Sand, and Secrets (Paws, Clues, and Coastal Crimes Book 1) (affiliate link)
When a dog surfing competition turns deadly, a former investigator and her golden retriever must sniff out a killer hiding in plain sight.
Emily Parker traded the stress of insurance fraud investigation for the peaceful rhythm of running Paws & Relax, her dog grooming salon in charming Oceanview, California. With her brilliant golden retriever Buddy at her side and the Pacific Ocean at her doorstep, she thought she’d left danger behind for good.
She was wrong.
The Annual Oceanview Dog Surfing Competition should have been all fun, sun, and wagging tails. Instead, it becomes the backdrop for murder when respected judge Reginald Harrington is found dead on the beach. While local police are quick to call it a tragic accident, Emily’s trained investigative eye sees what others miss—and Buddy’s uncanny ability to read people suggests this is anything but accidental.
Aliens: Bishop (affiliate link)
“Do me a favor. Disconnect me. I could be reworked, but I’ll never be top of the line again. I’d rather be nothing.”
Lance Bishop, model 341-B, on Fiorina 161
The USCSS Patna has been found.
Although the synthetic Bishop asked to be shut down forever, his creator has other plans.
Michael Bishop seeks the Xenomorph knowledge stored in the android’s mind, and brings
Bishop back to life—but for what reason? No longer an employee of the Weyland-Yutani
Corporation, Michael tells his creation that he seeks to advance medical research for the benefit
of humanity. Yet where does he get the resources needed to advance his work, and with whom
do his new allegiances lie?
The Decagon House Murders (The Bizarre House Mysteries Book 1) (affiliate link)
Taking its cues from Agatha Christie’s locked-room classic And Then There Were None, the setup is this: The members of a university detective-fiction club, each nicknamed for a favorite crime writer (Poe, Carr, Orczy, Van Queen, Leroux and — yes—Christie), spend a week on remote Tsunojima Island, attracted to the place, and its eerie 10-sided house, because of a spate of murders that transpired the year before. That collective curiosity will, of course, be their undoing.
As the students approach Tsunojima in a hired fishing boat, ‘the sunlight shining down turned the rippling waves to silver. The island lay ahead of them, wrapped in a misty veil of dust,’ its sheer, dark cliffs rising straight out of the sea, accessible by one small inlet. There is no electricity on the island, and no telephones, either.
My Sister’s Daughter: A Novella (affiliate link)
Things have been different since Serena came to stay . . .
Ashley Bowers is shocked by the sudden death of her sister, whom she hasn’t seen or heard from in years. Grieving for the bond they once shared and wallowing in the knowledge that any chance of reconciliation is gone forever is one thing. Welcoming her sister’s thirteen-year-old daughter—a girl Ashley has never even met—into the home she shares with her husband and two children is another.
Ashley hopes Serena will blend in seamlessly with her family and their peaceful life in Maryland once they’ve both had a chance to process their loss. But as days become weeks, personalities clash and troubling incidents turn the Bowers residence into a whirlwind of accusation, denial, and fear.
It starts small: missing items, the dog inexplicably locked outside all night. But when the safety of her own children is threatened, Ashley starts to wonder if the tragedies in Serena’s past are unfortunate coincidences or something more sinister. Is Ashley’s orphaned niece simply acting out after the tragic passing of both her parents? Or is something far more dangerous going on under her own roof?
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