"Happily Ever After" wasn't supposed to come with a do-over option. But when my husband of 20 years packs up and heads for greener pastures, and my son heads away to college, that's exactly what my midlife becomes. A do-over. This time, though, I plan to do things differently. Age is just a number, after all, and at 40 I'm ready to carve my own path. Eager for a fresh start, I make a somewhat unorthodox decision and move to a tiny town in the Sierra foothills.

Get ready to experience two more origin stories in the Backyard Starship universe.

Firstborns rule society. Secondborns are the property of the government. Thirdborns are not tolerated. Long live the Fates Republic. On Transition Day, the second child in every family is taken by the government and forced into servitude. Roselle St. Sismode's eighteenth birthday arrives with harsh realizations: she's to become a soldier for the Fate of Swords military arm of the Republic during the bloodiest rebellion in history, and her elite firstborn mother is happy to see her go.

It began with a hallucination. A time loss. A mistake. A strange man reaching out to her. All part of a tourist trap, Maggie is sure, and she's lucky it wasn't worse. Yet something about her life changed that day, and she can't put her finger on what. She forces herself to move on but can never shake the inexplicable emptiness she feels.

Jesse Sampson and her two younger sisters have lived a hard life on the streets of Seattle, Washington, for the past several years. Four years before, the Earth received its first visitors from space, causing mass fear. Alone in a world gone mad with just her sisters, Jesse has learned to use the darkness and the remains of the city to survive and keep what was left of her family alive. She has seen the savage side of human nature and finds they are not much different from the aliens who conquered the Earth.

Lt. Commander Joshua Manson's focus on his career has taken him to many places, just not the one he has always dreamed of going: space. His sometimes controversial methods during missions have given him the reputation of being a soldier who doesn't always play by the rules. A challenging mission leaves Josh questioning if he'll have a career at all, so he is surprised when he is offered the chance to command a mission in space to investigate an unknown object. The more he learns, the more determined he is to lead it.

Communications specialist Ravyn Verdier is on a mission to test the habitability of Jarved Nine when her team is mysteriously killed. Sent to rescue her, commander Damon Brody becomes stranded on the planet with her. Trapped on a world harboring an unimaginable evil, Ravyn and Damon must depend on one another - and they discover love is the only force strong enough to battle their unseen enemy.

The aliens are savage animals. Zandra wants nothing to do with them. She has plans for her life. But when she gets kidnapped by TerraMates, she doesn't have a choice. Suddenly, Earth is far away, and she's expected to be a wife and a mother. Her husband? He's bloodthirsty and ruthless. He's the feral leader of the tribe. And now, Zandra belongs to him.

Kricket Hollowell never wished upon stars. She was too busy hiding in plain sight, eluding Chicago's foster care system. As her eighteenth birthday approaches, she now eagerly anticipates the day she'll stop running and finally find her place in the world. That day comes when she meets a young Etharian soldier named Trey Allairis, who has been charged with coming to Earth to find Kricket and transport her to her true home.

Torkel Alonson has had enough of being ignored and looked over by females on his adopted home world of Enotia. His pride has suffered and he must accept the painful truth. Females will never choose a male with his evil lineage despite his honorable service to his government's military.

Lacey Adams lives in the small town of Magic, New Mexico, where she devotes herself to the animals at her Touch of Magic Animal Shelter. The strange assortment of animals helps heal the pain and loneliness inside her since the death of her husband three years before. Frost is a Star Ranger. He travels the star systems, bringing intergalactic fugitives to justice. When a maximum-security fugitive escapes from the mining prison, he is sent after him. Only this time, the fugitive has violated a major law…

A vrisha arrives in Grace's underwater city. He takes over one of the substations, forcing the workers out. At the whim of her job, Grace is unwillingly chosen to go below, maintain the station, and stay with the horned, devilish alien. That is how she comes to encounter Xora. An alien born from a race of dominant fighters and fierce hunters. He is as terrifying as he is mysterious. While also commanding, stubborn, unrelenting...and oddly mesmerizing. As her fear slips away, other emotions begin to take hold. And Grace finds she wants to know more.

Psychic empath and space pirate Evan Cormier is obsessed with decoding an ominous premonition about his future. When a fellow crewman angered a spirit, the vengeful Zhang An took her wrath out on everyone in the vicinity. Evan happened to be one of them. He’s now facing a future in which he’ll be forever alone.

There is no escaping a Reaper. I am an elite assassin, part of a brotherhood that answers only to Death. And when Death says your time is up, I am coming for you.... My whole existence is based on taking what Death wants. Born to eliminate Fae guilty of unforgivable crimes, my reckless, wild nature makes me the perfect assassin to carry out Death's bidding. I've seen more sinister and violent dealings than anyone could ever imagine. But it was the sight of her face that stopped me cold.

As captain of the merchant ship Marada, Sebastian has only one goal: keep his family and his crew safe while they deliver a curious parcel to the ruthless pirate Ethanule. But when a bewitching woman mysteriously appears on his ship, he finds it impossible to focus on the job and to keep his hands off her. Could she be his long-awaited mate? Analia has known only one life: servitude and enslavement. In a bid for freedom, she escapes onto a craft led by a fearsome demon captain. If she is to maintain her freedom, she must gain Sebastian's trust while concealing her true nature.

Jake Ramsey - an unassuming yet talented archaeologist - has been given the chance of a lifetime. Hired to investigate a recently unearthed Xel'Naga temple, he knows this latest assignment will open up whole new possibilities for his career. Yet when Jake discovers the remains of a long-dead protoss mystic, his hopes and dreams are irrevocably drowned in a flood of alien memories. Bonded to the spirit of the dead protoss, Jake has become the sole inheritor of the protoss' total history - every event, every thought - every feeling.

After a decade of piloting interstellar patrol ships, former captain Chasidah Bergren, onetime pride of the Sixth Fleet, finds herself court-martialed for a crime she didn't commit and shipped off to a remote prison planet from which no one ever escapes. But when she kills a brutal guard in an act of self-defense, someone even more dangerous emerges from the shadows. Gabriel Sullivan alpha mercenary, smuggler, and rogue is supposed to be dead.

Rose McKenzie may be far from Earth with no way back, but she's made a powerful ally - a fellow prisoner with whom she's formed a strong bond. Sazo's an artificial intelligence. He's saved her from captivity and torture, but he's also put her in the middle of a conflict, leaving Rose with her loyalties divided. Captain Dav Jallan doesn't know why he and his crew have stumbled across an almost legendary Class 5 battleship, but he's not going to complain. The only problem is, all its crew are dead - all except for one strange, new alien being.

When an ally reveals that his younger sister was seized and is being held prisoner on Earth, Taelon descends upon the blue planet, intent on freeing her and exacting vengeance. However, all does not go as planned. Before he can find her, Taelon is captured and becomes the subject of torturous experiments. For what feels like an eternity, all he knows is pain and fury...until a mind tentatively touches his own and a woman's voice forever changes his world.

This debut science fiction novel is the story of Sira--a woman on the run from the law, from her own people, and from an unknown figure determined to use her for his own ends. Her memory taken from her by a stasis block, she must stay free long enough to regain both her identity and the full use of her telepathic powers. The price of failure may not only be the loss of her own future, but that of her entire race.

Fired from her job and exhausted from her miserable commute, the last thing Deana Jones needs when she gets home is to find an alien in her living room. But how else to explain the man who claims he is from beyond the stars? He says his name is Lorgin and that she is part of his celestial destiny. Deana thinks his reasoning is ridiculous, and she knows he's making an error of cosmic proportions. But his touch is electric, and Deana starts to wonder if maybe their passion isn't written in the stars....

Gwynn Austin has no idea why her father has disappeared on a mysterious trip to Scotland. When she goes on a desperate mission to search for him, she finds more than she bargains for in a ruggedly handsome, wickedly exciting Highlander who exudes danger and mystery. And when she discovers her own link to Scotland, she'll have to trust her heart to help lead her.

Humans made a deal with the Stryxian males: Help us defend Earth, and when the war is over, we’ll send you women to help rebuild your dying species. Now, the war appears to be over and Trinity Bentzer’s number has been called in the lottery. Only, instead of winning a boatload of money, she’s getting some badass winged alien she’s never met. Trin’s not thrilled to be shipped off and matched up, until she meets Raig. Maybe she hit the jackpot, after all.

Once, Sarah Bingham's biggest challenge was making her students pay attention in class. Now, after rescuing a wounded stranger, she's landed in the middle of a battle between corrupt vampires and powerful immortals who also need blood to survive. Roland Warbrook is the most compelling man Sarah has ever laid hands on. But his desire for her is mingled with a hunger he can barely control...

Born into a life of secrets and service, Chrysabelle's body bears the telltale marks of a comarré - a special race of humans bred to feed vampire nobility. When her patron is murdered, she becomes the prime suspect, which sends her running into the mortal world... and into the arms of Malkolm, an outcast vampire cursed to kill every being from whom he drinks. Now, Chrysabelle and Malkolm must work together to stop a plot to merge the mortal and supernatural worlds.

The stars have always called to Ailis, beckoning her to see what other realms were out there. She's told it's impossible, but that doesn't stop her need to explore beyond what others believe. Ailis never expected to change history by creating the first doorway to another realm. She certainly never imagined opening that door to find a commanding dragon who shifts into a man. She's irresistibly drawn to Lennox, powerless against the yearning of her body and the longing of her heart.

Ha'ven Ha'darra is the Crown Prince of the Curizans, an advanced species known for their technology. They may not have the power to shift like the Valdier or the Sarafin, but they have hidden powers of their own that they closely guard. Not even his best friends, Creon Reykill of the Valdier or Vox d'Rojah of the Sarafin, are aware of the powers he holds within his deadly frame.

Duncan MacCoinnich's task... Travel to the twenty-first century Renaissance Faire, deflower the Druid virgins, and go home. Only his job is not so easily accomplished with the virgin in question, Tara McAllister. Time is running out. The evil is closing in on them both. Tara finds Duncan irresistible after what was supposed to be a mock hand-fasting binds them.

Dark. Mysterious. Sensual. When Bronse Chapel, the commander of a specialized unit of the Interplanetary Militia, begins to dream about a beautiful and exotic brunette, he wants to dismiss it as being induced by lack of sleep ... or perhaps lack of sex. But his instincts tell him it's something different, something far more dangerous. Ravenna is the leader of the Chosen Ones, a small group of people from her village born with extraordinary powers.

For fans of sexy Scottish Highlanders who know how to treat a woman like a lady. When someone changes history, affecting the future, Diana Montgomery, the most experienced agent of Time Weavers, Inc., travels back to 1306 Scotland to change it back. Her mission, to find the culprit and ensure a minor clan chief dies in battle as he originally had. Diana is well-prepared to infiltrate the small MacPherson clan. What she’s not prepared for is Torr MacPherson, the ruggedly handsome warrior with a kind heart and a steadfast loyalty - the Laird she’s supposed to ensure dies.