I named myself. I took the word animal out of their mouths, wore it like a badge of honor, then shoved it down their throats. I've fought for what I have. I see you coming before you even know you want a piece of me. In a city riddled with warring families, I'll rise up between them. My people, the broken souls I gather, will have power by the time I'm done with them.

I met her among the chaos of a gang fight - one that I inadvertently started. Ember. Beautiful, feisty, and passionate. And the sister of Mercy, an infamous assassin. We fell for each other, hard. Until forces outside of our control intervened. Now, she's a prisoner, doing everything she can to keep her family safe. And I'm her guard, doing everything I can to set her free. I'd take a bullet for her. Hell, I'd take a few. In this dark, twisted world, we only have each other. But I have to wonder, is that enough?

He taught me to kill. Murder is in my blood now. It runs through my veins and though I hide the monster I see in the mirror with ink, it doesn't keep him from coming out. My street name is Mercy, but I never show any. Except for her. I watch Becca, though she doesn't know. She saved me a long time ago; the day my father killed my mother. Her bravery turned her into a target. My father holds a grudge and knife with the same proficiency, and Becca is the focus of his hatred. And I'm the only monster who can save her.

Verity Michaels is new to New York City, but even she knows riding in a stolen cab is not a normal way to meet someone. Damn it if that tattoo-covered would-be felon isn't everywhere now, and lighting everything on fire under her skirt. His name is Hudson Fenn, and he's frustratingly impossible to pin down. He works as a bike messenger, but has the manners of a prince - along with a strange tendency toward breaking and entering.

Ashira, a belle from the suburbs, is the wealthy acting CEO of her father’s booming building firm. That's when she’s not the dancer on the Gram and TikTok, dating the latest Black Hollywood shooting star. To her, Jas, a construction laborer, is a walking conundrum. He’s fruitlessly ambitious yet steadfast in his spiritual convictions. He’s enigmatic, well-read, regimented, and poor. Oh, and a felon. An incredibly disarming parolee who wants no connection to her. Until he does.

All Zarinah wanted was to fall in love. Growing up, she had kissed her fair share of frogs. When an unconventional situation leads her to Lawson, her wishes might become reality. Lawson is the new CEO of his family's hotel casino chain. He's tired of aimless dating and women just wanting his money. When he meets Zarinah, he instantly feels like she's the one.

Pine River was supposed to be a new start for me. And it was, especially attending school with my three overprotective cousins, who were the triplets at the top of the social hierarchy. Except they weren’t alone there, and the first day when I came to school, I saw him. Scout Raiden. Tall. Lean. Tattooed. Mesmerizing. He was a golden god with dark and piercing eyes—looking like he wanted to eat me up. The feeling was mutual, and that was a problem.

When Kacy Conner crashed her car into the side of my repair shop, I should have ignored it. Given the damage to the building and her car, I couldn’t. But I didn’t have to offer her a place to stay. None of it had to do with her being stranded in our small town or those beautiful blue eyes. And it certainly did not have to do with her contagious laughter or the fact that she’s crazy sexy and feisty. I’m lying. It has everything to do with her. Now, I have to think of a reason to make her stay beyond the two weeks it takes to fix her car.

When ballet dancer Clara Campbell arrives in New Orleans, lonely and homesick, she is immediately captivated by the story of Windisle Plantation and the tragic tale that is said to have transpired beyond its gate. Legend has it that it is abandoned by all living souls, but to Clara’s great surprise, it is not a ghost she hears through the stone wall surrounding the property, but a flesh and blood man: a scarred stranger with a pain deeper and darker than the churning waters of the Mississippi river that flows beside his self-imposed prison.

Grief. I’ve never battled with the raw, debilitating pain that comes with it. Then a twist of fate hits me out of nowhere, and I can barely keep from drowning. It’s like weights tied to my ankles in the middle of a raging ocean. I’m helpless, with no way to swim back to the surface. But fate is crueler still, bringing my stepbrother back for the first time in years.

They say there are three things you should do at least once in your life: Dance like nobody’s watching. Travel the world. And fall hopelessly in love. I aimed to do all three. I went to Italy to find myself. But he found me.

It was supposed to be a harmless kiss at a lavish debutante ball. A clandestine moment with a handsome stranger. But unlike his namesake, my Romeo isn’t driven by love. He’s fueled by revenge. To him, I’m a chess piece. Leverage. His rival’s betrothed. To me, he is a man deserving of poison. A dark prince I refuse to marry. He thinks I’ll accept my fate. Well, I plan to rewrite it. And in my story, Juliet doesn’t die. But Romeo? He perishes.

Rex “TW” McMurtry’s perpetual singlehood wouldn’t bother him so much if all his ex-girlfriends didn’t keep marrying the very next person they dated, especially when so many of those grooms are his closest friends. He may be a pro-football defensive end for the Chicago Squalls, but the press only wants to talk about how he’s always a groomsman and never a groom. Bartender Abigail McNerny is the gal-pal, the wing-woman, the she-BFF. Abby is convinced no one on earth could ever entice her into a romantic relationship...except that one guy she’s loved since preschool.

Working as Ruslan Oryolov’s personal assistant is the job from hell. After a long day spent tending to the billionaire’s every whim, I need some stress relief. So when I get home that night, that’s exactly what I do. Problem is, my thoughts are still stuck on the bosshole, who’s ruining my life. That’s fine—because of all Ruslan’s many sins, being gorgeous might be the most dangerous.

The job offer she expected after taking an unpaid internship at a major shoe company didn’t come through. The friend who’d offered her a place to stay suddenly gave her 48 hours to vacate after a misunderstanding. And when she’s forced to move back to her hometown to live with her father and his mistress-turned-wife, it almost seems impossible for things to get any worse...until she runs into her former best friend, who’s only gotten fine with time.

Thirteen years before Emma Dumas bought me in a bachelor auction to teach me a lesson, she stole my heart down on Key West. I fell so hard for this girl, I made all the promises. Only with Emma, I really meant them. And then I disappeared. But it wasn’t my fault. Let’s just call my reason “Family Business”. I’d tell you what that business is, but then I’d have to kill you. Just kidding. I can’t tell you what my family business is because it’s so secret, even I don’t know.

They are the boys your mother always warned you about. They’re every parent’s worst nightmare. Arrogant, cocky and self-assured. They used the town of Sandland like it was their own personal playground. They didn’t follow the rules; they made their own. Most girls were drawn to them like a moth to a flame, but Emily Winters wasn’t like most girls. She represented everything they despised. The only problem was she lived her life in a perfectly orchestrated smokescreen, and where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire.

I thought I was lucky to have a fresh start. Those don’t come around often for a girl from the streets of this city. But a fortunate chain of events has delivered me to the center of wealth and power and into the midst of three very different, very formidable cousins with the world at their feet. Gage, Micah, and Conner were determined to be my enemies. So I braced for a war. But they underestimated me. I earned respect from one of them, friendship from another, and I found love with the third. Or so I thought.

It’s what we’ve always wanted—what we have always dreamed of—and nothing will stand in the way of achieving success. Except maybe me. As soon as we sign with our new record label, our producer gives us one rule: stay away from his daughter. I thought it would be easy to resist her, but Mia Hayes is under my skin. She is everything I never knew I wanted or needed. But falling for Mia might cost us everything we’ve worked so hard for. Do I sacrifice my band member’s dreams and chase her, or will Mia be the one thing that is more important than any stage I have ever dreamed of?

Bookstore owner Kerry Emerson finally seems to be back in control of her life. Her failure of a marriage firmly in her rearview mirror and her recent business expansion a success, she is in charge of her own future. One that is looking better than ever. The sight of the tall man, with the familiar salt and pepper goatee pushing open the door of her store, sets her hair on end. He doesn't exactly bring good memories.

I always believed in fairy tales. So much so that I made a career out of them. As a wedding planner, I made it my goal to perfect everyone else's happily-ever-after. I even believed in finding mine once, too, until one man left me alone and pregnant - crushing my dreams and leaving me jaded.

The NHL’s been at my door since I was 18, but I’d never leave the Swedish Hockey League—not while raising my little brother. But now he’s grown, and the Carolina Reapers show up with my greatest weakness: Langley Pierce, their new head of PR. I’ve never been able to say no to her. She’s fierce, independent, and the sexiest woman I’ve ever met. She also has a stubborn streak wider than my entire country. One comment from her smart mouth about never dating again, and I propose. No, really, I actually propose.

Shane Wilder: pro surfer, dream chaser, thief of my heart—and completely off-limits. It was infatuation at first sight. On our first date, he took me to watch the fireworks. It was a magical night of stolen kisses and whispered confessions under the stars. But it all came to a screeching halt when he asked the one question I’d been dreading: "How old are you, Remy?" Right guy, wrong time.

They say to keep your enemies close, but "they" never had to deal with the likes of Alec Daniels, the broody bad boy next door who loved to make my life a living nightmare...up until the day he disappeared. See, Alec was a thief. He stole my happy. My sanity. My first kiss. I told myself I was glad the day he went away, and I'm reminded of why not five minutes after his sudden and unexpected return. Now he stands before me with a heavy glare and hard body. But those greedy green eyes, they're darker than I remember, and brimming with a secret....

Have you ever loved anyone so much that you’d give them up at the expense of your own happiness? No? Well, I did. Okay, that’s not the first lie I’ve ever told myself. I fought tooth and nail for the only man I’ll ever love, but in the end, I had to concede defeat. Even now, seven years later, the cruel words Ryker uttered the morning after he took my virginity still wield the power to shatter the remains of my heart. Yet fate has a way of shaping our lives. No matter how hard we fight for a different outcome.

Growing up, it was always the three of us. Me, my twin brother, Kyle, and our best friend, Aiden. We were inseparable all the way through high school. Did I picture myself with Aiden from the first moment I laid eyes on him back when we were eight? Hell. Yes. I fell in love with his soul that day. But he was always more Kyle’s friend than mine. And Kyle made damn sure we both know the rules. I was strictly off limits. Forever. But now, Kyle is gone. Dead from a freak accident. And Aiden is still here.

I offer advice for a living. I encourage my patients to make wise decisions, and I help them help themselves to walk through life stronger, healthier, happier. Isn’t that the goal; to live our best lives? If only I practiced what I preach. I wasn’t always like this. Every move I make lately is the opposite of smart. These questionable life choices are a new development. They started the day a certain Vitale barged into my life. Brand Vitale might look like a hero to the rest of the world, but looks can be deceiving.

He told me that he’d destroy me. I knew he wasn’t lying, and I loved him anyway. I believed in love - in him. I just wasn’t prepared to carry the weight of his demons. I wanted forever with him, but life showed me love was temporary, and forever was a dream. Despite everything that happened, even now, I wouldn’t change any of it. For a love to have the capacity to destroy you, it has to be extraordinarily powerful - and that kind of love is impossible to walk away from.

I met her among the chaos of a gang fight - one that I inadvertently started. Ember. Beautiful, feisty, and passionate. And the sister of Mercy, an infamous assassin. We fell for each other, hard. Until forces outside of our control intervened. Now, she's a prisoner, doing everything she can to keep her family safe. And I'm her guard, doing everything I can to set her free. I'd take a bullet for her. Hell, I'd take a few. In this dark, twisted world, we only have each other. But I have to wonder, is that enough?

She was my best friend's little sister, which meant she was off limits, but I couldn’t help myself. I never could when it came to her, and in the end, I left town and made something of my myself. Ten years later and I'm one of the richest men in the world. I have everything I ever wanted...except for her.