I’m not truly one of the devout, bonneted brides who traveled to my sister’s wedding in Scotland hoping to find a pious mate in her adopted kingdom pack. Honestly, I only signed up for the free plane ticket and a place to lay low until I could sneak off and start the academic life I’ve been secretly planning for years.

Hiking, cold weather, and cabins in the woods are not my thing. But when my two best friends beg me to join them for a trip to the mountains, I cave. "It'll be fun," they said. "You need to get out more," they said. Everything was fine until I realized it's all a setup. A weekend-long blind date orchestrated with the help of their boyfriends. To say I'm annoyed is an understatement. But then he shows up, looking like a lot more than a tall glass of milk.

Most women would be grateful to have a smoking hot country boy rescue them from a raging inferno. But not Andi. Dylan broke her heart five years ago and the last thing she wants is to owe a debt to the shredded 6'7" firefighter who threw her over her shoulder like she was weightless. He has a past. A child. A baby mama on the loose. More drama than she can handle. And...he broke her heart.

I was left a swanky NYC apartment, courtesy of a will I didn't know I was in—but it comes with a caveat. I have to marry an incredibly rude—and fine—stranger. My first reaction is a clear, "I don't." My finances don't let me get that far. And Josh needs this fake marriage to get custody of his late friend's son. Is it enough to make me put up with the most abrasive but handsome white boy I've ever met?

I can't understand why—out of the four hockey players I'm sharing a house with this semester—Finn Howard's the one who catches my eye. The guy never smiles. He doesn't say much and disapproves plenty. But, something about him feels familiar. Something about him feels safe.

KAYLA: Raise your hand if you've ever found out your American football player boyfriend of four years was cheating on you... via a scuzzy daily gossip show... right before you two were scheduled to go on an all-expenses-paid vacation to Paris that was supposed to include a marriage proposal! Nobody else? Just me? So maybe you'll understand why I'm crying in first class on the second leg of my flight to the City of Lights.

In this collection are updated stories from some of your favorite Valentines.

When disgraced influencer Bailey Clarke is invited to go on an all expenses paid trip to a couples-only resort in Jamaica, she's ecstatic. This is the perfect opportunity to rebuild her brand. The only problem is she's not currently in a relationship. Enter the effortlessly handsome Caspian "Cash" Reid, who just so happens to be her brother Dane's best friend. He's never seemed to like Bailey, but when Dane jokingly suggests Cash accompany her to Jamaica and get a free holiday, Bailey can't get the idea out of her head.

She's falling for her own husband, despite her best efforts to stop it! Jennifer is done with love. It's made her do stupid ass things. Enter Bruce—the fine billionaire white boy who makes Jennifer realize that not believing in love doesn't mean you gotta give up on marriage . . . He needs a wife for business. She needs a husband to open doors. Neither wants a romance. Except their partnership turns out a little too successful.

Welcome to Honey Creek, Illinois, where life was as sweet as the town's name suggested. That was until Mr. Fine Dining himself, Alex Ramírez, rolled into town with a permanent scowl. Even worse, he decided to park his snooty five-star restaurant across from my cozy dog daycare. He was tall, dark, and about as warm as a frozen entrée. After one too many unpleasant interactions, I was determined to stay out of his way and to keep him out of mine. But fate had a quirky sense of humor.

Kieran Anderson put his dreams of becoming a doctor on hold to take over running his family’s bakery, and after fighting a losing battle to save the place, he’s exhausted, broke, and no closer to getting back to school. But when a whirlwind of a woman sweeps in late one night, flirty energy gives way to more…until she runs out the next morning, leaving behind her winning lottery ticket. Lucky for Kieran, his attempt to return the ticket looks like a grand romantic gesture and goes viral, sending sales through the roof.

Draven Harvey came home to Ironhaven, South Dakota, to settle down. The retired Marine was done with serving his country and just wanted a peaceful life working his father’s ranch. The Silver Creek Ranch was for men like him–broken and needing help finding their place in society. After his time in the military, he wants to be left alone. Ranching was to be his life. Cashea Moss took notice of the grumpy town hero who came to the bar where she sang every weekend. She was new to town, but she’d heard plenty about Draven.

As an elite matchmaker with a type-A personality, my life is a series of perfectly executed plans, just like the fairy-tale love stories I craft for my clients. By day, it’s all about precision and success for them. But by night? I curl up in bed reading smutty, dark billionaire romance novels. It’s my little secret. Then the unexpected happened—I met Will Huntley. I was expecting the usual matchmaking request over coffee, but Will, the charming billionaire playboy, had a different plan. Specifically, he wanted me to pretend to be his wife for a week.

Cherry Neita is 30, flirty, and done with men. As far as she can tell, they're overrated, overpaid, and underperforming - in every area of life. But a girl has needs, and the smoking-hot stranger she just met at the office seems like the perfect one-night stand.... Prince Ruben of Helgmøre is reckless, dominant, and famously filthy. The outcast royal is rebuilding his reputation - all for a good cause - but he can't resist a pretty face. A

Yolanda Watson is the "fun professor." She makes literature exciting, she brings students donuts for Finals Week, and her colleagues love her. The only thing that will make teaching better is if she can learn how to write a grant and skip those boring committee meetings. In short, a history professor is her problem. He stole her grant and he chairs the most boring committee on campus. Sure, he's cute...but he can afford to loosen up.

When the Frank family throws their annual clambake at their gorgeous beachside home on Cape May, the seafood is always delivered to white-clothed tables on fine bone china. And Peter Frank, the beloved son and perennial heartbreaker, will make the rounds, charming every woman on the guest list. Top of that list this year are Maya, his tennis star girlfriend just coming off the high of winning Wimbledon; Catherine, his high school sweetheart turned wildly successful wedding planner and influencer; and Leanne, the fiercely protective aunt and legal guardian of his only son.

Mickey Chambers is an expert at analyzing modern literature. But when it comes to figuring out her own story, she’s feeling a little lost. At thirty-three, she’s an adjunct instructor with a meager summer class schedule and too many medical bills, courtesy of her chronic illness. Picking up a bartending gig seems perfect. Sure, Mickey’s never done this before, but the gorgeous, grumpy bar owner, Diego Acosta, might be the perfect man to teach the teacher…if he wasn’t so stressed.

When a hurricane destroys Whitney Beck’s chances to run a Miami resort, a bed-and-breakfast inheritance from her eccentric grandmother saves her and her sister, Helen. Unfortunately, within months, the Beck sisters run into paranormal problems: missing objects and bumps in the night. Helen reaches out to her favorite ghost-hunting show for help, but Whitney can only feel dread. Her high school crush is the lead camera operator for Ghost Punters. And after years of missed chances, she doesn’t want to meet him again under these circumstances.

All children have imaginary friends, Georgina tells herself. It’s perfectly normal, and they all grow out of it in the end. But when her seven-year-old son, Cody, tells her about New Granny, the friend he’s met in the park, Georgina is instantly suspicious. Something - call it maternal instinct - tells her he isn’t making it up. Still, maybe Georgina is losing her mind. Her husband assures Georgina that it’s just a game, the product of their son’s overactive imagination. But what if Cody’s imaginary friend isn’t so imaginary after all?

Laura has returned to work at Morris and Wood after her maternity leave, only to discover that the woman she brought in to cover for her isn’t going anywhere. Despite her close relationship with the agency’s powerful CEO, she feels sidelined - and outmaneuvered - as she struggles to balance the demands of work and motherhood.

Professor Victoria Reese knows an uphill battle when she sees one. Convincing her narrow-minded colleagues at the elite Pembroke University to back a partnership with the local library is a fight she saw coming and already has a plan for. What she didn’t see coming? The wildly hot librarian who makes it clear books aren’t the only thing he’d like to handle. When a tightly wound, sexy-as-hell professor proposes a partnership between his library and her university, children’s department head John Donovan is all for it.

Agnes Corey, a junior editor at a small independent publisher, has been hired by enigmatic author Veronica St. Clair to transcribe the sequel to her 1993 hit phenomenon, The Secret of Wyldcliffe Heights. St. Clair has been a recluse since the publication of the Jane Eyre-esque book, which coincided with a terrible fire that blinded and scarred her. Arriving in the Hudson Valley at St. Clair’s crumbling estate, which was once a psychiatric hospital for “wayward women,” Agnes is eager to ensure St. Clair’s devoted fans will get the sequel they’ve been anticipating for the past thirty years.

For San Francisco’s newest medical examiner, Dr. Jessie Teska, it was supposed to be a fresh start. A new job in a new city. A way to escape her own dark past. Instead, she faces a chilling discovery when an opioid-overdose case contains hints of something more sinister. Jessie’s superiors urge her to close the case, but as more bodies land on her autopsy table, she uncovers a constellation of deaths that point to an elaborate plot involving drug dealers and Bitcoin brokers.

Professor Jeremiah Post, the poor handsome man, is in fact standing in the way of Alejandra “Alex” Torres turning Loretta’s, her grandmother’s bar, into a viable business. The hot brainiac who sleeps in one of the upstairs tenant rooms already has all of her Mexican American family’s admiration; she won’t let him have the bar and building she needs to resurrect her career, too.

Literary editor Antonia Harper had it all - the career, the man, the future. That was then. Now Antonia is jobless, alone, and at a crossroads. What better time to travel the world? A solo honeymoon on the Emerald Isle will be like hitting the reset button. No distractions, no drama. Aiden Byrnes may be a literature professor, but words fail him when he meets the woman staying in the cottage next door. Tully Cross is meant to be a sleepy little village, and he's meant to be on a working holiday - not a vacation, and most definitely not with his beautiful neighbor.

Mrs. Violet Wood is London’s premier medium, a woman of supreme ambition whose unique abilities have earned her the admiration and trust of London’s elite. Mrs. Wood is indeed a clever and gifted seer—her skill is unmatched in predicting exactly what her wealthy patrons want to hear from the beyond. But times are changing. First, a nosey newspaperman has begun working to expose false mediums across London. Many of Mrs. Wood’s friends—and, yes, some of her foes—have fallen to his merciless accusations.

John Chu is a “sherpa” - a paid guide to online role-playing games. For a fee, he and his crew will provide you with a top-flight character equipped with the best weapons and armor. Chu’s new client, "Mr. Jones", claims to be a “wealthy, famous person” with powerful enemies, and he’s offering a ridiculous amount of money for a comprehensive tour. For Chu, this is a dream assignment, but then he begins to suspect that Mr. Jones is really North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. But Chu also has to worry about “Ms. Pang”, and his angry ex-girlfriend, Darla Jean Covington....

Summer has come to Atlantic City but the boardwalk is empty of tourists, the casino lights have dimmed, and two Jane Does are laid out in the marshland behind the Sunset Motel, just west of town. Only one person even knows they’re there. Meanwhile, Clara, a young boardwalk psychic, struggles to attract clients for the tarot readings that pay her rent. When she begins to experience very real and disturbing visions, she suspects they could be related to the recent cases of women gone missing in town.

New Year’s Eve, 2023. When Hannah and her friends rent a luxury yacht in an Italian marina, they party in style under the stars until they pass out. The next morning, they are horrified to find they have been cut adrift into the open ocean, with no sight of land and no fuel in the engine. And that’s when the first person goes missing.

I was left a swanky NYC apartment, courtesy of a will I didn't know I was in—but it comes with a caveat. I have to marry an incredibly rude—and fine—stranger. My first reaction is a clear, "I don't." My finances don't let me get that far. And Josh needs this fake marriage to get custody of his late friend's son. Is it enough to make me put up with the most abrasive but handsome white boy I've ever met?