Jesse Stone is rebuilding his life. He’s ditched his no-good ex, sworn off men, moved to a new town with his four best friends, and started the pottery business of his dreams. And then he slept with his hunky new neighbor. Oops. Finn Hart knows that pursuing Jesse will ignite old family tensions, but the construction foreman can’t stay away. Can love wash away 20 years of bad blood and bring a new dawn for Jesse, Finn, and all of Hart's Bay?

Charles Preston Carmichael is the most infuriating man I've ever met. I want to sock the golden boy of college hockey right in the mouth. He enjoys telling me everything I'm messing up—publicly. And since he's my roommate for the next year, I can't avoid him. Yet there's something about him that makes me watch him. Something dark. A secret I want to uncover. When he returns from a weekend away, broken and haunted, I can't keep my distance anymore. He needs someone, and I'll be damned if it's not me.

The furniture district is my personal hell. I don’t know my ass from an ottoman. But when a hot designer comes to my rescue, I realize my problems are bigger than the house I’m trying to furnish.

It's official: my step bro is the biggest himbo ever to himbo. He's a massive blond beefcake with a soft heart and an over-eager smile. The mere sight of him incites a shaking hot rage in me. He's everywhere. He's around me all the time. So sweet and gentle that it makes me feel wild. I see him and smell him everywhere. When I can't see him or smell him, I hear him. The wall between our bedrooms is paper thin. I can't help it—I hear what he does in his room when he thinks he's alone. I hear everything.

As a divorced man in my thirties with a throwaway job and very few friends, I admit that I've made a lot of bad decisions over the years. Rounding out the top of that epic list was allowing my son's best friend, Quinn, to talk me into taking him on a two-week summer road trip... alone. What was supposed to be quality father-son bonding time before Joshua went off to college has somehow transpired into a battle of wills between me and his nineteen-year-old best friend. Quinn may be young, but he genuinely seems to enjoy spending time with me, something I've never experienced before.

His own marriage was a whirlwind affair that ended before the ink could dry on the wedding certificate. Nevertheless, even with his divorce pending, he’s getting by. Or at least he was until he finds himself snowed in at a remote Scottish hotel with the wedding party from hell, a terrible ABBA tribute band, and his soon-to-be ex-husband.

As a founding member of The Vers, a queer podcast I host with my three best friends, I’m "The Loner"—quieter than the others, and except for them, I don’t let myself get too close to people. Most of them just let you down anyway, or maybe it’s just that something about me chases people away.

When it comes to hockey, I'm all about the game. I've worked for years to be one of the best in the league, and l've done it without splashing my orientation all over the tabloids. My hockey image is one I've carefully cultivated, and after one night with Ezra Palaszczuk, I risk it all. He's cocky, obnoxious, and has an ego bigger than Massachusetts. And okay, maybe he's the sexiest man I've ever known. We'll never get along. Not when we sleep together. Not even when my possessive streak awakens. That doesn't stop us from falling into bed together over and over again.

Conor: It starts with a drunken text pic. The kind I would normally never send. Only, instead of it going to the flirty hotel bartender, it goes to some random stranger who actually responds. Wells: The first thing I notice about Conor Newell when he sits down in my high-rise conference room is how delightfully nervous he is. Then I see his tie. The same geeky tie that’s held hostage on my phone. The one that belongs to my anonymous late-night texter. And it changes everything.

When the light-magic users known as Casters took everything from me, I vowed to make them pay. Little did I know the perfect opportunity would show up in the form of a sweet Caster the moment I took his arrow to the heart…literally. Bastian knows that I’m made of dark magic, the very thing he’s been taught to destroy. But instead of turning away from me, he takes a chance on me, leading me behind the walls of the group out to kill me.

Hockey is in my blood. I learned to skate before I learned how to ride a bike. I’ve been on a wild ride, playing at the highest level for some of the biggest and best teams in the league. But now it’s over, and I’m not sure what to do with myself. So I'm going home to Elmwood. But I’ll tell you what I’m not gonna do—I’m not going to coach my buddy’s junior hockey league. No chance. I don’t know how to deal with kids, and besides, the other coach—who happens to be my best friend’s brother—hates me. With reason.

It’s hard enough balancing two jobs with raising my son solo. Forget dating. I barely have time for laundry. But when my son’s scouting troop The Falcons needed a co-scout leader, I couldn’t say no. There’s just one ginormous problem: the other scout leader Russ. To all other parents, he’s #DadGoals, Mr. Sexy Widower who lords over the drop off line. To me? He’s the bane of my picket-fenced existence - stuck up, anal (not in the fun way), and definitely the person who got me booted from the Parent Teacher Association.

The job at Sunday Orchard was supposed to be temporary. A chance to gain some work experience, to have some fun. I had not expected to be welcomed into a family of gorgeous and weirdly efficient lumberjack-types, or to find purpose in the tiny Vermont town whose claim to fame seemed to be apple-based products and copious amounts of charm. And I most definitely hadn’t expected to fall for Knox Sunday, my grumpy, burly, fifteen-years-older, reluctant roommate, with his infuriating lectures, his hot-as-fire body, his superior attitude - I’ve never been one to put down roots.

My loser high school friend never deserved him anyway. If I’d had the chance, I would have locked Remy down years ago. Only, when the party leads to a drunken kiss, going on their honeymoon, and sharing their marital bed, I have to say, I’m not entirely sad that their wedding went up in flames.

Victor Lang had everything—looks, money, fame. A chance to become the greatest swimmer in history. Until a failed dope test brought him crashing down. According to the rumors, he turned into a recluse, a drug addict, a whore. Broken beyond repair. Incapable of love.

A long time ago, in a suburban high school not so far away, a closeted nerd (me) and a closeted soccer star (Hutch) fell in love and planned to make their public debut at prom. Until Hutch bailed at the last minute, leaving me with a broken heart and unworn tuxedo. Tale as old as time, right? I spent the past ten years working to forget Hutch, returning to our old high school to teach and make new memories that could erase ones of him. I thought Hutch was ancient history, off living his professional athlete life.

It’s hard enough balancing two jobs with raising my son solo. Forget dating. I barely have time for laundry. But when my son’s scouting troop The Falcons needed a co-scout leader, I couldn’t say no. There’s just one ginormous problem: the other scout leader Russ. To all other parents, he’s #DadGoals, Mr. Sexy Widower who lords over the drop off line. To me? He’s the bane of my picket-fenced existence - stuck up, anal (not in the fun way), and definitely the person who got me booted from the Parent Teacher Association.

This year is my last chance to take the Titans to victory. I cost us the cup last year, but I'm not making the same mistake again. And I'm determined to get drafted by the end of this season. The success I anticipate is built on three years of razor-sharp focus and hard-earned respect. Not to mention how much of my personal life I sacrificed for hockey. The Titans trust me to lead them and I won't betray that. Nothing could possibly go wrong. Until the former love of my life and current arch nemesis, Cameron Martinez, skates back into my life.

Noah: Rook Oliveira stumbled into my life when I was eleven years old. Being the scrawny new kid at school with a mouth full of braces, I never expected to become unlikely best friends with the most popular boy in seventh grade. At eighteen, I gathered the courage to tell him I was gay and admitted I'd never kissed a guy. He offered to be my first. Straight or not, that kiss had burned with nearly tangible fire and tattooed the moment on my heart. I've spent the last four years trying to forget it.

Brennan Taylor is at the end of his rope, and the busted pipe under his kitchen sink was the last straw. He knows nothing about plumbing, or any of the other things his father says a grown man should know, but lucky for him, he is about to lose it in front of the perfect man to help him.

What happens when drunken idiots, aka your friends, use a silly drinking game to sideswipe you and your BFF with the truth bomb that you're actually in love with each other? Truman: You impulsively kiss the best friend you've been in love with for ages . . . then wake up with a hangover—and regrets. Lyle: You freak out because you're not gay or bi, before realizing the kiss wasn't *actually* bad. Then you begin to wonder . . . should we do it again?

The only decent thing my high school bully ever did for me got him sent to prison. Aidan was a jerk, but he saved me from making the worst mistake of my life, and in return, my parents ruined him. Now that he's out, I'm determined to make amends. No matter what he needs, no matter how long it takes, I will make it all up to him. But first I'll have to figure out how to hide my attraction to my sexy, confusing new roommate.

You think you know me. That's the way I want it. Making you feel like we know each other - like we could go grab a beer sometime - is part of my job. Maybe the most vital part. It doesn't hurt that I'm easy on the eyes, single at 35, and born richer than sin. My aesthetic matters much more than it should, but all the better for my worthy cause. And it's a worthy cause. I've made an art out of making you feel good, and my influence makes you want to be good. Good like me. You think you know me, but you don't. Everyone has secrets. Mine could cost me everything.

The emo kid, the loner, the cynical wallflower with an attitude. It's no secret that I've never quite fit in. But it's glaringly obvious now that I've moved to this Podunk small town that seems to run entirely on sugar, friendliness, and cheer. (And cows, an ungodly number of cows.) I hate it—this place where everyone knows everyone, and I'm still the outsider. Who wants to fit in anyway? I've never really tried, never even thought I wanted to…until I met him. Jimbob is living his best life out here, farming the fields of Kansas, well and truly happy. And I just don't get it.

A trip to the grocery store changed my life. That's where I bumped into my "straight" coworker and good friend, Jake Perez. I decided to invite him to my book club night, not realizing the chain of events that invite would kick off. Immediately our chemistry became too explosive, making our friendship and work relationship complicated. That same night, a bloody package addressed to me lands on my doorstep. Falling for Jake was never in the plans—then again neither was being targeted by a dangerous stalker. This was going to be interesting.

Initially, the only thing Marshall and Marshall had in common was a name. Marshall (aka Data) lived his life around spreadsheets, while Marshall (aka Marsh) was an F5 tornado of chaos. Yet for eight years, they were madly in love. Until Marsh abruptly ended things with a half-baked excuse. Six months later, Data gets a text from Marsh out of the blue: They need to clean out their cabin in Maine and sell it ASAP. He can make it through one more weekend with the man who broke his heart.

Charlie Yates is desperate. It's almost Christmas and his flight home from college has been delayed. For days. Charlie promised his little sister Ava he'd be home for her first holiday season since going into remission from leukemia. Now he's stuck on the opposite coast and someone else grabbed the last rental car. Someone he hasn't even spoken to in four years. Someone who broke his heart.

I’ve been living under storm clouds since my honorable discharge, but Julian’s the sun. I’ve tried everything to deal with my PTSD, but nothing seemed to help. So when my brother suggests a service dog, I figure I don’t have anything to lose. The last thing I expect is for the dog to come with a cheerful, quirky trainer I can’t get out of my head. I’m too screwed up for love, but a chance to explore a side of myself I didn’t realize existed until recently is too good to pass up.

I'm the Grinch who saves Christmas… Yep, you read that right. Every year, I save Christmas—and Christmas Falls—by organizing a massive festival that sustains tourism in our little town. It turns out that when Christmas is your life 24/7, the shine wears off the twinkly lights after a while. The holidays are a heck of a lot of work, and when I go home, I want peace and quiet, not fa-la-la-ing on my porch. That all changes when my sister brings me an early Christmas gift. One I didn't ask for. One that's tall, broad, and handsome...

Despite growing up in a family of villains, I’d rather curl up and read than commit crimes. When I get coerced by my brother into helping him rob a bank, I run into August, my childhood crush, also known as Chrono, the city’s greatest superhero. He’s sexy, sweet, and suddenly, he’s asking me to Thanksgiving with his parents.