Showing results by author "Marie Force" in All Categories

Isabella Coleman wasn’t looking for love when she attended her cousin Wade’s wedding in Boston, but she hadn’t counted on the bride’s father, Cabot Lodge. He’s older, wiser, and one of the most handsome, charming, and funny men she’s ever met. Izzie is instantly smitten, and after a wonderful time at the wedding, she’s certain she’ll hear from Cabot again soon. But she doesn’t hear a word from him until she’s back in Boston and invites him to dinner. After yet another fantastic time together, she’s once again optimistic—and once again disappointed.

She's avoided men all her life. Growing up with an abusive father, Katie Lawry learned a thing or two about men and has made a conscious choice to stay far away from them. Until the day of her brother Owen's wedding when she's rescued from nearly drowning by Shane McCarthy. With everyone who matters to Katie assuring her that Shane is one of the good guys, she feels safe to give in to the attraction that simmers between them.

All her life, Grace Ryan has been the “fat girl.” Taunted and teased and ignored by her peers, she's tried every diet ever invented to no avail. Desperate to change her life with her twenties slipping away, she decided it was time for drastic measures and had lap-band surgery. More than a year later, she's lost 130 pounds and is venturing into the dating world for the first time. When Grace refuses to have sex with the new guy in her life during a boat trip to Gansett Island, she finds herself abandoned without a dollar to her name at McCarthy's Gansett Island Marina.

Cole Langston believes things happen in threes. So far, he’s landed an airliner in a blizzard after his captain had a heart attack and revived the captain, catapulting himself to national hero status as “Captain Incredible". Life is finally returning to normal for Cole, when he’s punched unconscious in airport store by a bully who doesn’t appreciate Cole’s interference in his diatribe against the saleswoman.

Almost three years after losing my husband, Jim, to ALS, I’ve started to emerge from the fog of widowhood, thanks in large part to my sexy roommate—and former high school crush—Tom Hammett. When he offered me a suite in his spacious home, he got me out of my parents’ basement where I’d lived with Jim during his illness and since his death. But now Tom is experiencing a health crisis, and I’m not sure I have it in me to go down that road again, even if I suspect I might be falling in love with him.

Since he won the Academy Award for best original screenplay a few years ago, Grant McCarthy's personal and professional lives have fallen apart. Abby, the woman he was supposed to marry, is engaged to someone else, and Grant is back at home on Gansett Island helping run the family marina business while his father recovers from a serious injury. While all of Grant's focus should be on winning back the love of his life, the pesky marina restaurant manager Stephanie is working her way under his skin—and into his bed.

A brutal home invasion. Two small, traumatized survivors who may have witnessed the horror. Lieutenant Sam Holland has never worked a case quite like this one, in which her eyewitnesses are five-year-old twins. But when Sam steps up in a big way for them, she risks her heart as much as her career. While Sam and her husband, Vice President Nick Cappuano, go to battle in more ways than one for her tiny witnesses, her colleague Sergeant Tommy “Gonzo” Gonzales battles his own demons.

I’ve planned this night for weeks, down to the last detail. I want it to be perfect. Bringing someone new into my private life is not something I do lightly, having learned the hard way over the years that celebrity has a dark downside that I go out of my way to avoid whenever possible. But he is different. We’ve been together for months and the time is right to take this next step with him. It doesn’t take long for me to realize I’ve made a huge mistake trusting this man.

Eighteen months after suddenly losing the love of my life, I’m coming out of the fog of early grief and taking a hard look at the rest of my life. With three young children to care for on my own while also managing their grief, I haven’t had a lot of time to ponder what’s next for me. When I think about what I really want, I keep coming back to one thing. Or I should say one person—someone who understands what I’ve been through because he’s been there too, only his losses were far worse. I find myself thinking about him all the time, but is he ready for the things I want?

Tiffany Sturgil steals the spotlight as her new boutique Naughty & Nice opens in downtown Gansett—right in time for the annual spring Race Week festivities. Finally divorced and ready for a new beginning, Tiffany wonders if sexy police chief Blaine Taylor thinks of her as often as she thinks of him since their explosive encounter last fall. Back then, he directed her to call him the second she was officially divorced, but the opening of her store and her unconventional ad campaign have put the island's lingerie queen at odds with the town's top cop.

Love is the last thing on Jack Harrington's mind when he sets out to meet Andi Walsh's flight. Recently back to work after spending more than a year tending to his comatose wife, Jack is focused on getting through each day and caring for his three daughters. However, the moment he sets eyes on Andrea Walsh, the interior designer who has come to decorate the hotel his company is building in Newport, Rhode Island, Jack begins to wonder if Andi might be his second chance.

In the wake of a White House aide's wife being found beaten to death, with their one year-old daughter taken, Police Lieutenant Sam Holland is put in charge of the case—and forced to collaborate with Special Victims Unit detectives, as well as thorn-in-her-side FBI Special Agent Avery Hill. Then, a cold case of her father’s resurrects old hurts—a distraction Sam cannot afford. As Sam’s investigation heats up, so does Nick’s political career—and the heat carries over to their bedroom.

In the year since I lost my wife in childbirth, I’ve been all about survival as I adapt to life as a single dad to our son. That’s especially true after my mother-in-law also died suddenly. Life has been way more than I can handle, but somehow I’m getting by, thanks mostly to the Wild Widows, a group of fellow travelers who make me feel less alone with my grief. They encourage me to hire fellow Wild Widow Wynter as my nanny, and that’s been working out great, until two things happen—she and my son go missing, and when they’re found safe, I realize my feelings for her are anything but platonic.

Wade Abbott is one and done. One look, one conversation, one weekend, and he knows who he wants. Except Mia Simpson is not free to return his affection. In fact he suspects she's in an abusive marriage, but she never confirms that, and he has no choice but to mind his own business where she's concerned.

Clare Harrington is considered a miracle, but everything that's happened since she recovered from a three-year coma has been something less than miraculous. Her 18-year-old daughter, Kate, a talented singer and songwriter, sets out to pursue her musical dreams in Nashville. Her parents have agreed to allow Kate to spend a year there, but they couldn't have anticipated Kate falling in love with a much older man. Her newly divorced parents are forced back together to confront their wayward daughter.

Chief Farnsworth is catching heat for the way he handled a recent homicide investigation, and Detective Gonzales is accused of failing to disclose an earlier connection to the judge who decided his custody hearing. When Gonzo’s fight for his child turns deadly and he has a shaky alibi, Sam must defend two of her closest colleagues. All while her husband, Vice President Nick Cappuano, settles into his new office at the White House. Nick begins to wonder if the president is using him for a political boost.

Almost seven years after losing her husband in Iraq, Hannah Abbott Guthrie isn’t sure she’s ready - or able - to move on, but the attentions of a lifelong friend are making her think about it for the first time. The memory of the sweet kiss she shared with Nolan Roberts hasn’t strayed far from her thoughts, but she also fears that pursuing something with him would mean betraying her husband’s memory.

Washington, D.C. Police Lieutenant Sam Holland and her husband, U.S. Senator Nick Cappuano, have been looking forward to a quiet Thanksgiving with their son. But any thoughts of a restful holiday are dashed when Sam and Nick return home to a gruesome scene: her seventeen-year-old niece Brooke, barely conscious and covered in blood on their front stoop.

For four of the best summers of his young life, Luke Harris was in love with Sydney Donovan, a wealthy seasonal visitor to Gansett Island. Then Sydney went off to college and never came back. She married another man and had two children, while Luke remained on the island, wondering what went wrong. Fifteen months after Sydney suffers the tragic loss of her husband and children, she's returned to Gansett to figure out what's next, and that may be a rekindled love affair with the one man from her past she’s never forgotten. But is she ready for a second chance at love?

Gansett Island has withstood the fury of Hurricane Ethel, and now the cleanup is underway for many islanders, including McKenzie Martin, who barely escaped the storm with her life and that of her son, Jax. After Police Chief Blaine Taylor rescued them and brought them to his home, her island neighbor, Duke Sullivan, showed up with belongings he collected from the collapsed cottage she recently inherited from her grandmother. When Duke invites McKenzie to use his empty garage apartment while she figures out her next moves, McKenzie is thankful for his offer—and his friendship.