Spotlight: The Baby Project by Miranda Liasson

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He agreed to give her his genes. He didn’t expect to lose his heart…Here comes THE BABY PROJECT by Miranda Liasson…

Liz Kingston spends her life delivering babies and longs for one of her own. All she needs is someone with fabulous genetic material. Who better to ask than her sexy ex-fling, who has no interest in ever settling down or being a father.

International correspondent Grant Wilbanks loves danger and travelling the world. But nothing in all this Brit’s experience could have prepared him for the way a torrid affair with Liz makes him feel. When she asks for his assistance, he figures he can help her out with a simple donation.

No strings, no emotions, just…test-tube science.

But this simple favor gives them both more than they ever bargained for. Grant agrees to her terms, but stepping away gets harder and harder because the more time they spend together, the more he finds himself falling…and losing the battle to safeguard his heart.

Excerpt

Liz wanted him for the most unflattering reason: because she knew he’d flee without a doubt. “So you want me to donate my sperm—into a test tube?” Grant could hardly say it. He could hardly believe he was having this discussion. The idea was utterly ludicrous.

“This would be a one-time thing, the perfect arrangement. You’d give your sample and walk away. Easy-peasy.”

“You mean create a child and walk away?” Somehow, his brain felt numb. He was having difficulty wrapping his head around it.

“Well, I wouldn’t want you to think of it like that. You’d donate a sample and I’d do the rest. You’d do it as a favor to me. No strings attached. No responsibilities, no worries, and no claim to fatherhood. There’d be no need to tell anyone that you’re the father. And Dottie will be moving away soon, so there’d be no need to say anything to her, either. You’d just go back across the world to your job and forget about me. Simple, yes?”

He struggled not to physically wince at her words. How little she thought of him. But then, he’d given her no other way to think. He’d been a no-show. He plowed his fingers through his hair. God, he should never have come here. What had he been thinking, getting tangled up with her again? The intensity of his feelings for her had caught him by surprise—all it had taken was one glance at those big, dark, pleading eyes, her lovely full lips, her vivaciousness, her compassion, her sarcasm…

He’d known he was in trouble from the second she’d tossed her tea at him. The same stirring, the same wanting that he’d fought so hard to forget, it had all come avalanching back.

And God help him, he wanted her now, just as he had on all those hot, humid African nights. Yes, he’d admit it—he’d wanted to see her. To know how she’d been. To say he was sorry.

What a fool he was to think that that would be enough.

Yet what could he really offer her? He was at the top of his game as a reporter, recognizable around the world, always ready to go anywhere at a moment’s notice. He had no family, no home. He was as domesticated as a Bengali tiger.

“So will you consider it?” she asked.

He opened his mouth to say no.

“I desperately want this, Grant. It’s my last chance to become a mother.”

Damn her for turning to him with those big doe eyes, with that pleading look that gutted him. That had the effect of rendering him utterly helpless. If he had any sense at all, he’d flee into the house and take cover immediately.

This seemingly simple request was surely fraught with a million complications. If he was wise, he’d simply say no immediately and cut this ridiculous discussion off at the pass.

He tried to avoid eye contact but like a wreck on the side of the road, he couldn’t turn away.

The answer was no. It would always be no. But he couldn’t bear seeing the hopeful expression she wore.

One look at her and he understood down to his marrow exactly what he was seeing in her eyes. Longing, yearning, desperation. She was asking him for something so simple and yet so life-changingly complex.

He’d have to disappoint her, of course. He’d be out of his mind to say yes. The word no formed in his throat, one breath away from being expelled through his lips.

“Let me think about it,” he found himself saying instead.   

Pre-Order Your Copy Now! On Sale in Digital: September 4, 2017

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About the Author

Miranda Liasson loves to write stories about everyday people who find love despite themselves, because there’s nothing like a great love story. And if there are a few laughs along the way, even better! She’s a Romance Writers of America Golden Heart winner and an Amazon bestselling author whose heartwarming and humorous small–town romances have won accolades such as the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence and have been Harlequin Junkie and Night Owl Reviews Top Picks.

Connect with Miranda: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Newsletter | Bookbub | Pinterest | Blog

 

Spotlight: The Last Outlaw by Rosanne Bittner

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Times have changed, and the old Wild West is a thing of the past. Nestled in his beautiful Colorado ranch, surrounded by family, infamous former outlaw Jake Harkner’s hung up his guns for good and finally found a measure of peace—but dark memories haunt the woman who has always been his strength, and not even Jake is certain he can save his beloved Miranda this time.
 
All he can do is swear to remain by her side. But it takes more than a hope for peace to outrun a past defined by violence, and it isn’t long before Jake is embroiled in a rescue mission he simply can’t refuse. Life has brought him back full circle as he rides into Mexico to save a young girl from a dreadful fate…leaving Miranda behind one final time, fearing that the man she loves more than anything is destined to die the way he’s always lived—by the gun.

Excerpt

Rosanne: THE LAST OUTLAW opens with a love scene between the hero (Jake Harkner, a notorious gunman) and his wife Miranda (Randy). Because of a prologue to this first chapter, readers will know a gang of bank robbers is headed for Boulder, Colorado, which is where Jake and Randy are on a shopping trip and staying in a hotel. They will know Jake is bound to get involved in the gunplay that follows.

In this opening, readers realize these two, whose love story is incredibly beautiful, are having personal problems stemming from an event in Book #3, LOVE’S SWEET REVENGE. You will have to read that book to learn what happened, but I think here you will sense the incredibly loving relationship these two share, Jake’s adoration of his long-suffering wife, and you will realize something needs to happen later in this story to “fix” the current underlying problems they are having. I think readers will be surprised later in the story to find out how this problem is solved. It’s VERY sexy, and also very beautiful.

Jake trailed his tongue over his wife’s skin, trying to ignore his fear that she could be dying. Her belly was too caved-in, her hip bones too prominent.

She’ll get better, he told himself. The taste of her most secret place lingered on his lips as he moved to her breasts, still surprisingly full, considering, but not with the same breasts he’d always loved and teased her about, with the enticing cleavage that stirred his desire for her.

He would always desire her. This was his Randy. She was his breath. Her spirit ran in his veins, and she was his reason for being. God knew his worthless hide had no business even still being on this earth.

He ran a hand over her ribs, which were too damn easy to count. Sometimes he thought he’d go mad with the memory of last winter, the reason she’d become more withdrawn and had nearly stopped eating.

He met her mouth, and she responded. Thank God she still wanted this, but something was missing, and he couldn’t put his finger on it. He thought he’d made it all better, thought he’d taken away the ugly. He’d feared at first she might blame him for what happened, but it had been quite the opposite. She’d become almost too clingy, constantly asking if he loved her, not to let go of her, asking him not to go far away.

He pushed himself inside of her, wanting nothing more than to please her, to find a way to break down the invisible wall he felt between them, to erase the past and assure her he was right here, that he still loved her. How in hell could he not love this woman, the one who’d loved him when he was anything but loveable…all those years ago? She’d put up with his past and his bouts of insanity and all the trouble and heartache he’d put her through…this woman who’d given him a son and daughter who couldn’t make a man prouder and who loved him beyond what he was worth … six grandchildren who climbed all over him full of such innocent love for a man who’d robbed and killed, and worst of all … killed his own father.

He moved his hands under her bottom, pushing himself deep inside her, relishing the way she returned his deep kisses and pressed her fingers into his upper arms in an almost desperate neediness.

That was what bothered him. This had always been good between them, a true mating of souls, teasing remarks back and forth as they made love. But now it was as though she feared losing him if she didn’t make love often, and that wasn’t the sort of man he was. It had always been pure pleasure between them. He’d taught her things she would never have thought of, helped her relax and release every sexual inhibition. He knew every inch of her body intimately, and she’d loved it.

This was different. And it was harder now, because not only did he hate the idea of feeing like he was forcing her, but he was also terrified he would break something. She was so thin and small now. He out-weighed her by a good hundred and fifty pounds by now; she couldn’t have weighed more than eighty or ninety pounds.

He surged deep in a desperate attempt to convince himself he wasn’t losing her. And through it all, he was screaming inside. Sometimes he wanted to shake her and make her tell him what else he could do to bring back the woman he’d known and loved for nearly thirty-two years. He missed that feisty, bossy woman, the only person on this earth who could bring him to his knees.

He’d faced the worst of men as a lawman in Oklahoma, and run with the worst of men the first thirty years of his life. He’d spent four years in prison under horrible conditions. He’d been in too many gunfights to count, taken enough bullets that he had no right still being alive. He’d ridden the Outlaw Trail and defied the odds. His reputation followed him everywhere, and a reporter had even written a book about him – Jake Harkner: The Legend and the Myth. Myth was more like it. And the legend wasn’t one he was proud of.

And this woman beneath him … this woman he poured his life into this very moment … she’d been there for most of it.

He relaxed and moved to her side.

“Don’t let go yet, Jake.”

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About the Author

A native of Michigan, USA TODAY bestseller and award-winning novelist ROSANNE BITTNER is known as the “Queen of Western Historical Romance” for her epic love stories and family sagas. Her well-researched books span 1800’s America from coast to coast.  The descriptive words used most often by Rosanne’s devoted readers are “awesome,” “realistic,” and “unforgettable!”

Connect: Website | Facebook | Twitter: @RosanneBittner | Goodreads

Spotlight: A Veil of Vines by Tillie Cole

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To most people, princes, princesses, counts and dukes are found only in the pages of the most famous of fairytales. Crowns, priceless jewels and gilded thrones belong only in childhood dreams.
But for some, these frivolous fancies are truth.
For some, they are real life.
On Manhattan’s Upper East Side, people have always treated me as someone special. All because of my ancestral name and legacy. All because of a connection I share to our home country’s most important family of all.
I am Caresa Acardi, the Duchessa di Parma. A blue blood of Italy. I was born to marry well. And now the marriage date is set.
I am to marry into House Savona. The family that would have been the royals had Italy not abolished the monarchy in 1946. But to the aristocrats of my home, the abolition means nothing at all.
The Savonas still hold power where it counts most.
In our tight-knit world of money, status and masked balls, they are everything and more.
And I am soon to become one of them.
I am soon to become Prince Zeno Savona’s wife…
… or at least I was, until I met Achille.
And everything changed.

Excerpt

I opened the window beside me and stared at the illuminated entrance. I swallowed hard and placed my empty glass on the bar. Metal groaned, breaking through the twilight, as the massive black wrought-iron gates began to open. The limo slowly pulled onto the property’s lane, and I drank in the thick forest that shielded the estate. I inhaled the freshness of the lush green trees. The unpolluted sky was thick with stars—not a single cloud in sight.
A few minutes later, the thick woods cleared, and I gasped. Acres and acres of gold and green vineyards covered the landscape. The scents of plump grapes and damp soil permeated the warm air. I closed my eyes. It reminded me of being a child. It brought me back to the days before I was taken to New York. I could still feel the heat of the Emilia-Romagna sun on my face, the deep smell of olives, grapes and flowers drifting in the breeze as I ran around our Parma estate.
I smiled a nostalgic smile and allowed my eyes to drift open again. I rested my arms on the window and leaned my chin on them as the limo drove on. There were several small villas peppered over the landscape, their lights twinkling in the distance. They must have been the winemakers’ residences. It was not only the Bella Collina merlot that was made on this land; other reds were too—particularly the Chianti from the region’s finest Sangiovese grapes. The Bella Collina olive oil was also up there with the best. But nothing compared to the famed merlot.
The limo turned right, and my breath caught in my throat. I lifted my head and stared disbelievingly at the property ahead. Bella Collina was a veritable Palace of Versailles tucked away in the Umbrian wilderness.
“Mio Dio,” I whispered as I took in the imposing stone structure, the sweeping steps and the vast number of windows set in the building’s walls. Large pillars of red-veined marble flanked the entrance. Cypress trees framed the estate as if it were the shining star of a fine Renaissance painting. Sculptures of famed Savona monarchs of old stood proudly on the manicured lawns, and strategically placed lighting illuminated the sheer perfection of every piece of topiary.
As a child, I had been to the Palazzo Savona in Florence. It was widely regarded to be one of the finest estates in all of Italy, if not western Europe. But this . . . this . . . there were no words. It was perfectly placed, as if it had always been there. As if it had grown naturally from the Umbrian earth just as sure as the vines and woods that kept this architectural treasure hidden from view.

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About the Author

Tillie Cole hails from a small town in the North-East of England. She grew up on a farm with her English mother, Scottish father and older sister and a multitude of rescue animals. As soon as she could, Tillie left her rural roots for the bright lights of the big city.

After graduating from Newcastle University with a BA Hons in Religious Studies, Tillie followed her Professional Rugby player husband around the world for a decade, becoming a teacher in between and thoroughly enjoyed teaching High School students Social Studies before putting pen to paper, and finishing her first novel.

Tillie has now settled in Austin, Texas, where she is finally able to sit down and write, throwing herself into fantasy worlds and the fabulous minds of her characters.

Tillie is both an independent and traditionally published author, and writes many genres including: Contemporary Romance, Dark Romance, Young Adult and New Adult novels.

When she is not writing, Tillie enjoys nothing more than curling up on her couch watching movies, drinking far too much coffee, while convincing herself that she really doesn’t need that extra square of chocolate.

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Spotlight: Wild Ride Cowboy by Maisey Yates

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In Wild Ride Cowboy, Alex Donnelly returns to Copper Ridge, Oregon to keep a promise, but the last thing he expects is to fall for his best friend's sister, Clara Campbell. Fans of Maisey Yates' Copper Ridge series will love this sweet, sexy romance!

He's come back to Copper Ridge, Oregon, to keep a promise—even if it means losing his heart…

Putting down roots in Copper Ridge was never Alex Donnelly's intention. But if there's one thing the ex-military man knows, it's that life rarely unfolds as expected. If it did, his best friend and brother-in-arms would still be alive. And Alex wouldn't have inherited a ranch or responsibility for his late comrade's sister—a woman who, despite her inexperience, can bring tough-as-iron Alex to his knees.

Clara Campbell didn't ask for a hero to ride in and fix her ranch and her life. All she wants is the one thing stubborn, honorable Alex is reluctant to give: a chance to explore their intense chemistry. But Clara has a few lessons to teach him, too…about trusting his heart and his instincts, and letting love take him on the wildest adventure of all.

Excerpt

Reluctantly, she covered the coffee with a white to-go lid then turned to walk out the door. She didn’t make it very far, though, because she ran right into a brick wall.

Well, it wasn’t really a brick wall. It just felt like one. Large, hard and uncompromising. But breathing. Which brick walls definitely didn’t do.

“Clara Campbell. Fancy meeting you here.”

Clara blinked and stared up into Alex Donnelly’s forest-green eyes and felt a strange response that seemed to originate in her stomach and travel upward to her chest, where it twisted, hard and sharp.

After looking at Asher, his understated physique and much softer brown gaze, the sight of Alex was jarring. Too intense. Too masculine. Too a lot of things.

His dark hair wasn’t military short anymore. It was long enough to hang into his face. He pushed it back off his forehead and again, something twisted, low and deep inside of her.

And then it wasn’t only his features that seemed too sharp. It was seeing him at all. She had been studiously avoiding him ever since he had moved back to Copper Ridge. If ever she’d caught a glimpse of him out of the corner of her eye, she’d gone the other way.

The last time she’d seen him up close had been at Jason’s funeral.

Pain washed through her, canceling out all of the good Asher feelings from only a moment before.

No wonder she’d had such a strong, immediate response to the sight of Alex. The man was dragging a bunch of her baggage in with him. Another thing she liked about Asher. He was separate from her life. From her pain.

Alex was all wound up in it.

“Hi, Alex,” she said, clutching her coffee cup tight, the warmth bleeding through to her palms. Which she was grateful for at the moment since her stomach had gone ice-cold at the sight of him.

“I’ve been meaning to stop by,” he said.

“That’s really okay,” she said, and she meant it. More than okay. Jason’s death meant that she was alone. Both of her parents were already gone. They’d had children later in life, and when her mother had gotten sick, her father had done everything he could to make his wife comfortable as her health declined. She’d died when Clara was twelve. And there had been no amount of preparation that could soften the blow. No amount of expectedness that could have made it feel less like a giant, ugly hand had reached into their life and wrenched the beauty out of it, leaving nothing but a dark abyss.

Copyright © 2017 Wild Ride Cowboy by Maisey Yates

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About Maisey Yates

New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author Maisey Yates lives in rural Oregon with her three children and her husband, whose chiseled jaw and arresting features continue to make her swoon. She feels the epic trek she takes several times a day from her office to her coffee maker is a true example of her pioneer spirit. In 2009, at the age of twenty-three Maisey sold her first book.

Since then it’s been a whirlwind of sexy alpha males and happily ever afters, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. Maisey divides her writing time between dark, passionate category romances set just about everywhere on earth and light sexy contemporary romances set practically in her back yard.

She believes that she clearly has the best job in the world.

Connect: Website  |  Twitter  |  Facebook  |  Goodreads  |  BookBub

Read an excerpt from Cold Malice by Toni Anderson

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When an international ring of sex traffickers kidnaps an eight-year-old girl in Boston, FBI Agent Lucas Randall heads undercover. But his rescue operation goes disastrously wrong and Lucas barely escapes with his life. Now the ruthless traffickers are hunting him down, along with everyone else who threatens their operation.

Computer expert Ashley Chen joined the FBI to fight against evil in the world—evil she experienced firsthand. She has mad skills, and deadly secrets, and once she starts working with Lucas, she also has big trouble, because after years of pushing people away, she’s falling for the guy. The feeling is more than mutual, but as Ashley intensifies her online pursuit of the trafficking ring, her traumatic past collides with her present and suddenly Lucas can’t tell which side she’s on. And as the case escalates into a high-stakes game of cat and mouse, it turns out Ashley isn’t the only one with something to hide.

If neither can trust the other with their secrets, how can they trust each other with their hearts?

Excerpt

“You want me to provide an alibi?” The glow drained from her cheeks.

Tension sizzled through the air as Mac watched her body language to see if it matched her words. “You know I have to ask.”

She crossed her arms, every line of her body defensive and resentful. “I don’t remember exactly where I was on Monday morning.” Her eyes moved up and right.

Shit. She was lying. People lied to cops and FBI agents all the time. The question was, what did she have to hide?

“But this morning, when the DJ was shot”— She’d already put together what the cops were officially refusing to admit—“ I was in a coffee shop and then on the Metro.”

“Got people who can verify that?”

She gave him the name of a coffee shop near Tenleytown and the metro stop where she’d got off the train.

“Don’t tell them why you’re asking,” she said. “Please.”

He grimaced.

She cradled her forehead in her hand and looked like she suddenly felt ill. Because, really, what were they going to think when the FBI started asking questions about her movements? He made himself push on. She wasn’t his friend or his date. He had a job to do.

“Any idea who might be committing these murders?”

“I told you. I’m not in touch with anyone from that life anymore.” “What about your brother?”

“Eddie?” An ugly laugh escaped. “I don’t have anything to do with that wacko.”

Eddie Hines was still incarcerated in the Idaho State Correctional Center. They’d pulled a bullet matched to his gun out of a SWAT officer’s vertebrae. The policeman had been lucky to not be paralyzed. To prove that point the officer turned up in a borrowed wheelchair and a “here but for the grace of God” sign every time Eddie came up for parole.

“I meant your other brother.”

She reached out to hold on to the back of the couch. “He doesn’t know about any of this.”

Mac frowned. “You mean the murders?”

“No,” she bit out sharply. “Any of it. Not the Pioneers. Not Kodiak Compound. Not who our family really is. Nothing.” Her fists clenched and unclenched. “And I want it to stay that way.”

What the hell? “Where does he think he comes from?”

“I told him we were the children of Trudy’s second-cousin on her mom’s side. I told him our parents died up in Oregon and Trudy took us in.”

“You lied to him about his parents?” Holy shit.

She put her hand on her hip. “Don’t use that judgmental tone with me, Assistant Special Agent in Charge Steve McKenzie.”

“Sorry, Tess.” He strode toward her until they were only a foot apart. “I didn’t realize you had the monopoly on changing your identity.”

She flinched and blinked rapidly as if fighting tears. “If anyone should understand why I wanted to leave that ugliness behind it should be you. You need to leave. Now.”

When he didn’t move she went to the front door and opened it, waiting for him to take the hint. Damn. He’d blown it. When he stood in front of her again he opened his mouth to speak.

She beat him to it. “Don’t leave town, right?” Bitterness was rife in the lines around her mouth. In the bite of her tone.

“I was going to say that if anyone from Kodiak gets in touch—”

“They won’t.”

“But if they do—”

“They won’t!” She appeared on the verge of crying, but fighting it.

He’d seen all sorts of tears during his time on the job. It was always the ones that didn’t fall that affected him most.

He pulled a business card out of his pocket, took her hand and folded her fingers over it. The skin on skin contact made something unexpected spread through his body. Despite her anger she felt it too— he could tell by the way her pupils widened and her lips parted on a gasp. She tried to pull away but he didn’t let go and he didn’t back down.

Instead he pulled her toward him into a stiff embrace. His breath brushed her hair as he kissed the top of her head— like she was still that little girl he’d known all those years ago.

“I’m not the bad guy here, Tess,” he murmured against her hair.

She kept her head bowed, and eyes closed, hand pressed like a fiery brand against his heart.

“Neither am I, but no one seems to care.”

She pulled away, and he let her go. Then he walked away just like he had nearly twenty years ago.

He sat in his car, staring at the house, knowing she was inside watching him right back.

The unexpected attraction had caught him off guard. He’d forgotten what it felt like to actually want someone. But he couldn’t afford to start something with the daughter of one of the most notorious white supremacist leaders in history. That would not look great on his résumé.

That stupid hug had knocked him off balance and made him sit here like a damn stalker. He’d hoped to neutralize some of the antagonism his turning up out of the blue had created and keep her onside should he need her help in the future. But now the fresh scent of her shampoo invaded his nostrils, and the feel of her soft skin tantalized his senses. The sight of her in that damp robe— knowing that she was naked underneath— had distracted the hell out of him. And damned if that embrace hadn’t felt like coming home.

Chances were she wasn’t involved in the current murders. It didn’t seem likely that an accountant, raised by a woman of color, would turn around and start killing people based on her daddy’s evil doctrine. But who knew? He’d seen crazier things in his career. Tomorrow he’d check out her alibi and cross her off his to-do list.

More’s the pity.

And so what if his mind turned dirty. It wasn’t going to lead anywhere. She was off limits. And he was in control of his wants and needs.

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About Toni Anderson

New York Times and USA Today international bestselling author, Toni Anderson, writes dark, gritty Romantic Suspense novels that have hit #1 in Barnes & Noble's Nook store, the Top 10 in Amazon and Kobo stores, and the Top 50 in iBooks. Her novels have won many awards. A former Marine Biologist from Britain, she inexplicably ended up in the geographical center of North America, about as far from the ocean as it is possible to get. She now lives in the Canadian prairies with her Irish husband and two children and spends most of her time complaining about the weather.

Toni has no explanation for her oft-times dark imagination, and only hopes the romance makes up for it. She's addicted to reading, dogs, tea, and chocolate.

If you want to know when Toni's next book will be out, visit her website (http://www.toniandersonauthor.com) and sign up for her newsletter. If you want to read other fascinating stories about life in a city that, during winter, is sometimes colder than Mars, friend her on Facebook: (https://www.facebook.com/toniannanderson).

Spotlight: Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart

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From the author of the unforgettable New York Times bestseller We Were Liars comes a masterful new psychological suspense novel—the story of a young woman whose diabolical smarts are her ticket into a charmed life. But how many times can someone reinvent themselves? You be the judge.
 
Imogen is a runaway heiress, an orphan, a cook, and a cheat.
Jule is a fighter, a social chameleon, and an athlete. 
An intense friendship. A disappearance. A murder, or maybe two. 
A bad romance, or maybe three.
Blunt objects, disguises, blood, and chocolate. The American dream, superheroes, spies, and villains. 
A girl who refuses to give people what they want from her.
A girl who refuses to be the person she once was.

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About the Author

E. Lockhart wrote the New York Times bestseller We Were Liars and the upcoming Genuine Fraud, a psychological thriller. Her other books include Fly on the Wall, Dramarama, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, and the Ruby Oliver Quartet, which includes The Boyfriend List, The Boy Book, The Treasure Map of Boys, and Real Live Boyfriends. She also wrote How to Be Bad with Sarah Mlynowski and Lauren Myracle. Visit her online at emilylockhart.com, and follow her on Twitter at @elockhart.