The Burden of Us by Alexandra Orchard

Ella Webb was never destined to be free. When she turned sixteen, Ella's only present was an arranged marriage to Dean, her ex-friend. Desperate for time, she bargained for a three-year reprieve to get an education and graduate before she was forced to marry. Falling in love with someone else was never Ella's intention. Yet she allowed herself to fall deep into the rabbit hole of forbidden love and hidden family secrets that Ella wished had stayed buried... but it all might be the key to setting herself free.

Heartbreaks & Homeruns by Mika C.C.

A marriage-in-trouble story about redemption and rediscovery. Richard 'Ramsey' Greene has focused on his life in baseball since he was a kid; however, things take a turn when the only woman he's ever loved walks out on him. Ramsey's one love starts and ends with Amelia, so when she walks away, he's forced to make a choice: Amelia or the game? Amelia walks away from her marriage as she struggles with self-image and body dysphoria, but moving back to her family's farm across the country isn't going to cut it. Amelia must work through her own problems, but will she be able to change when Ramsey comes to take her "home", or will she ruin everything she's built for herself?

The Christmas Gift by Melina Druga

Set during the events of Family Upheaval, the last holiday novella in The Rock Star’s Wife series follows the Economos siblings and their mother as they try to find something to celebrate during the most wonderful time of the year. Now that her lousy husband is out of the picture, Daria Economos is facing a wide-open future. This hardly feels like a new beginning, however. She never expected to be starting over in her twilight years; she’s a grandmother for heaven’s sake, an old fogy! Even with the holidays right around the corner, Daria just can’t seem to drum up anything to feel thankful for. She’s not the only one struggling. Her adult children are still reckoning with the revelation that they have four half-siblings out there in the world — newfound family members they’ve come to love, for better or worse. And for Daria’s oldest son, the fear that the sins of the father might be genetic is very real… The Economoses’ first Christmas as a broken family is fast approaching. Can this once-close clan make peace with their own hurt feelings, or is the holiday cheer gone for good?

Rock Star Parents by Melina Druga

Things come full circle for erotica author Cassandra Hardwick as her teenage kids wade into the mire of dating and sex, in the final chapter of The Rock Star’s Wife. Cassie thought she’d handle her kids’ comings-of-age differently than the conservative Economos family dealt with hers. But she finds herself at a near-total loss when faced with parenting teenagers — an endeavor that includes accidentally walking in on her son exploring himself, helping her younger daughter shop for bras, and discovering that her oldest may have just as high a libido as she does. Of course, she’s not the only Economos dealing with sex-related drama. Her brother’s stressing out over his unmarried daughter’s pregnancy. And just as Chris stops worrying that their unfaithful father has left an indelible mark on his descendants, the Economoses learn they may have even more half-siblings in Illinois. It’s been a long, crazy journey for Cassie, and there’s still plenty of track left on this roller coaster ride. You won’t want to miss the stunning conclusion to this 33-year adventure.

The Pandemic Diaries by Melina Druga

Cassandra and Nat Hardwick never let his demanding touring schedule get in the way of their romance. But will spending lockdown together put their relationship on the ropes? Nat Hardwick’s career has kept him away from home for much of his marriage to Cassie, but the two have never had trouble keeping the spark alive. Now that COVID-19 has shut down the country, Nat’s band has been forced to suspend its current tour, which means he’ll be home for the foreseeable future. Not that anything feels “foreseeable” with the pandemic ravaging the globe. The Hardwick kids are in existential crisis, and their parents aren’t faring much better. Carving out privacy has never been a problem before, but being packed in the house like sardines frustrates Cassie and her husband at every turn. With COVID closing in, the Hardwicks must weather all the pandemic’s greatest hits, including a toilet paper shortage, a scandalous Zoom call, the rising death toll, and the realization that things may never go back to “normal.” As heartfelt, hilarious, and high heat as its predecessors, this new installment in The Rock Star’s Wife series takes readers through the ups and downs of pandemic life, as seen through Cassie’s ever-observant eye.

Holiday Headaches by Melina Druga

Nobody said parenthood was going to be easy, but the holidays are really taking it out of Cassandra Hardwick’s family in the third Christmas interlude of The Rock Star’s Wife. Cassie and her husband haven’t established a solid parenting routine, given that he’s usually on tour. Now, with Nat at home in the Chicago suburbs and the 2004 holiday season fast approaching, these first-time parents have their hands full with baby Megan. Meanwhile, back in Sterling, Cassie’s cousin and his wife are experiencing what can only be described as Murphy’s Law run amok. From a photo with Santa gone horribly wrong to an automotive accident that keeps right on giving, these two sure aren’t getting the gladdest of tidings this year. Finally, in Minneapolis, Cassie’s sister and brother-in-law try to salvage some merriment for their sons and daughter in the face of mounting debt — one that threatens to force them to move back to Sterling. Can these three couples find some Yuletide magic, or are they headed for a disastrous holiday season? Told in three vignettes that range from side-splitting to serious, Holiday Headaches is the perfect Christmastime read for fans on the go.

Family Upheaval by Melina Druga

Family drama is the name of the game in this emotional follow-up to Sex and Surprises, as Cassandra Hardwick is forced to deal with the fallout when a casually taken DNA test turns up some life-changing results. Cassie was just trying to support her best friend. Shawna never knew who her parents were, but jumping into the deep end with genetic testing was too scary to go it alone. Neither of them expected to find a bunch of strangers listed among Cassie’s closest relations. When Cassie was growing up, it seemed like her extended family always had each other’s backs. That’s what tight-knit clans do, after all. Looking back on it, however, maybe things haven’t always been as happy as she thought. How did she miss the warning signs? And what is she supposed to do when she finds out these new relatives might want to get to know her? Moving through the final years of the 2010s, the sixth entry in The Rock Star’s Wife sees alliances tested and familial bonds broken, as Cassie and her family — those she grew up with and ones only recently uncovered — reckon with their now-complicated history.

Sex & Surprises by Melina Druga

Cassandra Hardwick wouldn’t trade having her globetrotting husband home for anything, but will their barely tested parenting plans hold up when a new baby gets added to the mix? Cassie’s spent the last five years feeling like a single parent to Megan and Josh while Nat was touring the country with Dramatic Sneezer. Now that his wife’s writing career is taking off, however, there’s less pressure on Nat to play show after relentless show, and he can finally offer Cassie some much-needed relief from running the household. Of course, that’s not all he brings to the table. With no tour dates to stand in their way, the couple waste no time indulging their high libidos. But when Cassie discovers she’s pregnant with their third child, the routine they’ve just begun to establish gets ripped out from under them, and everything suddenly seems to be in a state of flux. Spanning six years of Cassie’s diary entries, Sex and Surprises follows the eponymous Rock Star’s Wife as she tries to balance a happy marriage, healthy parenting, and a promising career — all while reckoning with the challenges a growing family brings.

Holiday Homecoming by Melina Druga

Set during the events of Rock Star Romance, this wintry interlude in the Rock Star’s Wife series follows two couples wrestling with family drama in the midst of holiday cheer. Cassie Economos’s family hasn’t met her new boyfriend yet. To tell the truth, she isn’t sure she wants them to; things went catastrophically wrong the last time she brought a guy home for the holidays. To avoid embarrassment and hopefully save her burgeoning romance from crashing and burning in the aftermath, Cassie puts Nat through meet-the-Economoses bootcamp in the weeks leading up to Christmas. But trouble is brewing back home in Sterling, where Jennifer, Cassie’s friend turned cousin-by-marriage, has just learned her absentee father wants to rebuild his relationship with his daughters. No one seems to know how Jennifer should respond — least of all herself. Meanwhile, the men in Cassie’s and Jennifer’s lives are just trying to make it through the holidays. Phil’s willing to try anything to help his wife weather the coming storm, and Nat just wants to make a good first impression and ease his girlfriend’s fears. Holiday Homecoming moves between these four young narrators as they figure out where they stand against external forces and internal desires.

Rock Star Mom by Melina Druga

The rock star’s wife is back and better than ever in Rock Star Mom. When she decided to pursue a relationship with Nat, Cassie knew what she was getting herself into. His responsibilities as the frontman for Dramatic Sneezer keep him on the road for weeks, or even months, at a time. Spending that much time away from him was hard enough when they were dating, but now Nat’s tour dates leave Cassie to raise their infant daughter alone. Still, she’s totally rocking this whole motherhood thing. Sure, she had to lie to Nat about missing his daughter’s first steps, and Megan might be forgetting how to say “DaDa” while her dad’s out of town, but Cassie’s holding down the fort. She’s got her act together, 100 percent. She might even have the book deal she’s always wanted. What neither she nor anyone else knows, however, is that there’s a big surprise waiting just around the bend — one that could make her rethink this rock-and-roll living arrangement. The fourth installment in the Rock Star’s Wife series, Rock Star Mom follows Cassie through her unglamorous daily life in the Chicago suburbs, as she struggles to balance raising a family with the pursuit of her long-held aspirations.

Christmas Surprise by Melina Druga

This multi-POV interquel in the Rock Star’s Wife series follows four young adults through one fateful holiday break in the year 2000. Double first cousins Cassie and Phil might be all grown up, but that doesn’t mean they’re exempt from their conservative Greek family’s expectations. And by dating non-Greeks, they’ve gone and kicked a hornet’s nest. Spending the 2000 holidays at home in Sterling, IL, Phil and his girlfriend, Jennifer, wrestle with their desires for the future. They’re in love, but his family objects. Besides, Phil’s proposed courthouse wedding is not the event Jennifer’s been dreaming of. Cassie’s parents have similar misgivings about her relationship with her boyfriend, Corey. But unlike her cousin, Cassie isn’t sure that spending the rest of her life with him is in the cards, given their disparate post-graduation plans. Moving between Cassie, Corey, Phil, and Jennifer, Christmas Surprise offers a profound look at the inner lives of young Gen-Xers. With the girls’ college graduation — and what comes after — looming on the horizon, these four must try to find solid ground in an ever-changing world where nothing is certain, even as the countdown to winter break’s end ticks closer.

Mr. Right is a Myth by Melina Druga

This heartfelt follow-up to Sexual Awakening follows its ambitious diarist to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where her hopes and dreams for the future are further tested by a string of social hiccups. Cassie Economos has rules. If a new boyfriend can’t wait two months to have sex with her, he’s not the guy for her. If he refuses to wear a condom, he’s not the guy for her. And if dating him would mean maintaining a long-distance relationship, he’s… well, you get the picture. She’s got her life planned out, and she knows better than to try to make things work with someone who can’t agree on the basics, like where to live and whether to have kids. But Cassie isn’t perfect, and the more disappointing situationships she finds herself in, the more she wonders if there’s even such a thing as a “Mr. Right.” But Cassie doesn’t have time to worry too much about that. Her four years at U of I are passing quickly, which means it’s time for her to chart her final course: toward Chicago, the city of her dreams. Readers are in for a rollicking ride through college life in the ’90s here, as Cassie and her friends wade through continental relationship shifts.

Sexual Awakening by Melina Druga

This coming-of-age story, set against the backdrop of the mid-1990s Midwest, follows Cassandra, a high schooler whose big dreams clash with her family’s conservative expectations, as she comes into her own while navigating the complexities of teenage sex and dating. Fourteen-year-old Cassandra Economos doesn’t fit the mold of her traditional Greek family. She’s always been a good kid, but lately she’s begun to question how much influence her relatives’ expectations should really have on her life. Cassie doesn’t understand why anyone would want to stay in Sterling, IL when there’s a whole world out there to explore and experience. She wonders why her brother Chris gets showered in love and affection after becoming a father at 25, when she and her sister, Vanessa, aren’t even allowed to date before they’re his age. And she’d rather go see Nirvana play live in Chicago than attend her homecoming dance. Perfect for fans of Now Is Not the Time to Panic and The Perks of Being a Wallflower, this series-starter traces the social entanglements of the Economos sisters and their friends — from bodice-rippers and bad sex to secret boyfriends and matters of consent — through Cassie’s diary entries from 1993 to ’97.

Life After by genalea barker

Someone once asked August Haiz if twins realize one of them is an accident. Deep down, August knows if anyone was an accident, it wasn’t Benny—it was her. Granted, August doesn’t mind dancing in the background, letting Benny be the star musician and center of attention. In fact, she prefers it that way. Abandoned by their mother as children, the twins have spent a decade dodging the unpredictable nature of their alcoholic father in an attempt to stay off his radar. With graduation in sight and their freedom on the horizon, August and Benny look forward to fleeing their hometown together and starting fresh at college. But a tragic accident turns August’s world upside down, swallowing her hopes of a brighter future. Guilt-ridden and struggling to cope with her new normal, August shuts out the people who love her most, and nearly ruins her most important friendship. If August wants a chance at adjusting to life after tragedy, she’ll have to process her pain, let go of the past, and leave the darkness behind.

Sushi and Sea Lions by Rachel Corsini

When a career-ending injury and a messy breakup send prima ballerina Daniela Verdi back to Queens, New York, she fills her days with countless distractions: meaningless sex, pinot grigio, and video games. It takes a chance meeting with her brother's best friend, Vincent LaBate, for her to remember who she was before the stage lights and distractions of the Upper West Side. She's convinced that Vincent could never love a girl like her: broken, insecure, and stumbling her way through life. What Daniela didn’t count on is that Vincent is as scarred as she is after divorcing his cheating wife and going through an equally messy child custody fight. Soon enough, old vulnerabilities rear their ugly heads, opening a crack in Daniela’s perfectly imperfect romance. As Daniela and Vincent's relationship develops, will Daniela learn to accept that a dream life isn't all it's cracked up to be?

Inked (Gilded Blood) by Rachel Rener

When Zayn, your smoking hot boss, tells you never to touch the cache of deluxe tattoo ink locked away in his office, you listen to him… until the day you run out of your own ink, your squirming client is on the verge of peeing his pants, and your boss is nowhere to be found. Desperate times call for desperate measures, right? I fully expected Zayn to yell at me when he returned to the shop. What I didn't expect was the fresh cobra tattoo on my client’s butt magically springing to life. Or the interdimensional filing cabinet hiding in the back of Zayn's office. And, oh, did I mention that my gorgeous, magic-ink-hoarding boss is actually an incubus? Now – through (mostly) no fault of my own – we have to venture into a strange and distant land where a never-ending list of lethal flora, fauna, and fae await us. When you add in my Jewish mother’s string of poorly-timed, hysterical phone calls, there is one thing I’m grateful for: There’s no cell service in the fae realm.

A Certain Kind of Sadness by Jillean McClory

Insecurity and loneliness eat away at Rachel Wharton as old debts and obligations compel her to accept a job in another city, leaving behind family and friends. But leaving Morgan Hillier, the man she has loved since childhood, at a critical time in their fragile relationship breeds a toxic mix of self-doubt and anxiety. Now Rachel finds herself stuck in a dingy three-story walk-up. Her demons and countless falls from grace crowd her tiny apartment. Questions she has avoided for years demand her attention: how did she get here? Why did she let this happen? Her regrets challenge her to take off her blinders and see what’s in her peripheral vision, forcing her to examine her perceptions of love, family, bravery, and her ability to captain her life. Always the victim of circumstance – from her privileged upbringing, her unrequited love for Morgan, to being stalked by a man in the shadows – Rachel struggles to accept her new life. Without a net to catch her when she stumbles, she regrets her decision to take a job that anchors her to a mistake she can’t undo. It’s exhausting navigating the distance between her and Morgan, but her mother’s disapproval makes it problematic, putting further strain on their already complicated relationship. To make matters worse, with each day that passes, Rachel becomes a version of herself she hates – a poor slob in love.

Happiest in Denial by Cassandra Cordini

Who doesn’t dream of true love? When Mia meets Wolfgang, she thinks all her dreams have come true. Blinded by her passions, she plunges into marriage, even though dark shadows seem to hover around him. Wolfgang can’t hide his true nature and in time even Mia is finally forced to confront the truth about her husband. Dignity and self-respect come at a terrible price – will Mia pay it or will she be forever Wolfgang’s plaything?

Bluffing for Beginners by Merren Tait

Em never imagined she'd use "covert" and "shameless" in the same sentence. Until she had nothing left to lose. Em Stewart is no pushover. She can hot wire a car, torpedo a beer in under ten seconds, and make the most curse-hardy trooper blush with her colourful tongue. But when she's abandoned by her long-time boyfriend twenty minutes into starting their new life together on a remote island, she's in a tailspin. Somehow, she must forge their fresh start on her own in a place full of strangers and find her groove within the small island community - even with its songbird-loving eccentricities. The problem is Em isn't very good at hiding the truth. Her face syphons blood off her organs every time she meets the local ranger, and she accidentally gives up the island's greatest secret to the one person most willing to exploit it. Now Em has to perform the biggest bluff of her life to protect her new home against corporate interest, even if it means ruining a fresh shot at love before it's had much of a chance. But Em's not afraid of going down in a blaze of glory. And one thing's for sure: She's about to take the islanders on the ride of their lives. Bluffing for Beginners is the second of four stand-alone novels in the award-winning Good Life series.

Planet of the Creeps by D.S. Whitaker

A twisted Cinderella story set in modern day NYC about blind dating, deceit, and the struggle to find true love. Cindy has been looking for love through Smitten, an online dating app, only to encounter one creep after another. She has a happy life living in NYC with her gay roommate, Barry, but she feels he’s putting his own love life on hold for her sake. Then her baby sister gets engaged. She decides it’s time to try again to find her own true love. The CEO of Smitten, Lance, is facing declining subscribership and the Board wants his ouster. Lance truly believes women can’t find matches because they’re too picky. As a last-ditch effort, he develops a marketing scheme involving a contest for female users. A few lucky women will go on a series of blind dates for a hefty sum, in the hopes of improving Smitten’s matching algorithm. He decides to pose as a waiter at the restaurant hosting the experiment to find out the truth and validate his position. Cindy accepts the invitation to participate. Lance is a terrible waiter and the patrons treat him horribly. But Cindy becomes his beacon of happiness as the contest progresses. She treats him like a person and not a servant. He watches how she maintains a positive attitude despite several hilariously awful blind dates with the creepiest men. Soon, Lance starts to fall for her—hard. Only, she doesn’t know his true identity. Can Lance win Cindy’s love? Or will he turn out to be the worst creep of them all?

All My Restless Life To Live by Dee DeTarsio

WINNER 2014 National Indie Excellence Award All My Restless Life to Live, “Charming, quirky and wildly entertaining . . .” a sparkling novel that laughs at the sadness of life. Life is a soap opera, especially for Elle Miller, who writes for one. (Ellen dropped the “n” in her name in hopes of finding a better ending for herself.) When her laptop crashes, she borrows her dead dad’s computer and gets way more than she bargained for. Elle unravels mysterious communications from his computer, as she tries to save her career at "I’d Rather Be Loved." With a storyline featuring a trip through Atlantis, she takes a trip to the Emmys, and finds herself in the middle of a romance between a real doctor and a hunk who just plays one on TV. Friends, family, and clues from “the other side” all help Elle figure out the difference between living the good life--and living a good life.