Fresh off her freshman year of college, Emelina De Sota returns home for the summer. Normally coming home wouldn't be a problem but skeletons quickly start coming out of the closet faster than Em can shove them back in. It doesn't help matters when her overprotective big brother is the boss of the local Spanish Thorns. He puts her so far out of reach that she's comfortable with it at first. But when temptation is placed just down the hall from her, Em finds slipping back into old habits is easier than she originally thought. As her world rapidly starts to turn upside down, will Em choose to risk everything for a chance at the possibility of real love or will she stick with her guns and stay with her family, with what's safe? Book One in the Spanish Thorns Series ~ * ~ This story has a little bit of everything including the following in no particular order: romance, action, drug use, Adele, alcohol consumption, sex scenes, food, death threats, gang violence, street racing, bathroom breaks, medical problems, blood, singular point of view, kissing, cussing, guns, orange juice, and tattoos. This story is rated R. I struggled with this for a while, considering rating it PG-13 and placing the rather "graphic" scenes in a separate book but I believe it would take away from the story. My characters are considered adults in the eyes of the law and society and therefore do 'adult' things. For the most part, the story will be PG-13 but because I wouldn't split it, it's earned an R rating. Hope you understand.

Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth. Phoenix Knight is one of the last remaining guardians in Braskey. Born to keep peace and defend the weak, Phoenix has spent her sixteen years hidden away with an adoptive family that is nowhere near as simple as it seems. Hiding away has her itching to embrace her true identity as a guardian, but when tragedy strikes, she'll be forced down a path she never thought to take. Armed with her wit and a heart full of hope, Phoenix will set out to change everything: from the lowest serving girl right up to the king who sits on the throne. Before she can face the king and his dark sorceress, Phoenix will have to get past a former friend and now her greatest enemy. The strongest leader ever to rise in the King's Army. Commander Eric Lee.

Seventeen-year-old April Parker's plan is simple: survive ten more months under her overbearing stepfather's roof, graduate, and get as far away from him as possible. It's the only thing that keeps her going and the reason his cruel expectations haven't broken her. The last thing she expects is to wake up inside an underground facility with dozens of other teenagers for company. Making allies doesn't come easily to her, thanks to her stepfather, and she's forced to hide the stigma of her upbringing to keep herself safe in this new world. But when the stronger teenagers fight for control over the facility, April is left with two choices: to remain the insecure person she's always been or to break free of Sam's chains and step forward as a leader-even if it means going up against the temperamental and compelling Marcus. As conditions within the facility become more stressful and the teenagers' resilience is put to the test, strange powers start to manifest. So do dangerous changes. And if their kidnappers' silence is anything to go by, no one is coming to save them.

Shawna Roberts is the girl that every guy turns to when they need a fake date, a fake girlfriend, a fake fling to make some other girl jealous, a fake couple photo to send to their parents... Shawna's pretty much seen it all. But no matter what they pay her for, everything she does has one common factor: it's all fake. That doesn't make being their paid girl much easier, though. Adam Ferrell is the campus heartthrob with the appearance of a god, an ego the size of Canada, and worshiped by everyone to monumentally ridiculous proportions. In Shawna's mind, it's a miracle his head fits through his shirt every morning. Yet despite their instant dislike for one another, Adam and Shawna each need what the other can offer. When Adam unexpectedly pushes into Shawna's life with a business deal, she's torn between her feelings and her sense of duty, which protects a secret she has kept for years, from even those closest to her. And as the two begrudgingly get to know each other, masks start slipping and secrets come spilling out, forcing each of them to confront some of their darkest moments and deepest fears.