A jilted, curvy accountant joins a gym on a journey of self-love. The last thing she plans for is to fall for her grumpy trainer. ***** Who needs men, anyway? Certainly not Joanna Lozano. The youngest of five and the only girl, she has learned at a young age the importance of survival in a man's world. It's what drives her to be a successful accountant in the corporate world of Chicago. When her boyfriend of six years unceremoniously dumps her--though her pride is wounded--she accepts the rejection as an opportunity to rediscover herself, starting with a reluctant agreement to join an eight-week fitness boot camp. Sage Kingston is a straightforward gym owner who appreciates and lives by the monotony of his life. His only goals are to provide and care for his young son after his divorce left him jaded. He doesn't have the time or patience to play games that come with dating or relationships. Who needs that headache, anyway? Yet, with a new season of boot camp at his gym underway, he's instantly attracted to the curvy and feisty participant, Joanna. However, his work is cut out for him since she's not easily charmed or swayed by his bulging biceps or six-pack abs. But even Joanna can't deny the mounting tension after each draining and sweaty training session. As they grow to know each other, so does their affection and both must deal with overcoming their hurt pasts and decide if unexpected love is worth the risk. ©2022 LJ Rae

(Book 2-Sequel to Found In Darkness) A crime boss' true identity threatens his new found love with the daughter of his enemy. **** Federico Di Maggio finds love in a place he never expects and now that he has it, he will stop at nothing to keep the daughter of his enemy, Elenora Borelli safe. But Elenora is no wallflower, knowing first hand the realities of life's harsh truths and is relentless in fighting for her happiness and the love she has with Rico. Their relationship is tested when his true identity is revealed, betrayals are made and secrets are exposed. Blood is thicker than water, but is their love thicker than blood? Content Advisory: Contains adult themes, violence and explicit sexual content. #1 in Contemporary Love © LJ Rae 2022

A crime boss struggles to carry out a vendetta after he falls for the spirited daughter of his enemy. ***** Twenty-two years after his parents were killed, Federico Di Maggio returns to New York with a simple plan: take down the man who betrayed his family. What he didn't plan on was Elenora Borelli, the enigmatic and fiery daughter of his enemy. Reeling from recent heartbreak, Elenora will stop at nothing to find her happiness. But when she finds herself pressured into an engagement with the dark and mysterious Federico, happiness may be the least of her problems. Hellbent on sabotaging the arrangement, Elenora defies Federico in ways no one else would ever dare. Too bad Federico's never been one to back down from a challenge. Especially one that calls to him in the most feral and passionate of ways. With unforeseen betrayals and new rivals, perhaps the real challenge Federico must face is deciding whether to fight his feelings for Elenora or give into them. But even if he chooses to end his long-standing vendetta against her father for mounting sparks between them, there's no guarantee she'll risk her heart on him. *Content Advisory: This story contains coarse language, scenes with violence and mature sexual content. (Word Count : 101,000-111,000) #1 Italian #1 Possessive #46 Family secrets #95 Passion ©2022 LJ RAE

'"Can you spread your legs a little farther for me, baby?" he asks me, his voice a low whisper. I nod, doing exactly as I'm told, and he bites down on his lower lip. "Good girl," he breathes, and those two words alone do the most wicked things to me. His fingers trail even farther north until he reaches the hem of my underwear. His eyes meet mine and I have to let out a shaky breath, holding on tight to him to keep myself stable. "Yes or no?" he asks me quietly, and I nod frantically.' 🌸🌸🌸 Lexi Brooks' love life was suddenly flipped upside down when she was kissed by Bryce Bradshaw the day before he mysteriously moved away. It left her heart in a twist, until her mind was trapped elsewhere when 'The Incident' occurred; quite possibly the hardest thing she'd ever go through. But Bryce always had it easy. He was the heartthrob, the bad boy, the perfect guy. He had the looks, the talent, and the charisma. Though to Lexi's surprise, on the rare occasion she could catch him out of the spotlight, she saw something else there. She could tell that he was a little distant. He could tell that she was a little different. The only crucial detail: He simply left without a word. 🌸🌸🌸 Highest Rankings: #1 in Drama #1 in Heartbreak #1 in YA 🌸🌸🌸 'Something There' Book #1

Peter Pan; or, the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up or Peter and Wendy is J. M. Barrie's most famous work, in the form of a 1904 play and a 1911 novel, respectively. Both versions tell the story of Peter Pan, a mischievous little boy who can fly, and his adventures on the island of Neverland with Wendy Darling and her brothers, the fairy Tinker Bell, the Lost Boys, the Indian princess Tiger Lily, and the pirate Captain Hook. The play and novel were inspired by Barrie's friendship with the Llewelyn Davies family. Barrie continued to revise the play for years after its debut; the novel reflects one version of the story.

Following the tremendous popular success of Jane Eyre, which earned her lifelong notoriety as a moral revolutionary, Charlotte Brontë vowed to write a sweeping social chronicle that focused on "something real and unromantic as Monday morning." Set in the industrializing England of the Napoleonic wars and Luddite revolts of 1811-12, Shirley (1849) is the story of two contrasting heroines. One is the shy Caroline Helstone, who is trapped in the oppressive atmosphere of a Yorkshire rectory and whose bare life symbolizes the plight of single women in the nineteenth century. The other is the vivacious Shirley Keeldar, who inherits a local estate and whose wealth liberates her from convention. A work that combines social commentary with the more private preoccupations of Jane Eyre, Shirley demonstrates the full range of Brontë's literary talent. "Shirley is a revolutionary novel," wrote Brontë biographer Lyndall Gordon. "Shirley follows Jane Eyre as a new exemplar but so much a forerunner of the feminist of the later twentieth century that it is hard to believe in her actual existence in 1811-12. She is a theoretic possibility: what a woman might be if she combined independence and means of her own with intellect. Charlotte Brontë imagined a new form of power, equal to that of men, in a confident young woman [whose] extraordinary freedom has accustomed her to think for herself....Shirley [is] Brontë's most feminist novel."

"I am only just returned to a sense of real wonder about me, for I have been reading Villette..." -George Eliot With neither friends nor family, Lucy Snowe sets sail from England to find employment in a girls' boarding school in the small town of Villette. There she struggles to retain her self-possession in the face of unruly pupils, an initially suspicious headmaster, and her own complex feelings, first for the school's English doctor and then for the dictatorial professor, Paul Emmanuel. Charlotte Brontë's last and most autobiographical novel is a powerfully moving study of isolation and the pain of unrequited love, narrated by a heroine determined to preserve an independent spirit in the face of adverse circumstances.

The heart-wrenching conclusion to the epic Brightest Stars trilogy from New York Times bestselling author Anna Todd Karina and Kael have been trying to make it work for as long as they've been together. The two broken souls have a lot of individual healing to do before they'll be able to find happiness anywhere, never mind with each other. As the world around them starts to crumble, Kael is consumed by the darkness of his PTSD, and Karina struggles to overcome her anxiety, which is at an all time high. Then someone from their past returns to invade their lives and wreak havoc on the fragile peace they've created. If they're going to have the future they dream of, they'll have to commit to fighting this battle together.

Anna Todd's Brightest Stars trilogy continues the contemporary love story of Karina, a young woman who "grew up military" and is living and working for the first time on her own, and Kael, a 21-year-old soldier now home after two deployments, profoundly scarred by his time in Afghanistan. THE BURNING picks up from the sudden and shocking disruption of Karina and Kael's developing romance at the ending of THE FALLING: their attraction to one another is undeniable, yet the trust they've placed in each other has been traumatically broken. To resolve what may be difficult, or impossible, to repair, Kael's closed off past (a past that unknowingly links him to Karina's family) must be opened and reconciled―demons and all. And Karina must decide whether loving someone she doesn't want to live without is worth the pain and risk of it all. The Burning will be published in 2023 <3 The final novel in the series, THE INFINITE LIGHT OF DUST, is coming soon.

The start of a new page-turning slow-burn romance trilogy from the best-selling author of After. Twenty-year old Karina is proud of the independent life she is trying to create for herself in Ft. Benning, Georgia. A dutiful officer's daughter, supportive sister to a troubled twin brother, and caring friend to her roommate, Elodie, she always puts the needs of others ahead of her own, and prides herself on being a fixer of broken things―whether it's the house she's just bought or the fragmented family she works hard to keep intact. Like anyone who has grown up around an army base, Karina also knows the background noise that follows men and women home from war. And when she meets Kael, a handsome soldier on the cusp of discharge, she's immediately intrigued by his brooding presence and enigmatic silence. As their uncertain and unexpected friendship starts to turn into something more, Karina tries to piece together Kael's story: he is emotionally closed off, recovering from wounds and other trauma in the aftermath of two tours in Afghanistan. In her practice as a physical therapist, Karina has a strong desire to help him heal, and though it challenges her many insecurities and anxieties, she has an equally strong desire to trust him. But that trust is fragile, like the preciousness of a soldier's life. It can be gone in an instant. Ultimately facing a crossroads, their relationship will be tested by the one thing that Karina cannot accept, forgive, or understand. Anna Todd's Brightest Stars trilogy continues with THE BURNING and THE INFINITE LIGHT OF DUST, coming soon.