aprilbalko's Reading List
18 stories
One Paris Summer (Excerpt) by DeniseGroverSwank
DeniseGroverSwank
  • WpView
    Reads 40,614
  • WpVote
    Votes 1,919
  • WpPart
    Parts 3
Most teens dream of visiting the City of Lights, but it feels more like a nightmare for Sophie Brooks. She and her brother are sent to Paris to spend the summer with their father, who left home a year ago without any explanation. As if his sudden abandonment weren't betrayal enough, upon arrival in Paris, the siblings learn that their father is about to remarry. And to make matters worse, they're expected to play nice with his soon-to-be wife and stepdaughter, Camille. Camille, agrees to show Sophie and her brother around Paris, but she quickly makes it clear that she will do everything in her power to make Sophie miserable. Sophie could deal with all the pain and humiliation if only she could practice piano. Her dream is to become a pianist, and she was supposed to spend the summer preparing for a scholarship competition. Even though her father moved to Paris to pursue his own dream, Sophie feels that he clearly doesn't support hers. His promise to provide her with a piano for practice goes unfulfilled. However, an unexpected and handsome new friend comes through in a big way to help Sophie both pursue her dream and learn what's most important in her heart.
HERE (On the Otherside Series, Book One) by DeniseGroverSwank
DeniseGroverSwank
  • WpView
    Reads 209,385
  • WpVote
    Votes 6,825
  • WpPart
    Parts 32
****If you'd like the published work as a whole, please visit my website (www.denisegroverswank.com) for purchase links.**** Sixteen year old Julia Phillips buries herself in guilt after killing her best friend Monica in a car accident. Julia awoke in the hospital with a broken leg, a new talent for drawing and false memories of the accident, in which she dies and Monica lives. The doctors attribute this to her head injury, but no one can explain how a bracelet engraved with her name ended up at the scene of the accident. A bracelet no one has ever seen before. Classmate Evan Whittaker paid Julia no attention before the accident, let alone after. Now suddenly he’s volunteering to tutor her and offering to drive her home. She can't ignore that his new obsession started after his two-day disappearance last week and that he wears a pendant she’s been drawing for months. When the police show up one night looking for Evan, he begs Julia to run with him, convincing her that Monica is still alive. Julia agrees to go, never guessing where he’s really from.
TWENTY-EIGHT AND A HALF WISHES (A ROSE GARDNER MYSTERY, BOOK 1) by DeniseGroverSwank
DeniseGroverSwank
  • WpView
    Reads 3,416,715
  • WpVote
    Votes 71,773
  • WpPart
    Parts 31
The first book of the USA Today Bestselling series! "Though much of the book is light-hearted and occasionally outright hilarious, the author sneaks in a few home truths along the way that will hit you where it counts, like how even someone’s best intentions can box you in." --Everybody Needs a Little Romance "This was one of those books that I kept telling myself one more page, then I need to put it down. Instead I found myself tearing through the book instead, needing to know the outcome." --Just Jump Book Reviews **** For Rose Gardner, working at the DMV on a Friday afternoon is bad even before she sees a vision of herself dead. She’s had plenty of visions, usually boring ones like someone’s toilet’s overflowed, but she’s never seen one of herself before. When her overbearing momma winds up murdered on her sofa instead, two things are certain: There isn't enough hydrogen peroxide in the state of Arkansas to get that stain out, and Rose is the prime suspect. Rose realizes she’s wasted twenty-four years of living and makes a list on the back of a Wal-Mart receipt: twenty-eight things she wants to accomplish before her vision comes true. She’s well on her way with the help of her next door neighbor Joe, who has no trouble teaching Rose the rules of drinking, but won’t help with number fifteen-- do more with a man. Joe’s new to town, but it doesn’t take a vision for Rose to realize he’s got plenty secrets of his own. Somebody thinks Rose has something they want and they’ll do anything to get it. Her house is broken into, someone else she knows is murdered, and suddenly, dying a virgin in the Fenton County jail isn’t her biggest worry after all. ***** Winner of The Beacon – 2010 Unpublished Division, Mainstream Category "Thirty-Two and a Half Complications" releases on June 24, 2014.
Heart As Cold As Ice by lau_matthews
lau_matthews
  • WpView
    Reads 881,030
  • WpVote
    Votes 868
  • WpPart
    Parts 3
ON SALE DECEMBER 16TH ON AMAZON IN PAPERBACK AND EBOOK + AVAILABLE ON KINDLE UNLIMITED Book One in the Wilder Wolves college hockey sports romance series A year ago, Alondra Brown quit figuring skating, and since then, she's spent every day trying to piece back together the broken parts of the person she used to be. After an impulsive night out, Alondra finds herself caught in a lie, pretending to be the tutor for the charming stranger she kissed the night before, now realizing he's her father's star hockey player, Jack Schultz. Avoiding Jack becomes impossible once he begs for their lie to become a reality after admitting he needs her help to maintain his eligibility to play. Caught between resisting the pull toward the hockey captain, and the fear of being hurt again, Alondra's surprised to find out there's more to Jack than the front he wears as the playboy who doesn't believe in love. The lines of their unlikely friendship become blurred as Jack and Alondra struggle to fight their connection. No matter how much they try to deny it, the heart wants exactly what it shouldn't. highest ranking: #41 out of 2.2 million in love
What The End Looks Like | ✓ by lau_matthews
lau_matthews
  • WpView
    Reads 43,399
  • WpVote
    Votes 2,290
  • WpPart
    Parts 40
The final book (4) in the What A Lie Looks Like series! Dean Benson finally has everything he thinks he's ever wanted. The job, the relationship with his brother, his freedom from the family company. Everything until Lacey Edwards comes along, changing his life as he knows it.
What Deceit Looks Like | ✓ by lau_matthews
lau_matthews
  • WpView
    Reads 58,390
  • WpVote
    Votes 2,601
  • WpPart
    Parts 39
Cassidy Jane Edison. Las Vegas native. Con artist. Twenty-five. Ridiculously poor. Takes goods from people. Maddox Benson. New York native. Businessman. Twenty-seven. Ridiculously rich. Sees the good in people. They're from two different worlds but when they collide, literally, lies and wine are spilled, and they soon find that its much harder to take something back than it is to give it.
What A Secret Looks Like | ✓ by lau_matthews
lau_matthews
  • WpView
    Reads 101,500
  • WpVote
    Votes 4,037
  • WpPart
    Parts 31
Grayson Taylor. A lawyer that can't commit to anything more than a one night stand. But then there's the one night stand that changed his perspective. The only thing is that he never got her name. And the catch? She's his best friend's high school ex-girlfriend and totally off limits. Tessa Kaplan. A model that doesn't think she deserves a happily ever. But after resorting to a one night stand she might have met her match. The only thing is that she never got his name. And the catch? He's the best friend to her high school ex-boyfriend and totally off limits. Disclaimer: Can be read as a stand-alone but this is book two in the What A Lie Looks Like series! This story can be read on its own but to understand references to certain things you might want to check out the other one first! T/W: sexual assault
What A Lie Looks Like |  ✓ by lau_matthews
lau_matthews
  • WpView
    Reads 277,893
  • WpVote
    Votes 9,648
  • WpPart
    Parts 68
Sephine Montgomery. She moved to get away. Away from her past where she was someone else. But now she's different. Now she's nice. But that was before someone she never thought she would see again appears. And the one person that seems to hate Tessa more than she does is Hayes. Hayes Benson. He used to be nice. But that was before Tessa. After Tessa? He breaks girls' hearts to avoid breaking his own again. And now she's back. And the one person that seems to hate Tessa more than he does is Sephine. Book one in the What A Lie Looks Like series! This is a two part book! Part one focuses on the characters in high school and part two is them as adults seven years later! T/W: drugs and assault
Chasing After You by lau_matthews
lau_matthews
  • WpView
    Reads 1,448,923
  • WpVote
    Votes 1,618
  • WpPart
    Parts 3
*RELEASE DATE OF APRIL 26TH, 2025 ON AMAZON* Mirabelle I've accomplished a lot in twenty years. After becoming a decorated Olympian at the age of seventeen, I continued my streak of overachieving by graduating from my parents' alma mater, Duke University, a year early. I scored the public relations internship of a lifetime with an NFL team based on my own merits, and not because my father was their quarterback his entire career. The only thing I haven't accomplished is falling in love. Actually-that's technically not the truth. I fell in love with Henry Price, my parents' best friends' son, years ago. Never in a million years did I imagine I'd have a chance at making him see me the same way, but when the opportunity arises for me to help Henry fix the PR disaster threatening to ruin his career by pretending to be his girlfriend, I dive in head first. Except, I forgot love can make you blind, and I didn't realize we were drowning until it was too late. Henry From the time I learned to throw a football, I knew I wanted to be the starting quarterback for the Panthers. I spent most of my rookie contract learning from my parents' best friend, the legendary Sebastian Walker, knowing I would spend my entire career trying to be half the player he was. I never imagined it would almost slip through my fingers, or that the lifeline to keeping it would come from his daughter, Mirabelle. I've known her my entire life, and because of that, I've never allowed myself to look at her the way I'm now being forced to as she helps me save my career by pretending to be my girlfriend. I try to keep my intrusive thoughts in check, until Mirabelle confides in me why her ex-boyfriend broke up with her, and I selfishly offer to help her become more confident in the bedroom. My entire life, I've viewed love as conditional, but Mirabelle Walker makes me want more for myself, until I'm reminded that love is as unpredictable as the ocean.
LITTLE BIT STRONGER | A COUNTRY ROMANCE by ShayneMcClendon
ShayneMcClendon
  • WpView
    Reads 98,829
  • WpVote
    Votes 5,595
  • WpPart
    Parts 35
This book was formerly known as "Let It Rain" - the original working title. It didn't fit after it was edited. "Little Bit Stronger" can now be purchased in its final form on Amazon. Kate Deltona used to be a woman with spark and passion. She's let a lot go over the years in the name of keeping the peace but she isn't about to let her cheating spouse get away with his nonsense for another minute. She confronts her husband with the indisputable facts and moves the hell on with her life. She accepts her future as a single mom, busy nurse, and member of an awesome family - plenty of reasons to count her blessings. Then that silly bitch Fate puts Josh Hennecart in her way. A rancher determined to sweep her off her feet, Josh ticks all the boxes on the list Kate never even had with the men who came before him. The longer he courts her with old-school charm, the more she wonders about giving him a heart that's been bruised...but still beats. There's nothing like a patient man on a mission. Enjoy this sweet (and spicy) country romance by Always the Good Girl, Shayne McClendon.