Disabled by a dog attack in her childhood, Beatrice Lockwood knows what it is like to become friends with loneliness. After years of hard work to cement herself into the small Yorkshire community of Impling, she has managed to create a meaningful, simple life with people who actually care about her. So when James Bancroft, an outsider, makes his disdain for her clear in front of everyone in town, she knows that keeping her distance is the only option. She cannot afford to lose the crucial support she has garnered. The only problem is that the damned man can't seem to stay away from her now. James Bancroft - stoic, chaste, and looking for nothing but peace - is not trying to make friends in Impling. Still, he had not intended to make enemies, either. After badmouthing a beloved pillar of the community at a dance, he knows he must make amends, and quickly. But the more he tries to make things right with the morbid Miss Lockwood, the more she pulls away. As his passion toward her grows, he finds himself unable to cope with his newfound feelings. After all, he knows quite well what it looks like when a man does not control himself. Vibes: Foggy moors, folklore, small rural community Tropes: *Overheard *Grovel *Cynical hero Trigger Warnings: Scenes of domestic violence, scenes of dog attacks, scenes of animal slaughtering/death *Though this book is set in the same universe as the Gentleman's Proposal series, it is largely unrelated to the other books. Therefore, I have chosen to list it as a standalone.*

Bread, grass, and rose. Plain, common, and uselessly fragile. The girl Solin was, who loved Aurik from the moment she met him, died when she heard his description of her. A new woman rose from the ashes. Two years later, Solin returns to the city of Tibalt, where the high society of the Kingdom of Aivieria gathers during the autumn, winter, and spring seasons. Widowed and carrying the knowledge that she will likely discover the mark of her mate within a year, Solin intends to use her last few months of freedom to enjoy herself before she settles down. The escort she chooses for her new, excitingly wild life? King Aurik, the man who ended her old one. And he's certainly not enjoying himself (ask Solin if she cares). It's about time the world was reminded that roses have thorns.

"𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒅. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒑𝒊𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒆 - 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒍 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉 𝒅𝒐 𝒖𝒔 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 - 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑰 𝒑𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓." What would you do if you found out your husband of eighteen years was having an affair? No, please. Don't answer now. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬. Eighteen years, not eighteen days. We have a history. A family. There's a long road between suspicion, footprints left in the sand, and the absolutely devastating truth that life as you know it has ended. I saw it all coming. Felt it in my bones. Late nights at work. Sleeping at the office. I felt the distance - how his eyes couldn't hold my stare anymore. Secretive texts late at night. Lipstick stains where they didn't belong. Unfamiliar scents on a man who should always smell like him and me. 𝘏𝘪𝘮 & 𝘮𝘦. But when a third person enters your marriage... There's nothing left anymore. My name is Cecily, and this is the story of how my life was 𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘥 - and how I survived 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦.

He's a gorgeous model. She has severe acne scarring. It doesn't help when she hears him brutally disparage her looks. So she teaches him a verbal lesson in humanity. That should have been that. So why won't he stop calling her?

Esme Things can become clear in a second. When I found Tanner in his office with that woman, so many things became obvious. Tanner's always held himself back from me, but now, secrets and lies come tumbling out into the light. He's never loved me and he never will. I'm no longer willing to be a placeholder in his life, and I have to end our marriage. Tanner I'd been married for four years to someone I didn't believe I loved because I thought I still loved another woman. A woman I had to give up when I chose to marry my wife after I got her pregnant. Now, the other woman's back, she's divorced and is telling me it's our time to be together. Just as soon as I divorce my wife, who's pregnant with our second child. The allure of the past was impossible to resist, so I gave in, met her at my office and my wife found us just...after. So many things became clear to me even before I looked into my wife's devastated eyes. What had I done? I knew what I'd done, and now I had to prove to my wife that she's the one I want.

Ginevra Di Paolo was betrayed by her husband, Lucio Feroce, on their wedding night, so she disappeared. For five years. Now, he's found her and he's back to claim her. He was expecting a sweet, submissive wife. Instead, he got...Janie.

On the morning of her 21st birthday, Neera awakens to find her mate brand marks her as the Destined One for none other than the Alpha of her pack. She is the Alpha's Howl. Night, however, wants his girlfriend of three years and publicly rejects Neera in a brutal, horrifying manner. Neera leaves the pack, refusing to accept her lowered status and looking for a way to escape the pain of what Night did to her. When she returns to the pack lands, her world shifts, and Night suddenly finds himself having to win back his Howl. But a sinister threat forces Night to accelerate his timetable for winning Neera back. And that's when he does the unthinkable.