Dorky Duet

Awkwardland. It's where I live. And I'm the president, mayor, and sole citizen. Reese Jackson is living her safest life. This polymath is tired of trying to fit in with a small town that never knows what to do with her. Her absentee family may have forced her into dorm life for her own good, but she goes from her classes to her room and back-no parties, no dates, and no drawing attention. Until one noisy night, when Reese gets kicked out of her dorm. Fitz Moreland is living his okayest life. He's on his own to pay for college, but he's scraping by with an athletic scholarship and free rent with a friend. If he can keep it together, he's on track to graduate with a useful degree, especially now that he's finally said goodbye to his drama-loving ex-girlfriend. Until one night, when she gets him kicked out of his house. What happens when there's one single room left for rent in the entire town and two people who desperately need it? A merrymaking, money-seeking landlord arrives and throws them into a series of ridorkulous challenges to compete for it, of course. It's the dorky duckling versus the BMOC. The winner will get a place to live-but the loser may just forfeit their heart.

She needs a story. He's trying to escape one. Annabel Moreland can't leave podunk Blue Falls, Texas, until her little brother graduates. But she's about to lose the job she needs to support him like she promised, they'll end up homeless wretches, and it will be all her fault. Worse, she can't swing a cat in this town without hitting someone she would rather forget. Unfortunately, the answer to this litany of problems comes in the form of an unforgettable, dead sexy, cat-loving, shenanigan-directing trickster named Jude Parker. He's got enough secrets to fill the Mississippi and she's on a mission to fish out every single one. She just needs to do it without falling into his bed . . . again.

The plan is simple: stay in Blue Falls, Texas, for a few months to lick my wounds, search for work, and save up money to move back to New York. Then breeze back into town with a great job and a new plan for my life, and show my ex and everyone else what I'm made of. Like the Punisher, but you know, without all the violence and eternal vengeance. So when a silent giant of a man known only as Beast asks me to help him with dating of all things, the simple plan gets a little complicated. Everyone else in this town might fail to notice the intense, talented man beneath the wordless Hulk exterior, but before long, I'm sucked into his quiet world. His washboard abs and Captain America–worthy smiles don't hurt, but it's his heart that makes it impossible to stay away. He's sacrificed his dreams to care for those closest to him. Yet my own dreams will push us apart if I can't find a way to change the script. I'm only a visitor in Blue Falls, and New York City is calling. If I'm ever going to be the superhero in my own story, I'll have to give up the one person who makes me see that I'm worth the effort. I'll have to give up my heart... unless I can convince Beast to leave his own behind.