Pacific Shores

Then: Leo Graham knows nothing new ever happens in the small town of Pacific Shores. That is, until he runs into his new neighbor. Golden haired, honey-eyed, and sharp-tongued, Darby Andrews. As Leo and Darby's budding friendship turns into a burning love that neither of them could've expected, Leo is determined to protect it at all costs. Until he finds the girl of his teenage dreams ran away in the middle of the night without so much as a goodbye. Now: Darby Andrews is Crestwell, Kansas's golden child. She's always been a rule follower, save for one secret summer spent living with her grandmother in California. Darby's always done what she was told, including agreeing to marry the man hand-picked by her demanding father. While perfect on paper, Darby knows what love is, and her engagement to Jackson Montague isn't it. When the boy whose heart she broke all those years ago shows up on the cusp of her nuptials claiming to have received a letter she never meant to send him, and an offer to run away, Darby's left with a choice: remain the good girl she's always been, or become the wild spirit she's always wished to be. Contains mature themes.

Her high school sweetheart wants another chance at love. Taysia Green nearly chokes on the water she's drinking when Officer Kylen Sumner steps into her office claiming he's back in town because he loves her. Since he's broken her heart more than once, and she recently started dating youth pastor Blaine Pittman, she wants absolutely nothing to do with Kylen. But he's been asked to stand in as the mediator between Taysia and wannabe model Sophia Clinesmith, who twisted her ankle in the parking lot of Taysia's business and is threatening a lawsuit. If she didn't need him to help save her gym, Taysia would tell Kylen to take a long midnight walk on a short cliffside trail. She's perfectly happy with her life just the way it is. So why is it that just the sight of Kylen Sumner sets her traitorous heart to dancing faster than it did the time Blaine kissed her?

When Dahlia Andrews uprooted her life in Kansas to start over in Pacific Shores, the last thing she expected was to become wrapped up in one night of wicked passion with a nameless local. Even less expected? Said stranger happens to be her new boss. And the son of her only friend in town. And her brother-in-law . . . in-law? Whatever Everett Ramos is to her, it's too complicated to be more than their one-night-stand. Dahlia has enough on her plate: a new job, familial turmoil, and raising her daughter alone. But when the chaos of her life begins to spill over, Everett may be the only person who can save her. Everett Ramos never cared about much beyond his family and his business . . . until a hurricane of storm-blue eyes and mile-long legs barreled into his best friend's bar and turned his entire life upside down. Dahlia Andrews is complicated and stubborn, with an iron cage built around her fragile heart. All it took was one night with her to leave him craving more. So when she comes to him for help keeping her toxic father at bay, he finds himself leaping at any excuse to get closer to her. While Dahlia insists their arrangement is all business, Everett can't deny their orbital pull. He's all in, but can she be convinced this wild love is worth the risk? Contains mature themes.

He rehabilitates delinquent boys. She runs a safe house for battered women. Neither has time for love. But sometimes love only needs a moment. One poor choice made the summer before Dakota Trask's senior year in high school, set in motion events that have haunted her ever since. But she's only now learning how far the consequences spread, and how many people have been impacted. Justus Teague has given the past eight years of his life to serving delinquent boys. For most of that time he would have unequivocally stated that his work made a difference and changed lives. But now one of his boys has altered all that. Justus is no longer sure his ministry matters. What he is sure of is the woman with soft blue eyes and a haunted soul who makes him feel alive and whole. The woman who makes him want to protect her with every fiber of his being. And for that very reason, the woman he can never have.

For Augustus Hayes, first love was instantaneous. From the moment he found her scaling a tree in his yard, plucking purple flowers from its branches, August knew his heart belonged to Elena Ramos. Elena had the exact same experience; about August's older brother, Zach, that is. Deciding he'd rather have her as a friend than nothing at all, August ferments himself in Elena's friend zone, unable to let go of the hope that someday, she'll choose him. Elena Ramos has always romanticized the world around her. Chalk it up to her writer's soul or her passion for romance novels, but she believes wholeheartedly in young love. At least, that's what she tells herself each time her on-again off-again relationship with Zach Hayes begins to feel more like a nightmare than a daydream. After nearly a decade, they call it quits for good, and her best friend steps in to fix her broken pieces. Just as Elena and August decide to transform their friendship into something more, an unimaginable tragedy strikes them both. Will a lifetime of falling in love be enough to hold them together when their entire world falls apart? Contains mature themes.

Elena Ramos had always set a clear path for her future. She knew exactly what she wanted out of life, and was determined to find the kind of happily ever after she loved to write about. Until the most devastating of tragedies turned her entire world on its axis. Plagued with irreparable pain and guilt, the finality of this heartbreak feels impossible to recover from, sending Elena into a dark spiral she doesn't know how to escape. Augustus Hayes considered himself a dreamer. Meaning, he forced himself into the contentment of dreaming up a reality that'd never be his. That is, until a door leading to the love affair of a lifetime opened, and he found himself grasping for the handle. But when the worst possible consequences for his choices came crashing down around him, he lost sight of everything he'd ever known. There is only one person who can pull August and Elena from their respective depths of despair, but are their wounds too deep, and their secrets too dark for either of them to find the courage to be the other's light? Contains mature themes.