Darker Water by Lauren Stewart
Some fairytales begin with a kiss…
After another painful breakup, Laney Temple finally understands love is a fairytale and sex rarely comes with a happy ending. She’s too busy for it right now anyway—she has a business to run, art to create, and candy to crush. Sure, eventually she’ll be ready to switch from her plastic-and-silicon lover to a flesh-and-blood one. But before that happens, she has to be sure she won’t feel any of those annoying emotions that make her heart do things it wasn’t meant to do…
Like break
Carson Bennett is completely upfront about what he wants, and it has nothing to do with Laney’s heart. Her lips? Hell yeah. Other parts of her body? You better f*cking believe it. But her heart? Nope, not even a little. Until it does…a lot. But having feelings for someone isn’t allowed. It’s the kind of thing you’re supposed to push down deep and cover up with one-night stands, sarcasm, and booze…
Like secrets
Two people want the same thing—a commitment to nothing more than great sex in a bunch of different positions. Simple. Enjoyable. A win-win. Problem is, those two people have families and fears and pain that spill into every moment of their lives, control what they do and who they are. And if either Carson or Laney can’t free themselves from the past, they’ll both be pulled under by it.
Find more from this author on:
Amazon
Barnes&Noble
Author Site
Facebook
TwitterAbout the author:
Lauren Stewart grew up reading Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, James Clavell, Piers Anthony, and Agatha Christie, which explains why she can't seem to stick to one genre at a time. She loves emoticons and hates when people speak in the third person, so…
I got to the more romantic stuff pretty late, but paranormal romance was what changed me from an obsessed reader into an obsessed reader AND writer. I think my writing style comes from a mash-up of all my early favorites and my new ones, women like JR Ward, Karen Marie Moning, Nalini Singh, Charlaine Harris, and Janet Evanovich. Wow, how much would you pay to be invited to that dinner party?
I want to make people think, cry, and giggle, not necessarily all at the same time (although it's great when it happens). In every one of my books, you'll find elements of other genres – fantasy, mystery, romance, paranormal, suspense, YA, women's literature, all with a touch of humor.
Because what doesn't kill us should make us laugh.
What inspired you to write your book?
This whole series began on a dare–that I wouldn't be able to write a standalone novel that ended in a happy ending (until then, I'd always written series where one couple takesa few novels to reach their happy ending).
What can I say? Definitely not that I can pass up a challenge because I can't. And so, I wrote Darker Water.
Darker Water is a twist on The Frog Prince, with the heroine believing she has the metaphorical power to turn good men–princes–into a**holes–frogs. Because all the men she's fallen for had seemed perfect right up until she found out they were total pricks. So what does she need to make her believe in love again? A frog, of course. An a**hole who, because of her love, finally shows us that he's been an amazing man all along.
The fairytale at the beginning of that book (and for the next five books) came to me as soon as I started typing. It just flowed and set up the entire framework for the story. The second part of Laney and Carson's fairytale, at the end, encapsulates what they've learned and where they're headed.
All the books in my Once and Forever series will take a theme from a different fairytale and then quickly go in another direction. And it ain't towards Disneyland, folks. Because without darkness, we can't see the light.
VIRTUALLY IMPOSSIBLE, a twist on sleeping beauty, and DEEPER WATER, Carson and Laney's after happily-ever-after, are available now!
Related products
-
His Wicked Games by Ember Casey
Lily Frazer would do anything to save the Frazer Center for the Arts–even take on the infamous billionaire Calder Cunningham. When Lily breaks onto the Cunningham estate, she only wants to find and reason with Calder. (All right, all right, she wants to punch him in the face, too, but that's Plan B.) As it turns out, the arrogant billionaire is willing to give her the money he promised, but there's a catch: she must win it from him.
And the games he has in mind aren't exactly… innocent.
Lily isn't about to give up the money without a fight (or let some haughty bastard seduce her), but she quickly discovers that there might be more to the brooding Calder than she initially perceived. As their games of cat and mouse become increasingly intense, she suddenly finds herself confused by her own emotions. Can she deny her attraction long enough to win the money she needs?
A contemporary, steamy take on Beauty and the Beast, His Wicked Games is a tale of devilish deeds, wild passions, and wicked romance.
-
Love Me by Margaret Watson
When Helen Brody needed her office repaired, she never expected that the contractor would be Jamie Evans, the man with whom she shared an unforgettable night a year earlier. Jamie hasn’t forgotten Helen, either, and now that he’s found her, he’s determined not to let her get away again.
Helen can’t get involved with Jamie, because he wants something she can’t give him, but she can’t deny the explosive, out of control attraction between them. As they try to work through their feelings, they find that the hit and run driver who destroyed Helen’s office has more plans for her. Will they have only a handful of nights together, or will they have the chance to build something lasting?
Love Me is the first book in the Donovan Family series. Watch Me and Find Me are also available.
-
On the Brink (Vol. 1) by Erika Rhys
On the Brink (Vol. 1) is the first volume of a three-part romance. It tells the story of two individuals, Juliana and Craig, from very different worlds, who unexpectedly meet and fall in love. But their relationship faces many challenges—both internal and external. When Craig’s darkest secrets are exposed, and resonate with Juliana’s worst fears, how will they cope? Can their relationship survive?
-
Secondhand Romance by RoseAnn DeFranco
Annie O’Malley’s dream of owning a secondhand bookstore in tight-knit Audubon Springs is coming true. Still reeling from her parents’ sudden deaths, she believes that signs or messages can be found within the pages of books. She loves her job and has made plenty of friends but longs for the acceptance only love and a family can provide.
Tony Iuliano is there to fix the wiring in her shop. He doesn’t believe in fate, magic, or the power of a good book. All this combined with his sexy-as-sin presence and all-knowing attitude infuriates Annie. The quirky bookworm intrigues him enough to accept her bet to read a book from her shop. When he discovers a stack of fifty-year-old love letters in the book, he wants to leave the past alone, but seeing it as a sign, Annie challenges him to read the letters and search for the long-lost lovers or lose the bet.
While shaking the dust off several ill-fated romances and fighting their attraction at every turn, the pair soon become the town gossip daily special. If they can stop arguing long enough, they may just discover this particular sign was meant for them all along.
-
My Pace or Yours? by Maggie Maloney
What happens when an over-the-top, flat-out, chronically rushed career woman hires the world’s slowest carpenter to complete her late father’s half-built B&B before she loses it to the mob?
Type-A workaholic Beth Turner sure has her hands full: An eighty-hours-a-week real estate career … “The Yesteryear,” an unfinished inn left to her by her dad … a loan-shark waiting to snatch away the extremely valuable property if Beth misses the almost impossible completion deadline … and now: Sean Campbell.
Brilliant. Charming. A carpenter of legendary renown, Sean Campbell has no trouble convincing Beth that he’s the man for the job … except for the irritating fact that he is quite possibly the slowest-moving human on the face of the earth. Now add in some sultry summer heat, lust, and romance to mess things up and slow things down. Top it all off with a string of sabotage, courtesy of the murderous loan-shark, for which Beth blames Sean, and there goes the romance. And, barring miracles, there goes The Yesteryear.
But Sean is full of miraculous surprises, including his desperate transformation into a warp-speed building machine. But can even miracles overcome the loan-shark’s final piece of sabotage … one designed to put Beth out of his misery permanently?
“Hear this well, Beth Martin, “I don’t do rush jobs. Ever.”
Sean, in a construction-related argument with Beth.
“Hear this well, Beth Martin, “I don’t do rush jobs. Ever.”
Sean, in bed with Beth.
-
The Runaway Roommate by C.S. Mae
Casey Peters has a problem and that problem is the half-Korean hottie that moved in when her former roommate moved out.
Now her life has become like an episode from one of her favorite dramas, complete with: crazy exes, roommate shenanigans and confusing plot twists.
This story is a Naughty Niblet: the perfect amount of sexy to satisfy, but not make your hips big.
-
Love In Touch by Lucy May Lennox
Kassie has felt adrift ever since her dad died when she was in college. Now 24 and living in Seattle, she gets interested in learning sign language through her roommate, a sign language interpreter. One day at a Deaf community event, she sees a young man sitting off by himself. Kassie feels compelled to try signing to him–the fact that he’s strikingly handsome doesn’t hurt.
Jake has been deaf and blind since birth. His disability has cut him off from the world, but beneath his isolated exterior, is a smart, sweet guy with a dry sense of humor. Despite the odds, he’s highly educated, but at 26, he’s gotten stuck in a rut, with few friends and no clear career plans. Until a sweet-smelling girl introduces herself to him unexpectedly, and opens up a whole new world to him.
Jake is more intelligent, more genuine than anyone she has met before, and for the first time Kassie starts to feel like her life has some direction. But as their friendship deepens into something more, the difficulty in communicating with each other only grows, and it seems like everyone they know thinks their relationship won’t work. How can they come to a deeper understanding of each other, and a find a future together?
-
Ride Me Hard (A Biker Romance Serial) by Shari Slade
When a big scary biker shows up at Jimmy’s Diner fifteen minutes before the end of my shift–covered in tattoos and looking at me like I’m on the menu–I should flip the open sign to closed.
But I don’t.
I’m too used to doing what I’ve been told. Too used to working and struggling and surviving to do anything different. A closed sign wouldn’t stop him anyway. He’s here to collect a debt. And I’m the only one left to pay.
RIDE ME HARD is just the beginning. The wildly erotic journey continues with BREAK ME IN. These are short, hot reads, sure to leave you panting for more.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.