The Partition of Africa (The Bennett Series #1) by Olivia Folmar Ard
A good girl. A hunky professor. A jealous ex. What could possibly go wrong?
Hattie Greene was the typical quiet, nerdy good girl at HKCU…until she wasn’t. After a lapse in judgment and one vulnerable night spent with Samson Campbell, Ph.D., she’s gone from being teacher’s pet to professor’s mistress.
Caught between her feelings for Samson and the whispers of her conscience, Hattie moves through each day terrified that her mistake will cost her everything, and things aren’t looking good. Claire, her nosy roommate, has a built-in scandal detector, and her vindictive ex Cameron would love to bring her down. With her entire future on the line, Hattie must find a way to come out on the other side.
The Partition of Africa is a coming of age tale that features romance, intrigue, and just the right amount of drama. Author Olivia Folmar Ard is a huge fan of Gossip Girl, and that shines through in the first book of The Bennett Series. Download to embark on the thrilling, emotional journey today!
Description
Find more from this author on:
About the author:
Olivia currently lives in central Alabama with her husband, to whom she’s been wed since the age of twenty-two, and their cat, Buddy. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys watching quality television—The Office (US), Parks & Recreation, 30 Rock, and Friends are her favorites—and cooking without recipes. Along with working full-time at her alma mater and studying English at the graduate level, she is busy working on her next literary adventure.
What inspired you to write your book?
This may come as a surprise, but I’m not really a big fan of romance. I think—generally speaking, of course—romance novels tend to sugarcoat the truth, justify bad behavior, and encourage readers to foster unrealistic expectations. That being said, there’s still a part of me that longs to curl up with a good love story. My goal with both The Partition of Africa and The Marshall Plan was to craft stories with intriguing, well-rounded romance for people like me, who usually don’t care for the genre.
Here is a short sample from the book:
“Harriet Greene?”
Hattie glanced up at the sound of her name, but she stayed firmly rooted in the uncomfortable chair as if she’d been cemented into place. She averted her eyes so as not to attract the nurse’s attention and pretended, if only for a moment, that she had a different name. That she was someone else.
She eyed the person closest to her, a slight girl with long, thick black hair that overwhelmed her small frame. She also nervously fidgeted with her purse, also avoided eye contact with the others in the room. Hattie wondered why the girl was there, if whatever problem had brought her inside the building was something she would be willing to take on in exchange for her own troubles.
The nurse called her name again, the monotone of her voice fading into the white noise of the unfamiliar room, and Hattie ignored her again, even though she knew she should rise and follow. After all, that’s what the receptionist had instructed her to do an hour ago when she arrived and wrote her name on the sign-in sheet marked “Walk-Ins.” When your name was called, you were supposed to rise and follow. That was how the system worked. That was the rule. And if there was one thing people knew about Hattie, it was that she unfailingly followed the rules.
But was that still true? She glanced around the room and took in the dull gray plastic chairs and their occupants, the mottled blue carpet, the dusty magazines.
No, she thought as she bent to pick up a well-worn copy of a housekeeping magazine with an array of Christmas-themed cupcakes on the cover. No, she could no longer claim to be that girl, the person she had sacrificed so much to become. If she were half as studious and obedient as everyone—herself included—had believed, she would be at the library right now, putting finishing touches on her final paper for British lit, not sitting in this cold, unwelcoming room pretending not to hear her name being called.
Her term paper. She flushed. Of all the characters she could have chosen to write on, she’d picked Tess Durbeyfield. She allowed herself a grim smile at the irony. It would be funny, really, if it weren’t so completely horrifying.
“Excuse me, is there a Harriet Greene here?”
Hattie peeked over the top of her magazine. The nurse looked oddly familiar, although Hattie couldn’t place where she’d seen her before. The woman wore bright purple scrubs and had whitish blonde hair, which was knotted in a messy pile on the top of her head. She tapped a file folder against her leg and pursed her lips. She did not look like the sort of woman who was accustomed to being ignored.
“Harriet Greene?”
Hattie sighed and reached for her purse. She had stalled long enough. It was time to face the music.
This was not the life she was supposed to have. For as long as she could remember, she’d had a set list of accomplishments, all arranged in an order she had determined through hours of careful planning and research. She’d had a timetable, crafted spreadsheets, made a plan. And this place—this awful, sterile room filled with rough-cut plastic furniture and miserable people—was decidedly not part of that plan, but here she was nonetheless.
Hattie wanted nothing more than to deny the situation unfolding around her, but she knew she no longer had that option. She felt like a spectator of her own life, helpless and ignorant of what was about to happen, without a shred of comfort to which she could cling.
“Did she leave, do you think?” the nurse asked the receptionist. She glanced at the clock and narrowed her eyes.
Hattie tucked her purse under her arm and stood. She tried to ignore the queasiness that swam up her body and engulfed her head. She barely managed to suppress the sudden urge to vomit. She swallowed, forcing the bile back down, and stepped forward.
“Sorry, I was distracted,” she said as she neared the nurse. “I’m Harriet Greene.”
“Finally,” the nurse said as she looked Hattie up and down. “Come on, follow me.”
As the nurse turned on her heel, her ID card fell from the clasp on her hip and landed on the floor. She didn’t seem to notice it had fallen, so Hattie bent down to retrieve it for her.
“You dropped your ID,” she said. She turned the card over out of habit and saw the name printed under the washed out photograph as the nurse took the card from her.
Hattie’s head spun. She knew this woman; she hadn’t been wrong. For a moment she was afraid she would lose control and vomit right there on the waiting room floor. Out of instinct her hand slipped inside her purse and she fumbled around in search of the familiar plastic bottle before she stopped short. That was no longer a choice she could make.
She clenched her hands into tight fists. She would remain calm.
She had no other option.
Related products
-
Click: An Online Love Story by Lisa Becker
Click: An Online Love Story – Fast approaching her 30th birthday and finding herself not married, not dating, and without even a prospect or a house full of cats, Renee Greene, the heroine of Click: An Online Love Story, reluctantly joins her best guy pal on a journey to find love online in Los Angeles. The story unfolds through a series of emails between Renee and her best friends (anal-compulsive Mark, the overly-judgmental Ashley and the over-sexed Shelley) as well as the gentlemen suitors she meets online. From the guy who starts every story with “My buddies and I were out drinking one night,” to the egotistical “B”celebrity looking for someone to stroke his ego, Renee endures her share of hilarious and heinous cyber dates. Fraught with BCC’s, FWD’s and inadvertent Reply to All’s, readers will root for Renee to “click” with the right man.
Top 100 Reasons to Love: 12 Book Boxed Set of the Most Popular Best Selling Shifter, Billionaire, Rock Star & Bad Boy Romances by Julia Kent, Aubrey Rose, Cerys du Lys, Adriana Hunter, Eve Langlais, Emma South, Marina Maddix, Deanna Roy, Dez Burke, Krista Lakes, Marian Tee, Michelle Fox
“Her First Billionaire & Her Second Billionaire by Julia Kent — Two secret billionaires. One curvy woman. Zero reasons to choose.
Me, Cinderella? by Aubrey Rose — A sweet BBW new adult Cinderella story with just a touch of spice.
The Billionaire’s Ultimatum: His Absolute Need by Cerys du Lys — Falling in love wasn’t supposed to be a part of Jessika’s temporary job description.
Taming the Alpha by Adriana Hunter — A contemporary BBW shifter romance.
Two’s a Couple, Three’s the Law by Eve Langlais — Bad boy werewolf or suave vampire? Why choose when the law demands she take on two?
Remember Our Song by Emma South — Can the lightning of true love strike twice after amnesia tears the perfect couple apart?
Laid Bear by Marina Maddix– Can true love survive when worlds collide?
Forever Innocent by Deanna Roy — Torn apart by tragedy. Reunited by chance. A love to never let go.
First Moon by Michelle Fox — A curvy beauty feels the bite of the wolf and heeds the call of the wild.
The Rockstar I’ve Loved for So Long by Marian Tee — A new adult billionaire rock star romance.
Skin Deep by Dez Burke — A scarred race car driver. A beauty afraid to take a chance. Can their love overcome?
Champagne Kisses by Krista Lakes — A contemporary romance with lost love & second chances.”
Box Set: Shades of Pleasure (Five book bundle) by Tawny taylor
Dominant billionaires. Secrets and blackmail. Fantasies come true. Shades of Pleasure brings you five books from New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author Tawny Taylor. This decadent five book bundle of novellas contains: What He Wants, At His Mercy, Pleasing Him, Ties that Bind and Enslaved by Sin–a total of over 90,000 words. If purchased separately, these books would cost over $12.00.
What He Wants (My Alpha Billionaire, 1)
Billionaire Shane Trant is used to getting what he wants. What he can’t buy, he takes. When he sees Bristol Deatrich, he knows he wants her. But there’s a problem. Only complete possession of her mind and body will satisfy him…
At His Mercy
Sometimes freedom can only be gained through captivity…
Elena Caine has secrets. The kind that could devastate her life if they’re revealed. And now a selfish bastard is dragging the skeletons out of her closet. She’s being blackmailed. There’s no way out–but to turn to the man Elena trusts least, the quietly seductive Dom Kyler Pierce.
Pleasing Him
Britt Olsen is shocked when the man who bought her house, the gorgeous Andre Cruz-Romero, shows up at her front door a week after closing. Now Britt has her chance to get to know the enigmatic man who has inspired a fantasy or two, or more. But she is both shocked and thrilled to learn about Andre’s extreme erotic tastes…
Ties that Bind
Illusion. A word shaded with nuance, making the men who practice it–the masters–enigmas. Particularly when they magically materialize from the shadows of a woman’s past.
It’s been fifteen years. No longer the tormented young men Blair knew and loved so long ago, Damon and Trey still know how to touch her heart, how to draw out her secrets, and how to bring her to the edge of ecstasy. Blair has two weeks to unravel the ties that have bound the three of them together. Two weeks to solve the mysteries veiled by her seductive masters’ illusions. And two weeks to surrender to the smoldering desires burning in her body as she submits to their darkest demands.
Some ties can never be severed.
Enslaved by Sin
Over two hundred years ago, the Master of Sin welcomed guests to Castle Greh, inviting them to taste decadent carnal pleasures every night. Now, some claimed the castle was haunted by the dark prince and his many lovers. She was about to learn the truth…
SEDUCTIVE SUPERNATURALS: 12 Tales of Shapeshifters, Vampires & Sexy Spirits by Erin Quinn, Caridad Pineiro, Erin Kellison, Lisa Kessler, Chris Marie Green, Mary Leo, Maureen Child, Cassi Carver, Janet Wellington, Theresa Meyers, Sheri Whitefeather, Elisabeth Staab
Bad boys, tortured alpha heroes, and kick-ass heroines all come together in 12 steamy full-length paranormal romance novels and novellas from NY Times, USA Today, and national bestselling authors! Whether you’re looking for tantalizing dark tales or the humorous side of the supernatural, you’ll get werewolves, vampires, fallen angels, monster hunters, and ghosts—every one of them a hot temptation you won’t be able to resist…
DIABLO SPRINGS by Erin Quinn: Gracie Beck vowed that she would never to return to Diablo Springs, but the haunted town lures her back—along with the man who betrayed her years ago. Reilly broke her heart with his lies. Now, he wants a second chance to win her, but can they survive the ghosts of Diablo Springs?
VAMPIRE REBORN by Caridad Pineiro: Would you be reborn for love? Ryder Latimer, sexy Southern vampire, will have to make one of the most difficult choices in his undead life: Become human again or protect his new wife and child.
SHADOW FALL by Erin Kellison: Just discovering her magic, ballerina Annabella Ames didn’t mean to summon a dark wolf from Twilight, nor the tempting fallen angel Custo Santovari, who has no place in Heaven. The cunning wolf stalks them relentlessly, and danger seduces as they fight for redemption and love.
NIGHT ANGEL by Lisa Kessler: When Colin Flynn returns home to Ireland, the immortal Night Walker’s flesh has healed, but the scars hide a broken spirit. Juliana Duffy plays piano in spite of her deafness, challenging him to redefine himself and find the strength to battle an ancient enemy.
SHADOWS TILL SUNRISE by Chris Marie Green: Two monster hunters fighting a star-crossed attraction and one bloodthirsty phantom leaving a trail of death… Can love survive till the sun rises?
A SHADOW AT TWILIGHT by Mary Leo: They say Hotel Colorado is haunted, but when Dillon Spencer appears in his hotel room to find Hilly Thompson, his assistant, soaking in the tub, he begins to question whether or not he’s alive, dead, or caught in another dimension.
MORE THAN FIENDS by Maureen Child: At 32, Cassidy Burke discovers she’s a legendary Demon Duster. But she’s got bigger problems than some pesky demons. Like, Logan Miller–first love, baby daddy to her genius daughter is back. Then there’s Devlin Cole, a walking orgasm with too many secrets. Cassidy’s life is out of control and about to get way too interesting.
IMMORTAL POSSESSION by Cassi Carver: When Dr. Evelyn Vale is paired with Immortal Bounty’s sexy commander to go undercover and infiltrate a supernatural body-trafficking ring, she’s eager to get to work. Until she learns the catch… To crack this case, he’ll need to possess her body.
FOREVER ROSE by Janet Wellington: Tarot cards predict a dangerous journey for Taylor Rose, but she doesn’t expect to travel back to 1888 San Diego. What the cards didn’t predict was falling for a man bent on revenge, a helpful ghost, and spooky séances. Is she there to prevent a murder or to find love?
WELCOME HOME, VAMPIRE by Theresa Meyers: Corporal Cole Wagner lost his humanity in war – literally. Turned into a vampire by the military’s Vector Force, he’s the ultimate weapon, but when he returns home to set the past right, will the enemy stop at nothing to get him, including threatening the life of the woman he loved, and lost, before?
VAMPIRE MAGIC (Blood Genie, books 1 and 2) by Sheri Whitefeather: Two tenderly romantic, wildly erotic stories featuring supernatural hybrids (vampires/genies) who grant wishes for the exchange of blood.
WILD NIGHTS WITH A LONE WOLF by Elisabeth Staab: A mandatory vacation lands Agent Sherri Walker in bed with a local werewolf. Asher Hughes walked away from his outlaw pack but couldn’t ditch the bad blood. Together they’ll have to pull off one hell of an act to get out of treacherous territory alive.
Killer Romances: 10 Dark, Deadly & Delicious Suspense Novels by Dana Delamar, Tallulah Grace, Sandy Loyd, Kristine Mason, Dale Mayer, Nina Pierce, Chantel Rhondeau, K.T. Roberts, H.D. Thomson, and Susan Vaughan
Ten of today’s hottest romantic suspense authors have joined forces to bring you an amazing boxed set of ten full-length novels–all for one low price! Romance, mystery, and thrills abound in these dark, deadly, and delicious tales of lethally sexy heroes and the women who bring them to their knees. Love bad boys? We’ve got ’em. Love good guys? We’ve got them too! There’s something for everyone who picks up this red-hot bundle. Ready to dive in?
Books included:
Dana Delamar ~ REVENGE (Blood and Honor, #1)
Amazon Bestselling Author Tallulah Grace ~ Cliffs of Starsdale
Bestselling Author Sandy Loyd ~ Deadly Misconceptions
Kristine Mason ~ Shadow of Perception (Book 2 CORE Shadow Trilogy)
USA Today Bestselling Author Dale Mayer ~ Haunted by Death (By Death Series Book 2)
USA Today Bestselling Author Nina Pierce ~ Blind Her With Bliss, Book 1 of the Dangerous Affairs Series
Chantel Rhondeau ~ Love & Deception (Agents in Love – Book 1)
Amazon Bestselling Author K.T. Roberts ~ The Last Witness
Award-winning Author H.D. Thomson ~ Shrouded in Darkness – Book 1
Award-winning Author Susan Vaughan ~ Primal Obsession
Those Necessary Thorns Desiree Elizabeth Taylor by Sabrina Childress
Desiree’ Elizabeth Taylor (Desi) is a sexy, smart, and no-nonsense kind of woman. Some would say she is wholesome — while others would gladly call her a bitch.
After years of living the life of the perfect, wife, friend and business savvy know-it-all, Desi had a secret that would destroy everything she’d worked so hard to achieve.
The cast of characters in her life are starting to unravel and Desi is losing control fast! Her marriage is on the rocks and her best friend is turning into a spiteful enemy.
What happens when Desiree decides its better to ask forgiveness than to ask permission?
{Adult themes} {Explicit Content}
Finding Alice by Stephane Morris
Romantic, sensual and enlightening.
This novel creates a new genre by taking a refreshingly different angle to other romantic novels. A love affair leads to a journey of self-discovery that is both thought provoking and enlightening.
John Mason is a successful businessman. A beautiful free spirited woman brings out passions John never knew existed, with consequences he could never have imagined. What unresolved inner conflicts from his youth does the love affair expose? Can he overcome them? If he does where will that leave him? The outcome is unpredictable.
A life-changing journey that is both fascinating and confronting.
Literally, a page-turner that starts slowly but will ultimately grip you and hold you to the end.
For mature readers.
Fourteen Shades of F*cked Up: an Anthology by ML Rodriguez
Fourteen authors have brought you stories of pain and love.
Struggle and dissonance.
PETITION DENIED by Alyson Hale
DARKNESS CONSUMED by Ariel Marie
EXCITABLE by Brittney Coon
CONSENSUAL by Cristina Slough
F*CKING ADDICTED by J.A. Kerr
FOREVER PROMISES by J.L. Baldwin
A STRANGE AND DISTANT SAFETY by Jennifer Loring
WICKED GAMES by Lilly James
AFFLICTION by Marie Skye
STORY OF US by ML Rodriguez
HER MISTAKE by N. Mills
MISS X by Quinn
KILLER DOM by S. Valentine
ANOTHER LAST GLANCE by Zack Halford
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.