Christina Lauren

Christina Lauren – Read Books Online Free Ebooks good best novels to read http://www.booksnovels.com Sun, 16 Aug 2026 18:12:41 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1.3 http://www.booksnovels.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/favicon.png Christina Lauren – Read Books Online Free Ebooks good best novels to read http://www.booksnovels.com 32 32 The Romance Revival Read Online Christina Lauren http://www.booksnovels.com/the-romance-revival-read-online-christina-lauren Sun, 16 Aug 2026 18:12:41 +0000 http://www.booksnovels.com/the-romance-revival-read-online-christina-lauren Genre: Alpha Male, Contemporary Authors: Christina Lauren Advertisement

Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 100561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)

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An unforgettable novel in which one fateful accident erases a troubled marriage from memory—and love gets one extraordinary do-over.

Three years ago, Emery Finch did something completely out of character: She got married. To Luca—the impossibly charming landscaper she met on one blistering night in Vegas who made her laugh, made her dance, made her feel.

But now, Emery is consumed by her top-secret job, missing dinners, forgetting anniversaries, and promising herself Luca will understand once her cutting-edge research comes to light. Until the unthinkable happens: A tragic accident takes Luca from her.

Desperate not to lose him, Emery breaks every rule to bring him back. And Luca would probably thank her for it, if only he could remember her. Their first kiss, their Sunny Sundays at the beach, the life they built together...all of it is gone.

It may be a miracle of science, but for Emery it’s her one shot at a second chance. And this time, she won’t waste it—because true love is always worth reviving

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

Prologue EMERY

On paper, we never made sense.

He’s always wanted a family; I never even planned to get married. He surfs and hikes, bikes and runs; I hate sand and sun, and run only if death is the alternative or procuring coffee requires it. He’s an extrovert and charms everyone he meets; I like dogs more than people. He’s always down to dance with every grandma, drunk bridesmaid, and adorable flower girl at a wedding; you could not forcibly peel me from the wall during the “Cha Cha Slide.” He works to live; I live to work.

But when I surprised everyone and took a long weekend to attend my cousin’s wedding in Las Vegas, all it took was hearing his laugh from across the banquet hall for everything I thought I knew about myself to change.

Our eyes met, and his smile faltered for just a breath before he turned to the heavily tattooed man he was talking to, said something, and then made his way across the room to me, his eyes locked on mine. When he was only a foot away, I registered how tall he was, how broad, how attractive.

Shit.

I wanted to find some visible flaw. I couldn’t.

Beneath my sternum, an anxious lever flickered desperately, begging the universe to let me not fuck it up. I’d never been good at meet-cutes; my best friend had long since stopped bothering to set me up on blind dates. The first time, I apparently turned the guy off by talking about botflies while he tried to eat his orzo. I pissed the next one off by correcting his use of “less” when he meant “fewer.” Then there was the guy who talked the entire meal about the mountain of supplements I should be taking—and could I use his referral code at checkout?—before asking about my gym routine. Joke’s on him: I don’t even know where the nearest gym is. The final nail in the blind-date coffin was the one that ended before we’d even ordered entrees. It started out fine, but then he mentioned his favorite book was American Psycho. I knew my time would be better spent back in the lab. For, like, forever.

So that’s what I did, and gave up on dating entirely. My job was the best partner I could ask for anyway.

But then I came to Vegas, heard a perfect laugh, and suddenly he was in front of me. My mind went blank. Standing this close to him—he was wearing a black suit, no tie, his white shirt unbuttoned at the neck and exposing a peek of smooth, tanned collarbone—I felt as though the universe somehow answered my wish. I was no longer the lab-rat book nerd I’d always known myself to be. I was the woman in the blue strapless sequined dress who’d actually put on makeup for the first time in weeks, who’d agreed to let someone else braid her usually ponytailed hair into a woven crown on top of her head, who’d had two glasses of wine and wanted nothing more than to give the rest of the night to this man standing only inches away.

I would think back to this moment later when we stood side by side on Torrey Pines Beach, fingers intertwined, and the waves broke over our shins, cleaning away our trailing footprints like we’d never stepped anywhere but right where we were planted. That first night, he made me feel like I’d been spawned into the world, at this wedding, solely for him to walk across the room to me.

“I’m Luca,” he said, voice deep and calm.

“Emery.”

He took my hand, his smile turning from polite and a little unsure to flirtatious and elated. “Hi, Emery,” he whispered.

My heart did a painful lurch. Hot and endearing. My absolute kryptonite. “Hi, Luca.”

Luca huffed out a nervous chuckle as he released my hand. Reaching up, he ran his fingers through his thick dark blond hair, and I tracked the movement, mesmerized. “I saw you looking over and, I don’t know. Wanted to come meet you.”

“Oh, I just looked over because I heard your laugh,” I said lamely.

“Yeah?”

“It cut through the room like a firecracker in a library.” I immediately wanted to suck the words back into my mouth, but Luca beamed like it was the greatest compliment he’d ever received.

“A firecracker in a library, huh?”

I nodded. “I mean, it’s a pretty great laugh.”

He tilted his head at me, smiling, and I could tell that he’d heard some approximation of this before, probably a million times. His was the kind of laugh that made everyone feel good.

“You have beautiful eyes,” he said, looking at each of them in turn, his gaze lingering on the bright spot of copper in my right one.

I swallowed. “Thank you.”

The song changed, from upbeat to slow, and he stood looking at me like he had nothing else in the world to do, and just when I was about to burst from the tension, from rummaging through the attic of my rom-com cortex, looking for one usable line, Luca calmly held out his hand to me. “Do you want to dance?”

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Accidentally Yours (The Improbable Meet-Cute #2) Read Online Christina Lauren http://www.booksnovels.com/accidentally-yours-the-improbable-meet-cute-2-read-online-christina-lauren Sun, 01 Feb 2026 09:24:13 +0000 http://www.booksnovels.com/accidentally-yours-the-improbable-meet-cute-2-read-online-christina-lauren Genre: Alpha Male, Contemporary, Novella Authors: Christina Lauren Series: The Improbable Meet-Cute Series by Christina Lauren
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Total pages in book: 18
Estimated words: 17220 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 86(@200wpm)___ 69(@250wpm)___ 57(@300wpm)

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Serendipity works wonders for a woman and her seemingly unattainable crush in a funny and flirty short story by Christina Lauren, New York Times bestselling author of The Unhoneymooners and My Favorite Half-Night Stand.

When marketing consultant Veronica accidentally crashes the wrong Zoom meeting and brutally critiques their presentation, she’s shocked to receive a job offer from the company’s intriguing CEO. Their professional email exchanges quickly turn flirty, but Veronica’s mind keeps drifting to her reserved but gorgeous new neighbor. As Valentine’s Day approaches, she’ll discover that sometimes the most improbable meet-cute can lead to the perfect match.

Christina Lauren’s Accidentally Yours is part of The Improbable Second Chances, stories for star-crossed lovers and hopeless romantics. They can be read or listened to in one sitting. Let’s do it again

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

January 14, 2026

iMessage

Veronica C.

Story time.

Clara C.

Yes!! I was just looking for an excuse to stop working.

So you know how I had that job interview today

Haven’t you already had like seven this week??

Well yes my adorable and fully employed sister, that’s how it goes in this market. Anyway, I had another one today, ostensibly for Chief Marketing Officer at BioLight

Is that like Bud Light, but by biologists, so it’s like actually good beer?

They use bioluminescence in their biochemical assays to determine ATP levels. But I like your answer better so let’s go with that.

You really did your research.

So, the interview is at 10am. Of course I’m at my desk ten minutes early, mouse hovering over the zoom link.

Such a Virgo.

And also very Virgo of me is to keep my camera off until everyone else has turned theirs on. I’m very glad I do this

Because

Somehow I ended up in a Zoom room with a bunch of tech bros, having a meeting in progress that I wasn’t actually invited to

So wait.

It wasn’t BioLight?

No, I have no idea what the company was

That’s freaking hilarious

It was a marketing meeting, and one of the bros was presenting

And when I say it was the worst slide deck I’d ever seen

I mean it was the worst, and that includes slides that Daniella made when I was babysitting her and she randomly opened PowerPoint on my laptop and started key smashing

lol I still feel guilty that my child broke so many keys on your laptop

Who uses the T and E and space keys? Come on.

Anyway, I listened to the presentation for a few minutes

Because in my head I’m like

These guys need marketing help

And there you were

There I was

Just an uninvited black box on the screen

Little did they know how much I could do for them

Alas, I remembered that I spent the last four years working with these same kinds of guys, saving them from their bad graphics and terrible pitches and watching them be promoted over me until, finally, I was let go with a paltry six-month severance

Preach it, sis

And I just got so mad suddenly that I gave so many ideas to the company and they took them, signed accounts, handed out bonuses to everyone at the level just above mine, and then let me go when I complained to HR that I was overdue for a promotion.

I’m just over here cheering out loud

Like screw these guys and their basic Keynote template slides and their recycled ideas!

I don’t think anyone noticed I’d joined, so I carefully changed my username from my email to just my initials and unmuted and told them their slides were absolute garbage, but about ten times more brutal, and then logged off.

My younger sister: my hero.

Chapter One

Veronica

Ihaven’t felt this good in weeks.

It’s pathetic, maybe, that it’s not because I have a job offer on the table—even better would be two offers I could pit against each other—but simply because I gave some tech bros a lashing and then peaced out. Whatever, I’m putting a tick in the win column anyway.

I’ve been carrying so much pent-up frustration and bitterness about the terrible years I spent at my previous job and how they then ended my four years of employment: in a flaccid HR meeting with a representative expressing all the concern of a bot reading a script, which concluded with me sighing a defeated, “Thanks for the mehpathy, Chad.” The resentment had been building and building, but after today’s Zoom mishap it’s just . . . evaporated.

My sister, Clara, says I could maybe have anticipated that a job with a marketing firm douchily named PitchSlapped would go south, but I swear it wasn’t terrible at first. I was spring green out of my MBA and was the dangerous combination of idealistic and buried beneath student loans when they offered me a marketing associate position. PitchSlapped came to me with a six-figure offer, including free lunches for all employees, a game room for break time, an in-house gym, company ski retreats to Vail, and five weeks’ vacation. No other job offer even came close.

They promoted me quickly to marketing manager and then associate vice director of marketing, a meaningless title created by some idiot being paid way too much money and which I hated seeing on my business cards. I languished there, giving all my best ideas in the higher-level meetings while not being invited to the higher-level salary, stock options, or bonuses. Company retreats turned out to be full of coke and misogyny. Vacation time was granted but not expected to be taken. The game room had a pool table, a Grand Theft Auto arcade console, and a pinball machine called Whoa Nellie! Big Juicy Melons.

It begs the question: “But, Veronica, you stayed for four years?” Perhaps not the best evidence of self-preservation skills, but even if I have a chip on my shoulder from the experience, at least after those four years with the PitchSlapped salary, I don’t have any student loans.

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Falling – Scared Sexy Collection Read Online Christina Lauren http://www.booksnovels.com/falling-scared-sexy-collection-read-online-christina-lauren Sun, 12 Oct 2025 20:11:25 +0000 http://www.booksnovels.com/falling-scared-sexy-collection-read-online-christina-lauren Genre: Alpha Male Authors: Christina Lauren Advertisement

Total pages in book: 16
Estimated words: 13969 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 70(@200wpm)___ 56(@250wpm)___ 47(@300wpm)

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One darkly seductive immortal’s powers of persuasion have worked flawlessly for nine centuries—until he meets the one woman who can resist him—in a wickedly hot short story by New York Times bestselling author Christina Lauren.

Cat should be afraid of Brigan—the devastatingly gorgeous stranger at a Halloween party whose very presence makes everyone else fall at his feet. But while his supernatural allure drives others to mindless obsession, Cat somehow keeps her wits…even as she surrenders to temptation. When this cursed being realizes she alone can see his true nature, one night of searing passion could break a centuries-old spell—or doom them both.

Christina Lauren’s Falling is part of Scared Sexy, a deliciously dark collection of Halloween romance where things that go bump in the night might just steal your heart. These seductive stand-alone stories blend chills and heat in the perfect Halloween treat—each designed to be devoured in one sitting

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

Chapter One

There was an infinite number of things Cat would rather be doing tonight, and the options scrolled through her mind as she trailed behind Jake down Lexington: Sitting on the couch in her apartment with a glass of wine and a movie. A dinner out with her best friend back home in Denver. A hot shower, a cold beer. A massage, a concert, the ballet.

She’d even take something as typically unappealing as a few hours in a dentist chair right now. Short of terrible illness or injury, Cat couldn’t think of anything much worse than attending a Halloween party hosted by the best friend of a guy she planned to break up with later.

Cat and Jake had been together for only three months, so there was no real devastation involved, just exasperation. He was cute and funny and always happy enough to spend time with her, but he was oblivious in the way that so many guys were: He was willing to put in the effort, but only if she told him precisely what that effort entailed. A quiet night at Jake’s apartment often found Cat squashed between a handful of guys on a shabby couch as they shouted at whatever basketball game was on the TV. If she suggested they do something, just the two of them, he’d take her out for sports trivia at a rowdy bar or a quick bite somewhere before heading back to his place for sex.

Basketball and trivia and bars and sex were fine for now, but Cat had realized earlier—when Jake appeared at her doorstep not in the agreed-upon shepherd’s robe to match her stupid lamb costume but dressed as his favorite Knicks player—that he mostly forgot about her the moment she left the room. The fact that they were still relative strangers wasn’t really a surprise, but given that Jake was either unknowable or not very deep, he and Cat were likely going to remain strangers even if they stayed together for the next fifty years.

So, no, she wasn’t upset about ending things. The sadness came whenever she considered that Jake—even barely knowing him—was still her closest friend here in New York. It was hard to make friends when most of your time was spent studying or in class, especially when the only free time you did have was monopolized by a beer-drinking, sports-watching, fine-for-now kind of guy like Jake. She only wished this realization would have occurred to her three months ago.

Already a little buzzed from pregaming with his friends, Jake pushed open the front door to Harry’s brownstone and walked in ahead of her. Tossing their coats on the couch, he clapped friends on the back and greeted a half dozen people before it occurred to him that Cat knew nobody here except for Harry—messy, loud Harry, always with a nauseating string of spit connecting his upper and lower lip—and turned around to take her hand, dragging her through the room.

“Ellie . . . Nova . . . Ashley! Nice costume, girl!” He dropped these names without offering hers in return. Everyone smiled, friendly but vague, and Cat did her best to connect faces to names, to give her bright, wide-open smile, but they were moving through the crowded room too fast for anything to stick. “That guy over there is the other Jake, we call him Ohio Jake . . .” Still walking, still a blur. “Ting, Ava . . . that’s Asher . . . Sophie! It’s been fucking forever!”

In the kitchen, he tugged on Cat’s hand again, leading her to a keg where he poured beer into a red plastic cup. Foam rose up and spilled over the lip as he distractedly handed it to her. Jake pressed a hard kiss to her cheek. “You good?” he asked.

She frowned at him, understanding immediately: He was going to pawn her off on someone. “I’m fine, but where are you—”

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Tangled Up in You – Meant to Be Read Online Christina Lauren http://www.booksnovels.com/tangled-up-in-you-meant-to-be-read-online-christina-lauren Mon, 08 Jul 2024 20:39:03 +0000 http://www.booksnovels.com/tangled-up-in-you-meant-to-be-read-online-christina-lauren Genre: Alpha Male, Chick Lit, Contemporary, New Adult Authors: Christina Lauren Advertisement

Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 96178 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)

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She has a dream. He has a plan. Together they’ll take a leap of faith.

Ren has never held an iPhone, googled the answer to a question, or followed a crush on social media. What she has done: read a book or two, or three (okay, hundreds). Taught herself to paint. Built a working wind power system from scratch. But for all the books she’s read, Ren has never found one that’s taught a woman raised on a homestead and off the grid for most of her twenty-two years how to live in the real world. So when she finally achieves her lifelong dream of attending Corona College, it feels like her life is finally beginning.

Fitz has the rest of his life mapped out: graduate from Corona at the top of his class, get his criminal record wiped clean, and pass himself off as the rich, handsome player everyone thinks he is. He’s a few months short from checking off step one of his plans when Ren Gylden, with her cascading blonde hair and encyclopedic brain, crashes into his life, and for the first time Fitz’s plan is in jeopardy.

But a simple assignment in their immunology seminar changes the course of both their lives, and suddenly they’re thrown out of the frying pan and into the fire on a road trip that will lead them in the most unexpected directions. Out on the open road, the world somehow shifts, and the unlikely pair realize that, maybe, the key to the dreams they've both been chasing have been sitting next to them the whole time.

A witty and deeply romantic modern reimagining of Disney’s Tangled.

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

CHAPTER ONE

REN

Fragile morning sun sent its thin, golden fingertips dancing across a fresh blanket of snow. The view was spectacular; even the barest hint of light turned the ice into diamonds, transformed each blade of grass into a menacing shard of emerald. It was the kind of view to be taken in with a long inhale and sweeping gaze.

Maybe another day.

Ren Gylden’s boot made a satisfying crunch as it smashed through the hard, lacy surface of last night’s snowfall. Her sharp whistle cut through the still air, drawing her animals right up against the fence.

With a full bucket in each hand, she whistled again and pressed her back against the gate, pushing up on her toes to unlatch the lever with her butt. She was met with a chorus of snorts and clucks as she opened the gate and entered the enclosure.

“Today’s the big day.” Unable to meet their eyes, she kicked the gate closed, crossed the barnyard, and set her buckets down. She dumped one slop bucket into the trough, saying, “I know you’re all happy for me, but maybe you’re worried, too.”

Her favorite pig, Frank, nudged her leg with his muddy nose, and she stepped out of his way, letting him have a go at breakfast.

“Yes, this is a big change,” she continued, “but don’t worry. I’ve told Steve everything he needs to do to take over the morning chores during the week.”

Dumping the rest of the slop at the low end of the trough where the smaller piglets could reach it, she said to them, “It’ll be the first time in your lives that someone else is feeding you. I wonder if any of you will notice.”

Sitting down on one overturned bucket and leaning back against the chicken coop, she patted her lap for the tomcat, Pascal. As if his legs were spring-loaded, he hopped up, landing gracefully. “What do you think of all this, huh?” she asked, scratching him between his ears. “Are you going to miss me? I wish I could be in two places at once. Here and there. I’d love to hide behind the oak tree and watch how you all react tomorrow morning.”

Pascal flexed his right paw, pressing his claws into the thigh of Ren’s thick denim overalls.

“You don’t think it’ll be any different? Yeah, me either.” She exhaled, long and slow, her breath condensing into a white puff. “Not for you, at least.”

The cat purred.

“For me…I don’t think it’ll ever be the same again.” She leaned her head back, closing her eyes and focusing on this exact moment—the sharp dawn air, the snuffling of the pigs rooting in their breakfast, the hypnotic pecking of the chickens at the dried corn and barley—rather than the one she’d be facing this time tomorrow. Tomorrow was a yawning black of unknown. For as many books as she’d read in her lifetime, Ren had never found one that taught a woman like her—raised away from society and off the grid for most of her twenty-two years—how to live in the real world.

Still, she was so ready for the change, she could practically taste it.

Another whistle cut through the air, her father calling her back to the cabin. When she opened her eyes, the sun had fully tipped its yellow cap over the crown of the mountain. It was her cue.

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The Paradise Problem Read Online Christina Lauren http://www.booksnovels.com/the-paradise-problem-read-online-christina-lauren Mon, 27 May 2024 20:57:54 +0000 http://www.booksnovels.com/the-paradise-problem-read-online-christina-lauren Genre: Alpha Male, Chick Lit, Contemporary Authors: Christina Lauren Advertisement

Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 115198 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 576(@200wpm)___ 461(@250wpm)___ 384(@300wpm)

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Christina Lauren, returns with a delicious new romance between the buttoned-up heir of a grocery chain and his free-spirited artist ex as they fake their relationship in order to receive a massive inheritance.

Anna Green thought she was marrying Liam “West” Weston for access to subsidized family housing while at UCLA. She also thought she’d signed divorce papers when the graduation caps were tossed, and they both went on their merry ways.

Three years later, Anna is a starving artist living paycheck to paycheck while West is a Stanford professor. He may be one of four heirs to the Weston Foods conglomerate, but he has little interest in working for the heartless corporation his family built from the ground up. He is interested, however, in his one-hundred-million-dollar inheritance. There’s just one catch.

Due to an antiquated clause in his grandfather’s will, Liam won’t see a penny until he’s been happily married for five years. Just when Liam thinks he’s in the home stretch, pressure mounts from his family to see this mysterious spouse, and he has no choice but to turn to the one person he’s afraid to introduce to his one-percenter parents—his unpolished, not-so-ex-wife.

But in the presence of his family, Liam’s fears quickly shift from whether the feisty, foul-mouthed, paint-splattered Anna can play the part to whether the toxic world of wealth will corrupt someone as pure of heart as his surprisingly grounded and loyal wife. Liam will have to ask himself if the price tag on his flimsy cover story is worth losing true love that sprouted from a lie.

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

Prologue

ANNA

The day my husband moves out of our apartment is also the day Resident Evil Village releases for PlayStation, and you might be surprised which of these things lands with a greater emotional impact.

But given that I am not a monster, and that we have indeed enjoyed this apartment together for two years, I do what any woman who’s been given the couch and TV in a divorce would do: I watch with a supportive smile as West and his two well-muscled and newly minted PhD bros carry box after box, dining chair after dining chair, suitcase after suitcase, and the remaining ninety percent of the furniture and decor out to the moving van parked at the curb. I now have hardly any earthly goods to my name, and I guess that’s a little sad—I’ve made great use of West’s stuff over the past two years—but this moment was inevitable.

At least I take comfort in knowing that packing my own belongings in two weeks will be significantly easier than this.

Out at the curb, West emerges from the back of the truck and hops gracefully down to the street, gazing up at what I’m sure is a highly organized packing job. You should have seen our pantry: truly a work of cataloging genius. My meticulous ex is twenty-eight, infrequently verbal, and one of those incredibly capable men who make complicated things like doing taxes and fixing holes in drywall look easy. I admit, beyond the sexy capability vibe, West is also a fox. He’s that perfect combination of height and muscle, though I have no idea how tall he is. Is it weird that I’ve never asked? I realize that most tall women are obsessed with how tall other people are, but I’ve never had that itch. I’ve known lots of men—men who are taller, men who are shorter, men who are exactly my height. All I know is that West is chin-at-eye-level tall. At our wedding he had to bend to kiss me.

I haven’t thought about that day in ages, but I guess it makes sense that I’m thinking about it now. That kiss feels like it happened a lifetime ago. Two years into this adventure, and I’m better acquainted with the couch he’s leaving behind than I am with him.

Now, standing on the sidewalk, he turns and looks at me, our eyes meeting and giving me a weird, wavy feeling in my stomach, a touch of lightheadedness. It’s not low blood sugar; I ate half a bag of jalapeño chips while I watched him pack. And it’s not the heat; May in LA is the very definition of temperate. I think, strangely, it’s him.

West’s eyes are the color of sunlight passing through a glass of whiskey. His hair is that exact same color, but with more sunlight streaking through, and so thick I suspect it alone has ruined me for other men. I tried to paint it once, mixing Transparent Oxide-Red Lake with Old Holland Yellow-Brown but it wasn’t quite right, and as soon as I realized how much it annoyed me that I couldn’t get the correct color of his hair down on canvas, I immediately wondered why I’d become so invested in the first place.

With that intense eye contact still happening, West walks over and stops barely a foot away. For a weird, fevered beat I wonder if he’s actually going to kiss me goodbye.

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The Exception to the Rule (The Improbable Meet-Cute #1) Read Online Christina Lauren http://www.booksnovels.com/the-exception-to-the-rule-the-improbable-meet-cute-1-read-online-christina-lauren Thu, 08 Feb 2024 08:25:04 +0000 http://www.booksnovels.com/the-exception-to-the-rule-the-improbable-meet-cute-1-read-online-christina-lauren Genre: Alpha Male, Contemporary, New Adult, Novella Authors: Christina Lauren Series: The Improbable Meet-Cute Series by Christina Lauren
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Total pages in book: 17
Estimated words: 18713 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 94(@200wpm)___ 75(@250wpm)___ 62(@300wpm)

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On February 14, an accidental email to a stranger opens the door to an unexpected relationship in a captivating short story by the New York Times bestselling authors of The Unhoneymooners.

One typo, and a boy and girl connect by chance. Wishing each other a happy Valentine’s Day isn’t the end. In fact, it becomes a friendly annual tradition—with rules: no pics, no real names, nothing too personal. As years pass, the rules for their email “dates” are breaking, and they’re sharing more than they imagined—including the urge to ask…what if we actually met?

Christina Lauren’s The Exception to the Rule is part of The Improbable Meet-Cute, irresistibly romantic stories about finding love when and where you least expect it. They can be read or listened to in one sitting.

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

Chapter One

2014

From: c.sun16@ipsd.edu

To: t.sol18@ipsd.edu

Date: February 14, 2014

Subject: Missing Assignment

Hi Ms. Solyom,

I am a student in your first period Calc class. Based on midterm grades, it looks like I have a missing assignment under the Unit 4 Math packet. I believe I turned this in. Is there any way you can check? Alternatively, I can redo the packet.

Thank you.

From: t.sol18@ipsd.edu

To: c.sun16@ipsd.edu

Date: February 14, 2014

Subject: Re: Missing Assignment

Hi c.sun,

I’m not Ms. Solyom. I’m a student. The teacher codes for our high school district emails are 88, so Ms. Solyom would be t.sol88@ipsd.edu.

Also, you should probably sign your name at the bottom of an email to a teacher so that she knows who’s emailing her.

T.

From: c.sun16@ipsd.edu

To: t.sol18@ipsd.edu

Date: February 14, 2014

Subject: Re: Missing Assignment

Hi T,

Sorry about that. Typo. Thanks for answering.

C.

From: t.sol18@ipsd.edu

To: c.sun16@ipsd.edu

Date: February 14, 2014

Subject: Re: Missing Assignment

Hi C,

Don’t worry about it. Tbh, it was the only note I got from a guy on Valentine’s Day, so I’ll take it.

T.

From: c.sun16@ipsd.edu

To: t.sol18@ipsd.edu

Date: February 14, 2014

Subject: Re: Missing Assignment

That sucks. But also, how do you know I’m a guy?

C.

From: t.sol18@ipsd.edu

To: c.sun16@ipsd.edu

Date: February 14, 2014

Subject: Re: Missing Assignment

I just took a wild guess since you didn’t use any exclamation points and any female in this city would use several.

T.

From: c.sun16@ipsd.edu

To: t.sol18@ipsd.edu

Date: February 14, 2014

Subject: Re: Missing Assignment

Smart. So from your lack of exclamation points you must also be a guy.

What school do you go to?

From: t.sol18@ipsd.edu

To: c.sun16@ipsd.edu

Date: February 14, 2014

Subject: Re: Missing Assignment

I am the exception to the rule.

And didn’t your parents tell you not to share personal information with strangers on the internet?

Happy Valentine’s Day,

T.

Chapter Two

2015

From: c.sun16@ipsd.edu

To: t.sol18@ipsd.edu

Date: February 14, 2015

Subject: Happy Valentine’s Day

Hey T,

Wanted to make sure you got at least one Valentine’s note this year.

Happy Valentine’s Day.

C.

From: t.sol18@ipsd.edu

To: c.sun16@ipsd.edu

Date: February 14, 2015

Subject: Re: Happy Valentine’s Day

C!

You are the mythical unicorn who remembers dates and conversations.

Happy Valentine’s Day to you, too.

T.

From: c.sun16@ipsd.edu

To: t.sol18@ipsd.edu

Date: February 14, 2015

Subject: Re: Happy Valentine’s Day

What can I say? I’m the exception to the rule.

Chapter Three

2016

From: t.sol18@ipsd.edu

To: c.sun16@ipsd.edu

Date: February 14, 2016

Subject: Happy Valentine’s Day!

C,

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!!

I didn’t want to forget. It feels like a tradition now!

xo

T.

From: c.sun16@ipsd.edu

To: t.sol18@ipsd.edu

Date: February 14, 2016

Subject: Re: Happy Valentine’s Day!

T,

DAMN!

I was going to send this when I got home tonight, and you beat me to it.

And look at your egregious exclamation point usage, Miss Exception to the Rule.

Happy Valentine’s Day,

C.

From: t.sol18@ipsd.edu

To: c.sun16@ipsd.edu

Date: February 14, 2016

Subject: Re: Happy Valentine’s Day!

Egregious? I think you mean spirited! Today is a holiday! About love! Aren’t we supposed to be enthusiastic?

(And yes, in case it isn’t obvious, this is the first Valentine’s of my life where I’ve actually got a boyfriend, so let’s hope he doesn’t shank it on the date plans.)

T.

From: c.sun16@ipsd.edu

To: t.sol18@ipsd.edu

Date: February 14, 2016

Subject: Re: Happy Valentine’s Day!

Lol, have some faith. I’m sure Mr. Boyfriend will blow your mind.

From: t.sol18@ipsd.edu

To: c.sun16@ipsd.edu

Date: February 14, 2016

Subject: Re: Happy Valentine’s Day!

I’m a simple woman: forget flowers; give me a cupcake and it’s a perfect date.

Are you seeing anyone?

From: c.sun16@ipsd.edu

To: t.sol18@ipsd.edu

Date: February 14, 2016

Subject: Re: Happy Valentine’s Day!

Is this an actual personal conversation we’re starting? Didn’t your parents warn you against sharing information with strangers on the internet?

From: t.sol18@ipsd.edu

To: c.sun16@ipsd.edu

Date: February 14, 2016

Subject: Re: Happy Valentine’s Day!

We aren’t strangers! We’ve known each other for two years now. And how’s this: we won’t give names or other identifying information.

From: c.sun16@ipsd.edu

To: t.sol18@ipsd.edu

Date: February 14, 2016

Subject: Re: Happy Valentine’s Day!

Sounds like a plan.

I do have a girlfriend, and we’re getting dinner at Din Tai Fung later with a group of friends.

From: t.sol18@ipsd.edu

To: c.sun16@ipsd.edu

Date: February 14, 2016

Subject: Re: Happy Valentine’s Day!

You’re not supposed to give me specifics like restaurant names! What if I had plans at Din Tai Fung as well with my date and I walked in to see someone who looks exactly like he’d be named c.sun16?? The mystery would be ruined.

From: c.sun16@ipsd.edu

To: t.sol18@ipsd.edu

Date: February 14, 2016

Subject: Re: Happy Valentine’s Day!

I guess we could use acronyms only, but then I’d be telling you that my girlfriend and I are at DTF with a group of people, and that seems like something that could land me on a sex offender list.

From: t.sol18@ipsd.edu

To: c.sun16@ipsd.edu

Date: February 14, 2016

Subject: Re: Happy Valentine’s Day!

Omg fajdks;afsjksfa go eat your soup dumplings, you filthy animal, and I’ll see you next year.

T.

PS: I also want to say because our district email addresses make this secret impossible to keep: Happy early graduation, C, and I hope you’re feeling good about whatever comes next.

Chapter Four

2017

From: c.sun16@email.com

To: t.sol18@ipsd.edu

Date: February 14, 2017

Subject: Happy Valentine’s Day

Yoooooooooooo

I win.

C.

From: t.sol18@ipsd.edu

To: c.sun16@email.com

Date: February 14, 2017

Subject: Re: Happy Valentine’s Day

I’m sorry, DID YOU START A NEW EMAIL ACCOUNT WITH THE SAME USERNAME

From: c.sun16@email.com

To: t.sol18@ipsd.edu

Date: February 14, 2017

Subject: Re: Happy Valentine’s Day

I am nothing if not the laziest.

From: t.sol18@ipsd.edu

To: c.sun16@email.com

Date: February 14, 2017

Subject: Re: Happy Valentine’s Day

Lazy people don’t email at exactly midnight just to win a race to wish someone Happy Valentine’s Day.

<<<<1 2 3 11 >17

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The True Love Experiment Read Online Christina Lauren http://www.booksnovels.com/the-true-love-experiment-read-online-christina-lauren Thu, 01 Jun 2023 11:54:14 +0000 http://www.booksnovels.com/the-true-love-experiment-read-online-christina-lauren Genre: Contemporary Authors: Christina Lauren Advertisement

Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 112961 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >118

Sparks fly when a romance novelist and a documentary filmmaker join forces to craft the perfect Hollywood love story and take both of their careers to the next level—but only if they can keep the chemistry between them from taking the whole thing off script.

Felicity “Fizzy” Chen is lost. Sure, she’s got an incredible career as a beloved romance novelist with a slew of bestsellers under her belt, but when she’s asked to give a commencement address, it hits her: she hasn’t been practicing what she’s preached.

Fizzy hasn’t ever really been in love. Lust? Definitely. But that swoon-worthy, can’t-stop-thinking-about-him, all-encompassing feeling? Nope. Nothing. What happens when the optimism she’s spent her career encouraging in readers starts to feel like a lie?

Connor Prince, documentary filmmaker and single father, loves his work in large part because it allows him to live near his daughter. But when his profit-minded boss orders him to create a reality TV show, putting his job on the line, Connor is out of his element. Desperate to find his romantic lead, a chance run-in with an exasperated Fizzy offers Connor the perfect solution. What if he could show the queen of romance herself falling head-over-heels for all the world to see? Fizzy gives him a hard pass—unless he agrees to her list of demands. When he says yes, and production on The True Love Experiment begins, Connor wonders if that perfect match will ever be in the cue cards for him, too.

The True Love Experiment is the book fans have been waiting for ever since Fizzy’s debut in The Soulmate Equation. But when the lights come on and all eyes are on her, it turns out the happily ever after Fizzy had all but given up on might lie just behind the camera.

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

prologue FIZZY

I was born the first of three children, but I joke that I’m like that first pancake.” A smattering of laughter ripples across the assembled crowd and I smile. “You know what I mean? A little messy, slightly undercooked, but still tastes good?”

The laughter intensifies, but mixed in now are a few bawdy catcalls, and I burst out laughing in realization. “See, and that wasn’t even meant to sound saucy! Look at me trying to be professional, and I’m still a mess.” I glance over my shoulder and grin at Dr. Leila Nguyen, the provost of UC San Diego’s Revelle College and my former creative writing professor. “I guess that’s what you get for inviting a romance author to give the commencement address.”

Beside Dr. Nguyen sits another person struggling to smother a smile. Dr. River Peña—close friend, hot genius, and unconfirmed vampire—is also a special guest today; I guess he’s receiving yet another honorary degree for being some type of sexy prodigy. He looks like he belongs up here: stiff collar, perfectly pressed suit pants visible below the hem of his full doctoral regalia, shiny dress shoes, and an air of austerity I’ve never been able to master. Right now, I can see the knowing amusement light up his smug, thickly lashed eyes.

When I first received the invitation to speak at this ceremony, River immediately slapped a twenty-dollar bill down onto the table between us and declared, “This is going to go completely sideways, Fizzy. Convince me otherwise.”

I’m sure he and my best friend, Jess—his wife—expected that I would get up onstage and deliver The Vagina Monologues to the academic masses, or pull out a banana and remind everyone while I rolled a condom onto it that safe sex is still important in this here year of our Lord Harry Styles—but I swear I can play the part of a buttoned-down literary type when the situation calls for it.

At the very least, I thought I’d make it further than one line into my speech before dropping a double entendre—and that one wasn’t even intentional.

I turn back to the sea of black, blue, and yellow–clad grads that stretches far across RIMAC Field and experience a wave of vicarious, breathless anticipation for all these youngsters taking flight. So many opportunities ahead. So much student loan stress. But also so much great sex.

“My younger sister is a neurosurgeon,” I tell them. “My little brother? Yeah, he’s the youngest partner in his firm’s history. One of my best friends, sitting right behind me, is a world-famous geneticist.” There’s genuine applause for biotech’s It boy, and once it dies back down, I go in for the kill: “But you know what? Despite all their accomplishments, none of them wrote a book called Cloaked Lust, so I think we all know who the real success story is here.”

Smiling at a fresh wave of cheers, I continue. “So listen. Giving this kind of speech is a big deal. Most people invited to send off a group of young superstars like yourselves will list concrete ways to find your place in an ever-changing culture, or encourage you to amplify your impact by reducing your carbon footprint. They would tell you to go out and change the world, and of course yes—do that. I support those ambitions. Global citizen: good. Ecoterrorist: bad. But Dr. Nguyen didn’t invite an inspiring climate scientist or charismatic and acceptably neutral politician. She invited me, Felicity Chen, author of books full of love and accountability and sex-positivity, and frankly the only professional advice I’m qualified to give about being eco-conscious is to support your local library.” Another muted wave of laughter. “In fact, the only thing I care about—the one thing that matters most in the world to me—is that when every single one of you gets to the end of this crazy ride, you look back and can truly say you were happy.”

It is a perfect day: bright and blue. Eucalyptus trees sway at the edge of the field, and if you breathe in at just the right moment, on the perfect gust of warm San Diego breeze, you can smell the ocean less than a mile away. Despite that, my stomach feels a little tilty at this next part of my speech. I’ve spent a majority of my adult years defending my profession, and the last thing I want to do is sound defensive. I’m standing up here in my own cap and gown with a lecture that I typed up and printed out so I wouldn’t start winging it, derailing the whole thing with penis jokes exactly the way River expects me to. I want them to hear the sincerity in my words.

“I’m going to tell you to live your life like it’s a romance novel.” I hold up a hand when those smiling graduates begin to titter, but I don’t blame them for thinking it’s a joke, that I’m being coy. “Listen.” I pause for effect, waiting for the laughter to subside and curiosity to take over. “Romance isn’t gratuitous bodice ripping. It can be, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but in the end, romance isn’t about the fantasy of being wealthy or beautiful or even being tied to the bed.” More laughter, but I have their attention now. “It’s about elevating stories of joy above stories of pain. It is about seeing yourself as the main character in a very interesting—or maybe even quiet—life that is entirely yours to control. It is, my friends, the fantasy of significance.” I pause again, just like I practiced, because all these babies have been raised under the dreary cloud of the patriarchy and I consider it my mission on earth to smash that with a proverbial hammer. The truth that we all deserve significance needs time to sink in.

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >118

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Something Wilder Read Online Christina Lauren http://www.booksnovels.com/something-wilder-read-online-christina-lauren Tue, 24 May 2022 09:11:31 +0000 http://www.booksnovels.com/something-wilder-read-online-christina-lauren Genre: Chick Lit, Contemporary, Romance Authors: Christina Lauren Advertisement

Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 95436 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 477(@200wpm)___ 382(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >101

Read Online Books/Novels:	Something Wilder
Author/Writer of Book/Novel:	Christina Lauren
Language:	English
ISBN/ ASIN:	1982173408 (ISBN13: 9781982173401)
Book Information:
Growing up the daughter of notorious treasure hunter and absentee father Duke Wilder left Lily without much patience for the profession…or much money in the bank. But Lily is nothing if not resourceful, and now uses Duke’s coveted hand-drawn maps to guide tourists on fake treasure hunts through the red rock canyons of Utah. It pays the bills but doesn’t leave enough to fulfill her dream of buying back the beloved ranch her father sold years ago, and definitely not enough to deal with the sight of the man she once loved walking back into her life with a motley crew of friends ready to hit the trails. Frankly, Lily would like to take him out into the wilderness—and leave him there. Leo Grady knew mirages were a thing in the desert, but they’d barely left civilization when the silhouette of his greatest regret comes into focus in the flickering light of the campfire. Ready to leave the past behind him, Leo wants nothing more than to reconnect with his first and only love. Unfortunately, Lily Wilder is all business, drawing a clear line in the sand: it’s never going to happen. But when the trip goes horribly and hilariously wrong, the group wonders if maybe the legend of the hidden treasure wasn’t a gimmick after all. There’s a chance to right the wrongs—of Duke’s past and their own—but only if Leo and Lily can confront their history and work together. Alone under the stars in the isolated and dangerous mazes of the Canyonlands, Leo and Lily must decide whether they’ll risk their lives and hearts on the adventure of a lifetime.
Books by Author:	Christina Lauren

Prologue

Laramie, Wyoming

October, Ten Years Ago

LILY WILDER’S BOOTS crunched through smooth gravel as she made her way from the barn to the lodge, surveying her favorite place on earth. Behind her, horses stepped up to slurp from the water tank, thirsty after a long night out in the pasture. Smoke drifted from the chimney of the big house and into the clear gray sky. The dawn was cool, the sun just breaking over the mountains.

She’d already been up for hours.

On the porch, a long shadow waited for her, holding two mugs. Her heart gave a heavy, infatuated jab at the sight of Leo—sleep-rumpled and grinning, bundled up in sweats and a fleece. Without question, this was how she wanted to start every morning; she still couldn’t believe that from today on, she would. Lily jogged up the three rickety steps, stretching to fit her smile against his, feeling like it had been days, not hours, since she’d last touched him. His lips were warm, soft against her wind-chilled ones. The heat of his fingers on her hip ignited bottle rockets inside her chest.

“Where is he?” Lily asked, wondering if her father had left the ranch without saying goodbye. It wouldn’t be the first time, but it would be the first time she didn’t care.

Leo pressed a warm mug into her hand and nodded to the caretaker’s cabin across the river. “He walked over the bridge to Erwin’s,” he said. “Saying goodbye.”

Was it odd that she had no idea where her father was headed or how long he’d be gone? If it was, Lily didn’t let the thought penetrate very deeply; more demanding was the way her pulse banged out a celebratory blast of a song: her life was finally starting, and somehow, this summer, while she’d learned how to manage nearly every aspect of the ranch, she’d also fallen in love. It was a love that surprised her—anchored and assured, clothes-shredding and fevered. She’d spent the first nineteen years of her life being tolerated and planned around, but here, with Leo, she was finally the center of someone’s world. She’d never smiled so much, laughed so freely, or dared to want so ferociously. The closest she’d felt before was saddling her horse and racing across her family’s land. Those moments were fleeting, though; Leo had promised he was here to stay.

She tilted her chin to gaze up into his face. He’d inherited his Irish father’s build and his Japanese American mother’s features, but the soul inside was all his own. Lily’d never known anyone as quietly, firmly grounded as Leo Grady. She still couldn’t believe this steadfast man was willing to uproot everything for her.

She’d asked him “Are you sure?” a hundred times. Wilder Ranch was her dream; she knew better than to expect running a guest ranch year-round to be anyone else’s. It certainly hadn’t been her father’s, though at least he’d put in the bare minimum to keep it solvent. For Lily’s mother, the ranch was just another thing she gladly left behind. Sometimes Lily felt like she’d spent every day of her life waiting for the moment when she could make this ranch her forever. And now it was here, with Leo to boot.

“I’m sure, Lil.” Leo’s free arm came around her shoulder, guiding her right up into his side, where he tucked her close and bent to kiss her temple. “You sure you want a rookie like me here, though?”

“Hell yes.” The words were loud in the quiet morning. In the distance, her new foal whinnied back. Leo looked at her with adoring eyes. He was new to ranching, true, but he was also a natural with the horses, capable in a million tiny ways, and a convenient top-hook-in-the-tack-room kind of tall. But none of that was why she wanted him there. She wanted him there because Leo Grady was undeniably hers, the first hers she’d ever had.

He smelled clean from the shower, and she curled in, pressing her face into his neck, searching for some hint of his sweat, the intensely masculine scent she’d felt gliding over her skin late last night.

“I made you breakfast,” he murmured into her hair.

She leaned back, smiling hopefully up at him. “Your mom’s scones?”

This made him laugh. “You act like she invented them.” He bent, covering her mouth with his, and spoke around the kiss. “She usually makes us rice and fish. Pretty sure these are Rachael Ray’s scones.”

Duke Wilder strode across the frosty grass and onto the porch, a small twitch of his bushy salt-and-pepper mustache the only indication he’d seen how pressed together they’d been.

But then the moment passed, and his eyes brightened. Duke was always happiest when he was on the cusp of leaving. When Lily was little, his work took him as far as Greenland, but his radius of adventure had shrunk dramatically when her mother left them seven years ago and Duke became anchored down by a daughter and—in the summers, at least—the guest ranch in Laramie. Now she was grown, and he was finally free to enjoy being a niche celebrity who was deeply fixated on his childhood dream of finding the piles of money some outlaws hid in the desert more than a hundred years ago.

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >101

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The Soulmate Equation Read Online Christina Lauren http://www.booksnovels.com/the-soulmate-equation-read-online-christina-lauren Sun, 23 May 2021 21:50:38 +0000 http://www.booksnovels.com/the-soulmate-equation-read-online-christina-lauren Genre: Chick Lit, Contemporary, Romance Authors: Christina Lauren Advertisement

Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 97780 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 489(@200wpm)___ 391(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >103

Read Online Books/Novels:	The Soulmate Equation
Author/Writer of Book/Novel:	Christina Lauren
Language:	English
ISBN/ ASIN:	1982123966 (ISBN13: 9781982123963)
Book Information:
Single mom Jess Davis is a data and statistics wizard, but no amount of number crunching can convince her to step back into the dating world. Raised by her grandparents--who now help raise her seven-year-old daughter, Juno--Jess has been left behind too often to feel comfortable letting anyone in. After all, her father's never been around, her hard-partying mother disappeared when she was six, and her ex decided he wasn't "father material" before Juno was even born. Jess holds her loved ones close, but working constantly to stay afloat is hard...and lonely. But then Jess hears about GeneticAlly, a buzzy new DNA-based matchmaking company that's predicted to change dating forever. Finding a soulmate through DNA? The reliability of numbers: This Jess understands. At least she thought she did, until her test shows an unheard-of 98% compatibility with another subject in the database: GeneticAlly's founder, Dr. River Pena. This is one number she can't wrap her head around, because she already knows Dr. Pena. The stuck-up, stubborn man is without a doubt not her soulmate. But GeneticAlly has a proposition: Get to know him and we'll pay you. Jess--who is barely making ends meet--is in no position to turn it down, despite her skepticism about the project and her dislike for River. As the pair are dragged from one event to the next as the "Diamond" pairing that could make GeneticAlly a mint in stock prices, Jess begins to realize that there might be more to the scientist--and the science behind a soulmate--than she thought. Funny, warm, and full of heart, The Soulmate Equation proves that the delicate balance between fate and choice can never be calculated.
Books by Author:	Christina Lauren

ONE

JESSICA DAVIS USED to think it was an honest-to-God tragedy that only twenty-six percent of women believed in true love. Of course, that was nearly a decade ago, when she couldn’t imagine what it felt like to be anything but deeply and passionately obsessed with the man who would one day be her ex. Tonight, though, on her third first date in seven years, she was astounded the number was even that high.

“Twenty-six percent,” she mumbled, leaning toward the restroom mirror to apply more lipstick. “Twenty-six women out of one hundred believe true love is real.” Popping the cap back on, Jess laughed, and her exhausted reflection laughed back. Sadly, her night was far from over. She still had to make it through the entrée course; appetizers had lasted four years. Of course, some of that was probably due to Travis’s tendency to talk with his mouth full, oversharing highly specific stories about finding his wife in bed with his business partner and the ensuing messy divorce. But as far as first dates went, Jess reasoned, it could have been worse. This date was better, for sure, than the guy last week who’d been so drunk when he showed up at the restaurant that he’d nodded off before they’d even ordered.

“Come on, Jess.” She dropped the tube back into her bag. “You don’t have to make, serve, or clean up after this meal. The dishes alone are worth at least one more bitter ex-wife story.”

A stall door clicked open, startling her, and a willowy blonde emerged. She glanced at Jess with bald pity.

“God, I know,” Jess agreed with a groan. “I’m talking to myself in a bathroom. Tells you exactly how my night is going.”

Not a laugh. Not even a smile of politeness, let alone camaraderie. Instead the woman moved as far away as possible to the end of the empty row of sinks and began washing her hands.

Well.

Jess went back to rummaging through her purse but couldn’t help glancing toward the end of the counter. She knew it wasn’t polite to stare, but the other woman’s makeup was flawless, her nails perfectly manicured. How on earth did some women manage it? Jess considered leaving the house with her zipper up a victory. Once, she’d presented an entire fiscal year’s worth of data to a client with four of Juno’s sparkly butterfly barrettes still clipped to the front of her blazer. This gorgeous stranger probably hadn’t been forced to change outfits after cleaning glitter off both a cat and a seven-year-old. She probably never had to apologize for being late. She probably didn’t even have to shave—she was just naturally smooth everywhere.

“Are you okay?”

Jess blinked back to awareness, realizing the woman was speaking to her. There was really no way to pretend she hadn’t been staring directly at this stranger’s cleavage.

Resisting the urge to cover her own less-than-impressive assets, Jess offered a small, embarrassed wave. “Sorry. I was just thinking that your kitten probably isn’t covered in glitter, too.”

“My what?”

She turned back to the mirror. Jessica Marie Davis, get your shit together. Ignoring the fact that she still had an audience, Jess channeled Nana Jo into the mirror: “You have plenty of time. Go out there, eat some guacamole, go home,” she said aloud. “There’s no ticking clock on any of this.”

“I’M JUST SAYING, the clock is ticking.” Fizzy waved vaguely toward Jess’s butt. “That booty won’t be high and tight forever, you know.”

“Maybe not,” Jess said, “but Tinder isn’t going to help me find a quality guy to hold it up, either.”

Fizzy lifted her chin defensively. “I’ve had some of the best sex of my life from Tinder. I swear you give up too quickly. We are in the era of women taking pleasure and not apologizing for getting theirs first, second, and one more time for the road. Travis might be ex-wife obsessed, but I saw his photo and he was fine as hell. Maybe he would have rocked your world for an hour or two after churros, but you’ll never know, because you left before dessert.”

Jess paused. Maybe … “Goddammit, Fizzy.”

Her best friend leaned back, smug. If Felicity Chen decided to start selling Amway, Jess would simply hand over her wallet. Fizzy was made of charisma, witchcraft, and bad judgment. Those qualities made her a great writer, but were also partly the reason Jess had a misspelled song lyric tattooed on the inside of her right wrist, had had disastrous not-even-close-to–Audrey Hepburn bangs for six depressing months in 2014, and had attended a costume party in LA that turned out to be a BDSM scene in a dungeon basement. Fizzy’s response to Jess’s “You brought me to a sex party in a dungeon?” was, “Yeah, everyone in LA has dungeons!”

Fizzy tucked a strand of glossy black hair behind her ear. “Okay, let’s make plans for your next date.”

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >103

Read Online Books/Novels:

Something Wilder

Author/Writer of Book/Novel:

English

1982173408 (ISBN13: 9781982173401)