Stories by @lucegoodreads

Magnolia Parks & Daisy Haites

She is a beautiful, affluent, self-involved and mildly neurotic London socialite. He is Britain's most photographed bad-boy lothario who broke her heart. But Magnolia Parks and BJ Ballentine are meant to be, and everyone knows it. They're in the stars...

Off the Deep End

A heart-stopping psychological thriller about the shades of truth and the power of lies in the wake of one mother’s unspeakable loss. Therapist turned stay-at-home mom Jules Hart’s idyllic suburban life shatters when she crashes her car into an icy lake. Her son and another teenage boy plunge into the water with her, but Jules can only manage to save one—the wrong one. Reeling from the death of her son, Jules spirals into a violent and unstable mental state. Ten months after the accident, she’s still trying to reckon with the fact that she rescued Isaac Greer, another woman’s child, when Isaac suddenly vanishes. Jules finds herself at the center of a massive police investigation. While she harbors her own dangerous secrets, Jules is adamant that she didn’t take Isaac. But then who did? Is Isaac the victim of a dangerous killer who’s been targeting boys in the Midwest? Or is someone else pulling the strings in this deadly game?

Tempt Me

She’s everything he’s ever wanted, and everything he can never have. Because after spending years as a mob enforcer, Killian has scars, and those scars mean he’s better off alone. So he watches from a distance, making sure his sunshine girl is safe and happy. And as he watches, his feelings grow, morphing from infatuation and lust to something bordering on obsession. But still, he’s kept his distance. For years. Until he finds out that Whitney’s life is in danger and he’s the only man who can keep her safe. She needs a bodyguard, and it has to be him. Outspoken, charming, and confident, author Whitney Vanek had never met a man immune to her charms—until she crossed paths with Killian Byrne. Which is fine, because she doesn’t care that he doesn’t want her. He’s broody, grumpy, and more than ten years older than her. One she’s desperate to explore, despite the distance Killian insists on keeping between them. But then her estranged father resurfaces, putting her life in grave danger, and there’s only one man who can protect her. There’s only one man she wants by her side, keeping her safe. And when obsession and temptation become something so much more, everything is on the line.

The Widow's Husband's Secret Lie

My husband is dead. I attended his funeral. I watched his casket be lowered six feet into the ground. (Actually, it may have been only five feet, but that still seems like more than enough.) And then we ate an array of finger sandwiches and deviled eggs and miniature beef wellingtons that cost more than my first car. My point is, Grant is gone. And so are all his many, many deep, dark secrets which I never really ever bothered to ask him about. He is never coming back. So why do I still see his face everywhere I go? The Widow's Husband's Secret Lie is an utterly addictive, unputdownable, nail-biting, absolutely gripping psychological thriller novella with a shocking, breathtaking, heartstopping, spine-chilling twist that you won't see coming, will leave you stunned, and will literally have you picking your jaw up off the floor and bringing it to the nearest hospital for major facial reconstructive surgery.

The Secrets of Us

Foster sisters Krystal and Nichole have always been there for each other, so when Nichole is committed to a psychiatric hospital after trying to kill her husband, Krystal drops everything to defend her. Scarred by a hard upbringing, Nichole and Krystal managed to construct comfortable lives for themselves. Krystal became a respected lawyer, and Nichole was happily married to an architect—until Nichole starts raving that her husband isn’t her husband, believing that he’s an imposter. Driven by fierce loyalty, Krystal starts asking questions, but she’s not sure she can bear the answers. Her investigation leads to the sisters’ dark shared past…to a horrible tragedy and a well-guarded lie that cemented their sisterly bond. But that lie can’t kill the truth—the battered, gasping, clawing truth that’s coming for them both. Now Krystal and Nichole must both fight for the lives they’ve built before they’re consumed by the one they left behind.

The Darkest Temptation

A fortune teller once told Mila she’d find a man who would take her breath away. She refrained from telling her it would be literally while Mila ran for her life. Having always done what is expected of her, Mila dresses the part, only dates college boys with exemplary backgrounds, and doesn’t ask questions. Not about her papa’s absences or his refusal to let her set foot in her birthplace—Russia. Suffocated by the rules and unanswered questions, Mila does what she’s always wanted to. She boards a plane to Moscow. She never expected to fall for a man on the way. One with unexplained wealth, tattoos on his hands, and secrets in his eyes. But it doesn’t take long for his caress to become a rough grasp muffling her screams. Revenge is a dish best served cold. Unfortunately, a Russian winter is the coldest of them all, and Mila soon learns the only way to escape intact is to do the impossible and thaw her captor’s heart.

Beautiful Russian Monster

When my grandfather, a shipping tycoon, went missing, I quickly discovered that there are some problems that money can’t solve. And this frightening situation was one of them. I didn’t think things could possibly get worse, but then I woke up. To a monster standing over me. With his hand covering my mouth. My reluctant captor, Viktor, with his clipped Russian accent and scary looking guns, operates with military precision. Don’t even get me started on his rules. As he drags me across the globe, we are plunged into a dark world that is filled with danger and violence. But the conflict we are rushing towards, isn’t what scares me. What truly terrifies me, is how this man is starting to make me feel. My beautiful Russian monster. He’s the only thing standing between me and my worst nightmare. And I’m not sure that we will survive.

Dark Russian Angel

I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, And I witnessed a crime. The police are failing to protect me. And my chance of survival isn't looking good. Andrusha, is the cold and dangerous leader of the Vancouver Russian mafia, He's also my best chance to make it to trial alive. The only thing we have in common, Is our shared enemy. This man is everything your mom warned you about. He's ruthless. He's cold. And he likes to be in control. I should be afraid of him. I should keep my distance. So why is he the only one who makes me feel safe? Who will protect me from my protector?

Truly Madly Deeply

This old flame just might set them on fire. Conceited, unattainable, and downright delicious, renowned Michelin-starred chef Ambrose Casablancas has one passion in life—food. Women are a distraction, and he doesn’t do those. Especially Cal Litvin, his baby sister’s best friend. Her entire existence is a complication; she’s awkward, eccentric, infuriating… And, much to his chagrin, hotter than his kitchen. Ambrose has a lot on his a new restaurant to open, a multimillion-dollar property deal to execute, and a violent stalker to tame. Then Cal shows up at his doorstep, looking for both a job and salvation after their messy goodbye. His resolve, like his patience, is ebbing each day she works at his restaurant. Because Cal is no longer a doe-eyed girl. Now? She’s the woman he’ll do anything to conquer. Quirky, compassionate ball of sunshine Calla Litvin can’t catch a break, and not just because she swore off running. Back in her hometown to nurse her mother’s broken heart after losing her father, she finds herself jobless, hopeless, and penniless. She hopes to rekindle her friendship with her former BFF, but Dylan is attached at the hip to her cruel brother—the one Cal’s been secretly crushing on since middle school. Falling for the bad boy the second time around would be a mistake of gargantuan proportions.

A Soul to Keep

All Reia ever wanted was freedom. Known as a harbinger of bad omens and blamed for Demons eating her family, Reia is shunned by her entire village. When the next offering is due and the monstrous Duskwalker is seen heading their way, her village offers her an impossible choice – be thrown into the prison cells or allow herself to be sacrificed to a faceless monster. However, he is not what he seems. His skull face and glow eyes are ethereal, and she finds herself unwittingly enchanted by him. All Orpheus ever wanted was a companion. Each decade, in exchange for a protection ward from the Demons that terrorise the world, Orpheus takes a human offering to the Veil – the place he lives and the home of Demons. The brief companionship does little to ease his loneliness, and their lives were always, unfortunately, cut short. He'd thought it was a hopeless endeavour, until he met her. She’s not afraid of him, and his insatiable desire deepens within every moment of her presence. But will Orpheus be able to convince Reia to stay before she’s lost to him forever?

How to Honeymoon Alone

When Eden dumped her cheating ex before the wedding, the last thing she expected was to go on their tropical honeymoon alone. But with no refunds possible, she packs her budget guidebook and broken heart, and sets off. She plans to relax on the beach, swim in the ocean, and drink cocktails until she feels like herself again… or falls over. Whichever comes first. What she’s not expecting is the brusque, handsome stranger who sits down at her table on the first night. Philip Meyer is a grumpy workaholic, and so irritatingly cynical that it makes her forget she’s grieving just to prove him wrong about the world. The two have nothing in common… except trying to forget who they’ve left behind. The luxury resort isn’t too big, and fate soon pushes them together again. And again. Catamaran cruises and midnight swims give way to late night room service and whispered nothings. Maybe opposites really do attract. But every vacation has to end, even the very best ones… Can these two opposites make it last?

The Maddest Obsession

Her dresses are too tight, her heels too tall. She laughs too loudly, eats without decorum, and mixes up most sayings in the book. Little do most know it’s just a sparkly disguise, there to hide one panic attack at a time. Nobody can crack Gianna’s facade . . . no one anyway, until he comes along. Most see a paragon of morality; a special agent upholding the law. In the New York underworld, others know him as a hustler, a killer, his nature as cold as the heart of ice in his chest. Christian Allister has always followed the life plan he’d envisioned in his youth, beneath the harsh lights of a frigid, damp cell. With a proclivity for order and the number three, he’s never been tempted to veer off course. But perhaps one should never say never . . . One winter night and their lives intertwine. She hates him—his stone-cold demeanor, his arrogance and too-perceptive eye—but over the years, even as their games consist of insulting each other’s looks and intelligence, she begins to live to play with him. Nowhere in Christian’s plans had he ever prepared for Gianna. She’s chaos embodied, not his type, and married, but none of that can stop his eyes from following her wherever she goes. All along, she doesn’t even know that she’s his—his frustration, his fascination. His maddest obsession.

Cabin Fever

Things can’t get much worse for Dylan Powell. She just lost her sure-bet promotion to her boyfriend, and then lost her boyfriend when she found out he’d been hiding an engagement the whole time they were together. Now her ex is her boss, and she needs to get away ASAP to clear her head. Enter her little brother Zach with the perfect escape: he and his business partner need her help promoting their new resort. When Dylan arrives at the resort, it’s clear the place needs a lot of help, and it’s equally clear that Zach’s partner and best friend, Mal, isn’t interested in anything Dylan tries to suggest. As the pair butt heads and fix up the resort, they find themselves learning not only to respect each other, but that there are clear sparks flying between them. Can the pair build something beautiful together, or will their carefully constructed walls come crumbling down?

The Savage and the Swan

The king of wolves was more beast than man, more tyrant than king, and so much more than he seemed. Raised to avenge his murdered parents, he’d been trained and conditioned until nothing but violence and hatred lined the walls of his dead heart. For nearly four years, I’d done all I could to help my kingdom as we faced the wolf king’s unconquerable evil—hardly anything at all. As the only heir to the Gracewood line, I’d been relegated to menial tasks that would keep me and my secrets safe. A chance to do more than fret behind our castle walls arrived when I breached them after overhearing my parents’ plans for my future. Fleeing, I unknowingly raced into a fate we’d all desperately hoped to avoid. By the time I saw him coming, it was far too late. For my family. For my kingdom. For my heart. Before I could staunch the bleeding, the king had me under his giant paw, and one wrong move after another caused those razor-sharp claws to sink deeper and deeper beneath my bruised skin. I might have been trapped, naïve, and furious, but I still had a kingdom to save—and a plan. Yet when we collided, the bloodshed, the fear, his atrocities... all of it dissolved like stardust upon the night sea. The stars had mapped out our destiny, but it didn’t matter what they or my heart wanted. I refused to see the enigmatic male, the heartless lost boy with a soul beneath the flesh of a monster. The savage king who’d destroyed everything I loved would fall—even if my heart fell with him.

Lovely Bad Things

Halen: They say eyes are the windows to the soul—but when he looks at me through hues of slate-green and flaring blue embers, I’m terrified of what’s watching me from behind his clashing gaze, something primal and feverish that threatens to melt me like fire in ice. I fear falling into Kallum Locke’s pitch-black soul. But after I’m called to a crime scene to investigate the most gruesome act of violence to descend on the legendary town of Hollow’s Row, I have no choice but to turn to Kallum, to the man I had locked away in an asylum for the criminally insane. He’s the leading expert on all things Nietzsche and occult. And now, to get answers, I’m forced to make a deal with the devil himself. Kallum: Really, eyes are the windows to the soul? Then I wonder what little Halen St. James thinks of all the cryptic eyes watching her in the killing fields… I wonder if the hairs on her delicate nape lifted away, if a thrilling shiver raced over her soft skin. She’s desperate for the answer, and she’ll do anything to uncover it—even make a deal with me, dangling freedom like bait on a hook. But she’s far more tempting to sink my teeth into than any lure. And the pain will taste twice as sweet.

The Dollhouse

Alfred needs Dolls. Blonde, blue-eyed human dolls that will help him rewrite his past and change his future. Twins Angel and Bud are used to making do. Their dad is in prison, and mom won’t win parenting awards. Bud thrives on neglect, but Angel isn’t so strong. Now they’re captives in a place called the Dollhouse, and things have gone from bad to worse. The Dolls are forced to re-stage old photographs, but satisfying Alfred is not easy. He has a twisted sense of humor and a violent temper that explodes when things don’t go his way — and sometimes when they do. Angel knows that if she and the other Dolls are to survive this warped playtime, she can no longer be needy and afraid. She must prove how strong she can be — fast. There aren’t many photos left…

Until I Get You

My reputation at Fairview University preceded me. I was the projected number-one pick in the NHL draft and the fan favorite at the rink. People wanted to be me or be with me. Except for Lyla James Marichal. She didn't look at me like I was her next meal. She eyed me with disdain. Instead of vying for my attention, she ignored me and pushed me away.

Empire of Lust

At twenty one I gave up hope that he would ever notice me. He’s twenty years older than me, and an arms dealer for the mob. The smart choice would be to forget he ever existed. But that’s not possible. His icy blue gaze, sculpted physique, and huge rough hands play a vivid part in my dreams. Then one night everything changes Every fantasy I ever had he brings to life. Dominant and possessive he praises and worships me. He makes me feel like a woman when all my life I’ve felt sheltered and controlled. But Callum has dark secrets, and a past that refuses to let go. I knew he was a bad man but I never would have anticipated this…