Flowers Fiction

Edward Stanhope, the icy Duke of Thornfield, likes his life in a certain order. Give him a strong drink, a good book, and his dog for company, and he’s content. But when he goes to his library and finds a woman sitting in his chair, petting his dog, what starts as a request for her to leave turns quickly to a fiery battle of wits, leading to a steamy kiss that could ruin them both if they’re caught. So, of course, damn it all, that’s when Edward’s aunt walks in and, thereafter, announces Miss Georgiana Bly as the future Duchess of Thornfield.

Valley U was supposed to be my fresh start after I escaped the glitz and glam of Hollywood. I didn’t want to be the former child star who graced TV screens across the world. I wanted to feel normal. When the same hot guy runs past my off-campus house every day, I assume he’s another college student. When he protects me from boys who still think of me as the character from their teenage dreams, I think he is being kind. When my past comes back to haunt me, he makes me feel safe. I’m falling hard and fast for a guy I barely know. Until I realize my mysterious new crush has a secret.

When I met Thayer Holmes, I had no idea how much he would single-handedly change my life. Our journey hasn't been an easy one, but it has been ours. We've fought through the impossible and come out stronger because of it. But happily-ever-after isn't a destination. It's a never-ending road trip with bumps along the way. Some bumps are bigger than others, but none of it matters as long as we have each other, right?

Eventually, all wallflowers will have their chance at love...this is where it begins. Lottie Hughes likes people, as long as they aren't too close. Does it bother her that no one asks her to dance? Yes, but she's not sure how to drum up dance partners when she has almost no dowry and no title, and freezes up when anyone tries to talk to her. Ellen might be beautiful and considered a diamond of the first water by Society, but she is so very tired of the pressure to marry a titled gentleman. Charlotte Winters is destined to spinsterhood until she turns down an unwanted proposal.

When Noelle walked away from her adult entertainment gig, she never thought she’d return. Not with a comfortable corporate career in her life. Yet shortly after being laid off, she’s back to escorting the region’s wealthiest women…and growing more tired by the night.

The Flowers of Buffoonery opens in a seaside sanitarium where Yozo Oba—the narrator of No Longer Human at a younger age—is being kept after a failed suicide attempt. While he is convalescing, his friends and family visit him, and other patients and nurses drift in and out of his room. Against this dispiriting backdrop, everyone tries to maintain a lighthearted, even clownish atmosphere: playing cards, smoking cigarettes, vying for attention, cracking jokes, and trying to make each other laugh.

A banker, linguist, and demolitions expert who has successfully infiltrated German intelligence, FBI Special Agent Thomas Cochrane is handpicked by Roosevelt for an impossible mission: to find Hitler's spy before he carries out a plan that will remove the president from office at a critical moment in the century's history.

Eight deliciously talented mystery authors have lent their skills of crafting murder and suspense to this collection of gripping short stories. Each of these eight provocative tales is designed to entertain and mystify—and maybe even chill you to your core. Get lost in the wild imaginations of such New York Times bestselling writers as Andrew Child, Heather Graham, Reed Farrel Coleman, and John Gilstrap, plus authors Rick Bleiweiss, Jennifer Graeser Dornbush, Amanda Flower, and Don Bruns.

Lord Frederick Bowen, Duke of Salisbury, is expecting an heiress for Christmas. The fact does not bring him pleasure. Ever since the war ended, he would rather focus on experiments for his new waterproof material. Celia might be the daughter of an earl, but she's of the illegitimate variety. She has resigned herself to life as a maid for the wicked countess and her two half-sisters. When Celia's half-sister begs her to pretend to be her, Celia is thrust into a fairy tale. Everyone knows though that fairy tales never come true....

Peony Bellefleur runs Betwitching Blooms, the charming flower shop in a picture-perfect Cotswold village in England. Her flowers seem to make the sick improve, wedding days happier, and birthdays more special because she infuses her bouquets with a little magic. Peony’s a witch in a village that seems too perfect to be true. Probably because it is. She’s got her hands full between running her flower shop, managing her mother—who’s a medium with a habit of conversing with the dead wherever she happens to be—and helping her protégé to embrace her newfound powers.

Olivia never imagined giving birth in a subway bathroom while the infected pounded on the door. She didn't expect her husband to turn into one of them, either. Rescued by Cole, she clings to him as her only chance of survival for both her and her baby. He's gruff and reserved, but she soon feels safer with him than she ever did with her late husband. She'll fight to stay by Cole's side as the world crumbles around them.

Lochlann Wilde walks in the shadow of his father, a legendary summoner who commanded mythical beasts in battle. But Locke isn't legendary. He’s barely a summoner, never passing his academy’s trial of the elements. And then he accidentally summons a fae prince with a beautiful body and a bad attitude. Sylvan is fiery and ferocious, stronger than anything Locke has ever encountered. And hotter, too. But time is running out. Locke must tame the prince’s wild heart. If he fails his trial, he’ll lose his inheritance and ruin his family's name.

A woman meets her next-door neighbor and loans her a spatula, then starts suffering horrific gaps in her memory. A man, feeling jilted by an unrequited love, becomes obsessed with sorting through his neighbors' garbage in the belief that it will teach him how to better relate to people. A landlord decides to raise the rent, and his tenants hatch a plan to kill him at a team-building retreat. In 10 captivating, unnerving stories, Flowers of Mold presents a range of ordinary individuals who have found themselves left behind by an increasingly urbanized and fragmented world.

In my defense, I never claimed to be professional.... At least that’s my excuse for why I mistook a billionaire for a waiter, made off-color comments, and accidentally dumped a plate of food all over him. Embarrassing myself is a daily occurrence, just like my unpaid bill notices. But being in a wedding instead of planning one is not. I shall live vicariously through this high-end wedding and forget about the rent payments I’ve missed, the fact that my tiny apartment has no hot water, and that I’m about to be evicted anyway so it doesn’t even matter, anyway! Yay!

When widowed Millie Fisher moves back to her childhood home of Harvest, Ohio, she notices one thing right away - the young Amish are bungling their courtships and marrying the wrong people! A quiltmaker by trade, Millie has nevertheless stitched together a few lives in her time, with truly romantic results. Her first mission? Her own niece, widowed gardener Edith Hochstetler, recently engaged to rude, greedy Zeke Miller. Anyone can see he's not right for such a gentle young woman - except Edith herself.

Gertrude, the eldest Killoran sister, has spent a lifetime being underestimated - especially by her own family. She may seem as vulnerable as a kitten, but given the chance, she can be as fierce as a tiger. Her adopted brother, Stephen, has just been snatched back by his true father, and she’ll be damned if she relinquishes the boy to the man reviled throughout London as the Mad Marquess.

Set apart by her ethereal beauty and fearless demeanor, Ophelia Killoran has always been a mystery to those around her - and a woman they underestimated. No one would guess that she spends her nights protecting the street urchins of St. Giles. Ophelia knows what horrors these children face. As a young girl, she faced those horrors herself, and she would have died…if not for the orphan boy who saved her life.

Responsible, practical Miss Hermione Rogers, has been crafting stories as the notorious Mr. Michael Michaelmas and selling them for a meager wage to support her siblings. The only real way to ensure her family's ruinous debts are paid, however, is to marry. Tall, thin, and plain, she has no expectation of success. In London for her first Season she seizes the chance to write the tale of a brooding duke. In her research, she finds Sebastian Fitzhugh, the Fifth Duke of Mallen.

Dagoberto Gilb has won the PEN/Hemingway Award and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Sonny Bravo is a young Mexican American struggling to become a man while living with his mom and step-father in a small urban community known as the Flowers. There the assorted residents teach Sonny life lessons, even as racial tensions simmer in the city around them.

Although baby showers aren't an Amish tradition, Bailey King wants to celebrate Emily Keim's forthcoming bundle of joy. It's the least she can do for her hardworking assistant at Swissmen Sweets, especially with Emily being estranged from her siblings. Everyone in Harvest, Ohio, has gathered at the town gazebo, including Juliet Brook, Jethro the Pig, and in a last-minute invite, Emily's sister, Esther Esh. But Esther isn't the only surprise guest. A mysterious Amish woman confronts Emily claiming to know about her secret shame.