The Pining Paradox

When ex-Olympian Jamie Lyons walked away from the gymnastics world, it wasn’t by choice, but by a tragic diagnosis that solidified her decision to disappear from the public eye. For seven years, she’s kept her distance from the spotlight and stayed far from the headlines that once defined her. Now, as a favor to an old friend, Jamie is back, and a chance encounter at a party sets off a series of events that makes her question everything. When the life she left behind starts to blur with the one she’s creating, Jamie must decide if she’s finally ready to stop running.

For Audrey Lind, working with clay still evokes memories of her favorite professor. The woman’s zeal for art history ignited Audrey’s own academic career—and her tweed blazers and British accent kindled her first female crush. After fate brings Audrey back to Northshire University to teach, she’s thrilled to be working alongside her former mentor, but the grumpy woman she encounters upon her return is nothing like the dynamo she remembers.

Alison Hartmann is a woman with secrets no one wants her to keep. Gold Hill, with its idyllic setting, is the perfect place to hide. Light-hearted Hope Sullivan doesn't see it that way. What else is a small town for if it isn't about strong bonds and a close community? On a gloomy day by the lake, their lives collide, leading both women to question: Is Gold Hill a haven or a bolthole? Can you ever really be safe?

Two years after an accident in Manhattan almost claimed her life, Marin is determined to take advantage of her second chance. She’s left her husband, her job, even her home to pursue the life she’s always wanted. Now she’s teaching statistics at Northshire University and preparing to do something she’s spent decades dreaming about: date a woman. But the last woman she expects to encounter on her journey is the one she’s been fantasizing about since their chance encounter the morning Marin nearly died.

When Abby Proctor is kidnapped from a train in the middle of the desert halfway to her new life in California, she makes a promise to herself—she will escape. Because there's a reason Abby is leaving Iowa and all its oppressions behind, and she refuses to be someone's prisoner again. Especially when that someone is the infamous female outlaw Joey "JT London" Taylor, Abby's brash, brooding, and inconveniently beautiful captor.

Olivia Carver's life in Lake Cabot, New York, is simple. That's how she likes it, even if she can't stop the town she loves from being overrun by wealthy tourists each summer. When she's not working at her family's paddleboard shop or spending time with her lovable but infuriating brothers, she puts her energy into writing professionally, a dream that has yet to materialize. 

Emily Janssen prefers to play it safe. At thirty-five, she’s still working at the inn her grandmothers own while dreaming of a day when she’s able to support herself fully with her art. And while her friends have all hiked to the summit of the mountain in their hometown of Crescent Falls, Vermont, something has always held Emily back. Diana Devlin has already made it to the top. Well, almost. She’s this close to securing the promotion that will put her in line to take over as CEO of her family’s hotel chain when her father retires.

Tori Frazee is unapologetic when it comes to falling in love before she's thirty. When her marriage ended amicably, she knew she had to get back into the game to find her soulmate and have the family she wanted. Running face-first into a cold but frazzled funeral director and a rebellious toddler at the grocery store isn't how she expected to find love, and Miranda certainly isn't her soulmate. Or is she?

Hannah Dalton had a lot of expectations in her life. Growing up watching her mother struggle for everything they had, she resolved to make sure she did everything she could to make those hardships worthwhile. She would pursue the career she dreamed of, she would marry someone trustworthy and kind, and she would try to give her own daughter everything her mother gave her, only without the struggle. She just never anticipated the order in which it could all happen or the hardships that would inevitably come to pass. But, somehow, maybe it can all work out better than expected.

Parker Chase is everyone's friend and every woman's conquest. She's always looking for her next one-night companion until a statuesque blonde strolls up to her bar one night. She never believed in love at first sight before now, but can she overcome a troublesome past that leaves her feeling unworthy of any lasting affection?