Showing results by author "Shari Malin" in All Categories

She hired him to play a part. He’s risking everything to be real. Journalist Clara Morgan deals in facts, but her life has become a lie. After her fiancé cheated on her weeks before their wedding, she can’t face the pitying looks or the empty chair at social events. Her solution? The Stand-In Agency. For a steep hourly rate, she hires a companion who checks all the boxes: handsome, charming, and emotionally unavailable. Julian Foster is an actor whose life was derailed by a tragedy he can’t outrun. Acting is the only way he can survive the guilt of the car accident that took his ...

Lady Eleanor Beaumont's debut season is not a dream, but a waking nightmare. With her parents gone, she is the ward of her cruel cousin, Lord Ashworth, who sees her only as a possession to be married off for his own gain. Her only hope for freedom is to find a husband of her own choosing—a husband who will protect her from a fate she fears more than death. Desperate, Eleanor sneaks out to a grand ball where she meets Gabriel, the Duke of Northwood. Gabriel, however, has sworn off marriage and is a master at avoiding the relentless matchmaking mamas. But when he witnesses Ashworth's brutal...

The town of Havenwood is a place of quiet fear. A local rumor of a clown cult—menacing pranksters in garish makeup—has escalated into widespread panic. As a joke, a group of friends, including Liam and his father, decide to film a satirical PSA about the "clown menace." They have no idea they're walking into a deadly ambush. Mistaking them for the real cult, a fearful mob led by Sheriff Thompson storms their filming location and kills every single person inside. Liam, arriving late, witnesses the massacre and recognizes the faces of the killers, but the police—led by the sheriff—...

In a city of gilded cages, a secret can be a death sentence. Gabriella’s new life in New Castle is a carefully constructed lie. Raised in the impoverished ghetto just outside the city walls, she has crossed the forbidden line, living under the guise of an American expatriate with her wealthy aunt and uncle. Her scarred face and quiet mannerisms are a constant risk, but only one person sees past her defenses: James, the son of a powerful family, whose kindness breaks through the walls she has built. Their quiet romance is a fragile secret, threatened by Daniel, a vindictive rival who uses ...

Isabelle "Izzy" Hayes, the idealistic founder of a groundbreaking tech startup, lives and breathes innovation with a conscience. Alexander Sterling, CEO of a cutthroat global conglomerate, lives for market dominance and flawless execution. When Izzy's company faces collapse, Alex sweeps in with a rescue merger – but there's a shocking, non-negotiable clause: to solidify the deal, they must marry. Izzy is furious at the corporate takeover of her life, seeing Alex as everything she despises. Alex views Izzy as an inconvenient idealist, a complication to his meticulously planned future. ...

Can a new love heal a broken heart, or is some pain too deep to mend? Sarah arrives to a house shrouded in grief, tasked with caring for two young children still reeling from the loss of their mother. Their father, Ethan, a powerful CEO, has built a wall around his heart, believing that burying himself in work is the only way to cope. But in the quiet moments between bedtime stories and shared laughter, a connection sparks between Sarah and Ethan—a fragile hope for a future neither of them dared to imagine. One passionate night shatters their carefully constructed worlds, but Ethan, ...

Aeridor is a tomb, a city trapped in a twilight world decreed by the all-powerful Council. No one remembers the sun, only the oppressive weight of the gray sky and the ever-present sorrow. But a young Aeridorian discovers a forgotten device, a relic of the past that promises not just light, but a world beyond their cage. To activate it, they must defy the Council and venture into the city's deepest, darkest secrets. In a world where hope is a dangerous rebellion, will they be the one to finally make them fly?

Amelia’s career is on the line. Securing a lucrative contract for her hotel is the biggest challenge of her life, and a chance to prove her worth in a world dominated by men. The opulent Grand Majestic resort, nestled in the snow-dusted mountains, seems like the perfect place to close the deal. But the moment she arrives, her ambition clashes with an unexpected distraction—the resort's charismatic owner. He's everything she's been taught to distrust: handsome, charming, and powerful. Yet, beneath his polished exterior, she finds a surprising ally, a man who sees her for her talent, not ...

Seventeen-year-old Lily hates her new life in the country. Her senior year is off to a miserable start, her friends are a world away, and her only escape is a neglected, forgotten garden behind her new house. But when she finds an old sundial in the garden, she’s transported back in time. In the past, the garden is vibrant, and she meets Elara, a woman she quickly befriends. Lily also meets a handsome blacksmith named Rowan, and their connection is instant and undeniable. But soon, Lily realizes that Rowan is the same man as the lonely, scarred man she met in the present. He’s been ...

In a world where wealth buys life, and human "Benes" are cultivated for their organs, Summer’s 21st birthday gift is a ticking time bomb. Born into the opulent world of BeneCorp, Summer has always resented the company that provides her family’s immortality. She has a secret: she loves Glenn, her family’s long-term Bene, like a brother. He’s not a tool; he’s family. But when a congenital heart defect threatens her life, her father, Orlando, makes an irreversible decision: he buys her a new Bene, Erick, a man who sold himself to atone for a tragic past. Now, with her health failing ...

The ancient vampire Seraphina has loved and lost more than she can count, but the nearing death of her companion, Julian, feels different. For centuries, he has been her steadfast rock, the one person who has willingly shared his life and blood with her. Now, as his final moments approach, Seraphina is faced with a painful truth: she is utterly alone. Julian, ready to embrace death, refuses her offer of immortality, knowing that he would only become a prisoner to a life he has already lived to the fullest. As Seraphina grieves his loss, she is tormented by echoes of their shared memories. ...

Dr. Anya Sharma thrives on logic, her world defined by the predictable laws of the cosmos. Lord Rhys Alistair, however, is ruled by ancient family decrees and a crumbling ancestral estate, on the brink of ruin. When a bizarre, centuries-old will surfaces, Anya, an "exceptionally intelligent woman," is declared the only one who can save Rhys's legacy... by becoming his wife. She dismisses it as archaic nonsense. He sees her as a fascinating, infuriating puzzle. Forced into a marriage neither wants, they must decipher cryptic clues and confront bizarre traditions to unlock the estate's ...

The cameras love him. The public adores him. But only she knows the truth. Derrick Masterson is Hollywood's most bankable star, a man who built an empire on his effortless charm and a carefully crafted public persona. But behind the A-list facade lies a man who trusts no one—a lesson learned from a brutal betrayal that nearly cost him everything. Hannah Potter is a stuntwoman who lives by her own code: work hard, take risks, and never get emotionally involved. She's at the top of her game, but when she's hired to work with the arrogant and aloof Derrick, she's constantly at odds with the ...

Lady Beatrice, a widow haunted by a decade of loveless marriage, is given a second chance at happiness with her first love, a newly-minted Duke. But their reunion is anything but a fairytale. He is cold and distant, shackled by the requirements of a dukedom he never wanted, and she is bound by a past mistake she can't forget. A marriage of convenience is their only path forward, but when a greedy cousin threatens to tear their fragile world apart, they must face the ghosts of their past and the true nature of their hearts. Can a love betrayed and a marriage forged from desperation survive a...

Silas Thorne has everything money can buy. A ruthless industrialist with an empire built from nothing, he has conquered the world of business. Now, he's set his sights on the final frontier: high society. To gain acceptance, he purchases the magnificent Hawthorne Manor, a historic mansion he plans to use as his gilded stage. But the house comes with a keeper. Elara Vance, the disgraced daughter of the former owner, now serves as a maid in the very home she was born in. She despises the cold man who has bought her family's legacy, yet she agrees to help him navigate the treacherous waters of...

The battle for the grimoire was just the beginning. Now, Rowan Thorne is learning to wield her burgeoning witch powers, navigating a life irrevocably entwined with the supernatural, and deepening her passionate bond with the vampire Dorian Blackwood. But the uneasy peace is shattered by unsettling visions of a second, powerful artifact: an ancient scepter Marius Volkov desperately seeks to complete his cataclysmic plan. As Rowan's visions intensify and Marius's shadow looms larger, she and Dorian embark on a desperate hunt. Their quest leads them to forgotten lore, dangerous secrets, and a ...

The future of medicine came at a cost. Twenty-five years ago, a revolutionary nanotechnology was developed to cure all illness. From cancer to blindness, it promised a world without disease. Now, 90% of the population has the nanos flowing through their veins, and humanity has never been healthier. But Detective Sin Cavenaugh knows the truth. The tech that saved his sister also killed her. Haunted by the night he watched her die, Sin is obsessed with a case that seems to mirror her murder. Both assassins were supposedly "cured" of a severe mental illness by the tech. Both screamed they ...

Layla Tinker, a heartbroken woman who's sworn off love, just accidentally matched with her family's biggest rival. On the dating app, she knows him as "Mountain Man," a charming and witty escape from the stress of her life. In the real world, he's Tobias Hastings, the hot-headed lawyer representing the family trying to destroy her father's legacy. Their dates are a fun, flirty secret—a pocket of peace in the middle of a vicious lawsuit. They agree to keep their real-world identities and the lawsuit off the table. But when a hidden letter from Layla's late father reveals a shocking truth ...

Phoebe Gates is an expert at finding order in chaos. So when she's hired as a live-in nanny for grumpy, widowed father Mason Shelly and his three mischievous kids—rambunctious twins Theo and Isis, and sensitive Lily—she’s ready for anything. Mason is an expert at shutting people out, a fortress of grief and work, while Phoebe, with her calm demeanor and boundless empathy, is a quiet force of warmth. Their world-views collide and connect in the late-night hours, long after the children are asleep. Over shared tea and quiet conversations, their professional relationship slowly ...

She wants a man with heart. He’s a man with a plan. But can a footman ever truly win a duchess’s sister? Lady Rosalind is tired of London's titled bachelors and their empty promises. After her brother's love match, she has come to New York seeking a different kind of man—one with ambition, intelligence, and a genuine soul. She finds all of this in a brilliant, kind young man at a glittering ball, and quickly falls in love. But Rosalind’s dream is shattered when she discovers the man who has stolen her heart is not a gentleman at all, but a footman named Thomas, who works in service ...