Palmer Sullivan invents a fake boyfriend to prove she’s over her ex—she just didn’t expect to fall for the handsome photographer who steps in to play the part! When baker Palmer Sullivan signs up to make a wedding cake for her ex-boyfriend, Grant, and his dazzling fiancée, hotel heiress Bennett Barlow, she swears she’s not trying to win him back. But when Grant starts questioning her motives, Palmer panics—and makes up a boyfriend on the spot to prove she has moved on. Enter Silas Howell—the devastatingly handsome wedding photographer—who jumps in to play the part. They strike a six months of fake dating, strictly for show, with no real feelings involved. Oh, and no sex. Especially no sex. But between late-night baking sessions and steamy photo shoots, the heat between them becomes impossible to ignore.Now Palmer’s fake romance is starting to feel a little too real, and her dream gig is turning into a seven-tier disaster. If she wants to pull this off, she’ll have to follow her heart, before everything she has built comes crumbling down. The Sweetest Scheme is a decadent confection that will leave you craving more!

2021 LODESTAR AWARD for BEST YOUNG ADULT BOOK Fourteen-year-old Mona isn’t like the wizards charged with defending the city. She can’t control lightning or speak to water. Her familiar is a sourdough starter and her magic only works on bread. She has a comfortable life in her aunt’s bakery making gingerbread men dance. But Mona’s life is turned upside down when she finds a dead body on the bakery floor. An assassin is stalking the streets of Mona’s city, preying on magic folk, and it appears that Mona is his next target. And in an embattled city suddenly bereft of wizards, the assassin may be the least of Mona’s worries…

For fans of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, an inventive and romantic speculative novel about two women—a witch and an immortal demon—who make a Faustian bargain and are drawn into a cat-and-mouse chase across multiple lifetimes. 1592. Cybil Harding is a First Daughter. Cursed to bring disaster to those around her, she is trapped in a house with a mother paralyzed by grief and a father willing to sacrifice everything in pursuit of magic. Miriam Richter is a creature of shadow. Forged by the dark arts many years ago, she is doomed to exist for eternity and destined to be alone—killing mortals and consuming their souls for sustenance. Everything changes when she meets Cybil, whose soul shines with a light so bright, she must claim it for herself. She offers a bargain: she will grant Cybil reincarnation in exchange for her soul. Thus begins a dance across centuries as Miriam seeks Cybil in every lifetime to claim her prize. Cybil isn’t inclined to play by the rules, but when it becomes clear that Miriam holds the key to breaking her family curse, Cybil finds that—for the first time in her many lives—she might have the upper hand. As they circle each other, drawn together inescapably as light and dark, the bond forged between them grows stronger. In their battle for dominance, only one of them can win—but perhaps they can’t survive without each other. Natasha Siegel has written an unexpected love story that feels both epic and deeply personal. Ambitious, gothic, and magical, As Many Souls as Stars is about the lengths we go to protect ourselves, our legacy, and those we love.

“Partners… We’ll be partners—for now. Once this is over, we go our separate ways.”Lucilia Zeal has always dreamed of becoming a hero—the kind that everyone looks up to—and left home to come to Fairhaven to do just that. But when her temper ruins her first chance at glory, Lucy’s path to greatness takes an unexpected turn.Ash is a sharp-eyed investigator chasing a string of strange disappearances. Clever, composed, and used to working alone. But when a chance meeting throws Lucy into her case, Ash reluctantly agrees to let her tag along.What begins as a simple missing-persons investigation soon unravels into something far darker—and far more personal. Every step closer to the truth puts them in greater danger, forcing Lucy to put her strength on the line and Ash to confront a past she’s desperate to keep buried.Lucy swore she’d prove herself a hero—but beside Ash’s cold gaze, every stumble feels like proof she’s nothing more than dead weight. And yet, the more Lucy tries to impress her, the more she wonders if what she really wants isn’t Ash’s recognition…but something else instead.For Lucy to achieve her dreams, she must learn how to reach out to someone who’s desperately trying to push her away.

2021 LODESTAR AWARD for BEST YOUNG ADULT BOOK Fourteen-year-old Mona isn’t like the wizards charged with defending the city. She can’t control lightning or speak to water. Her familiar is a sourdough starter and her magic only works on bread. She has a comfortable life in her aunt’s bakery making gingerbread men dance. But Mona’s life is turned upside down when she finds a dead body on the bakery floor. An assassin is stalking the streets of Mona’s city, preying on magic folk, and it appears that Mona is his next target. And in an embattled city suddenly bereft of wizards, the assassin may be the least of Mona’s worries…

A woman inherits a pawnshop where you can sell your regrets, and then embarks on a magical journey when a charming young physicist wanders into the shop, in this dreamlike and enchanting fantasy novel. On a backstreet in Tokyo lies a pawnshop, but not everyone can find it. Most will see a cozy ramen restaurant. And only the chosen ones—those who are lost—will find a place to pawn their life choices and deepest regrets. Hana Ishikawa wakes on her first morning as the pawnshop’s new owner to find it ransacked, the shop’s most precious acquisition stolen, and her father missing. And then into the shop stumbles a charming stranger, quite unlike its other customers, for he offers help instead of seeking it. Together, they must journey through a mystical world to find Hana’s father and the stolen choice—by way of rain puddles, rides on paper cranes, the bridge between midnight and morning, and a night market in the clouds. But as they get closer to the truth, Hana must reveal a secret of her own—and risk making a choice that she will never be able to take back.

*Book one of a duet* When Ophelia Winters accepts a scholarship at a prestigious Scottish university to prove that her parents' death was the fault of Cain Green, an American aviation tycoon, her plan is simple; keep her grades up and her head down. The last thing she wants is to wind up in a mafia war or step on the toes of royalty. Her plan gets off to a rocky start when the mysterious man that almost kills her on her first day turns out to be Cain's eldest son. As far as she’s concerned, Alex Corbeau-Green is a younger version of his billionaire father. A monster hiding beneath a beautiful facade. Loneliness has been Ophelia’s only dependable companion for years, but when anonymous threats and mysterious occurrences start to haunt her time at Sorrowsong, she wonders if she really can survive there on her own. Between being paired together for a project and ending up as each other’s alibi for a murder, avoiding Alex becomes increasingly impossible. She begins to fall for the soft heart that hides beneath his hard exterior. Tormented by a malicious stalker and growing closer to Alex, Ophelia’s desperation for revenge wavers for the first time. Can she really bring herself to pull the trigger on Cain now that she knows the family it’ll split into two?__________ Dark Academic Romance - Enemies to Lovers - Slow Burn - University Setting This work is dark in places and contains several triggers throughout. Please heed the warnings before reading.

*Book one of a duet* When Ophelia Winters accepts a scholarship at a prestigious Scottish university to prove that her parents' death was the fault of Cain Green, an American aviation tycoon, her plan is simple; keep her grades up and her head down. The last thing she wants is to wind up in a mafia war or step on the toes of royalty. Her plan gets off to a rocky start when the mysterious man that almost kills her on her first day turns out to be Cain's eldest son. As far as she’s concerned, Alex Corbeau-Green is a younger version of his billionaire father. A monster hiding beneath a beautiful facade. Loneliness has been Ophelia’s only dependable companion for years, but when anonymous threats and mysterious occurrences start to haunt her time at Sorrowsong, she wonders if she really can survive there on her own. Between being paired together for a project and ending up as each other’s alibi for a murder, avoiding Alex becomes increasingly impossible. She begins to fall for the soft heart that hides beneath his hard exterior. Tormented by a malicious stalker and growing closer to Alex, Ophelia’s desperation for revenge wavers for the first time. Can she really bring herself to pull the trigger on Cain now that she knows the family it’ll split into two?__________ Dark Academic Romance - Enemies to Lovers - Slow Burn - University Setting This work is dark in places and contains several triggers throughout. Please heed the warnings before reading.