January Book Corner

I love books. Seriously. Love them. They let me experience things I never could otherwise. I can visit exotic countries, and sometimes even other planets. I meet fascinating people: women who’d be my best friends in real life, and men who sparkle with intrigue. I get to go on adventures, dig into the depths of my emotions, and often I just get to escape. Reading is part of my nightly ritual. I can’t go to sleep unless I’ve read, even if it’s just for five quick minutes. Books are a huge part of my life, and so I’m thrilled that every month I get to share some fun, interesting, excellent books with all of you, and I hope that, like me, you’ll turn to reading when you have a few extra minutes. Busy women often don’t have time for long reads. But a novella? Perfect! These novellas pack a big punch. They’re quick reads with lasting stories. The best thing about most of these books is that they’re $2.99 or less for the digital download! Can’t beat that. I hope you find something that whets your reading appetite! Enjoy. A Little Bit Cupid Finding love should be easy, but wedding photographer Pheobe Ward knows better. When Cupid shows up on a crazy mission to help her ”and save the world in the process ”Phoebe realizes love might be even more complicated than she thought. Even with Cupid showing her Mr. Right, she can't stop thinking about his best friend, Mr. Wrong. Cal Crawford has never had time for love, but now he's falling for Phoebe. Which means it's got to be just plain wrong to set her up with his best friend, right? But even though seeing Phoebe with someone else will break his heart, he can't walk away from her. Phoebe can't afford to choose the wrong guy with the fate of the world at stake. But maybe Cupid has it wrong. Maybe she has to rely just a little bit on Cupid, and a whole lot more on her heart. Frosted After falling through the ice one cold day, Kate is saved by a mysterious man named Jack and ends up marrying him. Come to find out she's committed herself to the king of winter himself. Now Kate has cold feet about their life together ¦and cold everything else. She doesn't think Jack will miss her if she packs up and runs away to Colorado. After all, she's been in living in sunny Florida for seven years, and he hasn't managed to come see her. But Jack has one last chance of convincing his runaway bride to come back to him, and he won't give up until he breaks through the ice that's frosted her heart. If you like longer, steamier romances, these are for you! Recipe for Satisfaction Mixing business with pleasure has never been so sexy ¦ Being the financial caretaker for her deadbeat parents isn't the life professional organizer Sterling Andrews dreamed of. Tired of being the dependable ”and boring ”daughter, Sterling decides to have a little fun. And what could be more fun than seducing rich bad boy chef, Jack Vaughn? Except, after one scintillating night together, Sterling's not only lusting for Jack, she's working for him. And remaining professional becomes harder every day. Already a major success thanks to his exclusive restaurants, Jack Vaughn is looking for something more. Ultra responsible Sterling is unlike anyone Jack has met ¦but she's his employee. Unwilling to give her up, Jack makes Sterling an offer she can't refuse ”for four sexy weekends, he ™ll indulge her most wicked fantasies with no professional strings attached. But will mixing business with pleasure spell disaster? Or will they find the recipe for satisfaction? Game for Marriage He's going in deep to make her his ¦ Struggling artist Sheridan Harper never imagined she ™d spend a sizzling night with Jared Quinn, the smoking-hot star quarterback of her local professional football team, the San Jose Hawks. And she's even more shocked when Jared's publicist offers her a proposition: a fake marriage to keep Jared out of the gossip mags. Being that close to Jared would be too tempting, so to protect her heart, she insists on secretly including a clause forbidding sex between them. Jared just wants to keep his starting QB job and keep it in San Jose. His reputation as a ladies ™ man has landed him in the headlines one too many times, but there's something about his kind, passionate new wife that tempts him beyond reason. Any sort of intimacy between them is completely forbidden, but as their bodies fall in deep, will their hearts follow suit? Like suspense? Then try this one! It takes place in Texas. Sacrifice of Passion She ripped his heart apart ¦ Texas rancher Vic Vargas planned to marry Delaney West, but when she suddenly left town ”and him ”behind, she turned from the love of his life to the woman who ™d torn his world apart. Now, twelve years later, she's back, and the walls protecting his heart are crumbling. He betrayed her trust ¦ The night she and Vic were supposed to meet at the Chain Tree and elope still haunts Delaney. He left her there, at the mercy of someone else. Coming home to San Julio was supposed to help keep her sleepwalking at bay, but instead, it's opened up old wounds and put her in the path of the chupacabra, the supposedly mythical bloodsucking beast tormenting San Julio. Now time is running out ¦ Delaney's refusal to share a terrible secret sends her running straight into the lair of the chupacabra, plunging her back into her worst nightmare and forcing Vic and her to confront the wrongs of the past in order to stay alive for the future they desperately want. Will they learn to trust each other again, or do the roots of betrayal run too deep? And finally, if you like literary fiction, try The Art Forger. I devoured this book, and now I feel very knowledgeable about Degas, oil painting, the Isabelle Gardner museum in Boston, and art forgery. The Art Forger On March 18, 1990, thirteen works of art worth today over $500 million were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. It remains the largest unsolved art heist in history, and Claire Roth, a struggling young artist, is about to discover that there's more to this crime than meets the eye. Claire makes her living reproducing famous works of art for a popular online retailer. Desperate to improve her situation, she lets herself be lured into a Faustian bargain with Aiden Markel, a powerful gallery owner. She agrees to forge a painting ”one of the Degas masterpieces stolen from the Gardner Museum ”in exchange for a one-woman show in his renowned gallery. But when the long-missing Degas painting ”the one that had been hanging for one hundred years at the Gardner ”is delivered to Claire's studio, she begins to suspect that it may itself be a forgery. Claire's search for the truth about the painting's origins leads her into a labyrinth of deceit where secrets hidden since the late nineteenth century may be the only evidence that can now save her life. B. A. Shapiro's razor-sharp writing and rich plot twists make The Art Forger an absorbing literary thriller that treats us to three centuries of forgers, art thieves, and obsessive collectors. it's a dazzling novel about seeing ”and not seeing ”the secrets that lie beneath the canvas.