The Rebel Heir is LIVE! Enemies to lovers, family secrets, a locked hobbit door and a griffon?

Title: The Rebel Heir
Series: Winter Harbor Heroes, Book 3
Authors: Whitley Cox & Ember Leigh
Genre: enemies to lovers, small town, mystery, sibling rivalry, will/inheritance clause, feuding brothers, family secrets, broken hero
Release: March 18, 2023

 

The only way to save our small town is by working with the enemy … but hearts might get broken in the process.
Colton
I don’t do emotional attachments.
Those who love me get hurt.
I keep people at arm’s length and never let women in my bed long enough for the sheets to get warm.
But when the granddaughter of my family’s mortal enemy comes to me for help, something in me shifts.
Lily Summers is a sassy, snarky, filter-free blonde with a brain—and mouth—that never quits.
Besides the sexual tension between us that keeps me awake at night, we only have one thing in common: neither of us wants the big city developer coming into Winter Harbor and destroying the integrity of the town with high rises and casinos.
We’re an unlikely team, but Lily has passion and Winter Harbor likes her, so I bite my tongue at her non-stop chatter and do what’s right for the town.
I never planned on falling for someone—let alone the enemy—but when we give into our attraction, I’m suddenly doing things I never thought I would … and it’s all for her.
Together, it seems like we can take on the world—or at the very least, Dunlop Holdings. But when a shocking development rocks Winter Harbor, its accompanied by an unsavory truth about Lily.
Now the question is: who is going to get hurt the worst?
Whether it’s me, Lily, or Winter Harbor itself, only one can survive the fallout.
*** This is the third book of the Winter Harbor series which features a quirky small town, secrets galore, and three estranged brothers who find the key to healing comes from the women who steal their hearts.

 

 

Rain met my back, cool against the warm, humid tang of the air. I made quick work of inspecting each tire, but I found the problem before I’d finished making the rounds. The rear passenger tire was deflating. I swore under my breath and kicked at the flat tire.

Lily’s door opened, and she hopped out, glaring at me like I’d called her the worst type of flower name. Then her gaze dropped to the tire.

“So this is my fault, huh?” She propped her hands on her hips, staring at me expectantly.

“Get inside,” I told her, wiping rain from my forehead. “I’ll handle this.”

“Well, if it’s my fault, I should help, right?”

I sighed, heading for the bed of the truck. I knew there had to be a spare tire somewhere. Carson wouldn’t have a truck without a spare, right?

“I’m talking to you,” Lily said, following close behind.

“Yeah, I hear you.”

“Well, if I apparently can cause tires to deflate simply from my mere existence, then surely I can help fix them by standing near you?”

I heaved a sigh as I lowered the tailgate. I’d had the forethought to cover Lily’s things with a tarp before we left, but I hadn’t exactly canvassed the truck to see where a spare tire might be lurking. I pushed some things around, looking for a secret wheel well. “Well, I think we can safely say that you standing next to me isn’t helping. So thanks, but no thanks.”

She let out a frustrated noise, glancing up to the heavens. “Colton Winters, you are such a jerk. Do you know that?”

I did know that. But it was part of my strategy. I needed her to hate me, because if she didn’t, then I’d most certainly begin pursuing her.

And I couldn’t have that. Not when so much of my life was built around transience. Around have a good fucking time. Around one-and-done.

Lily was annoying. Not only that, she was smart, interesting, and getting more beautiful to me by the day. She was dangerous, at least to life as I’d known it thus far. I’d had enough disruptions in the past year, between discovering my dad died and then reconnecting with my brothers in Winter Harbor. Not to mention leaving my former life behind, which I’d quite enjoyed as an international vagabond.

I didn’t need to add someone like Lily to my long list of unexpected—and mostly unwelcome—life changes.

I must have remained silent for too long because she continued. “Whatever. You know what? It doesn’t matter. I thought you were maybe a regular guy underneath all the barbs and the shitty aloofness, but I was wrong.”

“It’s ’cause you love regular guys so much, huh?” My words tumbled out before I could even decide otherwise. I knew I shouldn’t go there, but it was too late. The dam had broken.

“Huh?”

“Regular guys. Like Dennis. With the polos and the khakis.” I smirked as I glanced at her, palming the tailgate. We were both mostly soaked with rain by now, but I didn’t mind. It was humid, and I loved the way the rain made her shirt stick to her chest. I’d been staring at that bare shoulder all day, wondering what it tasted like, and now that it was wet and shiny, all I wanted to do was lick it. “And probably the completely lackluster performance in bed, too.”

She huffed, crossing her arms. “No, that’s— No. I don’t look for that. I just—”

“What is it, Lilium?” I squatted to peer beneath the truck and spotted the bulging spare wheel well. I made quick work of opening it. Mud smeared my forearms as I tugged the tire out and hauled it to the passenger side. I snatched the tools next, wiping my rain-soaked face with the collar of my T-shirt. I took Lily silence as my permission to continue needling her.

“You want me to be a regular guy, don’t you?” I kneeled in front of the tire, glancing up at her before I got to work jacking up the truck. “Too bad for you, I’m not.” Her rain-soaked shirt was plastered to the contours of her body. I jerked my gaze away. After our surprisingly hot kisses, followed by our first genuine connection, I was ten seconds from losing every ounce of cool around her. Seeing her more of her body did not help matters. “Just let the fucking jerk fix the tire and get inside the truck, okay?”

“No.” She crossed her arms again. I had to admit, her defiance was hot. But she didn’t know that she was playing with fire.

“Lily,” I said, more forcefully this time, as I finished jacking up the truck with a frustrated burst of air. “I need you out of my sight, okay? Let me fucking fix this tire.”

“Why can’t I be here? I should supervise. Make sure you’re not being a regular guy about it.”

I ground my teeth, weighing my options. I did want her out of my sight. But more than that, I wanted to see how far I could push the envelope. I knew there could be no way she’d be into me—I’d made sure of it over the past months of knowing her. But what was the harm of finding out for sure?

“If I have to stare at your perfect tits heaving out of your top for even one more second, I’m gonna explode. And I mean that in exactly the way you think I do. So just get. In. The. Fucking. Truck.”

Realization washed across her face. Her cheeks went pink again, and I was hard as a rock watching her. Fuck. I focused on ignoring Lily as I started loosening the first lug nut.

After what I’d said, I didn’t know what I expected from her. But I certainly didn’t expect her to step over my arms—as I finally removed the lug nut—and tower over me with a satisfied smile on her face.

“Lily—”

“If I have to watch you working on this truck with your muscles flexing in this rain for even one more second, then I’m going to explode. So what are we going to do about it?”

I gaped up at her, caught between awestruck and horny. I knew what we were going to do about it. Or at least what I’d love to do about it.

“Well, I’m pretty sure I suggested the solution,” I snapped, dropping the wrench as I inspected her bare calves from this close. Goose pimples covered her skin, flaring where my breath hit her legs. “Which was to separate us entirely. But it looks like you don’t want a regular guy after all.”

She shook her head, staring down at me with raw passion and vulnerability slashed across her face. I caught her drift. I was good at catching the drift when it came to situations like these. I touched the outsides of her ankles, dragging my fingertips slowly up the sides of her legs.

“What happens on the road from Portland,” she said, her voice growing shakier the higher my hands ran. “Stays on the road from Portland.”

 

 

 

 

A Canadian West Coast baby born and raised, Whitley is married to her high school sweetheart, and together they have two beautiful daughters and a fluffy dog. She spends her days making food that gets thrown on the floor, vacuuming Cheerios out from under the couch and making sure that the dog food doesn’t end up in the air conditioner. But when nap time comes, and it’s not quite wine o’clock, Whitley sits down, avoids the pile of laundry on the couch, and writes.
 
A lover of all things decadent; wine, cheese, chocolate and spicy erotic romance, Whitley brings the humorous side of sex, the ridiculous side of relationships and the suspense of everyday life into her stories. With single dads, firefighters, Navy SEALs, mommy wars, body issues, threesomes, bondage and role-playing, Whitley’s books have all the funny and fabulously filthy words you could hope for.
 
Ember Leigh has been writing erotic romance novels since she was far too young. A native of northern Ohio, she currently resides near Lake Erie with her Argentinean husband, where they run an Argentinian-American food truck and wrangle two wild boys.

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My alter-ego is at it again! Stoke the Flames a DARK, why choose/reverse harem romance is LIVE. Post-apocalyptic, gritty, sexy and terrifyingly thrilling.

Title: Stoke the Flames

Series: Revolution Inferno Book Two
Author: Whitley Cox writing as Natalie Sloan
Genre: Reverse Harem; Romantic Suspense
Release Date: January 1, 2023
Tropes: Dystopian, Alpha Male, Surprise Pregnancy, Thriller, Post-Apocalyptic; Enemies-to-Lovers

They took her in the middle of the night, performed tests on her against her will … now she’s out for their blood.

They killed my parents.
Then kidnapped me in the middle of the night and locked me in a tower, restraining me and sedating me so they could perform experiments on me daily.
Why me?
I am a nobody. A nothing. Born with no enhancements. No coveted blood.
Except to my men. To them, I am somebody. I am a person. I am whole.
Apart, we are vulnerable. But together we are unstoppable, and one-by-one we will hunt down those who have betrayed us, until we can meet with the rest of the revolution.
Only, I’m carrying a secret, a secret that not even I know. And when we finally find out what it is, it could change everything. And not for the better.
I am Olia, Amlin born, betrayed by those I trusted most, and now I am on the road to revenge. With my men at my side, we will stoke the flames of the rebellion and bring peace, harmony and order to the new world, with women and the men of their hearts at the helm.

Notes from the author

* Multiple POVs and first person.

 

* This is a MFMM romance. There are no MM romantic scenes or MM romances.

 

* This is a reverse harem novel, meaning the main character has more than one love interest. There is no cheating, no cliffhanger (to their romance arc) and definitely a happy ending.

 

* There is described torture and graphic killing in this book. Reader discretion is advised.

 

* Book 3 will follow four new characters, as does book 1, with the series arc coming to an end in Book 3.

 

* Please note that this book is set in a post-apocalyptic world where not only has eighty percent of the human population died, but the ice caps have melted, the oceans have warmed and the geographical landscape of the world as we know it has changed due to the drastic rise of sea levels. The author did consult with an environmental and climate specialist to see what the world is projected to look like in 400 years, but some creative liberties have been taken to enhance the story.

 

 

“What an absolutely brilliant plot. It drew me into the pages right from the start. There’s plenty of action, drama suspense and steam that had me turning the pages to find out what was going to happen next. Even though this is book two Revolution Inferno it can be read by itself but to really get the right fill I would read the books in order. I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book for my honest opinion.” – @Kazza1957 ~ ★★★★★ Star Bookbub Review

 

“Fantastic!! Another great standalone addition to this interconnected series. Filled with action and suspense it kept me on the edge of my seat!! There was lots of steam. The spicy scenes were hot!! 🔥 🥵 I loved our FMC, Olia. Not only is she a survivor, but she is brave and has a big heart. I loved seeing her character growth throughout the story. Maxxon, Cypher and Alaric make up her delicious men. Each has their own traumas, but also have certain strengths. Together they fit together so well. I honestly couldn’t pick a favorite, because each played a vital role in Olia’s heart and also her growth. I cannot wait for book 3!!!” -@Rachel Stephens ~ ★★★★★ Amazon Review

 

“Book two in a new page turning trilogy. If you enjoy futuristic books and also reverse harem then you’ll love the way this joins the two! A few surprises in this story, also plenty of steamy scenes and action where the female isn’t standing by waiting to be saved! I found this to be well worth the read and definitely has me ready for the final book. There’s some scenes which may be triggering for some readers, but I still give this five well deserved stars!!.” – Sue Hancock ~ ★★★★★ Goodreads Review

 

“WOWZA! Book 2 is even more engrossing, steamy futuristic reverse harem. There’s a lot riding on every single decision in the future world! Not just wild uninhibited sex that will have you burning through the pages! The suspense, drama, fear for safety of the five and their woman. Another must read by Natalie Sloane. *I was given a copy and am voluntarily giving my honest review.”– Pat ~ ★★★★★ Goodreads Review

 

Another noise, this time a sharp gasp. “Where am I? Hello? Where am I?” The cage shook. “Help!”

“Shhh,” I said softly. “Olia, it’s Cypher. You’re safe. We’re in the safe house, remember? Alaric’s on the roof ready to shoot bad guys, and Max is sleeping upstairs. Are you okay?”

“Cypher?”

“Right here.”

“I forgot where I was for a second.” Her breathing was shallow, and her words still held a tinge of worry. “Everything is so dark and … and I forgot about this cage.”

I felt terrible that she was locked up—again. But it was for her own safety.

“Do you need anything?” I asked.

“I, um … I’d like to use the bathroom if I could?”

Nodding, I set aside the scrambler I was building and stood up. “You’ll need to wrap that foil around your torso, okay?”

“O-okay.” She was probably struggling to see anything, so I reached for the flashlight beside me, lifted up the cage a couple of inches and shone the light under.

“Thank you,” she breathed. The rattling and crinkling of the foil was the only sound, save for her breathing. “Okay. All good.”

I lifted the cage up more. “Can you crawl out? Then I’ll carry you so you don’t have to walk.”

“Okay.” She crawled out, the light from the flashlight catching on her long, bright red hair.

Once she was out, I set the cage back down, grabbed the flashlight and scooped her up. She was as light as could be, and her small frame fit against my chest and in my arms perfectly.

“You good?” I asked.

“Yes.”

I carried her up the steps, out of the sunken living room and down the white-tiled floor of the hallway toward the bathroom.

Her ear fell to my chest over my heart, and she closed her eyes. “Hmmm.”

My body stiffened. “Wh-what are you doing?”

“Just checking to see if it’s a heart in there or a cog and wheels.”

I shoved down my bark of a laugh. “And?”

“You’re human, just like me.”

“I am,” I said, shocked at just how much emotion accompanied those two words. I cleared my throat so the words wouldn’t choke out again. “I will bleed if you cut me.”

“I won’t cut you.” She glanced up at me with a small, playful smile. “Unless you give me reason to.”

My smile was small and close-mouthed as we entered the bathroom. There were no windows in here, so I wasn’t concerned about flicking on the light. “Do I need to put you on the toilet?”

She shook her head. “I can manage. Thank you.”

“Right.” Now what?

I was just standing there holding her, and I didn’t want to let go.

“You can, uh … you can put me down now. I’ll call you when I’m done.”

“Oh, right … sorry.” I set her down on her feet but scooped her up a second later when she sucked in a sharp breath that had to be from the pain in her feet.

“It’s okay, Cypher. You can put me down.”

This woman didn’t deserve a second of pain after what she’d been through, and the idea of hearing her gasp again, knowing it was from the cuts on her feet, made a hot, trail of rage burn through me. I hadn’t felt this kind of bloodlust in years. Not since …

“Cypher?” Her small, delicate hand fell to my chest, while the other one cupped my cheek. “Are you okay?”

I swallowed and glanced down at her, the vibrant green of her eyes hitting me hard in the solar plexus.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost. And a scary as hell ghost at that. What just happened?” There was no fear on her face, just worry. Just concern. Just … care.

Besides my brothers, I hadn’t seen a look like that on anyone else’s face in years … possibly ever. Nobody cared about me. Not in the way that Olia was demonstrating at least.

It felt good, and it pushed those charring, murderous feelings I had a moment ago to the deep, dark corners of my mind. She replaced those feelings with light.

Olia was light. Olia was brightness and hope.

I shook my head and blinked a few times, staying focused on her beautiful face, on her touch and the way she cupped my cheek.

“You want to talk about what just happened there?” she asked slowly. “You sort of … disappeared in your own head. Something hard creased your face, and you looked both furious and in so much pain.”

That was the perfect way to describe it. I was furious. I was in pain.

 

 

 

Natalie Sloan is the mother of two gorgeous, wild little girls, and married to her high school sweetheart. She’s traveled the world, taught abroad, and now she and her scientist husband with their kids, dog and betta fish call Nanaimo, BC home. She loves writing filthy romance that tugs at your heart strings until you think they might snap, with cantankerous heroes and steel-spined heroines.
 
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