Showing results by narrator "Amy Melissa Bentley" in All Categories

The 21st century has seen very positive movement for LGBT+ rights. In the last few years, the overturning of DOMA, the SCOTUS ruling in favor of the Marriage Equality Act, American transgender politicians elected to office, and landmark moments such as Apple becoming the most valuable company in the world under the leadership of an openly gay CEO have advanced LGBT awareness and understanding. In a world full of LGBT questions, The ABC's of LGBT+ has the answers.

Jordan Carpenter thinks she's finally found the perfect candidate for Jilted, a new dating show about runaway grooms: firefighter Luke Elliott, a known player who's left not one but three brides at the altar. She ends up on a flight to Montana to recruit him in person. It's not Manhattan, but at least the locals in Lucky Hollow seem friendly...except for Luke, who's more intense - and way hotter - than the slick womanizer Jordan expected. Eager to put the past behind him, Luke has zero intention of following this gorgeous, fast-talking city girl back to New York.

They throw around words and phrases: "Could be the greatest ever..." "Revolutionary sound..." I don't give a sh*t about anything but my music. It's my art. My escape. Until I run into a fiery redhead coming out of the bathroom of my favorite dive bar. Literally run into her. Both of us pressed against the wall. Her panting against my neck. Bristol's different - quick-witted and snarky, not the usual groupie. She doesn't care that every record label in the country wants to sign my band. She didn't even know who we were until tonight. But, she wants me. They all do.

Winning an all-expenses paid Colorado destination wedding might seem like a dream come true for some people - but Caron Hollister and her boyfriend Alex Madison aren't even engaged. How is she supposed to tell him she's won their wedding and honeymoon when he hasn't asked her to marry him? After quitting her job, Caron accepts her best friend's offer to visit Colorado. Who knows, maybe visiting the destination wedding site will make a future with Alex seem like a reality.

Penelope Hunter loves her job as the events manager at one of Savannah's premier historic venues - until her ex-fiance walks into her office with his new bride-to-be. To make matters worse, a scheming social matriarch is intent on seeing Penelope fired, especially if she insists on being seen with Tucker Westbrook. Since returning from serving two tours in the Middle East, Tucker has built a thriving security company. His work is nearly as stabilizing as his friendship with Penelope, who has been by his side since childhood. 

Author Hattie Cooper, the blogger behind The Anxious Girl's Guide to Dating, knows anxiety. She has lived with generalized anxiety disorder for years. Hattie shares immediate, easy-to-use strategies for tackling your social anxiety disorder and creating healthy habits. Featuring expert advice from foreword writer and registered psychotherapist Kyle MacDonald, the tools in this book will help you beat your anxiety and reveal your most confident self.

Tristan Lopez is loyal to his brothers. He doesn't really have a choice, born into a gang that has a choke hold on every kid who roams its streets. He gave his life to them willingly, knowing if he did, then one day, this kingdom, led by boys drunk with power and ruled by fear, would all be his. Riley Rojas took up space on his streets, her loud mouth fearless in the face of the gang leaders who terrified everyone else. She pushed Tristan around on the hard court, and she balled better than his friends - better than him sometimes. She challenged him. She needed him. He liked it.

The 2008 financial crisis crystallized for people around the country the fact that something was wrong. Americans had already been losing faith in elites who had failed to protect them from crisis after crisis and disaster after disaster. After the collapse, we expected someone to have a solution but were inevitably disappointed. Instead, we got high and rising unemployment, foreclosures spiraling out of control, and, as the protest chant went, "banks got bailed out, we got sold out."

When Reece Murphy is forcibly dragged into the Rose Riders gang because of a mysterious gold coin in his possession, he vows to find the man who gave him the piece and turn him over to the gang in exchange for freedom. Never does he expect a lead to come from an aspiring female journalist. But when Reece's path crosses with Charlotte Vaughn after a botched train robbery and she mentions a promising rumor about a gunslinger from Prescott, it becomes apparent that she will be his ticket to freedom - or a noose.

She was my first love. She was my everything. We were college sweethearts, the All-American couple. Until the big time came calling. Misunderstandings and miscommunications lead to broken hearts and broken trust. But fate throws me a second chance when our paths cross again. Now Poppy has to decide if she's ready to take another try at forever with me, or if the past is better left behind us. I know this is my final down. My last opportunity to make it right, but Poppy's going to need a little more convincing. Throwing out a Hail Mary, I'll give it all I've got.

PR specialist Miriam Ashley makes her living cleaning up bad boys. Mountain climber-turned-CEO Jason Sanders should be an easy fix. And with a nephew to care for, he's motivated. The problem? Every time she tries to help Jason get his head in the boardroom, they end up in the bedroom.

Since losing his family in a tragic accident, building contractor Max Lambright can't seem to find purpose in anything but hard work...until he meets feisty newcomer, Willa Richards. As she struggles to make a new life for herself and her baby girl, she challenges him in just about every possible way. Dare he hope that, alongside this spirited woman, he might rekindle his lost faith, and find the path to love and the family he craves?

Katie has always imagined her life being just like Mamm's. It's why she chose baptism and why she'll soon marry Abram Zook. But ever since her twin sister, Hannah, left, the only thing that truly makes Katie smile is the sketchpad in which she indulges her talent for drawing faces - a sin that, if discovered, could get her shunned by her family, her friends, and even Abram. Yet Katie sees her secret pastime as the only way to quiet a growing restlessness she'd just as soon ignore. That is, until their Mamm's untimely death brings Hannah back home to Pennsylvania.

Ruby Weaver's curly red hair isn't the only thing that sets her apart from her Amish community in 1863. Twenty-eight and single, Ruby doesn't believe a woman needs to be married in order to be happy. Her ailing friend Lovinia Fischer, however, has other ideas and wants Ruby to promise to marry her husband after she dies. Never imagining she'd have to fulfill that vow, Ruby agrees. And she's not the only one. Lovinia has extracted a similar promise from her husband, Gideon.

When Elizabeth Kaufman received the news of her husband's death at the Battle of Vicksburg in 1863, she felt only relief. She determined that she would never be at the mercy of any man again, even if it meant she would never have a family of her own. Then Aaron Zook comes home with her brother when the war ends two years later.

Anne Norris moved to Savannah, Georgia, for a fresh start. Now her pirate-tour business is flagging, and paying the rent requires more than wishful thinking. When she discovers evidence of a shipwreck off the coast of Tybee Island, she knows it could be just the boon she needs to stay afloat. She takes her findings to local museum director Carter Hale for confirmation, but she runs after a disastrous first meeting. Carter has been searching for the location of the wreck detailed in the worn pages of an 18th-century diary. But convincing Anne to help him is no easy task.

Marisa never planned to be a snoop for hire. It wasn't like she wanted to catch her best friend's boyfriend making out with another girl. But as her reputation for sniffing out cheaters spreads all over school, Marisa finds herself the reluctant queen of busting two-timing boys. And her next case? It's for ex-frenemy Kendall. She's convinced that her boyfriend, TJ, has feelings for someone else and persuades Marissa to start spying on him. But the more Marisa gets to know sincere and artistic TJ, the more she starts to fall for him. Worse yet, the feelings seem to be mutual.

Claire is a 16-year-old fangirl obsessed with the show Demon Heart. Forest is an actor on Demon Heart who dreams of bigger roles. When the two meet at a local Comic-Con panel, it's a dream come true for Claire. Until the Q&A, that is, when Forest laughs off Claire's assertion that his character is gay. Claire is devastated. After all, every last word of her super-popular fanfic revolves around the romance between Forest's character and his male frenemy. She can't believe her hero turned out to be a closed-minded jerk.

Christmas has come to Chicago and Vivian Witchell is looking forward to nothing more than spending the holidays with family and friends - and maybe spotting her picture in a few radio magazines. But the discovery of a mysterious envelope stuffed with cash in her late father's study sets Vivian into a tailspin, as she discovers that her beloved father may not have been exactly who she thought he was, and who may in fact have been working with the most notorious mob boss of the time.

Princess Raya of Paruth lived alone on a deserted island in a towering lighthouse, forgotten by time. With only a loyal albatross as a friend, she had little hope or joy in her life until he washed up on her shore in the middle of a raging winter storm. Prince Trevor of Galder left his father and kingdom behind to travel north in search of a wife. It was time to settle down and forget Ella Carina, the woman who chose to love a peasant and follow her heart instead of choosing Trevor and fulfilling her duty to her people.