Rainbow Awards Honorable Mention: Friends Without Benefits by Dena Blake

Friends Without Benefits

"Loved this story. All characters well written. Grace was extremely irritating and Brent extremely patient. Loved the relationship between Emma and Dex."

Dex Putnam has been in love with her best friend Grace Standish since the fifth grade. Grace is smart, beautiful, and most unfortunately, straight. Life would’ve been perfect if Grace had only loved her back, but when Grace gets married, Dex knows it’s time to move on. Then Dex meets Emma Lawson, and her life takes a whole new direction. Only trouble is, she never expected to have to choose between her best friend and her new love.

Emma Lawson is successful and happy except when it comes to love. She’s been alone for a year and has no intention of giving love another chance, until falling for Dex changes everything. When Grace comes between them, Emma refuses to be second best. Can Emma show Dex what true love really looks like?

Rainbow Awards Honorable Mention: Hard Hart by E. Davies

Hard Hart: A Hart's Bay Novel

"What I like most about this story is the relationship between Jesse and Finn. I really get why they like each other. It develops organically and never feels forced, and it progresses nicely in terms of each character’s individual hang-ups and fears. The side characters are introduced smoothly. I feel like I’m getting to know the core group for this series, and it never feels like a set-up, just a very natural progression. POV is well-delineated; I am always very clear about whose head I am in, even without the chapter titles to tell me, and I enjoy seeing through each character’s eyes. Though I feel just a little bit overdosed on the sex scenes, I really like how well they are written; the heart comes through, and the sensual care they take with each other, as well as the emotional development of their bond. Bravo! I would definitely read more in this series!"

I felt all wrong until I met you.

Jesse Stone is rebuilding his life. He’s ditched his no-good ex, sworn off men, moved to a new town with his four best friends, and started the pottery business of his dreams. And then he slept with his hunky new neighbor. Oops. Jesse needs to focus on work, but all he can think about is getting Finn between his hands like a perfectly-shaped work of clay.

Trouble just blew into town, and his name is Jesse. Finn Hart knows that pursuing Jesse will ignite old family tensions, but he can’t stay away. The construction foreman has never built a lasting relationship. He’s too busy keeping the peace in a town that was founded by one Hart, but is slowly being strangled by another—Finn’s grandfather.

Finn and Jesse are on the same page: they want to save Hart’s Bay, and it starts by bringing tourists in with Jesse’s new art gallery. But their hearts are bruised, and taking a chance comes with a price. Not everyone in Hart’s Bay wants change. For a few narrow minds, nothing good should come to Finn’s branch of the Harts, and that includes love.

Can love wash away twenty years of bad blood and bring a new dawn for Jesse, Finn, and all of Hart's Bay?