Lori

I thought I had my life all worked out. My wedding had been meticulously planned. All I had to do was walk down the aisle and get married to the man I'd been engaged to for over a year. Pretty easy and uncomplicated, right? Unfortunately, all of my well laid plans go up in smoke when my fiancé leaves me at the church alone because he found a woman who was better suited for his snobby world of wealth and privilege. After realizing what kind of man my intended groom really was, it was hard not to be more relieved that I'd dodged a bullet than I was heartbroken.

A few weeks after witnessing her stepfather order a cold-blooded murder, Cassandra Bowlin hides aboard a luxury yacht to flee the men who are after her. Dashing into a closet, she trembles in fear of discovery until the owner enters the room with a woman intent on gaining his sexual favor. The scene she witnesses between the couple leaves her shaken with arousal, making her wonder what she has been missing from her own sexual encounters.

There's that phrase, though. "How's that working out for you?" The answer, when it came to Hope Sinclair, was, "not so well". She might be little, she might be sweet, and she might be young, but if I'd thought she'd be compliant anywhere but in bed, I'd learned my lesson. To keep her, I had to let her go. To hold her, I had to turn her loose. To have her in my life, I had to accept that she was 9,000 miles away in New Zealand.

London, 2019. Life has been easy for Maxim Trevelyan. With his good looks, aristocratic connections, and money, he’s never had to work, and he’s rarely slept alone. But all that changes when tragedy strikes and Maxim inherits his family’s noble title, wealth, and estates, and all the responsibility that entails. It’s a role he’s not prepared for and one that he struggles to face. But his biggest challenge is fighting his desire for an unexpected, enigmatic young woman who’s recently arrived in England, possessing little more than a dangerous and troublesome past.

I was once told that the woman you have to work the hardest for would be the one worth working for by far - and Taylor Mathews has turned the expression into a mantra for me. Here I am, Maclain Stone, centering my very existence on the woman. She’s quickly become my obsession, and my reason for trying to be a better human - though trust me when I say that may never happen. But I’m going to try. For her.