R. Young

Somehow, I knew my name was going to be drawn in the Bride Lottery—the hellish agreement that Earth's leaders had made to sell us to the aliens who protected our planet. I'd grown up with the propaganda. It was our civic duty. Men registered for the draft; women registered for the Bride Lottery. No way in hell was I going to be handed over to some giant man to be brutalized into bearing his children. Instead, I cut out my bio-tracker and walked away from everything. I should have realized they'd send one of those hulking, brightly colored aliens to track me down and bring me back.

I thought I'd escaped being given to an alien warrior. I was wrong. I was one hour away from washing out of the Alien Bride Games. None of the Khanavai warriors had chosen me, and I was scheduled on the next shuttle off the filming station. Then, a bright red alien passed me in a hallway—and the next thing I knew, we were all over each other. Bad enough that my name had been drawn in the Bride Lottery. Now, even though they're supposedly over, I'm back in the Games. And not the usual ones, either—a whole new set of challenges, just for me. Guess it'll make for good television back home.

When Lily is freed from alien captivity, she refuses to wait for rescue - or recapture. She'll take her chances in the forest. Navigating the exotic terrain won't be easy, but it beats the alternative. Then, an enormous alien falls into her camp and makes her question everything. He's rude, grumpy, and annoyingly sexy. Trusting him would be a mistake. And yet...the idea of leaving him behind hurts way more than it should.

Tarian Hadez—thirty-three, real estate mogul, mob lord, most eligible bachelor in New England, god. The god-part is an exaggeration. After all, if true deities existed, then the world would be a magical place, and it's really not. At least, my world isn't. Calanthe Bloom. That's me. Twenty-four, college graduate drowning in debt, true crime addict, florist by default, single by design. Although not living my best life, I'm enthusiastically pursuing it. Especially, in my dreams, which, since a recent flower-d