ABOUT ALMOST JUST FRIENDS (a standalone Wildstone novel)
Piper Manning’s about as tough as they come, she’s had to be. She raised her siblings and they’ve thankfully flown the coop. All she has to do is finish fixing up the lake house her grandparents left her, sell it, and then she’s free.
When a massive storm hits, she runs into a tall, dark and brooding stranger, Camden Reid. There’s a spark there, one that shocks her. Surprising her further, her sister and brother return, each of them holding their own secrets. The smart move would be for Piper to ignore them all but Cam unleashes emotions deep inside of her that she can’t deny, making her yearn for something she doesn’t understand. And her siblings…well, they need each other.
Only when the secrets come out, it changes everything Piper thinks she knows about her family, herself…and Cam. Can she find a way to outrun the demons? The answer is closer than she thinks—just as the new life she craves may have already begun.
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Book four of the series but is completely a standalone. Piper has spend part of her childhood and young adult life raising her two siblings. Now that they are out of the house and living their own life she wants to fix up the house sell it and continue on with her education to become a Physician's Assistant. But on her birthday her sister comes home unexpectedly and her brother soon after and both say are home for good for reasons they won't explain. Piper can feel herself slipping back into her old role but with the help of her new neighbor, Cam, she just might be able keep from becoming a mother hen again and become their sister and friend. But it's easier said than done especially when her siblings are hiding something from her. That's only part of the problem, Cam has waken a desire in her she has never felt before and knowing he plans to leave soon she tries to keep her heart out of the equation. Cam is trying to build a relationship with his father after the death of his brother and Piper is a good distraction. He knows as soon as he meets her that she is something special and the more he knows the more he wants her in his life.
Overall, it was a good read Cam was sweet and together things got pretty steamy. The story is emotional and funny at times. The two siblings are a hoot along with Cam's Dad. It's a heartwarming story of three siblings trying to find their path in life and learning it doesn't always go as planned even though you wrote it in your bullet journal.
The last time a woman had ordered Cam to strip had been a very different scene altogether, and it’d been a while. Generally speaking, he liked to be behind the wheel in most situations, but he’d never had any complaints about a woman driving in his bed. “Interesting bedside manner.” “Okay,” she said. “How about strip, please.” He laughed, and he realized that until tonight, it’d been a damn long time for that too. “Well, since you asked so nicely . . .” But still he hesitated. “Trust me, I’ve seen it all before.” He pulled off his shirt, wincing when the cotton stuck to the deepest slice across his chest. Piper blinked, and for the first time all night, appeared short of words. It was pretty damn cute, especially with the mud on her nose. “Thought you’ve seen it all before.” She bit her lower lip, eyes suddenly hooded, and he couldn’t resist teasing her. “So, how do I stack up?” That got her, and she rolled her eyes. “Like you don’t know. Sit.” The couch seemed too . . . personal, so he sat on her coffee table. She dropped to her knees at his side and doctored up first the cut on his left palm from where he’d nicked himself in his dad’s kitchen, and then the two slices on his left biceps, and then the biggest one across his chest, during which time he did his best to ignore the feel of her soft breath on his skin and failed. When she’d finished, she looked down at his cargoes and saw the blood seeping through from his thigh. Rising to her feet, she stepped back, gesturing for him to lose the pants too. “Seriously,” he said. “Doesn’t even have to be dinner. An appetizer would work.” “If you’re real good, I’ll give you a sticker.” “How about letting me look at your secret secret bucket list instead?” Her eyes narrowed. “How about we stop talking now?” “Wait.” He cocked his head. “Does this mean you also have a secret bucket list? And possibly a not-so- secret bucket list?” She had hands on hips; a fresh, clean gauze in one hand, antibiotic ointment in the other, her expression dialed to Not Feeling Playful. With a rough laugh, he stood and took the gauze and ointment from her. “I got this one, Doc.” And then he gestured for her to turn around. She did with a smirk, and then spoke over her shoulder. “Didn’t peg you for the shy type.” “Oh, I’m not shy.” He shoved his icy, muddy, wet cargoes to his thighs, and yeah, the cat had come within two inches of de-manning him. “Just didn’t want to have to fight you off.” “Don’t worry,” she said. “I always get verbal consent first. And I bet you didn’t want me to see your tighty-whities.” He gritted his teeth as he cleaned out the cut. Son of a bitch, that cat had gone deep. “They’re not tight and they’re not white.” “Batman undies?” “Commando,” he said, and that shut her up. When he’d finished and pulled his pants back up, he lifted his head and found her facing him. His brows went up. “See anything you like?” Instead of answering, she blushed. And he grinned because, yeah. She’d definitely seen something she liked.
From Almost Just Friends by Jill Shalvis, published by William Morrow. Copyright © 2020 by Jill Shalvis. Reprinted courtesy of HarperCollinsPublishers https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062897800/almost-just-friends/
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ABOUT JILL SHALVIS
New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis lives in a small town in the Sierras full of quirky characters. Any resemblance to the quirky characters in her books is, um, mostly coincidental. Look for Jill’s bestselling, award-winning books wherever romances are sold and visit her website,
www.jillshalvis.com, for a complete book list and daily blog detailing her city-girl-living-in-the-mountains adventures.
Connect with Jill
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New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author Carrie Ann Ryan never thought she’d be a writer. Not really. No, she loved math and science and even went on to graduate school in chemistry. Yes, she read as a kid and devoured teen fiction and Harry Potter, but it wasn’t until someone handed her a romance book in her late teens that she realized that there was something out there just for her. When another author suggested she use the voices in her head for good and not evil, The Redwood Pack and all her other stories were born. Carrie Ann is a bestselling author of over twenty novels and novellas and has so much more on her mind (and on her spreadsheets *grins*) that she isn’t planning on giving up her dream anytime soon. 
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