Wannabe actress Dani Steele's résumé resembles a cautionary tale on how not to be famous. She's pushing thirty and stuck in a dead-end insurance job, and her relationship status is holding at uncommitted.
With unbearably perfect sisters and a mother who won't let her forget it, Dani has two go-tos for consolation: maple scones and a blog in which she pours her heart out to her celebrity idol. He's the man her father never was, no boyfriend will ever be-and not so impossible a dream as one might think.
When Dani learns that he's planning a fund-raising event where the winning amateur athlete gets a walk-on in his new film, she decides to trade pastries and self-doubt for running shoes and a sexy British trainer with adorable knees.
But when Dani's plot takes an unexpected twist, she realizes that her happy ending might have to be improvised-and that proving herself to her idol isn't half as important as proving something to herself.
* * * This is a work of fiction. While Dwayne Johnson a.k.a The Rock is a real person, events relating to him in the book are a product of the author's imagination. Mr. Johnson is not affiliated with this book, and has not endorsed it or participated in any manner in connection with this book.
After relocating to Ryan's posh resort at Revelation Cove, Hollie Porter embarks on an all-new adventure as the Cove's wildlife-experience educator, teaching guests and their kids about otters and orca and cougars, oh my. When darling Ryan gets down on one hockey-damaged knee and pops the question of a lifetime, Hollie realizes this is where the real adventure begins. It's all cake tasting, flower choosing, and dress fittings until a long-lost family member shows up at the Cove and threatens to hijack her shiny new life. The unexpected reunion forces Hollie to redefine what family means to her and question what she willing to sacrifice to have one of her very own. As Ryan's words echo in her head-"Our raft, our rules"-Hollie has to face facts: a raft isn't always tied together with blood and genetics. Sometimes it's secured by love and loyalty...and occasional help from the clever creatures that call Revelation Cove home.
If you find yourself talking to writer Jayne Dandy, keep the conversation on comic books and Star Wars-best not to mention men, dating, or S-E-X. Her crippling fear of intimacy has made relationships a big no-no, but hiding behind her laptop isn't going to get her lightsaber lit.
When her therapist recommends that she write erotica as a form of exposure therapy, Jayne is hesitant. But when she is unexpectedly downsized at work, she adopts a pseudonym and secretly publishes her sexy stories to make ends meet. Meanwhile, her adorable long-time friend Luke, co-owner of the popular Portland food truck Luke Piewalker's, hears she's been demoted and insists on hiring her to sling éclairs and turnovers at his side.
As Jayne tries to juggle her growing secret career and her newfound feelings towards Luke, her entire life is about to send Jayne and her X-Wing into a tailspin that will either make her face down her neuroses or trigger a meltdown of Death Star proportions.
Frankie Hawes is happy to shrink into the background and play personal assistant to her superstar photographer father and prodigy older brother. But when her brother breaks his leg and her dad is off on vacation, Frankie must step up to the plate and fill in for the Meyer-Nelson wedding. Held at the picturesque Revelation Cove in British Columbia, Frankie is more than a little nervous about playing photographer for the weekend. Other than a few snaps of canines here and there, Frankie is inexperienced, underprepared, and overwhelmed at the prospect of dealing with an incessant and irritating bridezilla who just so happens to be an old school bully. Enter wedding-guest Sam-a childhood-friend-turned-handsome bachelor who helps Frankie see that her black and white existence in the sidelines has the potential to snap into full high-definition color-if only she'd see it. As feelings grow between the pair and Frankie juggles dealing with the business during a family emergency, Frankie begins to realize that maybe it's time for her to pull focus in her own life.
Hollie Porter is the chairwoman of Generation Disillusioned: at twenty-five years old, she's saddled with a job she hates, a boyfriend who's all wrong for her, and a vexing inability to say no. She's already near her breaking point, so she cashes in the Sweethearts' Spa & Stay gift certificate from her dad and heads to Revelation Cove, British Columbia. One caveat: she's going solo.
Hollie hopes to find her beloved otters in the wilds of the Great White North, but instead she's providing comic relief for staff and guests alike. Even Concierge Ryan, a former NHL star with bad knees and broken dreams, can't stop her from stumbling from one (mis)adventure to another. Just when Hollie starts to think that a change of venue doesn't mean a change in circumstances, the island works its charm and she starts to think she might have found the rejuvenation she so desperately desires. But then an uninvited guest crashes the party, forcing her to step out of the discomfort zone where she dwells and save the day . . . and maybe even herself in the process.
Emergency-call operator Hollie Porter is saddled with a job she hates and a boyfriend who's all wrong for her. Reaching a breaking point, she cashes in a gift certificate and heads to Revelation Cove in British Columbia. Flying solo and newly single, Hollie hopes to reflect and discover her purpose among the beautiful surroundings but instead ends up unintentionally providing comic relief for the staff and guests alike. Even concierge Ryan, a former hockey star with bad knees and broken dreams, can't stop her from stumbling from one (mis)adventure to another. But the island and a budding romance soon work their charm on Hollie, and she starts to believe she might have found the rejuvenation she so desperately desires. But then an uninvited guest crashes the party, forcing Hollie to step out of the discomfort zone she dwells in to save the day...and maybe even herself in the process.
Finan is gone, Jacinta has disappeared, and Lara is holding on by a thread. She will do whatever it takes to recover the other half of her heart, even if it means trusting those most unworthy of her trust. As terrible new threats burst onto the scene, Lara must rely on her Thalia Island family to bring Finan home in one piece-and save the utopia her grandfather fought so hard to create. With the curtain pulled back on incendiary secrets concealed for decades, reckoning comes from all sides: who is telling the truth, and who pays the price for the sins of our forebears?
Although the Dea Vitae cult has been evicted from Thalia Island, Lara J. Clarke and her grandfather's eco-utopia are still in peril. Rupert's ongoing lymphoma treatment deposits Lara at Thalia's helm-with no idea how to navigate the rough waters. Finan is back from the mainland after two tense weeks of silence, but the sting of his unscheduled departure lingers. Beyond the grind of running her own "planet"-while privately grieving the loss of her beloved grandfather and worrying if the cancer will take Number Two-Lara must contend with the reappearance of Jacinta Ramirez, a fugitive Clarke Innovations has been shielding all these years. Jacinta unveils disturbing secrets that reshape the history Lara's been fed about her late mother's past. When overwhelming stress sends Lara to the bottom of the whisky bottle, Finan gently reminds her that slipping into old habits won't fix what's broken. As she tries to pull herself together, a tragedy strikes that brings her and Finan close again, but with a series of cryptic clues arriving on the island, the mystery of Dea Vitae and its sought-after treasure deepens...with menacing consequences. Lara and Finan must work with investigators, and a few unsavory players, to dismantle the sinister machinations of Dea Vitae before it destroys their blossoming romance-and the sanctity of Thalia Island herself. Please note that Planet Lara: Tempest includes medical scenes involving reproductive complications that some listeners might find triggering.
Lara J. Clarke is used to getting her own way. Motherless at ten and raised by her oft-absent eco-warrior/philanthropist grandfather, she lives the high life afforded by her seemingly bottomless trust fund-swanky downtown Vancouver loft, apartments and villas around the world just a chartered flight away, a passport overflowing with stamps from the chicest hot spots, a closet bursting with catwalk couture, and a spoiled B-list actor boyfriend whose interest in Lara is tied to her exclusive L'Inconnu wallet. But then Grandfather Archibald sheds his mortal coil in a very public manner, and Lara's privileged life is set adrift. According to the will, she will step into the role of Project Administrator, wherein she has one year to fulfill her late grandfather's dream of a self-sustaining, eco-friendly, family-centered island utopia-but if she fails, she'll lose access to the family fortune forever. Soon, Lara is surprised to find her new coworkers-and neighbors-aren't as pliable as the underlings of her former life. Even with the hunky lead engineer Finan Rowleigh showing her the ropes, she quickly learns just how unprepared she is to trade her Louboutins in for steel-toed Timberlands. When a series of calamities reveals a sinister element undermining the security of the island and its residents, Lara and Finan must reach beyond their job descriptions to protect Archibald's precious utopia from those who would do it harm.
