by R. K. Lilley
Blue Skies by Dee Davis
As Celeste Salt struggles to pull herself and her family together, Dillon is called to the scene of a domestic dispute where Dakota is forced to face the truth about her father. While the Johnson’s celebrate a big announcement, Ginny is rushed to the hospital where her baby’s father is finally revealed…
Rising Storm, Midseason
After the Storm by Lexi Blake
In the wake of Dakota’s revelations, the whole town is reeling. Ginny Moreno has lost everything. Logan Murphy is devastated by her lies. Brittany Rush sees her family in a horrifying new light. And nothing will ever be the same…
Distant Thunder by Larissa Ione
As Sebastian and Marylee plot to cover up Sebastian’s sexual escapade, Ginny and Dakota continue to reel from the fallout of Dakota’s announcement. But it is the Rush family that’s left to pick up the pieces as Payton, Brittany and Jeffry each cope with Sebastian’s betrayal in their own way…
Rising Storm, Season One
Tempest Rising by Julie Kenner
Ginny Moreno didn’t mean to do it, but when she came home to Storm, she brought the tempest with her. And now everyone will be caught in its fury…
White Lightning by Lexi Blake
As the citizens of Storm, Texas, sway in the wake of the death of one of their own, Daddy's girl Dakota Alvarez also reels from an unexpected family crisis... and finds consolation in a most unexpected place.
Crosswinds by Elisabeth Naughton
Lacey Salt's world shattered with the death of her brother, and now the usually sweet-tempered girl is determined to take back some control—even if that means sabotaging her best friend, Mallory, and Mallory's new boyfriend, Luis.
Dance in the Wind by Jennifer Probst
During his time in Afghanistan, Logan Murphy has endured the unthinkable, but reentering civilian life in Storm is harder than he imagined. But when he is reacquainted with Ginny Moreno, a woman who has survived terrors of her own, he feels the first stirrings of hope.
Calm Before the Storm by Larissa Ione
Marcus Alvarez fled Storm when his father’s drinking drove him over the edge. With his mother and sisters in crisis, Marcus is forced to return to the town he thought he’d left behind. But it is his attraction to a very grown up Brittany Rush that just might be enough to guarantee that he stays.
Take the Storm by Rebecca Zanetti
Marisol Moreno has spent her youth taking care of her younger siblings. Now, with her sister, Ginny, in crisis, and her brother in the throes of his first real relationship, she doesn’t have time for anything else. Especially not the overtures of the incredibly compelling Patrick Murphy.
Weather the Storm by Lisa Mondello
Bryce Douglas faces a crisis of faith when his idyllic view of his family is challenged with his son’s diagnosis of autism. Instead of accepting his wife and her tight-knit family’s comfort, he pushes them away, fears from his past threatening to undo the happiness he’s found in his present.
Thunder Rolls by Dee Davis
In the season finale …
As Hannah Grossman grapples with the very real possibility that she is dating one Johnson brother while secretly in love with another, the entire town prepares for Founders Day. The building tempest threatens not just Hannah’s relationship with Tucker and Tate, but everyone in Storm as dire revelations threaten to tear the town apart.
Quiet Storm
Rising Storm, Season 2, Episode 6
By Julie Kenner
Now Available
Click here to purchase
Secrets, Sex and Scandals …
Welcome to Storm, Texas, where passion runs hot, desire runs deep, and secrets have the power to destroy… Get ready. The storm is coming.
As Celeste Salt continues to unravel in the wake of Jacob’s death, Travis grows closer with Kristin. Lacey realizes the error of her ways but is afraid it’s too late for reconciliation with her friends. Marcus and Brittany struggle with the continued fallout of Hector’s return, while Chase and Anna Mae face some hard truths about their past…
* * * *
Lacey Salt stood beneath the massive Storm Oak and stared at the ground, now dappled by the early afternoon sun. Finally the Texas heat was fading, and there was an actual chill in the autumn air. She pulled the pale pink sweater she'd thrown on over her simple white T-shirt tighter around her. Not really for protection against the chill, but in defense against her thoughts that today seemed as wind-tossed as fallen leaves whipped up by a thunderstorm.
She’d been coming here more and more over the last few weeks. This was the spot where the bench and the plaque would be placed in honor of her brother Jacob’s memory. It was her pet project, and even though it hurt to think about the reason why the town needed a bench and a plaque at all, underneath that hurt there was comfort. And even a little bit of pride for herself that she’d come up with this idea. Mostly, though, it made Lacey happy to know that her brother wouldn’t be forgotten by the people of Storm.
Over the last few weeks, she’d been coming more and more often to the tree, and she’d discovered that she felt close to Jacob here. Sometimes she even talked out loud to him, and that was a comfort, too. She told him how much she missed him. She even confessed about what a bitch she’d been lately. And she told him that she didn’t quite know how to make amends and get her friends back.
Most of all, she told him about their mom, Celeste, who had been spiraling down ever since Dakota Alvarez had dropped her bomb, revealing Ginny’s lie and making it pretty damn clear that the baby she carried wasn’t Jacob's after all, but the spawn of Lacey’s slimy uncle, Sebastian Rush.
The news had destroyed her mom, who had looked at Ginny’s growing belly as if the child would be Jacob reborn. And even though Aunt Payton and Grandma Bethany had tried to drag Celeste out of her funk, nothing seemed to do the trick. Lacey’s older sister Sara Jane hadn’t made a dent either. And their father, Travis, couldn’t get through to Celeste at all.
She seemed tragic. Like a character in one of those Shakespeare plays they’d had to read in school last year. And those stories never did end happily.
Honestly, Lacey was worried. More than worried, actually. So she’d come down here today in the hopes that spilling her fears to Jacob might help. And for the more practical purpose of buying some flowers for the entrance hall and kitchen table. Before Jacob died, her mom had always kept the house perfect, with lots of fresh flowers, usually from the carefully tended gardens in the front and back yard of the Salt home.
But those gardens hadn’t been tended in months, and the flowers had been overrun with weeds. So Lacey had decided to buy some arrangements from Pushing Up Daisies. Maybe if the house looked more the way it used to, then her mom would start acting more like the old Celeste, too.
“Maybe,” she whispered, then drew a deep breath. “Wish me luck,” she told her brother. And though he didn’t answer, it still felt as though he was with her as she walked across the courthouse lawn toward Main Street and the little florist shop on the corner.
A bell jingled over the door as she turned the knob and entered.
“Lacey?”
The male voice was vaguely familiar, and she turned to see Max Marshall grinning at her. The athletic, dark-haired boy had been Jacob’s roommate at the University of Texas in Austin, and just seeing him now after talking to Jacob by the tree made Lacey feel like her brother really was still looking after her.
1001 Dark Nights
Welcome to 1001 Dark Nights… a collection of novellas that are breathtakingly sexy and magically romantic. Some are paranormal, some are erotic. Each and every one is compelling and page turning.
Inspired by the exotic tales of The Arabian Nights, 1001 Dark Nights features New York Times and USA Today bestselling authors.
In the original, Scheherazade desperately attempts to entertain her husband, the King of Persia, with nightly stories so that he will postpone her execution.
In our version, month after month, each of our fabulous authors puts a unique spin on the premise and creates a tale that a new Scheherazade tells long into the dark, dark night.
For more information about 1001 Dark Nights, visit www.1001DarkNights.com.
On behalf of Rising Storm,
Liz Berry, M.J. Rose, Julie Kenner & Dee Davis would like to thank ~
Steve Berry
Doug Scofield
Melissa Rheinlander
Kim Guidroz
Jillian Stein
InkSlinger PR
Asha Hossain
Chris Graham
Pamela Jamison
Fedora Chen
Jessica Johns
Dylan Stockton
Richard Blake
The Dinner Party Show
and Simon Lipskar
Table of Contents
Book Description
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE