Romance

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Funny Story comes a sparkling novel that will leave you with the warm, hazy afterglow usually reserved for the best vacations.

Two best friends. Ten summer trips. One last chance to fall in love.

Poppy and Alex. Alex and Poppy. They have nothing in common. She's a wild child; he wears khakis. She has insatiable wanderlust; he prefers to stay home with a book. And somehow, ever since a fateful car share home from college many years ago, they are the very best of friends. For most of the year they live far apart--she's in New York City, and he's in their small hometown--but every summer, for a decade, they have taken one glorious week of vacation together.

Until two years ago, when they ruined everything. They haven't spoken since.

Poppy has everything she should want, but she's stuck in a rut. When someone asks when she was last truly happy, she knows, without a doubt, it was on that ill-fated, final trip with Alex. And so, she decides to convince her best friend to take one more vacation together--lay everything on the table, make it all right. Miraculously, he agrees.

Now she has a week to fix everything. If only she can get around the one big truth that has always stood quietly in the middle of their seemingly perfect relationship. What could possibly go wrong?

Life is practically perfect for Patience Hampton. She enjoys her challenging work as a voice actor, has a supportive network of family and friends, and is expecting a proposal from her long-term boyfriend, Daniel. But, when Patience is blindsided with shocking news, in an instant, everything she's placed her trust in comes crashing down.

While recovering from her explosive breakup, Patience is finally determined to focus on defining happiness. So, when she crosses paths with Mr. Charisma, Lennox Davenport, while on a business trip out of town, she's open to spending the night with the handsome stranger. Lennox is everything Patience didn't know she needed: assertive, encouraging, inquisitive, and has a sex appeal that leaves her senseless. As their interactions quickly intensify, she realizes she doesn't know herself at all.

Patience wants much more from her casual relationship with Lennox and begins recognizing how the relationship residue left by an absent father and a manipulative ex poses harm to her growth, healing, and happiness. Is she ready to finally release her emotional baggage and love freely? Or will her toxic habits resurface to sabotage yet another chance of finding real love with the man who has finally managed to behold her beauty within?

Though I've been waiting for Lucifer to make his move, I never expected it to come on Halloween, a year after Gregory and I made our escape from Hell. But I'm not ready for it. I'm still grieving the loss of my father and my angel boyfriend. And the last thing I need or want is another confrontation with the Prince of Lies.

Especially when he's bent on vengeance.

Still, a confrontation is what I'm going to get. Because I've just learned that Lucifer is riding to Earth with Samhain, the Lord of All Hallows' Eve, to tempt Gregory with promises of power and put Gregory's immortal soul in jeopardy.

He wants revenge on Gregory-the mortal who escaped his grasp. And on me-the summoner who killed Duke Valefar, a powerful demon who'd served Lucifer since the Fall.

So now, we're both in his crosshairs. And it's going to take all of our willpower-not to mention some help from Lord Samhain himself-to slip Lucifer's noose.

Author Bio: Samhain's Bargain is the fourth installment in J. D. Blackrose's The Summoner's Mark Series after Demon Kissed, Fae Crossed, and Hell Bound. Previously, she's published The Soul Wars, The Devil's Been Busy, and the Zombie Cosmetologist novellas through Falstaff Books. She's also published multiple short stories, including "Welcome, Death," in the award-winning Jewish Book of Horror. Connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, and her website.

Claire is a twenty-something, single mom that grudgingly helps her best friend sell sex toys while she attempts to make enough money to start her own business to give her foul-mouthed, but extremely loveable (when he's asleep) toddler a better life. When Carter, the one-night-stand from her past that changed her life forever, shows up in her hometown bar without any recollection of her besides her unique chocolate scent, Claire will make it a point that he remembers her this time. With Carter's undisguised shock at suddenly finding out he has a four-year-old son and Claire's panic that her stretch marks and slim to none bedroom experience will send the man of her dreams heading for the hills, the pair will do whatever they can to get their happily ever after. Warning: contains explicit sex, profanity and enough sarcasm to choke a horse.