The Muse Series
Callie, Cleo, and Rita. They met in college and created the family they needed--along with their "adopted" grandmother, Mimi. The Muse Series is a rare journey into contemporary romance from a romcom author. It's not written specifically to make you giggle...although you'll probably wipe away a happy tear at each ending!
City Muse
I lost my equilibrium entirely. If he hadn’t been holding me, I would have fallen. And then I was falling. He’d pushed me back onto the bed. I lay there dazed with bliss as he pulled his t-shirt over his head.
Callie is determined to be resilient. The cheating ex-husband? Kicked to the curb. The high-pressure legal case? Totally under control. Her eighth-grade daughter’s infatuation with a hot biology teacher? Not a problem…probably. Maybe. Oh, damn. It would be a Greek tragedy for mother and daughter to crush on the same guy. Right?
Bart had music flowing from his fingertips and dreams of singer-songwriter stardom until a tragedy plugged up his creative well. He’s making do as a biology teacher in New York City, numb to his silence, until an angry Lawyer-Mommy stalks into his classroom for a parent-teacher conference. When Callie speaks, Bart hears music for the first time in years.
There are a thousand reasons why Callie and Bart are wrong for each other, and they keep those reasons firmly in mind. Until the reasons make no sense anymore. Is Callie Bart’s muse? Is he her safe haven? Can two broken people trust enough to fall in love?
History's Muse
“Excuse me,” a soft baritone voice said. At the door, a Glorious Son of Our American Midwest was leaning in—tall, built, wheat-blond hair thick on his handsome head. “I’m Joseph, from I.T. Is this a bad time?”
It’s no surprise that Cleo is tired. After all, she’s been through a lot. Can she be blamed for secretly longing for a 1950s-style traditional relationship? Cleo wishes she could meet a man to love her, care for her, take on all the crisis management. Even though she knows it goes against the code of strong, independent modern women, Cleo is husband-hunting.
When Joseph meets Cleo, he’s dazzled. The beautiful manager of the Department of Art and Archives at the U.S. House of Representatives is lovely, quiet, sweet. He would fall in love with her and offer her marriage if only she would convert to his religion.
It seems like a small price to pay for Cleo. She has no religious beliefs of her own; why not follow her future husband’s faith if it makes him happy? But Cleo has to face some searching questions. What is she willing to sacrifice to find her perfect marriage? Is Joseph really the right man for her, or is she overlooking something important right in front of her?
Untamed Muse
He was standing about five feet away, looking like the love child of a Native American warrior and a supermodel. Thick, straight black hair and clear, pale skin now showing a red flush over those proud cheekbones. “You just surprised me.”
Rita dropped out of college to become a long-distance trucker, loving the freedom of the open road. But she has to start wondering if she’s actually running away from something when she begins to have hallucinations starring Apollo, the sun god. The hallucination insists that Rita is not done yet with the hottie she picked up at a Baltimore biker bar; she needs to go back.
Tanner likes the impersonal plan of picking up women at biker bars. A quick screw and then back to a life of deliberate isolation. But when Rita bumps into him again, he finds himself agreeing to a strange deal: Five dates over five weeks—and no sex during that time. Rita and Tanner are astonished to discover they’re developing something neither of them has experienced before…an actual relationship. Is Rita crazy? Is Tanner hopeless at love? Can they pull this mess together before everything falls apart?
Trigger warning: Memories of rape and abusive relationships.