When all else fails, find love.
Eight brand new romances for fans of the West Wing, fired-up #resistance fighters, and everyone who ever had a crush on that guy at a protest…
GRASSROOTS by Adriana Anders
Veronica Cruz is in the fight of her life for a seat on the city council. Meeting reclusive finance genius Zach Hubler should be a stroke of good luck—he has the power to sway public opinion. But when Election Day comes around and things don’t go as expected, Veronica has to know: just how shady is the man of her dreams?
DEEP THROAT by Dakota Gray
He’s an escort, but that’s not his biggest secret. She’s a maid at the hotel he uses “for business.” When their worlds collide, everything is put on the line. But indulging every secret desire comes at a cost, and the sins of the past won’t be forgotten.
RESISTANCE by Amy Jo Cousins
All Kaz Shamsi wanted to do was get his college students to and from the DC protest without losing any of them. Getting caught up in the fringes of anarchist violence was not on the agenda. Neither was a motorcycle escape, messing around with a bandanna-masked antifa protestor, or figuring out that guy was one of the students he was supposed to be chaperoning. Now he’s got a ten-hour bus ride back to campus ahead of him, with a stupidly cute student who makes terrible decisions trying to talk Kaz into making one more.
KISSING AND OTHER FORMS OF SEDITION by Emma Barry
When a global crisis threatens to go nuclear, the world tips upside down and spills out Graham Wilcox’s unspoken feelings for Cadence Martel. Cadence is equal parts shocked and delighted by his confession, but one night of passion isn’t enough. So the new lovers set out on a road trip to save the world.
TRUTH, LOVE AND SUSHI by Stacey Agdern
When First Daughter Caroline Crosby finds herself in possession of the one document that can bring her father and his administration down, she turns to a real life social justice warrior for help. Max Wilcox isn’t sure what to make of Caroline: is this an elaborate hookup or a political conspiracy? But he has to make up his mind fast because the information and their chemistry could change the world—or break their hearts.
MY DELIGHT IS IN HER by Jane Lee Blair
When Leonard West chose the pastorate, his college girlfriend chose a life without him. But not wanting to be a pastor’s wife didn’t mean Kim Jones didn’t want to work for the greater good. Now, her resistance work has led her back to Leonard, and they must grapple with their old pain. Can they trust God and each other enough to try again?
PERSONAL DISASTER by Ainsley Booth
Marcus Dane left the tech world and joined the National Park Service a decade ago. Now an intrepid reporter has tracked down the park ranger-who-could-have-been-a-billionaire and, even worse, she has a theory that could blow his quiet life to smithereens. He needs to send her packing. But he’s already tumbled head-over-heels in insta-lust with her flippy ponytail and smart mouth, and he just can’t seem to let her go.
LIFE, LIBERTY AND WORSHIP by Tamsen Parker
Paige Robinson has been working out her angst about the new administration in spin class, until a handsome stranger with maddening politics harshes her mellow. Now she’s determined to get even…in the bedroom. Always awkward Carter Cox is shocked when his crush propositions him, but there’s no way he’s turning her down. Will their filthy assignation provide the catharsis Paige has in mind, or can they truly cross the aisle to find more?
This book is now out of print, but I’m maintaining the book page for historic reasons. You can get my story in The One You Crave.
Frequently Asked Questions:
- How long is Rogue Desire? “Kissing and Other Forms of Sedition” is 12K. The eight stories range between 12 and 18K, and the anthology is just shy of 130K.
- What’s the heat level? My story is sensual but not erotic, but the heat levels in the collection vary.
- Are there any content notes? For my story, on-page sex and alcohol use; profanity; on-page stress and anxiety about current affairs; extensive political discussion.
- I don’t like politics. Should I still read the book? I hesitate to tell a reader not to pick up one of my books, but if you hate politics, this one might not be for you. I would characterize “Kissing and Other Forms of Sedition” as a slightly zany, rom-com-y meditation on the Twenty-fifth Amendment. You’re on board with that or you’re not, and I certainly don’t fault you if that doesn’t sound like your thing.
- What happens next for Graham and Cadence? I wrote a bonus epilogue, which you can read here.
- I’d like to review the book. Awesome! I hope you love it, but if you don’t, I support your right to review it honestly however and wherever you want. Reviews are for readers not writers. While bad reviews are unpleasant, I’ll live and I won’t harass you about it. Promise.
Excerpt:
“Have you been watching the news?”
“Oh.” Her attitude went serious. “Yes, of course. I’m worried, and I’m certain everyone is.”
“It got me thinking, what if this is it?”
“Like it it?”
“Yeah, like the end of the world.”
Cadence nodded and her ponytail bobbed. “I guess I better get another bowl of ice cream. And stop working on that speech for Patty to deliver tomorrow.”
Just like he’d suspected. Knowing her that well made him glow with something remarkably like optimism. “Would you have any regrets?”
A long pause. A long, long pause. Then she whispered, “Yes.”
He shouldn’t feel hopeful, he shouldn’t, but this wasn’t a fool’s errand anymore. However it worked out, he knew it was right to tell her.
He shifted closer, his hands tight and swollen and his heart walloping into his ribs. “Will you tell me?”
“You first.”
He had been the one to start this. “What I’m about to say, Cadence? It’s okay to tell me no. It’s okay to shove me off your porch and call me a jerk, and I promise I’ll go and I’ll never say it again or change our relationship at work or anything. Okay?”
Her expression, her posture, was intent, serious. “Got it.”
He inhaled, savoring the rasp in his throat, and then he spat the words out. “When you moved here, I thought you were the prettiest woman I’d ever seen. But now I know that’s wrong. You are, but it’s not only that, not anymore. You have a keen legal mind, but it doesn’t stop you from understanding the politics. People do one or the other, but you’re both, and it makes me want to know what you think about everything. But I want to know how you taste too. This is going to sound crazy—I mean, crazier, this is already crazy—but I think I might…I think I might love you.”
During his speech, Cadence had moved one of her hands to the bottom of her throat. Her eyes were shiny, and she was blinking rapidly.
Oh God, he’d completely screwed up. Of course. He was always doing that. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I was upset, I was lonely, I never should have—”
She crossed the porch in two long strides, rose up on her toes, and kissed him.
© Emma Barry, 2017. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Emma Barry with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Emma Barry 