Diabetes in Fiction

Lyla Santiago has spent months working on a research project that could be the key to getting a permanent job in her field. So, she can’t really drop everything to go to a desert island with her actor boyfriend Nico to film _One Perfect Couple_, a new reality TV show that Nico is sure will lead to his big break – can she? Two weeks later, Lyla finds herself boarding a boat to an isolated luxury resort in the Indian Ocean. The rules of the game are simple. Ten strangers have to survive together on the island – and the last couple standing scoops the prize. There will be sun, sea, laughs and a little competitive flirting. What could possibly go wrong? But after the first challenge leaves everyone rattled and angry, an overnight storm takes matters from bad to worse. Cut off from the mainland by miles of ocean, deprived of their phones, and unable to contact the crew that brought them there, the group must band together for survival. As tensions run high and fresh water runs low, Lyla realises that someone is playing this game for real – and they’ll stop at nothing to win.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Tessa Bailey launches a super sexy sports romance series with a rom-com about a bad boy professional athlete who falls for his biggest fan… Wells Whitaker was once golf’s hottest rising star, but lately, all he has to show for his ‘promising’ career is a killer hangover, a collection of broken clubs, and one remaining supporter. No matter how bad he plays, the beautiful, sunny redhead is always on the sidelines. He curses, she cheers. He scowls, she smiles. But when Wells quits in a blaze of glory and his fangirl finally goes home, he knows he made the greatest mistake of his life. Josephine Doyle believed in the gorgeous, grumpy golfer, even when he didn’t believe in himself. Yet after he throws in the towel, she begins to wonder if her faith was misplaced. Then a determined Wells shows up at her door with a wild proposal: be his new caddy, help him turn his game around, and split the prize money. And considering Josephine’s professional and personal life is in shambles, she could really use the cash… As they travel together, spending days on the green and nights in neighboring hotel rooms, sparks fly. Before long, they’re inseparable, Wells starts winning again, and Josephine is surprised to find a sweet, thoughtful guy underneath his gruff, growly exterior. This hot man wants to brush her hair, feed her snacks, and take bubble baths together? Is this real life? But Wells is technically her boss and an athlete falling for his fangirl would be ridiculous… right?

Being an assistant is not the easiest job in the world, and that’s especially true when your boss is Henry Cai, a Navy SEAL-turned CIA agent-turned assassin. You’d expect him to be harsh and cruel given his traumatic past and violent profession, but to Bethany “Beth” Reed, he’s a best friend, a partner…and the man she’s desperately in love with. She’s committed to hiding how she feels for him forever, but when one of his assignments goes horribly wrong and they are forced to hide out on a secluded island—things start to heat up, and not just because of the tropical climate. But with the looming threat of those hunting them and the dark truths of Henry’s past revealing themselves, their budding romance falls into jeopardy in more ways than one. It turns out the real enemy was never the people seeking vengeance upon them, it’s the fears and doubts festering inside a wounded heart that have now started to rot. If Henry and Beth don’t figure out a way to let go of the past and fight for their future, then history is bound to repeat itself, only this time they’ll lose everything. Assistant to the Assassin is the first book in the Criminal Hearts series, a collection of standalone dark romantic comedies. Inspired by Grosse Pointe Blank, Killers, and the Red franchise; you’ll laugh, you’ll swoon, and you’ll think twice before accepting a job as a hot guy’s assistant.

Payton McCrory is just your average junior at a Southern California college who happens to be secretly in love with her best guy friend . . . until she overhears her crush telling someone that she is “not his type” because he likes “sweet” girls. This incident spurs Payton onto an exploration of what it means to be sweet, with the help of her boy-crazy best friend and some unexpected influences along the way.  During Payton’s journey, she is confronted with the realities of betrayal, substance abuse, chronic illness, and sexual trauma—each of these elements that lead to her encounter with a surprisingly personal Divine Presence. This is not your everyday cheesy faith-based romance story. The plot twists of this tale mirror the uncertainties of real life, and readers will identify with Payton’s questions: Is there a God? Why do terrible things happen? Am I loved?  While readers may not be given answers as to the fate of each character, they will be given hope, along with the all-important and life-changing answers to these difficult questions.

In the grand finale of ‘queen of the beach read’ Elin Hilderbrand’s beloved Nantucket novels, there’s a new couple in town… and they instantly shake things up. Amid the extravagant parties on land and sea, there’s trouble on the island, forcing Chief of Police Ed Kapanesh to postpone his retirement and changing the fabric of life on the picturesque island forever… After thirty-five years serving as the Chief of Police on the island of Nantucket, Ed Kapenash’s heart can no longer take the stress. But his plans to retire are thwarted when, with only three days left to serve, he receives a phone call. A 22-million-dollar summer home, recently purchased by the flashy new couple in town, the Richardsons, has burned to the ground. The Richardsons are far from hurt—in fact, they’re out on the water, throwing a lavish party on their yacht—but when news of the fire reaches them, they discover that their personal assistant has vanished. The Chief is well-acquainted with the Richardsons, and his daughter is best friends with the now-missing girl, leaving him no choice but to postpone his retirement and take on the double case. On a small island like Nantucket, the Richardsons shook things up from the second they stepped on to the scene, throwing luxurious parties and doing whatever they could to gain admittance to the coveted lunches at the Field & Oar Club (with increasing desperation). They instantly captured the attention of local real estate agent Fast Eddie, and the town gossip Blond Sharon, both dealing with their own personal dramas. Blond Sharon is going through a divorce, and in order to avoid becoming a cliché, she’s enrolled in a creative writing class, putting her natural affinity for scandal towards a more noble purpose. To solve the case of the fire and track down his daughter’s best friend, the Chief will have to string together the pieces of the lives of all of these characters and more, rallying his strength for his final act of service to the tight-knit community he knows and loves. The last of Elin Hilderbrand’s bestselling Nantucket novels, SWAN SONG is a propulsive medley of glittering gatherings, sun-soaked drama, wisdom and heart, featuring the return of some of her most beloved characters, including, most importantly, the beautiful and timeless island of Nantucket itself.

The many lives of theoretical physicist Elsie Hannaway have finally caught up with her. By day, she’s an adjunct professor, toiling away at grading labs and teaching thermodynamics in the hopes of landing tenure. By other day, Elsie makes up for her non-existent paycheck by offering her services as a fake girlfriend, tapping into her expertly honed people pleasing skills to embody whichever version of herself the client needs. Honestly, it’s a pretty sweet gig—until her carefully constructed Elsie-verse comes crashing down. Because Jack Smith, the annoyingly attractive and broody older brother of her favorite client, turns out to be the cold-hearted experimental physicist who ruined her mentor’s career and undermined the reputation of theorists everywhere. And that same Jack who now sits on the hiring committee at MIT, right between Elsie and her dream job. Elsie is prepared for an all-out war of scholarly sabotage but…those long, penetrating looks? Not having to be anything other than her true self when she’s with him? Will falling into an experimentalist’s orbit finally tempt her to put her most guarded theories on love into practice?

He loathes the holidays. She loves them. She’s full of festive cheer. He’s brimming with Bah, Humbugs. Besides unreasonably seasonable names, the only thing Jonathan Frost and Gabriella Di Natale have in common is a healthy dose of mutual contempt. Well, that and the same place of employment at the city’s most beloved independent bookstore, Bailey’s Bookshop. But when the store’s owners confess its dire financial state, Jonathan and Gabby discover another unfortunate commonality: the imminent threat of unemployment. With the Baileys’ requests to minimize expenses, win new customers, and make record sales dancing in their heads, Jonathan and Gabby conclude—barring a financial Christmas miracle—one of them will soon be cut from the payroll. Neither are willing to step down from their position, so they strike a bargain: whoever has more sales in December gets to stay on in the new year; the loser will resign. With a lifetime’s worth of festive tricks up her sleeve, Gabby should easily outsell her nemesis, except the unreadable Mr. Frost’s every move seems purely designed to throw her off her game. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Gabby’s deceptive ex won’t quit pursuing her, and her anonymous online friend suggests they take a break. Worst of all, as the pressure mounts to save the bookshop and her job, Gabby meets a new, tender side of Jonathan. Is this the same man she’s called her cold-hearted enemy? Maybe he’s got a motive she just can’t figure out—or maybe Jonathan Frost isn’t as chilly as she once thought. Maybe Jonathan and Gabby already know—and love—each other in ways they never thought possible.

He’s a flawed perfectionist… I can read women better than any blueprint. I understand their thoughts and feelings, their secret desires and insecurities, and I know how to get rid of them once I get off. But all bets are off when Tiel Desai slams into my life. She redefines what it means to be friends, and she makes it sound like the filthiest thing I’ve ever heard. I can’t read the gorgeous conservatory-trained violinist, but she’s the only one keeping me from shattering by small degrees, and I can’t let her go. She’s wildly independent… My past—and New Jersey—are far behind me, and now my life is blissfully full of music: playing, teaching, and lecturing, and scouring Boston’s underground scene with an annoyingly beautiful, troubled, tattooed architect. I’m defenseless against his rooftop kisses, our nearly naked dance parties, the snuggletimes that turn into sexytimes, and his deep, demanding voice. I have Sam Walsh stuck in my head like a song on repeat, and I’m happy pretending history won’t catch up with me. The one thing they have in common is a rock-solid disregard for the rules. They find more in each other than they ever realized they were missing, but they might have to fall apart before they can come together. It’s the wrongs that make the rights come to life.

CHARLIE SANDS When I was fifteen, my best friend, Greyson, made me promise to be totally, absolutely, completely, brutally honest with him. Not a day has gone by that I haven’t broken that promise. Don’t worry. I’m not some sort of sick monster. But how can you be totally, absolutely, completely, brutally honest with someone else when you can’t even admit the truth to yourself? It’s much easier to hide behind the lie I’ve been telling myself since the day I met him, a guy like Greyson Steele could never fall for a Tomboy like me. GREYSON STEELE Humility is not thinking more or less of yourself than you really are. So, technically I’m being humble when I say that for most of my life I was the best at everything. Baseball. Looks. Charming the pants off women from eighteen to eighty two. But twelve years ago Charlie Sands proved me wrong. The first time she verbally handed me my balls, I knew I would never outsmart that girl. And no matter how often my mind wandered down the path of lust, Charlie deserves a guy who can keep up with her lightning fast brain. And that guy would never be me. But I’m only human. And worse, a dude. So, over the years I may have slipped a time or two. Let’s just hope she chalks it up to my stupidity and not to anything more insidious, like me purposely breaking her famous Poe Friends Rules. Because I would never do a thing like that. I promise.

The team’s resident linebacker, Jerimiah, has gotten used to making people uncomfortable. He’s huge, intimidating and doesn’t have a lot to say. Until he meets Birdie. Now he can’t seem to stop talking, if only so she’ll say more. And stay a little bit longer. To be fair, she doesn’t really have a choice, since they just got locked in the basement together at a frat party…

In Jade War, the sequel to the World Fantasy Award-winning novel Jade City, the Kaul siblings battle rival clans for honor and control over an Asia-inspired fantasy metropolis. On the island of Kekon, the Kaul family is locked in a violent feud for control of the capital city and the supply of magical jade that endows trained Green Bone warriors with supernatural powers they alone have possessed for hundreds of years. Beyond Kekon’s borders, war is brewing. Powerful foreign governments and mercenary criminal kingpins alike turn their eyes on the island nation. Jade, Kekon’s most prized resource, could make them rich – or give them the edge they’d need to topple their rivals. Faced with threats on all sides, the Kaul family is forced to form new and dangerous alliances, confront enemies in the darkest streets and the tallest office towers, and put honor aside in order to do whatever it takes to ensure their own survival – and that of all the Green Bones of Kekon. Jade War is the second book of the Green Bone Saga, an epic trilogy about family, honor, and those who live and die by the ancient laws of blood and jade.

In the sprawling, half-timbered mansion in the affluent suburb of Swinly Dean, Aristide Leonides lies dead from barbiturate poisoning. An accident? Not likely. In fact, suspicion has already fallen on his luscious widow, a cunning beauty fifty years his junior, set to inherit a sizeable fortune, and rumored to be carrying on with a strapping young tutor comfortably ensconced in the family estate. But criminologist Charles Hayward is casting his own doubts on the innocence of the entire Leonides brood. He knows them intimately. And he’s certain that in a crooked house such as Three Gables, no one’s on the level…