Diabetes in Fiction

Twenty-six-year-old Gaby Barreto might be a lot of things (loyal, sarcastic, one of the guys and a pain in the butt depending on which family member you ask), but dumb isn’t one of them. When her twin brother invites her to go on tour as his band’s merch girl, she isn’t exactly screaming at the top of her lungs with joy. With no job opportunities pounding on her door, an ex-boyfriend she would still like to castrate, and no end in sight to moving out of her parents’ house in Dallas… it would be dumb to say no to the chance of a lifetime. Two bands, three continents, one tour. Spending the next ninety-plus days with three beloved idiots and eight complete strangers shouldn’t be a big deal, right? If only the singer of the headlining band didn’t have tattoos… a great personality… a fantastic body… and if he wasn’t so funny…. Let’s be real: Gaby never had a chance against Sacha Malykhin.

She survived an abduction. Now she’s trying to get on with her life. But it’s not easy being a university student with a challenging mental health condition. The ‘mean girl’ voice in her head just won’t leave her alone. To complicate matters, she’s an heiress worth a not-so-small fortune. Enter her sexy new bodyguard, a former paramedic trained to deal with medically fragile clients. He’s determined to help her live a normal life and do all the things she yearns to do. He just never counted on falling in love with her. He’s honor-bound to keep things strictly professional between them, but that’s hard to do when one look from her is enough to send him to his knees. Finding Layla is the first book in my new spin-off series, McIntyre Security Protectors. No cliffhanger. Just one glorious happy ending. This book contains themes of mental illness related to auditory hallucinations, anxiety, low self-esteem, and self-harm. Please be advised if you might find these topics troubling.

Working as a maid on a luxury yacht certainly isn’t Urvi’s idea of a dream job, but she needs money, fast. As a student at the Royal academy, who’s been cut off by her family for choosing music instead of medicine, she needs every penny of the exorbitant fee the powerful advertising executive, Jack Bailey, is willing to pay. So what if she thought Jack was asking her out but offered her a job instead? So what if she thought they had a connection during all those late night chats they had at the bar where she works? Jack and his mega yacht are clearly more out of her league than she realized. A bit of banter with a barmaid obviously meant nothing to him if the cold shoulder he’s now giving her is anything to go by. Urvi can’t afford pride if she wants to survive, and, with the way her diabetes control has been lately, survival is fast becoming her number one priority. Maid for Advertising is a friends to enemies to lovers contemporary romance novella. It is approximately half the length of a full-length novel.

Ellie Pang has had enough of her controlling family​ who has been micromanaging her life since her type 1 diabetes diagnosis​. When her parents orchestrate a public proposal from their business partner’s son, a proposal that goes humiliatingly viral, Ellie escapes to the other side of the country to put her dream of opening a sugar-free bakery into action. Afterall, she’d done her research. How hard can it be? She hits a snag when her storefront turns out to be a dump and in need of major renovations. Worse, the only person who can help her turn things around is Alec Mackenzie, her brother’s best friend and the man responsible for crushing her teenage heart ten years ago. But Alec has a proposal of his own: he needs a pretend girlfriend in order to cement a business deal. All they need to do is feign love and affection, while trying not to maim each other. But when the thin line between hate and fake-madly-in-love starts to blur, and buried secrets resurface, Ellie must learn to trust her heart, and choose between love and family.

Lily Hopper has two more weeks until she’s officially finished with boarding school. With graduation quickly approaching Lily is worried that she’s somehow missed out on the fun of being in high school. So, when she receives a mysterious note inviting her to join the anonymous senior class Jester in executing the end-of-year prank, Lily sees her chance to put her goody-two-shoes reputation behind her. When Lily realizes the Jester is none other than Taggart Swell, her ex- boyfriend, she’s already in too deep to back out. Lily might’ve dumped Tag, but she still has major feelings. Plus, his brilliant plan to steal the school’s yearbooks, targets none other than Lilly’s prom date: the Senior Class President, Daniel. As the group of pranksters hide cryptic clues across campus for Daniel to find, Lily and Tag find themselves in close quarters. As the exes dodge Campus Safety guards, night owl teachers, a troop of freshmen, and even Daniel himself, new sparks fly. But old hurts and painful secrets refuse to be ignored. And with graduation on the horizon, Lily can only hope that breaking the rules will help mend her heart.

Viggo Bergman, hopeless romantic, is thoroughly weary of waiting for his happily ever after. But between opening a romance bookstore, running a romance book club, coaching kids’ soccer, and adopting a household of pets—just maybe, he’s overcommitted himself?—Viggo’s chaotic life has made finding his forever love seem downright improbable. Enter Tallulah Clarke, chilly cynic with a massive case of writer’s block. Tallulah needs help with her thriller’s romantic subplot. Viggo needs another pair of hands to keep his store afloat. So they agree to swap skills and cohabitate for convenience—his romance expertise to revive her book, her organizational prowess to salvage his store. They hardly get along, and they couldn’t be more different, but who says roommate-coworkers need to be friends? As they share a home and life, Tallulah and Viggo discover a connection that challenges everything they believe about love, and reveals the plot twist they never saw happily ever after is here already, right under their roof.

"Some people get exactly what they deserve. And, as it turns out, I deserve to be called Persephone. No simple-to-sound-out Pride-and-Prejudice-style name like Elizabeth or Jane for me. Nope. Demi had to go Greek. Define ‘Persephone’. Bringer of destruction. That pretty much sums it up." Persephone is angry. Angry that her life revolves around finger-prick tests, carbohydrate counts and insulin injections. Angry at Alexander Manson. Angry with her mum for lots of things, for nothing and for everything. But most of all, she’s angry with herself. For deserving it all. Because of what she did, or didn’t do. Because one year ago she did something and her dad died. But then Persephone finds a body on a bush path, a young woman she doesn’t know but feels a strong connection to. And as she tries to find out what happened to Sylvia, Persephone begins to understand her own place in the complex interconnectedness of the universe. Sugar is the story of a sixteen-year-old girl trying to make sense of the life-changing events that have sent her world into a spin, her search for a reason behind it all, and ultimately her acceptance of life’s randomness.

Maya Bloom has a secret. For as long as she can remember, all her wishes have come true. One quick plea to the universe, and whatever she wants is hers. The they always backfire. Which is why Maya is done wishing. Well, until her wedding day when she’s in desperate need of the truth. And when it feels like her whole life is imploding, she makes the split-second decision to run to Vermont and be with her best friend, Ellie. Liam Harley has a problem. He’s been living his best single dad life in small town Vermont, but he can’t seem to forget the past. Not his last job as a Michelin star chef, not his night owl lifestyle, and especially not that night two years ago when he met Maya Bloom. When Maya shows up in his new haven of Sugar Valley, he wonders if he’ll get a second chance with the woman who’s been haunting his dreams. Unfortunately for him, she has no idea who he is. One More Wish is a small-town romance about the power of found families, the magic of finding your soulmate, and believing in the impossible.

They say home is where the heart is, and Rory Whatley knows better than most just how true that is. Neglected by her parents from a young age, she found "home" in Sam Capshaw, a shy but big-hearted boy who welcomed her into his family when they were seven years old. He was her entire world until a friendship-ending argument ripped it all out from under her. She's spent the last decade trying to pretend that Sam never existed, drowning her sorrow in fantasy novels by her favorite author, the reclusive J. Edward Michael. Now back in Asheville, she's determined to start anew, but those plans quickly crumble when she learns Sam has also moved home and their mutual friends make seeing him again an inevitability. When she and Sam reconnect, it's as though no time has passed at all. He's still the same sweet, people-pleasing guy he used to be-and the same guy who broke her heart when they were eighteen years old. Then a mysterious Advanced Reader Copy of J. Edward Michael's next book turns up on her doorstep, with a plot that seems to parallel her complicated relationship with Sam. As her feelings for Sam grow stronger and the book becomes more uncanny in its detail, Rory is forced to reflect on the relationships that have defined her for most of her life. Told in alternating timelines between their childhood and the present, BETWEEN THE LINES perfectly encapsulates the nostalgia of childhood friendships and first loves interwoven with the struggle of forgiving old hurts and the fear of losing the people who matter most.

All’s fair in love and racing… Charlotte Walker’s at an impasse in life. Not sure what her plan is after graduation, she jumps at the chance for a little breathing room to explore her options while traveling the world with her brother and his Formula 1 team. What’s even better is being around Lucas Adler, AlphaVite Racing’s star driver and tattooed Greek god come to life. He’s been her crush for years and being together in such close quarters, their sizzling chemistry can’t be denied. Lucas knows Charlotte is off-limits. She’s the gorgeous younger sister of his best friend and teammate. Despite their easy banter and draw to one another, he’s learned the hard way that crossing lines can destroy relationships. Now as constant companions on the road, Charlotte, with her charm and infectious energy, challenges him at every turn and sees him in ways no one ever has. As feelings grow, they both must decide if their relationship is worth the risk of losing everything or if their happily ever after is a prize to be fought for at the finish line. Drive Me Home is a spicy Formula 1 romantic comedy with heart, heat, humor, and a guaranteed HEA. This is the third book in the Drive Me series and can be read as a standalone, although reading in order is recommended for the best experience!

If we get what we think we deserve, maybe it’s time to ask for more. Pediatric nurse Allie Hart is no stranger to failed relationships. The women in her family are notorious for their bad marriages, but as Allie is confronted with evidence of her own mistakes, she must face an uncomfortable truth: maybe you get what you think you deserve. Determined to start fresh with a move back to her tiny hometown, Allie’s plans hit a snag when she meets her grumpy and all-too-sexy landlord, Davis Henderson. She didn’t count on seeing him every day, or the evidence that he might just be the best man she knows. Sometimes life gives us a Second Chance at Love. Widower Davis Henderson lives and breathes for his kids, but when Allie literally falls unexpectedly into his arms the first time they meet, he is struck by an unexplained desire to stick around and help her and her son settle in. As the two families get to know each other, they begin to see that what they really want is right in front of them, if they could only find a way to let go of the past that’s holding them back.

He hadn’t always just been my brother’s best friend. There was a time when he was mine, too. Until he disappeared from our small town when I needed him the most. Now, Caden’s back. With his cocky smirk and infuriating nicknames. And I’m struggling to ignore his presence. When my ex refuses to leave me alone, Caden steps in, suggesting that it will get my ex and Caden’s calculating father off both our backs if we just pretend to be madly in love. There’s just one problem… Nothing I feel for Caden Shaw is fake—even when I thought I hated him. And there’s no denying how the touch of his lips sparks a flame I’ll never be able to extinguish. As those pretend moments start to turn oh so real, someone’s watching. They’re not happy about Caden’s new role in my life. And they’ll do anything to rip me away from him—even burn us all to the ground…