Supposed Crimes is known for tough heroines in fraught situations, but what is there to read on a snowy afternoon, with hot chocolate and a cavalcade of snuggling cats? Sometimes people just want a happy ending, for crying out loud.
1) Gunfire Echoes - Geonn Cannon - Sure, at first glance, this is a western. That girl on the cover has got to be carrying a gun. But within the pages is a story about sisterhood, warmth, and love. Rose Skinner wants a happy life, just like the rest of us.
>>Before there were comic book superheroes, there were dime-novel cowboys.
Rose Skinner is looking for a new life, and the Oklahoma Land Run of 1889 offers her the opportunity to make one. She hopes to leave the pain of her old life behind when she rides into Paradise as their newest and only female bartender. But some secrets refuse to stay buried. When her new home is threatened by a thief, Rose is forced to fall back on the skills of a life she hoped she would never again be forced to remember.<<
2) Little Disquietude - C. E. Case - This small-town story about actors is short enough to read in one afternoon. Leah Fisher has trials and tribulations, but they're mild. There's depth without anguish. Little Disquietude is a chance to have some fun without destroying anyone's soul.
>>New York City native Leah Fisher, an actress you probably haven’t heard of, is getting her big break in the premiere of a brand new musical… All the way down in North Carolina. In Durham she meets Sophia Medina, the understudy unexpectedly playing Lady Macbeth in the theater season’s token Shakespeare play. Leah is smitten, but trying to balance lust and drama isn’t easy, especially when her director, her leading man, and the entire South might be conspiring to ruin her.<<
3) Memoir in the Making - Adrian J. Smith - Supposed Crime's biggest hit of 2015, it's a classic story. Female student falls for female professor. Professor falls for student. It's sexy and full of angst--but the good kind. In this world, happy ever after is possible, no matter the barriers.
>>The first day of her junior year in college was supposed to go off without a hitch. But when Ainsley Jacobs sat in her memoir class with a professor she’d never had before, her life took an unexpected turn. She couldn’t get her well-dressed professor, Meredith Frenz, out of her head.
Meredith had lived a lonely yet comfortable life for the past fifteen years, and despite flings here and there, she had no desire to jump head first into a relationship, especially one with her student. Despite all her thwarted efforts, Meredith was determined to keep to herself and push Ainsley away.<<
4) Lower Education - A. M. Leibowitz - One of Supposed Crimes' overlooked treasures, it's yet another small town story (sensing a theme?) featuring affable, friendly characters falling in love. Not everyone has to save the world. Phin Patterson just has to save a school.
>>Phin Patterson is an educational consultant dissatisfied with his job and his life. On a mission to complete one last assignment before escaping his unfulfilling career and figure out what he wants, he accepts a commission from Donald Murdock at the New York State Education Department. Suddenly, he finds himself on his way to evaluate a tiny school in New York’s Southern Tier, not far from the town where he grew up. Now his only goal is to get in, do his job, and get out before anyone from his past remembers him.
That turns out to be easier said than done. Dani Sloane, the sharp-witted administrative assistant to the principal, learns the truth about why Phin is really there. With the help of her friends, she sets out to unmask him and force the local board of education to stop the plans that could ruin their school. Discovering that her sometime-lover is an old business associate of Phin’s only complicates both the situation and their relationship.
Meanwhile, Phin, who has committed himself to keeping his emotional distance, can’t resist the charm of the town and its residents—especially the school psychologist, who turns out to be an old friend he hasn’t seen in over twenty years. While Dani works to take him down and save her school, Phin wrestles with learning how to do the right thing, including telling the truth to the man with whom he’s already falling in love.<<
5) Tales from Squire's Isle, Volume One - Geonn Cannon - Nothing beats free books. This collection of stories from Geonn Cannon all take place on Squire's Isle. Families, lovers, new romances, comfortable friendships, all interweave throughout the island. And there's lots of girl-on-girl sex, too.
Dip a toe into what Supposed Crimes has to offer on a quiet afternoon, and you might go back to take the plunge.
Bonus!
What cozy, fireplace reading experience is complete without some steaming hot chocolate.
