Road Tripping Across the USA Mini Reading Challenge: California

A story about taking chances and love after loss.

Looking for a fresh start after tragedy, June St. Clare is the unexpected owner of Lark Estates—a micro winery in the heart of Napa Valley. June is determined to learn the business and do her best, even if she’s convinced that her beautiful and elusive assistant winemaker wants to see her fail.

Hiding your identity shouldn’t be too hard on a world famous stage…right?

For Lennon, all she needed was to win American Superstar and reap the rewards of fame…all while hiding her true identity. Camila just needed to get her label off her back and keep her image squeaky clean. Match made in heaven, right?

After eighteen years, the stars may have finally aligned to give Cecily and Rorie a second chance at happiness together.

The second book of the series finds Rorie and Cecily embarking on a new life in sunny California, but will the pressures of time, distance, and some very persistent paparazzi be too much for them?

Has the world, as we know it, changed forever?

A fun weekend away at an exclusive estate, turns into a nightmare when a group of friends emerge from the underground nightclub to find everyone on the grounds dead. Dillon Mitchell and the rest of the group race to determine if the world, as we know it, has ended.

Everyone's a winner in this love triangle

Working at the supermarket rarely brings excitement. Until average gal Maya meets two female customers who want her to go out with them. What she doesn’t know is that Jocie and Loren go back – way back. And they’ll do anything to win Maya’s heart. Even each other!

Who knew being stuck in sticky situations would lead to love.

AJ is trying to make ends meet for her and her autistic daughter, Parker while actor Melanie Cooper is ready to retire. A few chance encounters leave little to be desired. Can they work on trusting each other in order to be happy?

Her boss wants to make Jade hers. Can she handle the heat without getting burned?

When Jade crosses paths with an irresistible older woman at Club Velvet, a luxury club for ladies who like to play, she has no idea the woman is Simone Weiss, notorious ice queen and her new boss. With chemistry sizzling between them, how long before they give in to temptation?

Someone wants Nicole dead – and she doesn’t know why.

First, Nicole’s ex-girlfriend is found dead. Now someone wants to kill her. To catch the murderer, Nicole goes undercover on the set of a television series about the women-loving actresses of Hollywood’s Golden Age – only to learn that some in Hollywood are still willing to kill to keep its secrets.

No one pencils in falling in love.

All work and no play has Autumn Primm in the market for a little excitement. Her Venice Beach coffee shop, The Cat’s Pajamas, is her pride and joy. While she doesn’t mind the long hours, she finds herself staring dreamily out the window, imagining the life she’s yet to lead. The time has come to take off the apron and see what the world has in store.

Given their age differences, Val certainly didn't expect to fall for Gina!

Needing funds to support her painting career, Valerie takes in Gina as a roomer. Given their differences in every aspect of life, she fails to anticipate an attraction for the younger woman. Or that it would be returned. Can either of them deal with a loving relationship?

When her aunt is found dead, can a lone wolf expose the new pack leader as the murderer without losing her heart?

A pack’s honor in question. A werewolf leader off on her own. A reporter trying to get to the bottom of a story. Can they get past the monsters to let another into their hearts?

To master magic, Blake hides her werewolf nature.

When her wolf is discovered, will either group accept her? Maria is asked to introduce Blake to the pack. Will she find more than a new pack mate?

Katt's parents taught her how to hide her magic.

Her whole life she’s never met another witch. She read that in the past there were enough that they worked together, but she’s never witnessed this. Entering college, she discovers there are not only other witches, but also a coven; her mind is blown. And then she learns about werewolves.

A loan office hiding from the local pack

A werewolf, recently returned to town. Can these two find common ground amid a slew of crime and intrigue?

Is she ready to embrace her feelings for a woman who is seventeen years younger?

For the first time in her life, Ally, mother and cafe owner, falls for a woman. A woman who is seventeen years younger. Is she ready to take the risk?

When religion creates a dilemma of identity, it's best to take the risk of losing family and choose true love.

After being dumped just when she was ready to settle down and start a family with her girlfriend, Dani Blazer is thinking only of how she can prove herself with her new job and a wild mustang to train. There’s no point in thinking about a forever with the beautiful Hope Fielding whose religion prohibits same-sex relationships. Hope must learn who she is without her religious upbringing if she has any chance at winning Dani’s heart.

Who could predict that Jen, Amanda and Tommy would become an indomitable, crime fighting trio?

Dr. Jen Dawson sticks up for a physician colleague during a murder investigation even though DA Amanda Hawthorne, the most eligible lesbian in San Francisco, challenges Jen in ways she never imagined. A sizzling seven-book series with rollercoaster feels and action, including friends-to-lovers, coming out later, docs and cops, betrayal, reconciliation, retaliation, a little kink, and HEAs. Tons of juicy legal and crime drama.

A destination wedding with a bang!

Dr. Jen Dawson’s and Agent Amanda Hawthorne’s romantic wedding weekend on the California coast is a grand reunion of family and friends who have supported them through their adventurous and dangerous careers. The two women are as dialed in as ever—both inside and outside the bedroom—but dark external forces are conspiring against them. Will they exchange their heartfelt vows before mayhem strikes again?

When witchcraft meets vampiric allure

Strawberry Hayes, a young witch with a thirst for recognition, makes a dangerous pact with Eris Divine, the powerful vampire queen, to unlock her magical potential. But as their forbidden romance blossoms, they must navigate treacherous waters of deceit and danger, risking everything for a love that defies the laws of their world.

Her love will heal the coldest undead heart.

Forbidden love, powerful magic, and a dangerous war. Vampire queen Eris must choose between her duty and her love for witch Strawberry as they navigate dangerous political landscapes and fight against evil. Will their bond be overcome all obstacles? Find out in this epic tale of love, bravery, and sacrifice.

A witch of sunlight, a vampire of night

In a city where supernatural beings are hunted, witch October Jones and vampire Nyx Thornfield form an unlikely alliance. As they delve into their investigation, their forbidden romance blossoms amidst the shadows. With The Evil growing stronger, October and Nyx must navigate their feelings and the dangers around them. Will their bond be enough to withstand the darkness, or will it tear them apart?

Her desperate choice leads to her darkest sacrifice

Vampire Nyx Thornfield is willing to risk everything for the love of her life, witch October Jones. When October falls ill, Nyx is able to save her, but the cure costs October her powers. As they struggle with the consequences, Nyx embarks on a dangerous journey to find a way to restore October’s magic, and hopefully her love.

College was supposed to be easy, but a pack of lone wolves insured that it wouldn't stay that way.

Jade started her junior year of college with her new pack. The plan included finding a new pack den, establishing their territory, and passing finals. When a group of rogue wolves started making themselves known with a trail of dead bodies, the plan had to be altered.

Up and coming actress Samantha Cassidy wants to fall in love again.

Samantha Cassidy thinks she’s found true love. Will she follow her heart, Hollywood be damned? #Cassinova is a fun, funny romp through Hollywood Hills.

Her gargoyle has gone viral

Footage of gargoyle shifter and park ranger Gwen has gone viral. Now her mate is in the park hoping for a glimpse of the mysterious bat creature. Worse, so is a crew of a curious cryptid hunters.

Cassie Parker has grown used to denying her sexuality.

When Cassie’s father makes an unexpected visit, the intrusion on her new life explodes as dark family secrets are revealed. Will Cassie choose a life without family…or a life without love?

FBI Agents Cameron Ross and Andrea Sullivan found the unexpected when they met amongst the warm red rocks and cliffs of Sedona—each other.

That commitment, along with their ingenuity, courage and resolve, will be tested along the most barren of stretches in California’s Mojave Desert.

Someone is using the bleak highways to dump women’s bodies, but in a landscape where an inviting road can curve into a sand-choked mirage, and a true oasis can be invisible under a white-hot sun, clues can blow away in the wind.

A gut-busting and heartbreaking descent into one woman's fraying connection to reality, from a soon-to-be superstar.

A form-shifting and soul-crunching chronicle of grief and crisis, Venita Blackburn’s debut novel, Dead in Long Beach, California, is a fleet-footed marvel of self-discovery and storytelling that explores the depths of humankind’s capacity for harm and healing. With the daring, often hilarious imagination that made her an acclaimed short-fiction innovator, Blackburn crafts a layered, page-turning reckoning with what it means to be alive, dead, and somewhere in between.

Everything that mattered to Frances Moriarty was left behind in famine-ravaged Ireland, including the love of her life.

Beset with grief and guilt, she is scraping out a shadowy existence as a New York shoeshine boy when word spreads like wildfire: gold nuggets line the riverbeds of California.

Eager to stake a claim, Frances boldly sets out on the overland trek to California’s gold fields, praying that her journey will lead her to riches—and a place a woman like her can call her own.

You should know, right now, that I'm a liar.

Golden-haired Max Monroe has it all: beauty, friends, and tons of followers. Her picture-perfect existence seems eminently enviable.

Except it’s all fake.

“Max” is actually Kat Sanchez, a quiet and sarcastic 17-year-old living in drab Bakersfield, California. Nothing glamorous about her existence—just bad house parties, a crap school year, and the awkwardness of dealing with best friend Hari’s unrequited love.

A witty, warm, and irreverent book that traces the lives of two young Taiwanese American women as they navigate friendship, sexuality, identity, and heartbreak over two decades.

Best friends since second grade, Fiona Lin and Jane Shen explore the lonely freeways and seedy bars of Los Angeles together through their teenage years, surviving unfulfilling romantic encounters, and carrying with them the scars of their families’ tumultuous pasts. Fiona was always destined to leave, her effortless beauty burnished by fierce ambition—qualities that Jane admired and feared in equal measure. When Fiona moves to New York and cares for a sick friend through a breakup with an opportunistic boyfriend, Jane remains in California and grieves her estranged father’s sudden death, in the process alienating an overzealous girlfriend. Strained by distance and unintended betrayals, the women float in and out of each other’s lives, their friendship both a beacon of home and a reminder of all they’ve lost.

In the forest surrounding Eden’s Hollow, there’s magic brewing. Wren may not be magical herself, but when she finds herself lost under a canopy of trees, it’s the light of a small cabin that attracts her. On the other side of the door is an enchanting and intoxicating kind of spellcraft, brewed by the older woman she’s crushed on for years. If Wren thought the forest could be dangerous at night, she’s about to learn just what kind of good trouble she can fall into.

Tasting Much Sweeter Than Wine is a 6,000 word story of fantasy, spells, and an age-gap spark. It previously appeared in the anthology Shackin’ Up: Short Stories of Queer Romance and Forced Proximity.

If you knew the gods worked from a building in Santa Monica, California, would it change you?

Avenging fury Alectho (Alec) Graves has been tasked with saving the world, when she isn’t out seeking justice for those innocents who suffer at the hands of evil-doers. If she fails in her mission, those she loves will cease to exist.

Selene Perkton is a philosophy professor in Los Angeles. She lives an ordinary, well scheduled life, and knows her place in it. When Alec appears, the world she thought she knew becomes a very different place.

She didn't know it, but there was an entire world out there that she didn't know.

Darla Andersen doesn’t know what she is going to do with her summer off of college. While others have planned extravagant vacations, she is stuck in Lakeville, the city she grew up in, but when a random letter gives her a chance to travel halfway across the country to participate in an entrepreneurial program, Darla decides to take it. The experience proves to be one full of fun and excitement, but Darla is stuck wondering if she left her heart behind in the city that gave her so many memories.