Road Tripping Across the USA Mini Reading Challenge: Illinois

A stolen bride tempts her ruthless captor

Hell-bent on vengeance, a ruthless mercenary kidnaps an innocent young woman on her wedding day, setting off a chain of events that will forever change the balance of power in the Chicago underworld.

An assassin targets a mercenary's heart

When Lyssa, a mercenary of the Styx Syndicate, sees the gorgeous Scarlett harassed by thugs in a dive bar, she jumps straight into protective mode. But Lyssa soon discovers that not every damsel is in distress. And sometimes, wolves wear sheep’s clothing…

A chance encounter leaves her locked in love.

An afternoon of bone-melting sex and a surprisingly soulful connection with Morgan leaves Eun questioning her return to Chicago. But not everyone in Sikesville is happy Eun has returned.

A math genius and a literature professor understand each other in a way no one else ever has before and find love along the way.

When Eva Dash is fired from her job as a literature professor, she meets Ember Elliot, a misunderstood, reformed player finally looking to meet someone and settle down only to be surprised by the beautiful and intelligent Eva who also feels misunderstood even by those closest to her.

Will two women, seemingly so different, discover they have more in common than they think?

Brianna Goodwin left her hometown under a cloud of secrecy and shame. When she returns to settle her father’s estate, she figures it should be simple, until she inherits the Thundering Pines campground. Will the city girl find something, or possibly someone, to love in the town she left behind?

In a world full of divisiveness, what would it be like to walk in someone else’s shoes?

Two worlds collide when Rain Hargrove, a progressive lesbian, and Ivy Nash a conservative Christian find themselves in each other’s bodies. LITERALLY!

Some love stories are too big to fit into just one universe.

Ari is struggling at work but happy at home with her vibrant wife Mandira. One night she shares a secret she’s kept for years, telling Mandira that she once imagined seeing into another world where she was living a different life. Mandira’s response changes everything: “What if it was real?”

Can Abi's love guide Greta through the burden of being the sole survivor of a plane crash?

When Abi takes a new job as makeup artist on a TV series, she quickly falls for actress Greta, but assumes she is off-limits. Then she learns Greta shares her feelings, but before they can act, Greta survives a plane crash. Now Abi must guide her through a difficult recovery.

Letting love in means putting yourself out there.

Retired hockey legend Caro is devoted to her all-girls hockey camp—but she can’t seem to ignore her vivacious new employee! Rising star Amy is only in Chicago for the summer. Will a temporary fling be enough?

Passion ignites and possibilities unfold. Welcome to the Windy City Romance series.

Former soldier Gabe Jackson reunites with Army friends to open a dream garage in Chicago. After visiting her injured canine companion Max at Lori Turner’s Sanctuary, attraction sparks, but Lori, nursing a broken heart, struggles with trust. As chemistry ignites, will secrets threaten their chance at love?

Last Christmas they fell in love. This Christmas can they do it again?

Lucy

When I parked my tow truck behind a disabled vehicle that winter night, I had no idea that the love of my life was waiting for me inside. I took one look at Kate and fell head over heels in love. But then she betrayed me. Or so I thought…

A psychological, romantic thriller that blends high tension with the pursuit of an unlikely romance.

Harper Dawkins has sealed the door to her personal attic by moving out of state to attend college and has dropped all contact with former friends and family. But Harper’s about to discover that while you may be able to divorce yourself from your past, you can’t run away from yourself.

Sparks fly the second Lily and Eva meet—can they get along long enough to see if things could ever work between them?

An opposites-attract, ice queen lesbian romance about finding the softest of hearts behind the highest walls.

A coveted summer internship takes a small-town girl to the Windy City, where she’s totally out of her element – and learning who she is for the first time.

When Josephine literally stumbles into Chicago’s huge Pride Parade, she narrowly avoids death-by-scooter, but quick-thinking Hazel scoops Jo into her lap instead. What begins as a traffic accident soon evolves into a smoldering attraction in this romance full of pride, found family and the glow-up of a lifetime.

Alex's life stood still the day her father passed. She's trying to jump start it when she meets Megan, a med student who has a few ghosts of her own.

Alex’s world stood still the day her father passed.

Frozen in grief, her future is on hold – maybe permanently. Until a stunning but aloof woman comes crashing into her life – quite literally.

Megan has a few skeletons in her own proverbial closet, but she’s just what Alex needs to jump-start her life – and her heart.

Can they mend each other’s broken hearts?

A beautiful, opposites attract lesbian romance about hearing the music in your heart.

When tendrils of friendship develop with Vivian, Kate finds beneath her prickly ice queen persona unexpected kindness and warmth. Is the promise of more enough to make her stay? Can two such different women, one from a world of sound and one a world of silence, truly understand one another?

Unknown to regular citizens, nightmarish creatures lurk in the dark underbelly of human civilization.

The presence of these supranormals (“supras”)—werewolves, vampires, demons—is a closely guarded government secret, as is the existence of a cadre of specially engineered Hunters charged with exterminating them.

With danger pushing in on all sides, dubious alliances offer either a way out, or complete ruin.

When Cassidy Nolan agreed to take over as the Alpha for Chicago’s North Side werewolf pack, she knew she was in for a challenge. Four months later, and she’s wondering how things deteriorated so far so quickly.

Memory Mambo describes the life of Juani Casas, a 25-year-old Cuban-born American lesbian who manages her family's laundromat in Chicago while trying to cope with family, work, love, sex, and the weirdness of North American culture.

Achy Obejas’s writing is sharp and mordantly funny. She understands perfectly how the romance of exile—from a homeland as well as from heterosexuality—and the mundane reality of everyday life balance one another. Memory Mambo is ultimately very moving in its depiction of what it means to find a new and finally safe sense of home.

At 33, Pediatric Ophthalmologist, Aki Williams, travels to a small town in Illinois to meet her biological sister, Jack Camdon.

While there she meets Carsyn Lyndon, a 43-year-old professor of archaeology who has suffered from PTSD since the loss of her parents and wife in a tragic accident. Despite being kind-hearted and handsome, Carson hasn’t been dating, and if she were to date, wouldn’t date a younger woman, determined not to repeat her past mistake. But when she meets Aki, everything changes.

Marisol Soltero’s life is built on big scores and fast women.

From her nightclub she rules over the Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago with ruthless calculation. Though everyone knows her as the Queen of Humboldt, Marisol lives part of her life in the shadows. When she hears of an impending assassination attempt against the Governor of Illinois, those shadows threaten to ruin everything she’s built.

Some things are better than chocolate...

As secrets are uncovered, Molly and Jordan must figure out how to navigate the difficult terrain of their multi-faceted relationship. Especially when something much deeper seems to be bubbling between them.

They say you can’t go home again, but Raine St. James doesn’t know why anyone would want to.

Rory St. James was disowned after she came out at seventeen. She rebounded by moving to Chicago, changing her name to Raine and putting down her hometown to audiences around the country. Now, ten years later, too old to be considered a gay youth, broke, evicted, and fresh off a much needed break-up, Raine St. James is forced to accept a job teaching at Bramble University in Darlington, the town she’s been publicly bashing for the last decade.

In the waning days of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Quinn Prescott and Kirby Davis met during military training.

Despite different backgrounds, services, and plans, they fell hard and fast. However, it wasn’t long before distance and the pressures of serving in silence drove them apart.

Ten years later, Kirby literally runs into Quinn at Chicago Pride. Even in a city of three million, she continues to see Quinn everywhere. She can’t seem to ignore the pounding in her chest that isn’t always the frustration that Quinn broke her heart. Despite her best efforts to convince herself otherwise, there might still be something between them.

Nico Marshall’s living her best life.

Her packaging company’s turning a profit and she’s just been labeled Chicago’s most promising up-and-coming artist. The only thing missing is love. When she meets a beautiful woman on the train with an indescribable sweet and sugary scent, Nico’s ready to make her move.