Showing results by author "Ava Ross" in All Categories

Desperate to escape the clutches of the alien lizard mafia, I accept a spur-of-the-moment job offer on a distant planet. A monstrous, grumpy alien is building a new home in a distant colony, and he’s looking for an assistant. He needs me to hold his hammer. I get it. It’s a big hammer. He's a lonely barbarian brute with a gruff exterior, but I soon learn that inside, he's hiding a squishy center. When he unexpectedly enters his mating frenzy, there’s no one around to handle the job—except me. He gives me two options: return home or stay and help him with a whole different kind of nailing.

I was hired to tame alien pets, but my beastly alien boss is determined to tame me. As a pet whisperer, I’ve yet to meet a snarling beast I can’t turn into a purring pussycat. When a billionaire alien living in a castle on an isolated planet posts a job looking for someone to housebreak his pets, I'm confident I can train them to eat out of his hand instead of trying to bite his head off.

When the elderly duchess I cared for dies, her slimy son—my ex—tells me he wants me back. Um, no. I flee, and at the Intergalactic Employment Agency, I'm offered a job teaching an alien warlord sophistication so he can woo a mate at the upcoming Match-Mating Soiree. If anyone can domesticate a brute, it's me. In between teaching Forje how to converse politely and dance without crushing his partner's tail, he shares his battle scars and unusual poetry.

To raise credits for the local creature shelter, I enter Interstellar Chef. If I win? I'm awarded the catering job of a lifetime and prize money I can donate to the shelter. It won’t be easy—contestants must prepare exquisite meals in dangerous alien locations, and fellow chefs have been known to attack the others. Some competitors don’t make it home alive. All I have to do is avoid my stiffest competition, Thrombuka Nargoth, the brutishly handsome, golden-skinned alien who once left me stranded without my undies in a secluded hallway of a dive bar on Quazar 3.

After my ex dumps my possessions on the sidewalk, cleans out our bank account, and steals my landscaping business, I'm once again submitting job applications. It’s that or no roof over my head. With the Intergalactic Employment Agency’s help, I land a position as a gardener for the owners of an off-world alien castle. Other than needing to tackle a rogue vine infesting the front shrubs, it’s an easy job. Best of all, I work alongside Dekrin, a dirty-mouthed fellow gardener who enjoys rolling in mud and wearing low-slung pants.

After my mother gave me to the Shiedar invaders as a child, they took me to a place where screams of pain echoed around me. The leader tortured me and other young males I soon called my brothers. In his determination to twist me into a feral warrior, the leader turned me into a beast. To protect myself, I built a barrier around my heart; a simple task since my people only experience muted emotions. Only when we meet our fated mates do our feelings come alive. Then I was sold to the Galaxy Games, where I’ll now complete a series of nearly impossible tasks. If I win, I’m free.

It is a simple job. Sneak aboard a pirate spaceship and steal a precious artifact from the brooding, too-hot captain, Matis. Before I know it, I'll be on my way back to Earth with enough credits to cure my mom's sickness. Is it my fault I accidentally stab him? Instead of making me walk the interstellar plank, he makes me serve as his cabin boy. Good thing he doesn't realize I'm not a boy. His snarly outside hides a squishy center, but someone's out to kill him, and who needs to get tangled up in that? Then we're trapped on a rogue space station with alien pirates trying to kill us.

After my ex announces his wedding to someone other than me, I'm eager to leave town. A new life and a new job are just what I need to restore my mojo. On the way to my destination, I overnight at a hotel where edible unmentionables and a tattooed orc construction worker rock my world. I sneak out the next morning, figuring I'll never see him again. Until I walk into my new job. That hot orc construction worker? He's my boss.

Wrongfully convicted of murder and sentenced to hard labor on an alien prison planet, I think my life is over. Until my rescue comes in the form of my older brother's best friend, Shaede—a blue-skinned alien who broke my heart years ago. But he gets caught too, and before you know it, we're handcuffed together and locked in a cell with only one bunk.

I was stolen by invaders when I was three seasons old and taken to Lord Vunne’s chamber. There, he tried to mold me into a monster. I became fast friends with other youngling males who I soon called my brothers. We protected each other, until Vunne sold us to the Galaxy Games, a series of traps and pitfalls with an elusive final destination. If I complete my desert course, I’ll be free, but if I fail even one task, I will face extermination. I don’t care about what happens to me. My life was lost to me when I was three.

If I don't find a date for my grandmother's weekend birthday bash, my mother plans to set me up with the relative of a friend who has to be ninety. No thanks. On the spur of the moment, I ask the town's orc blacksmith I've been crushing on for months to go with me. Gunner agrees, and before I know it, we're sneaking away from Grannie's bash to steal a few kisses. Finally, I'm getting to know this sweet, shy blacksmith I'd do almost anything to date for real. After Grannie's weekend event ends, I figure I'll go back to admiring Gunner from afar. But it turns out he's no longer faking.

When I took a nanny job in a distant colony caring for two young boys who recently lost their mother, I expected I'd grow to love them. Having experienced loss myself, I knew how hard it was to heal. What I didn't expect was to fall for their father, a big, burly alien with scars on his body that mirror those in my soul. Between teaching the boys and bringing fun back into their lives, I get to know Firoh, a guy I sense needs love as much as I do. It isn't long before I can see myself living in this alien colony forever, as long as I can be with Firoh and his sons.

The dating scene can be tough for a phoenix, especially when I burn to cinders at the most inconvenient times. It’s gotten to the point where no one will even go out with me. Worse, my spontaneous combustions are accelerating. I’ve been cursed with a rare phoenix abnormality, and my time’s ticking away. Soon, my pile of ashes will be swept up in the wind, and I’ll no longer rejuvenate as a phoenix.

Four years ago, I fell in love with a demon. Then he bailed on me, leaving me with a broken heart and a big secret. When I see a news article about Monsterville's new demon sheriff, I recognize Venom. My heart may have healed, but our past isn't over. I present him with our daughter, and he's stunned and overjoyed. He's still the gruff, growly demon I fell for with a soft, squishy inside he hides from the world.

My ex-boyfriend was transformed into a medusa, and he's set his eyes on me. Ten years ago, I was convinced I'd one day marry my high school boyfriend, Darrow. But when a mad scientist experimented on him and others in Petrified Woods, they were changed into monsters. My parents dragged me from town before I could make sure Darrow was okay. Not long after that, they told me he was dead. Now, I'm back in Petrified Woods to be the maid of honor at a friend's wedding. And guess who's the best man? Darrow.

My hunky orc neighbor, Vrok, who I'd love to get to know better, keeps ignoring me. But when he overhears me reading the draft of my steamy romance novel out loud, he tells me he has ideas to make the male point of view better. Yeah, sure. One thing leads to another, and soon, we're not only working on dialogue, but we're also acting out some of the hotter scenes.

I escaped a life of fear for the beautiful mountainous town of Monsterville. There, I meet Storm, a gorgeous wolf shifter. His wolfish ways and heady kisses draw me in, and the future he offers, one full of peace and love, makes me long for a life I never thought I'd find. He invites me to a wolf pack reunion, where things between us only get better. But my past haunts me, and if I don't flee, they'll drag me back and lock me up in a place where Storm will never find me.

While struggling to raise my little sister, I suddenly inherit a run-down B&B from a grandmother I didn't know existed. The only condition to inherit is that I marry and live with my husband for a year. One problem: I'm not dating, and the only one I want to propose to is the gargoyle I've been crushing on for months. When I explain, Goreg offers a marriage of convenience with a quickie divorce at the end. He's sweet and shy, and with his muscular frame and glorious wings, I'm kind of blown away by his offer, even if he does occasionally turn to stone and lurk on the roof.

With thirty-six looming on my horizon, I'm determined to have a child. I don't need romance. I don't need love. And I definitely don't need a happily ever after. When my friend talks me into attending an elf ball at an estate in Monsterville, promising I'll find a guy there who'll give me what I'm seeking, I agree to go with her. I'm barely there when I fall into the arms of the most gorgeous elf I've ever seen, Tylik. He's the LOTR elf of my dreams, so it's a good thing I've sworn off romance. Tylik needs someone to teach him how to fit in with human society. I need a bundle of joy.

After being ousted from my small town by an underhanded wedding planner who is also now my ex, I moved to Monsterville for a fresh start. There, I find myself in direct competition with the hottest ogre in town, Raze. He's too cocky and snobby for his own good, and he wears designer suits and ties all the time. I sometimes wonder if he wears them to bed. When my ex shows up in Monsterville, determined to win me back, Raze steps in, offering to pretend he's my boyfriend and business partner.