Billy Daley hasn't been home in years, and he likes it that way. He's just fine on his own—he has a cash-in-hand job at a scrapyard, a half-feral cat to keep him company, and many miles between him, his hometown and all the baggage that comes with it. Until the job goes sideways. Suddenly he's back in Rushmere, working for none other than his brother's best friend—a man whose kiss Billy can't seem to forget. It doesn't take long before their easy banter, lingering touches and heated glances become a temptation too hard to resist. 

With their mum dead and their father on remand for her murder, Leo Hendry and his little sister, Lila, have nothing in the world but each other. Broken and burned, they’re thrust into the foster-care system. Leo shields Lila from the fake families and forced affection, until the Poulton household is the only place left to go.

Ex-surfer-turned-businessman Liam Mallaney moved back to Holkham, Norfolk, to mourn the loss of his husband. Grief and loneliness keep him a solitary figure, and he likes it that way. There’s no room in his broken heart for anything else. Rentboy Zac Payne left London and most of his demons behind, but he still only knows one way to make a living. When he spots Liam in a club one night, it seems he’s found his mark. But Liam proves nicer — and their connection far deeper — than he’d bargained for. 

Work, sleep, work, repeat. Nero’s lonely life suits him just fine until his best friend Cass asks him to take on a new apprentice - a beautiful young man who’s never set foot in a professional kitchen. Despite his irritation and his lifelong ability to shut the world out, Nero is mesmerized by the vibrant stray, especially when he learns what drove him to seek sanctuary on Nero’s battered old couch.

The teacher and the student. The stable hand and the single dad. First times and friendship turn to love. Toby: aThere’s nothing attractive about a 24 year old virgin, especially not one who blushes every time a hot dude looks his way. But I can’t help the heat that ripples through me every time I see Cole Maguire. And the clench of my heart when I realise how unhappy he is. He’s a city boy with a baby on his hip - we have nothing in common - but if he can teach me how to own my sexuality, perhaps I can teach him he’s worth loving.

Reformed gangster Luis falls hard for his boss. When friendship turns to love, it’s up to Paolo to convince him second chances are worth the pain. Luis Pope is back on the street after a six-year stretch in prison, but life on the outside seems just out of reach, especially when the whole neighborhood knows his face for all the wrong reasons. Paolo’s temper makes it hard to keep staff, and he knows Luis’ rep all too well. But his nonno believes in redemption, and Luis isn’t the tough guy Paolo remembers.

Jonah Gray is rich, successful, and the most eligible bachelor in the city, according to his mother, at least. But the truth is, despite her efforts to pair him off, he’s fine on his own. All he needs is a date to the Christmas ball. Sacha Ivanov is a lone wolf, content with the cycle of long days, late nights, and anonymous hook-ups, but when a chance encounter in a broken-down lift brings a gorgeous copper-haired CEO into his life, everything begins to change. As Christmas fast approaches, a favor for a stranger blooms into something more.

I'm not the obvious choice to run Burlington's coolest wine bar - quiet, brooding, clueless about tannin content, and always one wrong turn away from another downward spiral. But no one seems to mind that I'm a wreck. Besides me. I just focus on getting through each shift until the night a beautiful stranger appears, looking as lost and damaged as I feel. 

Derek Osbourne’s life is mostly quiet. A routine that keeps him functioning, a job as a tattoo artist that keeps his rent paid and food in his belly, and if he’s alone through it well, there are worse things to be. With his complicated past, Derek is sure no one would ever want to deal with the struggle that comes along with loving someone who has severe PTSD...Then one night, during a raging storm, Derek finds himself stuck in an ATM vestibule with a quiet stranger, and it’s in that moment his world begins to change.

After his mother tragically dies and his deadbeat father goes off the rails, 19-year-old Micky is left to care for his disabled little brother. Juggling college, a dead-end job, and Flynn’s special needs means Micky has to put his bad-boy past behind him and be the responsible adult to keep his brother out of care. He doesn't have time for anything else in his life. Still scarred from a past relationship that went bad, Dan’s not looking to complicate his life.

On a lonely cliff beside the vast blue sea there is a house. In the house there lives a girl, and in the girl there lives a dream. Soon she'll be as free as the fishes that swim beneath the water. But until then she bides her time and lives quietly, her every move ruled over by an uncaring, heartless stepmother. The hope for freedom is all she has to hold onto. So close she can almost taste it. But when her stepmother’s estranged younger brother comes to stay, he presents a mystery that lures her in.

Tomboy Cam Swayne is determined that football hero, Jake Phillips, keeps his eyes firmly on her. After all, she’s been his since before she was born. Cam has grown up so close to Jake that it’s as if she’s his left arm. They’ve played together on the street and at the lake since she could walk. Plus, they’ve saved each other in some pretty miraculous ways that even their parents found hard to believe. So, it’s only natural that, when hormones kick in, Cam feels like Jake belongs only to her.

When it comes down to acclaim in the yearbook, my class rank would probably earn me my only entry, but probably very little else. I don’t wear cosmetics, do my hair, or really give a damn about my appearance in general. I don’t need to be cool, and I’ve managed my high school career navigating all the different groups from the nerds to the jocks to the theatre kids and the band geeks. 

Misfortune. Bad luck. Heartache. Devon Thorpe is no stranger to any of them. After devastating news, Devon’s life becomes a prison of responsibility, heartbreak, and hardship. All her dreams to leave her small town vanish. A prisoner of circumstance.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been the dark to my sister’s light - the awkward loner to her social butterfly. Growing up, she had it all: our parent’s unyielding approval, perfect grades, a permanent spot at the popular table, and the attention of the hottest guy ever - Duke Kincaid. After 18 years of living in her shadow, I couldn’t wait to escape - to finally be my own person. Yet here I am - back in my hometown, once again in Valorie’s shadow. Only now, it’s eternal.