Synopsis:
For twenty-three years, Cross Carlson was a playboy. You know the type. Tall, dark, and wealthy. Blue-eyed. Charming. He seemed to have it all so easy. But Cross was harboring a terrible secret - one that helped ruin the life of an innocent girl and almost ended his own.
Finally out of the hospital, Cross is flailing, scarred in both body and mind and stifled by the weight of the secret he still keeps. The only way to absolution lies in a Mexican convent, and going there could cost him everything.
If there's anyone who knows what it's like to screw up big time, it's Meredith Kinsey. Just a few years ago, Merri was an ordinary girl with a job at her college newspaper and white picket fence kind of dreams. Now she's holed up in a Mexican convent, hiding from a drug lord who thinks he owns her.
What happens when the only way out of hell is with the son of the man who put you there? They say love conquers all, but does it really?
Goodreads:
My Review
5 of 5 Taming Cross
Ella James you are BRILLIANT! I love you so much man Taming Cross had me up all night reading. I just could not get enough and I needed to finish it before I could go to work. Okay so I loved Selling Scarlett but holy shiz I LOVED LOVED Taming Cross. We get to see what is haunting him and why things happened the way they did and why Scarlett loved him so much as a friend. I have to say that yes Ella you got me again because I swear I knew which way this was going and then BAM out of nowhere it went somewhere else. Lord I was sitting in my reading chair saying oh no he didn't.......
Cross Carlson has it all. He has the looks, the personality and the money. He has a loving best friend who will do anything for him as he would do anything for her. Then in a blink of an eye tragedy strikes and Cross is in an accident and he needs help and the only person there for him is Liz. When Cross finds out what Liz has done for him he is in shock. He can't believe it but then again he is broken emotionally and physically and the only one he can talk to is her.He feels horrible because he knows he has ruined an innocent life.
The only way for Cross to face what has happened and move on is to go in hiding and recover from all this craziness that has become his life. So he goes in hiding to a Mexican Convent. Oh I forgot to tell you he is in hiding because his father is the Governor Of California so of course he can't bring shame to his fathers reputation and name. But Cross finds out that there is more to his father because he is involved in human trafficking in Mexico. While at the convent Cross meets a wild child who is in hiding to Meredith "Merri" Kinsey.
Merri had a wonderful perfect life until she messed up and now she is in hiding from a big time drug lord who says he owns her. Holy shiz is she worried so she goes into hiding at the convent dreaming of her better days when she went to college and worked for the college newspaper and was a good girl. Soon Merri and Cross start spending time together and they soon find out they have similar secrets. Then Merri finds out that the one person who can save her is the one person she shouldn't trust because his father was the one who put her in her current situation. Can Merri and Cross survive all the lies secrets and destruction that is in their way or will they walk away from each other?
Synopsis:
Elizabeth DeVille doesn't belong at a party like this—one where the gowns cost more than her Camry and cigars run higher than her grad school utility bills. Dragged out of seclusion by her best friend Suri, Elizabeth is merely playing dress-up, rubbing elbows with a crowd that banished her troubled family years ago.
Hunter West is tired. Tired of parties, tired of pretending, and tired of trying to right a wrong that haunts him every day. Bourbon heir and professional poker player by day, by night Hunter is gambling with his life in a high-stakes game of crime and blackmail.
When Elizabeth stumbles into Hunter's den of vices, she's a light in the darkness, a flame in the void. And, just like everything he touches, Hunter mars her in a record time. To rectify the damage done, Elizabeth needs money she doesn't have, and she's come up with a foolproof way to get it.
Follow Elizabeth—code-named Scarlett—to the lush Nevada brothel where she'll auction her virginity and risk the only thing that's not for sale: her heart. The highest bidder is a familiar face, with wicked hands and the devil's mouth. And a secret so dark that it could cost her life.
***RECOMMENDED FOR READERS 17+ DUE TO SEXUALITY AND MATURE LANGUAGE.***
Goodreads:
My Review
5 of 5 Selling Scarlett
Okay let me start out by saying Ella James you are freaking INCREDIBLE I mean Holy Shiz this series started out with a bang and I could not get enough. The cast of characters made this book incredible and the flow of it had me on the edge of my seat ready to come apart because I was like what the heck is going on. I thought it was going one way but then totally went the other way.
Elizabeth aka Scarlett is a loyal and devoted daughter and best friend. She will do anything to help out her mother and best friend Cross. When Cross is in an accident and needs help she comes up with a plan to help him out. The plan at first had me cracking up until I realized she was serious as all hell. The plan is to auction off her Virginity. Crazy you say well that is what I thought at first but then as I was reading more and more I realized she loves Cross and does not want to see him suffer. So as a great friend she will do whatever it is to help him.
What she does not take into the equation is Hunter Hot As Hell West. She has crushed on him for forever but he is dark and mysterious and always aloof so she crushes on him hard and when she decides to auction herself and finds herself in the hands of her crush she is both terrified and excited. The only thing standing in her way is Hunter himself. See Hunter has secrets very very dark fifty shades of fucked up secrets and he does not want her to know. But Scarlett is determined to break the barriers and find out what he is into and give herself to him. See Hunter loves gambling and prostitutes. He is mixed into some serious shit and when shit hits the fan it really hits. But Scarlett is determined to get Hunter. Will she have him in the end? Can she break through his barriers and show him they can be together? Well you have to read it to find out!
Exclusive Excerpt:
I open my eyes to find myself inside a massive, onyx and gold shower. Not just a shower. This place is like a fracking bathhouse. I can count nine shower spouts without moving my head.
I don't want to move my head, because it feels weird. Good weird. I close my eyes before I realize that's because someone is playing with my hair.
Awareness returns with a jolt, and I stop breathing. I'm in a super-sized shower with Missy King. Meredith Kinsey. I'm in a super-sized shower with Merri, and in the span of one second, a boatload of insane memories populate my brain.
Merri, stripping off my clothes. Merri, rubbing my back and neck. Merri, giving me water and playing with my feet.
“Anything to distract you.”
God, I know her voice better than I know my own right now. I feel like she spent decades whispering in my ear. I feel like she spent eons lying beside me on the floor. That's what she did, I realize. She must have been in here with me the whole time. How long has it been?
I don't dare move or open my mouth to ask. Her fingers in my hair feel great. I know it's wrong—it’s wrong for so many reasons—but I don't want her to stop.
But all of a sudden, the fingers in my hair go away and I can feel her getting up. When I think she's a few paces away, I slit my eyes and see that she's wearing a short, pale blue cotton nightgown. Since I'm on the floor, I have a nice view of her ass cheeks.
She turns to do something, and I shut my eyes as she sinks back down beside me.
“Can you drink some water for me, Evan?”
She thinks my name is Evan. Right.
I don't move, and I feel her small hand touch my shoulder, fingers tickling the skin before settling warmly on it. I think I'm naked under a towel.
“Evan...” I can feel her breath on me. Beneath the towel, I'm getting excited. I try to think about baseball, but I never did like that shit. Maybe I make a weird expression, because she cries, “Evan, are you awake?”
I open my eyes slowly, finding hers and giving her a small smile. “Guilty as charged.” I start to cough because my mouth is dry, and she's right there with a glass. There's a pink straw in it. I raise my right hand to guide it to my mouth but I grab her hand instead.
“Sorry.” A blush spreads across her cheeks. “I'm used to doing this part.”
With her delicious little body half an inch away from mine I’m even thirstier. I gulp the water down. I finish, and she sits up straighter, giving me a great view of her amazing rack. Waves of reddish hair obscure her face. She brushes it back, revealing a smile that looks shy. “This is weird, huh?”
“What, this?” I wave at myself. “Nah. I spend most of my time in showers with beautiful women, so this is just a normal day for me.”
Her eyes widen, and I laugh. “Kidding.” I push myself up on my right elbow, slightly embarrassed to find that, yeah, I'm naked and hiding a boner under a bunch of half-wet towels. “So I’ve been naked for how long?”
She blushes, and I'm surprised she still does that, after everything she’s been through. “In a few hours, it will be twenty-four hours.”
I give a low whistle. “That long.”
She nods. “You had a rough time.”
“So I hear.”
“You don't remember after?”
“Bits and pieces.” I never remember anything coherent. Just sensations. Most of them brain-killingly painful. I'm not gonna say that, though. Don’t want to sound like a pussy.
She tilts her head to the side, then leans closer and smooths my hair back with her palm. She smiles. “It dried standing straight up. Because I was rubbing your head.”
I look into her face and try to picture that. My moaning, sleeping ass, attended to by someone who looks like the nurse you only get in a dirty movie. Someone who, even now, is looking at me with a double dose of concern.
Why does she care?
I like it.
I shouldn't like it.
About the Author:
I'm a Denver, Colorado author who writes teen and adult romance. I am happily married to a man who knows how to wield a red pen, and together we are raising a feisty two-year-old who will probably grow up believing everyone's parents go to war over the placement of a comma. My books have been listed on numerous Amazon bestseller lists, including the Amazon Top 100 and the Amazon Movers & Shakers List; two were listed among Amazon's Top 100 Young Adult Ebooks of 2012. To find out more about my projects and win prizes and swag, find me on Facebook at facebook.com/ellajamesauthorpage. Questions or comments? Tweet me at author_ellaj or e-mail me at ella_f_james@ymail.com.
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