Emma Moore’s life is a mess. After a year of her ex-boyfriend isolating her from friends, wearing her down emotionally, and physically harming her, he manages to take away her employment, too. A gentle nudge from a generous friend sends her to the coffee shop next door to the hotel he’s letting her stay at, to find something to fill her time with.
Aurora Rogers has lived for centuries and will continue to live for centuries more. As a phoenix, she can’t die—at least, not permanently. All that time feels awfully lonely without a mate to share it with, even if she does have a flock. But when a beautiful woman comes into the coffee shop she works at, her attraction to her is instant.
As Emma secures the job and begins working alongside Aurora, the two women navigate a growing friendship and blossoming romance while they both have secrets they’re keeping. When Emma’s trepidation over getting together with someone new so soon, given the state of her life, mixes with Aurora’s eagerness to have possibly finally found her mate, issues arise.
Can Emma finally start to live again after having to watch over her shoulder for so long? Will Emma believe that it’s not her baggage that’s scaring Aurora away, but rather Aurora’s desire to see her heal and find herself again? How can Aurora confess to Emma what she is and what Emma is to her without it sending her fleeing?
Tropes: finding yourself again, does she want me for her or her friends?, fated mates, found family, spicy games, healing after an abusive relationship, human x phoenix, group ‘activities’
Available: Kindle – Kindle Unlimited – Paperback
Content Warnings
Gore/Violence: One of the MCs is murdered. She’s a phoenix, so she immediately revives. Her death by stabbing at the hands of the other MC’s abusive ex is described in detail. The phoenix MC stabs a member of her flock with a broken bottle for how he treated the other MC, knowing that he wouldn’t stay dead even if she murdered him. At the end of the book, the other members of the flock take the abusive ex deep into the woods and end his life. They come back from doing this smelling of smoke and burnt flesh.
Domestic Violence: One of the MCs has left an abusive relationship of nearly a year. Throughout the book, she reflects on how he isolated her from her friends, took away her freedom to make decisions for herself, and the mounting intensity as he went from poking and pinching her to actually striking her. She discusses his emotional manipulation tactics. He is stalking her, enough so that her job puts her on leave in the beginning, and starts to again once he spots her at her new job.
Fake Abduction: At the beginning, one of the MCs is walking home from her job when an unmarked van pulls up beside her, and two men grab her and throw her in. They are her friends/members of her flock playing a prank.
Attempted Abduction: After following one of the MCs to the venue she is going to with the other, her abusive ex waits for the opportunity when she’s alone and attempts to abduct her. The other MC sees it happening and tries to stop it.
Alcohol Consumption: Alcohol is frequently consumed.
Sexual Games: The group frequently plays games that end up with everyone getting physical, including truth or dare and spin the bottle. The games are optional, and anyone can sit out if they are uncomfortable. The FMC continues to play despite the game making her feel anxious at times.
Orgies/Partner Swapping: The flock frequently engages in group sex and partner swapping. They are essentially a polycule with defined partners.
Explicit Sex
Shonna Preston 