Dearly Departed

A sharp, slick, blisteringly paced debut novel, with an unconventional but tender love story at its heart. I parted the curtains. A skeletal face peered back at me, blackened eyes rolling in sockets seemingly unsupported by flesh. It smiled... It should be game over for Nora Dearly when she is ambushed and dragged off into the night by the living dead. But this crack unit of teen zombies are the good guys, sent to protect Nora from the real monsters roaming the country and zeroing in on cities to swell their ranks. Can Nora find a way to kill off the evil undead once and for all? Can she trust her protectors to resist their hunger for human flesh? And can she stop herself falling for the noble, sweet, surprisingly attractive, definitely-no-longer-breathing Bram...?

A classic romance, suspense thriller, rip-roaring adventure, and macabre comedy all at once, Dearly, Departed redefines the concept of undying love. CAN A PROPER YOUNG VICTORIAN LADY FIND TRUE LOVE IN THE ARMS OF A DASHING ZOMBIE? The year is 2195. The place is New Victoria—a high-tech nation modeled on the mores of an antique era. Sixteen-year-old Nora Dearly is far more interested in her country’s political unrest than in silly debutante balls. But the death of her beloved parents leaves Nora at the mercy of a social-climbing aunt who plans to marry off her niece for money. To Nora, no fate could be more horrible—until she’s nearly kidnapped by an army of walking corpses. Now she’s suddenly gunning down ravenous zombies alongside mysterious black-clad commandos and confronting a fatal virus that raises the dead. Then Nora meets Bram Griswold, a young soldier who is brave, handsome, noble . . . and thoroughly deceased. But like the rest of his special undead unit, Bram has been enabled by luck and modern science to hold on to his mind, his manners, and his body parts. And when his bond of trust with Nora turns to tenderness, there’s no turning back. Eventually, they know, the disease will win, separating the star-crossed lovers forever. But until then, beating or not, their hearts will have what they desire. “Heart-pounding . . . Nora and Bram’s touching and tender relationship, with its emphasis on equality and living in the moment, feels particularly special.”—Publishers Weekly “Absolutely spellbinding . . . full of ingenious inventions and dynamic characters.”—RT Book Reviews “A zombie romance? You bet.”—Library Journal

THE STORY: In the Baptist backwoods of the Bible Belt, the beleaguered Turpin family proves that living and dying in the South are seldom tidy and always hilarious. Despite their earnest efforts to pull themselves together for their father's funera

All great stories start with a death.In this case, it's my own.Instead of the pearly white gates and yellow brick road leading me to Heaven, my soul is chosen to join Afterworld Academy - an exclusive boarding school to train selected souls on how to manage the Afterlife. Ghosts, Demons, Reapers, and Angels. Classes on how to fly. Studies on the proper way to select souls. Weaponry. Premonition. Oh, and field trips to Hell.Sounds peachy, right?When souls turn up dead, I must work with my four sexy-as-sin mentors to uncover the truth of my new reality. Things are about to take a deadly turn. Welcome to Afterworld Academy where the price of admission...is your life. Dearly Departed is book one of a four book series by bestselling authors, Loxley Savage and Katie May. This is a reverse harem romance meaning that the main character won't have to choose between her love interests. This is medium-burn and does contain strong language and sexual themes. Oh, and death. Lots and lots of death. Book one will end in a cliffhanger.*Note from AuthorsThe main character does pass away from cancer (which is how she ends up in the Afterworld Academy). Please keep this in mind while reading, especially if that may be triggering to you. We would love for you to read our book, but we want you to take care of yourself.

With her trademark humor and warmth, the beloved author of The Ladies' Man and The Inn at Lake Devine explores going home again; about finding light in the dark corners of one's inhospitable past; about love, golf, and DNA. Everyone in King George, New Hampshire, loved Margaret Batten, part-time amateur actress, full-time wallflower, and single mother to a now-distant daughter, Sunny. But accidents happen. The death of Margaret, side by side with her putative fiancé, brings Sunny back to the scene of the unhappy adolescence she thought she’d left behind. Reentry is to be dreaded; there’s no hiding in a town with one diner, one doctor, one stop sign, one motel. Yet allies surface; even high school tormentors have grown up in unforeseen and gratifying ways. Just possibly, Sunny begins to think, she wasn’t as beleaguered as she felt she was. And maybe her mother’s life was richer than anyone suspected. Add to the mix a chief of police whose interest in Sunny exceeds his civic duty, and you have the makings of an irresistibly beguiling tale from an author who writes with all the wit and wry authority of a latter-day Jane Austen.

From an Edgar Award–winning author: “An enjoyable mystery with a corker of an ending” featuring a Minnesota cop-turned-PI (Booklist). The woman’s words send an icy chill through Minneapolis private investigator Holland Taylor: “If you are listening to this now,” she says, “it is because I am dead.” Speaking calmly, Alison Emerton explains that if she is missing, it is because Raymond Fleck killed her. Fleck, a convicted rapist, lost his job at a humane kennel after Alison accused him of sexual harassment and stalking. The threats began soon after, prompting Alison to buy a gun and record the tape. She vanished soon after, leaving behind her wallet, coat, and boots, on a night when twenty-three inches of snow fell on Minneapolis. Seven months later, her lawyer hires Taylor to find the missing woman. As Taylor digs into Alison’s past, he learns that Raymond Fleck was not the only person who wanted her dead.

Who would you betray to save a life? Medium Eliza Robinson will do anything for her daughter, including working on a confidential investigation at the Supernatural Human Accountability Partnership agency with her ex—the person who killed her fiancé, Ben. She’s desperate to find out the truth about Ben’s past and what really happened the night he died, and she won’t let anyone stand in her way. Her daughter’s life depends on it. Paris Evans knows Eliza will never forgive her role in Ben’s death, but has vowed to protect Eliza and her daughter at all costs. She can’t let anyone learn the truth about what happened that night, or who Ben really was. Not when so many lives—including her twin’s—hang in the balance. As the investigation heats up, it reignites the fire between Eliza and Paris. These two powerful psychics—one who can communicate with the dead via letters and the other who has prophetic dreams—will risk everything to protect their loved ones and discover the traitor…even as Paris’s visions warn there may be no happy ending to their mission.