Brittainy C. Cherry – Read Books Online Free Ebooks good best novels to read

Brittainy C. Cherry – Read Books Online Free Ebooks good best novels to read http://www.ilovenovels.com Thu, 01 May 2025 18:18:21 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 http://www.ilovenovels.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/favicon.png Brittainy C. Cherry – Read Books Online Free Ebooks good best novels to read http://www.ilovenovels.com 32 32 If You Stayed Read Online Brittainy C. Cherry http://www.ilovenovels.com/if-you-stayed-read-online-brittainy-c-cherry Thu, 01 May 2025 18:18:21 +0000 http://www.ilovenovels.com/if-you-stayed-read-online-brittainy-c-cherry Genre: Alpha Male, Angst, Contemporary Authors: Brittainy C. Cherry Advertisement

Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 101662 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 508(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 339(@300wpm)

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There once was a man who loved me, until he forgot every memory we've ever shared…

Gabriel Sinclair would forever be my first. My first best friend, my first kiss, my first love…and my first heartbreak. The accident that nearly took his life ripped the memory of me from his grasp—and for the last decades, I've let the guilt of that one terrible night keep us apart.

It took me years to make peace with the fact that he would no longer be in my life, so when he shows up as the architect for my new home, my world's tossed upside down. Now, I'm trapped in a loveless marriage, raising a child, while Gabriel stirs up feelings I thought long buried. It feels like my soul is waking up after years of being in a deep slumber—and my controlling husband will do whatever it takes to keep us apart.

I know I should push Gabriel away to protect him from the shadows surrounding me. Yet, I can't deny the hope that blooms whenever he's near—the chance that he might remember me, that we could reclaim the chapters of our story that we've lost.

Nothing good could come from us, but I can't help but wonder what would happen if this time...he stayed.

There once was a man who loved me… And now he's my only hope for tomorrow

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

Prologue

Kierra

Nineteen Years Old

Blood trickled down my forehead, landing on my slightly parted lips. I licked it from my mouth as I stared at Gabriel’s mom, Amma, searching for any sign of forgiveness in her brown eyes. For any sign of understanding. I hunted for any evidence that she didn’t blame me. That she could still see me as me and not as the monster who destroyed her family’s life. That it wasn’t my fault, even though I knew it was.

It was all my fault.

I kept searching Amma’s expression for understanding, yet no sign of hope existed.

I saw the truth in her eyes. The moment she began to blame me. The second she let go of any form of love she had for me. I shivered from my soaked clothes as she stood still in front of me.

My body trembled in fear of her next words or actions as I stepped toward her. I felt as if I’d forgotten how to breathe, how to move air in and out of my lungs. Everything felt heavy and hard and confusing and…

What have I done?

“Amma…” I stopped as she held a hand up in front of me. With one shake of her head she told me everything she felt without uttering a sound.

She wanted me to stay away. She wanted me to drown in my misery while she suffered in her own.

“Are they…are they okay?” I asked her. “Are Elijah and Gabriel okay?”

“They’re in surgery. They…” She shut her eyes and let out a pained cry.

Oh my goodness.

They weren’t okay.

I was going to be sick.

The hospital lights flickered overhead as the aching of my heart intensified. Tears mixed with the dripping blood, blurring my vision. A whimpered sob broke from me as I shook my head and rushed over to her, tugging on her work uniform. Begging, pleading, praying for her forgiveness, for an update, for any evidence that somehow Elijah and Gabriel were all right. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Please, Amma.” I sobbed uncontrollably. I wrapped my fingers tightly around the fabric of her shirt, tugging as if I were holding on for dear life.

“Let go, Kierra,” she whispered. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she shook her head. “Let go.”

“No,” I whimpered, holding on tighter. Because I knew once I let go, the reality of the situation would sink in. I knew when I let go, I’d be letting go forever.

“Don’t let me go, Amma,” I begged. I wanted to bury myself against her and search for comfort that I didn’t deserve. I wanted to go back to yesterday, when everything was okay. When everything was filled with joy. When every breath wasn’t so damn painful.

When she still loved me like the daughter she never had.

Before she could reply, her husband, Frank, came around the corner. He brushed his thumb against his nose and sniffled. “I just spoke with the doctor…and Eli… He didn’t… He…” Before he could finish, Frank broke into sobs.

Amma let out a cry that pierced my ears as her knees began to buckle.

Elijah.

He didn’t make it.

Elijah was Frank’s son. Gabriel was his stepson.

Amma and Frank had met a few years ago at a group therapy for individuals who’d lost their former partners. Through the grief of those losses, they found comfort in each other and fell in love. From that love came Elijah, Gabriel’s half brother.

Gabriel…

How was he?

What was the update on him? I needed an update on Gabriel.

Oh my goodness, Elijah didn’t make it.

My chest felt on fire as Amma fell to the floor, howling in pain. Frank hurried over and wrapped her in his arms as they shattered together.

My breath caught in my throat as the panic of the situation hit me. I stepped toward Amma and Frank in an attempt to comfort them both, but Amma shook her hand toward me. “No!” she shouted. “Get away from us, Kierra! You did this! You killed him. You did this!”

I stumbled backward. When I looked into her eyes, I saw it. I saw all the heartbreak bleeding out of her. Frank raked his hand through his messy hair as the tears kept falling faster and faster. “Fuck!” he shouted, his rage mixing with his sorrow. A rage that wouldn’t have existed if it weren’t for me.

Elijah was dead. Gone. Once living, now gone. And he was gone because of me. All because of me.

Frank muttered the cussword one last time as he placed the palms of his hands over his eyes. This time, the word was filled with a kind of aching that I wasn’t certain hearts could ever heal from—with a pain so deep that it seemed as if he’d be trapped within that heartache forever. It was quiet. A whisper of sorts. An ending. A final goodbye. “Fuck.”

“Leave,” Amma ordered me. “Now.”

I didn’t know what else to do or what else to say, so I walked away. I walked out of the hospital, back into the snowstorm, and I paused in the middle of the parking lot. As I stood there, a car pulled up. The headlights shone on me, reminding me that I was still alive, but barely living. I should’ve been gone, not Elijah. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right.

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The Problem with Falling Read Online Brittainy C. Cherry http://www.ilovenovels.com/the-problem-with-falling-read-online-brittainy-c-cherry Wed, 12 Feb 2025 07:21:41 +0000 http://www.ilovenovels.com/the-problem-with-falling-read-online-brittainy-c-cherry Genre: Alpha Male, Contemporary Authors: Brittainy C. Cherry Advertisement

Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 94609 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)

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Willow Kingsley is everything I don’t need in my life.

She’s sunshine and chaos dressed in a flower crown. She’s a wildflower in a world I’ve spent years trying to keep simple and quiet. She talks too much, smiles too easily, and doesn’t understand the meaning of personal space. Worst of all, she’s staying in my house for the summer, turning my carefully guarded world upside down.

I know I should keep my distance. People like her don’t stay, and I’ve had my fill of being left behind. But the more time I spend with her, the harder it is to remember why I built these walls in the first place. She’s getting under my skin—into my heart—and making me want things I’ve spent years trying to avoid.

Falling for Willow would be a mistake. She’s a free bird, and I’m the anchor she’s desperate to escape. But every time she looks at me, I can’t help but What if she’s not the one who’s meant to fly? What if, this time, I'm meant to soar?

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

PROLOGUE

Willow

Ten Years Old

Honey Creek, Illinois

May

Chicken patty Thursdays were my favorite days at school because the lunch lady always gave us cheesy Bosco Sticks, too. She’d give me an extra one because I once told her I liked her hairnet and thought she had pretty green eyes. My eyes were brown, so I always thought they were boring. Not a lot of people had green ones.

If I could ever be born again, I’d want green eyes.

“All right, class, we are going to head to the cafeteria for lunch, featuring some special guests,” Mrs. Robinson announced as she stood from her desk. We all lined up, and I was able to be the line leader. Whenever a person was a line leader, you got an extra star to put on your desk name tag, and I had so many stickers that I wasn’t sure I even had space for another star.

Dad said I was good at getting the stars because I was a star, but that was just because Dad thought my sisters and I were the brightest girls in the whole wide world.

As we walked to the cafeteria, my best friend Anna prattled on and on about how she thought dolphins were the best animals ever, and I listened to everything she said because that was what best friends did.

“Do you think when we get older, we can get a baby dolphin as a pet?” Anna asked me as she pulled her hair back into a ponytail, using the pink scrunchie I gave her last week for her birthday. It had a little dolphin charm on it, too. I called her Phins because of her love for dolphins, and she called me Otto because of my love for otters.

“We can, and we’ll buy a house by the water so we can have otters, too,” I said.

Anna and I had pretty much everything in common, and a few months ago, we’d decided that instead of getting married and having kids, we’d build two houses next to each other and raise animals after we spent most of our lives traveling the world. Ricky, the jerk in our class, said we’d grow up to be lonely cat ladies, but I didn’t think people could be alone if they had cats.

Besides, animals were nicer than people most of the time. People made me cry sometimes. Animals never did.

Except for Ms. Hollows’s dog, Mikey, who bit my ankle when I was running down the street. Then again, it wasn’t Mikey’s fault. He was just a little too excited. I’d been too excited before, too, to the point where I cried. Maybe humans cried when too excited, and animals bit.

We all had our things.

My oldest sister, Avery, never cried, though. She was tougher than me and our other sister, Yara. Once, I heard Dad tell Avery that it was okay to cry sometimes. She told him he was wrong.

Maybe I cried enough for us both. Avery always said I was a crybaby. But that was the thing about my heart—it felt a lot of everything all the time, no matter how I tried to stop it from feeling big and little things.

The moment my class stepped into the cafeteria, my feet froze. Everyone behind me in line dashed past me with big smiles as they rushed over to the surprises sitting in the space already.

My tummy hurt as my eyes stung with tears welling up.

I gripped the sleeve of my shirt and held it tight in the palm of my hand as I glanced around at the space. Even Phins had sprinted off toward her mama and hugged her tightly. She did look back at me with a sad face and waved me over to join them, but I didn’t want to.

Mrs. Lane frowned toward me before quickly averting her gaze. She must’ve still been upset with me from when I dared Anna to climb a tree, and she ended up falling out of it. She got three stitches from that. I felt pretty bad, and Mrs. Lane gave me a good talking-to, telling me I was too rowdy with her Anna.

Sometimes she scolded me like a mama, but she wasn’t my mama.

I didn’t have one of those.

Before I could turn to Mrs. Robinson to ask if I could go to the bathroom so I could cry alone, I noticed Dad standing to my left with a bouquet and a pink bow tie on.

Dad hated pink, but I figured he wore it for me because I gave it to him as a gift last Christmas.

That made me want to cry, too.

I dashed over to him and wrapped my arms around him. I didn’t want to cry, but I couldn’t help it. How could I be both happy and sad at the same time? How could my tears mean more than one thing at the very same moment? How could I be so happy to have a dad and so sad not to have a mama?

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The Problem with Players Read Online Brittainy C. Cherry http://www.ilovenovels.com/the-problem-with-players-read-online-brittainy-c-cherry Mon, 27 May 2024 20:58:17 +0000 http://www.booksnovels.com/the-problem-with-players-read-online-brittainy-c-cherry Genre: Alpha Male, Contemporary, Sports Authors: Brittainy C. Cherry Advertisement

Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 122219 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 611(@200wpm)___ 489(@250wpm)___ 407(@300wpm)

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As a female coach, I’ve always lived by a simple mantra: throw hard, swing for the fences, and never, ever look back--especially when it comes to past flames.

So when my ex-boyfriend somehow manages to land the job as my new assistant coach, my life is flipped upside down. The game I thought I'd mastered is now being played with a whole new set of rules.

My ex is baseball's all-star Nathan Pierce. He’s tall, dark, and undeniably handsome. He's also all too eager to spend extra hours working together while flashing that familiar devilish smirk of his that still sends my heart racing.

Between playful teasing and lingering stares I discover that Nathan isn’t just here to work. He’s here to rewrite history. Our history.

And when fate throws another curveball involving me needing a place to stay, Nathan offers up his spare bedroom, which sends me spiraling into emotions I believed had long since faded.

Now I’m faced with the ultimate decision: keep it professional and continue fleeing from our past, or confront it head-on by playing the game he thinks we were meant to finish together.

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

1

AVERY

“Don’t miss that catch, don’t miss that catch! OH, COME ON!” I hollered, hopping up from the side of the tub as I held my cell phone in my hands. Never in my life did I witness such a heartbreaking play. The football game was only in the first quarter, and for the life of me, I couldn’t understand why the quarterback decided to throw the ball to Mr. Butterfingers.

They were lucky the throw wasn’t intercepted like the one a few plays back. My team was making way too many mistakes too early into the game.

A knock on the door startled me.

“Avery? Are you coming out?” my fiancé, Wesley, asked from the other side of the door.

I glanced around the bathroom, slightly panicked, before shoving my phone into my bra.

It was a no-technology event that evening at Wesley’s and my house, which made no sense to me, seeing how it was freaking Super Bowl Sunday. Who had no-tech nights during the Super Bowl?

That seemed like a good enough reason to call off an engagement. Especially when the score was so close. It was anyone’s game, and I was going to miss it. After the foreseeable breakup, Wesley and I would tell people we had “irreconcilable differences” and go on our way.

The following year, I’d throw a Super Bowl party.

Okay, maybe breaking up over a game was a little far-fetched, but it wasn’t every year that your favorite team played at the game of all games. It would probably be another thirty years before we made it back to the Super Bowl.

My dad was probably celebrating at his place with my sisters, Yara and Willow, my brother-in-law, Alex, and our aunt-by-choice, Tatiana, who helped raise me and my two sisters. Tatiana was our mother’s best friend, and after Mama passed away, she stepped up to make sure we had a woman figure in our lives.

Tatiana always made the best dang buffalo chicken dip for Daddy’s Super Bowl parties.

A heavy sense of jealousy raced through me knowing Yara would eat all that dip without me while Willow ate her vegan dip.

“You good?” Wesley asked.

“Yeah, yeah, sorry,” I called out. I smoothed my hands over my black dress and combed my straight black hair behind my ears. I looked in the mirror and saw Mama’s brown eyes staring back at me. I had so many of her features, which felt equally like a blessing and a curse. From her round nose and high cheekbones to her dark-brown skin and jet-black hair.

I took a deep breath and released it slowly, mentally preparing to socialize with a group I didn’t know. I wasn’t the best at striking up a conversation with strangers. Then again, I wasn’t really into striking up conversations with people I knew either. The best types of human beings were the ones who shut up. Or at least the ones who didn’t try to talk to me.

At the ripe age of thirty-six, I was hoping I’d met all the new people I’d ever have to meet in my life, outside of my students. Unfortunately for me, my rocket scientist fiancé was a social butterfly. Even worse, the people he socialized with were very intelligent. Like super smart. The kind of brilliance that made me feel like a box of rocks. I was talking about IQs of 150 and up.

What was I supposed to talk to those people about? Clearly not the Super Bowl. That was for certain.

When it was just Wesley and me, I could handle his intelligence. We had a normal relationship, except when he was excited about statistics. I didn’t know a man could love stats and probabilities so much until I met him. When he finally convinced me to date him, he showed up with a whole pie chart, breaking down why someone as cold and closed-off as me was a perfect match for his vibrant and social personality.

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The Problem with Dating Read Online Brittainy C. Cherry http://www.ilovenovels.com/the-problem-with-dating-read-online-brittainy-c-cherry Mon, 16 Oct 2023 19:45:05 +0000 https://www.booksnovels.com/the-problem-with-dating-read-online-brittainy-c-cherry Genre: Alpha Male, Contemporary Authors: Brittainy C. Cherry Advertisement

Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 107204 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)

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If I had to choose a person to hate, Alex Ramírez would’ve been first on the list…

Welcome to Honey Creek, Illinois, where life was as sweet as the town’s name suggested. That was, until Mr. Fine Dining himself, Alex Ramírez, rolled into town with a permanent scowl. Even worse, he decided to park his snooty five-star restaurant across from my cozy dog daycare. He was tall, dark, and about as warm as a frozen entrée.

After one too many unpleasant interactions, I was determined to stay out of his way and to keep him out of mine.

But fate had a quirky sense of humor. When Alex inherited his great-aunt’s cranky canine, he had no choice but to come to me, the local dog whisperer, for help. As for me? I needed a fake boyfriend to ward off my ex-husband, who was determined to win me back.

So, we struck a deal: I’d turn his dog into the town's best-behaved pet, and in return, he’d be my arm candy for a few family events and social gatherings. Simple, uncomplicated, and absolutely not romantic—at least, that was what we told ourselves.

As we played house, I couldn't help but notice that underneath Alex’s prickly shell was a dash of charm that wasn't listed in the ingredients. Our pretend dates started to feel a little too real. And our feigned kisses? They were getting laughably close to crossing the line. Suddenly, our interactions felt less like a food fight and more like foreplay.

With every playful touch and lingering glance, I couldn't help but wonder: Was this fake relationship with Alex secretly penning its own authentic ending? Or was I risking it all for someone who was nothing more than make-believe?

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

“Rules for happiness: something to do, someone to love, something to hope for.”

– Immanuel Kant

CHAPTER 1

Yara

A vibrant leaf floated aimlessly from the maple tree as I stood in my older sister Avery’s driveway, giving me the first sign that the season of change was upon us. Summer was packing up its swimsuits and popsicles, while autumn prepared to unleash its pumpkin spice everything for the next few months. I could smell it in the crisp air—change was around the corner.

It only seemed fitting that I was also about to embark on a new season.

“You don’t have to go,” Avery whimpered as I moved around a box in the back of her boyfriend Wesley’s blue Ford pickup truck. “We’ve loved having you as a roommate!”

I smiled, knowing that I wouldn’t have made it through the past year if it wasn’t for my two sisters. Avery pretty much bottle-fed me self-esteem slogans for the past twelve months to make sure I didn’t drown in my erratic thoughts each day before she tucked me into bed with a blend of herbal tea that my younger sister, Willow, made to help me sleep.

“I have to stand on my own two feet again if I’m going to move forward,” I said. It had been over a year since I’d ended my marriage with my now ex-husband, Cole. I’d been staying with my older sister and Wesley ever since.

Even though I knew they didn’t seem to mind having me around, I felt it was time to shift onto my new stage of life. The small town of Honey Creek only had one apartment complex, a building that overlooked Lake Michigan. Though the view was remarkable, it was odd that I would stay in a one-bedroom apartment there after living in houses for the past ten years, but I was thrilled. Something about having my own space felt like a renewal of my energy.

“You could always come to stay with me in Big Bird,” Willow offered, walking around with the final box of my things. Big Bird was the school bus Willow transformed into a mobile home. It was funny how different my sisters were from one another. When Avery was stubborn and headstrong, Willow was like a flowing stream. Where Avery planted her feet on solid ground, Willow floated away in wanderlust. While Willow wore her heart on her sleeves and allowed anyone and everyone to experience said heartbeats, Avery was as closed off as a person could get.

Sometimes, I wondered which sister I was most like, but then I realized I was probably a blend of them both. I was equal parts perfectionist and wild heart. Yet sometimes those two characteristics clashed during a crisis, and I’d be left drowning in a panic of wtf moments.

Thankfully, when that happened, my sisters would help guide me forward.

“I’ll keep the Big Bird offer in mind. Thanks, Willow,” I told her.

“Anytime,” she said sincerely.

If it weren’t for my sisters, my dad, and our family friend Tatiana, I wasn’t sure I would’ve made it through the past year. It wasn’t getting over Cole that was the problem. Oddly enough, I never had a moment of regret once I left. That was the thing about a person mentally checking out way before their feet moved. Mourning the relationship began before I even left the marriage. I’d said goodbye to him in the spirit before my lips ever spoke. Therefore, I moved through the grief of it all quickly.

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The Coldest Winter Read Online Brittainy C. Cherry http://www.ilovenovels.com/the-coldest-winter-read-online-brittainy-c-cherry Mon, 24 Apr 2023 15:56:14 +0000 http://www.booksnovels.com/the-coldest-winter-read-online-brittainy-c-cherry Genre: College, Contemporary, Forbidden, New Adult Authors: Brittainy C. Cherry Advertisement

Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 114368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 572(@200wpm)___ 457(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)

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I didn’t know he was forbidden until after our one night stand…
⁣
I met Milo Corti during his self-destructive era, and he met me during mine. That night when we crossed paths at a college party, we only had one goal in mind: to feel good during our personal hell storms. ⁣
⁣
After we parted ways, I’d planned to never see him again. That was until I showed up to my first day as a student-teacher and I found him sitting right there in front of me.⁣
⁣
Now I was forced to cross paths with the person who was meant to be nothing more than a fading memory.⁣
⁣
The more time we spent together, the more drawn I felt toward him. When his world took a shift for the worst, I couldn’t help myself but to lean in closer. .

My whole life I’d always done the right thing. For the first time ever, I wanted to do something very wrong.⁣ I wanted to fall in love with the one person who was off-limits.
⁣
The problem with falling for something forbidden? Once you began to descend, you were destined to crash.

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

PROLOGUE

Eleven Months Ago

My world,

The first year is the hardest.

That’s what I remember from when I lost my mother. I remember feeling as if the world were moving in slow motion, yet somehow spinning wildly out of control at a wicked speed all at once.

It was as if every little thing triggered me in some way. Even happy occasions felt depressing because I realized she wasn’t there to celebrate the big moments with me. What was worse was that she wasn’t there for the small moments. The small moments sometimes felt even more important to me than the big ones.

I’m sorry I’ll be missing out on the moments. The big ones. The small ones. The in-betweens. I’m sorry I won’t be there to give you the pieces of me you’ll need when the world gets heavy.

I’m sorry our goodbye came sooner than we’d hoped.

But I do want to leave you with something. A gift of sorts. It’s my recipe box. You know how much this means to me, and I want to pass it down to you. Hundreds of my favorite meals I’ve made for you throughout your life are within it. If you ever feel inspired to cook a meal, I want you to have this. I hope this helps you feel me when you lose your way. I hope you taste my love in every single bite.

I love you always. And then a little bit more after that.

Find me in the sunrises. I’ll always be there, waiting to shine on you.

Con amore,

Mama

CHAPTER 1

Starlet

January

Present Day

The day I turned fourteen, I created a life plan. I knew what I wanted and saw the roadmap to get everything I desired. Step one was to graduate from college with a degree in education like my mother did. Step two was to get engaged to my boyfriend, John, by graduation. Step three, start my teaching career and land a fantastic job. Then to have kids by twenty-three always seemed right.

I knew what my life was supposed to look like, and as I entered the second semester of my junior year of college, I was sure I was on the straight and narrow path to my dreams coming true.

I prided myself on being levelheaded. If there were a word to describe me, it would be perfectionist. I always did the right thing because I had an irrational fear of failure. I wasn’t one to step out of my security box, as I knew all the angles of said box. I knew the ins and outs of my protected walls of stability. I had no problem staying on the right path—I liked my safety net.

That afternoon, I stood in front of the full-length mirror of my shared dorm room, smoothing my hands over my white A-line dress. Beside said mirror was the vision board I’d created with every item I planned to accomplish. Many people updated their vision boards yearly, but I was lucky enough to have the same precise vision since I was a teenager. I knew who I was. Therefore, I knew what I was becoming, and that afternoon was bringing me one step closer to my happily ever after.

It was my twenty-first birthday, and my boyfriend, John, was going to propose to me that evening.

John wasn’t very clever when it came to surprises. When he told me I should get my nails done for my birthday and wear a white dress, it became clear what was happening. Plus, when I was at his dorm the other night studying for our physics exam, I’d opened the top drawer in his desk to find a pen and saw the ring box.

The timing couldn’t have been better, seeing as I wanted to be engaged for at least a year before marriage. If things went according to plan, we could have our first child by age twenty-three—only one year older than my parents were when they had me.

To say my parents’ love story was my inspiration was an understatement. Even though my mom passed away a few years ago, Dad still talked about her as if she were the greatest gift to the world. He wasn’t wrong about that, either. My mother was a saint.

In almost every way possible, I’d been my mother’s daughter. Every decision I’d made since she passed away was created with the idea of what she’d think about me due to said choices. I received perfect grades because I knew that would make her proud. I never cursed because she never did. I went into education because she was one of the best educators I’d ever known. I wore red lipstick and high heels because those were her two staples. I also wore her jewelry. Every single day, a piece of her rested against my body.

My mother was a beautiful Italian woman with a Mediterranean skin tone and dirty-blond hair, the opposite of mine. My father was a handsome Black man with deep-brown skin and the kindest eyes known to humanity. I had black hair that used to match Dad’s when he had hair on top of his head, and my dark brown eyes resembled Mom’s. Dad always said my skin was a golden sun-kissed tone, the perfect blend of my parents’ DNA. My hair, though, was mostly wild in its natural state. My curls were a daily task I had to deal with that neither of my parents ever experienced. Mom had mastered learning how to care for my hair, though, and before she passed away, she taught me all her tips and tricks.

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Behind Closed Doors Read Online Brittainy C. Cherry, Kandi Steiner http://www.ilovenovels.com/behind-closed-doors-read-online-brittainy-c-cherry-kandi-steiner Fri, 03 Feb 2023 20:31:52 +0000 http://www.booksnovels.com/behind-closed-doors-read-online-brittainy-c-cherry-kandi-steiner Genre: Contemporary, Romance Authors: Brittainy C. Cherry, Kandi Steiner Advertisement

Total pages in book: 9
Estimated words: 9848 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 49(@200wpm)___ 39(@250wpm)___ 33(@300wpm)

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From the bestselling authors who brought you Goodreads Choice Award Nominee A Love Letter from the Girls Who Feel Everything comes a sophomore collection of powerful poetry and prose.

Written and collected over the course of more than five years, Behind Closed Doors is a personal, emotional journey through heartache, love, loss, hope, and every emotion in-between. Brittainy Cherry and Kandi Steiner come together in an unapologetic display of emotion that will sit with the reader long after the last word.
“We invite you to join us on this journey and hope our poetry can bring you even a fracture of the healing it provided us. We hope that you, too, will laugh and cry and burst with emotions. Because, from this point on, we refuse to keep our struggles behind closed doors.”

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Dear Reader,

A few years ago, we came together to create a poetry collection that showcased the ins and outs of our emotions. We were the girls who felt everything. We bared our souls on the pages, bled out our truths, and shared every jagged edge of who we were with you. We’ve learned that our struggles, heartaches, and bursts of joy weren’t solo adventures—they were universal feelings that many could relate to.

It’s no secret that life across the board has been a rollercoaster over the past few years. We’ve fought against the pressure of societal norms, said goodbye to loved ones, and battled waves of depression. Yet, within this time, we’ve also discovered new friendships, had seasons of success, and fallen in love.

So many times in life, people only show the highlight reels of their stories. So often, people hide their struggles, making them feel so utterly alone. They put on a happy face for others while wearing a mask to cover up their most sacred, intimate feelings. Yet, we believe that healing can be found within the scars. We believe that beauty can be discovered within pain. For that reason, we invite you into our hearts and minds as we travel behind the closed doors of our souls.

Our sophomore poetry collection has been a work in progress over the past five years. It showcases us falling in and out of love, the storms we’ve endured in silence, our sharpest hurts, and our sweetest victories.

It shares our heartbeats.

We invite you to join us on this journey and hope our poetry can bring you even a fracture of the healing it provided us. We hope that you, too, will laugh and cry and burst with emotions. Because, from this point on, we refuse to keep our struggles behind closed doors.

We invite you into the home of emotions. Get comfortable, grab a drink, and stay a while. And by all means—feel. Cry, laugh, get angry, get quiet, get loud. Succumb to the deepest and most raw feelings in your heart. Welcome home, Reader. It’s so great to see you.

Now, let’s go inside…

Love always,

Kandi & Brittainy

Something in the water is attached to my ankles.

It pulls me down. It makes me drown in every mistake I’ve ever made.

The waves remind me of the awkward exchange with a stranger two weeks ago.

I play the scene repeatedly.

Stupid.

The once clear water is murky with thoughts of self-doubt that shouldn’t belong to me.

The sharks surround me, waiting for me to surrender.

The tides are high. The panic settled into my chest.

I scream, I choke, I pray, I cry.

Attack.

The water is cold, and I want out.

I try to make it to the mainland before the ocean swallows me.

Something in the water fills me with doubt.

All I want to do is find my way out to feel the sun.

— B

He knew he loved me,

he said.

But he didn’t know if I was the one.

He knew he wanted me,

he said.

For now, but maybe not forever.

He knew he didn’t want to lose me,

he said.

At least, not yet.

But in the end, it didn’t matter what he knew

or what he said

but rather

what I did.

I did not wait,

I did not beg,

I left.

— K

I used to drink you as my favorite shot of whiskey.

Your essence was smooth on the way down.

Your soul warmed me from the inside out.

But it was a temporary buzz.

I gave you up for sober days.

Still, your taste lingers.

— B

When you’ve found your person, you simply just know. I can’t tell you how you will feel, exactly, but you will know. Maybe they’ll make you feel the way you did when you were a child, in the safety of your mother’s home the night before Christmas. Maybe they’ll feel like a song, one you’ve always known, one that always makes you dance. Maybe you won’t be able to place it at all — whatever it is — but you’ll just look at them and see it. “This is what forever looks like,” you’ll say to yourself. “This is where my search ends.”

— K

Our framed photographs are removed from the apartment walls, leaving holes that need to be patched. The walls we painted vibrant hues are returned to off-white. Two change-of-address forms sit on the dining room table. Post-it notes mark his and her items. Yours and mine. You get the coffee pot. I’ll take the television. I get the vacuum. You take the broom. I cry in the bathroom, covering my mouth so you don’t hear me. Still, you hear me. Moving boxes crowd the space where we used to dance at one o’clock in the morning. You sleep in the guest room. I still roll over in bed, expecting your feet to touch mine. Instead, the chilled sheets greet me with reality.

You’re leaving first. Your belongings that once belonged to me are packed in the moving van. You place the key on the kitchen island. I stand in the corner, uncertain of how to feel. Relief? Pain? Grief? Grieving the loss of our possibilities.

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The Holly Dates Read Online Brittainy C. Cherry http://www.ilovenovels.com/the-holly-dates-read-online-brittainy-c-cherry Fri, 09 Dec 2022 21:32:29 +0000 http://www.teennovels.net/the-holly-dates-read-online-brittainy-c-cherry Genre: Funny, Romance Authors: Brittainy C. Cherry Advertisement

Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 87181 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)

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All she wanted for Christmas was a boyfriend for the holidays…
All he wanted was for her to take her crappy first dates elsewhere…

Quirky Holly Jackson was unlucky in love, yet her romantic heart refused to give up her search for companionship—even after her fiancé left her at the altar on Christmas Eve.

Grumpy restaurant owner Kai Kane wanted nothing to do with love after his last relationship crashed and burned. Romance was the last thing on his mind. Unfortunately for him, when an eccentric Holly kept entering his restaurant nightly with a different first date, his annoyance grew.

When Kai volunteered to help Holly find a suitor it was for one reason only: to get her out of his restaurant and on to a second date with someone at a different location.

Once Kai became Holly’s dating coach, her confidence grew.

It was all going great until Kai became increasingly jealous of the connection Holly developed with another man. The more Holly fell for Kai’s pick for her, the more overprotective he became.

Kai quickly realized that all wasn’t fair when it came to love and the holidays.

He was going to have to step up his game if he wanted a shot at the ultimate prize—being Holly’s favorite date.

*The Holly Dates is a steamy, full-length romantic comedy that will put you right in the holiday spirit.*

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

PROLOGUE

Holly

Christmas Eve

“Are you sure about this?” Cassie asked as she fixed my wedding veil. I stood in front of a full-length mirror, staring at myself. I looked like my mother on her wedding day. That alone almost made me tear up.

My mom was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen, so the fact that I saw a few of her characteristics against my face felt like a gift. My dark brown skin was the same shade as hers. My button nose and heart-shaped face matched hers, too.

I also had her smile, but my eyes belonged to Dad. Deep brown with traces of gold specks.

Mom was in the dressing room with me not too long ago, but she had to excuse herself because she kept tearing up, saying, “My baby’s getting married.”

If my emotions were like a river stream, Mom’s were like an ocean—expansive, complexed, and full of depth.

My heart raced as I stood in the most beautiful wedding gown.

Cassie continued to speak to me as my mind spun. “Because marriage is a big commitment, and we’re still so young, Holly, and—”

“I love him,” I told her, turning as my heart burst out of my chest. I glanced down at the engagement ring sitting on my finger. Warmth filled my chest as joy danced through my heartbeats. I knew I was making the right decision. I was choosing the man who chose me. “We’ve been together for years, and I don’t see the point in waiting. So, I understand you are giving me the best friend ‘last chance to run’ speech, but don’t worry. I picked the right one. There won’t be a runaway bride today.”

“Good,” she said, smoothing out her crimson silk dress. “Because the whole town is in the church right now waiting for you to walk down the aisle, and I didn’t want to have to deliver a maid of honor speech about how you ditched the whole ceremony.”

I snapped my fingers. “Oh, speaking of ceremonies….” I lifted my heavy gown into my arms and hurried over to my oversized purse. I pulled out a stack of papers and held them out toward Cassie. “I finished the chapters you sent me and made my edits.”

“What does that have to do with ceremonies?”

It had nothing to do with ceremonies, but with how my brain worked, I made odd connections. “You know there’s no real connection, but I remembered I had the chapters to give you.”

Cassie shook her head. “Are you working the day of your wedding?” She chuckled. “Mere minutes before you walk down the aisle?”

“What can I say? I’m passionate about what I do.” I grabbed a pen from my purse and took a few pages from her. “I thought about what we could add—”

“Holly,” Cassie scolded, snatching the papers back from me. “No work today.”

I pouted. “Only marriage today?”

“Only marriage today.”

“Fine, but back to work the second the day is over.”

“Maybe we should take Christmas day off, too.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Romance novels aren’t going to write themselves.”

Since we were teenagers, Cassie and I had been co-writing books. We’d found early success with our pen name H.C. Harvey. We were currently on a very tight deadline with our publisher. That wasn’t shocking, though, because we were always on a tight deadline.

We’d been best friends since we were in grade school and grew up in the same small town of Birch Lake, Wisconsin, where everybody not only knew your name, but they knew your middle name, too, and probably the last four digits of your social security number. I moved out to Chicago a few years ago with Daniel, but I knew I always wanted to get married in our small town with our family and friends.

My address might’ve described me as a city girl, but my heart always had a soft spot for rural Wisconsin and my townspeople. All three hundred and two—correction—three individuals. I forgot that Kelly from the local bakery recently had her third baby last Sunday.

What better way to celebrate Christmas Eve than with a Birch Lake massive wedding?

“Okay, well, let’s keep focusing on the current situation. Let’s get you married,” Cassie said, not allowing any more work conversation. She handed me my bouquet, looking like she was on the verge of tears.

“What is it?” I asked her.

“Nothing, nothing. It feels real now, you know? Seeing you in the dress. I’m just terrified I’m going to lose my best friend.”

“Oh gosh, Cass. Don’t cry. I know you and Daniel hate each other’s guts, but I promise you won’t lose me. Besides, you’re half of H.C. Harvey. You literally can’t lose me. Otherwise, my bank account would suffer.”

She laughed gently and wiped the tears that were falling down her cheeks. “For the record, I don’t hate Daniel. I just didn’t think he was the one for you.”

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Northern Stars – Compass Read Online Brittainy C. Cherry http://www.ilovenovels.com/northern-stars-compass-read-online-brittainy-c-cherry Sat, 01 Oct 2022 08:38:30 +0000 http://www.booksnovels.com/northern-stars-compass-read-online-brittainy-c-cherry Genre: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance Authors: Brittainy C. Cherry Advertisement

Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 107944 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 540(@200wpm)___ 432(@250wpm)___ 360(@300wpm)

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Hollywood's biggest star first belonged to me.

Northern Stars is an angsty, new adult, second chance standalone romance from Brittainy Cherry.

Breaking up with your high school sweetheart was one thing.
Breaking up with a famous Hollywood actor? That was a different situation.

I’d been in love with Aiden Walters since I was a little girl. We’d grown up as neighbors in our small town. He was my first love, and I was his. I was there when his career took off, and I was certain I’d always be a part of his life.

But just when his Hollywood star began to really shine, the internet blew up with the news of his real-life girlfriend at home. When I realized he was spending more time defending me than focusing on his career, I did the only thing I could do - I let him go.

Five years later, he was back home staying in the only hotel in our small town. Of course, it was the one I managed. I was forced daily to see the man whose heart I’d broken all those years ago.

The man who now resented me.
The man who grimaced with annoyance every time he looked my way.
The man who swore he’d never speak to me again.

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

Part I

“Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.”

-Marcus Aurelius

1

Hailee

Eight Years Old

* * *

Aiden was the kind of kid who made it easy to hate him.

“You can’t do that!” I screeched at Aiden, annoyed with his stupid face. He’d reached his dirty hands back into the cookie jar with the cookies I’d baked with Mama for later that day. Mama had already given us each a cookie before we played in the backyard. After we came back in, Aiden snuck into the kitchen and climbed onto the countertop. He was breaking all the rules!

“I can do it if you’d shut your fat mouth, chipmunk cheeks!” he replied.

I huffed and puffed out my cheeks, feeling my face heat as my balled-up hands slammed against my waist. “I don’t have chipmunk cheeks!”

“Then why do your cheeks look like a chipmunks?!”

“At least my face doesn’t look like a gorilla’s butt!”

“I’d rather look like a gorilla’s butt than have chipmunk cheeks.”

“I hate you, gorilla butt!”

“I don’t care, chipmunk cheeks!” he shouted back.

Aiden Walters was a pain in my butt. He was always getting himself in trouble, and I was always trying to stop him from doing stupid stuff. Most of my day was spent telling him no, and most of his day was spent ignoring me.

I climbed up on the countertop next to him and yanked the cookie jar out of his hands. “At least my head isn’t fat like yours!” I said, sticking my tongue out at him.

He grabbed the cookie jar back and slightly shoved me. “Your head is bigger than mine!”

“No, it’s not!”

“Yes, it is! It’s so big! It’s bigger than an elephant’s head!”

I grabbed the jar and tugged it toward me. “Shut up, Aiden!”

“You first, Hailee!” he shot back as he tugged it more.

We went back and forth with a tug-of-war, shouting at one another until Mama entered the kitchen.

“What’s going on in here?!” she yelled.

Aiden and I both got so spooked by her voice that we let go of the cookie jar. It crashed to the ground and shattered into a million billion trillion pieces.

Aiden and I froze in place.

Our eyes darted to Mama.

Then to the broken cookie jar.

Then back to Mama.

Then back to the broken cookie jar.

“He did it!”

“She did it!”

We said it in unison as we pointed toward one another, blaming each other for the mess in front of us. Of course, it was Aiden’s fault, but he was a big fat liar. I was surprised his pants weren’t on fire by how many lies he told.

“I swear, Mama! It was him! He was trying to take more cookies, but I told him not to take more cookies, but still, he tried to take more, cookies, and and—”

“She called me a fat head, Penny, and said I have a face like a gorilla butt!” Aiden said, pushing out his bottom lip and letting his eyes glass over. Oh my gosh! He’s so dramatic!

“He called me a fat mouth and said I had chipmunk cheeks!” I shot back. “I don’t have chipmunk cheeks!”

“Do too!” Aiden mocked.

“Do not!”

“Do too!”

“Do not, not, not!”

“Do too, too, too, tooooooooo!” he sang.

For a boy who was the same age as me, he sure acted like a baby.

Mama didn’t look like she cared for our excuses or bickering. She lowered her eyebrows and combed her hands over her afro puff before nodding once. “Get down now, the both of you. You know the drill.”

Aiden and I both groaned. “But!” we screeched at the same time. I hated that we did things so much at the same time because the last thing I ever wanted was to be the same as someone like him. I hated our same moments. They made me so mad. Our different moments were the best because if I was different than him that meant I wasn’t a fat head gorilla butt.

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