19-year-old Jess Donovan knows better than most that life is random. Her mom is dead, and she’s on her own, patching together a living as a waitress when a car crashes through the restaurant where she works. In two seconds, she loses her job, watches her best friend hauled away in an ambulance…and meets Tyler Smith, one of the hottest, most fascinating—and mysterious guys she’s ever met.

Within days, Jess is swept up into the mesmerizing force that is Tyler. Their every touch sizzles, every kiss dissolves them both, and the sex is…fierce. But there’s more to Tyler than his hypnotic eyes. He’s adrift, too, and his body—and his soul—are covered with scars. How can she find herself with a guy who is lost himself?

Every decision is an ending … and a beginning….

Broke and close to broken-hearted, Jess Donovan doesn’t know what to do with her life. She’s lost her job and she’s discovered that the man she loves, the charismatic and elusive Tyler Smith, has a troubled past that’s left him damaged…perhaps beyond repair. Unable to trust him or her feelings, when her long-lost father invites her to visit him a continent away, she leaps at the chance to get some perspective.

In dazzling New Zealand, her fortunes seem to be turning way, way up. She lands a lucrative gig in a tourism commercial, cast opposite Kaleb Te Anga, a guy who’s Tyler’s opposite in every way. When things heat up between them on-set, fake kisses turning to hot real kisses, Jess finds herself torn. Is this just a holiday hook-up, or something deeper? How can she feel so much for two different people, and how will she ever choose between them?

If she gets that chance … because her indecisive heart might mean she’ll lose them both. 

Soul mates…or just for now?

In the movies, a romantic triangle is always obvious, and soul mates rule. Jess has learned the hard way that it is perfectly possible to love two guys at once. She’s painfully torn between sexy snowboard Olympic hopeful Tyler Smith and her smolderingly gorgeous co-star Kaleb Te Anga. Each has something to offer, and each is flawed.

How can Jess possibly choose? But if she doesn’t make up her mind, she just might end up losing them both.

“Over the past year, my life has been full of moments that took my breath away, moments when I was so filled with surprise that it’s me living this life that it feels as if I stumbled into a fairy tale.”

Jess Donovan has come a long way in a year, from waiting tables and eating ramen noodles at every meal, to a dizzying new life with more choices and more trouble than she ever imagined.  After a tumultuous spring that left her heart shredded, Jess stepped away from both Tyler and Kaleb to live on her own terms.  Now, as her life is about to take one more huge turn with the opening of the movie Torches, Jess finds herself squarely between Tyler and Kaleb once again.

The chemistry is off the charts with her sexy co-star Kaleb, but he’s macho and stubborn. Artist Tyler has shown a devotion that’s unshakable, but his temper is volcanic and he still doesn’t see Jess as his equal.

Which means Jess has to grapple with a painful question—how does a woman choose the right man for her?

INTENSE is the fifth and final installment in the Going the Distance series.

Books 1 – 5 of the Going the Distance Series

Jess Donovan wants a better life than the one she was born to, but how do you figure how what you want when life has never been anything but a series of hurdles? A sexy series about figuring out what you want by falling in love, trying life on, and uncovering the secrets that have held you back for a lifetime. 

19-year-old Jess knows better than most that life is random. Her mom is dead, and she’s on her own, patching together a living as a waitress when a car crashes through the restaurant where she works. In two seconds, she loses her job, watches her best friend hauled away in an ambulance…and meets ex-Olympic hopeful snowboarder Tyler Smith, one of the hottest, most fascinating—and mysterious—guys she’s ever met.  

Within days, Jess is swept up into the mesmerizing force that is Tyler. Their every touch sizzles, every kiss dissolves them both, and the sex is…fierce. But there’s more to Tyler than his hypnotic eyes. He’s adrift, too, and his body—and his soul—are covered with scars. How can she find herself with a guy who is lost himself? 

Unable to trust him or her feelings, when her long-lost father invites her to visit him a continent away, she leaps at the chance to get some perspective. 

In dazzling New Zealand, her fortunes seem to be turning way, way up. She lands a lucrative gig in a tourism commercial, cast opposite Kaleb Te Anga, a guy who’s Tyler’s opposite in every way. When things heat up between them on-set, fake kisses turning to hot real kisses, Jess finds herself torn. Is this just a holiday hook-up, or something deeper? How can she feel so much for two different people, and how will she ever choose between them? 

A powerful story about romance, making choices, and finding the life you were meant to live. 

When snowboard queen Kaitlin Bouvier gets a weird text from her friend Tyler—who has been missing for months—she tracks him to Iceland, where a volcano is threatening to blow any second. She’s been in love with Tyler since childhood and the two shared a few very steamy nights last summer in Italy, giving Kaitlin hope that there might be a real chance for them.

Unfortunately, Tyler is as elusive as the wind. When the volcano does erupt, Kaitlin is trapped in Reykjavik with a group of young travelers who each have their own reasons for being on the road, including the very sexy, very smart grad student Gabe Walsh, who teaches her how hot her blood can boil. She tells herself he’s just a diversion—there’s no way their crazy lives can work.

Chelsea Anderson is fleeing a violent past into the anonymity of backpacking around the world. In Iceland, she hooks up with best friends Olivia and Madeline, and heads for Venice. When the group is stranded by an explosion in the Alps, they’re forced to detrain and camp out in a tiny mountain village, where the group spills their stories. And Chelsea can’t. No way.

Defending her is the broad-shouldered Scottish Alec McRae, whose fierceness hides a kindness Chelsea has never known. He has secrets of his own, an unimaginable past and a sin he carries without hope of redemption. In Chelsea he spies something he’s never had, never had hope of having in his life, but how can he ask her into his dark life?

When the train finally moves, Chelsea and Alec share a magical week in Venice, where the lovers are confronted with everything they’ve tried to leave behind…and must either take a stand, or run forever.