Ready or Not

Sometimes wrong is extra right.

Mallory Spencer is in charge. As the face of Soho Savvy, the advertising firm she owns with her three best friends, it’s important that she’s poised, polished, and put together. However, as she watches her friends couple up and settle down, she wonders about her own happily ever after. One thing’s for sure. It’s not going to happen with that blue-eyed bartender from Showplace. It’s irritatingly clear they couldn’t be more wrong for each other...or have more chemistry.

Hope Sanders wants nothing more than to keep her head down and craft a better life for herself running everyone’s favorite nightspot. That means ignoring the groupies that flock to the bar to stare at her all night. However, an uptight brunette has snagged Hope’s attention and she knows a challenge when she sees it.

A Soho Loft Romance.

Waiting in the Wings

“This was an engaging book with believable characters and story development. It’s always a pleasure to read a book set in a world like theater/film that gets it right…a thoroughly enjoyable read.”—
Lez Books

“This is Brayden’s first novel, but we wouldn’t notice if she hadn’t told us. The book is well put together and more complex than most authors’ second or third books. The characters have chemistry; you want them to get together in the end. The book is light, frothy, and fun to read. And the sex is hot without being too explicit—not an easy trick to pull off.”—
Liberty Press

“Sexy, funny and all around enjoyable.”—Afterellen.com

Heart Block

“Although this book doesn’t beat you over the head with wit, the interactions are almost always humorous, making both characters really quite loveable. Overall a very enjoyable read.”—C-Spot Reviews

“The story is enchanting with conflicts and issues to be overcome that will keep the reader turning the pages. The relationship between Sarah and Emory is achingly beautiful and skillfully portrayed. This second offering by Melissa Brayden is a perfect package of love—and life to be lived to the fullest. So grab a beverage and snuggle up with a comfy throw to read this classic story of overcoming obstacles and finding enduring love.”—
Lambda Literary Review

How Sweet It Is

“‘Sweet’ is definitely the keyword for this well-written, character-driven lesbian romance novel. It is ultimately a love letter to small town America, and the lesson to remain open to whatever opportunities and happiness comes into your life.” —Bob Lind,
Echo Magazine

“Oh boy! The events were perfectly plausible, but the collection and the threading of all the stories, main and sub plots, were just fantastic. I completely and wholeheartedly recommend this book. So touching, so heartwarming and all out beautiful.”—
Rainbow Book Reviews

Kiss The Girl

“There are romances and there are romances…Melissa Brayden can be relied on to write consistently very sweet, pure romances and delivers again with her newest book Kiss the Girl…There are scenes suffused with the sweetest love, some with great sadness or even anger—a whole gamut of emotions that take readers on a gentle roller coaster with a consistent upbeat tone. And at the heart of this book is a hymn to true friendship and human decency.”—
C-spot Reviews

Ready or Not

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Ready or Not

© 2015 By Melissa Brayden. All Rights Reserved.

ISBN 13: 978-1-62639-464-3

This Electronic Book is published by

Bold Strokes Books, Inc.

P.O. Box 249

Valley Falls, New York 12185

First Edition: November 2015

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.

Credits

Editors: Lynda Sandoval and Shelley Thrasher

Production Design: Stacia Seaman

Cover Design By Sheri ([email protected])

Waiting in the Wings

Heart Block

How Sweet It Is

Soho Loft Romances

Kiss the Girl

Just Three Words

Ready or Not

This final book in the Soho series feels a bit like the end of an era for me. I’ve laughed and cried with these characters, shared their highs and lows, while experiencing highs and lows of my own. I’ll miss them dearly and hope you, the reader, have enjoyed your time spent with the Savvy gang.

First and foremost, I owe a special shout out of gratitude to my editor and friend Lynda Sandoval for her insight, guidance, and humor along the way. She understood my vision for this story, and that’s everything. It’s so nice to know I have her in my corner and it is my hope that we have many more stories to tell together.

I would also like to acknowledge my super-smart copy editor, Shelley Thrasher, and her eagle eye for detail!

Many thanks, as always, to the benches-deep Bold Strokes team, most notably Len Barot and Sandy Lowe for working with me on my hectic grad school schedule, Cindy for having to deal with my disorganized side, and the BSB cover artists for bringing visual life to the world of the book.

Hugs, kisses, and high fives go to Rachel, Georgia, and Nikki for keeping me laughing, and to the countless authors who share their experiences, advice, and words of wisdom with me when I need it. I’m proud to be a part of this writing community.

At the end of any day, it’s the people closest to you that give you a safe place to fall or prop you up when you need it. For me that’s Alan, and I am forever in awe at how we just click. And many thanks for drinking the “research” cocktails I made in preparation for this book.

My family rocks, and I’m lucky to have them behind me! My mother reads every book I write, and what could mean more?

Lastly, I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to you, my readers. I appreciate so many of you taking time out of your day to let me know I made you smile. In all honesty, the feeling is a hundred percent mutual.

In honor of friendship and chocolate lovers everywhere.

Mallory Spencer had a feeling her entire life was about to change.

As she sat on the steps outside the business school at NYU, evidence of dusk fell gradually around her. The sun dipped. The sky pinked. The air crisped and the temperature dropped. The outline of the moon loomed faintly overhead as she exhaled, feeling the weight of the thick folder in her hands. Heavy, which was fitting, as it contained the intricate details of her would-be future.

She’d been sitting on those steps for the better part of two hours, watching coeds crisscross the sidewalk, perhaps heading out for dinner or to the library to get in a last cramming session before finals week. All the while, she battled within her own head, vacillating back and forth between logic and risk.

Earlier that day, she’d been offered her dream job, everything she’d been working toward. Upon graduation in two weeks, she would be a junior account executive at Jennings and Sons Advertising Agency on the Upper West Side. This should be the happiest day of her life.

Unless she changed her mind, that is.

Jennings and Sons was an older, well-established firm with a fantastic reputation and, let’s face it, large amounts of money. She’d completed her third interview with them just that morning. By lunch, they’d ushered her into the conference room and presented her with a lush starting offer, one she knew her parents would endorse. And that was important, as her family had standards to live up to. The Spencer name came with a certain set of expectations, not to be downplayed. But for whatever reason, in a move atypical of Mallory, she had this ever-growing urge to go with her gut for once.