Writing as Mel Sterling, Mel focuses on paranormal romance (her Portland after Dark and The River: after Dark series) and contemporary romantic suspense (her Pink Sofa Secrets series and Latimer’s Law). Occasionally she strays into other genres.
Trueheart: First in the Portland after Dark series. Urban fantasy with plenty of romance.
Loyalty. Desperation. Grief.
Eight months ago a mysterious drug killed Tess Gordon’s brother, and now it’s spreading through her rehab counseling clients. They all claim they’re not addicted, the drug leaves no trace except its drained victims, and the cops aren’t interested. Aching with loss, Tess vows to find the source. What she finds instead is Thomas.
Slavery. Duty. Enchantment.
Thomas, the half-fae guardian of the goblin market, has plenty of problems—and just got another one. Pressed into the service of the Unseelie Queen, all he wants is his freedom. But Tess won’t go away, and the human girl is in way over her head.
One perilous late-autumn night, the fae and human worlds collide. Tess’s and Thomas’s separate tasks are inextricably tangled. Now, a half-fae and a human rehab counselor must walk the knife-edge of obligation, love, death and transformation–with the entire Unseelie Court, including the malevolent Wild Hunt, out for their blood.
Welcome to Portland, After Dark…
Ironbound: second in the Portland after Dark series.
The Master of the Wild Hunt
In a single cataclysm of magic shattering a centuries-old bond of servitude, the Unseelie Queen of Forest Park loses her fiercest huntsman. Now Hunter is free to abscond with half her court and the Wild Hunt is his to command. Yet between the Queen’s deadly incursions and a mysterious sickness spreading through his followers, Hunter’s rebellion is doomed unless he turns to an even deadlier poison—mortal iron, and hands capable of shaping it.
The Mistress of Cold Iron
Dove Paisley ekes out a living as a modern-day blacksmith and office cleaner. Accidentally swept up in the Wild Hunt, Dove finds herself prisoner in a plague-stricken fae mound and forced to confront Hunter, the harsh, forbidding King in the East. Dove must drive the hardest bargain of her life: her freedom in exchange for forging the weapons that can turn the tide in a supernatural war.
But fae bargains twist on those who make them. The Master of the Hunt may have met his match, and if he isn’t careful he’ll be bound to a human woman by more than her iron sorcery. Together, the fae hunter and the mortal blacksmith must break the Queen’s malevolent enchantments before she binds them all forever in Death’s cold hands.
Welcome back to Portland, After Dark.
Tree of Dreams: First in The River: After Dark series.
It’s said that if you sleep under a willow tree, you’ll dream of your true love.
Emma Leighton doesn’t believe in fairy tales or monsters until a bolt of lightning from a freak summer storm reveals a glimpse of a river creature so fantastical, she can’t be certain he’s real.
Stranded by the storm, she spends the night in eerie Willow Cottage where terrified guests check out early, vowing never to return. Emma sees nothing out of the ordinary, but her dreams bring her a secret lover like no other, disturbing and alluring in equal measure. Moss is half man, half water serpent. His kisses are cool and deep as the Columbia River itself, and he’s been in love with Emma for a long time.
What begins as a dream becomes flesh, an erotic fusing of hearts, souls and bodies. But when others learn the secret sheltered by Willow Cottage, they’ll do anything—including kill—to possess it.
Welcome to The River: After Dark.
Voice of the Knife: a stand-alone erotic horror novella.
Biologist Charles Napier doesn’t mind getting lost in a Florida swamp—it’s part of a scientist’s job. Logic and training will get him out safely. Except lurking in this swamp, there’s a monster Napier’s science can’t explain…a lonely, exquisite, desperate monster.
–Previously published in the now unavailable Teeth, Long and Sharp anthology, Voice of the Knife is a 28K-word, stand-alone novella.–
Wordless: First in the Pink Sofa Secrets series.
Disaster reporter and internet celebrity Jack Tucker is disillusioned after a stint embedded in Iraq. The IED that destroyed his team’s Humvee brought him tragedy and regret, robbing him of the joy he took in his job–or anything else. He spends his days in a small Camden bookshop, struggling with writer’s block, until the elderly proprietor dies, leaving him adrift.
Lexie Worth abandoned a promising career to keep her uncle’s beloved bookstore alive. But the store’s tabby cat hates her, local poets invade twice a month for scurrilous readings, and she knows she shouldn’t get involved with sexy, troubled strangers like Jack. When the FBI comes knocking, with suspicions of fraud and racketeering, Lexie realizes someone’s after more than a first edition or two.
Someone’s been using the bookstore to hide their crimes. Someone dangerous–maybe even deadly. Jack wants to protect Lexie–if he can believe her. And if she doesn’t find out exactly who he is…
Shots in the Dark: Second in the Pink Sofa Secrets series.
After her entanglement in financial fraud and an FBI investigation, all Gilly Harris wants is to move on with her life, run her beloved coffee shop, and pay her legal bills. She’s done with men who involve her in their shady schemes. Trouble is, those men aren’t quite through with Gilly.
Marine veteran Gardner Dawson is at loose ends when an IED cuts short his tour of duty in Iraq, leaving him an amputee. A temporary gig babysitting a bookstore for his best friends helps fill the void, but even with the distraction of the provocative barista next door, he faces the prospect of a future without the career that meant everything to him.
The last thing either of them wants is to team up against a con man and a dirty FBI agent, but when danger stalks Gilly, Gard’s protective instincts blaze to life–and so does his heart. Someone’s determined to learn Gilly’s secrets, maybe at the cost of her life. That’s not a price Gard is willing to pay. Not even if he has to put his own life on the line.
Latimer’s Law: Stand-alone contemporary romantic suspense.
Stealing a pickup truck, newly widowed Abby McMurray hopes to escape her abusive brother-in-law. But the vehicle’s owner and his attack dog halt her plans. She knows she’s made a terrible mistake. Yet there’s something tender about the stranger that makes her feel safe.
K-9 deputy Cade Latimer senses Abby isn’t a criminal. And when he sees her bruises, he knows she’s running from someone. Physically and emotionally scarred from a botched investigation, Cade has his own demons. Yet he can’t resist protecting the gentle woman who’s capturing his heart. But little do they know, Abby’s brother-in-law will go to any lengths to track Abby down.