Serendipity’s Finest Series by Carly Phillips – Read Books Online Free Ebooks good best novels to read

Serendipity’s Finest Series by Carly Phillips – Read Books Online Free Ebooks good best novels to read http://www.books2020.com Mon, 09 Oct 2023 12:40:06 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.1 http://www.books2020.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/favicon.png Serendipity’s Finest Series by Carly Phillips – Read Books Online Free Ebooks good best novels to read http://www.books2020.com 32 32 Perfect Together (Serendipity’s Finest #3) Read Online Carly Phillips http://www.books2020.com/perfect-together-serendipitys-finest-3-read-online-carly-phillips Mon, 09 Oct 2023 12:40:06 +0000 http://www.booksnovels.com/perfect-together-serendipitys-finest-3-read-online-carly-phillips Genre: Alpha Male, Chick Lit, Contemporary, Suspense Authors: Carly Phillips Series: Serendipity's Finest Series by Carly Phillips
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Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91357 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)

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In the picturesque town of Serendipity, New York, three siblings have grown up in the shadow of their proud and respected police chief father. But what do love, fate, and fortune have in store for the next generation of Serendipity's finest?

Tired of being the easygoing daughter, always ignored in favor of her high-maintenance sister, and no longer interested in being her fianc�'s trophy wife, Nicole Farnsworth calls off her wedding. All she wants is to be herself. And where better to find her destiny than Serendipity? The place where she met the one man who made her heart beat faster, and gave her the courage to reinvent her life--even if he doesn't know it.

Officer Sam Marsden calls Serendipity home and he loves it there--even though his childhood sweetheart was stolen by his best friend. After such heartbreak, Sam fears he can't trust his instincts when it comes to love. Yet he's so tempted by Nicole, a woman he met only briefly but who has starred in his dreams ever since. For Nicole and Sam, opening their hearts one more time could change their lives forever. But who'll be the first to take that chance?

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

Chapter One

Something about being a Marsden made people think if they asked for a favor, Sam—the younger brother and the good cop—would be nice and accommodating. Take how his sister-in-law, Cara, was looking at him with big, pleading eyes, fully expecting him to agree to her beyond-unreasonable request.

“There is no way in hell I’m going on a date with Margie Simpson.” Sam Marsden glared at Cara, a woman he usually also called his best friend, from across their respective desks at the Serendipity police station.

“Her last name is Stinson, not Simpson, and you know it.” Cara frowned back at him. “Come on, Sam. Her parents are the biggest donors for the Women’s Heart Health fundraiser, and the Serendipity Police Department is a co-sponsor. Do you want to be the one to tell the hospital, who will be the recipient of that shiny new medical equipment, that the Stinsons pulled their donation because one of our finest wouldn’t escort their daughter?”

“She’s more like a pit bull,” Sam muttered. “And isn’t there another single cop you can get to take her? What about Hendler?”

“He’s too old.”

“Martini?”

She shook her head. “Too young. Besides, Margie wants to go with you.”

He shuddered. “All the more reason for me to say no. I don’t want to give her the wrong idea.” Margie was one of those women who assumed that just a look implied male interest. Sam didn’t want to go there. No way, nohow.

“Are you giving my wife a hard time?” Sam’s brother, Mike, strode over to Cara’s desk and placed a possessive hand on her shoulder.

“More like she’s giving me one. Call her off, will you?” Sam asked.

Mike laughed and shook his head. “I like my life just the way it is. Sorry, bro. You’re on your own.”

Sam rolled his eyes. Ever since his bachelor brother had fallen—hard—for Sam’s sometime partner, Cara, he was now wrapped around his wife’s cute little cowboy boots. When she wasn’t in uniform, that is. Where she went, Mike followed. Sam was happy for him. The problem was, Sam’s single friends were dwindling fast. First, Dare Barron, then Mike, and even their sister, Erin, had fallen.

Sam wasn’t jealous, but he could admit that his life and the routines he’d always enjoyed were growing stale around him. But that didn’t mean he was open to marriage, let alone escorting the female from hell, even for a good cause.

Cara rolled a pencil between her palms. “Do you already have a date?” she asked.

“Hell, no,” Mike said before Sam could answer. “He hasn’t dated anyone in longer than I can remember. In fact, the last woman who remotely interested him—”

No, he would not let his brother go there. “Don’t you have an office to get back to?” Sam pointed at the police chief’s workroom at the back of the station house.

Mike grinned. “Not when this is so much more fun.”

Cara elbowed him in the stomach. “Go. I’ll have more luck if you aren’t here poking fun at him and making this worse.”

Mike shrugged. “Hey, it’s not my fault he’s such an easy target.”

“Now that you’re happily married, you’re an even bigger pain in the ass,” Sam muttered.

Mike smirked and kissed his wife on the lips, lingering way too long before he finally walked—make that swaggered—away.

“Get a room.”

“You too could find true love,” Cara said, leaning closer. “We all want that for you.”

But Sam didn’t want that for himself. He’d tried, come close, and failed in the biggest possible way. As a cop, he trusted his instincts, but when it came to women? To relationships? To personal choices? Not so much.

His so-called gut instinct had hurt one good friend, and his gullibility had led to him being betrayed by his fiancée and best friend. His family knew only some of the reasons he remained wary of trusting his personal instincts, and with his siblings settled down, Erin with a husband and a baby, they’d all turned up the pressure on him.

Cara leveled him with a serious stare. “I’m not asking you to marry Margie. Just accompany her to the benefit. Make nice and go home. Can you do that for me? For Mike and the police station? Please?” Cara batted her eyelashes over her big blue eyes.

She’d been his best friend long before she became involved with Mike, and he’d have thought he was immune—except now she was also his family, and he didn’t like turning her down. Besides, as she’d pointed out, the fundraiser was for a good cause, and he’d be representing the police force.

He blew out a disgusted breath. “You’re only doing this because I can’t say no to you,” Sam muttered, shuddering at the thought of accompanying the one woman in town who sent fear into any single man’s heart.

“Is that a yes?” Cara tapped her pencil against the blotter on the desk, her expression almost gleeful.

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Advertisement Perfect Strangers (Serendipity’s Finest #4) Read Online Carly Phillips http://www.books2020.com/perfect-strangers-serendipitys-finest-4-read-online-carly-phillips Mon, 09 Oct 2023 12:40:05 +0000 http://www.booksnovels.com/perfect-strangers-serendipitys-finest-4-read-online-carly-phillips Genre: Romance Authors: Carly Phillips Series: Serendipity's Finest Series by Carly Phillips
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Total pages in book: 24
Estimated words: 22557 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 113(@200wpm)___ 90(@250wpm)___ 75(@300wpm)

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One night.
No strings.
Things just got complicated.

Between long hours in the ER and failing to please her demanding father, Dr. Alexa Collins barely has time for a life, and the strain is starting to take its toll.

On a rare night out, she can’t resist getting a little crazy on the dance floor. Or playfully crooking her finger at the sinfully hot football player watching her every move. And when a dance leads to some hot, stress-relieving sex, she’s all in with Luke Thompson. He’s just the no-risk diversion she desperately needs.

When Luke proposes they spend some time together, Alexa can’t say no. Not when he’s so determined to show her how to have fun. Alexa figures it can’t hurt to have a few days with the irresistible Luke. After all, he’ll be gone soon, and her life will return to the daily grind.

Except this perfect stranger is more than she anticipated and when it’s time to say goodbye, he’ll be taking a big piece of her heart with him.

* Perfect Strangers was originally part of the Hot Summer Nights anthology.

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

Chapter One

Joe’s Bar. Familiar stomping grounds for Alexa Collins, yet everything about the night felt off. First, the bar’s owner and his new bride were on their honeymoon, so Joe wasn’t serving. Alexa’s normally happy friend, Cara Hartley, sat morosely stirring her drink, staring into the glass for answers, but the man who’d caused the problems was nowhere to be found. Alexa couldn’t relate to guy problems, considering she lived a hectic life, spent hours in the hospital ER, and had no time for a relationship, let alone hot, stress-relieving sex, though it was something she could definitely use. For the past couple of weeks, she’d been suffering from a definite case of the blues, the strain of her life beginning to wear on her.

No wonder she was in a funk.

The music blasting through the speakers gave her a jolt akin to a caffeine kick, and Alexa perked up at the sound. Rising from her barstool, she glanced at her friend.

“I feel like dancing,” Alexa announced.

With a disinterested sigh, Cara shook her head, but Alexa wasn’t taking no for an answer. Cara needed to have fun and forget about Mike Marsden, the man who’d broken her heart.

Alexa jerked her head toward the dance floor. “Dance. Now.”

Cara groaned but complied, standing up on command.

Alexa looked at the third woman in their trio. “Liza?” Liza and her husband, Dare Barron, had joined them for a night out along with some friends who mingled around the bar.

Liza swayed her hips in time to the beat of the music. “Why not? I could use some letting go.”

An upbeat tune reverberated as they headed to the dance floor near the jukebox and Alexa closed her eyes, allowing herself to get lost in the moment. Her body moved to the beat, her entire being consumed by the tempo and the sounds pulsing around her.

When she opened her eyes, she noticed she wasn’t the only one attracted to the upbeat music. The crowd had grown, everyone on the floor pumping their fists, swiveling their hips, and dancing.

Dare had joined Liza, wrapping himself around his wife in a heart-melting embrace. Alexa looked away to avoid the obvious intimacy between the couple, and her gaze met that of a man who sat alone at a table near the dance floor. A sinfully sexy man with shaggy-blond hair and an unwavering stare.

He watched as she moved, his heavy-lidded scrutiny focused on her as he sipped at his beer. His demeanor seemed casual, his stare anything but. Thinking of how down she’d been lately and how great this music made her feel now, she was unable to resist the impulse to crook her finger his way.

A glance told her that her best friend wasn’t watching, which was good, considering Cara wouldn’t know what had gotten into Alexa. And she would be hard-pressed to explain. All she knew, all she felt, was a bone-deep loneliness that reached into her soul, and this man’s intense and interested stare provided her heart with a jump she hadn’t felt in too long.

A slow smile lifted his lips, and her pulse skyrocketed as he stood and made his way toward her, his swagger indicating self-confidence. Alexa experienced that same kind of self-assuredness in medical settings, though she normally fell short in other areas of her life. Still, she’d called on that attitude when beckoning him over, and she was glad she hadn’t stopped to think it through.

He joined her on the wooden floor, immediately picking up the rhythm. He danced close enough for her to smell his woodsy cologne that both surrounded and aroused her. As they moved, their bodies spoke for them, their synchronicity startling for two people who’d never met. And when the music turned sultry, he was all too willing to join her for some dirty dancing. He ground his hips against hers, the swell of his erection pressing deliciously against her—too intimately for strangers, but too good to deny.

So she didn’t.

Instead, she let the heat of desire crackle and spark between them, and fire licked at her veins.

Cara eased closer and looked from Alexa to her partner, her eyebrows raised, a concerned expression on her face. Alexa ignored her. She needed this sense of freedom, the release this man provided. She hadn’t realized how badly until now.

Pure enjoyment and fun.

When was the last time she’d allowed herself the luxury?

Her dance partner’s hands slid to her waist. She’d worn black leggings and a cream cardigan, which she’d unbuttoned to show both cleavage and the barest hint of her lace cami underneath. She reaped the benefit of her clothing choice now and trembled at the rasp of his calloused palms caressing her sensitive skin.

A sexy grin lifted his lips, and he continued the dance along with the erotic assault on her senses. She could have lingered in their intimate embrace all night, but from the corner of her eye, Alexa caught sight of Cara’s ex-boyfriend, Mike.

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Advertisement Perfect Fling (Serendipity’s Finest #2) Read Online Carly Phillips http://www.books2020.com/perfect-fling-serendipitys-finest-2-read-online-carly-phillips Thu, 14 Sep 2023 21:22:27 +0000 http://www.booksnovels.com/perfect-fling-serendipitys-finest-2-read-online-carly-phillips Genre: Chick Lit, Contemporary Authors: Carly Phillips Series: Serendipity's Finest Series by Carly Phillips
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Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91622 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 458(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)

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In the picturesque town of Serendipity, New York, three siblings have grown up in the shadow of their proud and respected police chief father. But what do love, fate, and fortune have in store for the next generation of Serendipity's finest?

Assistant D.A. Erin Marsden is Serendipity's quintessential good girl. The daughter of the former police chief, she's never made a misstep, content with her quiet, predictable life...or so she thinks. Until Cole Sanders shows up with heated interest in his eyes and shadows in his past.

After seven years of deep undercover work in New York, Cole returns to town to help his aging father and find his moral compass again. Not to get involved with wholesome Erin Marsden. Even as a rebellious teen, he knew a girl like Erin was off limits. But neither can resist their off-the-charts chemistry, and a one-night stand brings complications neither expected.

Then a case puts Erin in a killer's crosshairs, and Erin succumbs to Cole's take-charge attitude. As a bodyguard, he's the best. As a lover, he's even better. But there's more than Erin's safety at stake. And Cole must forgive the sins of his past and prove to himself--and to Erin--that he's capable of the love and the forever she so desperately needs.

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

Chapter One

Erin Marsden had always been Serendipity’s good girl. As assistant district attorney in the small Upstate New York town, only daughter of the former police chief, and youngest sibling of two overprotective brothers (both cops, one of whom was the current police chief), Erin always lived up to expectations. She’d never made a misstep, more afraid of disappointing her family than of stepping out of the stereotypical role she’d always, always fulfilled.

Until last night.

She blinked and took stock of her surroundings: a strange bed, walls she didn’t recognize, and a warm, nude male body beside her very naked one.

Cole Sanders.

Staring at his too-long mess of dark hair and the muscles in his upper back, she thought about the way her body ached in all the right places and shivered. No doubt about it, when she finally stepped out of the mold she’d created, she’d not only done a one-eighty but made the most un-good-girl move she could think of. A one-night stand.

A one-night stand.

The thought made her giddy and also slightly nauseous as she silently traced the path that had led her here. She’d started yesterday at her brother Mike’s wedding to one of Erin’s closest friends, Cara Hartley, now Marsden. Erin had been surrounded by friends, family, and happy, loving couples everywhere she looked, making her the odd woman out. Not wanting to go home alone just yet, she’d stopped by Joe’s Bar. Misstep number one.

She’d let Cole Sanders, the man for whom she’d had an unrequited crush as a young teenage girl, interrupt her dance with an old friend. Misstep number two.

He’d pulled her close against his hard body. She’d looked into his dark, almost navy eyes and seen a world-weariness that tore at her heart, then acknowledged the sexual tension they’d both ignored since his return. Misstep number three.

And then she’d gone for the gold, agreeing to join him upstairs in his room over the bar for an all-night session of marathon sex. But she couldn’t label that misstep number four, because sex with Cole had been phenomenal. She didn’t know two people could generate such heat. It had been that fantastic. In fact, Erin thought, she’d stretch and purr in contentment right now if she weren’t afraid of waking the man snoring lightly beside her.

Although their parents were good friends, Erin didn’t know Cole well. Nobody did, not anymore. Not even her brother Mike, who had been one of his closest pals, though Mike seemed concerned since Cole’s return. Cole’s father had been her dad’s deputy chief of police until last year when Jed retired, but Jed Sanders never spoke of his son.

According to Mike, Cole had dropped out of the police academy mere days before his graduation. What Cole did after that was anybody’s guess, but rumors ran crazy in their small town. Some said Cole had gotten involved in organized crime in Manhattan; others claimed he ran drug and prostitution rings. Having grown up around Cole, even if she had kept her distance from the rough-and-tumble bad boy he’d been, Erin couldn’t bring herself to believe he’d gone so wrong.

Call her naïve, but she’d always seen something deeper in Cole, something good, even when he’d clashed with his tough-as-nails father. Which didn’t mean she wouldn’t make her escape as cleanly as possible.

What Erin didn’t know about awkward mornings after could fill a book. The quiet, tepid affairs in her past always ended the same way, with a polite It’s not you, it’s me before she walked away. She’d never had to slip out of a man’s bed undetected before.

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Advertisement Perfect Fit (Serendipity’s Finest #1) Read Online Carly Phillips http://www.books2020.com/perfect-fit-serendipitys-finest-1-read-online-carly-phillips Tue, 08 Aug 2023 17:46:28 +0000 http://www.booksnovels.com/perfect-fit-serendipitys-finest-1-read-online-carly-phillips Genre: Chick Lit, Contemporary Authors: Carly Phillips Series: Serendipity's Finest Series by Carly Phillips
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Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 92636 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)

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She’s a small-town girl.
He’s got a restless spirit.
Can their hearts bridge the gap?

Michael Marsden’s adoptive parents gave him a family, but Serendipity never felt like home so he fled to Manhattan, where he’s an undercover cop with a reputation for skirting the rules. But when his police chief father steps down to fight a serious illness, Mike returns home to fill his dad’s by-the-book shoes.

Serendipity hasn’t changed much but there’s one familiar face from the past that he never expected to see—Officer Cara Hartley. She’s the only woman that ever made him consider giving up his lone-wolf ways.

Cara is determined to keep a professional distance from her new boss, the one night stand she never forgot. But hearing Mike’s deep, sexy voice ignites memories of how he set her body on fire. It isn’t long before their red-hot chemistry tempts them to cross a dangerous line both personally and professionally, leaving Cara hoping for a future where she can have it all.

But when Mike’s long-absent biological father returns, the fragile bonds that could have kept him in Serendipity threaten to snap. And Mike must face his past if he and Cara are to have any kind of future.

Will Mike realize he fits perfectly in Serendipity with Cara, or will he choose to walk away?

You wanted more Serendipity? NYT bestselling author Carly Phillips delivers! Welcome to “Serendipity’s Finest”, a spinoff series featuring three siblings navigating careers and love in the shadow of their beloved police chief father, mom’s Sunday pot roasts, and a small town they’ll never quite manage to leave behind.

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

Chapter One

Perfection was overrated, Mike Marsden thought as he approached his childhood home. He arrived in time for dinner, just as he’d done every Sunday since his return to his hometown of Serendipity, New York, almost a month ago. Sunday evening meal at his parents’ house was mandatory, and each of his siblings would be there. Nobody said no to Ella Marsden. And since Mike had been away for a half dozen years or so, his mother was especially glad to have him back, no matter how uncomfortable the notion of coming home made him.

He shoved his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket and looked up at the white clapboard house with blue trim and matching shutters. Small but well kept, the two-story home on the residential street was as perfect on the outside as it was on the inside. Same as it was when he’d left for Atlantic City all those years ago. Maybe that was why he was itching beneath his skin now. The idea of perfection made him antsy. It always had. And despite wanting to please his parents, Mike was the kid who’d always tried their patience.

Impulse control issues, his teachers called it. Mike blamed heredity. He couldn’t stick with one thing very long, be it his small hometown, a relationship, or a monotonous job. Simon Marsden, Mike’s adopted father and the man who’d raised him, had been the police chief of Serendipity. Mike’s brother, Sam, had followed in his footsteps, becoming a homegrown cop like his dad. Their sister, Erin, was the assistant district attorney to Serendipity’s D.A.

And Mike? He liked his life, choosing his career as a New York City undercover cop, where he’d carved out a name for himself by skating the rules instead of strictly following them. He made sure his job, his women, and even his friends were easy enough to walk away from when the impulse arose. Never again would there be a repeat of a woman misinterpreting his intentions or expecting too much. He’d run from that strangled feeling once before, ending up in Atlantic City. He wasn’t about to repeat past mistakes or risk what he knew was a genetic inability to stick around.

Yet here he was, back in his small hometown, having taken over his father’s job as chief of police while his dad fought cancer. The doctors said it was treatable, and Mike forced himself to believe it. Coming home was the least he could do for the man who’d both raised him and treated him no differently than his biological children—even if Mike hadn’t always deserved it. The situation was temporary while Simon recovered, or Mike didn’t think he’d have been able to say yes to the position.

He knocked once and let himself inside, the smell of his mother’s pot roast seducing his senses and making his stomach rumble.

“Michael, is that you?” his mother called from her post in the kitchen. When he was a kid, he’d thought she had a sixth sense that told her which child walked in the door, but as an adult, he realized they each had their own arrival time, and his mother intuitively knew their routine.

“It’s me,” he yelled back, bending to give his parents’ new dog, a small white fluffball that resembled a dust mop, a pat on the head, still marveling that they’d named the furry thing Kojak.

“Well, come give me a hug,” Ella called out as if she hadn’t seen him in ages. In reality, she’d stopped by the police station just yesterday to say hello.

He grinned, and his shoulders eased downward. The insecurities that always followed thoughts of perfection fled at the warmth in his mother’s voice and the comforting smells of home.

“Come on, little man. Let’s go say hi to Mom.” He headed for the kitchen with Kojak by his side.

Along the way, he passed the family room, where his father lay snoring in his recliner. A football game played on the big-screen television he and his siblings had bought them for Christmas last year. Knowing Simon needed his rest, Mike let him sleep.

“Hey, Mom,” Mike said, entering the kitchen and giving her the requested hug before turning to the oversized pot on the stove. “Smells delicious.” He lifted the lid only to have his mother smack his hand with her wooden spoon.

“Hey! No sampling.” She waved her weapon in front of his face, a knowing smile lifting her lips.

Despite his father’s illness, she’d managed to retain her cheery disposition. If a few more lines creased her beautiful skin, it didn’t affect her good looks at all. Wavy auburn hair curled naturally around her face added to her youthful appearance.

“Hey, family!” His sister Erin’s voice sounded from the entryway.

“In here,” Mike called back, then winced because his father was sleeping.

“Dad’s snoring,” Erin said, striding into the kitchen with a box in hand. “A hurricane couldn’t wake him.”

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