Pelican Bay Series by Sloane Kennedy

I've spent years hoping someone would finally hear me. It's easier not to try anymore... Ten years after leaving his small Minnesota hometown in his rearview mirror for what Nolan Grainger was sure would be the last time, life has decided to throw the talented musician a curveball and send him back to the town he lived in but was never really home. At twenty-eight, Nolan has traveled the world as a successful concert violinist with some of the best symphonies in the country... moreI've spent years hoping someone would finally hear me. It's easier not to try anymore... Ten years after leaving his small Minnesota hometown in his rearview mirror for what Nolan Grainger was sure would be the last time, life has decided to throw the talented musician a curveball and send him back to the town he lived in but was never really home. At twenty-eight, Nolan has traveled the world as a successful concert violinist with some of the best symphonies in the country. But success breeds envy, and when Nolan's benefactor and lover decides Nolan has flown high enough, he cruelly clips Nolan's wings. The betrayal and ensuing scandal leaves the violinist's career in shambles and with barely enough money to start fresh somewhere beyond his vindictive ex's powerful reach. But just as he's ready to get his life back on track, Nolan gets the call he's been dreading. After a stroke leaves his father a partial invalid, duty-bound Nolan returns to Pelican Bay and a life he's spent years trying to forget. When he's forced to use the last of his own money to keep from losing the family home, desperation has him turning to the one man he'd hoped never to see again... Even if I could speak, there wouldn't be anyone there to listen... Pelican Bay's golden boy, Dallas Kent, had the quintessential perfect life. Smart, gorgeous, and popular, the baseball phenom was well on his way to a life filled with fame and fortune. But more importantly, he had a one-way ticket out of Pelican Bay and far away from the family who used love as currency and whose high expectations were the law of the land. But a stormy night, sharp highway curve and one bad decision changed everything, leaving Dallas with nothing. Because the accident that took his parents, his future and his crown as the boy who could do no wrong, also stole his voice. Despised for the horrific wreck that ended the lives of two of Pelican Bay's most respected residents, Dallas has retreated to a secluded stretch of land where he's found refuge in a menagerie of unwanted animals that don't care that he once had the world at his feet or that he'll never speak again. But when the quiet, bookish boy he wasn't allowed to notice in school suddenly reappears ten years later at Dallas's wildlife rehab center in desperate need of a job, Dallas is thrust back into a world he's worked hard to escape. Dallas's silence was supposed to send Nolan scurrying, but what if Nolan ends up being the one person who finally hears him? Will two men who've been fleeing from the past finally come home to Pelican Bay for good or will the silence drive them apart forever? less

Coming home should be the easiest thing in the world, but I've never felt more lost... When his stellar military career comes to an abrupt and terrible end, thirty-two-year-old Maddox Kent returns to the town he never planned to step foot into again, hoping to mend the rift he himself caused with the brother he left behind. But coming home means facing some hard truths about himself and his actions... moreComing home should be the easiest thing in the world, but I've never felt more lost... When his stellar military career comes to an abrupt and terrible end, thirty-two-year-old Maddox Kent returns to the town he never planned to step foot into again, hoping to mend the rift he himself caused with the brother he left behind. But coming home means facing some hard truths about himself and his actions. When he has the chance to start making amends by helping his brother with the wildlife sanctuary he runs, Maddox is thrown another curveball when a stranger appears... As long as we keep moving, everything will be okay. That's what I keep telling myself, anyway... For twenty-one-year-old Isaac, Pelican Bay is only supposed to be a stopping point on the trek from San Francisco to New York. With his little brother, Newt, in tow, Isaac is just looking to make things right by returning something of value to a person he wronged. But "getting lost" in the next big city proves to be a problem when the brutal Minnesota winter claims Isaac's car and strands him and Newt at the animal sanctuary. When the owners of the place offer him a job, a desperate Isaac agrees, despite the presence of a man Isaac instinctively knows could be his downfall... It should be so easy to let him go, but I can't. And not just because I want to protect him... Nothing about Isaac makes sense to Maddox. Not his piercings or makeup or flashy clothes. And most certainly not the snarky mouth that doesn't match the vulnerability Maddox sees in the younger man's eyes. But one thing does make sense to the hardened former soldier. Isaac is running from something, and Maddox's gut is telling him not to let Isaac and little Newt go until he can ferret out the truth. But having Isaac around means trying to make sense of something else Maddox isn't expecting... his own body's response to the beautiful younger man. Aside from their explosive chemistry, nothing about the straitlaced soldier and the secretive misfit works. But maybe that's exactly why it does... NOTE: Can be read as a standalone (no cliffhangers) but more enjoyment may be had by reading book 1, Locked in Silence , first. less

Sawyer Hiding and running, that’s what I’m good at. It’s who I am. It’s who I have to be...For Sawyer Brower, the picture-perfect town of Pelican Bay was just supposed to be another place to take refuge for a few months before moving on. One year later finds the seemingly unflappable wildlife veterinarian settling into what’s supposed to be the quiet life of contentment he’s always wanted... moreSawyer Hiding and running, that’s what I’m good at. It’s who I am. It’s who I have to be...For Sawyer Brower, the picture-perfect town of Pelican Bay was just supposed to be another place to take refuge for a few months before moving on. One year later finds the seemingly unflappable wildlife veterinarian settling into what’s supposed to be the quiet life of contentment he’s always wanted.But there’s nothing quiet about the arrival of the gorgeous but very bitter ex-soldier who seems intent on destroying what’s left of his life after losing his legs to an IED. Jett I didn’t just lose my legs in that godforsaken desert, I lost the man I used to be… the man I should’ve been. How the hell am I supposed to come back from that? I can’t. I won’t…While it took years of hard work and determination for Jett Sharpe to prove he deserved a spot in a prestigious military academy followed by an illustrious career in the army, it took just seconds for it to all be over. With nearly all of his brothers-in-arms lost to a roadside bomb and his own future irrevocably changed, Jett’s got little left to live for.So when his best friend shows up in Oklahoma with an ultimatum—go freely with him to Minnesota or by court order— Jett knows he has little choice in the matter. But hell if he’s going to make it easy on any of the men who keep trying to convince him he’s family.Two men running, one from the past, the other from the future…Nothing about Sawyer and Jett makes sense. Not after their disastrous first meeting and most certainly not the white-hot chemistry that keeps pulling them together. Scarred minds and wounded souls are forgotten when desire takes over, but masks have a way of settling back into place for two men who have nothing real to hang on to.Can Sawyer and Jett let the walls that are keeping them safe within themselves fall or will they miss out not only on each other, but the very thing the town of Pelican Bay is offering them?A place to call home. less

LincolnI was just there to do my job and then he arrived, and I knew in my gut everything was about to change. Everything…For former soldier turned nurse practitioner Lincoln Arden, Pelican Bay was supposed to be just another dot on a map, and the crotchety old man he’d been hired to assist in his physical rehabilitation was supposed to be just another patient whose body was slowly giving in to the harsh reality of time.It was just another job… one in a long list of many... moreLincolnI was just there to do my job and then he arrived, and I knew in my gut everything was about to change. Everything…For former soldier turned nurse practitioner Lincoln Arden, Pelican Bay was supposed to be just another dot on a map, and the crotchety old man he’d been hired to assist in his physical rehabilitation was supposed to be just another patient whose body was slowly giving in to the harsh reality of time.It was just another job… one in a long list of many. One that lasted only long enough that Lincoln could do what he needed to do and then keep moving. Always moving.But nothing about the live-in job was like all the others. Not the chaotic group of men who’d made themselves into a family, not the charming old farmhouse that sat in the middle of nowhere, and most certainly not the endless acres of trees, streams, and every other one of Mother Nature’s miracles that reminded him of the beauty of life after being witness to so much death.He'd done it, though. He’d remained on the outskirts of that family despite the warm welcome they’d offered him from day one, and he hadn’t let his surroundings make him forget that it would be time to move on soon enough.But then he arrived…TheoReturning to Pelican Bay and the past that came with it was the last thing I wanted to do, but “visiting” my former best friend would give me the time I needed to figure out where to disappear to next...Even though Theo Lancaster had only lived a few towns over from Pelican Bay, returning to the hometown of his one-time best friend in northern Minnesota was like walking through a doorway to the past and the exact moment his life had changed forever.Simply put, the small, picture-perfect town was the last place he wanted to be, but with no home, no friends or family to lean on, and no money, his choices had been pretty limited. Fortunately, the past that haunted his dreams night after night had prepared him for the moment by turning him into something he’d never thought he would be.A liar.A fake.A fraud.A man who knew what mask to wear and what words to say to keep the truth at bay.Hiding his scars, both the ones covering his body and the ones ripping his soul to shreds with each day that passed, was easy. Telling everyone he was okay spilled from his lips as effortlessly as the fake smile that he’d been perfecting for years. Lying about what had happened to him after that fateful day—when the truth about who he really was had been discovered—had been so well rehearsed that sometimes he even managed to fool himself into believing it had all been a terrible dream.It had been a good plan. Hide out for a few days, come up with a plan of what to do next, and disappear before anyone figured out the truth.But nowhere in his plans had he even given thought to meeting a gorgeous-as-hell nurse who saw past his lies with ease. A man who knew Theo wasn’t okay and was intent on healing as many of Theo’s scars as he could, both inside and out. A man who wanted the same thing for Theo that he needed for himself.To stop running. While this book can be read as a standalone, reading it before the others in the series will cause spoilers for previous books.Please note this book comes with several triggers... they are listed at the beginning of the book so you can download the sample if you wish to read what those triggers are prior to downloading entire book less