One night stands only need apply.
Ali Stinson is having a bad day. Her afternoon tryst has been interrupted (before they got to the good part) to discover her investment manager has run away with all her money. Now she has to keep up appearances with her high society friends, find a dress for an upcoming charity event and not fall in love with Sam, the cute bartender, who insists on helping her. Thing is she’s 90% sure she doesn’t want help. Adulting is hard.
Looking for work, not love.
Sam Freemont is having a strange day. He was in the middle of the best kiss of his life when his boss walked in and halted the fun. Not helping with the low profile he’s trying to maintain. Now he can’t get Ali off his mind or out of his dreams. Good thing she’s a regular at the swanky resort he just started working at. Gives him time to find a way back to her lips. Or better yet, into her heart.
Ruby Red is an opposites attract, riches-to-rags, fake dating, contemporary romance book written in alternating point of view and contains steamy open-door scenes, a feisty heroine freshly out of a disastrous marriage, a cinnamon roll hero who is hiding a secret, side character’s you wish you were friends with, and a twist you won’t see coming. Packed with emotions and page turning drama, this HFN has no love triangles, no cheating, and no cliffhangers.
✨💜Tropes💜✨
- ❤️🔥Emotional Slow-Burn
- ♥️Contemporary Romance
- 💕 Opposites attract & riches-to-rags vibes
- 🍸 Fake dating at a high-society charity event
- 💵 A feisty divorcée reclaiming her life after a disastrous marriage to her billionaire ex
- 🍪 A cinnamon-roll bartender hero with a secret past
- 💛Found family and side characters you’ll want as your real-life friends
- 🌪️ A twist you won’t see coming
⁉️If you lost everything overnight (money, status, security )would you fight to keep up appearances or let it all burn and start over? 🔥 We all know I would let it burn
Check out more Slow Burn Romances below
- Author: D.L. Croisette
- Release Date: March 15, 2025
- Genre: Contemporary Romance
- My Rating:
- ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
- 🌶️/5
To Mina. Thanks for daring me to write. Look what you started
💋If you like a good riches to rags, fake dating, found family and an emotional slow burn Ruby Red book one in the Hidden Hearts Series
Spoilers Ahead
💄We meet Ali Stinson in the midst of her divorce from a high up rich socialite. With mouth watering one night stands, to pool boys at the resort, and money not being a concern. She’s living her damn life Linda.
Now Ali licked her those ruby red lips, secure in the knowledge she had the pull boy on her hook
🫦Well that was the case until one afternoon at her friend’s resort, her credit card stopped working. Ali has been one to never have to worry about money, everything was always taken care of by her husband, before that her parents money helped out. But now all of her money has disappeared with her investment manager, left with nothing she now needs to figure out how to keep up appearances with her high society “friends”. -Really they are just hungry gossipers that will eat up anything negative about the girl who turned down Jack Blackthorne. – Not to mention the upcoming charity event she needs to find a new dress for. Lucky for Ali the cute bartender she almost hooked up with is here to help.
📸Sam Freemont wasn’t expecting the beauty woman at the resort with the ruby red lips to flip his world upside down. Of course his boss would walk in on probably the best kiss of his life. But that’s what you get when you start making out with the lady irresistible red lips in the middle of the work day. Since he moved to LA he has been trying to keep a low profile, nevertheless he helps Ali with introducing her to one of his good friends who just so happens to be a designer. The more time they spend together the more Ali questions Sam’s past. It’s not like he has been very open about it, but when his feelings become more for Ali he wants to come clean about the secret he has been keeping
🪡I absolutely love Jonathon, our designer and the found family that Sam formed when he moved. He was so obsessed with Ali’s style, the bold looks she always wears to events, he made her dress at no expense. I know you’ll love him too when you meet him.
What will happen next for Ali and Sam? More Red comes out March 14, 2026
Favorite Scenes
Her shoulders seized at the notion of having to ask for help from someone else
I absolutely hate asking other people for help. Unless it is work. It’s a real problem, I’d drown before I ask for help, I will always try to do it by myself, or find the answer on my own.
She could do this. She was resourceful. She was smart. She didn’t quite break into “I Will Survive” lip-syncing, but the situation was a bit better.
The car was exactly what he expected a woman like her would be driving. Sleek, fast, expensive. The color, not so much. Black maybe, red more predictably. But navy? Lawyers and old ladies afraid of speeding tickets drove navy cars.
“I’m pretty sure she’s not too concerned with Stan. Now, this Sam guy, on the other hand, sounds interesting. I want to know more.”
She grinned “Oh, he’s interesting. I can’t wait until he gets off work so I can go out with him again.”
“Neither can he, Ms. Stinson.”
Finally, he was here. She was so delighted, she completely forgot they were keeping things under wraps at the club and threw her arms around his neck. A goofy grin spread across his face when he embraced her, pulling her close.
Ali was home.
“We’ll fight this together. We’ll find a way. Jack won’t get near you again. He won’t harm me.” She shook her head against his chest in denial. “I won’t let him. I promise.”
Favorite Quotes
“We all have skeletons in our closet and deserve a fresh start”
“Ali, I’ll do anything for you”
“Don’t you get it?” … “I’ve loved you from the first moment we met.”
“As long as I have you with me, we can do anything, go anywhere. I don’t care where we live. We can pitch a tent right here on the beach”
This reminds me of my husband and I. We will do anything for each other and always figure it out. We’re each others ride or dies, as long as we’re together we can face anything.
Hidden Hearts Series
- Ruby Red
- More Red
What’s New
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