Parties by C.M. Nascosta

Several months after a weekend girls’ trip, suburban elves Lurielle, Ris, and Silva are still affected by their experiences at the resort and the orcs they met there.

Lurielle discovers that being in a multi-species relationship presents its own unique challenges: meeting Khash’s family, introducing him to hers, and facing the harsh realities that lie ahead if they stay together. A lifetime together or a lifetime apart — she must decide if she can bear all that the future holds.

When Ris returns to the resort on a whim, an unexpected encounter with a slightly familiar face upends this elf’s desire to be a free as the wind. Ainsley is simultaneously everything and nothing that she’s looking for – smart and sexy and completely unattached, and happy to stay that way . . . but how long can they “keep things casual?”

Silva struggles juggling her two halves: Daytime Silva, crushed beneath the expectations of her family and snobbish Elvish society, and Silva of the Nighttime, unfettered and free, seeing Tate in secret. When her web of lies tangles beyond her control, she must make a choice — will she follow the carefully mapped life of privilege her family has planned for her in their Elvish community . . . or throw it all away to follow her heart, for a man with his own heart full of secrets.

Parties is a multi-POV story, following all three girls through a succession of soirees, each one winding their separate storylines — and the work friends — tighter together.