Having rebuilt her life after a devastating betrayal, Kate Bannister has finally returned to her home town. Leading a quiet, solitary existence as the city librarian, she is busily preparing for a special appearance by a mysterious new author whose first novel, Gold Fever, has become an instant best-seller. But the news that Ashley Maclean is also coming to town quickly turns Kate's carefully controlled world upside down. Growing up together, Kate and Ashley used to be inseparable, first as best friends, then as lovers. Never doubting Ashley's love, Kate thought their lives were mapped out - that they would always be together. But Ashley's family had other ideas. After catching the young lovers together, Ashley's mother forced them to separate. Upon receiving the news that Ashley was about to be married, a distraught Kate left home, vowing never to let anyone get close enough to hurt her again. Although Kate had convinced herself that the pain was behind her, the very mention of Ashley's name brings all of the old memories - and feelings - rushing back. What will she do if Ashley wants to see her again? Even worse - what if Ashley doesn't?

City professional Olivia Lewis is coming to terms with her latest romantic failure by attempting to throw herself into her work. But with clients suddenly leaving Applewood Financial in their droves it becomes clear that old enemies have decided to strike and Olivia realises that she is losing everything.Meanwhile the world of first-class flight attendant Emily White comes crashing down around her when she loses her job with Crown Airlines. With no income, enormous debts and a broken-hearted five-year-old son she thinks that things can't get any worse. That is until a blast from the past threatens it all. When a twist of fate brings them together will they finally be able to understand each other?

No one has her life more mapped out than Kai Merlin. She'll succeed her mother Galen and carry out every duty expected of her—the most important of which is to keep hidden the secrets her people have kept for eons. Vivien Palmer's life has been just as planned out by her parents, and their dream is for her and her brother Franklin to eventually run the family business. But Vivien's dreams lie in the depths of the oceans searching for clues to the shells she and Franklin wear around their necks. A chance encounter as children forever linked Kai and Vivien for life, but can they find a way to be together despite what's expected of them? The answers lie Beneath the Waves.

Animal rescue worker Iris Mallery thinks she has created a stable and secure home for herself, but when her small town is battered by an earthquake, Iris needs to rebuild not only her own life, but the lives of the displaced dogs and cats now filling her shelter.The quake's effects are personal for Iris, but not for seismologist Casey Radnor. Casey is a scientist above all else, logical and disconnected from the natural disasters she studies. When she rescues a stray dog from some rubble, she finds herself caught up in the lives of Iris and the others affected by the quake, despite her best efforts to remain professional.The beautiful San Juan Islands in Washington State become the epicenter of both the earthquake and the collision of Iris's and Casey's hearts. Can love bind the shattered fragments together again?

After a life of wrong turns and lost hope, can true love be more than a bittersweet fantasy?Melinda Andrews arrives on the Oregon coast with a dream of running the Sea Glass Inn. Still reeling after an unexpected divorce, Mel believes she has missed her chance to find love. All she wants is to make her business a success and regain her independence. She locates the artist who inspired her move so she can commission more paintings for her new inn.Pamela Whitford runs a gallery in a small seaside town, planning events and supporting other artists while neglecting her own talent. Since being deserted by the love she thought was forever, she refuses to let anyone close enough to hurt her again. But Pam can’t resist the struggling new innkeeper, and she agrees to paint for her even though it means opening herself up to creativity and the vulnerability that goes with it.Can they learn to trust again and discover a second chance at love?About the AuthorKaris is a Pacific Northwest native with a BA in English from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, and a few years of postgraduate work in Classics at UW in Seattle. Naturally, this education led to a career as a horseback riding instructor. She has been teaching for over twenty years and has been published in a national equestrian magazine. She lives on a small farm in Washington with a black cat, goats, and a foster horse from a local equine rescue group. She spends most of her free time reading, playing the violin and viola, and riding with friends.

Three stories by three talented crime writers—Carsen Taite, Ali Vali, and Michelle Grubb—each packing her own special brand of heat. In Hammersmith by Michelle Grubb: Officer Belinda Riley knew the signs of a suicide bomber, but this time she was blind to the obvious. This time she didn't want to believe what was right in front of her eyes. In Bow and Arrow by Carsen Taite: Bounty hunter Luca Bennett has always lived on the edge of the law, but now she's living with a cop and doing her darnedest to stay out of trouble. When an old enemy resurfaces, will the shady ways of Luca's past come back to haunt her? In Hell Fire by Ali Vali: Dr. Abigail Eaton stumbles into a massacre, but once someone tries to kill her it seems like no accident. While hunting for the perpetrators of a sex trafficking empire, Agent Riley Abbott saves Abigail from a professional hit and discovers the young mother might be the key to more than just...

Unemployed English professor Emily Murray has been given a chance of a lifetime: to work and study inside Gnarled Hollow, the former estate of one of her favorite authors. She doesn't believe in the supernatural, but by the end of her first day, she knows something is wrong. The house has a disturbing habit of changing dimensions—and nor just physical ones. Rooms go missing, doors close on their own, and time has a strange tendency to disappear. Emily is joined by other scholars, among them the beautiful art historian, Juniper Friend. Together they begin to research the history of the house, refusing to abandon their work despite the appearance of a mysterious, frightening presence. Spurred on by their desire to uncover the mysteries of Gnarled Hollow and its ghostly inhabitant, they're determined to uncover the truth, even if it means risking their own lives.

Guide dog trainer Lenae McIntyre left the high-speed world of television news writing behind, and now she helps other visually impaired people adjust to life with their canine companions. She teaches her students and their dogs to trust each other, but a past betrayal and the determination to be self-sufficient and independent keep her from trusting her heart to see love.Cara Bradley compensates for her family's shallow celebrity lifestyle by devoting her life to helping others, while keeping to the background. She reluctantly commits to a year of puppy walking a four-legged whirlwind named Pickwick so she can film regular segments for a local news program while helping promote the McIntyre Training Center, but she is unprepared for the changes that the driven and aloof Lenae will bring to her life.Blindsided by love, can Lenae and Cara learn to trust and guide each other toward a new vision for their future?

Augusta “Tucker” Delacroix is perfectly content running a successful oil field supply company until her brother and business partner, Jim Bob, dies suddenly. Things go from bad to worse when the family's lawyer introduces her to Monique, a beautiful stranger who turns out to be Jim Bob’s mistress and mother of his son. Monique wants Jim Bob's son to be a Delacroix, and Tucker steps up—it’s what family does. Willow Vernon has never approved of her sister’s affair with a wealthy married man, but when tragedy strikes, Willow assumes care of her nephew. When Tucker demands shared custody rights, Willow’s ready to go to battle. Tucker’s the same kind of irresponsible philanderer as Jim Bob, and she’s not falling for the Delacroix charm like Monique did, no matter how tempting Tucker might be. Family ties bring Tucker and Willow together, but they could also tear them, and any chance they have at love, apart.

Sometimes conformity and control are only shields, and all it takes is the right woman to shatter the illusions forever.Andrea Taylor craves peace in her life, no matter what the personal sacrifice. She arranges her career as a violist, her relationships with family and friends, and even her love life so she can avoid strife at all costs. Everything is going according to plan until she meets Brooke Stanton the night before Brooke's wedding rehearsal and her ordered existence falls apart.When Brooke hires a string quartet to play at her rehearsal dinner, she doesn't expect to meet a woman who threatens the security of her already predetermined future. Suddenly she has doubts about the conventional path she has chosen and desires she can no longer ignore.In an eclectic neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, these two women face a life-altering decision—will they fight the attraction that threatens their carefully structured lives or take a chance on finding the...

Archaeologist Berit Katsaros travels the world in search of treasures from ancient times. A serious injury forces her to take a break from fieldwork and accept an interim teaching job at Whitman College. She finds nothing redeeming in her frustrating sabbatical…except her sexy landlord, Tace. When Stacy “Tace” Lomond takes charge of her brother’s failing microbrewery, she discovers a passion and talent she never realized she possessed. After years of putting herself last and supporting others’ dreams, she’s ready to make a name for her artisanal beer among the academics and sophisticated wineries in Walla Walla, Washington. Berit might be a tempting distraction, but she’s only a temporary fixture in town and in Tace’s life. Slow-crafted beer and time-worn artifacts. Both women recognize what’s important in their careers, but can they learn to appreciate the value of love?

A picture, they say, is worth a thousand word. But Joanna Holbrook-Sutherland senses that a photograph of a homeless woman she sees at an exhibit in a trendy London gallery can change her life--if only she can locate the woman, whose haunting face has been also haunting her dreams. With a compulsiveness that amazes her family and friends and frightens herself, Jo assembles the crumbs of information that leads her to a frigid park in Whitechapel and to Rocky, a young woman with fearful secrets. But the hardest part is still ahead, as Jo deals with Rocky's debilitating physical and mental consequences of living on the street for five years and with the horrors that drove Rocky there in the first place.