a life about to be tested by the return of the only woman who can break them up—Alli's sister, Tessa.A baby brought them together—and even though Alli has always loved her strong, sexy husband Sam and the life they've built together, she has decided to set him free to follow his youthful dreams. It is no longer enough for her to be wife and lover when she knows she holds so little of his heart.Sam has always dreamed of a life away from the close-knit world of Tucker's Landing, but marriage and fatherhood ended all that. Now Sam is torn between what was and what was meant to be. He must decide if it's time to rekindle the dreams of the past ... or accept Alli, and her love, just the way she is.JUST THE WAY YOU ARE is an emotionallly compelling, heartwarming, beautiful love story about choices, second chances, the crush of a youthful love, the intensity of a love born from marriage and life. "An exceptional novel from #1 New York Times Bestselling Author Barbara Freethy!"

    But when she discovers her husband’s infidelity, she doesn’t know what to make of it. Jam, maybe? Definitely jam.Fed up with the stale crumbs of her marriage, Elle revisits past recipes and the events that inspired them. A recipe for scones reminds her of her father’s death, cinnamon rolls signify the problematic courtship with her husband, and a batch of chocolate cookies casts Elle in a less-than-flattering light. Looking back, Elle soon realizes that some ingredients were missing all along.After confronting her husband, Elle indulges her sweet tooth in other ways, including a rebound that just leaves her more confused. As secrets from the past collide with the conflicts of the present, Elle struggles to manage her bakery business and maintain the relationships most important to her. In piecing her life back together, will Elle learn to take the bitter with the sweet?

    I betrayed Slade Mason. Then disappeared. I’m home now. And I want her back. Trouble is, she’s lying. Keeping secrets. Pushing me away. What she doesn’t know is that not even her deception could make me leave her again. Five years ago, I made the toughest decision of my life. I did the unthinkable. Then covered my crime. Now, Tango Rossi is back. And I want him more than ever. Problem is, he wants answers I can’t give. What he doesn’t realize is that his betrayal is the very reason we can never be together.

    I’ve moved on, married his enemy, and started my own family. Everything was perfect…until it wasn’t. My new life was a lie, and my husband turned out to be a fraud. The man that I married was now a wanted fugitive, and my ex-fiancé was the cop who was intent on making him pay. He’s convinced that a simple apology and a dimpled smile is enough to fix that broken heart that he tore apart years ago. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep him at a distance. Yet, all it takes is one kiss, one touch for me to remember how great our love was before he threw it away. Little does he know that I’m not the young, foolish girl who he left behind. If he thinks he can waltz back into my life like the past never happened, he has another thing coming. I can accept that fate sent him back to me. Now, I need to assure my foolish heart that this means nothing.

    Penelope was the love of his life, the woman of his dreams. Scarlet knew how far her best friend was going to fall and she had to catch him. Scarlet became Sean’s rock and helped him through a very painful breakup, but her own hidden desires bubbled to the surface in the process. When they finally gave in and slept together, she thought it was the start of their new relationship. Unfortunately, Sean didn’t feel the same.Humiliated and heartbroken, Scarlet moved across the country and found what she least expected. She rekindled her damaged relationship with her brother, who she hadn’t spoken to in a year, and her brother’s best friend was attractive and interesting. Their relationship was natural and unforced, and she was immediately drawn to him. Would she be able to get over Sean, forget about him, by sleeping with Cortland, or would that just be another repeated mistake?THIS IS NOT A CLIFFHANGER*Recommended for mature audiences 17+ due to strong language and sexual content.*

    She'd left South Dakota years ago because she couldn't bear to watch the man she loved loving another woman. But now she knows the truth. She'll keep the promise she made to a friend, but will Logan understand when he learns the truth? More important, can they again recapture the passion that had been between them all those years ago? He needed to face the past to get the love of a woman he thought he'd lost... Everyone knows that the Dakotas didn't get the name Badlands for nothing. Harsh weather and rough living are a way of life. But single dad, Logan McKinnon, had seen more than his share of bad times after the death of his wife a year ago. The last thing he needs is Poppy Ericksen, an old flame and his late wife's best friend, showing up unannounced to help after devastating floods nearly washed away their hometown. With no place to stay in town, he has no choice but to offer her a bed at his house. But can he live under the same roof with a woman he'd once loved passionately without feeling he's betraying his late wife?

    Devastated and trying to put the past behind her, Charlotte sought a new life in a new town. Now, five years later, her fiancé has convinced her it's time to return home and face her past. But will the truth she learns and the people she reconnects with destroy her carefully crafted happiness? Hannah Downing has created an emotional roller coaster about lost love and the way one indiscretion can change the course of your life. Charlotte questions every decision she's ever made, but she may discover that when you lose everything, you can truly find yourself.

    Beset by overbearing parents and surrounded by sycophantic socialites hoping to sink their claws into his wallet, he longs for someone who wants him for who he is, not what he has. Enter Charlie. She’s smart, beautiful, brave—and homeless. She’s all wrong for him, but Charlie crawls into Colts heart like no woman ever before. Having run from home to escape an abusive ex, Charlotte Ward just wants a new life…a quiet life…a safe life. She’s off to a bad start when she’s robbed of everything she owns, forcing her to sleep on the porch of an abandoned beach house. Enter the gorgeous next-door neighbor. Charlie doesn’t want to trust him, but Colt is kind, patient, persistent. Before long, she lets down her guard…and opens her heart. With his parents interfering and her past catching up fast, will Colt and Charlie find their different worlds are too far apart? Or is their love strong enough to prove home is where their hearts reside?

    Never before has she done anything so reckless, casting the only life she knows aside to travel to a strange place and marry a man she's never met. But something about this man calls to her—and she knows this may be her very last chance at happiness.Tragedy made Travis Thompson the guardian of three orphaned children—and determination leads him to do whatever it takes to keep the kids out of foster homes. When he decides to take a long shot on a personals ad, the results are surprising, and before he knows it, he has agreed to marry a mysterious Southern woman sight unseen.It could be the mistake of a lifetime. But Mary Warner may be exactly what this broken family needs. And with a little faith, a little trust, and a lot of love, two lonely hearts might just discover the true meaning of miracles.

    But what he got was a woman who shook his lonely bitter world upside down, and touched him in a way no other woman could. Emily Nelson, a courageous young mother, ends a loveless, bitter marriage and strikes out on her own. She answers an ad as a cook and live-in caregiver to a three-year-old boy on a local ranch. Ranch owner Brad Friessen hires and moves in Emily and her daughter. But Emily soon discovers something's seriously wrong with the boy, and the reclusive, difficult man who hired her can't see the behavior and how delayed his son is. So Emily researches until she stumbles across what she suspects are the soft signs of autism. Now she must tell him, give him hope, and help him come to terms with this neurological disorder-to take the necessary steps to get his child the help he needs. As their lives become intertwined, their attraction is unavoidable-a connection sparks between them. But just as they're getting close, Brad's estranged wife, Crystal, returns after abandoning the family two years earlier. Among the shock and confusion is one disturbing question Brad can't shake: How does Crystal know so much of his personal business, the inner working of the ranch, and Emily's relationship with his son? Crystal must've had a plan, as she somehow gains the upper hand, driving a wedge in the emotional bond forged between Brad, Emily, and the children. The primary focus for care and therapy of three-year-old Trevor is diverted. The lengths to which Crystal will go, the lies, the greed, just to keep what's hers, are nothing short of cold and calculating. Emily's forced out of the house. Brad fights to save his boy, to protect what's his, and struggles over his greatest sacrifice-Emily, and the haunting question: Has he lost her forever?THE OUTSIDER SERIES: The Forgotten Child (Brad & Emily) A Baby And A Wedding (An Outsider Series Short) Fallen Hero (Andy, Jed & Diana) The Search (An Outsider Series Short) The Awakening (Andy & Laura) Secrets (Jed & Diana) Runaway(Andy & Laura) Overdue (An Outsider Series Short) The Unexpected Storm (Neil & Candy) The Wedding (Neil & Candy) Or grab The Outsider Series: The Complete Omnibus Collection which includes all the books and short stories in this in this romantic saga. THE FRIESSENS: A NEW BEGINNING: The Deadline (Andy & Laura) The Price to Love (Neil & Candy) A Different Kind of Love (Brad & Emily) A Vow of Love, A Friessen Christmas

    I was the king of my domain. Everything I've ever wanted was at my fingertips. That included Sadie Ray Perkins. I had to fight for what I wanted. But will that be enough?Sadie Ray Perkins: Nash is the one I wanted. He wasn't the one I needed though. We fought our way through love and hate. I gave it but he couldn't. Now we're forced to make the most important decision of our lives. Love, sex, drugs, and lies.

    The man I was to marry, he was even less keen to walk down the aisle with me, but he had his own risks to weight in all of this.I didn’t expect a perfect marriage.I didn’t even believe they existed.What I didn’t expect was to say, “I do” and then be completely forgotten....At least, that was how it started out.It just got more complicated from there, until it wasn’t.Happiness was just around the corner, and maybe even, in time, the perfect marriage too.

     Once an aspiring young attorney, Josie looked forward to taking on the injustices of the world—one case at a time. Eleven years later, she’s a stay-at-home mom and battling demons that don’t require a law degree. Only keeping up pretenses proves more than she can bear when a bracelet that should have been hers shows up on the wrist of another woman. Her marriage slowly begins to unravel as an ex-lover comes back into her life. When he offers her the dreams she thought she’d lost, Josie must chose between the man she married and the one she let get away. John has always known exactly what he wanted. A career as a high-powered attorney, followed by the perfect family of six, and then elected public service. So it was no surprise that the first time he laid his eyes on Josie, he knew she was the one he’d share his dreams with. More than a decade, and one tragic miscalculation later, all he has worked for is slipping through his fingers. Powerless to stem the flow, the one thing he remains certain of: he can’t lose the woman he married.

    Her joy is short-lived, however, when a casual comment leads to the discovery of her husband’s infidelity. The news sends her reeling, grasping for understanding and skeptical of everything she once thought she knew. While she struggles with the deceit and questions her faith, her youngest child receives a devastating diagnosis, plunging her into deeper despair.Unsure of how to move forward, Monica must reevaluate her options and determine what truly matters most. But will her decision ultimately destroy her family or will it make them whole again?

     Back in high school, I gave him my heart. He broke it and left to join the Army. Now he’s at my brother’s house for our family Christmas. I know I should run, go back home before I let Carson hurt me again. But I can’t disappoint my brother’s kids by leaving. He’s still gorgeous and arrogant, but the pain in his eyes draws me in. I can’t resist him. This sizzling attraction is stronger than ever. Every stolen kiss, every secret rendezvous just makes me fall deeper for him. We’re sneaking around my brother’s house like teenagers, hot and breathless. But something’s wrong—he keeps pushing me away, wrestling his own demons from the war—I want to be there for him and make him forget everything else but us. What if he won’t let me? Maybe this is my chance to be naughty for Christmas. Or maybe he’s the answer to all my dreams.