the grandeur of Ayers Rock... legendary Alice Springs... the Great Barrier Reef... the primal beauty of Cape Tribulation…Two women, from different continents, with different values, collide with spectacular results... UNDER THE SOUTHERN CROSS.American Lee Paynter has built her Small travel agency into an international tour company. Brash, confident, openly lesbian, her great love is her business. Women? They're to enjoy and let go.Alexandra Findlay is pursuing a career in Australian tourism with quiet focus and determination, convinced that her career is the best she can hope for in her arid, closeted emotional existence.Now Alex has been assigned to accompany Lee on the American woman's visit Down Under, to win Lee's company over to Australian tourism. Suddenly Alex's quiet life explodes... And Lee is challenged by a woman unlike any she has ever known.

    A vicious killer who will stop at nothing. Two women on the run for their very lives. After 9/11, an experimental branch of the U.S. government has been tasked with the mission of proactively putting a stop to terrorism. They have sent a team to eliminate a financier responsible for funding the worst of these organizations. Everything is going according to plan. Until it’s not. The team is ambushed, and when the mission is looking its darkest, it goes from bad to worse. Former Marine scout sniper Seven Michelis is a black ops sharpshooter now injured and on the run for her life. Peace Corps volunteer Dr. Jenny MacKenzie defies good sense and sets out to help a stranger in need. What she finds is something else entirely. From the rugged foothills of the Andes through the dense forests of the Amazon river basin, Seven and Jenny fight to survive the perils of being hunted through Bolivia by a killer hell bent on homicide. Who can they trust, and what fresh hell awaits them if and when they make it home? Will they survive long enough to explore their growing attraction? Words: 160,000

    Born in Norway into the failed marriage between a Scandinavian diplomat and an American businessman, she now makes Atlanta her home, luxuriating in the lush heat and brashness of the New South. She glides easily between the world of silken elegance and that of sleaze and sudden savagery, equally at home in both; functional, deadly, and temporarily quiescent, like a folded razor.On a humid April evening between storms, out walking just to stay sharp, she turns a corner and collides with a running woman, Catching the scent of clean, rain-soaked hair, Aud nods and silently tells the stranger Today, you are lucky, and moves on—when behind her house explodes, incinerating its sole occupant, a renowned art historian. When Aud turns back, the woman is gone.

    When the two tough butches meet at a small town bar, they think they're getting the femmes of their dreams. So begins the awkward - yet sordid - acquaintance of the only two lesbians in town. Local rancher Tess doesn't have time for women who aren't her type, and new-girl-in-town Sidney isn't interested in someone who only sees her as a piece of fresh meat. Yet they keep bumping into each other... is it fate, or just small town karma? A bad date turns into a one-night stand. A one-night stand turns into a casual relationship. A casual relationship becomes Sidney's greatest amusement, and Tess's biggest nightmare as she's slowly forced out of the closet in conservative River Rock. Desperate times are afoot in the sleepy, gossipy hamlet of rural America. It's going to take more than nerves of steel to survive the isolationism and people with nothing better to do than ruin their neighbors' lives. It's going to take a whole lotta introspection - and love. (And no-holds-barred carnality. Let's be real.)

    After the untimely death of her father, she and her mother move to Los Angeles to start a new life. Devin is welcomed to her new school by an arrogant bully named Jason who promises to make the rest of her senior year miserable. Things turn around, however, when a beautiful and intelligent young woman named Melanie Parker, who happens to be Jason’s sister, comes to her rescue. As the relationship between Devin and Melanie grows, Devin finds herself becoming more and more drawn to her new friend’s vivacious spirit. It’s not until an unpleasant confrontation with Jason that Devin must admit to herself that her feelings for Melanie are far more than platonic.

    The FBI believes Lance is a cop gone bad and is responsible for the brutal murder of her lover. Special Agent Faye Mallory carries a personal vendetta against her and will do anything to catch her. For the past year, Lance has been on the move, keeping her head down and keeping out of trouble - until she reaches a tiny town in Texas. Trouble finally corners her when Lance is forced to take action to save another woman's life. Suddenly, she finds herself in over her head, blood on her hands, and on the run with the woman she is protecting. Can Lance survive being forced to revisit the life she thought she had left behind and to reopen old wounds?

    All she has to do is what she’s done successfully before: Follow the money, find the high-tech thief, and document it so the culprit gets the justice they deserve.This case is different, though. This time the embezzler is someone inside Sterling Proof, the financial industry’s most-trusted investigation firm. That one of their own could turn out to be a thief is bad enough, but that it wasn’t detected and dealt with immediately is even worse. The scandal would destroy Sterling Proof’s unparalleled and unblemished reputation for ethical conduct and security. Kip has to find out how and who, and no one but Tamara can know what she’s doing.As Kip gets closer to discovering the embezzler, her clandestine meetings with Tamara grow more frequent. To her consternation, her admiration for Sterling’s work is compounded by an undeniable physical chemistry. But there’s a rule about fraternization, and Sterling investigators never break the rules. She needs to wrap up her findings before anyone—including her emerging prime suspect Tamara Sterling—realizes Kip is not above temptation.This sizzling romance is the latest page-turning story from Golden Crown and Lambda Literary award-winning author Karin Kallmaker.

    During the summer before they turn sixteen―just as the two are discovering that there might be something more to their friendship―a tragic accident befalls Willa’s family and without warning, Willa and Lee's world is torn apart.Twenty-five years later Willa is a successful author of the young adult ghost stories she loved to read as a child. She returns to the lake looking for a writer’s retreat and an opportunity to connect with her troubled teenage sister, Nicole.Lee, now a single mother to her wise-beyond-her-years teenage daughter Maggie, is the director of the summer camp on the other side of Forestlands Lake. Before Willa and Nicole even have the chance to unpack, their plans are upset by a mysterious young girl, a near drowning, and a surprise reunion. Soon Willa and Lee are working to protect the girls, reconcile their past and unearth the secrets surrounding Forestlands Lake―putting old ghosts to rest once and for all.Genre: Romance, ParanormalEditor: Ann RobertsCover Designer: Judith Fellows

    Her plans are to get the craft seaworthy and then sail into the snaking waterways—alone.Life for a veterinarian in Stillwater Bay is good. Jackie Townsend is fond of the quirky inhabitants and loves the natural beauty. The newcomer working on the dilapidated boat could become much more than a random acquaintance, but it’s clear that the moody Stef harbors a grim secret and wants to get lost in her pain, not found by romance.The waterways of the Delta tangle and weave for hundreds of miles, hiding secret coves, serene vistas and fragile depths. But they are no match for the tides of a woman’s heart.

    Sexually abused by her father when she was a child, she keeps secrets with her twin sister and numbs past trauma with the bottle. When her twin is psychiatrically hospitalized, she’ll work with the hospital social worker, and in doing so, will be offered no choice but to deal with past horrors. Sage Carson is a clinical social worker, a divorced woman who has no desire for a relationship, one man being enough for a lifetime. When she meets Sawyer, questions about her own sexuality will be awakened, and she’ll have no choice but to deal with them. And, with this backdrop, as these two women begin a new relationship, Sawyer must perform at the top of her game, engaging in a desperate hunt for a serial rapist-murderer, a hunt that will become all too personal.

    Cajoled into accepting an invitation for a seven-day cruise to celebrate her ten-year high school reunion, she comes face-to-face with her past when the woman of her dreams haunts her days on the warm seas, even as she struggles to keep a secret that tears at her heart.Sierra Connor works for the travel agency responsible for booking her high school reunion cruise. She doesn’t want to attend the reunion in the first place because one woman will be there—the one who always made her feel whole but then disappeared and left Sierra’s heart and soul crushed without so much as a word. She knows love is for people who can trust, and she’s not one of those people.It was only one touch, ten years ago. Forced together once more, will the memory of that one touch ignite a new future? Or will their old hurts quench the flame?

    A shocking discovery and dark secrets. Is the leader of the Catholic Church hiding something that could change the world? Investigative journalist Flic Bastone overhears a startling conversation she can’t ignore. There is no proof, nor does she want any. Poking into Vatican affairs is dangerous. Aware that the secret could soon be exposed to the world, Flic hastily pens a novel that shares alarming similarities to the uncovered truth. Eager to capitalize on what they recognize as a best seller, Griffin Publishers fast-tracks the novel to print, propelling marketing guru Anna Lawrence and Flic on a grueling promotional tour. Pushed closer together when attempts are made on Flic’s life, their growing attraction intensifies. Who’s targeting Flic? And will Anna move beyond her own religious beliefs while their worlds fall apart?

    Mickey has a chip on her shoulder—she’s been cheated out of a small fortune by corporate giant Victoria Gresham. In an irrational attempt at revenge, Mickey kidnaps Gresham’s girlfriend, Ginette Felstrom. A straightforward and effective plan—except Ginette is the worst captive ever and no one wants to pay her ransom. Out of her depth as every one of her well-laid plans spins totally out of control, Mickey becomes the victim of reverse Stockholm Syndrome and falls head over heels for her captive. How could something so simple go so wrong? Or is that…right?

    Six passengers survive and find themselves on an uncharted island. They survived the crash, but must now learn to survive the harshness of the island, the elements from Mother Nature, and the differing personalities of the others. The family and friends of those lost on Flight 1049 come together for support, forming the 1049 Club - a help to those left behind who have lost parents or breadwinners. The 1049 Club also finances flights to continue the search for those missing after the authorities have given up. Can those on the island find new family and loved ones amongst their fellow survivors? Can those left behind find new life, new loves and continue on in spite of the void made by the loss of their loved ones? How long will those seeking survivors continue to have hope?

    Actress and Northerner Jordan Colfax is hired by Allan Pinkerton to spy on behalf of the Union. When she meets Confederate sympathizer, Laura St. Clair, whose father is military aide to Jefferson Davis, the perfect opportunity presents itself. But when the truth about Jordan's real intentions are discovered, their growing love is put to the ultimate test - the result of which could mean the difference between life and death. Can a Southern belle and a Yankee spy overcome their differences or will divided loyalties keep them apart?From Tidewater Virginia to Washington, D.C., passion and betrayal converge in Civil War Richmond.