Leaving college, she returns home to find her younger sister mute with shock, her mother too depressed to function, and their beloved Thoroughbred horse ranch on the verge of going under. She’s barely arrived when she’s forced to accept help from Brett Dawson—the man who once broke her heart—when a marauding mountain lion threatens one of the prized horses they depend on for survival. Brett would rather be anywhere but the Swearingen ranch. Caught between his feelings for Megan and the powder keg of the ongoing feud between their families, he feels his only choice is to help Megan, regardless of the consequences. If it weren’t for Brett’s father, Megan’s dad might still be alive, and she wouldn’t be here now sacrificing her future to save her family’s ranch. As the long-simmering attraction between Megan and Brett resurfaces, it is threatened almost before it begins by dark family secrets swirling around them—secrets that turn to danger and could very well destroy not only their new beginning, but the lives of everyone they both love.

    After years away, Alec Munroe has returned, a successful businessman who is snooping around her bookstore with an avaricious gleam in his eye. She’d like to tell him to leave, despite still being in love with him, but the secret she's kept all these years demands to be told. Alec Munroe has been successful in all ways but one: he has never been able to escape his memories of Katrina Ross. When he discovers the secret she's kept from him, he's faced with hard decisions. Justice or the forgiveness God calls him to offer...Can Alec and Katrina leave the past behind to embrace the promise of a love they have never forgotten?

    He is uptight. Never the twain shall…kiss? A deadline-driven workaholic assistant school principal who meticulously plans his schedule months in advance meets an easygoing art teacher and studio potter with no sense of time, living her life as the seasons come and go. When they cross paths again at the Summer by the Sea Day Camp sponsored by his church in Nassau, Bahamas, how can they get along if they cannot see eye to eye? Byron’s Burden… This is what I’ve always wanted, right? Then why does this assistant headmaster position hem me in? I feel constricted, restricted, afflicted. I fear I have taken a wrong turn in my career. What is God’s will for my life? And what does Tina think about— Tina? What does she have anything to do with my career decisions? Tina’s Turn… Go to the Bahamas, they said. It will be fun, they said. Well, arriving in Nassau, I feel I could enjoy myself if Byron’s not around. I made it, right? I’m here! That’s good enough for me, but apparently it’s not good enough for Mr. Uptight. Why does he bother me so? I don’t need his approval— Oh yes, I do. As a volunteer art teacher at the day camp, I have to answer to Byron for four weeks. Well, thank God it’s only for four weeks. And then I’m outta here, and he’ll be out of my hair.

    He reclaims our desolate places. Suzanna Wilton has had a heavy share of heartache in her twenty-seven years. Left wounded by a marriage cut short, she leaves city life to take up residency in a tiny Nebraska town. Her introduction to her neighbor Paul Rustin is a disaster. Assuming he’s as underhanded as the other local cowboys she’s already met, Suzanna greets him with sharp hostility.Though Paul is offended by Suzanna’s unfriendliness, he can’t stop thinking about her, which unsettles his peaceful life. Intrigued by the woman who lives down the road and propelled by a sense that she carries a painful burden, he frequently drops by to offer help as she adjusts to rural living.Just as Paul’s kindness begins to melt Suzanna’s frozen heart, a conflict regarding her land escalates in town. Even in the warmth of Paul’s love, resentment keeps a cold grip on her fragile heart.When romance isn't enough, will Suzanna ever find peace?

    . . or so she thinks. It was a broken heart on her 16th, a car accident on her 21st, pneumonia on her 30th, and a fall down a flight of stairs on her 35th. There were Ohio blizzards on her 38th, 39th, and 40th; and six days before her 45th, she lost the love of her life to a heart attack. Numbing grief stole that birthday and a couple more to follow and, on the morning of her 48th birthday, she received the call she’d dreaded ever since losing her mom so many years ago…she was diagnosed with stage-3 ovarian cancer. The doctors didn’t hold out a lot of hope, but Liv survived and maintained her faith. Months of surgeries and chemotherapy and radiation treatments followed.But now, as her 50th birthday creeps up the icy Ohio path toward her, her hair has grown back, her energy level is up, and she is officially cancer free. It makes her nervous. After everything she’s gone through, Liv hates the idea of driving on icy roads and returning to work as an O.R. nurse in a local Cincinnati hospital.Her best friend Hallie knows just the thing to break Liv out of the winter doldrums, while providing a safe haven of warmth, sunshine, and a time to regroup: a holiday in the Florida sunshine!

    Although raised by loving grandparents, it’s the G-FOURce—the Gustafson Four Sisters Club—that binds them together when their differences would tear them apart. All grown up now, Juliette has become the quintessential doormat, Renata, two years younger, the self-appointed matriarchal figure. Phoebe is borderline narcissistic, according to Renata at least, and Gia is on the verge of a major identity crisis. But they’re still a force with which to be reckoned as they continue the time-honored tradition of meeting together to love and support one another, and if necessary, to intervene in each others lives. What none of the sisters has been willing to address is the hovering presence of Angela Clinton, the senior class darling who drove her cherry black 1970 el Camino into the side of their parents’ car on the night of Juliette’s high school graduation. But Angela’s prison sentence is winding down; soon she’ll be eligible for parole, so face her, they must. Will the G-FOURce be strong enough to hold them together as they step into the eye of the storm that’s been brewing for the last fifteen years? Will they finally be able to let go of the past and embrace the future, no matter what it holds? JULIETTE AND THE MONDAY MANDATES Juliette Gustafson is heart-broken after waiting nearly ten years for a proposal from her boyfriend that never came. Determining she isn’t “getting over Mike” quickly enough, her three younger sisters come up with The Monday ManDates; an intervention plan requiring Juliette to endure what turns out to be a series of remarkably disastrous blind dates. Between TheraPaul, Frisky Frank, TAZ the rock star, and the stoic Tim Larsen, the Monday ManDates are doomed from the start. Then there’s Victor Jarrett, the police officer with an affinity for pulling Juliette over when she’s at her very worst. But no one is more surprised than Juliette when she meets the one man who can right the wrongs in her past and change her future, if she will only let herself fall in love with him.

    Christmas has brought nothing but grief and loneliness for the past decade, after she lost her beloved husband to a fatal car accident. Hearing holiday music day after day during the first few months of the school year is like constantly ripping the scab off an unhealed wound.Determined to keep her husband in her heart, she has kept a fortress around it, allowing only one woman in as a true friend, and avoiding anything more than a passing acquaintance with any man.Until Timothy Fielding, the maintenance man at the apartment complex where she lives, comes along. He happens to love the Christmas season. When circumstances – and Janice’s best friend, Kayla – draw them together, he struggles to keep his growing feelings for Janice at bay. He has his own secret past that he’s sure would repel any woman, once she found out about it.But his desire for love and companionship win out, and he does his best to knock down the walls around Janice’s heart. But even when she finally relents and agrees to spend more time with him, she continues to resist opening her heart back up to Christmas.Because the death of her husband is only the beginning of the tragedy surrounding the day.In the meantime, Lucille Masterson, the great-grandmother of Janice’s star pupil, makes a shocking discovery that almost causes her to ruin Christmas for her family. Again. But then she realizes that if she would face her fear, she could finally release the burden she’s been carrying for the past ten years. What she doesn’t know is that it would release a horrible burden for the very person she’s afraid to face…**********“Christmas Mercies” is the first novel in Emily Josephine’s Christian holiday romance series, “Little River Village Christmas Romance.” A clean and wholesome romance novel, it will warm your heart, build your faith, and leave you feeling refreshed and hopeful.

    Seven boys were adopted from the foster care system by Alec and Maggie Donahue, a loving Irish couple living in Breeze Point, Cape Cod. Now grown men, the brothers are making their way in the world in their chosen professions, each hoping to find love that will last a lifetime. The Caretaker Blue Donahue, an internationally-known journalist, has come home to Breeze Point, Cape Cod to celebrate his parents’ fortieth wedding anniversary. When his father suffers a stroke, Blue, along with his six adopted brothers, is thrown into a tailspin. When he comes face to face with Sarah, the love of his life, his heart awakens to all the possibilities stretched out before them. Sarah Dalton, an emergency room nurse, can’t believe her eyes when her ex-fiancé, Blue Donahue, comes crashing into her hospital. Four years ago their relationship crashed and burned when Blue showed up two hours late for their wedding. Now, she’s forced to face the only man she’s ever loved as he deals with a family crisis. The hurts of the past loom large between Blue and Sarah. But as circumstances drive them together, they find that the love they thought they’d lost has endured. And, with faith and truth, they may be able to create a love stronger than any they’d ever dreamed possible and get their happily ever after. Seven Brides, Seven Brothers Series

    Ciara Rome doesn’t need God, and she doesn’t need a man. Her entire life is a proud testament to that declaration, and her master’s thesis is merely a culmination of what she has learned. So when she discovers her new neighbors include a single dad and his three rambunctious sons, she is delighted to have first-hand corroboration of her theory. Luke Weston is fascinated by his new neighbor. Ciara’s open admission that she intends to use his family in support of her wild theory is unsettling, but Luke decides to let his life speak for itself—and he turns the issue over to God. But he finds himself increasingly drawn to this lovely young woman whose goals and beliefs are so opposed to his own. Only God would bring these two together, and only His love can break through walls that have taken years to build.

    That is, when they’re someone else’s problems. So when it comes to her sister, Sophie is sure she has all the answers, and offers them without hesitation. If only her sister would listen.Then, through a series of chance encounters, she meets Sam, who is witty, kind, and downright unflappable. Sophie has the overwhelming sense that she’s known him before, and as a relationship builds between them, odd visions invade her mind. Though she tries to dismiss them, their persistence will not allow it.As someone who is quick to judge others, she is intrigued by Sam’s ability to accept people as they are. She begins to see him as a role model, but try as she may, his accepting nature is difficult to emulate.Will Sophie ever be able to put her hasty judgments aside and realize not every problem has a simple solution?

    As a Latter-day Saint (Mormon) she'll soon be too old to attend church in a singles ward, her career as a painter is no longer considered cool, and she feels too old to use the excuse that she's "just starting out" to explain why she still can't pay the bills. The only man interested in her is a scruffy, video game addicted nerd who is the first to admit that they are all wrong for each other. When her beloved Aunt Nora calls from England and begs her to visit, Eliza leaps at the chance. Even better? Nora had the perfect romance with her late husband and is eager to share the tale. As Eliza sets out to immortalize this courtship in a series of paintings, she learns a lesson that will change her outlook on life and love forevermore.

     What she most needed was right there in front of her all along. At the age of thirteen, Clarise Aylward and her two best friends each pen a wish list of things they want to achieve. Deciding to bury a tin containing their life goals, the friends vow to unearth the metal box once they’ve all turned forty. But as the decades pass and each girl chases her dreams, the lists are forgotten. Heath Brock has been in love with Clarise for over twenty-seven years and counting. As a young man, he’d plucked up the courage to ask her out on a Valentine’s date, but the couple succumbed to pent-up passions, sending Clarise dashing for the other side of the country. Years after Clarise’s sudden departure, Heath serves as youth pastor. He’d held out hope of Clarise’s return, but buries his feelings for his childhood sweetheart when he learns she’s married. Almost penniless, divorced, and with nowhere to go, Clarise returns home to Chapel Cove, her future uncertain. She’s approaching forty with her dreams in tatters. When old feelings resurface, Clarise wonders whether she’s ever really fallen out of love with Heath. What’s the man of God to do when his old flame returns, seemingly to stay? With Clarise back in town, Heath is determined not to repeat past mistakes, but if he has anything to say about it, never again will he lose the only woman he’s ever loved.

    When the loss of her husband’s business forces them to move temporarily back to his family’s farm, Leslie is terrified that once Dan is back in the fold of family and the community of Holmes Crossing, her needs will be smothered. Then a near tragedy tests everything they both hold dear.Start your journey to Holmes Crossing with Dan and Leslie’s story and get pulled into Terra’s, a girl with sass, spunk and a haunting secret. Terra has spent the last few years outrunning the darkness of her past. But when she is forced to stay in Holmes Crossing past and present clash in a way that has chilling repercussions for any future she hopes to create.After that you’ll meet Miriam who has a second chance at motherhood when she unexpectedly becomes a joint guardian of the baby she gave up. But can her rekindled relationship with Duncan, co-guardian of her daughter, withstand the accusing secrets of her past?What readers have to say: The Only Best Place “If you cry easily, you may want tissues nearby." “ Keep reading the book. It has an ending we could all live with.” All In One Place “This book, while difficult in subject, has great hope and promise for its subjects as well as it’s readers. Holmes Crossing is a place to get comfy for awhile.” “Thank you, Carolyne, for writing a tough and yet beautiful story of healing and redemption!” This Place “I fell in love with this series and the people are so down to earth! “You really must give this book your attention because it is great!" “The healing and forgiveness and hope were like a warm blanket on a cool night.” Read the rest of the series as well: A Silence in the Heart Any Man of Mine A Place in Her Heart

     Trey’s biggest challenge isn’t performing surgery…it’s restoring Sessa’s heart! Artist Sessa Chambers may never recover from losing her prodigal son. Even as she grieves the tragic decisions that led to his death, and left her with a toddler to raise, she’s asked to work on her dream project—restoring carousel horses for the Smithsonian. But she can’t do it on her own… Dr. Trey Brown can’t pick up a scalpel again. Yes, he acted in self-defense, but the events of that awful night haunt him. He was trained to save lives, not take them. When he goes to the young man’s widowed mother to apologize, she’s not at all what he expected. For one thing, she’s not as alone as he thought—not with the fearsome ladies of the Pies, Books, and Jesus Book Club in her corner. For another, she’s beautiful, and being in her presence is more jolting than any eight-second bronco ride from his former rodeo days. Before he knows it, she’s captured his heart as easily as they capture the fireflies gracing Sessa’s Texas ranch. How can they overcome their past to embrace a future together?

    Did she make a mistake? Her engagement off, Zoe Griffin retreats to tiny Wildflower Island in the Puget Sound. Hiding out as a cook and maid at a shabby bed-and-breakfast seems crazy for a chef who’s used to running her own five-star kitchen. And just as she starts to feel at home, her klutzy mishaps make Zoe fear her handsome new boss will fire her. Dr. Nick Jackson is done with medicine, and owning a B&B is as far from doctoring as he can get. He needs help, but his only employee’s mistakes give him doubts. As Zoe lets her defenses down, Nick begins to see a competent and caring woman. One whose wounds are as deep as his own. But as they fall for each other, Nick and Zoe must learn the hardest lesson of all—to forgive. Only then can they heal the past and embrace the future . . . together. Author Bio Kimberly Rose Johnson, soon to be empty-nester, lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and their yellow lab. Island Refuge is her sixth published book and the first in a series of three. Kimberly enjoys long walks, chocolate, and mochas, not necessarily in that order.