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THE APPLE DIARYAfter the death of her grandmother, reluctant heiress Madilyn Marak agrees to stay with her grandfather at the estate for the summer. There, she finds an old diary hidden in an antique desk in the attic—The Apple Diary—written by her great-grandmother Isabel.
She is determined to get Isabel’s beloved apple orchard—which had fallen into ruins—vibrant again. She hires the inexperienced Dylan Hayes, a woman soon to be homeless, to take on the chore of restoring the orchard to its original glory. The normally quiet and reserved Madilyn finds a new joy in life as she becomes friends with the outgoing and energetic young woman who has come to live on the property. As she is transformed from a stoic and passive heiress to a happy and spirited woman, she realizes the similarities of her journey and that of Isabel’s. Like Isabel, is she destined to marry a man she doesn’t love? Or will she find the strength that eluded Isabel and follow her heart?
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HUNTER'S REVENGEWhen a seventy-one-year-old man is shot dead in his home, it seems like a random act of |
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TIMBER FALLSThe isolated, sleepy little village of Timber Falls—built on the bend of a swift mountain river—swells during the summer months as tourists flock to town to run the river, lured there by the Class V rapids.
Carter, a disgraced LAPD detective, was offered an out—a position on a team of unorthodox FBI agents. After a month of training, she is sent out on her own without a team or a partner. |
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THE GREAT CHARADE2022 - GCLS WINNERAbby Carpenter is in a tailspin knowing she is about to spend ten days in the company of her ex-girlfriend—who is now engaged to her brother—for a family holiday gathering in Red River, New Mexico. The same ex-girlfriend who last year at Christmas had lured her into bed. Abby’s solution? A pretend girlfriend for the holidays would surely keep her ex away and in her own room at night, right? Nic Bennett’s life has been far from ideal, and Christmas is her most dreaded holiday of all as she relives horrors from the past. When an attractive stranger approaches her with the offer of a chance to get away for ten days, she agrees. But with a counteroffer that brings both anxiety and excitement to the desperate Abby. Among the holiday lights and snow-covered grandeur, the lines between pretend and reality blur as the two women have the time of their lives. Soon Abby learns it isn’t her ex she can't resist. And Nic learns what it means to be part of a family for Christmas. |
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RED TIDE AT HERON BAY2022 - Lambda Finalist2022 - GCLS FinalistLauren Voss has a nice, quiet orderly life running her grandmother’s Heron Bay Resort on the Texas coast. Three years removed from a break-up that left her ex—and her life—behind in San Diego, she’s adjusted to the slow pace in Rockport, seeking out neither new friends nor lovers. Vandalism at the resort’s clubhouse—and a cryptic message written in blood—brings Detective Harley Shepherd, with her obnoxious Hawaiian shirts, into her life.
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THE STARS AT NIGHTSelf-described city girl Lexie Walton is out of her element. A million miles from nowhere. Park ranger Kyler Clemons loved the vibe and the beach of Mustang Island. Getting caught with her boss’s wife, however, got her transferred to the wild and remote Davis Mountains State Park. After four years, she’d forgotten about the beach and embraced the mountain life, feeling like a local. She hung out at the Cottonwood Creek Bar and Grill. She and Mark Walton hung out and watched football. His parents treated her like one of the family. She’d taken up birdwatching and stargazing as hobbies. She was perfectly content. Maybe a little bored, but content. Then Lexie Walton waltzes into her life. After losing her cushy job in Austin—and unable to find another one—Lexie accepts her parents’ offer to join them and her brother in running a rustic lodge and restaurant in the remote Davis Mountains of West Texas. Hesitant to commit to such a drastic move, she agrees to a trial run—two months. Two months would get her through Christmas and the New Year. Two months to decide if she wanted to run back home to Austin. Or would she have found a new home? |
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GILLETTE PARK2021 - GCLS WINNERGillette Park, a sleepy town nestled in the Rocky Mountains harbors a secret. Twenty-three years ago, a young girl went missing. Three days later her body was found lodged beneath the footbridge over Gillette Creek. The murder shook the town but they soon found it was only the beginning. A serial killer hides among them—a serial killer who strikes twice, sometimes three times a year. Mason Cooper couldn’t wait to leave Gillette Park. At eighteen, she headed off to college and the bright lights of Los Angeles, thinking she’d never return home to the broken family and forgotten friendships she’d left behind. Being a cop in LA lost its charm though and —after a breakup—she went back to her hometown. The serial killer still haunts Gillette Park and she finds herself consumed with catching him. Dr. Grace Jennings has what some call a gift. She “sees” things. She “hears” things. Running from that gift was useless so she learned to embrace it instead. Now, the FBI has solicited her help in catching a serial killer. Not everyone in this mountain town has embraced the idea of bringing in a psychic, including Mason’s uncle and boss—Sheriff Cooper. Mason is tasked with being the go-between and she soon finds herself with a front row seat as Dr. Jennings discovers the dark—and well hidden—secrets of Gillette Park. As Mason and Grace’s friendship grows, so does their attraction. They find they are only safe together as they battle the evil that lives in Gillette Park. |
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AFTER THE SUMMER RAIN2020 - GCLS WINNER
Workaholic Erin Ryder was on the fast track to self-destruction. Reeling after her lover walked out on her, she turned to booze and caffeine to make it through each day. After a family intervention, she finds herself on a remote ranch in New Mexico—on womyn’s land—to detox and heal. No cell service, no Internet—she’s convinced she won’t last three days, much less for the three-month sentence her father has mandated. Running from the chaos that had become her life, Melanie West moved to Eagle Bluff Ranch seven years ago. By far the youngest there, she embraced the compassionate, peaceful life that the elders espoused. Living off what her garden produced, her chickens and goats became her friends and confidants. Exposure to the outside world was limited to the handful of guests who stayed a few days at the ranch each year. This summer would be different. Melanie found herself hosting a young woman for three months. A young woman who wanted to be anywhere but there. As the days and weeks passed, their animosity turned to friendship as they helped the other heal from their past failures. Erin soon found herself loving life on Mel’s little farm. Loving life and loving Mel. Saying goodbye would be the hardest thing she had to do—saying goodbye to Mel…or saying goodbye to her previous life. |
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MOONLIGHT AVENUEFinley Knight, ex-cop turned private investigator, lives a lonely, solitary life. She uses her downtime to reflect on the past and wonders what could have been. Things take a turn when a client ends up dead. Detective Dee Woodard transferred to Corpus Christi nine years ago to put distance between herself and her ex…an ex she was still in love with. A murder investigation leads her to Moonlight Avenue and Finley Knight. Rylee Moore left the windy plains of Amarillo in her rearview mirror, hoping to start over in this city by the bay, only to find employment hard to come by. Finley Knight wasn’t hiring either, but Rylee’s begging and pleading—and not taking “no” for an answer—finally lands her a job. Not as an apprentice, as she wanted, but as the lone employee at Moonlight Avenue Investigations—receptionist. When another murder hits close to home, Finn ignores the police directive to “stay out of it” and goes on a search for the killer…reluctantly taking Rylee along for the ride. After a gruesome third murder, Dee is booted from the case. She joins Finn’s team…the chase bringing them closer and closer to a vicious drug dealer. Amongst the chaos, crime and cover-up…love pokes its head above the water. Can they stay alive long enough to explore it? |
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THE NEIGHBOR2019 - GCLS WINNER
When Laura Fry returns to her childhood home to care for her invalid mother, she hopes the writer’s block that has swallowed her writing career will disappear. She doesn’t plan on turning into a “yard girl” but her mother’s long neglected lawn beckons her to return it to the lush and colorful display it had been before her mother’s accident. She also doesn’t plan on making friends with the “nympho lesbian” next door but she finds it impossible not to watch the parade of playmates the neighbor brings to her pool. Cassidy Anderson likes pool parties and female company. And while the pool remains the same, the female company changes nearly every weekend. As her mid-forties approach at an alarming speed, she’s still searching for the love of her life. As she finds herself seeking out the company of the cute tomboy next door, she starts to realize that she’s been looking in all the wrong places. Could it possibly be the neighbor who holds the key to her heart? |
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THE LOCKET2019 - LAMBDA FINALIST
Danielle Stevens is Hollywood’s “next big thing” in a long line of next big things. When she goes to Dallas to prepare for a role—shadowing Detective Harper Jeremiah—she’s not only running from her fame…she’s also running from a stalker. Harper Jeremiah wouldn’t recognize a Hollywood actress even if she bumped into one on the street. The last thing she wants to do is to get pulled from her current case to have an actress follow her around. But the perceived babysitting gig quickly turns into a protection detail as the threats against Dani escalate. The two women form a bond as secrets are shared and they’re forced to trust each other as the stalker turns into a hunter. As they try to hide, Harper finds his pursuit of Danielle relentless…making her more determined than ever to protect Dani at any cost. That unwavering conviction, however, could get them both killed. |
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THE SECRET PONDGrieving over the loss of her family and feeling like her life is unraveling, Lindsey McDermott quits her job, gets a puppy and retreats to her grandparents’ home in the Texas Hill Country. She spends her solitary days walking childhood trails and reminiscing, trying to reconcile the conflict within her as she struggles with survivor’s guilt. Hannah Larson, after the death of her husband, needs a change. At the suggestion of her mother-in-law—and against her better judgement—she and her nine-year-old son, Jack, move to tiny Utopia and into her husband’s grandmother’s house. When Jack and Lindsey form an unlikely friendship, Hannah reluctantly joins them and the three spend the summer swimming and healing as laughter eventually replaces tears. After Jack goes back to school, Hannah assumes their summer fun is over. Instead, Lindsey continues to come around and now—as they find themselves alone—Hannah realizes just how close they’ve become. Soon, she finds herself struggling with her feelings as their friendship threatens to shift into something much deeper…something she fears she won’t be able to fight. Something she fears she won’t want to fight. A story of grief and healing…a story of love. |
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SAWMILL SPRINGSHomicide detective Mandi Murphy had seen enough bloodshed on the streets of Houston to last a lifetime. After a botched drug bust left a friend dead, she wanted out of the city. Peaceful little Sawmill Springs seemed like the perfect spot to start over. Six weeks on patrol proved the town to be as quiet and serene as she’d imagined. When things soured between FBI agent Kayla Dixon and her lover, she was ready for a change from the fast paced life she was living. Her father, the Police Chief in Sawmill Springs, offered her a job and she decided a change of pace was just what she needed. Her wish for slow and peaceful didn’t materialize, however, as mere hours after she starts her first shift, a prominent citizen is gunned down. The two women are thrust together to solve the murder and return Sawmill Springs to the sleepy small town the residents expect. As the investigation grows, so does their attraction. There’s just one problem—Murphy thinks Kayla is straight. Kayla admits to a failed marriage when she was eighteen and an ambiguous affair with another FBI agent convinces Murphy to steer clear of her. Kayla’s innocent flirting is met with skepticism and doubt…and temptation. Another murder not only strengthens their bond as partners but has them fighting to escape the clutches of a murderer. No longer able to ignore the budding attraction between them, they must decide if they are willing to start over…this time, together. |
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THE ROUNDABOUTMegan Phenix and her sister Nancy own a popular bar and grill in gay-friendly Eureka Springs. Following two failed relationships, Megan has sworn off women, but that seems to have only increased her appeal to single lesbians in town. Labeled as “playing hard to get”, she finds that some will go to any lengths to snag a date with her. Megan soon finds she’s the source of amusement for everyone, including her sister, as a partial photo of her appears on Facebook. The town’s resident nympho threatens to reveal the nude photo—piece by piece—unless Megan agrees to a date. If only she were seeing someone…maybe the women would leave her in peace. Leah Rollins thought fifty was too young to retire, so instead, she plans to open a store in the touristy shopping district of Eureka Springs. Leah quickly learns that sisters Nancy and Megan Phenix are polar opposites…one pleasant and friendly and one decidedly on the grumpy side as she and Megan spar over parking spaces and anything else they can find to argue about. When Leah catches the attention of the multitude of single lesbians in town, including Nancy, she searches for a way out. Could the grumpy grill owner next door be the answer to her problems? Megan and Leah strike an unlikely alliance and conspire to rid themselves of the unwanted attention by fake dating. Can they pull it off? As they pretend to date and convince everyone in town that they really are a couple, the pretense becomes harder to hold on to. But there’s just one problem…they don’t really like each other. Or do they? |
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PARADOX VALLEY2017 - GCLS WINNER SCIENCE FICTION/FANTASY
Was it an earthquake? A meteor? Or something else entirely? Running from a marriage proposal in Seattle, Dana Ingram returns to her parents’ farm in Western Colorado for a two-week vacation in Paradox Valley. Only a couple of days into it, however, a small earthquake leaves them without power. Cars won’t start, batteries don’t work and cell phones are useless. When a Black Hawk helicopter vanishes off of radar, Captain Corey Conaway is sent in to locate it and its crew—all while keeping the disappearance out of the media. When she meets Dana and her cousin, Butch, Corey solicits their help in the search. But as they travel on horseback through the rugged and remote Paradox Valley, what they stumble upon soon has them running for their lives. |
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CHASING A BRIGHTER BLUEA Christmas wedding in Colorado? A two-week celebration with family and friends? Who does that? Photojournalist Reagan Bryant has just returned from six month stint in Afghanistan. Haunted by the tragedy that ended her last assignment, she’s searching for some peace—something to end the guilt and chase the trauma away. Two weeks at the resort hotel owned by her future sister-in-law’s father seems like the perfect escape. Shelby Sutton doesn’t trust women. They always seem more interested in her father’s money than in her. But at her sister’s request, she vows to make friends with Reagan, a woman whose sad and haunted eyes are nearly impossible to ignore. |
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PELICAN'S LANDINGFollowing the death of her brother, a woman gives up her high paying job in the city to return to her small hometown on the Texas Gulf Coast to reconnect with her parents after 15 years away. She didn’t anticipate falling in love . . . especially not with the woman who was dating her brother. |
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ANGEL FIREA vacation out of the city sounds like just the ticket for Tori Hunter and Sam Kennedy. Joining their Dallas Police Department pals Casey O’Connor and Leslie Tucker in a rented RV, they set out for the New Mexico mountains—and on a collision course with a manhunt. FBI agents Cameron Ross and Andrea Sullivan are tracking a deadly quarry in desolate territory. An ex-teammate from Cameron’s Special-Ops days is in deep hiding, planning who-knows-what to cap off a killing spree. With a hostage at stake and time running out, Cameron reluctantly agrees to outside help from women she doesn’t know…or trust. In the crossover that fans have been clamoring for, it’s a heart-pounding race against time that challenges the courage and commitment of the exceptional women from Gerri Hill’s Hunter’s Way and Devil’s Rock Series. |
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THE MIDNIGHT MOON2015 - GCLS WINNER TRADITIONAL CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE
A fun, holiday romance ends with the vacation. Or does it? Two women, exchanging nothing more personal than first names, go their separate ways, thinking they will never see one another again. Peyton Watts, a self-proclaimed boring, conservative professional, goes back to her office and to her circle of like-minded women. Logan Weaver, a fun and spontaneous free spirit, goes back to dating the college students she’s most comfortable with. Fate, however, throws these two opposites back together. Peyton must decide if the woman offering her the moon is the successful attorney, Margot Joseph . . . or Logan, the fun-seeking painter who drags Peyton out of her comfort zone. |
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WEEPING WALLS2014 GCLS FINALIST - MYSTERY/THRILLERIn this sequel to Keepers of the Cave, FBI Agents CJ Johnston and Paige Riley investigate a link between a fourteen-year-old cold case and a current murder. The body of a young boy was left on the grounds of an old abandoned house, eerily similar to the first case. The team, including Ice and Billy, head to a small town northeast of Houston where they find the cold case to be anything but cold. Juggling the investigation while trying to keep their love affair a secret proves to be as hard as uncovering long buried clues. |
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AT SEVENTEEN
2014 LAMBDA FINALIST - LESBIAN ROMANCEMadison Lansford and Shannon Fletcher met when they were ten years old. Madison—daughter of wealthy parents and Shannon, daughter of their live-in maid and cook—became fast friends, yet both knew their place in life. There was never a doubt that they would become lovers . . . there was also never a doubt that Madison would marry and maintain her social standing in the community. Little by little, they grew apart, their love affair ending with Madison’s marriage and pregnancy. Now, years later, Shannon returns to her old hometown to care for her ailing mother. Can they rebuild their friendship? Or will their new-found closeness bring back memories of their long-lost love? Travel through the years with Shannon and Madison and watch their love unfold as they move from teens to young women and into adulthood. |
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SNOW FALLS2013 GCLS WINNER - TRADITIONAL ROMANCEJennifer Kincaid, on her way to a writer’s workshop in the Colorado mountain town of Lake City, gets lost and is stranded by an avalanche. Catherine Ryan-Barrett, running from the fame and fortune of her family name, wants nothing more to spend the winter alone and sequestered in her high mountain cabin. She is not prepared for a party crasher. After spending two months together, they form an unlikely friendship that deepens even further. But after the spring thaw, Jen leaves and returns to her life in Santa Fe—and to the man who wants to marry her. All she knows of the woman who rescued her is her name . . . Ryan. |
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KEEPERS OF THE CAVE2013 GCLS FINALIST - MYSTERY/THRILLERWhile the investigations go on in Dallas and Baton Rouge after the disappearance of a senator’s daughter, FBI agents CJ Johnston and Paige Riley are assigned to the sleepy backwoods of East Texas. Random disappearances dating back fifty years and more raise red flags that point to the tiny, isolated community of Hoganville, where CJ and Paige go undercover at an all-girls school. Feeling the assignment is nothing more than a dead-end, they integrate themselves into the lives of the teachers and staff, more concerned with getting past the one-night stand they shared six months earlier than actually thinking Hoganville was somehow connected to the disappearances. But soon, the odd behavior of the townspeople has them convinced something sinister lurks there. Something, perhaps, that even the residents of Hoganville don’t know about. |
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HELL'S HIGHWAY2012 GCLS WINNER - MYSTERY/THRILLERFBI Agents Cameron Ross and Andrea Sullivan found the unexpected when they met amongst the warm red rocks and cliffs of Sedona—each other. That commitment, along with their ingenuity, courage and resolve, will be tested along the most barren of stretches in California’s Mojave Desert. Someone is using the bleak highways to dump women’s bodies, but in a landscape where an inviting road can curve into a sand-choked mirage, and a true oasis can be invisible under a white-hot sun, clues can blow away in the wind. |
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STORMS2012 LAMBDA FINALIST - LESBIAN ROMANCE2012 GCLS FINALIST - TRADITIONAL CONTEMPORARY ROMANCEEstranged from her family for twelve years after her mother’s death, the last person Carson Cartwright expects to hear from is her twin brother. Her father is dying and her brother beckons her home, urging a reconciliation. After years of trying to forget her family ever existed, she’s shocked when she accepts his invitation and heads home to Montana and the ranch where she grew up. Kerry Elder is the consultant the Cartwright brothers hire—after much persuasion on her part—to convert their struggling working ranch into a profitable guest ranch. Four handsome brothers should be plenty to hold her attention but she finds herself drawn to the wayward sister instead. Early summer storms blow in and awaken something in Kerry she can no longer hide from . . . or run from. Carson, too, after years of being alone and keeping her heart off limits to all, finds herself craving something she swore she could never have. Love. But will they survive the storm that builds as one of the brothers vies for Kerry’s attention and proposes marriage?
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DEVIL'S ROCK2011 GCLS WINNER - ROMANTIC SUSPENSE/INTRIGUE/ADVENTUREAfter a third body of a murdered college student is dumped in the remote high desert near Sedona, Arizona, a team of FBI agents takes over the case at the request of the local sheriff’s department. Agent Cameron Ross soon realizes they are hunting Patrick Doe, the killer who slipped away from Tori Hunter in Partners. Agent Ross enlists the help of Deputy Andrea Sullivan as they try to find a pattern in his seemingly random dump sites. The case opens new wounds for both of them—Andrea having to relive the horror she thought she left behind in LA and Cameron showing her scars, both physical and emotional, from her days in the Special Operations Forces, mostly spent in the Middle East. Their relationship evolves from professional to personal as they help each other through their emotional turmoil. They strive to keep the relationship casual and light, knowing it is only temporary, knowing Cameron will leave when the case is over. They didn’t count on falling in love. |
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LOVE WAITS2010 LFRCA FAVORITE ROMANCE BOOKAshleigh Pence and Gina Granbury were secret high school sweethearts and thought they'd be together forever. But that naïve love they found in high school was struck a fatal blow just a mere three months after they went off to college. Victims of a sad misunderstanding, they went their separate ways, never to meet again and then it happened — an invitation to their twenty-year high school reunion. Ashleigh, one time cheerleader and prom queen at Calloway High School, has no choice but to attend her twenty-year reunion, despite a sixth sense telling her Gina will show up this time. Under no circumstances did she want anything to do with the woman who had broken her heart and walked away seemingly without a backward glance.. Gina hadn’t given high school much thought in the last twenty years. When her invitation came, she thought she’d dismiss it as easily as she had the ten-year reunion. She was surprised to find old memories surfacing, leading her back to the small South Texas town of Calloway and the reunion she swore she’d never attend where she was certain she'd meet the woman who had betrayed her love all those years ago. Can a broken-hearted teenage love affair survive the passing of time? If that old attraction pulls at them, is it just memories from a long-dead love? Or could it be that when it's right ... when it's meant to be ... that love waits, making twenty years seem like just yesterday? |
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THE SCORPION2010 GCLS WINNER - ROMANTIC SUSPENSE/INTRIGUE/THRILLER2009 LFRCA FAVORITE MYSTERY BOOKPoking a sleeping bear with a sharp stick is foolish. Marty Edwards is about to be very foolish. Investigative reporter Marty Edwards has found her niche. Cold cases. She loves pouring over old notes, hunting down long-forgotten witnesses, and digging down through the layers of an unsolved murder case. But this time, Marty is digging where someone obviously doesn’t want her. And that someone might also include the Brownsville Police Department. Why else would they assign Detective Kristen Bailey to baby-sit her? After two attempts on her life, Marty abandons the cold case, leaving Brownsville and the case—while not as cold—still unsolved. But danger follows her and she is forced to flee with Detective Bailey, along the Gulf Coast and back to the border town of Brownsville, neither knowing who, if anyone, they can trust. The hardest part—learning to trust each other before it’s too late for their hearts and their lives. |
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NO STRINGSOne mistake leads to a year of exile... Used to the busy playground of Winter Park, police chief Reese Daniels is shipped off to sleepy Lake City, Colorado. She takes the job of sheriff seriously, but is clear to one and all: this year is just a blip in her life. When it's done, she's gone. Forest Ranger M. Z. Morgan has lived in Lake City long enough to be considered a local. The pace, the quiet and the many friends make life there well worth the lack of dating material. A girlfriend would still be nice, and the new sheriff is easy on the eyes. It's entirely natural for Morgan and Reese to be friendly, but Reese's repeated reminders that she's not sticking around makes it impossible for anything more between them. That is, until they strike a "no strings" bargain. Some guaranteed exchange of heat as the long winter sets in seems just what they need to pass the time. So what if it's the best sex they've ever had? It's still only temporary. They won't mistake sex for more, even if it only gets better, month after month. After month. No Strings--it seemed like a good idea at the time. |
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PARTNERS2009 GCLS WINNER - ROMANTIC SUSPENSE/INTRIGUE/ADVENTURE2008 LFRCA FAVORITE MYSTERY BOOKDetective Casey O’Connor is back, this time with new partner Leslie Tucker. They join forces with Tori Hunter (from Hill’s acclaimed Hunter’s Way and In the Name of the Father) to track down a killer targeting single women who live alone. But as Casey and Leslie grow closer, Leslie begins to question her sexuality when she realizes her feelings for her partner are quickly surpassing those she has for the man she is supposed to marry. And Casey turns to Tori and Sam for advice when it appears her relationship with her new partner might follow the same path as theirs. Partners takes us from the squad room to the streets, and into the private lives of four of Dallas’ finest female detectives. |
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THE RAINBOW CEDAR
As interior designer Jay Burns watches her long-term relationship slowly unravel, she runs into—literally—landscape designer Drew Montgomery. As their paths cross, both professionally and personally, a friendship develops, one they each try to maintain despite the obvious attraction between them. But still, Jay is not willing to throw away an eight-year relationship, even when it becomes painfully obvious the end is near. The Rainbow Cedar is the journey of one woman struggling with the loss of love and commitment from one, and the possibility of finding it all again with someone new. |
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IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER2008 GCLS FINALIST2007 LAMBDA FINALIST - LESBIAN MYSTERYIn this sequel to Hunter’s Way, Dallas Homicide Detectives Tori Hunter and Samantha Kennedy investigate the murder of a Catholic priest who is found naked and strangled. A sexual scandal threatens to erupt causing the Church to bring in its own public relations person to control what makes it into the press. Cover-ups that reach outside the confines of the Church as are soon revealed as Tori and Sam's only suspect is found shot dead only hours after the murder. The detectives struggle to find the truth behind the priest's death digging for answers even as their superiors demand the case be closed. Added to the mix this time is Special Victims Detective Casey O’Connor who teams with the duo to find the answers no one seems to want revealed. In the Name of the Father is a fast-paced police thriller, moving beyond the grandeur of the Church to the politics involved in concealing the details behind the murder of one of its own, a priest well-loved in his parish but with a secret life no one wants to admit. |
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THE COTTAGE2008 GCLS FINALISTThe Cottage is the story of two women who meet by chance. . . or did they? Jill and Carrie, both married with teenaged children, fall into a routine of meeting during Jill's lunch break at the local park, forging a friendship that deepens with each visit. Jill Richardson gave up teaching high school years ago, instead choosing to manage an office despite objections from her family. Her husband still lives and breathes the coach’s life, a life that leaves him little time to spare for Jill. Left on her own more and more, Jill is searching for that something that’s missing in her life. Married to a successful businessman, Carrie Howell retired early from a career in real estate to spend more time with her teenage boys, and to pursue her lone passion—painting. She, too, realizes something is missing. This is the story Jill tells, a story of two women pulled by a force stronger than their marriages, stronger than themselves. They give into their desires—their love—as they find something in each other that was lacking in their marriage and their life . . . they find their soul mate. Jill shares their story for the first time with a stranger. Jill tells her about the stolen moments during a rushed lunch hour, moments stolen at a cottage that becomes their haven. She describes a love so destined it couldn’t be denied . . . stolen moments to be cherished forever. It was a love so complete, having it for only a brief moment in time did nothing to dispel the joy of a true, true love. The Cottage is their story . . . Jill and Carrie . . . two women, one love. Available at Bella Books |
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THE TARGETSara Michaels, owner of the self-help clinic The New You, is taking a group of ten women on a two-week sojourn into the Rocky Mountains to celebrate their newly found self-confidence. Her father, a senator and presidential candidate, has received death threats against his family. The FBI tells Sara of the threats, but she refuses to be intimidated and declines their offer of protection. Denver homicide detective Jaime Hutchinson is recruited to infiltrate the group of women and secretly provide protection. She reluctantly agrees only after being assured the assignment is purely for appearance purposes only. She has no desire to “baby-sit” a senator’s daughter, so she views the trip as a vacation. After feigning injury on the trail, she is absorbed into the group as a tag-a-long. Sara, however, is not thrilled having an outsider join their group, fearing she may damage the progress the women have made. But Jaime quickly gains the confidence of the women and is accepted as one of their own. She is having a great time, teasing Sara and even enticing the group into frolicking naked in hot springs. Soon, ten conservative women are playing matchmaker with Sara and Jaime. But her so-called vacation comes to an abrupt end when she notices they are being followed. Fearing Sara is the target of a real threat, Jaime is forced to confess her mission. She attempts to lead the group out of the mountains and away from the sniper’s bullets. Suffering casualties along the way, they make it to the ghost town of St. Elmo, where Jaime and Sara confront their feelings for one another. After a climatic shootout with the sniper, the FBI whisks Jaime back to Denver, and Sara is taken to her family’s estate in Colorado Springs. It is there that she soon learns the surprising origin of the death threats and the motive behind them. When Jaime realizes the truth, she must convince the FBI to return to Colorado Springs before it’s too late to save Sara. |
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COYOTE SKYWhen Kate Winters, author of the mystery series The Masters, develops writer’s block, her old friend, wealthy widow Brenda Granbury, invites her to spend the summer in Coyote, New Mexico, to clear her mind. Leaving behind the Dallas heat—and her live-in girlfriend—Kate retreats to the high mountain desert, and finds herself surrounded by Brenda’s eccentric friends and artists, including the somewhat cultish Harmony, Sunshine and Starlight. But it’s the local sheriff, Lee Foxx, who holds her attention. Lee, however, has a penchant for only dating the young tourists that flock to the river canyon each summer. She has no intention of ever settling down. Soon, the women develop a friendship, despite Kate’s repulsion of Lee’s dating habits, and Lee’s distaste of Kate’s so-called girlfriend, Robin. Over the summer months, their friendship threatens to evolve into more, and Kate tries to maintain her conviction that she is in a committed relationship and will not become one of Lee’s “groupies”. Harmony, Sunshine and the Fates intervene, slowly pushing the two women together. When they finally give in to their attraction and desire, an unexpected visit by Robin sends everyone scrambling. Kate is torn between her perception of the safe relationship she has with Robin, and her overwhelming desire to be with Lee. Lee, on the other hand, is trying to cope with the realization that she has fallen in love for the first time. And fallen for someone who is technically unavailable. Will Lee fight to keep Kate in Coyote? Or will she let her escape back to Dallas with Robin? |
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BEHIND THE PINE CURTAIN2007 GCLS WINNER - ROMANCEJacqueline Keys was ostracized from her small hometown of Pine Springs, Texas when she was seventeen, sent away because she was gay. Her family was the largest employer in the county, owning Pine Springs Lumber, and her father was mayor of this small town. Her mother could not accept the fact that her only child was gay, could not tolerate the gossip about her family. So, with a hundred dollars in her pocket and a one-way bus ticket out of town, Jacqueline was told not to come back until she had come to her senses. And that included being prepared to marry the son of a business associate of the family. Fifteen years later—long after she’d hitch-hiked to Los Angeles, long after she’d worked nights to put herself through college, and long after she’d written her first best seller, No Place For Family—Jacqueline is persuaded to go back to the tiny town of Pine Springs after her father’s death. She agreed to go back, not out of a sense of duty—for she felt she owed them nothing—but for closure. The quick trip she’d envisioned for the funeral turns into weeks as she learns her father’s business is suddenly hers to manage. And she is also again face-to-face with the woman who, as a teen, had been Jackie’s first crush. She and Kay had been inseparable as kids, and later as teens. They find themselves falling back into their old habits, and Jackie is soon fighting the same feelings she’d had when she was seventeen. But this time, after suffering through a horrible marriage, Kay finally accepts what she felt for Jackie back then . . . and what she feels for her still. But living behind the pine curtain, Kay is afraid of her love for Jackie, afraid of what her family will say, afraid of how the town will react. Jackie refuses to hide, refuses to crawl back into the closet, so once again, she leaves Pine Springs . . . alone. Will Kay let her go? Or will Kay follow her heart? |
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THE KILLING ROOM2007 GCLS WINNER - MYSTERY/THRILLERDenver detective Jake McCoy was rehabbing at her cabin in the mountains, trying to reconcile the shooting death of a young boy. Psychologist Nicole Westbrook, an expert in domestic violence, is in those very same mountains, escaping from the horrors of her profession for a brief vacation. Nicole becomes lost when she leaves the well-marked hiking trail in search of hot springs, and she stumbles upon Jake, who is enjoying her own soak in remote springs. They exchange first names only, but after a few hours together, a physical attraction neither can explain, engulfs them, leaving them as lovers, not strangers, when Nicole departs the following day. But when Jake returns to Denver, a murder investigation leads her to Nicole. Both are surprised that they are face to face with the stranger they thought they’d never see again, Nicole tries to remain in the professional closet that she’s been hiding in for so long, a place where out cop Jake McCoy does not fit. And Jake, still trying to recover from the shooting that left her injured, does her best to distance herself from Nicole. It is soon evident that a serial killer is targeting Nicole’s former patients. Try as they may, they can not deny the physical attraction between them, even if it means compromising the investigation. But after all is said and done, the fact remains that Nicole and Jake live in two different worlds. Despite the physical attraction and the gentle tug of love, both women accept that when their case is over, they will go their separate ways. Jake retreats back to the mountains, and Nicole resumes her practice in earnest, both trying to forget the other . . . and both failing. |
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ARTIST'S DREAM2005 LAMBDA FINALIST - ROMANCECassie Parker has grown used to denying her sexuality. Her father, the Reverend Parker, has made that a necessity. But when she meets Luke Winston, she can no longer deny it to herself. In the small town of Sebastopol, California, where artists outnumber farmers, Cassie struggles to accept the feelings that Luke brings out and to deal with the unexpected visit of her father. She must choose either a life without family or a life without love.
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HUNTER'S WAY2005 GCLS FINALISTHomicide detective Tori Hunter was used to doing things her way. After six different partners in seven years, she was not prepared for the hot-tempered Samantha Kennedy. Samantha, on the other hand, was trying to juggle a demanding boyfriend, a new job, and the challenge of being partnered with the most difficult detective in the squad. After a brief terrorist scare disrupts their serial killer investigation, the two women find themselves growing closer. Sam begins to question her relationship with her longtime boyfriend, and Tori, never one to allow anyone to get close, begins to feel her defenses slipping in Sam’s presence. A serial killer and drug deals gone bad; the two detectives struggle with their feelings, trying to maintain their professional relationship while keeping their nearly flammable physical relationship in check. |
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THE DAWN OF CHANGESusan Sterling wanted nothing more than to escape her life . . . and her marriage. the family's secluded cabin in Kings Canyon National Park seemed the only place for her to find peace. But it took Shawn Weber coming into her life for her to find the courage to make changes. The budding friendship between the two women strengthens into an intense emotional bond, a bond that soon eclipses friendship. Despite pressure from her family to reconcile with her husband, Susan can't deny the feelings that Shawn stirs in her. Susan finds she's willing to forsake her entire family for a chance at love with Shawn. |
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ONE SUMMER NIGHTEmbarrassed after their night of passion, Jo hopes to never see Kelly Sambino again, especially when friends warn her of Kelly’s reputation as a runaround. When fall classes begin, Jo is as surprised as anyone to find Kelly has been hired to teach at the same college. She denies the attraction and refuses to be swayed by Kelly’s considerable charm, vowing never to repeat her summer indiscretion. Kelly insists she is not the womanizer others claim. She pursues Jo, breaking down her resistance and professing her love, only to have her reputation come between them again. In a moment of need, Jo turns to Kelly, accepting the physical comfort Kelly offers, while still denying her own heart . . . denying the love that has grown between them. |
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SIERRA CITYChris McKenna gladly escaped the crowds of Yosemite to work as the new Search and Rescue in tiny Sierra City, nestled just west of Lake Tahoe. Always a loner, she didn’t mind the seclusion of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Jessie Stone, a successful but reclusive writer, is haunted by memories of her childhood and finally returns to Sierra City after sixteen years of estrangement from her mother. The odd assortment of residents of this small mountain town bring them together but it is Annie Stone, a woman Chris has grown to admire and a woman Jessie still feels hatred for, that binds the two. Through lies and deception, they still cannot deny the growing attraction that will brighten both their lives. . . if only they will allow it. |
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GULF BREEZE2004 LAMBDA FINALIST - ROMANCECarly Cambridge wanted nothing more from life than to get the latest Habitats For Nature project off the ground. She had come home to the Texas Gulf Coast to do just that. But when photographer Pat Ryan enters her life, she finds herself wanting something she swore she would never have again. And Pat, always searching for that someone to take her breath away, finds that and more in Dr. Cambridge. But Carly is not easily convinced to take a chance on love. |
