Once More With Feeling
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OVERVIEW
I'll confess that as an adolescent I had a continuing fantasy in which in the blink of an eye I found myself living in someone else's body. Usually I worried about finding myself in the middle of an Olympics skating event, (I don't skate) or on stage singing an aria that would suddenly be completely unfamiliar because, let's face it, I would be unfamiliar, too.
Fantasies change, but the idea continued to intrigue me into adulthood. What would it be like for a woman to suddenly find herself living somebody else's life? What if the person she had become was somebody she had secretly envied? What if that person's life was less than perfect after all, and her former life suddenly seemed filled with possibilities she had never tapped?
Elisabeth Whitfield is having a doozy of a midlife crisis, but that midlife is about to take an extraordinary turn. Following a near-fatal car wreck, the Elisabeth who awakens in the hospital is a new woman, in someone else's younger, sexier body. Now she has a second chance at the exciting life she gave up to marry and be a full-time mother. But "be careful what you wish for" could be more than a cliche. Getting everything she wanted might cost her everything that matters.
"Richards (Dragonslayer) guides Elisabeth through this seductive women's daydream with skill, humor and an iron morality." Publishers Weekly
Read MoreTwilight Shadows
OVERVIEW
Can the Maid of Honor Survive the Wedding?
When private investigator Kelley Samuels's best friend and partner asks her to be the maid of honor at her wedding, she can't refuse. After all, wearing a frilly dress and dealing with the bride's mother are minor irritations.
Then on the trip down the aisle, all hell breaks loose. Between barrages of gunfire and a lunatic seemingly intent on wiping out the wedding party, Kelley has to protect guest and film action hero Griff Bryant. While neither Griff, intent on playing a real life hero, nor Kelly herself can capture the shooter, when the smoke clears, no one is really sure who the gunfire was meant for.
Kelley, a former child star, has a clear-eyed view of the film industry, and when she's cornered into becoming Griff's pretend lover and real-life bodyguard, she can't wait for the assignment to end. But as she and Griff encounter more violence, and his pre-teen daughter is endangered, too, Kelley finds herself deeply involved with the man she's supposed to protect.
Kelley knows she can protect Griff from harm, but how can she protect her own heart?
Read MoreDesert Shadows
OVERVIEW:
A Nun With A Gun
Sister Felicia dislikes the serene life at the Blessed Garden Convent near Palm Springs, California, most especially the goats. Instead, at night she prowls the grounds to make sure a visiting nun and world-famous humanitarian, Sister Mary Grace, survives her stay unharmed.
When a mysterious vagrant arrives to assist the convent caretaker, Sister Felicia does not sit idly by. Is this man, who keeps his eye on everyone, something more than he seems, something deadly and dangerous?
Deadly, dangerous Josiah Gallagher has his own concerns. Who is the beautiful young nun who hides cigarettes to smoke when the rest of the nuns are sleeping? The nun who removes her homespun robe to swim in the convent spring?
The nun with the dubious calling?
When Sister Felicia is kidnapped by mysterious assailants, Gallagher comes to the rescue. Stranded in the desert, they are forced to rely on each other for survival. Sister Felicia’s courage convinces Gallagher she is more than she seems. She reluctantly comes to the same conclusion.
As their pasts and missions entwine, they must work together to guarantee their own safety and that of Sister Mary Grace. Will the attraction simmering between them be the answer to a prayer or a curse?
Read MoreFugitive
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OVERVIEW
UNDER AN OUTLAW MOON
Escaped murderer or fugitive betrayed?
When Tate Cantrell moves into the primitive Ozark mountain cabin she inherited from a father she never knew, she expects hardship. She doesn’t expect to be held at gunpoint by a convict from nearby High Ridge Penitentiary.
Carl Petersen is armed, dangerous and wounded. But when he tells her he’s really an undercover operative named Simon Vandergriff, sent to investigate conditions at the prison, Tate finds enough proof to wonder. How can she turn him over to the sheriff, knowing that she might be sending an innocent man to his grave?
As a runaway Tate learned to be suspicious of authority figures. Now, as she cautiously nurses Simon back to health and attraction grows, she is torn. Is Simon a good man in trouble or has she fallen under the spell of a master manipulator and murderer?
With her adopted family a thousand miles away and her new one suspicious and distant, Tate has no one to help her. No one but Simon himself.
Read MoreThe Way Back Home
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Overview
ANNA FITZGERALD IS NOT WHO SHE SEEMS...
Anna Fitzgerald tries not to think about the years when she was Rosie Jensen, the stepdaughter of a powerful Minnesota senator. Now living in Florida with her young son, Ryan, she counsels the inhabitants of First Day, a shelter for runaways. No one from her past knows where she is, although she still foolishly yearns for the older sister who betrayed her.
Anna understands what the First Day inhabitants have undergone, and she knows how to help them. When Grady Clayton, Sun County prosecutor, mistakes her for a resident, Anna immediately sets him straight.
Grady is more than the scion of a wealthy Reynaldo Beach family and a candidate for State’s Attorney. He believes in finding the truth and upholding it, no matter the cost. Unfortunately, this time the cost may be too dear. Despite trying not to, he and Anna fall in love, and she knows too well how their relationship may affect his election.
Before she can move into the future, Anna must step back into her own dangerous past and tell the world her story.
Can she find a way to admit the truth and still keep Grady by her side?
Read MoreRunaway
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OVERVIEW
WHAT WOULD YOU DO FOR YOUR SISTER?
From the day she was born, Krista Jensen loved and protected her younger sister, Rosie. Until the day that she didn’t.
Now Rosie has disappeared. Krista’s only clue is that her sister was seen in New Orleans, and like too many runaways, may be resorting to prostitution to survive.
Desperate to find her and beg forgiveness, Krista goes undercover as a prostitute and enters an unfamiliar world. With her own life in danger, she finds a protector in Jess Cantrell, a journalist, who wants to do more than pen the sad stories of runaways. No one is more surprised than he when Krista’s quest becomes his, as well.
Even more surprising? Love can bloom in the midst of heartache.
So can hope.
Read MoreLady of the Night
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OVERVIEW
New Orleans nights are as intriguing as the lives of three friends raised together on the city's streets. Lifelong solidarity has seen each man through difficult times, but challenges still lurk in the Big Easy, where love is always complicated–but worth any struggle.
Joshua Martane Should Know Better
The fragile young woman lying comatose in the ward of City Hospital in New Orleans has no name. When she finally awakens, the only thing she can remember is a man's voice calling her back from the darkness.
In all his years of training, no one has touched psychologist Joshua Martane in the same way, and he has spent long hours by the woman's bedside trying to bring her back to awareness. Now that he has, he realizes he's put his career and his heart in danger. Who exactly is the woman he names Maggie? A former prostitute? The near victim of a serial killer? A woman lying about a past she claims not to remember? Mystery surrounds who she is–and who she isn't, but Joshua's own feelings are clear. Maggie has quickly becomes more to him than a patient.
As Maggie recovers she resolves to find her way in a world and a city that are completely unfamiliar to her. At first she leans on Joshua, but soon she realizes how dangerous that is. Someone is trying to kill her, and she doesn't know who or why. How can she protect the man she's falling in love with if she can't remember who she is?
One thing is certain for both of them. Whatever her secrets and whatever danger they entail, Joshua knows he has to help Maggie find answers. For both their sakes.
Read MoreBayou Midnight
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OVERVIEW
New Orleans nights are as intriguing as the lives of three friends raised together on the city’s streets. Lifelong solidarity has seen each man through difficult times, but challenges still lurk in the Big Easy, where love is always complicated–but worth any struggle.
Sam Long Is Happiest Alone
Homicide detective Sam Long is determined to solve his latest case, but he can't move forward without help. His best witness to arson and murder is a little girl, and whatever she saw on the night of the fire is safely locked away in her mind.
The last thing Sam wants is to consult with anyone, especially Dr. Antoinette Deveraux, a beautiful psychologist trained in hypnosis. He's certain there's no place for someone like compassionate Antoinette in a murder investigation. But when she unlocks the child's memories, Antoinette unlocks something primal and compelling in Sam's own heart.
Antoinette is stunned by her attraction to Sam, who is determined not to let a woman into his life. After escaping a toxic marriage, she's concerned that she's choosing the wrong man once more. But the more she's with Sam, the more she understands he's not the man he pretends to be. When he invites her to meet his Cajun family down on Bayou Midnight in South Louisiana, Antoinette realizes it's too late to be cautious. But can their relationship thrive and grow when her skills as a psychologist are in direct conflict with his skills as a police detective?
Change always comes at a cost, but as the murder investigation unfolds and danger deepens, who will pay the price? Sam, himself, or the woman he's fallen in love with?
Read MoreNight Magic
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OVERVIEW
New Orleans nights are as intriguing as the lives of three friends raised together on the city's streets. Lifelong solidarity has seen each man through difficult times, but challenges still lurk in the Big Easy, where love is complicated–but worth any struggle.
Skeeter Harwood Still Pays for an Old Mistake
Despite the onset of summer, Doctor Fantôme's Sanctuary of Voodoo in the French Quarter sends chills through psychologist Daphne Brookes. This is tourist voodoo, meant to shock and titillate. Daffy is fascinated by the man behind the counter, but less fascinated by the shop. One of her teenage clients may be under the influence of someone there.
Easy-going portrait artist Skeeter Harwood is briefly filling in for the shop's owner. Skeeter is more than the maverick people usually see. The man who sells caricatures on Jackson Square has caught the eye of a gallery owner in New York, and now he can create the art he really wants to--if he's willing to make the leap.
Skeeter must make another leap. He and Daffy have met before, and their latent attraction ignites immediately. Still, before they can move forward, Skeeter has to tell her the truth about his past. And Daffy, who has specialized in short-term relationships, must now face the reason why.
As Daffy and Skeeter delve deeper into the world of voodoo, danger is all around them. They must find a way to stop the exploitation of Daffy's client. But as they do, will they be able to overcome their own difficult pasts to find a future they can share?
Read MoreThe Unmasking
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OVERVIEW
Bethany Walker loves her new life in the New Orleans French Quarter with her young daughter Abby and Life's Illusions, the shop where she sells her extraordinary feathered masks. Only memories of Abby's father Justin Dumontier, the man who vanished from her life before her daughter's birth, cast shadows over Louisiana's bright sunshine.
Now one morning as carnival season begins and her work load increases, Bethany glances up to find Justin gazing at her. Hiding herself and the child he doesn't know about is no longer an option. She may have kept their baby a secret, but four-year-old Abby is all too clearly his.
Fate has reunited them, but so much stands between them still. Like one of Bethany's masks, will the painful events that separated them forever disguise what they feel? Or will they at last find a way to reveal what each of them needs most?
Mardi Gras day, a time to fling away inhibitions, is fast approaching. During carnival season in New Orleans, almost anything seems possible. Even love.
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