After a life of wrong turns and lost hope, can true love be more than a bittersweet fantasy?Melinda Andrews arrives on the Oregon coast with a dream of running the Sea Glass Inn. Still reeling after an unexpected divorce, Mel believes she has missed her chance to find love. All she wants is to make her business a success and regain her independence. She locates the artist who inspired her move so she can commission more paintings for her new inn.Pamela Whitford runs a gallery in a small seaside town, planning events and supporting other artists while neglecting her own talent. Since being deserted by the love she thought was forever, she refuses to let anyone close enough to hurt her again. But Pam can’t resist the struggling new innkeeper, and she agrees to paint for her even though it means opening herself up to creativity and the vulnerability that goes with it.Can they learn to trust again and discover a second chance at love?About the AuthorKaris is a Pacific Northwest native with a BA in English from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, and a few years of postgraduate work in Classics at UW in Seattle. Naturally, this education led to a career as a horseback riding instructor. She has been teaching for over twenty years and has been published in a national equestrian magazine. She lives on a small farm in Washington with a black cat, goats, and a foster horse from a local equine rescue group. She spends most of her free time reading, playing the violin and viola, and riding with friends.

Three stories by three talented crime writers—Carsen Taite, Ali Vali, and Michelle Grubb—each packing her own special brand of heat. In Hammersmith by Michelle Grubb: Officer Belinda Riley knew the signs of a suicide bomber, but this time she was blind to the obvious. This time she didn't want to believe what was right in front of her eyes. In Bow and Arrow by Carsen Taite: Bounty hunter Luca Bennett has always lived on the edge of the law, but now she's living with a cop and doing her darnedest to stay out of trouble. When an old enemy resurfaces, will the shady ways of Luca's past come back to haunt her? In Hell Fire by Ali Vali: Dr. Abigail Eaton stumbles into a massacre, but once someone tries to kill her it seems like no accident. While hunting for the perpetrators of a sex trafficking empire, Agent Riley Abbott saves Abigail from a professional hit and discovers the young mother might be the key to more than just...

Unemployed English professor Emily Murray has been given a chance of a lifetime: to work and study inside Gnarled Hollow, the former estate of one of her favorite authors. She doesn't believe in the supernatural, but by the end of her first day, she knows something is wrong. The house has a disturbing habit of changing dimensions—and nor just physical ones. Rooms go missing, doors close on their own, and time has a strange tendency to disappear. Emily is joined by other scholars, among them the beautiful art historian, Juniper Friend. Together they begin to research the history of the house, refusing to abandon their work despite the appearance of a mysterious, frightening presence. Spurred on by their desire to uncover the mysteries of Gnarled Hollow and its ghostly inhabitant, they're determined to uncover the truth, even if it means risking their own lives.

Cash Braddock is a drug dealer. But the classy kind. Pills. She really doesn’t get why people are so uptight about that sort of thing. She has a decent operation, a little business to launder money through, and only a few Mommy issues. Laurel Collins is the perfect girl for Cash. She wears vintage ties and is totally chill. She doesn’t mind the dealing or Cash’s cat. It’s almost like she’s Cash’s dream girl. Sometimes she’s a little closed off about, you know, life. But who isn’t? Sadly, the drug game doesn’t always run smoothly. There are dealers who don’t respect boundaries and unreliable customers. And, of course, dealers don’t fly under the cops’ radar forever. Even when they work with dirty cops. Which is a damn shame. It’s not like they’re hurting anybody, right?

Could the festive road trip from hell actually lead to love? Catherine Birch is a lonely workaholic who hates Christmas. This year, she is being forced to celebrate with her best friend’s family in the Highlands of Scotland. Having missed her flight, Catherine reluctantly ventures on a road trip with beautiful stranger Holly Daniels. Although polar opposites, the intense attraction between them is unmistakable. Just as Catherine begins to think spending Christmas with Holly might not be so bad, a raging snowstorm leaves them stranded in the middle of nowhere. Huddled together, with little chance of rescue, they forge a pact: if they escape, they’ll make this a Christmas to remember. But will it be remembered for the right reasons?  

Guide dog trainer Lenae McIntyre left the high-speed world of television news writing behind, and now she helps other visually impaired people adjust to life with their canine companions. She teaches her students and their dogs to trust each other, but a past betrayal and the determination to be self-sufficient and independent keep her from trusting her heart to see love.Cara Bradley compensates for her family's shallow celebrity lifestyle by devoting her life to helping others, while keeping to the background. She reluctantly commits to a year of puppy walking a four-legged whirlwind named Pickwick so she can film regular segments for a local news program while helping promote the McIntyre Training Center, but she is unprepared for the changes that the driven and aloof Lenae will bring to her life.Blindsided by love, can Lenae and Cara learn to trust and guide each other toward a new vision for their future?

"I wish I'd known love in this life." Captain Madison Brown strained to hear the dying soldier's last words in the makeshift hospital on the fields of war-torn Iraq. The lieutenant's final comment haunted Madison for the remainder of her tour in Iraq and then followed her home to Massachusetts. Ironically, Madison wanted no part of love for herself-or so she thought until she crossed paths with Isabella Parisi, an idealistic young social worker who challenged her to love again. Isabella, a dedicated professional from a tightly knit Catholic family in Boston's North End, has a seemingly perfect life: a satisfying job, a family she adores, and a devoted boyfriend. A chance encounter with Captain Madison Brown causes Isabella to question everything she thought she believed in. And the emotionally guarded Captain Brown gives Isabella even more reason to doubt the feelings swirling within her. Isabella's family, Madison's commitment to the Army, and their fears about what it means to love each other conspire to keep them apart. Just when it seems they've finally dodged all of the landmines between them, Madison is deployed to Afghanistan. As an officer in the Army, Madison swore herself to be a guardian of freedom and the American way of life. Can Isabella accept Madison for the person-the soldier-she is? What price duty? What cost honor? How much must one sacrifice in exchange for the promise of love? Not all of the ravages of war happen on the battlefield. What happens to Isabella and the relationship between the two women when Isabella must confront the fact that Madison is not just her lover, but her soldier too?

Augusta “Tucker” Delacroix is perfectly content running a successful oil field supply company until her brother and business partner, Jim Bob, dies suddenly. Things go from bad to worse when the family's lawyer introduces her to Monique, a beautiful stranger who turns out to be Jim Bob’s mistress and mother of his son. Monique wants Jim Bob's son to be a Delacroix, and Tucker steps up—it’s what family does. Willow Vernon has never approved of her sister’s affair with a wealthy married man, but when tragedy strikes, Willow assumes care of her nephew. When Tucker demands shared custody rights, Willow’s ready to go to battle. Tucker’s the same kind of irresponsible philanderer as Jim Bob, and she’s not falling for the Delacroix charm like Monique did, no matter how tempting Tucker might be. Family ties bring Tucker and Willow together, but they could also tear them, and any chance they have at love, apart.

Sometimes conformity and control are only shields, and all it takes is the right woman to shatter the illusions forever.Andrea Taylor craves peace in her life, no matter what the personal sacrifice. She arranges her career as a violist, her relationships with family and friends, and even her love life so she can avoid strife at all costs. Everything is going according to plan until she meets Brooke Stanton the night before Brooke's wedding rehearsal and her ordered existence falls apart.When Brooke hires a string quartet to play at her rehearsal dinner, she doesn't expect to meet a woman who threatens the security of her already predetermined future. Suddenly she has doubts about the conventional path she has chosen and desires she can no longer ignore.In an eclectic neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, these two women face a life-altering decision—will they fight the attraction that threatens their carefully structured lives or take a chance on finding the...

It's 1706, the time of good Queen Anne. Mistress Rebeccah Dutton never dreamed that several encounters with the notorious highwayman Blue-Eyed Nick on the deserted heaths around London would turn her respectable world upside down. When she discovers the highwayman is actually a woman named Kate, her curiosity about the dashing thief turns to fascination. Kate has to deal with a thieftaker snapping at her heels and secrets from her past before Rebeccah can become better acquainted with this intriguing highwaywoman. Will Kate avoid the shadow of Tyburn long enough for Rebeccah to explore this twist of fate?

When another legacy demon hunter goes missing in New Orleans, it’s up to Denny Silver to track him down. Not an easy task, considering the hordes of demons escaping through a dimensional rift created by a powerful voodoo Priestess—all of whom Denny must fight as she makes her way deeper and deeper into the haunted city.The body count quickly rises, forcing Denny, her witch, and some formidable new friends to seek help from the mysterious people living on the bayou… people Denny’s sure would just as soon help the demons as help in her quest.Can Denny rescue the lost hunter before this surge of demons wipes New Orleans off the map? The clock is ticking, and if Denny fails in her mission, the flood of evil entering the city will soon drown every living soul in the <i>Blood of the Demon.</i>

Twelve lesbian fiction authors bring you a heartwarming collection of holiday-themed short stories.From a tattoo artist hiding an origami angel in her lover's desk to a seventy-year-old woman hesitating to accompany her partner to a family celebration on the first night of Hanukkah, this anthology will delight you with romantic holiday moments.Authors: Alison Ruth Solomon, B.A. Caldwell, Blythe Rippon, Caren J. Werlinger, Catherine Lane, Chris Zett, Eve Francis, Jove Belle, Lois Cloarec Hart, Lyn Thorne-Alder, Patricia Penn, and Ruth F. Simon