Turning Thirty-Twelve

Coming from BookStrand - January 2009

Murphy’s Law
Award winner!

How would self-centered, party-boy Seth Remington, heir to a multi-million dollar computer fortune, fare if forced to work for a year at a job many people would consider demeaning? Knowing he has one last chance to redeem his wayward son, terminally ill Sterling Remington rewrites his will. Seth won’t be able to receive even a single penny unless certain conditions are met. To earn his inheritance, Seth must labor for an entire racing season as a lowly groom for a local horse trainer. Taking orders from a woman is a lesson in humility, working hard to earn his menial pay teaches him values, and the whole experience brings him much more than he had ever imagined.

Katie Murphy’s orderly existence is turned upside down at the worst time of her life. Pressed by the stack of unpaid bills and lured by the possible ownership of a valuable colt, she agrees to the unusual terms of Sterling Remington’s will. Raised on hard work and deeply dedicated to her harness racing stable, Katie agrees to take Seth on as a groom. How can she ever fulfill the challenge of a playboy as a student? How can she keep her own business running at the same time? How can she instill in Seth Remington the solid ethics of hard work? And how will she deal with her growing attraction to her reluctant pupil?

Kept at arm’s length by the strict terms of Sterling’s will, Seth and Katie are forced to struggle with their growing attraction to each other. They are able to fulfill the dictates of the will until a devastating racing accident forces them to take a hard look at their relationship. When Ross Kennedy, the attorney who helped Sterling craft his will, falls hard for Katie, Seth is confronted with a new dilemma. How much is he willing to risk for her love?

Free Falling
Award winner!

Attorney Ross Kennedy has allowed his Type A personality to assert itself. A confirmed workaholic, Ross is desperately trying to make himself forget his unrequited love for his former fiancé, Katie Murphy. Concerned, Ross’s boss sends him on a business trip to Montana hoping Ross will use the time to free himself from his crippling mood. Montana only adds to his problems when Ross finds himself stranded in a blizzard in the Rockies with no help in sight.

Laurence “Laurie” Miller is every bit the workaholic that Ross Kennedy has become. But being a psychologist and an empath gives her insight into how to adapt to a stressful world. In the midst of a snowstorm while visiting her family’s ranch in Montana, Laurie rescues a stranded Ross. The two strangers are completely snowed in with escape impossible. In just a few days, their attraction to each other is overwhelming, but Laurie is troubled. Her empathic gift seems to have vanished. Fascinated by his pretty rescuer, Ross struggles to open up his heart enough to let this new woman in.

When the two return home to Chicago, they try to solve a mystery revolving around a Prohibition Era journal they discovered at the ranch. Will they find the missing treasure the journal points to? And as a former boyfriend begins to stalk Laurie, how will Ross be able to protect her?

All the Right Reasons
Award winner!

Horse trainer Lucas Mitchell has returned from his military service in Iraq a changed man. Wracked with guilt over the death of a fellow soldier, he buys an ancient mansion and tries to deal with his injuries and grief by restoring his new home and rehabilitating retired racehorses. When he discovers a painting of his old house and the beautiful artist who painted it, a new healing begins.

Jozsa “Joy” Kovacs respects her Hungarian roots. Descended from gypsies who are still influenced by the lingering effects of the Nazi Holocaust, her family follows the traditional ways of their ancestors. Her family insists she work at their ethnic restaurant, but Joy wants to use her God-given talent and be an artist. Her stubborn father, who still follows the old mores of his gypsy people, insists that she marry within her gypsy tribe. A husband has already been selected for her. How can she accept her father’s choice when her heart has chosen someone else?

How can Joy find a way to help Lucas break from his self-imposed prison of grief? Although they have committed their hearts to each other, can the growing love and passion between Lucas and Joy survive her family’s insistence that she marry within her culture?


Faith of the Heart
Award winner!

After being struck by lightning, Sarah Reid discovers the freak accident has left her with a very special and unique gift. She has become a healer able to cure the sick and dying. The ongoing price of the talent is that it leaves her own health and well-being in jeopardy. Feeling responsible for the death of her best friend, Sarah reasons that perhaps she has received the gift to make amends. She soon realizes that along with the special gift also comes danger to her own life, but the realization that her good works are being exploited for monetary gain by her sister and her sister’s husband makes her wonder if the gift a blessing or a curse.

After losing his wife to cancer and struggling to raise his teen-aged daughter Libby, Joshua Miller takes a hiatus from his job as an investigative reporter. After more than a year without writing, Josh’s curiosity is piqued when a sick friend announces she has been cured by a faith healer. Immediately suspicious and assuming that the healer, Sarah Reid, is a fraud like the “healer” his wife believed in, Josh is determined to expose the woman.

Neither expect sparks to fly when they meet. Sarah tries to discourage Josh’s persistence in investigating her abilities while he fights his attraction, refusing to acknowledge that Sarah truly be able to save people. He writes a scathing story that helps him purge his lingering angst over losing his wife. Habitually saving the cruel story to his computer, he goes back to Sarah when he realizes she is the genuine article. When the editor calls to ask about the story, Libby unknowingly sends it.

Watching as Sarah heals a woman who is close to death, Josh is stunned to see how much Sarah’s own health is affected. When a sick child is immediately brought to her, Sarah once again uses her healing gift. Weakened from the ordeal, she collapses. Against her family’s wishes, Josh spirits her to his family’s vacation home in Montana. Once there, neither Josh nor Sarah expects a healing of their own – a healing that is brought about by love. Will their new fragile bond survive the threat of distrust and pain caused by Josh’s story and her family’s exploitation? And what would it all mean if Sarah was suddenly faced with the loss of her gift?

The Reluctant Amazon
Award winner!

Up to her wedding day, Rebecca Massee has led a “normal” life. Orphaned and raised by her aunt, Rebecca spends time teaching her beloved kindergarten students, working in a community garden that helps to feed the poor, and reading to escape her doldrums. But on the day of her wedding, she is jilted at the altar, setting off a chain of events that will forever change her destiny. Nothing about Rebecca’s life will ever be “normal” again.

Artair MacKay feels every day of his four hundred years of age. An immortal “Sentinel” whose purpose is to train new Amazons, he has seen too much and lost too many of the people he had allowed to get close to him. Hardly remembering his human life, hardly remembering what love felt like before he became the Sentinel, all Artair wants is to settle down, fall in love with a mortal woman, and raise a few children. He has decided to train one last generation of Amazons before surrendering his immortality for the promise of a few decades to enjoy an ordinary life.