Showing results by publisher "Black Rose Writing" in Contemporary

Elizabeth is a feisty ninety-year-old widow keeping a secret. Developers have tendered a lucrative offer for her beloved Blue Ridge mountain home in Asheville, North Carolina. She knows her children will pressure her to sell it against her own wishes. But any hope of protecting it clashes with her gnawing awareness of the time she has left.

QUINN DAVIS shatters the norm. She's successful in the traditionally male-dominated wine world. She'll do anything for a hunk of swoon-worthy cheese. And she only dates married men, a practice designed to evade love and protect her battered heart. But even as a mistress, Quinn has rules. No meddling in happy marriages. No men with young kids. No falling in love. And absolutely, unequivocally, no gigantic panties on a date. She prefers her men the way she likes her food and wine — enticing, intoxicating and utterly delicious.

The day before Murray McBride moves Jenny, his beloved wife of eighty years, into a memory care center, she convinces him to search for a case her grandfather buried long ago, said to contain “a treasure worth more than gold.” With the help of some new friends, Murray and Jenny retrace their steps from years before. Over the course of the day, Murray tenderly retells their love story—how they met, the challenges they faced and overcame, and their initial attempt at the quest.

Eight years ago, Erin Donahue had it all - her own city apartment, a career in photography, and a man who'd do anything for her. But things change. Now, living in the small town of Destiny, IL, Erin embraces her new life. She's all alone, and she likes it like that. Independent, strong...and broken. Until a handsome, divorced rancher drives up her lane and drags her back into a past she wants to forget.

Cassie Linden worries about every word she can’t remember, terrified of the early-onset Alzheimer’s that stole her mother. Now, recently divorced, she’s back home to care for her aging father, who can no longer manage his beloved bees. To pay for her dad’s care, she puts her misgivings aside and convinces him to sell to a developer who’s putting up a luxury project next door. She also enlists the help of beekeeper Glenn Marsden, who fiercely opposes development of this last open space in town.

If Lora Hamilton was ever going to live a normal life and love again, she will have to follow through on her father’s dying request to put her tragic past behind her. For four years, Lora used work to isolate herself from others, to hide the guilt and shame she’s carried. Now she’s trapped in a lonely, meaningless life.

When Mar Meyer's husband divorces her for another woman, she reacts by abandoning everything in her past: her home, her friends, even her name. Though it's not easy to start over, Mar is young-looking, fit, and ready for new adventures - as long as she can keep things casual. With each passing month, Mar goes from one acquaintance to the next.

Ronnie Callahan's rise to police chief is her ultimate achievement. Nothing or no one will ruin that, especially her handsome, down-to-earth ex-husband, Officer Tony Lombardo. She can handle working side-by-side with him. Outside of the station is a different story. Tony certainly isn't making it easy on Ronnie with holiday invitations to his parents' house and spending the night at her apartment. Through a series of unexpected encounters, Ronnie and Tony are forced to come to terms with the tragedy that tore them apart.

Everyone feels stuck now and then, right? At least, that's what Kristen tells herself. The problem is that all her usual tricks for getting out of a funk aren't working. What she needs is a really big change, and as a single woman with a remote career, her options are wide open. So she decides to spend a year in the small town of Riverton where her dad recently relocated. The people in Riverton are warm and welcoming, and Kristen quickly finds herself a part of her new community in ways that she didn't expect.

When Professor Meg Adams’ literature assignment results in the murder of her favorite student, Meg decides to help solve the mystery. Heather had been researching John Greenleaf Whittier, poet of a ballad about the historical figure, Barbara Fritchie. The poem honors Fritchie for shaming Stonewall Jackson by flying a Union flag as he marches through Frederick, Maryland, to the Battle of Antietam.

Callie Wind, single mom and owner of a quirky Texas amusement park, dreams of a carousel life, but her dead patriarch is determined to keep her on a chaotic thrill ride. He delights in their spectral arguments from beyond the grave. Her estranged daughter Sophie—now a televangelist with a knack for pyramid schemes—wriggles her way back into Callie's life with plans to turn the park into a shrine to her own ego. Caught between the old man's ghostly antics and Sophie's snake oil scams, Callie's life is like snow cone syrup on pony droppings.

Audrey Tillman and Jim Harrison have been in love with each other for most of their lives. When they finally think they're getting their happily ever after, Jim falls down the stairs and is rushed to the emergency room on their wedding day, leaving Audrey to wonder if she has lost the love of her life for good this time.

The summer before her senior year of high school, Rosalee fell in love with George. By the next summer, George had broken her heart, and Rosalee was sure she’d never see him again.

After a vagrant upbringing, free-spirited Wren Atwood has fought to beat the odds. She has a career as a massage therapist, a solid church community, and now her lifelong dream is coming true, with a little blue house to call her own. But the first person to congratulate her is the last person she wants to see: pompous businessman Daniel Hollis. Adored by most of Ridley Bay, Hollis has found success as an entrepreneur. Yet no amount of money can buy love from his family or health for his sister.

After an affair with a client's husband leads to scandal, private chef Devon Paige is left with only one client in Boston—a reclusive professional basketball player with a craving for cookies. With no other choice, Devon lands on the doorstep of Rockwood, a boarding school on the New Hampshire seacoast, taking a job leading their dining services. She is shocked to soon discover Kyle Holling on staff, who she hasn't seen in over fifteen years since a memorable night just before departing for college in different cities.

Young mother and widow Katie Kaminski is chasing happiness at any cost—even to her children. When her in-laws ask her to photograph Grace Church’s fall festival, Katie reluctantly agrees to spend a week in her late husband’s hometown. But where she expected to find ghosts of his past, she instead finds her own. Standing next to her in-laws is former flame Isaac Torres. The soldier-turned-police officer isn’t at church for God, though. He has no need for religion or women—especially the ones who have lied to him, like Katie.

Jill is a resilient woman who faces life's toughest challenges head-on. After years of struggle and perseverance, she receives an unexpected request from her past that shakes her to the core. Her ex-husband Michael left twenty years ago, and now he wants to walk their daughter down the aisle on her wedding day. While Jill agrees, her family despises her for doing so, and what should be a happy day for mother and daughter turns into whispers of failures and regrets.

When running for your life, the best plan may be to hide in plain sight. That's what Jordan thinks when fleeing from her abusive husband. A remote cabin in the woods in an even more remote part of the country is the haven she needs, a place to live her life in peace and solitude while guarding the secrets she must keep to stay safe.

Suellen Atkins’ trust fund has given her everything except love. As the youngest attorney in a major law firm, her life is filled with reckless spending and meaningless flings. But when she dumps her latest wild guy, he doesn’t leave quietly.