Showing results by narrator "Jeanine Bartel" in All Categories

After more than a year in Europe, Joanna Vaughn returns to Sweetwater Crossing, her dreams of becoming a concert pianist shattered. As if that wasn’t enough, her husband, whom she married after a whirlwind courtship, has died. The only thing sustaining her on the journey back to Texas is the thought of her childhood home. But to Joanna’s dismay, the place she once loved no longer feels like home.

Laura Evans, a spirited young woman with a deep-rooted faith in God, returns home from college to her father—unaware of his dark secrets. Determined to live by her faith while respecting her father’s contrasting views, Laura’s world shifts when she crosses paths with a devoted preacher. Wilson Porter is driven by a calling to work with the Shoshone people but faces constant delays from government officials. Then tragedy strikes, shaking his faith and causing him to question everything he once believed.

Lillian Doyle has lived her entire high-society life with her widowed mother, believing her father died long ago. But when news arrives that her estranged father only recently passed away—in jail—Lillian is startled to find that the man has left a business and all of his possessions to her, making her a rather unusual heiress. When she goes to take possession of her father's house in a backwoods Georgia town, the dilapidated structure is already occupied by another woman who claims it was promised to her son, Jonah.

Luke Davenport has been fighting all his life—for respect, for country, and for those unable to fight for themselves. But now that his Horsemen brothers are domesticated, he’s left alone to battle the wildness within. When an opportunity arises to take a job on his own, tracking down a group of rustlers, he jumps at the chance. Damaris Baxter has mastered the art of invisibility. Plain and quiet, she hides in books and needlework, content to be overlooked. Until her brother dies suddenly, leaving her custody of her nephew.

Abbey’s life in Hideaway Grove is comfortable, and she’s grateful for her small sewing studio in the back room of her aunt’s bakery, but she’s feeling stuck. To make ends meet, she takes a part-time job at the town’s bustling Visitor Center. Abbey is soon sorting items with her co-workers for the Visitor Center’s annual Lost and Found Day when unclaimed items are displayed and offered for sale. Thanks to tourism, there’s enough to fill a huge stockroom. But something is amiss. Eleanor Franklin hasn’t shown up for work—and when Abbey discovers her whereabouts, it isn’t pretty.

In the third installment of the Treasures of Halstead Manor series, Brooke Sumner carefully avoids and ignores Storm Whitlock—her replacement in Caspar's mysterious treasure-hunting group—and instead focuses on her antique shop.

In 1874 Texas, the wealthy patriarch of the 7-Heart Ranch delivers an ultimatum to his seven independent sons: marry within the year or forfeit their inheritance. The directive sends these confirmed bachelors scrambling to secure their futures while protecting their fiercely guarded freedom.

Members of the legendary Hanger’s Horsemen, Mark Wallace and Jonah Brooks arrive in Llano County, Texas, to deliver a steed, never expecting they’d help deliver a baby as well. Left with an infant to care for, they head to a nearby foundling home, where Mark encounters the woman he nearly married a decade ago.

Some of the independent shops in this sleepy town are barely hanging on financially—and that includes Sarah's Sweets, Abbey's aunt's bakery. The shop's advantage—aside from the deliciousness of its products—is the fact that it's the only bakery in the area. But it looks like that's about to change. The second wife of a wealthy businessman wants her own bakery—and money is no object. When murder unravels the plans for the competing shop, Aunt Sarah is an immediate suspect.

Doctor-in-training Louisa Vaughn is supposed to be in Sweetwater Crossing for only a few days to help a friend. She never expected to be swept up in a secret that could threaten her career and her heart. But she can’t abandon the injured man she finds at the side of the road. Until he heals, she’ll stay, serving as the town’s doctor and midwife.

When American expat and bicycle tour company proprietress Sadie Greene guides a hard-to-impress group of sophisticated seniors on a stunning trip in northeastern France, she expects some twists, turns, and sudden stops to sip the Riesling. She doesn’t anticipate a detour leading straight to murder …

Seven-year-old Keighly Barrow never forgot the night she spied a boy her own age at her grandmother's Redemption, Nevada, mansion. He was staring at her from an antique mirror in the ballroom, standing among gaudily dressed women in an old-time western saloon. Keighly could only discover that his name was Darby Elder - and that he lived a century ago. Twenty years later, engaged to be married, Keighly inherited her grandmother's house. Back before the ballroom mirror, she faces a handsome cowboy whose roguish air radiates trouble.

Chin up, Emily Thorn faces the pain and heartache of love lost and years wasted. At 40, all she has to show for 20 years of marriage is a Federal Express letter from her husband that begins "Dear Emily" - and ends their life together. She had put her own life on hold to pay Ian's way through medical school. She believed him when he told her that one day she'd have everything she ever wanted - children, an education, a career of her own. What she got was overweight, out of shape - and dumped.

A rainy-day ritual - a tea party between three little girls - becomes the framework of not only their friendship, but their lives. Blonde, curly-haired Zoe Alexander is openhearted, kind, and free-spirited, but struggles with body image. Emily Waters is shy, diminutive, and would prefer to live vicariously through books. And Shannon Morell - tall, athletic, strong - has a deep sense of loyalty, but will always fear abandonment. As years pass, they forge careers, have their hearts broken, marry, and have children, but the one constant that remains is each other and their tea parties.

Phoebe Turlow needs to get out of Seattle and forget about the man she just divorced, her dwindling finances, and the lonely nights that stretch ahead of her. But she can't foresee what awaits her on Paradise Island. Duncan Rourke is known to historians as "the pirate patriot". He's been dead for two centuries - or at least he's supposed to be, until Phoebe Turlow steps out of a van, into a run-down island hotel, and into his world.

As the host of a radio program for the lovelorn in Chicago, Jessie Richmond is surprisingly lonely, especially with the holidays approaching. So she decides to make the trek to her uncle's bookstore in rural New York state and hold a speed dating event - only to find herself snowed in - with one very special single.

Taryn Landry was there that awful night 14 years ago when Long Acre changed from the name of a town to the title of a national tragedy. Everyone knows she lost her younger sister. No one knows it was her fault. Since then, psychology Professor Taryn has dedicated her life's work to preventing something like that from ever happening again. Falling in love was never part of the plan....

Take a walk down the aisle - western-style - with these tales of unbridled love, from a trio of New York Times best-selling authors who know the way to a cowboy's heart. Includes "The Rancher's Wedding" by Diana Palmer, "Wind River Wedding" by Lindsay McKenna, and "The Cowboy Lassoes a Bride" by Kate Pearce.

With her twenty-plus-year marriage on the brink of collapse, bookish Natalie Daughtry immerses herself in her new bookstore job. When the mysterious Caspar gathers Natalie and her friends Everleigh and Brooke for the second time, she's ready for an adventure to disperse the turmoil clouding her marriage. Caspar enlists their help in searching for a rumored copy of Lewis Carroll's handwritten and illustrated manuscript of Alice's Adventures Under Ground. Natalie is immediately enticed—this is the perfect distraction.

Ten years ago, Julie Portland accidentally killed her best friend, Reba. What's worse is she got away with it. Consumed by guilt, she left the small town of Lawrence Mill, Mississippi, and swore nothing would ever drag her back. Now, raising her daughter and struggling to make ends meet in Manhattan, Julie still can't forget the ghost of a girl with golden hair and a dangerous secret.