What would you do if you knew your life was about to change dramatically and not for the better? If you’re Sarah Austin, you adopt the phrase ‘carpe diem’.

After a devastating diagnosis, Sarah knows she’s about to spend the rest of her life battling a disease for which there is no cure. Known as ‘sensible Sarah’ by her family, she’s always been the one to play things safe and do the right things in her life. Now facing an uncertain future, Sarah does the one thing she’s never done: throw caution to the wind.

In high school, Dean Batista was the resident bad boy and years later he keeps up the façade while in his hometown tending to family business. Yet, he wonders, what the people in his hometown would think if they knew he was really a counselor working with troubled teens?

Everyone has a few proverbial skeletons in the closet. Perhaps it’s a great uncle who may have been on the right side of the law but was a good friend of Al Capone. Or a great grandmother who ran away with the best man on her wedding day. Maybe you just have an aunt who has intimate talks with Elvis every day ignoring the fact that he’s dead. All are harmless characters, really having no effect on your current life—but what if they did? What if someone digging into your past unearthed a series of family scandals that could blow the lid off of your nice, comfortable life? You’d probably do anything to keep your life comfortable. That’s where Barrett Browning, the heroine of Ann Macela’s newest novel, Windswept, comes in—she’s about to blow the top off.

Can luck be ascribed to an item, even it if was very lucky a generation before? Can something as small as an earring change a life? That's what Mandi Carleton is about to find out in the short but sweet Mandi's Lucky Day by Beth Morrow.

How could the emerald earring be considered lucky when Mandi lost one of the blasted things? Now she'd never find the love of her life, the way Aunt Lucy had found Uncle Patrick to spend her life with. Mandi is sure that she has shattered the trust that Aunt Lucy had for her in giving her the lucky earrings as well. Now what should she do?

Some women can totally change their mood by simply making a change in their hairstyle. Wear it up and it's sophistication, down and it's carefree fun. But, when Paul Barry doesn't notice the change from down to ponytail, and his date goes from Mary to Marion, he's in for a wild courtship in J.H.Bogran's Love Me Two Times.

Mary/Marion suffers from Multiple Personality Disorder and doesn't even know herself that she becomes two completely different women in the same body. Paul learns the hard way when Mary bites his lip during a goodnight kiss on their first date, and Marion wants to know the next day who bit him, accusing him of already cheating on her. Paul does his best to keep the two women straight as he falls in love with both.

It is a hard job to take words, put them on a medium to be read, and have it enjoyed, learned from, or simply absorbed. Not many are able to do a good job, even if they do get published. Fewer are able to put something that grows from deep pain, and still make it palpable enough to teach a needed lesson, especially if you are not asking to be taught in the first place.

No one likes being preached to and Different Roads does not do that. Instead you are lead through the heart, mind, and eyes of a character who lived through a version of hell that is all too commonly known among those whose parents are stuck in poverty. Bad enough that Jaycee’s mom died on her when she was six and stuck with a dad who is so addicted to the booze that he can't wake up, get well, and be her dad. Jaycee is no one's fool; it's what kept her alive. Developing large breasts at an early age, she learned how to make people check her out. Jaycee has a brain and knows how to use it, too. Against all odds she makes it into college and falls for the one kind of guy she always avoids. The rich type who takes girls, uses them, and throws them aside the next day.

The life of the super model must be great. Everyone recognizes your name and face. You get all free couture clothing and shoes. Admittance to sold-out events and reservations at restaurants and snobby clubs are no problem; then there’s the dating pool. Everyone knows that beautiful people hang with their kind. When could it possibly be not a good thing to be a super model? Perhaps when you’re a model on the down swing? Madison Worth, the heroine of Shirley Jump’s novel, Pretty Bad, knows exactly how it feels.

Ever imagine getting back at every cheerleader who ever slyly put you down in high school? How about wreaking a little revenge on the high school stud who stood you up? Maybe your payback takes the form of living well and looking hot. The most important thing is settling the score for past abuses or at least that is what Allie Dean, heroine of Really Something, Shirley Jump’s newest novel, thinks.

Gracie and the Bad Hat is such an interesting title that I had to see what the book is all about. A novel-sized contemporary romance set between two artists, Gracie and the Bad Hat is an interesting story with very human characters that will keep you turning pages.

Gracie O'Shaughnessy finds herself buck naked in the bed of a man she doesn't know. Now, for some milliners–hat-makers that is–this might be a normal occurrence, but for Ms. O'Shaughnessy it is most certainly not. The worst part is she can't remember a thing about what happened.

Who hasn't thought about what's it's like to make love to a friend? Does such a relationship have a chance to blossom into something more? Those are the exact questions Jacqueline Monroe must ask herself when her long time friend Caleb Sinclair invites her on a long weekend to a bed and breakfast.

The problem is Caleb is the ex-fiancé to her best friend and as far as she’s concerned that makes him off limits. Intent on telling him no, she somehow ends up allowing him to talk her into the excursion and in the process opens herself up to the possibilities of not only a weekend of steaming hot sex, but a real relationship, too. Something Jacqueline had both dreamed about and feared. After all real relationships means real pain if things go wrong. What she’s forgotten is Caleb isn’t just some hot stud; he’s also a friend who’s aware of her fears and will do whatever necessary to help her through them. Can she overcome her fear and take the leap of faith she needs to give true love a chance?

When Tough Enough by Sarah Storme landed in my mailbox, I was a little disappointed. It's a contemporary romance - no vampires, no witches or anything undead. It's true; no creepy crawlies in this story, just a good old fashioned boy meets girl romance. Well, sort of. This girl rides a motorcycle and carries a switchblade.

Jackie Cook is running from the law and a bunch of thugs who are more than willing to kill her to get her out of their way. No, she didn't do really illegal or anything, she was just helping out a friend. On the run from her home state of Alaska, Jackie knows she has to lie low, so as of today her new home is a dusty old trailer in the mountains of Spencer's Springs, Colorado.

Having heard so much about Jena Galifany's ShadowsForge series, I was delighted to be given the opportunity to review ShadowsForge 4: The Long Way Home so I could finally meet the boys in the band and see what they were up to this time around. You know how rock stars are, you never know what to expect!

What I truly never expected from The Long Way Home was a story that took us so deep into the past of ShadowsForge's drummer Brian Cummings. A troubled youth, Brian grew up in a small town in England and seemed bent on making trouble for his parents. Prone to drugs, alcohol and street fighting, Brian had seen more than his fair share of the miseries of the world even at the tender age of sixteen when we first meet him.

Ever wonder what the deal is about knitting? More people are knitting than ever, including teenage girls. A good book to peek into the mysterious world of knitting and all its trailing complications and joys is Debbie Macomber’s , A Good Yarn, the second in her knitting series.

Lydia Hoffman’s shop, A Good Yarn, is a great place for women to learn knitting and the intricacies of life. Elise Beaumont wants to reconnect with knitting and the joy of living. Bethanne Hamlin is an unexpected divorcee who turns to knitting as a distraction. Then there’s Courtney Pulanksi, a troubled teen who finds herself transplanted in her senior year. All three women struggle to knit socks and how to live the lives they want.

Ever feel like life is passing you by and you can’t put your finger on why? Maybe you feel that you’ve lost the sense of who you really are? Faced with the demands of family and work, you find yourself performing endless duties without any thought. Perhaps for a moment, you remember a different time, one when you were filled with passion and determination. Susannah Nelson, heroine of Debbie Macomber’s Susannah’s Garden, knows the feeling.

How far would you go for a friend? How much would you be willing to give up to help someone who helped you in the past? Would you give up your personal freedom? Your life? These questions would take a lot of thought to answer, but they are all questions Lauren N. Sharman has set before Blackie McCassey in the second book of the McCassey Brothers' trilogy, The Devil's Candy.

Blackie McCassey, known in Hagerstown, Maryland as "The Devil," was just fine with people staying out of his way. He couldn't be bothered with a social life. If he wanted a woman, that was no problem, as long as she didn’t get any ideas about staying around longer than a couple of hours in his bed. Beyond that, women were only trouble. Blackie was a close friend of trouble since he was a young man, spending half his life in and out of prison. Now, at thirty-nine, he lives life his own way and does pretty much what he pleases. No one would dare tell him he couldn't. Free, and on his own: that's the way he likes it. Then Digger Shelby calls in a long overdue favor.

Love sucks! It can be the most wonderful thing in the world when it's right. When you find you love someone who loves someone else, though, well… love sucks! Ceri Hebert, in her debut novel with Whiskey Creek Press, takes this dilemma through all of its paces in Finally Home.

Victoria Barron, who prefers to be called "Torie," is the poor little rich girl who adores horses, much to the displeasure of her high-class mother. Her father doesn't seem to care, one way or the other, as long as Torie stays out of his way. He's too busy making millions to be bothered by a daughter. Torie hates her life, except when she gets to go to the Carter Hills Stables to ride and care for her horse.