Rainbows. Katherine Stone. 1992. 512p. Zebra. The story of two beautiful sisters who both rise to the top of their professions and find the men of their dreams, has many of the elements of a fairy tale: a wicked prince, a beautiful princess, a valuable necklace, and two babies given away at birth. Alexa Taylor is a wildly successful but sweetly humble actress, star of the hit series Pennsylvania Avenue . Her sister Catherine is an insecure but extraordinarily beautiful concert pianist. The plot concentrates on their relationships with the men in their lives (all of whom are rich, powerful, and handsome) and how they earn the right to their soulmates. —Marilyn Jordan, Keiser Coll. Lib., Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. (Library Journal)

Rancher’s Bride, The. Tara Taylor Quinn. 2002. 256p. Harlequin. Isabella Trueblood made history reuniting people torn apart by war and an epidemic. Now, generations later, Lily and Dylan Garrett carry on her work with their agency, Finders Keepers. Circumstances may have changed, but the goal remains the same. Max Santana had lost his bride. She’d turned tail and run minutes before her father was about to pronounce them man and wife. What demons were pursuing the girl he’d waited eleven years to marry? Rachel Blair found her flesh and blood. She thought she’d finally put her college days behind her, but the child she’d given up for adoption then haunted her still. Could Max really understand that her future included mothering this child, no matter what?

Razor Sharp. Fern Michaels. 2009. 249p. (Sisterhood Series #14). Kensington Publishing Corporation. A Friend In Need...Needs The Sisterhood. When it comes to repaying a debt, the women of the Sisterhood—Myra, Annie, Kathryn, Alexis, Yoko, Nikki, and Isabelle—never forget. And now one of their allies needs help only they can give. A powerful attorney with a cut-throat reputation, Lizzie Fox has just taken on a high-profile new client—Lily Flowers, the Madam of a high-end bordello operating under the guise of a summer camp. The chips—a.k.a. the prominent Washington politicians who frequent the bordello—are stacked against Lily and her girls. But one phone call to the Sisterhood might just swing the vote. And soon, even the highest courts in the land will prove no match for seven fearless friends determined to ensure that real justice is served, Sisterhood style. About the Author: Fern Michaels is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Fool Me Once, Sweet Revenge, The Nosy Neighbor, Pretty Woman, and dozens of other novels and novellas. There are over seventy million copies of her books in print. Fern Michaels has built and funded several large day-care centers in her hometown, and is a passionate animal lover who has outfitted police dogs across the country with special bulletproof vests. She shares her home in South Carolina with her four dogs and a resident ghost named Mary Margaret.

Reluctant Cowgirl. Christine Lynxwiler. 2009. 288p. (The McCord Sisters, Book 1). Barbour Books. Enjoy a front row seat as two reluctant lovers take center stage in award-winning author Christine Lynxwiler’s latest riveting romance. New York actress Crystal McCord puts her career on hold to return home to Arkansas to help take care of her family’s ranch. When she meets cowboy neighbor Jeremy Buchanan, sparks fly. But when Jeremy’s never-before-mentioned family appears on the scene, he drops out of the picture. Will Crystal’s country road home turn out to be a dead end? Is it time for a U-turn back to the Big Apple? Or will Jeremy manage to book her for an unlimited engagement?

Remember When. Anne Laurence. 1993. 298p. (Harlequin Superromance #539). Harlequin. Nate Fields had returned to his Missouri hometown, to avenge himself on Amber Reinhart, daughter of the area’s wealthiest family. Growing up in the dirt-poor community along the riverbank, Nate had always resented—and desired—Amber, the beautiful, unattainable heiress of Allswell, the elegant mansion on the bluffs. Now Nate was a man of means, and Amber’s family fortunes were on the wane. When he purchased the failing family business, he expected to feel triumphant. But how could he? Amber was so much warmer and kinder than he’d ever imagined. And she’d adopted a young girl who, he’d just learned, was his own daughter.

Renegade Father. Rayanne Thayne. 2001. 256p. (Intimate Moments #1062). Silhouette. A single mother running a ranch with the help of a man whom she has kept a secret from for more than 13 years feels she is in over her head when he quits and a series of bizarre events begin to unhinge her. Can she turn to her soon-to-be-ex foreman without him finding her weak?

Return to Santa Flores. Iris Johansen. 1984. 179p. (Loveswept #40). Bantam. Jenny had dreamed of returning from school to declare her love for Steve Jason, who had adopted her as a young girl. She tried to make him see her for the woman she had become, but each day she spent in his Las Vegas hotel found her needing rescue from a fate worse than death! Though he felt years older and too jaded for her innocent love, Steve discovered that Jenny whould never give herself to another man.

Return to Sender. Zoë Barnes. 2009. 336p. Piatkus Books. Holly Bennett has always known she was adopted, and finding her real parents has never been a priority. But at age 29, two sudden events cause Holly change her mind: the loss of her beloved adopted mom, and a sudden desire to have a baby of her own. Her search brings her to Phil Hepworth’s dilapidated detective agency clutching the few clues she has to her birth: a tartan baby blanket, a silver necklace, and a faded newspaper clipping of a baby abandoned outside a local hospital. Holly’s roots turn out to be trickier than expected to follow, but she is increasingly content to spend long stretches of time speaking with the attractive and charming Phil. About the Author: Zoë Barnes is the author of several novels, including Bouncing Back and Love Bug.

Rich Relations. Mavis Heath-Miller. 1968. 158p. Fontana Books (UK). This is the story of the Betonie family, who live in a small seaside town in Sussex; of Priscilla, their adopted daughter; of the man Priscilla loves, and of another man, to whom she becomes engaged; and of Louise, the poor relation whose advent causes so much upheaval, so much tragedy, and at last happiness.

Risky Affair, A. Maureen Smith. 2008. 256p. (Kimani Romance). Harlequin/Kimani. A year after the death of her adoptive parents, Solange Washington leaves her small hometown and arrives in San Antonio hoping to start a new life. The last thing on her mind is romance. Not only is she still recovering from her parents’ death—not to mention a bad breakup—but getting involved in a relationship will only interfere with her new job with prominent defense attorney Crandall Thorne. But when Solange meets sexy, gorgeous private investigator Dane Roarke, she quickly realizes how difficult it will be to resist temptation… Scandal forced Dane to walk away from the FBI and head to San Antonio, where he accepted a job at his cousins’ private detective agency. Just as his life appears to be getting back on track, a beautiful mystery woman walks through the door of Roarke Investigations—and turns his world upside down. Dane knows he must have Solange, and boldly sets out to seduce her. But when he discovers a shocking secret about her true identity, will he risk losing her heart by keeping the truth from her? Visit the Author’s website.

Rivers of the Heart. Audrey Howard. 2000. 456p. Hodder & Stoughton Ltd. Beautiful, wilful and untameable, Kitty Hayes has only ever loved one man. From the moment she met him, she believed with all her heart that her adopted brother Freddy would one day be her husband. When he chooses to marry her pretty, feminine, despised sister instead, it breaks more than her heart. Torn between fury and sorrow, Kitty sets out to show them all that she doesn’t care, and makes her own brilliant match. She doesn’t love Ben Maddox—she scarcely notices him, even though he is fascinated by his headstrong bride. It is only when her selfishness leads to an unforgiveable accident that she realizes what she has lost. And by then, it may be too late.

Roarke’s Kingdom. Sandra Marton. 1993. 189p. (Harlequin Presents #1574). Harlequin. Virginia only wanted a glimpse of the couple who’d adopted her daughter—perhaps a precious look at her child. She hadn’t expected her detective work to lead her to an island off San Juan, a run-in with Roarke Campbell...and the shocking truth. Her child was there, in that private paradise, with no mother and a cold unfeeling father. Yet with one fierce kiss, Roarke belied his icy exterior—the depths of his desire warming Virginia to the core. When he learned the truth, would he shut her out of his heart forever?

Sacred Trust, A. Sharon Mignery. 1997. 304p. Z Mass Paper. From Literary Times: Lexi Monroe’s photography is renowned for its subject—the people of South America, especially the children. She loved her job, until she met El Ladron, the driving element behind the stealing and selling of children. It is El Ladron that scares Lexi and forces her into a self-exile from the world she loves. Recognizing her own fears, Lexi decides to try Chane Callahan’s survival training class, hoping to put herself back on track. True to his soldier background, Chane is at first skeptical of Lexi as a reporter/photographer, but he soon realizes that this little lady is a resourceful, talented woman. She is also the most beautiful thing he has ever laid eyes on, and he decides that she might be well worth the chase, if he can remember how to do the chasing. There is no denying the attraction that builds between Chane and Lexi. Chane realizes that Lexi is fighting a fear that holds her very soul in torment. She forces herself to hold him at a distance, not wanting him to get too close, too personal. But Lexi’s eyes cannot hide her feelings, her desires; and Chane’s gentle touch and soft words are a welcome change from the pain she has seen. El Ladron tracks Lexi through a grandmother searching for her lost grandchild, a child taken after her parents were brutally murdered by him. Lexi is trapped between protecting Chane and his family and protecting herself. When El Ladron finds her, nothing will stop him from destroying everything Lexi holds dear—her home, her life, her loves. When he takes Chane’s family and holds them in exchange for Lexi, there is only one answer—she must face her demon. Chane and Lexi have faced their own nightmares, their own losses. Now they must face their greatest fear—losing each other before they’ve even had time to realize what they are losing. Lexi’s only prayer now is for the protection of Chane’s daughter and brother, who are both in the hands of the devil himself. Her new fear is that Chane will not forgive her for leading this beast into his life. — Karen Ellington; © 1994-97 Literary Times, Inc. All rights reserved

Savage Courage. Cassie Edwards. 2005. 370p. Leisure Books. Lovely Shoshana was ripped from the arms of her Apache people to be raised as a white woman, far from the rushing waters and soaring mountains she had known as a child. But when she returns to the Arizona Territory, a perplexing dream begins to haunt her; a vision of a golden eagle carrying her mother to safety and beckoning her home. Whether her mother is still alive or not, Shoshana knows she must answer the mysterious call. Ignoring her adoptive father’s warnings, she sets out to explore the place of her birth.

Searching. Robyn Anzelon. 1986. 198p. (Harlequin Superromance #198). Harlequin. Carrie Prescott knew Mac Kincaid was a first-rate reporter. Helping him researchc his story on adoption search seemed simple enough—but it wasn’t. She couldn’t foresee that Mac had a score to settle, or that she would become involved in the search for her own mother.

Secret Daughter, The. Jackie Merritt. 1998. 250p. (Special Edition #1218). Silhouette. For over twenty years, Blythe Benning had kept a secret from her teenage sweetheart, the man she loved—the man who fathered her child. Blythe had given their baby up for adoption and she’d never stopped regretting it. Then Brent Morrison stormed back into her life. Was it an accident, or fate? Blythe could only tremble at the powerful feelings the handsome architect still raised with a look, a touch, a kiss. Blythe knew that now was the time to face Brent with the truth—about everything! Together, could they find their long-lost child?

Secret Life of Bryan, The. Lori Foster. 1994. 384p. (Visitation, Book 2). Kensington. Bounty hunter Bryan Kelly has a few rules. Rule # 1: Women are for fun, not commitment. He’s been jilted too many times for that. Rule #2: He’ll do anything for his twin brother, even switch places in order to find out who wants to sabotage the naive preacher’s charity organization. Playing benefactor to a bunch of sassy, flirtatious prostitutes means that Bryan will have to be his brother—in every way that counts. But then, he hadn’t counted on Shay Sommers. Keeping his cool around the luscious lady of the night with the big heart is doing nothing to keep his thoughts pure, which brings him to Rule #3: If you can’t avoid temptation, succumb with abandon...Being mistaken for a hooker. Well that’s certainly a new one for Shay. The society pages icon has made her name in charity work. Still, this could be her chance to help these girls from the inside out, if she can play the part just right. It certainly won’t be hard to act the street siren with the gorgeous preacher who runs the place, even if he does seem less like a shepherd and much more like a wolf in a clerical collar...one with a hungry look that’s making Shay feel she might be his next dinner.

Secret Lives. Diane Chamberlain. 1991. 406p. HarperCollins. From Publishers Weekly: Although one significant secret in this many-layered novel will fail to surprise readers, the brisk, atmospherically evocative narrative is absorbing reading. Eden Riley, an Oscar-winning actress and recently divorced mother of a four-year-old, returns to Lynch Hollow and the tangled roots of her Shenandoah Valley childhood to film the story of her mother, Katherine Swift , a famous author of children’s books. Katherine was a solitary eccentric who wrote in the nearby cave, where she died when Eden was 11. Eden spent two years in an orphanage before she was found by her putative uncle Kyle, an archeologist, and taken to New York to live with him and his wife. Kyle, now retired to Lynch Hollow, gives Eden her mother’s journals, which gradually reveal Eden’s and Kyle’s true relationship. Parallel to Eden’s dawning awareness is her affair with Ben, an archeology disciple of Kyle’s who has been ostracized after being falsely accused of sexually abusing his own child. Providing background to Eden and Ben’s steamy sex scenes are the glimmering images of the young Katherine in the fastness of her cave, committing to her journals the nearly incestuous love that could not be acknowledged. Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Secrets. Sharon Wagner. 1980. Zebra/Kensington Publishing Corp. She was adopted. She accepted it as a fact of life, but deep inside she knew she would never be complete until she located her natural mother.

Secrets of the Heart: A Family Saga. Lorraine Rocco. 2009. 316p. BluewaterPress LLC. Delia and Luke have a whirlwind love affair until Luke, a young widower, steps back to reconsider the relationship. Delia tries to find him, but his scheming mother purposely sabotages their reunion by telling her that Luke has married someone else. Five long years pass before Luke and Delia meet again. They marry within the month, but Delia is guarding a secret that explodes thirteen years later when Luke is recovering from a heart transplant. As they struggle to cope with her revelation, Luke’s mother discovers Delia’s secret and sets events in motion to disgrace Delia. Finally, beneath all the lies and past regrets, Luke and Delia find the ultimate secret of the heart.

Shall We Dance. Kasey Michaels. 2005. 384p. Harlequin. From Booklist: Perry Shepard, the earl of Brentwood, doesn“t talk about his service to England during the war with Napoleon, but his uncle knows that Perry is more than the Regency social gadfly he appears to be and insists that he spy on the estranged Queen Caroline, who has returned to England to be crowned at the coronation of her despised husband. To do so, Perry must acquaint himself with Amelia Fredericks, the queen’s adopted daughter and staunch ally. Amelia succumbs to his charm, only to feel betrayed when she learns of his mission. He is equally smitten, and comes to believe that the queen is being used for political gain, and that his precious Amelia may be caught up in the same intrigue due to her mysterious origins. Can Perry have his love, or does she belong to England? Michaels truly shines in this gem of a historical romance rich in witty dialogue and intriguing political maneuverings. — Patty Engelmann; © American Library Association. All rights reserved.

Sheik, The. E(dith) M(aude) Hull (Pseudonym of Edith Maude Winstanley) (1880-1947). 1919. 280p. Eveleigh Nash & Grayson Ltd (UK). Diana Mayo is young, beautiful, wealthy—and independent. Bored by the eligible bachelors and endless parties of the English aristocracy, she arranges for a horseback trek through the Algerian desert. Two days into her adventure, Diana is kidnapped by the powerful Sheik Ahmed Ben Hassan, who forces her into submission. Diana tries desperately to resist but finds herself falling in love with this dark and handsome stranger [who, it turns out, is not an Arab at all, but the son of an English Lord and a Spanish noble woman, the latter of whom is discovered alone and pregnant in then desert by the Sheik’s father, who adopts the infant boy following his birth and the subsequent death of his mother]. Only when a rival chieftain steals Diana away does the Sheik realize that what he feels for her is more than mere passion. He has been conquered—and risks everything to get her back. The power of love reaches across the desert sands, leading to the thrilling and unexpected conclusion. One of the most widely read novels of the 1920s, and forever fixed in the popular imagination in the film version starring the irresistible Rudolph Valentino, The Sheik is recognized as the immediate precursor to the modern romance novel. When first published there was nothing like it: To readers the story was scandalous, exotic, and all-consuming; to such critics as the New York Times the book was “shocking,” although written with “a high degree of literary skill.” In the author’s native England, the bestselling book was labeled “poisonously salacious” by the Literary Review and banned from some communities. But the public kept reading. The influence of The Sheik on romance writers and readers continues to resonate. Despite controversy over its portrayal of sexual exploitation as a means to love, The Sheik remains a popular classic for its representation of the social order of its time, capturing contemporary attitudes toward colonialism as well as female power and independence that still strike a chord with readers today. Pictured at left, 1st American edition, 1921.

Sheriff Gets His Lady, The. Dani Sinclair. 2002. 256p. Harlequin. Isabella Trueblood made history reuniting people torn apart by war and an epidemic. Now, generations later, Lily and Dylan Garrett carry on her work with their agency, Finders Keepers. Circumstances may have changed, but the goal remains the same. Skylar Diamond had lost the joy of motherhood. Now a successful fashion designer, the regret she harbored at the long-ago decision to give up her baby haunted her still. Sheriff Noah Beaufort, an overprotective father, didn’t appreciate a high-society type nosing around his town, watching his grown-up daughter, Lauren. Then Lauren took a fancy to the woman, and in spite of himself, so did Noah. But he was too good a lawman to trust her motives. Something was definitely suspicious.

Silken Threads. Connie Rinehold. 1989. 296p. (Harlequin Superromance #374). Harlequin. At the age of sixteen, Sabrina Haddon found herself pregnant and on the end of a one-sided love affair. Her mother had died a year earlier, so she had to quit school to take care of her invalid father and have her baby. Three years later her father died, and suffering with grief and guilt, she gave her daughter up for adoption. Sabrina worked her way through high school and then studied fashion and design. She was hired by a small boutique to design and make clothes, and later became a partner in this venture, which eventually grew into a very successful business. Sixteen years later, continually haunted by the past, she answers the door and is shocked as she confronts Tess Jordan—the near image of a sixteen-year-old Sabrina. Tess had been adopted by a loving couple, Claire and Ramsey Jordan. But Claire had given all of her love and attention to Tess, shutting out her husband. Ignored and hurt, Ramsey devoted his time and energy into building his company into a thriving business. After Claire died, he didn’t change his habits and Tess felt unwanted and unloved. She accidentally finds her birth records and runs away to visit Sabrina. Ramsey suffers guilt knowing Tess is hurting, and he is frantic to find her. Locating the birth papers, he tracks down his daughter, and when he arrives at Sabrina’s home he is enraged and defensive. Sabrina calms him down, but they become snowbound and he is forced to spend the night in her home. The following morning, Sabrina discovers that Ramsey and Tess left without saying goodbye. She is desolate about losing her daughter so soon after finding her again. Ms. Rinehold builds on the story, introducing a great cast of secondary characters. Her insight into the life of an adopted teenager is so realistic that you know just what Tess is thinking and feeling. The author vividly describes Ramsey’s and Sabrina’s thoughts, too, as they fight their feelings for each other. And the deep, sacrificial love that they both have for Tess is shown throughout the story. The teenager is the catalyst in the story, capable of bringing three hurting people together or pulling them apart. You’ll react with a few tears, but also be pleasured by the humor and warmth of love in this story. Ms. Rinehold has created magic with words, and I really enjoyed getting to know Ramsey and Sabrina. The only negative thought I have about Silken Threads is that it wasn’t long enough. ~ Carol Carter for Bookbug on the Web

Sinister Tapestry, The. Jane McCarthy. 1974. 192p. Avalon Books. Dark-eyed Jenine Royale was thrilled. A spur-of-the-moment invitation had brought the young reporter an unexpected trip home. Home was aptly named The Haven, a huge stone house set amid gigantic pines and rough granite boulders in a California mountain forest. Here Jennie had been raised under the tender tutelage of Henriette Royale—musician, lecturer, world traveler, and mother to seven adopted children—who presided over the estate with the dignity and grace of an aging queen. Jennie had been separated from Henriette for several years. Caught up in the whirl of a journalistic career in Washington, D.C., she had sipped cocktails with junior senators and visiting dignitaries as a sideline to the more important business of selling her lightly barbed profiles of political personalities. But not even her writer’s imagination could have dreamed up the bizarre drama that was unfolding at The Haven. A dashing young stranger was apparently madly in love with Henriette, now in her sixties. Worse, Hentiette openly returned the man’s bold affections. Jennie could barely conceal her shock at her adoptive mother’s girlish giddiness. Jacques DeFore was a writer, ostensibly preparing Henriette’s memoirs, but Jennie distrusted him. She was especially wary of his self-assured proclamations on the subject of love, for to the horrified young journalist Jacques’ flattering attentions to her mother spelled only one occupation: fortune hunter!

Sisters Found. Joan Johnston. 2002. 384p. Mira. Faith, Hope & Charity: Beautiful, bold and uncertain of love after being abandoned as an infant, Charity is bewildered by Kane Longstreet’s marriage proposal. Despite her misgivings, she agrees to go home with Kane for the holidays. But at his cousin’s engagement party at Hawk’s Pride, she gets the shock of her life when she comes face-to-face with identical twin sisters Hope and Faith Butler, and sees a mirror image of herself. The stunning discovery that she is a triplet does little to distract Hope from her own personal heartbreak. The man she has loved all her life, Jake Whitelaw, is about to marry someone else. With only two weeks until the wedding, she needs a miracle. And thanks to her determined sisters, she might just get it. Fearing that her parents gave Charity up for adoption because of her own special needs as a child, Faith is consumed by guilt. She vows to see both her sisters happy, no matter what it takes. That means she’s got to break up one wedding, arrange a couple more ... and seize her own chance for happiness.

Skylark’s Song, The. Audrey Howard. 1984. 320p. St Martin’s Press. A portrayal of a girl from the Mersey docks battling to escape the brutal squalor of her background. It follows her from the age of five, through poverty, adoption, betrayal, assault, escape and eventual rescue by a man forever beyond her reach. By the author of A World of Difference.

Slow Burn. Brenda Jackson. 2007. 304p. (Madaris Family Novels). St Martin’s Paperbacks. Everything in accountant Skye Barclay’s life is fitting smoothly into place until she makes the startling discovery that she was adopted. Not only does she learn that her birth mother has died, but now Skye finds out that she has a biological brother: Vincent. Skye wants to track him down, and her parents, as well as her fiance, Wayne refuse to support or accept her decision. And Wayne takes it a step further and abruptly ends their engagement. Skye’s search for Vincent leads her to his adoptive parents, Dr. Justin and Lorren Madaris, and, lo and behold, Slade Madaris—Vincent’s tall, dark, and sexy cousin. Slade is by far the most compelling man Skye has ever met, but she isn’t ready to get involved so soon after Wayne’s rejection…not even when Slade offers her a job so she can stay in town and get to know her brother better. Slade is a shrewd businessman, but hiring Skye is one of the riskiest moves he’s ever made. Soon their mutual attraction explodes into a steamy summer affair. When Wayne shows up in town, determined to win Skye back, Slade sets out to prove that he and Skye are meant to be together. Because a Madaris man never walks away from a challenge—especially when true love is on the line. About the Author: Award-winning author Brenda Jackson lives in the city where she was born, Jacksonville, FL. She is a graduate of William M. Raines High School, and has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Jacksonville University. Presently, she works in management for a major insurance company. She is also a member of the First Coast Chapter of Romance Writers of America, and is a founding member of the national chapter of Women Writers of Color. Brenda lives in Florida with her husband. She has over 40 novels in print. She is currently at work on her next novel. Visit the Author’s website.

Slow Heat in Heaven. Sandra Brown. 1988. 464p. Warner Books. They called it Heaven, Louisiana, but the steaming secrets of its residents made it hotter than hell. Schyler Crandall, the adopted daughter of the most powerful man in town, had run away a heartbroken girl, but came back a woman who knew exactly what she wanted. Cash, sensual, arrogant, and mysteriously complex. No man intrigued Schyler more or was more dangerous for her to love. Tricia, Schyler’s beautiful younger sister. Her cruel lies only hinted of her malice. Ken, Tricia’s handsome husband. Marrying the wrong sister was just his first mistake. Jigger, pimp and ruffian. He wasn’t the only evil in this sultry, seething southern town. For a crisis has brought Schyler Crandall home to a family in conflict, a logging empire on the brink of disaster, and the kinds of sins that make Heaven burning hot—and ready to explode.

Somebody’s Baby. Charlotte Vale Allen. 1995. 304p. Harlequin. Imagine this: On her deathbed, your mother confesses to an unthinkable crime. Thirty years before, she stole you from a New York City supermarket. She is not your mother. You are somebody’s baby, but not hers. This is Snow Devane’s story. At thirty-one, she is a successful child portrait photographer living in Manhattan. Her life is everything she wants it to be. And she has managed to establish some distance from the mother she loves but who would, given the opportunity, smother her with caring concern. Her mother’s deathbed confession upends Snow’s entire life. Who was this woman Snow thought she knew? What drove her to steal another woman’s child? What happened to the woman who, thirty years before, turned around to find her baby gone? And, finally, who is Snow Devane?

Someone Wonderful. Barbara Neil. 1988. 312p. Bloomsbury. From Publishers Weekly: Something wonderful indeed is this story of a young English woman’s growth into love and maturity in a family of beautifully realized, slightly damaged human beings. Lily Teape, the illegitimate daughter of a well-to-do young woman killed in a boating accident, was raised by her aunt Grace, widowed by the same accident. Her childhood spent following Grace in her pursuit of romance and perfect marriage—Happily Ever After, Grace calls it—Lily develops into a self-contained, realistic young woman who remakes beautiful old clothing. She also helps watch over Sebastian, the blind son of Grace’s brother Oliver, a famous photographer. Grace finally marries a violent artist much younger than herself; Oliver and Lily fall precipitously in love, although he is terminally ill with a rare neurological disease. Complications increase when Grace’s husband and Oliver’s wife begin an affair at a family gathering in Tuscany. Juggling the demands of fantasy and reality, Lily struggles to protect both Grace and Sebastian, even as she and Oliver determine not to turn away from the horror of his impending death. Deft at plotting—characters are revealed more in what they do than what they say—Neil (As We Forgive) writes with grace and heart, and not a whit of sentimentality. Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club alternates. © 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. About the Author: Barbara Neil was born in London. She left school at sixten to earn her living in London, New York, Paris and Milan. She now lives and writes on a farm in Wiltshire with her husband and five children and five hundred cows.

Speaking Likeness, A. Sheila Bishop. 1976. Hurst & Blackett Ltd. Left bereft and lonely by the death of her officer husband, Diana Pentland found a new object for her affection: she adopted a child born out of wedlock, to the great relief of its unfortunate mother. But a young widow as comely as Diana could not go uncourted for long, and a visit to Brandham castle brought her to the attention of its heir. Was it just Diana’s imagination, or did the man resemble her little son? The question began to haunt her as much as the stirrings she felt for Lord Grove himself... (Text and cover illustration from Fawcett Crest paperback edition)

Spencer’s Child. Joan Kilby. 1999. (Harlequin Superromance #873). Harlequin. Meg McKenzie, a marine biology student with a passion for killer whales, is shocked to discover that Spencer Valiella is her thesis supervisor. Spencer is an old flame—the love of her life, actually, and, although he doesn’t know it, the father of her son. They met and fell in love one summer while Meg was an undergraduate student…but then Spencer left. To the surprise of neither Meg nor Spencer, the intense feelings they had for each other still exist, and when Spencer learns Meg had his child, they grow even stronger. But old demons plague him—that restlessness, that yearning, that need to be unattached. In spite of Spencer’s great love for her and their son, Meg knows he has to leave. It takes a terrifying experience for Spencer to see that living with Meg and his son, loving and caring for them with abandon, is what will truly make him free.

Starting Over. Andrea Edwards (pseudonym of Anne Kolaczyk). 1991. 189p. (Silhouette Desire Series #645). Silhouette. Years ago, social worker Jessie Taylor had loved, lost, and given her baby up for adoption.

Still of Night, The. Kristin Heitzmann. 2003. 432p. Bethany House. Jill and Morgan, once high school sweethearts, had loved and lost—each other and the baby whom Jill gave up at birth. Years later, Morgan is outwardly successful, but he is still haunted by the memory of the tiny child. And then Jill shows up again in his life with very disturbing news. With her trademark dramatic storytelling, Heitzmann takes readers on an unforgettable journey with two wounded souls as they struggle toward healing and restoration. About the Author: Kristen Heitzmann, raised at the base of the Colorado Rocky Mountains, includes her longtime passion for the beauty and historical legacy of this state in many of her novels. Her books have sold more than 500,000 copies. Kristen and her family live near Colorado Springs, CO.

Strathgallant. Laura Black. 1981. 316p. Hamish Hamilton (UK). Beautiful, headstrong Perdita Sinclair, future Countess of Strathgallant, was to choose a husband before inheriting her adopted grandmother’s fortune.

Summer’s Child. Diane Chamberlain. 2000. 416p. Mira. From Publishers Weekly: Twenty years after 11-year-old Daria Cato found a baby abandoned on a beach in Kill Devil Hills, NC, she is still very much a part of the child’s life. Daria’s parent’s had adopted the infant, but now they are dead and she has accepted responsibility for Shelly—who has grown into a beautiful, slightly handicapped young woman. Without consulting Daria, Shelly contacts Rory Taylor, host of TV’s True Life Stories, to ask his help in finding her birth mother. Rory has a personal interest in Shelly’s story since he’d been one of the many teenagers hanging out on the beach the summer the baby was found. Daria, meanwhile, has been keeping to herself the crush she’s had on Rory for years—along with Shelly’s true story. Here, as in previous offerings, Chamberlain (Breaking the Silence) creates a captivating tale populated with haunting characters. © 1999 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Swan, The. Marguerite Steen. 1951. 260p. Rupert Hart-Davis (UK). The scene of The Swan is a small country house in the Thames Valley during the opening years of the nineteenth century. The story is concerned with Harriot and her possessive love for her sixteen-year-old adopted son, Pelham, whose escapades continually threaten to bring him under the absolute control of Miles, her callous and dissolute brother. Julia, Hariot’s companion, is also involved in this struggle, and in a pitiful inner conflict between pure and impure love, between her love for Pelham and her marital designs on Miles. Pelham frets resentfully under Hariot’s stiffling authority, and his love for Julia breeds a jealous hatred of Miles, involving him in more and more disasters from which Hariot and Julia determine to rescue him. Finally it is Julia, at once a gentle idealist and a rake, who makes the fruitless sacrifice for Pelham’s manhood and freedom. Although there is no lack of incident, the plot depends on human relationships rather than on violent action.

Sweet Wind, Wild Wind. Elizabeth Lowell. 1987. 253p. (Silhouette Intimate Moments #178). Harlequin. Four years ago, rugged Carson Blackridge had branded Lara with his masculine touch, then crushed her innocent heart. Utterly humiliated, she’d fled the Rocking B forever. Reluctantly she was returning, but strictly to research the history of the ranch—not to relive her past with Carson. Once, jealous rage had driven Carson to cruelly reject gently trusting Lara Chandler. Now he needed her back on the ranch, and wanted her back in his arms. He would stop at nothing to rekindle her passion, use any trick to recapture her love. But if she discovered the depth of his deception, would she once more vanish like the wild, sweet wind?

Take a Chance on Me. Karen Rose Smith. 2004. 256p. (Silhouette Special Edition No. 1599). Silhouette. In Portland, attorney Jared Camby visits Adam Bartlett, the CEO of successful software maker Novel Programs, Unlimited to ask a favor. Jared informs the twenty-seven year old that he is his biological father having impregnated a girl in high school. He offered money to abort the child, but Olivia Maddison refused the cash or anything else to do with him. She died in an accident, but not before she gave birth to twins. Adam learns he has a sister and three half-siblings with the youngest seven years old Mark desperately needing a bone marrow transplant or he dies. Adam is the last hope. Though he hates hospitals since his adopted sister died years ago, Adam agrees. He goes to Portland General Hospital to take the test. Pediatric Oncology Nurse Leigh Peters is assigned as liaison between Adam and the Cambys. A decade ago when they were teens they fell in love; under pressure from her mother, concerned for the future of both teens, Leigh left him a note ending their relationship. As they fall in love again, Adam wonders if she will leave him to follow her mother’s dream. 

Tangled Sheets, Tangled Lies. Julie Hogan. 2003. 192p. (Silhouette Desire #1500). Harlequin. Cole Travis doesn’t know he has a son until the death of his ex-wife, Kelly. He is furious, not because of her deception, but because of the abandonment of his son by Kelly right after his birth. He hires an investigator to search for his son, and so far he has got five possibilities. Today, he arrives in Valle Verde and by pure luck; he has the chance to pose as a handyman to find out if the Simpson boy is his son. Lauren Simpson is a retired model and has settled, with her adopted son, Jem, in Valle Verde. She is in need of a man who could refurnish her new home and turn the barn into a store. When Cole applies for the job, she hesitates to offer him the position because she is attracted to him on first sight. Cole soon finds evidence to prove that Jem is his son—but it isn’t just Jem that he wants but also Lauren, the woman that he has grown to care about and love.

Tara. Malcolm Hutton. 1984. 192p. Robert Hale (UK). Tara was twelve when her brother tried to rape her. She couldn’t understand why he thought he could treat her like that and it was another two years before she found out. This is the story of a young girls search for her origins and her background as she set out on a search for the truth.

Taste of Honey. Eileen Goudge. 2002. 372p. Viking Press. A season has passed in Carson Springs since Stranger in Paradise. And with a baby on the way, Samantha Kiley and Ian Carpenter will soon be loving parents. But in Taste of Honey it is Sam’s best friend Gerry whose head and heart are put to the test when she is forced to face the secret she has kept for almost 30 years. Everyone knows that feisty, sensual Gerry Fitzgerald wasn’t always so outspoken. As a young, impressionable novitiate, Gerry became pregnant. She fled the altar just as she was about to take her vows to become a nun and never breathed a word about why. Twenty-eight years later, the child she gave up for adoption has come back into her life, a grown woman, looking for answers. For Gerry, the question is how to defuse the years of guilt, shame, and bitterness that divide her from her daughter, how to create and nurture a bond as fragile as a cobweb. As Gerry opens the emotional floodgates she also unexpectedly finds that her feelings for her lover, symphony conductor Aubrey Roellinger, grow more complex and consuming. No longer only a series of satisfying trysts with manageable emotional boundaries, their relationship has begun to crack open both their cautious hearts. Compulsively readable, Taste of Honey brings fans back to the idyllic California valley with characters who take on new dimensions as their secrets emerge and their lives and loves progress. Irresistible and romantic, Eileen Goudge’s latest Carson Springs novel is not to be missed. About the Author: Eileen Goudge is the author of The New York Times bestseller One Last Dance, as well as The Second Silence, Garden of Lies, Thorns of Truth, Trail of Secrets, Such Devoted Sisters, and Blessing in Disguise.

Tattered Letters. Meredith Kennon. 2009. 456p. CreateSpace. An unknown casualty of World War II surfaces some thirty-three years later, when in 1979, Dale Johnson is forced to confess to his daughter, Beth, that she was the product of a wartime love affair. His wife was duped, he admits, into adopting his own child when her biological mother thought she was dying in England. Afraid to take her illegitimate daughter home to her rigid parents, Maggie Paxton makes the mistake of a lifetime and sends her baby girl to America and then lives to regret it. It is not until the adopting mother dies of breast cancer and the daughter fears the same for herself that her father is compelled to tell her that she had been adopted and regrettably never told. He opens what he fears will be Pandora’s Box, but what proves instead to be the revival of long lost truths that no one person could have known. As the pieces of truth come together and trust evolves, old and new romances can come out of the darkness of deception and into the light of day. About the Author: Meredith Kennon (a pseudonym) was born and raised in a rural area northeast of Aberdeen, South Dakota. She has six children and twenty-two grandchildren, who are her pride and joy. Through her marriage to a utilities consultant, who is currently on assignment in Michigan, she has lived in many regions of the United States and has enjoyed and been educated by its great diversity. She is currently living in a small town near Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and is working on her third novel, Almost Enough. When she isn’t writing, she teaches piano and works on the beautification of her old home with her husband to whom she has been married for almost forty years.

Television Nurse. Florence Stuart. 1968. 189p. (An Arcadia Romance). Arcadia House. Clare Kincaid is a nurse in a small private hospital in California. She is obsessed by an emotional attachment to an adopted brother, trying to decide whether to accept a marriage proposal from a chief resident and now, through a patient’s connections, she has been turned into a T.V. personality.

Terror at Bramble Tor. Jean Carew. 1966. Magnum. DescriptionAfter a night of horror, during which she was witness to a hit-run killing on Long Island, Samantha Wood tried to forget the incident and turn her attention to plans for leaving New York and starting a new job as secretary to Massachusetts socialite Felicia Carter. Arriving at Bramble Tor, the Carters’ lavish Berkshire estate, Samantha was horrified when she thought she recognized the Carters’ handsome adopted son, Ross, as the driver of the hit-run car. But could she be sure? Enjoying her job and the elder Carters’ kindnesses, Samantha stayed on at Bramble Tor and soon found close friends in retired judge Henry Stafford and his nephew, Michael Wyler, an attractive young geologist. Smanatha was delighted with Michael’s interest in her, but she couldn’t ignore the demands Ross was making on her time. Had her mind played tricks on her when she imagined him to be the hit-run driver? Was Ross genuinely falling in love with her, as he professed, or was he trying to make her fall in love with him just to feed his vanity? Samantha would soon realize the danger she was in and try to escape frm Bramble Tor. But would it be in time?

Texas Family Reunion, A. Judy Christenberry. 2006. 256p. (Harlequin American Romance #1097). Harlequin. The Last Barlow? David Buford/Barlow has finally found his long-lost family, but the joy he feels at being reunited with his brother and sisters is complicated by his growing feelings for his “cousin” Alexandra. Will Alex ever be able to look at David as more than a protector and start thinking of him as a man—even a potential husband? It turns out David doesn’t have much to worry about—Alex already knows he’s the one for her. The trouble is, they don’t have the courage to tell each other their feelings. Luckily, David’s new family is there to step in and give these would-be sweethearts some help! But David and Alex aren’t the only ones being gently pushed toward the altar! Visit the Author’s website.

Texas Whirlwind. Bonnie Blythe. 2008. 214p. CreateSpace. A summer storm in Galveston mirrors the whirlwind of problems Emma Hayes encounters after she adopts Haitian twin girls and runs into her old high school love—ending in a battle for custody when strangers contest the adoption. Is it true that she bought love with her ready-made family or can she trust the One that the even wind and waves obey? About the Author: Bonnie Blythe is the author of Love’s Unmasking, part of an anthology entitled Masquerade by Barbour in 2005. Her other publishing credits include her novel Restorations, which garnered a four star review from Romantic Times Book Club, and Melody’s Knight, winner of the Treble Heart Books Best Novella award 2002. Visit the Author’s website.

Their Baby Bond. Karen Rose Smith. 2004. 256p. (Silhouette Special Edition #1588). Harlequin. When former hostage negotiator Jake Galeno returned to Santa Fe, he never expected to wind up on Tori Phillip’s doorstep. Now a successful art dealer, Tori was as desirable as Jake remembered—and the chemistry they shared was combustible. Rugged and handsome, Jake took Tori’s breath away, just as he’d done at her senior prom. But Tori was about to adopt a baby boy and become a single mom. She had no room for another male in her life, especially not with the baggage Jake was carrying. Or did she? Read the First Chapter.

Think About Love. Vanessa Grant. 2001. 256p. Kensington Publishing Corporation. The last thing successful businesswoman Samantha Jones envisions is her beloved grandmother in a nursing home—and having to fly to remote Gabriola Island to care for her orphaned infant niece. But family is as important to Samantha as her job with Cal Tremaine, and she’s determined not to let instant motherhood interrupt her career ... until headstrong Cal offers something even more tempting. Cal’s rapidly growing software empire owes a lot to Samantha’s skills, and Cal isn’t about to let her get away. Yet when Cal gets his first look at Samantha outside the office, he realizes that he wants her to see him as a man—instead of as her boss. Suddenly he’s offering a marriage that will satisfy the judge in gaining custody of her niece, but that he wants is Samantha as his true wife ... in every sense of the word.

This is My Child. Lucy Gordon. 1996. 185p. (Silhouette Desire #982). Silhouette. Giles Haverill adored his adopted son, though he couldn’t seem to show it. He knew the boy longed for his lost mother, just as Giles himself ached for a woman’s gentle touch. But how did you tell a child that he’d been abandoned by the one person he needed most? Thanks to fate, Melanie Haynes was now a member of the Haverill household. As little David’s new nanny, she could soothe his troubles and dry his tears. But Melanie hadn’t bargained on falling in love with Giles—or the pint-sized stranger who was her own flesh and blood.

Three Waifs & a Daddy. Margot Dalton. 1991. 300p. Harlequin. Jim had never planned to become their daddy but ten-year-old Ellie just knew that she and Billie and Arthur could depend on him. Jim Fleming would never let anyone send her and Billie to separate foster homes or put their baby brother up for adoption. And one day, Ellie thought serenely, Jim would get the princess lady to tell him her name. It was strange she wouldn’t. Probably it had to do with some kind of spell. But Jim would just kiss her, then marry her, and they’d all live happily ever after.

Tides of the Heart. Jean Stewart. 1999. 352p. Bantam. Some promises can never be forgotten. The author of the bestselling Birthday Girls and Places by the Sea, Jean Stone is a gifted storyteller in the tradition of Barbara Delinsky. In this deeply enthralling novel of friendship and family, a woman must face the secrets of the past before she can confront the future. “I am your baby—the one you gave up. Isn’t it time we met?” The unsigned letter, postmarked Martha’s Vineyard, arrives like a thunderbolt out of the blue, instantly sweeping Jessica Bates back thirty years. It was 1968 when young Jess went to Larchwood Hall, a home for unwed mothers, and gave up her beautiful baby girl for adoption. Jess’s past still haunts her—especially since she learned that her daughter died in a tragic childhood accident. But now the letter has raised the fragile hope that there was a terrible mix-up, that Jess’s daughter is still alive somewhere. Hoping for answers, Jess makes a determined pilgrimage out to the Vineyard, out to those who know the truth about what really happened to her daughter. There, surrounded by sand and sea and memories of lost love, she must make a choice that will change the course of her life forever.

Tilly Trotter Widowed. Catherine Cookson (1906-1998). 1982. 266p. Heinemann (UK). The final novel in the Tilly Trotter trilogy (Tilly Trotter and Tilly Trotter Wed). Tilly Trotter had married Matthew Sopwith and sailed with him for Texas and a new life. Less than three years later she returns home, a young widow convinced that she will never love another man. Back in her native County Durham she assumes the role of mistress of Highfield Manor where she once worked as a nursemaid, and faces the task of bringing up her own son and the adopted daughter she so strangley acquired in America. Complete in itself, Tilly Trotter Widowed brings to a triumphant conclusion a trilogy that already ranks high among the achievements of one of the world’s most widely read and enjoyed novelists. About the Author: Catherine Cookson was born in Tyne Dock, the illegitimate daughter of a poverty-stricken woman, Kate, whom she believed to be her older sister. She began work in service but eventually moved south to Hastings, where she met and married Tom Cookson, a local grammar-school master. Although she was originally acclaimed as a regional writer—her novel The Round Tower won the Winifred Holtby Award for the best regional novel of 1968—her readership quickly spread throughout the world, and her many best-selling novels established her as one of the most popular of contemporary women novelists. After receiving an OBE in 1985, Catherine Cookson was created a Dame of the British Empire in 1993. She was appointed an Honorary Fellow of St Hilda’s College, Oxford, in 1997. For many years she lived near Newcastle upon Tyne. She died shortly before her 92nd birthday, in June 1998.

To Save This Child. Darlene Graham. 2004. 304p. (Harlequin Super Romance #1202). Harlequin. Kendal Collins is in Chiapas, Mexico, on a medical mission. When a two-year-old orphan is thrust into her arms, she finds herself falling in love with the boy. Miguel is now her responsibility, and she’s going to do whatever it takes to help this child, including giving him a home and a mother—her. Dr. Jason Bridges warned Kendal about getting emotionally involved with the locals, but he forgot to warn himself about getting involved with her . Jason can’t deny the feelings he has for Kendal anymore. Or the child... He wants them to be a family—the three of them.

Too Close For Comfort. Sharon Mignery. 2001. (Intimate Moments #1998). Silhouette. Rosie Jensen’s birth child interrupts her life with a gun-packing ex-army ranger in tow, to seek protection while her adoptive mother testifies against the mob.

Too Good to Be True. Trish Perry. 2007. 317p. Harvest House Publishers. Rennie Young, heroine of Too Good to Be True, meets the gallant Truman Sayers after she faints in the boys’ department of the local super store. Despite this unromantic introduction, Tru Sayers, a handsome young labor–and–delivery nurse, seems like a gift from God. But a recent divorce and other life disappointments cause Ren to question whether she can trust her heart and God. This clever novel encourages readers to lean on God’s leading and to be open to life after the hurt—even when it seems too good to be true.

Trail of Secrets. Eileen Goudge. 1996. 443p. Viking. Ellie Nightingale was a struggling unwed teenager when her baby daughter was kidnapped. Nearly 25 years later, Ellie, now married and a respected psychologist, remains haunted by her loss. Unable to conceive another child, she is desperately trying to adopt—an obsession that is destroying her marriage to Paul, a neonatologist for whom each day is a battle to keep his tiny infant patients alive. Former equestrienne Kate Sutton, left crippled by the riding accident that cost her the baby she was carrying, knows the truth about Ellie’s child—a dark secret she guards jealously, because to reveal it not only would risk her husband’s devotion, but tear from her arms the adopted daughter she loves as her own. Skyler Sutton is a young champion for whom no hurdle is ever too high—until she’s challenged by her seemingly impossible love for Tony Salvatore, a tough-talking New York City mounted policeman. Pregnant with Tony’s child, she makes the most heart-wrenching decision of her life: to give up their baby for adoption. And Tony knows a woman therapist who wants a baby more than anything ... a desire that ultimately leads to an explosive courtroom climax in which fate is brought full circle.

Treasure Worth Seeking, A. Sandra Brown. 1982. 221p. Warner Books. After years of searching for the brother she’d never known, Erin O’Shea had finally found his San Francisco address. She stood on the doorstep, unaware that she was about to walk into a shocking drama of family lies—and to meet an intriguing, infuriating man who would change her life. Lance was a G-man for the government’s toughest cases—like the big-money scam involving Erin’s long-lost brother. But although Lance was immediately attracted to her, he never dreamed that his feelings would drive him to break every rule in the book—and put his career and even Erin’s future on the line.

Treasures of the Heart. Connie Mason. 1993. 448p. Dorchester Pub Co. When Cassie learns that she is to share her inheritance of the Rocking C Ranch with Cody Carter, the arrogant man she met on the Dodge City train, she is determined to hate him.

Troublesome Angel, The. Valerie Hansen. 2000. 252p. Steeple Hill. This is the charming tale of a woman who has been rejected by the family of the man she loved. She conceals her heartbreak and uses her wonderful dog to locate lost people. When she is called in to find a missing child and meets the man responsible for her rejection again, she can’t believe that he has had a sincere change of heart. However, as she helps him find his runaway adopted niece, she realizes the change in him is real. Then, not only are three hearts healed, they’re joined.

True Colors. Doris Mortman. 1994. 551p. Crown Publishing Group. Isabelle de Luna is only seven when she witnesses the violent murder of her mother, Spanish artist Althea de Luna, in their Barcelona hotel room. Althea’s marriage to wealthy textile entrepreneur Martin de Luna has been troubled in its final days, and he is arrested as a suspect in his wife’s killing. With her mother dead and her father imprisoned, Isabelle is sent to live with family friends Miranda and Luis Duran in New Mexico. When Martin dies in prison from heart failure, the Durans decide to raise Isabelle, with their adopted daughter Nina, as their own. As the girls mature, each discovers her own unique talent: Isabelle has inherited Althea’s gift for painting, and Nina is a promising storyteller. But when Nina discovers the horrible circumstances of her adoption—a secret the Durans hoped she would never learn—she breaks all ties with her family and moves to New York City to seek her fame as a journalist and revenge against the family she believes has betrayed her. The two young women, raised as the closest of sisters, become enemies. Isabelle, victimized by Nina’s vendetta against her and emboldened by a search for love and the need to discover the truth about her mother’s murder, must dig deeply into her past, confront her personal demons, and face a frightening truth.

Truth About Jane Doe, The. Linda Warren. 2000. 299p. (Harlequin Superromance No. 893). Harlequin. Twenty-six years ago in Coberville, Texas, newborn Christmas Jane Doe was left on the doorstep of Pete and Maggie Watson. The mother was never found and subsequent efforts to adopt CJ were rejected for various official reasons. The Watsons raised the lass as their own daughter. Though she loved the Watsons, CJ became obsessed with knowing her roots, but no clues surfaced. Even her efforts to trace the unknown benefactor who paid for her to attend college failed. Shockingly, Virginia Cober Townsend of the county’s leading family, leaves one thousand acres and a hundred thousand dollars to CJ, a nonentity. The Townsend family wants the will voided, but their lawyer Matthew Sloan Sr. stalls for time for no apparent reason. When Matthew dies, his son, New York attorney Matthew Jr., vows to complete his dad’s caseload. As Matthew and CJ begin “negotiations,” they fall in love. Still, she pursues her quest, believing that the inheritance was left as a means for her to uncover the truth. However, an unknown assailant wants to insure that no secrets are revealed even if it means killing CJ and Matthew. This exhilarating romantic suspense novel centers on a person’s identity. CJ and Matthew Jr. are counterpoints to one another. Whereas Jr. always loved his biological parents, he fled his roots. CJ loved the Watsons, but thirsts to dig up her roots. Though the attempts on the lives of the lead characters are thrilling passages, they take away from the core of the tale, CJ’s quest. Linda Warren turns “Hometown” Texas into a wonderful novel that readers will devour in one sitting so that they can learn The Truth About Jane Doe. — Harriet Klausner, 1/13/00

Twenty Wishes. Debbie Macomber. 2008. 368p. (Blossom Street Series #4). Mira Books. What do you want most in the world? Anne Marie Roche wants to find happiness again. At 38 her life’s not what she’d expected—she’s childless, a recent widow, alone. She owns a successful bookstore on Seattle s Blossom Street, but despite her accomplishments, there’s a feeling of emptiness. On Valentine’s Day, Anne Marie and several other widows get together to celebrate...what? Hope, possibility, the future. They each begin a list of twenty wishes, things they always wanted to do but never did. Anne Marie’s list starts with: Find one good thing about life. It includes learning to knit, doing good for someone else, falling in love again. She begins to act on her wishes and when she volunteers at a local school, an eight-year-old girl named Ellen enters her life. It’s a relationship that becomes far more involving than Anne Marie intended. It also becomes far more important than she ever imagined. As Ellen helps Anne Marie complete her list of twenty wishes, they both learn that wishes can come true—but not necessarily in the way you expect. As millions of women know, Debbie Macomber understands their lives and writes the stories they want to read. About the Author: Debbie Macomber, the author of Back on Blossom Street, A Good Yarn, Susannah’s Garden and 6 Rainier Drive, has become a leading voice in women’s fiction worldwide. Her work has appeared on every major bestseller list, including those of the New York Times, USA Today and Publishers Weekly. She is a multiple award winner, and won the 2005 Quill Award for Best Romance. More than sixty million copies of her books have been sold worldwide.

Unclaimed Baby, The. Sherryl Woods. 1999. 296p. (And Baby Makes Three: The Next Generation). Silhouette. Sharon Adams had thought she had lost everything—until she hears two thumps outside her door. The first is Cord Branson, an intriguing and irresistible stranger, and the second is the baby that she had always dreamed of finding. Cord has a dreamy vision that this beautiful woman and child belong to him, and from that moment on he knew that whatever it took, somehow he would make it happen. Some women find love—and motherhood—in the most unexpected places.

Unexpected Addition, An. Terese Ramin. 1997. 249p. Silhouette. It wasn’t as if Kate Anden’s life was empty, exactly. With a ranch to run and a house full of adopted kids to raise, she had plenty to keeper busy. Even so, she couldn’t to close her close heart to a troubled teenager without a mother of her own ... But it was that teen-ager’s father who was the real problem. Hank Matheson had awakened a passion within Kate that was like nothing she’d ever known-a passion and that was soon going to make her house even more crowded ... Because the two of them were going to be having a baby-together-and that meant they had to figure out whether they could have a marriage together, too.

Unleashed. Jami Alden. 2009. 320p. (The Gemini Men). Brava. He’s the oldest of the three Taggart brothers. And the boldest. Tall, dark and rippling with muscle, Danny Taggart takes no prisoners. But when his latest case puts him up close and personal with the woman who once left him raw and aching, he’s shell-shocked. Caroline Medford is still hotter than hell. But she’s also got her pretty grip on the truths that have shaped him into the soul-ravaged warrior he is today. Burned once, Danny’s plan is to satisfy his craving for Caroline and walk away. Yet once he has her warm and willing beneath him, he can’t get deep enough—or close enough. Not even when danger threatens to destroy everything he’s ever fought for. Including the only woman he’s ever loved. About the Author: After graduating from Stanford University with a degree in English Literature, Jami Alden’s writing appeared in software marketing brochures and corporate websites. But she quickly realized writing romance was a lot more fun. She lives in the San Francisco Bay area with her socially well adjusted alpha male husband, her sons, and two dogs that patiently listen to dialogue and help her work out plot points. When she’s not writing sexy romance and thrilling romantic suspense, she enjoys running, reading, yoga, and a borderline unhealthy love of the Food Network. By the Same Author: Kept (2009) and Caught (2008).

Unspoken Promise, An. Georgia Bockoven. 1997. 368p. HarperCollins. In this moving novel about the unbreakable bond between two sisters, Diana has been the only protector to her adopted sister Amy in a life filled with crises. When Amy hits bottom, Diana takes the drastic measure of locating Amy’s birth family, which leads to a new life for Amy and unexpected romance for Diana. An Unspoken Promise touches on current issues such as adoption, substance abuse. and the strength of family ties. About the Author: Georgia Bockoven is an award-winning author who began writing fiction after a successful career as a freelance journalist and photographer. Her books have sold more than four million copies worldwide. Her first book for HarperCollins, A Marriage of Convenience, was made as a television movie starring Jane Seymour and James Brolin. The mother of two, she resides in Northern California with her husband, John.

Up Close & Personal. Fern Michaels. 2007. 336p. Kensington. For generations, the Windsors have lived on the family’s grand estate in Crestwood, SC, as intertwined with local life as sweet tea and pecan pie. Now, on the anniversary of her daughter Emily’s death, Sarabess Windsor believes she may be the last to carry the family name—unless she can find her second daughter, Trinity, who disappeared fifteen years ago. Trinity grew up as Trinity Henderson, adopted by the Windsor foreman and his wife. Trinity was conceived not out of love, but out of Sarabess’s desperate attempt to prolong Emily’s life by providing a bone marrow donor. On her fifteenth birthday, Trinity ran away and hasn’t been seen in Crestwood since. But the town has never forgotten her ... especially not handsome lawyer Jake Forrest. And although Jake has no desire to help selfish Sarabess Windsor, the thought of seeing his childhood friend again fills a void in his heart that Jake didn’t even know existed. Trinity swore never to return to Crestwood. Not for the mother who callously abandoned her, not for the late father she hardly knew, not for the huge family trust she stands to inherit. But some ties—to a place, to a past, to the people we once were and dreams we once had—can never be fully broken. And as family secrets are revealed, and desires old and new come to light, Trinity may discover the one thing she never expected to find in Crestwood: a place to call home at last.

Valley of the Vines. Joy Packer. 1955. 288p. Eyre & Spotteswood (UK). Determined to keep her heritage intact, a woman fights with old age, death, suburbia and moneymen. Set in the vineyards of Constantia Valley in the Cape Peninsula of South Africa. A novel of strong personal emotions set against stronger family pride.

Veronica: A Novel. Joy Packer. 1970. 246p. Eyre & Spottiswoode (UK). Derek Symes, newly arrived in Cape Town for a job, is strongly attracted to a lovely coloured girl, Veronica Arendse, the daughter of a teacher-writer father and an actress mother. Derek is transferred and believes the affair to be at an end. But he leaves Veronica with a “white child.” On his return to Cape Town, he falls in love and marries Lindy, a university student. Derek soon realises that his thoughtless liaison with Veronica has landed both him and Lindy in a position bristling with danger, responsibilities and the makings of tragedy.

Verdict: Parenthood. Jule McBride. 1997. 256p. (American Romance #699). Harlequin. Grantham Hale finds himself suddenly the parent of a set of twins and a set of quadruplets. He wife died in an accident and Grantham decided to go ahead with the adoptions. The mother of the quads, Phoebe Rutherford, is presumed dead, but surprisingly appears in court claiming to be alive and well enough to care for her children. With a not-so-great sounding past, it isn’t believed that Phoebe is capable of leading a life good enough for her children. After all, her ex-husband Nico was awarded custody of the quadruplets before he died. Grantham and Phoebe argue over who should have custody of the quads. The courtroom is caos. To make matters worse, the judge, T. Winslow, just happens to be the great grandfather to Phoebe. He is aware of her reputation, past reputation that is, but to the shock of everyone present, he sentences them to be parents together for the next month and a half. Both Phoebe and Grantham are stunned at the judges decision. Grantham explodes loudly at this decision, angering Phoebe who stumbles and falls. As she falls, Grantham suddenly recognizes the blonde haired beauty. Only the last time he saw her she had red hair. Maybe this sentence won’t be so bad afte rall. By the Same Author: Diagnosis: Daddy; Mission: Motherhood; and AKA: Marriage.

Virgin’s Makeover, The. Judy Duarte. 2004. 256p. (Silhouette Special Edition No. 1593). Silhouette. The first book of “Logan’s Legacy” series.
Portland, Oregon — 1976
Sixteen-year-old Olivia was pregnant and Jared Cambry was leaving in a few weeks to start college in Arizona. He didn’t need this kind of problem in his life right now. He tells Olivia that he will pay for the abortion. Olivia tells Jared that she is keeping their baby, “Because babies were a blessing and God wouldn’t have let her get pregnant if there wasn’t a good reason.” Portland, Oregon — 1977
A tragic car accident left the mother dead and her pregnant daughter in a coma. Sixteen-year-old Olivia Maddison was rushed to the hospital where triplets were delivered by C-section. The young mother was fighting for her life, but the father was nowhere to be found. What will happen to her babies?
Portland, Oregon — 2004
Sullivan Grayson was a business consultant who was hired to help save the vineyard that had been in Lissa Cartwright’s family for years. Lissa had always been the plain sister in the family. Her younger sister was very beautiful and looked like their mother. Lissa had always known that she had been adopted. Sullivan and Lissa are attracted to each other from their first meeting. Jared Cambry had married and had three children. When his eight-year-old son was diagnosed with a rare blood disease and he finds out that neither of his children matched his son, he began to think more of the child that Olivia had been carrying when he last heard from her. Would this child be a match for his youngest son? Jared must find Olivia and see if his oldest child could be a match? Judy Duarte’s story will pull you in as Lissa is trying to help save her father’s vineyard with the new wine that she has made. Sullivan tries to overlook the attraction that is there between him and Lissa, because he isn’t the marrying kind. Jared will do anything to find the child that he had let go when he was a teenager. Will Jared be able to find his first child to save his youngest one? Ms. Duarte will take you on a ride where you will discover that love is what we all need to make our lives a better place to live. Come and join Lissa, Sullivan and Jared and see if they find what they are looking for. — Helen Slifer, Writers Unlimited Reviewer

Vittoria. Robert Merle. Translated by Barbara Bray. 1987. 374p. Harcourt Brace. Vittoria Peretti conquered princes and peasants alike with exquisite beauty, her sharp intelligence, and her force of character. She married a cardinal’s adopted son, a marriage of convenience, then fell passionately in love with Prince Orsini, a courageous soldier-sailor, a man of taste and culture, rich, handsome. But in those days, when husbands took justice into their own hands, adultery was punishable by exile or execution. Vittoria pursued her love through a tangle of intrigues and political jealousies, marriages and annulments, through envies, hatreds, and assassinations.

Wait For Tomorrow. Denise Robins. 1967. Hodder & Stoughton (UK). Until the moment Charlotte discovered the letters hidden behind the broken mirror, nothing really extraordinary had ever happened to her .She was, she always thought, an attractive, secure, happy young girl with no doubts about her place in the world, no fear of the future. But the letters changed all that. Suddenly she was faced with a past she never knew existed. Her past. And like some strange, unwelcome shadow in the night, it threatened everything she held dear.

Wayward Winds, The. Evelyn Kahn. 1981. Pocket Books. The greatest dust winds of the 1930s blew across the plains, leaving three children abandoned. The three large-eyed, terrified sisters—ripped from their roots and each other’s nurturing warmth—were adopted by separate families. They came to womanhood incomplete without each other, until there were tossed together again by the same wild wind of chance that parted them. [Pictured: UK Paperback edition]

What Child is This?. Rebecca York (pseudonym of Ruth Glick). 1993. 249p. (Intrigue #253). Harlequin. “Every Christmas, Travis Stone wondered where he came from, but this year, his life depended on finding out.” In this holiday-themed book (hence the title), the hero has had leukemia, which is in remission when the story opens, but this is not immediately revealed to the reader. Eventually, however, he needs a bone marrow transplant. The problem is, he’s adopted, and he’s sure his birth mother “threw him away.” The heroine runs an agency that helps adopted children find their birth parents. As they try to find his relatives, so he can have a good match for the bone marrow transplant, they uncover a terrible secret from the town where his birth mother grew up.

What Child is This?. Karen Young. 1999. 299p. (Harlequin Superromance #881). Harlequin. Dr. Luke Jamison would do anything to help his patients—anything but get emotionally attached. He tried that once, and it nearly destroyed him. Now his boss, the very determined Dr. Keely Hamilton, wants him to help her take care of Matthew, a delightful four-year-old who was abandoned by his mother. Just until she can figure out a more permanent solution. Luke swore he’d never get involved—not with a patient, not with a child and definitely not with a woman who wants more than a fling. But now that Keely and Matthew have entered his life, things are about to change. And the fact that it’s Christmas has something to do with that.

What Matters Most. Luanne Rice. 2007. 352p. Bantam. Sister Bernadette Ignatius has returned to Ireland in the company of Tom Kelly to search for the past—and the son—they left behind. For it was here that these two long-ago lovers spent a season of magic before Bernadette’s calling led her to a vocation as Mother Superior at Star of the Sea Academy on the sea-tossed Connecticut shore. For Tom, Bernadette’s choice meant giving up his fortune and taking the job as caretaker at Star of the Sea, where he could be close to the woman he could no longer have but whom he never stopped loving. And while one miracle drew them apart, another is about to bring them together again. For somewhere in Dublin a young man named Seamus Sullivan is also on a search, dreaming of being reunited with his own first love, the only “family” he’s ever known. They’d been inseparable growing up together at St. Augustine’s Children’s Home, until Kathleen Murphy’s parents claimed her and she vanished across the sea to America. Now, in a Newport mansion, that very girl, grown to womanhood, works as a maid and waits with a faith that defies all reason for the miracle that will bring back the only boy she’s ever loved. That miracle is at hand—but like most miracles, it can come only after the darkest of nights and the deepest of heartbreaks. For life can be as precarious as a walk along a cliff, and its greatest rewards reached only by those who dare to risk everything…for what matters most. About the Author: Luanne Rice is the author of 23 bestselling novels, most recently The Edge of Winter, Sandcastles, Summer of Roses, Summer’s Child, and Beach Girls. She lives in New York City and Old Lyme, CT. Among other dramatic adaptations of Ms. Rice’s work, Silver Bells was a recent Hallmark Hall of Fame feature.

Wildwood. Josephine W Johnson. 1946. 162p. Harper & Brothers. Poignant tale of an adopted child struggling with loneliness. Johnson’s book traces the story of an orphan girl adopted into a rich family which is, of course, fraught with peculiarity. A mid-20th century gothic.

Wings of a Dove. Elaine Barbieri. 1990. 375p. Berkley Publishing Group. Two orphans together on a journey through the cold, cruel life of mid 19th-century New York; who along the way form a deep bond that will never be broken. You can follow their struggles, their new found love for each other, jealousies, and misunderstandings of a treacherous adult world. Award winning author, Elaine Barbieri captures the beauty of childhood discovery and lifelong passion in this brilliant portrait of two lives intertwined.

Wishes. Lisa Jackson. 1999. 480p. Zebra. Fifteen years ago Kate Summers secretly adopted a precious baby boy that helped her heal from the tragic death of her husband and daughter. Now Kate’s world is rocked again when a wealthy family fights her for the son she vows she’ll never surrender. In desperation, Kate turns to the only man she can trust, but sensual and dangerous Daegan O’Rourke has his own past to hide—and a past with shocking ties to Kate’s.

Within Striking Distance. Ingrid Weaver. 2009. 224p. (Harlequin NASCAR Series). Harlequin. Ever since she learned she was adopted, Becky Peters has dreamed of finding her birth parents. When a prominent NASCAR family reveals their daughter was kidnapped at birth, Becky dares to hope...to believe. Could she be “the lost Grosso”? Private Investigator Jake McMaster knows he’s in trouble the moment Becky walks into his office. With Becky stirring a lot more than his protective instincts, Jake’s determined to keep his professional distance...until she becomes the target of someone just as determined to keep certain secrets buried. With Becky’s life on the line, it’s up to Jake to keep her safe and give her what she’s been searching for—a family and a place to belong. And a love that’s within striking distance . About the Author: Ingrid Weaver is a USA Today bestselling author with more than 25 novels to her credit. She has written for several lines within Silhouette and Harlequin, and has also been published with Berkley/Jove. She has received the Romance Writers of America RITA Award for Romantic Suspense and the Romantic Times BOOKreviews Career Achievement Award. She currently resides on a farm near Frankford, Ontario, Canada.

Without a Trace. Catherine Anderson. 1989. 256p. (Intrigue #114). Harlequin. For genealogist Sarah Montague, finding an adoptee’s natural parents, even with few clues, was routine. But in Michael De Lorio’s case, the only clue was the terrifying nightmare that had haunted him all his life—a nightmare that he feared might be a memory of a terror that was all too real. Even so, Michael had never dreamed that his search for the truth could lead to danger. But as he and Sarah delved deeper into his past they were threatened at every turn. Shared dangers gave them a common goal—survival. And their only hope for life—and love—was to rebury the past and disappear without a trace.

You Belong to Me. Jennifer Greene. 2000. 256p. (Montana Mavericks). Silhouette. Pediatrician Blake Remmington is stunned when he discovers that his new patient, six-year-old Nate, is his own son, the result of an unforgettable night of passion with beautiful Serena Dovesong.