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- "A COLD CREEK SECRET" (Cold Creek #) by RaeAnne Thayne (A+++++) A socialite with secrets - Being stranded in the middle of nowhere in a blizzard is not heiress Mimi Van Hoyt's idea of a fun time. On the run from her latest scandal, Mimi just wants to start over. So when she crashes her car outside sexy Major Brant Western's ranch, she offers a false name, Maura, and begs for shelter from the storm. On leave from his latest tour of duty, all Major Brant Western wants is a hot meal and a warm bed. What he doesn't need is a stunning socialite in disguise who's just shown up at his family's Cold Creek ranch. The more Brant gets to know her, the clearer it becomes that "Maura" is hiding something. But when Brant finally discovers her secret, he might not be able to let her go. "NOT JUST A COWBOY" (Texas Rescue #1) by Caro Carson (A++++) Heiress Patricia Cargill is more than just a big bank account. Running Texas Rescue and Relief gives her the greatest satisfaction she could imagine. Until she meets nomadic cowboy Luke Waterson, who's so much more than he seems. He could be everything she needs.
- "COUNTRY" by Danielle Steel (A+++++++) Stephanie Adams is a devoted stay-at-home mother, married to a successful lawyer in northern California, in a dead marriage she’s stayed in for years for the sake of her children. Then, on a ski trip in Squaw Valley, her fifty-two-year-old husband dies suddenly and all bets are off. Despite her children’s grief, and her own conflicting emotions and loneliness, Stephanie tries to move on, but struggles to find herself as an independent individual after years of giving up her life for everyone else. A spur-of-the-moment road trip and fork in the road lead her to Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon, and a chance meeting - and her whole life changes forever. She meets country music megastar Chase Taylor, who opens his whole world to her. Stephanie is no longer the same woman, and can’t be anymore. A new man. A new life. The excitement of Nashville. She discovers not only Chase, but herself. The music is bittersweet and the lyrics true in his dazzling, exotic, and honest world.
- "MISSISSIPPI BLOOD" (Penn Cage #6) (Natchez Burning #3) by Greg Iles (A+++++) (unabridged audio CD) Shattered by grief and dreaming of vengeance, Penn Cage sees his family and his world collapsing around him. The woman he loves is gone, his principles have been irrevocably compromised, and his father, once a paragon of the community that Penn leads as mayor, is about to be tried for the murder of a former lover. Most terrifying of all, Dr. Cage seems bent on self-destruction. Despite Penn's experience as a prosecutor in major murder trials, his father has frozen him out of the trial preparations--preferring to risk dying in prison to revealing the truth of the crime to his son. During forty years practicing medicine, Tom Cage made himself the most respected and beloved physician in Natchez, Mississippi. But this revered Southern figure has secrets known only to himself and a handful of others. Among them, Tom has a second son, the product of an 1960s affair with his devoted African American nurse, Viola Turner. It is Viola who has been murdered, and her bitter son - Penn's half-brother - who sets in motion the murder case against his father. The resulting investigation exhumes dangerous ghosts from Mississippi's violent past. In some way that Penn cannot fathom, Viola Turner was a nexus point between his father and the Double Eagles, a savage splinter cell of the KKK. More troubling still, the long-buried secrets shared by Dr. Cage and the former Klansmen may hold the key to the most devastating assassinations of the 1960s. The surviving Double Eagles will stop at nothing to keep their past crimes buried, and with the help of some of the most influential men in the state, they seek to ensure that Dr. Cage either takes the fall for them, or takes his secrets to an early grave. Tom Cage's murder trial sets a terrible clock in motion, and unless Penn can pierce the veil of the past and exonerate his father, his family will be destroyed. Unable to trust anyone around him - not even his own mother - Penn joins forces with Serenity Butler, a famous young black author who has come to Natchez to write about his father's case. Together, Penn and Serenity - a former soldier - battle to crack the Double Eagles and discover the secret history of the Cage family and the South itself, a desperate move that risks the only thing they have left to gamble: their lives.
- "GIVEAWAY" (Stillwater #2) by Brenda Novak (A+++++) The Reverend Lee Barker went missing nineteen years ago...And the people of Stillwater, Mississippi, believe they know why. They're convinced he was murdered - by his stepson, Clay Montgomery. But only Clay - and his mother and sisters - can say for sure. They were the only ones there that fateful night, the only ones who know what really happened. And they're not talking. Allie McCormick is a cold-case detective from Chicago. After a particularly difficult divorce, she's returned to Stillwater with her six-year-old daughter to find the peace she once knew in her hometown, and to work for the local police force while she's starting over. But when Clay's powerful enemies join forces to put him behind bars, Allie feels duty bound to uncover the truth. Her instincts tell her he didn't murder the Reverend Lee Barker. Maybe Clay's a dark and brooding man with more than his share of secrets, but he was just sixteen at the time. And he's not a cold-blooded killer. At least, that's what Allie believes - until she finds proof that behind the preacher's pious demeanor lurked the heart of a monster. Then she has to ask herself whether justice has already been done.
- "ARIZONA WILD" by Linda Lael Miller (A++++) Starting over has never looked so good - Mojo Sheepshanks knows a thing or two about new beginnings. After a long-ago tragedy she's never fully remembered and a childhood spent moving from place to place, she's making a home in the small town of Cave Creek, Arizona, and finally taking charge of her future. But Tucker Darroch, a sexy cop with baggage of his own, keeps complicating the life she's trying to simplify. Tucker has been fascinated by the enigmatic Mojo from the beginning, and try as he might, he can't ignore the sparks that fly between them. So when a wealthy man shows up in Cave Creek claiming to be Mojo's long-lost uncle, and her shady brother begins dogging her footsteps, Tucker decides he's sticking close as he and Mojo work to solve a decades-old crime...and prevent history from repeating itself.
- "MURPHY'S LAW" (Law Duology #2) by Lori Foster (A++++) Anything That Can Go Wrong...Nothing is going to go wrong. Ashley Miles has worked too hard for her independence to let some Bentley-driving hunk named Quinton Murphy interfere with her plans - or her freedom. Yes, the chemistry is phenomenal. Kind of scary, actually. But that's it. No emotional commitments.
- "BACK TO THE BEDROOM" by Janet Evanovich (unabridged audio CD) (A++++) She was the mysterious woman in the long black cloak. He was the sexy guy next door. They shared a common wall between their Capitol Hill townhouses and not much else ...until disaster scored a direct hit on the mystery woman's bedroom and the sexy guy's heart. He baked her a cake, she learned to throw a football, there were some misunderstandings in the living room, some mishaps in the yard, and some romantic moments everywhere.
- "DEAD RIGHT" (Stillwater Mississippi #3) by Brenda Novak (A+++++) Twenty years ago Madeline Barker's father disappeared. Despite what everyone else thinks, Madeline's convinced her stepfamily had nothing to do with it. But the recent discovery of his car finally proves he didn't just drive away. Worse, the police find something in the trunk that says there's more to this case than murder. With no other recourse, Madeline decides to hire a private investigator - even if the cops don't like it. Even if her family doesn't like it. But when P.I. Hunter Solozano begins to uncover some shocking evidence, someone in Stillwater is determined to put a stop to Madeline's search for the truth.
- "SWEET HAVEN" (Home Sweet Home #1) by Shirley McCoy (A++++) In Benevolence, Washington, the Lamont family's irresistible handmade chocolates are a cherished tradition - and always a reason to celebrate. And now they're giving the three Lamont sisters, one by one, delicious chances to start again, make a change, and have their sweetest dreams come true. Neighbors who care, a peaceful routine - accountant Adeline Lamont is glad some things about her beloved hometown never change. But when her grandfather is injured, she has to run the family store, Chocolate Haven, and make its legendary fudge. Trouble is, she can't get the recipe right to save her life - or Chocolate Haven. And she doesn't need her ornery new tenant, Sinclair Jefferson, stirring up the pot with his help - and daring Addie to taste her wild side. Once Sinclair gets his hapless brother back on track, he's leaving Benevolence for good this time. He's made his life far away from his irresponsible family and their scandals. Trouble is, he can't quite stay away from Addie's optimism, enticing plus-size curves, and kindness to those who need it most. But they don't seem to have a thing in common--except that Addie's passion for chocolate, and for Benevolence, is just as contagious as Sinclair's passion for her. Maybe small-town life has its charms after all.
CURRENTLY READING -
- "Gastien: From Dream to Destiny" (Gastien #2) by Caddie Rowland (reading on a Kindle app on my computer)
- "Seven Stones to Stand or Fall" by Diana Gabaldon
- "A Very Gothic Christmas" "After the Music" by Christine Feehan "Lady of the Locket" by Melanie George (new author for me)
CURRENTLY LISTENING TO -
- "Dark in Death" (In Death #46) by J.D. Robb (listening on an Audible application on my cell phone)
- "The Devil's Punchbowl" (Penn Cage #3) by Greg Iles (unabridged audio CD)
Last Edited on: 7/28/19 7:36 PM ET - Total times edited: 16
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Hidden Gems 
