Showing results by author "Judith Keim" in All Categories

Samantha Hartwell's life changes completely when she's attacked by a client's boyfriend. She leaves Boston and Straight Talk, her consulting business, and escapes to California wine country to heal and to help her sister and brother-in-law with their vineyard's growth. But she can't escape the desire Derek Roberts, a world-wide photographer, had sparked inside her. The two challenge each other in ways they've never experienced and end up with more than they ever expected.

Following her divorce, Allison Hartwell leaves Maine for California to become a partner in her college roommate's art gallery. She's out to prove she can succeed in business, get along without a man and have fun along the way. But things quickly fall apart; the business is financially insecure and she's left with the care of her roommate's eight-year-old daughter, Daisy.

Planting the seeds of forgiveness might bring the best harvest of all… Sarah Bullard Miller returns to Lilac Lake with her four-year-old twin daughters following the suicide of her husband. She’s always been part of the group of summer kids who play together with the granddaughters of the woman who owned the Lilac Lake Inn, and she loves renewing those friendships. Keeping busy working at her parents’ hardware store and taking care of the girls, she begins the healing process following her husband’s violent death. Aaron Collister was Sarah’s high school boyfriend.

Ann and Rhonda continue their work at The Beach House Hotel, always striving to make their upscale property the best on the Gulf Coast of Florida. As they’ve learned, not all guests are easy. When they receive a request from Hilda Hassel, a member of the Bavarian royal family, for a two-week stay at the hotel in January, demanding the best room and high tea every afternoon, Ann is uneasy.

Three talented women are brought together by a man they all love, becoming his Desert Flowers, who work together to save his hotel from being ruined by the company buying it….

Ann and Rhonda continue overseeing their Beach House Hotel along the Gulf Coast of Florida and providing guests with a lovely experience of good eating, relaxation, and the privacy many of them require. When vice president of the United States Amelia Swanson asks them for a favor, Ann and Rhonda agree without realizing it means protecting Amelia’s sister from an abusive husband and a nosy public, including their nemesis, Brock Goodwin, who hopes to gain something from the knowledge. But once they’ve said yes, there’s no going back.

Three talented women brought together by a man’s love...When Rose Macklin is asked to help Alec Thurston, the one man she’s ever truly loved, by coming to Palm Desert, California, she doesn’t hesitate. He’s dying of cancer and needs her help overseeing the sale of his hotel, the Desert Sage Inn, to another hotel group. With her marketing skill and as the owner of a very successful blog, she’s his perfect choice to make the sale a smooth transition while ensuring the new owners will maintain the reputation and image of the upscale property after the sale.

Jill Conroy is tricked by her sister into becoming the housekeeper and cook for the summer at Seashell Cottage where Greg Campbell and his nephew, Brody, have been hired to do maintenance projects on the house. Annoyed at first, Jill soon realizes how wonderful it is to be away from her home in New York and the memories of her deceased, emotionally abusive husband. Soon the magic of the beach heals Jill enough for her to decide to move to Florida permanently to make a new life for herself.

Melissa Hendrickson is tired of being a good sport, one of the guys. She wants to find love and settle down in Lilac Lake with the man of her dreams. She thinks she’s found the man, but he doesn’t know she exists. After she runs into Ross Roberts, her next-door neighbor and former professional baseball player, during a charity softball game, he requires her help. She’s more than eager to make amends for causing him to have knee surgery.

When Ann and Rhonda receive a request from the vice-president to provide a private space at the hotel for a nighttime talk show host having difficulties, they’re worried. Trouble always happens when they do something for her. Sipping nightcaps, they watch Darryl Douglas’ show and decide to allow him to rent one of the guesthouses at the same time their beloved daughter-of -heart, Tina Marks, is renting the house next door along with her personal trainer, Abbie Hathaway.

Olivia “Livy” Winters agrees to spend the summer at Sanderling Cove on the Gulf Coast of Florida with her two cousins, Charlotte “Charlie” Bradford and Brooke Weatherby, to help manage The Sanderling Cove Inn while their grandparents take a long road trip in Europe. Livy hopes a summer away from her past surroundings and her job as the owner of a bakery in Virginia will help her forget a traumatic incident there.

Brooke Weatherby is tired of being the dependable one, the boring one of everyone at Sanderling Cove. She agreed to come to the cove for the summer, unaware her two cousins, Charlotte “Charlie” Bradford and Olivia “Livy” Winters, would also be there to help manage The Sanderling Cove Inn while her grandparents take a long road trip in Europe.

Ellie Weatherby and the four other grandmothers living at Sanderling Cove decide with only two great-grandchildren, it’s time to swing into action. They invite their grandchildren to spend the summer at the cove, hoping to encourage romance between them. Ellie invites all three of her granddaughters to take over the management of the Sanderling Cove Inn so that she and her bridegroom can spend the time traveling in Europe for their honeymoon.

When Holly Winters heads home for Christmas, she’s full of hope that this holiday will be different from the prior year when she was painfully recovering from being dumped by her ex-boyfriend. Her best friend runs a temp agency in town and begs her to help with an unexpected demand for an administrative assistant at a law office where the young boss has scared away the previous assistant. After teaching tough high school kids in New York City, Holly feels ready to take him on with the hope that it will be for only a few days.

When Juanita Sanchez and the Desert Flowers—Willow Sanchez Kincaid, Rose Bowers, and Lily Walden—open Juanita’s Kitchen, the food kitchen Alec Thurston and they formed as a charitable organization, a young woman named Ivy Barrett and her seven-year-old son, Benjy, come into their lives. Ivy is appointed head of the kitchen staff, and they all work together to open the kitchen before the holidays.

Catherine “Cate” Tibbs, Brooke Ridley, and Amber Anderson, friends since they were awkward 13-year-olds who named themselves “The Beach Babes,” are about to face their 40th birthdays. Because they haven’t been able to get together for some time, Cate arranges for them to rent a house along the Gulf Coast of Florida for a long weekend. She hopes it will give them the opportunity to celebrate and re-ignite their friendship.

One favor deserves another, or does it? Against their better judgment, Ann and Rhonda agree to help a young girl in distress at the request of the vice-president of the United States, Amelia Swanson. After almost losing their lives because of an earlier request of hers, they plan on being more careful. Amanda Rogers was an intern for Senator Worthington’s office when she was drugged at a staff party and got pregnant. Now, alone without parental support, she and her friend, Jax Thomas, arrive at the hotel to wait out the last weeks of pregnancy in privacy.

After agreeing to enter the New Life Assisted-Living Community outside of Boston, Agatha “Aggie” Robard talks her devoted, serious granddaughter, Blythe, into driving her to Florida, stopping to see old college friends along the way. She particularly needs to speak to Donovan Bailey, the man she’d thought she would marry right after graduating from college. By asking Blythe to go with her, Aggie is hoping to prove to her that life should be about having fun, too.

Emerson “Em” Jordan always wanted a Valentine’s Day wedding. But after being dumped by her boyfriend, she spends the holiday at Seashell Cottage on the Gulf Coast of Florida with Devin Gerard, a family friend who has no interest in her or any other woman and is instead concentrating on his pediatric medical practice and continuing medical missions in Costa Rica. Em, who’s always wanted a large family, doesn’t mind his disinterest. At 32, she’s decided she doesn’t need a husband to have a child or to adopt one.

Two years ago, Noelle North’s then-fiancé left her waiting at the church on Christmas - her wedding day and birthday. Now, she knows she cannot endure another holiday season at home in Boston. At the urging of four women at the assisted-living community where she serves as health director, Noelle decides to rent Seashell Cottage on the Gulf Coast of Florida for the holidays. She meets Silas Bellingham, the cutest seven-year-old boy she’s ever seen, and his great-grandmother, Althea.