Barbara Samuel

In this sumptuous new novel, Barbara O'Neal offers readers a celebration of food, family, and love as a woman searches for the elusive ingredient we're all hoping to find....It's the opportunity Elena Alvarez has been waiting for--the challenge of running her own kitchen in a world-class restaurant. Haunted by an accident of which she was the lone survivor, Elena knows better than anyone how to survive the odds. With her faithful dog, Alvin, and her grandmother's recipes, Elena arrives in Colorado to find a restaurant in as desperate need of a fresh start as she is--and a man whose passionate approach to food and life rivals her own. Owner Julian Liswood is a name many people know but a man few do. He's come to Aspen with a troubled teenage daughter and a dream of the kind of stability and love only a family can provide. But for Elena, old ghosts don't die quietly, yet a chance to find happiness at last is worth the risk.From the Trade Paperback edition.

The Cisco triplets are appalled by their widowed father's behavior. He seems to care more about his gold-digging fiance than he does about his own son and daughters. Even worse, Dad put their spunky grandmother -- head of the family candy company -- in a nursing home against her will. Setting out to spring Granny Cisco, college seniors Sara, Hannah, and Sam soon prove that trouble comes in threes. Apparently, so does love. As the triplets get their grandmother the medical care that will make her independent again, all three find unexpected romance. If everything goes according to plan, there's going to be quite a crowd at Granny's house come Christmas -- and more proof than ever that there's no place like home for the holidays.

Romance and destiny intertwine in four all-new novellas inspired by grail quests-featuring two New York Times bestselling authors! From the bestselling and award-winning authors of Dragon Lovers comes an anthology of fantasy, romance, and eternal love. In these four novellas, history and destiny spark passion, and everything depends on the fate of one mystical cup: the Holy Grail. A young woman must find her love to summon the Grail to bring peace to England; a Regency lady must keep it safe from Napoleon's spies; a modern sorceress must keep the Grail from falling into Nazi hands, and an American must put the chalice at risk to rescue her one true love. These are four passionate and enchanting stories of desire and destiny inspired by one of our most powerful legends.

Single father Joshua Mad Calf wasn't a romantic guy—but like his precious four-year-old daughter, he was enchanted by the princesslike Juliet Rousseau. Still, his focus needed to be healing his daughter's emotional wounds, not the fire ignited by a beauty with demons of her own....Visiting Colorado to help her sister through a bitter divorce, Juliet had never anticipated the fierce attraction she felt in the rugged tribal cop's arms. Then her brother-in-law was found murdered and her sister was arrested for the crime. Suddenly more than Juliet's heart was in danger. Could she trust Josh to help her prove her sister's innocence in time?

"A tale of forbidden love set in 1940s Texas exploring the theme of racial preudice"--

Yearning to escape her stifling, authoritarian upbringing, ladylike New Englander Clementine Kennicutt elopes with cowboy Gus McQueen to Montana, where she comes face to face with the harsh realities of frontier life.

Presents a quartet of love stories dealing with dragons of all forms, ranging from a virgin princess's first love and a shape-shifting samurai groom to a knight dealing with a damsel in distress and a young widow involved in a secret project with her sexy handyman.

A successful Web designer, forty-year-old India has a fabulously hip life in Denver and a sexy Irish lover in New York who jets out to see her on bi-weekly visits. The long-distance romance suits India just fine: Though Jack is the only man who has ever made India feel truly alive, she doesn't want things to get too serious. But then her father passes away, and India must honor the promise she made to him: to look after her mother when he's gone. Suddenly India finds herself back in Colorado Springs with the woman who both intrigues and infuriates her. Eldora is sixty something and exquisitely gorgeous, but her larger-than-life personality can suck the air out of a room. True to form, Eldora throws India a curveball, insisting that they hit the road to look for India's twin, Gypsy, a brilliant artist who lives a vagabond's existence in the remote mountain towns of New Mexico. It looks like India can't avoid her mother's intensity any longer, especially after she discovers stunning secrets from Eldora's past. Thirty years ago, Eldora regaled her twin girls with glamorous stories about her days as a Las Vegas showgirl-- stories of martinis and music at the Sahara, back when Frank and Sammy ruled the town. But the story of how she really ended up in Sin City, and the unsavory life she'd run from with her daughters in tow, is full of details she's never seen fit to share--until now.As mother and daughter sail down Route 66, the very road Eldora drove those many years ago, looking for Gypsy, while passing motels, diners, and souvenir shops, Eldora must relive a lifetime of memories that have tormented her before she can put them to rest once and for all. . . .Award-winning author Barbara Samuel brings us a heartfelt story of second chances and unexpected detours. As two women come to terms with themselves and each other, the past unravels and the future spreads out before them like the open road.From the Hardcover edition.

In this spectacular new novel, Barbara O'Neal delivers a generous helping of the best in life--family, food, and love--in the story of a woman's search for the one thing worth more than anything.At thirty-seven, Tessa Harlow is still working her way down her list of goals to "fall in love and have a family." A self-described rolling stone, Tessa leads hiking tours for adventurous vacationers--it's a job that's taken her around the world but never a step closer to home. Then a freak injury during a trip already marred by tragedy forces her to begin her greatest adventure of all. Located high in the New Mexico mountains, Las Ladronas has become a magnet for the very wealthy and very hip, but once upon a time it was the setting of a childhood trauma Tessa can only half remember. Now, as she rediscovers both her old hometown and her past, Tessa is drawn to search-and-rescue worker Vince Grasso. The handsome widower isn't her type. No more inclined to settle down than Tessa, Vince is the father of three, including an eight-year-old girl as lost as Tessa herself. But Tessa and Vince are both drawn to the town's most beloved eatery--100 Breakfasts--and to each other. For Tessa, the restaurant is not only the key to the mystery that has haunted her life but a chance to find the home and the family she's never known.From the Trade Paperback edition.

With her acclaimed hardcover debut, No Place Like Home, readers enthusiastically welcomed Barbara Samuel into the ranks of bestselling women's fiction, applauding her stirring novel of loss and redemption. In A Piece of Heaven, she shares another poignant tale rich in atmosphere and insight that explores the complexity of relationships, the importance of family, and the healing power of love. In the sun-baked hills of New Mexico, Luna McGraw has lived a lifetime of regrets, struggling to conquer the demons that destroyed her marriage and caused her to lose custody of her beloved daughter. But as Luna fights to rebuild a relationship with the troubled teenager, she remains haunted by images of her own childhood and the father she barely knew. Strong and resilient as the houses he builds, Thomas Coyote comes into Luna's life one extraordinary night when his grandmother nearly dies while conjuring a fiery brew of spiritual enchantment. Luna does not need a man-- especially one with a needy ex-wife--to complicate her fragile dreams of the future. Their attraction pushes them both beyond reason into a place where there is only possibility. Yet it will take more than passion to recover the tattered pieces of Luna's soul, more than time to forgive the sins of an offending husband, and more than promises to mend the broken heart of a child. A Piece of Heaven is an irresistible novel full of colorful characters and lush settings spiced with the magical flavors of the Southwest, a brilliant tapestry of romance and realism by a master storyteller.From the Paperback edition.

It's her job to groom him for marriage! Lawyer Romy Bridgeport is used to demanding clients - but millionaire Sebastian Fox takes the biscuit! All he's ever wanted is a happy marriage and kids - so he's asked Romy to make him into marriage material! Does such a project require all Romy's legal training? Er, no - yet as he's a valued client Romy has to take him on... But, when her work is done, Romy can think of only one suitable wife: herself!