The healing touch

This new line of sensual contemporary romances about men and women having the time of their lives falling in love starts out with a new novel from the author of the runaway hit, "Crown of Glory." In "Second Opinion, " a charming sportswriter woos a newly divorced doctor, with a little help from a group of senior citizens. She needed a second opinion: After five years of a miserable marriage to Roger "The Rat" Ryan, Dr. Charlotte Hamilton obtains a divorce. However, being the Rat, Roger blames their failed marriage totally on Charlotte. He insists that if she was less frigid in bed, he would never have wandered. His final humiliation about his ex occurs in his lawyer's office when he announces to the world that Charlotte was a lousy lover. In spite of her professional accomplishments, Charlotte's inferiority complex explodes and she leaves totally debased. She heads to a nearby hotel bar for a drink where she meets a handsome man. They get a room and share a night of bliss. A very confident Charlie vanishes. Her lover, sports reporter Sam Blake knows he has found his soul mate, but does not even know her name. Using the bribe of tickets to the Alamo Bowl, he learns her name. However, she is his friend's ex-wife and has reason to loathe him.

After years in pastoral ministry, Archer Pierce has begun to question his calling. Then, in the midst of a violent storm, Archer disappears, and the citizens of Dogwood Springs begin a frantic race against time and the elements to find him. Lauren McCaffery is falling deeply in love with the widowed Dr. Grant Sheldon. But when he pops the question, she panics. Is she prepared to take on a ready-made family? And she wonders if she can ever live up to the image of "perfect wife and mother" that Grant’s late wife seemed to portray. Dr. Mitchell Caine’s personal struggles are affecting his practice and his work in the ER, and now he is experiencing glimmers of a memory that is too horrifying to believe—if it’s true. To make matters worse, his troubled daughter returns home after years of estrangement. Can Mitchell hope to help her when he has his own dark secrets?