Showing results by author "Karin Kallmaker" in All Categories

From a red-carpet Halloween costume to the fireworks of New Year's, Karin Kallmaker is adding a holiday layer to her literary cake with short stories inspired by her classics and recent novels. It's a baker's dozen buffet of pure holiday deliciousness. Join her for a Car Pool family table Thanksgiving and Paperback Romance small town concert. A Warming Trend North Pole wonderland and Maybe Next Time Hawaiian Christmas.

A one-way stage ticket to the frontier leaves a young woman penniless and alone in Long Grass, Wyoming. With no other hope than to survive another day, she takes up the only profession open to her. Years later she encounters a one-of-a-kind cowboy she can love, and her first taste of pleasure—and happiness.

Motion picture producer Selena Ryan has the impossible: Fame and fortune and her integrity. Her reputation for playing fair in an industry rife with games has earned her respect from other producers, writers, and actors. She's learned the lesson that plenty of people would like to use her to get what they want - a starring role or some other way into the movies. Burned badly by actress Jennifer Lamont, who used her and left her with a devastating aftermath, she's wary of everyone related to the industry.

Master Chef Jamie Onassis has used every penny she has to buy a beautiful country inn she plans to turn into a five-star restaurant. Unfortunately, the inn turns out to be a "handyman's special" and, without the skills or capital to make the necessary repairs, Jamie risks losing everything. Home and garden expert Valkyrie Valentine is a rising star among the do-it-yourself set. A seemingly perfect homemaker, Valkyrie seems destined to become the next Martha Stewart - as long as no one discovers her embarrassing little secret: she can't cook.

Car pool heaven turns into car pool hell when Anthea Rossignole realizes her lover is having an affair with the other woman sharing their daily commute. Anthea's corporate career as a cost analyst is the only thing keeping her together. Now she's looking for someone to share the long drive in the Bay Area's notorious traffic. Shay Sumoto desperately needs a car pool. Though wildly overqualified, the environmental biologist takes a job testing well samples to keep body and soul together.

A deep kiss and a single rule. Like most women in dead-end relationships, Holly Markham was used to finding substitutes for love. But throwing herself into the arms of a leather-clad stranger was never on her list. When Holly's best friend Tori takes her to a dance for lesbians only, she realizes that Tori is gently trying to push her out of the closet. While it was true that Holly had been trying to come to terms with her growing attraction toward women, no one expected Holly to take one look at the mysterious Reyna and fall hopelessly in lust.

Setting out on the "vacation of a lifetime" Marissa Chabot is well-provisioned with sunblock, rum, and a stack of good books. Being one of the founders of Finders Keepers, the successful, high-tech "soul-mate matching service," she knows that vacation romances are hopeless. When Linda Bartok—tall, dark, and beautiful—sweeps her off her feet anyway, Marissa yields to the magic of a storybook rescue, moonlit walks on the beach, and longed-for whispers of passion.

For Kip Barrett, a secret commission from her boss's boss's boss, CEO Tamara Sterling, shows that the respect she's earned for her integrity and intelligence as a fraud investigator is justified. All she has to do is what she's done successfully before: follow the cyber-trail, find the high-tech thief, and document it so that justice prevails. This time, however, the embezzler is one of their own. Sterling Fraud Investigations has an unblemished reputation for ethical conduct and security. Kip must find out who and how, as soon as possible, and no one but Tamara can know what she's doing.

The world is at Jennifer Lamont's feet—right where she wants it. She has made breaking hearts a blood sport, and the cool, calculated use of other people's backs has led to the stardom she has craved from the first time she heard applause. Lust or fear is all she has ever believed she could see in the eyes of others.

Cursing the familial obligation that sent her into the path of a blizzard, Jackie Frakes is deeply grateful for rescue on a snow-choked mountain road, even if her rescuer's reception is as cold as the landscape. Leah Beck spends her days in a twilight of grief, actively avoiding all reminders of her former life as an artist whose work was exhibited nationwide. A houseguest for Thanksgiving is disruptive and painful, and the last thing she wanted. The snowbound weekend leaves them with an unforgettable, undeniable attraction that challenges their personal and professional commitments.

Marian Pardoo, reference librarian for the Iowa City Public Library, would be happy if the woman she's loved for years wasn't already married. Annoyed by the thoughtless out-of-town Liddy, she isn't prepared for the seething passion that erupts when Liddy careens into her meticulously controlled life.

Syrah Ardani tried independence—but the call of the Napa Valley hills and rolling vineyards of her family's winery have brought her home again. She is content with her ordered world until she learns that her father's feckless management has put Ardani Vineyards into receivership. Corporate turnaround specialist Toni Blanchard's arrival is preceded by tales of her slash-and-burn techniques. Determined to meet this soulless corporate raider head on, Syrah proudly prepares to do battle for her home and family business.

Twenty-nine-year-old Rayann Germaine, betrayed by her lover, flees in grief and rage. She meets book-store owner Louisa Thatcher, a woman many years her senior, who offers shelter and work...and soon, passion, and a loving place in her life. But Rayann encounters challenges to this new love - from friends who question its wisdom, from her mother who disapproves of this liaison with a woman her own contemporary, from Louisa's son who learns for the first time his mother's true sexuality.

Scholar and award-winning author Faith Fitzgerald has every reason to be happy: a wealthy, charming man who adores her and a family cheering her marriage prospects. But from the moment she meets Eric's sister, Sydney Van Allen, she knows her safe, predictable feelings for him are a shadow of what could be. Openly lesbian and running for senator, Sydney can only succeed if she can live down her wild past. That means no liaisons, especially with the achingly alluring woman on her brother's arm who looks at her with confusion - and desire.

Alice Cabot's only great love is science, but a lapse in judgment has exiled the New York journalist to the glitzy Gallerias and vapid bubble-babble of Beverly Hills. The assignment to do a flattering feature series on Simply the Best and the superficial nonsense it sells threatens to crush what little is left of her spirit.

Kesa Sapiro had to grow up fast. With her parents gone and a little sister to protect, Kesa has spent over a decade of her life trying to keep a roof over their heads. She's learned the hard way that love is a luxury and that the price is way too high. When her sister Josie announces she wants to marry a boy she's known for less than a month, Kesa immediately forbids it. Shannon Dealan's floored when her son-by-choice says he wants to marry a girl he's just met. Shannon has real reason to scrutinize any strangers who come into Paz's life. She's not about to let him do anything stupid.

Handsome singer Loretta "Rett" Jamison has built herself a successful career and a repertoire filled with romantic ballads and hot jazz. But her failing relationship with lover/manager Trisha York has left a growing emptiness in her heart. Trisha seems to have found what she needs in the arms of younger women. Can Rett find it on the lips of the classmate who gave her the first real taste of passion?

Sabrina Starling doesn't need love. She has fame as a brilliant violinist and unlimited options for female company. Nothing can shake her—except the memory of her very first love. Knowing that neither the teenaged nor adult Jorie will ever return her feelings, Sabrina has escaped into her music and the arms of other women. When injury leaves her temporarily unable to perform, Sabrina finally finds the one woman who could free her forever from the memory of those stolen Hawaiian nights with Jorie.

Two very different reasons brought Laura Izmani and Helen Baynor to the Beach Boardwalk for a symbolic ride on the biggest wooden roller coaster on the west coast. They part strangers, but only after sharing an experience that shifted both of their lives onto new tracks.

Anidyr Bycall is frozen in her past, regretting words never spoken to the woman she loves and the one impulsive act that cost her all her dreams. Running from the courts of public and academic opinion in Fairbanks, she has landed in Key West. The nights are hot but she is colder than the glaciers she once explored. When a few innocent questions raise Ani's doubts about what really happened three years ago, she realizes she may have a chance to clear her name and reclaim her career. But there's no data to suggest that Eve has thawed and that the fire they once shared can be rekindled.