Briar's Point is a whimsical little town with its fair share of colorful characters, crime, and a Cupid suffering from the denim blues... See if you can find denim blue in each story! Working with local private investigators Den McHart and Sylvia Price, Briar's Point Police Department Detective Orlando Bateman solves a missing person case. Keeya Nilsen, visually impaired from the plane crash that took her parents' lives, comes to him and has a justifiably bad attitude about love, since all the men she's ever loved have cheated on her and robbed her...including the last one, who absconded with her most prized possession-her grandfather's unpublished Blues compositions-when he flew the coop. As together they search for her last boyfriend and her missing legacy, Orlando reminds Keeya of the faith she'd had before the plane crash that changed her life and makes her see love as God intends.

Unlucky in love and unable to count their blessings during the Thanksgiving holiday, Layla and Adam find themselves jilted at the same time by the person they assumed was their soulmate. Heartbroken, snowed in and forced to share the only available cabin in town, they have no choice but to re-evaluate everything they've ever wanted in life...and love.

Amethyst, WI is a small, peaceful town on a pristine lake with an active tourist season in summer. When the air turns chill, the area is transformed into a ghost town with only a handful of lifers who stay. Amethyst is bursting with mystery, romance, and jealousy all-year-round. ADVENTURES IN AMETHYST SERIES is a collection of the first 4 novellas in the series, including A Rose for Romeo (Book 1), Revenge in Amethyst (Book 2), Reckless Rose (Book 3), Christmas in Amethyst (Book 4). Book 1: A Rose for Romeo What happens when a nationally renowned sex therapist and author begins to abhor every aspect of her successful occupation? She falls in love, of course. Dr. Melina Rose is sick of sex and has spent her life avoiding intimacy in her personal life. After abandoning everything she's worked all her life for, she returns to her hometown only to discover that everything has changed--except her crush on her sister's old boyfriend Scott "Romeo" Romero. Book 2: Revenge in Amethyst After abandoning her career as a renowned sex therapist, Melina Rose has returned to her hometown and fallen in love with Scott Romero. Scott and Melina are ecstatically expecting a baby and planning their wedding. But someone driven by jealousy wants to see Melina's dream-life crash down. A former patient who'd revealed his disturbing fantasies only to Melina is prepared to do anything in order to keep his secrets safe. Book 3: Reckless Rose Even bad girls need love... When Reece Childs rolls back into Amethyst to stay, Lona Rose realizes her reckless crush on the older brother of a former beau is still waging hot and heavy. But how to prevent the rumors and mistakes of her past from ruining the start of something wonderful? Reece has just the plan to head off the rumor mill...and make this reckless rose his own forever. Book 4: Christmas in Amethyst Eager to make it up to her son's many disappointments in the past year, single mom Sheila Mason takes a shift at the restaurant she works on Christmas Day in order to buy Dev a puppy. When a creepy customer follows her on the deserted road from the restaurant to her home in Amethyst, her holidays go from bad to worse.

Working with local private investigators Den McHart and Sylvia Price, Briar's Point Police Department Detective Orlando Bateman solves a missing person case. Keeya Nilsen, visually impaired from the plane crash that took her parents' lives, comes to him and has a justifiably bad attitude about love, since all the men she's ever loved have cheated on her and robbed her...including the last one, who absconded with her most prized possession--her grandfather's unpublished Blues compositions--when he flew the coop. As together they search for her last boyfriend and her missing legacy, Orlando reminds Keeya of the faith she'd had before the plane crash that changed her life and makes her see love as God intends.

The Amethyst Star {Futuristic Romance Novella}: They live in a time when humans have become an endangered species... Thirty years ago, the men and women of Earth went off to fight in an intergalactic war. In the time since, carnivores have flourished and slaughtered most of the human race. Answering Earth's call for help to avoid extinction, Hunters have ultra-strength, speed and instincts, allowing them to destroy the carnivores. Human women have become invaluable prizes in their roles as Procreators. Pair-bonding is rare and families no longer exist. Lady Sher of the Amethyst Star is mankind's last hope for survival though her heart's desire can never be fulfilled...especially not with the hunter Randolf. On Randolf's home world, a vision of the rare star of amethyst was revealed along with the prophecy that if he loses this star, the hunter will become the hunted for all time. Will destiny and desire prove impossible goals? Creatures of the Night {Paranormal Romance Novella}: Loner and Night-owl painter Susanna Heath has just married her exotic-foreigner husband. Nicholai Rostislav disappears all day, coming to her only at night. Now she finds out that he's a bloodsucking vampire. And you thought your marriage had problems.

The Amethyst Angel {Traditional Romance Novella}: Elena Lopez's father has decided to play matchmaker with his long-time friend and neighbor, Marta Delgado, when Marta's nephew comes to town. Elena has a secret though: She's always loved Marta's own son Pablo. An amethyst angel belonging to a dying boy reminds Elena that spending her life waiting for something to happen isn't living and that love must be shared. Can she take the risk of telling Pablo her feelings even if he doesn't share her love? A Home for Christmas {Inspirational Romance Novella}: All Christie Renata Zondervon has ever wanted is a family, especially at Christmas-time. Craig Stevens has dried her tears, held her hand, listened to her talk about her hopes and fears at any time of day or night. She's never looked at him romantically before...until he invites her to spend Christmas with his family. How does a painfully shy man reveal his heart without voicing the words that could lead to rejection? Craig has given himself twelve days to convince Christie he can be the man of her dreams. Now it's a countdown to win her heart or bust!

Characters: Do your characters have no obvious signs of life, nothing that gives them unique personality, perspective, and passion? Plots: Are plots and conflicts created spur of the moment with no set up, build up, curiosity, or tension? Relationships: Are your characters merely going through the motions with each other? All of these and more are signs of dead or lifeless stories. The three core elements of story--Characters, Plots, and Relationships (CPR)--need to be developed three dimensionally. To truly be living, characters aren't simply existing and going through the motions. They possess fully developed external and internal conflicts. They're interacting in dynamic, realistic, and believable relationships. They have multidimensional character attributes that give them both vitality and voice. Finally, they're engaged in what makes life worthwhile with definable goals and motivations. This resource teaches writers how to identify dead or lifeless characters, plots, and relationships; establish proper setup; plant the seeds early with in-depth sketches; and pinpoint weak areas in CPR development. The only one-stop, everything-you-need-to-know 9-1-1 for deep, multifaceted Character, Plot, and Relationship development!

Back into the mouth of hell... Daniel and Hannah Reynolds are newly married with their first child on the way when a notice comes from a lawyer saying that the remaining member of the Bonavaris clan has died and willed Bloodmoon Manor and all its possessions to Hannah, her former maid and cook. While Hannah can't fathom the reason for the bequeath, the notion of selling the manor and the valuable items inside it begins to grow inside her like an obsession. She and Daniel have begun their married life with little more than outstanding debts from his medical education--debts that come due around the same time as the birth of their baby. After a lifetime of poverty, Hannah refuses to allow her child to face the kind of scavenging, hand-to-mouth existence that had led to her employment at the horrible Bloodmoon Manor in the first place. Unable to convince his beloved wife to forget about returning to Bloodmoon Cove to secure a future for their family, Daniel has no choice but to follow her into what he aptly calls "the mouth of hell"--a place Hannah just barely escaped with her life last time. Daniel's worst fears are justified when the doors of Bloodmoon Manor slam shut behind them. They've been lured here deliberately, and the horrors that haunt the dark, evil manor aren't willing to let Hannah leave ever again...

As a teenager, Roman "Bud" Marasek was shy and withdrawn, a farmer's kid who grew up to be a farmer himself. The first girl he loved was Briar Sankey, a popular girl with big, beautiful eyes and a wild clothing and makeup style. It took him years to work up the courage to ask her out, and their date was the best night of his life. But, when she never answered his calls after that and started dating the star athlete, he'd realized he'd only been wishing for the moon. Years passed, Bud fell in love with Evette, had a daughter, and his wife died unexpectedly. Raising Harper hasn't been easy alone, but at forty-seven he feels completely unprepared for being both father and mother to a moody teenage daughter with too many boyfriends and life-and-death meltdowns. He turns to Briar for help. Briar is running her mother's restaurant, has finally toned down her style, and, unbelievably, has never married and seems content to be alone. Looks are deceiving... Briar had spent her life confident she had all the time in the world to make a life for herself and any choice she wanted. At forty-seven, she no longer has the same choices. With both of her parents gone, she's the only one left to run the restaurant, her mother's legacy to the small town of Amethyst and what she considers her "patch" in the big, wide world. Additionally, the few eligible men in the area don't interest her. Letting slip an unintended faux pas, a friend of both Briar and Bud reveals to Briar that Bud has had a thirty year crush on her. Suddenly his reason for coming by the cafe nearly every day of his life takes on startling meaning. In truth, she'd barely noticed him most of the time. When he asks her for help with Harper, she can't refuse. And suddenly she's seeing Bud in a whole new light...and falling in love with the sweet, shy man who's been there all along.