Showing results by author "Deanna Lynn Sletten" in All Categories

1934 Young Kathleen Carver dreams of becoming a movie star despite her fathers warnings that she wouldn't want that life. As she grows, she becomes more determined and her strong personality and independent soul won't let her give up. After college, she stays out east and works in the theater. Then her big break comes—Hollywood is calling—and she goes home to California to become the star she always knew she'd be. But there are bumps along the highway to stardom, heartbreak, losses, and scandals. And secrets—so many secrets to keep.

She rode with the most famous outlaws of her time. From the deserts of Texas to the sweeping vistas of Wyoming, the refinement of New York City to the lush valleys of Argentina, Etta followed the outlaw men she loved so dearly. Then, she disappeared.

Morgan Connors is helping her mother go through her recently deceased grandmother’s possessions when she comes upon an old manuscript. The title states it is Sarah Winchester’s autobiography. Morgan works as an acquisition editor at a publisher in San Francisco and knows that no such book has ever been published. When her mother explains that Morgan’s great-great-grandmother, Olivia Collins, once worked for Mrs. Winchester, she’s intrigued. Who was Olivia Collins, and why did she have a manuscript of Sarah Winchester’s life story?

There are two sides to every story, but you must be willing to listen. Marsha Winslow believes she lives a charmed life. She has a loving husband, a successful business they built together, and a beautiful home overlooking the ocean in California. But when a devastating accident occurs only days before their twentieth wedding anniversary, Marsha must face some hard truths. Her life isn’t what she believed, and it’s up to her to face reality and fix the mess it’s become.

Diane picked up her mother’s phone. “How do you feel about your mother being let out of prison today after 65 years?” the reporter asked. Diane stared at her mother. “My grandmother is alive?” That one phone call hurled shock waves throughout the entire family. 1955 - Anna Bergman Craine’s life changes in an instant when she commits a crime of passion and is sentenced to life in prison. Leaving behind two young children, she is left alone in the world, never to hear from family or friends again.

Two strong women, generations apart, living parallel lives. When Marla Madison’s husband dies, she realizes her life has become very small. Her daughter is grown and Marla has spent the past two decades focused on his friends, his interests, and his home. Feeling lost, she throws herself into fixing up the 150-year-old family manor on the lake. She soon discovers an old journal in a secret drawer and is instantly intrigued. The handwritten book tells the tale of another Mrs. Madison from over a century ago, the first woman to live in the lake manor.

1917—Sofiya and her friend Alina are forced to flee Russia as Tsar Nicholas II abdicates and the Bolsheviks take control of St. Petersburg. Their parents send them to America where Alina's distant cousin lives, but soon the girls learn they have traded one danger for another. They are forced to earn a living in the most terrible way, and once again, both girls flee for their lives in separate directions. Years later, trapped in a bitter marriage, Sofiya once again finds herself running away to protect her son and the secret she's been hiding since leaving Russia.

Maggie Harrison is a devoted wife and mother, until one day, without planning to, she drives away, leaving behind her indifferent husband and two sulking teenagers. Maggie goes off on a quest of self-exploration, enjoying adventures, meeting new people, and rediscovering her passions. For the first time in years, she dreams of what she wants out of life, and realizes that her deteriorating marriage can no longer continue as it is. Can she and Andrew repair their broken relationship, or is their marriage over?

Eight years ago, Kylie Madison was a new mother with a baby who rarely slept, even at eight months old. Exhausted and feeling isolated as a stay-home mom while her husband, Jordon, works twelve-hour shifts, she opened up to her few friends on Instagram late one night, asking if there were any other tired moms out there struggling. To her surprise, many women answered her. After that night, she begins to share her struggles, successes, and parenting dilemmas, and her following grows as other women feel a connection with her.

Rachel Emery hadn’t planned on investigating a murder mystery again after her first and only experience solving a long-ago murder. But when her friend, romance writer Ariel Weathers, called her, frantic about her dead ex-husband stalking her, Rachel was too intrigued and agreed to investigate it. As Rachel digs up information about Randall’s death, new twists and turns keep springing up, taking her in every direction. And when the original case investigator, Jack Meyers, joins in, they seem destined for choppy waters.

Everyone believes Rachel is dead. But she’s very much alive. Rachel Scott Emery’s life unravels when she comes upon an old news article online that states she was killed 35 years ago at the age of eight. Even more shocking is her murderer was her then 16-year-old brother. Realizing she must untangle the mess, Rachel leaves her Tallahassee, Florida, home and goes back to Casita, California, to prove she is still alive. But going home again isn’t easy.

When his estranged wife Jess has a terrible accident, leaving her lying in a coma, Clay Connors returns to his family to care for his two daughters. He has been separated from his family for nearly two years. His eldest daughter Maddie is resentful over his being absent. Sadly, his youngest daughter Jilly barely remembers him.

Poring over a dusty hatbox of photographs in her grandmother's closet, Emily Prentice is shocked to discover her father was married and divorced before meeting her mother. In the summer of 1968, Jack and Libbie fall in love under the spell of their small town, untouched by the chaos of the late '60s. Though Libbie's well-to-do parents disapprove of Jack's humble background, she marries Jack a year after they graduate high school. But soon their happiness crumbles as Libbie's mental state unravels and she is drawn to alcohol and drugs.

Michael DeCara came home from the Vietnam War a wounded man, both physically and emotionally. He tried putting his life back together but found civilian life difficult after the horror he'd experienced. Raising his young daughter Vanessa by himself after his wife left him, he found it difficult to commit to one job or one woman for any length of time. Then Michael met a young woman who made him feel alive again. But a life-changing event occurred, and he had to choose between his past and the present.

Ali Jenson's life changed forever the moment her mother died. The 16-year-old was suddenly swept away from the life she knew in California to live with her estranged grandfather in the deep woods of northern Minnesota. Ali's life has never been easy, but it seems her grandfather is trying his best to make it even more difficult. Her only hope is to get through the summer and her last year of high school so she can return to her old life in California.

There’s a serial killer on the loose around Florida State University, or at least that’s what everyone believes. Young women go missing for several days and then are found dead a few miles from where they were abducted. The local police and an FBI task force are working to find the culprit but with no success. Meanwhile, all the women around Tallahassee are afraid they may be next.

Ryan Collier has lived a quiet life with his golden retriever, Sam, and two orange tabbies since the death of his wife nearly three years ago. Friends and family are encouraging him to move on and find someone new to share his life with, but Ryan feels he will never find someone he can love as much as his wife. Ryan reluctantly gives in and starts going out on weekends, and soon discovers that women have changed as well as the rules of dating.

Andi Stevens drives away from her home town of Seattle to begin a new life with her fiancé in Buffalo, New York. When her car breaks down in the mountains of Montana, she knocks on the door of a cabin for help. What she finds is Luke Brennan, the most handsome man she's ever met. Andi quickly falls in love with the ranch and the beauty of Montana. And no matter how hard they fight it, she and the brooding cowboy form a bond that becomes stronger by the day.

Charlotte Parsons is devastated over losing her brother in the Vietnam War. Desperate to learn more about the war, she joins a group of college women who send letters to soldiers and befriends Joseph Russo, a young soldier. But a few months after they begin corresponding, his letters stop coming, and Char moves on, still confused as to why so many young lives are being lost so far away from home. Two years later, Char begins college in her small Illinois town of Grand Falls. Then, a stranger comes to town and changes everything.

Mallory Dawson is planning the winter wedding of her dreams. But one month before her wedding, she runs into the man she once loved, who she hasn't seen in 10 years. James Gallagher fled to California 10 years ago to start over after the love of his life, Mallory, refused to marry him. But when his dad passes away and his mother becomes ill, he returns home to help run the family business. Seeing Mallory again brings a flood of memories back.