The Jinx Inc. treasure-hunting company has a new mission - to find the 'cave pearls' rumoured to exist in the bottom-most cavity of an ancient cave. But first, mission leader Caleb Peach has to find an expert consultant. An ex-Navy SEAL, Caleb is used to getting his man but Dr Claire Cassidy, archaeologist extraordinaire, is proving hard to pin down. Only after he tracks her down on her fishing holiday and proves that Jinx Inc. is an upstanding, responsible company does the she sign on the dotted line. The attraction is immediate but Caleb and Claire are very different people. He's buttoned up and goes by the book and still carries a lot of bitterness because of a painful past. She's a free spirit and truly self-sufficient and independent, yet she's not opposed to the possibility of love in her life.With Claire's help, along with the assistance of Cajun Healer, Tante Lulu, Caleb and his family reconcile. At about the ame time, adventure and hilarity abound as the crew of Jinx Inc. begin the search for and find the fabled cave pearls.

From the Peabody Award-winning creators of Jessica Jones comes a brand-new creation. PEARL is the story of an exceptional tattoo artist and accidental assassin for one of the modern-day San Francisco Yakuza. She was born into one life, but another is calling to her. When Pearl accidentally meets one of her peers, her doppelgŠnger from another clan, she starts to dream of a better life. But Pearl has a very special ability that keeps pulling her back into the violent world she is desperate to escape. PEARL is a major series launch from writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Michael Gaydos that features their first brand-new original character since Jessica Jones. Fans of the Jessica Jones comic and TV show will be thrilled and delighted by this bold new direction the creative team has taken.

Charmaine LeDeux, who owns not one but two beauty salons on the Louisiana bayou, has a loan shark on her tail. As if that's not bad enough, Raoul Lanier, who she thought she divorced years ago, tells her that they're still married! Plus, they've inherited his father's rundown cattle ranch together. Raoul promises to give her an honest-to-god real divorce this time if she'll sell him her half of the ranch. But she decides that the ranch is the perfect place for her after all; i.e., the perfect hideout for a woman who needs to lie low for a while. The last thing Raoul wants is for Charmaine to live with him, but Charmaine has always been stubborn. Soon she's taken over the house, adding feminine touches everywhere and having his three ranch hands eating out of her hand. When her belly-dancing great-aunt and the rest of the LeDeux clan come over for Thanksgiving dinner, Raoul knows he's lost the fight. He might as well give in to the temptation she still rouses in him. Now if he can only keep her safe from the Dixie mafia looking for her and convince her that he's worth a second chance at love.

ANGEL ON A HARLEY: Angel Sabato tries to live up to his name as he seeks to win the love of his life, but it’s hard being good with his past as a bad boy biker, treasure hunter, and Playgirl centerfold. Against the sensual bayou setting of Southern Louisiana as a backdrop, Angel sets out on a plan of sizzling seduction. EX-NUN ON A MISSION: This angel is going to have his feathers clipped if Grace O’Brien has her way. The ex-poker-playing nun and folk healer isn’t buying this Jersey boy’s declaration of love. Friendship, yes. Sex, maybe. Love, no way! Besides, she has a secret that precludes any relationships. But how does she resist the reformed rogue? A MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN: With the notorious Tante Lulu, the bayou busybody, calling the shots, Angel and Grace don’t stand a chance. They soon find themselves in the midst of a plot to rescue a group of hurricane orphans while a mysterious person from Grace’s past shows up. Will Angel and Grace be able to weather the storm? ​​​​​​​With Sandra Hill’s trademark humor, this is a book that will make the reader laugh, as well as cry. (Originally published as So Into You)

A comprehensive guide that defines the literature and the outlines the best-selling genre of all time: romance fiction. More than 2,000 romances are published annually, making it difficult for fans and the librarians who advise them to keep pace with new titles, emerging authors, and constant evolution of this dynamic genre. Fortunately, romance expert and librarian Kristin Ramsdell provides a definitive guide to this fiction genre that serves as an indispensible resource for those interested in it—including fans searching for reading material—as well as for library staff, scholars, and romance writers themselves. This title updates the last edition of Romance Fiction: A Guide to the Genre, published in 1999.While the emphasis is on newer titles, many of the important older classics are retained, keeping the focus of the book on the entire genre, instead of only those titles published during the last decade. Specific changes include new chapters on linked and continuing romances, a new section on "Chick Lit" in the Contemporary Romance chapter, an expansion of coverage on the alternative reality subset. This is THE romance genre guide to have.

Hot, Bothered, and In Over Her Head! After finally dumping her no-good fiancé, decorator Rachel Fortier hightails it out of D.C. straight for Cajun country. But her grandma's Louisiana bayou cabin on stilts isn't quite the grand estate she imagined. Throw in a pet alligator named Useless and Remy LeDeux, the smoldering-eyed pilot angling for her family's property, and Rachel's in for a passel of trouble-especially since their chemistry is hotter than the Atchafalaya Swamp in July. With his Tante Lulu itching to marry him off and Rachel's rifle-toting grandma ready to shoot Remy the second he sets foot on her land, the sexiest bad boy this side of the Mason-Dixon Line will need a special kind of voodoo to convince Rachel she was born for the bayou. Cajun Series:Tall, Dark, and CajunThe Cajun CowboyThe Red-Hot Cajun

The fourth book in Sandra Hill's Cajun series serves up laugh-out-loud humor and sizzling romance in equal portions. The long, hot Louisiana summer just got hotter for Rene LeDeux. He returns home to southern Louisiana after quitting his job in Washington as an environmental lobbyist. Years of battling with the oil industry and land developers have left him completely burnt out, and now all he wants to do is work on his cabin on Bayou Black. But his peace of mind is disrupted by a few things. One, his great-aunt Tante Lulu is determined to get him hitched. Two, a couple of his activist friends have hatched a plot to bring national attention to their cause to save the bayou. They've kidnapped a TV celebrity and brought her to Rene's cabin. And three, the celebrity is none other than Valerie "Ice" Breux, Rene's nemesis while growing up. Now Val's stranded in Rene's remote cabin, besieged by irrepressible LeDeux relations, not to mention a dingbat duo out to save the swamp. It's bad enough being kidnapped, but did she have to land in the lap of the most irritating, sexiest hunk she's ever laid her eyes on? Val vows she'll give her heart to the Cajun bad boy when alligators fly. Rene swears to get the girl who got away. It's never been steamier in the bayou than with two people this red-hot with desire...and more than ready for love.

For seven years, bad luck has followed Ivy around like a dog on a leash. Her father disappeared, her mother is a washed–up beauty–pageant winner, and now Viola and her mother have moved into a raqmshackle house on Gumm Street. Ivy's new neighbors–bookish Pru, stuck–up Cat, and wannabe adventurer Franny–are worse than unfriendly. But then a mysterious pair of ruby red slippers turn up, and the four girls are swept away...not to OZ, but to the jaw–droppingly strange lands of SPOZ, and SPUDZ, and OOZE, pursued by the fashionably mad Cha–Cha Staccato, who bears a frightening resemblance to a certain wicked witch.... Ages: 8 –12

A Love as Bold as a Texas Sunset . . . Ex-army medic Katya Smith has always healed other people's pain. Now she has to deal with her own. Taking a job as an athletic trainer on the Pro Bull Riding circuit seems like the perfect escape from her grief-except Katya doesn't know anything about bulls, and even less about the tough men who ride them. She doesn't expect to fall for the sport, or for one tantalizing cowboy who tumbles her defenses. For rodeo champion Cam Cahill, fifteen years of bucking bulls have taken their toll on his body. Before he retires, he wants a final chance at the world title-and he doesn't need some New Age gypsy telling him how to do his job. But when the stunning trainer with the magical hands repairs more than his worn muscles, everything changes. Soon Cam finds himself trying to persuade Katya to forgive her past so she can build a future . . . with him. Praise for Laura Drake and her novels: "Touchingly real. Tender and timely. Laura Drake creates characters you know you've met and you have to root for." -- Pamela Morsi, USA Today bestselling author on The Sweet Spot "An emotionally packed story that will pull all the heartstrings." -- Christie Craig, New York Times bestselling author on The Sweet Spot

Louise Rivard, long before she became known as the beloved Tante Lulu, is a young Cajun woman still suffering from her Big Grief, the death of her fiancé Phillipe Prudhomme during World War II. She has a career as a traiteur or folk healer, a young child to care for, and a wacky devotion to her favorite saint, Jude, patron of hopeless cases, but she is lonely. What she needs to jumpstart her life is a good dose of Cajun Sass. Justin Boudreaux is a young doctor about to embark on what will end up being a world-famous career as a heart surgeon, but he is home on the bayou for the summer. What he doesn’t need to complicate his life is a sassy Cajun girl with an attitude and some crazy ass medical recipes including such things as gator snot. But then, despite his Yankee education, Justin discovers that he still has that god-given talent all bayou-born men have…Cajun Brass. When Cajun Sass meets Cajun Brass, the good times can’t help but roll. Laissez le bon temps rouler, guar-an-teed!