Caren J. Werlinger

Nearly twenty-five years ago, Kathleen Halloran's brother drowned during the last summer they ever spent with their grandmother on a remote island off Maine's coast. Like a siren's call she can't resist, Kathleen is pulled back to Little Sister Island. She leaves her job and her girlfriend, packs up her few belongings, and moves into her grandmother's cottage. Molly Cooper loves life on Little Sister, where the islanders take care of their own. Kathleen Halloran doesn't belong here, and her arrival stirs up unwelcome memories for the islanders-including Molly's brother. Molly is certain Kathleen will pack up at the first big blow. When she doesn't, Molly begins to see maybe there's more to Kathleen than she thought. Sometimes, before you can move forward, you have to look back.

When the Stars Sang

What if Beauty was the Beast? Lise's father is dead, and the life of plenty and freedom that she has known as the daughter of the King's Huntsman is gone. She must now live a life of duty to her mother and sisters, helping them to cope in their altered circumstances. But where her mother would have her wed a childhood friend to secure their future, Lise knows that is not what she longs for. When she meets a mysterious woman in the forest, Lise feels the stirrings of emotions she cannot give voice to, but with this woman, she doesn't have to say anything-Senna knows. Cursed, hunted, and feared, Senna has been forced to wander from place to place for more years than she cares to remember. She gave up hope long ago that there could ever be an end to her isolation. Odd sightings in the forest-monsters of legend come to life, old enemies back from the past, fearsome beasts on the prowl-begin to frighten the people of Lise's village. Somehow, all of these things are connected to Senna. As the villagers' fear grows, so does their hatred. Senna prepares to flee, accepting what has become her fate, but Lise isn't ready to give up her one chance for happiness. Soon, only Lise stands between the villagers and the woman she has grown to love.

The Beast That Never Was

A Bittersweet Garden

Invisible, As Music

Can a house save the lives of the people who live in it? Can an inscription written in a book over sixty years ago change the fates of people not even born when it was written? Beryl Gray is solid and dependable - her partner, Claire, thinks so, her family thinks so, her colleagues think so. She has a long-term relationship and a job she likes as a university librarian. Her life seems settled, content - except nothing is as it seems. Aggie Bishop's last girlfriend left her three years ago and she hasn't had a date since. Her life now revolves around work and taking care of her great-aunt Cory who doesn't want to be taken care of. Aunt Cory still lives in the run-down mansion that the rest of the family wants to sell if they can only get the old lady into a nursing home. Aggie is all that stands between them and her great-aunt. When Beryl finds a book with a romantic inscription dated 1945, the events that follow will change the lives of all three women forever. Spanning decades, this enchanting tale reminds us that some loves never fade and that sometimes, home truly is where the heart lies.

Neither Present Time

The Chronicles of Caymin

Rising from the Ashes

The Portal: The Chronicles of Caymin The Dragonmage Saga continues as Caymin and Peist return to Ireland. Together, mage and dragon seek allies to try and stop a pending war with a fanatical monk determined to rid Eire of magic. But the spreading tide of Christianity isn't the only threat. An ancient evil - one that dates back to the last dragon war a thousand winters ago - threatens the present. The Portal into the otherworld is the only way to the past, but the otherworld is the realm of the gods and goddesses and other creatures of the old stories, and it is not forgiving to those who do not belong. Caymin and Peist soon learn that, in the otherworld, the deepest desires of their hearts become traps. While there, the young dragonmage and her dragon realize they are pawns in a struggle for power that was set in motion long before they were born. Even those they trust have been using them. Only through their bond with each other can they hope to survive to the trials awaiting them and find their way back through the Portal to this realm. But returning may not be an option if they have to sacrifice all to bring peace to a world that no longer holds a place for dragons and mages. Book Two in The Dragonmage Saga

The Dragonmage Saga Book II: the Chronicles of Caymin

The Portal

Margaret Braithwaite was a rising Regency scholar and an acclaimed author. Thirty years later, she's a one-book wonder, a fifty-something college professor with the dubious distinction of being an expert on Jane Austen, hidden in the shadow of her famous husband and his Civil War novels. "Too young to retire, and too old to start over," Margaret feels as dried up and dead as the neglected gardens her husband took such pride in before he became ill. Wyck Fitzsimmons is the Asheville landscape architect Gavin Braithwaite hires to restore his precious gardens to their former glory. She learned a long time ago that plants and trees are safer and more reliable companions than other people. Under Wyck's care, the gardens begin to come back to life, but the flowers aren't the only thing blossoming. For the first time in decades, Margaret feels the stirrings of love, but those long-buried feelings frighten her more than the prospect of withering away alone in her ivory tower of academia. Gavin, more observant than most people give him credit for, sees the attraction developing between his wife and his gardener. Using every means at his disposal, he arranges things so that Margaret has no choice but to remain faithful to him, even after death. Margaret, confused and faced with losing everything that offers her any kind of security, flees to England - to Austen and Wordsworth country - where she tries to forget Wyck and all the feelings she has awakened. Back in North Carolina, Wyck must come to terms with her own past and somehow find a way to forgive before it's too late to make amends. Love, it seems, can take root in even the most barren hearts, if only Margaret and Wyck can find the courage to let it grow.

She Sings of Old, Unhappy, Far-Off Things

"Here, the true you is most often magnified, for better or for worse." Abbess Theodora In a world increasingly connected to computers and machines but disconnected to self and others, Dr. Michele Stewart finds herself drowning in a life that no longer holds meaning. Searching for a deeper connection after losing her partner, Alice, she enters a contemplative monastery, living a life dedicated to prayer, to faith in things unseen. Though most of her family and friends are convinced that she has become a nun to run away from her life, she finds herself more attuned to life than she has been in years. Stripped of the things that define most people in the outside world - career, clothing, possessions - she rediscovers a long forgotten part of herself. But sooner than she expects, the outside world intrudes, forcing her to confront doubts and demons she thought she had left behind. The ultimate test of her vocation comes from the unlikeliest source when she finds herself falling in love again. As she struggles to discern where she belongs, she discovers the terrifying truth of Abbess Theodora's warning. For better or for worse.

In This Small Spot

Face the Wind

Cast Me Gently

Twist of the Magi

Like her mother before her, Jules Calhoon couldn't wait to escape her small Ohio town. Unlike her mother, though, Jules couldn't disappear forever. When she's called back for her grandfather's funeral, the visit unleashes a flood of memories and starts her on a lonely-and familiar-path. Her partner, Kelli, feels Jules slipping away but can't figure out how to pull her back. In desperation, she turns to Jules's oldest friend-and her ex-Donna. The problem is, Donna never could figure out why her relationship with Jules ended so long ago, and she never stopped loving Jules. When a lonely, confused teenager reaches out to Jules for help, the past and present are set on a collision course, igniting a chain of events that will leave none of them unscathed.

Turning for Home

An Unlit Candle

Leisa Yeats has always defined herself by the things that are important to her - a good family, a loving relationship and a meaningful job working with kids. Life is good. But within a span of a few weeks, all of that changes. She's always known she was adopted, but newly revealed lies and secrets kept by her parents make her question everything she thought she knew about her beginnings. Her ten-year relationship with her partner, Nan, is unexpectedly on shaky ground when she discovers that Nan, too, has kept a secret from her all these years. Suddenly, everything Leisa believed - about her life, about the people around her, about herself - everything is turned upside down, and nothing is as she thought it was. Pulling away to try and sort things out, Leisa reaches out to the wrong people and, in the process, nearly loses herself. Buffeted at every turn by storms that shake the very foundation of her world, Leisa must figure out whom and what she can hold fast to as the winds of change blow.

Year of the Monsoon

Unlit Candle

Rising From the Ashes

Little Sister Island, #3

New Shore

Caymin and Peist, the young dragonmage and dragon who helped to end the last dragon war, have returned from that conflict longing only for peace. But peace is not to be found. Eire is on the brink of being torn asunder as Christians battle pagans, raiders from the north attack the coast, and their enemies-the power-hungry dragonmage and dragon they fought in the otherworld-have escaped from their prison. Caymin and Peist are the only ones who can thwart them but, in order to do so, they'll have to do the unthinkable-bring all of the dragons and their mages back to this realm. The dragons can only be summoned and controlled by one who holds the Mearogfola-the Bloodstone. The problem is, the Bloodstone hasn't been seen since it was stolen a thousand winters ago. In a race through time, Caymin and Peist will have to go back through the Portal, back a thousand winters, back to set in motion everything that must unfold as it was meant to. Finding the Mearogfola is only the beginning of their challenges. Old factions among the dragons make them as difficult to control as the human clans. Destroying the Bloodstone is the only way to end this once and for all, but there are those who will do anything, anything, to get their hands on it.

The Standing Stones

Everything can change in a second and nothing is ever the same. Emily had to rebuild her life... her sense of self. How far would she go to hold on to a dream? Emily Warner moves to Vermont hoping for a fresh start. Anything to forget the past four years. She didn't plan on the past finding her. And she didn't plan on Ann Hight. Ann helps Emily through a crisis, and re-awakens emotions Emily thought she would never experience again. For Ann, what she begins to feel for Emily promises everything she never knew she needed. Just when it seems they've found the love they've yearned for, fate conspires to tear them apart. Even if they can somehow hang on despite all the obstacles thrown at them, Emily still has to face the biggest obstacle of all ???????????????????????? herself.

Caren J. Werlinger

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