Dani and Shannon are blushing brides-to-be. Shannon's niece Amanda, with friends Claire and Jordan, will soon be witnesses to the forthcoming nuptials. Together, they're a party of five intent on having an unforgettable week in Las Vegas.
Though far from home, none of them can outrun the pasts that have shaped their lives so far. The brides each harbor a secret that could bankrupt their wedding dreams. Jordan, the self-avowed eternal bachelor, finds herself in an unexpected high stakes game of love. Claire, a doctor still grieving the loss of her long-time partner, hits a jackpot she isn't sure she wants. And Amanda, carrying a secret of her own, decides to gamble it all on love.
It's a dizzying, exhilarating week of discovery, passion, and surprises, and no one knows where the spinning wheel will stop.
The stakes are high, the risks life changing and the pay offs beyond measure in this latest romantic tour de force from Tracey Richardson.
Contains mature themes.
Every week millions of viewers tune in to watch Grace Wellwood transform basic ingredients into delicious cuisine. Her latest cookbook is flying off bookstore shelves and her trendy Boston restaurant is booked months in advance. She knows how to cook up success, but overlooks the basic ingredients to transform her private life into anything delicious-or even remotely satisfying.
Grace is deeply annoyed when a long overdue vacation is interrupted by catering a women's pro golf tournament. Torrie Cannon, the Tour's young hotshot, takes one look at the famous chef and embarks on her usual plan of seduction-hot tonight, gone tomorrow.
Torrie's bewitching charms are undeniably enticing. In spite of the sizzle between them, however, Grace is done with fast food relationships. What Grace wants is the one thing that has never been a specialty on Torrie's menu: love.
The glamorous worlds of haute cuisine and professional golf collide as Tracey Richardson explores the trust and sacrifice required before two women can choose more than a side order of love.
Contains mature themes.
Fame and money rained down on Dess Hampton like a monsoon. She couldn't imagine needing more-until her golden voice was silenced. Now her quiet days are filled with her guitar and she savors every sunrise. Curious, and as a favor to a friend, she emerges to hear a rumored superstar in the making.
Music pours out of Erika Alvarez through her voice and her fingertips. She's awed that the reclusive Dess Hampton wants to hear her sing, and then blown away when Dess agrees to sit in for a few gigs.
Dess can tell that Erika is destined for the life that she once had and wants no part of, ever again. But can the magic of the music they make together, and the growing love between them, trump Erika's ambition and Dess's fears? How much are they willing to sacrifice for it-and for each other?
Contains mature themes.
With wounded soldiers all around her, Major Logan Sharp doesn't have time to pamper some photographer from stateside. What spare energy she does have goes to worrying what she'll do when she ships home from Afghanistan. Home-for Logan, the word means nothing. But photographer Jillian Knight is not what she expects, and certainly not what she needs complicating her last tour.
Leaving her partner and daughter at home, Jillian Knight is on assignment in Kandahar to record the heroic work of medical units in war zones. She knows it'll be rough, but Logan Sharp's dedication and competence is reassuring. Jillian finds herself looking forward to her encounters with the intriguing military doctor, understanding that a by-the-rules demeanor is a must for surviving in a land where life is cheap.
Intense feelings threaten to overwhelm their good sense, but they follow the rules. After a single heart-stopping kiss, they do the only thing they must-say goodbye. Keeping in touch is not part of the plan, but when their paths cross unexpectedly more than a year later, abiding by the rules is suddenly much harder than they ever expected.
Contains mature themes.
Passion and patriotism sizzle on the ice at the Winter Olympics.
It's been a dozen years since two of the world's best women hockey players, Niki Hartling and Eva Caruso, first competed against each other in the Olympic Games.
The pressure of the intense USA-Canada rivalry forced an end to their love affair, and both women moved on-Niki to coach and to marry, Eva to stretch out a playing career that her ravaged body can barely sustain anymore.
The Games are upon them once again. Eva wants one last chance to beat the Canadians and win hockey's biggest prize. Niki, now a widow and single mother, strives to coach her country to gold, even as the obstacles against her mount. The locker room seems to have ears and there are few people Niki and Eva can trust.
Rivals and former lovers on hockey's biggest stage, will Niki and Eva feel the same spark that first brought them together? And can they win on-and off-the ice with the whole world watching?
Vice President Jane Kincaid is up for reelection alongside President Dennis Collins. Of immeasurable help and comfort to her is her lover, Secret Service Agent Alex Warner and her sister/campaign manager, Corey Kincaid.
Even though she's planned for a tough fight, the campaign's equilibrium is threatened by the rumor that Collins is about to be engulfed in scandal. The news comes from Julia Landen, a reporter assigned to the campaign and Alex's ex-girlfriend. Jane wants her campaign to stay above the mire, but Corey and Julia grow increasingly obsessed with Collins's problems-and they spend more and more time together. Not happy to have her ex underfoot, Alex shares Jane's concern about the burgeoning romance.
On the eve of the party convention the scandal explodes on the front pages, gutting the viability of the Collins/Kincaid ticket. Everyone suspects dirty tricks and Alex undertakes an investigation-but any evidence she finds won't change the fact that Jane is once again standing on the edge of history. This time winning and losing both come with infinite consequences.
Presidential candidate Jane Kincaid-gorgeous, dynamic and extremely driven-is taking the country by storm, passionately outlining her blueprint for America. Voters quickly fall in love with her . . . and so, unwittingly, does Secret Service Agent Alexandria Warner.
Their mutual attraction begins to take on a fiery life of its own, and soon Jane fears that their intense feelings for each other are a tinder box that could destroy the landscape of her career . . . and alter the history of the country.
Jane had always expected the road to the White House would exact a high personal toll. She just never knew how high . . . until she's forced to choose between her heart and her political destiny.
Dr. Joss McNab needs a wife.
As if juggling surgery and being an instructor isn't enough, she's recently taken on a more demanding administrative role at the medical school that was named after her legendary father. To make things worse, she's now required to attend a growing number of galas, fundraisers, and conventions.
Wouldn't having a wife-a wife of convenience-help ease the burden that's threatening to overtake her world?
Sarah Young's heart belongs to painting. Much as she'd like to dismiss Joss's ridiculous proposal, the art world isn't paying well and she's running short on cash. Playing a trophy wife a few hours a week would cover her bills and still leave plenty of time to devote to her artwork.
The deal is struck. But will the convenient pairing turn into disaster or prove to be a stroke of genius? With feelings deepening and attraction undeniable, can two women who have agreed to settle discover that they could actually have it all?
Thursdays aren't simply another day of the week for Amy Spencer and Ellis Hall. Thursday afternoons sizzle with no-strings sex for the two women, who meet each week in a hotel room to forget their past-and their present.
The arrangement works perfectly for Amy, a busy surgeon who's still smarting from a failed relationship. For Ellis, Thursday afternoons act as a pressure valve from her cutthroat job and the mistakes in her personal life she's trying to rectify.
But soon the pair discover that their outside worlds are on a collision course with the carefully constructed world they've created on Thursday afternoons. What will happen when they discover the truth about each other? Will their weekly assignations come to a screeching halt, or will they turn into something much, much more?
The formula for Lean success! Toyota veterans reveal how to build continuous improvement into your company's DNA
Ever since Toyota introduced the revolutionary Toyota Production System (TPS), businesses have tried to replicate Toyota's success. Few have succeeded over the long term. What businesses have failed to realize is that TPS calls for a fundamentally different way of thinking.
Now, at long last, here is a straightforward guide that make sense of the thinking culture behind Toyota's phenomenal success. In its pages, authors Tracey and Ernie Richardson speak from the heart as Toyota employees who worked in the Kentucky factory when the company was first introducing its people-first approach in the U.S., and went on in the ensuing decades to teach Lean thinking around the world.
In The Toyota Engagement Equation, the authors take you through Toyota's own journey of discovery. This deep dive into the company's game-changing work practices reveals how employees were developed, how they were taught to spot and define problems through standardization, how they were coached to solve them, and how they were encouraged to improve their thinking as they moved forward.
And you'll see how Toyota developed this simple but profoundly effective approach into an overall management system-and how you can achieve amazing results in your company through the same system.
In the world of Lean design and implementation handbooks, The Toyota Engagement Equation stands out as a fresh, unique, and authoritative guide to building your business into the Toyota of your industry. As the authors see it, TPS has now evolved to the "Thinking People System!"
