November 2nd, 2024
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Best November Reads

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A Sweet Diverse Reads Holiday Novella


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Earth�s Door is a brilliant blend of fantasy and sci-fi with masterful world-building and rich character development that will leave readers tearing through the pages. Breakout author PJ Dudek has written a captivating story that fans of Stranger Things, Terry Brooks, James Islington, and Brandon Sanderson are sure to love!


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A gripping time-travel tale set on a pirate ship in 1727 and in the gaslit streets of the Prohibition.


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A demon seeks to destroy all. Can she stop him?


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Two restless souls, one wild Christmas on the ranch�where sparks fly, and dreams ride free.


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From jilted bride to fake-fianc�e: falling for the bad boy was not part of the plan!


Excerpt of Not a Moment Too Soon by Linda O. Johnston

Purchase


Silhouette Intimate Moments
November 2004
Featuring: Hunter Strahm; Shauna O'Leary
256 pages
ISBN: 0373274017
Paperback
Add to Wish List

Romance Suspense, Romance Series

Also by Linda O. Johnston:

Canine Protection, August 2024
Mass Market Paperback / e-Book
CSI Colton and the Witness, December 2023
Mass Market Paperback / e-Book
The Soldier's K-9 Mission, May 2023
Mass Market Paperback / e-Book (reprint)
Undercover Cowboy Protector, March 2023
Mass Market Paperback / e-Book
Shielding Colton's Witness, November 2022
Mass Market Paperback / e-Book
Guardian K-9 on Call, May 2022
Mass Market Paperback / e-Book
Trained to Protect, January 2022
Mass Market Paperback / e-Book
Uncovering Colton's Family Secret, November 2021
Mass Market Paperback / e-Book
Her Undercover Refuge, August 2021
Mass Market Paperback / e-Book
Colton First Responder, February 2020
Paperback / e-Book
Pick and Chews, May 2018
Paperback / e-Book
To Catch a Treat, May 2016
e-Book
Bite the Biscuit, May 2015
Paperback
Lost Under a Ladder, October 2014
Paperback / e-Book
Loyal Wolf, August 2014
Paperback / e-Book
Untamed Wolf, May 2014
Paperback / e-Book
Teacup Turbulence, January 2014
Paperback / e-Book
Covert Attraction, December 2013
Paperback / e-Book
Read Humane Hounds Abound, May 2013
Paperback (reprint)
Oodles Of Poodles, February 2013
Paperback / e-Book
Undercover Wolf, February 2013
Paperback / e-Book
Hounds Abound, April 2012
Paperback / e-Book
The More the Terrier, October 2011
Paperback / e-Book
Guardian Wolf, August 2011
Paperback
Beaglemania, March 2011
Mass Market Paperback / e-Book
Alaskan Wolf, December 2010
Mass Market Paperback
Feline Fatale, July 2010
Paperback
Howl Deadly, December 2009
Paperback
Awakening The Beast, October 2009
Mass Market Paperback / e-Book
Back To Life, June 2009
Mass Market Paperback
Never Say Sty, April 2009
Paperback
Alpha Wolf, January 2009
Mass Market Paperback
Double Dog Dare, June 2008
Paperback
The Fright of the Iguana, October 2007
Paperback
Meow is for Murder, February 2007
Paperback
Fine-Feathered Death, May 2006
Paperback
Sit, Stay, Slay, January 2006
Paperback
Nothing To Fear But Ferrets, August 2005
Paperback
Not a Moment Too Soon, November 2004
Paperback
Lawful Engagement, July 2004
Paperback
Guardian of Her Heart, February 2004
Paperback
Special Agent Nanny, September 2003
Paperback
Tommy's Mom, November 2002
Paperback
Operation: Reunited, March 2002
Paperback
The Ballad of Jack O'Dair, October 2000
Paperback
Winter Wonderland, October 1999
Paperback

Excerpt of Not a Moment Too Soon by Linda O. Johnston

Shauna O'Leary opened her eyes slowly. As she remained seated on her stiff desk chair, apprehension contracted her body into the same tight, quivering mass that it always did when she wrote something at her computer. Most of the time, the tales that poured from her fingertips were fine, even delightful. Suitable for reading to the kids who came especially to her restaurant, Fantasy Fare, to hear them. She would laugh aloud as she read, in relief as much as enjoyment. Chastise herself gaily, push the print button and -

As she automatically began to scan the words on the screen, she gasped aloud. This was one of those rare, yet nevertheless too-frequent, other times.

"Oh, no," she whispered, though no one else was there, in her small, secluded home, to hear. "Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no." She repeated the words in a mantra born of despair as she continued to read:

Andee was scared. So scared. "Daddy," she cried.

But Daddy didn't come. Instead, the bad man came back into the room.

"Help me, Daddy!"

Shauna stared at the hand clutching the computer's mouse as if it belonged to someone else. The long, slim fingers with blunted, pink-polished nails - fingers that were so skilled on the computer keys - were trembling. Resolutely,she highlighted the entire file, prepared to push Delete. Get rid of it.

But that wouldn't get rid of the problem.

She did it nevertheless. Erased everything. Closed the file.

Opened it again.

The story was still there. Of course.

With a small moaning sound, she pushed Print.

There would be a physical record of what had already been set into motion.

Shauna took two long, deep breaths, steeling herself for what was to come. Anxiously running fingers through the sides of her long, ash-blond hair, she looked at the telephone beside her computer. It sat on the antique door that had been taken from her grandmother's house and was now propped on wooden file cabinets, serving as her desk.

She studied the phone, delaying the inevitable.

And then, filled with dread, she lifted the portable receiver and pressed in a familiar number. Elayne Strahm's. She needed to speak with her immediately. Get another phone number from her.

For the little girl in her story was Elayne's grandchild.

Hunter Strahm's daughter.

Hunter Strahm steered his speeding rental car off the Interstate and onto the main road toward his mother's home.

Oasis, Arizona. Lord, it seemed like ages since he'd been back. It was late afternoon, desert time, though he'd already put in a full day of work and travel. He ignored the pounding of his heart as he hurtled through town, trying to silence the inner voice that told him he was on a fool's mission. Wasting not just minutes, but hours of precious time.

He'd made the decision to come here first. He'd live with it.

Yeah, but would Andee ...?

"Damn," he muttered aloud, forcing his thoughts from the direction that could only make him crazy.

He stared out the windshield. Oasis looked the same as he remembered. Except - where was the restaurant he knew Shauna O'Leary now owned?

He'd find out, if he had to. First, he'd go see his mother. Would Shauna still be there? If not, his mother would know how to find her.

He turned onto the street where his mother lived, and he looked around.

What kind of car did Shauna drive?

It had been more than five hours since that series of phone calls which made him want to lash out in total frustration and fear at whatever, whoever, was convenient.

He usually thrived on dealing with the worst of situations. Taking control, and resolving them.

But the calls had concerned his five-year-old daughter. Andee.

She'd gone missing from Margo's home in L.A. Wandered off from the backyard. Or at least that was what his ex had said in the first of those damnable calls.

Hunter, a private investigator, had been a thousand miles away on business, unable to do a blessed thing but head for the airport. He'd left a job unfinished. He had never done that before.

He'd never faced an emergency this urgent before.

Shauna's had been the second call. And Margo's next call had confirmed what Shauna had claimed.

Andee hadn't just gotten lost. She had been kidnapped.

Emergency, hell. It was a crisis of a magnitude he'd never imagined.

Shauna had called from his mother's, where she said she'd gone to be with Elayne. And though what she said reminded him too much of the past, he couldn't ignore it - just in case she could provide a clue, no matter how absurd, about where Andee was. That was the major reason he'd come here, instead of straight to L.A.

Surely Shauna would have gone home, or to her business, by now. Yet when he strode up the familiar walkway to Elayne Strahm's tan stucco hacienda, he figured it wouldn't necessarily be his mother who answered the door.

He rang the bell, reluctant to use his key after not being here for so long.

He heard footsteps inside. Light, quick ones.

And when the door opened, he found himself staring into soft brown eyes that were wide but not with surprise, the way her call had startled him. With ... what? Uneasiness?

Pleasure?

No way.

She hadn't changed at all, except to become prettier. Her blond hair was a little longer, a little lighter. She was slim in her T-shirt and shorts, with shapely, endless legs.

Steeling himself for what was to come, he took a step toward her. Parroting the initial, friendly greeting she'd given him over the phone earlier - before she had dropped her bombshell - he said simply, "Hello, Shauna."

Excerpt from Not a Moment Too Soon by Linda O. Johnston
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