Bittersweet, funny and touching, Larry McMurtry's The Desert Rose is the story of Harmony, a Las Vegas showgirl. At night she's a lead dancer in a gambling casino; during the day she raises peacocks. She's one of a dying breed of dancers, faced with fewer and fewer jobs and an even bleaker future. Yet she maintains a calm cheerfulness in that arid neon landscape of supermarkets, drive-in wedding chapels, and all-night casinos. While Harmony's star is fading, her beautiful, cynical daughter Pepper's is on the rise. But Harmony remains wistful and optimistic through it all. She is the unexpected blossom in the wasteland, the tough and tender desert rose.

A detailed account of Coretta Scott King's upbringing in a family of proud, land-owning African Americans with a devotion to the ideals of social equality and the values of education, as well as her later role as her husband's most trusted confidant and advisor.

When Will, a young gay gender-fluid artist is abandoned by the one person he cares most about in the world, he's left desperate and broken, with nowhere to turn. All he has is the phone number of a man who once purchased a few of his paintings and had propositioned him with the opportunity of a lifetime. A year later, Will feels confident, sexy, and desperately in love with Dorian, the owner of New Orleans' underground gay brothel; Desert Rose. The money is good, the sex is better, and every day is a party, until Will realizes things are not what they seem. Every day then becomes a battle between obligation, love, true happiness, and the devastating guilt that Will's newest client, Nikolai, makes him smile more than Dorian ever has.

Jack Halliday struck it rich in the 1860 silver boom in Virginia City! As Annalee and her mother travel to join him in Nevada, their joy turns to ashes. They're unprepared for the savage mountain winter that traps them in a desperate struggle for survival. At this critical moment, lawman Brett Wilder arrives in town. He's looking for the gunslinger who crippled his father—and he suspects Jack. When Annalee and Brett meet as they each search for Jack, they must face what they believe about the sovereignty of God, justice, and mercy. They also must discover whether their growing love for one another will melt like snow into an icy mountain stream or bloom like a rose in the desert.

This poignant book about a young woman's experiences during China's Cultural Revolution is in a same genre as the popular local book Tears of the Moon as well as international bestsellers like Wild Swans and Falling Leaves. Weijun Collins was born in China into a prominent and well-educated family. When she was just ten years old her father, once a high-ranking official, was condemned as an enemy of the Communist Party and banished to a labour camp. Weijun struggled to continue her education but her father's 'crime' eventually rebounded on her and she was sent to the Gobi desert for ten years of terrible hardship and misery. laboured in sub-zero temperatures - a virtual slave. Against this background of terrible hardship Weijun managed to teach herself English and eventually escaped from the desert to become a teacher. Her story is layered with a number of romantic episodes: she has a brief unsuccessful marriage to a childhood sweetheart; and a scandalous and ultimately damaging love affair with a much younger man. Weijun was eventually assisted to New Zealand and has begun a new, much happier life. This book gives the reader real insight into the daily lives of ordinary people during this terrible period in China's history.

When gritty pig farmer Desert Rose finds a gold nugget just a-lyin' there in the mud, she decides to buy herself the biggest, fattest hog she can find. But getting that highfalutin hog home in time for the Laredo state fair proves to be more than Rose bargained for. When a cold-hearted coyote, a persnickety snake, a lethargic Texas longhorn, and a whole host of other southern varmints prove to be unhelpful, Rose must pair up with a shrewd armadillo to get every animal over the river and off to Laredo in time.

The power of love and the strength of women working together are proved once again. When Rose Macklin is asked to help Alec Thurston, the one man she’s ever truly loved, by coming to Palm Desert, California, she doesn’t hesitate. He’s dying of cancer and needs her help overseeing the sale of his hotel, the Desert Sage Inn, to another hotel group. With her marketing skill and as the owner of a very successful blog, she’s his perfect choice to make the sale a smooth transition while ensuring the new owners will maintain the reputation and image of the upscale property after the sale. She arrives to find Alec has summoned two other women to help with the project. Lily Weaver was once Alec’s assistant, and Willow Sanchez was like a daughter to him. They join forces to help him, lovingly accepting his nickname for them—the Desert Flowers, similar to the well-known Charlie’s Angels of TV fame. When Rose is assigned to work alongside Hank Bowers, an independent consultant to the hotel company’s team, she shudders at his reputation as an outgoing guy who always uses sports analogies and is certain they won’t get along. But Alec counsels her to give Hank a chance and, later, as they work together as a team, Rose is left to wonder if falling for one another is part of Alec’s secret plan even if one of Hank’s grown daughters fights the idea. A series for those who love stories about strong women facing challenges and finding love and happiness along the way. Be sure to read the other upcoming books in the Desert Sage Inn series: Lily, Willow, and Mistletoe and Holly Other series written by Judith Keim are receiving a lot of love: the Hartwell Women Series, The Beach House Hotel Series, the Fat Fridays series, the Salty Key Inn Series, the Chandler Hill Inn series, and the books in the Seashell Cottage Collection.