A California earthquake is just the first in a series of chain of events that shakes Devin's confidence: she fails a test in a subject she knows well, her crush seems to have his attention on another girl, and worst of all, her soccer game is off, so now Devin, the girl who usually inspires confidence in her friends and teammates, will have to turn to them for support.

"Ryan Eames is a policewoman and single mother dedicated most of all to her lonely, uniquely gifted son. Stretched thin by double shifts and grappling with an out-of-season coastal wildfire, Christmas cheer feels as far away as a distant carol on a winter night. Until duty draws her into the life of a stranger. Ethan Lange is alive because Ryan reached his canyon home before the blaze. Christmas is only days away, and Ethan has lost everything. A...

What kind of crazy man would lead eighteen stolen mules into the searing heat of the Mojave Desert? But then no one figured the tattoo-covered Mangas Saragosa, the demon of the desert, to be an ordinary man. The Mojave is out of the jurisdiction of Sheriff Ned Cody, but his two best friends are belly down across the backs of two of those mules, and he knows if he doesn't get to them in time they'll be skinned alive and left for the buzzards. And when...

"Six years ago, Daniel was a Los Angeles financial analyst who was too handsome for his own good. Too smart for his anchor job on the nightly news. And too enamored with the heady addictions of the high life. That man died in a tragic accident with his fiancée. With grief and guilt battling for control, Daniel moved to the quiet California seaside town of Miramar Bay with his best friend-a rescue Labradoodle who still sees him through rough times....

"Four years after his wife's death, art history teacher Derek Gaines has finally made a kind of peace with himself. He tries his best to stave off memories. His days are ones of familiar routine. Guarded against further pain, he keeps relationships at a safe distance. It's all part of his necessary transition to surviving alone. If anything is truly responsible for Derek making it back from the brink, it's his edifying work as a consultant for auction...