Heart and Soul: The Dream / All That Sparkles / An Independent Wife

by Barbara Delinsky, Stella Cameron, Linda Howard

THE DREAM by Barbara Delinsky
Jessica Crosslyn is prepared for the bittersweet challenge of saving her family home -- but she isn't prepared to share the project with Carter Malloy, a man she loathes. Carter realizes that rebuilding the estate offers him more than just an exciting opportunity; it's a chance to win Jessica's forgiveness and make amends for the past.

ALL THAT SPARKLES by Stella Cameron
Paula Renfrew was proud to follow in her father's footsteps as a diamond finisher for the House of Kohl in Amsterdam. But years ago her father had been implicated in the theft of a valuable gem. And now that diamonds had begun to disappear again, Paula's motives for apprenticing at the family-run firm became suspect. To Christophe St. Giles, the Kohls' longtime friend and banker, all the evidence pointed to an inside job. But the deeper Christope probed, the more entrenched Paula became in a dangerous situation that threatened her livelihood -- and her life. Now it was up to Paula to prove her innocence...before it was too late.

AN INDEPENDENT WIFE by Linda Howard
Their marriage had been passionate, painful -- and brief. Their break had been final. Absolute. From that day on, Sallie Baines had truly changed. She could barely remember the timid girl who'd clung to love, but lost everything -- even her pride.

Rhy Baines hadn't changed at all. After seven years, he remained the most attractive man Sallie had ever known. And now, fascinated by the independent woman his wife had become, Rhy still wouldn't take "no" for an answer.

487 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1998

About the author

I was born and raised in suburban Boston. My mother’s death, when I was eight, was the defining event of a childhood that was otherwise ordinary. I took piano lessons and flute lessons. I took ballroom dancing lessons. I went to summer camp through my fifteenth year (in Maine, which explains the setting of so many of my stories), then spent my sixteenth summer learning to type and to drive (two skills that have served me better than all of my other high school courses combined). I earned a B.A. in Psychology at Tufts University and an M.A. in Sociology at Boston College. The motivation behind the M.A. was sheer greed. My husband was just starting law school. We needed the money.

Following graduate school, I worked as a researcher with the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, and as a photographer and reporter for the Belmont Herald. I did the newspaper work after my first son was born. Since I was heavily into taking pictures of him, I worked for the paper to support that habit. Initially, I wrote only in a secondary capacity, to provide copy for the pictures I took. In time, I realized that I was better at writing than photography. I used both skills doing volunteer work for hospital groups, and have served on the Board of Directors of the Friends of the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and on the MGH’s Women’s Cancer Advisory Board.

I became an actual writer by fluke. My twins were four when, by chance, I happened on a newspaper article profiling three female writers. Intrigued, I spent three months researching, plotting, and writing my own book - and it sold.

My niche? I write about the emotional crises that we face in our lives. Readers identify with my characters. They know them. They are them. I'm an everyday woman writing about everyday people facing not-so-everyday challenges.

My novels are character-driven studies of marriage, parenthood, sibling rivalry, and friendship, and I’ve been blessed in having readers who buy them eagerly enough to put them on the major bestseller lists. One of my latest, Sweet Salt Air, came out in 2013.  Blueprints, my second novel with St. Martin’s Press, became my 22nd New York Times bestselling novel soon after its release in June 2015.  Making Up, my work in progress, will be published in 2018.

2018? Yikes. I didn’t think I’d live that long. I thought I’d die of breast cancer back in the 1900's, like my mom. But I didn’t. I was diagnosed nearly twenty years ago, had surgery and treatment, and here I am, stronger than ever and loving having authored yet another book, this one the non-fiction Uplift: Secrets From the Sisterhood of Breast Cancer Survivors. First published in 2001, Uplift is a handbook of practical tips and upbeat anecdotes that I compiled with the help of 350 breast cancer survivors, their families and friends. These survivors just ... blew me away! They gave me the book that I wish I’d had way back when I was diagnosed. There is no medical information here, nothing frightening, simply practical advice from friends who’ve had breast cancer. The 10th Anniversary Volume of Uplift is now in print. And the money I’ve made on the book? Every cent has gone to my charitable foundation, which funds an ongoing research fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Connect with me on Facebook: facebook.com/bdelinsky
Look for my photos on Instagram: instagram.com/barbaradelinsky