Who are you? Is the real you a moving target or is there an essence that remains unchanged? Avery Nichols is certain that she is a better, more evolved person than she was when she left home for college. But not everyone has watched her mature. When she returns to her childhood home, the one person she most wants to get close to is also the one whose impression of her remains fixed in the past. Casey Van Dyke wants to think the best of Avery, but old hurts have a way of calcifying when they’re not explored. They both want to be closer, they both long for connection, but their images of who they are now and who they were then keep getting in the way. To get past their stumbling blocks, they have to open their hearts, something neither of them has excelled at. They’re both motivated, but is that enough?

Lifeline is the twelfth installment of the I Found My Heart in San Francisco series. A significant trauma changes lives, and Jamie and Ryan recently learned that lesson the hard way. The press has been relentless in their pursuit of the couple and both women are more determined than ever to maintain their privacy. But that determination hasn't made things any easier. Ryan's withdrawn and angry and Jamie's at a loss for how to reach her. She desperately wants to support her, but it's very tough to maintain her own mental health, much less be able to pull Ryan out of whatever dark place she goes when things are tough. A lovely break over the New Year with Mia and Jordan helps a lot, but when they return the pressure begins anew. Can they summon the courage and strength to be each other's lifeline back to normalcy?

Things are looking up.Ryan's back in the saddle—the effects of her trauma slowly fading. Jamie's thoroughly relieved to have her back. She's not as happy that her hyperactive lover has to jump into another sport. Ryan's sure softball will help end her collegiate career on an up note. Will the third time be the charm?Jordan's working harder than she thought possible. But it's not having Mia by her side that wears on her. Mia feels the same, and Jordan soon learns that Mia's not able to delay gratification—no matter the consequences.Wrapping up their last semester at Cal involves a tremendous amount of work for the high-achieving women. The question is how to accomplish all they're called to do while having time for each other.Love is the key, and expressing that love in words, actions and deeds is what will keep them together.

In Awakenings, the first of 26 novels of the series, we met Ryan O'Flaherty and Jamie Evans, juniors at the University of California at Berkeley. Since then we've followed them from the first flicker of attraction to their declarations of love, struggles with their families and a long, love-filled honeymoon. Now they're back in Berkeley, enjoying their summer vacation. But even though they're madly in love, small issues keep cropping up to interrupt their bliss. From expensive haircuts to expensive cars, Jamie's money-and what it can buy-continues to be a problem that she and Ryan struggle with. When Jim Evans, already in denial over his daughter's declared preference of a mate, receives a report from the bank that Jamie has given Ryan access to her checking account, he becomes more convinced than ever that the money is the only reason that Ryan has latched onto Jamie. Jamie knows her father's suspicions are groundless, but she has a difficult time convincing him of that. She's confident that he'll love Ryan once he gets to know her. But for now Ryan has to satisfy herself with getting to know Catherine Evans, hoping that impressing her will go a long way towards reaching Jim.

The good news is that you’ve just been given a guest house in a great gay and lesbian resort area. The bad news is that your mother, who gave you away at birth, left it to you in her will.Noel wants to sell her gift as soon as possible. But when she makes a few trips down to Rehoboth Beach before putting it on the market she’s convinced that she’d get a much better price if she made some repairs.Enter Toni, handywoman extraordinaire and noted ladykiller. As Noel gets more involved in repairing the house she finds she’s more interested in the renovator than the renovations. Toni is just the kind of woman who gets her motor running. But there are so many complications: they live in different states, Toni’s is no hurry to settle down, and Noel’s still stinging from her recent breakup. But when she and Toni are alone, they can’t keep their hands off each other.Noel wishes she could just sell the place and walk away. But when she lies in bed and looks into Toni’s eyes, she realizes just how hard that will be.

Timing is critical in so many of the events that make up our lives. Your dismal scores on the SAT forced you to attend your safety school, but you met the people who formed the peer group that has loved and supported you for your entire adult life. If it hadn’t been raining, you wouldn’t have dashed into the coffee shop and met the cute barista you spent your thirties with. Small decisions, some almost inconsequential, each producing big results. When Hennessy Boudreaux’s boss asks her to talk an insolent young woman into leaving the limo she’s commandeered, she never could have guessed that day would change her life. But meeting Townsend Bartley does indeed change her life, for better and worse. Through the years, their lives float together, then drift apart, always with the promise of love just out of reach. Obstacles, some of them massive, continue to trip them up and make their dreams seem insurmountable. But patience, hard work, and timing can work together to produce a love too strong, too vibrant and too fulfilling for any woman to resist.

Opening a new theme park is not for kids. Laurie Nielsen is so overworked and overstressed that she’s forced to take a vacation—on one of her company's kid-centric cruise ships. It’s a slow torture, but she eventually makes the best of it and gets off the boat in St. Maarten. There, Laurie meets and insults Kaatje Hoogaboom, a woman who has very little of Laurie’s work obsession. But they still manage to hit it off—to her great surprise. Once Laurie returns home they stay in touch, getting to know each other via phone calls and e-mails. But Laurie isn’t an ideal girlfriend. Work is at the top of her priority list and toppling it might be more than Kaatje is able, or even willing, to do.

Piper Campbell has spent the last fifteen years of her life raising her younger sister. Charlie is now an adult— and on the brink of stardom. Piper has done her very best to keep Charlie’s feet firmly planted on the ground, but she worries the temptation to become a diva will be too strong to resist. Haley Dillon could give Charlie an earful. When she was a young woman, she got involved with a break-out star and was quickly swept up into the maelstrom of her celebrity. Vowing to keep her distance from anyone connected to the spotlight, she finds herself once again enmeshed when Charlie’s world sucks her into its orbit. Piper swears she can keep her head even as she’s recruited into Charlie’s retinue, but Haley has been burned too many times to believe the vow of a woman who hasn’t yet experienced the seductive, entrancing power of Fame.

Seven months, eight months, nine months ... a lifetime. Exchanging gentle kisses at the top of Mt. Tam, Jamie and Ryan declare their love for one another. Studying for exams and training for the AIDS Ride, they experience the tentative fumblings and frustrations of adjusting to a new relationship. Though Ryan is determined to proceed at a pace that is comfortable for her neophyte partner, their need for each other grows stronger with every passing hour- whether they are together or apart. "We begin a magical journey. A journey of exploration, a journey of wonder, a journey of commitment. A journey we make together." The speech at the beginning of their 560 mile biking odyssey epitomizes their feelings about the Ride, and about the beginnings of the life they plan to share.

Trying to figure out the rules of her first lesbian relationship is a difficult task for Callie Emerson. She and her girlfriend worked long and hard hammering out an agreement on fidelity. But Marina is having an even harder time keeping her end of the bargain. Regan Manning and her lover had a very traditional relationship, built on a foundation of monogamy. Or so Regan thought. She is devastated when she learns the truth, and she is unwilling to forgive or forget. Cheating partners brought Callie and Regan together. Not as lovers, but as friends supporting each other through tough times. They slowly realize that they could be more than friends. But each has to get past her insecurities before they can even try to make that leap. It's not easy for either of them - the path to true love rarely is. But their friendship can be a bridge to commitment, if only they let it.