J Willis Sanders

Jake Smith isn't especially handsome. He isn't even as buff as those hotties on the covers of romance novels. But he understands the power of love. Until his life is torn apart by losing it. When Jake's marriage inexplicably ends, he's as devastated as a man can get. After all, Andy was the love of his life, and he doubts he'll ever find another woman like her. Until he does. But this relationship soon ends as well, leaving Jake on the verge of a mental breakdown. Gradually rebuilding his life, he buys an old farmhouse not far from Nags Head, North Carolina, and sets about remodeling it. Just as he wonders if he'll ever find love again, he meets the woman not of his dreams-and he's hooked like a fish from an Outer Banks pier. But even his new love-as great as she is-may not be able to force the never-ending heartbreak of losing Andy from his soul, or his guilt that he was somehow responsible for losing her. When this becomes clear, he must decide if he should simply exist alone for the rest of his days, or if he should simply not exist at all. Delving into the heart of a man who believes in the power of true love, Love, Jake shares how it feels to have loved completely, even to the point of being afraid to love again.

For readers who've always wanted a story of how the Original Spanish horses could've arrived in Corolla, North Carolina, and for fans of Dances with Wolves and Castaway, The Diary of Carlo Cipriani illustrates how the tragedy of a lost love can affect someone, and how, above all else, a person should never, ever give up hope. "For you see, Luisa, to be loved is one thing, but to be understood is everything."Carlo Cipriani In 1521, to escape the tragedy of his wife's death, Carlo Cipriani leaves Spain. However, the ship upon which he and his stallion, Cantante, are aboard, sinks during a hurricane. He makes it to land with four shipmates and several horses, but not his beloved Cantante. The four spend their time trying to survive on what little food they can find with only rainwater to drink. Hoping to return home one day, Carlo writes in his journal to explain to his young daughter why he abandoned her without a single word of goodbye. Carlo is eventually left miserably alone. When suicide seems a viable option to such a dreary existence, he meets the one person with whom he might find happiness again. However, his past still haunts him, and it seems death has arrived to stalk him and his happiness like it stalked his wife and their happiness at home in Spain. The question is, has it truly, or has his guilt for leaving his daughter caused him to completely lose his mind?

On a cold October morning, as the sun rises over the Atlantic, unbelievable loss greets Jake Smith. Yes, Andy drank too much, and she had some strange ideas about lights being portals to other galaxies, but could those things have meant she was mentally unstable? A week later, after enduring the Dare County sheriff's suspicions over Andy, Jake passes out drunk in a local restaurant. When he wakes, he's at the last place he ever expected-kidnapped by a woman who says they both need a vacation-her from an adulterous spouse, him to get over what happened to Andy. When the trip ends in yet another tragedy, Jake must decide if life is worth living without love, if he should solve the mystery of losing Andy, and whether or not he'll allow a new love to stop him from joining Andy ... in death.