"Beloved, best-selling,romance author, Paula Detmer Riggs will win even more readers' hearts with her absolutely wonderful contemporary, NEVER WALK ALONE for Onyx in June 2003. Ms. Detmer Riggs known for dealing with tough issues in her storylines deftly handles several in this endearing novel. Millionaire mogul, Rhys Hazard decides to help save the flooded small town of Osuma, Washington by expanding his trucking empire there. Not intending to go there himself, Rhys is forced to return to his hometown and relive his tragic past when his trucking foreman is injured in a car crash. Rhys knows all about terrible car accidents since he caused one as a teenager which killed two young children and a schoolbus driver. Rhys was severely injured and sentenced to four years in prison. When bed-and-breakfast owner, Brina Sullivan first meets her new tenant, Rhys Hazard, she is instantly attracted to him despite his physical disability and brusque demeanor. Little does this divorced mother of two know that Rhys Hazard is really Mick Sullivan, her ex-husband's brother and the man responsible for her brother's death years ago. What a rare treat it is to find an author who is able to skillfully blend poignancy with passion. Like the Rogers and Hammerstein song, "Never Walk Alone" Paula Detmer Riggs' novel, NEVER WALK ALONE should become a classic!"
-Patricia Rouse, Rouse's Romance Readers Groups

To many of the residents of Osuma, Washington, the name Michael Sullivan means loathing. Fifteen years ago, he ran a red light, plowed into a school bus, and killed two students and the driver. Although he insisted the bus driver ran the light, Michael was convicted and served time. After his release his adopted father J.T. told him to leave town. An angry Michael never looked back.

Over the years, using the name Hazard, Michael built up a powerful hauling business, North Star Trucks, located in Phoenix. When his dad's company teeters on bankruptcy, he buys the firm to convert it into a northwest trucking firm. However, he is forced to take charge of the transition when his friend chosen to run the show is severely injured in a car wreck. In Osuma, Michael meets his young niece and nephew and the ex-wife of his brother. As the little girl hooks him, he and Brina Sullivan fall in love, but one of the three dead people from his accident is her brother.

NEVER WALK ALONE is at its best when the lead couple deals with their growing attraction to one another somewhat fostered by a little child who showers love on Michael. When the tale spins into a drug running intrigue, the subplot takes away from the heartfelt intensity of the prime theme of can Brina forgive the man she loves for killing someone else she cherished? Still this is a strong contemporary romance that leaves the audience to wonder if time can heal all wounds.

Harriet Klausner

Years ago, Michael Rhys Sullivan was involved in a horrific accident that left him terribly hurt, but killed others, one of them Brina's brother. Tormented with his own guilt, he leaves town as soon as he is able, determined to never return.

Fate has other things in store, and he is forced to come back now, but the man he has become is a far cry from the unthinking youth who left. He is a new man, one who goes unrecognized and goes by a new name. His company has contributed to the town's new found prosperity, and it is a business matter that returns him there, and into Brina's life.

The two manage to begin to fall in love before his secret comes out, leaving her to have to struggle with forgiveness. In her dilema, the wisdom of a child's simple heart is her best guide. However not everyone is as wise or loving as Brina, and the hard hearts of others in the town may cost Michael his life before it is all over.

***** With a touching story that fans of Catherine Anderson or Karen Kingsbury will cheer and add to their keeper shelf, Ms. Riggs brings to life a flawed, yet redeemed hero, an ordindary woman with an extraordinary heart, and beautiful children as well as a town with living breathing characters who will work into your heart.

Ms. Riggs has delivered another terrific read for us with DADDY BY CHOICE. Her characters, as always, come alive with their own unique problems, doubts and emotions. When I read the prologue and discovered the hero behaving in a very unheroic way, I wondered how he could possibly redeem himself. And yet, he did and in a way that was possibly the best way he could.

Kudo's, Ms Riggs.

This is a very good book, the author makes you feel the heartache, joy and happiness of the main characters Dr. Luke Jarrod and Madelyn Foster, whom you really hope get together again.

When Maddy was seventeen and Luke a young rodeo rider meet they have a four day affair which results in Maddy getting pregnant and haveing a baby girl, which she is forced to give up for adoption, now twenty years later she is divorced and having a high-risk pregnancy when she seeks out Luke, who is one of the best doctors for this kind of pregnancy to help her.

She becomes a part of his inner circle of friends on Maternity Row, and they become friends again and try to get over the hurt they both felt about what had happened twenty years before. This is a really good book and I would recommend it to every one who wants to read a good story about love lost and then love found.

A Perfect Hero is a perfect example of how Paula Detmer Riggs can take even the most horrible premise and pull out enough emotion to leave the reader panting for more. PDR has a knack for making the reader love each of her characters from the tall, dark, and too sexy hero to the ugly dog. And no one can accuse her of not making the reader stop and think. It takes true talent to pull undying love out of hate and racial tension. Ian is a man with a heart big enough to save the world and love his family on top of it.

"A Perfect Hero" kept me up half the night and it was worth every minute of lost sleep. Ian MacDougall is a man driven by demons from his past. Marca Kenworth is a woman whose strength and love can save him, but the past that haunts him now threatens her future and the lives of everyone she loves.

This novel has a solid suspense plot with a satisfyingly evil villain, a dynamite supporting cast, a heroine that's mature, warm, and very real, and a hero that really is the "Perfect Hero". This is the second book I've read by this author that has been set in the college town of Bradenton, Oregon - I hope Ms. Riggs will give us more. Loved the town, loved these characters, loved this book!

Once she'd been willing to throw away her family and her heritage for Rafe. Now Daniela Fabrizio would prefer that he would just ask his questions and disappear again. Her life is set on implode, and she only wants to put it back on an even kilter. Daniela misses the magic years, as she calls them, when she had a lovely house full of antiques, a nest egg to pay for college for her twelve-year-old daughter Lyssa, and a reliable, luxury car.

Unfortunately, a whirlwind courtship with Jonathan Sommerset resulted in his stealing every cent of her liquid assets, charging her cards up to the max, selling her beautiful home on the bluffs, and destroying her credit rating. So when Rafe shows up on her doorstep, she's stunned to learn the reasons for his departure twenty years ago, and equally shocked to learn the husband she knew as Jonathan Summerset is actually Jacob Fulsom, psychopath, bigamist, con artist and murderer.

Senior agent of the Special Investigation Branch of the Secret Service Rafael Cardoza was shot down while guarding a witness at a government safe house. While the witness was murdered, Rafe survives to protect the next victim of the con artist turned murder, Daniela Fabrizio. Twenty years ago he'd been wildly in love with her, until he was driven from his home and joined the military. Now the mischievous hoyden had developed into a mature, sensuous woman that he must protect her from the filth Daniela nicknames the "serial weasel." But there's no way he can protect his heart from this single-mom with a baby on the way. Suddenly being a daddy with a bade never looked so good, at least to him.

Separated for twenty years, the love scenes that finally join this hero and heroine are powerful, sexy and playful. Paula Detmer Riggs daringly explores passion between these strong characters as the very pregnant Daniela makes love with Rafe in moments both tender and heated. Because these love scenes bring maturity and strong sensuality into play, the scenes become startlingly memorable and touching. In addition, while there are moments in the novel when I want to crawl into the pages to shake the twelve-year-old Lyssa, or possibly spank her, I find her character growth enchanting and beautiful, thereby lending DADDY WITH A BADGE and an added depth. Very highly recommended.

It has been a very long time since I have enjoyed a romance story as much as I did this one. Paula Detmer Riggs truly has a talent for bringing out the best in her characters. I was entranced from page 1 'til the end. It was a believable tale with believeable characters.

I definitely recommend it.

SEAL Commander Cairn Murdock had taken one special ops too many.
Forty one and not too many choices left. Now he faced a decision that had to remain an agonizing secret.
He wanted to see his children he had left 12 years ago and an ex-wife he couldn't forget.
B.J. Berryman-Murdock-Dalton had lost a second husband and had 3 children to raise and more trouble on the home front than she could handle. Cairn hadn't exactly been the best husband in the world [or so she thought] and now he had broken his promise to leave her alone forever. After all these years she couldn't tell her children that she'd been lying.
She was afraid to admit that Cairn was her long-lost love -- and their long-lost father.
When she realized that Cairn was willing to give his life for her and their children, she began to understand a little of what went into his decision to remain a Navy SEAL. She fell in love with that man all over again.
This is an excellent story and one that leaves you wanting more. Couldn't put it down. Will definitely stay in my library. Highly recommended.
Cover definitely does not do the book justice.

I LOVE THIS AUTHORS HEROS! Jess Dante, a lawyer was scarred forever in body and soul in a terrible accident.
Left by his intended to go through hell alone, he was determined never again to let anyone get close to him.
And yet a needy, newborn little girl had somehow found her way into his embittered heart.
Begged by the baby's mother to raise her, he found that he needed a wife.
He had to persuade a friend and colleague, psychologist Hazel O'Connor to marry him -- in name only.
The trouble was that Hazel was more than a wife -- she became his dream of the real thing as he helped her to heal a wounded heart.
His lost dream of love and a family became possible as Hazel taught Jess to accept her love of his scarred body.
The trouble they encountered in adopting and raising the baby girl will tug at your heartstrings.
Now if only the author would give us a story of Jess's brother -- and again the cover does not do the story justice.
Don't miss #1 - Paroled! #440 -- an introduction to these characters -- both books HIGHLY RECOMMENDED --

Ms. Riggs has a rare talent for thought provoking characters and story lines. In THE PARENT PLAN, she explores the faltering marriage of Cassidy and Karen Sloane. Karen, working long hours at the Grand Junction hospital, is a dedicated, strong woman. Her husband, Cassidy, a rancher, is equally strong. But he wants Karen to stay home with their daughter, Vicky. Of course, it's more than that. Cassidy's dark past haunts him and ultimately makes him drive Karen away. On the threshold of divorce, he finally comes to terms with all his childhood terrors and realizes what he stands to lose. Karen can't understand Cassidy's dislike of her career but she won't give it up. Like so many women today, she wants it all - home, family and career. Yet if she wants to keep her family together, she has to find a way to compromise.

Ms. Riggs undoubtedly creates the best 'tortured' heroes of any writer in the genre. They may be gruff, grim or downright stubborn but there's always a core of innocence inside them that appeals to us on many levels.

I lOVE IT. IT'S ABOUT A GUY WRONGFULLY CONVICTED OF SEXUALLY ABUSING HIS DAUGHTER. NOW THREE YEARS LATER HE'S OUT ON PAROLE AND THE LITTLE GIRL AUNT WHO HAD ADOPTED THE LITTLE GIRL COME TO FIND HIM SAYING THAT SHE NEED HIS HELP. THE LITTLE GIRL HAD ADMITED THAT SHE LIED WHEN SHE TESTIFILD THAT HE HAD DONE ANYTHING BAD WITH HER AND THAT THE ONLY SHE SAY SUCH A THING WAS BECOUSE HER MOTHER SAY THAT UNLESS SHE SAY THAT HER FATHER WILL TAKE HER AWAY AND THEY WILL NEVER SEE EACH OTHER AGAIN.

Ex-cop Jake Cutter is just months away from his parole when he strikes a malicious prison guard. Now he's a man on the run in the middle of one of the worst forest fires in history. His only hope is to make it to Mexico because he knows he can't stand another six years in prison. But he doesn't count on meeting Regan Delaney in a lonely mountain cabin. And he can't just leave a defenseless woman in the middle of a forst fire. Somehow he has to get her to safety without jeopardizing his own freedom.

Regan Delaney just needed to regroup, get her personal life under control, after her husband left her for another woman. The last thing she expected to find in the lonely little cabin was a tall, exhausted firefighter but his presence soothed the panic that had been building inside her since she discovered that she'd been cut off from safety by the forest fire.

As they hike through the forest toward safety, these two characters begin a journey of trust and love. Neither of them have had easy lives and Jake's has been tougher than most. Ms. Riggs always writes powerful characters who have to surmount incredible odds before they can find love. A wonderful story!