Cindy Bauer Books

2006 Reviewer's Choice Winner--Best Harlequin SuperRomance of 2006 - Romantic Times Bookclub Magazine

2005 Career Achievement Nominee--Series Romance - Romantic Times Bookclub magazine

About the Author

Award-winning author Roxanne Rustand has sold nineteen novels as of early 2007. Her books, which have been translated into five languages, center on family relationships and romance, with mystery or suspense woven in. She was also a contributor to KUNI Public Radio's 2001 murder mystery novel, "Orchestrated Murder."

Roxanne discovered romance novels when a friend handed her a Judith McNaught historical and dared her to put it down. She did--but not until four o'clock the next morning. Completely hooked, she spent the next few years devouring all of the romances she could find, and eventually thought it would be fun to try writing one herself. Her first manuscript won a Romance Writer's of America Golden Heart for Best Long Contemporary. Her second manuscript was a Golden Heart finalist, and was published by Superromance in August, 1999.

Roxanne has presented writing workshops at national writers' conferences from coast to coast, and at regional conferences throughout the Midwest. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Authors, the Faith, Hope & Love Chapter of RWA, CWGI, the Mystery-Suspense Chapter of RWA, International Thriller Writers, HIFA, Authors Guild, and Novelists Inc.

She has a Master's Degree in Nutrition and works as a registered dietitian for a residential psychiatric facility. She and her husband have three children, and live in the country with a host of dogs, cats, horses, and a snake named Igor, who insisted on appearing in her first book.

Website: www.shoutlife.com/roxannerustand     E-mail: R.Rustand@juno.com

Main Website: www.roxannerustand.com

Roxanne's Books

First 3 books - From Steeple Hill's new line: Love Inspired Suspense!

BOOK: Hard Evidence

ISBN: 978-373442713

DATE: December 2007

PUBLISHER: Steeple Hill

Love Inspired Suspense

1^st in Snow Canyon Ranch trilogy

BOOK: Vendetta

ISBN: 978-0373442775

DATE: February 2008

PUBLISHER: Steeple Hill Love Inspired Suspense

2^nd in Snow Canyon Ranch  trilogy

Guilty until proven innocent…that was always the McAllister family motto, wasn’t it? Cole Daniels will never forget it–no matter how interested he is in pretty, kind Leigh McAllister. Thanks to lies told by her uncle, Cole’s father was wrongly imprisoned. Now that Cole and Leigh are both back in Wolf Creek, Wyoming, he’s sure that Leigh holds the key to clearing his father’s good name. But his quest for justice is complicated by the escalating sabotage of Leigh’s vet clinic, his growing feelings for her, and the determination of someone who will stop at nothing–not even murder–to keep the truth about the past hidden…in this second book of the Snow Canyon Ranch trilogy….where sinister family secrets lurk in the majestic Rockies.

Read my review!

BOOK: Wildfire

ISBN: 978-0373442812

DATE: March 2008

PUBLISHER: Steeple Hill

Love Inspired Suspense

3^rd in Snow Canyon Ranch trilogy

BOOK: Lone Star Legacy

ISBN: 0373714424

DATE: September 2007

PUBLISHER: Harlequin SuperRomance

Welcome to Cowboy Country...Just the place for everyone who loves stories about the West.

A second chance in Texas
For Beth Lindstrom, the rundown café she inherited in the small town of Lone Wolf was simply a means to an end. Selling it and moving on was the young widow’s only hope of a fresh start for her and her five-year-old daughter—though she doubted there was any place on earth they’d feel really safe ever again.
However, she hadn’t counted on Joel McAllen getting under her skin. The handsome ex-cop seemed to sense that her past held a terrible secret that kept her on the run. But it wasn’t until her husband’s killer followed her to Texas that she realized she’d need to trust Joel with her life…and her heart.

BOOK: Operation: Mistletoe

ISBN: 0373710968

DATE: November 2002

PUBLISHER: Harlequin SuperRomance

2003 LAUREL WREATH WINNER, Romantic Suspense
2003 ASPEN GOLD--WINNER
2003 WISRWA Write Touch Readers' Award WINNER
2003 Golden Quill finalist, Romantic Suspense
2003 Colorado Romance Writers Award of Excellence, Honorable Mention

Texas DEA Special Agent Sarah Hanrahan has been sent to her hometown in Minnesota on an undercover operation, where the local deputy represents every reason she left there years ago. Given her dark past and the secrets she must keep, there couldn't be a more unlikely relationship. But perhaps a child with Christmas wishes and a heart full of hope can help even impossible dreams come true...

BOOK: Operation: Katie

ISBN: 037371064X

DATE: June 2002

PUBLISHER: Harlequin SuperRomance

2003 HOLT MEDALLION finalist
2003 WisRWA Write Touch Readers' Award, third place

When DEA Special Agent Zach Forrester's terrified sister drops her three-year-old daughter Katie at his doorstep and then disappears, he swears he'll do anything to keep the child safe. He's soon launched into a series of events that leave him wounded and on the run with her to a small Colorado town, the one safe place he knows. Unfortunately, it's also the one place he'd never wanted to revisit, not even in his dreams. But for Katie's sake, he'll face the past--and the one woman he ever loved, but lost.FOUR STARS "...a stirring romance and a choice thriller."- RT Bookclub Magazine

"Intrigue keeps the plot moving and interest piqued, but the characterizations are what make OPERATION: KATIE truly sparkle. Roxanne Rustand has a gift for capturing the essence of relationships in all their complexity and charm.

Zach bears scars both externally and internally that make him a flawed, extraordinary hero. Dana never backs down from her independence, yet can act with courage and passion when circumstance demands. Secondary characters are equally vivid, especially young Katie who demonstrates the behavior to be expected from such horrific circumstances, yet reveals her own appeal and intensity.

BOOK: Operation: Texas

ISBN: 0373712278

DATE: September 2004

PUBLISHER: Harlequin SuperRomance

The Lories--Third Place, Long Contemporary
The Golden Quill--Finalist, Long Contemporary

Honor. Determination. A soul-deep sense of family history, deeply rooted in this rocky, desolate place in West Texas. All are strong attributes of rancher Celia Remington, yet they aren't enough to keep her ranch and family safe--not when danger lurks in the shadows, and unseen forces seek to destroy all she holds dear. But when she requests assistance from the DEA, she gets more than she bargains for...a handsome, enigmatic stranger who has his own, very personal reasons for coming to her isolated ranch. I hope you'll enjoy this story of two strong, independent people who come from very different worlds...and find that impossible situations can sometimes forge the deepest bonds of all.

BOOK: Operation: Second Chance

ISBN: 0373711859

DATE: February 2004

PUBLISHER: Harlequin SuperRomance

Holt Medallion Finalist--Long Contemporary
The Lories--Second Place Tie, Romantic Suspense
Finalist--Daphne du Maurier Award for Long Contemporary Romantic Suspense

Imagine...
A man betrayed, who has lost his family, career, and five years of his life while incarcerated for a crime he didn’t commit. How far will he go to clear his name?
A widow...who endured a difficult marriage, and is now determined to build an independent and successful life of her own. What will she risk to help a man whose darkest secrets could threaten her future?
And a child...who has lost everyone she has ever loved...but has a chance at new beginnings, if she can just open her heart.

BOOK: A Montana Family

ISBN: 0373710089

DATE: September 2001

PUBLISHER: Harlequin SuperRomance

with Lynnette Kent and Ellen James

2nd title of the Big Sky Trilogy

Jolie Maxwell left Montana years ago to make a life for herself away from her powerful, wealthy ranching family. She's now a physician drawn back to her beloved mountains and small town life, who also hopes to heal the deep rifts in her family. Her handsome neighbor proves nearly irresistible, but not everyone in town is happy to see her. And someone would just as soon see her dead....

BOOK: Rodeo!

ISBN: 037370982X

DATE: April 2001

PUBLISHER: Harlequin SuperRomance

The world of rodeo is exciting, fascinating, and dangerous. Imagine a job for which you might commute hundreds of miles, work eight seconds, and then commute hundreds of miles again. Sounds like an easy work day, until you factor in the high risk of serious injury or death during those eight seconds!

Those odds have already caught up with bull rider Jake Landers, who was badly injured last year. Cowboys, bullfighters, clowns, announcers, producers, contractors and other personnel on a given rodeo circuit are often close--helping each other out, cheering each other on. Jake not only faces the loss of his career and the only life he's known since he turned eighteen, but will lose touch with the people who have become his second family.

Buying a faltering rodeo company is his ticket back into the life he loves. The one person who can help him succeed is the woman he stood up at the altar ten years before, and now they'll have to travel together for the next five months. If she'll agree...and if dark secrets from the past don't tear them apart once again.

BOOK: The House at Briar Lake

ISBN: 0373709463

DATE: October 2000

PUBLISHER: Harlequin SuperRomance

"Winner of the 1999 West Houston Emily, Specialty category"

A disillusioned criminal lawyer, in search of a quiet life in a small town, ends up unavoidably sharing a house with a flamboyant woman with a dark past, the woman's rambunctious daughter, and a menagerie of epic proportions. These two couldn't be more wrong or more right for each other...

BOOK: Montana Legacy

ISBN: 0373708955

DATE: March 2000

PUBLISHER: Harlequin SuperRomance

Winner of the 1998...We Dare You (Saskatchewan); The Golden Rose; Haunted by Love
Winner of the 1999 West Houston Emily, Long Contemporary category

FINALIST: THE 2001 DESERT ROSE RWA CHAPTER'S GOLDEN QUILL

THE WISRWA WRITE TOUCH READER'S AWARD 2001, THIRD PLACE

Burned out cop Kate Rawlins meets Montana rancher...she claims her inheritance, and he claims her heart.

BOOK: Her Sister's Children

ISBN: 0373708572

DATE: August 1999

PUBLISHER: Harlequin SuperRomance

Romance Writer's of America Golden Heart finalist, 1998
Winner of the Write Touch Reader's Award 2000

When Claire Worth inherits Pine Cliff - a resort on Lake Superior - from her late sister, Claire also gets guardianship of her five-year-old twin nieces and her fourteen-year-old nephew. The resort she can manage; motherhood is something else again - especially when her sister's first husband shows up with plans of his own.

Ever since Logan Matthews lost Pine Cliff, his family's home, in a bitter divorce, he's had nothing to do with his ex-wife or her new family.

Logan wants the place back. And now he has the means to fight for what's his. But he's becoming more and more attracted to Claire. He loves the warmth and laughter she and the children bring to Pine Cliff. And there's something about Claire's nephew that reminds Logan of himself at that age.

Suddenly, there's a whole lot more at stake...

BOOK: A Man She Can Trust

ISBN: 0373713274

DATE: February 2006

PUBLISHER: Harlequin SuperRomance

Blackberry Hill Memorial series

Blackberry Hill Memorial is a small, struggling hospital facing serious challenges, and some of staff members face them as well.

For Dr. Jill Edwards and her husband Grant, their failed marriage may provide a perfect opportunity for an old enemy to seek revenge...for an old ghost to find peace at last...and perhaps, even give them a chance to recover what they have lost

Grace Fisher, the hospital's Director of Nursing, has devoted her life to her career and to the many foster kids she's raised. Now she's facing the rest of her life alone, with just the poignant memories of a man she's never forgotten--the once-in-a-lifetime-love who married someone else. But who knew life could change so quickly? In the blink of an eye, she herself with a troubled teenage nephew to raise, an unexpected last chance for love...and is faced with the toughest decision of her life.

BOOK: Back To Texas

ISBN: 0373713029

DATE: October 2005

PUBLISHER: Harlequin SuperRomance

FIRST PLACE in Romantic Suspense, The Golden Quill.

Romantic Suspense finalist, Colorado Romance Writers Award of Excellence.
Long Contemporary Finalist, Colorado Romance Writers Award of Excellence.
Romantic Suspense Finalist, Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence.
Honorable Mention in Romantic Suspense, Write Touch Readers Award.

This is the first book of the five-author Home to Loveless County series set in the Hill Country of Texas. Authors Roxanne Rustand, K.N. Casper, Linda Warren, Roz Denny Fox, and Lynnette Kent will each offer exciting stories involving the people who come to a small, dying town to accept free homestead land, and a chance to start over. The books will be released monthly, from October, 2005 through February, 2006.

Life doesn’t always turn out the way we plan, and for some of us a chance for new beginnings...or a place to hide...would be a dream come true. Homestead, Texas is offering that chance: nearly free land for people willing to move there and establish homes and businesses.

In the first book of this series, a physician's assistant arrives to start a new life with her young son. Her family's reputation precedes her, though, and not everyone is happy to see her. The biggest shock of all is running into a man she'd never expected to see again...a man who'd promised her happily-ever-afters, and then disappeared. A man she'd thought long dead. And then she discovers that everything she believed about her family might be untrue...

BOOK: Almost A Family

ISBN: 0373712847

DATE: July 2005

PUBLISHER: Harlequin SuperRomance

1^st title in the Blackberry Hill Memorial Trilogy

National Readers Choice Award Finalist, Long Contemporary

A hospital at the heart of a small town

After her husband leaves her, Wendy Lang figures Blackberry Hill will be the perfect place to raise her three adopted children and start her new career in hospital administration.

Right now, she has neither the time nor the inclination for romance--especially not with her reclusive landlord, Dr. Brad Cole. He might be intriguing, but if he ever learns her deepest secret, her little family could be torn apart.

And all isn't what it seems, in this idyllic little town. Patients are dying, for no apparent reason. And then she discovers that Brad has a few secrets of his own...

BOOK: Christmas at Shadow Creek

ISBN: 0373711654

DATE: November 2003

PUBLISHER: Harlequin SuperRomance

First Place--The 2004 Golden Quill, Romantic Suspense
First Place--The 2004 Lories, Contemporary
First Place--The 2004 Write Touch Readers Award, Long Contemporary
Third Place--The 2004 Beacon Award

Finalist--2004 Colorado Romance Writers Award of Excellence in Romantic Suspense
Finalist--2004 Colorado Romance Writers Award of Excellence in Long Contemporary

Several years after the loss of her baby and the end of her marriage, Dr. Joanna Weston is starting a new life in the rugged mountains of New Mexico. An escape-artist of a horse and a Great Pyrenees pup the size of Texas are all she needs as a family--or so she thinks--until she meets a footloose cowboy and a baby girl left on his doorstep.

A child who reminds her that sometimes, dreams come true.

BOOK: A Temporary Arrangement

ISBN: 0373713622

DATE: August 2006

PUBLISHER: Harlequin SuperRomance

FINALIST-- Series Romantic Suspense, The 2007 Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence

FINALIST--Romantic Suspense (single title and series books), 2007 Award of Excellence, Colorado Romance Writers

After Abby Cahill takes a temporary position at a small-town hospital, she's left without a place to live when her new apartment burns down. There are no long-term summer vacancies in this busy resort town, especially since she has just adopted a bedraggled stray dog...until she strikes a bargain with injured wildlife biologist Ethan Matthews. He needs help with his young son, she needs a place to stay. What could be a more perfect arrangement? Nothing....until someone frames her for embezzlement, and mysterious problems escalate out at Ethan's isolated home. And she discovers that this idyllic summer could be her last.