Sherryl Woods - The Calamity Janes - Lauren

#1 New York Times bestselling author Sherryl Woods returns with a story of the Calamity Janes…fierce friends facing challenges in life and love

Lauren Winters has achieved fame and fortune, but all she wants when she goes home to Winding River, Wyoming, for a reunion with old friends is a break from her high-profile career. Seizing the chance to work incognito as a horse trainer for Wade Owens, she revels in the wrangler’s attention.

But how is the man who’s disdainful of the rich and powerful going to feel when he discovers she’s deceived him? Will Wade be able to see past her celebrity and believe in the woman who’s fallen in love with him?

Also by #1 New York Times bestselling author Sherryl Woods Also by Title Page Dear Friends Prologue 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Epilogue Extract from Willow Brook Road by Sherryl Woods Copyright

Chesapeake Shores

Dogwood Hill

The Christmas Bouquet

A Seaside Christmas

The Summer Garden

An O’Brien Family Christmas

Beach Lane

Moonlight Cove

Driftwood Cottage

A Chesapeake Shores Christmas

Harbor Lights

Flowers on Main

The Inn at Eagle Point

The Sweet Magnolias

Swan Point

Where Azaleas Bloom

Catching Fireflies

Midnight Promises

Honeysuckle Summer

Sweet Tea at Sunrise

Home in Carolina

Welcome to Serenity

Feels Like Family

A Slice of Heaven

Stealing Home

Look for Sherryl Woods’s next novel

Willow Brook Road

available soon from MIRA Books

For a complete list of all titles by Sherryl Woods,

visit www.sherrylwoods.com.

www.mirabooks.co.uk

Dear Friends Dear Friends Prologue 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Epilogue Extract from Willow Brook Road by Sherryl Woods Copyright ,

When I first conceived the idea for The Calamity Janes series years ago, I knew I wanted to write about a group of friends who’d been a bit of a disaster back in high school, then taken very different paths. Now they’re back in Wyoming for their class reunion and the chance to catch up on their lives. In a lot of ways, these women were the predecessors of The Sweet Magnolias. I’m so delighted that new readers will have a chance to get to know them.

Back then, in addition to writing about strong friendships, I also wanted to attempt a group of books set in a parallel time frame. In other words, even though these are very separate stories, the plots overlap during the big class reunion. Only the final book continues past the last dance. It was an interesting writing challenge. As you read the five stories, you’ll have to decide if the experiment worked.

I hope you’ll have as much fun with The Calamity Janes as you’ve had through the years with The Sweet Magnolias and that you’ll enjoy the Wyoming setting as much as I enjoyed visiting that part of the country to do research for the series.

With all good wishes for lasting friendships in your life.

Sherryl

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text #1 New York Times bestselling author Sherryl Woods returns with a story of the Calamity Janes…fierce friends facing challenges in life and love Lauren Winters has achieved fame and fortune, but all she wants when she goes home to Winding River, Wyoming, for a reunion with old friends is a break from her high-profile career. Seizing the chance to work incognito as a horse trainer for Wade Owens, she revels in the wrangler’s attention. But how is the man who’s disdainful of the rich and powerful going to feel when he discovers she’s deceived him? Will Wade be able to see past her celebrity and believe in the woman who’s fallen in love with him?

Also by Also by #1 New York Times bestselling author Sherryl Woods Also by Title Page Dear Friends Prologue 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Epilogue Extract from Willow Brook Road by Sherryl Woods Copyright Chesapeake Shores Dogwood Hill The Christmas Bouquet A Seaside Christmas The Summer Garden An O’Brien Family Christmas Beach Lane Moonlight Cove Driftwood Cottage A Chesapeake Shores Christmas Harbor Lights Flowers on Main The Inn at Eagle Point The Sweet Magnolias Swan Point Where Azaleas Bloom Catching Fireflies Midnight Promises Honeysuckle Summer Sweet Tea at Sunrise Home in Carolina Welcome to Serenity Feels Like Family A Slice of Heaven Stealing Home Look for Sherryl Woods’s next novel Willow Brook Road available soon from MIRA Books For a complete list of all titles by Sherryl Woods, visit www.sherrylwoods.com .

Title Page The Calamity Janes: Lauren Sherryl Woods www.mirabooks.co.uk

Dear Friends Dear Friends Dear Friends Prologue 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Epilogue Extract from Willow Brook Road by Sherryl Woods Copyright , When I first conceived the idea for The Calamity Janes series years ago, I knew I wanted to write about a group of friends who’d been a bit of a disaster back in high school, then taken very different paths. Now they’re back in Wyoming for their class reunion and the chance to catch up on their lives. In a lot of ways, these women were the predecessors of The Sweet Magnolias. I’m so delighted that new readers will have a chance to get to know them. Back then, in addition to writing about strong friendships, I also wanted to attempt a group of books set in a parallel time frame. In other words, even though these are very separate stories, the plots overlap during the big class reunion. Only the final book continues past the last dance. It was an interesting writing challenge. As you read the five stories, you’ll have to decide if the experiment worked. I hope you’ll have as much fun with The Calamity Janes as you’ve had through the years with The Sweet Magnolias and that you’ll enjoy the Wyoming setting as much as I enjoyed visiting that part of the country to do research for the series. With all good wishes for lasting friendships in your life. Sherryl

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Epilogue

Extract from Willow Brook Road by Sherryl Woods

Copyright

Prologue

The plastic surgeon, a Hollywood celebrity in his own right, seemed particularly enamored by his computerized demonstration of exactly what he could achieve with a face-lift.

“A little nip right here,” he said, clicking a key and altering the world-famous face on the screen so that the already flawless skin around the eyes was an almost imperceptible smidgen tighter. “A tuck here.” The soft, rounded chin disappeared.

“It’ll take ten years off,” he promised enthusiastically. “And now’s the time to start, before the aging process really gets a grip on you.”

Lauren Winters listened to his spiel, stared at the image of her face on the screen and shuddered.

What was she thinking? She was only twenty-eight, and she was worrying about taking ten years off of her appearance. Was she suddenly expecting to be cast in some teen flick as an eighteen-year-old high-school senior? Hardly. She was doing just fine playing leading ladies her own age in blockbuster romantic comedies.

Making this appointment to discuss plastic surgery had obviously been a knee-jerk reaction to her latest divorce. That made two failed marriages—not bad by Hollywood standards, but a far cry from what she’d anticipated when she’d been growing up on a ranch in Winding River, Wyoming, where marriages—even bad ones like her parents’—tended to last forever.

Suddenly her life seemed incredibly shallow and pointless. Mentally she ticked off the accomplishments and their downside.