JENNINE THURSTON

Best-selling novelist Diana Palmer has well over a hundred books in print, translated and published around the world. She has written historical as well as science-fiction novels, but she is best known for her contemporary romance books. The Winter Man comprises two classic Diana Palmer romances.

Growing up in a troubled foster home, Mercy Dane knew she could never rely on anyone but herself. She's used to giving her all to people who don't give her a second glance, so when she races to Blessings, Georgia, to save the life of an accident victim, she's flabbergasted when the grateful town opens its arms to her. She never dreamed she'd ever find family or friends - or a man who looks at her as if she hung the stars.

Meet Ove. He's a curmudgeon - the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him "the bitter neighbor from hell". But behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness.