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Thicker Than Blood
Series · 4 books · 1657-2014

Books in series

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#1

Thicker Than Blood

2009

Alt Cover: ASIN B00EZE38GA Christy Williams finally has her life on track. She’s putting her past behind her and working hard to build her career as a buyer for a large used bookstore. So far she’s been able to keep her drinking problem at bay, but everything changes when she lands a DUI on her thirty-third birthday. When she’s accused of a crime she didn’t commit at work, she has nowhere to turn. She yearns for her estranged family, especially her younger sister May whom she hasn’t seen for fifteen years. Now the owner of a failing cattle ranch in Elk Valley, Colorado, May couldn’t possibly want a relationship with the big sister who didn’t even say good-bye all those years ago, could she? Soon Christy’s fleeing from her shattered dreams, her abusive ex-boyfriend, and God. Could the Triple Cross Ranch be the safe haven she’s searching for, or will May’s new-found faith give her even more reason to reject Christy?
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#2

Bound by Guilt

2011

Roxi Gold feels like a throwaway. Shuttled from one foster home to another for most of her life, she longs for a real family and a place to call home. She’ll do anything to fit in and please her new guardian—even if it’s against the law. Soon she’s traveling the country in an RV stealing rare books from unsuspecting bookstores even as guilt hounds her. Police officer Abby Dawson has witnessed the worst of society, and not just at work. Her high-powered attorney ex-husband has wrested her daughter away from her in a bitter custody battle, and she’s lucky if she sees her daughter at all. The job she once loved has become a chore, the world isn’t any safer, and her life seems to have no purpose. One fateful night a botched robbery changes both Abby’s and Roxi’s lives forever. While Abby searches for justice, Roxi finds herself on the run in the small town of Elk Valley, Colorado. Will the power of forgiveness set them free, or will they both remain bound by guilt?
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#3

Ties that Bind

2014

On a quest to find her father, a young woman discovers she has two sisters who have no idea she exists. Newly released from prison, Brynn Taylor is determined to find her father, a man she's never met. Her only clue to his whereabouts is an address she finds in a rare volume of Jane Austen's "Sense & Sensibility" which he inscribed to her years ago. Armed with a bus ticket, a backpack, and her grandfather's gun, her search leads her to Elk Valley, Colorado where her plans and her life begin to unravel
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#4

Running on Empty

1657

Del Mangini is a lonely, down-on-her-luck young woman who can barely afford her next meal. When a private investigator blindsides her with the revelation that she was adopted and has a birth mother named Natalie he is looking for, she doesn’t know whether to believe him. How could her parents, who died heroes when she was a teenager, have kept this vital piece of her identity from her? Then eight-year-old Callie shows up on her doorstep claiming to be her half sister. She can’t bring herself to turn the girl away, yet how can she possibly provide for a kid when she’s already three months behind on her rent? Del and Callie soon find themselves living out of a car in the small town of Elk Valley, Colorado. Who can they trust, and why is someone following them? The only person who might have answers is the one woman they can’t find—their mother. But secrets, lies, and a political machine could destroy them before they discover the truth about their mother’s past and their own future. Running on Empty is Book #4 in the Thicker than Blood series. All books stand alone entirely and can be read independently of each other, but for the best reading experience, we suggest reading them in order: Book #1: Thicker than Blood Book #2: Bound by Guilt Book #3: Ties that Bind Book #4: Running on Empty

Author

C.J. Darlington
C.J. Darlington
Author · 11 books
C. J.'s love of reading began when she was a kid dragging home bags of books from the library. When she was twelve she started dreaming about becoming a published author. That dream came true when her first novel Thicker than Blood won a national writing contest. It became the first book in the Thicker than Blood series, which also includes Bound by Guilt, Ties that Bind, and Running on Empty. She has also written Jupiter Winds and Jupiter Storm the first and second books in the Jupiter Winds series. Her children's fantasy Alison Henry and the Creatures of Torone has also been well received. C. J. lives in Pennsylvania with her whippets, tabby cats, and a Paint mare named Sky.
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Thicker Than Blood