Leila Meacham books in order

A sweeping, classic romance about the ties that bind us together-and the promises that can break us apart ...

Some friends are more like family...and that's exactly how Cara Martin feels about Ryan Langston. He stood by her side through the most difficult time of her life and there's nothing she won't do for him, even now after his death. But inheriting Ryan's share of his family's ranch in west Texas and living there for a year? Cara doesn't understand what he was thinking. Still, she cannot, will not deny Ryan's last request...even if it means sharing a roof with his brooding, arrogant older brother.

Jeth Langston doesn't trust Cara as far as he can throw her. Jeth is certain she prevented his baby brother from spending his last days at home. And he'll be damned if he lets this stranger take over the Langston family legacy too. Whatever the cost, he's determined to drive this beautiful outsider away-no matter how intriguing he finds her.

But as the days grow longer and sunshine sweeps across the plains, Cara can't help but fall for the untamed land-and the man whose passion for it captures her, heart and soul. Can their love bloom wild and free on this Texas ranch?

A tender, classic love story about the secrets that linger in our hearts and the choices that set us free.

Some people aren't meant for happily-ever-after. And Deborah Standridge is one of them. When she called off her wedding to the perfect man to pursue her passion as an architect, she didn't mean to hurt anyone. But Deborah saw her chance to finally make her own dreams come and she took it, setting in motion a tragedy that has haunted her ever since.

Now, as one of Denver's most successful architects, Deborah has avoided love at all costs...until Daniel Parker walks into her life. He commissions her to design his company's headquarters and soon makes her want to believe in love again. But Dan is keeping a shocking secret that could rip apart everything they've built--and break Deborah's heart once and for all. 

Will Deborah find the strength to put the past behind her to fight for a love that could last for all time?

A tender, classic love story about the power of first love and the promise of a second chance . . .

Aly Kingston has only ever loved one man: Marshall Wayne. But she put all of those childish dreams behind her ages ago when the Waynes left town. Her father's victory at foreclosing on the Wayne family farm, the betrayal written all over Marshall's face-it all still lingers in her mind and in her heart. But now, years later, when he comes back home to Claiborne, Aly realizes so much has changed since Marshall's been away . . . and so much remains the same.

Seeing Aly again surprises Marshall Wayne. Gone is the gangly girl who followed him around. In her place is a beautiful woman with warmth and sensitivity, someone who makes him want to believe in love again. But Marshall is back home for one reason and one reason alone: to get revenge on the man who destroyed his family and to reclaim what rightfully belongs to him.

As the past and the present collide, will Aly lose her heart to the man who's plotting to destroy her family? Or can she show Marshall that love runs deeper than vengeance?

A recently orphaned girl moves to the Texas panhandle and struggles to forge new friendships in a town of football glory.

Recently orphaned, eleven-year-old Cathy Benson feels she has been dropped into a cultural and intellectual wasteland when she is forced to move from her academically privileged life in California to the small town of Kersey in the Texas Panhandle where the sport of football reigns supreme. 

She is quickly taken under the unlikely wings of up-and-coming gridiron stars and classmates John Caldwell and Trey Don Hall, orphans like herself, with whom she forms a friendship and eventual love triangle that will determine the course of the rest of their lives.

Taking the three friends through their growing up years until their high school graduations when several tragic events uproot and break them apart, the novel expands to follow their careers and futures until they reunite in Kersey at forty years of age.

Texas in the early 1900s was on the cusp of an oil boom that, unbeknownst to its residents, would spark a period of dramatic changes and economic growth. 

In the midst of this transformative time in Southern history, two unforgettable characters emerge and find their fates irrevocably intertwined: Samantha Gordon, the privileged heiress to the sprawling Las Tres Lomas cattle ranch near Fort Worth, and Nathan Holloway, a sweet-natured and charming farm boy from far north Texas.

As changes sweep the rustic countryside, Samantha and Nathan's connection drives this narrative compulsively forward as they love, lose, and betray. In this grand yet intimate novel, Meacham once again delivers a heartfelt, big-canvas story full of surprising twists and deep emotional resonance.

At the height of World War II, a handful of idealistic young Americans receive a mysterious letter from the government, asking them if they are willing to fight for their country. 

The men and women from very different backgrounds -- a Texan athlete with German roots, an upper-crust son of a French mother and a wealthy businessman, a dirt-poor Midwestern fly fisherman, an orphaned fashion designer, and a ravishingly beautiful female fencer -- all answer the call of duty, but each for a secret reason of her or his own. They bond immediately, in a group code-named Dragonfly.

Thus begins a dramatic cat-and-mouse game, as the group seeks to stay under the radar until a fatal misstep leads to the capture and the firing-squad execution of one of their team. But is everything as it seems, or is this one more elaborate act of spycraft?

"From birth, Jessica had eschewed the role to which she'd been born. Was it because she sensed that her father's indulgence was compensation for his disappointment in her? Jessica thought too much, questioned, challenged, rebelled. Sometimes Eunice thought her daughter should have been born a male."

Born into the wealthiest and most influential family in 1830s South Carolina, Jessica Wyndham was expected to look appealing, act with decorum, and marry a suitably prominent and respectable man. However, her outspoken opinions and unflagging sense of justice make her a difficult-and dangerous-firebrand, especially for slavery-dependent Carson Wyndham. 

Jessica's testing of her powerful father's love is only the beginning of the pain, passion, and triumph she will experience on a journey with the indomitable, land-obsessed Silas Toliver and headstrong Jeremy Warwick to a wild new land called Texas.

Two East Texas families must deal with the aftermath of a marriage that never happened leading to deceit, secrets, and tragedies.

Spanning the 20th century, the story of Roses takes place in a small East Texas town against the backdrop of the powerful timber and cotton industries, controlled by the scions of the town's founding families. Cotton tycoon Mary Toliver and timber magnate Percy Warwick should have married but unwisely did not, and now must deal with consequences of their momentous choice and the loss of what might have been--not just for themselves but for their children, and their children's children.

With expert, unabashed, big-canvas storytelling, Roses covers a hundred years, three generations of Texans, and the explosive combination of passion for work and longing for love.