When Roses Bloom

Michelle Slate, the financial manager of her family's tree farm in Tennessee, burns her wedding dress on the front lawn, declaring she's done with men because they're all after her money. When her father dies suddenly and leaves her in charge of the huge business enterprise, she uses her newfound responsibility as an excuse to further isolate---and insulate---herself from the opposite sex. With no time to do the work herself, she needs to hire a gardener to spruce up her family's summer estate. Through an employment agency she hires Glenn, a man who's down and out after selling everything but his truck to pay his late wife's medical bills. Drawn to his good looks and honest work ethic, Michelle wonders if there's not more than meets the eye when it comes to her new laborer. While Glenn works hard to restore the flowers that once decorated a lovely garden, both he and Michelle learn that her roses---along with their hearts---can bloom again.

Following graduate school, Lois Schwartz taught theater and wrote plays for a puppet company she owned. Moving to New York, she opened a costume store. With the business sold, she can finally do what she loves best---write. Several of her short stories have appeared in national publications. Publishing longer works now, she creates heroines who often find themselves in jeopardy and must overcome challenges to prove themselves women of substance.