Kentucky

Josh Coleman left SunStar, the thoroughbred horse farm he'd built from nothing, unfinished when he took to his deathbed. But his family's unfinished business cannot be ignored now that his long-lost daughter has come back to settle an old score. No longer resembling the teenage waif who slipped away in the middle of the night with her illegitimate child thirty years ago, Nealy is rich, sophisticated, and renowned in the racing world-a woman to be reckoned with-and her shocking return changes everything for her two brothers, her daughter, and all the Thornton's and Coleman's connected to SunStar. Surpassing herself once again, Fern Michaels ushers in an extraordinary new trilogy with this stunning novel that is as rich and lush as Kentucky bluegrass country itself.

With Nealy, horses come first. So when her two grown children's irresponsible acts nearly cost her Shufly, she throws them both off Blue Diamond Farm, choosing to work alone rather than give them another chance to risk her dream of training the promising foal into a Triple Crown winner. But while the estrangement from her children doesn't seem to affect her work, inside, she's shattered. So when the irresistible Hatch Littletree, her ex-husband's law partner, pays her an unexpected visit, the comfort he brings her is much needed. Hatch, however, wants more than to just comfort Nealy - he is determined to see her heal the painful rift between herself and her children. But as Nealy struggles with that estrangement and running the stables alone, the unexpectedly strong feelings and terrifying situations she experiences may tax and test her normally indomitable spirit past its breaking point.

When it comes to men, Nealy is very content with her new husband, lawyer Hatch Littletree. When it comes to horses, she is never satisfied. Nobody can measure up to her standards as a trainer, not even her daughter, Emmie, who now runs the family's famous stables, Blue Diamond Farms. But returning to Blue Diamond Farms for a family reunion sends Nealy reeling. Emmie has let the farm slide, and she has picked a small, gutsy colt to send to the Derby-a nice horse but clearly the wrong one. Suddenly, Nealy finds herself back in the game, ready to prove she's not too old to back a winner-even if it means damaging her relationship with the daughter she doesn't know is battling both a crippling illness and fears of losing custody of her own child...