Amazon.com (ISBN 0399144048, Hardcover)

Firebird is a romance with a love triangle like you've never read before. The story takes place in ranch country in the Flint Hills of Kansas. Ethan Browne, with a Ph.D. in English and a repertoire enabling him to recite great romantic literature on demand, chooses Katie Anne as his future wife. However, he doesn't love her. He just feels that it's part of his dream to have a wife, much like the chores he accomplishes on his cattle ranch. Believing that's all he needs, he sets out to win Katie Anne, and proposes marriage. Katie Anne is in love with Ethan and her love will go to any measure to keep him from being attracted to Annette, who's returned to town for her mother's funeral. Annette is a Kansas-born concert violinist in town from Paris.

This love triangle has its obstacles: Annette's aversion to the land Ethan loves, and Katie Anne's determination to hold onto Ethan though she knows he loves Annette (whose father will cast Ethan out of the ranching life if Ethan doesn't marry his daughter). Who will Ethan choose and what will his future hold?

This novel has been compared to The Horse Whisperer because it surprises readers at every turn, especially at the end. --Candy Paape