Jill Barnett's very first title, The Heart's Haven, won the Persie Award for Best First Book.

The lawless, gold-hungry town of San Francisco is no place to raise a family, but Hallie Fredriksen has little choice after her mother s sudden death. Her father s call to sea takes him away for months at a time, and there is no one but Hallie to raise her headstrong sisters and impish twin brothers. The young Fredriksen clan is a handful, but the last person Hallie needs involved is Kit Howland, the arrogant and handsome whaling agent who is her father s good friend…and her own secret crush. But Kit has been burned by love and thought himself immune to feelings of the heart, until he is face to face with the most unlikely beauty, who captures his heart with her spirit and laughter. He refuses to trust his feelings, refuses to forget the past and step into the dangerous territory of love and desire. Then fate makes them an instant family, binds them as husband and wife in wild town full of danger, and where their battle of wills and love is as treacherous as the stormy sea and as thrilling as the rush for gold.