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