Book description to come. Views: 67
Annie Martin loves the Plain ways of her Old Order Mennonite people, like those revered by her beloved grandfather. Retreating from a contentious relationship with her mother, Annie goes to live with her Daadi Moses in Apple Ridge. But as spring moves into Pennsylvania and Annie spends time amongst the cherry trees with the handsome Aden Zook, she wishes she could forget how deeply the lines between the Old Order Amish and Old Order Mennonite are drawn.Can Annie and Aden find a place for their love to bloom in the midst of the brewing storm?From the Hardcover edition. Views: 67
A debut YA American epic and historical adventure from Melissa Ostrom about striking out for your own destiny. She's not the girl everyone expects her to be.Harriet Winter is the eldest daughter in a farming family in New Hampshire, 1807. She is expected to help with her younger sisters. To pitch in with the cooking and cleaning. And to marry her neighbor, the farmer Daniel Long. Harriet's mother sees Daniel as a good match, but Harriet doesn't want someone else to choose her path—in love or in life. When Harriet's brother decides to strike out for the Genesee Valley in Western New York, Harriet decides to go with him—disguised as a boy. Their journey includes sickness, uninvited strangers, and difficult emotional terrain as Harriet sees more of the world, realizes what she wants, and accepts who she's loved all along. Views: 67
A dutiful woman, a desirable man ...An artist with a keen eye for the beauty surrounding her -- yet none for her own -- duty-bound Claudia is resigned to marrying the man of her domineering father's choosing. First, though, she must resign the job she has held in secret as society illustrator "C. J. Prattley." But dashing newspaper owner Derrick Middleton is instantly captivated by Claudia's talent, wit, and sweet nature -- and the passionate inner fire she unknowingly possesses. He has other plans for this extraordinary woman.Until Claudia first entered his London office, Derrick cared for only his paper and the wild bachelor life he has long enjoyed. Now saving Claudia from a dismal marriage -- and winning her for himself -- becomes his main concern. But courting a woman like Claudia will not be an easy undertaking for a handsome cynic who has always believed true love is not for him -- especially after they succumb to an indiscretion that could lead two... Views: 67
A young girl is consumed by love for a tortured married manMyra has lived at Thorne House for so long that she almost feels part of the family. Orphaned at a young age, she has never known another home, and yet it is time for her to leave. She is burning with an irresistible passion for Richard, the man of the house, and she knows that her love can never be fulfilled. For Richard is married to Alice, and Alice is guilty of murder.Myra knows that Richard is too noble to ask an incarcerated woman for a divorce, but on the eve of her departure he surprises her, confessing that he loves her in return. Just as Myra’s future happiness seems assured, Alice returns to crush it. The convicted killer is back at Thorne House, and blood will follow in her wake. Views: 67
James Nealy is haunted by irrational fears and inescapable compulsions. A successful software developer, he's thrown himself into a new goal—to finally conquer the noise in his mind. And he has a plan. He'll confront his darkest fears and build something beautiful: a garden. When he meets Tilly Silverberg, he knows she holds the key…even if she doesn't think so.After her husband's death, gardening became Tilly's livelihood and her salvation. Her thriving North Carolina business and her young son, Isaac, are the excuses she needs to hide from the world. So when oddly attractive, incredibly tenacious James demands that she take him on as a client, her answer is a flat no.When a family emergency lures Tilly back to England, she's secretly glad. With Isaac in tow, she retreats to her childhood village, which has always stayed obligingly the same. Until now. Her best friend is keeping secrets. Her mother is plotting. Her first love is unexpectedly, temptingly available. And then James appears on her doorstep.Away from home, James and Tilly forge an unlikely bond, tenuous at first but taking root every day. And as they work to build a garden together, something begins to blossom between them—despite all the reasons against it.About the AuthorBarbara Claypole White writes love stories about damaged people. She grew up in rural England, studied history at York University, and worked in London fashion before marrying an American professor she met at JFK airport. Today they live in the forests of North Carolina with their award-winning poet son. Despite detours through journalism and marketing, Barbara chased her dream of becoming a novelist and was thrilled to find a publisher months before turning 50. Never give up is her motto! Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.Tilly leaned over the railing and prodded the copperhead with the yard broom. Nothing much scared her these days other than snakes and hospitals, which she found oddly depressing. You needed jolts of fear, little hits of adrenaline, to appreciate the buzz of life.A tailless skink scurried past her gardening clog, and a pair of hummingbirds chittered as they raced to and from the feeder. In the forest, the hawk screeched for its mate.The venomous snake, however, refused to budge.Growing up in the English countryside, the most terrifying creature Tilly encountered was a Charolais cow. Isaac, her child guru of everything indigenous and nasty in rural North Carolina, had stared, gobsmacked, when she'd shared that gem five minutes ago.The porch vibrated as he pogoed up and down, no doubt rehearsing the pleasure of bragging to his chums: My copperhead's bigger than yours.So what if she didn't belong here, any more than that manky elderberry hiding behind her tropical plants? This was Isaac's universe, and she would never rip him away from it. She had failed her son three years earlier. She wouldn't fail him again. Although, once in a while, it might be refreshing to breathe air that wasn't as congealed as leftover leek and potato soup.Tilly panted through a sigh. The heat had sprung early this year, sideswiped her without the gradual warming of late spring. August weather in the first week of June? Bugger, her summer was set to revolve around watering. She should have been watering this afternoon—not trying to outwit a comatose snake. Or repotting perennials. Or planning to fire her assistant. Of course, firing Sari meant finding time to interview a replacement, since the business had been twirling beyond her control long before Sari had appeared as the opposing force that stops an object in motion. Isaac had been reading Newton! A Giant in Science! lately. Inertia was his topic of the week.If she'd paid more attention on the day Sari torpedoed into her life like a Norse berserker on Red Bull, Tilly would have realized Sari wasn't applying for a job; bloody woman was prowling for a cause. Just yesterday, she had tried to persuade Tilly to meet with some wealthy software developer about landscaping his new la-di-da property. Landscaping, really? Piedmont Perennials was a wholesale nursery. Besides, design clients would expect plans revealed in drawn-to-scale diagrams, and Tilly couldn't compile a functional grocery list.Isaac stopped bouncing. "What's next, Mom?"Damned if I know. Killing the snake was neither a thought she could follow nor an example she wanted to set for her critter-loving son. And no way could she find the courage to shovel up Mr. Copperhead and toss him toward the creek.Tilly grinned at Isaac. Sticks of flaxen hair poked out like scarecrow straw from under his faded cap, and the front of his T-shirt was caught in the elastic of his Spiderman underwear. As usual, his pull-on shorts rested halfway down his hips. He was small for an eight-year-old, and every time Tilly looked at him, she saw playground bait. Which was the real reason she kept him at the private Montessori, not the math skills or his inexplicable passion for science."I'm fixin' to find that varmint a new home," she said. "'Cos he sure as heck can't 'ave this one."As predicted, Isaac giggled through her English-accented Southern-speak. His laughter gave her precious seconds to think. No time to allow him to doubt, even for a millisecond, that his mother was able to handle every situation that rocked their lives. Except, of course, one involving snakes. And hospitals. But she wasn't going there in her mind, not today."What about calling that wildlife guy from the school field trip?" Isaac said. "Doesn't he rescue unwanted snakes?""Angel Bug, you're a genius. I guess I'll have to keep you around."She expected him to puff up with pride. Instead he frowned and looked so like David that Tilly had to bite her lip."What do you think Daddy would do about the snake?"Tilly no longer instigated the what-would-Daddy-do game, even though she screamed silently with memories: David waking from a nightmare, his voice full of need, "Promise you'll never leave me, babe"; David reaching for her with hot breath, greedy hands, and whispers of "Jesus. You make me so horny." David asleep on the sofa with baby Isaac tucked into his arm.Isaac was only five when David died. How many of their child's memories were regurgitated stories she fed him? Did Isaac remember his father's passion, his contagious energy, his insistence that she sprinkle mothballs around the sandbox to bar snakes? David had loathed the bugs and the snakes. Mind you, he'd hated everything about life in the South, although not his status as the youngest distinguished professor in the University of North Carolina system.A memory pounced, and Tilly smiled: David teetering on the sofa as he hurled an academic tome at a creepy-crawly moseying across the floor.Her husband had done nothing without panache."What would Daddy do?" Tilly scratched the burning itch of fresh chigger bites under her arm. "Pitch a wobbly, then insist we move to snake-free Manhattan."And once David chose a course of action, there was no U-turn."Daddy would have made us leave? That's awful."But was it? Tilly stared into the forest that isolated them at night behind a wall of primal noise. This property had been on the market for two years when she and David bought it. No one wanted the unfinished house that was falling to ruin, the overgrown creek clogged with decades of trash, or the forest littered with refuse from a builder who abandoned the site after his money ran out. And yet the first time Tilly saw this land, she fell in love. Wild jack-in-the-pulpits poked through the forest floor, and untamed beauty whispered to her. But she left England for one reason, and that reason no longer existed, despite the Daddy game.Tilly never talked about David's death, but the fact of it kept her company every day, like an echo. The ICU doctor had given her options and then asked how she would like to proceed. Like, a word that suggested choice. Funny thing, though, she never considered the choice was hers. One second of blind, misplaced faith, of assuming she knew what her husband wanted, of uttering one short sentence:"David has a living will." That's all it had taken to destroy both their lives.The phone rang inside the house, but neither Tilly, nor the copperhead, stirred.The forest smelled different on hot evenings, like an oven set to four hundred and twenty-five degrees and cooking nothing but air. Tilly sipped her gin and tonic, closed her eyes, and listened to the pounding of the basketball on the concrete slab."Mom?" Isaac stopped shooting hoops. "Are we expecting someone?"Please let it not be the chatty wildlife bloke returning with the copperhead. Please.A silver convertible—Alfa Romeo, fancy—swung into a flawless turn and stopped under the basketball hoop. Damn, too late to sneak back inside, lock the door and pretend no one was home. The bearded driver tugged off his sunglasses and sat, motionless, his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose."Who is he?" Isaac whispered."Beats me," Tilly said. "Haven't got the foggiest."The driver opened the door but didn't emerge."He looks like Blackbeard." Isaac stepped behind his mother."He's most likely lost. Don't worry, Angel Bug. I've got this covered." She tottered forward, trying not to spill her drink. "Can I help you, sir?"The stranger, dressed in black jeans and a black T-shirt—in this heat?—didn't reply. He had retrieved a backpack from the passenger seat and was fiddling with its zipper. Gradually, as if the movement were choreographed, he turned."You're barefoot." He made no attempt to hide his disapproval.She glanced into the driver's-side footwell. "And you aren't." Blimey, not so much as a sweetie wrapper on the floor of his car. Now that was impressive."James Nealy." Nealy.. was that Irish? James Nealy, a name you snapped out with a click of your tongue. A name, like James Bond, that meant business.He scowled at her, and she tried not to gawp. But really, he had the most stunning eyes. They were dappled with layers of light and dark like polished tiger's-eye. "I have a six o'clock appointment.""You're the software developer? Bugger. I thought I canceled you."Isaac tittered."Is that so?" Was there a hint of amusement in those eyes?"Sorry. I meant, oh dear, my lovely assistant was supposed to call and cancel. I'm a nursery owner, Mr. Nealy, not a landscaper for hire. Can't help, I'm afraid."That was it. Sari was so fired.James emerged from his litterless car and slung the backpack over his shoulder. He definitely had that piratical look, although his beard seemed more like week-old growth. And his grizzled hair, which was straight and floppy at the front where it hung to his eyes, yet a mess of curls at his neck, was too short for a buccaneer. For some reason, she thought of contradictions in weather—a downpour through sunlight or the clear, bright day after a tropical storm. Maybe it was the result of speeding along in a convertible, but his hair gave the impression of having recently broken free from a style. Could he be growing it? If so, bad decision. She stroked her damp nape. Hair that unruly needed to be tamed or snipped off.He turned to close the car door, pausing twice to tap a silent rhythm against his thigh with his index finger.Isaac sidled up to her. "He looks like Ms. Lezlie does when we're bouncing off the classroom walls. As if he's bu... Views: 67
Peter Adam is being kept prisoner in a psychiatric facility on the »Island of the Light«. Under the influence of a truth serum, he betrays Maria’s whereabouts. She is in Montpellier, where she unveils the secret of the relic from the papal apartment. It becomes clear to her that the apocalypse is imminent and that her life is in the greatest danger … Views: 67
From the New York Times bestselling author of Fatal Vision comes a shocking true account of murder, family secrets, and final justice now available for the first time as an e-book...One hot summer night in 1988, Bonnie Von Stein's second husband was murdered in their bed, Bonnie herself stabbed, beaten, and left for dead beside him. It looked like a brutal but tragically typical case: Von Stein was newly wealthy, and Bonnie's troubled son Chris, seemed like the obvious suspect. But Chris turned out to have an air-tight alibi and new leads suggested the crime could be much more complex. The trail led to Chris's two strange new friends from college and a real-life enactment of a bizarre Dungeons and Dragons fantasy adventure, and it implicated Bonnie's teenage daughter as well. In Cruel Doubt, Joe McGinniss probes the dark heart of family life and small-town North Carolina society to uncover a fascinating and terrifying story... Views: 67
Annalee Harrison is blonde, talented, and gorgeous, an up-and-coming starlet with the world at her feet...and she's in trouble. Pregnant with the child of a married bandleader who has just fired her, she knows her career is over...until her wily manager comes up with a plan to save them both. Sheriff John Calaway is not happy with his job, because lately it has come to mean putting decent people out on the street. The Depression has hit his hometown hard, but he finds hope in the lovely form of a stranded platinum blonde. Torn between her growing love for a small town man and her manager's big plans for the future, Annalee must let her heart decide where she belongs...and hope the truth of her condition will not destroy the only love she's ever known. Views: 67
The Widow’s Friend, is the compelling tale of an old flame suddenly rekindled. In some ways it is a common yarn, and will reach out and touch a lot of lives. You never know when love will find you, but find me it did in a surprising way. My life was winding on. Widowed just four years ago, I was resolved to finish my life alone, but then something happened. An old friend found me on Facebook, and we began the renewal of an old courtship that had ended many years before. I had lived my life and he had lived his, and now we found ourselves talking again. I found it to be not only just a chance at hope, but it was also very much exhilarating, and much to my surprise, our personalities dovetailed perfectly. Our lives were different, his and mine. After marrying multiple times, I had ended up a widow, and very much alone. He was the faithful spouse. Though generally unhappy in a turbulent marriage, he had raised his kids in the midst of it all, as he staunchly weathered the tempests of life. He was so nice and so fun to talk to as our minds melded and our hearts touched. We were just two lonely people, becoming newly reacquainted and coming back together after all these many years, and now that we have, we’re so glad that we did. Views: 67
While Kira's husband Ricky is behind bars serving federal time, she clings onto the hope that one day she'll get a taste of sweet revenge for Russ—the nigga who played her! In the mix of all the drama, Kira unintentionally falls for a new 'hood rich cat who has it all. Money, good looks, and yes, a girl back home in Jersey! This time around Kira plans to play by a different set of rules!Although, Ricky is locked down in a Virginia federal prison, it doesn't stop his reign of terror. He gets wind of everything that went down with Kira and gives her a life altering ultimatum. Nevertheless, Kira refuses to adhere to his demand and Ricky has no choice but to suit up his street team. The question is: How will it end this time? Views: 67
