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For fans of bestselling WWII fiction comes a powerful novel from Lynn Austin about three women whose lives are instantly changed when the Nazis invade the neutral Netherlands, forcing each into a complicated dance of choice and consequence.Lena is a wife and mother who farms alongside her husband in the tranquil countryside. Her faith has always been her compass, but can she remain steadfast when the questions grow increasingly complex and the answers could mean the difference between life and death?Lena's daughter Ans has recently moved to the bustling city of Leiden, filled with romantic notions of a new job and a young Dutch police officer. But when she is drawn into Resistance work, her idealism collides with the dangerous reality that comes with fighting the enemy.Miriam is a young Jewish violinist who immigrated for the safety she thought Holland would offer. She finds love in her new country, but as her family settles in Leiden, the events that follow... Views: 133
Single mom, Lisa Morgan, struggles to raise her emotionally troubled twelve-year-old son, Andy. Police officer, David Russell, volunteers as the coach for Andy's basketball team. While helping the boy with his anger and hurt, Lisa and David each wrestle their own emotional issues. Their broken pasts keep them apart, but during the holiday season, they learn the true meaning of Christmas. Can Lisa and David forgive and forget yesterday's pain in order to share a future as the family they've both always wanted? Views: 132
Holly Cramer's past choices have finally caught up to her, but she never expected them to endanger her baby.Though Holly's stumbled through most of her adult life as a party girl, she longs to live a more stable life for her daughter. Then police show up to question her about the whereabouts of Creed Kershaw, Lily's father. She has kept his identity a secret from friends and family—she never even told him about the pregnancy. Now he's a person of interest in a drug-related murder case. Views: 132
Revenge. Sabotage. Second Chances. Widow Rebecca Howard runs a successful store chain that is being targeted during the holiday season. Detective Alex Kincaid, best friends with Rebecca's twin brother, is investigating the hacking of the store's computer system. When the attacks become personal, Alex must find the assailant before Rebecca, the woman he's falling in love with, is murdered. Views: 132
Austin Returns with a Multi-Generational Historical NovelGeesje de Jonge crossed the ocean at age seventeen with her parents and a small group of immigrants from the Netherlands to settle in the Michigan wilderness. Fifty years later, in 1897, she's asked to write a memoir of her early experiences as the town celebrates its anniversary. Reluctant at first, she soon uncovers memories and emotions hidden all these years, including the story of her one true love. At the nearby Hotel Ottawa Resort on the shore of Lake Michigan, twenty-three-year-old Anna Nicholson is trying to ease the pain of a broken engagement to a wealthy Chicago banker. But her time of introspection is disturbed after a violent storm aboard a steamship stirs up memories of a childhood nightmare. As more memories and dreams surface, Anna begins to question who she is and whether she wants to return to her wealthy life in Chicago. When she befriends a young seminary student who is working at the... Views: 131
When five girls at Jackson High School find themselves on a nasty list, they must join together and face the rest of their school. But will their struggles be too much to bear? Views: 131
Justin Pierce's brainchild, Khaki Kangaroo, is exactly the cartoon theme Andi Sherman needs for her world-class amusement park, Promised Land. In turn, Andi's park is the opportunity that can rocket Justin from obscurity to success. For both of them, spreading the Gospel through their creation is their passion--a shared dream that could cement a powerful partnership. If their shared past hadn't already driven them apart. Now, with construction of the park in its final phase, what begins as an uneasy alliance between the successful businesswoman and the talented animator enters a baptism of fire. Disaster stalks Promised Land--and only by burying their pride can Justin and Andi save everything they've work for from destruction. When Dreams Cross is part of the Second Chances series by award-winning suspense novelist Terri Blackstock. Combining fast-paced reading with realistic characters and situations, Second Chances takes readers to where the conflict between good and evil... Views: 130
Can a Legacy of Sadness be Broken at the Menger Hotel? Visit historic American landmarks through the Doors to the Past series. History and today collide in stories full of mystery, intrigue, faith, and romance. Young widow Hedda Krause checks into the Menger Hotel in 1915 with a trunk full of dresses, a case full of jewels, and enough cash to pay for a two-month stay, which she hopes will be long enough to meet, charm, and attach herself to a new, rich husband. Her plans are derailed when a ghostly apparition lures her into a long, dark hallway, and Hedda returns to her room to find her precious jewelry has been stolen. She falls immediately under a cloud of suspicion with her haunting tale, but true ghost enthusiasts bring her expensive pieces of jewelry in an attempt to lure the ghost to appear again. In 2017, Dini Blackstone is a fifth-generation magician, who performs at private parties, but she also gives ghost walk tours,... Views: 129
In the fourth book of the Cape Refuge Series, a teenage girl is found murdered, and the scene matches one in a book by a famous mystery writer who just moved to the island. This murder has a connection to Hanover House, and the residents there might never be the same. Views: 125
Despite Victorian society's strict rules for women, Rebecca and Flora Hawes' desire for adventure has led them to the Sinai Desert. Accompanied by their young butler and their maid, the sisters search for a biblical manuscript. On their exotic journey, they experience challenges and wonders, and recall the events that brought them to this time and place. Views: 125
The Baba Yagas have incredible power, but even that may not be enough to save their world when magic goes horribly wrong and all their happily ever afters are gone in an instant.Barbara Yager is used to traveling alone as she tends to her duties as a Baba Yaga. She sometimes brings Babs, the adopted daughter she is training, but her sheriff husband stays behind. This trip, though, she has made an exception. After all, the task seems so simple, and shouldn't take long to accomplish. When it is done, the three of them can indulge in a long-overdue family vacation. What could it hurt?Quite a lot, as it turns out. What Barbara thought was a minor problem ends in a violent magical confrontation she never expected. The resulting backlash sends them all into a warped timeline where Barbara and Liam never got together, and only Barbara and nine-year-old Babs remember the truth. Liam is still trapped in his grief and all the good they've done... Views: 122
Another Delightful Romance from the Queen of Romantic ComedyKatie Fisher is ecstatic. Pro basketball star Brady James has proposed, and she can't wait to start planning their life together. She's confident she'll make it down the aisle this time—but it still may be easier said than done. A high-society Houston bride has Katie and the Cosmopolitan Bridal team scrambling to get the perfect dress done in time for her spectacular wedding. Meanwhile, Katie finds herself bombarded with everyone's competing visions regarding her own special day—and she's beginning to worry that her own ideas will get lost in the crossfire. Will she ever manage to settle all of the details for her perfect day? Or will bridal shop chaos and overzealous friends and family make a mess of everything?Fan favorite Janice Thompson gives readers what they've been clamoring for: another funny, romantic romp with a Texas twang. Views: 121
SUMMARY: Struggling to make her mark on the Nashville music scene, talented singer/songwriter Parker James finds the competition can be fierce--even deadly--when a young woman is murdered at the studio where Parker works. Original. Views: 121
The attractions Roopa experienced and the
fantasies she entertained as a teen shaped a male imagery that ensconced her
subconscious. Insensibly, confident carriage came to be associated with the
image of maleness in her mind-set. Her acute consciousness of masculinity only
increased her vulnerability to it, making her womanliness crave for the
maleness for its gratification. However, as her father was constrained to help
her in becoming a doctor, she opts to marry, hoping that Sathyam might serve
her cause though the persona she envisioned as masculine, she found lacking in
him. But as he fails to go with her idea, she becomes apathetic towards him,
and insensibly sinks into her friend Sandhya’s embrace, for lesbian solace.
Soon,
in a dramatic sequence of events, Tara, a suave call girl, tries to rope in Roopa into her calling; Roopa herself loses
her heart to Sandhya's beau Raja Rao, and Prasad, her husband’s friend falls
for her. And as Prasad begins to induce her husband to be seduced by whores, to worm
his way into her affections, Roopa finds herself in a dilemma. However, as fate
puts Raja Rao into Roopa’s arms in such a way as to lend novelty to fiction, this ‘novel’ nuances man-woman chemistry on one hand, and portrays
woman-woman empathy on the other.
Who said the novel
is dead; 'Benign Flame' raises the bar as vouched by -
The
plot is quite effective and it’s a refreshing surprise to
discover that the story will not trace a fall into disaster for Roopa, given
that many writers might have habitually followed that course with a wife who strays
into extramarital affairs - Spencer
Critchley, Literary Critic, U.S.A.
The
author has convinced the readers that love is something far beyond the marriage
tie and the fulfillment of love can be attained without marriage bondage. The
author has achieved a minor revolution without any paraphernalia of revolution
in the fourth part of the novel – The Quest, India.
The
author makes free use of – not interior monologue as such, but – interior
dialogue of the character with the self, almost resembling the dramatic
monologue of Browning. Roopa, Sandhya, Raja Rao and Prasad to a considerable
extent and Tara and Sathyam to a limited degree indulge in rationalization,
trying to analyse their drives and impulses – The Journal of Indian Writing in
English.Overall, Benign
Flame is a unique attempt at exploring adult relationships and sexuality in the
contemporary middle-class. All the characters come alive with their cravings
and failings, their love and their lust. Benign Flame blurs the lines and
emphasizes that life is not all black and white - it encompasses the full
spectrum of living - Indian Book Chronicle.Chapter Headings:1.
Ramaiah’s Family2. Realities
of Life3.
Hapless Hope4.
Turn at the Tether5. Moorings of Marriage6. World within the World 7. Roopa’s En Passant 8. Threshold of Temptation9. Sathyam’s Surrender10. Sandhya’s Sojourn11. Match in the Making12. Poignant Moment13. Wedding Season 14. Veil
of Fate 15. Naughty Nuptials16. Tidings of Love17. Tentative Moves18. Fetishes of Fantasy19. Curtain of Courtesy20. Blueprint in the Offing21. Enduring Longing22. Villainy of Life23. Playboy
at Play24. Scheming the Theme25. Device of Deceit26. Software
of Detour27. Tara’s Theory28. Night of the Mates29. A Brimming Romance 30. Euphoric Forays31. Living
the Dream 32.
Chat at the Bar33.
Amour on Rein34.
Surge of a Merge 35. Date
with Destiny36.
Threesome Sail37. End of an Innings 38. Subdued
BeginningBook excerpt for a feel of its literary style - Ramaiah’s FamilyThat
winter night in the mid-seventies, the Janata Express was racing rhythmically
on its tracks towards the coast of Andhra Pradesh. As its headlight pierced the
darkness of the fertile plains, the driver honked the horn as though to awake
the sleepy environs to the spectacle of the speeding train. On that, in the
S-3, were the Ramaiahs with their nine year-old daughter Roopa.Earlier,
from Ramavaram, it was in the nick of time that Ramaiah took Janaki to Vellore
for the doctors to extricate her from the jaws of death. Now, having been to
Tirupati for thanksgiving, he was returning home with his wife and Roopa they
took along for the sojourn. While her parents were fast asleep, Roopa sat still
on a side berth, reminiscing her times at the hospital where Janaki took one
month to recuperate under Dr. Yasoda’s care.
Soon
the train stopped at a village station, as though to disrupt Roopa’s daydreams
of modeling herself on the lady doctor at the Christian Medical College
Hospital, and as she peeped out, the ill-lit platform seemed to suggest that
the chances of her being Dr. Roopa could be but dim. Ramaiah too woke up to the
commotion caused by the incoming passengers, and was surprised to see his
daughter still awake, lost in her thoughts.
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