The Edge of Courage


Elaine Levine - 2012
    . . Rocco Silas has come home to Wyoming after long years as a Red Team operative in Afghanistan. It isn't easy returning to civilian life, especially burdened as he is with a staggering case of PTSD or hunted as he is by an enemy determined to seek an eye-for-eye--neither of which can he battle until he confronts the truth of what happened one fateful day in the high mountain ranges of the Hindu Kush. . . . She alone holds the key to his sanity. Mandy Fielding's dream of opening a therapeutic riding center on her family's ranch is almost within her grasp--until she hires Rocco Silas, a dangerous ex-Spec Ops friend of her brother's. His haunted eyes and passionate touch promise a love she never dared believe possible. Can they confront the truth of his past and build a future together or will the enemy stalking him destroy them both?

A Song for the Asking


Steve Gannon - 1997
    Hardened by years of law enforcement, he is determined to prepare his children to face a harsh and violent world. With a relentless will for perfection and scorn for anything less, Kane teaches them his rules for success and provides a model for the essentials of survival: strength, bravery, ambition, stoicism, and vengeance. He shows them everything -- everything but what is in his heart.Over the course of a single shattering summer, each of Kane's children will be forced to pay the price his standards demand, but the brunt of Kane's fierce and exacting love will fall on Travis. Lacking the physical prowess of his older brother Tommy, Travis confounds his father with artistic "softness" and musical gifts. Yet in a devastating moment that will change all the Kanes forever, it is Travis alone who will find the courage to defy his father and, ultimately, to redeem him. Set against the sweeping backdrop of the California coast, "A Song for the Asking" tells the story of a family not unlike your own . . ."Rarely does a first novel come along that is both electrifying and unflinching in its portrayal of a family in turmoil. In an intense and poignant debut that brings to mind the powerful dramas of Pat Conroy, Steve Gannon tells a story that is quite unforgettable. Deeply moving, compelling, and filled with candor and compassion, "A Song for the Asking" is, in a word, remarkable, and signals the emergence of a major new talent" Bantam Editorial Review" . . . well-drawn, convincing characters" Kirkus Reviews"Gannon writes brilliantly of the high hopes and shattered dreams, the love, laughter, tears, and pain that make up the family experience. His wonderfully dense and complex characters and his provocative plot combine to produce a heartrending, heartrending novel. An impressive debut." Booklist

Cicada Spring


Christian Galacar - 2015
    . .On a warm May evening in the spring of 1979, the people of Heartsridge, Massachusetts, are living the American dream. Families are gathered for barbecues. Kids are playing in front yards. Gardens are being kept. Meanwhile, Kara Price stumbles home through the woods, raped and beaten, her life shattered by a wicked act of violence, perpetrated by one of the town’s most beloved and public figures. Surrounding Kara is a cast of compelling and nefarious characters—a violent-tempered mayor who can do no wrong in the eyes of the town, a sheriff bound by the rules and plagued by a guilty conscience, a father bent on revenge, a serial killer in the midst of an identity crisis. And at the center of it all there's Kara, who just wants to move on with her life and forget everything that happened to her. But how can she do that when everyone thinks she is a liar who is only out for attention? With plot and emotion braided together by a careful hand, this haunted group of people all acting on behalf of their own interests begs the question: How far would you go to protect your own?