. . The Carnton Novels   Amid war and the fading dream of the Confederacy, a wounded soldier and a destitute widow discover the true meaning of Christmas - and of sacrificial love.  Recently widowed, Aletta Prescott struggles to hold life together for herself and her six-year old son.With the bank threatening to evict, she discovers an advertisement for the Women's Relief Society auction and applies for a position - only to discover it's been filled. Then a chance meeting with a wounded soldier offers another opportunity - and friendship. But can Aletta trust this man?  Captain Jake Winston, a revered Confederate sharpshooter, suffered a head wound at the Battle of Chickamauga. When doctors deliver their diagnosis, Jake fears losing not only his greatest skill but his very identity. As he heals, Jake is ordered to assist with a local Women's Relief Society auction. He respectfully objects.Kowtowing to a bunch of "crinolines" isn't his idea of soldiering. But orders are orders, and he soon discovers this group of ladies - one, in particular - is far more than he bargained for.  Set against the backdrop and history of the Carnton Plantation in Franklin, Tennessee, Christmas at Carnton is a story of hope renewed and faith restored at Christmas.

    Despite the stars (literally and figuratively) in Charlene’s eyes, her mother has different ideas about her daughter’s future…leading to the inevitable clash of wills as the first Thanksgiving of World War II unfolds.Meanwhile, Charlene’s two older brothers, Jonathan and Joseph, have traveled home to Pittsburgh all the way from Arizona for a brief holiday furlough from their Army Air Forces training... and for what all family members realize will be the boys’ last Thanksgiving at home for a long while. For Jonathan, this Thanksgiving furlough presents a monumental predicament: what he should do when he encounters Francine Donner, his would-be fiancé. Jonathan had just started proposing to her the previous Christmas Eve when Francine blurted out a shameful secret that halted the proposal…but what will happen eleven months later when Jonathan and Francine come together again?Irene Coleman is determined to make this Thanksgiving as joyous as possible for everyone who will gather around her table and share the festivities, despite the wartime circumstances and how difficult a year 1942 has been at war and also the home front…and even as the days leading up to the holiday itself unfold very differently than she had envisioned.Come join Jonathan, Joseph, Charlene, Irene and Gerald, and the other members of the Coleman family during the days leading up to the first Thanksgiving of World War II in this sequel to The First Christmas of the War.

    A disturbing photo that can't be explained... A woman drowning in an ocean of secrets... In 1950s Virginia, beautiful, serious Jenna Damont seems to have found the life she's always wanted. But underneath the shallow gleam of her bright suburban world, murky truths are waiting to surface. On the morning that her husband dies in a tragic accident, Jenna finds a shocking photograph of him in the arms of a beautiful woman. And before she can ask him about it, he's gone forever. Five years later, Jenna has buried her questions and remade her life. But the reappearance of an old love stirs up guilty questions, and she realizes that some secrets weren't meant to be hidden. The deeper she dives for answers, the darker the water gets. How will she find happiness for herself and her family, when every step she takes towards the strange and awful truth seems to lead her right back to her own home shores?

    Even with the famine years behind them, tragedy and hardship does not stop. Promises made in good faith are broken, along with the hearts of those making them. A solicitor, a constable and a secretive organization, all play a part in determining the fate of a young couple whose only desire is to provide for their family and live a simple life.

    Determined to fulfill his dreams as an artist, he hitches out of Separation, Texas, headed for art school and the culture of 1960s New York City. But when the woman with whom he seeks solace from the pain of Darlene’s betrayal winds up pregnant, Harley’s plans—along with his dreams—get derailed. Determined to forge his path, Harley finally makes it to New York, where the art world opens up to him amid his blossoming relationship with Frankie, the first true equal and partner of his life. But Harley can’t leave his past behind as easily as he left Texas. A shocking discovery ignites a bloodlust that makes him risk everything he’s achieved, and propels him on an adrenaline-driven mission of revenge back to Texas, and the seedy underbelly of Ciudad Acuña, Mexico, where he finally confronts the obsession that has crippled his entire life.

    Quinn and his new bride Felice are aboard the steamboat Sultana going up the spring-flooded Mississippi River toward Illinois to meet the Funeral Train, when their honeymoon vessel stops at Vicksburg and takes on a pathetic human cargo of 2,000 sick and ragged survivors of the hellish Andersonville prisoner-of-war camp, kept alive only by their desire to get home. Quinn's lot is not thrown in with some of the unluckiest veterans of that awful war. While he is interviewing them about life in the notorious prison, the Sultana, carrying five times its lawful number of passengers, explodes after midnight. Quinn is blown overboard with the emaciated veteran Robb Macombie, and in the worst night of his life proves himself a better man than he had ever imagined he could be."--Dust jacket.

    Widower Michael Dobrescu brought his family from Romania to the town of Colden, Massachusetts with a singular purpose: to claim the house willed to him long ago. Since neither party has any intention of giving up their claim, a fierce legal battle ensues between the two families. When important documents go missing from the house, Libby suspects Michael is the culprit. Determined to discover the truth behind the stolen papers, Libby investigates, only to find more layers of mystery surrounding Michael and his family. Despite their rivalry, Libby finds herself developing feelings for this man with the mysterious past. As a decision about the house looms in the courts, Libby must weigh the risks of choosing to remain loyal to her family or give her heart to a man whose intentions and affections are less than certain.

    She was the wealthiest woman in Europe. But only few knew the secret she was hiding. She was a normal little girl, daughter of the King of Portugal’s personal physician, and for many years she was convinced that she, just like all the people in her immediate surroundings, was a Catholic.Until one day, on her twelfth birthday, Doña Gracia was led down to the basement of their home by her mother where the family’s deepest secret was revealed to her—"We are Jews.”Doña Gracia did not remain indifferent to this shocking news and little by little, she began to investigate and become familiar with her Jewish roots.The Little Girl from Lisbon Is the wonderful story of Doña Gracia, one of the greatest women Europe has known, about her personal struggle in a world controlled by men, her escape from the persecution of the Inquisition, and all the nobility who coveted her wealth, while turning into a leader who was truly admired and followed by her people.

    The title story takes us on board a small gunboat with a distinguished WW II record; the shame is that it is being used as a smuggler.Other stories include "Oh To Be In England," "The Reconciliation," "The List," "The Thousand Islands Snatch," "Up the Garden Path," "The Man Who Wanted a Mark IX," "I Was There," "The Dinner Party," "Licensed to Kill" and "Postscript."

    Trapped by poverty and without many allies, Jaymee nearly gives up hope of getting her daughter back after her best friend is murdered. Now, four years later, a wealthy woman with legal connections hires her as a housekeeper, and Jaymee gathers the courage to seek her help. But Jaymee’s last chance ends up in a puddle of blood in one of the historic antebellum mansions in Roselea, Mississippi.I just murdered your wife...again.An unsigned letter consisting of six horrifying words turns Nick Samuels stagnant life upside down. Stuck in emotional purgatory since his wife’s unsolved murder four years ago, Nick is about to self-destruct. The arrival of the letter claiming credit for his wife’s murder and boasting of a new kill sends Nick to Roselea, where he and Jaymee’s worlds collide.Jaymee and Nick realize exposing the truth about her daughter’s adoption is the only way to solve the murders. Up against years of deception, they rush to identify the killer before the evidence–and Jaymee’s daughter–are lost.But the truth doesn’t always set the guilt-ridden free. Sometimes, it destroys them.

    Headstrong, accomplished journalist Martha Gellhorn is confident with words but less so with men when she meets disheveled literary titan Ernest Hemingway in a dive bar. Their friendship—forged over writing, talk, and family dinners—flourishes into something undeniable in Madrid while they’re covering the Spanish Civil War.Martha reveres him. The very married Hemingway is taken with Martha—her beauty, her ambition, and her fearless spirit. And as Hemingway tells her, the most powerful love stories are always set against the fury of war. The risks are so much greater. They’re made for each other.With their romance unfolding as they travel the globe, Martha establishes herself as one of the world’s foremost war correspondents, and Hemingway begins the novel that will win him the Nobel Prize for Literature. Beautiful Exiles is a stirring story of lovers and rivals, of the breathless attraction to power and fame, and of one woman—ahead of her time—claiming her own identity from the wreckage of love.

    Read the firefighter romance novels that resulted from her intense relationship with firefighters! “Inspiring and emotionally invigorating…a true hero’s tale.” RT Book Reviews Three firefighters from the Malvaso family are trapped in a burning building and almost lose their lives. After they are rescued, they decide to change the way they’ve been living. Mitch, the eldest, wants to make some decisions about his dysfunctional marriage and spend more time with his troubled teenagers. Jenn decides to have a baby—with her best friend, Grady. And Zach, the bad boy of the group, vows to make up for his past sins and become a better man. Read the whole family saga romance in these exciting stories. Praise for AFTER THE FIRE: “This powerful, emotionally realistic book is the first of Shay's new series about the men and women who put their lives on the line every day and how that dedication and commitment affect all those around them. Poignant and compelling, this novel reinforces Shay's well-earned reputation as a first-rate storyteller.” Shelley Mosley, American Library Association. “A superb contemporary romance that grabs you in the prologue and won’t let go until you’ve read the final page. Bravo, Ms. Shay!” The Romance Readers Connection Also available: Don’t miss the rest of the firefighter romance series ON THE LINE, NOTHING MORE TO LOSE, AMERICA’S BRAVEST, IT HAD TO BE YOU, CHASING THE FIRE, THE FIRE INSIDE

    He takes with him only a few stolen coins, a knife, and the clothes on his back--no shoes, no map, no clear idea of where to head, except north, following a star that he prays will be his guide. Hiding during the day and running through the night, Jonah must elude the men sent to capture him and the bounty hunters out to claim the reward on his head. There is one person, however, who, once on his trail, never lets him fully out of sight: Angel, herself a slave, yet with a remarkably free spirit. In Jonah, she sees her own way to freedom, and so sets out to follow him. Bristling with breathtaking adventure, Chasing the North Star is deftly grounded in historical fact yet always gripping and poignant as the story follows Jonah and Angel through the close calls and narrow escapes of a fearsome world. It is a celebration of the power of the human spirit to persevere in the face of great adversity. And it is Robert Morgan at his considerable best.

    She is intelligent, but has trouble with words. How is she going to survive when her father is hanged for murder and her mother dies, leaving her alone? Ben Scott, an artist she has met only once, finds her at this crucial time and takes her back to his landlady, who gives her a home. The people living in the house become her family, and, step-by-step, the past is put behind her. In 1939 she marries a young doctor, John Sterling, and her happiness is complete. Then war comes to tear her family apart. John is killed during an air raid, and Ben is reported missing. Is she destined to lose the two men she adores? And how many painful steps will it take to regain her happiness?

    Grahame in this work. Merriman is plunged headlong into the world of espionage and when Grahame is seriously wounded it falls to Merriman to carry on the investigation.Young James Merriman must keep all his wits about him to foil these plans especially when his adversary is revealed to be an exceptional French agent Henri Moreau who hopes that by helping the Irish to throw off the English yoke, France will be able to use Irish ports from which to attack England.