With all the heartbreaking earnestness of a Wilco song, these eighteen stories by Chad Simpson roam the small-town playgrounds, blue-collar neighborhoods, and rural highways of Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky to find people who’ve lost someone or something they love and have not yet found ways to move forward. Simpson’s remarkable voice masterfully moves between male and female and adolescent and adult characters. He embraces their helplessness and shares their sad, strange, and sometimes creepy slices of life with grace, humor, and mounds of empathy. In “Peloma,” a steelworker grapples with his preteen daughter’s feeble suicide attempts while the aftermath of his wife’s death and the politics of factory life vie to hem him in.  The narrator of “Fostering” struggles to determine the ramifications of his foster child’s past now that he and his wife are expecting their first biological child. In just two pages, “Let x” negotiates the yearnings and regrets of childhood through mathematical variables and the summertime interactions of two fifth-graders. Poignant, fresh, and convincing, these are stories of women who smell of hairspray and beer and of landscapers who worry about their livers, of flooded basements and loud trucks, of bad exes and horrible jobs, of people who remain loyal to sports teams that always lose. Displaced by circumstances both in and out of their control, the characters who populate Tell Everyone I Said Hi are lost in their own surroundings, thwarted by misguided aspirations and long-buried disappointments, but fully open to the possibility that they will again find their way.

    Not since Coleman walked through the back gate one morning, leaving behind a distraught family concerned by his increasingly outlandish behaviour. Now Jasper's life has come to an impasse — he has settled into a rather stultifying existence as a corporate drone, living with a girlfriend he doesn't quite know how to break up with. Until a freak accident and strange phone call change everything. With little more to go on than a random phone call, Jasper follows his brother's trail southward into the Florida Everglades where a family mystery from his childhood may hold the key to Coleman's disappearance. Accompanied by brawny, devout Donny and the extremely eccentric Duane, Jasper embarks on a series of misadventures involving a gorgeous swamp moll, an estranged aunt and alligator poachers as he gets deeper into his search for his brother. All roads seem to lead to Uncle Rolly Lee, a rock-and-rolling swamp rat whose rather rough exterior belies an even rougher interior. Can Jasper uncover the secrets of the past and find his brother before he gets mired in the swamp and the machinations of Rolly Lee? Populated with unforgettable characters and a suspense-filled story at its heart, A Cold Night for Alligators is a first novel about loss, hope and the ties that bind family together.From the Hardcover edition.

    And a potential Mr. Right. He’s sweet, simple, and dependably clueless about what she’s up to. The only thing unpredictable about him is his needy ex-girlfriend, who is this close to shattering Sylvia’s dreams. But Sylvia’s not going to let that happen.Riki McFarlan has a good career and an amazing boyfriend who wants to settle down. If only she didn’t have feelings for her neighbor—who happens to be her close friend’s husband. With everything going so right, why is Riki flirting with something so wrong, so…dangerous?Embry Taylor is as devoted to her children as she is to her husband, who’s a bartender by night, an aspiring actor by day. She is his biggest fan. But with his career not taking off and tensions high, even sweet Embry has something she’s desperate to keep hidden.Lies, secrets, and revenge. For three neighbors with stakes so high, someone is headed for a downfall.

    Nor was seeing her in the headlines, fifteen years later, accused of burning her adoptive mother to death. For Dr Rebecca Carey, no longer a troubled teenager, but now a dedicated pediatrician, there was only one choice: Find out the truth about her child.

    Violence has shattered their family and left Libby nearly unable to cope. And while Carrie once took comfort in her beloved sister, Emma, her mother has now forbidden even the mention of her name.   When Carrie meets Ruth, Honor, and Cricket Chaplin, these three generations of warmhearted women seem to have the loving home Carrie has always dreamed of. But as Carrie and Cricket become fast friends, neither can escape the pull of their families’ secrets—and uncovering the truth will transform the Chaplins and the Parkers forever.   Look for special features inside. Join the Circle for author chats and more.

    But an unexpected call from the local police takes the successful lawyer back to her provincial hometown and pulls her into the family trouble she thought she'd left far behind: Her lying, party-loving sister, Vicky, is dead. Alma is told that a very drunk Vicky had wandered away from a party and died of exposure after a night in the brutal cold. But when Alma returns home to bury Vicky and see to her orphaned niece, she discovers that the death may not have been an accident.The Home Place is a story of secrets that will not lie still, human bonds that will not break, and crippling memories that will not be silenced. It is a story of rural towns and runaways, of tensions corporate and racial, of childhood trauma and adolescent betrayal, and of the guilt that even forgiveness cannot ease. Most of all, this is a story of the place we carry in us always: home.

    I jolted back in surprise as a hot, thrilling, tingling sensation ran up my arm when my bare skin brushed against his… Did he feel that sensation too? How does that happen from touching someone? University student, Wiley Cayton’s world turns upside down when she meets college newcomer Cameron Wilks. With his irresistible good looks, he seems to be nothing but a party-boy and a constant distraction. But is there more to the hottest guy on campus? Even when Wiley finds out about Cameron’s troubled past, she’s determined to keep her distance and her previously shattered heart protected. But with him studying the same degree and falling in with her group of friends, she’s drawn to him in unexplainable, illogical ways. How can one’s heart overrule one’s mind? Inevitably she falls for his charismatic charm and her insecurities take hold. Her life spirals out of control and she struggles to find balance between partying, sex and maintaining her scholarship grades. With her future at risk, her family battle to keep her and Cameron apart, but that only weaves their relationship tighter together. When a college prank goes horribly wrong – threads snap, and just when she needs him most, Cameron disappears. Is their tumultuous romance meant to be or is it just a temporary distraction?

    But I didn’t just leave my past behind—I left Callie McIntyre, the good girl I was never good enough for.Now Callie’s mayor of our town, and I’m back too, a European-trained chocolatier with a proposal for a new facility I need her approval on. One that will redeem my family name, and hopefully me, in her eyes.But Callie still hasn’t forgiven me for breaking her heart. And if she vetoes this project, she’ll never know it was all for her.Valentine Veto is a standalone steamy second chance novella, part of the Man of the Month Club multi-author series.

    But sometimes, a past of hurt puts finding new love on the back burner. Tiffany closed her heart to everything but her career when her ex left with another woman. Roger's billions couldn't save his marriage from a tragic ending that left his young daughter motherless. Career-focused and plagued by past fears, finding someone new is the furthest thing from their minds… Until Valentina Del Torre steps in. The Billionaire Matchmaker knows that a future lies ahead of them, but she can't mend the past. The fear of more loss, pain and heartache lurks within them both, pushing them apart even as they reach for each other. Will they finally find peace in each other? Can they even dare to hope for a holiday miracle?

    She inflicted pain on another, and now, more than a decade later, she's going to pay. The only problem is she can't remember what it is she's done to find herself caught in this cat and mouse game that's been played twelve times before . . . a game nobody has ever come out of alive. Can Morgan be the first to survive this game of life?Can she outrun nature, the darkness, a fire and a vengeful hunter?Who's afraid of the big, bad wolf?You should be!Lose your mind. Live the fear. Fight with these characters as they battle until the very end. Hold your breath as you start, and finish, the story of a lifetime. Characters so real—you'll feel like you're playing the game with them. Plot twists so unexpected—you won't be able to stop reading. And an ending so powerful ... you'll never forget it. ~ A standalone novel by international bestselling author Belle Brooks.Also available in a FIVE-part novella series.

    She loves their new home called Oakley Plantation, especially when she finds old love letters dated back to the Civil War. Unfortunately, she has only one side of them—letters from Lt. Stanton Winston Tate. Little does she know that across the state, a young man named Trevor Whitfield finds the other half—letters from Constantine Oakley. They both research the couple and find lots of history of the old plantation—and some not so good. In the meantime, Sheriff Carlton Adams is trying to solve all the cold cases before he retires. Three murders are left; all were in the late 1800s, and all involve the Oakleys. Fate intertwines their lives and research. When all seems to come to a dead end, a century year old lady named Mable Carter helps. However, her help unveils a curse and the spirits. Can Issy, Trevor and the Sheriff solve the case? Can they undo the curse?

    Neva Bradley, a third-generation midwife, is determined to keep the details surrounding her own pregnancy—including the identity of the baby’s father— hidden from her family and co-workers for as long as possible. Her mother, Grace, finds it impossible to let this secret rest. For Floss, Neva’s grandmother and a retired midwife, Neva’s situation thrusts her back 60 years in time to a secret that eerily mirrors her granddaughter’s—a secret which, if revealed, will have life-changing consequences for them all. Will these women reveal their secrets and deal with the inevitable consequences? Or are some secrets best kept hidden?

    When his on-again, off-again, love is kidnapped, Jesse risks his life to discover the startling truth behind her disappearance. Battling the chaos of guns and violence, Jesse finds new strength and purpose.

    Amid the sand dunes and oak trees draped with Spanish moss, they swam and wished for happy-ever-afters, then escaped to the local bookshop to read and whisper in the glorious cool silence. Until the night that changed everything, the night that Lainey's mother disappeared.Now, in her early fifties, Bonny is desperate to clear her head after a tragic mistake threatens her career as an emergency room doctor, and her marriage crumbles around her. With her troubled teenage daughter, Piper, in tow, she goes back to the beloved river house, where she is soon joined by Lainey and her two young children. During lazy summer days and magical nights, they reunite with bookshop owner Mimi, who is tangled with the past and its mysteries. As the three women cling to a fragile peace, buried secrets and long ago loves return like the tide.READERS GUIDE INSIDE

    Duke Rogers finds himself in a racially charged situation. The case might have to wait... The immediate problem: getting out of South Central Los Angeles in one piece during the 1992 Rodney King riots and that's just the beginning of his problems.Private investigator Duke Rogers finds an old "friend" for a client. The client's "friend," an up and coming black actress, ends up dead. Duke knows his client did it. Now, feeling guilty, he wants to find the client/killer. He starts his mission by going to the dead actress' family in South Central L.A. - and while there the Rodney King riots ignite. And while he tries to track down the killer he must also deal with the racism of his partner, Jack, and from the dead woman's brother, Warren. He must also confront his own possible latent racism - even as he's in an interracial relationship with the murder victim's dead woman's sister.