Annie's domain was home and hearth, and her dying put a hole in his day-to-day rancher lifestyle--far beyond the one she left in his heart.But his heart is only one of his problems when ten-year-old Callie rebels. Missing her mom and unsure how her life is unfolding, Callie pushes back at every turn and John doesn't know how to help her. Then his friend, Buck McGinnis, introduces him to Abby Cooper. Buck thinks John should seek the counsel of a woman for advice dealing with a moody pre-teen female. Suddenly, life becomes even more complicated.The Parker Ranches, Inc. series launches with this short novella, The Rancher's Second Chance, establishing the patriarch of the family, John Rankin, and his second chance at love and healing his family. **** The Parker Ranches, Inc. series is a contemporary western romance series written by award-winning and bestselling romance author Maddie James.Linked by strong family relationships, these stories take place in multiple ranch settings across Montana, South Dakota, Texas, and Kentucky. The Parker and Rankin families--Montana ranchers for generations--anchor the series and provide the foundation for stories to come. As families grow, forming new ranch partnerships, you'll also meet the South Dakota MacKay and the Texas/Kentucky Remington families.Parker Ranches, Inc. books are first and foremost romance stories with happily-ever-after endings. Some are sweet, most are steamy, and a few are erotic. These novels and novellas always feature cowboy heroes and the women who love them--often with complicated relationships and external challenges that require time and attention to sort out.Welcome to Rankin's Rock Creek Ranch.

    M. Mitchell has been compared to Ruth Rendell, Martina Cole, Dean Koontz, Stephen King, M. R. James, Linwood Barclay, Umberto Eco, Charles Dickens and many more. Now's the time to discover D. M. Mitchell for yourself... THE WOMAN FROM THE BLUE LIAS - a murder mystery and psychological thriller with a difference... Toby Turner didn’t expect to stumble upon the remains of a human skeleton, washed down from the cliff top by a recent landslip. He runs a small bookshop in the quiet seaside town of Lyme Regis in Dorset. His life’s not quite on track; his bookshop’s not doing too well, for one thing, and he’s not sure his relationship with his girlfriend-cum-fiancé Trisha is going anywhere either – at least, nowhere she would like it to go. Toby takes a walk along the Blue Lias cliffs on Monmouth Beach to think things through, and here he finds the body of a woman; a woman, it transpires, who was murdered in 1978. The gruesome discovery and the resulting media attention he receives would have been hard enough to cope with, but he soon suspects the woman who keeps coming into his shop is the woman from the Blue Lias, that he is being haunted by the very woman he found on the beach. What’s more, he finds himself falling for her, eventually feeling he is unable to live without her. Is she real, or is he imagining things? His strange obsession starts to have a negative effect on his life and his health, which begins to deteriorate. He decides to try and solve the mystery of her death and why she chose him, of all people, hoping by discovering what happened to her all those years ago they can both find peace. And so begins Toby Turner’s bizarre journey of discovery that will lead him into very dark and dangerous territory. His search leads him to a hotel that used to stand high on the cliff, lost to a landslide in the 1980s, and to an old musician called Steely Jacobs who appears to be linked to the dead woman. But events take an unexpectedly disturbing contemporary turn when Toby discovers his best friend Mark has been secretly amassing information on a number of missing young women going back a decade or more. He learns about Mark’s secret past and how he'd been implicated in the murder of his teenage girlfriend. Is this tragic death connected to the list of missing young women he's made? And what has their disappearance got to do with the body Toby discovered on the beach, a woman murdered thirty-five years ago? How is all this connected to the mysterious hotel called the Belle Vue, long ago collapsed into the sea, and the aged guitarist called Steely Jacobs? Not only has he uncovered a body, Toby Turner had inadvertently scuffed away the thin covering of dirt from dark, long-held secrets that will lead him into a corrupt world of vice and murder. His life will never be the same again. D. M. Mitchell pens yet another taut psychological thriller complete with supernatural chills, peopled with an array of larger-than-life characters, deliciously devious twists and turns, with every seemingly disparate thread coming neatly together in a trademark surprise ending that will leave you speechless…

    Forget the law. She wants revenge Meet Stella Cole. An ambitious detective inspector with the Metropolitan Police Service. Her career and her life look rosy until a hit and run driver kills her husband. Grief drives her to booze and pills. Back at work after a year’s compassionate leave, Stella secretly re-investigates his death and begins to suspect a cover-up. The legal conspiracy she uncovers rocks her faith in everything she holds dear, from the law itself to the people enforcing it and those dispensing justice. But the people running Pro Patria Mori have no intention of giving up. They want Stella dead. But they’ve reckoned without Stella’s determination, fighting skills and powerful but increasingly violent alter ego she dubs “Other Stella”. Thriller fans have awarded this nail-biting trilogy hundreds of five-star reviews. This boxset gives you all three novels – over 1,000 pages of unputdownable action. Book 1: Hit and Run Detective Inspector Stella Cole was a rising star in London’s Metropolitan Police. Then a hit-and-run driver killed her husband, Richard, a human rights lawyer. Freelance journalist Vicky Riley was working with Richard to expose corruption buried deep inside the legal system. Unaware that powerful people are out to stop her, she contacts Stella. Vicky’s research confirms Stella’s worst fears. The people who should be upholding the law are turning it on its head. Stella thinks she’s closing in on the truth. Then a horrific discovery threatens her very sanity. What began as a search for justice is now a raging thirst for revenge. “OMG! You don't want to get on the wrong side of this lady. Found this book absolutely riveting. Honestly struggled to put it down. Read it over two days. You'll love it.” Sheila Riddoch, Amazon 5-star review Book 2: Hit Back Harder Detective Inspector Stella Cole only has one case. To find, and kill, the remaining members of a legal conspiracy who turned her world into ashes. But their leader’s pulling in friends from the underworld to take the fight to Stella. Chief among them, an Albanian drug lord nicknamed, The Shark". Regrouping in Spain, Stella makes contact with an old adversary. A retired gangster named Ronnie “The Razor” Wilks. He proposes a deal that tests Stella’s resolve to the limit. “Noooo! That ending twist was so unexpected and that's what I exclaimed when I read it! This book kept me awake at night... it didn't give me nightmares although I suppose the graphic detail could have done. No, it was its gripping storyline that was the problem. I like to read for a short while before settling to sleep at night, but I couldn't put the book down and ended up with some very, very late nights.” Carol E. Bentley, Amazon 5-star review The only problem? Stella is losing her mind to a second, unrelentingly brutal version of herself she’s dubbed “Other Stella”. As the violence escalates, the question is, which one will win? Book 3: Hit and Done Stella has almost completed her bloody quest to avenge the hit and run killings of her husband and daughter. Only one member of the legal conspiracy who murdered them remains. But he’s not going to go down without a fight. Even if it means having Stella sectioned and trying for the third time to murder her.

    One girl.We are the old gods.The forgotten deities.We are fierce, proud, jealous, and possessive.A lying little human tricked her way onto our world.Now she belongs to us.Forever.

    In his isolation, Vatar finds some comfort in daydreams. He knows the strange girl he sometimes imagines is just that--a dream. She’d better be.Because, if she’s real things could get even worse for Vatar. The accepted magic of Vatar’s plains tribe wouldn’t enable him to see or communicate with a girl he doesn’t even know--or know where to find. That would be more like the magic passed down in certain, closely-guarded bloodlines among the ruling class of the coastal cities. And that’s bad. Very bad.Unlike their own, Vatar’s people think the city magic is evil. If the shaman ever found out, it could be the weapon he needs to destroy Vatar. And yet, finding a way to accept the other side of his heritage may be the only way Vatar can ultimately defeat his enemy.The two kinds of magic have always been totally separate. Until now.

    The only one he’s ever loved but can he keep her safe from those who hunt him?Sweet has been living alone since her friend died years ago. Nothing but silence and indifference to keep her company until Mutter stumbles into her life—large, hungry, dangerous and as lonely as she is.Now, she’ll do anything to stay with him, even sacrifice herself.A love story as brilliant and tragic as Romeo and Juliet.

    He is property, bought and paid for in an Earth under sharia law. All faiths but one have been banned. And the rule of the great Imam is supreme. As a debugger, Sandfly has an implant in his head that connects him to the world's technology-and doles out mental shocks to keep him obedient. All he wants is to fix bots and avoid shocks Now he's been called into Earth orbit. The masters have a new spacecraft-one capable of interstellar flight. On its maiden voyage, the only robot on board went mad and tore itself apart. Why? Better question: does it pose any risk to humans? When Sandfly reviews the bot's final moments, he perceives something unexpected. Something impossible. As Sandfly pieces together the clues, a trap spreads beneath his feet. If he solves the mystery, he may doom himself. And if he fixes the robot, he may shatter his world. Suspenseful, unique, and awash in cyberpunk jive, A Star Curiously Singing presents a bleak future that might be closer than we think.

    He’s trapped in the tiny town of Elliston, and excitement’s not exactly knocking down his door. Until it does. A cryptic peddler, peculiar merchandise, and insatiable curiosity combine to tear Adam away from the mundane safety of his everyday existence… and into the impossible world of Tantris: a land of giants, mages and the magic Adam’s hoped for his entire life. But is this a world of sanity or madness? A dream or nightmare? Adam must answer these questions, and soon. Because Tantris has a mortal enemy—ruthless, evil and hungry for the souls of the innocent. And the Dark Mage just chose Adam as his next victim.

    Helping Roark Turner find his perfect girl certainly wouldn’t be a challenge for a veteran fairy godmother.Especially one about to retire. Even with as little magic as possible.After all, Roark’s perfect match is his best friend Stephanie Bowers—best friends since kindergarten. It should have been easy.But Cupid starts shooting arrows into Roark, forcing the mortal to fall in love, and bending his will.Christy must get Roark and Stephanie together without changing either of their free will, ruining her perfect record, and thwart Cupid’s meddling, or she’ll never get her own Happily Ever After.

    She is a Scrivener—an employee for Death—and her skull tattoos mark her clients for their demise. She does her job, and she stays out of trouble. But when her hands start to burn hot and fierce, and her control goes leaping out the window, all hell breaks loose. Ollie is showing the early signs of being a Master...demonstrating power that is forbidden.That power is exactly what Reaper Brent Hume is counting on. A hot, scruffy rebel, who does marvelous and terrifying things to Ollie's insides. Now he needs Ollie's help—and her skills—to overthrow the evil and corrupt Head Reaper. That is, if he can figure out a way to keep this hot-handed girl cool...and keep his hands off.

    Emma Steele doesn’t know there’s a killer lurking in her ER. In between fighting to keep her patients alive, struggling with her bipolar daughter and striving to further her career, her dance card is full. A deluge of antidote-resistant overdoses, the gruesome death of her mentor and the near-death of a friend shake her to her core and force her into looking for answers. Since she’s annoyingly competent and uncannily efficient, she finds them - just as the killer finds her. Will Emma live long enough to expose the killer? Or will he silence her first? You’ll love OVERDOSE if you crave ER drama with split seconds separating life from death. You’ll love it if blood, drugs and dislocated joints give you the warm fuzzies. You’ll love it if you long to see what’s inside the mind of a serial killer. OVERDOSE: An ER life novel with strong, flawed characters entangled in complicated relationships, life and death fights, and wine. Mostly red.

    This much she knows. It's what she doesn't know that could destroy her. Alex Garretty is just a normal teenage girl until she is yanked from her home in the middle of the night. Her entire family is moved across country and given new identities. Just when Alex thinks it can't get any worse, she meets Daniel, her mysterious but charming classmate. She quickly learns she isn't the only one keeping a big secret, and Daniel's secret could cost Alex her life. A visitor from her past arrives in town and Alex must quickly learn who she can trust. When she discovers the truth about her own destiny, Alex must find a way to accept it and even more importantly, a way to survive.

    There’s a wedding a month and divorces are non existent. Out-of-towners are flocking in on weekends to visit, and perhaps find love, speculating on whether it’s the natural spring water or something in the air. Whatever it is, they hope to find it. Tara Reynolds is a new pastry chef for the mountain resort, and love is the last thing on her mind when she arrives for the winter, but the handsome Olympian skier who owns a local bar has become quite irresistible. Can the mysterious forces in the town unite this couple who are fighting it every step of the way?WEDDING FEVERMila O’Reilley owns Wedding Fever, a bridal boutique in Serendipity Falls Mall. She sells more than dresses, she sells dreams along with the belief in happily-ever-after – a sentiment she personally doesn’t share.Chase Carlton is a young news reporter from San Francisco with big ambitions and dreams of his own. They don’t include interviewing the local residents about a love bug in their spring water, or discovering why there’s such a frenzy to rush toward the altar in this small mountain town.Can a jaded bridal consultant and a cynical news reporter uncover the true mystery of Serendipity Falls without being swept away in the madness?LOVE STRUCKCan Samantha and Kyle resist their attraction and find a way to save the town? The "love bug curse" and the discovery of gold has turned Serendipity Falls into a place where no one is safe.

    Their concern turns to horror once they turn on the news and see a live coverage of people eating dead bodies. When the chaos spreads to their street, they and a few neighbors barricade themselves in Justin’s apartment. They are trapped inside, tempers are rising, and food is running out. To survive, they must venture outside. But not all will make it.

    They quickly discover why the house was so cheap and that the past isn't so easy to ignore.