Mail Order Brides Anthology: Leah and Tess Books 1-2


Rose Jenster - 2016
    Enjoy each of their journeys in overcoming their challenging situations in New York. Note that each is a sweet stand-alone book, but they also are the first two books in the Montana Mail Order Brides Series. Mail Order Bride Leah Leah is a school teacher in Albany, New York during the 1880s who was devoted to her mother until she passed away. Her father lost his business and Leah did not want to spend the rest of her life living with her protective brother. She begins to correspond with a man from Montana who ran an ad for a mail order bride. Could she have found someone who also loves literature and shares so many of her interests? How does Leah handle her brother's negative reactions to the correspondence that now was the focus and light of her life? Can she leave the desperate situation in New York and find that joy that her heart dreams? Or is she destined to live a life without fulfillment? Will Leah find happiness in Montana? What secrets does her love keep to himself that makes him so hard to reach and read? Can Leah help Henry open up his heart or will she give up? Can his scars heal from the past? Book 2: Mail Order Bride Tess Tess is a seamstress in upstate New York during the 1880s. She fears she will be working in the sweltering shop her whole life and never find true happiness by finding a man who loves her. A married friend shows her a newspaper that has ads for mail order husbands and Tess shyly studies it with guarded hope. Tess is quite bashful with a lot of fear, but also worries what her life would be like without a big change. Will she find happiness out west or be stuck in the sweltering shop in New York? Why does Luke withdraw from her emotionally and can he let go of his past loss? Will Tess return home in defeat and be broken inside? Can their love blossom? Note: Each of the books is a stand-alone clean romance without a cliffhanger. They are sweet westerns appropriate for all ages. Book six, Mail Order Bride Jessica, is now available and is also in Kindle Unlimited.

Seductive Secrets


Carrie James Haynes - 2012
    Shunned from London society for being the daughter of England’s most notorious spy, Alyce Hythe desires only to clear her father’s name. For years, she has been hidden away from all prying eyes, given a new identity and told to forget who she was. But strange things have been happening causing old rumors to once more be whispered.Long has Lord Julian Casvelyn lived with guilt brought on when his brother was murdered by England’s most infamous traitor. But one eventful night has changed everything Lord Julian believed about his brother’s death. Never did he suspect the woman he has just saved from certain harm is the daughter of that man. Now Julian is caught in midst of a conspiracy and desire for that woman.Thrown together by fate, the two search for answers long denied them and along the way discover a love that can free them both.Previously published as Daughter of Deceit under Carrie James Haynes

Cosega Search


Brandt Legg - 2014
    What he finds is beyond imagining. It unleashes a mystery older than recorded time, rewrites human history, and promises to change the planet’s future. It must be suppressed.The most powerful forces in the world align against him, and a deadly competition for the artifact ensues. Capturing Gaines is not enough--everyone who has seen the artifact must be killed. His only hope is to stay alive long enough to decode the Cosega Sequence. Dig far enough into the past . . . you may just discover the future.

Flash Gold


Lindsay Buroker - 2011
    The problem? Fortune seekers and airship pirates are after her for the secret to flash gold, her late father's alchemical masterpiece. With her modified rifle and a pocketful of home-made smoke bombs, Kali wouldn't normally hide from a confrontation, but taking on a whole airship single-handedly is a daunting task. Unfortunately, the other racers won't assist her--they're too busy scheming ways to sabotage her unorthodox sled.When a sword-slinging stranger shows up, wanting to hire on as her protector, she's sure he has ulterior motives, but he's the only one interested in helping her. The question is...why?Details: an 18,000-word (75 page) steampunk novella set in the Yukon during the gold rush era.

A Lucky Day


Carlos J. Server - 2014
    What starts out as the happiest day in history for the local inhabitants soon turns into a race against the clock to find the lucky winner and cash in the lottery ticket. A priest with verbal incontinence, a sweet little old lady with secret sexual fantasies about the local butcher, a village mayor who's held power for thirty years, and a mailman in love with the wife of a villainous baker are just a few of the quirky characters who will make you laugh and occasionally bring a tear to your eye as you enjoy everyday situations taken to extremes. A Lucky Day is a heartwarming comedy peopled by a highly entertaining cast of characters. Truly a novel to be savored slowly, if possible.

Regarding Anna


Florence Osmund - 2015
    When certain clues draw her to a boardinghouse once owned by Anna Vargas, she becomes convinced that Anna was her real mother. She believes the boardinghouse walls have been harboring vital secrets for years, but when she meets up with the cantankerous old woman who had bought the place after Anna’s death, she questions whether she’ll ever be able to peel back all the layers surrounding her parentage.The lies and deceit that Grace unearths in her pursuit to validate her identity are shocking, complicated, and not all buried in the past. Does this force Grace to back down, or just heighten her determination uncover the whole truth?

An Illusion of Normal: The True Story of a Child's Survival in a Home Tormented by Mental Illness


Linda Schoonover - 2016
    Mom is "sick in the head." In an era when speaking of mental illness was taboo, Linda learns from an early age not to talk about her mother's bizarre behavior. Now her mother's escape from a would-be killer threatens to expose the family secret. They are not a normal family. Finally, after her mother's extended stays in mental institutions, Linda accepts that her Mom will never be normal. That, she assumes, makes her abnormal as well. She wrestles against her father's abuse and constant shaming of her and her faith. Will she ever feel normal in an abnormal family? Did God make a mistake? Why is she in a home where she doesn't feel loved or accepted? Is there a way for her to break away from the shame that holds her captive? An Illusion of Normal is the riveting and award-winning memoir of the life of a child whose mother suffers from paranoid schizophrenia. At times shocking and heartbreaking, her story exposes the darkness in a home tormented by a parent's mental illness and the light that shows the way out. "Schoonover's harrowing remembrance is unflinching, remarkable for a level of candor that demands courage. Her spare but moving prose tenderly portrays the terror and isolation she weathered as a child. Yet this is not a scornful lament but rather an inspiring account of personal triumph; the author writes affectingly about the love and sympathy she still has for her mother. This brief memoir is untainted by cloying self pity and full of wise counsel for others who have suffered similarly. An affecting look at childhood trauma." Kirkus Reviews

Guns of the Waste Land: Departure: Volumes 1-2


Leverett Butts - 2016
     Now featuring Volume Two, Diversion Guns of the Waste Land is an epic retelling of Arthurian Legend in an American Western setting. In late 1800s just outside the Texas town of Bretton, four men wander the American desert. Percy Murratt seeks Sheriff Ardiss Drake to learn the fate of his late father. Meanwhile, Ardiss’ deputies, Gary Wayne Orkney and Boris Bennick, are in the pursuit of the outlaw Lancaster O'Loch flees, who has seduced and stolen Ardiss’ wife, Guernica. Featuring a host of familiar characters reminiscent of Gawain, the Green Knight, Lancelot, Merlin and, of course, King Arthur, Guns of the Waste Land is a timeless adventure of chivalry, revenge and honour. Now, in Book Two: Diversion , follow Percy and co. on their epic quest as they traverse the frontier of the American Waste Land, in pursuit of their own Holy Grail… Guns of the Waste Land “impressed the hell out of me with its inventiveness and wonderfully colorful dialogue, […] you may have a genuine classic on your hands.” –T.E.D. Klein, author of Dark Gods & The Ceremonies “Leverett Butts is a real talent. His Guns of the Waste Land is an original way to use a genre. I like a guy who has a mad literary streak and walks the wobbly tightrope: so far he's gotten across. This is the first installment in a longer narrative, and I can't wait to read the next if it's as good as the first or even close.”—Richard Monaco, author of the Parsival series “Guns of the Waste Land brings us back to a genre that has mostly been out of fashion for a time, but I believe this work has the power to bring us back to why we loved westerns. The western story is the story of America. In the western, the lines between good and evil are often vague, just as they are in real humanity. The western shows us the difficulty to survive and how it changes people for better or worse. Butts has explored these ideas and many more in a book that is unique and as well written as anything you'll read this year.” –Scott Thompson, author of Young Men Shall See & Eight Days Leverett Butts teaches composition and literature at the Gainesville campus of the University of North Georgia. His poetry and fiction have appeared in Eclectic and The Georgia State University Review. He is the recipient of several fiction prizes offered by the University of West Georgia and TAG Publishing. His first collection of short fiction, Emily's Stitches: The Confessions of Thomas Calloway and Other Stories, has been nominated for the 2013 Georgia Author of the Year Award in Short Fiction. He lives in Temple, Georgia, with his wife, son, their Jack Russell terrier, and a couple of antisocial cats. Venture Press is a science fiction and fantasy imprint of Endeavour Press, the UK’s leading independent digital publisher. We are committed to the discovery and rediscovery of immensely talented authors in the SFF genre, and continue to push boundaries in search of great literature. Join us as we venture across universes and unknown landscapes – past, present and future. Sign up to our newsletter: http://bit.ly/1LUVI4n Follow us on Twitter @venture_press Facebook: http://on.fb.me/1NnFow7

A Place For Us


Harriet Evans - 2014
    She can’t live a lie any more.The invitation goes out far and wide, calling her three children and their families back home to Winterfold, their rambling house in the heart of the English countryside. They are Bill, the doctor; Florence, the eccentric academic; and Daisy, the child who never fit in. As the story unfolds, each character reveals the secrets, joys, and tragedies they are wrestling with through the confines of the family. What will happen when Martha finally tells the truth?

Hushabye


Celina Grace - 2013
    A murdered girl. A case where everyone has something to hide...Hushabye (A Kate Redman mystery) is the new novel from crime writer Celina Grace, author of Lost Girls and The House on Fever Street.On the first day of her new job in the West Country, Detective Sergeant Kate Redman finds herself investigating the kidnapping of Charlie Fullman, the newborn son of a wealthy entrepreneur and his trophy wife. It seems a straightforward case... but as Kate and her fellow officer Mark Olbeck delve deeper, they uncover murky secrets and multiple motives for the crime.Kate finds the case bringing up painful memories of her own past secrets. As she confronts the truth about herself, her increasing emotional instability threatens both her hard-won career success and the possibility that they will ever find Charlie Fullman alive...

Rest For The Wicked


Cate Dean - 2012
    And running out of time.Claire Wiche is an ordinary woman, running her Wicca shop in an ordinary California beach town. But Claire wasn't always ordinary, and she isn't quite human. She hides a secret, and a past she thought she had put behind her.A past that is about to explode into her present.When it does, and everyone she loves is in danger, Claire must face up to her past - and become what she left behind in order to save them.NOTE: This is a short novel, at just over 40,000 words (125 pages), and has graphic scenes not suitable for the under 17 readers.

The Passing Storm


Christine Nolfi - 2021
    With her father, Connor, she tends to their Ohio farm, a forty-acre spread that itself has enjoyed better days. As memories sweep through her, some too precious to bear, Rae gives shelter from a brutal winter to a teenager named Quinn Galecki.Quinn has been thrown out by his parents, a couple too troubled to help steer the misunderstood boy through his own losses. Now Quinn has found a temporary home with the Langdons—and an unexpected kinship, because Rae, Quinn, and Connor share a past and understand one another’s pain. But its depths—and all its revelations and secrets—have yet to come to light. To finally move forward, Rae must confront them and also fight for Quinn, whose parents have other plans in mind for their son.With forgiveness, love, and the spring thaw, there might be hope for a new season—a second chance Rae believed in her heart was gone forever.

Blackbird Fly


Lise McClendon - 2009
    That’s the delicious underpinning of this sprawling, exuberant, generous-spirited cozy mystery with a yummy side of international adventure.It might be sadder except that once Harry dies, his widow, Merle Bennett realizes almost immediately it was no wonder she didn't know anything about him. They’d pretty much been leading separate lives. Still, the will’s a shock. And so is an intriguing surprise—Harry left her a family home in a tiny French village. But who was Harry’s family? Finding out is half the fun.Merle sets out to claim her inheritance, adolescent son in tow, and thus begins a sojourn reminiscent of A Year in Provence, or perhaps Under The Tuscan Sun all mixed up with something by Carolyn Hart, maybe, or M.C. Beaton. Because Malcouziac, Merle’s tiny Dordogne town, is the quintessential village—just perfect for a murder. And a rollicking good time.Once Merle gets there, she finds…well, France! An unexpected romance! Mystery galore! Murder! And not just murder, but the unnerving experience of being a suspect. Once her passport is confiscated, what can she do but stay and restore her ancient battered house? While enjoying the tender attention of the unusually well-educated, handsome and…yes, quite mysterious roofer she’s hired.

Heart Like Mine


Amy Hatvany - 2013
    But when she meets Victor Hansen, a handsome, charismatic divorced restaurateur who is father to Max and Ava, Grace decides that, for the right man, she could learn to be an excellent part-time stepmom. After all, the kids live with their mother, Kelli. How hard could it be?At thirteen, Ava Hansen is mature beyond her years. Since her parents’ divorce, she has been the one taking care of her emotionally unstable mother and her little brother—she pays the bills, does the laundry, and never complains because she loves her mama more than anyone. And while her father’s new girlfriend is nice enough, Ava still holds out hope that her parents will get back together and that they’ll be a family again.But only days after Victor and Grace get engaged, Kelli dies suddenly under mysterious circumstances—and soon, Grace and Ava discover there was much more to Kelli’s life than either ever knew.Narrated by Grace and Ava in the present with flashbacks into Kelli’s troubled past, Heart Like Mine is a poignant and hopeful portrait about womanhood, love, and the challenges of family life.

Ajax Penumbra 1969


Robin Sloan - 2012
    Ajax Penumbra seeks a book--the single surviving copy of the Techne Tycheon, a mysterious volume that has brought and lost great fortune for anyone who has owned it. Late one night, after another day of dispiriting dead ends, he stumbles across a 24-hour bookstore, and the possibilities before him expand exponentially.