They'd built their cattle ranches side by side during the Gold Rush years in Montana Territory. One spring day Trac made a foolish bet with his head-strong cousin. Billy was killed, leaving his young wife Janie a widow. Trac's guilt and Janie's hatred of him changed everything. He couldn't stay and he couldn't go, but one thing he knew... he could not abide Janie's contempt.There was one other secret he kept buried deep in his heart. She'd chosen Billy, but Trac had loved Janie from the moment he'd laid eyes on her when she was a young girl. And what could he do about that now?Patricia Strefling, author of three published romance books, enjoys writing stories that inspire and encourage. She loves to travel and crochet and is currently working on three new novels. Mother of three grown sons and five grandsons, Patricia lives with her husband in Southwest Lower Michigan.

    Now a small-town cop, the past catches up with Kate when the body of a fellow Army veteran is left along a backcountry road...in meticulously severed pieces. Four years earlier, Kate spent eleven hours as a prisoner of war in Afghanistan. According to her Silver Star write-up, she singlehandedly took down eleven terrorists to avoid staying longer.But Kate has no memory of the deaths, or the events that led up to them. And now, bizarre clues are cropping up in and around that crime scene—and others. Clues that appear to connect to that fateful day. Is the killer trying to tell her something?Or is Kate finally losing her grip on reality?As the body count rises, Kate is forced to confront the guilt that caused her to bolt from the Army...along with the realization that, if she'd faced her demons sooner, her fellow vets might still be alive—and she wouldn't be in the killer's crosshairs.The Garbage Man is Book 1 in the Hidden Valor Military Psychological Suspense Series. If you like strong, female protagonists with gripping, complex suspense that twists and turns all the way to The End, you'll love Candace Irving's 107,000-word military mystery/suspense featuring Braxton Police Deputy Kate Holland.Grab your copy of The Garbage Man today and find out what happened to Kate during those eleven hours she spent as a POW...and why she must remember.

    Orphaned and barred from the Guilds, she has nowhere to go when her Talent fails to emerge.Loric: Brother-in-law to the king. Thwarted in his ambitions, he'd do anything to usurp the throne. And he finds just the scandal he needs when he unearths Saroya's hidden pedigree.The Kingdom of Veyle: Where all power flows to the Talented, and where the Guilds and the Order of Adepts control the destinies of Talented and Untalented alike.When calamity strikes the capital city, with Untalents blamed and on trial, Saroya knows that proving her Talent and parentage means saving more than just her own life. A tangle of lies hides secrets that force Saroya to choose between her future and Veyle's.

    Second families must go into hiding or be arrested. There is even a finder's fee for those who turn in their own. Ten-year-old Mary's father, a poor farmer, abandons Mary, her nearly-blind mother, and six brothers and sisters in the hills of the Wasatch Mountains to live in a shallow dugout not much better than a cave. Close to starving, the family is rescued by a nearby polygamist. As the much older man's intentions become more threatening, Mary finds it harder and harder to resist his proposal of marriage. Her family and friends, even her own mother, turn away from her. During the six-year period, from Mary's childhood to a forced marriage at sixteen, Mary must first survive, and then choose her fate. This is the story of survival, love, and compassion in a sometimes heartless existence. It is also the story of Mary's deep conflict with the Church's teachings on plural marriage, and with her father, who has abandoned them. Based on a true story."...filled with rich description that makes its early 20th-century setting and people come alive." -The Salt Lake Tribune"...an emotionally wrenching narrative out of U.S. history."-Kirkus Reviews

    The aircraft is reported to have crashed into the English Channel. There are no survivors and no bodies are recovered. Records of the incident mysteriously go missing. The Susan Rae and its crew vanish, committed to the dustbin of history.On the day the Susan Rae disappears, the English village of Lower Friththingden is the scene of several remarkable events. Two Rolls-Royces are seen parked near the village church. The entourage has paused to listen to the sound of the village children’s choir. Overhead a German parachute mine floats down, heading directly toward the church. Inside are most of the village inhabitants, including a young girl rumored to be the illegitimate child of Winston Churchill.More than a half-century later two men, an embittered American and a reclusive Englishman, have their lives altered as a consequence of the disappearance of the Susan Rae. Vince Collesano, ill, depressed, and alone, travels to England to satisfy his wife’s final request. Seconds before her death she had pointed to a painting of an English churchyard and asked to have her ashes buried there – in the country where she had been born and raised.Unfortunately, Vince has no idea as to just where in England that particular churchyard is located. The promise cannot be kept without the help of his late wife’s cousin, Albert “Bertie” Ambrose, a sad little man who hasn’t ventured outside of London for more than thirty years.Despite Vince’s intense dislike of Bertie, and all things English, the pair team up for what Vince believes to be a search for his wife’s final resting place. Given an ample supply of Marmite, they just may succeed.

    Three years later, he’s released to a world that refuses to let him move on. Belinda’s mother, once Thea’s good friend, galvanizes the community to rally against him to protest in her daughter’s memory. The media paints Stefan as a symbol of white privilege and indifferent justice. Neighbors, employers, even some members of Thea's own family turn away.Meanwhile Thea struggles to understand her son. At times, he is still the sweet boy he has always been; at others, he is a young man tormented by guilt and almost broken by his time in prison. But as his efforts to make amends meet escalating resistance and threats, Thea suspects more forces are at play than just community outrage. And if there is so much she never knew about her own son, what other secrets has she yet to uncover—especially about the night Belinda died?

    She is finally in a town long enough to almost snag the boy of her dreams, until her life is threatened after killing a fanged man in his attempt to kidnap her. Brooke begins a dangerous journey in an effort to find out who is after her and how to stop them. In a world with powerful and prejudiced vampires, Brooke must tap into the side of her that she never knew existed at the risk of losing her life in order to save it.

    Uncoiling from his crouched stance, he seemed to guide the ball wherever he wanted on the way to a whopping seven batting titles and a spot in the Baseball Hall of Fame. If only everything in life had been as easy as he made hitting look. In One Tough Out: Fighting Off Life’s Curveballs, Carew reflects on the highlights, anecdotes, and friendships from his outstanding career, describing the abuse, poverty, and racism he overcame to even reach the majors. In conversational, confessional prose, he takes readers through the challenges he’s conquered in the second half of his life, from burying his youngest daughter to surviving several near-fatal bouts with heart disease. He also details the remarkable reason he’s alive today: the heart transplant he received from Konrad Reuland, a 29-year-old NFL player he’d met years before. Carew explains how that astonishing connection was revealed and the unique bond he and his wife, Rhonda, have since forged with his donor’s family. An important thread running through this mosaic of Carew’s life is his faith. He illustrates how his mother instilled those beliefs during their darkest days and how conversations with God helped him fight off every curveball life has thrown his way.

    Not when they are deep within the heart like Angela Conrad's. Ten years ago, Clancy Morgan broke her heart and even though she's made a successful life for herself, she's never gotten over that pain. Angel didn't intend to ever go back home, but when the Alumni Association asked her to return to her hometown to play for the dance at their alumni gathering, she agreed.Clancy wasn't planning to attend, but he does, and he recognizes Angela immediately. He never expected to see her again, and definitely didn't expect to see her standing up there looking like a movie star and singing like a seasoned famous country artist. She's the Angel he walked away from and has been kicking himself ever since.He made a big mistake, but maybe he can mend it, if only she'll let him. She's not so easily inclined, but he gets to know her posse of protective girlfriends, and they cook up a scheme to help her get over him once and for all. Or, maybe she'll let him win her back.

    And he certainly shouldn’t have shot down a ruthless gunfighter in front of a crowd of onlookers at Belleville’s busiest saloon. Now that the smell of gunpowder has faded and the blood has been scrubbed off the floor, Zachary is something he never wanted to be: a damned hero. He's been written up in the papers and has more trouble on his hands than any 27-year-old man should ever have. And that was before his newfound fame proves a threat to a cruel cattle baron named McConnell...

    'You could find yourself out of the frying pan and into the fire.' Her past denied and dance championship dreams discarded, Cassie Sleight leaves home. In the seemingly idyllic coastal town of Keimera, she starts a career on the English staff of the local high school. Exposure to Mark Talbut, a man struggling to be modern yet threatened by power shifts in the workplace and in society, causes Cassie to assess her reactions as a teacher and a woman. As she does so, the secrets of her past surface. Will that past continue to choreograph Cassie’s present steps? What sort of woman does she become? ‘In and Out of Step' looks at how the world a person lives in shapes that person for good and for bad. It is a story about friendship and family, belonging, alienation, sexual harassment, and change. The title alludes to the way Cassie Sleight uses dance as a way to interpret life and process her reactions to it.

    He offers me an absurd amount of cash to travel with them as a consultant for my psychic abilities. Why not? I like Birmingham, and everyone knows those old legends about the Furnaces are a bunch of bull malarkey. Besides, things have taken a turn for the crazy bordering on stupid in Guntersville. Jared Raley, my clueless cuckold new client, is determined to sue his neighbor for an invasion of privacy. I don't think we stand a chance in court since I saw Jared's wife Crystal with their neighbor at the local deli. Together. His hand in her back jean pocket. Yeah, I don't want to be the one to break the truth to Jared.I bumped into my former high school best friend turned nemesis. She's doing great and just bought the veterinarian clinic in town since she graduated from Auburn. Her career is going just as she planned. My face still hurts from fake smiling.Chase brought his friend Patrick to the house for dinner. They're restoring a '76 Vette, working into the wee hours of the night every day this week.It's been impossible for me to sleep. If you met Patrick, you'd understand.The cherry on top of the hot mess that is my life? Granny Snow had a secret gift for me. Oh, boy, did she ever!Why do people assume it's alright to give me a life-altering gift without asking if I want one?You can understand why it's the perfect time to skip town for a weekend and leave my Guntersville problems behind. Even if it means running the risk of further waking my paranormal 'Gifts.' I've never been more wrong in my life. Foolish Beliefs is the 2nd installment in the April May Snow "Foolish" mystery novels and a continuation from the "Throw the" series. The stories are stand-alone.Do you enjoy Janet Evanovich, Tricia O'Malley, Erin Huss, JB Lynn, Jana DeLeon, Angie Fox, Elizabeth Hunter, or Regina Welling? Foolish Beliefs will keep you turning pages until the end!Foolish Aspirations (Mystery Novel #1) Want more April May Snow? Try the complete prequel series listed below.#1 Throw the Bouquet (Short intro story)#2 Throw the Cap (Novella)#3 Throw the Dice (Novella)#4 Throw the Elbow (Short Novel)#5 Throw the Fastball (Short Novel)#6 Throw the Gauntlet (Short Novel)#7 Throw the Hissy (Short Novel)

    Conspire with a hitwoman to murder my husband’s lovers.2. Frame my husband for their murders.3. Tell no one and to hell with the church.This is just the beginning of a vengeful to-do list for beautiful pastor’s wife and successful salon owner Lavender Wallace. After all, it’s not every night she finds her husband of almost twenty years, Pastor Quincy Wallace, with a prominent deacon kneeling before him in the pulpit—if only it were in prayer. With God taking entirely too long, Lavender satisfies her growing contempt by teaching her husband a malicious lesson that his faith never could. But trying not to fall for the detective investigating the case of her husband’s disappearing lovers proves difficult for a lonely and scorned wife. Shielding a doting teenaged son from his father’s secrets is even harder. As old lies are exposed and a deadly plot backfires threatening to destroy those she loves most, Lavender is forced to make a life-altering decision—the bible or the bullet?

    So when a secret agency operating outside the law recruits him for his special operations skills his team leader Tally, a tough, attractive computer genius, is ordered to keep him on a tight leash. But a tight leash is the last thing Mac wants. His intent is to use the agency’s massive resources to track down Sophia, a close friend’s daughter, who has been kidnapped in Mexico. From the beginning, sparks fly between Mac and Tally. Mac sees Tally as an office worker, not qualified for field operations. For her part, Tally views Mac as little more than a cold-blooded killer. The conflict escalates as the two are forced to play at husband and wife in order to get close to their next target.Ignoring orders to stay out of trouble, Mac enlists the help of Scotty, a British soldier, and Jog, a Lebanese fixer. They follow the kidnappers’ trail to Paris, where events lead them to suspect Sophia is a captive of Sheik Khalid, a billionaire Saudi exile who is suspected of supporting terrorist groups by shipping weapons, drugs and slaves on his luxury vessel, Princess Aliya.Mac and Tally discover they have feelings for each other, but events lead Mac to question whether Tally is working to another agenda. With time running out, the group dodges assassins, corrupt generals, evil medicos, Mossad agents, corrupt bureaucrats and sharks. But they cannot anticipate what is waiting for them on Khalid’s fortress island of Andaran, or that there’s much more at stake than Sophia…

    They exist under the sufferance of their brutal overlords. When a mysterious stranger saves a miller’s son from cruel punishment, the Sheriff of Nottingham sends the ruthless Sir Guy of Gisborne to hunt him down. His past life destroyed, Robin of Loxley must face his greatest challenge yet. Deadly with a longbow and a sword, he will fight tyranny and injustice, encounter allies and enemies old and new. The vast Sherwood Forest with its hidden glades and ancient pathways is the last refuge of wolfsheads. Here their bloody battles will be fought, friendships forged and loyalties tested. Loxley will become Robin Hood. Notorious leader of outlaws. Their daring deeds will become legend. This is the first in a four-part series "The Chronicles of Robin Hood", and includes an historical note on the origins of the famous outlaw.