Because I would never, ever know peace again.' Charlene Downes was 14 when she went missing in Blackpool's seedy underbelly. Once a happy-go-lucky schoolgirl, she had become a truant - hanging out with the wrong crowd by the takeaway shops and pier. But Charlene's mum, Karen, always knew her typical teenage daughter would come home.Until one day she didn't.Karen has been searching for 15 years, campaigning for the truth of what happened to her daughter. To this day, Karen and her family have no body, no convictions and no answers. Arrests were made and a murder trial took place, but no one has ever been brought to justice.On the 15th anniversary of Charlene's disappearance, Karen shares this heartbreaking account of every parent's worst nightmare.

    

    But when the murder weapon shows up in his closet, he's forced to run. Strange phone calls from the true killer lead him to Seattle WA in order to find him and ask him why.

    Amelia plans to stay only as long as it takes for her friend to marry. She has no interest in a life in Montana. That is, until she meets handsome lawman, Wilder Armstrong. And then everything changes. Wilder is on the trail of a criminal and travels to Montana Falls to see that justice is done. He doesn't bank on meeting the one woman who will persuade him that Montana just might be a place to settle down forever. Nor can Wilder let the best friend of the woman he has fallen for marry the very man he is investigating. Can two people united by destiny find true happiness? Can an instant attraction become an eternal love? Each story in the series is a full length complete standalone novel with a happy ending and no cliffhangers.

    

    He's at work and will have to trek through rough neighborhoods and rural areas, and do things he never dreamed of. Walking through Southern California will stretch his skills, knowledge, and preparation to the limits. Will he survive this catastrophe of biblical proportions? Will he make it home to his family? Will his family survive until he arrives home? What will he find if he does make it? This is the story about the worst type of natural disaster and a man who will do whatever it takes to make it home to the ones he loves. A story of despair and resilience, failure and triumph. If you like the book, and even if you don't, PLEASE take a moment to rate it and leave a review. I welcome all constructive feedback as I intend to write more books and the feedback will only help me become a better writer. Thank you for taking the time to consider, and hopefully read, my book.

    

    Races operating within their own planetary systems are to be left alone until they begin to develop the ability to travel at FTL (faster than light speeds). When the ability to travel at FTL becomes apparent, one of the members of the Federation is nominated to help ease the newcomer through the Galactic citizenship process. Unfortunately, not all the galaxies systems belong to the Federation, and some of those systems are much less than friendly. The last several decades have seen the development of war like societies that systematically loot developing planets. They take the water, and other precious resources, including slaves, leaving the remaining native inhabitants a barren planet. Without resources the population simply dies a slow death. The Egolari are here because we, meaning the people of Earth, happen to possess a skill set and an aptitude that is critical to the needs of the Federation. The major problem within the Federation is that virtually all the members have, for centuries been living in peace. They have developed a society that is not well suited to counter the growing violence presented by the nonaligned races. In short, they have no way to protect themselves, let alone protect the fledgling races just arriving on the galactic scene. Enter Earth. Of all the emerging races to become future galactic members, one has a superior potential to face the violence threatened by the nonaligned races. You guessed it, Humanity. The Federation realized that to continue to function as an organized galactic society, they would have to develop a military arm that could provide the Federation and emerging systems the protection of a fleet of space vessels and marines. Humanity was the race most capable of leading the development of that military organization because we had not progressed so far that our war like tendencies had begun to erode. Although we were not yet ready for galactic membership, we were a necessity that could fill the need, thus we were getting a crash course in how to travel the galaxy, protecting ourselves and the Federation with the full expectation that we would go where no human has gone before, and kick some alien ass.

    Running wild and free on the veldt. Elephants and giraffe for playmates. What more could a child want? As a builder for the then-Rhodesian government, Dad's job was low-paying and demanding. We were sent to areas where there were few trappings of civilization, such as electricity or potable water. My siblings and I ran barefoot in the bush and swam in crocodile and parasite-infected rivers. We were never clean. We loved it.Our camps were spartan and makeshift, and scorpions, spiders, and snakes regularly invaded our space. There were no schools. I was home-schooled by Mom. Then, at age eight, my parents sent me to a religious boarding school; an institution ripped straight out of the pages of Dickens. It was there I discovered not all adults were kind or empathetic people. In the bush, we were forced to create our own amusements--making our smash hit movie on a riverbank, or writing plays that we produced on a squeaky, portable 8-track tape recorder. We spent sultry nights playing poker in our caravan, reading books, and writing stories. My parents were artists and writers; creative, but not the most practical people. They made mistakes, and in 1963 a whopping blunder bankrupted us and forced our family back into the bush. This memoir will take the reader through my life from birth in 1950 to the abrupt end of my childhood in 1969. Tea, Scones, and Malaria is a story about my family's gypsy-like trek through the African bushveld. It is about loneliness, poverty, dysfunction, and tropical diseases. It is also the laugh-out-loud memoir of a child who finds ways to entertain herself and survive in a world that is the literal definition of wild. How I survived it all, I will never know.

    Feisty heroines. Sweet, swoon-worthy stories.5 full-length standalones in one complete set.Everything I NeedCharley Meadows has lost nearly everything she loves. Needing to calm her mind and get away from the heartache, Charley abandons the place she’s always called home. 

But she never expected to have her newfound peace disrupted by Wes Blackman. 

Snowboarder extraordinaire turned business owner, Wes has been putting in hours to keep his company as the industry leader in snowboard production. With a board launch on the horizon, Wes finds himself back on the mountain. 

What he hadn't expected to find was a mysterious girl with a battered heart. 

Charley is afraid to take a risk and open her heart, knowing tragedy may strike again. 

Wes wants the opportunity to prove that no matter what happens, he'll always be there to pick up the pieces.Everything I HaveEmme James lives in darkness. 



Ever since her abusive relationship ended in heartbreaking tragedy, she's kept herself secluded to protect herself and those she loves. Unfortunately, Emme's plans to remain unattached fall apart the moment Zane Cunningham sets his sights on her. 

A professional snowboarder at the top of his game, Zane does not need a distraction. But when Emme walks into his life, he can't fight the pull he feels toward her and will take her any way he can get her. 

Emme struggles to resist Zane's persistent efforts to turn their friendship into something more and finally gives into the attraction between them. 

But just as Zane brings light and laughter into Emme's life, her trouble finally catches up to her. Zane promises he'll keep her safe, no matter the cost. 

Because he knows that if he can't, Emme may be lost in darkness forever.Everything I WantWhen starry-eyed dancer, Monroe Archer, met professional snowboarder Xander Stone, she believed she'd found the man of her dreams. Searching for her fairytale romance since she was a little girl, Monroe goes after what she wants. 



Stone is a grief-stricken man. At a young age, he learned that forever doesn't exist. Ever since, he's been a tortured soul just going through the motions. 


Monroe is devastated to learn that Stone wants nothing more than friendship. But just as she tries to move on, he realizes his attraction to her isn’t so easily denied. Powerless to resist her any longer, Stone starts something with Monroe knowing he is incapable of giving her forever. 



With her sweet and charming disposition, Monroe sets out to heal the wounds left on the heart of the man she loves. But it isn't long before Monroe realizes that sometimes those that love you most are the ones that hurt you the worst. Everything I LoveNikki Drake was just a little girl when she experienced her first heartbreak. Many years and several betrayals later, she's learned that life is what you make of it. Though she’s been resilient in the face of her past, it has affected one small part of her. 

Nikki refuses to give her heart to anyone ever again. 



Luke Townsend is a man most women dream about. Underneath his tall, handsome exterior, he's charming, compassionate, sensitive, and loyal. A dedicated snowboarder, Luke knows what it means to work hard for what he wants. And what Luke wants is Nikki. 


After sharing his feelings and being rejected, Luke walks away, vowing to find a way to win her heart. 

But once Nikki finally hands her heart over to him, Luke shatters her world with the truth.Everything I GiveTis the season…Life over the last ten years for the Blackman Boards crew has been better than any of the couples could have imagined. But with the holidays approaching, the women are struggling to get through the madness of Christmas plays, cookie baking, wish lists, tree shopping, and decorating while the men are desperate to soak up every ounce of affection they can get from their wives before the kids are officially on winter break.To top it off, everyone needs to do a little Christmas shopping. It’s anyone’s guess who’s going to win the award for the best gift this year. But when the big day arrives, it’s clear to see that the bonds of friendship and family are what matter the most and have given everyone a Christmas to remember.

    Handsome, charming Roman men; perfectly made cappuccino and risotto; breathtakingly beautiful antiquities and that incomparable Italian light—none of these are perhaps quite as idyllic as they might seem to the casual traveler. With a jaded eye but an always vulnerable heart, Geoghegan gives us the anti-Eat, Pray, Love, a tale every bit as atmospheric but way funnier than the runaway best-seller. This is what life in Italy really looks like when you're a 30-something woman running from grief and trying to find her way back to love. Elizabeth Geoghegan writes in English, dreams in Italian, and wishes she could remember how to speak French. She earned an MFA in fiction writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an MA in creative writing from the University of Colorado at Boulder. She is currently completing a story collection, The Book of Boys, and at work on a novel called The Year of the Cock, a black comedy set in Southeast Asia. She lives in Rome, Italy, on a dead-end street between a convent and a jail. This is a short e-book published by Shebooks--high quality fiction, memoir, and journalism for women, by women. For more information, visit http://shebooks.net.

    Biography

    A happy ending is always the goal when you meet the person you love but is that always the case? When love meets war, relationships are tested and attitudes clash. Find out if the couples will have their happily ever after in this sizzling finale!

    Local friendships and bonds of loyalty that she and her family formed during their gradual renovation of their once derelict farmhouse have now deepened. The children, both hers and her neighbours', are now adults and the close-knit community celebrates and prepares for the new generation. The wedding festivities and banquets are beautifully described in mouth-watering detail and the tastes and smells of Lot-et-Garonne seem to float from the page. An unforgettable and enriching story of Ruth and her family, and their continuing love for their home in the sunflowers.

    The work was back-breakingly hard, but the Tate & Lyle factory was more than just a workplace - it was a community, a calling, a place of love and support and an uproarious, tribal part of East London. This is Ethel’s story, one of four stories from The Sugar Girls.‘On an autumn day in 1944, Ethel Alleyne walked the short distance from her house to Tate & Lyle’s refinery on the shining curve of the Thames. Looking up at the giant gates, Ethel felt like she had been preparing for this moment all her life. She smoothed down her frizzy hair, scraped a bit of dirt off the corner of her shoe and strode through.She was quite unprepared for the sight that met her eyes …’In the years leading up to and after the Second World War thousands of women left school at fourteen to work in the bustling factories of London’s East End. Despite long hours, hard and often hazardous work, factory life afforded exciting opportunities for independence, friendship and romance. Of all the factories that lined the docks, it was at Tate and Lyle’s where you could earn the most generous wages and enjoy the best social life, and it was here where The Sugar Girls worked.This is an evocative, moving story of hunger, hardship and happiness, providing a moving insight into a lost way of life, as well as a timeless testament to the experience of being young and female.