She had suffered an unimaginable amount of abuse in her short life. Although she couldn’t tie her shoe laces, she could smash a room to pieces; she fought against everything like a wild cat.At the age of five Kira moved permanently to live with Mia and her family, but by the time she was nine years old the whole family was at breaking point.Mia is the kind of person who won’t give in and believes she can always change things for the better, but try as she might she can’t change Kira. So after six years, with a very heavy heart, she is forced to question whether she can really help this lost and damaged child.Raw, shocking and honest, this short story will shed new light on the role of foster carers, revealing the kind of heartbreaking real life situations carers like Mia Marconi are confronted with every day.

    

    Literally. He talks to animals to see clues other people would overlook. Like when the proud owner of a pair of Scotties goes missing, Griff knows foul play has to be involved, because the dogs tell him there’s no way she’d leave her pampered pooches alone in the winter. But when he shows too much interest in what the Scotties have to say, an attractive police detective takes the wrong kind of interest in him. Viewing him as a possible suspect, she digs up secrets about Griff he would have preferred left buried. And that’s not even his biggest problem—taking the dogs into his home has made him a target of the victim’s abductor. This makes him scurry to solve the case, because as an expert on animal behavior, there’s one thing Griff knows to be true: the most dangerous animal is the human animal.

    Over 800 pages of big love in a small town for readers who love hunky Southern men and the women who make them want to settle down. Big Love in a Small Town features the following three novels: Down A Country Road The very last thing on Grier McAllister’s Someday List is going back to Timbell Creek, Virginia, the town where she grew up. Timbell Creek holds too many bad memories for her, memories finally put to rest with a successful image consultant business in New York City and a hefty therapy bill. When an opportunity to choose a “Jane Austen Girl” for a visiting duke falls in her lap, the only catch that she must be from Grier’s hometown, Grier tells herself she’ll do what she needs to do and then leave it all behind for good. But Grier doesn’t count on finding that her mother is no longer the person she used to be. She certainly doesn’t plan on falling for an old boyfriend’s really hot brother! And it isn’t long before she begins to realize Timbell Creek is not only a part of who she was, but might be a part of who she is as well. Good Guys Love Dogs Desperate father Ian McKinley moves his delinquent teenage son to the small Virginia town of Keeling Creek, a place very unlike the New York City life he has been leading. Love takes him by surprise when he falls for Colby Williams, a woman unlike anyone he has ever been drawn to, a small town vet with a heart for animals and a fierce love for a teenage daughter she is also struggling to raise. But Colby has a secret in her past, a secret she's not sure her daughter will ever forgive her for. And as for Ian McKinley, he seems too good to be true. If she had learned anything from the one time she had thrown her heart fully into love, it was that it didn't last. Truths and Roses When Will Kincaid’s professional football career comes to an abrupt end in a single night, he’s left to figure out what he’s going to do with the rest of his life. He heads home to the small Virginia town where he grew up and crosses paths with Hannah Jacobs, the only girl in high school who had ever rejected him. It’s Hannah who once made him question the choices he had made, and it’s Hannah who’s making him question them all over again. But with the weight of a secret he’s managed to hide from the world his entire adult life hanging over him, he can’t afford to question his choices. Hannah Jacobs had once made the choice to deny her feelings for Will Kincaid, at the time finding it the only possible option for a young girl intent on burying a nightmare she only wanted to forget. The life she’s made for herself as a librarian in Lake Perdue is a quiet one, and she’s hardly prepared for the day when Will rams his fancy Ferrari into her dependable old clunker. But for Hannah, Will Kincaid can only stir up memories she had long ago put away forever. And there’s nothing at all good that can come from bringing them back to life again.

    

    The first novel of New York Times’ Best Selling Author Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects explores the depths of the human psyche, from its simple complexities to the more outrageous ones. The narrative tells a tale about the malleability of the human mind, and how far it can bend towards either side: the normal and the abnormal. The lonely town of Wind Gap, Missouri is at the center of a series of murders by strangulation. What makes these murders even more morbid is the fact that the killer is targeting children: Two girls, aged ten and 9 years old, have been murdered and their bodies disposed of. Nobody in town seems to agree as to who may be held responsible for these unwarranted crimes. This companion to Sharp Objects also includes the following: • Book Review • Story Setting Analysis of Sharp Objects • Story elements you may have missed as we decipher the novel • Details of Characters & Key Character Analysis • Summary of the text, with some analytical comments interspersed • Discussion & Analysis of Themes, Symbols… • And Much More! This Analysis of Sharp Objects fills the gap, making you understand more while enhancing your reading experience.

    

    

     “(Hynd is)…a few notches above the Ludlums and Clancys of the world." - Booklist. 'Eisenhower’s Spy' is Noel Hynd’s tough hard-hitting sequel to 'Truman’s Spy'. It is a major new work of action and espionage from the author of 'Flowers From Berlin' and 'Return to Berlin.' It is the summer of 1958. President Dwight D. Eisenhower personally enlists F.B.I. Special Agent Thomas Buchanan (the central character of Hynd’s 'Truman’s Spy') for a top secret assignment independent of the FBI and CIA. The President asks Buchanan to oversee the investigation of a perplexing murder in broad daylight in Manhattan. The best detectives in New York City cannot pull the case together. Or maybe they don’t want to. Was the homicide a random slaying, a gangland ‘hit,’ a drug deal gone wrong or a political assassination? And the further question: why is this homicide, which might otherwise be a state or city investigation, the focus of such close White House attention? Within days of starting his investigation, Buchanan finds himself, his life, his career and the woman he loves in jeopardy. He navigates a lethal web of Russian spies, local hoodlums, political provocateurs from the left and the right, the CIA, rival agents in the FBI, surly New York cops and Caribbean revolutionaries. The case is a nightmare, as are its ramifications. Equally perilous are the gritty gang-controlled urban streets where Buchanan must go to seek answers. Buchanan soon finds himself working with an unpredictable New York City police lieutenant named Paul Maguire. A beautiful but suspicious young woman named Laura Brookfield filters in and out of the case. Day to day, Laura either aids them or sabotages them. And yet, she may be the key to Buchanan's investigation. The story twists and turns from New York to Washington to Havana and back again. The case comes in and out of focus like a mirage on a broiling summer afternoon. Buchanan moves from the drug dens of upper Manhattan to the mob nightclubs of midtown to the edgy coffee houses of Greenwich Village. He visits the hot jazz joints of the West Fifties and the corrupt police precincts of the pre-Serpico era. Questions are many. Answers are few. Buchanan must make his own good luck. Meanwhile, the President is waiting for a report. To some, America of the 1950’s was a bright, optimistic and prosperous place. But in 'Eisenhower’s Spy' a deeper reality smolders beneath the surface. The decade had begun with two wars: a bloody conflict in Korea that stalemated in 1953 and a global cold war that would intensify through the decade. Berlin, Budapest and Taiwan were flashpoints of conflict and potential sparks for another world war. Americans passed the decade in fear of Soviet subversion from within or a sudden Soviet nuclear attack from afar. Worse, revolutionary ferment was as close as ninety miles south of Florida as Fidel Castro’s revolutionary army crept increasingly closer to mobbed-up Havana. 'Eisenhower’s Spy' is a spy story that buzzes with the energy of numerous intrigues, love affairs, memorable characters, remorseless criminality and quirks of fate set across a dark set of years in the middle of the Twentieth Century. 'Eisenhower’s Spy' will underscore the critics’ lofty assessment of Noel Hynd’s unique way with a tough hard-hitting spy novel: a full cast of memorable people, romance, uncompromising historical accuracy and heart pounding suspense. The millions of readers of Noel Hynd’s previous novels will not be disappointed.

    Unputdownable.” — Penny Hancock, author of Tideline How many secrets can a family hide? 19-year-old Josh Maitland is at the end of a gap-year trip round the world when the tsunami hits the Canary Islands. His family are devastated at the loss of someone they thought would outlive them all: mother Diana, advertising executive and shatterer of glass ceilings; older siblings Rachel and Jem, each contemplating a serious relationship after years of sidestepped commitment; and stepfather Colin, no stranger to loss, who finds himself frozen out by his wife's grief. It's only with the discovery of the private blog Josh was writing for his friends that the significance of his travels becomes clear. It reveals secrets he knew about everyone in the family — and one about himself that will change the way they think of him forever.

    It is not her way to disagree, but when she is matched with Beau Merton, she realizes that she wants a life of her own. That she wants a man who is honest and principled. Is that too much to ask?Beau, the son of the richest family in Hope Ridge, is spoiled and entitled. Jennifer is shocked when Beau asks a farmer to help destroy the local Indian’s. She is more shocked when the farmer, Gordon Stanton, turns him down. No one stands up to the Mertons!Jennifer seeks out Gordon to thank him. He has planted a seed of discontent. Can she let it grow into her freedom, and if she does, will she ever find love?Find out in The Trapped Bride and the Brave Farmer a sweet mail order bride romance from bestselling author Indiana Wake.

     Dogs and Danger When Fenella Woods decided to cut all of her ties in Buffalo, New York to move to the Isle of Man, she didn’t even give pets a single thought. Not long after she’d settled in, however, she’d found herself with a kitten. Just back from a fortnight of research in London, the last thing she’s expecting is that she’s going to find herself looking after two dogs as well. When Fenella and her good friend, Shelly Quirk, find a stray dog on Douglas Beach, Shelly quickly recognizes him and knows where he belongs. The problem is, his owner, Harvey, seems to have disappeared. Shelly’s cat won’t let Winston into Shelly’s apartment, but Fenella’s Katie is more welcoming. When a second neighbor goes missing only a few days later, Fenella finds herself in the middle of two missing person cases, and looking after two dogs. When one of the missing men turns up dead and a third person goes missing, life begins to feel more dangerous for Fenella and Shelly. Inspector Daniel Robinson is reluctantly on the sidelines as he’s busy getting ready to go away for a two-month training course. Missing persons isn’t really his area of expertise, either. Can Fenella and Shelly help work out what’s going on before anyone else ends up dead? Encounters and Enemies When Fenella Woods inherited her spinster aunt’s estate, she’d been surprised to learn that Mona had something of a racy past. Everyone she met seemed to have a story about Mona, and most of them seemed to involve wealthy and attractive men. Even so, Fenella wasn’t prepared for a total stranger to start yelling at her at a party because of her relationship to Mona. Phillipa Clucas thinks that her recently deceased husband had an affair with Mona, something that Mona (who is still hanging around Fenella’s apartment, not quite ready to move on to the afterlife) denies. An unexplained series of accidents among other women who may or may not have been involved with Phillipa’s husband has Fenella worried. CID Inspector Mark Hammersmith, who is covering for Fenella’s friend Daniel while he’s away, doesn’t seem to share her concerns. Can she persuade Mark that the series of accidents are really murders? Can she convince him that she isn’t the common link between the cases? And can she work out what’s really happening to the women who used to be Mona’s friends without Daniel’s help? Friends and Frauds Since she’s been on the Isle of Man, Fenella Woods has had the chance to make many new friends. Her closest island friend is her next-door neighbor, Shelly. When a man appears on Shelly’s doorstep claiming to have been a childhood friend of Shelly’s recently deceased husband, Fenella is quick to try to help Shelly deal with the surprise. As Shelly tries to work out whether she wants to talk to the man or not, Fenella meets, and dislikes, several of the man’s friends who are visiting the island. But when Shelly finally agrees to meet the man, they find out that he had at least one enemy as well. Police Inspector Mark Hammersmith isn’t happy when Fenella finds yet another dead body, even though she barely knew the dead man. Inspector Daniel Robinson, Fenella’s friend, is still off the island, though. Fenella has to deal with Mark, whether she likes it or not. As they learn more about the man and his friends, Shelly and Fenella find themselves caught up in yet another murder investigation.

    The four ex-Army Rangers, their mates and a couple extended family members had survived the initial devastation in a pre-cold war storage facility built into a mountain they named the Haven. As the group went to bed one night exactly two months after the earthquake they had no knowledge of the new danger coming from the bottom of the Great Crevasse. The New Madrid earthquake had ruptured the continental crust and was beginning to fill the void with billions of tons of salt water. Within ninety days the cities of St. Louis, MO, and Memphis, TN, would be lying under three hundred feet of salt water creating the New Madrid Sea and a New Coastline in the middle of the United States of America.

    

    At almost twenty-five, she’s already got the beautiful car, the big home, and hopes to bring her makeup artist dreams to life. The only issue is, as exciting as her life may seem, it came at the cost of her sister’s sacrifice. To repay the price, Isysis takes on the responsibilities that in turn may cost her every instance of joy in her own life. Dameon “Dame” Carter is a calculated connect who has made his living off the streets since he and his little sister, Demi, lost their parents in a tragic accident. He’s been raising her like his own for a solid decade, and because of that and his upbringing, he’s nothing like your average product of the streets. He’s opted out of the diamonds, mansions, and flashy things for two reasons. He’s got a vison of the way he wants things to be at his peak, and the woman on his arm is teetering the fence of proving worthy to go to the next level… destined to be left in the past. With Demi being Isysis’ best friend, and Dame being the right-hand man of her boss at Urban Dreamz, Isysis and Dame find themselves caught in the crossfires of connections that may prove to be a beautiful disaster. Find out what happens in this soul grabbing, drama filled whirlwind.