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The Whispering of the Willows by Tonya Jewel Blessing


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The Garment Maker's Daughter


Hillary Adrienne Stern - 2016
    It is the story of Lena Rothman, a shirtwaist-maker and active suffragette whose plans get derailed when she falls in love with her best friend’s boyfriend; Jake Brenner, a passionate labor organizer determined to lead the shirtwaist-makers on a high-stakes strike; and Daniel Cowan, a brilliant and ambitious night-school student hobbled by a shameful past. Fate draws them together. Emotions bind them to each other. But secrets will tear them apart. When a devastating blaze engulfs the shirtwaist factory, Lena must fight for her life. And in the chaos of the fire’s aftermath, mistakes will be made with consequences that continue into the next generation. Spanning the first half of the twentieth century, this is a story about unforgettable characters and the threads of friendship, love, betrayal, and redemption that form the fabric of their lives. FAns of Adriana Trigiani, Kristin Hannah, and Christine Baker Kline, will love The Garment Maker’s Daughter. It's that rare novel you’ll be thinking about long after you’ve finished it.

Faithful


Janet Fox - 2010
    Her mother has disappeared, and is presumed dead. The next thing she knows, her father has dragged Maggie away from their elegant Newport home, off on some mad excursion to Yellowstone in Montana. Torn from the only life she's ever known, away from her friends, from society, and verging on no prospects, Maggie is furious and devastated by her father's betrayal. But when she arrives, she finds herself drawn to the frustratingly stubborn, handsome Tom Rowland, the son of a park geologist, and to the wild romantic beauty of Yellowstone itself. And as Tom and the promise of freedom capture Maggie's heart, Maggie is forced to choose between who she is and who she wants to be.

Capturing a Nobleman's Heart


Abigail Agar - 2020
    Determined that she will find a husband of noble birth and outstanding character, she is met with surprises when it turns out that the culture around her is not what she expected at all... Will she manage to capture the heart of the man who stole hers? Or will the criticizing ton make sure she never calls England home?Sir Samuel Moore is a man who loves worldly fun and has no desire to settle himself. But when his father has had enough of the games, Samuel finds himself with a demanding deadline to make a match. When his time is running out, a young lady with American origins will appear out of nowhere into his life and will turn his world upside down. But will he succeed in going against all odds, winning her interest and, eventually, her love?As the gossip and pride of society collide, Destiny and Samuel find themselves wondering how they could possibly find happiness. Will they find a way to lean on one another when they need it the most? Will their love overcome the unexpected hurdles on their way?

A Message from Jessie: The Incredible True Story of Murder and Miracles in the Heartland


Buck Blodgett - 2015
    Borne of this statement was Jessie Blodgett's legacy: The LOVE>hate Project.As I sat there with my face in my hands, asking Him why, my thoughts traveled forward from the eighth grade musical where Jess debuted her first original composition, “Butterflies.” I remembered recurring visions of myself at her funeral with this song playing in the background. I had always dismissed these premonitions as typical parental fears. Every parent worries about losing their child, right?Then I envisioned an angel coming to Jess in her darkest hour. As the rope bit hard into her neck, cutting off her air, the grip too hopelessly strong for her to fight off, as she struggled desperately, bewildered by the betrayal and cruelty of a friend, the angel came. Out of her body it called her soul. Floating up and away together, the angel whispered in her ear, “Fly away, fly high. You’re a butterfly, and butterflies are free to fly…”ExcerptBut, of course, most of life—the mundane minutes, seconds, and moments—was just normal life. Now, life would never be normal again, of course. No, it would be a moment-to-moment wrestling match, a constant duel for my attention between the abyss and the life of purpose.ExcerptJess was a young woman with an indomitable spirit. She was the girl who ran out into traffic on Highway 60 near Pike Lake to rescue a turtle that wasn’t going to make it across the road. She was the girl whose purse came from Ecuador, because it was a Fair Trade item, and even a stranger from halfway around the world deserved a chance to build a life.The way to meet this horrible tragedy was not with anger and bitterness. We had to respond to this incomprehensible act with the best of our true selves, not the worst. To honor Jess.ExcerptI had hit rock bottom. It had been over half a year now. It was the dead of winter. The shock phase was over, and all that was left was emptiness.The day before, I had gone up to Jessie’s room. I stood by the side of her bed. I imagined her lying there, sleeping peacefully…. And then I bent over and put my arm around her and gave her a kiss on the head, as if she was actually sleeping there.Even though I was alone, it was kind of awkward. But something about it felt really good, too, and I ended up hugging “her” for a full five minutes. Then, I grabbed the flannel shirt hanging on her bedpost, the shirt that still smelled like her, the one she wore so much in her last days, and I climbed onto her bed with the shirt and, using it like a blanket, I snuggled with “her” for a half hour. And I imagined that she talked back, speaking words of comfort and wisdom.ExcerptFACEBOOKBuck BlodgettJuly 15, 2014Jess, a year ago today....At 12:35 p.m. I took the call from Mom. She was sobbing, telling me she found you—you weren't breathing; there were marks on your neck. She did CPR, called 911. EMTs worked on you as we spoke. I asked if you were responding. She said "no." I asked if you were gone. No words came. I talked to God the whole drive home, hoping, praying. Our driveway was full—squad cars, firetrucks, ambulance, Crime Scene Unit vehicle. They wouldn't let me see you, touch you, hold you. Your room was taped off. I understood, but not being there for you when you needed help, or to say goodbye, was unbearable.It's been a year of deep pain and profound Love. Never again will I take a single second of this life for granted.

Humancorp Incorporated


Andrew Stanek - 2017
    Meet Sean. Sean is the worst employee in the whole world. After being fired, Sean can't find a job and enters a downward spiral. He becomes depressed, turns to drinking, and experiences thoughts of suicide and sociology professorship. Then, an idea dawns on him. He writes a letter addressed to "whoever runs the world" and asks for a job. The letter he gets back contains a job offer from a company he's never heard of before: Humancorp Incorporated. Homeopathic suicide pills, giraffe catapults, and the Mandatory Organization of Anarchists - all in Humancorp Incorporated.

Dreamspell


Tamara Leigh - 2012
    A TIME TO DIE. A TIME TO DREAM.Sleep disorders specialist Kennedy Plain has been diagnosed with a fatal brain tumor. When her research subject dies after trying to convince her he has achieved dream-induced time travel and her study is shelved, she enlists herself as a subject to complete her research. But when she dreams herself into 14th-century England and falls into the hands of Fulke Wynland, a man history has condemned as a murderer, she must not only stay alive long enough to find a way to return to her own time, but prevent Fulke from murdering his young nephews. And yet, the more time she spends with the medieval warrior, the more difficult it is to believe he is capable of committing the heinous crime for which he has been reviled for 600 years.Baron Fulke Wynland has been granted guardianship of his brother’s heirs despite suspicions that he seeks to steal their inheritance. When the king sends a mysterious woman to care for the boys, Fulke is surprised by the lady's hostility toward him--and more surprised to learn she is to be his wife. But when his nephews are abducted, the two must overcome their mutual dislike to discover the boys' fate. What Fulke never expects is to feel for this woman whose peculiar speech, behavior, and talk of dream travel could see her burned as a witch.

Show Barn Blues


Natalie Keller Reinert - 2015
    It's been a good life, too -- she mounts her wealthy students on European warmbloods, competes her horses on Florida's rigorous A-circuit, and runs the nicest barn in the neighborhood. Then, suddenly, it's the only barn in the neighborhood. As Grace's country town becomes a sun-drenched playground of pools and golf courses, she vows that no bulldozer will ever touch her farm. With her neighbors selling their farms and moving to more isolated corners of Florida, she finds herself fighting off land-hungry developers alone -- until Kennedy comes along. Kennedy is everything Grace doesn't want around her bustling show barn -- a pleasure rider who would rather wander in the woods than tackle a show-jumping course. Kennedy might make for an unlikely sidekick, but she's just the inspiration Grace needs to fight back against the developers who want to bulldoze her corner of Floridian wilderness -- and, eventually, against the wilderness itself.

Cyber's Change


Jamie Davis - 2019
    But now she's become her own worst enemy… America, 2055. Cass is equal parts excited and nervous to leave her Sapiens Movement enclave. Stepping away from her technologically-conservative family for the first time, she sets off for college with dreams of saving humanity. But as the Sapiens girl falls for her cybernetically-enhanced roommate, her deeply programmed beliefs begin to glitch…Confused in a world that no longer makes sense, Cass barely registers the horrific accident that leaves her near death. When she wakes up, she discovers the same technology she's always hated is the only thing keeping her alive. No longer purely human, Cass questions everything she thought she knew about good and evil. As tensions between man and machine head for a meltdown, Cass must choose a side before the conflict turns deadly…Cyber's Change is the first book in the heartfelt Sapiens Run cyberpunk trilogy. If you like strong female characters, dystopian futures, and exploring what it means to be human, then you’ll love Jamie Davis’s thought-provoking novel. Buy Cyber's Change to reboot prejudice today!

Breaking Twig


Deborah Epperson - 2011
    Not even Twig’s vivid imagination, keen wit, and dark sense of humor is enough to help her survive the escalating assaults of Helen and a new stepbrother, but help comes from an unexpected source—Frank, her stepfather. Sometimes, having one person who loves and believes in you is all a girl needs to keep hope alive. Often raw and irreverent and sprinkled with all the Southern flavoring found in a good bowl of chicken and dumplings, BREAKING TWIG, is about finding love where we least expect it, destroying lives with easy lies, and realizing each of us determine our own truth. (Taken from author's website.)

The Heart's Lonely Secret


Jane Peart - 1994
    Ivy worries that she herself will be looked over by prospective parents. Not willing to be left behind, the lonely, frightened little girl acts impulsively to secure herself a stable future.

Monday: Sweet Romance (Sweet and Timeless Book 1)


Lily Rose - 2017
    L. Todd's steamy contemporary romance novel Monday. This story is the same as the contemporary romance and conveys all the passion of the original book without any explicit scenes or harsh language. I don’t believe in destiny. In fate. Or in soul mates. But I believe in Hawke. My life has never been whole since my parents left forever. I have my brother, someone I can barely tolerate most of the time, and I have my best friend, Marie. And I have myself. But when Hawke walks into my life, there’s an immediate connection. Our eyes lock and an unspoken conversation is exchanged. For the first time in my life, I actually feel something. But he doesn’t. He keeps me at arm’s length and pretends there’s nothing between us when there clearly is. I’m not the kind of girl to wait around for any guy, so I don’t. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t in the back of my mind. Our paths cross again in a way neither one of us expect and it changes everything. Was it destiny that made it happen? Was it fate? Or was it something else?

No Trench To Rest


Avan Judd Stallard - 2017
    Except now he cannot escape the war that follows every step of the way as he and Henry—his comrade in arms—seek rest and recuperation in the mountains.Instead of wine and women, they find Germans and a secret plot to destroy France’s hub of munitions production. Cut off and outnumbered, they recruit a motley army comprising a women’s auxiliary and an old farmer with a big rifle and bad attitude.There’ll be no rest for these soldiers, not until Michel and Henry go to war.

Parakeet Princess


Jandy Branch - 2012
    She's always been happy to be a Mormon but now, at age sixteen, she's moved to a small town where Mormons are mainstream instead of a minority. It's a shock to her system -- and her love life. Though she doesn't feel like she fits in at her new school, Heather finds friends at the restaurant where she works part-time. Her new friends aren't Mormons. But that doesn't keep some of them from being interested in more than friendship. The most tempting of them is her best friend's twin brother. His name is Wayne and he's got a natural charisma that makes Heather wonder if she'd like to follow him -- no matter where he leads. Guiding her through her growing pains is Heather's older brother's new best friend, Ben. He's an awkward, thoughtful boy who calls Heather "Parakeet" after his family's pet bird. Can Heather overcome her prejudices and Ben's reserve and find romance with him? Or will she take a giant step away from the way of life she's always known and follow Wayne? Set in the early 1990s, the story offers something for young adult readers and for older readers looking to revisit their own high school days.

Forsaken by Love (His Heart's Long Journey Book 1)


Jeanne Hardt - 2019
    . . Eight-year-old, Vern Harpole, wakes up on the front porch of a bakery he's never seen before. The frightened boy is discovered by the kind baker who returns him to the hotel where he'd been staying with his mother and young sister, only to learn they've left and have no intention of returning. With no trace of where they’ve gone or by what means they’re traveling, a search is impossible. Even the authorities have little help to offer. Being childless, the baker and his wife decide to give Vern a home. Initially, they see him as a means of cheap labor. But over time, a bond of love grows between them, and they find joy as a family. Yet Vern can't dismiss the hurtful feelings of abandonment, as well as many unanswered questions about his mother. Margaret Jordan has recently immigrated from Ireland to America. Like Vern, she's troubled by painful reminders of traumatic experiences that have irrevocably altered her life. She settles in Kansas City, where she finds employment at a local restaurant. When she and Vern cross paths, he immediately recognizes her pain and wants to help her, but it will take more than kindness to break through the protective walls she's built around herself. Determination pushes him to be persistent, needing to believe that love can be something more than forsaken.

Sentence of Marriage


Shayne Parkinson - 2009
    Her life seems mapped out for her by the time she is twelve. Amy dreams of an exciting life in the world beyond her narrow boundaries. But it is the two people who come to the farm from outside the valley who change her life forever, and Amy learns the high cost of making the wrong choice.