As sea levels rise and livable landmasses shrink, the Reorganized United States of America has instituted population control measures to ensure there are sufficient resources and food to sustain the growing population. Birth authorization must be paid for and obtained prior to having a child. Someone must die before another can be born, keeping the country in a population neutral position at what experts consider to be the optimal population. The new laws are enforced by a ruthless government organization known as Pop Con, responsible for terminating any children resulting from unauthorized births, and any illegals who manage to survive past their second birthday, at which point they are designated a national security threat and given the name Slip. But what if one child slipped through the cracks? What if someone knew all the loopholes and how to exploit them? Would it change anything? Would the delicate resource balance be thrown into a tailspin, threatening the lives of everyone? And how far would the government go to find and terminate the Slip? In a gripping story of a family torn apart by a single choice, Slip is a reminder of the sanctity of a single life and the value of the lives we so often take for granted.

    “Why you’re no bigger than a twig,” she said with a condescending smile. "Yeah, but I can fight like the trunk of a redwood tree!" Audrey’s gaze traveled to the guns resting on Violet’s narrow hips. Her face curled up. “Why, you’ve got guns strapped to your hips like a man!” Violet gritted her teeth and forced a smile, resting a hand on one of the guns and held up the Bible she had tucked under her other arm. “I figured between the Good Book and the pistols, anyone wanting to mess with me was gonna meet their maker one way or the other!”

    Included are: Mail Order Motherhood, Mail Order Matron, and Mail Order Meddler. Mail Order Motherhood: When Clara's husband dies and leaves her with two children and a farm she can't run on her own, the bank evicts her small family, and she needs to find a new home fast. She answers an advertisement to be a mail order bride, hoping that the agency will find a place where she can not only be useful, but her children can be loved. Recently widowed Montana rancher, Albert, can't raise his children alone, but won't risk loving another woman. Albert is convinced that he'll never love another woman like his deceased wife. When Clara shows up with two children, he's certain he’s made a mistake by taking another woman into his home. Can Clara convince him that together they can be a happy family? Mail Order Matron: After a life dedicated to her mother, Julia takes a chance and becomes a mail order bride. Edward, a lonely widower, has no hope that any woman will answer his advertisement. Will this unlikely couple find love together? Mail Order Meddler: Francis knew something needed to change immediately. He was only sixteen, but he understood that his family couldn’t keep living on bread and beef jerky. In town one day, he noticed an advertisement for a mail order bride, and sent off a letter…after signing his older brother’s name. He’d just make sure to tell Andrew that his fiance was coming before she arrived. What could go wrong? Tracy had lived in an orphanage since she was just a few months old. She only had a month before she turned eighteen and had to find a new place to live, complete with employment or a wedding ring. There were no jobs worth taking for a young woman, so she answered a letter requesting a mail order bride. Andrew sounded perfect. She’d meet him, and he’d be thrilled to see her, and they’d live

    The youngest of three, she longs to be loved by her mother, but Ellen spends all her time with her eldest son, while Abbie and her brother, Sam, take refuge with their neighbours, Sandra Lewis and Peter Ryan. Although vibrant and attractive, Abbie pushes people away with her constant need for reassurance. Infatuated with Peter, she longs for the day when he tells her that he loves her. And Sam is courting Sandra. But Peter and Sandra have a secret - one that could destroy the friends' relationship should it become known. Will Abbie finally find the security and affection she has been searching for all her life, or will she always be looking for love...?

    Leonard Cohen is at the start of his career and in love with Marianne, who is also muse to her ex-husband, Axel. Australian authors George Johnston and Charmian Clift write, drink and fight. It is a hedonistic time of love, sex and new ideas. As the island hums with excitement, Jack and Frieda Silver join the community, hoping to mend their broken marriage. However, Greece is overtaken by a military junta and the artistic idyll is threatened.

    At 15, Barbara finds herself betrothed to a man 27 years her senior. Marriage propels her into a glittering, cynical society: the casual adulteries and violent politics of the age of Richelieu, Pope and Swift; of buildings by Christopher Wren; of greed, elegance, excess and cruelty. Barbara navigates these dangers with great skill; her beauty takes on polish and sophistication.

    An astounding skill at piquet? Unheard of. Yet here’s Miss Judith Fairhurst, a natural at the game, facing renowned expert Sir Ragnor Withersby across the table—and thoroughly defeating him. Their first hand arouses his interest, their first kiss arouses a lot more, and elegant man-about-town Sir Ragnor is about to find out what it’s like to tumble headfirst off a dangerous cliff into unknown waters. There will be gambling, of course. Potential scandals, cheats and revelations will abound. There will be new friends, sculptures, a strange decanter of brandy and a very nice bottom. Perhaps Fate has set their feet on a path to pleasure, but not all their steps will be smooth. Some games must be very carefully played…

    In two short weeks, that’s what workaholic Cole Jansen discovers. Still single at thirty-two, he’s more focused on managing his clients’ money and his own material success than he is with any woman who gets close, or reconciling his estranged relationship with his parents. But when his father’s ill health leads him from urban Cedar Rapids, Iowa to the tiny rural community of Harmony, Minnesota for a rare visit, his myopic life is suddenly questioned when he meets Rachel Miller, a young Amish woman committed to her church and family – and conflicted by forbidden dreams of meeting him, the man in the pictures she ritualistically dusts each week as part of her cleaning duties at his parents’ home. No sooner than such an unlikely courtship begins to flourish, a series of tragedies strike, and commitment and character must be confronted, bringing each of their paths to a crossroads and shaking the foundations of their lives. Will the threat of excommunication and career suicide be too great? Or is there hope for such an improbable love as this?My Father’s House, a love story of truth, tenderness and tragedy that will touch your heart.

    Everyone but him.Life for bonny and kind-hearted Kenna Gordon can't get much worse after her home, the Castle Inverness, is sieged and her beloved father is executed for treason.A hostage in Queen Mary's court, Kenna's life is forfeit and she must obey the monarch or risk death. Thus, when she is commanded to marry a stranger named Robert Fraser, a loyal countryman and the son of a Laird, Kenna is powerless to resist.Renowned warrior Robert is astonished by Kenna's beauty and his primal desires are soon unleashed. He doesn't care where she came from--he desires her regardless.Sadly, the court is not very fond of her. Suspicion follows her wherever she goes. Kenna's past continues to plague her and a mysterious enemy is resolute in their mission to ensure that Kenna's family's treachery is never forgotten.Will Robert succumb to the rumours too? Or will he be the only person standing in the way of Kenna and the gallows?Highlander's Haunted Past, has over 80,000 words packed with romance, treachery, and emotion set on the beautiful backdrop of the Scottish Highlands. Get your copy TODAY for 99c OR FREE With Kindle Unlimited! Enjoy!

    The station is in a security lockdown and the sole apparent occupant, a Union captain, offers Kieran an entire ship if he can disable the lockdown. Kieran realizes that he’s probably dealing with a criminal, rather than an actual captain, but he’s just desperate enough to accept. He flies out to the nearest station and returns with a slicer and some dangerous-looking backup. As he’s making his approach to the station, Kieran hears a garbled cry for help over the comm. He hopes it’s just his imagination.But it’s not. Half the station’s crew is being held hostage, while the other half appear to be masquerading as Union officers. Kieran and his team disable the lockdown, and to Kieran’s amazement, they are given a ship as promised. As they are leaving the station, they see an entire fleet of Union cruisers pouring out of the newly-reactivated space gate. Kieran is confused. What are so many warships doing on the frontier? The Union isn’t at war.Kieran sets out to investigate, but along the way strange things start happening to him and his crew. At first there seem to be logical explanations, but before long the answers are not so clear. As time goes by, Kieran realizes the horrible truth:He wasn’t the only one trying to escape. . . .

    Sarah Beachy, an Amish girl from another community, has moved in with the Miller family. Rebecca is determined not to be the fourth Miller girl to marry the fourth Hostetler brother, so why is she so upset that Sarah spends all her free time with Elijah Hostetler? Will the arrival of the mysterious Amish man, Benjamin Shelter, change their lives in any way?Book 5: Finding The WayIt's one shock after another for Sarah Beachy. Firstly her strict father has sent Benjamin Shetler to Lancaster Country to force Sarah to come back home, and secondly, she finds out she is closely related to the Millers. Does Benjamin have reasons of his own for arriving in the community? Will the handsome but wicked Nash Grayson ruin Sarah's happiness?

    

    In truth, he is inclined to believe marriage itself is a dreary hoax dreamed up to nail a young man down in the prime of his life. With his two best friends - St Giles and St Severn - he enters into a pact before leaving the hallowed halls of Oxford behind. Together, they swear to help each other approach the unpalatable business of marriage with cool common sense, for if there is one thing they are all well aware of, it is that losing one's heart is akin to losing one's sanity and is best avoided at all costs.In the interests of serving his country - and annoying his father's peers - Merrick occasionally spies for England. It's an entertaining pastime, until he learns that his latest task is to track down and kill a woman who has ahead full of stolen secrets and the heart of a conniving schemer. Even so, Merrick has no stomach for killing a female but a traitor is... well, a traitor is unacceptable and he knows he must stop her from returning to France at all costs.His resolution is unwavering, right up until he meets the beautiful Elena. Then he finds himself in a quandary, for how can he kill a woman whom he wants to protect from any ill-wind that blows her way? And, more to the point, who is going to protect Elena from his own reckless desire...

    Katherine, Cali-Cle, and Annie are strangers…Yet they have been bound together since birth. Alone in a world where they do not fit in, each woman finds herself on the edge of peril as a mail order bride.Fate draws them to men they have never before met, mail order brides for Indians who are themselves outcasts.The devil's mark is a serious thing to the Karankawa people. It foretells the destruction of their tribe. Their enemy, the Tonkawa, would say that is a good thing. Sacrifice and torture are what the Karankawa thrive on.When three separate women show up, each a mail order bride bearing the birthmark foretold in the prophecy…The Karankawa will stop at nothing to kill the women. The Tonkawa will stop at nothing to protect them. Are the Indian husbands strong enough to defeat a tribe more deadly than any other in existence? Love means taking a risk. Only the men can decide if their new brides are worth dying for.

    Joseph Hobson is a bullying man and Evie isn't the only one who lives in fear of her father's violent temper. Then one day a bedraggled woman enters the shop and dies on the premises. Evie is shocked to discover she was in fact her mother, whom she had been told was dead. Why had her father lied to her? What secret was he trying to keep? One thing's for sure, Evie can't take much more from him and when she catches the eye of local lad Ned Collins they plan to run away to begin a new life together. But even when she has escaped and has started a family with Ned, Evie has a long way to go before her happiness is secured...