A collection of essays dealing with the ballad novels of New York Times Best-selling author Sharyn McCrumb, examining the history, folklore and culture of the region of which she writes

    With the help of an eccentric aunt, Angela begins a new life, and embarks on a remarkable journey of self-discovery that takes her from the rural South to the glitz and glamour of Hollywood. But her promising future as a pop star is threatened by the jealously and betrayal of her friends-and the shocking secret that is about to be revealed by the ghost of a mysterious little girl. Haunting and thought-provoking, A Lone Palm Stands is more than just the story of one life: it's a unique commentary on love, family, and our spiritual nature It's also a testimony to the resiliency of the people of South Carolina and their proven ability to survive 'come hell or highwater.'

    In this book you get 6 classic BWWM stories in 1 - that's 828 pages of interracial goodness! All of the books in this bundle can be enjoyed as stand alone stories. That said, all have further parts in the series, so if you like one more than the rest you can pick up more books with the same characters when you're ready. Books in this collection are: 1. My Russian Dream: When she woke that morning, the last thing Sophie expected was to not only meet the man of her dreams, but to enter into a fast moving whirlwind romance with a mysterious Russian billionaire. Will it all be too much for Sophie? Or will this be her dream playing out like she's always felt she deserved? 2. Passion Abroad: Have you ever felt like you just need to get away from it all? Well that's exactly how Erica feels, and she's going to do something about it! The tale of a holiday romance which turns into a round the world trip with a passionate and loving new partner. 3. Home Is Where The Heart Is: When a handsome English billionaire is looking for homes to add to his portfolio, Julie is assigned the job of helping him out. But will this billionaire have another reason for his interest in her? 4. Find Me Online: After filtering through a ton of pervs on a popular interracial dating site, Cherelle finally finds someone who catches her eye. But is there more to her catch Michael than she originally realizes? And will he be the man she is looking for? 5. Is Mr White Mr Right: One of the original BWWM books, and largely held as a classic in the genre. Natasha Black is a strong African American woman, who has always been career focused and level headed. Nothing has ever been able to knock her off her game... until now! Enter 'McDreamy', the hunk of a boss at her new dream job. Will she be able to stay career focused while getting advances from possibly the man of her dreams? 6. My Billionaire Cowboy: What does a fashion stylist and a fashionably challenged cowboy have in common?! You're about to find out... Kate is the proud owner of her own fashion boutique. Bruce is a successful business man who now spends his time on his passion: working his ranch. When fate brings these two opposites together, there's no denying there's something there. But is Kate at a point in her life where she is willing to throw caution to the wind and allow herself to be swept off of her feet by an unexpected love? Authors of these books: J A Fielding, Esther Banks and Cher Etan; all authors from Saucy Romance Books. To see more great stories by us, simply search BWWM Club on Amazon Kindle. Suitable for over 18s only due to all stories having scenes of a sexual nature.

    Learn more in The Collector.Some things seem ordinary to the naked eye, but sometimes a camera catches things invisible to the naked eye. This one will give you chills in It's Only A Photo.

    Contains A Promise for Ellie, Sophie's Dilemma, A Touch of Grace, and Rebecca's Reward.

    Six Edge of Your Seat Thrillers. Six Books at a Discounted Price. Death Unholy (Book 1) - All that remained were the man’s two legs and a chair full of greasy and fetid ash. Little did DI Keith Tremayne know that it was the beginning of a trip into the murky world of paganism and its ancient rituals. ‘Do you believe in spontaneous human combustion?’ Inspector Tremayne asked his sergeant, Clare Yarwood. Death and the Assassin’s Blade (Book 2) - It was meant to be high drama, not murder, but someone’s switched the daggers. The man’s death, in plain view of two serving police officers. A summer’s night, a production of Julius Caesar among the ruins of an Anglo-Saxon fort. The assassination scene, the man collapses to the ground, Brutus defending his actions, Mark Antony’s rebuke. Death and the Lucky Man (Book 3) - Sixty-eight million pounds and DEAD! Someone had once told Detective Inspector Keith Tremayne that some people were lucky and some weren’t. Tremayne knew only one thing: the man lying dead in a pool of blood had qualified on the lucky after winning the lottery, but now his luck had run out. Death at Coombe Farm (Book 4) – A warring family. A disputed inheritance. A recipe for death! If it hadn’t been for the circumstances, Detective Inspector Keith Tremayne would have said the view was outstanding. Up high, overlooking the farmhouse in the valley below, the panoramic vista of Salisbury Plain stretching out beyond. The only problem was that near where he stood with his sergeant, Clare Yarwood, there was a body, and it wasn’t a pleasant sight. Tremayne had never been keen on farms, and especially horses, although Clare loved them. Tremayne assumed she wouldn’t be so fond of the one that trampled Claude Selwood to death. Death by a Dead Man’s Hand (Book 5) - A murdered brother. A missing treasure trove of stolen gold bars. A family dying in the hunt for it.! Ethan Mitchell knew the exact amount of time since his arrest for murder: eighteen years, five months and three days. After so long in prison, many things confused him on his release, but one thing he was sure of was that people do not come back from the dead. However, one month before his release from prison for the murder of a man, he had received a letter. It had only two sentences. Time will not save you. St Mark’s Church, three in the afternoon, the first Wednesday after your release. He had recognised the writing. After all, hadn’t they grown up together. The signature was unmistakable: it was his brother Martin’s. But that’s not possible, Mitchell thought. I killed him, spent seventeen years in prison for his murder. A voice echoed through the church; Ethan felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. ‘Martin, it can’t be,’ Ethan said. ‘You’re dead. I killed you.’ At ten feet from Ethan the man reached into his right-hand jacket pocket. He levelled the gun that he taken removed and emptied three bullets into Ethan, the noise echoing around the church. Death in the Village (Book 6) - A woman with a venomous tongue, dead and hanging from a beam in her garage! Nobody was sad that the woman was dead, and she’s not the last to die. DI Tremayne sees a pattern developing, which can only mean one thing – more deaths.

    Taken under the wing of the hospital’s most notable patient, Zelda Fitzgerald, Evalina witnesses cascading events that lead up to the tragic fire of 1948 that killed nine women in a locked ward, Zelda among them. Author Lee Smith has created, through a seamless blending of fiction and fact, a mesmerizing novel about a world apart--in which art and madness are luminously intertwined.

    This includes his Greek parents, who bankroll his glorious isolation in London. This includes his career as a consultant, his clients, his boss, the majority of his colleagues and people he sees on the way to work. This includes the dumb model boyfriend of the American girl that he has decided to fall in love with. This includes her also. When Maine fails to obliterate himself through drug overdoses, the obsessive changing of his legal name and half-hearted thoughts of suicide, it falls to his central nervous system to pick up the challenge of trying to kill him off. Can Maine survive with his lack of values intact?

    Featuring a foreword from Kyle M. Scott, Sinister Scribblings brings together a unique blend of stories, some of which have been previously published, others that are original pieces and only available within this collection. In this collection we meet a whole host of broken, deranged characters in a sequence of horrific circumstances, including a mother who is determined to seek vengeance upon the school thugs that are bullying her only daughter; a woman who’s lifestyle has spiralled out of control after finding her boyfriend in a more than compromising position; a man who once spent his life in the public eye, has fallen from the heights of stardom and is slowly rebuilding himself; a teenage boy, a daydreamer who enjoys chocolate eggs for breakfast, who finds himself unravelling a unique Easter gift; a cave dwelling creature who has a taste for young flesh; a mischievous young boy who finds himself upon the naughty list at Christmas; a man, who after recently losing his job, makes a compelling agreement with a strange figure in a bar; two twin sisters who battle it out in brutal style after a major misunderstanding; a group of friends on their friends stag night, who get more than they bargained for upon entering an abandoned hospital for a prank; a man who awakens in a terrifying situation, in a strange location following a party with his friends; a woman abandoned in her friend’s cabin at a picturesque lake during a thunder storm; a man who crashes his car whilst driving home and spotting the figure of woman in amongst the trees beside the road; a serial killer enduring complications whilst receiving the lethal injection. Featuring bonus stories from Stuart Keane, Andrew Lennon, Michelle Garza & Melissa Lason, C.M. Saunders, Daryl Duncan, Mark Nye and Dale Robertson. Sit back, relax and immerse yourself in these Sinister Scribblings.

    A fictional town full of very real people who survive the attack of Hurricane Hugo and then find their bearings in the aftermath—often in wild and hilarious ways. The days leading up to the impending disaster are not at all unusual—no portents of disaster, no signs of impending calamity. Bryce works his night shift at the hot dog factory, Isaac drives the bus to school, Evelyn attends a funeral. But when the electricity fails in the middle of the night on September 21, 1989, it marks the moment when everything will change: Hugo has arrived.The storm builds, the wind whips by faster and faster, and interpersonal dramas, grudges, and rivalries are dredged up along with the flotsam and debris. Meanwhile, flood markers, painted red, track the height of the water from past rainstorms, and as the creek level rises higher than ever before, so do the emotions of the townspeople.Alternating between weather forecasts and short stories, Floodmarkers is an exquisitely crafted day-in-the-life of a town. And as Nic Brown has us look bravely at the eye of the storm, he cleverly shows us that human nature can stir up a spectacular tempest all its own.

    Jack tells everyone in his life he's okay, but no one believes him. Not his employees at Patriot Mulch & Tree in suburban North Carolina, not Beth herself, and not Canavan's estranged girlfriend Rena, who arrives on Jack's doorstep to see how, and whether, he's bearing up. When Jack starts letting Rena further into his life, and when Hendrick suddenly starts speaking fluent Spanish-stunning everyone-it becomes apparent to Jack that the world is far more complicated than he believed. As Drew Perry's characters change houses, partners, and perceptions, Hendrick emerges from his shell in unexpected and delightful ways and becomes, at times, this witty and winning debut novel's center of gravity-he's parenting the confused grown-ups as often as they are him. Perry's fresh and funny insights into marriage, autism, parenthood, and sub­urban ennui (not to mention mulch) create a landscape that will charm and captivate fans of Tom Perrotta and Jennifer Haigh.

    Cowney is spending the season as an undervalued member of the Grove Park Inn’s grounds crew. The inn is currently home to Axis diplomats and their families being held as prisoners of war. Cowney struggles to balance the often conflicting worlds of life at home on the Qualla Boundary (Cherokee Indian Reservation), where a Capuchin monkey roams the woods at will and mysterious forest fires loom, with life at the inn where foreign diplomats quietly negotiate backdoor deals and a secret room provides the rare opportunity for Cowney and Essie (his enigmatic carpool companion) to construct their own world views. Bud, Cowney’s uncle, offers the only true glimpse into Cowney’s past before his parents died, but Bud’s own demons threaten to upend Cowney’s peace with the past and compromise any hope for a future free from the consequences of his family’s choices. When a diplomat’s young daughter goes missing at the inn, Cowney finds himself in the center of suspicion and betrayal.Cowney’s experience is an examination of race and class tangled in a microcosm of the secluded inn. His story asks the reader to consider the tropes of American imprisonment and our role as both prisoners and imprisoners. Cowney finally comes to reason that all three natural elements that cause so many problems in life (bones, blood, and skin color) will not be what remain of humankind in the end. Only the human spirit can be passed on wholly to the next generation.

    Now Wells is back, writing about his favorite subject–the exotic, beleaguered Louisiana wetlands–in a sharp, rollicking tale of corporate corruption and political shenanigans. The fight over one man’s tract of sacred marsh fronts a deeper story of our place in the environment and our obligations to it. Justin Pitre’s marsh island, a legacy of his trapper grandfather, is a scenic rival to anything in the Everglades, and he has promised to protect it from all harm. But he hasn’t counted on oil bigwig Tom Huff’s plans to wreck his bayou paradise by ramming a pipeline through it. When cajolery doesn’t sway Justin to sign the land over, Huff turns to darker methods. But Justin and his spirited wife, Grace, prove to be formidable adversaries–and the game is on.Into the fray comes the charismatic Cajun governor Joe T. Evangeline, who seems more interested in chasing skirts than saving Louisiana’s eroding coast. The Guv, though, is a man on the edge, upended by a midlife crisis and torn between a secret political obligation to Big Oil and the persuasive powers of Julie Galjour, a feisty environmentalist. Julie is clearly out to reform more than the Guv’s ecopolitics, but will his tragicomic Big Oil deals wreck both his career and his chances with the brash and beautiful activist?As Justin and Grace battle to stop this Big Oil assault, the plot thickens–and the Guv becomes snared in the web. Featuring a gumbo of eccentrics and lowlifes, a kidnapping, a sexy snitch, a toxic-waste-dumping scheme, a boat chase, and a fishing trip gone horribly awry, Crawfish Mountain, spiced with Ken Wells’s keen eye for locale, showcases his adventurous storytelling.

    He has a public meltdown while chaperoning Oasis at an awards ceremony; he’s lost joy in his bathroom full of rock’n’roll memorabilia; and his young son is in trouble at school for emulating rock star behaviour.Reluctantly Michael consults Mrs Henckel, a no-nonsense therapist with zero experience of pop culture. As Michael addresses his feelings about the past, in particular his failed teenage band, Mental Elf, he’s forced to confront the question: is it finally time to grow up and forget rock’n’roll?Michael Odell is a former contributing editor to Q magazine and has written about music for NME, the Guardian, the Independent and Spin, among others. Currently he does interviews and writes on family matters for The Times. He lives in Bristol."Please don't put your life in the hands of a rock 'n' roll band, who'll throw it all away." So advised Noel Gallagher in 1995 and Michael Odell ignored him anyway.One of Britain's most fearless rock interrogators, Odell turns his merciless searchlight on himself in this wry, compelling odyssey into the heart of his own - and rock n roll's - madness. Larks with the legends are all here (Bowie, McCartney, Mick `n' Keef ... Michael Buble) but it's his inner life which illuminates, his psyche traumatically crumbling as he confronts his chaotic past. Hilarious, tragic and timely, this is high farce in high (and low) places, uncovering why rock's lost highway is littered with the bodies of the righteous dreamers. Could it be because "the music people are all mad?" (Clue: yes.)' -- Sylvia Patterson, author of I'm Not with the Band `Hilarious and disarmingly honest; a journey into the neurosis of rock fame, but through doors you don't expect.' -- Rachel Joyce, author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry `Rock Bottom is one of the best music books ever written, because Michael Odell knows music isn't about the musicians - it's about what it does to the listener, even if what it does ends up being wholly disastrous. It's sad, funny, fascinating and wise. And everyone who ever claimed a record changed their life should read it, and then think again.' -- Michael Hann, former Guardian music editor

    Each family member has a story to tell, and stories to be told about one another. Albert Copeland, the head of the family, writes it all down in the notebooks he started once to track the progress of the floatplanes he built, though they never did fly. Everything about the Copelands is in these books. And every one of them has his say. Funny and poignant, a family album of talk and tales, The Floatplane Notebooks shares the best-kept secrets of love, loss, and learning to let go.