Her wry, often darkly funny voice describes the repressed underside of a range of middle-class characters living in the South.

    He's a genius in the kitchen--and out of it from what I hear. The problem is, he knows it. He knows that he is an amazing chef. He knows that while I am the food and beverage manager, his family owns the resort. He has an ego bigger than any man I have ever met, and that includes my four older brothers. We're opposites in every way.I need order and he lives in chaos. I like to adhere to a strict schedule. Theo...does not. In any way. It's amazing that we haven't killed each other yet.Except when those annoying brothers I mentioned blow into town with a friend they want me to date and Theo rescues me. Sure, we can pretend to be attached for just a couple days. And sure, pretending to kiss him feels a whole lot like real kisses.And when he whispers my name against my skin...let's just not go there.Because, while my brothers will be out of my hair soon enough, I'm not sure I will never forget what it felt like pretending to be Theo's, even for just a few days.Author Note: This tough as nails military brat heroine is about to have her world turned upside down. There's inappropriate behavior at work, a chef who knows how to use his hands, bickering, and four older brothers who will irritate our heroine to no end. As always, there is a happily ever after for our hero and heroine. I just make them suffer a little to get it ;)

    M. Claud's, one of Manhattan's largest department stores. For years they've loathed each other, and the fact that they're vying for the same promotion doesn't help their relationship. But when they accidentally get locked in the store on Christmas Eve, sparks will fly and they'll discover just how perfect they are for each other in this sweet holiday romance.

    Love and marriage follow in short order, surprising Bean, who feels that her husband is not only the best thing to happen to her, but the only good thing.Then Mick vanishes leading amateur hikers--or "tuna" as the guides call them--up Mt. McKinley. Suddenly, Bean is thrown back upon herself and into the company of Mick's mother Hanna, an arthritic woman in her seventies who believes that "a little larceny is good for the circulation."The pair chafe at first, but eventually become partners in a road trip back to California. Mike's disappearance feels like a hole in the heart, they decide, and Hanna tells Bean to prize that hole; it's something no one can take away from her. With gentle humor, pathos, and boundless stores of hope, Marquis writes of Bean's struggle with early widowhood, loss, and moving on.An avid bird-watcher, Bean takes much of her wisdom from the Pemberton Guide to Alaska Birds. Like the globe-crossing birds she so admires, she has struggled to get aloft, but for a delicious, perhaps fleeting moment in this marvelous novel, we see her glide.Book Magazine selected Christopher Marquis as one of "Ten To Watch In 2003" for this "Proulxian saga." With its first-rate evocation of landscape and its affectionately drawn characters, A Hole in the Heart marks the publication debut of a prodigiously talented writer.

    If the genesis for a book is to shut your wife up, I guess that’s as good as any.  On top of that, Olivia’s mother had burdened her with one of those Southern middle names kids love to make fun.  To see “deBelle” printed on the front of a book seemed vindication for all the childhood teasing.  With storytelling written in the finest Southern tradition from the soap operas of Chandler Street in the quaint town of Gainesville, Georgia, to a country store on the Alabama state line, Oliviade Belle Byrd delves with wit and amusement into the world of the Deep South with all its unique idiosyncrasies and colloquialisms.  The characters who dance across the pages range from Great-Aunt LottieMae, who is as “old-fashioned and opinionated as the day is long,” to Mrs. Brewton, who calls everyone “dahling” whether they are darling or not, to Isabella with her penchant for mint juleps and drama.  Humorous anecdotes from a Christmas coffee, where one can converse with a lady who has Christmas trees with blinking lights dangling from her ears, to Sunday church,where a mink coat is mistaken for possum, will delight Southerners and baffle many a non-Southerner. There is the proverbial Southern beauty pageant, where even a six-month-old can win a tiara, to a funeral faux pas of the iron clad Southern rule—one never wears white after Labor Day and, dear gussy, most certainly not to a funeral.  Miss Hildreth Wore Brown—Anecdotes of a Southern Belle is guaranteed to provide an afternoon of laugh-out-loud reading and hilarious enjoyment.

    Not even an ultimatum requiring marriage can tip the scales. A conniving young lady who compromises his name to force a betrothal, however, is an impediment to happiness Percival must confront.Abigail Walsley dreams of publishing novels rather than marrying dashing heroes. An unexpected proposal and a subsequent Banbury tale tumble her into a betrothal with a man she has never met. Following her dreams proves a challenge with a marriage of inconvenience on the horizon.This is the love story of Percival and Abigail, two dreamers who write their love story one scene at a time.From second chance romances to mistaken identities, experience A Dash of Romance in this collection of one short novel and fourteen bonus flash fiction pieces.

    If you see a door leading to the basement, inform a librarian immediately.(The entire library is strictly off limits during winter break.)~*~Ever since she was young, Kennedy Fisher has been obsessed with dragons. Now that she’s matured a little, she’s added Rex Draconis to her list of obsessions.Not that she needs more than two things on her list. I mean, a billionaire heir bad boy and dragons are probably more than enough to last her a lifetime, don’t you think?Anyways!Rex is nice enough, though she wouldn’t say he’s into her. Except then why did he join her paranormal mysteries club? And why does he give her an ancient book explaining some of Steamydale’s oldest small town secrets on Christmas Eve?One of those secrets leads to her breaking a very important rule, which also leads to the discovery that her list of obsessions may be shorter than she first thought.Dragon’s may actually exist! And one’s been hiding under her nose this entire time...Also, that point about Rex Draconis not being into her? Um, that may have been slightly wrong...Talk about obsessions!By the end of the night and into a hot and heavy Christmas morning, she’s going to find out just how wrong she was. If they survive a rule-breaking adventure in the university library, that is...

    And he’s more than a decade older than me. But I want him anyway. My plans for Halloween this year are pretty laid-back: drive up to see my parents, hand out candy at their house, and watch some cheesy horror movies. But then my mom tells me that we’re invited to a Halloween party hosted by my dad’s new business partner. And my dad’s new business partner, Dante, is freakin’ hot. Hooking up with Dante proves to be inevitable. What catches us both off guard is our mutual desire to actually be together. But I don’t see how we can make it work. And I’m scared out of my mind to tell my parents about us. How can this possibly end well? JUST ONCE is a fun, short, Halloween romance with steam, sweetness, and a happily-ever-after!

     We see what we want to see, nothing more. When detectives Coughlin and Holzer investigate the disappearance of a successful young businessman, they’re both impressed by his beautiful wife. Slender, curvy, delicate—Michelle Fanning is not the kind of woman a man would choose to leave. Soon, a gruesome discovery leads the detectives to believe they’re investigating a murder. Reeling from the collapse of his own marriage, Detective Coughlin sees Michelle Fanning as a suspect. Detective Holzer, fascinated by her gentle femininity, sees her as a victim. Which cop turns a blind eye to the truth? Inspired by a true crime that occurred in New Jersey, this **short story** originally appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. The story introduces the character of Detective Sean Coughlin, who goes on to play a role in the full-length novels, ANOTHER MAN’S TREASURE and TREASURE OF DARKNESS, in the Palmyrton Estate Sale Mystery series. Please be aware that BLIND EYE is a short story, not a full-length novel. Chapter 1 of ANOTHER MAN’S TREASURE is also included.

    Desperation - both material and psychological - motivates his characters. A husband cruelly avenges the killing of his wife's pet; an injured rapist is cared for by a young girl, until she reaches her breaking point; a disturbed veteran of Iraq is murdered for his erratic behavior; an outsider's house is set on fire by an angry neighbor. There is also the tenderness and loyalty of the vulnerable in these stories - between spouses, parents and children, siblings, and comrades in arms - which brings the troubled, sorely tested cast of characters to vivid, relatable life.

    You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

    He is excited and afraid; he wants to recapture the love he knew with his parents before they died and become a doctor like his father. But in his new home of celebrities, crooks, untrustworthiness, and excessively wealthy deviants, lust and want thwart his search for selfless caring love, and in his quest to become a doctor, he discovers the altruism of health care and scientific discovery riddled with profit motivation and deficient moral standards. A finalist in the 2012 William Faulkner-William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition.

    

    Celebrated NY Post columnist, author and playwright Chip Deffaa edited this dark, yet inspirational story. "Heartbreaking," "surprising," "emotionally charged." "Shocking," "volatile," "riveting" and "just plain scary." Those comments are from readers of this book who cut a wide swath across a varied demographic--men, women; young, old; and who are from varying socio-economic and cultural backgrounds and locales. Michael Musto, award-winning columnist for The Village Voice in NYC and TV's "E! Channel" regular calls it: A gritty tale of dark struggle!" America's largest Italian American newspaper promises: "You'll be captured by his story from the very first page!" Jerry Seinfeld, sitcom star and comedian says, "I'm tellin' you right now--this guy is gonna be the biggest thing in show business."

    This exceptional collection of stories is about young women of different ages, from their early teens to their late twenties, coming to terms with what it means to desire, and be desired, with funny, surprising and sometimes confronting results.Ulman first made her mark with the story Chagall's Wife in Meanjin; this collection shows that she's a young Australian writer to put alongside Ceridwen Dovey, Nam Le and Fiona McFarlane.