The Heir The Arceneaux family has a long history of falling victim to circumstance--madness, embezzlement, even murder--but when the last of the unmarried females inherits the family plantation, she is determined their unfortunate legacy will end with her. After her father is imprisoned in New York, she embarks on a new life in New Orleans with what is left of all the hope she can muster. What she finds is an abandoned house, a fractured family, and an oppressed people. Determined to find her own way, she confronts the challenges head on, and soon realizes change is not something needed only for her, but for many. People of Color In the decades before the Civil War, Louisiana was the most advanced state on the topic of freedom. People of color were successful in business and owned property--some of which they acquired through the gifts or wills of white fathers whose black and mulatto wives and mistresses exacted better lives for their children. A Step Backward The Civil War brought change--any black lineage became cause for discrimination, even in Louisiana--and many blacks and mixed-race persons were relegated to occupations not unlike those of their ancestors. Women, though white, were expected to be hostesses and leave business to men--especially the business of voting. A Family Reunited Willows Plantation, still worked by the descendants of the slaves who built it, becomes the anchor to affect change and in a historical fiction story spanning five generations, author Cyndie Shaffstall, takes you on a journey through abolition and suffrage efforts of the 1700s and 1800s. A Voodoo priestess, a French artist, the first woman presidential candidate, and the world’s fair shed light on issues and provide opportunities to reunite and strengthen an entire family.Each book of The Delegate series reads as though you've come across someone's journal. While you read, the saga envelopes you, and it becomes your journal, and your story, as you are transported through time.

    These are the books that made Michael Gresham a household name for those who love legal thrillers. But a word of warning: get ready to stay up late, because the Gresham books are known for portraying characters that readers love and want to follow. Book 1: Lies She Never Told Me the story of Michael Gresham's heritage, beginning with his father's father. The book features mob wars in 1920's Chicago; World War II invasions and POW camps; romance between powerful men and beautiful women; the most infamous mass murder in 1960's Chicago; and the complete growing-up story of Michael Gresham himself, from young boy to young lawyer. The book recounts the first meeting between Michael and his famous investigator Marcel in Operation Desert Shield when both young men are soldiers on the track of Saddam Hussein. Finally, when Michael's grandmother comes to him with a request that he track down and kill one man, can he refuse? He's been trained as a lawyer, he believes in the rule of law, and he believes that no man is above the law. But his grandmother won't let him go. She tells him a certain man must die for his crimes. Michael loves his grandmother with every cell in his body. Can he refuse her dying wish? Will he honor the vow he makes to this most important woman in his life? And so the hunt begins. Who will Michael find first: the killer or himself? Book 2: Michael Gresham: The Lawyer Michael Gresham is a criminal attorney with a client accused of murdering a judge's wife. As the story progresses, the judge whose wife was murdered suddenly tries to hire Michael Gresham for himself. New revelations have the judge backed into a corner in this legal and financial thriller. Can an attorney battle the system and win the notorious case other lawyers turned down? Can Michael Gresham turn the tables on those who would see him dead? And who is going to pay for the injury and disfigurement they left him with? A legal financial thriller that introduces the first in a five-book series about Michael Gresham, the Chicago lawyer who defends hopeless cases everyday. Watch from your front row seat as Michael walks into this courtroom drama a huge underdog. Cheer him on as he uses all his wit and cunning to defend the indefensible. Book 3: Secrets Girls Keep Michael Gresham is a criminal attorney whose priest has fathered a son. The boy is now seventeen, acting-out, and suddenly arrested for first-degree murder. A serious question arises as to the boy's guilt. The priest asks Michael to take his son into his home so he can be released on bail. Michael and his wife agree and the boy, with his snake and mice, moves in. One young client who looks more guilty with each new death... The new houseguest gets questioned by the police for yet a second murder. Michael Gresham and his wife become uneasy and, when the young man begins acting out, they finally move him out. The snake and mice move out with him. What follows is the story of a trial for first degree murder. All pertinent witnesses take the stand and are questioned in this book. The tension mounts. A verdict is rendered by the jury, but the crime doesn't end there. Now it becomes personal to Michael and Danny. Featured Books by USA Today Best Seller John Ellsworth

    Journey through the deep south and follow the lives of several families as they intertwine throughout the decades in this collection of southern short stories.

    His humor, columns, and short stories appear in various publications throughout the Southeast.

    Devastated, he numbs the pain with drink. Leaving a tavern one night he stumbles upon a cloaked female figure lying in a dark alley. Charles helps the stranger, unaware the chance encounter would eventually alter his life forever when hidden secrets and feelings are revealed. A few years later, he returns to London to search for this women with the goal of setting right his wrongs of the past. Imprisoned by fear, will unraveled secrets change everything for Charles after he finds her? ISABELLA became smitten with the handsome but troubled businessman from America who rescued her. He fled just as their flourishing friendship turned passionate. When the apprenticeship system is abolished, Isabella has no choice but to create another life for herself. She disappears without a hint of her whereabouts, carrying a secret with the potential to ruin everything Charles holds dear. Time passes when an innocent outing finds Isabella reliving emotions of love and abandonment she thought were buried. Can she still find the peace and safety she so desires? Or will fate continue to unleash a life of inescapable affliction?

    Wilbur Larch—saint and obstetrician, founder and director of the orphanage in the town of St. Cloud's, ether addict and abortionist. It is also the story of Dr. Larch's favorite orphan, Homer Wells, who is never adopted. A Widow for One Year Richly comic, as well as deeply disturbing, A Widow for One Year is a multilayered love story of astonishing emotional force.  Both ribald and erotic, it is also a brilliant novel about the passage of time and the relentlessness of grief. A Prayer for Owen Meany In the summer of 1953, two eleven-year-old boys–best friends–are playing in a Little League baseball game in Gravesend, New Hampshire. One of the boys hits a foul ball that kills the other boy’s mother. The boy who hits the ball doesn’t believe in accidents; Owen Meany believes he is God’s instrument. What happens to Owen, after that 1953 foul ball, is extraordinary and terrifying.

    But trouble brews beneath their calm demeanors. Stella faces her first crisis as an adoptive mom when a second-grade bully wreaks havoc on Jazz’s life. When their beloved teacher is suspended on bogus charges, Stella takes on the principal and the president of parents’ association.Ollie experiences crippling panic attacks as she struggles to cope with her parents’ death. While she loves her new friends at Hope Springs, her job as wellness center manager is a pit stop on her journey of life. Her hopes soar when she discovers a vineyard for sale in the nearby town of Lovely. But there’s a catch. Why is the price of the property so low? Does it have to do with the current owner’s ancient feud with his neighbor.Cecily is falling in love with Parker. But she’s worried it’s too soon after breaking off her engagement. Lyle begs for another chance, but Cecily isn’t interested. Lyle’s advances become increasingly more aggressive, placing Cecily’s life in danger.Presley’s baby is due in a few short weeks. But she’s heard nothing from her country music star husband in months. Is it possible the rumors are true? Could Everett be having an affair with his attractive young co-star? Or is he hiding a more serious problem?The exciting conclusion of the bestselling Hope Springs series where some journeys are ending while others are just beginning.

    Set predominantly in the sanctuary of a small southern town in the 1960's, Mercy, Alabama spans decades and states to probe a buried but unsettled past plagued with mistrust and tainted by an unresolved murder. It explores the choices that define us, the nature of forgiveness, and the frailty of human connections in the face of disaster.

    When a decent, regular guy does his thieving neighbor a favor by driving him out to a long-neglected farm to steal an old panel truck, the two accidentally spark the ire of the hidden, quasi-occult residents of the place who prove eager to inflict Old Testament vengeance on just about every male within reach.  It's Me Too gone feral in a story of moral anxiety, misguided romance, and the age-old wages of sin.

    Rachel Gibson Collection of these titles: • I'm In No Mood For Love• It Must Be Love• The Trouble With Valentines Day• Tangled Up In You• See Jane Score

    

    Includes:SUMMER RENTALEllis, Julia, and Dorie. Friends since Catholic grade school, they now find themselves, in their mid-thirties, at the crossroads of life and love. A month in North Carolina's Outer Banks is just what each of them needs. Ty Bazemore is their landlord. After an inauspicious first meeting with Ellis, the two find themselves disturbingly attracted to one another, even as Ty is about to lose everything he's ever cared about. Maryn Shackleford is a stranger on the run who needs just a few things: no questions, a good hiding place, and a new identity. Ellis, Julia, and Dorie can provide what Maryn wants; can they also provide what she needs?SPRING FEVERAnnajane Hudgens truly believes she is over her ex-husband, Mason Bayless. They've been divorced for four years, she's engaged to a new, terrific guy, and she's ready to leave the small town where she and Mason had so much history. She is so over Mason that she has absolutely no problem attending his wedding to the beautiful, intelligent, delightful Celia. But when fate intervenes and the wedding is called to a halt as the bride is literally walking down the aisle, Annajane begins to realize that maybe she's been given a second chance. Maybe everything happens for a reason. And maybe, just maybe, she wants Mason back. But there are secrets afoot in this small Southern town and Annajane discovers that change can bring out the worst in people and uncover family scandals. And even though there are people determined to keep Annajane from getting what she wants, happiness could be hers for the taking, and the life she once had with Mason in this sleepy little lake town could be in her future. That is, if she can find out what she's really made of and what really matters most to her.LADIES' NIGHTGrace Stanton's life as a rising media star and beloved lifestyle blogger takes a surprising turn when she catches her husband cheating and torpedoes his pricey sports car straight into the family swimming pool. Grace suddenly finds herself locked out of her palatial home, checking account, and even the blog she has worked so hard to develop in her signature style. Moving in with her widowed mother, who owns and lives above a rundown beach bar called The Sandbox, is less than ideal. So is attending court-mandated weekly "divorce recovery" therapy sessions with three other women and one man for whom betrayal seems to be the only commonality. When their "divorce coach" starts to act suspiciously, they decide to start having their own Wednesday "Ladies' Night" sessions at The Sandbox, and the unanticipated bonds that develop lead the members of the group to try and find closure in ways they never imagined. Can Grace figure out a new way home and discover how strong she needs to be to get there?

    Instead, her life complicates further when she meets the mysterious, scarred, and alluring Eoghanan McMillan – a man so unlike any she’s ever known. She falls for him quickly but, after a spell sends them back in time to the seventeenth century, Grace is forced to accept the amazing truth about the man she’s just beginning to know and to re-think the life she had planned for herself. IN DUE TIME (A NOVELLA) – BOOK 4.5: For Jeffrey Oakes, life in the 17th century hasn’t been the thrilling change of pace he hoped it would be. It might all be bearable if he had someone to maneuver the cultural differences and minimal conveniences with—someone with whom he could make a life.  Kathleen Carter’s life is changing. With enough money now saved to fulfill her dream of restoring the castle she inherited, her job as housemaid is coming to an end. Little does she know that a move isn’t the only big change life has in store for her and that perhaps her dreams might include more than devoting her life to a big, empty castle. LOVE BEYOND COMPARE – BOOK 5: Jane Mitchell has had many dreams for her life, but living in the 17th century was never one of them. Unknowingly transported through time by the meddling witch, Morna, Jane chooses to stay in the past so she can remain in her beloved nephew’s life. Castle life doesn’t really suit her, and she quickly finds that her love for her family isn’t enough to fill her hungry soul. Eager for purpose, she takes work at the village inn. One frigid evening, she meets Adwen MacChristy, future laird of Cagair Castle and the most infuriating man she’s ever met…never suspecting for a moment that he could be the one her soul hungers for. Will Jane allow herself to fall for a man who is the very embodiment of the reckless life she left behind, or will fate make the decision for her when it sends her through time once again? Other collections in this series: Morna's Legacy: Books 1, 2, 2.5 & 3 (Contains Love Beyond Time, Love Beyond Reason, A Conall Christmas - A Novella, and Love Beyond Hope) Morna's Legacy: Books 4, 4.5, & 5 (Contains Love Beyond Measure, In Due Time - A Novella, and Love Beyond Compare) Morna's Legacy: Books 6, 7, & 7.5 (Contains Love Beyond Dreams, Love Beyond Belief, and A McMillan Christmas - A Novella)

    Wade turns for help to Kate Stewart, a young lawyer who has left a large law firm for a fresh start on her own in Georgetown. These two fiercely independent souls form a wary alliance for the legal battle that follows. It s a fight that shows them the power of connections good and bad to change their lives forever.

    Especially when it comes to women. With a rough and damaged past that has left him jaded, he doesn't do committed relationships. But he does like sex—the hotter and harder, the better. He likes it fast and filthy, which is why he refuses to even touch someone as sweet and guileless as Samantha Jamieson. Until he discovers that she likes it just as down and dirty as he does. DIRTY SEXY INKED Breaking hearts is what wild and rebellious Mason Kincaid does best. Hit it and quit it is his motto, and with his bad boy reputation and tattoos, he doesn't lack for female companionship. Until one hot night with the one woman he swore he'd never touch becomes an all consuming addiction he can't kick. Katrina Sands has been his best friend for years, but now that he knows what she feels like, and tastes like, there is no going back to being just friends. Hot, dirty sex has never felt so good...or so right. DIRTY SEXY CUFFED As a cop, Levi Kincaid is all about discipline and control . . .in the bedroom, and out of it, and he's always been very careful about choosing women who abide by his rules. Hot sex and intense pleasure? No problem. Emotional commitment and forever promises? No way. But he never anticipates falling for a blue eyed angel who makes him want to cuff her to his bed and do dirty, sexy things to her. And that control of his? It doesn't stand a chance against Sarah Robins, the one woman he can't resist . . . DIRTY SEXY SINNER After a lifetime of lies, deceit and betrayal, Jackson Stone isn't a man who trusts easily—with women being at the top of the list. Now he’s all about control in every aspect of his life. Especially between the sheets. Hot, mutual pleasure with a woman? No problem, as long as he’s in charge. But there’s something different about sexy bartender Tara Kent that he finds irresistible, in bed and out. Something that has him willing to compromise his principles and bend his rules. Let the sinning begin.