But shortly after Ivy’s untimely death she is contacted by a secretive businessman who offers her the chance at the fame and fortune she so desperately craves.While Emily initially gets to experience the things she has always wanted, it soon becomes clear that her new employer had sinister motives for approaching her and it isn’t long before she discovers that the life of her dreams comes with the kind of conditions that are the stuff of nightmares. Social media isn’t life or death. It’s more important than that.

    This collection of short stories is our gift to bring you something positive and joyful with which to end the year.Soldiers stumbling upon mercy and miracles; children sharing gifts of friendship and love; romance finding its way into lonely, war-weary hearts; resistance fighters; spies; families on the home front—all bringing their own ray of hope in the darkest of times.For this holiday season, we offer you this collection of short stories to lift your spirit, and to remember a time when love and the strength of human spirit prevailed.We hope you will enjoy stepping back into the wartime Christmases in these stories with us.

    Who killed Ralph Wainwright? His bitter wife? His son, back in town after a long absence? The discovery of multiple wills further clouds Wainwright’s relationships and motives others may have had in wanting to see him dead. From the countryside to the courtroom, the small town of Borderview to the burgeoning metropolis of Omaha, Last Will is a tale of mystery and suspense set in 1880s Nebraska, as lawmen and law wranglers must navigate the ripple effect a murder has on the community and their families.

    As she and Mark spend time together, and their friendship deepens she wonders if maybe, this man might be different. Wonders if she dare let go of her heart. Can she forgive her family and herself before Mark too becomes a man of her pastHer Heart’s PromiseNadine aims to use her job as editor of the town newspaper to probe into the her father’s mysterious death but her secret high school crush Clint just took over the paper, and he wants the story buried. The same way she would prefer to keep her changing feelings for him under wraps.When Clint reveals a hidden truth about the past, Nadine has to make a choice: continue the quest for justice or find room in her busy life for love…Close to His HeartJace Scholte is determined to rise above his poverty-stricken childhood. Now he’s back in Sweet Creek to win the residents' support for a high-rise condo. He volunteers in a local fundraiser to melt their resistance, but he never expected he'd work side-by-side with the one who got away…Tess Kruger remembers the plan she and Jace constructed all those years ago. But she can't forget the dark secret that caused her to run away from their potential future.Old flames reignite between Jace and Tess, though as they find themselves questioning a past they thought they knew. For a second chance at love, they'll have to face the harsh truth together…The Sweethearts of Sweet Creek Series brings you three heartwarming stories that will entertain, inspire and stir your heart and soul.

    Be blessed and be encouraged!!Like to read? Like free stuff? CONTACT MICHAEL WINN AND LET HIM KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS AND BE CONSIDERED FOR A FREE GIFT!!About The Book of Joe B:Why do bad things happen to good people? Middle School gym teacher Joseph Bustamante more than reflects upon this ageless question, he demands an answer! And for good cause. There’s nobody nicer, more polite, and kind in all of Uz, yet in an unrelenting span of three weeks he loses his girlfriend, family, home, job, friends - everything - as he helplessly watches his life spiral out-of-control. Within this whimsical, darkly comic, and ultimately uplifting, modern-day retelling of The Book of Job, this gentle, big-hearted lug is forced by circumstance to stand-up and confront the universal truths that affect us all. Joe B: A Love Story starkly presents one innocent man’s rise, fall, and fall some more, as his remarkable spiritual journey leads him to not only question but challenge the core injustices of this world. Yes, Joe B is brought to the brink and he won’t take it anymore! He demands an explanation for his suffering. And, like it or not, he’s gonna get it. More than 25,000 downloads so far!! Share a link to the page with anyone who may be facing life's struggles! They'll be glad you did.

    He needs to banish his distrust of women. War widow Salina Meier Moffett Dunham doesn’t trust men. Shamefully treated by her father and husband, she is on the run with her children to escape a forced marriage or worse—death. In Ainsley, Kansas, she shortens her name to Lena Meier to hide from the man pursuing her. She finds a position as a clerk in the mercantile with the grouchy storekeeper. But there is something within that grumpy man that her heart hears and draws her. She isn’t sure what that thing is until she discovers a book in the storeroom of the mercantile. Returning from the war, Angus MacPherson takes back the running of his mercantile and keeps his distance from the young women in Ainsley. After a run-in with Lena Meier—literally, his buggy ran into her cart, leaving him injured, he agrees to let her work in his store. After all, his MacPherson family creed is to help and protect all widows and orphans. But this woman, this stranger in town, irritates and interests him as no woman has since Amelia, the woman who betrayed him to marry his rich cousin. Matters get worse when his former fiancé, who is now a wealthy widow, returns to Ainsley and wants Angus as her new husband. Can love weave its way through the heart by things unspoken?

    Fiction has to make sense.—Mark TwainAfter selling their Minnesota home, Travis and Wendy plan an elaborate departure from the United States before repatriating themselves to the UK. Buying a second-hand RV, visiting states unknown, and selling the campervan after reaching Florida seems like the perfect exit. So they pack their lives and blind Shih Tzu into a once-luxurious thirty-one-foot RV and hit the open road.As they roll through the Midwest, heading for the Deep South, they soon discover “RV” doesn't mean “Reliable Vehicle.” Historical sites give way to repair shops and the excitement of the once-in-a-lifetime trip quickly turns into apprehension of what mishap will be around the next corner. With the wheels literally coming off the wagon, bogus repairs, temperatures rising inside the RV and under the hood, sleeping in junkyards, and being laughed at by the Mississippi police, the once-happy couple just want the nightmare to end so they can return to England. But the Minnesota Department of Motor Vehicles has the final say as to when they can leave.Of course it's a true story. You couldn't make it up.

     Her marriage to Max was the first thing to come under scrutiny and on one sexless night in May, Mollie decided that their relationship was over. However, when a grouchy divorce lawyer convinces Mollie there’s a chance she could bow out of this life being eaten alive by a pack of cats, she starts to search for an alternative. Opening the can of worms that is her marriage makes Mollie realise she might not be as blameless as she initially thought… Will Mollie be able to rescue her marriage or has the lure of a life without wet towels on the bed turned her head? One thing is for sure… Mollie McQueen is NOT getting divorced. Praise for LACEY LONDON... "One of my favourite books of the year!" "An eye-opening, thoroughly enjoyable and very relatable read." "I honestly couldn't put this book down!" "Entertaining, sometimes desperately sad, very often uplifting and hugely life-affirming." "Another magnificent achievement for Lacey's remarkable pen. I'll never forget it." "A highly addictive roller coaster ride!"

    With 12 terrifically spine chilling short stories, this anthology contains contributions from some of the best young horror writing talent out there, and was curated by the editors of the PlayWithDeath.com, the premier destination for online horror entertainment. If you're searching for stories that will frighten you to your very core, look no further. List of Short Story Authors Tom Wortman M. B. Vujačić Manen Lyset Jenny Ashford Kyle Yadlosky G. T. Montgomery Ari Drew Patrick Winters Trevor James Zaple John Teel Dexter Findley Kyle Rader

    What she does not expect is to also inherit an Antique Shop which has not been opened in more than sixty years. She takes her friend, Peter Attwood, an archaeologist and historian to investigate the shop, but what they find is far more than a simple neglected retail store. They discover a coin minted at the time of the young King Edward V, but when they try to remove it from the shop, they step outside and into 1483, the year the coin was minted. Wanting to see the princes in the Tower and perhaps discover the truth of what happened to them, Peter persuades Rachel to dress in some of the historical clothing in the back room of the antique shop, and visit the Tower. There they watch the young King Edward V writing and when he leaves his scroll on a stone bench, Peter takes the opportunity to grab it. A journal written by one of the princes could be worth a fortune, but when they try to take it out of the shop, they find the same problem: it cannot be taken into the twenty first century. A scheme to hide the scroll in the fifteenth century and find it again in the twenty-first seems an easy option, until they are observed digging it up and accused of witchcraft.

     Whether white or black, living or dead, down home country or upscale urban, Gabriel’s characters are quirky, poignant and deep. They include: A Gullah woman using folk magic to cast her latest spell. A girl coming-of-age dealing with death in 1940s Tennessee. A wealthy Savannah matriarch with gastrointestinal issues guarding family secrets. A good ol’ boy observing himself shortly after his death. An agoraphobic woman striking up a unique friendship with the girl across the street. And a band of seventy-year-olds finding healing in a mountain stream. Written in the tradition of Flannery O’Connor and Eudora Welty, the eight short stories in Grace, Grits and Ghosts: Southern Short Stories are all rooted in the southern landscape—from the steamy coast of Georgia, to the current day Atlanta suburbs, to the ancient Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina. Pull up a rocker on the front porch, take a sip of your sweet iced tea and lose yourself in these original stories of soulful southerners and their sultry landscape.

    Louis to the safety of the countryside, they don't realize that the rural town they think of as a protective haven is loaded with secrets, and the farm they lease is far from safe. It is cursed land, and they're about to find out the hard way that danger lurks everywhere, even in a small, peaceful farming community. AND SO HAS THEIRS... Will the Martins live to see dawn, or will they only add to the rising body count?

    Meet Wanda and her coven of supernatural sleuths. Book One: Bottling It Book Two: Bricking It Book Three: A Trick for a Treat Book One: Bottling It Wanda Wayfair is a bit of a late starter. At almost twenty-one she still hasn't received her magical powers, and she's running out of time. But that doesn’t bother Wanda. Much. Not when she can spend all of her time in the human world and pretend that her coven doesn’t exist. But when Wanda takes a job at Berrys' Bottlers, working with the handsome Will Berry and his unpleasant Aunt Alice, she soon realises that she's a lot closer to the magical world than she thought. All over Dublin, humans are murdering witches. When asked why, all they'll say is, 'I dunno why I done it.' But Wanda thinks she does know why they’ve done it – and hopefully she’ll receive her power in time to help her coven discover the truth. Book Two: Bricking It All her life, Wanda thought that things would be better once she received her magical powers. Turns out, not so much. The Minister for Magical Law is insisting that Wanda go back to school before she can become a working member of the Wayfair coven. Oh, and she’s also insisting that Wanda perform no magic at all until she’s passed all of her tests. But Wanda’s coven needs her now more than ever. Witches are going missing, and skeletons are turning up in closets and changing rooms all over Ireland. Will Wanda stick to the Minister’s rules, or will she risk it all to help the people she loves? Book Three: A Trick for a Treat It’s Wanda’s first Halloween at home for years, but that doesn’t mean she gets to enjoy the holiday. A famous werewolf has disappeared, and his girlfriends are getting knocked off one by one. Murder and mayhem might be all in a day’s work for the Wayfair coven, but this time the stakes are higher than ever. This time, Wanda’s own friends are under suspicion. Wanda needs to discover the real culprit, and she needs to do it fast – otherwise the people she cares about could spend their lives behind bars. Oh, and while she’s at it, she also needs to pass another few of the Minister’s tests. But who ever said that being a witch was easy?

    See Marty before he becomes the super-sleuthing, crime-busting hero of the Silicon Valley Mystery series. In this short read, you’ll meet the lovable hero, an amateur sleuth who constantly frustrates and astounds everyone around him.Can Marty complete the retelling of a story without bumbling into yet another mystery? Nuts and Dolts is the humorous prequel novella in a refreshingly modern cozy mystery series set in Silicon Valley. If you like quirky sleuths, wacky side characters, and laugh-out-loud moments, you’ll love this offbeat whodunit.Try Nuts and Dolts to log in to a great mystery series today!

    He’ll destroy his boss Apple Shannon, a cheerful thirty-something who owns The Kitchen where he works after school.First, he’ll seduce her.Then, he’ll blackmail her, claiming she molested a minor.Finally, he’ll take everything from her: her business, her self-respect, and her reputation.The best part is she’ll blame herself, so it’s not just brute force destruction. It’s eloquent and complex. There’s layers to the whole thing.