Some are good, and others not so much. Though her bad choices bring her face-to-face with the dark side of human nature, Kara's heartfelt desire to find a pure and everlasting love give her the courage to take chances. She's a strong spirited female with a snarky attitude and an often-colorful viewpoint on life. Kara's no Barbie doll (either in build or temperament) and thus, her tale will relate to many female readers.Kara shares her journey of friendships, romance, lust and loss in Take a Piece of My Heart. She learns slowly that mistrust, love, and hatred for some people may require a second chance. This sexy and heartwarming story is Book One of The Wavering Heart Series, a trio of stand-alone contemporary romance novels with a twist of small town charm."Take a Piece of My Heart by author Diane Rose Duffy is a wonderful book that will have you hooked from the start. Diane Rose Duffy's writing style is engaging and articulate. At times, you will find yourself giggling out loud at Kara's thoughts and actions, and in the very next minute, your heart will ache for her." - READERS' FAVORITE BOOK REVIEWS

    Ten-year-old Ana Jurić is a carefree tomboy who runs the streets of Croatia's capital with her best friend, Luka, takes care of her baby sister, Rahela, and idolizes her father. But as civil war breaks out across Yugoslavia, soccer games and school lessons are supplanted by sniper fire and air raid drills. When tragedy suddenly strikes, Ana is lost to a world of guerilla warfare and child soldiers; a daring escape plan to America becomes her only chance for survival.Ten years later Ana is a college student in New York. She's been hiding her past from her boyfriend, her friends, and most especially herself. Haunted by the events that forever changed her family, she returns alone to Croatia, where she must rediscover the place that was once her home and search for the ghosts of those she's lost.

    . . WAITING IN DETROIT FOR A BORN-AGAIN CON MAN TRYING TO SAVE HIS FAMILY.Former con man Fletcher Doyle is finally home after six years in the pen. He’s working a menial job, regaining his bearings in the world, and trying to revive his relationships with his wife and twelve-year-old daughter. No easy feat.But when Fletcher and his family go on a mission trip to Detroit—in the company of the condescending church leader who also happens to be his landlord—Fletcher finds his old life waiting for him. Within hours of arriving in the city, he’s been blackmailed into doing a job for a mysterious criminal who calls himself The Alchemist.A series of relics hidden by the Knights of Malta, as ancient as they are priceless, are in the sights of The Alchemist. What he needs is a gifted grifter with a background in ecclesiastical history . . . what he needs is Fletcher Doyle.Between hiding his reawakened criminal life from his wife and trying to hide her from their relentless landlord, Fletcher is ready to give up. But when his family is drawn into the dangerous world he can’t shake, Fletcher is forced to rely on his years in the game to save the only people who mean more to him than the biggest con in history.

    Estranged from his parents, Daniel is hesitant to revisit their history: long divorced, his mother still maintains the farm having put out her cheating, rakish husband, and even in these later years her anger burns brightly.Daniel arrives at the farm in the heat of his parents’ conflict with Sharen, an alluring tenant and ex-lover of his father now perched on family land. Sharen and her unstable son Reggie complicate an already difficult family dynamic while Daniel has to tend to his mother’s condition, his father’s contentious behavior, and the swell of memory that strikes whenever he visits the farm. As Daniel is increasingly drawn to Sharen, the various tensions across the farm will spark events that cannot help but change them all.

    At least the first few times. Even though Molly Grant has only a handful of relationships behind her, she’s already been through more divorces than she can count.At the premier Manhattan law firm where she’s a matrimonial attorney, the hours are long, the bosses tyrannical, and the bonuses stratospheric. Her clients are rich, famous, and used to getting their way. Molly’s job—and primary concern in life—is to work as hard as possible to make sure they do. Until she meets the client who changes everything...Fern Walker is the desperate former wife of a ruthless media mogul. Her powerful ex is slowly pushing her out of her young children’s lives, and she fears losing them forever. Molly—haunted by an incident from her own past—finds herself unable to walk away from Fern and sets out to help her. She just needs to do it without her bosses finding out.Now, as complications both professional and personal stack up, Molly can only hope that her own wits, heart, and instincts are enough—both in and out of court.

    Single and feeling there is nothing left for her in small-town England, Anna embarks on an adventure as a volunteer with the Medical Missionaries of Mary to teach the leper children in Africa. Life as Anna has known it, is forever changed as she learns the culture that would banish its sick, disfigured, and crippled to the jungles. Babies are left to die on roadsides, children are chased away to live by whatever means they can find. The aged are abandoned. Anna’s daily life is an adventure as she travels from one village to another across a hostile land with few passable roads, rickety bridges threatening to fall apart and cast its occupants on the jagged rocks far below, and weather that turns a calm river into a roiling death trap. In spite of the trials, Anna also manages to find love and family in this godforsaken land. Follow this adventure through disease, weather, strife, death and determination to turn a few acres of land into a loving home for the outcast lepers of Nigeria.

    But as his thoughtful ways become increasingly controlling, Savanna seeks help from her mom, only to find that she's too wrapped up in her new family to care.Left to deal with an abuser on her own, Savanna turns to her best friends, Jane and Tally, for help. What was supposed to be a fun summer for the three best friends turns into a series of twists to break free from a stalker.

    In a few months' time the British flag will be lowered all over India, and with Independence thousands of those who made their lives there - as planters, civil servants, or in the Indian army - will be returning to England.Among those coming home, as everyone speaks of it, are Will and Flo Sutherland, who fell in love at the end of the war. India has been the defining experience of their lives: how will they make a new life now?Sue Gee's new novel is filled with pathos and humour, beautifully evoking an all-but vanished world.

    But you can't choose what you have... can you? Desire soon turns to obsession as Charlotte embarks on a difficult and controversial journey to sway the odds to have a girl. How far is she prepared to go, and at what cost?

    Eliza is to be married to Nicholas, her companion since she was a child. But when the pair are involved in a car crash, Eliza is rescued by a stranger, Lewis Harper, whose stunning green eyes she will never forget.As the war begins, Eliza's world begins to fall apart: her beloved brother Martyn is killed in action, and her once-beloved husband grows increasingly distant. And then, when her efforts to help the Dunkirk evacuees take her to the south coast, she spots a familiar pair of eyes.

    Twelve years later, she petitions the family court for visitation with her daughters, Alexis and Christa.Her attorney tells Jennie that, ordinarily, she could not imagine that some type of visitation would not be granted. But, she warns, the situation is hardly ordinary.True, Jennie suffered from a bipolar disorder when she began to drink heavily, abandoned her family, and moved in with another man. True, she has turned her life around: leaving her boyfriend, returning to school, entering therapy, taking medication, finding a job, and joining a church. But she pressed no claim for her children when her husband divorced her, and she has made no attempt to contact them in any way since then. Her daughters, now sixteen and fourteen, live four hundred miles away. They have busy lives that do not include her, lives that will be totally disrupted by the visitation that she requests. Their father is engaged to be married to a woman who has taken the role of their mother for a decade. Alexis remembers nothing good about Jennie. Christa recalls nothing at all. Conflict ensues as soon as Jennie’s petition is served: her former husband does not want to share his children with the woman who deserted him; her children have no interest in knowing the mother who abandoned them, and her father insists that she is being timid and ought to demand full custody, not simply visitation. As court convenes, Jennie’s past is dredged up− the desertion, the men, her drinking, her mental health − and paraded before the judge. Her claim to be a different person, now, is attacked. The judge hesitates to grant Jennie’s request, but reluctantly agrees to order three trial visits.If persuading the judge to let her see her children was difficult, convincing them to allow her to be a part of their lives seems to be almost impossible. She struggles through two visits and is almost. What happens next tests her confidence in herself, her love for her children, and, ultimately, threatens her life, itself.

    But it seems his old life isn't quite done with him yet when he's tasked with making one last kill. It's one that could get him everything he has ever wanted; a house, some land, cash in his pocket, a future for him and his girlfriend, Daniella. But this one isn't like all the others. This one comes at a much higher price.The Darkest Heart is a journey through the shadowy heart of Brazil and the even darker mind of a killer, where fear is a death sentence and the only chance of survival might mean abandoning the only good thing you've ever known.

    But a chance meeting at Logan Airport introduces them to Aoife, an elderly Irish widow who is returning home to the joys and stresses of her tight-knit family. Encouraged by their conversation with Aoife, the sisters are determined to see more than the usual tourist attractions. By veering off the beaten paths, they find holy wells and unexpectedly encounter ghosts and fairies. They sing in pubs and have fun meeting interesting people. Their new experiences ignite passions both spiritually and physically. Through rich descriptions of Ireland’s beautiful scenery and the stories told by its people, this tale brings readers along on a colorful and engaging journey.

    Their dream of owning a ranch in Idaho's Salmon River country kept them going during those tough times in the Army. The dream, however, is derailed when Seth is murdered in the Bear Creek gold fields. In his quest to obtain justice for his friend, Josh is plunged into a quagmire of corruption and wickedness. And then, to complicate matters even more, enter Sarah, an outcast prostitute looking for a ticket to respectability. Is she friend, lover or just someone looking for a free ride out of Bear Creek? Josh has to decide - assuming he lives that long. However, staying alive might be difficult, given the character of the sheriff and his cronies. Few people trust them to uphold the law, yet no one dares to challenge them. The simplest solution to this entire mess would be to walk away, but Josh's conscience won't allow that. Only time will tell if he is to take his stubborn loyalty to the grave.

    With the small town of Macon, Pennsylvania now in a panic, will DeAngelo uncover the clues in time to prevent another murder? Or will his attempt to stop the killer make him the next victim?