Hard times are forcing Maude Fields to take in her estranged mother, Bea, whose secrets date to World War II. Bea arrives with a hand-embroidered recreation of La Tapisserie de la Reine Mathilde, the iconic 11th century Bayeux Tapestry. The replica contains clues to the identity of Maude’s father and the mythical Dream Stitcher, Goldye, a Jewish freedom fighter who helped launch the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. With the help of her pregnant daughter Rosie, Maude is determined to unravel decades of family deception to learn the truth about her parentage. With Poland on the brink of invasion by Nazi Germany, Goldye discovers—with the guidance of imaginary friend Queen Mathilda—that she can embroider dreams that come true. She becomes an apprentice at Kaminski Fine Fabrics, where she gains a reputation for creating wedding dresses for Aryan brides that bring their dreams to reality. She becomes known as the Dream Stitcher. Goldye meets and falls in love with Lev, a freedom fighter who wants to unite Jews and Poles to fight the Germans. Goldye sews images to help him. And she creates a powerful symbol for the resistance of the common people: a stitched hummingbird that spreads hope. Goldye leaves the ghetto to live with her sewing mentor, Jan Kaminski, who gains identity papers for Goldye as his Aryan niece. A Nazi commandant takes Jan and Goldye on a dangerous trip to France to decipher the symbols in The Bayeux Tapestry. The Nazis hope images in the Bayeux will reinforce Germany’s right to world domination. In California, Maude’s quest for the truth leads to family she didn’t know she had, and perhaps, love.

    Staff Sergeant Seth Collins wasn’t your typical Marine. A member of the elite Marine Corps Force Recon, he had a Navy Cross on his chest and six combat deployments under his belt. Called home to care for his ailing father, he became a Hillsdale police officer. Seth needed to quit and escape from the memories of Marines killed fighting the president’s politically correct wars. Fate had a different plan. The Mexican Los Guerreros and Halcon Cartels declared war against each other for control of the drug trade. Hillsdale was ground zero. Police officers selling drugs threatened Collins father. Big mistake. Seth tossed political correctness out the window. He fought back like one pissed-off Marine.

    When her friend Doris proposed sending for a mail order husband for Gretchen, who was seven months pregnant and unwed, she hoped for the best for her friend, but still felt badly for herself. Darryl Miller has always been known as one of the demon horde. If he stays in Beckham, Massachusetts, he will never rise above the reputation, but he has nowhere to go! When he receives a letter from his sister asking him to marry her pregnant friend, he only hesitates for a moment. Two weeks later, he arrives in Salmon to marry a stranger. The only trouble is the stranger refuses to marry him. Within an hour, he finds himself married to another friend of his sister’s. Will he be able to make a go of life with the beautiful straight-laced schoolteacher? Or has he made a huge mistake leaving everything to travel across country? A Distant Shore: a Kansas Crossroads novelette by Amelia C. Adams Collette Barnard has traveled from England to America to work as a ladies’ maid for a spoiled socialite who doesn’t want the California life her husband is seeking. When her employer leaves her husband in the middle of the night, Collette is discharged and abandoned in the town of Creede, Colorado, with little money and no idea what to do next. When the kind hand of fate lands her at the Brody Hotel in Topeka, Kansas, she meets a handsome young man named Gabriel Brody, who is also struggling to choose the right path for his life. Perhaps together, they can piece together a future from the bits that have been left them. Mail Order M’Lady by Carra Copelin Lady Anne Medvale, the daughter of the Marquess of Thamesford, has created a scandal by running away with a prominent politician. In America, alone and penniless, she answers an ad in the Grooms’ Gazette and travels to Beaumont, Texas as a mail order bride. Morgan Grant, a dedicated cattleman/lawman isn’t looking for a wife, but circumstances present themselves and he marries an unlikely mail order bride. Can the two of them overcome their differences to live happily ever after? Mail Order Millennium by Peggy L Henderson Growing up in a privileged society may seem glamorous, but having every material possession has left Sherri Stucki feeling empty, exploited by her friends, and abandoned. A world where people see past her money seems like a far off dream, until a mysterious stranger offers her a second chance at the life she seeks. Alexander Walker learned the hard way that city life – and its women – were not meant for him. He must complete one final job before returning to a life of solitude in his beloved mountains. The last thing he needs is a distraction from a spunky socialite who seems like a fish out of water. As they travel together toward new destinies, Alexander and Sherri discover that the life they desire can only be found in each other. Mail-Order Brides of Coldwater Creek Josie by Margery Scott Josephine (Josie) Parker’s birthday is coming up, which means she’ll have to leave the Chicago orphanage where she’s lived her entire life. With nowhere to go and no future to look forward to, she agrees to become a mail-order bride to Cooper Thompson, a rancher in Coldwater Creek, Montana. Cooper Thompson is happy with his life. He has his work, his family, and enough money to get by. He doesn’t need – or want – anything more, especially a wife. When Josie arrives in Montana, she’s shocked to learn that Cooper’s sister actually wrote the letter, and that he knows nothing about it.

    When Hitler came to power in 1933, one Jewish family refused to be destroyed and defied the Nazis only to come up against another struggle-confronting apartheid in South...

    But Claire Emerson has a bigger problem. While her father prepares to reveal the mighty weapon he’s created to showcase the might of their province, St. Cloud, in the World’s Fair, Claire is crafting a plan to escape.Claire’s father is a sought-after inventor, but he believes his genius is a gift, granted to him by his daughter’s touch. He’s kept Claire under his control for years. As St. Cloud prepares for war, Claire plans to claim her life for herself, even as her best friend, Beatrix, tries to convince her to stay and help with the growing resistance movement that wants to see a woman on the throne. At any cost.When her father’s weapon fails to fire on the fair’s opening day, Claire is taken captive by Governor Remy Duchamp, St. Cloud’s young, untried ruler. Remy believes that Claire’s touch bestows graces he’s never had, and with his governing power weakening and many political rivals planning his demise, Claire might be his only and best ally. But the last thing that Claire has ever wanted is to be someone else’s muse. Still, affections can change as quickly as the winds of war. And Claire has a choice to make: Will she quietly remake her world from the shadows—or bring it down in flames?

    Douglas and his partner NYPD Detective Mark Zucarelli on the streets of New York City as they find themselves in the middle of raging drug wars.The Colombian Cartels are flooding the streets with cocaine. They are violent and ruthless criminals.The Mob has been cut out. What will they do?The FBI and the NYPD have an uneasy alliance.Who can be trusted?Does everyone have bad intent?Inspired by my years on the FBI-NYPD Drug Task Force, BAD INTENT will take you to the dark side of the drug wars.Peek into the hearts and minds of the FBI Agents and NYPD Detectives on the front lines.Do you have BAD INTENT?

     When his roommate forced Elliot to find a job, he applied for the secretarial position at Bethel Community Church. But, in a case of mistaken identity, the ranking church officer thought Elliot was the perfect candidate for the open pastoral position. He must become a pastor in a hurry because the church is falling apart. The church needed a jolt and Elliot needed a job. Find out what happens when a novice minister finds himself in the driver’s seat of a church? Will the church find their perfect pastor, or will they send him packing?

    Make way for Charlie Smithers.The time is the nineteenth century. The place, the Serengeti Plain, where one Charlie Smithers – faithful manservant to the arrogant bone-head, Lord Brampton (with five lines in Debrett, and a hopeless shot to boot) – becomes separated from his master during an unfortunate episode with an angry rhinoceros, thereby launching Charlie on an odyssey into Deepest Darkest Africa, and subsequently into the arms of the beautiful Loiyan…and that’s where the trouble really begins.Maasai warriors, xenophobic locals, or evil Arab slavers, the two forbidden lovers encounter everything that the unforgiving jungle can throw at them."A truly engaging read that will keep anyone’s attention from the hilarious beginning until the last word. I highly recommend this 5 star novel." ~ Chapters & Chats

    A beautiful princess. A courageous hero.A ruthless villain.An impossible choice.Eliana and Rinan are in love. However, she is destined to become queen of Bariwon, obligated to marry the victor of a competition called the Shoginoc, while Rinan, her royal guardian, is forbidden to marry. Normally they could renounce their titles to be together, but these are not normal times. Abrecan, the malevolent governor of Erd, is determined to win the Shoginoc, thereby placing his easily manipulated son Daimh on Bariwon’s throne. Can Eliana and Rinan find a way to be together without jeopardizing the peace they are so desperately trying to protect?

    Eponine (Nina) Thénardier is a talented cat burglar and member of the Thieves Guild. Nina's life is midnight robberies, avoiding her father's fists, and watching over her naïve adopted sister, Cosette (Ettie). When Ettie attracts the eye of the Tiger--the ruthless lord of the Guild of Flesh--Nina is caught in a desperate race to keep the younger girl safe. Her vow takes her from the city's dark underbelly to the glittering court of Louis XVII. And it also forces Nina to make a terrible choice--protect Ettie and set off a brutal war between the guilds, or forever lose her sister to the Tiger.Les Misérables meets Six of Crows in this page-turning adventure as a young thief finds herself going head to head with leaders of Paris's criminal underground in the wake of the French Revolution.

    But without a winged mare, she’s a mere stable hand, left wondering who her parents were and why she’s so different. So when the Eye shows her a vision where she's leading a valkyrie charge on the legendary eight-legged horse Sleipnir, she grabs the possibility of this greater destiny with both hands, refusing to let go.Too bad that the only one who can help her get there is Mariam, an enemy valkyrie who begrudgingly agrees to lead her to Helheim but who certainly can’t be trusted―even if she does make Sigrid more than a little flustered. As they cross the nine worlds, battling night elves, riding sea serpents, and hurtling into fire to learn the truth about Sigrid’s birthright, an unexpected but powerful bond forms.As her feelings for Mariam deepen into something fiery and undeniable, Fate has other plans for Sigrid. What happens when the one thing you think you were meant to do might end the nine worlds?

    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.

    She brings it back with her to the foggy streets of Victorian London, unaware of its dangerous power…or that an evil beyond imagining has already taken root in the city.Stoker, a successful theater manager but frustrated writer, is drawn into a deadly web spun by the wealthy founders of a mission house for the poor. Far from a safe haven, the mission harbors a dark and terrifying secret.To save the souls of thousands, Stoker—aided by the explorer and a match girl grieving the loss of her child—must pursue an enemy as ancient as the Saharan sands where it originated. Their journey will take them through the city’s overgrown graveyards and rat-infested tunnels and even onto the maiden voyage of the world’s first “unsinkable” ship…

    But she had battled the storms of life before, and she would not be intimidated, not by nature’s fury nor by a man, even one who once had her heart….... When the beautiful plantation-born socialite Angelique Latour is swept off her feet and quickly wedded to a swarthy scoundrel, her world is turned upside down. Although schooled to be a charming, proper Creole belle, her fine education does not prepare her for the cruel irony that leaves her penniless and alone. Haunted by loss and betrayal, she refuses to be a victim, tapping into her own resourcefulness to save herself in a world where men traditionally hold the power and position. And just as a unique opportunity for reinvention, redemption, and romance presents itself, forces of nature and the universe plot to spoil her happiness, driving her hopes with a hurricane’s fury into the wide expanse of the Gulf of Mexico. Angelique’s Storm weaves a powerful tale of suspense, treachery, and survival against the backdrop of pre-Civil War South Louisiana

    Watch them grow up during a halcyon past, an everyday present, and a dystopian future. And be prepared to be amazed.Inspired by the occupations of Palestine, Kurdistan and Tibet, and by the corporate occupation of the west, ‘Occupied’ is a haunting glance into a society which is a little too familiar for comfort. It truly is a unique piece of literary fiction…