California West

Ranch owner Jesse Pleasant always felt too big for his desert town and too brutish to fit in with his charming, cowboy brothers. After his temper gets the best of him one time too many, he's ready to accept the truth: He's cursed to be alone. But when the Senate selection committee comes looking for a man of his public standing, he knows this might be his chance to prove to his family and friends that he can keep his cool, all while giving back to his community. There's only one problem. While Jesse definitely has a mind for business, his people skills are more than lacking.

A sweeping panorama of the great state of California. "The Golden State: A History of California" by Daniel Hardy offers a comprehensive journey through the rich tapestry of California's past. From its indigenous roots to its transformation into a global economic powerhouse, Hardy expertly weaves together the stories of diverse peoples, landmark events, and cultural movements that have shaped the state's unique identity. This meticulously researched volume explores California's pivotal role in American history - from the Gold Rush and the transcontinental railroad to Hollywood's rise and ...

San Francisco Earthquake that leveled a city symbolic of America's relentless western expansion. Simon Winchester has also fashioned an enthralling and informative informative look at the tumultuous subterranean world that produces earthquakes, the planet's most sudden and destructive force. In the early morning hours of April 18, 1906, San Francisco and a string of towns to its north-northwest and the south-southeast were overcome by an enormous shaking that was compounded by the violent shocks of an earthquake, registering 8.25 on the Richter scale.

An extraordinary saga of the trail-blazing cowboys who made their fortune driving cattle from Texas to the Great Frontier. Across the Pecos, the Rio Colorado and La Panza mountains, the Texans and their longhorns kept charging-all the way to California gold!

Jessica Wellington flees her home to avoid being married to a man she despises. She disguises herself as a boy to join a wagon train, but when she’s discovered, she's forced into a marriage again, except this time to a man she loves. As a boy, Jess Wells disturbed Nathan Hawke, as a woman, his frustration knows no bounds. There's no convenience in this marriage of convenience. Nathan must figure out not only how to make Jessica love with him, but keep her safe on a trail filled with dangers - animal and human.

California is the most multicultural state in the nation. As John Mack Faragher argues in this concise and lively history, that is nothing new. California's natural variety has always supported diversity, including Native peoples speaking dozens of distinct languages, Spanish and Mexican colonists, gold seekers from all corners of the globe, and successive migrant waves from the eastern states, Europe, Latin America, Asia, and the Pacific Islands. Beautifully crafted and elegantly written, Faragher tells the stories of a colorful cast of characters, some famous, others mostly unknown.

After years on the road performing at sold-out venues, Tyson Motsenbocker returned home to the impending death of his 57-year-old hero and mother. He begged God to heal her, but she died anyway. When they buried her body, Tyson also buried the childhood version of his faith. Shortly before her death, however, Tyson became intrigued by the complicated legacy of Father Junipero Serra, the 18th-century Franciscan monk and canonized saint who dedicated his life to the idea that tragedy and suffering are portals to renewal.

Broken and betrayed, Fox Bridges escaped Blackrock Falls sixteen years ago, vowing never to return. But when his mom is diagnosed with terminal cancer, there's no escaping it. Making the best of a bad situation, he goes back to face his past and set up a program to help foster kids who age out of the system like him. But more importantly—to reunite with the best friend he had to leave behind. Melody Wilde never got over the loss of her childhood best friend. She saved his life . . . but it cost her Fox. He left town and never looked back, hating her for revealing his secret.

Aria Wilde runs the Dark Horse Dive Bar with efficiency and precision. If only her life ran that way too. Brokenhearted and bitter after a very public and messy split with her ex, Aria is gun shy when it comes to men. But her brother-in-law's FBI brother, Nick Gunn, has been a sexy distraction when he's in town. He makes her sizzle every time he's near. But as their relationship deepens, she thinks he may be the one—and also the one who could decimate her heart if she risks it once again.

David Peters was the October 1982 Playgirl centerfold. Featuring Tom Selleck on the cover, it was the bestselling issue at that time. This is David’s true life story. Many photos included. David grew up in a small city on San Francisco Bay after surviving physical and emotional abuse in his childhood by an alcoholic father. Baseball became a big part of his early years building his confidence and ushering in his burgeoning physical nature. A foray to Fort Lauderdale as a teenager brought him face to face with his emerging wild side in ways he couldn’t have imagined and began a decades-...

A recent finishing school graduate, 18-year-old Garnet Cameron is desperate for direction. Too driven for the restrictive manners of the upper class, Garnet is naturally drawn to Oliver Hale, a frontier trader from the West. Unlike the men to whom she's accustomed, Oliver treats Garnet as an equal and respects her independence. His tales of adventure on the plains thrill her. And his proposal of marriage is accepted. Then Garnet discovers how ill-prepared she is for the punishing landscape of the Jubilee Trail and the even harsher realities of human nature.

Working as the personal assistant to one of Hollywood's cruelest divas has left Amanda Queen more determined than ever to sell her screenplay and gain her independence. In the meantime, she'll settle for a temporary escape. When her employer is felled by the flu on Hollywood's biggest night of the year, Amanda gets her glam on, struts out the door, and parties with the glitterati. But she never expects to come face to face - and closer than close - with one of the hottest stars in the game....

A man in his forties wakes in a park in San Diego with no memory of his name, his past, or how he got there. He finds a cowboy hat, black boots, an e-bike, and a gold medallion that talks. Who is he? Where did he come from? Ride north, the medallion tells him. Visit the old missions one by one. At each, carry out a mysterious ritual. When you reach Sonoma, your memories will be restored, including those of a mysterious past. You will know who took them and why. Refuse, and I will stop your heart. As he journeys, encountering a persistent assassin, meeting reanimated gods in his dreams, ...

When Charlotte’s family loses their wealth, she agrees to marry a man she has never met to help him manage a small farm. The only problem is she has no idea how to cook or clean, and she certainly has no idea how to milk a cow. Charlotte was given every luxury in life growing up. Although she learned how to appreciate the finer things in life, she never learned how to cook or clean. Those skills didn’t matter because Charlotte knew she would only marry a man that could give her the same type of lifestyle her father had given her. A tragedy strikes Charlotte’s family and her father ...

A young woman finds her loyalties tested beyond limit and her desires torn beyond measure in 1846 California. After sailing around Cape Horn, and barely surviving the perilous journey, devout Protestant Rachel Tyler, arrives in California just in time for her father’s wedding and the unfolding of the Bear Flag Revolt. Though already engaged to marry a minister in Massachusetts, Rachel’s ambitious father arranges her betrothal to Roman Vasquez, a blue-blooded Catholic son of the gente de razón, the ruling class of California. Roman, a proud, Spanish soldier is ready to fight and die for...

Allison Lopez has almost got her life back to something resembling normal. The radio station survived the wrath of the Jaguar God, so she at least has a steady job. Being a nighttime psychic radio host is a fun gig, even if the marketing people make it cheesy sometimes. But hey, the ‘Hump or Dump’ segment pays the bills. With the trifecta down to two, her witchy powers aren’t exactly at full strength, making it risky to challenge anything too dangerous. Millicent thinks the Universe will provide a third... but when? When a call-in guest seeks help against a spirit trying to kill him, ...

A beautiful, half-Indian girl raised by the Californios finds her fate intertwined with an American frontiersman haunted by his past in 1850 California. As California comes to statehood amidst the madness of the gold rush, Isabella Vasquez must wed a buckskin-clad American who wins her in a card game. Though their union is passionate, Isabella soon finds herself abandoned in a brothel, where she rises to fame as a singer known as the Bluebird. Yet because of her Indian blood, the Bluebird will always be bought and sold in the white man’s world. When more is demanded of the Bluebird than ...

A woman running from God. And the man she desperately loves. Because of the lies she believes. Taken from her conquered Californio family during the 1846 Mexican-American War to be forced into marriage with a Yankee she despises, proud Spanish beauty, Maria Vasquez, draws a knife, and begins her journey to the far side of the sea. She will flee to Valparaiso, Boston, and finally San Francisco trying to forget the blood on her hands, only to find it is blood that will save her. Dashing American ship captain, Dominic Mason, will win Maria's heart, but shatter it when he rejects her for ...

When a hired gunman comes to her small Pennsylvania town, Elaina knows with one look at his glinting blue eyes that she could never be attracted to the insolent stranger...but against all will she found herself aching for his touch!

She's tired of having her heart broken by cowboys. He waited too long to ask her out. Can Lance fix things quickly, or will Amber leave Last Chance Ranch before he can tell her how he feels? Amber Haws has never had a problem saying yes to a date. She's been out with lots of men in the time she's been at Last Chance Ranch, but she's finally gotten her heart broken one too many times. She swears off cowboys right to the one who's been watching her for months now. Lance Longcomb followed the advice of his friends and waited to ask her out after each of Amber's break-ups. But now she's done ...