Short Family

Abigail Bowen lost everything in a tragic fire. Mason Stillwell is about to lose his livelihood. What happens when a clueless matchmaker pairs these hard to please people together? Abigail’s whole world is destroyed when her parents die in a tragic house fire. All that remained was her fragile relationship with her younger sister. To keep her safe, Abigail travels out West to marry a man set up by a matchmaker, but when they arrive to find out she’s dead and her clueless grandson has taken over, Abigail's situation gets a whole lot worse. Mason Stillwell doesn’t have time to coddle a ...

Where there’s a Will, there’s not always a way in Japan. For the unsuspecting, risks and dangers lurk in the shadows of Japan’s unique inheritance system. These fictional short stories illuminate the real-life system’s inner workings in an easy-to-understand format. A revealing, entertaining window into a rarely seen corner of modern Japanese life. The protagonists represent a cross-section of modern Japan (urban and rural, suburban and expat). What links them all is how they confront the inheritance system's unexpected risks and deal with them in equally unexpected ways. (Earlier ...

Shannon Sanders’s sparkling debut brings us into the company of the Collins family and their acquaintances as they meet, bicker, compete, celebrate, worry, keep and reveal secrets, build lives and careers, and endure. Moving from Atlantic City to New York to DC, from the 1960s to the 2000s, from law students to drag performers to violinists to matriarchs, Company tells a multifaceted, multigenerational saga in thirteen stories.

A young woman leaves her parent's home for the twelve hour drive home, with her German Shepherd Sarge along. A horrible storm and a downed tree force her car off the road and down a steep mountain side where it crashes into a tree, far from the sight of the road. Trapped in the car, her only hope of rescue is Sarge and his military training while serving with troops in Iraq. It's a daunting journey to find a way back up to the road, and he faces many challenges along the way. This is an amazing story of one dog's determination to save the woman he loves before it's too late.

Rebound sex gone wrong, plus epically bad luck, lands me in a sticky spot - at the front of a classroom, naked, with the totally hot, totally forbidden Mr. Sketch Pad. I'm not a model, but here I am feeling more drawn to him each second. Add in that sexy smile, and I'm totally screwed.

Everything has come to this one moment, this one night. The plan is ready to be executed. The sexy, dark billionaire Sean Ferro is at my side and in my bed. As the erotic tension between us deepens, I see the man he could be - the man he's becoming. Sean has me in every possible way and swears to protect me from my enemies.

In these stories, the mysterious bonds of family are tested, transformed, fractured, and fortified. A recent widower and his adult son ferry to a craggy Scottish island in search of puffins. An actress who plays a children’s game-show villainess ushers in the New Year with her deadbeat half brother. A mother, pining for her children, feasts on loaves of challah to fill the void. A new couple navigates a tightrope walk toward love. And on a trip to a Texas water park with their son, two fathers each confront a personal fear.

Are generations of Snee-Kinsman women actually cursed, or is it just bad luck? A paranormal family saga beginning in 1860 following one family’s journey of tragedy, resiliency, and triumph. Their stories are told in three short read books. Book 2 – Chasing the Curse – 1943-1990 - picks up where Book 1 left off... * Two spiteful and competitive witches place a curse on each other’s female children. * To punish his wayward daughter, an angry father casts the family curse in stone – an emerald stone. * The ring with the emerald stone is to be worn by the women of the Snee-Kinsman ...

For listeners who are tired of Christmas commercialism, or who feel that Santa Claus and reindeer don’t tell the whole story, these classic gems provide a winning alternative. Selected for their insightfulness, spiritual value, and literary quality (nothing moralistic here) they project the spirit of the season in a fresh, compelling manner that will resonate with listeners of all ages - from children too young to read to themselves, to parents and grandparents who enjoy listening to stories, as well.

From matchmaking carolers to a festive lights competition, four best-selling authors explore the magic of the holidays in these heartwarming small towns.

A collection of short stories based upon some of the characters from the author's first book, An Unlikely Source. Quaint, down-to-earth and some quirky - these people will grow on you. They represent a simpler life in a small town called Gretchen Falls. Allow yourself to temporarily escape the hectic world that we live in by transporting to a town that is refreshing and its people, charming. If you enjoy this story, consider reading "An Unlikely Source" and "Back To Gretchen Falls". Those are the first and third books in the series.

Inspirational stories for troubled times: What's wrong with happy endings and new beginnings with just a little twist in the tale? Add your imagination for what comes next, beginning with a bit of history, a little mystery and some optimism too—these sentimental stories include: SOMETHING GOOD: Constance is nervous about a new beginning amongst busybodies and a noisy neighbor: “Every day may not be good, but there's something good in every day.” ~Author Unknown SERGEANT: A daily kindness turns into a rescue, but who really needed saving? “If you get to thinking you're a person of ...

A woman having a psychotic episode, talking with her oldest friend from college who’s calming her, sees Earth devoid of humans is populated with monsters and discovers two secrets, he’s her “father” and…

Eliza thought she came to The Haven for answers—but the mansion’s secrets are more dangerous than she ever imagined. What begins as a search for the truth about her sister Claire’s death quickly turns into a sinister game of cat and mouse. At The Haven, a luxurious yet eerie retreat, whispers of missing guests, hidden passageways, and buried scandals haunt every corner. When Eliza discovers Claire’s journal, detailing cryptic clues and paranoid warnings, she realizes her sister’s death was no accident—and the same unseen enemy is now watching her. As Eliza uncovers a web of lies...

In Meet Me at the Emotional Baggage Claim, the mother-daughter duo of Lisa Scottoline and Francesca Serritella continue the conversation with more hilarious and honest tales of life inside an ordinary, extraordinary family. These stories will make you laugh, cry, and call your mother, daughter, and all your girlfriends.

Book #5, Summer Mischief, returns us to the Puhi family compound, where the shapeshifting children are in summer recess from school. They are now forced to deal with other family members and children who are not shapeshifters. A curious cousin creates havoc for the family in his quest to learn the shapeshifting secrets. The family reconnects with an ancient friend who lives in their river. Our birds of prey, Hoku and Malia, display their versatile talents by keeping birds from the family mango orchard and finding a lost hiker. The following is an excerpt from the book: At the break of dawn,...

La Abuela Marta ******************* Una mañana soleada; con el cielo iluminado, El gato negro y el blanco afuera habían caminado; Para calentarse en el sol; toda esa tarde aprovechaban, Y los últimos días calurosos de junio así disfrutaban.

Family…however close or distantly connected…is still family. And no one knows that better than the many members of the McAdams family. Few understand the vast implications that come with a large extended family as Drew McAdams does…and especially now. His brothers and sisters are also beginning to understand just how complicated it can be now that the four of them are responsible for the equally vast and extensive McAdams Trust. The headaches have only just begun. Life as they knew it will never be the same. Drew McAdams strongly suspects that if another call or message comes into his...

With this sharp and witty debut collection, author Kate Doyle captures precisely that time of life when so many young women are caught in between, pre-occupied by nostalgia for past relationships—with friends, roommates, siblings—while trying to move forward into an uncertain future.

"A bend in the road is not the end of the road . . . unless you fail to make the turn." ~Anonymous Short and light, a few stories about things unexpected in life, but what's wrong with happy endings or new beginnings? A bit of history, a little mystery and some optimism too.