Bitterness, a stalker, and a neighbor to die for. What's a girl to do?Trailed by a stalker in New York City, Willow Thomas, a young ad executive, scurries back to her small North Carolina hometown and the lake house where ten years earlier a scandal revealed her entire life had been a lie, and a seed of bitterness took root in her soul. The cocoon of safety Willow feels upon her arrival home soon unravels when she meets opposition from her family, faces the man she left behind, and the stalker reveals he is close on her heels. Can Willow learn to trust God to tear out her roots of resentment, reunite her family, ferret out a deadly stalker, and to rekindle the love she left behind?
Charisse Wellman's husband has been gone a year, and she's about to lose the only home her son, V.J., has ever known. She's quit law school but the money just isn't there. Her only option is to work as a law clerk for her ex-friend, Gideon Tabor. The only problem: Gideon is the judge who let her husband's killer go free, and Gideon doesn't know the connection.Gideon Tabor can't believe that the woman interviewing for the job is the girl he loved in high school. Charisse is hesitant about accepting his job offer, and when she does, Gideon makes every attempt to apologize for his relationship-ending blunder in high school. Charisse accepts his apology, but she keeps him at a distance. When Gideon learns that Charisse's anger actually stems from his release of the man who ran down her husband, he tries to explain, but Charisse doesn't want Gideon's excuses or the love he has to offer. She wants her husband's killer to pay.
Put on your director's cap and prepare to set your story world's stage with memorable scenes and unforgettable characters.Great storytelling isn't done haphazardly. Storytelling is an art which requires practice to master. In The Art of Characterization authors are shown elements of storytelling which, when practiced correctly, utilizes forward-moving description and back story, deep point of view, dialogue, and conflict to create a cast of characters readers will never forget.
"... if we kill him, our family will be safe ..."Michael's fianc e, Issie Putnam, was brutally attacked and Michael was imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit. Now he's home to set things right.Two people stand in his way: Issie's son, Cole, and a madman. Can Michael learn to love the child Issie holds so close to her heart and protect him from the man who took everything from Michael so long ago?
Libby Overstreet can't see herself as anything but shy and socially awkward. She's nearing thirty, and she's never even been on a date. Then she meets the man of her dreams, but Libby knows he would never be interested in a wallflower like her. All she wants to do is to buy that garden nursery on the outskirts of town and settle down with the life she has always dreamed about.Evan Carter has been watching the sweet woman in the coffee shop for weeks when his friend tells him that the object of his affection plans to buy a garden nursery and needs Evan's expertise as an architect/contractor.When they meet, Libby is more enamored of Evan and even more convinced that he would never look at her as anything but a friend. However, that's far from the truth. Evan would love to get to know the innocent beauty God has placed in this path. Trouble is, he fears that a lovely flower like Libby will wilt under the sins of his past, and he'll do everything in his power to keep that from happening.
The walls have ears ... and voices. Voices that threaten ... Abra Carmichael's husband, Beau, has been murdered. She begins to realize that the man she loved was never who he seemed. Beau's secrets endanger Abra, their twin sons, and everyone who loved him. When Abra's life and the lives of their boys are threatened, she flees to Amazing Grace, North Carolina, and to Beau's family--people she never knew existed until the day of Beau's funeral.For six years Shane Browne, an award-winning songwriter had both wished for and dreaded the return of his cousin. Beau's departure from their small hometown left behind his family and his inheritance, a grand Victorian with its legend of secret passages, which lay empty. Empty until Abra moves to Amazing Grace, into the house Beau willed to her only weeks before his death. Shane finds himself deeply drawn to Abra and her sons, desiring a future with them and his daughter. But the danger follows Abra to the peacefulness of the North Carolina mountains. Abra and Shane are both threatened, and Abra claims to hear noises deep within the walls of the old home. Shane will do everything possible to keep Abra and her boys safe, even if that means revealing secrets of his own that will completely shatter Abra's already broken heart and destroy his relationship with everyone he loves.
She's a starving artist facing a serious illness; he's the doctor who's her only hope of survival. If only she hadn't caused his sister to die.Hope Astor is literally a starving artist, living off the good graces of her friends as she seeks help for the fatigue that has plagued her for over a month. Dr. Daniel Duvall is a noted oncological surgeon whose life hasn't been the same since losing his sister in a car accident the year before.When Hope receives her diagnosis, she understands that her carefree artist's life has left her without any options to save her life, but her friends try to convince her otherwise. They convince Hope to seek treatment from the best doctor she knows. Trouble is, Hope is the reason Daniel's sister is dead, and she doesn't think saving her life is on his list of priorities.
Lyric Carter's dreams of fame and fortune in a rock band ended the day Balaam Carter left to pursue their dreams without her. When Balaam's brother promised to love and protect Lyric and to love her son, Cade-his brother, Balaam's child-as his own, she believed him. But Braedon turned her dreams into a nightmare by killing Balaam's best friend, turning the gun on himself, and placing Lyric in the middle of a criminal investigation that could leave her and Cade dead. Balaam Carter's every dream has come true, but he's living in a nightmare of addiction and regret. The famous rock star would give everything he has to return to the girl he once held in his arms-back when his only crime was running moonshine for his father. Now, he's seeking redemption for all the destruction his dreams have brought to the people he loves.No one said the road to recovery would be easy, but Balaam is also desperate to protect Lyric and the little boy he left behind from a state full of drug lords who believe Lyric has the evidence that will tumble their lucrative cartels. Balaam's continued sobriety, his natural ability for finding his way out of trouble, and his prayers to God above for the strength to never let them down again are all that he has to protect Lyric and his son. And still, he doesn't know if he's up for the task.
If the mayor, the county sheriff, and the pretty school teacher can't keep him out of prison, his nephew might face a worse fate. English professor, Christian Abrams has thrown his career away to protect his young nephew, Dylan, from an unjust system. When Christian sees the turn off for the Florida Everglades town of Mullet Harbor, "where you'll always find a Friend," he and Dylan are running low on fuel for their bodies and for his truck. The welcoming ... but quirky ... citizens of the town offer refuge, but Christian can't take the chance of being caught in the remote location. When the flip-flop wearing mayor and the Cajun county sheriff give Christian an ultimatum: stay in Mullet Harbor through the holidays and allow the town to help him solve his dilemma or be arrested and handed over to the FBI on a federal kidnapping charge, Christian decides it's best for he and Dylan to accept their misguided hospitality. Elementary teacher Kaylee McFarland is new to Mullet Harbor, having been contacted by the town's eccentric mayor and offered the job. Though she has no idea how the mayor knew she was seeking the opportunity to move far away from her overprotective mother, she relishes her newfound liberty. When Christian's growing attraction to Kaylee brings her mother to Mullet Harbor and reveals a long-kept secret, Kaylee, Christian, and Dylan may all lose their freedom, but they're about to learn how far the citizens of Mullet Harbor will go to protect those they love. Though snow never falls in the Everglades, Christmas miracles rain down on Mullet Harbor.
What do a legendary creature, A graduating senior, And a crate full of money have to do with murder? Connie B. Wright is intent on finding out PollyAnna Reagan can't wait to take her always-put-together, ultra-professional sister out into the boonies. But when they encounter what they thought was a mythical creature, they might both become sticks in the mud. Of course when they find a body, a stiff in the mud, Connie shifts into deduction mode, much to the horror of her older sister. But Polly had to admit her own curiosity. Was the deceased somehow scared to death or possibly attacked by what should be imaginary? Or are there other more human, and certainly more vicious, intentions at play.
