Short Family

We all live like we’re famous now, curating our social media presences, performing our identities, withholding those parts of ourselves we don’t want others to see. In this riveting collection of stories from acclaimed author Jess Walter, a teenage girl tries to live up to the image of her beautiful, missing mother. An elderly couple confronts the fiction writer eavesdropping on their conversation.

Polly’s fourth-grade daughter has been spending a lot of time with her classmate Sylvie—maybe too much. Sylvie’s clothes are a little…flashy…and her phone (a ten-year-old with a phone!) doesn’t seem to have any parental controls. It seems that Sylvie’s mother, with her vape pens and her too-high heels, may not be making good choices. As Polly tries to exert a positive influence, she discovers just how little anyone can tell about a family from the outside.

Aleksandr Berinksi is a Russian biochemist in the United States on a visa that is about to expire. Marriage will allow him to stay - marriage to Julia Conrad. If Julia's going to save her Seattle-based company, she needs him as much as he needs her. There's a Groom Wanted in Julia's life. And not just any groom!

"Dragos Takes a Holiday": When the Cuelebre family heads to Bermuda for some much needed R&R, it’s no ordinary weekend in the sun. Between Pirates, treasure hunting, and a baby dragon…what could possibly go wrong? "Pia Saves the Day": The Cuelebres have moved to upstate New York where they finally have the space to indulge their Wyr side, and Liam can grow in safety. Their idyllic situation is shattered when Dragos is injured and stripped of his memory.

Featuring many of the beloved characters from Sylvia Price’s bestseller, The Christmas Arrival, as well as a new cast of characters, Amish Love Through the Seasons centers around a group of teenagers as they find friendship, love, and hope in the midst of trials. Tragedy strikes a small Amish community outside of Erie, Pennsylvania when Isaiah Fisher, a widower and father of three, is involved in a serious accident. When his family is left scrambling to pick up the pieces, the community unites to help the single father, but the hospital bills keep piling up. How will the family manage?...

Jason Manning is content with his life as a bachelor, a slob and a sports fan. Then a precocious girl named Carrie Weston decides to play matchmaker, introducing him to her mother, Charlotte. To his relief, Charlotte is as averse to marriage as he is. But Jason’s feelings start to change once he gets to know his Bride on the Loose.

Dive into this thrilling bundle featuring three erotic stories of younger men exploring the boundaries of passion with their older, more experienced counterparts, harboring secrets no one else can know. Featuring: Dad's Secret Grandpa's Secret My Elder's Secret

In Mules and Men, some of the rich cultural heritage of black America is revealed and preserved. In the 1930s, Zora Neale Hurston returned to her home town of Eatonville, Florida, to collect and record the oral histories, songs, and sermons, many dating back to slavery times, that she remembered hearing as a child. These highly metaphorical folktales, "big old lies", and powerful songs helped her to recover her history, and preserve an important part of American culture.

I want something from the man of the house, and tonight he is going to give it to me. He doesn't know it yet, but soon he will give it to me HARD and WITHOUT PROTECTION so our little family can grow bigger in my belly. Warning: This is a very naughty taboo story. All characters are over the age of 18 and not related by blood. Adult readers only.

In the tenth book in The Good Lord Made Them All series, Joe Wheeler offers a wonderful collection of stories about many different kinds of animal, including dogs, cats, horses, pigs, and turtles. Their family-friendly adventures will have you laughing with glee. Perfect to read aloud, and a must-have to complete the series.

A woman seeking refuge. A man out of his depth. A set of orphaned twins. Rosemary Clark toils daily at the Morton Match Factory. Though she has wonderful friends, she yearns for a family of her own. The Matrimonial Times offers the opportunity to start a new life in Colorado with a dashing sawyer. Before her courtship is complete, Rosemary must flee westward after an alarming incident with the factory supervisor. But when she arrives, no one is waiting. She travels to the sawmill, only to be confronted with the shock of a lifetime... Grant Ferguson loves his work at the sawmill in Hidden ...

A wounded U.S. Marshal. A Princess in peril. And an enemy that refuses to back down. Tucker Caine is scarred, gruff, and as rugged as the Colorado mountains. He’s made it painfully clear that I’m a thorn in his side. Too bad neither of us has a choice. And if he thinks I’ll crumble under his scowls, he’s in for a surprise. Tuck’s brooding blue eyes see through my defenses, stirring emotions I’ve spent my life hiding. Yet he locks himself behind walls of rough edges and biting words, guarding his pain like a fortress. Still, he can’t hide the rare flickers of kindness that slip...

Lulu's a naughty girl. She likes to do naughty things. Luckily, the man of the house loves to spoil her with all sorts of new surprises. Lulu's ready for whatever he has to give her…and he is ready to give it hard and without protection. Warning: This is a hot taboo erotic story that contains very naughty themes. Adult readers only.

During the hectic Christmas season, slow down with these heartwarming stories from some of literature’s most beloved writers. In this collection, listeners will discover lesser-known but tender stories and poems from classic authors they know and love. Each selection celebrates the beauty, mystery, and joy found in the season that commemorates Christ’s birth. A Vintage Christmas includes stories from Louisa May Alcott, Charles Dickens, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Mark Twain, and many more great writers....

A promise of love, a miracle, and a treat that will tie your heart into knots! Let's begin with introducing you to the grumpiest Scrooge around – Army Veteran and former medic, Houghton. The gruff man served many tours in Afghanistan, but one thing can bring him to his knees faster than a foreign enemy. His wife, Jill. Except there is a problem. Now, the couple is facing a twist in their hard-earned Happily Ever After that neither expected, threatening the secret he's kept for months now. When the cookie crumbles, how do you pick up the pieces, realizing that things are still incredibly ...

What would you do for love? What would you do if only you knew someone you loved was guilty of murder? And: How far would you go for the one chance to be with the love of your life? What would you do if you learned your sister killed her husband to get out of an unhappy marriage, and no one else knows or even suspects? You believe your sister's husband died in a tragic accident, but shortly afterwards you learn your sister was seeing another man. You also learn that your sister was out with that man the night her husband died. Suddenly the husband’s death looks less like an ‘accident’...

In the chaos of a maternity ward, memories of tragedy and grief come rushing back for an anxious mother-to-be as she struggles to balance her child’s needs with her own healing. Rushed into an emergency cesarean section, a woman finds herself in the same hospital where her suicidal mother died. She’s buried the trauma of her mother’s last hours--and also the dread that she might be just as vulnerable to breaking. As the new mother relives one crisis in the midst of another, prize-winning author Julie Orringer turns the joyous event of birth into a harrowing, poignant short story.

In Polygamy: A Very Short Introduction, Sarah M.S. Pearsall explores what plural marriages reveal about the inner workings of marriage and describes the controversies surrounding it. The book emphasizes the diversity of historical polygamist societies, from the Shi'ite Muslims and Wendat men who practiced short-term marriages to the Mixteca, Maori, Inca, Algonquin, and Marta indigenous people of North America and the Pacific Islands. Pearsall also explains the divides within Christianity that led to Joseph Smith's establishment of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

It's the holidays, and Samantha Moon and her family are ready to get together and celebrate. No, they may not be your average family, but the love is just as real. It's two days before the big Thanksgiving meal when Sam receives a most unusual guest. Unusual because she hasn't seen her brother, Clayton, in twenty years. Turns out, he isn't just here for the pumpkin pies and yams. He's got a problem. He's been cursed and thinks his little sister is his best chance to fix it. With pie baking put on hold, Sam and company set out to break his curse, locate a kidnapped baby, and save the day. ...

Love, faith, and courage collide in a town on the edge... winter 1887, and the flu epidemic is sweeping through the rugged frontier town of Unity, Texas. Nurses are desperately needed, and Diane Hart answers the call—traveling west to meet her mail order beau, Ethan Lewis, a hardworking smelter manager with a steadfast heart. But nothing is as simple as it seems in Copper Canyon. Bandits threaten the town's safety, illness runs rampant, and Diane and Ethan’s blossoming romance is put to the ultimate test. As hardship and heartache strike, only their deepening faith in God—and each ...