Short Family

Death by devil's food—but was it really the cake? Savannah Stanton thought she was finally settling into small-town life in Spring Grove. But when a prestigious judge drops dead during the town's annual Dessert Festival—right after sampling Holly's signature devil's food cake—Savannah finds herself kneading through far more than just dough. With the bakery's reputation at stake and whispers of sabotage rising like badly proofed bread, Savannah must sift through a cast of colorful suspects: a fiercely competitive rival baker, a resentful estranged brother, and a host of other townsfolk...

From bestselling authors Katie Wyatt and Kat Carson, with over 200 million pages read worldwide, comes a heart-stirring tale of faith, passion, and the unbreakable power of love. Immerse yourself in this unforgettable journey where danger tests courage, and love conquers all. Can their love conquer the dangers of the untamed West, or will the challenges tear them apart before they truly begin? Bonnie Wright dreamed of a love as big as the Texas skies, but arriving in San Antonio to marry a man she’s never met tests her courage like never before. Without an official invitation, and with ...

In this singular and imaginative story collection, Cecelia Ahern explores the endless ways in which women blaze through adversity with wit, resourcefulness, and compassion. Ahern takes the familiar aspects of women's lives—the routines, the embarrassments, the desires—and elevates these moments to the outlandish and hilarious with her astute blend of magical realism and social insight.

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’...

If you’re a thirty-year-old, Southern male from a Christian family and have never brought a girl home to meet Momma, then you must secretly be up to no good. And if you also happen to be an only son with five older, happily married sisters, the pressure to find the one and only love of your life is like digging through a pile of leaves for the pin to the grenade you’re holding. Those were the first two lines of the first video post of Mark Griffin’s to go viral, and his popularity has steadily risen over the two years since. He decides to use his platform to find someone to share ...

Long before Dr. Fingal Flahertie O’Reilly made most listeners’ acquaintance in Patrick Taylor's best-selling novel An Irish Country Doctor, he appeared in a series of humorous columns originally published in Stitches: The Journal of Medical Humour. These warm and wryly amusing vignettes provide an early glimpse at the redoubtable Dr. O’Reilly as he tends to the colourful and eccentric residents of Ballybucklebo, a cozy Ulster village nestled in the bygone years of the early '60s.

The extraordinarily evocative stories depict the generation born in a small-town America during the Depression and growing up in a world where the old sexual morality was turned around and material comforts were easily had. Yet, as these stories reflect so accurately, life was still unsettling, and Updike chronicles telling moments both joyful and painful. The texts are taken from his recent omnibus, The Early Stories, 1953-1975.

A Haunted Collection of Scary Stories by R. Saint Claire Experience the thrill of haunted bike trails, mysterious midnight parties, vengeful siblings, hexes gone wrong, and more! These five chilling tales and a suspenseful time-travel novella guarantee sleepless nights this Halloween and throughout the year. Includes: The Trails: Jimmy never refused a dare, not even on Halloween at midnight. Party in the Pines: A stranger invites you to a Halloween party in the middle of nowhere. What could possibly go wrong? The Mummy's Tomb: An annoying little brother gets the best of a lovesick teen. ...

They say chocolate is irresistible... this time it's deadly. When Savannah Stanton arrives in Spring Grove to help her cousin Holly run the family bakery, she's looking for a fresh start, not a fresh crime scene. But after a prominent charity board member drops dead at a gala event—right after eating one of Holly's cupcakes—both the bakery's reputation and Holly's freedom are at risk. As suspicions swirl around Sweet Springs Bakery, Savannah finds herself drawn into a web of small-town secrets, suspicious financial dealings, and long-buried scandals. With help from the handsome but ...

In such acclaimed novels as The Photograph, Family Album, and How It All Began, Penelope Lively has captivated readers and listeners with her singular blend of wisdom, elegance, and humor. Now, in her first story collection in decades, Lively takes up themes of history, family, and relationships across varied and vividly rendered settings.

During the day when there is a break in the day’s labor or in the evenings when the sunlight is waning, stories are told from Texas porches. Although these are usually short stories, they can be long, and thus continued at the next porch sitting. They contain humor, sadness, suspense, mystery, philosophy, and instruction about the human condition and, in general, the journey of living. The storytellers find the rhythm of life for themselves, and the listeners hear valuable lessons and truth. Tales from the Texas Timberlands, Volume 1 celebrates this storytelling about East Texans with ...

Will the majestic piece of art that is hanging predominantly in Patrick Andersen’s home, lead them to his missing sister? He hopes so since he has no idea how to handle his other sister who is in the lawyer’s office with him.Livia Andersen was a woman who held her family together with a quiet smile and an iron will. Yet less than a week after her death only two of her four children attend the reading of her Last Will. Patrick, her younger son is there primarily to learn what he can from his mother’s lawyer about his youngest sister who has been missing since shortly after their ...

From her many well-loved novels, Hilma Wolitzer - now 91 years old and at the top of her game - has gained a reputation as one of our best fiction writers. These collected short stories - most of them originally published in magazines including Esquire and the Saturday Evening Post in the 1960s and 1970s, along with a new story that brings her early characters into the present - are evocative of an era that still resonates deeply today.

From the number-one best-selling author of Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas and Sundays at Tiffany's, two heartwarming tales about the power of a good story to open our eyes to life's possibilities.

Pen/Hemingway finalist Jamil Jan Kochai ​breathes life into his contemporary Afghan characters, moving between modern-day Afghanistan and the Afghan diaspora in America. In these arresting stories verging on both comedy and tragedy, often starring young characters whose bravado is matched by their tenderness, Kochai once again captures “a singular, resonant voice, an American teenager raised by Old World Afghan storytellers.” The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories is a moving exploration of characters grappling with the ghosts of war and displacement.

Jackson Evans, the billionaire owner of Ivy Ridge Ranch, hires the private investigator who, seven years ago, uncovered the truth of his wife’s betrayal. Jackson fell hard for Valerie Meyers back then, but he was too embroiled in the chaos of a bitter divorce to be able to even think about such things. Valerie feels similarly about Jackson but doesn’t think he’ll ever reciprocate her feelings. Nevertheless, she’s happy to be back in Copper Canyon, among old friends. But what Valerie discovers in her investigation is far more sinister than anybody could have imagined. As dark secrets...

Twelve New and Exciting Stories from Richard Skorupski! · ◆ Whiteout! - It’s 1925 on the Northern Plains. It’s a beautiful winter day. Then it came out of nowhere. The fiercest blizzard to hit the state in years. This is a story of romance, heroism, and battling against Mother Nature · ◆ Brothers - Two brothers court two sisters. Can there be a double wedding? The problem? The brothers despise each other. · ◆ The Letter - Set in the days of the Great Depression. Delia has given up all hope of saving the farm when she gets a letter from her late husband’s brother. Is it ...

You can’t have faith with the spirit of fear. The ancestors cannot reach you if you aren’t strong enough to believe. REINA is excited about leaving her hometown of Houma, LA. Away from the legends, stares, and whispers that run rampant about her family. She just wants to get away and feel normal for once in her life. Her parents OSCAR and ESMERALDA fear losing their daughter to her independence, not knowing a more menacing force awaits her. After settling into the private university in Alabama, she embraces her freedom. A day trip with one of her roommates, NIKKI, turns into a nightmare...

Zach and his man of the house James don’t have the most typical relationship – in fact, it’s far from normal. Zach loves letting the man who raised him give it to him hard and rough, and James loves sharing his boy with all his hunky friends! Road tripping across America, the two of them stop at a roadside rest stop in the middle of nowhere. Instead of a quick bathroom break, the two step hunks get a taste of how long-haul truckers satisfy all their pent up primal urges while on the road – hard and nasty in the truck stop restroom! This smoking hot gay menage romance story will ...

After her mother dies, Jenny finds something that shakes the image of a perfect family she always thought she had. Should she disregard her mother’s last wish and search for the truth or let sleeping dogs lie? Don't Tell Him I Died is a part of the Mothers, Sisters, Husbands, Secrets series of short stories. The stories are unrelated and can be read out of order.