Short Family

Uwem Akpan's stunning stories humanize the perils of poverty and violence so piercingly that few listeners will feel they've ever encountered Africa so immediately. The eight-year-old narrator of "An Ex-Mas Feast" needs only enough money to buy books and pay fees in order to attend school. Even when his twelve-year-old sister takes to the streets to raise these meager funds, his dream can't be granted. Food comes first. His family lives in a street shanty in Nairobi, Kenya, but their way of both loving and taking advantage of each other strikes a universal chord.

An exquisite new collection from a Pulitzer Prize-winning master of the short story, the culmination of a five-decade career: work that takes us beneath the placid surface of suburban life into the elusive strangeness of the everyday.

Grace had never been more terrified...the pain was relentless. Nothing in her life prepared her for this. She desperately needed somewhere safe...someplace she could hide. Someone she could trust with her life. It was dark...and getting darker. Ronan Hendricks didn’t recognize her voice. Not family...not friends. Probably not an enemy. But he didn’t need the years he’d spent as a detective to recognize what he did hear... Fear. In a desperate moment of hope, a single number saved her life. Then a complete stranger opened his home offering safety yet Grace knew danger surrounded them.....

They say the best way to get over a broken heart is a random hook-up. So my new BFF is dragging me to a bar. All I have to do is wear a slutty dress, choose a dude, and do the deed, right? The thing is, this isn't me. I'm the good girl - the one who has sex for love. But, since the love of my life is shacked up with someone else, I guess it's time to move on. One night, one time. That's all. I'll have a clean slate.

They say the best way to get over a broken heart is a random hook-up. So my new BFF is dragging me to a bar. All I have to do is wear a slutty dress, choose a dude, and do the deed, right? The thing is, this isn't me. I'm the good girl - the one who has sex for love. But, since the love of my life is shacked up with someone else, I guess it's time to move on. One night, one time. That's all. I'll have a clean slate.

The small town of Keatchie, Louisiana is growing and the town's folks are falling in love and learning to live by faith. In each of these books, you'll meet members of the Faltime Baptist Church and get a peek into their lives. About: INTENSE She’s been sidelined. And she’s wanting love just as much as me. I feel her… The pain of her past, The fear of letting another person in, And as much as I should be stuck, especially after what I witnessed, I find myself wondering about her story. I understand… The woman I wanted to love is too broken to let anyone in. She was bruised and bent ...

In this book, the impact of wildfire, a wayward priest, or a mysterious disappearance ricochet across communities, threading through stories. Here, ordinary actions such as ice skating or going to church reveal hidden truths. One choice threatens a lifelong friendship. Siblings save each other. Rescue and second chances are possible, and so is revenge. On the surface, it seems that nothing ever happens in these towns. But Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock shows that underneath that surface, teenagers' lives blaze with fury, with secrets, and with love so strong it burns a path to the future.

Holly, North Carolina - where it’s Christmas year-round and miracles can happen. A good thing for the O’Connor family - four local siblings, four sexy stories, four unique journeys to happily ever after.

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.

NOAH went for a celebratory night out and ended up a victim of blackmail. DEAN thought he’d found his future but someone else had other ideas. SIMON's world came crashing down but that still wasn’t the end of it. GARETH found love in a foreign country but couldn’t have seen the danger. ALEX finds love after years of abuse but is his abuser going to let him go? And BRUNO finds out that you really don’t know what goes on, or doesn’t go on, behind closed doors. We always wonder why bad things happen to good people and in this collection of short stories, our heroes find that despite ...

In a town full of traditions, they create a new one—falling in love. In the heart of Buttercup Bay, where autumn leaves fall like confetti and lanterns light up the night, Lily Thompson is determined to carry on her grandmother’s legacy by hosting the most enchanting Halloween Bash the town has ever seen. But when a last-minute disaster threatens her plans, she turns to the one man she never expected to meet—Logan McAllister, the reclusive mountain man with a talent for carving pumpkins and a past he’d rather forget. With Halloween just around the corner, can they carve out a future...

In Baby, You’re Gonna Be Mine, Kevin Wilson’s first story collection in nearly a decade, Wilson combines his signature quirkiness with his keen eye for emotional complexity to explore the fraught relationship between parents and children. “Scroll Through the Weapons” is about a couple taking care of their underfed and almost feral nieces and nephews. “Baby, You’re Gonna Be Mine”, the title story, is about a narcissistic rock star who moves back home. These stories all build on each other in strange and remarkable ways, showcasing Wilson’s crackling wit and big heart.

Thakur Vijay Singh Rathod was one of the richest political businessmen in Mumbai. He was revered by his wife, Savitri, who wanted to give him a son, the heir to his inheritance. But fate decreed otherwise. This is a story of Thakur Vijay Singh Rathod, a proud and ruthless man, his wife Savitri - religious and completed devoted to him, his offspring, and his abandoned child.

A chance encounter… a lingering glance… a King finds his queen. King: We wind up at The Ruby Palace for a bachelor party. That’s when I see her standing across the room. Dripping in red lace, luscious curves, and dark hair. I know the second I see her I have to have her. But the Angel on stage doesn’t want to be saved. She’s wild, free, and fierce. She just wants me to run alongside her. She will tame the beast inside of me. And I will become hers, instead. Willow: He looks at me like he wants to eat me. I’ve dealt with men like that before. But something about King is different...

Wilder As the oldest St. James sibling, I’m used to everyone relying on me. When planning the company Christmas party gets added to my already overfilled agenda, it’s too much. I yell at my mom and stomp around my office. Everyone thinks I’m a boss behaving badly. Until I see her. She changes everything overnight and now the company Christmas party planner is number one on my to-do list. Ivy I spent every summer in Star Mountain and now I’ve moved here permanently. Everything is falling into place - except I can’t find a job. Luckily, my best friend got me a holiday party planning...

The Summers family always chose somewhere special to spend their Christmas holiday instead of at home. Every year their holiday vacation destination was different and determined by each of their Christmas wishes. Hannah and her children loved their Christmas holiday tradition even though it was never easy for everyone to be completely satisfied and this year was no different...or was it? Daniel Summers quickly offered to handle the arrangements for their upcoming Christmas holiday vacation. He knew his mother was surprised and maybe even a little suspicious about his offer to find a place ...

José era un granjero feliz y Pedro era su vecino, Sembraban pepinos y tomates en la montaña de encino. Ambos granjeros trabajaban muy duro; difícil era su vida, Pero tenían comida para sus familias; recompensa merecida Aunque a veces en casa después de un día de trabajo cansado Soñaban con tener una vida mejor de lo que habían pensado.

Security specialist Devon Randolph might be rough and gruff, but he'll never turn down a friend in need, especially when that friend is the fellow Ranger who once saved his life. Devon may have secrets, but he's nearby, and he's got the skills to keep his buddy's sister safe...even if one look at brash, beautiful Kylie makes him want to break all the rules. Forced on the run, Kylie and Devon dodge bullets and bad guys, but they cannot fight the attraction burning between them. Yet the closer they grow, the higher the stakes become.

The Against All Odds series is a romantic comedy saga with lots of humor and some angst.

Grace had never been more terrified...the pain was relentless. Nothing in her life prepared her for this. She desperately needed somewhere safe...someplace she could hide. Someone she could trust with her life. It was dark...and getting darker. Ronan Hendricks didn’t recognize her voice. Not family...not friends. Probably not an enemy. But he didn’t need the years he’d spent as a detective to recognize what he did hear... Fear. In a desperate moment of hope, a single number saved her life. Then a complete stranger opened his home offering safety yet Grace knew danger surrounded them.....