Short Family

When it happens to you, you will be surprised. That thing they say about how you knew all the time, but just weren't facing it? That might be the case, but nevertheless, there you will be. Molly Ringwald mines the complexities of modern relationships in this gripping and nuanced collection of interlinked stories. Writing with a deep compassion for human imperfection, Ringwald follows a Los Angeles family and their friends and neighbors while they negotiate the hazardous terrain of everyday life - revealing the deceptions, heartbreak, and vulnerability familiar to us all.

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.

Jason Manning is content with his life as a bachelor, a slob and a sports fan. Then a precocious teen named Carrie Weston decides to play matchmaker, introducing him to her mother. To his relief, Charlotte is as uninterested in marriage as he is. But Jason’s feelings start to change once he gets to know his Bride on the Loose. James Wilkens was almost a Manning groom—because he almost married one of the Manning sisters. With that broken engagement behind him, he spends New Year’s Eve in Las Vegas...where he meets Summer Lawton.

The son of Maya Angelou, Guy Johnson is a critically acclaimed author and poet in his own right. Echoes of a Distant Summer is the story of Jackson St. Clair Tremain, a San Francisco civil servant who thought he had left his old life far behind. In 1982, Jackson is summoned to Mexico to confer with his dying grandfather, the brutal hustler King Tremain. When King dies, Jackson inherits $50 million - and the unwanted attentions of a malevolent bayou crime lord named Pug DuMont.

It was a night she’d never forget...two strangers coming together in a moment of intense desire. But now, sheltered Hannah Raymond is expecting the child of a rugged naval seaman she thought she’d never see again. Riley Murdock has been searching for Hannah for months - ever since that soul-shaking night of passion. Now, fate has reunited them. Determined to give his child the chance he never had, Riley marries Hannah. They’ve created the miracle of life together, but is that enough to spark love?

I am wildly successful in my career. Everyone knows Graham Frazier, soccer club owner, is a winner. In my love life? Decidedly less so. But just because I'm divorced doesn't mean I can't throw my best friend the wedding party of the year. Even if marriage is a mistake. I hadn't expected the long hours with Lori to make me wonder. Wedding planning is Lori Connor's favorite thing, a vicarious escape from her life as a single mom. I doubt she's ever had a client fluster her like I seem to.

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 ...

Two classic stories of finding love where you least expect it! Marriage Wanted: As far as Nash Davenport's concerned, marriage isn't shelter from the storm - it is the storm. He's a divorce attorney, himself divorced, who believes no married couple can live up to their wedding vows. My Hero: Would-be romance writer Bailey York has already failed twice at love. She thinks men are wonderful to read and write about, but that's it. Which is probably why she has such difficulty creating a hero for her novel. What she needs is a real-life example.

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.

The unsolved murder of a farm family haunts the small, white, off-reservation town of Pluto, North Dakota. The vengeance exacted for this crime and the subsequent distortions of truth transform the lives of Ojibwe living on the nearby reservation and shape the passions of both communities for the next generation.

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!

She left to chase her future. Now she's back, faced with old heartbreak and the man she never forgot... After three years in the English world, Anna Detweiler returns to Hickory Valley to care for her ailing mother. Her homecoming brings more than memories. It stirs regret, questions of belonging, and a second chance she never expected. Daniel Wagler remembers the girl who left without a word. Anna remembers writing letters that went unanswered. Now a carpenter with a steady life, his battered heart is still haunted by the woman who returns. And when they work together on the storm-damaged ...

Trapped in the clutches of a Zombie apocalypse, the City of Chicago, the murder capital of the U.S., unleashes the ultimate weapon, capitalism, by paying $1,000 for every Re-Killed Zombie brought to city hall, ushering in "The Great Zombie Gold Rush". Zombies never have a chance in a world where people realize 75 Zombies pays off their student loans, 40 Zombies buys them a Tesla, 5 Zombies wipes out their Visa debt...

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 ...

Sam Hunter is a bit of an animal. He's a former Twin Cities cop who lost his badge because of excessive force. Abusive husbands, child molesters, and other lowlifes wound up looking like they'd been mauled by dogs...or wolves. Now Sam's a low-rent PI in Philadelphia. He takes the kinds of cases no one wants. His clients are usually on the fringes of society. The kind who are prey for all manner of predators--human and otherwise.

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

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....

Four children's Great books, all rolled into one. best for bedtime stories beginner / early reader poetry for kids. best animals stories, value tales

In The Girl of the Lake, Bill Roorbach conjures vivid, complex characters whose layered interior worlds feel at once familiar and extraordinary.

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.