Short Family

From matchmaking carolers to a festive lights competition, four best-selling authors explore the magic of the holidays in these heartwarming small towns.

Things are looking up for Millie Thorn. She's finally enjoying life as a witch, and she's even taken a part-time job teaching cookery in a school for paranormal children. She's come to terms with the fact that the local policeman, Sergeant David Spencer, is her father, and she's accepted that it might be better to wait a little longer until she drops that bombshell at his feet. When a trouble-making werewolf is murdered while in police custody, and the magical poison is traced back to cakes that Millie may or may not have helped bake, things begin to go wrong. Quickly.

Shea receives a call that completely upends her existence and forces her to return to Sundown, the town she thought she had left behind. Tensions increase as she deals with her brother Donovan's untimely death, and long-buried family dynamics start to show again. Shea's return brings back memories of a town with a troubled past that is racially divided as she makes new connections with her childhood friend Marcus, the town's new police chief, and her elder brother Jay, who is now mayor. The repercussions of the past challenge the ties between family and friends. Angelo, Andy to his friends,...

She’s out of second chances. He’s losing hope. Will love lead them home? Emma Smucker thought Paradise Township would be her fresh start. But when her new teaching methods spark suspicion, she risks losing another home—and the children who depend on her. Matthew Blank was once the town’s finest carpenter. Now blind, he struggles to keep his family’s workshop alive. Helping Emma craft learning tools gives him new purpose and draws them closer than either expected. As gossip spreads and fear grows, Emma and Matthew must stand together. Will they find the courage to build a future on...

Wide ranging stories to add wonder and mindfulness to your day...but short stories and poetry? Yes! These are bite-size chunks of fun, weirdness, introspection, and narrative. Sort of like M&Ms, but with more letters. I even have a category of Very Short Stories, for those that want a quick read. The following are extracts from a couple of them—but I have lighter stuff too! The group of newfound friends steadfastly neared the top of the mountain. A shaft of light penetrated the foliage. They felt the yellow warmth on their head and the top of their dry eyes. Looking up, they saw the beam ...

Believe is the fourteenth novella in the ongoing story of the Andersen family. Livia Andersen was a woman who held her family together with a quiet smile and an iron will. It’s only been months since her death and the four children she leaves behind continue to grapple with the shifting changes in their lives now that she’s gone especially her youngest daughter, Claire. Claire Andersen Slavik came to her lakeside cabin shortly after her mother’s death. She needed the refuge it offered her at a time when little else did. She’s had several visitors over the last several months ...

Are you a parent? So your child's education is a priority. Most of the times this importance overshadows several other factors that build a child's personality in an impressive manner. Being one of those parents, if you are the one then this audiobook perfectly belongs to you...In my book, messages about values are integrated. The messages are related to what any parent wants to embellish their child.

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his acclaimed novel about North Korea, The Orphan Master’s Son, Adam Johnson is one of America’s most provocative and powerful authors. Critics have compared him to Kurt Vonnegut, David Mitchell, and George Saunders, but Johnson’s new book will only further his reputation as one of our most original writers. Subtly surreal, darkly comic, both hilarious and heartbreaking, Fortune Smiles is a major collection of stories that gives voice to the perspectives we don’t often hear, while offering something rare in fiction: a new way of looking at the world.

A cynical Hollywood moviemaker confronts his dead wife’s lover and abruptly realizes the depth of his own passion. As his parents’ marriage disintegrates, a precocious fifth-grader distracts himself with meditations on baseball, spaghetti, and his place in the universe. And in the title story, an elderly nun enters a college creative writing class and plays havoc with its tidy notions of fact and fiction. The Whore’s Child is further proof that Russo is one of the finest writers we have.

Joy and Billy had returned from their recent trip where Joy met her long-lost brother, Henry. Due to the traumatic experience of her parents leaving her while she was using the privy many years ago, she had all but forgotten that she had an older brother. He was also an entertainer at the venue she had performed at and after talking for several minutes and he states that he wished she was his sister, Harriet it all comes full circle. She couldn't hold back the tears and admits that she is Harriet and soon explains why she changed her name to Joy. They agree to meet the following day for ...

always wondered, How does she do it? Defying gravity is no easy trick. Neither is motherhood. Now that her mother is leaving New York for bigger skies in New Mexico, it’s a new stage in life for both of them in an ever-evolving relationship that reveals the true magic of being a mother.

Unexpected romance and new beginnings can happen anywhere – even in the heart of Montana. I never expected to find love after running a stop sign in the middle of nowhere. But here I am in the podunk town of Birch Springs, trying to save my grandparents' hardware store from financial ruin when Officer Nolan Reid pulls me over. With his warm brown eyes and dedication to helping everyone in town, he's impossible to resist. As I work to rescue my family's legacy, Nolan becomes my unexpected ally—and something more. The connection between us grows stronger with each passing day, but I'm a ...

In the mystery of Christmas, we find its majesty. The mystery of how God became flesh, why he chose to come, and how he must love his people. Such mysteries can never be solved, just as love can never be diagrammed. Christmas is best pondered, not with logic, but with imagination.

What if they weren't what you prayed for? Do you stay? In the 1st book of The Twisted Lessons Collection, Nellie gets tired of her bible preaching, cheating husband and plots a twisted revenge. Oh, what a twisted lesson she will mend when first she practices to get revenge.

Relentless is the fifteenth novella in the ongoing story of the Andersen family. Livia Andersen was a woman who held her family together with a quiet smile and an iron will. It’s been months since her death and her children and grandchildren she leaves behind continue to grapple with the shifting changes in their lives now that she’s gone. Some look back at what else has been lost to them. Chris Andersen is looking forward with anticipation to the future spread that's out in front of him…one that he didn’t expect. But he is also looking behind him at what was lost and never ...

The Peterkin Papers record the antics of the most memorably and hopelessly bumbling of respectable American families. Confronted by the endless challenges of daily life, the Peterkins rise to every occasion with misguided aplomb: they sit out in the sun for hours and fail to go for a ride because they've forgotten to unhitch the horse.

As a graduation present for her daughter, Tammy, Samantha Moon and the gang head down to South America for the vacation of all vacations. Next stop: Peru and the Nazca Lines The massive hieroglyphs carved into the soil of the Nazca desert in Peru have perplexed archaeologists for decades; after all, the glyphs can only be truly appreciated from high above. When Sam and her magical crew arrive in the desert for a sightseeing trip, they have every intention of exploring the famous animal figures etched into the sand. But when a little bit of magic is used by Tammy, the spell sets off a ...

How quickly the ground shifts beneath our feet. We make choices—in the face of love, or violence, or necessity—and the effects ripple outward. In these moving short stories, acclaimed authors examine the foundations of the past, uncovering the irreversible decisions and life-changing encounters that mark the turning point between before and after.

This book is part of a series that provides short and simple explanations of different professions. It focuses on the profession of social work. It examines social work in general, breaks down specific types of social workers, and discusses the education and training required to become a social worker. It uses language and terminology that is understood by the average person, and it is written for easy comprehension at all reader levels

Winter’s over and warm summer breezes have taken over the sweet small town of Birch Springs, Montana. And love is definitely in the air. Fall hard for these hunky heroes as each one tries to win the woman of their dreams. Included in this collection: Sofia’s Summer Brooklyn’s Summer Anna’s Summer Harper’s Summer Robyn’s Summer These stories will pull at your heartstrings with some of your favorite tropes. Single dads, second chances, friends to lovers, brother’s best friend, enemies to lovers, and more. Pull for the heroine’s trying to save her family business and pray that ...