Small States

What readers are saying... "Lacy is heart wrenching, heartbreaking, and completely healing. I love the healing nature of love. I felt the entire journey in these pages. This is a story that needed to be told and a message of faith that needs to be heard." Amazon reviewer She had the perfect life, until she didn’t. Lacy Fields was so blessed, she felt like God’s favorite daughter. A husband she loved, a daughter she adored, and a soon-to-be granddaughter she planned to dote on. When a tragic accident wipes away two thirds of those blessings, everything in her life comes into question. ...

După ce a petrecut zece ani în Anglia, Bill Bryson vrea să-şi rememoreze copilăria, aşa că pleacă din locul în care s-a născut, Des Moines, Iowa, într-o călătorie prin 38 dintre statele americane, pe care o documentează cu mult umor. Autorul speră să se reîntîlnească cu peisajele idilice ale copilăriei sale, însă găseşte lanuri nesfîrşite de porumb, benzinării, moteluri şi localuri care arată peste tot aproape la fel şi sunt populate de oameni care seamănă uimitor de mult unul cu altul.

Reniqua Allen tells the stories of Black millennials searching for a better future in spite of racist policies that have closed off traditional versions of success. Many watched their parents and grandparents play by the rules, only to sink deeper and deeper into debt. They witnessed their elders fight to escape cycles of oppression for more promising prospects, largely to no avail. Today, in this post-Obama era, they face a critical turning point. Interweaving her own experience, Allen shares surprising stories of hope and ingenuity.

Enjoy this sweet cowboy novel by small-town romance author Erin K. Wright… Maybe it’s not too late for her happily ever after… As the owner of the only flower shop in the small mountain town of Sawyer, Idaho, Carla can quote every line in The Princess Bride and still believes in true love. Which wouldn’t be quite so pathetic if she wasn’t thirty-seven and single. So single, in fact, she’s forgotten what it’s like to have a man give her so much as a carnation. Then Christian walks into Happy Petals, and she knows the fragrance of flowers has gone to her head. It’s ...

Set in the bucolic town of Angie, Louisiana, The Lord’s Acre tells the story of Eli Woodbine, a young boy who watches helplessly as his fundamentalist parents give in to their increasing sense of desperation and paranoia, living in a world where they can no longer see any hope or reason for existing. When the family is at their absolute lowest, they come across a local, charismatic church leader, in whom they quickly place all of their faith. Yet this man—known to them only as “Father”—is unlike anyone they have ever encountered before.

Cookbook author Holly Llewellyn is the last person who should be labelled an 'enemy of the state'—or is she? After all, her brother is a missing traitor, and with her ties to the president, the Secret Service isn't taking chances... So they send in agent David Goddard, undercover. But after one glance, David knows Holly isn't just an 'assignment'—she's a woman who'll change his life!

Welcome to Stargaze, home to a secret community of friendly zombies—or are they? The Fall Gala is the crown jewel of the festival season in Stargaze, and Addie can hardly wait to help Aunt Kate host a charity tea and attend a fancy dinner with her not-quite-boyfriend, Bennett. But when the MC of the Gala turns up dead, Addie begins to uncover a plot to expose the secret supernatural community that includes her aunt and new friend Marvin. If that happens, the special local magic that gives Addie her psychic abilities and keeps her aunt alive will disappear forever. Now the race is on to ...

Shane Whitfield has only one regret—letting Margarita slip through his fingers. When Margarita shows up on his doorstep with an offer to buy his ranch, Shane makes one thing clear: He’s keeping his ranch and his woman. After a passionate, unforgettable night, Margarita Ramirez left New Mexico—and Shane—to focus on her career. Now she’s back at Whitfield Ranch and Shane is the only thing standing in her way of a big promotion. She thought it would be easy to convince Shane to sell. But he’s as stubborn as the bulls on his ranch. When Shane turns up the heat, she’s tempted to ...

Exploring the diverse landscape of American life, the stories in Blues and Trouble: Twelve Stories capture the lives of people caught between circumstance and their own natures or on the run from fate. Tom Piazza’s debut short story collection, originally published in 1996, heralded the arrival of a startlingly original and vital presence in American fiction and letters. Set in Memphis, New Orleans, Florida, Texas, New York City, and elsewhere, the stories echo voices from Ernest Hemingway to Robert Johnson in their sharp eye for detail and their emotional impact.

After five years of virtual banishment because he sold out his small outfit to the Middle Arizona Cattle Company, giving it a foothold on the Mesa Grande range, violent-tempered Joe Bonnyman is summoned back to Lodgepole by his father when it appears that a cattle war between the syndicate and the various rangers is imminent. During his short stay in town, Joe has an unpleasant meeting with Ed Merrill, the brother of a girl Joe had once courted.

Ryder is the small town's local college boy. It's summertime, and he's at the beach where he sees a young college girl. Their eyes lock. Intrigued, he wants to approach her, but she quickly disappears. Disappointed, he returns home, but he sees her the next day in his summer class.

In March 1986, while living in Brooklyn, Chris Bohjalian and his wife were cab-napped on a Saturday night and taken on a forty-five-minute joy ride in which the driver ignored all traffic lights and stop signs. Around midnight he deposited the young couple on a near-deserted street, where police officers were about to storm a crack house. Bohjalian and his wife were told to hit the ground for their own protection. While lying on the pavement, Bohjalian's wife suggested that perhaps it was time to move to New England.

When California's local and state governments enacted sweeping COVID pandemic restrictions, San Diego wedding planner Amy Ulkutekin found herself forced to fight for the survival of both her industry and her own small business. A need for social impact quickly developed into political action, bringing her to the steps of California's state capitol, followed by hundreds of protestors, all dressed for a wedding.

Knowing that he will soon die, Albert 'Poppy' Gondiwindi has one final task he must fulfill. A member of the indigenous Wiradjuri tribe, he has spent his adult life in Prosperous House and the town of Massacre Plains, a small enclave on the banks of the Murrumby River. Before he takes his last breath, Poppy is determined to pass on the language of his people, the traditions of his ancestors and everything that was ever remembered by those who came before him. The land itself aids him; he finds the words on the wind.

Based on true crime, Jar of Pennies follows the story of how a murderer was brought to justice in small town east Texas. A book as much about east Texas culture deep in the pine forests of the state as it is about a chain of murders and the gathering of evidence, this riveting narrative has elements of both humor and noir as it rockets to its conclusion.

When Declan Lorne, the last remaining knight in Ireland, dies suddenly, an ancient title passes with him. But his estate on Ireland’s rugged south-west coast is left to his three daughters. The two eldest, Ottie and Pip, inherit in line with expectations, but to everyone’s surprise - and dismay - it is the errant baby of the family, Willow, who gets the castle. Why her? Something unknown - something terrible - made her turn her back on her family three years earlier, escaping to Dublin and vowing never to return....

Although she was an unusual child with some startling abilities, she never considered herself special or gifted any more than the next person. An incident on the Spenser Creek bridge changed all that, and brought about an end to childhood. She learned her quirky gifts were part of a great power: the power of vision. She must learn now how to control it.

Après quelques années passées à Atlanta, Toya Gardner, une jeune artiste afro-américaine, revient dans la petite ville des montagnes de Caroline du Nord d'où sa famille est originaire. Déterminée à dénoncer l'histoire esclavagiste de la région, elle ne tarde pas à s'y livrer à quelques actions d'éclat, provoquant de violentes tensions dans la communauté. Au même moment, Ernie, un policier du comté, arrête un mystérieux voyageur qui se révèle être un suprémaciste blanc. Celui-ci a en sa possession un carnet dans lequel figurent les noms de notables de la région.

In "Master and Man," Bobbie is a black man who can outride, outfight, and outshoot any white man in the mountain desert. His unwavering moral code serves as a model for his often cruel and dissolute white master.

Baking is Isabeau Collins's life. Back from studying under the finest chefs in France and Italy, and with a newly minted culinary degree in hand, Izzy is ready to pursue her dream: whipping up creative confections in her own custom cake shop. But her perfect plans are waylaid when two women claiming to be her half sisters show up with a stack of letters addressed to Izzy from their late mother.