Depressed and abandoned after my father dies, I'm sent to a therapy center where I must decide between two doors. Behind one door awaits life in my home country where I will continue to scramble through a tangle of mistakes and a poisonous relationship, but old and new friendships alike may be my salvation. Escape lies behind the second door, where I can run away to an unknown country far away where demanding physical labor will push aside my inner demons. This door could be a fresh start.

Jenny, a young woman from Chicago with a sealed record and a well-hidden past, takes on a special project for a North Dakota oilman. Could this be an easy payday? Trouble starts when the brutal past threatens to ruin the future she is searching for. The key to putting the past behind her, this time for good, reopens another door that was intended to stay closed forever.

At 28, Stephanie Land's dreams of attending a university and becoming a writer quickly dissolved when a summer fling turned into an unplanned pregnancy. Before long, she found herself a single mother, scraping by as a housekeeper to make ends meet. Maid is an emotionally raw, masterful account of Stephanie's years spent in service to upper-middle-class America as a "nameless ghost" who quietly shared in her clients' triumphs, tragedies, and deepest secrets.

Left for dead in the fields of rural Oregon, a young woman defies all odds and survives - but she awakens with no idea who she is, or what happened to her. Refusing to answer to "Jane Doe" for another day, the woman renames herself "Water" for the tiny, hidden marking on her body - the only clue to her past. Taken in by old Ginny Fitzgerald, a crotchety but kind lady living on a nearby horse farm, Water slowly begins building a new life. But as she attempts to piece together the fleeting slivers of her memory, more questions emerge....

A hungry, stray dog is the last thing Cara Butter needs. Stranded in Georgia with only her backpack and a few dwindling dollars, she already has too much baggage. Like her twin sister, Hana, who has broken Cara's heart one too many times. After a lifetime of family troubles, and bouncing from one foster home to another, Cara decides to leave it all behind and strike out alone - on foot.

Nate Myers graduated from UCLA medical school at the top of his class, ready to follow in the footsteps of his father, a superstar cardiothoracic surgeon. Six years later, Nate's career is being ruined by a malpractice suit. Questioning himself for the first time, he retreats to a Montana cattle ranch to visit his uncle and gain perspective. There he meets a beautiful young woman named Avelina who teaches him more than he ever knew about matters of the heart.

Danger comes to the Double D from Liam's past and threatens everything Jack and Riley hold dear. Jack makes a decision that will affect the ranch, and Riley realizes peace comes at a price. Eli and Robbie have their home on Double D land, they weather as many storms as can be thrown at them. And Liam, a young man with a head full of dreams and sleep full of nightmares, finds that all things are possible when Marcus decides to interrupt his solitary existence.

Thirteen stories that are just right for a lunch time read. All stories stand alone, and are complete in this volume.

Erica Ryan is flying home from London after a disastrous business trip. Free spirit Abby Hayes is flying into New York City to visit her mother before jetting off again. Both end up in Gander, Canada, when their flight is diverted because of 9/11. For ninety-six hours they share a rollercoaster of emotions and find themselves drawn to one another. Will their nascent connection survive everyday life when they return home?

Dr. Daniel Winters has a beachfront home in Malibu, a career as a respected pediatrician, and a gorgeous new wife, Mia. For a man whose past was rife with mental illness, addiction, and thoughts of suicide, it seems too good to be true. Then Daniel learns that a fellow pediatrician and his family were found slaughtered in their home. It’s just the first chip in the facade of Daniel’s perfect life. Little by little, everything starts to fall away. At work, his career becomes at risk when he’s asked to remain silent about a dangerous new drug. At home, Mia has gone from an affectionate newlywed to a mysterious woman carefully hiding secrets.

In her tour-de-force first novel, Juliann Garey takes us inside the restless mind, ravaged heart, and anguished soul of Greyson Todd, a successful Hollywood studio executive who leaves his wife and young daughter and for a decade travels the world giving free reign to the bipolar disorder he's been forced to keep hidden for almost 20 years.

I'm a city boy, not a cowboy. I'm way out of my league on a horse ranch in Texas. Falling for the sexy horse vet was never my intention. Especially when I find out she could be dating a killer. Sneaking around with her? Not my brightest idea, but someone's got to protect her. It's just one summer. One casual fling. Until it becomes everything but.

Both Cassie Hugo and Margaret Brickshaw dutifully followed their soldier husbands to the US embassy in Jordan, but that's about all the women have in common. After two years Cassie's become an expert on the rules, but newly arrived Margaret sees only her chance to explore. So when a fender bender sends Margaret to the local police station, Cassie reluctantly agrees to watch Margaret's toddler son. But as the hours pass, Cassie's boredom and frustration turn to fear.

In infancy, Junior Thibodeaux is encoded with a prophesy: A comet will obliterate life on Earth in 36 years. Alone in this knowledge, he comes of age in rural Maine grappling with the question: Does anything I do matter? While the voice that has accompanied him since conception appraises his choices, Junior's loved ones emerge with parallel stories - his anxious mother.

Who says you can't go home again? Amy's fast paced New York City life is interrupted by her mother's illness. She returns home to Fenton, Missouri after many years to find her childhood home on fire and her aging mother in need of long-term care. It's more than she can handle, but with the help of her new found friends, she finds a life -- and love -- she wasn't expecting.