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Contemporary Fiction

Chestnut Springs

Chestnut springs
BY CAROL J. BOVA
 
Will her second chance cost her everything?

Brenda Maxwell's successful career vanished in one disastrous day. Now she's traded her L. A. condo for a new life, settling in an off-the-grid cabin in rural West Virginia.

But the seeming tranquility of Chestnut Springs is more of a challenge than she ever expected. Brenda's self-reliance is p ut to the test as she faces savage weather, a hungry bear, a jealous rival, and a false arrest.

Independence only goes so far. Can Brenda find help among her new friends?

Chestnut Springs is an upbeat story of love and friendship that will keep you turning pages until dawn.

 
Available at:

Amazon
caroljbova.com

The Disappearance of Bobo Blando

Bobo
By DENISE DEVRIES

One mysterious man's stories both divide and unite a small community of immigrants as they struggle with isolation and misunderstanding in their new home. Under the simple tale of Simón's search for Bobo Blando's true identity and Karen Salazar's quest for purpose lies a religious allegory for modern times.


Print books are available directly from the author or on Amazon.

Click here for E-book locations.

 

The Dark Room

Thedarkroomfrontonlycover20171001 3870 mu5h0h
BY CINDY FREEMAN

Synopsis: Why do intelligent women stay in relationships after they’ve been abused? Why don’t they just leave? Why do they fall for controlling men in the first place? What prompts men to beat their wives? Are they crazy? Are they monsters? The Dark Room is a gripping story tackling the complex issues of child abuse and Battered Woman Syndrome. From the age of three—when her young mother, Amy Leonard, is arrested on drug charges—Jodie is chained to the bed in a small, dark room with barely enough food to keep her alive. Her only chance of survival rests with her grandmother, Stella, who is being abused by the child's grandfather, Hank. Will Stella and Jodie escape from Hank’s abuse? Will Jodie finally enjoy a normal, healthy childhood? Will Amy be reunited with her mother and daughter?
 
 

Unrevealed

Unrevealedcover20171001 12315 1babx6a
By Cindy Freeman

Allison Harmon discovers that being a wealthy heiress does not guarantee a carefree life. She spends her childhood groomed by her father to take over his billion-dollar textile conglomerate. After his death, Allison is tormented by flashbacks. Convinced her family kept a secret from her, she searches for the truth. In Paris, Allison meets Jack Sanderling, an American doctoral candidate. Despite the mutual attraction, she does not divulge her identity. Jack discovers she misrepresented herself and fails to show up for their second meeting, leaving Allison heartbroken and confused. Will Allison and Jack find their way back to each other? Will Allison uncover the mystery of her childhood?

Available at:
Amazon
High Tide Publications
cindyfreeman.com
Jt hine emily   hilda rule num one  emily hard to kill

by JT Hine

 I call my books “cozy coming-of-age crime novels” because according to Sisters in Crime, they are crime novels.

My coming-of-age crime novels come in two series, each named for the first book in the trilogy.

Emily & Hilda 
Cycling was already an adventure, but then…Teenage bicycle racing phenom Emily Hampstead is training for a major race. Retired Army nurse Hilda Paisley is traveling the USA on her bicycle. They meet by chance on a deserted road in Kansas, not suspecting that they’ll ever cross paths again.Emily continues to win races to the delight and surprise of bicycle racing fans in the US and abroad. Her family moves to Virginia, where she attracts unexpected and deadly attention.Meanwhile, after witnessing a terrorist attack, Hilda helps the police make arrests – and the terrorists add her name to their hit list. After escaping the immediate threat, Hilda reports to a temporary nursing job in a Southern hospital.When Emily accepts Hilda's offer to ride to Canada – with Hilda's friend Jack – it promises to be a fun adventure.If they can survive it.


In the sequel to Emily & Hilda, Rule Number One
When you don't know who your enemies are, how do you defeat them?
Emily Hampstead is a teenage phenom on the American bicycle road racing circuit, and a first-year student at the University of Virginia. Emily's mother, Katherine, has become a popular teacher at the university in her first full year on board. They hope that Emily's adventures touring in Canada the summer before are behind them, but there are still enemies out there…
After a terrorist bombing decimates the USA under-twenty-three racing team, Emily takes a year from school to determine her future. Meanwhile, Katherine survives an assassination attempt and joins her daughter traveling off the grid. They hope to give the FBI time to find and arrest the man behind the violence over the last two years.
If they can stay alive that long…


Emily Is Hard to Kill, 
After escaping her kidnappers and would-be murderers, Emily Hampstead is called to Québec with her friends Jack Rathburn and Hilda Paisley to testify in the trial of a terrorist bomber. The bomber's associates attack Emily in the woods. The terrorists die, but so does Jean-Pierre, her lover. As COVID begins closing borders, the three friends fly to Germany in time to wait out the pandemic there. Jack and Hilda are recalled to active duty, and Emily is hired as an ambulance driver and EMT. Struggling with the death of Jean-Pierre, she is grateful for the lockdown. She resumes her studies at UVA online. After vaccines come out and the pandemic eases off, Emily returns to the US to attend the National Park Service Law Enforcement Academy in Flagstaff, Arizona. She plans to become a seasonal ranger and earn her nursing degree at UVA. Mid-way through the course, an extremist militia, led by an ex-MP who has sworn to kill Emily and her friends, attacks the school. After recovering from her wounds, Emily hides in the desert with the Navajo, where she faces her ghosts and learns to move on. To finish reconciling with her grief and doubts, she must stop her enemy, finish the academy at Temple University and serve her first assignment at Saguaro National Park. Only then can she begin nursing school and move forward.
Jt hine lockhart enemies art to die for

by JT Hine

 I call my books “cozy coming-of-age crime novels” because according to Sisters in Crime, they are crime novels.

My coming-of-age crime novels come in two series, each named for the first book in the trilogy.


Lockhart (2020)
It's just a translation, right? Maybe not …Joe Lockhart can barely remember a time before his mother, Nancy, a drug company executive, brought him to Italy to escape her grief after the death of Joe's father. Now, against a background of escalating political violence and Nancy’s concerns for his safety, Joe wants to finish high school before returning to the US. He begins translating confidential company files for his mother and Luke, her colleague.The work seems straightforward and harmless. While Nancy and Luke are in Germany on business, Joe uncovers a plot to overthrow the Italian government. Soon, he finds himself kidnapped, wanted by the military police, and racing to help head off a coup d'état. Lockhart is a tale of personal and political conflict, of recovery from grief, and finding new meaning in the idea of home.


Enemies,
As political violence continues to roil Italy and racial violence grows in the USA, Sandra and Joe come back to the US to attend different schools. In Italy, a vicious public hate campaign targets Joe's mother, Nancy. In Virginia, Joe is learning brutal lessons about race relations in the United States, having grown up in Italy. In Washington DC, Sandra uncovers an international art forgery scheme. The two lovers meet again in Rome, where they discover that they and Nancy have a common enemy. Working with the FBI and the Italian police, they might be able to stop him, if they can stay alive that long.

Art to Die For wraps
A badge is not bullet-proof.
In the conclusion of the Lockhart trilogy, Sandra and Joe come back to the US to finish their studies. The historic art recovery has made Sandra a target to prevent her helping Interpol with a new international art crime case. Meanwhile, Joe remains a target of revenge. Surviving bombs and snipers, the two lovers must determine what they truly value and learn to make a life together – if they can stay alive to do that...

Unholy Scandal: Based on a True Story

Unholy scandal
By Patti Hornstra

Father Paul Freemont was the beloved pastor of a thriving Catholic Church in a suburban Virginia community--until he was accused of the sexual abuse of minors.

Based on a true story, Unholy Scandal is the fictional account of a Catholic priest's quest to prove his innocence of the accusations, which were alleged to have occurred decades prior during his tenure as principal at an all-boys Catholic high school.

His years-long struggle was intensified--and his life changed forever--as the number of accusations grew and the circle of those he could trust got smaller.

Available on Amazon
 

Whippoorwill Hollow

Jeffery price book cover
By Jeffrey Price (Davidson Lee Price) 

Having served two tours in Afghanistan, Hudson Lee returns home to Georgia mentally traumatized after the death of his good friend, who sacrificed himself to save Hudson in battle. Deeply distraught and unable to see a way out of his depression, Hudson makes plans to end his life at the family farm, Whippoorwill Hollow. Just when he’s about to follow through, however, he encounters an abandoned dog that’s been bitten by a snake and in dire need of help. Hudson’s protective instincts kick in, and he and the mistreated red-nose terrier, named Hank after Hudson’s deceased friend, form an extraordinary bond.

Across town, Katie Carter is increasingly despondent about the prospect of ever escaping her abusive fiancé, Sean. When Hank guides Hudson and Katie together, she, too, has nearly lost her will to live. No matter where she goes or what she does, Sean always seems to find her.

But love, family, and forgiveness are powerful, and with Hank’s help, Hudson and Katie stand a chance of outrunning the demons of their past and facing a future together. Davidson Lee Price’s debut novel is a tender and moving story of what happens when unspeakable pain is finally shared and how a community can come together to heal it.

Author | Davidson Lee Price

Davidson Lee Price | Facebook

Places to purchase Whippoorwill Hollow:
Whippoorwill Hollow: Price, Davidson Lee: 9781736883617: Amazon.com: Books

Smashwords – Whippoorwill Hollow – a book by Davidson Lee Price

 

I'll Get By

Patti procopi i'll get by
BY PATTI GAUSTAD PROCOPI

Starting over means figuring out where you are, how you got there, and where to go from here.

When Jane's life falls apart in a most spectacular fashion, she questions how she got to this point. How did she manage to choose a best friend who would do the most clichéd thing ever and run off with her husband? What blinded her to the abuse her husband, Frank, heaped upon her over decades of marriage?
The answers to her life's questions might be found in the generations before her. From her grandmother, Mamere, who threw away her family heritage to marry a baseball player, to her mother, Evangeline, who knew within moments of meeting John during WWII that he was the love of her life.
The choices the women in her family made alter Jane's outlook on love and life, but she learns that ultimately, strong women survive and love is cultivated in unexpected places.

Available from Amazon 

Please Tell Me More

Patti procopi book please tell me more
BY PATTI GAUSTAD PROCOPI

This heartfelt story about sisters, family and the tenuous connections we forge in life will stay with you long after you turn the last page.

Rose was a child when the worst possible thing happened.  Her baby sister Lily drowned while Rose was supposed to be watching her. This tragedy eventually destroys the family while Rose struggles to go on despite her guilt and sorrow. 

At times whimsical, always genuine, this story looks at the bonds of sisters and how family can become our foundation even when we don’t expect it.

Available from Amazon and Barnes and Noble. 

Stop Talking

Patti gaustan procopi stop talking
BY PATTI GAUSTAD PROCOPI

From the author of Please... Tell Me More comes the highly anticipated sequel!Finally, Rose has found her soulmate, Jack, and is ready to live her best happily-ever-after life. But tragedy strikes in Alaska, where Rose's brother and family live, and soon her world is turned upside down... again. Rose and Jack do the only thing they can: they take their niece, Fern, who has suffered a tremendous loss, home to Virginia.

Fern is adrift, grieving in a strange place with only her wolf-dog for a companion. Her mother is dead and her father is missing. Nothing will ever be the same again, but Rose is doing the best she can for young Fern, even as the temptation of addiction lingers at the edge of her world. Can Fern find her way in this new environment, moving from the wilds of Alaska to the wilds of suburban middle school? And will Rose and Jack survive too, or will they be casualties of an upheaval neither expected?

A deeply moving novel that speaks of the strength of family and the cycle of life, Patti Gaustad Procopi has managed to weave heartfelt emotion into a sweeping family saga that reminds us all of how much we yearn for home.

Available on Amazon 

Like a Mask Dancing: A Tanzanian Story

Like a mast dancing sally stiles
By Sally Stiles

Aaron Chadwick's job is to save Tanzania's largest industrial complex. After three weeks in this vast, alluring country, his wife, Anna, has met missionaries and Muslims, Maasai herders, expatriates both indifferent and committed. She's slept among lions and giraffes and learned of men who chewed off cats' heads. She's seen a pleasure ground for the wealthy and a garbage dump which serves as a playground for the poorest of the poor. She's seen her husband angry and determined to save what may be impossible to save. She's seen all these things through the long lens of a visitor and now resolves to zoom in closer. She resolves to make Africa her home.

Available on Amazon 
 

Bennett Falls

Peter stipe   bennett falls
By Peter Stipe

A place where families came. Homes were built. Children grew, left for war, and returned.
Through it all, the river runs, as it always has.
But people change and dreams shift and towns grow, and nothing good ever lasts…
For years, Jack and Keira Sullivan discussed a future where they escaped the harsh urban realities in Boston. Instead, they would run a bed and breakfast in New Hampshire. When Keira’s mother dies, they use her inheritance to purchase a historically significant old house in Bennett Falls to pursue their dream.
What was once an ideal future soon becomes rife with problems: the isolation Keira experiences as Jack divides his time between Boston and Bennett Falls; the withdrawn attitude of the townspeople who do not want change; and the choices Keira must face in order to move forward with her life.
Can friendship and one small kitten turn things around for Keira and Jack, or will they find that their dreams are not what they once thought them to be?

Available on Amazon 

Finding Our Way

Peter stipe finding our way
By Peter Stipe

The eight short stories in Peter Stipe’s first book Finding Our Way investigate the complex connections between people, particularly between the lead characters in the stories and those who are closest to them as their relationships evolve.  Even though these eight stories are drawn from Peter’s personal experiences and from those of his friends, they are fiction.  Peter writes about the way the stories might have occurred rather than being constrained to tell the stories as they actually happened.  Sometimes the stories’ characters change as they struggle to find better connections in their lives; sometimes they don’t.

Two of the stories, Finding Our Way and Running Home, draw on Peter’s extensive experience as a marathon runner.  In his prime Peter was one of America’s top distance runners, winning many races, placing in the top fifty in the Boston Marathon on six occasions and competing in the 1972 U.S. Olympic Trials.  These two stories are semi-autobiographical, detailing the lifestyle of a competitive distance runner.

Sky City looks at the clash of two cultures, the ancient and traditional culture of Native Americans at Acoma Pueblo in New Mexico and the dawn of the nuclear age with the nuclear test at nearby Alamogordo, New Mexico.  Peter’s father was a part of the Manhattan Project that developed the first bomb.  Peter read an account of the first test in his father’s papers.  Peter also has studied Native culture and art.  He was struck by the contrast of these two cultures several years ago when he visited Acoma Pueblo.

Peter’s inspiration for his stories comes from many sources.  A woman who worked with him in New Hampshire came to work on a Monday morning in the fall telling the story of her first deer hunting trip.  Her tale led to The Deer Slayer.  An experience Peter had one night when he worked the third shift at a hospital in New Hampshire inspired Anna.  His story Seasons investigates his and his mother’s responses to the death of Peter’s father.  A childhood memory of an incident in a small Virginia town in the 1950’s is the foundation for the story Lawrence.  A mathematical game in Scientific American magazine led to the bizarre tale Moebius Trip.  The sources of inspiration are as varied as the types of stories in Peter’s book.

Author's Website
Facebook: PeterGStipe
Email

Remember Me

Image
By Peter Stipe

Family heirlooms and stories are passed along through the generations and very often become embellished over time. The history of family characters and events becomes fluid, and sometimes stories are deliberately hushed, stories of people and events that families are not proud of, black sheep who must be hidden. Heirlooms are kept but not always preserved.

What then is the truth of a family?

This is the unfolding story of the author’s great-grandparents, Oscar and Maggie McMurray. When Peter Stipe discovers heirlooms and old books that contain clues to the truth about the McMurray’s, his curiosity is piqued. As he researches his family history, the stories his mother told him begin to unravel. Who were Oscar and Maggie? How did their story get lost? Why was it changed? What is the truth about this, or any other family story?

Author's website
Facebook: PeterGStipe
Email

The Art of Love

Image
By Peter Stipe
 
Chamberlain has enrolled as a graduate student at the Rhode Island School of Design, leaving his secluded life on the coast of Maine and his home with an overbearing mother and his academic father.  Mary Flynn has come to Providence from New York City to study at Brown University.  She comes from a proud family with traditional values and brings with her a strict interpretation of her Catholic faith.  It is the first time both of them have lived on their own.  They meet and fall in love.

Patrick is guided by his artistic Uncle Win.  Mary’s mentor is her old professor, Sister Catherine.  Both Patrick and Mary are inspired by the lifestyle of their two artist friends, Aaron, a sculptor and free-spirited Melanie who works with glass.  Can Patrick and Mary reconcile the traditional values they have brought with them to Providence with the temptations of the life they seek together?  This is their story.

The Art of Love considers different types of love and relationships.  At the center is that of Mary and Patrick, built on a natural chemistry, but challenged by their inhibitions and conservative values.  In contrast there is the uninhibited relationship between Aaron and Melanie.  Perhaps Aaron and Melanie’s relationship is doomed.  Other relationships are also in play:  Mary’s sister Margie and her boyfriend Javier who are living together, Mary’s tradition-bound parents, Patrick’s uncommunicative parents, Uncle Win and his partner.

This is not a standard classic love story; boy and girl meet, fall in love, move in together, and live happily ever after.  Patrick and Mary are both so repressed that they struggle with even the most commonplace aspects of their love.  They both want more and neither knows what to do about it.  In the end that is what destroys their relationship.  As Uncle Win advises, “Sometimes no matter how much love you have, it’s still not enough to overcome whatever issues come up.”

Author's Website
Facebook: PeterGStipe
Email

The Fairy Garden

Tfg bookcover ebook
By Peter Stipe

A whimsical story about facing our deepest fears and greatest loves, and what we all must do to grow into the life we were meant to experience.
Elizabeth’s secret began when she was five years old, a secret she held close her entire life. As far as she knew, she was the only person who could see the fairies living in her grandfather’s garden. They play with her and show her their world, and as she grows older, they guide her through the important moments of her life. The fairies, and especially Olivia, were her closest friends.
But where were they when everything fell apart? Why didn’t they save her grandfather when he needed help, and why didn’t they warn her about the things she had to endure? Surely the fairies, who seemed to have a prescience about the future, knew what Elizabeth would have to tolerate.
After the death of her grandfather, Elizabeth moves into his house to begin the process of healing. But when her daughter begins to see and play with the fairies, Elizabeth has a choice to make. Will she accept her daughter’s new friends or will she find a way to banish them from her life forever?

"Fairy Garden is an entertaining coming of age story with a whimsical twist; life coaching delivered via fairies. Peter’s descriptive writing beautifully blends a bit of magic with the realities of life making the narrative relatable, engaging, and at times, a bit self-reflective for the reader."  - Caterina Novelliere, author of Mark of the Night and When the Moon Bleeds.

Author's website
Facebook: PeterGStipe
Email


 

Tobin triple divide
By J.E. Tobin
 
 
A troubled soldier disappears into Glacier National Park, and two brothers-in-arms set off to find him, only to discover that their journey leads into the darkest corner of their souls.
 
When Brian McEnroe, Alex Vilanova and Jenner Chapman fly home from the war in Afghanistan, they strive to forget a night raid on an Afghan village and the days that followed. But they find no peace, and, when Alex disappears into the wilderness of Glacier National Park, the other two men launch separate searches to find him. In Glacier's mountains, the men face dangers imposed by a hostile land while wrestling with secrets they carry with them. Will they find him in time? And, if they do, will they learn the truth about themselves and each other?
 
Triple Divide is a riveting adventure story of courage and friendship that renders an unforgettable portrayal of war’s aftermath on soldiers and those who love them.
 
“I couldn't put down this gripping book!” Kayla Williams, author of Love My Rifle More than You
 
 
"I highly recommend this novel not just to men, whose lives it reflects, but to women who are interested in bridging gaps between the inner worlds of women and men. An adventure and a thriller, Triple Divide is also an inspiring take on the human condition…"
 
Michael Gurian, New York Times bestselling author of Saving Our Sons
A troubled soldier disappears into Glacier National Park, and two brothers-in-arms set off to find him, only to discover that their journey leads into the darkest corner of their souls.
 
When Brian McEnroe, Alex Vilanova and Jenner Chapman fly home from the war in Afghanistan, they strive to forget a night raid on an Afghan village and the days that followed. But they find no peace, and, when Alex disappears into the wilderness of Glacier National Park, the other two men launch separate searches to find him. In Glacier's mountains, the men face dangers imposed by a hostile land while wrestling with secrets they carry with them. Will they find him in time? And, if they do, will they learn the truth about themselves and each other?
 
Triple Divide is a riveting adventure story of courage and friendship that renders an unforgettable portrayal of war’s aftermath on soldiers and those who love them.
 
“I couldn't put down this gripping book!” Kayla Williams, author of Love My Rifle More than You
 
 
"I highly recommend this novel not just to men, whose lives it reflects, but to women who are interested in bridging gaps between the inner worlds of women and men. An adventure and a thriller, Triple Divide is also an inspiring take on the human condition…"
 
Michael Gurian, New York Times bestselling author of Saving Our Sons

available on AMAZON AMAZON and Barnes and Noble B & N

 

When we were wolves
By J.E. Tobin
 
Tom Wingfield lives in a small Virginia town famous as the birthplace of U.S. presidents and Sonny Rawlins, America’s most celebrated coach. For thirty years, Tom has kept secret the truth about Rawlins. But a news story breaks; setting off a chain of events that puts Tom and everyone he loves at risk. Only a desperate act can save them. Tom must enter Sonny’s Monster House one more time.
Whoopi Goldberg says  that the book is "a novel that's going to stay with me."  Brian Castleberry calls it "a timely gut-punch of a book." Michael Gurian, The New York Times bestselling author of The Wonder of Boys and The Stone Boys, says: “To enter the world of J.E. Tobin’s When We Were Wolves is to immerse ourselves in a vital David and Goliath story ripped right from the headlines.  Truth and courage are pitted against lies, lawyers, and hero worship.  The writing is vivid and the plot relentless.  This novel brims with empathy and insight and will stay with the reader long after the last page is read.  And it may just change our perception of what makes someone a hero.”  
 
For more information go to: http://jetobin.com
The book is available for purchase at:
 
Pale Horse Books
https://palehorsebooks.com/
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/When-We-Were-Wolves-Tobin/dp/1939917417/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2V01110BF9LK9&keywords=J.E.Tobin&qid=1652216809&sprefix=j.e.tobin%2Caps%2C81&sr=8-1
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/when-we-were-wolves-j-e-tobin/1141407003?ean=9781939917416