Coming of Age

The Roadrunner Cafeby Jamie Zerndt

One year after his father’s suicide, Carson Long feels cheated. He hates his father for leaving him and his sister, Georgie, alone. He hates him for turning his mother into a young widow who hasn’t left the house in months. And he hates his father for leaving behind his stupid tree. Four of them are planted outside the restaurant, one for each family member. That is until Carson’s mother, no longer able to stand the sight of the tree, hires a local landscaper to remove it in the middle of the night. This seemingly unremarkable act soon sets in motion of series of events in the small Colorado ski town that leaves more than just young Carson groping in the dark for answers.

The Roadrunner Café is a unique novel told from multiple points of view about loss and the lengths some will go to heal the human heart. Ultimately, it is a story about what it takes to go on living even when everything in the world might be telling us it isn’t possible to.

Thief River Fallsby Brian Freeman

Harrowing loss, psychological trauma, and a deadly mystery test the human will to survive in this electrifying novel from award-winning author Brian Freeman.

Lisa Power is a tortured ghost of her former self. The author of a bestselling thriller called Thief River Falls, named after her rural Minnesota hometown, Lisa is secluded in her remote house as she struggles with the loss of her entire family: a series of tragedies she calls the “Dark Star.”

Then a nameless runaway boy shows up at her door with a terrifying story: he’s just escaped death after witnessing a brutal murder–a crime the police want to cover up. Obsessed with the boy’s safety, Lisa resolves to expose this crime, but powerful men in Thief River Falls are desperate to get the boy back, and now they want her too.

Lisa and her young visitor have nowhere to go as the trap closes around them. Still under the strange, unforgiving threat of the Dark Star, Lisa must find a way to save them both, or they’ll become the victims of another shocking tragedy she can’t foresee.

The Third Magpieby M S Clements

Caring teacher and loving husband, Finn tolerates daily humiliation to be with Sophie, the woman he loves. Fragile & naturally compliant he must summon all his courage to survive the system. Despite the injustice, they dream of a normal life, where liberty and identity are not subverted by ever tightening restrictions.

When a powerful politician requests that Finn tutor his daughter, it seems like a change of fortune. Soon Finn’s new found optimism is crushed by manipulative abuse, and a flu-like epidemic that threatens his life. It is left to Sophie to pick up the pieces and save her husband. In New Albany, every opportunity comes at price.

How far must Sophie go to save the man she loves?

For fans of ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’, ‘VOX’, 1984, and other speculative fiction, ‘The Third Magpie’ takes the reader into a terrifyingly plausible world where a wristband restricts your job, your movement, and even who you can marry. It is a society where propaganda masks extremism that threatens your very existence.

Reclaiming Our Ownby Christopher Irons

When his nephew is kidnapped, former Army Ranger Brett tries to intervene but is himself taken hostage. He and his former Ranger team find it’s part of a deeper conspiracy.

Blood, mixed with dirt, is a familiar taste to him. As the dirt blends into the blood, it forms a pasty consistency that is difficult to spit out. There is enough of the mixture present to restrict his breathing. He turns his head to the right and coughs in an effort to clear his mouth.

It’s a weak attempt resulting only in a large dribble down the side of his cheek. His eyes are slow to open and his vision is blurred. Lifting his left hand, he reaches to the back of his head to inspect the pain and wetness. He uses he left arm as leverage to roll over onto his stomach. The concrete floor is cold on his face, but this position allows him to clear his mouth.

A change of position brings no relief to any of the pain. It’s a struggle to get both arms out from underneath his body. With palms down, he extends his arms and pushes his body back into a four-post position. His head feels like it weighs fifty pounds, as he lifts it to look for a way out. His vision starts to clear and a metal door appears in the distance.

Right hand forward, right knee forward, left hand forward, left knee forward, right hand forward, right knee… “Aaaaahhh!” His upper body collapses. His head bounces off the floor and his vision returns to a blur. Now on his left side, he squints his eyes to get a look at his ankle.

Blood streams from the rusted chain into his white socks. It’s a struggle to get back on all fours and push himself to the back wall, below the window.

The air is brisk, and the sun is rising. “Where the hell am I?”

Stealing the Heiressby Samantha Holt

She was looking for adventure… 
Lady Rosamunde Stanley just never expected in the form of a kidnapping. 
Well, an almost-kidnapping. The dastardly man only went and took the wrong woman! 
But she soon discovers the dark, handsome man is not quite the terrible rogue she thinks him to be and she decides to put his experience to use. Her uncle has gone missing and no one believes her when she says he’s in trouble. Can she persuade Russell to help? 
Russell might have kidnapped her, but he has no intention of keeping her. Even if the heat between them is driving him out of his wits and her crazy family makes him long for things a battle-hardened orphan like him should never want. 
Their societal divide isn’t the only reason to keep his distance. Rosamunde is a bloody knife-carrying, picklock-wielding madwoman. 
A far too appealing madwoman… 
He’s not the only one struggling. Rosamunde is finding it just as difficult to fight the attraction, despite knowing it is most likely her over-active imagination leading her down this path. Somehow, she must keep her head around the most exciting man she’s ever met.

Zelupby Liza Probz

Dawn

Who would have thought it? A one-night stand should have only been one night.

Then the hot guy shows up on my doorstep with a business proposal that stinks more than a Vanfian female in heat.

He’s hiding something. I just didn’t expect it to be an upcoming apocalypse.

I have no choice but to go all in, but the plan is to keep my heart protected from him.

Yeah right. My hormones are leading the way, and this guy isn’t going to let me slip from his grasp that easily.

Zelup

Life is just never easy, is it?

My older brother shacks up with the daughter of a goddess, and all of a sudden, our planet is pushed into an apocalypse.

And I’m forced to hunt down a mythical Guardian to aid us in the fight against the demon host that’s squared off to us.

What I don’t expect in my travels is to fall for a feisty scientist.

She sees through my crap and is hotter than Hades.

But I can’t afford to be distracted.

And yet, that’s exactly what I am. This Guardian can suck it. I’m more interested in convincing Dawn I’m her man, her protector.

Until the Crowned Prince of Hell gets her. His threat?

To erase me from her memory forever.

The Vartik King Chronicles is planned as a sexy Sci-Fi Standalone series where eight siblings get an adventure and find love in the galaxies beyond home. Come join this new adventure and fall in love with the world I’ve created. Each book can be read separately and out of order! Enjoy.

Note: It’s seven brothers and one sister, hence the eight siblings change.