An emotional memoir about a military family experiencing love, loss, and challenging times. Always Coming Back Home uses heartfelt stories and real-time emails sent from a deployed sailor to his bride and readers quickly become invested in this young family. The couple takes readers on sailing and scuba diving adventures throughout the world. They also keep readers laughing as the couple becomes first time parents, anxious with them during military deployments, upset with them through miscarriages and family loss, and finally, heartbroken as it all comes to an end with a single phone call. Always Coming Back Home is a candid and raw account of two ordinary people coming together to accomplish extraordinary things. Praise for Always Coming Back Home “Such a beautiful and incredible tale of love and family. Ashley and Brian are such an amazing couple . . . . The memories Ashley shares with readers are so personal that you will feel like you are living in the moment with them . . . . I loved reading their story. I laughed with them, I cried with them and lived their life with them!” —Rabia Tanveer, Readers’ Favorite

An "ethnographic" novel that portrays life in California's Napa Valley as it might be a very long time from now, imagined not as a high tech future but as a time of people once again living close to the land.

An All-American love story between a naval officer and his bride spanning decades, continents, and military deployments before tragedy left his bride a pregnant widow with two young children at home in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

I might have to visit a very sick friend, or rescue a sinking canoe, but I will always, always, always come back to you! What happens when someone you love heads out the door? When a mother goes out to work and her daughter stays behind, Mom reassures her child that nothing can keep her from coming back home again. Mom promises that she would even ride on a whale or fight off a passel of bears, if that's what it takes to return to her child! Her daughter might have to wait with Gramma or a friend at home. Whether their time apart has been long or short, the family will be together again. This humorous and touching book reminds young readers that distance cannot diminish love. Perfect for children struggling with separation anxiety or a change in family life, this book represents a parent’s promise that they will be back, no matter what! Reassuring rhyme and amusing illustrations create a story to cherish when loved ones have gone away—and also when they’ve come back at last.

"Fluid" and "Engaging"- Joyce Carol Oates on Always Come Back

In the vein of Kathleen Barber and Julia Heaberlin comes an electrifying debut suspense that pits the inhabitants of a small town against each other. Nine years ago, July Weaver’s little sister was one of the first victims of the Pacific Lake Killer, a serial killer in Georgia. When other girls began to disappear and were found dead, it was July’s testimony that put her own father into prison for the crimes. After the sentencing, she fled to Nashville to focus on her music career and to try to forget the horrible past. But when her brother tries to kill himself, July is forced to come back home and reunite with her four remaining siblings. What she isn’t expecting is to uncover new evidence that makes her question everything that happened to her sister nine years ago. Is it possible that July blamed the wrong person? Is it possible that the Pacific Lake Killer is still out there? As the linchpin to the case against her father—and the reason the Pacific Lake Killer case is closed—July knows it isn’t long before the killer will set their eyes back on her. If they’re really still out there.

Coming Back Home is one mans journey through twenty years of his life. A journey of leaving what he loved, doing what he loved, and returning with the ones he loved. The book is an answer to the question that James has heard hundreds of times: What did you do in the Air Force? James enlisted in the Air Force after graduating high school for two reasons: he did not cherish the thought of being a farmer and he wanted to serve his country. When he left, he felt alone. As he made new friends and visited and lived in new places, he became a man. He became an airman. As he progressed through the ranks in the Air Force, he met and married the love of his life, and they started their family. Coming Back Home is Jamess storyhis life of leaving and returning. It is the fulfillment of his dream.

Jean Carnahan was the first lady of Missouri when her husband, Governor Mel Carnahan, who was running for the U.S. Senate, and their son, were killed in a plane crash. When Mel Carnahan was elected posthumously (beating John Ashcroft), Jean agreed to take his seat in Washington and served in the U.S. Senate during 9/11, the anthrax attacks, and the vote to go to war in Iraq. During a time of intense and almost unimaginable personal loss, she managed to keep her head up and her heart open and worked diligently for her constituents and for the country. Her upbeat attitude is truly a lesson to us all. Carnahan, in the public sphere most recently as she campaigned for President Barack Obama, is a skillful writer. A cross between Molly Ivins and Maria Shriver, she brings her tales about aging, change, strengthening the family, history, politics, and language to the page with a plainspoken, wise humor that is pure pleasure and genuinely uplifting. The Tide Always Comes Back is the kind of practical inspirational gift book that word-of-mouth could turn into a wonderful, evergreen book.

Mama Bird and Mama Cat and even teensy-weensy Mama Mole must leave their little ones from time to time. But rain or shine, in a tree or in the sea, mamas everywhere find their way home with cozy hugs and lots of love, because mamas always come home.

This heartwarming picture book reassures children that a parent’s love never lets go—based on the poignant lyrics of JJ Heller’s beloved lullaby “Hand to Hold.” “May the living light inside you be the compass as you go / May you always know you have my hand to hold.” With delightful illustrations and an engaging rhyme scheme, this book offers the promise of security and love every child’s heart longs to know. From skipping stones and counting stars to climbing trees and telling stories, every moment is wrapped snugly in the certain warmth of a parent’s presence and God’s blessing. With poignancy and joy, this bedtime read captures the unconditional love parents want their children to know but so often fail to express amid the chaos of daily life.