NYT bestselling author Patricia Rice brings “Hours of reading delight.” RT Reviews A ditzy dreamer with a well-hidden practical streak, Maya Alyssum has an impossible dream of opening a school where kids can find unconditional acceptance—acceptance she and her sister had never experienced while growing up in foster homes. But Axell Holm, the town council’s representative, holds Maya’s unconventional dream in his hands. Axell is the kind of uptight authority figure Maya loves to hate. So how is it that he’s ringing all her chimes, even as her rebellious plans turn his ordered life upside down? previous title: Impossible Dreams Reviews: “. . .love conquers all, but the kaleidoscope of characters and half a dozen subplots that bind together this story ensures that the battle never gets dull.” Publishers Weekly (Apr 2000) “Patricia Rice shows her diverse talent as a writer…[it] will leave readers with a smile on their faces.” Murray Ledger and Times (KY) Carolina Magnolias series in order: Dixie Rebel Imperfect Rebel Rebel Charm Carolina Rebel Rebel Girl Home Town Rebel Keywords: small town North Carolina, single dad, humor, teacher, astrology, teacher, marriage of convenience, pregnancy Keywords: small town North Carolina, single dad, humor, teacher, astrology,

“... full of the warmth, humor and poignancy that make Rice's books very special.”— Jill M. Smith, RT Book Reviews An ambitious MBA with a genius for opening her mouth when she shouldn't, Aurora Jenkins wants nothing more than to leave her suffocating rural hometown and run back to the big city where she belongs. Clay McCloud loves rural anonymity. After giving up his million-dollar lifestyle to pay back investors ruined by his MBA-wielding ex-fiancée, the last thing he needs is another woman with a fancy degree and rebellious plans. But a real estate scam threatening both their families forces these two brilliantly stubborn people to recognize what's really important and re-evaluate their dreams. . . and each other. Previously titled Carolina Girl Carolina Magnolias series in order: Rebel Dreams Imperfect Rebel Rebel Charm Carolina Rebel Rebel Girl Home Town Rebel “..Rice does such a good job of weaving the reader through each character, making them personable and the ending all the more romantic.” —ReaderToReader.com

In 1891, when coal companies in eastern Tennessee brought in cheap convict labor to take over their jobs, workers responded by storming the stockades, freeing the prisoners, and loading them onto freight trains. Over the next year, tactics escalated to include burning company property and looting company stores. This was one of the largest insurrections in US working-class history. It happened at the same time as the widely publicized northern labor war in Homestead, Pennsylvania. And it was largely ignored, then and now. Dixie Be Damned engages seven similarly "hidden" insurrectionary episodes in Southern history to demonstrate the region's long arc of revolt. Countering images of the South as pacified and conservative, this adventurous retelling presents history in the rough. Not the image of the South many expect, this is the South of maroon rebellion, wildcat strikes, and Robert F. Williams's book Negroes with Guns, a South where the dispossessed refuse to quietly suffer their fate. This is people's history at its best: slave revolts, multiracial banditry, labor battles, prison uprisings, urban riots, and more. Neal Shirley grew up in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and now lives in Durham, NC, where he is involved in several anti-prison initiatives and runs a small publishing project called the North Carolina Piece Corps. Saralee Stafford was born in the Piedmont of North Carolina. Her recent political work has focused on connecting the struggles of street organizations with those of anarchists in the area. She teaches gender-related health in Durham, North Carolina.

The first comprehensive history of the fabled Confederate battle cry from its origins and myths through its use in American popular culture No aspect of Civil War military lore has received less scholarly attention than the battle cry of the Southern soldier. In The Rebel Yell, Craig A. Warren brings together soldiers' memoirs, little-known articles, and recordings to create a fascinating and exhaustive exploration of the facts and myths about the “Southern screech.” Through close readings of numerous accounts, Warren demonstrates that the Rebel yell was not a single, unchanging call, but rather it varied from place to place, evolved over time, and expressed nuanced shades of emotion. A multifunctional act, the flexible Rebel yell was immediately recognizable to friends and foes but acquired new forms and purposes as the epic struggle wore on. A Confederate regiment might deliver the yell in harrowing unison to taunt Union troops across the empty spaces of a battlefield. At other times, individual soldiers would call out solo or in call-and-response fashion to communicate with or secure the perimeters of their camps. The Rebel yell could embody unity and valor, but could also become the voice of racism and hatred. Perhaps most surprising, The Rebel Yell reveals that from Reconstruction through the first half of the twentieth century, the Rebel yell—even more than the Confederate battle flag—served as the most prominent and potent symbol of white Southern defiance of Federal authority. With regard to the late-twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, Warren shows that the yell has served the needs of people the world over: soldiers and civilians, politicians and musicians, re-enactors and humorists, artists and businessmen. Warren dismantles popular assumptions about the Rebel yell as well as the notion that the yell was ever “lost to history.” Both scholarly and accessible, The Rebel Yell contributes to our knowledge of Civil War history and public memory. It shows the centrality of voice and sound to any reckoning of Southern culture.

“Intriguing and passionate…”— Booklist Mara Simon, trophy wife turned high-powered Hollywood producer, isn’t about to let TJ McCloud, the love who left her behind, shut down her movie set. There are too many livelihoods at stake. A forensic anthropologist more accustomed to studying bones than sizzling bombshells, TJ doesn’t recognize Mara at first. But even the girl he used to love can’t stop him from cordoning off her movie set while he investigates a possible murder site. Despite their conflicting lifestyles, Mara and TJ must work together to solve the mystery so both can move forward. In the process, they are forced to rethink everything they thought they wanted out of life. Previously titled McClouds Woman Carolina Magnolias series in order: Dixie Rebel Imperfect Rebel Rebel Charm Carolina Rebel Rebel Girl Home Town Rebel Reviews: “...engaging and compelling.”— Jill M. Smith, RT Book Reviews “Ms. Rice is a wonderful storyteller....” Angela Johnson, Old Book Barn Gazette

“The sexual tension between Jo and Flint is palpable, and the small-town community provides a warm, often humorous setting for their burgeoning romance” —Romantic Times Ex-country musician Flynn Clinton retires from the road to raise his two boys in his old hometown. Only the sexy waitress who thinks she runs his new coffee shop has the means to carve what remains of his future into coffee grounds. Former beauty queen Joella Sanderson claims her first boyfriend ruined her taste for the stage, and the last ruined her taste for lying, cheating music men. She now serves coffee in the Stardust Café, singing funny ditties and looking for ways to save her mama’s health and her sister’s marriage. Fully believing talented Joella belongs in the music world he’s just left, Flint throws all of his powerful connections—and the heart he doesn’t dare touch again—into developing her music, until the day the town’s only industry closes. Now, irresistible Joella and immovable Flint must join together in letting music back into both of their lives to save the town and the café. (previously titled Small Town Girl) Carolina Magnolias series in order: Dixie Rebel Imperfect Rebel Rebel Charm Carolina Rebel Rebel Girl Home Town Rebel REVIEWS: “These two (characters) sizzled with sexual tension, and their snappy dialogue keeps you entertained. Secondary characters tie all this together creating a wonderful story you do not want to miss.” —Coffee Time Romance Reviews Keywords: Country music, small town romance, humor, strong heroine, North Carolina, mountains, enemies to lovers

In recent years, the Confederate flag has become as much a news item as a Civil War relic. Intense public debates have erupted over Confederate flags flying atop state capitols, being incorporated into state flags, waving from dormitory windows, or adorning the T-shirts and jeans of public school children. To some, this piece of cloth is a symbol of white supremacy and enduring racial injustice; to others, it represents a rich Southern heritage and an essential link to a glorious past. Polarizing Americans, these flag wars reveal the profound--and still unhealed--schisms that have plagued the country since the Civil War. The Confederate Battle Flag is the first comprehensive history of this contested symbol. Transcending conventional partisanship, John Coski reveals the flag's origins as one of many banners unfurled on the battlefields of the Civil War. He shows how it emerged as the preeminent representation of the Confederacy and was transformed into a cultural icon from Reconstruction on, becoming an aggressively racist symbol only after World War II and during the Civil Rights movement. We gain unique insight into the fine line between the flag's use as a historical emblem and as an invocation of the Confederate nation and all it stood for. Pursuing the flag's conflicting meanings, Coski suggests how this provocative artifact, which has been viewed with pride, fear, anger, nostalgia, and disgust, might ultimately provide Americans with the common ground of a shared and complex history.