A cowboy and a single mom. No strings. No commitments. No problem… Until it is. A fling with a sexy cowboy? Sure, why not? Besides, it’s not like he's a total stranger. Dylan Scott is the friend of a friend, and as a self-proclaimed player, he's perfect for me to break my five-year dry spell with. Especially since he’s made it quite clear that a relationship of any kind is totally off the table. When my little holiday at his ranch is over, we are, too. Fine by me. I'm a widowed single mom. The last thing I have time for is a brooding, self-important billionaire cowboy, even if he does make my body come alive in ways I never thought possible beyond the pages of a romance novel. A lifetime of following the rules and being the good girl has left me with nothing but secrets and hidden desires that I've managed to keep from everyone. Trust me, it's safer that way. But I was not counting on having any actual feelings for Dylan, at least none beyond the passion fueled physical. And when I do, dammit if things don't start to get complicated—fast. And it doesn’t take long for the safe—and boring—bubble I’ve created for my life to become anything but. And now, for the first time in my life, the only thing to do is face the truth. No matter how much it hurts.

What was she thinking? Katie Weldon wonders if she was crazy to spontaneously fly off to Africa on a mission trip. Suddenly she is dealing with a new culture, a world she’s never experienced—and Eli, a friend who is quickly becoming much more. It’s all overwhelming ... and exciting. As her life turns topsy-turvy, however, she begins to think this might be exactly what she needs. Here, God might give her a glimpse into His will for her life. But just as Kenya and its people find a place in her heart, and her relationship with Eli begins to get serious, Katie is faced with unanswered questions from her past and unresolved issues with Eli. Is she really headed down the same path into the future he is? It doesn't look like it. Why can't she finally and forever settle into a set direction? Living in this new and captivating place, one thing she knows for sure: anything might be possible. Finally and Forever is the final book in the Katie Weldon Series.

“A well-written and worthy sequel to one of SF’s enduring classics”—the Nebula Award winner The Forever War—now with a bonus story, “A Separate War” (Publishers Weekly). On virtually every list of the greatest military science fiction adventures ever written, Joe Haldeman’s Hugo and Nebula Award–winning classic, The Forever War, is ranked at the very top. In Forever Free, the Science Fiction Writers of America Grand Master and author of the acclaimed Worlds series returns to that same volatile universe where human space marines once engaged the alien Taurans in never-ending battle. While loyal soldier William Mandella was fighting for the survival of the human race in a distant galaxy, thousands of years were passing on his home planet, Earth. Then, with the end of the hostilities came the shocking realization that humanity had evolved into something he did not recognize. Offered the choice of retaining his individuality or becoming part of the genetically modified shared Human hive-mind, Mandella chose exile, joining other veterans of the Forever War seeking a new life on a wasteland world they called Middle Finger. Making a home for themselves in this half-frozen hell, Mandella and his life partner, Marygay, have survived into middle age, raising a son and a daughter in the process. Now, the dark truth about the colonists’ ultimate role in the continuation of the Human group mind will force Mandella and Marygay to take desperate action as they hijack an interstellar vessel and set off on a frantic escape across space and time. But what awaits them upon their return is a mystery far beyond all human—or Human—comprehension . . . In Forever Free, Joe Haldeman’s stunning vision of humankind’s far future reaches its enthralling conclusion in a masterwork of speculation from the mind and heart of one of the undisputed champions of hard science fiction. And in the bonus story included in this volume, “A Separate War,” Marygay, reassigned and separated from her lover, Mandella, continues fighting in military engagements across the stars—all the while planning how she and Mandella can reunite despite the time and space between them.

From one of our most distinguished historians, a new examination of the vitally important years of Emancipation and Reconstruction during and immediately following the Civil War–a necessary reconsideration that emphasizes the era’s political and cultural meaning for today’s America. In Forever Free, Eric Foner overturns numerous assumptions growing out of the traditional understanding of the period, which is based almost exclusively on white sources and shaped by (often unconscious) racism. He presents the period as a time of determination, especially on the part of recently emancipated black Americans, to put into effect the principles of equal rights and citizenship for all. Drawing on a wide range of long-neglected documents, he places a new emphasis on the centrality of the black experience to an understanding of the era. We see African Americans as active agents in overthrowing slavery, in helping win the Civil War, and–even more actively–in shaping Reconstruction and creating a legacy long obscured and misunderstood. Foner makes clear how, by war’s end, freed slaves in the South built on networks of church and family in order to exercise their right of suffrage as well as gain access to education, land, and employment. He shows us that the birth of the Ku Klux Klan and renewed acts of racial violence were retaliation for the progress made by blacks soon after the war. He refutes lingering misconceptions about Reconstruction, including the attribution of its ills to corrupt African American politicians and “carpetbaggers,” and connects it to the movements for civil rights and racial justice. Joshua Brown’s illustrated commentary on the era’s graphic art and photographs complements the narrative. He offers a unique portrait of how Americans envisioned their world and time. Forever Free is an essential contribution to our understanding of the events that fundamentally reshaped American life after the Civil War–a persuasive reading of history that transforms our sense of the era from a time of failure and despair to a threshold of hope and achievement.

It was dangerous. But I was overdue for a little danger. And when he touched me…all bets were off. I'd climb on the back of his bike night after night, if he'd make me feel that way again… A middle aged, overworked single mom barely keeping my head above water, I'm hardly living my best life. He's a rough around the edges biker who can't be anything but trouble, and he's looking at me as if I'm the sexiest woman alive. Maybe I shouldn't have said yes, but I needed a ride home. And he offered. On two conditions: Hold on. Let go. It was dangerous, but I was due for a little danger, and when he touched me…all bets were off. I would climb on the back of his bike every night for the rest of my life if he'd make me feel that way again. And again. He lights up every part of me. Even my heart. But I don’t know anything about him. And when I find out… Everything changes because I no longer know who or what to trust anymore. And if I don’t figure it out soon, I will lose everything.

A memoir and a call to action, this intimate look at America’s long-standing struggle to adequately educate vulnerable children offers valuable insights for effecting change in families, communities, and nationwide. At the root of every important problem we face, from mass incarceration to income inequality, is an education system influenced by our nation’s fraught history. Just as past generations fought to ensure that all Americans could enjoy the right to fully participate in our democracy, so must we rally tirelessly to advance an educational agenda that promotes equity and inclusion. With the gap between white academic achievement and that of students of color widening, now is the time to turn our attention to the basics, and few would argue with the fact that the single most essential aspect of a good education is literacy. Beyond reading and writing, literacy encompasses a whole host of skills that allow us to develop our potential and succeed in society, including critical thinking, self-discipline, curiosity, leadership, and motivation. Helping all our nation’s young people, especially those who live in low-income communities, improve their literacy skills should be a top priority. Numerous programs are operating around the country to address the issue of underperformance in light of the shortcomings of our public school system. In Forever Free, Tracy Swinton Bailey charts the journey of one such program, her nonprofit Freedom Readers. From a childhood shaped by books to a career promoting the love of reading, she describes the hurdles and rewards of academia, teaching, mobilizing, and fundraising. Bailey outlines clearly and persuasively how Freedom Readers’ one-to-one tutoring model has worked in the rural South, and how it can work across the US. This book will inspire and empower readers, and should be placed in the hands of educators and organizers at every level.

Through historic documents and pictures, the full color coffee table book is both celebration and history. It chronicles efforts to free the enslaved starting before the Declaration of Independence, to the Civil War and the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, and continuing through ratification of the 13th Amendment. Emancipation Proclamation Forever Free culminates in the reelection of Barrack Obama as President of the United States, which took place almost exactly 150 years after emancipation. While other volumes view the Emancipation Proclamation as a document by a great emancipator (President Abraham Lincoln) or as a triumph of military struggle (The Civil War), Emancipation Proclamation Forever Free chronicles the people black and white, in bondage and free who created the conditions for emancipation. It is the story of those who resisted the evil of humans as property and ultimately triumphed.

A new girl in town, hidden identity, small-town romance from USA Today Best Selling Author, Elena Aitken. He’s falling for a beautiful stranger. She’s guarded and unsure. The truth of her past could destroy their new love. The last thing Officer Rhys Anderson expects to encounter at the end of his quiet Sunday afternoon shift is a beautiful stranger stranded on the side of the road. All Kari Fox wants to do is run as far away from her life—and her controlling ex-husband—as possible. She never planned on ending up stuck in a small mountain town, and she definitely never expected to fall for the handsome police officer who's helping her out. With a new job, some new friends and a steamy new relationship, things are finally beginning to go right for her, and Kari even starts to believe that she might have a future in this sleepy little town—and with Rhys. But Kari has secrets. Secrets that threaten to destroy everything she’s trying to create, including her new relationship. As the truth comes to light, will their connection be strong enough to withstand the truth of her past?

This book includes some 200 complete entries from the award-winning Dictionary of Women Artists, as well as a selection of introductory essays from the main volume.

"With the right person, marriage isn’t a life sentence. It’s a life." Ever since falling in love at The Springs, Rhys and Kari have been living a fairy tale, but fairy tales aren't real. Or are they? When Kari runs from the idea of forever, Rhys will have to fight for them. But will it be enough? **Please note this is a short story in the Springs Series and is best enjoyed after reading Falling into Forever and the rest of the Springs Series**