Torie Bond, the owner of a costume and tuxedo rental store in Tucson, Arizona, can't shake the feeling that she has to rush to her shop one morning. In her rush, she saves an injured puppy that she finds in the road to town. Caring for the puppy leads her into a mystery involving a puppy farm where dogs are kept in close quarters and made to produce as many puppies as possible for income. Wanting to rid Tucson of the illegal business, her curiosity leads her to being kidnapped by the felons. She has no choice but to do what they ask. Her only hope is that her unofficial-fiancé Jack Brewer, a Tucson police lieutenant, will get her secreted messages and rescue her.

Widowed Torie Bond reports a man's body near her home. Fraud on the dead man's ranch leads to an archeologist's murder and a break-in at Torie's costume shop. Divorced Police Lieutenant Jack Brewer investigates. A surprising strong attraction between them results. Curious about the case, Torie helps a friend of the murdered archeologist investigate. Jack is angry with her for the chances she takes. The mystery nearly takes Torie's life, but it brings them new love even though they thought they'd never love again. But work conflicts mean they sometimes must give each other rainchecks for time together. Then Torie is kidnapped by the murderer. How can Jack save her when the murderer wants her dead and Jack doesn't know where she is?

Cara directs the movers to pack everything in the penthouse so they can pick it up the next day. Exhausted, she falls asleep remembering forty years ago when she was a private investigator of white-collar crime and took on an industrial theft case she could not forget. She had been a childhood friend of the company owner’s son James. The year she entered college, he left town without telling her. Despite her trying to forget him, she still cares deeply for him. He returns to town but worries that her job is too dangerous. Insisting on helping on the case at his company, his actions put them in jeopardy when they face a gun in the criminal’s hands. When a gun goes off, their lives are changed forever.

In 1670, Lady Elizabeth and other women were kidnapped from the streets of London and shipped to Virginia Colony. The women who survived the voyage were sold to colonists seeking wives or unpaid household workers. Each one was given a piece of paper saying they were married to the man who bought them, but no ceremony was performed. Lady Elizabeth certainly never agreed to any marriage as she was engaged to a Lord back home. Unable to escape, she is auctioned to widower, Glen Maclean, who promises to send her home to England in the spring if she'll stay on his farm for the winter to cook and care for his young daughter. The fact that Liz's mother died young and Liz spent her childhood years playing in the kitchen where she learned to cook means she can do what he asks. She wants only to return home to England, but she has no option but to accept Glen's offer and pray he keeps his word to send her home in the spring. Arriving at the farm, she is shocked to see the farmhouse has only two rooms…a kitchen and one bedroom. Given no choice, she must live in the sparse conditions so unlike living in her rich father's manor. She can only hope Glen will return her to England in the spring, or that her father will send someone to rescue her.

FATE IS MY PIMP picks up the torrid trail of Vic Valentine, Private Eye as he traverses the mean streets of San Francisco and beyond in search of a mobster's missing teenage daughter, encountering various voluptuous vixens, a female surf band, and a stalker leaving him mysterious musical messages, all while infiltrating an Elvis-theme commune for runaways, led by a deviously decadent Deacon Rivers. Follow the further misadventures of this misguided misfit introduced in LOVE STORIES ARE TOO VIOLENT FOR ME as he continues looking for love in all the wrong places, and unfortunately for him - finding it. Plus! ROMANCE TAKES A RAIN CHECK finds Vic back on the East Coast, tracking down a lead on his cop father's killer, visiting his mother in an asylum, and reuniting with his high school sweetheart, Dolly Duncan, now married to a doper dentist. Nothing is what it seems, times and people have changed, and Vic is going to learn the hard way - again - that some bones, and boners, are best left buried.

Beautifully rendered, the stories in 'Rain Check' could well be the footprints and photographs of our own lives if we'd have taken risks as daring as Noe's characters. Each misstep, triumph and regret rings true. Reading these stories is like being a lucky voyeur who happens upon an artist with brush in hand, nearing the finishing touch of their masterpiece. Nothing is more potent than prose that lifts off the page and lands, like a well-placed bullet or caress, on the heart, and that's precisely what Noe has done here. Len Kuntz, author of 'Dark Sunshine' and 'I'm Not Supposed to be Here and Neither Are You' The tiny, potent stories that make up this debut by Levi Andrew Noe both surprise and delight. There's wisdom in these pages, but also humor, tenderness, and magic. 'Rain Check' is a terrific read from a young author to watch. Kathy Fish, author of 'Wild Life', 'Rift' and 'Together We Can Bury It'

A gargoyle finds himself caught between a rock and a hard place in this Xanth adventure that “should delight Anthony’s many fans” (Publishers Weekly). As a gargoyle, Gary Gar has one job in Xanth: to protect the Swan Knee River from the pollution flowing in from Mundania. But more dirt plus less rain will crack any gargoyle’s stony composure. So Gary does what any good Xanthian would do: He seeks the help of the Good Magician. But payment for his service is high. Gary must find a philter for the water, while taking on human form to tutor a wild human child, with help from the surly Sorceress Iris, and—even though time is of the essence—taking Hiatus, a known troublemaker, along for the ride. It won’t be easy, especially when they’re all transported back to the dawn of time. And if they can’t figure out what’s going on in the past, there may be no future for Xanth—come hell or high water . . . “Ephemeral amusement for pun-struck Xanthonauts.” —Kirkus Reviews

This highly anticipated second edition written for students, clinicians, educators, and supervisors offers practical perspectives on the lifelong quest for personal wellness. Through conversational and deeply personal narratives, the authors reveal their self-care journeys at different stages of their careers, and 39 guest contributors—ranging from graduate students to counseling veterans—share how they overcome setbacks and prioritize self-care to maintain competent, ethical practice. Topics include practicing self-care throughout your career, strategies for managing stress, establishing personal and professional boundaries, enhancing relationships, finding meaning in life, and creating a realistic self-care plan. Firsthand accounts throughout the book have been updated, and new narratives have been added on self-care practices for healing from grief, self-care for grief counselors, staying committed to self-care, global self-care practices, permission to be, creating balance among chaos, making self-care nonnegotiable, contemplations at midcareer, and self-care planning. *Requests for digital versions from ACA can be found on www.wiley.com *To purchase print copies, please visit the ACA website www.counseling.org *Reproduction requests for material from books published by ACA should be directed to [email protected]

In a coma and near death following a car accident, Peter Douglas, the patriarch of the wealthy and proper Douglas family of Boston, reevaluates his life.