Teenager Betty Thornton is devastated when she learns that her father will be uprooting his family and moving to a remote Vermont farm far away from her social circle of friends. Rather than passively accepting, Betty takes matters into her own hands and makes plans to elope with Dudley Weston, the reckless young boyfriend she left behind. When her dreams of a breathtaking, whirlwind wedding turn into a disastrous situation, will a handsome stranger be able to restore Betty’s faith and lead the prodigal girl back home? Or will one hasty decision cost more than she bargained?

Murray’s name—Van Rensselaer—brings wealth and status until a split second and one hasty decision turns this gentleman’s son into a fugitive. Murray’s joyride with a long-lost childhood friend ends with Murray’s car swerving off the road and lands Bessie in the hospital—Murray thinks for good. Suddenly, his only option is to run, but will running bring a fresh start or further tragedy? As Murray assumes another young man’s identity in a distant town, can a new name truly bring new life?

Like the winter, grief has a season. Life returns with the spring. A young architect at a prestigious Chicago firm, Bethany Quinn has built the life she dreamed of during her teen years in a trailer park. An unexpected interruption from her estranged mother reveals that tragedy has struck in her hometown and a reluctant Bethany is called back to rural Iowa. Determined to pay her respects to her past while avoiding any emotional entanglements, she vows not to stay long. But the unexpected inheritance of five hundred acres of farmland and a startling turn of events in Chicago forces Bethany to come up with a new plan. Handsome farmhand Evan Price has taken care of the Quinn farm for years. When Bethany is left the land, Evan must fight her decisions to realize his dreams. But even as he disagrees with Bethany’s vision, Evan feels drawn to her and the pain she keeps so carefully locked away. For Bethany, making peace with her past and the God of her childhood doesn’t seem like the path to freedom. Is letting go the only way to new life, love and a peace that she’s not even sure exists?

Sherrill Cameron’s big day arrives to find her watching from the balcony as her fiancé’s secretary walks down the aisle in her place. Sherrill is convinced that nothing could heal her hurt, until the day’s gloom is brightened by a handsome stranger who offers constant and comforting help. But Graham Copeland’s welcomed presence turns sour when an heirloom emerald necklace goes missing. Is Graham the true beloved stranger Sherrill thought he was? Despite her reservations, Sherrill finds herself falling for Graham’s charm, but will her new love leave her stranded at the altar once again?

One rose changes a young woman’s solitary life forever. After setting out on her own, Marion Warren is overcome with drab routine. Her solution: buy a season ticket to the symphony. But to Marion’s surprise, each night she finds a mysterious crimson rose—and no sign of who left it. Then wealthy Jefferson Lyman whisks into Marion’s already up-turned world, bringing with him socialite Isabel Cresson. Jefferson sets out to win Marion’s heart…but Isabel’s dangerous envy may thwart his chances altogether.

The Mississippi River holds the three Anderson sisters’ past, present, and future. In 1858, Lily is determined to avoid a marriage of convenience as she tries her hand at a riverboat enterprise. In 1861, Camellia is torn better two loves as Vicksburg comes under siege. In 1870, Jasmine’s pursuit of fame on a showboat puts her in grave danger. Readers will enjoy the historically rich detail in the three stories of each sister as written by Mississippi based author team of Diane T. Ashley and Aaron McCarver and packaged together in one value-priced anthology.

Half-sisters Silver and Athalie Greeves have grown up worlds apart. Silver is a humble, faith-filled young lady; Athalie is a flapper who takes after her socialite mother. When a chance visit suddenly reunites Silver and Athalie with each other and a father they’ve never known, will a true family emerge where only a family by name existed before? Terrance Bannard, the local minister, is soon taken by Silver’s beauty and spirit, but will a rising jealousy from younger sister Athalie force Silver to sacrifice love for the sake of her family?

Raised on Gunsmoke, Bat Masterson, and The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, we know what it means to “get outta Dodge”—to make a hasty escape from a dangerous place, like the Dodge City of Wild West lore. But why, of all the notorious, violent cities of old, did Dodge win this distinction? And what does this tenacious cultural metaphor have to do with the real Dodge City? In a book as much about the making of cultural myths as it is about Dodge City itself, authors Robert Dykstra and Jo Ann Manfra take us back into the history of Dodge to trace the growth of the city and its legend side-by-side. An exploration of murder statistics, court cases, and contemporary accounts reveals the historical Dodge to be neither as violent nor as lawless as legend has it—but every bit as intriguing. In a style that captures the charm and chicanery of storytelling in the Old West, Dodge City and the Birth of the Wild West finds a culprit in a local attorney, Harry Gryden, who fed sensational accounts to the national media during the so-called "Dodge City War" of 1883. Once launched, the legend leads the authors through the cultural landscape of twentieth-century America, as Dodge City became a useful metaphor in more and more television series and movies. Meanwhile, back in the actual Dodge, struggling on a lost frontier, a mirror image of the mythical city began to emerge, as residents increasingly embraced tourism as an economic necessity. Dodge City and the Birth of the Wild West maps a metaphor for belligerent individualism and social freedom through the cultural imagination, from a historical starting point to its mythical reflection. In this, the book restores both the reality of Dodge and its legend to their rightful place in the continuum of American culture.