Enflamed is a collection of four stand-alone stories in the Island Fire series, including Flash Point, Fire Within, Impulse, and Slow Burn. Flash Point Her secret connects them in a way he’s never imagined. Becoming an ER doctor is the second hardest thing Rachel Culver has ever done. The hardest was losing her beloved twin sister two years ago. As a medical resident living far from her family, Rachel was able to keep her grief at a distance. But now that she’s back on San Amaro Island, there’s no avoiding her anguish…or her guilty secret. Cale Jackson is a rescuer at heart, both in his job as fire lieutenant and outside of it. But his fiancée’s heartbreaking death derailed him, and he’s been focused on healing himself ever since. When he runs into her sister, Rachel, in the ER, he suspects she’s struggling even more than he is, and he reaches out. Rachel’s an expert at keeping people at arm’s length, but the secret she’s keeping from Cale connects them in a way he’s never imagined. If she tells him the truth, will it bring them closer…or scare him off forever? Fire Within Nearly dying can make a girl want things she’s never wanted before. Environmental engineer/architect Sophie Alexander’s life blueprints have always centered on being solo, professionally and personally. Thanks to a less-than-stellar (a.k.a. majorly dysfunctional) family, she trusts no one and prefers to be alone…until she nearly dies alone. Firefighter and eternal bachelor Nate Rottinghaus falls for Sophie the minute he lays eyes on her—while rescuing her from a burning building. Her defenses are down, but are his feelings enough to help her move beyond her past and embrace a future together? Impulse One mistake could derail his promising future. Wild nights are a thing of Dr. Sawyer Culver’s past—and a rare thing, at that. So why, when he’s on the verge of finally doing his family proud, does he make his most impulsive mistake yet with Mariah? Salsa dancer Mariah Jackson lives to the beat of her own drum. A self-professed flirt, she’s never been one to set her sights on any specific man. Until Sawyer bursts into her life…and her bedroom. Now it’s up to her to convince him to embrace the life he really wants. Slow Burn They’ve both dug their roots deep…eight hundred miles apart. Zoe Griffin has a fresh new life—a hard-earned doctorate degree and a burgeoning nutritionist practice in Colorado. The only thing missing is the man she fell in love with. Cooper Flannagan did “new life” ad nauseam as an Army brat and shudders at the very mention of change. His fellow firefighters on San Amaro Island, Texas, are his family. He’s dug his roots deep, and he finally feels like he belongs. But can he ever be truly content without the woman he loves? If you enjoy books by Jill Shalvis, Zoe York, BJ Harvey, Piper Rayne, Molly McAdams, Lori Wilde, Melissa Foster, Bella Andre, Claudia Burgoa, Alexa Rivers, JH Croix, Carly Phillips, Christine DePetrillo, Melissa Chambers, or Amanda Torrey, chances are, you'll love Amy Knupp's Island Fire series. ***** friends to lovers, secrets, beach romance, troubled heroine, troubled past, fire lieutenant, twins, deceased sibling, firefighters, island, ER doctor, Texas, rescuer, shared past, dead sister's fiancé, rescue romance, rescuer, fire rescue, lone wolf heroine, loner heroine, beach romance, troubled heroine, troubled past, firefighters, instalove, opposites attract, instant love, love at first sight, novella, one-night stand, surgeon, doctor, salsa dancer, wedding, opposites attract, short story, second chance romance, vacation romance, long-distance romance, long-distance relationship, firefighters, brother's best friend

Kaijin Sora is a young man with a troubled past. A few months after disaster befalls his home, Kaijin sets out on a journey to learn about himself and his purpose. As Kaijin is guided closer to his destiny, he discovers new secrets and makes some unlikely friends, while unaware that he already had the most powerful ally in his possession. When trouble finds his friends and allies, Kaijin's fiery passion ignites within him. But even the brightest flame cannot illuminate the true nature of his darkness... Enflamed is an engaging epic fantasy adventure with memorable characters.

Christian proclamation, says Dietrich Bonhoeffer, is the living Christ walking among the people. Preachers know that Jesus is the living Word, and that the Spirit of Jesus animates the preaching event. Preaching is an epiclesis, an invocation of the Holy Spirit over God's holy people. As such, it must touch their imagination. Pastro proposes that preaching is the living ecclesial presence of Jesus Christ, Sacramental Word of the God of the poor. The Word speaks from the imagination of the poor-the economic poor, but also the "new poor" of the twenty-first century: entire indigenous cultures, women, those marginalized because of their sexuality, undocumented immigrants in dominant cultures, and many others. All Christian preachers in every context are called to solidarity with the poor.

Kaijin Sora is a young man with a troubled past. A few months after disaster befalls his home, Kaijin sets out on a journey to learn about himself and his purpose. As Kaijin is guided closer to his destiny, he discovers new secrets and makes some unlikely friends, while unaware that he already had the most powerful ally in his possession. When trouble finds his friends and allies, Kaijin's fiery passion ignites within him. But even the brightest flame cannot illuminate the true nature of his darkness... "Enflamed" is an engaging epic fantasy adventure with memorable characters. Book 2 of "The Pyromancer Trilogy"

The dramatic story of hundreds of senior citizens left in the path of a ferocious firestorm and what the quest for accountability reveals about the increasing risks to our most vulnerable population. “…a powerful work of investigative journalism about a particularly vulnerable segment of the population…. Alongside an engrossing account of the emergency as it unfolded in Sonoma County, Belden and Gullixson provide a definitive account of management’s woefully inadequate response at the two sister facilities. Their findings are a lesson to other care facilities —here’s what not to do.” —San Francisco Chronicle Just after midnight on October 9, 2017, as one of the nation’s deadliest and most destructive firestorms swept over California’s Wine Country, hundreds of elderly residents from two posh senior living facilities were caught in its path. The frailest were blind, in wheelchairs, or diagnosed with dementia, and their community quickly transformed from a palatial complex that pledged to care for them to one that threatened to entomb them. The rescue of the final 105 seniors left behind on an inflamed hillside depended not on employees, but strangers whose lives intersected in a riveting tale of terror and heroism. Headlines blamed caregivers for abandonment and neglect, but the truth proved far more complex—leading to a battle for accountability that stretched from the courtroom to the state legislature, and ultimately, to the ballot box. Inflamed: Abandonment, Heroism, and Outrage in Wine Country’s Deadliest Firestorm is the gripping and emotional narrative detailing what happened to these seniors, employees, and rescuers before, during, and after the Tubbs Fire decimated portions of Santa Rosa, including Oakmont Senior Living Villa Capri and part of Varenna at Fountaingrove. Anne Belden and Paul Gullixson are professional journalists and Sonoma County residents who spent three years recording each phase of the disaster in agonizing detail—from the botched evacuation and its excruciating aftermath to the investigations, lawsuits, and breakdowns that followed. They tell this harrowing story with a veracity and compassion only achieved by experienced reporters with local roots. Their narrative revisits the horrors of 2017 but also asks the reader to look to the future and consider how their community’s most vulnerable will fare as ten thousand Baby Boomers retire each day, the for-profit assisted living industry rapidly expands, and the climate becomes more volatile. If this travesty can happen at high-end senior living complexes, it can happen anywhere.