"She missed the ocean with its dual nature of calm and chaos. It called to her in voices of both lover and adversary. Always, she felt that if she could sit beside it still enough, long enough, she might solve mysteries. About life. About herself." The Brevity of Roses explores the interwoven lives of three damaged people who are each offered a chance to heal—if they can banish the ghosts of their pasts. Meredith Dahlberg-Lang hides behind a façade. In public, she's a wealthy socialite. In private, she's a lonely woman with a heart imprisoned by guilt after her husband's death. But she can't deny the longing she feels when a younger man seeks her attention. Jalal Vaziri, after years of trying in vain to win his father's approval, defies him by pursuing a new career. When he meets the woman of his dreams, his satisfaction is complete, but fate challenges his plan for a blissful future. Renee Marshall, matured beyond her years by a hard life, heads for a fresh start in Los Angeles. But when car trouble detours her to a village on the central coast, she enters the life of a man whose fierce denial of the need to be loved matches her own. An Illusion of Trust is the story of Renee Marshall, a young woman who discovers that having her dreams come true can't erase her nightmare past. When Renee married Jalal Vaziri, she got all the love and security she craved. But now, with a baby on the way, she has to leave her perfect seaside cottage to move into the mansion Jalal shared with his beloved first wife—a woman Renee fears she'll never completely replace. Unsettled by changes the relocation makes to her idyllic life, she allows her dark memories to resurface and feed her insecurity. Under the threat of losing all she treasures, Renee must confront her past and learn to trust love in this poignant exploration of marriage and motherhood.

Ralph Ashton, a stressed-out engineer on vacation with his wife, Grace, in Northern Italy, believes he has witnessed a young man's suicide. When it becomes clear there is absolutely no evidence to support this claim, he decides to investigate the incident himself in secret. His wife and the local police don't know of his plans to investigate it.Ralph's search for the truth takes him to some of the most beautiful mountain villages surrounding Lake Garda. During his investigation, he gradually learns that the death of the unknown man may be connected to his, Ralph's, own dark past. Riding high on a rollercoaster of regret, self-doubt and paranoia, and haunted by the guilt-stricken years of his youth, he is ultimately confronted by the cause of all his pent-up torment and exasperation.'Bay of Dreams' is an intriguing tale about one man's progressive descent into his own personal hell.

New beginnings take determination… Welcome back to Star Gazer Inn. Alice McIntyre’s fresh start after buying the Star Gazer Inn is filling her days, and she’s now ready to open with the help of her best friend Lisa’s culinary skills and uplifting attitude. And her soon-to-be daughter-in-law Nina by her side, too. And the magic of her new friend and contractor Seth Roark’s tireless attention to detail. Seth and Alice have both suffered loss, both are starting over, and both are treating this new friendship and attraction they feel toward each other with caution. Alice’s son Dallas is realizing he may not have what it takes to continue riding in the pro rodeo bull riding circuit. He’s home at the South Texas McIntyre Ranch after injuring his shoulder and checking out what’s going on at his mother’s new inn. When he meets a beautiful woman on the beach under unusual circumstances, he has no idea how his life is about to change… Meanwhile: Riley McIntyre is full speed ahead on getting the new "glamping" venue on the ranch’s coastal beachfront property up and going for the ladies who like a little glamor and luxury to their camping experience. Jackson and Nina are planning their wedding. Lisa’s past is causing problems and with the opening of the inn, Alice needs her to be focused and her culinary skills to be at their best. Can she handle the pressure? Three women find friendship and courage on the shores of Corpus Christi Bay. Come visit the Star Gazer Inn, with a side trip to the McIntyre Ranch, as Alice finds her way between two worlds. This new series follows Alice, her sons, and her friends—and new loves—on the South Texas coast with its sparkling topaz water. You’ll want to dip your toes in and stay awhile.

In this extraordinary book, Kevin Starr–widely acknowledged as the premier historian of California, the scope of whose scholarship the Atlantic Monthly has called “breathtaking”–probes the possible collapse of the California dream in the years 1990—2003. In a series of compelling chapters, Coast of Dreams moves through a variety of topics that show the California of the last decade, when the state was sometimes stumbling, sometimes humbled, but, more often, flourishing with its usual panache. From gang violence in Los Angeles to the spectacular rise–and equally spectacular fall–of Silicon Valley, from the Northridge earthquake to the recall of Governor Gray Davis, Starr ranges over myriad facts, anecdotes, news stories, personal impressions, and analyses to explore a time of unprecedented upheaval in California. Coast of Dreams describes an exceptional diversity of people, cultures, and values; an economy that mirrors the economic state of the nation; a battlefield where industry and the necessities of infrastructure collide with the inherent demands of a unique and stunning natural environment. It explores California politics (including Arnold Schwarzenegger’s election in the 2003 recall), the multifaceted business landscape, and controversial icons such as O. J. Simpson. “Historians of the future,” Starr writes, “will be able to see with more certainty whether or not the period 1990-2003 was not only the end of one California but the beginning of another”; in the meantime, he gives a picture of the place and time in a book at once sweeping and riveting in its details, deeply informed, engagingly personal, and altogether fascinating.

In the Land of Dreamy Dreams, Ellen Gilchrist's acclaimed 1981 debut collection of short stories, introduced readers to a remarkable Southern voice which has sustained its power and influence through her more than 20 subsequent books. Gilchrist has a distinctive ear for language, and a deep understanding of her flawed, sometimes tragic characters. These fourteen stories, divided into three sections -- There's a Garden of Eden, Things Like the Truth, and Perils of the Nile -- are about mostly young, upper-class Southern women who are bored with the Junior League and having babies, and chafe against the restrictions of their sheltered lives. Talented and bright, but living in the shadow of men -- their husbands and fathers -- they resort to outrageous actions in pursuit of freer lives and uncompromised love, despite the consequences. This collection first introduced readers to some of Gilchrist's most beloved characters, such as Rhoda Manning and Nora Jane Whittington. PRAISE: "It's difficult to review a first book as good as this one without resorting to every known superlative cliché...Gilchrist is the real thing." —Washington Post “A sustained display of delicately and rhythmically modulated prose and an unsentimental dissection of raw sentiment. Her stories are perceptive, her manner is both stylish and idiomatic – a rare and potent combination.” —Times Literary Supplement “Witty, concise and wonderfully varied.” —Literary Review “Gilchrist possess a distinctive voice, and blends a sense of poignancy with an often outrageously Gothic humor.” —New York Times Book Review “Her prose is quick-witted and urbane and as gossipy as Vanity Fair. Quite simply there is no Southern writer quite like her.” —Raleigh News & Observer

Invited by a Wall Street bigwig to participate in a financial treasure hunt that promises to rescue America's economy, Peter Fallon begins a race against time to find a box of valuable eighteenth-century bonds, a search that pits him against renegade treasury agents and the Russian mob.

Faith and Monty are both looking for love...in the wrong direction. Faith Forrester is at a crossroads. Single, thirty and living on a farm in a small Western Australian town, she's sick of being treated like a servant by her brother and father. Ten years ago, her mother died of breast cancer, and Faith has been treading water ever since. She wants to get her hands dirty on the family farm. She wants to prove to herself that she's done something worthwhile with her life. And she wants to find a man... For as long as he can remember, Daniel 'Monty' Montgomery has been Faith's best friend. When he was ten, his parents sold the family property in Merindah and moved to Perth to be closer to support services for his autistic brother, and ever since, Monty's dreamed of having his own place. So for the last ten years, he's been back on the land, working odd jobs and saving every dollar to put toward his dream. And now he finally has it. But there's still something missing... So when Faith embarks on a mission to raise money for a charity close to her heart – Dogs for Autism – and Monty's dream property comes on the market, things seem like they are falling into place for them both. Until a drunken night out ends with them sleeping together. Suddenly, the best friends are both facing a new set of challenges... Monty and Faith are both ready to find a life partner and settle down, but have they both been looking in all the wrong places?

Kristi shares the many obstacles and concerns she and her family have faced in their lives--from her family's difficulties as Japanese-Americans during World War II to her own struggle dwith an earyl childhood foot deformity.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Virgin River series, Robyn Carr, rediscover the charming coastal town of Thunder Point, where hard work and determination are all it takes to make dreams come true Blake Smiley searched the country for just the right place to call home. The professional triathlete has traveled the world, but Thunder Point has what he needs to put down the roots he’s never had. In the quiet town, he can focus on his training without distractions. Until he meets his new neighbors and everything changes. Lin Su Simmons and her teenage son, Charlie, are fixtures at Winnie Banks’s house as Lin Su nurses Winnie through the realities of ALS. A single mother, Lin Su is proud of taking charge and never showing weakness. But she has her hands full coping with a job, debt and Charlie’s health issues. And Charlie is asking questions about his family history—questions she doesn’t want to answer. When Charlie enlists Blake’s help to escape his overprotective mother, Lin Su resents the interference in her life. But Blake is certain he can break through her barriers and be the man she and Charlie need. When faced with a terrible situation, Blake comes to the rescue, and Lin Su realizes he just might be the man of her dreams. Together, they recognize that family is who you choose it to be. Previously published.

Discover the award-winning debut novel by the New York Times bestselling author of The Immortalists, a “majestic collision of sci-fi thriller and love story” (Bustle) about a young woman struggling with questions of love, trust, and ethics as the line between dreams and reality dangerously blurs. When Sylvie Patterson, a bookish student at a Northern California boarding school, falls in love with a spirited, elusive classmate named Gabe, they embark on an experiment that changes their lives. Their headmaster, Dr. Adrian Keller, is a charismatic medical researcher who has staked his career on the therapeutic potential of lucid dreaming: by teaching his patients to become conscious during sleep, he believes he can relieve stress and trauma. Over the next six years, Sylvie and Gabe become consumed by Keller’s work, following him across the country. But when an opportunity brings the trio to the Midwest, Sylvie and Gabe stumble into a tangled relationship with their mysterious neighbors—and Sylvie begins to doubt the ethics of Keller’s research. As she navigates the hazy, permeable boundaries between what is real and what isn’t, who can be trusted and who cannot, Sylvie also faces surprising developments in herself—an unexpected infatuation, growing paranoia, and a new sense of rebellion. With stirring, elegant prose, “Chloe Benjamin has crafted an eerie, compelling first novel which, like the lingering effects of a vivid dream, resonates long past its finish” (Karen Brown, The Longings of Wayward Girls).