She Took My Heart and Went Crazy


Book Description

Tall, dark, and... Killian would have liked to say handsome, but that would be a lie. In its place, he could add paid, successful, well-dressed...maybe even a good man, but definitely nothing that would accentuate his good looks. That was the one thing he just didn’t have. Well, not personally anyway. Thanks to his thriving career as a fitness trainer, he’s surrounded by women every day. They just don’t belong to him, and honestly, he’s okay with that. After continuously being turned down, looked over, and frowned upon, Killian has chosen to block off the avenue to his heart until the right woman can find him. He is done looking for love, so if a female wants to pursue anything serious, they would have to approach him first. Had he known the beautiful young, vibrant, East, would be that person, he would have run for the hills. Just as crazy, just as mean, and just as guarded as Killian, East quickly becomes the challenge he’s been avoiding. However, unlike Killian, East is ready for love. One bad relationship after the next, her heart should be too damaged to mend, but not for Killian. A self-made broken-hearted guru, Killian is the man for the job. A small skill he’s acquired after stitching the pieces of his own heart back together too many times before. Though East is ready for happiness and open to loving Killian, she’s no easy target. With a horrible attitude and a terribly rude mouth, Killian isn’t the easiest person to get along with, unless you’re a self-assured spitfire named East. Take a chance and fall in love with another one of A’zayler’s page turning romances. Killian and East are a love story for the ages."




State of the Heart


Book Description

A heartfelt collection of personal stories that connect a common past and offer hope for a promising future For many, South Carolina is a sunny vacation destination. For those who have been lucky enough to call it home, it is a source of rich memories and cultural heritage. In this final volume of State of the Heart, thirty-eight nationally and regionally known writers share their personal stories about places in South Carolina that hold special meaning for them. While this is a book about place, it is ultimately about people's connections to one another, to a complex, common past, and to ongoing efforts to build a future of promise and possibility in the Palmetto state. Editor Aïda Rogers groups the essays thematically, with poetry, vintage photographs, and even recipes introducing each section. She unites pieces by New York Times best-selling novelists Patti Callahan Henry, CJ Lyons, and John Jakes; USA Today best-selling mystery writer Susan Boyer; historians Walter Edgar, Orville Vernon Burton, and Bernard Powers; artist and author Mary Whyte; and cookbook authors Sallie Ann Robinson and the Lee Brothers—just to name a few. Nikky Finney, a South Carolina native and winner of the 2011 National Book Award for poetry, provides the foreword. The afterword is written by Cassandra King, author of six novels, including the New York Times best seller The Sunday Wife. Includes essays by: Pilley Bianchi, Kim Boykin, Susan M. Boyer, Orville Vernon Burton, Emily Clay, Marian Wright Edelman, Walter Edgar, Mindy Friddle, Kendra Hamilton, Kristine Hartvigsen, Patti Callahan Henry, Chris Horn, John Jakes, David Lauderdale, Matt Lee, Ted Lee, Melinda Long, CJ Lyons, Tom Mack, Michael L. Miller, Margaret N. O'Shea, Katr Sally Palmer, John W. Pilley Jr., Jon Pineda, Mark Powell, Bernard E. Powers Jr., Pat Robertson, Sallie Ann Robertson, Jonathan Sanchez, Alex Sanders, Martha R. Severens, Jim Welch, H. A. (Humpy) Wheeler, Mary Whyte, Jane Floyd Zeneger




My Heart Sings


Book Description

This author appreciates writing poetry, novels, childrens stories; the performing arts; and music of many genres. She was raised on gospel and country music played on an old Victrola phonograph with a black-and-white dog staring into a gramophone on the inside of the cover. Today, this author has become enamored with and is fangirling over country a cappella music, which is relatively new. Curious about the behind the scenes activities of a successful bands life, living on the edge of temptations in todays media-frenzied world, she created a believable group running through life on unbelievable favor, spearheaded by love between a wealthy, incredibly intelligent and beautiful African-American ballerina and a super talented tenor from the deep South and their unique way of overcoming racial issues with love. Murder, sex, and drugs fuel the life and romance of these two extraordinary, opposite, characters living and excelling way above the normal expectations of life, hinting into the cosmic pluralism like no one has ever experienced before. This author spent thirty-five years in the busy, topsy-turvy support area of corporate America, starting with the FBI and ending in the legal field, before being forced to retire on disability. This is her first adult romance novel. She writes and has published poetry on poetry.com with two poems published in anthologies; she was the author and publisher of Newsletters for Boy Scout Troop and Pack 731, The Indian Creek District, and for newsletters, service bulletins, and memorial programs for two churches. The author is a widow who lives in Waldorf, Maryland, with her son, daughter-law, grandson, and grandpup, Toli.




The Color of My Heart


Book Description

Living in the foothills of North Carolina, Laura Carter has it all: a nice home, wonderful adoptive parents, two lovely teenage daughters, and a to-die-for handsome husband. As they celebrate freedom on the Fourth of July, she's certain that nothing could ever shatter her perfect American life: Or could it? An unexpected letter from her great-grandmother brings Laura face-to-face with her birth family. At their first, shocking meeting, she receives a stack of diaries that trace a heartbreaking voyage from Africa to Jekyll Island, Georgia, via a slave ship. Thanks to the missionary who lived with her ancestors in Africa and taught them how to speak and write English, Laura holds in her hands a gripping record of their lives. Could the realities of her mixed-race heritage destroy her family? Laura tries to live honorably, but her husband resists, and daughter Lakin has her own secrets. Lurking in the shadows is a small group called the brethren. The brethren's dirty deeds are meant to p




Paint the Sky Purple


Book Description

This is a contemporary story of a professional woman's journey from her southern roots to New York, California and back to North Carolina. Valerie Warren is smart, ambitious and very pretty. The men in her life may not be best suited for her. Why does she allow herself to get into relationships where she keeps getting hurt? Will she find the true love she longs for or just settle for what tradition and southern upbringing dictates?




Shadows on My Heart


Book Description

When the Civil War began in 1861, Lucy Rebecca Buck was the eighteen-year-old daughter of a prosperous planter living on her family's plantation in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. On Christmas Day of that year Buck began the diary that she would keep for the duration of the war, during which time troops were quartered in her home and battles were literally waged in her front yard. The extraordinary chronicle mirrors the experience of many women torn between loyalty to the Confederate cause and dissatisfaction with the unrealistic ideology of white southern womanhood. In the environment of war, these women could not feign weakness, could not shrink from public gaze, and could not assume the presence of protection that was supposedly their right. This radical disjuncture, coming as it did during a period of extreme deprivation and loss, caused Buck and other so-called southern belles to question the very ideology with which they had been raised, often between the pages of private diaries. In powerful, unsentimental language, Buck's diary reveals her anger and ambivalence about the challenges thrust upon her after upheaval of her self, her family, and the world as she knew it. This document provides an extraordinary glimpse into the "shadows on the heart" of both Lucy Buck and the American South.




Dogland: A Journey to the Heart of America’s Dog Problem


Book Description

One woman’s journey into the heart of a dog crisis Soon after Jacki Skole brought home an eight-week-old puppy from a New Jersey rescue organization, she wondered how such a young animal could have so many idiosyncrasies—so she set out to find an answer. Dogland, an extraordinary mix of memoir and investigative journalism, follows Skole’s journey to trace the origins of her newest family member. Along the way, Skole interviewed dozens who work in the world of animal rescue—from shelter managers to animal rights activists—taking readers from dilapidated county-run shelters in the South to strip malls in the Northeast where rescue groups seek homes for homeless pets, and from rural and urban “vet deserts” to the very heart of the South’s complex relationship with companion dogs. Amid the serious issues facing shelter dogs in America, Skole found tireless animal advocates and humble visionaries who believe their ideas and their passion can save canine lives throughout the South—and the entire United States. This award-winning book offers a thoughtful and inspiring look into America's dog crisis and how we can come together to resolve it.




Photos of the Heart


Book Description

Out of my hopelessness and desperation, I realized I couldn't go on living with this terrible pain that had taken over my life. I needed help, but I didn't know who could help me deal with this grief I was going through. I knew I couldn't do it in my own strength, and it had to be someone much stronger than me. It had to be someone who could understand and know the pain in my heart. I found that someone who took away this pain that was choking the life out of me. I found strength in his loving arms. Without Him, I could not have made it on my own. He knew what I was going through because He could feel my pain. This is my story about my grief journey and how someone rescued me from my grief. He gave me so much of Himself that the only way I could share it with you is to take you through the 'Photos of The Heart." I was born August 2, 1949 in Gadsden, Alabama. While attending college, I met the most wonderful woman, my beloved future wife, and we were married 34 years. We have three sons, a daughter-in-law, and five grandkids, whom I love dearly. I don't have a long list of books that I have written to convince you to read this book. But I do have backing from the greatest author who ever was, is and will ever be: God. I have written in this book what He gave me, and since this is His book, all royalties will go to Him. My heartfelt prayer is that when you read this book, you will see God's wonderful love and see He is waiting for you to give Him your grief.




Pieces of My Heart


Book Description

Pieces of My Heart: A Free-Spirited Gypsy's Journey Thru her heart and soul...and hell. - A True Story Jump on the back with motorcycle mama Katy Ishee, as she wildly steers us on a blistering ride of unwed motherhood, familial alienation, bikers, drugs, and insane asylums--you won't know whether to fall on your knees and pray to the Almighty or get stone drunk and listen to Janis Joplin and the Grateful Dead. When 17-year-old Katy is forced to surrender her son to strangers, her life becomes a web of secrets, lies and rebellion. Learn the hidden, yet true secrets of how unwed mothers are treated by the System, and what actually goes on in government-approved mental wards. A vivid picture of horror is painted as she describes her ten electro-convulsive shock treatments. Her rebellion grows as she travels from Haight-Ashbury during the Summer of Love, through the brotherhood of motorcycling and four abusive marriages, even spending some time in sick-slick Hollywood ... across the country, back-and-forth, stubbornly refusing to give up on her dream. “Katy’s is that spirit that refuses to compromise either with her herself or the world around her. It is that spirit that refuses to be quiet for the sake of expediency but rather screams to be heard. It is that indomitable spirit that never gives up and in the end is proven to be the best of what it is that makes us human. This is Katy Ishee. This is Pieces of My Heart. This is a new, fresh voice that needs to be heard.” “This story is so shocking and strong, you have to be strong to read it. Blues guitarist/songwriter, Lonnie Mack Katy’s autobiography has been featured on many websites across the internet including Book of the Month Club at http://www.bikernet.com/News/newsarch.asp?Article=021810-2 and http://www.cyrilhuzeblog.com/2010/02/11/pieces-of-my-heart-not-a-love-story-to-make-you-mad-laugh-and-cry with comments from readers.




In the Presence of Mine Enemies: The Civil War in the Heart of America, 1859-1864


Book Description

Winner of the Bancroft Prize: Through a gripping narrative based on massive new research, a leading historian reshapes our understanding of the Civil War. Our standard Civil War histories tell a reassuring story of the triumph, in an inevitable conflict, of the dynamic, free-labor North over the traditional, slave-based South, vindicating the freedom principles built into the nation's foundations. But at the time, on the borderlands of Pennsylvania and Virginia, no one expected war, and no one knew how it would turn out. The one certainty was that any war between the states would be fought in their fields and streets. Edward L. Ayers gives us a different Civil War, built on an intimate scale. He charts the descent into war in the Great Valley spanning Pennsylvania and Virginia. Connected by strong ties of every kind, including the tendrils of slavery, the people of this borderland sought alternatives to secession and war. When none remained, they took up war with startling intensity. As this book relays with a vivid immediacy, it came to their doorsteps in hunger, disease, and measureless death. Ayers's Civil War emerges from the lives of everyday people as well as those who helped shape history—John Brown and Frederick Douglass, Lincoln, Jackson, and Lee. His story ends with the valley ravaged, Lincoln's support fragmenting, and Confederate forces massing for a battle at Gettysburg.