Esmeralda's back. Readers met this feisty widow as she fussed over her fellow citizens of a small southern town in Margaret Graham's novel Mercy Me. Now in a delightful sequel, Esmeralda feels led to take on a new project. A halfway house for female addicts finds itself in need of a responsible woman to move in and help out, and against her better judgment, Esmeralda volunteers. She knows nothing about drugs or about much of anything else these women have been through. But she knows when she's being "led," so she packs up her life, moves to the mountains, and becomes a housemother. There she meets women with lives she could never imagine, and she must navigate well outside her comfort zone. Soon enough, she learns how to love the unloved-and to accept their love in return. Good Heavens is packed with hilarity, humanity, and good lessons. Graham once again has given readers a lovable and very human believer to accompany as she plods through alien territory with her Bible in hand.

Esmeralda, a high-spirited widow in her sixties in the small South Carolina town of Live Oaks, leaves an unforgettable impression on readers with her unpretentious, down-to-earth manner. Her unabashed faith shines through as she shares details of her life as an adviser to her best friend, Beatrice, and as a voice of reason to her women's Sunday school class, the Willing Workers. The pettiness of the women at the Apostolic Bible Church gets under Esmeralda's skin, but when she rallies them to the side of an impoverished mother with AIDS, the very best of human love and compassion is portrayed. Told in delightfully eccentric first-person narration, this story will inspire, uplift, amuse, and move readers to tears. Despite Esmeralda's lack of education and sophistication-or perhaps because of it-she is used mightily by God and meets everyday challenges with gumption, humor, and grace. Her struggle to maintain her faith in the midst of pain and suffering is a timeless and universal theme with which many will identify, and the love and mercy the story unfolds will delight both young and old.

Buckle up for a double dose of mystery and suspense in this two-book forensic thriller set from USA Today bestselling author Melissa F. Miller! Dark Path (Book 1) Healthy residents of a posh assisted living facility are dying in the middle of the night ... expressions of pure terror etched on their faces. After solving a series of unexplained deaths several years ago, forensic pathologist Dr. Bodhi King retreated from the limelight. Now, he's called out of early retirement to help investigate a death cluster on a private island in the Florida Keys, where he lands in the middle of a simmering conflict. Members of the Golden Island Church have a furtive agenda to protect. The dying Cuban-Americans have long-held secrets of their own. And everyone seems to have a reason to stop Bodhi from bringing the truth to light. Lonely Path (Book 2) An overdose epidemic, a girl who’s supposed to be dead, and a chance encounter with an old flame land Bodhi in the middle of a high-stakes crime ring. Bodhi’s honored when he’s invited to present a paper at an international forensic pathology conference. And he’s stunned when he learns his former girlfriend is a fellow panelist. It’s been more than a decade since Bodhi broke Eliza’s heart, and his behavior weighs on him. He convinces her to join him for dinner in the Quebec countryside so he can make amends. Returning to the hotel after their meal, they see a dazed young woman, barefoot and mute, standing by the roadside. She has no memory of who she is or what's happened to her. Bodhi and Eliza put aside their past to help the shattered woman reclaim her life. In the process, they discover the horrifying truth about an overdose epidemic plaguing the region. The knowledge paints a target on their backs. As a Buddhist, Bodhi follows a path of nonviolence, but his faith will be tested when Eliza’s life is on the line.

You can’t have it all. At least, not forever. Luz Wilkinson learned the hard way that balancing a career, marriage, and motherhood can end in absolute destruction of heart and soul. When the biological mother of her daughter tears the child away and ruins her reputation, Luz goes home to tiny Rose Creek to rethink life and ambition. She surrounds herself with discarded animals and plans never to care again. Widower Aaron Estes lives for his daughter, Chloe. Fleeing from the horror of losing his wife in a school shooting, Aaron stops in Rose Creek on a whim and a random act of kindness from a gas station clerk - not a lot to build a life on, but a momentary redemption from his sorrow and fears for his daughter. Prompted by counselor Esmeralda Salinas, he takes Chloe to the Wilkinson place for therapeutic riding lessons, and finds Luz everything he wants in a mother for his daughter - but Esmeralda’s open pursuit is a problem. Burned by her divorce, Luz refuses any relationship involving another woman or a man with another woman’s child. Unlimited love for their children comes easily - but will they ever be able to conquer past pain and love each other? Sensuality Level: Behind Closed Doors

Memory is a subject that recently has attracted many scholars and readers not only in the general historical sciences, but also in the special field of art history. However, in this book, in which more than 130 papers given at the XXIXth International Congress of the History of Art (Amsterdam) 1996 have been compiled, Memory is also juxtaposed to its counterpart, Oblivion, thus generating extra excitement in the exchange of ideas. The papers are presented in eleven sections, each of which is devoted to a different aspect of memory and oblivion, ranging from purely material aspects of preservation, to social phenomena with regard to art collecting, from the memory of the art historian to workshop practices, from art in antiquity, to the newest media, from Buddhist iconography to the Berlin Wall. The book addresses readers in the field of history, history of art and psychology.

When Esmeralda Salinas left her childhood home, she left behind the judgmental lectures and cold, unaffectionate parents who never found her good enough to compete with her brother Beto. Esme fashions herself into her own woman, and refuses to let others dictate her behavior or her dreams. After a love affair goes wrong in Rose Creek, Texas, she packs up her horse and moves to even tinier Truth, Texas. When Esme finds herself singing country karaoke in her aunt’s bar, she can deal with that. But when Tía demands that Esme consider a job offer from devastatingly sexy Rafael Benton, Esme realizes that the small town of Truth might harbor some horrific lies revolving around Rafael and his recently deceased sister Cody, who had reached the pinnacle of the country music season only to crash and burn. Still, Esme listens to Rafael’s sales pitch and can’t believe what he offers: almost a quarter million dollars to marry him for the summer. Rafael talks a good game, and Esme knows she could enjoy the benefits of marriage to him, with or without the formalities and pre-nuptials and pretense. But sleeping with a man for the thrill is one thing. Marrying him for money is another. Can she accept a job that would make her rich but might destroy all she holds sacred? Sensuality Level: Sensual