In rough frontier cabins, tidy farmhouses, and elegant townhouses, Americans in the 1800s were dedicated to living as well and as comfortably as their circumstances allowed. The American home was a sacred institution, the seat of family life where the patriarch ruled with Mother at his side as guardian of the home, and the children were raised with strict discipline and strong values. Changes in taste and fashion, improvements in technology (indoor plumbing and a host of new labor-saving devices), and social change transformed home and family life in the 1800s, as opportunities for leisure activities and commercially produced consumer goods came within reach of the average American. But the strong American tradition of the sanctity of the home, consumerism, and the importance of a happy family life has its roots in the homes of nineteenth-century Americans.

Will they meet again? Frances Sweet can’t really remember her real parents. Brought up by her uncle, her cousins Ruby and Mary have always treated her like their little sister. As the war continues to keep her cousins separated from the men they love – Frances is growing up fast enough to catch the eye of dashing American soldier Declan. But she also has a greater longing – to find the mother who abandoned her years before...

Home is sweetest when it's the one person you can't live without. Yancey MacCafferty and Juan Romanos fell in love when they were in their teens, but their families convinced them both to follow their dreams and explore the world before committing tothem in different directions. Yancey heads off to veterinarian school while Juan goes East to ride show horses. They stay in touch, and see each other as often as they can, but slowly they begin to drift apart. Until Yancey graduates from college and decides it's time to claim Juan as his. He gets a job working at a clinic near where Juan trains and rides. They spend as much time together as their work allows, finding out that while they may still love each other, meshing their lives together will take a lot more work.

The Southern Comfort series continues with “a wonderfully romantic, often humorous tale . . . a nice homage to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (The Book Diva’s Reads). “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single woman in possession of a ramshackle house must be in want of a handyman.” Just because English professor Grace Williams is a woman whose “new” house is crumbling around her doesn’t mean she needs an arrogant, condescending man’s help, even if he does look gorgeous in faded jeans and a tool belt. What she needs is a working bathroom, not a ridiculous crush. Jake Burdette has no use for the university types who stumble around Willow Springs, with their noses in the air whenever they’re not in a book. He may not be a scholar, but he’s proud of the hard, honest work he does—even if he would appreciate a little more of it. He doesn’t need Grace’s pity, even if he does wish she wasn’t so adorably sexy. They’re all wrong for each other. But Grace’s troublesome house seems to feel differently . . . Praise for Sarah Title’s Southern Comfort Romance series “Wild, witty, and wonderful.”—Jo Goodman, New York Times bestselling author “Quite a sexy book.”—USAToday.com “A really cute and fun story . . . It’s sexy and made me laugh!”—Smexy Books “A fast-paced read that provided just as many smiles from the humor as it did sizzles from the romance.”—The Book Diva’s Reads

What makes a place feel like home? A mother’s embrace, the warmth of new friendship, a sweet reunion—all can be found in these unforgettable stories . . . THREE’S A CROWD * Fern Michaels This Mother’s Day will be the first in three years that Samantha Stewart has spent with her parents. And she’s bringing a very special gift—the baby granddaughter they’ve never met. Sam’s work as an overseas reporter was exhilarating and dangerous. Now she’s seeking stability for little Caroline—and answers for herself—and finding them in a homecoming full of surprises . . . NEW BEGINNINGS IN BLUE HOLLOW FALLS * Donna Kauffman The moment she set foot in Blue Hollow Falls, Dubliner Katie MacMillan felt right at home. Back to help with her sister’s pregnancy, she’s contemplating her own future, especially when she confronts Declan MacGregor, her childhood tormentor and first crush. This Blue Ridge town was supposed to be a new beginning, but can it also be the setting for a second chance? BRING ME HOME * Melissa Storm For Hazel Long, spending time with her bedridden father is bittersweet. There’s comfort in the friendship offered by other hospital visitors—and the kindness of a handsome male nurse. And when Hazel’s father begins to tell her the story of the mother she barely knew, it’s an unexpected chance to bond, and a lesson in making the most of each new day.

As a little girl, Yves Zoe Trieste’s first experiences were magical, opulent, and dazzling - living in one of Japan’s protected and exclusive enclaves reserved for Foreign Diplomats and their families. The change was sudden when the family boarded one of the last evacuation flights before the nuclear end of World War II. Returning to the United States, she becomes sucked into a quagmire of an unhappy marriage to an absent husband, divorce and custody of two boys and a girl, devastating dark family secrets, multigenerational sexual assault and incest, sex, drugs, rock and roll escapism, vapid partying, survival of eviscerating collisions, financial insecurity, unrelenting trauma, familiar plotting, shunning, greed, betrayal, and disinheritance. “Many dreams can be nightmares, too, so terrible are dark and forbidden secrets. Nightmares. Creepy. Frighting. Just like those crows that sit in those craggy trees, around our house, waiting, just waiting, claws gripped, ready to swoop down and scratch our eyes out. We all know, don’t we, that life is not a smooth ride with its’ twists and turns and strangles. We could get up and walk out when the curtain falls if it were a theater play. But not life. We have to stay until the end. There is no way out. And then what? And then what?” - Yves Zoe Trieste

Down on their luck and desperate after they are evicted from their small apartment, Chace and Mia O’Conner reluctantly take Chace’s Amish boss up on his offer to rent them the daadihaus located on his property. They are certain they will never feel at home in the rustic cabin without any modern conveniences, and they start to blame each other for their seemingly hopeless situation. But with the help of their new Amish friends, Chace and Mia begin to enjoy their cozy cabin and realize that home really is where the heart is.

Trina is starting over after a painful separation from her husband of almost twenty years. Grief and loss force her to re-evaluate her life. The only thing she can think to do is to return to her hometown where she'll be confronted by all of the things she left behind; a hometown she hasn't visited since high school graduation. When the police officer who lives next door comes knocking with questions about a tragedy from the past, Trina finds herself exploring the trauma of her childhood and facing the pain and stigma she's run from for so long. As she faces a new season of life, Trina must learn how to navigate complex family relationships, burgeoning friendships and a return to the career she left behind years earlier and the love she thought never could come.

This is a true-to-life story of a rebellious young girl who fell in love with a handsome young man, became pregnant and married at age 16, and who wanted only to make a happy life in her own “home sweet home” with her husband and children. Her life turns upside down when her husband becomes seriously abusive to her and her four children and she finds herself a victim of not only him, but of her own willfulness not to be proven wrong and her willingness to sacrifice even physical safety for the dream of a happy home. The pain causes her to seek salvation through God and her Savior Jesus Christ. She also finds the meaning of a mysterious prophetic dream she had when in the midst of her turmoil. The fact that she eventually realizes her dream of a “home sweet home” after many years of pain and sorrow is living testimony to the power of God in human life and the lessons of yielding to a higher power.