In small town Hendersonville, North Carolina, there's a time and a place for women to open their mouths. Lydia Grace Abney doesn't care to wait on that time or that place. She walks through life without any shoes on, dirt on her skin, and wind-blown hair. Some might say she gets her classless qualities from being raised with all boys. Others say the devil is doing work in her life and holding her tongue hostage. But Lydia doesn't see anything wrong with her inability to keep her mouth shut. Especially when it comes to the ever-growing racism flooding her small, southern town. She's willing to fight tooth and nail to stand up for what she believes is right-and this particular act catches the eye of someone rather unexpected. Wattpad Editor's Choice February 26th, 2021 - April 1st, 2021 Featured by Wattpad Historical Fiction under "Decade Fiction." Winner of the Cappuccino Awards 2020 (historical) 2nd Place - Historical Fiction - The Writer's Choice Awards 2nd Place - Historical Fiction - The insidious Awards #1 in greatdepression #1 in sexism # 1 in 1930

Texiss Calloway has had her heart shattered by her childhood friend and, who she thought, was the love of her life. After Cameron left for college across the country, he promised her that he would return in four years. Only he never did. Cameron Peirce returns to his hometown in Casden, Louisiana to run the town's newspaper and hoping to find forgiveness in the eyes of the one he loves. When he arrives, he finds more than forgiveness in her eyes, and it causes him to hope that she could still love him too. But it bothers him that over the span of six years her relationship with God has suffered severely. Trouble with a corrupt sheriff tests both Texiss and Cameron nearly to the breaking point. Can Texiss trust God again? Can Cameron stand up and be the man she needs in her life?

“It wasn’t worth a horse, was it?” she asked. “No” Trey entered the stall and swung the saddle over Hank’s back. Millie walked into the next stall, which was empty, and leaned against the low wall that separated the two. “So then why take the risk? Clayton could have handled Hank, don’t you think?” she said. “I came to see you, in all honesty,” Trey, said glancing at her over Hank’s back. “Hmm” Millie said. She did not know what to do with that response. “I came to ask you to come back with me,” Millie Williams is left destitute after her father's death from a gunshot wound. Her desperation for money causes her to impulsively accept a job at an old plantation half a day's ride out of town caring for a two year old boy while his single father's job takes him abroad. While her first look at the old mansion gives her hope, she still has her doubts when she meets Trey Shannon, her employer. The man is built to have a demanding presence and his cold stare could intimidate the most hardened criminal. Her fear of her employer makes her job difficult as she resolves to find out the secret she feels he is hiding. Trey Shannon has never met a woman quite like the shy, timid, and short Miss Williams. But after several failed attempts at finding a nursemaid for his son, he is desperate and will take anything. Whlie he feels grateful to the young woman, he also feels that she might be hiding something from him. He is determined find out her past. She is determined to find out his present. Can either of them find their future?

"Look, Toni. Not everyone who comes into your life is there just to use you. Some people are there because they really do care about you" Erik's calmed voice only made her anger worse. "Why do you not trust anyone?" Toni lost it. She was tired of holding back. "You wanna know why I'm this way? You wanna know why I don't trust people?" Toni Curtis is the ranch owner of a horse ranch in the middle of Texas with enough land to comfortably house a small army and their families. Life on a ranch isn't easy by a long shot, especially when the boss hog is a woman, but it's all she has known. Horse rustling causes her to take drastic measures, along with her cowhands. Erik McBride has just started working with a woman that he doesn't get along with. But he needs the money to support his family back in Georgia. His job hangs in the balance already, and rustlers try to make things harder on everyone still. Push comes to shove and Erik can't believe what he's done when he accept the job of being the Boss Lady's Man. He annoys her. She confuses him. What could possibly go wrong?

Wade smiled at her, and their eyes met. Aubrey held her breath as she studied his sapphire eyes, so deep and so bold. If only they didn't look as if they were piercing through her soul. "I know that I can grow to love you with all my heart, and I'm gonna make you love me right back... even if it kills me" he whispered. Aubrey Cutshall is a woman who has no idea what she wants or how she wants it, and that goes double for husbands. When a problem with her grandmother's will causes her to have need of one of them by her 21st birthday, she sets off to find one of the two-legged annoyances. What she never expected was to find a God-fearing one, let alone a good looking one. All Wade Dylan knows is that he's in a bind. He is caught between his freedom or keeping his honor, but his worries just begin when the choice is made for him. What starts out as a mere arrangement of convenience turns out to be the worst idea of his life. She thinks she doesn't fit in his world. She is his world. Can faith in their God bring them together?

“Where is revenge going to get you, Adam? What’s it going to prove?” Katie asked. “He killed my brother, Kate. I won’t rest until I bring him to justice” “By murder?” The determination in Adam’s eyes gave Katie little hope of changing his mind. He said nothing but stared at her as if the thought of murder was completely foreign to him. “That’s exactly what you’ll be doing, Adam” Katie warned. Adam’s jaw clenched and he nodded in determination. “Then so be it.”

Sparks fly and horns lock on the Dottie Belle Ranch in Plateau, Arizona! Clint Slade is a well-known hired killer. What he does for a living has never been questioned nor given an explanation. The dime novelists love his work to pen to paper, and young boys see him as the epitome of a heroic lifestyle. He lives a lonely life of solitude as he travels all over the country, and that’s the way he likes it. He doesn’t see the need for other people and his latest job makes him wonder why he even bothers to try to understand them. Bliss Cooper loves her life without the ties of a man or an interest in one. She’s the daughter of a rich ranch owner in Arizona with more than what she needs. Yet when her father becomes overprotective about notes threatening her life, the life she loves so much comes crashing in on her. What seems to her like overkill on her father’s part just might change her life forever. Colt Kidd can't hide it for much longer. Being the foreman of a ranch is a challenge of it's own, but when he starts having complicated feelings about his boss' daughter and long-time best friend, his life gets a whole lot more confusing. He knows that he can't hold a candle to what Bliss really needs, but he would give his whole life to try.

Not everything that has been hurt is broken ~ Jessie Steele is on the run from something. She had no idea from who or what, but she knows that there is someone on her heels, just waiting for the chance to take her captive. She has nothing but a broken leg and a head injury to tell her how she ended up in one of the most rural places in Arizona, face down in the dirt without a horse or buggy in sight. She has no recollection of what she was doing so far away form her home in South Carolina, but then again, she can’t even remember what she was thinking five minutes ago. Between her pounding head and the searing pain in her leg, she has no idea how to make it to a safe place. Colt Kidd is recovering from the recent nuptials of the love of his life. Enveloping himself in his work and caring for his adventurous grandmother takes up most of his time until the small line shack he calls home houses a party of three. As if finding a strange, disoriented woman out in the middle of nowhere without as much as a horse in sight wasn’t stressful enough, she will have to stay with him and his grandmother until her broken leg heals. Even worse, the woman can’t seem to remember anything that happened in the past week. Sometimes trusting God for the outcome of a situation isn’t easy, but it’s possible with the healing power of love.

A retelling of the parable told by Jesus in Luke 15:11-32 from the point of view of the prodigal's brother. Set on a cattle ranch in the 1870s.

A newly expanded and professionally edited version of the Boy in the Woods is now available for sale as an ebook and paperback! Buy it at Amazon, iBooks, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, and many other online outlets. Winner of the 2014 Wattys Talk of the Town award. After a devastating accident takes Jess's parents, a cold and controlling uncle is the only family she has left. Ripping away everything she's ever known, he takes her far from her home in the big city to live on the rural family estate. With a spoiled and stuck up older cousin the only other young person in the home, Jess struggles to adjust to her new life of loneliness and quiet isolation. While exploring the woods surrounding her home one day, she stumbles upon a mysterious boy. Desperate for a friend, she's instantly drawn to him, but he's deeply distrustful and wants nothing to do with her. Sneaking away to see him, she works hard to break through his walls and slowly gains his trust. As time passes, their bond grows from forbidden friendship into something more, but the threat they'll be caught looms closer. How far will Jess have to go to protect the boy she's fallen in love with? Or will her uncle find out about them before she can escape his control? The Boy in the Woods is a mysterious and poignant coming of age novel set in the late 1950's, with the same classic feel as A Little Princess and The Secret Garden. As one of the top ten most read historical fiction stories on the popular reading website Wattpad.com, it's already loved by tens of thousands of readers. This compelling story is twice the length of the average young adult novel, and is appropriate for ages 14 to adult. By the same author as Wattys finalists Stolen Hearts and Love You Forever! Best Ranking: Historical Fiction #1 General Fiction #3 Warning: This story contains occasional language and mild violence.