Take The Long Way Home Sneak Peek

Be one of the first to read this sneak preview sample edition before the full length novel comes out! From a cloistered 1950s Mississippi town founded by freed slaves to the striking diversity of Paris and Rome in the 1960s and 70s, through Wall Street’s glittering Roaring 80s to the present day, this sweeping, unforgettably moving novel from the national bestselling author chronicles one southern Black girl’s remarkable journey through some of history’s most turbulent decades—and the four men who challenge her to fight for happiness. Freedom fighter, brilliant businessperson, devoted wife, master of languages, and ultimately, savior of a European dynasty. Claudia Patterson would become all of these—spurred on by the fiercely powerful loves and losses along the way . . . Denny Clark. An abused thirteen-year-old white boy whose life twelve-year-old Claudia saves—complicating her own life for years to come. Robert Moore. A young Black lawyer who becomes Claudia’s beloved husband and partner on the explosive front lines of the Civil Rights Movement. Amid the violence of the Ku Klux Klan, Claudia has a shocking personal encounter—with unimaginable consequences. Ashley Booth. A Wall Street executive who brings the glamour of New York alive for the now-widowed Claudia, introducing her to an elite circle of Black peers. But their long yet uncommitted romance leads Claudia to move on—to an overseas assignment at an Italian bank. Giancarlo Pasquale Fortenza. An Italian automobile industrialist, once enamored of a young Claudia—handsome, worldly, and twelve years her senior. A man with whom Claudia reconnects, bringing her life full circle in the boldest, bravest, and most unexpected ways . . . Rich with history and timeless emotion, here is an epic tale of rising through poverty, racism, and heartbreak—and the awesome role of our most significant relationships throughout our lives.

They say you can't go home again, but Raine St. James doesn't know why anyone would want to. Rory St. James was disowned after she came out at seventeen. She rebounded by moving to Chicago, changing her name to Raine and putting down her hometown to audiences around the country. Now, ten years later, too old to be considered a gay youth, broke, evicted, and fresh off a much needed break-up, Raine St. James is forced to accept a job teaching at Bramble University in Darlington, the town she's been publicly bashing for the last decade. Beth Devoroux was born and raised in Darlington. Despite losing her parents at a young age, she is well loved by everyone who knows her. She leads a comfortable life with good job at Bramble University, a long-term but closeted relationship, friends that she can count on, and everything she thinks she wants, so why is she so drawn to a rabble-rouser like Raine St. James? Can Raine and Beth face their pasts and come to terms with their differences in order to have any hope for a future together?

When I left town, I was young and dumb, lost in a haze of drugs and partying. When that haze lifted, it knocked me down, toying with my life. I came back home. A different person. A shell of myself. He was there. He was always there. And, I couldn’t stop myself. His sweet words, his warm arms, his soft kisses. It was like I never left. He drew me in, under a spell, made me feel loved. But sometimes, love is not enough. Sometimes, addictions take over. Or, sometimes, it’s simply our pasts... Mine came back, rip roaring through town, bringing with it the reminders I’d buried. Would Josh still love me when he found out all of my secrets? Or, will our second chance be shredded into so many pieces, we’ll never be able to pick them all up?

Long Way Home is a heartfelt tale of an orphaned boy in search of family from War Horse author and former Children's Laureate, Michael Morpurgo.

Sometimes getting lost is the only way to find your way home . . . I'm grateful for many things-my work, my apartment, my amazing friends. But after that night years ago, I'm left with an aching weight I can't escape. And it's keeping me from living and loving the way I desperately want. So when a ruggedly handsome cop pulls me over, I'm shocked by what just the sight of him does to me-stirring up feelings I didn't think were possible again. Cayden Sinclair is undoubtedly one of the good guys. A former Marine who's so sexy I can't seem to keep my hands to myself. But there are things I'm not ready to share, things that could change everything between us. Cayden deserves to have the life he's always wanted-which means walking away from him. But I don't know if I'll ever find the strength to let him go . . .

The last thing Callie needs in her life is another man, so she's less than thrilled when Dan Mattson moves into the apartment across the hall. Will Dan and Callie be able to get past their baggage and give love another chance?

Spending Christmas with the Barker triplets just might be the craziest idea ever… Christmas in New Waterford might never be the same again. With Shane and Bobbi on the outs, Logan and Billie adjusting to sleepless nights and a baby who’s now mobile, things are bad enough. But with newly minted Hollywood superstar, Betty, planning a wedding in town, the potential for disaster is high. Their gramps has been sidelined by a fall and their father is ailing, so can these triplets get it together—and more importantly—get along? Or will they kill each other before the turkey is served? It just might take a miracle for them to survive the holidays without any injuries. With Matt Hawkins and a Simon or two along for the ride, this Christmas will be full of tears, laughs, reflection—and if Betty has her way—a wedding.

Be one of the first to read this sneak preview sample edition of acclaimed author Amanda Skenandore’s new historical novel, a fascinating story of one woman’s search for identity and independence, set in 1880s New York and based on the little-known story of America’s first nursing school. In the slums of 1880s New York, Una Kelly has grown up to be a rough-and-tumble grifter, able to filch a pocketbook in five seconds flat. But when another con-woman pins her for a murder she didn’t commit, Una is forced to flee. Running from the police, Una lies her way into an unlikely refuge: the nursing school at Bellevue Hospital. Based on Florence Nightingale’s nursing principles, Bellevue is the first school of its kind in the country. Where once nurses were assumed to be ignorant and unskilled, Bellevue prizes discipline, intellect, and moral character, and only young women of good breeding need apply. At first, Una balks at her prim classmates and the doctors’ endless commands. Yet life on the streets has prepared her for the horrors of injury and disease found on the wards, and she slowly gains friendship and self-respect. Just as she finds her footing, Una’s suspicions about a patient’s death put her at risk of exposure, and will force her to choose between her instinct for self-preservation, and exposing her identity in order to save others. Amanda Skenandore brings her medical expertise to a page-turning story that explores the evolution of modern nursing—including the grisly realities of nineteenth-century medicine—as seen through the eyes of an intriguing and dynamic heroine. PRAISE FOR AMANDA SKENANDORE’S THE SECOND LIFE OF MIRIELLE WEST “In this superior historical, the author’s diligent research, as well as her empathetic depiction of those subjected to forced medical isolation, make this a winner.” —Publishers Weekly