The Vow

Life as Kim and Krickitt Carpenter knew it was shattered beyond recognition on November 24, 1993. Two months after their marriage, a devastating car wreck left Krickitt with a massive head injury and in a coma for weeks. When she finally awoke, she had no idea who Kim was. With no recollection of their relationship and while Krickitt experienced personality changes common to those who suffer head injuries, Kim realized the woman he had married essentially died in the accident. And yet, against all odds, but through the common faith in Christ that sustained them, Kim and Krickitt fell in love all over again. Even though Kim stood by Krickitt through the darkest times a husband can ever imagine, he insists, “I’m no hero. I made a vow.” Now available in trade paper with a new chapter and photo insert, The Vow is the true story that inspired the major motion picture of the same name starring Rachel McAdams (The Notebook), Channing Tatum (Dear John), Sam Neill (Jurassic Park), and Academy Award winner Jessica Lange.

When three best friends come together for their sorority sister's tony wedding on New Year's Eve, they make a vow at the stroke of midnight to get married within one year. As the three women embark on their search to find their soul mates, they navigate the full-contact sport known as being a SSBFDLA (successful, single, black, female dating in L.A.) and negotiate the shark-infested waters of making a name for themselves in Hollywood. Can Trista, the hyper-driven celebrity agent, find the time to schedule a meaningful romance? Will Amaya, the sexy starlet, convince the married hip hop–label exec she has been seeing to leave his wife and slip a ring on her finger or will the NBA star steal her heart in the final seconds? After undergoing a complete makeover, will Vivian, the jaded gossip columnist, win back the father of her child? Set against the seductive backdrop of money, power, and sex, The Vow follows these women as they discover that their desire to find a husband isn't as important as finding themselves.

When two teens with complex motives plan to marry, their friendship is put to the ultimate test in this compelling novel from the author of Virtuosity. Mo and Annie are just friends. Close friends, best friends, friends who love each other more than anyone else in the world—but just friends. No matter what anyone thinks, there’s simply no romance between them. Then the summer before senior year Mo’s father loses his job—and his work visa. Even though Mo has lived in America for most of his life, he’ll be forced to move to Jordan. The prospect of leaving his home is devastating, and he’s terrified to return to a world where he no longer belongs. So Annie proposes they tell a colossal lie: that they are in love. Mo agrees that marrying Annie is the only way he can stay, and Annie is desperate to help her friend. But what happens next may be enough to rip their relationship apart forever.

The true story of a couple that defied the odds and fell in love with each other again after Krickett suffered brain damage and memory loss following a car accident.

Presents the true story of a couple who fell in love again after the wife, Krickitt, suffered a traumatic brain injury in an automobile crash and lost all memory of her previous life.

After twelve years, the headstrong Annabel McKeige is back in the frontier town of Parable, Nevada. Back to face the husband she left behind...the son she never saw grow to manhood...and the home where her heart broke when she lost a beloved daughter. But her intentioins regarding their marriage are soon clear -- even if her motives are not. Gabe McKeige loved Annabel too fiercely to let a chance like this slip away. But the iron-willed rancher is also too proud to beg -- he didn't twelve years ago, and he won't now. So, Gabe sets out to woo Annabel the only way he knows...with passion-filled kisses and sensual touches that conjure the sweet firestorm of their marriage bed. And Annabel is finding that the man she once left is unbearably hard to resist....

At one of the largest Catholic churches in America, hundreds of people make their way into the spacious, well-appointed sanctuary for an evening Mass. The congregation is several times larger than most Protestant megachurches. In addition to its twenty weekly services, eight choirs, and elementary and middle schools, the church also administers a long roster of Bible studies, home groups, community outreach, and specialized programs for every conceivable class and group of persons. The sermon is delivered by the pastor and celebrant priest who, at one point, refers to his struggle to relate to his teenage daughter. No one is surprised, for the long-time leader of this prominent Catholic Church, in a conservative suburb of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, is a married Catholic priest. Following the Episcopal Church's 1976 decision to ordain women, Catholic leaders in America and Rome were approached by Episcopal clergy who opposed the decision and sought conversion as a result. The Catholics responded by establishing rules that would allow the Church to receive married convert priests as exceptions to the rule of celibacy-a decree known as the Pastoral Provision. In this fascinating book, D. Paul Sullins brings to light the untold stories of these curious creatures: married Catholic priests. Sullins explores their day-to-day lives, their journey to Catholicism, and their views on issues important to the Church. Surprisingly, he reveals, married Catholic priests are more conservative than their celibate colleagues on nearly every issue, including celibacy: they think that priests should, in general, not be allowed to marry. Drawing on over 115 interviews with priests and their wives, as well as unprecedented access to the U.S. records of the Pastoral Provision, Keeping the Vow offers the first comprehensive look at these families and their unusual and difficult journey from Anglicanism to Catholicism. Looking to the future, Sullins speculates on what the experiences of these priests might tell us about the future of priestly celibacy.

Luke is not yet 12 when his father dies of a heart attack, leaving him an orphan. Small for his age and something of a loner, Luke goes to live with his Uncle Henry and Aunt Helen in Collingwood on Georgian Bay, where Uncle Henry has a saw mill on the edge of town. The practical Uncle Henry sees that the family dog, Dan, is old and lame and no longer useful, and he concludes the dog should be destroyed. Luke, whose sense of dignity and loyalty transcend the practical, fights to save his dog, and in his struggle, he comes to a better understanding not only of Uncle Henry, but of the expedient world of adults.