West Texas Nights

In the heart of Texas, love comes knocking when you least expect it… The Cowboy and His Wayward Bride Country singer Laurie Jensen has never forgotten her childhood sweetheart, rancher Harlan Patrick Adams. After all, she admitted she loved him, then left with no explanation when she discovered she was pregnant. Being on the road with a newborn has taken its toll, and she’s given everything for her career. The last thing she wants is to settle down—but will she change her mind when her baby’s father comes calling? Suddenly, Annie’s Father Ever since a tragic car accident ruined his career, ex—rodeo star Slade Sutton put down new roots at the Adams family ranch. His hectic life left little room for family—until his ten-year-old daughter lands on his doorstep with no one else to turn to. Slade knows he’ll need whatever help he can find—even from mysterious rancher Val Harding. Slade has a heart of gold when it comes to his daughter, but he must discover if there’s room in his heart for Val, too. Author of the hit Netflix series Sweet Magnolias

“[Vivian Vaughan]’s knowledge of...Texas is phenomenal...a double bonus for history buffs and Western romance readers." —INSIDE BOOKS Meg Britton arrives in Silver Creek with one purpose: to see the construction of the rail line completed. Fighting against the hell-on-wheels culture of hard drinking and harder living, her own father’s misgivings, and rival railroaders, it is only Meg’s sharp tongue and steadfast determination that keep her mission afloat. That is until she meets the handsome and mysterious Kalib Cheney. For reasons of his own, Kalib is intent on halting the construction of the railroad, and not even beautiful and bold Meg will stand in his way. But he’ll soon learn that her unyielding resolve matches his own, as does her budding desire to surrender to the embrace of her most bitter enemy.

From the regional bands of the 1930s and 1940s to the impact of Elvis Presley on the musicians and singers of the 1950s, Prairie Nights to Neon Lights takes us inside the heart of West Texas music.

The Big Bend, the Big Country, the Big Empty. The High Plains, the Permian and the Panhandle. Cowboys, Cowtown and the curl of a killer tornado. A place where “you can stretch your eyeballs.” Where the Hale-Bopp comet, “hardly visible above some smoggy, light-polluted cities, looked like it could drop into the Pecos River at any moment.” West Texas, home to the state’s biggest legends, is chronicled by two authors who have spent most of their careers crisscrossing it. Mike Cochran and John Lumpkin, Associated Press journalists, bring their experiences to the pages of this handsome volume, accompanied by fifty photographs of the West Texas landscape, its people and its history. Converse with West Texas characters like Stanley Marsh 3, conman Billy Sol Estes, and Big Spring’s merry messiah, Marj Carpenter. Meet Gordon Wood, Friday night football’s winningest coach, and Groner Pitts, Brownwood’s liveliest undertaker. Remember ranching icon Watt Matthews, the founders of Santa Rita No. 1, and Lubbock’s C. W. Stubblefield, magnet to blues and country music stars. Honor Hallie Stillwell, Frenchy McCormick, and even modern art’s Georgia O’Keeffe, who put their stamp on Texas’s most fascinating region. A West Texan once said, “They show no pictures of my province or even neighboring provinces. They leave a big hole in Texas.” No more is that the case, thanks to Mike Cochran and John Lumpkin.

TORNADO SEASON arrives as a storm is raging. Yet its stories urge us not to seek shelter, but to leave it. To walk out of our inner place of hiding and face the whirlwind. To recognize it. To acknowledge it and fight it. Ethnicity and culture alongside the U.S.-Mexico border; deportation and immigration; life in the U.S. foster care system--of these tumultuous subjects Courtney Craggett writes with honesty, a big heart, and a complete lack of sentimentality. She shows us ordinary people who suffer, dream, hope, and strive for something just a little bit better. And by doing so, she elevates these stories from the realm of the timely into that of the timeless. Long after the storm has passed, the stories in TORNADO SEASON will ring true and dear for they sing of the innermost yearning of the human heart for freedom, justice, and love. --Miroslav Penkov

Love conquers all when you least expect it. The Pint-Sized Secret Geologist Brianna O'Ryan was beautiful, intelligent…and possibly a corporate spy! Yet the more Jeb Delacourt investigated what the single mom had tried to keep hidden, the more he felt her secret was not professional, but personal...and the faster she made his pulse race. Soon, stolen kisses and midnight embraces had Brianna wondering if it was time to risk everything for love… Marrying a Delacourt Once upon a time, Michael Delacourt's tempting kisses had sent Grace Foster's heartbeat ricocheting. Now here she was on an isolated Texas ranch with the only man she'd ever loved…the man she could never marry. So when a tidal wave of longing overcame her, she shifted her focus to the two vulnerable runaways who'd landed in Michael's care. Clearly, the oil tycoon needed Grace's parenting skills, so why the fire in his touch? Did he harbor a fierce desire for one more chance at love—this time forever?

Timekeepers is the first book in the Timekeepers Trilogy, based on a fictional family in Texas who struggle to keep their family safe from a group of aliens - who for many years were thought to be family friends. These aliens have been on earth for some time, explorers stranded after their home world was destroyed. It was out of necessity they came, not to conquer or destroy. That necessity and the background of peace and technology enjoyed by the population of their planet caused the crew to seek out ways to help earth live in peace. Once they realize the people of earth have not developed the ability to live in peace, the commander of the exploration ship changes the mission, and becomes convinced he can utilize the special talents of Walt and Sarah Thompson's children, along with the advanced alien technology, to change time and bring their destroyed home world back into existence. For his plan to work he must kidnap the children, get rid of their parents and Dawson Enright the children’s uncle, an operative of the CIA. The fight to keep the children safe takes Walt, Sarah and Dawson across Texas, New Mexico and a large part of the Milky Way galaxy as they desperately seek to take control of the alien spacecraft with their kidnapped children aboard.

Telling an inspiring, largely unknown story, Thursday Night Lights recounts how African American high school football programs produced championship teams and outstanding players during the Jim Crow era.