Showing results by narrator "Becky Doughty" in All Categories

She could handle the nightmares. Not the terrifying visitation. Summoned by her father to Elk Park, Colorado, Melinda Maxwell hopes to finally learn why he cut off all contact with his family and became a "monster", as Melinda calls him. Four days into her stay, and frustrated by his silence, she hires genealogist Anna Denning to locate her long-lost grandparents. Already immersed in trying to locate the family of a murdered man for the Elk Park Police, Anna agrees to the challenge.

Two years ago, a fist not only tore away the last tattered threads of Riley Ross's ability to trust another human being with her heart, but also stole any chance she would ever have of carrying another child. Since she wouldn't ask any man to walk through that grim reality with her, she's made a decision not to start any relationships.

Each poem has its own reason for being. Like people, each has a unique form and voice. A potpourri is a mixture, a medley, a miscellaneous hodgepodge of things not usually placed together, as in a book such as this. Gathered from a large collection of poems written over many years, some reflect emotions or events from personal experience. Some share observations of others, or reflections on life's meaning. These selections, arranged in no particular order or style, are designed to present frequent surprises. Enjoy....

There's a song the surf sings...but even though Dakota Trask lives on the shore of the Pacific, she's just discovering how to hear it. One poor choice, made the summer before her senior year in high school, set in motion events that have haunted her ever since. But she's only now learning how far the consequences spread, and how many people have been impacted.

Steve Garrison is the newly elected mayor of the tiny town of Camelot, Tennessee. When his childhood friend, Amy Hart, comes up with a plan to revive the town's economy, he jumps onboard. The townspeople will perform the musical Camelot in the city's park, drawing in nightly crowds at the new outdoor theater. While excitement is high, talent is lacking. Amy casts several of the parts but is stumped when it comes to the role of King Arthur.

Child of the Appalachian mountains, Tess Spencer has experienced more than her share of heartache. The Glock-wielding, knife-carrying housewife knows how to survive whatever life throws at her. But when an anonymous warning note shows up in her best friend Miranda's mailbox - a note written in a dead woman's handwriting - Tess quickly discovers that ghosts are alive and well in Buckneck, West Virginia.

It's nearly Halloween in Elk Park, Colorado, and one of the Elk Valley Historical Society's founding members, a retired history professor who wanted to hire genealogist Anna Denning to complete his secret research into the family trees of two other members, has been found dead - the victim of a brutal murder. When a friend of the victim pleads with Anna to complete the professor's work, Anna agrees. Her decision leads her into a disturbing world of lies, concealed identities, and the occult.

When Marie Sinclair's three-year-old daughter crashes - quite literally - into Reece Cahill in the aisle of the Thrift and Save, sending pickles and glass crashing to the floor, Marie wishes she could vanish. He's the only man she ever really cared about, and it's her own fault he broke things off. Sure, she's changed. But her former easy-girl reputation still precedes her everywhere she goes. And the last thing Reece needs is to be burdened with that.

The Andersons' marriage is no longer the fairytale it once was. Jake and Nora scramble to keep the pieces together, but hairline cracks of disillusionment and despair have been spreading, weakening the foundation beneath them. Jake steps up, but in all the wrong ways. His concerted efforts to win Nora's approval only make him seem needy, and she becomes distant and withdrawn. Caught in a vulnerable place of hopelessness, she's swept off her feet by a disarming artist who wants to capture more than her image on canvas.

Juliette, the eldest sister of the Gustafson Girls, is heartbroken after breaking up with her noncommittal boyfriend of almost ten years. Determined she isn’t “getting over Mike” quickly enough, her three sisters devise The Monday ManDates; an intervention plan requiring Juliette to endure what turns out to be a series of remarkably disastrous blind dates: TheraPaul, Frisky Frank, TAZ the rock star, and the stoic Tim Larsen, among others. Then there’s Victor Jarrett, the police officer with an affinity for pulling Juliette over when she’s at her very worst. But no one is more surprised than Juliette when she meets the only one who can right the wrongs in her past and change her future. But will she let herself fall in love with him?

Scottish widower Ian MacLean is plagued by a mischievous grannie, bitter regrets, and an ache for something he'll never have again. His only hope for freedom is to bring his grannie's sister home from America. But first, he'll have to convince her young companion, Emily Chapman, to let the woman go. Emily devotes herself to foster youth and her beloved Aunt Grace. Caring for others quiets a secret fear she holds close to her heart. But when Ian appears, wanting to whisk Grace off to Scotland, everything Emily holds dear is at risk.

Suzanne Corbin and her daughter, Beth Harris, live a seemingly easy life. Suzanne has distanced herself from her past, replacing pain with fulfillment as a wife and mother, while Beth savors her husband's love and anticipates the birth of their child. But all that is about to change.

Taysia Green nearly chokes on her water when Officer Kylen Sumner shows up in her office claiming he's back in town because he loves her. Since he's broken her heart more than once, and she recently started dating youth pastor Blaine Pittman, she wants absolutely nothing to do with Kylen.

Megan and Dave Wingfield want nothing more than to be parents--to welcome a child of their own. When they aren't able to conceive after two years of trying, they decide to adopt and find that journey is also fraught with mishaps and the potential for broken hearts. Can Megan learn to trust God with the desires of her heart?

What happens when a Christian woman facing a childless future and a woman seeking an abortion are waiting to see the same doctor? What if after that "chance" encounter they are unable to forget each other? What if they find themselves drawn together in spite of their drastic differences by their surprising similarities? What if they somehow find the courage to become friends?

After watching her sister die at the hands of a vicious killer, Jane Piper received an invitation. She answered it. At 28 she became an assassin, a hunter for Gatehouse, the secret organization that stands between life as we know it and the most ruthless killers the world has ever seen. They're called Sacks. And they're changing...

Hoping for some excitement and a little extra money, A.J. Knight signed up to be a Houston EMT. However, when he did, he never thought about the life-and-death situations he'd be put into or the lives that he might be called on to save. Worse, he never so much as considered the lives that might be lost while he was working to save them.

Blaine Donovan has a secret, but so far his plan to keep the rest of the world in the dark about who he really is and what's really going on in his life has worked. If he can just finish school before the demons catch up with him, he knows he can make life make sense once again. However, when he runs into Melody Todd, a semi-friend he had thought was long-gone, life takes a turn Blaine wasn't at all expecting.

When the owner of a mansion in the Colorado mountains hires Anna Denning to research his family tree, it's Anna's dream come true. A library brimming with old documents, an undiscovered family history - what more could a genealogist want? Excited by the possibilities and fueled by a new love in her life, Anna, tenacious as ever, is undeterred by rumors that a ghost haunts the mansion. Until she uncovers records that suggest those rumors are more than idle talk.

Caralynne Hayman is angry and bitter over the abuse and death of her eleven-year-old daughter at the hands of a radical religious cult - The Children of Righteous Cain. So when her husband, a founding member of the cult, suffers a massive heart attack, Caralynne allows her husband to die. Caralynne's secret seems safe until Dayne MacFarland returns, determined to learn the truth about the cult. His investigation and his rekindled love for Caralynne lead the pair toward a confrontation with the group's elders.