Lessons From My Mother’s Life

Lessons From My Mother's Life
Debuted at #1 in the Historical Fiction Short Stories category!

It was the 1950s. The war was over and women could go back to being happy housewives. But did they really want to?

Women should have been contented to live a Leave it to Beaver life in the mid-20th century. They should have been fulfilled. Women’s magazines told them so. Advertisers told them so. Doctors and psychologists told them so. Some were. But some weren’t.

In the 1950s, women were sold a bill of goods about who they were and who they should be as women. Some bought it. But some didn’t.

These five stories are about the women who didn’t.

A teenage bride sees her future mirrored in Circe’s twisted face. A woman’s tragic life serves as a warning about the dangers of too much maternal devotion. And the lives of two women intersect during two birthday parties, changing both of them. These and other moving tales of strength, discovery, and hope are about our mothers and grandmothers and the lessons their lives have to teach us. $0.99 on Kindle.

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All’s Well That Ends: Disarmed by Dreams

All’s Well That Ends: Disarmed by Dreams
1943, Chicago. A segregated train ride is only the beginning to a bittersweet story of loss, courage, starting over, and the pursuit of dreams.

Sara Jameson had known in an instant she’d made a terrible mistake when she discouraged everyone from coming to the train station to see them off. Standing on the platform with her three-month-old in her arms and a child at each elbow, she needed her family and friends to tell her she was making the right decision by leaving behind people and places she loved in order to move to a place she had never been. After the three-day train ride Sara needed Ben to be at the other end ready to start their new life together.

Would the move to South Berkeley help Sara fulfill her dreams or had she traded one set of problems for another? $0.99 on Kindle.

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False Fathers (Waxwood Series: Book 2)

False Fathers (Waxwood Series: Book 2)
Sometimes no father is better than a false father.

In 1898 California, Jake Alderdice comes of age as a shy and contemplative youth who is passionate about art. On vacation in Waxwood, now a fashionable resort town, he meets Harland Stevens, who takes an interest in the young man’s artistic ambitions. Stevens seizes upon the fatherless young man to counsel him toward a path to manhood inspired by Teddy Roosevelt and Thoreau. He introduces Jake to The Order of Actaeon, a secret society built upon Roosevelt’s ideals of masculine virility and virtue.

But the path to maturity is a complex thing in the Gilded Age. Will his journey free him from the Alderdice family illusions, half-truths, and lies that have kept him a child? Or will it lead him into the world of Actaeon, where the hunter becomes the hunted? $0.99 on Kindle.

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The Specter (Waxwood Series: Book 1)

The Specter (Waxwood Series: Book 1)
To what lengths will one go to exorcise a specter?

In 1892, people gather to mourn the death of San Francisco socialite, Penelope Alderdice. Among them is a strange little woman who claims to have known “Grace” as a young woman in the small coastal town of Waxwood. But Vivian, Penelope’s granddaughter, has never heard of Grace or Waxwood.

Vivian journeys to Waxwood and eventually discovers a packet of letters her grandmother wrote forty years ago.

As Vivian confronts the specter that holds the truth to the secrets and myths buried in the family consciousness for forty years, she is forced to examine her grandmother’s life as a mid-19th century debutante and her own life as a Gilded Age belle. $0.99 on Kindle.

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False Fathers (Waxwood Series: Book 1)

False Fathers (Waxwood Series: Book 1)
Sometimes no father is better than a false father.

In 1898 California, Jake Alderdice comes of age as a shy and contemplative youth who is passionate about art. On vacation in Waxwood, now a fashionable resort town, he meets Harland Stevens, who takes an interest in the young man’s artistic ambitions. Stevens seizes upon the fatherless young man to counsel him toward a path to manhood inspired by Teddy Roosevelt and Thoreau. He introduces Jake to The Order of Actaeon, a secret society built upon Roosevelt’s ideals of masculine virility and virtue.

But the path to maturity is a complex thing in the Gilded Age. Will his journey free him from the Alderdice family illusions, half-truths, and lies that have kept him a child? Or will it lead him into the world of Actaeon, where the hunter becomes the hunted? $0.99 on Kindle.

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Our Wild and Precious Lives

Our Wild and Precious Lives
Historical fiction for 15+ as Army brat teens survive life on a small base in Cold War Germany with a WW II hero father with PTSD and Italian war bride mother. Flashbacks to WW II and the Korean Conflict show how emotional war wounds get passed to the next generation. “This was a beautiful and painful book for me to read,” Amazon/Goodreads review. $0.99 on Kindle

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The Secret Keepers

The Secret Keepers
In the summer of 1718, Blackbeard investigates a mysterious island village off the coast of North Carolina. Finding nothing to plunder, he kidnaps three young women, intent on making them his newest wives. But this is no ordinary village, and these are no ordinary women. They have an important mission to complete—one not even Blackbeard can stop. $3.99 on Kindle.

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Catching a Witch: A Novel of Loyalty, Deception, and Superstition

Catching a Witch: A Novel of Loyalty, Deception, and Superstition
What Would You Do to Save Your Best Friend from Burning at the Stake?
The year 1660 is when it all changed…That’s when a witch-hunter comes to Clara Dahl’s seaside village in Norway. She’s horrified to discover how fast her neighbors and friends are to turn against each other. She soon realizes her sleepy, little, picturesque corner of the world has been invaded by evil—and it has nothing to do with witchcraft.

Catching a Witch is a story about a young woman who’s willing to do whatever it takes to protect the people she cares about most in this world. $0.99 on Kindle.

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The Specter (Waxwood Series: Book 1)

The Specter (Waxwood Series: Book 1)
To what lengths will one go to exorcise a specter?

In 1892, people gather to mourn the death of San Francisco socialite, Penelope Alderdice. Among them is a strange little woman who claims to have known “Grace” as a young woman in the small coastal town of Waxwood. But Vivian, Penelope’s granddaughter, has never heard of Grace or Waxwood.

Vivian journeys to Waxwood and eventually discovers a packet of letters her grandmother wrote forty years ago.

As Vivian confronts the specter that holds the truth to the secrets and myths buried in the family consciousness for forty years, she is forced to examine her grandmother’s life as a mid-19th century debutante and her own life as a Gilded Age belle. $0.99 on Kindle.

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Free: Sergei and Hans

Free: Sergei and Hans
Two soldiers from opposite sides of the war.

One Christmas meal that will change their lives forever.An action packed historical thriller where survival is the only thing that matters, SERGEI AND HANS is a story of war, loss, and redemption. Set on the Eastern Front of WWI, on a cruel and unforgiving mountain, and later in a terrifying German prison camp, this fascinating story encapsulates real men and their struggles to survive a war unlike the world has ever seen.

Both soldiers have their own stories to tell. They are “Sergei and Hans.” Free on Kindle.

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Princess of Sky, Earth, Fire and Water

Princess of Sky, Earth, Fire and Water
In 1772, amidst the ancient ruins and standing stones of western Ireland, a young woman inherits an army, a fleet of ships, and special powers.

To keep her magic, she journeys to the East Kingdom and meets her greatest challenge — a warrior prince whose love threatens to destroy them both.

Together, they face ruthless enemies and royal intrigue, fighting for survival and a chance for enduring love. $0.99 on Kindle

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Princess of Wind and Sea

Princess of Wind and Sea
The year is 1773.

It’s a race across the globe as Aisling and the prince travel on a series of secret missions.

From the shores of Asia to the wilds of western Ireland, a chase ensues as dark forces seek to destroy them both.

Aisling’s magical powers are increasing, but enemies lurk around every corner.

The prince must protect her at all costs, as they fight for survival and abiding love. $1.99 on Kindle.

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My Family’s Survival

My Family’s Survival
My Family’s Survival is the incredible true story of how the Shwartz family survived the Holocaust. The #1 New Release on Amazon tells the powerful tale of how one family resisted by escaping the Nazis. Fans of The Tattooist of Auschwitz will enjoy this riveting saga where hope prevails. $0.99 on Kindle.

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Within Darkness

Within Darkness
In this sequel to The Timekeepers Daughter, Abigail Jordan now knows that her mother was protecting her from something far worse than simply becoming a Timekeeper, individuals with the power to see the future but not change it, and upon her move to San Francisco, she attempts to leave all of that behind her and start over, by staying away from the world of the Timekeepers altogether. In this riveting, exciting sequel, Abigail Jordan will once again have her loyalties challenged and be put to the test in more ways than she can imagine. For Abigail, the world of the Timekeepers is about to get even bigger, but the secrets that she uncovers might just prove to be the destruction of them all. $5.99 on Kindle.

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Free: Ismeni

Free: Ismeni
A mysterious beauty, a destiny set in the stars. Born under an inauspicious sign, young Ismeni is feared by her own people. A story of love, passion, and twists of fate through the eyes of the woman who will one day give birth to the legendary Queen of Sheba. Free on Kindle.

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The Munich Girl

The Munich Girl
45
The past may not be done with us. Anna Dahlberg is about to discover the secrets hidden in a portrait of Hitler’s wife. They’ll challenge her every belief about right and wrong, as they reveal the enduring legacies of love that always outlast war. “Hard to put down . . . harder to forget.” —Ink Drop Reviews.  $0.99 on Kindle.

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Madame Presidentess

Madame Presidentess
Forty-eight years before women were granted the right to vote, one woman dared to run for President of the United States, yet her name has been virtually written out of the history books.

This is the story of Victoria Woodhull, woman who was ahead of her time, who dared to speak out and challenge the conventions of post-Civil War America, setting a precedent that is still followed by female politicians today. $0.99 on Kindle.

 

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Michal’s Destiny

Michal’s Destiny
For a young girl growing up in a traditional Jewish settlement in Siberia in 1919, an arranged marriage was a fact of life. And, Michal’s father had just arranged such a marriage for her; marriage to a man she has never met and about whom she knows nothing at all. Michal is understandably terrified. On her wedding night, Michal’s mother assures her that everything will be just fine. It is her duty to be a good and faithful wife to her husband and provide him with strong, healthy children. Perhaps love will grow over time. However, it is still tradition, and Michal has no choice.

But destiny, it seems, has other plans for Michal. When tragedy strikes and she is forced to leave her home and travel to Berlin, even the strongest of traditions can become meaningless. During the peak of the Weimar Republic, Michal, a young girl from a small religious community suddenly finds herself thrust into a world where art and culture are blossoming, and perversion and depravity are rampant. Over the next fourteen tumultuous years, Michal is slowly transformed. She is no longer the scared little girl who stood under a canopy and said “I do” to a stranger. In that girl’s place now stands a strong woman with a life of her own.
However, it is now 1933. Life in Berlin is changing. Dark storm clouds are looming on the horizon. Adolf Hitler is about to become the Chancellor of Germany, and that will change everything forever. $0.99 on Kindle.

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Saving Grace

Saving Grace
Saving Grace, based on a true story, an Amazon top ten hot new release, a #1 bestseller in Australia.

The courtroom drama of the Victorian Age, everyone had an opinion on who poisoned wealthy banker Charles Petrie with his new bride, Grace, as the prime suspect. Did Grace poison Charles? Saving Grace reveals the shocking truth. $0.99 on Kindle.

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Lost Children of the Prophet

Lost Children of the Prophet
Abducted as children. Sold into different lives. Brother and sister struggle to find each other.

After years of separation, Nat succeeds in finding his sister, Ziva. Though he remains a slave, she is a beloved daughter, purchased to replace a lost child. Unfortunately, Nat’s despicable master lusts after Ziva and will do anything to force their mating. Her rejection sets off a devastating chain of events that could send Nat to the mines and ruin her adopted father. Can they avoid the trap set by Nat’s master and protect Ziva and her father?

First in a new series, Lost Children of the Prophet is an ancient historical fiction set in earliest biblical times. Follow the danger and intrigue of this family who fights for each other in near constant turmoil. This book is a must read. $0.99 on Kindle.

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Abandoned Hope

Abandoned Hope

Young, innocent trader Daphne travels with her father to the wicked city of Nod. When her father is abducted, David assists her in freeing him. It becomes a choice between her father and David. $0.99 on Kindle.

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Push Not the River (The Poland Trilogy Book 1)

Push Not the River (The Poland Trilogy Book 1)
Travel back to 1790s Poland and “all the sweep and romance of ‘Gone with the Wind’ and ‘Doctor Zhivago’.” This family saga is based on the diary of a countess at a crossroads in her personal life and in her country’s history. Volume One of the trilogy that just won the 2018 Gold Medal IPPY for a Regional Fiction E-Book. $3.99 on Kindle.

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Free: Maid of Baikal: A Novel of the Russian Civil War

Free: Maid of Baikal: A Novel of the Russian Civil War
What if a Siberian Joan of Arc had rescued the White Armies at a critical point of the Russian Civil War? MAID OF BAIKAL offers an alternative outcome to that war through the intervention of Zhanna Dorokhina, a young woman from the shores of Siberia’s Lake Baikal.

MAID OF BAIKAL is a richly imagined speculation on the Russian Civil War that vividly portrays its violence, bitterness, and hardship, while telling the inspirational story of a determined young woman who perseveres in the face of overwhelming obstacles. Free on Kindle.

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Free: Dreams from Nepal

Free: Dreams from Nepal

A heart wrenching an motivating story of a young boy’s unique journey. A mysterious opportunity changes Ram’s life as he transitions from a simple life in the Himalayan village to Kathmandu, the capital city. Dreams from Nepal is the emotional, powerful story of a twelve-year-old Nepali boy’s journey through faith, love, and unbreakable determination to live a better life. Free on Kindle.

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Eternal Flame

Eternal Flame

16-year-old Julia Olsen’s world is falling apart. Her quarterback boyfriend broke up with her. Her family’s new home under renovation is a mess. Her high school counselor won’t stop harping on about her grades. A time-traveling WW2 soldier crashing into her room is the last thing she needs. In 1944, 18-year-old Edmond Ferris answered the draft and headed to war in France. A chance discovery brought him home to Chicago…in 1989! He’s back in his own room, except a strange girl is living in it. She drives a Japanese car and she listens to Milli Vanilli, a German band.  Is their encounter an error in time or a will of fate? Find out in this timeless tale of two young people whose love for each other knows no bounds. $0.99 on Kindle.

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