Showing results by narrator "Rick Barr" in All Categories

Running from her abusive grandfather—broken and afraid—17-year-old Valentia Brocato flees her homeland, hoping for a brighter future in America. Little does she realize that America is about to enter its own conflict—The Great War.

Chased from their life by scandal, Ilianna Winters and her mother desperately seek a new beginning. But tragedy continues to plague the Winters as they seek out a place to rebuild their lives. As the world totters on the brink of madness, Ilianna finds compassion among her companions in the Ladies Victory League. Still, social constraints and dark secrets hamper the young woman’s potential within high society—until she is blessed to find a kindred spirit amongst her correspondence.

In 1917 every man, woman, and child was called to civic duty as the “war to end all wars” encompassed the globe. When the patriotic call comes, Adella begins her campaign of encouragement by corresponding with the frightened and lonely soldiers. On the cusp of adulthood, the young woman is tired of living a cosseted life and hopes to gain her parents' support when she wants to volunteer her services to the war effort. Her mother worries for her safety, but Adella is more concerned for her heart.

The last thing Orchid Canning expected when she traveled West with her father was to lose him to smallpox. Alone and desperate to fulfill his dream of photographing people’s plights along the Oregon Trail, she finds herself in Last Chance, Nebraska, seeking a husband who will help her accomplish this goal. Will her life’s savings of 10,000 dollars be enough to convince a man to marry her? Aidan MacVeigh is going under. The drought has ruined everything he has worked for all these years. Can one young woman with a camera and an ambitious dream save him?

When America declared war on the German Empire in 1917, young men were drafted and thrown into the conflict on the Western Front. A group of young women decided to help the war effort by writing to the soldiers. As Matrice Hamilton corresponds with several young men, only one claims her heart. Will he come home to her if he survives the carnage on the frontlines? If so, can they find love and fulfillment together, or will the dark clouds of war overshadow them forever?

To say Maeva Stewart is not a patient young woman is an understatement. Full of ideas, she meets life head on—usually with her best friend and neighbor, Ruby Risler. Aside from Ruby’s good qualities as a friend, she also has a brother, Leo. After giving cookies to the men leaving the train station for Camp Douglas, Maeva begins writing letters to those she doesn’t know. Then, drawing upon an untapped well of courage, she writes to tell Leo how she feels about him. A telegram changes everything when Leo is injured in France, and Maeva wants to go to him.

Tatianna Murray joins her best friends in writing to the men headed for Europe during World War I. Ryan’s letters stand out from the others. Two strangers find within the words something they both share: loneliness and the loss of their parents. As the correspondence continues, they find love, although they’ve never met. While in the horrific war, Ryan carries a bit of Tatianna with him, a golden cross. When Ryan’s letters stop, Tatianna worries. Is he wounded, dead, or imprisoned by the enemy?

When an explosive conflict is determined to destroy lives the world over, Ruby Rose Risler undertakes her patriotic responsibility to the Doughboys being called to defend liberty “over there.” But Ruby’s civic duty becomes a labor of love when her newest pen pal sparks a sweet interest. Farm boy Earnest Steiner cannot fathom the scope of the task before him when he’s pulled from small town America and dropped into the trenches of France. But the touching letters he receives from a gentle young woman provide a lifeline during his time on the Western Front.

Lara Cummings came to Last Chance with her sister for a new life, far away from the farm where her inquisitive nature always seemed to land her in trouble. Living on her cousins' ranch sounded ideal...until the drought came. Mitchell King wants as far away from Colorado as he can get. But opportunities to work are slim, and when he arrives in Last Chance, he's more than willing to take a job on a ranch in exchange for room and board. Of course, the pretty, mischievous redhead who lives there makes it all the easier to decide to stay.

Rosella Tihold and her family spent years as travelling musicians with Hammerman’s Cultural Musicale. But when her brother is injured at Gettysburg, the young singer’s priorities shift, and the lure of a place to call home settles in Rosella’s heart. Longing for stability, Gier Knudsen risks everything when he sends for a mail-order bride. But the secret he is hiding will certainly be a detriment to his well-laid plans. So he requests that the marriage be performed by proxy, in hopes that by the time the truth is known, the new Mrs. Knudsen will give him a chance.

When his girlfriend disappears, Jack Mathews' only option is to drive if he ever wants to see her again. He's got nothing but time, which is quickly running out. Five Hours is a nonstop thrill ride that never slows down. This short story is an adrenaline rush where nothing is what it seems.

Cecily James is determined to save Last Chance, Nebraska, from another tragedy. As the drought consumes everything around her, she wonders if her prospects are drying up with it. Left alone in a destitute town, she learns of a device that can drill for water previously unreachable. She expects this could be the answer the town prayed for. What she doesn’t expect is a handsome drill operator who makes her flame up like a match to a tumbleweed.

Fighting to keep the remnant of her family alive, Mara Peterson eschews the company of most of her neighbors in the small logging town of Widow’s Ridge. Instead, she prefers the safety and security of the trading post her grandfather established long before the big woods of Wisconsin were felled. But when she is pressed to marry for the sake of the Whistler family legacy, Mara accepts an unconventional solution to the problem—and finds herself knee-deep in enemy territory trying to avoid bounty hunters and government agents.

Roxane Quinn has worked for years toward becoming the event coordinator for the hotel her father runs in Quinn Valley. As soon as she starts the new position, she hears that the only man she has ever loved has moved back to town and is now running a business out of a taco truck. She’s worried she won’t be able to keep her heart intact with her high school sweetheart so close.

A female rookie cop in Mobile, Alabama, finds an African-American teenager’s bones and a ring in the bottom of an abandoned well. Her training officer confiscates the ring and blames the rookie. Recruit Carly Redmund is in big trouble: She could lose her job if Field Training Officer Grey doesn't turn in the ring, or worse, be charged with withholding evidence. What she doesn't know is a white supremacist group is conspiring with Officer Grey's brother and mayoral candidate to manipulate the facts for political reasons.

A bitter shell encases Winona Brandt’s heart - keeping everything in and everyone out. But, when she meets a silver-haired legal eagle, Noni discovers something poignant and promising. A second chance at love offers hope and healing; but, haunting echoes of past regrets plague Winona’s ability to commit to a new relationship.

The path to self-destruction beckons to Maggie Thompson in the midst of her grief and shame; but, God's tender call to restoration is never far behind. A paralyzing heartache staggers John Brandt after a profound loss rocks his world. And the heart of the Father grieves with him. Can the Brandt and Thompson families find hope in God's promises for the future and still deal with haunting echoes from the past?

A fascist administration rounds up undesirables. Terrorist groups strike governmental and religious targets. The constitution is under assault. Erec Stebbins’s China Girl is a controversial look at an America that is all too close to reality, radioactive in its timely examination of extremism in the nation.

In March 2012, a serial killer provokes terror in South Bend, Indiana, near the University of Notre Dame. The notorious FBI agent Jack Savage is hunting the serial killer, desperately trying to stop another brutal murder in the town where he "Woke up the Echoes" and led the fighting Irish to a national championship in 1977. The serial killer brutally tortures his victims while always keeping one heart-pounding step ahead of law enforcement.

Arthur C. Benson tackles many aspects of fear head-on and provides fascinating insight into the root causes of fear and how we can overcome them.