Showing results by author "Virginia Smith" in All Categories

We live in a world designed to make us hate our bodies. By the time children start school, most have learned that 'fat' is bad. As they get older, many pursue thinness to survive in a society that ties their value to their size. Meanwhile, multibillion-dollar industries thrive on our insecurities, and the medical system pushes weight loss at almost any cost. Talking to researchers, doctors, and activists, as well as parents and young people, Virginia Sole-Smith lays bare how diet culture has perpetuated a crisis of disordered eating and body hatred.

It's 1851, and Evie Lawrence is penniless and heartbroken after a failed romance. When a kind elderly man announces his plan to move west and make his fortune, Evie jumps at the chance to go with him and start a new life. She says goodbye to the only home she's ever known and sets out for the Northwest. There she meets Noah Hughes, a handsome young man who has gambled everything he owns on the chance to make a fresh start. Living the rugged life of a lumberjack, he too is determined to one day make his fortune.

This short story is the perfect introduction to best-selling author Virginia Smith's latest series, Tales from the Goose Creek B&B. Set in the years before the Richardsons launch their bed and breakfast scheme, the quirky residents of the small Kentucky town are all in a tizzy over the upcoming Fall Festival. Alison, Al and Millie's headstrong daughter, astounds everyone with the news that she's getting married - in three weeks - to a Colombian!

Things are finally starting to fall into a steady rhythm in the small town of Goose Creek, Kentucky. Millie Richardson is hard at work renovating a drafty Victorian house into a B&B. Her husband, Al, is busy writing checks for the renovations. And the new vet, Susan, has finally found acceptance from the town -- not to mention a hunky new boyfriend, Justin.

1886: Jesse Montgomery is beginning to feel restless. Though he’s grateful to his friends Colin and Emma for helping him get on his feet again after a few bad choices and some hard living, surely the Lord doesn’t want him to stay in Apple Grove forever. Doesn’t the Almighty have plans for this reformed rowdy cowboy to build a life of his own? When an unscrupulous cattle baron tries to steal Amish land, Jesse intervenes and is wounded. Lovely Katie Miller, the young healer in the district, attends to him while trying to guard her heart.

This program is read by the author. In this illuminating narrative on the daily onslaught of body shame that kids face from peers, school, diet culture, and parents themselves, journalist Virginia Sole-Smith offers a compelling, reported look at how families can change the conversation around...

Blake Fisher won’t let anyone destroy the life she’s built. So when a silver-spoon-in-his-mouth snob refuses to listen to her proposed deal, the hardworking real estate agent sneaks her way onto his land to demand a face-to-face meeting. But while she hits it off with his rambunctious trio of brothers, she’s determined not to yield an inch to her onetime crush…even after they share a bone-melting kiss.

Discovering the simple pleasure of having someone to share the load, Landry grapples with uncertainty when she is called to New York City to respond to a medical crisis. And though Davis is unsure where their relationship stands in her absence, even the start of a global pandemic can’t dim his dreams of sliding a ring onto her finger.

M’Kenzee Davenport knows love doesn’t last. So despite marrying her high school crush on a whim in Vegas, the gritty photojournalist never believed the union was real. But when her husband-in-name-only goes missing on a mission for the FBI, she’s stunned to receive his effects as next-of-kin.

Max Davenport craves a break from the press. Constantly on the run from paparazzi and over-enthusiastic women, the football star takes to the small town of Green Hills to embrace a simpler lifestyle with his sister. But his pulse unexpectedly quickens when he discovers his sibling’s usually frumpy-dressed friend swimming in his backyard pool…opening his eyes to her breathtaking beauty.

Maree Davenport refuses to let a tearful past rule her future. After losing her parents at the age of five, the big-hearted fabric designer is determined to embrace her feelings and find happiness no matter what. So when she literally runs over a handsome new firefighter in the produce section, the hopeless romantic is certain she’s just collided with destiny.

All Darcie wants is a fresh start, but on her first day of work at her new job, she stumbles across a gruesome discovery - the body of a murdered man. If that weren't enough, the detective in charge of the investigation names Darcie as his prime suspect. She's surrounded by distrust and suspicion - and the eerie sense that someone's been in her apartment going through her things.

When Karina's kid brother is accused of a gang-style killing, she calls the only person she knows who might be able to clear his name - her ex-boyfriend, Mason Sinclair. Though Mason dreads returning to Albuquerque where his wife was murdered, he can't say no to Karina. Before long he's neck-deep in assault rifles and has thrust Karina into the crosshairs of the same desperate criminals who killed his wife. It will take all his skills and those of his Falsely Accused Support Team buddies to keep her alive.

Attending a stranger’s memorial service wasn’t at the top of Kelli Jackson’s to-do list. Especially when that stranger was her own mother. To receive her inheritance Kelli must abide by the conditions of her late mother’s will. She is forced work as a zookeeper for six months with animals that terrify her. Since she needs to money to help support her aging grandmother, she must figure out a way to balance her career as a tax accountant with this new - thankfully temporary - assignment.

While on a business trip to Las Vegas, Lauren Bradley’s coworker is murdered - and she’s identified as the police’s number one suspect. With a shaky alibi and the evidence mounting against her, she places a desperate call to her boss. She and Brent set out to find the real killer, but nothing is as it seems in this city. Their only lead is a chance encounter with a troop of entertainers. Together, Lauren and Brent uncover an illegal operation that stretches all the way back home to Atlanta. Can they expose the desperate killer before one of them becomes the next victim?

Whether you’re a CEO or a grunt in the mail room, who you believe you are determines what you achieve. Steve Jobs understood this principle from his study of Zen Buddhism. By following its precept of “Beginner’s Mind”, he cut through the resistance to new ideas and his inventions became the cornerstone for the world’s first trillion-dollar company. An extension of that concept means having the courage to accept “what is, is”, or being “accountable” for one’s results, positive or negative.

A pod of 15 spinner dolphins have welcomed author Virginia C. Smith as one of their own for 22 years. Listen to the story of her life and the magical influence and guidance she experienced and how it helped her deal with life and love in the human world.

1884. Several years earlier, young Rebecca Switzer lost her heart to Jesse Montgomery, a rugged but dissolute cowboy on a dusty cattle trail near the Amish settlement of Apple Grove. Now, she is grown up, and when she hears one day that he has been spotted nearby, her desire is plain and simple: She must see him. Sheriff Colin Maddox is counting the days until he can leave law enforcement and follow his dream of starting a church.

Tori Sanderson has the professional opportunity of a lifetime. If she can prove she's executive material, she's in line for a big promotion. But there's only room for one new account executive, and her co-worker has his eye on the job--and on Tori. Her matchmaking sisters have a handsome handyman in mind for her. But how can she consider romance when she couldn't hold on to the one man who was supposed to love her forever--her own father? The time has come for answers, and Tori decides to search out the father who deserted her twelve years ago. While Tori may find the answers she craves, will she ever be able to love again?

An exciting new Amish-meets-Wild West adventure from bestselling authors Lori Copeland and Virginia Smith weaves an entertaining and romantic tale for devoted fans and new readers. Kansas,1881--On a trip to visit relatives, Emma Switzer's Amish family is robbed of all their possessions, leaving them destitute and stranded on the prairie. Walking into the nearest trading settlement, they pray to the Lord for someone to help. When a man lands in the dust at her feet, Emma looks down at him and thinks, The Lord might have cleaned him up first. Luke Carson, heading up his first cattle drive, is not planning on being the answer to anyone's prayers, but it looks as though God has something else in mind for this kind and gentle man. Plain and rugged--do the two mix? And what happens when a dedicated Amish woman and a stubborn trail boss prove to be each other's match?