Adult

When Martha, a wife and mother of three, sits down to write out the invitations to her 80th birthday celebration, she knows that what she is planning to reveal at the party could ruin the idyllic life she and her husband David have spent over 50 years building. As the story unfolds, each character reveals the secrets, joys and tragedies they are wrestling with through the confines of the family. What will happen when Martha finally tells the truth?

Ella is young, beautiful and deeply in love --- until her husband dies in a tragic sailing accident while trying to save her. Or so she'll have everyone believe. Screenwriter Hunter needs a hit, but crippling writers' block and a serious lack of motivation are getting him nowhere. He's on the lookout for a love story. It doesn't matter who it belongs to. When Hunter and Ella meet in Watersend, South Carolina, it feels like the perfect match, something close to fate. But one lie leads to another, and soon they find themselves caught in a web of deceit.

When a shocking family secret is revealed, twenty-something journalist Cat Coombs finds herself falling into a dark spiral. Wild, glamorous nights out in London and raging hangovers the next day become her norm, leading to a terrible mistake one night while visiting family in America. When she returns home, she confronts the unavoidable reality of her life and knows it's time to grow up. As the years pass, Cat grows into her 40s, a struggling single mother, coping with a new-found sobriety and determined to finally make amends.

From New York Times bestselling author Jane Green comes an original short story featuring Jemima, the main character from Green's beloved novel JEMIMA J, and Cat, the main character from her upcoming novel SUMMER SECRETS.

Sarah Markham loves her husband Tom. They've been married for eighteen happy years, but on some level, she worries that he doesn't see her as she really is. And nowhere is this more evident than in his gift giving. This year, when their anniversary rolls around, Sarah tells him, "I want you to think and to look at me and to see who I really am and what I really want." Can Tom rise to the challenge? Find out in this delightful 16-page short story that includes a teaser from bestselling author Barbara Delinsky's forthcoming novel BLUEPRINTS, which will be in stores on June 9th. 

Stunned by the death of his mentally ill brother, Mark Barr returns to his hometown in West Virginia for Steve's funeral, only to find out that his estranged family has no such plans. He discovers that his family’s memory (as well as his own) of his brother as a broken, hopeless schizophrenic is belied by mounting evidence that Steve had lived a much fuller and more complicated life. Armed with this new knowledge, Mark tears off on a mission to honor his brother’s memory with justice and compassion.

Bryan Pierce is an internationally famous artist; each one of his canvases is inspired by an unusually vivid dream. When Bryan awakes, he possesses extraordinary new skills. All his life, he has wondered if his dreams are recollections. Linz Jacobs is a neurogeneticist who is confronted with an exact rendering of a recurring nightmare at one of Bryan's shows. She tracks down the elusive artist, and their meeting triggers Bryan's most powerful dream yet: visions of a team of scientists who, on the verge of discovering a cure for Alzheimer's, died in a lab explosion decades ago.

It’s November, and Miss Julia is looking forward to some quiet time before the holidays. That is until snobby Connie Clayborn and her rich husband move to town. At first, Miss Julia and the other ladies are pleased to be invited over for coffee, but the afternoon turns into a slap in the face when their hostess spouts nonstop criticism about Abbotsville. Days later, Miss Julia finds Connie dead on the kitchen floor. She will need to find out who's responsible as soon as possible --- particularly because her fingerprints are now all over the crime scene.

The stories in Austin Bunn’s collection explore the existential question: What happens at “the end” and what lies beyond it? In “How to Win an Unwinnable War,” a summer class on nuclear war for gifted teenagers turns a struggling family upside down. A young couple’s idyllic beach honeymoon is interrupted by terrorism in the lush, haunting “Getting There and Away.” When an immersive videogame begins turning off in the heartbreaking “Griefer,” an obsessive player falls in love with a mysterious player in the final hours of a world.

In this hectic life, it's easy to forget that God is always near at hand, even though He sends us frequent reminders. The beauty amid the mess, a well-timed word of encouragement from a friend, the memories that won't let go of our hearts --- they're all ways God extends an open hand to us. But if we're not paying attention, we can miss it. Combining heartfelt stories from some of today's foremost writers with Dawn Camp's stunning photography of God's incredible creation, THE BEAUTY IS GRACE is your haven of calm contemplation amid the chaos.