Showing results by author "A. Rivers" in All Categories

Christmas is the most important holiday of the year. After the corresponding days that exalt the national pride of each country, such as Independence Day in the US, Victory Day in Russia, or Bastille Day in France, it's December 25 that articulates the life, the work, and the economy in much of the world, including many non-Christian countries. Since ancient times, the beginning of winter has been the occasion for most people to eat, drink, dance, and get together to beat the drum and take a break.

Many ancient civilizations have influenced and inspired people in the 21st century. The Greeks and Romans continue to fascinate the West today. But of all the world's civilizations, none have intrigued people more than the Mayans, whose culture, astronomy, language, and mysterious disappearance all continue to captivate people. In 2012 especially, there was a renewed focus on the Mayans, whose advanced calendar led many to speculate the world would end on the same date the Mayan calendar ends.

To say Edith Stein lived a remarkable life would be a dramatic understatement. Born in Breslau (then part of Germany) at the end of the 19th century, Edith was raised as an observant jew, only to turn her back on religion right around the time World War I devastated the continent. In the wake of the war, during which she earned a doctorate and began working as an assistant at the University of Freiburg, she began reading the works of the legendary St. Teresa of Ávila, one of the most influential Catholic saints in history.

Behind the men who shaped history are the heroes who forever changed it. In The Warrior, beloved author Francine Rivers illuminates the life of Caleb, a man whose faith and zeal for God helped lead God's people into the Promised Land. Discover a man full of passion, humility, and faith, a man who encouraged Joshua and stood strong in the face of sin. The Warrior also includes a Bible study on the life of Caleb, suitable for individual use or group discussion.

Of all the colorful characters that inhabited the West during the 19th century, the most famous of them all is Wyatt Earp (1848-1929), who has long been regarded as the embodiment of the Wild West. Considered the "toughest and deadliest gunman of his day", Earp symbolized the swagger, the heroism, and even the lawlessness of the West.

How much of the past do you carry with you? It's a question FBI Agent Emma Griffin has dealt with throughout her career. This time is different. Months after a case brought her face to face with her own past and an unresolved disappearance that haunted her, she finds herself delving into the past of one of those closest to her. She learns about the turning moment of Dean's life and the torment that still follows him as they try to find closure for him. The investigation brings up another question possibly more difficult than the first.

When Maude Chambliss first arrives at Retreat, the seasonal home of her husband's aristocratic family, she is a 19-year-old bride fresh from South Carolina's Low Country. Among the patrician men and women who reside in the summer colony on the coast of Maine, her gypsy-like beauty and impulsive behavior immediately brand her an outsider. She, as well as everyone else, is certain she will never fit in. And of course, she doesn't, at first.

After a home invasion landed Emma in a comatose state. Sam faces another shocking event as he finds himself fighting off an assassin in Emma’s hospital room. Someone obviously wanted to keep Emma quiet forever. But the question is, why?

Emerging from France's catastrophic 1940 defeat like a bedraggled and rather sinister phoenix, the French State – better known to history as Vichy France or the Vichy Regime after its spa-town capital, stands in history as a unique and bizarre creation of German Fuhrer Adolf Hitler's European conquests. A patchwork of paradoxes and contradictions, the Vichy Regime maintained a quasi-independent French nation for some time after the Third Reich invasion.

When the body of a "bride," clutching a bloody invitation is found in a shallow grave with flower petals scattered around, FBI agent Emma Griffin is called to the scene. Initial reports about the victim’s disappearance were conflicting. Some believed she had simply gotten cold feet, just a “runaway bride”. While her family feared something far more sinister occurred. When another “bride” is found in a similar fashion, it seems as though a serial killer is sending a message.

Vern - seven months pregnant and desperate to escape the strict religious compound where she was raised - flees for the shelter of the woods. There, she gives birth to twins, and plans to raise them far from the influence of the outside world. But even in the forest, Vern is a hunted woman. Forced to fight back against the community that refuses to let her go, she unleashes incredible brutality far beyond what a person should be capable of, her body wracked by inexplicable and uncanny changes.

Growing up, the only place tomboy Thayer Wentworth felt at home was at her summer camp - Camp Sherwood Forest in the North Carolina Mountains. It was there that she came alive and where she met Nick Abrams, her first love...and first heartbreak.

Finding out Ares, the god of war, is my father was a shock. Finding out I'm destined to lead his troops out of the aether and overthrow Cronus himself? Hades, Loki, and Fenrir are the last three people I'd want to be stranded with, but the only way we're getting out of this hellscape is by working together. If they think I'm going to forget all their wicked games just because we have a common goal, they're dead wrong. The Queen is taking her throne back, and these three gorgeous jerks are going to have to grovel if they want forgiveness.

Stuntman and two-time cancer survivor Memphis Haines excels at beating the odds. When he's presented with the opportunity to help his ex-boyfriend with a charity event, he jumps at the chance to make up for the devastating way he left Tyler 10 years ago. Memphis might have taken the college geek's virginity, but the former mathlete is now a hell of a head turner.

After the 17-year-old Kelly Winters went missing in Florida, Ava James worked tirelessly on the case, only to reach a dead end. She had lost hope of finding the truth behind Kelly’s mysterious disappearance. Until she received a shocking call. In the middle of the Oahu rainforest, physically battered, but with an unbreakable determination, Kelly Winters pushed her body to the limit to escape her captors. Upon hearing the young girl’s story, Ava makes a promise to Kelly that she will follow through until all the other victims are found.

It has been months since the horror of Windsor Island. FBI agent Emma Griffin has fully settled back in Sherwood. Balancing her time between the Bureau, the local police, and making sense of her ex-boyfriend’s mysterious death. When her cousin Dean shows up for an impromptu visit and brings along a strange missing person's case. The case of Lakyn Monroe that he still can't untangle, she's willing to help him puzzle it out. They get drawn into a string of murders and disappearances.

When a group of friends arrive at their remote Lake House rental, all is seemingly serene. But when one friend turns up missing and another is found dead. The group’s getaway takes the most horrifying turn. And by the time FBI Agent Ava James arrives on the case, a gruesome and traumatizing scene is the only remnants of the once perfectly planned getaway.

After a few hiccups and mix-ups, she is seated on an aisle seat. The window seat that should have been hers is taken by a beautiful young woman with red hair. After making a note of her surroundings, Ava decides to get some shut-eye. A few hours into the flight, Ava is abruptly woken up from a nightmare. As she takes notes of her surroundings once more, she notices something off about the woman in the window seat.

No one should live day-to-day just to exist. It only took an invite from a person I’ve never met to a place I didn’t know existed to tempt me to walk…no, run away from everything I knew. How sad is it when I’m the last one to see that my crappy life needs a do-over? Starting over in my midlife wasn’t exactly the plan. But with the discovery that I actually have an aunt I never knew existed, magic is real, humans can turn into animals, and there might even be a real freaking dragon living in Guardian Lake—I can’t help but hope there has to be a better life waiting for me.

The Fae war is coming, and I'm caught right in the middle. My father, the ruthless Unseelie king, is dead. It should have been our moment of triumph. Instead, we find ourselves hiding in London from our ancient enemies, the Seelie. From Roan’s city mansion, we need to unite the six Unseelie courts to fight back. Unfortunately, centuries-old feuds make this almost impossible. To make things worse, there’s no good reason for anyone to listen to us. After all, I’m just a pixie bastard. Did I mention that my dread powers are gone?