Hartfield Chronicles
Lesson 1: Adjusting to a New Life
Melinda knew adjusting to high school would be difficult. But will she flunk out before she even has a chance?
Two hours away from home, Melinda quickly learns that her new boarding school is much more challenging than her public middle school. Her new friends and teacher must become her family. But Melinda never expected the assignments to be this difficult. How will she have time to make new friends if she's constantly studying?
And then there's the boys. For the first time in her life, boys are interested in her as more than a friend. But, will she even have a chance to have a relationship? Or will the coursework become so overwhelming that she will fail out before she has the chance?
When an old friend re-enters her life, Melinda must learn how to balance school with her social life if she wants to succeed at Hartfield.
When you finish reading Melinda's story, flip the book over to read Pat's story.
Patrick McGregor is one of the most recognized faces in Hollywood. But sometimes, he just wants to be a normal sixteen-year-old.
Pat thought missing the beginning of the school year to film a new movie on location in Hawaii sounded ideal. But, for the first time in his life, his family isn't around to keep him company. A demanding film schedule and lackadaisical tutor don't help combat the homesickness.
When a family member falls ill, Pat must examine the true meaning of family.
First, my parents tell me they want to send me to a private high school. Despite my protests, they insist I will find it more challenging and be less bored in class. Just as I'm warming up to the idea, they drop their bombshell.
The school is two hours away from home!
That's right. My parents want me to live at school. I don't want to go. But they're not giving me a choice.
I have to leave behind my best friends to build a new life at my new school. Will I be able to build a new family? Or will homesickness get the better of me?
Eliot just wanted to play a new game. Who knew his life was about to change?
The first week of high school hasn't been easy for Eliot. He hardly gets to see his friends anymore. So when his best friend invites him to play a new RPG, Eliot is excited.
Except, Eliot never realized they would be playing for real. And then the cops arrive.
This short story accompaniment to Hartfield Chronicles shows how being in the wrong place at the wrong time lands Eliot in Oakville.
I also want to thank everyone who responded to my request for alpha readers. While that project has enough readers, I have two more that are looking for readers. As an Alpha reader, you will receive an edited copy of the manuscript. Hopefully all grammatical and typographical errors have been erased, but feel free to point them out if you see any. I am mostly interested in your thoughts of the overall story. Are the characters relatable? Is the pacing okay? Did you notice any major plot holes?
YA Romance
When his movie finally finishes filming, Pat can't wait to return to Hartfield to spend time with his brother. But Walter would rather pretend they're complete strangers. At least his friend doesn't seem to mind him hanging around.
Melinda has just about figured out how to balance her schoolwork with her new dance class and friends. She's even found a way to spend some time with her boyfriend, Eliot. Life should be perfect, right?
Except for the fact that Eliot doesn't like that Melinda's best friend is a boy. Or that Melinda happens to be friends with a famous actor.
And just when Melinda thinks her life can't get any more complicated, an unexpected kiss forces her to reexamine they way she thinks about one of her friends.
Cozy Mystery
It's almost opening day for FossilLand Amusement Park and Director of Marketing Emma is ready. The newly renovated kiddie park is ready to open, the new staff is being trained, and the rats in the kitchen are dead.
But Rats in the kitchen are just the beginning. But dead bodies and vandalism? Not to mention the detective who thinks fhe midway is haunted.
Coffee in hand, Emma sets out to determine who is determined to ruin her park as she races to save opening day.
Hartfield Chronicles
Season 4 of Hartfield Chronicles has arrived!
When Melinda is invited to join a new dance class, she sees this as her big break, a chance to advance her skills. Before she can accept, however, another kind of break stops her in her tracks.
Pat wants to be the supportive boyfriend, but his efforts seem to be making Melinda uncomfortable. He can’t go to his own friends for advice, because they can’t understand.
After Melinda calls for another type of break, she and Pat must examine their relationship to determine whether they are meant for each other.
Hartfield Chronicles follows the lives of Melinda, Pat, and their friends as they navigate their way through boarding school life. Each episode features two stories, one from Melinda's point of view and one from Pat's, along with an excerpt from Melinda's writing journal. New episodes are published every Friday.
Here's what you missed:
Episode 72: Melinda is invited to a new dance class
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Aurelia is the humble daughter of the village miller who possesses a certain talent for the spinning wheel. Although she does not know many people, her best friend Sandor has always been there for her. But, Sandor has never told Aurelia his biggest secret. Before he can, the king arrests her, locking her in the tower and ordering her to spin straw into gold. While Sandor races to free her, Aurelia turns to the only other person who has shown her friendship, the mysterious stranger who appeared on her doorstep only days earlier. Can he help her to survive?
For mystery readers
Paint the Town Dead
Sybil Johnson
Rory is excited for the upcoming painting convention in the brand new Akaw hotel. But not everyone in town shares her excitement. Residents are protesting the hotel, threatening those involved in its development. Even though Rory only created the hotel website and app, someone throws a rock through her window. When people start dying, she finds herself trying to figure out whether it's all connected.
Free Books
The Beat on Ruby's Street
A unique historical middle grade novel!
The last thing eleven-year-old Ruby Tabeata expected to happen on her way to a Jack Kerouac reading was to be hauled to the police station.
It’s 1958 and Ruby is the opposite of a 1950s stereotype: fierce, funny and strong willed, she is only just starting to chart her course in a family of Beat Generation artists in Greenwich Village. Ruby dreams of meeting famous poets while becoming one herself; instead, she’s accused of trying to steal fruit from a local vendor and is forced to live in a children’s home.
As Ruby struggles to return to family and friends, she learns her only choice is to follow her heart.
Join Ruby’s journey as she finds unexpected friendships, the courage to rebel against unjust authority and the healing power of art in this inspiring middle-grade novel by Jenna Zark.
At the Duke's Command
A historical romance
A powerful duke inherited her home.
Why does he think he inherited her?
When a powerful duke inherits Grace’s home, she is furious. Why does the overprotective man think he can dictate her life? He makes a deal to allow her to keep it – if she accompanies him to society. She hasn’t a choice if she wants to regain her freedom, yet she will resist him.
Benjamin Williams, the Duke of Torrance, cannot allow the enticing woman to remain in dangerous circumstances, no matter her protests. He plans to find her a suitable husband, yet soon it becomes apparent he cannot let the clever and spirited woman go. They grow closer every day, delighting in witty conversation and stolen kisses. Soon he will claim his duchess and prove she is…
At the duke’s command.
The Coroner
Coszyish Mystery
A Missing Treasure. A Suspect Suicide. A Mystery Unsolved
When an eccentric millionaire presents at the Dublin Coroner's Office to report a found treasure, Benjamin Stirling sends him on to the National Museum. It is only when the man is found dead on his land on Tarrow Island and no treasure is mentioned when Stirling begins to get suspicious.
Aged and recently widowed, Stirling makes inquiries but is stumped at every turn. He decides to take matters into his own hands and find out the truth once and for all. Heading down to the Atlantic West Coast of Ireland, he intends to find out what happened to Nicholas Sparks and the vanishing Spanish Armada Gold he claimed to have unearthed
Local police, councilmen and other officials are no help to him and Stirling must rely on his own wits and the local people for his answers. The more he finds out the more determined he is that Spark's death was no suicide. Something much more sinister is at work here.
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Other Books on Sale
Life and Other Complications
2021 Readers' Favorite Silver Medalist
Aly Bennet has been in love with her friend Luke for years. She hasn’t told him how she feels for two reasons. 1) She’s the girl with HIV. 2) She lied about how she got it.
Aly never meant to lie. The words just slipped out on her first day of a support group for kids living with life-threatening conditions. It was the day she met Luke and Caroline, who would become her best friends and the closest thing she has to a family. After so many years, Aly doesn’t know how to tell her friends the truth. So she paints and she runs and she tries not to think about the future she can’t have.
But when a Boston prosecutor asks Aly to testify in a trial—and her relationship with Luke intensifies—things become complicated. If she testifies, Luke and Caroline will learn the truth—that Aly has been lying to them for most of a decade. If she doesn’t, a monster could go free, again.
A New Beginning
A Small-Town Romance
Three years since her divorce, and Paris Nicholson was still very pessimistic about dating again. With her ex-husband being a popular movie star, the hounding from the press and the general public took its toll on her. As a successful magazine editor, Paris has everything to live for career-wise. She buries the loneliness and throws herself into work. Her best friend, Summer manages to convince her to take a vacation to the picturesque, charming town of Dawn Falls. Meeting the bachelor of the town, Liam Blake has set her heart aflame in a way that she had never experienced before.
But the men she falls in love with always find a way to hurt her by leaving, one way or the other. And when Liam’s secret is revealed it breaks her heart all over again, will she forgive him and find a way to save the man she loves?
Coffee, Angels, and Murder
Snowflake Bay Cozy Mysteries Book 1
You try solving a murder with a novice angel getting in your way!
Wren King has just had the worst date of her life. Her father is a gambler. Her life is directionless and lonely. Then a bossy angel appears to sort Wren's life out. Fiona is an angel who won’t take no for an answer.
All is going well until the local coffee shop owner is murdered and Wren’s father is accused of the foul deed. Can Wren and her angel partner sort through the clues and the suspects (including a drag queen gangster, a cheating wife, and a son with a terrible secret) and discover the real murderer?
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