How gangsta rap shocked America, made millions, and pulled back the curtain on an urban crisis. How is it that gangsta rap—so dystopian that it struck aspiring Brooklyn rapper and future superstar Jay-Z as “over the top”—was born in Los Angeles, the home of Hollywood, surf, and sun? In the Reagan era, hip-hop was understood to be the music of the inner city and, with rare exception, of New York. Rap was considered the poetry of the street, and it was thought to breed in close quarters, the product of dilapidated tenements, crime-infested housing projects, and graffiti-covered subway cars. To many in the industry, LA was certainly not hard-edged and urban enough to generate authentic hip-hop; a new brand of black rebel music could never come from La-La Land. But it did. In To Live and Defy in LA, Felicia Viator tells the story of the young black men who built gangsta rap and changed LA and the world. She takes readers into South Central, Compton, Long Beach, and Watts two decades after the long hot summer of 1965. This was the world of crack cocaine, street gangs, and Daryl Gates, and it was the environment in which rappers such as Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, and Eazy-E came of age. By the end of the 1980s, these self-styled “ghetto reporters” had fought their way onto the nation’s radio and TV stations and thus into America’s consciousness, mocking law-and-order crusaders, exposing police brutality, outraging both feminists and traditionalists with their often retrograde treatment of sex and gender, and demanding that America confront an urban crisis too often ignored.

When Adam Smith's wife goes into labor with their first child, Adam hits a crisis point. He swore that his life wold be nothing like his mother's--a life he believes was destroyed by the demands of raising him and his brothers and sisters. Now he's backed into a corner, unable to find a way out. But how much does Adam really know about his mother? Grace, Adam's mother, thinks her life is perfect--and so does everyone else she knows. With a loving husband, four beautiful children, and an idyllic life on an Idaho farmstead, she has everything she wants. Then she meets Paul Mayfield, the charming, handsome, single farmer who lives across the road, and her perfect life seems like a sham. How can Grace escape the hollow shell of her former happiness when her only choices are to betray her family or deny her heart? In this passionate and nuanced novel, the seeds of Adam's crisis and Grace's trial by fire blend together to show us that no one knows where the apple will fall.

A Daddy for Christmas Single mother Ellie Grant’s little girl only wants one thing for Christmas: a daddy. But after adopting Gracie and losing her fiancé, Ellie made a vow to focus on motherhood—not romance. But the five-year-old has her sights set on veterinarian Wyatt Wright, a handsome widowed father whose toddler son means an instant brother. Ellie knows that Wyatt’s heart is as closed to love as hers is. Yet when Wyatt also starts working at Wranglers Ranch, Ellie can’t deny her growing feelings. Now her daughter’s fondest wish might make two families into one just in time for Christmas.

A young woman must find her way in the world again after years of nursing her ailing mother in this novel by the bestselling author of Once in a Blue Moon I, Gracie, survived . . . When Mama announced to our family that she had dementia, my brother and sisters insisted they couldn’t help. They had their own lives elsewhere, after all. So, I gave up my dreams and spent the next nine years caring for Mama alone, losing her bit by bit, and nearly losing myself in the process. I, Gracie, started over . . . After Mama finally let go of this world, I let go of that world, too. I left the nightmare of my life with Mama, my family, and West Texas to start over in a new place, far away. It took some doing, but I have a new job, a safe place to live, and even new friends and a man who loves me, broken as I am. But . . . I, Gracie, am scarred . . . Until my past is buried like Mama, I keep my man waiting—struggling with what was and not trusting what is or could be. I, Gracie . . . Am on hold . . .still trying to let go. Praise for New York Times and USA Today–bestselling author Sharon Sala “Sharon Sala is a consummate storyteller.” —Debbie Macomber, #1 New York Times bestselling author “Sala hooks you from the first page.” —Fresh Fiction

You never know what, or who, will touch your heart. Now that Bess Cunningham is in middle school, she's determined to get noticed. With her new glasses, her wild thrift-store clothes, and her job as stage manager for the school play, she's sure her days of being invisible are over. Being forced to volunteer with her parents at the local soup kitchen doesn't exactly fit into Bess's popularity plans, especially since she finds the place so creepy. But when she meets Gracie Jarvis Battle, an elderly homeless woman, Bess can't help but feel compassion for her. Bess grows more involved with trying to feed and shelter the older woman, but as the weather turns colder and Gracie grows thinner, Bess begins to wonder--will her help be enough?

Steeg Patterson believed in three things: God, Country, and Gracie Ofterdahl's love. But as early as the ripe old age of 18, he was certain someone or something was conspiring against him. After high school, the draft board almost corrals him into the Army. When he joins the Navy instead, his first duty station--the U.S.S. Hornet--almost kills him. As war and duty pull him from everything he knows, he trusts Christ to protect the only relationship he would ever want, only to have every prayer go unanswered. Events far beyond his control carry him into the middle of the most momentous technological accomplishment in human history, and his personal life crumbles. Through it all, the sometimes funny, sometimes tragic turns his life takes show him who's really in charge of everything. And, try as he might, he doesn't like it.