A journalist searches for the truth behind the traditional folk song, and a free black woman’s role in the Texas Revolution. The legend of the Yellow Rose of Texas holds an indisputable place in Lone Star culture, tethered to a familiar song that has served as a Civil War marching tune, a pop chart staple, and a halftime anthem. Almost two centuries of Texas mythmaking successfully muddled fact with fable in song, and the true story of Emily D. West remains mired in dispute and unrecognizable beneath the tales that grew up around it. The complete truth may never be recovered, but in this book Lora-Marie Bernard seeks an honest account honoring the grit and determination that brought a free black woman from the abolitionist riots of Connecticut to the thick of a bloody Texas revolution. A Lone Star native who grew up immersed in the Yellow Rose legend, Bernard also traces other stories that legend has obscured, including the connection between Emily D. West and plans for a free black colony in Texas. Includes illustrations

For the first time, the true story of "The Yellow Rose of Texas" is told in full, revealing a host of new insights and perspectives on one of America's most popular stories. For generations, the Yellow Rose of Texas has been one of America's most popular western myths, growing larger over time and little resembling the truth of what happened on April 21, 1836, at the battle of San Jacinto, where a new Texas Republic won its independence. The woman who has been popularly connected to the story was an ordinary but also quite remarkable free black woman from the North, Emily D. West. This work reconstructs her experience, places it in full context and explores the evolution of a most fanciful myth.

Cover subtitle: The secession of the Lone Star state.

City girl Reagan Sullivan may know her way around New York City, but nothing back East has prepared her for the land of armadillos and tall Texans. Chasing after adventure to blur an unhappy past, the highly independent Reagan has landed a job out West—but quite clearly she is not out to land a husband. When the gentle rancher Cash Rawlings comes into her life, Reagan finds herself intrigued with the man and his faith—but love and commitment are adventures this city girl has vowed never to embark upon. Will Reagan be able to come to terms with her fragile past and discover a new way of living without fear? And will the faith and peace that belong to so many of her new friends ever enter her own life? About This Series: Grab your hat and horse and head to the Lone Star state in the pages of the popular Yellow Rose Trilogy (nearly 500,000 sold)! Lori's engaging characters, heartwarming romances, and inspirational truths team with fresh new covers to please fans and win new readers everywhere.

A heartwarming love story set against the backdrop of communist rule and oppression in post-war Hungary-an engaging read that puts you in the middle of international intrigue and conflicting family loyalties as a young girl comes of age and discovers her own values and boundaries.' -Teresa Carlson VP, Global Public Sector, Amazon When young, ambitious Anna Toth is kicked out of school for opposing the fast-growing Communist movement in her country, Hungary, her future plans are extinguished. So she must take the job she least desires: become a maid. When a new tenant, American diplomat Stephen Koczak, moves into the apartment she tends to, Anna chooses to work for him, despite opposition from her family, friends, and society in general and despite her growing admiration for him. When a young, handsome, Hungarian secret police agent named Laszlo asks to date her, she knows she must agree, even though she knows it is an arranged relationship to be used to spy on her and her American boss. With a forbidden admiration for her boss and a fake courtship with a member of the secret police, Anna's life is left tense and puzzling for months on end. So when Koczak is forced to leave the country, Anna must decide her fate as well. Find out in A Single Yellow Rose if Anna attempts to stay in the only country she's ever known-unprotected-or follows her dreams and her heart to another place?

"Stella's mama never should've put Stella on the church prayer list. With Stella's twenty-seventh birthday coming up fast, Nancy desperately wants to see her daughter married and giving her grandbabies. Petitioning heaven seems like a surefire way to get it done. But in Cadillac, Texas, where the gossip's hotter than the city's famous jalapeano peppers, it isn't long before all hell breaks loose. Heather, the bossy leader of the church's Prayer Angels, thinks a summer ball will get Stella and the town's other single gals paired off. But nobody can tell redheaded spitfire Stella what to do--not her mama, not Heather, and not even the sexy beau Stella's been seeing in secret. Together, Stella, her best friends Charlotte and Piper, and the loyal customers of the Yellow Rose Beauty Shop hatch a good old-fashioned scheme to sabotage the ball. But will it wreck Stella's relationship with her mama forever? And what will the church folk think when Stella reveals the identity of her mystery man?"--Page [4] cover.