April White

From a historian and senior editor at Atlas Obscura, a fascinating account of the daring nineteenth-century women who moved to South Dakota to divorce their husbands and start living on their own terms. For a woman traveling without her husband in the late nineteenth century, there was only one reason to take the train all the way to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, one sure to garner disapproval from fellow passengers. On the American frontier, the new state offered a tempting freedom often difficult to obtain elsewhere: divorce. With the laxest divorce laws in the country, five railroad lines, and the finest hotel for hundreds of miles, the small city became the unexpected headquarters for unhappy spouses—infamous around the world as The Divorce Colony. These society divorcees put Sioux Falls at the center of a heated national debate over the future of American marriage. As clashes mounted in the country's gossip columns, church halls, courtrooms and even the White House, the women caught in the crosshairs in Sioux Falls geared up for a fight they didn't go looking for, a fight that was the only path to their freedom. In The Divorce Colony, writer and historian April White unveils the incredible social, political, and personal dramas that unfolded in Sioux Falls and reverberated around the country through the stories of four very different women: Maggie De Stuers, a descendent of the influential New York Astors whose divorce captivated the world; Mary Nevins Blaine, a daughter-in-law to a presidential hopeful with a vendetta against her meddling mother-in-law; Blanche Molineux, an aspiring actress escaping a husband she believed to be a murderer; and Flora Bigelow Dodge, a vivacious woman determined, against all odds, to obtain a "dignified" divorce. Entertaining, enlightening, and utterly feminist, The Divorce Colony is a rich, deeply researched tapestry of social history and human drama that reads like a novel. Amidst salacious newspaper headlines, juicy court documents, and high-profile cameos from the era's most well-known players, this story lays bare the journey of the turn-of-the-century socialites who took their lives into their own hands and reshaped the country's attitudes about marriage and divorce.

** 2021 RWA Vivian Award Finalist – Romantic Suspense ** ** Finalist in the 2020 Next Generation Indie Book Awards ** There are three things you need to know about Shane P.I. 1) P.I. is not her last name, it’s her job title, 2) Her specialty is catching cheaters, and 3) She’s a superhuman – kind of. Gabriel is a security expert for Cipher Security, and a former UN Peacekeeper with a fierce protective streak that finds its focus on the beautiful P.I. Their attraction is like an elephant in a room full of breakable things, and figuring out how to trust each other with their hearts, and maybe their lives, is the most fragile thing of all. ‘Code of Conduct’ is a full-length contemporary romantic suspense, can be read as a standalone, and is book #1 in the Cipher Security series, Knitting in the City World, Penny Reid Book Universe.

There are three things you need to know about Oliver Curran: 1) He’s a fabulously wealthy playboy who incidentally happens to be a code-writing genius, 2) For maybe the first time in his life, he’s trying to do the right thing, and 3) Someone wants him dead. Oliver’s life has already been saved once by the gorgeous yet grumpy “close protection specialist” provided by Cipher Security, Dallas Profeit. She calls him uncooperative. He’d prefer to think of himself as unpredictable and stimulating. Tomato – tomahto. But when an assassin gets way too close for comfort, the party boy is whisked away from the lively city where he’s the social king, to the desolate Yukon wilderness where Dallas is a master of survival (and grumpiness). Living wild and isolated reveals several illuminating truths, and suddenly they both find themselves in uncharted territory where grumpy can be sexy, sarcasm might be hot, capable is definitely dangerous, and trust is the strongest survival skill of all. Code of Ethics is book #3 in the Cipher Security Series. It is a full-length enemies-to-lovers romantic suspense novel, and can be read as a standalone.

There are three things you need to know about the Collins twins: 1) One is falling in love, 2) One is getting married, and 3) You’re all invited to the party. Anna knows what she wants and she doesn’t hesitate to go after it. Adventure is her passion, and a wedding is just an excuse to gather with friends and family. Colette loves “events,” and wants her sister to have the biggest and best. But Anna doesn’t care about how things look, and Colette cares too much, especially where Sterling Gray is concerned. Will this celebration tear the sisters apart? Or will it end in twin happily-ever-afters? Code of Matrimony is book number 2.5 of the Cipher Security series, and can be read as a standalone, though the author doesn’t advise doing so.

2020 Next Generation Indie Book Grand Prize Winner 2020 Foreword Reviews Indie Awards Finalist In the fall of 1849, Edgar Allan Poe disappeared. He was missing for five days, and was then found wandering near Gunnar's Hall in Baltimore, delirious and possibly drunk, wearing strange clothes and carrying a cane. Poe died four days later in a Baltimore hospital, never having regained proper consciousness except to call out for a mysterious person by the name of “Reynolds.” Of course Poe was a Clocker, and I knew I would write that story someday. What I hadn't expected was who would find Poe when he stumbled into the 21st Century. Her name is Alexandra "Ren" Reynolds, and she has a secret too.

A painting, a panic room, a thief, and her lover … whose job is to catch her. There are three things you need to know about Anna. 1) She’s a bounty hunter with adrenaline junkie habits, 2) She’s the “awkward” twin, and 3) She’s a thief – kind of. Darius designs security systems for Cipher Security, and the strange and remarkable woman he met the night the painting was stolen is as intriguing a mystery as his hunt for the thief is. But the lady has no filter, and she knows she can’t lie to the man who looks like a Disney Prince and kisses like fairytales are true, so she runs from the one person who may actually see her as the heroine of her own story.

Seventeen-year-old tagger Saira Elian can handle anything... a mother who mysteriously disappears, a stranger who stalks her around London, and even the noble English Grandmother who kicked Saira and her mother out of the family. But when an old graffiti tag in a tube station transports Saira to the 19th Century and she comes face-to-face with Jack the Ripper, she realizes she needs help after all. Saira meets Archer, a charming student who helps her blend in as much as a tall, modern American teen can in Victorian England. He reveals the existence of the Immortals: Time, Nature, Fate, War and Death, and explains to Saira that it is possible to move between centuries – if you are a Descendant of Time. Saira finds unexpected friendships at a boarding school for Immortal Descendants and a complicated love with a young man from the past. But time is running out for her mother, and Saira must embrace her new identity as she hides from Archer a devastating secret about his future that may cost him his life.