THE STORY: Frankie, a traditional girl from a traditional town, has been leading an untraditional life. For over twenty years she has been Fred's girlfriend, and though she longs to be married, Fred has never asked--until now. Why the change of hear
Frankie and Phil Fasino and Carlo Cardoni grew up together in a poor Italian neighborhood in Newark, New Jersey, during the Depression and World War II. Times were bad, and for them stealing was a way of life. The brothers, Frankie and Phil, end up working for the Mafia, while their childhood friend Carlo joins the Army Air Force. While Carlo is in the military, the brothers become wise guys and unscrupulous businessmen. After four years of service, Carlo pursues life as a police officer to get away from the criminal element of his old buddies, or so he thought. However, using the problems within his everyday life as an excuse, Carlo accepts favors from his past friends and their capo regime. Favors that he knows must someday be repaid. His old buddies Frankie and Phil continually try to talk him into leaving the New Jersey police force and joining them, but he is committed to his wife and children and being a police officer. Once again, he tries to get away from their influence. He moves to California and joins the Los Angeles police force. But a few years later his friends move their criminal activities to San Diego. Carlo learns they are there and again begins accepting favors from them. The time comes for Carlo to honor his commitment. His friend Frankie informs him of how the Family expects him to repay their favors. Carlo knows he must do as asked and agrees to participate in the proposed crime. But things go awry, and he’s caught by the police and ends up in jail. The judge is paid off by the capo regime, and Carlo goes free. Now he is faced with a major decision and decides to join the Family.
Questions of guilt, responsibility, fate and friendship pervade these beautiful plays, tied together by the love and faith of a progressive Abbot from another time. ...SPAIN...commands our attention and offers a probative look at crises of conscience. --NY T
In Matters of Choice, Iris Lopez presents a comprehensive analysis of the dichotomous views that have portrayed sterilization either as part of a coercive program of population control or as a means of voluntary, even liberating, fertility control by individual women. Drawing upon her twenty-five years of research on sterilized Puerto Rican women from five different families in Brooklyn, Lopez untangles the interplay between how women make fertility decisions and their social, economic, cultural, and historical constraints. Weaving together the voices of these women, she covers the history of sterilization and eugenics, societal pressures to have fewer children, a lack of adequate health care, patterns of gender inequality, and misinformation provided by doctors and family members.
She’s been hired to find the man’s sons… …what Frankie finds is so much more! Frankie can’t believe that the man she’d met in Dallas is none other than the man she’d been hired to find. But there’s more to this story. And Kade Wilson challenges Frankie to resolve another mystery. Vowing not to fall under his charms once again, Frankie can’t resist the allure of the challenge. But can she resist the man who is dangerous to her heart? Kade has worked his whole life alone and prefers it that way. So when Frankie sweetly shows up on his doorstep, he’s stunned to find himself pulled in deeper into those enigmatic green eyes of hers. But before he can lure Frankie into a happily ever after, he needs her to figure out a much more sinister problem. Will the past rise up to destroy this precious love they’ve found?
The first novel in the new "MixTape" series, follows seven young adults from small city Camden, New Jersey learning more about their struggles in adulthood while trying to maintain a strong foundation of friendship.
The holidays bring two exciting suspense stories by author Laura Scott Her Mistletoe Protector After her son is abducted, Rachel Simon turns to the one lawman who can help her find Joey before the kidnappers’ Christmas deadline. Racing against the clock, Detective Nick Butler will have to put all his investigative skills to the test if mother and son are to be reunited—and if he wants a chance of making them his family. Identity Crisis When his ex-fiancée goes missing, Gage Drummond asks her twin for help. Though an accident has left Mallory Roth with amnesia, she’ll do anything for her twin. But with one sister missing—and another missing her memories—it’s obvious their enemies are playing for keeps…and that with Mallory, Gage is fighting a losing battle for his heart.
TAKEN! Pinned inside her wrecked car, Rachel Simon is powerless to stop her son's abduction. Unless she can come up with one million dollars, Joey won't survive until Christmas. With her son's life hanging in the balance, Rachel turns to the one lawman who can help her. His own painful past still shadowing him, Detective Nick Butler is determined not to fail. Racing against a ticking clock, Nick will have to put all his investigative skills to the test if mother and son are to be reunited—and then perhaps he might have a chance at the redeeming power of love.