One family. Five incredible stories.

Tossing her belongings into a suitcase and escaping heartbreak seemed like
the best idea for Rhea Conners. She’d simply travel across the
ocean to visit her grandfather in Ireland and heal. Then she’d come
back. Simple. But what she doesn’t expect is to find solace and
healing in the form of the O’Rifcan family. One member in
particular: Claron.

Claron enjoyed his life farming the land his grandparents gifted him. He
lived his life quietly and contentedly, until Rhea arrived. He’d
steered clear of relationships and entanglements since his last
heartbreak, but something about Roland’s granddaughter twists him
up inside. Something about Rhea has him rethinking his life of
solitude.

Two hearts. One chance. Can Rhea and Claron overcome past hurts to make a
new beginning?

Charm, beauty, and the promise of a new adventure had Heidi Rustler eagerly
flying across the ocean to visit her best friend, Rhea Conners. Heidi
needed a change of scenery, a change of pace, and a little
excitement, and that is the promise that awaited her in Ireland.
However, Rhea’s stories of the incredible family she’d come to
know intrigued Heidi the most. Particularly the stories of Riley O’Rifcan.

Riley loved his life. He spent his days traveling for work, loving on his
family, and flirting with feminine faces. He never once thought about
settling down. Until Heidi. The bold and beautiful woman from Texas
stampeded into his world and challenged his commitment-free and
easy-going lifestyle.

Two hearts. One chance. Can Heidi and Riley recognize their opportunity
for a new and different kind of adventure?

Beautiful, flirtatious, and charming are just a few of the words that describe
Layla O’Rifcan, and she is proud of them. She enjoys the art of
flirting and entangling the hearts of handsome men with her own. But
with her eyes set upon starting her new business, she might just miss
the one man that could change her life for the better.

Delaney Hawkins loves his job. Yes, he may work too much, but he is happy
with the direction his life is headed. All until he meets Layla
O’Rifcan. The spunky O’Rifcan sister who bewitches him from the
start has him trying to balance work with what he hopes to be a
budding relationship.

Two hearts. One chance. Can Layla and Delaney set aside their work and
ambition to take a chance on love?

Strong, sweet, and beautiful not only describes Chloe O’Rifcan but also the
flowers she works with. As her brother’s wedding approaches, Chloe
finds herself neck deep in wedding planning and projects that require
the help of a dear friend.

Conor McCarthy is one of the closest friends to the O’Rifcan family, but
he’s also a talented carpenter hopping from one project to the
next. But when Chloe asks him to build an archway for a wedding prop,
Conor finds himself working hand in hand with the youngest sister,
and he can’t help but be impressed by Chloe’s skill and her sweet heart.

Two Hearts. One Chance. Can Chloe and Conor progress from family friends
to more?

Grit, determination, and independence had Piper O’Beirne setting her
roots in Galway. The successful manager of one of the hottest pubs in
the city, she never dreamed of moving or starting over. Until Murphy.

Murphy O’Rifcan loved his work. He spent all his time grooming his pub to
be the best in County Clare. However, the hectic demands of the pub
had him looking for help from the one person he knew he could trust,
but the one person he knew did not want to move to Castlebrook. He
found his professional pursuit of Piper twisted along the way and he
wished Piper would accept the job for other reasons. Him.

Two Hearts. One Chance. Can Piper and Murphy learn to work together at
the pub and in love?

Grab your copy today!

I have spent thirteen years as a religious education teacher and have
lived and worked in New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. For the
past decade, I have served as a Eucharistic minister at my local
Catholic church, bringing the Eucharist to community nursing homes.
After raising a family in CT, my husband and I became Florida
Residents though continue to spend time in CT where I continue in my
ministry

My debut novel is a contemporary Spiritual Mystery that transcends three genres: Mystery, Spirituality, and Romance. I love to write imaginative stories for
all ages! I hope you enjoy this story and look out for more to follow!

But it is not at all what I expected. Between the glitz,
the glam, the fame, fortune, and my recent wedding, it’s almost
impossible to believe that a civil war rages beyond the capitol
city’s walls, and that my life was nearly taken because of it. This
is why, the day after the attempt on my life, I choose to designate
my Purpose to the great war.

There’s no guarantee that my
words will change anything. But as my presence within the Glittering
City grows, it becomes quickly apparent that I am in danger… and
that no one, not even my government, can save me.

From running half marathons to being the sickest person in the hospital,
Maria Papalia-Meier fought the river of death, and won.

Life changing moments, amputations, and negative thoughts refused to keep
her down. With her rock-hard stubbornness, positive self-empowerment
and persistence, she grabbed hope and unflinching faith to face the
life handed to her. Her story offers an honest, tough-love approach
to defeating pre-determined opinions, and self-imposed limitations.
She refused to give up or give in.

Maria Papalia-Meier is a runner. She has awoken stronger…better.

This is her story.

but she proved them wrong. I am a Runner is
about surviving sepsis, a coma, and amputation. Maria has a BBA
with an emphasis in Human Resources, and has worked for Fed-Ex for
twenty years. As an athlete she has many accomplishments. Before her
battle with the river of death she’d competed and ran in multiple
5K’s. She was told she’d never run again. She proved the naysayers
wrong. Her athletic accomplishments include running in a 5K, and a
1/2 Marathon.

An escape from a life of abuse and hardship in the form of a ticket on a
ship set for Honeycomb. Taken from a dead woman’s purse, it’s a one
way ticket to a new pristine planet, to heaven.

Will she be able to pull it off and get out alive?

Or will two rabid cops, a zombie AI and a level full of monsters in
her way keep her escaping?

And what about that bio-engineered murderer dogging her steps. He wants out
as bad as she does!

Reclusive writer from the Pacific Northwest.

Hates peanut butter loves Mojitos (sin alcohol, por favor). Sometimes found around 60 feet (ca. 18 m) underwater in the Puget Sound or at about the same depth in the blue and clear waters of Cozumel hovering over a coral reef and hoping to see a shark or a large majestic green turtle.

“I love thinking of the intersection of new science and horror, the future haunted houses could be space stations or our own scientifically enhanced and hacked bodies,”

 

The Stories We Live

“A Divided Mind” started with a phone call. It was the day before a major college kickoff event I had helped plan for more than a year. I was crazily finalizing last-minute details when my son, Kyle, called saying he needed to talk. I still remember my exasperation from being bothered at work. What? What could it be now? With four children to support, I was finally getting my boots on the ground as an adjunct professor. My placement on the planning committee was a huge step forward in my career. An interruption at work meant a disruption in what I was trying to build.

When I pressed Kyle for an answer, he started to back away from the conversation. That’s when I knew. I knew it was more than a phone call. And suddenly, I couldn’t breathe or stop my mind from racing – pregnant girlfriend, drugs, failing a class? What I heard in reply wasn’t at all what I expected.

“I’m hearing voices.”

I didn’t understand what was happening to my son. I only knew I wanted it to go away. The campus event no longer mattered. In trying to build “something,” I let what truly matters – family, children, home life – break down. As I sat in the waiting room at the counseling center while my son saw an emergency intake specialist, my only focus was on my little boy. At, 6’1 my 18-year-old was far from little. He was my gentle giant, my brave heart. Together we navigated the world of mental health without any clue what was ahead. During this time, the journalist in me surfaced. I asked a lot of questions, which I wasn’t always sure I wanted to know the answer.

By delving into the darkness, Kyle shared with me demons I never knew he battled. It was heartbreaking and heroic. The story we lived became the story we told – with a twist. What started out as a quest for answers, turned into a fictionalized, chilling story of what could happen if a divided mind was left untreated.

The book wrote itself. Yet, the manuscript for, “A Divided Mind” stayed on my desktop for four years. Kyle wanted the book published the minute we finished, but I wasn’t as brave.

It’s taken me four years to allow this story to be released into the world. I wasn’t about to just place it in anyone’s hands. Every member of the publishing team at Tangled Tree is family to me and my son. They get it. I have been included and have had a voice in every aspect of this process.

So when I considered authors I’d approach for a cover quote, I was equally as selective. Two authors, whose work I have long admired and have met personally, which only heightened my respect for them, topped my wish list.

I knew it was a big ask. But it was one I was willing to make.

Tiffany Reisz and Nina McConigley answered my request with kindness, heart, and professionalism. It’s more than I asked for and nothing short of awesome.

The first person I shared their generous endorsement quotes with was Kyle, who texted back, “Hell yeah!”

Four years later, my son is set to graduate from the University of Wyoming in May. I’ve never known anyone who has worked harder for their future than Kyle. In July, “A Divided Mind,” the story we wrote during the darkest period in our lives will take flight.

I’ll let Tiffany and Nina’s advanced praise do the rest of the talking.

 

“A Divided Mind is a raw emotional drama about a mother’s worst nightmare… A gripping page-turner, I couldn’t put it down until I read the final gasp-inducing line.”

—Tiffany Reisz, USA Today Bestselling Author

 

“This tightly crafted thriller tricks you – it carefully assembles everything you think you know, and then reveals what you didn’t see coming. Taut and deftly rendered, Billiter delivers a smart, searing novel. This well-paced story skillfully shows a mother’s love and the levels we will go to protect our families. The narrators keeping you reading, and questioning everything we hold true in our own minds. This book is an uncompromising view of the bond between mother and child, and the stories we tell each other in order to survive.”

— Nina McConigley, author of Cowboys and East Indians, winner of the PEN Open Book Award

 

www.mbilliter.com

 

A hundred years ago, it was the Trial of the Century. A young woman
stood accused of brutally murdering her father and stepmother in a
crime so heinous that it became a benchmark in human tragedy.

A hundred years later, the Lizzie Borden case still resounds in the
imagination. There are those who staunchly defend Lizzie’s
innocence while others vehemently declare that she did it, and that
the murder was justified.

In Elizabeth Engstrom’s brilliant novel, the dark psychology of the
Borden household is laid bare. Lizzie, her sister Emma and their
parents Andrew and Abby Borden, are sharply illuminated—as are the
paranoia and concealed hatred that secretly ruled the family.
Domestic violence and dysfunctional families are not inventions of
modern times.

After eight years on Oahu, she moved to Maui, found a business partner and
opened an advertising agency. One husband, two children and five
years later, she sold the agency to her partner and had enough seed
money to try her hand at full time fiction writing, her lifelong
dream. With the help of her mentor, science fiction great Theodore
Sturgeon, When Darkness Loves Us was published.

Engstrom moved to Eugene, Oregon in 1986, where she lives with her husband Al
Cratty, the legendary muskie fisherman, and their Duck Tolling
Retriever, Jook. Liz holds a BA in English Literature and Creative
Writing and a Master of Arts in Applied Theology, both from
Marylhurst University. A recluse at heart, she still emerges into
public occasionally to speak at a writers conference, or to teach a
class on various aspects of writing the novel, essay, article or
short story. An avid knitter and gardener, she is on faculty at the
University of Phoenix and is always working on the next book.