In exchange for a bad debt, an Anglo-Dutch trader takes on Florens, a young slave girl, who feels abandoned by her slave mother and who searches for love--first from an older servant woman at her master's new home, and then from a handsome free blacksmith.

This touching story follows the lives of the Baxter family as Erin and Sam attempt to adopt a child. As the family looks forward to a heartwarming reunion, they find out that Mr. and Mrs. Baxter have a secret that could change their lives forever.

When Cody is left on the front step of the Petersons' house, Lizzie and Charles refuse to stop until they have found the perfect home for Cody.

When Gage and Anna meet Lily, a pregnant, homeless teenager, it seems that fate has brought them together. Lily agrees to give the couple her baby in return for financial support, but something isn't right. Gage finds himself being sabotaged at home and work, and his attempts to uncover the truth only seem to make his life unravel faster.

"Charles and Lizzie Peterson love puppies. Their family fosters these young dogs, giving them love and proper care, until they can find the perfect forever home. When Lizzie meets Muttley at Caring Paws, she doesn't feel her usual excitement about the puppy. The little mutt prefers to spend all of his time sleeping. But the Petersons quickly learn that the heroic dog always come through when he is needed most"--P. [4] of cover.

"Penobscot Indian Molly Ayer is close to 'aging out' out of the foster care system. A community service position helping an elderly woman clean out her home is the only thing keeping Molly out of juvie and worse.... As she helps Vivian sort through her possessions and memories, Molly learns that she and Vivian aren't as different as they seem to be. A young Irish immigrant orphaned in New York City, Vivian was put on a train to the Midwest with hundreds...

"Molly Arnette is very good at keeping secrets. She and her husband live in San Diego, where they hope to soon adopt a baby. But the process terrifies her. As the questions and background checks come one after another, Molly worries that the truth she's kept hidden about her North Carolina childhood will rise to the surface and destroy not only her chance at adoption, but her marriage as well. She ran away from her family twenty years ago after a...

"The sun beamed down on Melissa Henderson's shining dark hair, pinned up on her head in a loose knot, as sweat ran down her face, and the muscles in her long, lithe arms were taut with effort as she worked. She was lost in concentration, sanding a door of the house in the Berkshire Mountains in Massachusetts that had been her salvation. She had bought it four years before. It had been weather-beaten, shabby and in serious need of repair when she found...

Flora and Ruby's Aunt Allie is about to adopt the baby she always wanted and the whole family is excited.

Isabelle McAvoy (58), private art consultant in New York City. The first half of the book focuses on her past, having three daughters with three different men and following her through each of those relationships. Her first love was a reclusive American living in France, much older than her, who was always a part of their daughter's life, though they never married. Her second husband went to prison for fraud when Isabelle was pregnant with her second...