After a lifetime of mistakes...can Kassandra ever be forgiven?New York City, 1841When Reverend Joseph plucks a gravely wounded child from the mean streets of Manhattan's rough Five Points District, he intends to give her a real home. And though Kassandra flourishes in the preacher's house, learning Bible verses at his knee and going to school, as a young teenager she makes the first of many devastating decisions, running away from the only haven she's ever known.What follows is a waking nightmare: life in a tiny room above a brothel, the loss of a child, a lover's rejection, and finally, life as a prostitute. As circumstances lead her further and further from the reverend's secure home, an ashamed Kassandra is certain that neither God, nor Joseph, will ever forgive her.Feeling as though she has nothing left to lose and nowhere to go, Kassandra leaves behind her hopes of redemption and heads west to California, where she is transformed...

He'd lost his zest for life. She was just lost. Will they find the healing and love they long for? After a roaring night on the town, fun-loving flapper Lilly Margolis, dazed and disoriented, twists her ankle and falls into the backyard of a wealthy family where the effects of the Great War--over for more than half a decade--are still endured. Inside the walls of the Burnside mansion, Cullen Burnside, a disillusioned and disfigured veteran, and his widowed mother, Betty Ruth, who daily slips a little further into dementia, lead a lonely existence ... until Lilly. Whimsical, lighthearted, and beautiful, she rejuvenates their sad, disconnected lives and blossoms in the light of their attention.But Lilly, like Cullen, is hiding from a painful past. And when Cullen insists on returning her to her faraway home, their budding attraction seems destined to die on the vine. The resulting road trip becomes a journey of self-discovery--but what will Cullen and Lilly...

Unfit for Love? Pregnant-by a man who will never know or care. Gloria, born into a life of prostitution, sees only one solution: get rid of the child. But then she meets John William MacGregan, a miner, left with a newborn daughter and no one to care for her when his wife died during childbirth. So John and Gloria strike a deal. Gloria will care for Kate, and John will eventually raise her son. There is no offer of, nor seeking for, a hand in marriage. When John leaves the mines to seek his fortune in the new Oregon Territory , Gloria, Kate, and baby Danny must go with him. Yanked away from a life of prostitution, Gloria must finally face the pain that has always plagued her, and her longings for a home, a family, and a life free from shame. Ten Thousand Charmsis a beautiful tale of an empty heart floundering...and falling straight into the arms of Christ. A woman with no future. A man with no hope. A God who knows the key to their deepest need lies in each other... Wyoming Territories, 1860.Gloria is in trouble. A mining camp is a merciless place when you're young, pregnant...and a prostitute. No matter. Life will notdefeat her. John William McGregan is in despair. His beloved wife died in childbirth. And while John is a resourceful man, raising an infant daughter on his own seems impossible. Thrown together by a seemingly cruel fate, Gloria and John William make a pact: She will nurse his daughter; he will raise her son. Neither asks for marriage. They are joined by necessity, nothing more. But after a move to the new Oregon territory, facing John William's faith day after day, and receiving an older woman's motherly mentoring, Gloria longs for something more. For the love she's been denied all her life. If only that life hadn't made her unfit, not only for John William...but for God. Then tragedy strikes-making even the resolute John William question his faith. Terrified, Gloria turns to the One she has never been able to trust. But can even God save what now means more to Gloria than life itself: her newfound family? READER'S GUIDE INCLUDED "If you took Fran cine River ''s classic Redeeming Loveand merged it with Janette Oke''s quaint prairie style, you could almost envision the masterpiece Allison Pittman has created with her poignant tale of God''s redemptive power. If you''re in need of a fresh touch of God''s grace, TenThousand Charmsis the story for you." Janice Thompson, author of Hurricane "Are you thirsty, weary, or heavy laden? Come-rest and let Allison Pittman take you to another place and time where you will find joy resting in the arms of Jesus." Lauren L. Briggs, author of The Art of Helping, What to Say and Do When Someone is Hurting, Making the Blue Plate Special, and The Joy of Family Legacies {include James Scott Bell endorsement on front cover} " Ten Thousand Charmsis a terrific debut for writer Allison Pittman, a tale of love and redemption that grabs you and won't let go. It will leave you like it left me-anxious to see this author's future work." James Scott Bell, bestselling author of Presumed Guilty Story Behind the Book "Having grown up watching reruns of Gunsmoke, I knew all about Miss Kitty and the prostitute-with-a-heart-of-gold cliché. But when I looked at those women, I couldn't imagine their hearts full of gold. Their hearts were just empty. That's when Gloria was conceived. The story itself came about much later, when at church we sang 'Come Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy.' The chorus promises, 'In the arms of my dear Savior there are ten thousand charms.' This was the gold Gloria's heart needed. I wanted to write a story about a woman who fallsinto the arms of Christ, not even really knowing that she is seeking Him." -Allison K. Pittman

Camilla Fox is alive. The last thing she remembers is being lost in the snow after leaving her home to escape the Mormon faith she no longer calls her own. She's been taken in by the 5th Infantry Regiment of the US Army and given over to the personal care of Captain Charles Brandon. As she regains her strength, memories of her two children she had to leave behind come flooding back, threatening to break her heart. Camilla is determined to reunite with her daughters. But when news of her father's grave illness reaches her, she knows she must return to the family farm to reconcile with her father. As spring arrives, Camilla returns to Salt Lake City a changed woman, but nothing could prepare her for the changes to the city, to the Mormon church, and to the family she left behind.

It Only Takes an Instant for Love to StrikeTragedy hits the Allenhouse family on a hot summer night in Ohio when a mother of four vanished. Eight-year-old Vada virtually grew up overnight and raised her three younger sisters while her father lost himself in his medical practice in the basement of their home. Now, Vada is a grown woman, still making her home with her father and sisters. Her days are spent serving as an errand girl for Cleveland's fledgling amateur orchestra; her evenings with Garrison Walker, her devoted, if passionless, beau. Dizzying change occurs the day the Brooklyn Bridegrooms come to town to play the Cleveland Spiders and a line drive wallops the head of a spectator. The fan is whisked to the Allenhouse parlor, and questions swirl about the anonymous, unconscious man. Suddenly, the subdued house is filled with visitors, from a flirtatious, would-be sports writer to the Bridegrooms' handsome star hitter to the...