Showing results by author "Diane Ganzer Baum" in All Categories

“when you look at yourself in the mirror, who do you see?” Andy had it all. A home. A wife. Two kids. A successful career. Andy also had a drinking problem. Because of that, he lost it all, becoming homeless. Then his world caved in completely when his wife and daughter were killed...ironically, by a drunk driver. Sammy also had it all. Beautiful wife. Beautiful home. From the outside looking in, it was a seemingly great life. Sammy lived his life with wild abandon. No one could tell him what to do or how to do it. Until the night he became the impetus for massively changing the ...

Willow Pond Farm was a haven for Ritchie back when he was a lost, rebellious teenager. When he inherited it, it was his decision to continue to offer it as a safe haven for children in need of a place to stay... Summer and Sierra are two sisters whose horrific past culminates in their being removed from an abusive mother and placed into foster care at Willow Pond Farm. A chronic worrier, Summer has a secret fear that only increases her anxieties during her stay, while Sierra, feeling protective of her older sister, can only wonder what they did wrong to end up being taken away from the only...

Twelve years before, he thought he'd die a grumpy old man. His past dictated that nothing good had ever happened before, so why should it change now? It was when he placed an ad on an online dating site that his life changed immensely. Yet how would she feel about him once she realized the truth about his past...would she be like the rest who'd used him and then, leave...? Or would she be the one who could forgive him enough to stay?

The world of meth is a harrowing place. Do a line, take a hit or shoot it up and you enter a world that can soon grow out of control. People, places, things mean nothing because you are free falling. The more you enter, the more you’ll never want to leave until the day--you never come back. This is the story as seen through the eyes of a child who grows to adulthood watching her own mother disintegrate from meth use. The men. The booze. The sex. The drugs…it becomes ever-consuming, until her daughter becomes nothing more to her than a fuzzy memory. All this child has are memories of a ...

Dakota is a Labrador retriever pup whose life began with abuse and neglect. Just when it seemed like she was doomed to a life of sadness, along came her hero in a boy named Alex. With Alex, she learns what trust is as they become best buddies, exploring the farm and the adventures that await them down the trail. That summer, a mysterious “something” has been discovered in the lake by Alex’s house. Although the townsfolk in the small town of Hibbing, Minnesota speculate on what it could be, no one really knows…until Alex is confronted by it one hot, summer day. Although fearless, not...

It was their senior year in high school...class of 1983...a time when their dreams and hopes lay before them... What if... you had the chance to go back in time with the hope that a love now kindled could have been realized earlier? Would you? Sara was now married to the love of her life, but always wondered what her life would have been like had she met him sooner. Then came that chance—an unexpected trip back twenty five years in time. He was a small town rebel who had won her heart. Then a tragic accident almost took his life, followed by news that would change his destiny...for a ...

Ever wonder what life ‘on the road’ is like? Rob convinced the love of his life, Elizabeth, to become a truck driver. Despite the fact that she is a “chicken sh*t wussy,” she gives it her all. Not rain, not snow nor dead of night interferes with truckers and their destination. Unfortunately, it’s the long days, the sleepless nights, the rules and regulations of the road, not to mention truck stop fare, that quickly make her realize that even love has it’s limits. In a world still dominated by men, she proves she can do what’s required of her, provided it’s sunny, flat and 75...

It has been ten years since Elizabeth gave up her truck driving job with Rob, but her greatest journey is just beginning. Rob has COPD and was told he must either give up his current lifestyle, or succumb to the ravages of his illness. As much as Elizabeth wants to spend a lifetime with him, she is watching as time is slipping by and taking him with it. Despite her best efforts, she realizes that he too, will become another statistic and so, must make the decisions that will either prolong his life or else, lose it. Being a caregiver is never easy. Neither is watching someone you love ...

It's been many years since "Patrick the Wayward Setter," and many changes have taken place, too. With the passing of Mike and the Anderson children having grown up and moving on, Sarah is alone, until she meets up with Rob. With Patrick's approval, they marry and settle into a new routine. It is the sad passing of Patrick that leaves Sarah feeling lost. Enter Patti, an adorable English setter puppy who looks just like Patrick. However, her puppy antics make all of Patrick's adventures pale in comparison, which has Sarah questioning why she is raising yet another setter, when her heart has ...

"Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen..." Losing a job often brings panic and uncertainty. Days turn into weeks, then months. You do everything right...fill out applications, update resumes, go to hiring fairs and still, no word from anyone. Bills pile up, money runs out...then what? Bill was terminated from his truck driver job due to a misunderstanding that sent him into a downward spiral of self pity. Withdrawing into himself, he uses alcohol as a retreat, leaving his wife, Tracy, to pick up the pieces. Just when they thought they had an answer...

Alcoholism. It's a journey only those who have taken can understand. Imagine a life where your very existence is dependent upon drinking. At first, it begins as just having fun while partying...or maybe life's situations has forced you to drink to forget the pain. Soon, it becomes out of control. All or nothing. You know that to continue, you will lose everything you have...including sooner or later...your life - or someone else's. Yet the seductive lure of Lady Alcohol constantly calls your name. She is your mistress - your lover- the one you will give up everything else for, just to keep ...

western historical fiction. Was it by chance that Rachel Callahan answered an ad for help on a dairy farm in Luck, Wisconsin? Was it by choice that Colt Shepard met her, the memories he still carried of his Lizzy and the horseshoe she had given him haunted him so much that he left the farm for an uncertain future? Was it by chance that he won it all in a poker game, only to lose his freedom after a shooting cost one man his life? Was it by choice that Rachel kept up her vigil for the one man who had taken her heart? and would it be by chance that they might meet up again one day? Or would ...

“Look at all of the things that were set in motion, just by you and I being together…” Abby spent much of her growing up years lost in the foster care system, struggling to survive. Now that she was eighteen, she had aged out of the system into the “real world.” Except that she has very little trust in anyone, including herself. To her, the rest of her adult years span before her with very little hope for the future… Her mother had been a meth user most of Abby’s growing up years. Every day was an uncertainty for little Abby, who wondered when her next meal would be, where ...

"Me 'n you against the world, Ma," Ritchie always reminded his mother when she tucked him into bed at night. He needed his Ma now, more than ever, and she was no longer there for him. Slowly, as the days went by, his young heart grew even more hardened. Then came the day when he was accused of murder and had to do time at a boys' home called Willow Pond. The lessons he learned there proved that he had much to give, yet needed to give up a lot more to prove himself a worthy person. Unfortunately, the relentless lure of a wild life that included drinking were too much of a strain on his young...

Just as no two snowflakes were ever thought to be alike, can two people, separated by a vast prairie, also find each other? Laura was a mail order bride from a small town in North Dakota who moved to Morris, Minnesota to start a new life. Her first marriage was abusive and left her with a secret she had no wish to share with anyone, even after her husband's untimely death from the deadly influenza that was taking over after the Great War. Enter John, a young veterinarian from Minneapolis who was transferred to the same small town on the edge of the prairie. Although he is considered an ...

"You're not good enough!" "You're nothing without me..." "When will you ever learn...?" "You're so ugly, no one else would have you!" "You're worthless as a human being!" It is said that actions speak louder than words. In Sara's world, they scream at her. They hurt her. They threaten her very existence! Sara's abusive past left her disillusioned enough to believe that getting married at 17 would be the stuff that dreams are made of. Instead, she finds herself living every woman's nightmare: an abusive relationship that once again has her counting the days until things can somehow be "...