Books published by publisher Raven Publishing, Inc. of Montana

Aliens, warships, battles, and a certain alien male were not in the carefully detailed plans Jo had for her life. Manota Ja Kel Coradon is the second son of the ruling House of Kassis. He is known as the dark brother, and he lives up to his reputation. He has fought hard to protect his family and the people of Kassis, at times sacrificing parts of his soul to keep others safe, but even so, Manota was in total control of his life until one slender, feisty alien female crashes through the shields he has placed around his heart. She is fearless and stubborn, absolutely refusing to cower before him, no matter how much he growls, and he is determined to claim her as his own. There is just one little problem – she will not accept his claim unless he returns to Earth for her parents. Jo's parents won't be the only ones coming back to Kassis – so is her entire circus family! Traitors, pirates, and Mimes are just the beginning of the surprises on this journey. Manota is about to learn that the prophecy foretold centuries ago is true. His mate is just as much a warrior as he is and she comes with backup! Internationally acclaimed S.E. Smith presents a new action-packed story full of romance and adventure. Brimming with her signature humor, vivid scenes, and beloved characters, this book is sure to be another fan favorite!

You won’t forget “A Horse to Remember.” How can a teenager survive when she’s uprooted from her friends and the shopping malls in Delaware and transplanted to rural Tennessee? Hilary Thompson, the heroine of A Horse to Remember, knows nothing about horses, but resolves this dilemma when she goes to work cleaning horse stalls at the stables next door to her new home. Here she meets Satan, a lonely, frightened Mustang stallion who needs a new friend as much as she does. This relationship transforms her life. She decides to tame him and train them both to compete in jumping events.Hilary works with the mustang in secret, first earning his trust and then his affection, until finally she is able to ride him. When Satan’s owner threatens to sell him at auction, where he would no doubt be sold and slaughtered, her secret has to be revealed in order to save him. As Hilary and Satan learn new riding skills together, they also discover the values of determination, persistence, and unconditional love

Two warriors—one mission: Survival….Sergi Lazaroff is a weapons expert and a spy for the Russian FSB. Assigned to the Project Gliese 581g exploration team as a mission specialist, his job was supposed to be simple—learn all he could about the man-made object in space that no one from Earth made, and return home to convey that valuable information to the FSB. When he wakes up on an alien planet in an escape pod, Sergi knows the last part of his mission will be impossible. Instead, he’ll have to use every trick he has to survive in a world where he doesn’t know the rules.La’Rue Gant has landed on a planet belonging entirely to assassins for one reason only: one of the mysterious pods that everyone is looking for landed here. It’s worth a lot of credits, and she currently needs credits so desperately that she’ll even take them from the Director of the Legion himself: Andronikos. In the meantime, she’s trying very hard not to think about how many lives Andronikos has destroyed in this ridiculous war, or why he’s so interested in someone bringing him these pods, because she needs to collect this bounty! The pod itself was surprisingly not difficult to find, but actually getting it to her ship when the competition and the previous occupant of the pod are larking about… is proving a bit difficult…really, really difficult. The hunter becomes hunted, and nothing is turning out like La’Rue thought it would…. Caught in the middle of an alien civil war, two fighters from vastly different backgrounds must come together to fight for the survival of the Knights of the Gallant Order as the Legion forces close in around them. Can they slip through the traps set up to snare them, or will the Legion Director finally capture not one, but two of the prophesied ancient Knights of the Gallant Order?Internationally acclaimed, New York Times and USA TODAY Bestselling author of Science Fiction, Urban Fantasy, and Paranormal Romance, S.E. Smith, brings another action, adventure, and suspense-filled story to transport readers out of this world!

In the summer between 7th and 8th grade, Jenna MacDonald does the dumbest thing ever. She tries to save a little girl from drowning. Jenna's family has a secret and her mother wants it kept. Jenna's father is in prison for murder. "Prison reflects on wives and children," Mom says. Keeping the fact of prison secret is made more difficult when the newspaper runs a story about Jenna's "Good Samaritan" rescue at the McNeil Island Corrections Center. Mom is mad, and Jenna just wants to fit in. "He may be in prison, but he's still my dad," Jenna says. As she writes in her journal, the children of prisoners are doing time too. Like more than two million children in the United States, Jenna and her brother struggle with the stigma, loss, separation, and shame of having a parent in prison. This heart-warming story shows what it's like to be one of the innocent victims.

This sequel to Miranda and Starlight reveals further adventure and bonding between ten-year-old Miranda Stevens and the two-year-old black stallion, Starlight. In this volume, Miranda once again takes it upon herself to rescue Starlight from a madman, not once, but twice. When the Shady Hills Ranch groom, Higgins, is injured in a fall, Mr. Taylor hires a stranger named Hicks to take his place. Miranda finds Hicks abusing Starlight, but it's her word against his. Mr. Taylor seems willing to get rid of Starlight because the stranger says the horse is loco. In order to save Starlight, Miranda steals him away at night and hides with him in a cave. She later learns that she was wrong about Mr. Taylor. He has fired Hicks and then helps find Miranda. A stiff horse competition at the State Winter Fair pits Miranda and her friends against the "Magnificent Four," Miranda's classroom nemeses. Just before Miranda is to ride Chris's horse Queen in her event, Hicks, seeking revenge,tries to poison Queen. Once again, Miranda fights to save Starlight. In the end, Starlight saves her from Hicks, whom, they learn, is an escapee from a mental institution.

Joe Henry’s Journey, by Marcia Melton, a historical novel for young readers, follows eleven-year-old Joe Henry Grummond and his Pa on an often perilous journey to find gold. When they board a steamboat to go up the “Big Muddy” Missouri River to Fort Benton, Montana, in 1862, they hope to escape the desperation of the Civil War in their home state of Kentucky and make money in the gold fields of Montana to take back to the family they leave behind.Little does Joe Henry know that this river trip will lead him to untamed wild places where ambush, robberies, claim jumpers, lawless towns, and back-breaking work are the everyday stuff of life in the Bannack, Montana, gold camp. Along the way, Joe Henry learns about many different kinds of people living in the west, finds a best friend, and meets the prettiest girl he’s ever seen. He learns much more than how to pan gold. This frontier territory brings lessons in the struggle between law and lawlessness, vigilantism, and the question of what is justice.This novel accurately portrays the history of its time and places from the viewpoint of a child and wrapped in a story of adventure that will hold a young reader’s interest.

A mining accident, not an uncommon tragedy in Butte, Montana’s copper mines in 1914, upsets 11-year-old Emmie Hynes’s world. With no help available from the mining company that tookEmmie's father’s life, her mother takes Emmie and her brother Conrad across the mountain to the small town of Philipsburg so she can eke out a living by operating a boarding house.

Ten-year-old Miranda Stevens approaches the fifth-grade classroom with trepidation. She must face the same snobby classmates that she met when she came to Montana at the end of the last school year to attend this small rural school, and worst of all, Christopher Bergman, the classroom bully who takes special delight in making Miranda's life miserable. When she makes friends with Laurie Langley, a new girl in school, prospects look brighter—until she gets into a playground fight with Christopher and bloodies his nose. Chris says he won't tell on her if she'll ride one of the horses in the neighboring field. And that's when she sees, Starlight, the horse of her dreams, for the first time—and her troubles begin. Her attempt to mount Starlight fails painfully. Not to be defeated, she rides a gentler mare, which Starlight chases across the field. Mr. Taylor, the owner of Shady Hills ranch doesn't take kindly to having a kid ride one of his horses. He forbids her to set foot on his property again. Miranda plans to obey, but when Chris asks for her help with his thoroughbred mare, Queen, she agrees, only to find when she gets there that Queen lives at Mr. Taylor's stables. She goes in search of Starlight, finds him, accidentally lets him escape his paddock and become injured. She'll risk anything and everything, including Mr. Taylor's wrath, to save Starlight. Friendship, loyalty, courage, and lesson's learned the hard way are all part of Miranda's story as she lives with her grandparents on their dairy farm. Her mother is in California seeking her fortune, and she doesn't know where her father is, or if he even exists. If only she had a horse of her very own, she thinks, nothing else would matter.

Twelve-year-old Miranda Stevens is late for her parents' wedding because of an early-morning mishap while riding her beloved black stallion, Starlight. Her family has grown with the miraculous return of her father and the addition of two foster children who have been left in her mother's care. Miranda and her foster sister, Margot go with Margot's father for a birthday surprise that turn ominous. Later Mom and Grandma treat them to a trail ride at a resort and Margot falls in love with the homely little horse she rides. When they learn that the horse is destined for the cannery, Miranda agrees to help Margot try to save her. Miranda organizes a race, pitting Starlight against the clock as a fund-raiser to buy Margot's horse. The success of the race prompts Mr. Taylor to take Starlight to Texas to race him for big money. Starlight and Miranda pine for each other. The long separation causes both the horse and the girl to go "off their feed." Mr. Taylor persuades Miranda's parents to let her fly to Texas to help the horse recover. Mr. Taylor, whose parents have died, has inherited their ranch and an enormous debt that could force him to lose both his ranches. He believes he is in danger of financial ruin unless Miranda can get Starlight in shape to race again. Adventure and discovery await Miranda in Texas.

Miranda Stevens decides being a teenager and in junior high school is complicated. Her best friend's seventeen-year-old cousin comes to live with Laurie—and to break up her friendship with Miranda. A new boy in school wants all of Miranda's attention when she would rather be riding horses with Christopher. But Chris is spending his time with Jody, the new girl in their class. Miranda much prefers the world of horses. But that gets complicated, too, when she is only half-owner—and not the controlling half—of Starlight, the fastest race horse in the country. She can't keep Mr. Taylor from taking him to races, but when he takes Starlight to a sale, along with his other top racing stock, Miranda feels completely betrayed. If he sells Starlight, she will never forgive him. When Mr. Taylor returns, however, he is as surprised and baffled by Starlight's disappearance as she is. All they can think is that someone has stolen him and that their chances of finding him are not good.In this book about an expanding family of people and horses. It chronicles birth and death, friendships lost and won, heartache and triumph as Miranda's—and Starlight's—loyalty and devotion to friends and to each other are tested.

n this 4th book of the Starlight series, Miranda and her classmates become lost in a cave. Miranda saves Grandpa from being killed by a loco cow, but not before he is injured. Mr. Taylor hires a jockey, expecting Miranda to teach Starlight to accept him. Mom plans to marry Adam Barber, Miranda's worst enemy. Wishing on Shooting Star, Queen's foal, seems to bring amazing answers to Miranda's problems.

Starlight Shines for Miranda, a Best Books 2004 award winner for young adults, is the fifth book of a highly acclaimed new series of children’s fiction, and will entertain and encourage; thrill and edify its readers. Starlight indeed shines for Miranda in this exciting adventure. Though Miranda is maturing and taking more responsibility, she continues, through her many adventures, to strengthen her character. She continues to be a spunky, sometimes impulsive child with great intentions and a generous, loving spirit. Her family situation has changed and gives her many new challenges, yet her life still centers around the horse she loves. When she and Starlight are seperated, it becomes apparent that the bond of love between them is as strong for the horse as it is for Miranda. They are a winning team.