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The enthralling, suspenseful, and magical first book in the Wings of Valenia fantasy trilogy, perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas, Holly Black, and Robin McKinley.

I was Father's heir now, and one day I'd be queen. But when I looked at Mother, Adana, and Orla and imagined flying, somehow the thought of being queen didn't comfort me.

As next in line to the throne, Kiar will be responsible for protecting the human kingdom of Valenia. The middle of three daughters of King Tir and Queen Tianas, a woman of the swanfolk, Kiar is devastated when her sisters are able to take swan form and she is not.

When three young swanfolk arrive to be fostered in the royal family, her friendship with spirited Willow and growing feelings for tall, thoughtful Tuan make her feel even more different. Her inability to change shape is not the only problem Kiar faces; the king of neighboring Noermark is determined to bring Valenia under his rule, either by force or by guile. He sends his son to ask for her hand in marriage.

Facing down a human enemy is one thing, but when dark magic threatens the kingdom and tragedy pulls the family apart, it's up to Kiar and her swanfolk friends to defeat the supernatural forces before Valenia falls.

Annulis is a dying world. Nothing can stop the doom all say is coming.

Some simply accept it, embracing the end. Others hold to a better future-a way of escape from the dark days ahead. Sarah and her people sojourn the land, searching for a city none have seen but believe exists as an escape from these troubling times. Elliott follows an army with a mandate calling for the purging of all that would hinder a glorious global rebirth. Both are nearing an ancient city set on its own destruction. Both will be tried behind its walls in ways unimaginable. And both will have to live with the consequences...

The Marble Queen is a YA fantasy graphic novel in which the political drama of Nimona meets the heartfelt romance of The Prince and the Dressmaker, but this time in a sapphic romance surrounded by a mist of magic.

Princess Amelia's kingdom, Marion, is in shambles after months of their trade routes being ravaged by pirates, and now, it seems the only option left is for her to save it through a marriage alliance. When she gets an exorbitant offer from the royalty of Iliad—a country shrouded in mystery—Amelia accepts without question and leaves her home to begin a new life.

But she lands on Iliad's shores to find that her betrothed isn't the country's prince but the recently coronated Queen Salira.

Shocked, Amelia tries to make sense of her situation and her confused heart: Salira has awakened strange new feelings inside her, but something dark hides behind the queen's sorrowful eyes. Amelia must fight the demons of her own anxiety disorder before she can tackle her wife's, all while war looms on the horizon.

Bullied as a child for being overweight and an orphan, the serial killer in I Disappeared Them hides in plain sight.

By day, he is an affable family man with a disarming smile, surrounded by his children and loving wife. At night he punches the clock as a hard-working pizza man. After work, he roams Miami’s nighttime streets as the Periwinkle Killer, the sociopath passing judgment on the wicked according to a twisted moral code. He believes himself to be a defender of women and children. The Everglades is filling up with the corpses of his victims. He must be stopped, but there are no clues except the periwinkles he leaves at every crime scene.

I Disappeared Them is a brutal, boy meets girl love story that delves into the Periwinkle Killer’s childhood to confront the age-old question, is a serial killer designed or destined? Like Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho and Joyce Carol Oates’s Zombie, Preston L. Allen’s immersive narrative hauntingly occupies the peculiar psychological landscape of a murderer.

Discover how to navigate the vast Australian outback, keep yourself alive in a sandstorm in the Arabian desert, avoid a bear attack in a North American forest, explore the dark depths of the Atlantic Ocean, and even perform a spacewalk in orbit!

Find out how the people, plants, and animals who live in these incredible places have learned to survive, and what we can do to help protect these amazing environments for the future.

Come on an intrepid adventure to the world's most extreme places:

• Arctic Circle
• North American Forests
• The Depths of the Ocean
• Amazon Rainforest
• Pacific Desert Island
• The Alps
• Arabian Desert
• African Savannah
• The Himalayas
• Australian Outback
• Antarctica
• Outer Space

From the creator of the bestselling Scaredy Squirrel series comes a hilarious, bestselling picture book everyone will be buzzing about, now in a paperback format.

A bug flies through an open door into a house, through a bathroom, across a kitchen and bedroom and into a living room... where its entire life changes with the switch of a button. Sucked into the void of a vacuum bag, this one little bug moves through denial, bargaining, anger, despair and eventually acceptance - the five stages of grief - as it comes to terms with its fate. Will there be a light at the end of the tunnel? Will there be dust bunnies in the void? A funny, suspenseful and poignant look at the travails of a bug trapped in a vacuum.

An intimate coming-of age novel for teens, told in verse with delicate line art, chronicling the beauty, magic and transformative power of summer camp, for fans of Elizabeth Acevedo and Judy Blume.

After having her heart broken, seventeen-year-old Nora Nichols decides to escape her hometown and take a summer job as an arts and crafts counsellor at an all-girls' camp in the mountains of West Virginia. There, she meets girls and women from all walks of life with their own heartaches and triumphs. Immersed in this new camp experience, trying to form bonds with her fellow counselors while learning to be a trusted adviser for her campers, Nora distracts herself from her feelings, even during the intimate conversations around the nightly campfires. But when a letter from home comes bearing unexpected news, Nora finds inner strength in her devastation with the healing power of female friendship.

Presented as Nora's camp journal, including Nora's sketches of camp life, scraps of letters, and spare poems, The Lightning Circle is an intimate coming-of-age portrait.

Desperate for extra income after her mother's passing, Adanne accepts a last-minute job as a makeup artist for a movie filming in her small Alabama hometown. She's working to save her parents' legacy and help her brother, but the money hardly seems worth having to face the actor who got her fired from her last job in Hollywood.

John Pope has made his share of mistakes over the years. But after turning his life over to God and enduring a messy breakup, he's ready to start rebuilding his career. Imagine his surprise when the woman called in to cover for his usual makeup artist is a quiet but feisty newcomer on the set—and definitely not a fan.

Sparks of tension—and could that be attraction?fly between them, but Adanne hates the spotlight, and John's scheming manager has bigger plans for him than to end up with the humble makeup girl from the small-town South. Can these star-crossed lovers find their way to happiness? Or will the bright lights of Hollywood blind their eyes to what's right in front of them?

Debut author Jenny Erlingsson's diverse cast comes alive with faith, romance, and a touch of humor to create a story worthy of the big screen.

Circle of Sawdust is a uniquely personal story of the wild characters, fascinating personalities, remarkable histories, and behind-the-scenes world of traditional traveling circuses.

Here is a true-life tale about a boy’s impulse to run off and join the circus and then—through doubt, failure, loss, and tragedy—pursue the implausible vision of starting his own circus! With humor and passion, Mermin writes about the precarious life of a creative artist, the ups and downs of taking risks, and the idealistic struggle to hold onto a dream.

Staring down the final days of high school, a group of friends run away from home in order to join a commune in this YA graphic novel for ages 14 and up. Stand by Me meets Catcher in the Rye by way of Skim.

Ever since Oli found a pamphlet for a remote island commune as a kid, it's all she can think about. Now that she's nearing the end of high school, feeling frustrated with the mounting pressure to choose a career and follow a path she has no interest in, the desire to escape it all has been steadily increasing.

Everything comes to a head when Oli's relationship with her best friend goes south and she claps back at a school bully with more than just words. Oli flees to find the commune on a Gulf Island off the coast of Vancouver, taking with her Milo, who can't help but hide his feelings behind the safety of a video camera, and Alvin, a shy teen who sees more than he lets on. Behind them trails Liam, Oli's ex-best-friend and sometimes love interest, who wants to apologize for the way things went down. All four are grappling with a world that cannot be changed... and simply trying to find their place in it.

This YA anti-coming-of-age road trip adventure, by talented up-and-coming comic artist Adam de Souza, captures at once the angst and humor of being a teen during a time of great transition.

On a cold January morning in 1832, a young New England mill girl, five months pregnant, is found hanged in a deserted woodyard.

Initially ruled a suicide, letters found among the victim's effects lead to the suspicion that the father of her child—and likely murderer—is the young Reverend Josiah Woodley, a married man. Josiah is arrested and charged.

Since the death of their infant daughter, when Rachel Woodley was disappointed to discover her husband wasn’t the masterful “head of the woman” her religion tells her she must have to subdue her own unwomanly drive and initiative, the Woodleys have been living parallel lives, drifting ever further apart. Now, finding the evidence against her husband strong enough to convict him, and shocked to discover no one in his church seems eager to see him exonerated, Rachel exerts herself to vindicate him, if she can. At first timid and ineffectual, she gradually gains confidence in herself—and in Josiah, who proves to be not as weak and vacillating as she once imagined. But can she uncover the truth in time to save him from the gallows?

Inspired by a true event, Marriage and Hanging is the captivating new historical novel by Genevieve Morrissey, author of the popular Antlands science fiction series.

Join the fun and discover that having a dinosaur for a friend is one BIG, hilarious adventure!

This fabulously funny story has stacks of appeal for all children. Look out for haunted houses, prehistoric creatures, silly fish, sparkling teeth, and LOTS of fun and friendship. With wonderful wordplay and a sweet relationship at its heart, this is NOT a dinosaur book to be missed!

Includes a free Stories Aloud audio recording. Just scan the QR code and listen along!

Welcome to the quickest bedtime story ever! Your little one will be asleep in seconds.

But wait! There are a couple of things you must do first:

Have you warmed up your reading voice?

And plumped the pillows?

What about the teddy bears? Have you organized them yet?

Getting ready for a story is serious business, I'll have you know...

This hilarious and engaging bedtime story will help to settle down even the most restless readers.

For fans of Mary Poppins, heroine Miss Petitfour and her feline friends return for more flights of fancy in this cozy, charming collection of illustrated stories, now in paperback.

Miss Petitfour enjoys having adventures that are 'just the right size' for a 'single, magical day.' With her sixteen cats and the aid of a tablecloth as a makeshift balloon, Miss Petitfour soars - which is to say, she rises high in the air and flies - over her charmingly eccentric village, encountering adventures along the way. One never knows where the wind will take her in this delightfully seasonal collection of magical outings: perhaps to the aid of dearly loved friends and neighbors, including a hapless handyman and an onion-loving baby, or to a coconut-confetti parade, or in search of keys, lucky charms or even simply the perfect tablecloth for her next flight. A witty, whimsical, beautifully illustrated collection of tales that celebrate language, storytelling and all the pleasures of life, large and small!

This little mermaid is too FIERCE and SCARY and FEROCIOUS to follow The Good Little Mermaid’s Guide to Bedtime... well, except the part about snuggling her shark stuffie. A hilarious picture book for kids ages 3 to 7 who are experts at resisting sleep.

Once upon an evening, a good little mermaid begins to get ready for bed. Once upon? No. Not once upon. I know what that means. And I'm NOT a good little mermaid. I am a PREDATOR!

Thus begins our story of a little mermaid who is anything but good. Sleep? Sleep is for guppies! This little mermaid is a TERROR of the DEEP.

Cleaning up and putting toys away? This little mermaid doesn't need TOYS. The ocean is her playground, and everything in it is afraid of HER.

Brushing her teeth and flossing? Never! Well... maybe a little bit so they gleam like RAZOR-SHARP BLADES.

Cleverly told through a back and forth between The Good Little Mermaid's Guide to Bedtime and a mermaid who is resisting bedtime at every turn, this story will delight readers with its hilarious illustrations and adorable but VERY SCARY main character. Will she ever go to sleep? Read on to find out.

In September 2016, Jerry Stahl was feeling nervous on the eve of a two-week trip across Poland and Germany.

But it was not just the stops at Auschwitz, Buchenwald, and Dachau that gave him anxiety. It was the fact that he would be traveling with two dozen strangers, by bus. In a tour group. And he was not a tour-group kind of guy.

The decision to visit Holocaust-world did not come easy. Stahl’s lifelong depression at an all-time high, his career and personal life at an all-time low, he had the idea to go on a trip where the despair he was feeling—out-of-control sadness, regret, and fear, not just for himself, but for the entire United States—would be appropriate. And where was despair more appropriate than the land of the Six Million?

Seamlessly weaving global and personal history, through the lens of Stahl’s own bent perspective, Nein, Nein, Nein! stands out as a triumph of strange-o reporting, a tale that takes us from gang polkas to tour-rash to the truly disturbing snack bar at Auschwitz. Strap in for a raw, surreal, and redemptively hilarious trip. Get on the bus.

Melia is spellbound by the stuffed wildcat in her family's living room--her cousin swears that it comes to life and roams the streets at night. When she finds a signed note from the animal with secret instructions, a thrilling and dangerous adventure begins.

For Melia and her sister Myrto, summer means a break from Grandfather's history lessons and weeks of running free at the seaside with their ragtag group of friends. Best of all, cousin Nikos will visit and tell his fabulous stories about the taxidermied wildcat, which opens its blue glass eye when it wants to do good deeds and its black one when it makes trouble. The black eye must be open lately because all the adults have been acting strangely, arguing about politics and fearful of the police. Soon even the children are divided--who can Melia trust? And can the wildcat help keep her family safe?

Set in Greece during the 1930s, when the nation was torn apart by fascism, The Wildcat Behind Glass is an unforgettable tale of family, humanity, and what it means to be free. From its 1963 release to the dozens of international editions and honors that followed including a Mildred L. Batchelder Award, the novel has enchanted generations of young readers. Now, a fresh English translation—the first in over 50 years—breathes new life into the timeless story.

One morning Rafe wakes up to discover his bedroom is floating in a vast sea of water. An unforgettable illustrated novel for ages 10 and up with elements of James and the Giant Peach meets Waterworld and The Road.

One morning Rafe wakes up to discover his bedroom is floating in a vast sea of water. Alone with only his dog for company, Rafe adapts to this strange new world by fishing cans of food out of the water and keeping watch. Boxes float by, as does a woman, playing her cello. Then, one day, Rafe fishes out a young girl, who joins him in his room - they don't speak the same language, but they will face this uncertain future together.

Can killing be an act of love? Hypnotic, gruesome, and exultant, Joy Sorman's macabre ballet whirls from industrial slaughterhouses to the boutique butcher shops of Paris.

Pim is a delicate youth—stringy, solemn, and prone to bouts of unexplained weeping. When he enrolls in trade school as an apprentice butcher, his mentors have low expectations, but his lanky body conceals a peculiar flame: a passionate devotion to animals. In an industry that strives to distance the chopping block from the dinner plate, his ardor might seem like a handicap, but Pim rises through the knife-wielding ranks with a barely-tethered zeal. He scours blood from floor mats and stacks carcasses in the cold room by day. By night he tries to slake his appetites: at the table, over boudin sausage and steak tartare, and in bed, with women whose flanks, ribs, and haunches he maps as they undress each other.

Pim's professional successes mount but his cravings gnaw. In the library he teases out histories, like the blood-drinking forerunners to vampirism or the Medieval trial of a killer pig, sentenced to death by hanging. Meat crowds his waking thoughts. Even as he carves ripe flesh from exquisite bone, he labors to close the gap between man and beast—to be seen, understood, even loved, by a primordial mind. Will this ravenous obsession yield to madness, or to ecstasy?

With shades of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, Joy Sorman's Tenderloin is an ethical foray, fever dream, and paean to an ageless hunger. Vegetarians and carnivores alike are invited to feast at this sumptuous literary table. After all, we are what we eat.

The Law of Birthdays states: Kids attending birthday parties must eat cake. But what if a kid doesn't want cake?

The Law of Birthdays decrees every child shall eat cake at birthday parties. Until one Girl tells the Royal Guard, “No, thanks,” when offered cake at the King’s birthday. The King doesn’t accept her refusal or her reasons why. However, the Girl remains patient until the King's refusal to understand pushes her to lay down an explanation even he can’t deny, teaching him about personal choice.

Stoat is very happy alone in a boat when along comes Goat.

In a colorful coat...determined to float WITH Stoat and SHARE the boat. When Stoat tries to chase Goat out of the boat, it becomes trickier to stay afloat.

Uh-oh!

Will Stoat and Goat end up in the moat? And will Goat's colorful coat be ruined?

Featuring a hilarious, tongue-twister text, slapstick humor, bright neon artwork, and colorful characters.

The year is 1942: Robert Mann, a brilliant young American physicist of German birth, joins Allied Intelligence. When the assassination of a top Nazi official presents OSS and MI-6 with a rare chance to penetrate the Third Reich, Robert volunteers.

His cover survives one nerve-racking encounter after another as he infiltrates Hitler’s atom bomb program. Then comes the ultimate test: entry into the home of Effi Zell—wife of Christoph Zell—the man Robert is impersonating. Tension builds toward a crescendo, then collapses as Christoph and Effi fall in love. Their torrid affair morphs into a man-woman resistance team. Again, the tension builds…

Robert and Effi perfect the art of deception on their perilous journey toward sabotage. Their goal: to deny Hitler the nuclear weapon that will decide the outcome of World War II. But a new threat of blown cover forces Robert to accept a pivotal role in the bomb’s final stage of development.

The result: an American spy creates the world’s first atomic weapon—for Germany. If Robert cannot “defuse” the bomb, he will have dealt London and Allied armies a fatal blow. He has decided that life is not worth living without Effi. But he cannot contrive an escape until he destroys the monster he has created. Robert faces dilemmas and challenges of historical proportion. Whether he succeeds is a question whose answer the reader will demand to know.

The East Wind is not an ordinary thriller. It is an original, unpredictable nail-biter reminiscent of vintage Le Carré.

The women have something to say. Are you listening?

In this powerful and needed collection, editor Angela P. Dodson brings together the voices of more than thirty-five accomplished women writers on the topic of violence and injustice against Black men. These writers are journalists, authors, scholars, ministers, psychologists, counselors, and other experts. They are also wives, mothers, sisters, daughters, aunties, and friends. Each lends her voice to shine a new light on the injustices and dangers Black men face daily, and how women feel about the vulnerability of our sons, husbands, brothers, fathers, uncles, friends, and other males we care about as they navigate a world that often stereotypes and targets them. Contributors include:

• Elizabeth Alexander, president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, poet, and author of The Light of the World
• Brenda M. Greene, founder and executive director of the Center for Black Literature, director of the National Black Writers Conference, and professor of English at Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York
• Goldie Taylor, former US Marine, MSNBC contributor, author, and an editor at large of The Daily Beast
• Isabel Wilkerson, Pulitzer Prize winner, National Humanities Medal recipient, and author of Casteand The Warmth of Other Suns
• Charisse Jones, award-winning journalist and coauthor of eight books, including Shifting: The Double Lives of Black Women in Americaand the New York Timesbestselling memoir of Misty Copeland, Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina
• Audrey Edwards, former executive editor of Essencemagazine and the author of seven books, including the award-winning American Runaway: Black and Free in Paris in the Trump Years
• Michelle Duster, author, public historian, and great-granddaughter of Ida B. Wells
• Sonya Ross, managing editor of Inside Climate News, founder of Black Women Unmuted, AP's first Black woman White House reporter, and first Black woman elected to the board of the White House Correspondents Association
• Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, contributing writer at The New Yorker, Leon Forrest Professor of African American Studies at Northwestern University, author of Race for Profit, and editor of How We Get Free
• Donna Brazile, endowed chair of the Gwendolyn and Colbert King public policy lecture series at Howard University, member of USA Today's Board of Contributors, Fox Newscontributor, and author of Hacks: The Inside Story of the Break-ins and Breakdowns That Put Donald Trump in the White House
• Darnella Frazier, citizen journalist awarded a Pulitzer citation for her role filming the murder of George Floyd

The catalyst for a national conversation, this collection offers historical context that is often missing from public discussions and media coverage, while demonstrating an ongoing pattern of demonizing Black men that is rooted deep in the history of our nation. The essays in this book engage with the emotional toll anti-Black violence takes on women in particular and cast a vision for future activism.

There are many ways to make a difference in our communities, many causes to organize and volunteer for. But where do we start? And how do we avoid burning out? Whether you're just beginning the work of social justice, or you've been doing it for years but need a reminder of why we're in this fight and how to keep going, this book is for you.

Drawing from his nearly twenty-five years of social justice work and LGBTQ+ advocacy, Brian Johnson offers us this set of urgent, essential, justice-seeking letters to his daughter in The Work Is the Work. Johnson explores what compels us to serve and how to respond to the many needs around us, offering insights from well-known figures in justice work such as Claudia Rankine, Greg Boyle, Gandhi, and more. What is personal is also universal--containing the essentials of justice work and advocacy, and revealing why we keep going. For all who care about environmental justice, LGBTQ+ advocacy, anti-racism efforts, and community support, The Work Is the Workcelebrates the struggles and victories of advocacy work and shares the spirit of justice for our children, the next generation of changemakers.

Written for the millions who work for justice, march in the streets, volunteer in service positions for the public sector, and want to inspire the next generation of changemakers, this book reminds us of the essentials and inspires us to keep fighting the good fight.

"If you enjoy mysteries that challenge your intellect and keep you guessing until the very end, then The Desk from Hoboken is a must-read." —K.C. Finn, 5-Star Readers' Favorite Review.

In a bid to heal from the grief of a personal loss, forensic genealogist, RaeJean Hunter, takes on a straightforward case —identify human remains found on a nearby college campus, believed to be the 180-year-old remains of Mary Rogers, a woman who died mysteriously in 1841 and was believed to have been buried in the nearby cemetery that had washed away. It should be simple enough, a project to get her back in the game.

Unfortunately, it quickly becomes anything but. In fact, it becomes downright dangerous.

Someone doesn't want RaeJean to investigate the puzzling death of the woman whose death inspired Edgar Allan Poe's The Mystery of Marie Roget. As she follows clues through four states and discovers living family members who both help and hinder her search, she quickly realizes that the secrets of Mary Rogers' demise were never meant to be exposed.

What lengths will someone go to keep the truth buried in the past? As threats escalate and RaeJean and her family's lives become endangered, she's forced to follow every lead and use every skill she has to find the answers she needs before it's too late. Using DNA from two famous New England families, historical data, modern genealogical techniques, and a little guidance from a seemingly mystical antique desk, RaeJean takes on the cold case despite being given every reason to abandon it.

After all, what truths have been hidden for 180 years that would be worth bribery, kidnapping, and even murder?

RaeJean Hunter is about to find out.

A new sci fi epic fantasy novel that follows the space odyssey of a young, orphaned girl, from the valleys of the Himalayas to an exoplanet to build a fair and just world to save humanity at the brink of extinction.

Geeta is a Dalit: A low caste. Today, there are more than 200 million Dalit people in our world. Dalits are still considered by many the low caste who are not clean enough to be touched and deemed to do only the dirtiest job. Geeta decides to change all this.

In a not-so-distant future where Earth's dominion has been usurped by a coalition of genetically enhanced cockroaches and serpentine overlords wielding control over AI and robotics, humanity teeters on the brink of annihilation. Amidst this dire backdrop, emerges an unexpected hero - Geeta, a young Dalit girl. Devi's Game is an electrifying young adult sci-fi novel that propels readers through a spellbinding odyssey across time and space.

As an unexpected twist of fate unfolds, two divine sons find themselves enamored by Geeta, transforming her into humanity's last hope. Inspired by an unyielding spirit and a cryptic cosmic calling, she spearheads a daring mission towards the distant exoplanet, Kepler-186f.

Their objective: to reach Kepler-186f before the sands of time run out, for their journey hinges on a rapidly depleting fuel supply.

In her quest, Geeta confronts not only the cosmic unknown but also the stubborn prejudices and divisions that haunt her kind. Against a backdrop of alien landscapes and unfathomable celestial secrets, she embarks on a journey of self-discovery.

Devi's Game is a testament to resilience, unity, and the indomitable human spirit. It tells the remarkable story of a Dalit girl who once stood barred from the hallowed temple grounds where Gods were worshipped but now aims to prove to the universe that she is not only deserving of the love of a God's son but also of ascension to the status of a Goddess - a Devi.

Prepare to embark on an epic interstellar odyssey that delves into themes of identity, diversity, and the enduring forces of hope and love. Devi's Game is a pulse-pounding sci-fi saga destined to enrapture young adult readers, inviting them to contemplate the infinite possibilities of the cosmos and the boundless potential residing within the human spirit.

Come along and enjoy the ride!

Twelve-year-old Rosie is a musical prodigy whose synesthesia allows her to see music in colors.

Her mom has always pushed her to become a concert violinist, but this summer Rosie refuses to play, wanting a "normal" life. Forced to spend the summer with her grandparents, Rosie is excited to meet another girl her age hanging out on their property. The girl is familiar, and Rosie quickly pieces it together: somehow, this girl is her mother, when her mother was twelve. With help from this glitch in time—plus her grandparents, an improv group, and a new instrument—Rosie comes to understand her mother, herself, and her love of music in new ways.

Reginald Jarrell was adopted by relatives who loved him and raised him well. Yet he yearned to know about his biological father, who remained for unexplained reasons a family secret.

In this memoir he retraces his decades of searching and probes his own feelings with candor and insight. He looks for Myron with ambivalence and determination. A highly educated Black man with multiple degrees and experience as a lawyer, professor, Christian clergy person, and journalist, his story provides an up close and personal look at the feelings of many adoptees and is a valuable read for anyone who has experienced adoption as an adoptive parent, child, or biological parent.

Indeed, it is a fascinating read for anyone interested in how we humans face our losses and find resolution to our internal questions.

Authors from various religions and ethnicities, reflect on losing loved ones, grieving, and finding a way forward.

This unique collection of prose and poetry includes information on how different religions handle death and how people have coped with deaths from war, from police violence, suicide, murder, AIDS, dementia, illness. The reflectors include a mortician, a New Age spiritualist, a police officer, and an assortment of women and men from around the .world. This is a new edition with added material.

A book for congregations, funeral homes, and all those living. with loss. Profits from will go to international health care workers.

Zachary Blake attends the bar-mitzvah of Josh Cooper, his friend Rich's son. Josh's special day is interrupted when a bomb explodes, and Josh disappears during the melee. Cooper's neighbor, Chip Ellis, is also missing. Is this a hate crime?

Police clear the bomb debris with no trace of Josh Cooper or Chip Ellis. Rich Cooper receives a ransom demand. The hostage-takers are revealed to be alt-right, anti-Semitic, racist, homophobic domestic terrorists. Aside from money, they want their 15 minutes of fame to broadcast their manifesto.Winger Wright is in no hurry to negotiate a hostage release, he prefers to peddle his bigoted garbage to raise money. But he slips up and reveals his location. When the FBI rescues the hostages and kills most of the terrorists. Wright cannot be found. One terrorist is captured. Offered a plea deal, he claims Josh was the only hostage. He's shown a photo of Chip Ellis and identifies Ellis as the terrorist Wright. Josh claims Ellis was a hostage and a comfort while the two were held captive. Chip's a good neighbor and The FBI can't connect him to the terrorists. He's arrested anyway. Chip needs a lawyer; Rich recommends Zachary Blake who privately believes Chip is guilty.

Zachary, Jennifer, Micah, Agent Gibson, and a fabulous supporting cast return in this taut thriller, the 9th edition of the Zachary Blake legal thriller series. Is Chip Ellis a good neighbor in the wrong place at the wrong time or is he The Anti-Semite Next Door?

“A fresh voice to Vermont’s poetic landscape.” –Linda Quinlan, author of Chelsea Creek

Hopeful, passionate, and full of sharp discoveries about the dangers of the world, Fire on a Circle is an exploration of the fires we traverse to become our true selves. Written in free verse, verse monologue, and ancient Nordic formats, these poems dig for the roots of the spirit through exploration of survival, self-discovery, and a passion for connection to the author’s ancestors and landscape.

Grounded in years of poetic and runic studies, Kim Ward weaves the mothers of her family, the struggles against addiction, and pagan practice throughout this debut poetry collection.

Have you ever pondered the mysteries of the future? The authors of this book dared to envision it. They promise us this: the future is a wonderful place where nature is our home and holds all the amazing dreams we can imagine.

Future takes young readers on a fun and clever journey of wonderment, exploring the uncertain yet exciting possibilities of tomorrow. Through whimsical prose and charming illustrations, this silvery book introduces children to enchanting, otherworldly ideas by incorporating a touch of science fiction with robots, rocket ships, and other fantastical concepts that may await them. Highlighting the limitless power of imagination, the authors foster a bright outlook on the future and world we live in. Future captivates as it celebrates creativity, instills hope, and underscores the boundless potential each child possesses as they carve their unique path in this world.

Future marks one more thrilling venture with the award-winning Chilean author, Maria José Ferrada, and the brilliant Mexican illustrator, Mariana Alcántara. Their first collaboration was the compelling book Swimmer, and with Future, they gift us another stunning tale. Maria José's poetic narrative and Mariana's magical illustrations create an extraordinary atmospheric journey brimming with imagination. Additionally, Future holds a special place in our hearts at Tapioca Stories, as it is the inaugural title we're publishing in both English and Spanish.

At six years old, Mary Alice Lydell is consumed by fear. No one can protect her from the monster she cannot name.

Even if she understood the monster, she couldn't tell Momma or Aunt Jean or her best friend Carolyn, because if she did, they would know she was bad and wouldn't love her. She sits inside her closet, talking to Birdhouse Jesus, a crucifix she stole from Aunt Jean, hoping he will make Daddy be nice to her and not behave in ways that terrify her. In her teens, filled with self-loathing, Mary Alice falls quickly and deeply in love with a man who touches her gently and makes her feel worthy. Soon, she has another secret - and a baby on the way. The baby's father also has a secret: he's married to someone else.

Family ties - the ones that bind and nurture, and the ones that strangle and suffocate - shape Mary Alice's life in profound ways. Although Birdhouse Jesus is a story of trauma and betrayal, it is also one of resilience and hope, as Mary Alice struggles to become the woman that a part of her has always known she could be.

Daniel Zimmer will do almost anything to end his pain—except for the one thing that might work. 

Growing up in 1970s Brooklyn under the shadow of his tyrannical father and against the backdrop of the Son of Sam murders, the Karen Ann Quinlan tragedy, and the New York Yankees' back-to-back championship seasons, Daniel Zimmer struggles to find a sense of safety and belonging. Daniel and his brother Max find moments of solace in the rebellious rhythms of early punk and metal bands like the Ramones and Judas Priest. But when faced with an unexpected family tragedy—for which he feels responsible—Daniel discovers the magical escape that alcohol can provide, numbing his pain and guilt. 

Flashing through Daniel's life, past and present, this nostalgic ode to Brooklyn is an unflinching account of the inevitable ups and downs of recovery and coming of age. Ultimately, it is a story of the ravages of generational abuse and the power of recognizing addiction and opening the door to the possibilities of redemption.

Mothersound: The Sauútiverse Anthology is the first anthology of stories set in a fictional shared world based on a blend of African cultural worldviews.

Edited by Locus Award-nominated editor Wole Talabi with contributions from around the African continent and diaspora, Sauúti is filled with wonder, mystery, and magic.

• African-based intergalactic worldbuilding
• Space travel
• Humanoid and non-humanoid creatures
• Artificial intelligence
• Intricate magic system based on sound, oral traditions, and music

Contributors include:

Nebula Award winner Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, World Fantasy Award nominee Eugen Bacon, NYT bestselling author Tobias S. Buckell, Caine Prize nominee T.L. Huchu, Adelehin Ijasan, Stephen Embleton, Akintoba Kalejaye, Cheryl S. Ntumy, Xan Van Rooyen, Dare Segun Falowo, Eye Kay Nwaogu, J. Umeh, Somto Ihezue.

Holy Smoke is a gripping and entertaining paranormal romance that will appeal to fans of the genre. Griffith's skillful storytelling, memorable characters, and steamy romance make this book a must-read for those who enjoy a good love story with a supernatural twist." — 5 Star NetGalley Review

DEMONS DON'T DO LOVE...

Lust and lies? Now those, Jovi can handle.

But falling for a demon hunter like Nash Rogan?

Really dumb move for a succubus on the run.

ROGAN'S NO FOOL...

But he's acting like one. Breaking rules, spilling secrets-touching her.

He lives in the shadows. But the more Jovi lights him up, the less he wants to go back to the dark.

Sparks fly when Jovi and Rogan are forced to flee—and fight—as an unwilling duo in Holy Smoke, the first book in the Hellbound series by Gin Griffith.

Are caregiving and creative labor fundamentally at odds? Is it possible for mothers to attend to both?

Few women artists feature prominently in the history of art, and even fewer who are mothers. How are motherhood and artmaking at play and at odds in the lives of women? What can we learn about ambition, limitation, and creativity from women who persist in doing both?

Forged in the stress of early motherhood, The Mother Artist explores the fraught yet generative ties between caregiving and creative practice. As a young mother working at a museum, essayist Catherine Ricketts began asking questions about the making of motherhood and the making of art. Now, with incantatory prose and an intuitive gaze, she twines intimate meditations on parenthood with studies of the work and lives of painters, writers, dancers, musicians, and other creatives. Ricketts takes readers through the studios of mother artists, placing us in the company of women from the past and the present who persevere in both art and caregiving. We encounter Senga Nengudi's sculptures, which celebrate the pregnant body, and Toni Morrison's powerful writing on childbirth. We behold Joan Didion's meditations on maternal grief and Alice Neel's arresting portraits of mothers and babies. And we observe the ambition of sculptor Ruth Asawa, the activism of printmaker Elizabeth Catlett, and the constancy of writer Madeleine L'Engle. The Mother Artist welcomes us into a community of creatives and includes full-color images of their work.

Part memoir, part biography, and part inquiry into the visual, literary, and performing arts, The Mother Artist contends that a brutal world needs art made by those who have cared for the vulnerable. This book is for mothers who aspire to make art, anyone eager to discover the stories of visionary women, and all who long for a revolution of tenderness.

On Thanksgiving Day in 2016, Vernon Benjamin, aged 70, loaded his pickup with supplies for the protesters at Standing Rock opposed to a new oil pipeline and left his home in upstate New York for a journey across America, unlike anything he’d ever done. He cared deeply about Native American causes. But Trump had won the election. The country was falling apart. Benjamin had always been a journalist, a historian, and a poet. Now could he be an activist who put his heart and soul on the line? What he found at Standing Rock and in himself changed his life.

An engaging exploration of the unique history and biology of fasting--an essential component of many traditional health practices, religions, and philosophies, resurging in popularity today--perfect for readers of Breath by James Nestor and Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker.

We fast all the time, even when we're not conscious of doing so. A fast manifests the idea of holding back, resisting the animal impulse to charge ahead. Its flip side is similarly everywhere: call it splurging, self-indulgence, or a variant of "self-care." Based on extensive historical, scientific, and cultural research and reporting, The Fast illuminates the numerous facets of this act of self-deprivation. John Oakes interviews doctors, spiritual leaders, activists, and others who guide him through this practice--and embarks on fasts of his own—to deliver a book that supplies readers curious about fasting with profound new understanding, appreciation, and inspiration.

Fasting has become increasingly popular for a variety of reasons--from health advocates who see fasting as a method to lose weight or to detox, to the faithful who fast in prayer, to seekers pursuing mindfulness, to activists using hunger strikes as an effective means of peaceful protest. Fasting is central to holy seasons and days such as Lent in Christianity, Ramadan in Islam, and Yom Kippur in Judaism. Advocates for justice who have waged hunger strikes include Gandhi in India, Bobby Sands in Ireland, and the Taxi Workers Alliance in New York City. Whether for philosophical, political, or health-related reasons, fasting marks a departure from daily routine.

Fasting involves doing less but doing less in a radical way, reminding us that a slower, more intentional contemplative experience can be more fulfilling. Ultimately, this book shows us that fasting is about much more than food: it is about reconsidering our place in the world.

¿Has pensado alguna vez en el futuro? Las autoras de este libro decidieron imaginarlo. Y nos aseguran algo: el futuro es un lugar fantástico donde la naturaleza es nuestra casa y la de todo lo que seamos capaces de soñar...

Futuro invita a los jóvenes lectores a un divertido y deslumbrante viaje que explora las posibilidades inciertas y emocionantes del mañana. A través de una prosa juguetona y fascinantes ilustraciones, este libro plateado presenta encantadoras ideas de otro planeta que incorporan un toque de ciencia ficción con robots, naves espaciales y otros conceptos fantásticos. Al resaltar el poder ilimitado de la imaginación, las autoras proyectan una perspectiva luminosa sobre el mañana y el mundo en el que vivimos. Futuro cautiva mientras celebra la creatividad, infunde esperanza y destaca el potencial ilimitado que cada niño posee a medida que traza su camino en este mundo.

Futuro nos trae una nueva y emocionante aventura de la galardonada autora chilena, María José Ferrada, y la brillante artista mexicana, Mariana Alcántara. Su primer trabajo conjunto fue el cautivador libro Nadadores, y con Futuro nos regalan otro maravilloso cuento ilustrado. La narrativa poética de María José y las ilustraciones mágicas de Mariana crean un viaje de una atmósfera extraordinaria, rebosante de imaginación. Además, Futuro ocupa un lugar especial en nuestros corazones en Tapioca Stories, ya que es el primer título que publicamos tanto en inglés como en español.

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Have you ever pondered the mysteries of the future? The authors of this book dared to envision it. They promise us this: the future is a wonderful place where nature is our home and holds all the amazing dreams we can imagine.

Future takes young readers on a fun and clever journey of wonderment, exploring the uncertain yet exciting possibilities of tomorrow. Through whimsical prose and charming illustrations, this silvery book introduces children to enchanting, otherworldly ideas by incorporating a touch of science fiction with robots, rocket ships, and other fantastical concepts that may await them. Highlighting the limitless power of imagination, the authors foster a bright outlook on the future and world we live in. Future captivates as it celebrates creativity, instills hope, and underscores the boundless potential each child possesses as they carve their unique path in this world.

Future marks one more thrilling venture with the award-winning Chilean author, Maria José Ferrada, and the brilliant Mexican illustrator, Mariana Alcántara. Their first collaboration was the compelling book Swimmer, and with Future, they gift us another stunning tale. Maria José's poetic narrative and Mariana's magical illustrations create an extraordinary atmospheric journey brimming with imagination. Additionally, Future holds a special place in our hearts at Tapioca Stories, as it is the inaugural title we're publishing in both English and Spanish.

Making the world a brighter place...

Join The Sunny Day Squad - Ollie the monkey, Poppy the puppy, Daisy the rabbit, and Ted the horse - on a heroic journey from Gaggle Grove to find the fabled Caringstone, a magical gem that can make the saddest child smile. Using their unique talents, the four friends work together to overcome obstacles, solve problems, and spread joy. This heartwarming tale celebrates the power of friendship, bravery, and perseverance - a perfect story for bedtime...or anytime!

The only way people get out of Worcester is in a body bag, people used to say when Mal was growing up in the Main South neighborhood—crash-landing in house after house like true wrens, her family's nutty avian namesake.

Raising Wrenns recounts her trips back to Worcester after the men in her family lost their lives; first her dad when he was shot, and later her brother who committed suicide jumping off a roof. On these trips she revisits the shoddy apartments they perched in, resurrecting her macabre, sometimes comical childhood memories of the streets where they fought bloody and birdlike for their survival.

The book is cordoned by fantastical and scientific stories comparing her family's world and personality traits with those of wrens. It also contains a creative history of Worcester, a former factory town plagued by poverty, addiction, and violence—a cycle that Mal, unlike her brother and father, was able to escape.

In a world clamoring for new heroes, One Voice Institute has unveiled a marvel poised to inspire the next generation.

The Story of Madrika is a captivating tale that invites readers of all ages to journey alongside a young hero discovering her destiny as The Empoweress. Madrika's adventure—a tapestry woven with magic, camaraderie, and the unwavering spirit of hope—stands as a beacon of light in children’s literature.

"Madrika's story is more than words on pages; it's a living inspiration. Every child who meets Madrika will see a reflection of their limitless potential and the strength that kindness wields," expressed Philip Rotstein, the Spokesperson for One Voice Institute. "We are excited to share this unique narrative that harmonizes with our mission to nurture empowerment and create a positive impact through storytelling."

This compelling protagonist is not only strong and courageous but also a vessel of immense magical gifts discovered amidst her awe-inspiring adventures. She is a testament to the power of positivity and an emblem of nature's nurturing force. Madrika is an Empoweress, a title that transcends the realms of fantasy and plants seeds of empowerment in the fertile soil of young minds. Her universe is richly populated with a colorful cast designed to delight and engage readers: enchanted wolves, a tribe of wise mentors, and fairies who have transcended their initial forms to become fierce Forest Nymphs with stained glass wings. The diversity of characters and the depth of their connections redefine what a family can be—anchored not by kinship but by shared quests and intertwined fates.

Perhaps most memorable among these beings is an ancient 3-headed dragon offering both comic relief and timeless wisdom, an example that whimsy and profundity can coexist splendidly. Adding to this stunning mosaic, an army of bees reminds us of the indispensable beauty of nature and the many ways it speaks to us if only we listen. Readers are not just observers; they are invited to partake in a liberation of imagination, an interactive experience promising not only a sanctuary for the eyes weary of screens but also a conversation between the text and the soul.

'Madrika, the Empoweress' comes to life not just through rich storytelling but also through an invitation—a clarion call to embrace the fantastic, to recognize our interconnectedness with the larger cosmos, and to wield hope and kindness as unparalleled forces that drive change. One Voice Institute's imaginative endeavor aligns perfectly with their ethos of harnessing narrative as a vessel of enlightenment and enjoyment. It celebrates not only the journey of its main character but also the individual journey of each reader as he or she unlocks the magic within The Story of Madrika. With the launch of Madrika’s tale, One Voice Institute rekindles the enchantment of storytelling and sparks a global conversation about the role of narrative as a cornerstone of development and joy. Whether it be read aloud or silently relished, The Story of Madrika is not just a story—it's an experience, one that resonates with the bells of wonder and the echo of life’s greatest adventures. Copies are available at local bookstores and via Amazon.

A ruthless murderer. A deadly secret. An unbreakable love.

After the brutal murder of her mother and brother twelve years ago, Corina Roberts built a new life in Kentucky. But wen strange things begin to happen, she is thrust into a perilous game of life and death. With nowhere else to turn, her best hope of survival depends on her ex-boyfriend, army veteran Bryce Jessup.

Recently returned from service, Bryce has every intention of staying away from Corina, but when threats close in around her, he isn't willing to leave her safety to chance. As their search for answers uncovers lethal secrets her detective father kept hidden, Bryce and Corina must untangle the mystery of the merciless killer intent on terrorizing and eliminating Corina's family before it's too late

As the formation of Glacier National Park takes Eleanor Briggs and her conservationist father on a journey west to advocate for public lands, her heart carries the weight of a painful past.

Since the death of her mother, she has spent her life traveling the country with her father and helping him with his work, but now he's considering settling down and writing a book, and she's not sure what that means for her future.

Carter Brunswick faces trials of his own when the Great Northern Railway's departure threatens his family's livelihood and the entire town of Kalispell. In the visiting conservationist's daughter, Ellie, he finds a spirited woman who challenges his convictions in ways he never anticipated, and his own dreams for the future begin to change.

When tensions over the railroad's departure boil over, Ellie and Carter are drawn together on a daring journey that tests the depths of their feelings and their faith in God.

Return to Kalispell, Montana, with bestselling authors Tracie Peterson and Kimberley Woodhouse for a powerful tale of perseverance, truth, and the transformative power of love.

The Last Free Dog is an all-ages graphic novel that reimagines the lives of stray dogs in the Balkans and similar places worldwide.

Readers delve into the experiences of these free dogs and discover efforts to combat pollution, preserve the environment, and aid the stray animal population. Through this tale, children, leaders, and individuals of all backgrounds can engage with vital issues such as pollution and the animal rights challenges in this region.

In the heart of Kosovo, a litter of puppies is born, and among them, one is a spitting image of the legendary Illyrian Sheepdogs: Lyri. The pride and joy of an Illyrian is protecting a flock of sheep from wolves, bears, and even lynxes. However, young Lyri does not climb majestic mountains but instead mounds of waste. Lyri faces numerous trials in a rapidly changing world as he matures from a puppy into a young dog. His heritage and pack’s traditions give him the tenacity and vigor needed to cope with the challenges of being a free dog.

How old were you when you realized you were being lied to by your family and society? When did their secrets come to light?

Four teenagers decide to depart their home in a utopian commune when they realize that the world outside still exists. It is true that a pandemic and the rise of a tyrant resulted in a second American Civil War, but the war is long over. The world is back to its mix of good and bad. However, the Commune of the Golden Sun, once an idyllic little ecosystem, has turned dystopian in an attempt to keep its children safe.

Protagonists:

• Matteo is in search of the truth
• Emi is in search of her mother, who left Golden
• Co is in search of self, and
• Madison is in search of a woman she can love.

The Hero’s Journey with the excitement of a brave new world, the novella asks questions such as:

• Is it possible to recover from trauma?
• Can people who make different choices still love each other?
• Can generations heal?

Plus: rock and roll, sex, hot springs, and a lot of New Mexico.

"Libraries and adults looking for gentle stories of adventure, courage, and magic will find all these elements and more in Closet of Dreams, a story of team-building and friendship that engages young readers on various issues and understanding opposing forces in life." — Midwest Book Review

Meet a nine-year-old boy named Child who has big dreams—so big, he’s actually got a Closet of Dreams in his home! But Child’s fears are really big too, and his path is lined with curve balls, especially those spun by class bully, Eddie.

Follow along with Child’s adventures as he discovers the secret powers of his Closet of Dreams and of his incredible animal friends from Kids Park—Ele the elephant, Sister Sue the hippo, and Clarence the bear—all under the guiding paw of Hilda the dachshund. You might just be in for a big surprise!

On the island of Eshol, a ruling council gifts magic to all its citizens — whether they want it or not.

Eighteen-year-old Rayna Drey should be excited for her Branding, when the island’s Good Council will infuse her blood with one of five sanctioned magics: the ability to wield elements, summon objects, shift forms, talk to wildlife, or manipulate minds. The Good Council is good. The Branding doesn’t hurt. And the institution she must attend afterward, to learn how to control her new gift, is only a little dangerous.

Or, at least, that’s what Rayna has always heard. As soon as she arrives at the Esholian Institute, however, a peer-pressured dare makes her explode with a power as deadly as it is forbidden. Worse yet, the only one who can teach her how to hide it from the Good Council is Coen Steeler, a much-too-handsome fifth-year who can manipulate minds as easily as he breathes. He alone understands Rayna’s forbidden power…because he has the same one.

With their secret in each other’s hands, Rayna soon uncovers other dark secrets that threaten the very foundation of the island itself. And the worst of them? If the Good Council finds out what lurks in her and Coen’s blood, they’ll both face a fate beyond obedience — and a punishment worse than death.

In this swoon-filled lesbian romcom, two dating show contestants vying for the affection of the leading man fall head over heels—for each other.

Krystin knows exactly what she wants: a husband, a horse, and a place to hang all her competitive rodeo blue ribbons. But when none of the eligible bachelors in Montana end up being right for her, she turns to reality TV. On Hopelessly Devoted, Krystin will compete against dozens of other women for the heart of this season's Hopeless Romantic, Josh Rosen. She's determined to win the perfect life she came here for—if she can just ignore the glossy brunette whose crimson smile gives her goosebumps.

Lauren has never done anything for the right reasons—and she's definitely not on Hopelessly Devoted to win Josh's heart. Lauren's plan is simple: stay on the show long enough to build her social media following, and then gracefully leave when it's her turn to be eliminated. With enough followers, she'll finally have the clout to do whatever she wants—including come out of the proverbial walk-in closet. But the longer she stays on the show, the more she finds herself tangled up in a certain blonde's lasso. 

Neither contestant expects a heteronormative dating show to challenge their own deeply-ingrained ideas of who they are—and what they want. Fans of The Charm Offensive and Love Island will swoon for this sparkling debut romcom.

This is the story of two cousins: one with stars in her eyes, the other with her eyes on the stars…

Beatrice is a stubborn, no-nonsense astronomy professor at a small college in wine country. While working toward her tenure, she spends an inordinate amount of time trying to avoid Ben, an annoying librarian she believes wronged her when they were students. Their rapid-fire exchanges could almost be mistaken for chemistry, if he hadn’t done that unspeakable thing so many years ago.

Her younger cousin Heron is a wistful student in her final year of college. The opposite of Beatrice, she is a hopeless romantic, pinning her hopes on a future with her boyfriend Charlie.

When Charlie proposes to Heron, Bea is worried her younger cousin’s needs are taking a backseat to his ambitions. Heron responds to her cousin’s criticism with a matchmaking scheme designed to show Bea the upside of romance.

As Heron and Bea deal with the fallout from a campus scandal, each finds herself questioning everything she thought she knew about the best course for the future. Eventually, each woman must make a choice: Bea between the comfortable role of merry spinster or a fulfilling partnership; Heron between marriage to Charlie or reaching for a new dream.

Amy Dressler’s whip-smart debut novel is not to be missed, a tour de force of female empowerment, body-positivity, and family friendship as she turns Shakespeare upside down in an unexpected and brilliant way for a new generation of women.

Educator and author Elizabeth Stein offers a thoughtful, useful book on how to integrate restorative practices into the classroom experience to both streamline student behavior and improve engagement and learning.

When teachers recognize the "in between spaces" during the day-to-day, those quieter moments of transitions between tasks, they offer students safe, inviting ways to own their learning and participate in an engaged community of learners. By highlighting the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework, Stein's book is both insightful and practical, offering busy educators easy-to-implement strategies to humanize classroom management and improve student learning.

As Elizabeth points out,

"Restorative practices live up to their name: They restore a sense of community and encourage learning together through specific techniques meant to support a sense of belonging, healing, and healthy relationships within the classroom community. Universal Design for Learning also lives up to its name, because it's all-inclusive: It gives every learner the opportunity to feel successful and valued as a member of the classroom community."

Humanizing Classroom Management offers educators inspiring and insightful guidance on how to address challenges of student behavior while also supporting their learning outcomes.

Empowerment is a journey of self-discovery and change. It is about uncovering our unique gifts and abilities and finding the courage to use them effectively.

The path to empowerment is not always easy, but it is worth it. Across the ages, from ancient civilizations to modern times, the struggle for empowerment has been a driving force in human history.

From the defiant cry of Liberte!’ Egalite!’ Fraternite!’ during the French Revolution to the chants of We Shall Overcome! and No Justice, No Peace! during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, people fought for the right to shape their destinies. But beyond the sweeping movements that shaped history, the quest for empowerment also plays out in ordinary people’s everyday lives, relationships, careers, and spiritual journeys.

This book will explore the many facets of empowerment, from the grand scale of political movements to the intimate details of individual lives and how they have shaped the human experience.

It will explore everything, from obscure to rebellious rebels like the Zapatistas and Black Panthers to everyday heroes like Rosa Parks, The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, and Malala Yousafzai.

We will delve into the power of community organizing and grassroots activism, from the Civil Rights Movement to modern-day climate justice warriors and others.

Stalin has just been murdered and Eisenhower has been elected...

He is faced with the continuing war in Korea and CIA reports that the Soviet's are planning a major offensive in Western Europe. We go through National Security Council Meetings and the development of the U-2. Khrushchev continues to boast about Soviet bombers, armor. Ike counters with a massive retaliation doctrine. Sputnik and Gaither report send the US into a frenzy that compel Eisenhower to continue U-2 flights despite Soviet efforts to shoot down the U-2s. Eisenhower creates several scientific panels that make heavy contributions to missile and bomber development.

Finding Designated Ground Zero is about the need for and the building of the U-2 airplane. It follows the life of Caleb Young, the chief Scientist for the CIA from 1952-1960, as he tries to shade National Intelligence Estimates to forestall a first strike by US forces.

Love, tragedy, and the pursuit of literary greatness intertwine in a tumultuous journey that defies societal norms and tests the resilience of Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin and Percy Bysshe Shelley.

In the year 1814, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, a gifted teenager born into a family of literary brilliance, falls deeply in love with the youthful rebel, Percy Bysshe Shelley. Defying societal conventions, they embark on a daring escapade, accompanied by Mary's step-sister Claire, leaving behind their respective families and Percy's wife and children. However, their journey proves to be far from an idyllic romance, for it is fraught with tumultuous challenges.

In their quest for freedom and expression, Mary and Percy immerse themselves in experimental notions of free love and join forces with the enigmatic and infamous Lord Byron. Amidst these thrilling encounters and adventures, the young lovers are confronted by heart-wrenching tragedies that test their resilience and resolve.

Driven to elude the strict laws of England, which threaten to separate them from their own children, Mary and Shelley embark on a nomadic existence, wandering through the captivating landscapes of Italy while constantly evading their haunting past. As their circumstances become increasingly dire, their shared passion for writing emerges as the sole lifeline that binds them together. Through their literary endeavors, they become each other's guiding force, ultimately crafting timeless masterpieces that will etch their names into the annals of literary history.

Esther and Harry Praw were both Holocaust survivors who had a perilous journey to find freedom in the United States.

They were fortunate to make it to the shores of the U.S. with nothing more than hope. The opportunity they found in the U.S. eventually allowed their children and grandchildren the chance for a better life and success. Sadly, more than 70 years after they arrived on the U.S.S. Hersey to the New York harbor, the "American Dream" is fading away as the immigration laws and policies become more and more dysfunctional and rigid. Xenophoboia and Holocaust denialism has increased in recent years and with the generation of Holocaust survivors leaving us, it raises the following questions:

What exactly is the “American Dream”?

Does that “Dream” still exist?

Will the memory of Holocaust survivors persist or fade away like the American dream?

This book primarily follows Esther's journey in her own words and compares her immigration story to the stories of immigrants who are trying to find that same dream today.

Blood Secrets Run Deep…

Dying opened up a whole new world for Emma. A world of vampire gifts, cravings, and betrayal. Now a vital member of the team, Emma and her friends are hunting down the vampire responsible for the downfall of the Haven: her sister.

Emma knew it wouldn’t be easy, but the challenges soon become too much. Determined to destroy her sister and end the war between the Immortals and the half-blood rogues, Emma seeks out the imposing Astley brothers, Henry and Charles, hoping to form an alliance with the Immortal family.

As Emma is drawn deeper into the dark world of the Astley’s estate, she begins to question if the brothers are truly her allies or if they have a secret agenda—one that will put everything she loves at risk.

When a new evil begins stalking the streets of Victorian London, reformed villain with superpowers Clara Blakely must team up with an assassin who is most skilled at sneaking into her heart and become what nobody expected, a hero.

Clara Blakely has left her days as Miss Take, the notorious villain of Victorian London, behind her. She is a reformed, law-abiding citizen using the superpower given to her by industrial pollution to pay her debt to society. Or that’s what she would have the authorities believe. Clara has no intention of helping anyone but herself, and the last thing she wants is to be dragged into a fight against a new and murderous evil that’s stalking the streets.

Yet, despite the Hero Brigade thwarting her every move, she must take on the city’s powerful and corrupt elite by joining forces with a cheat, her hapless landlord, and a trio of trained killers, including an assassin whose skill with a knife is matched only by their skill at creeping into Clara’s heart. With stakes so high, Clara must become what no one, least of all herself, expects: a hero.

Enola Holmes meets X-Men meets Warrior Nun in this action-adventure sapphic fantasy with elements of sci-fi and steampunk. Filled with gallows humor, ridiculous violence, CGI-ready monsters, and tantalizing romance, get ready for the snarky and sassy Miss Take in this reimagining of Victorian Britain.

A humorous and heartfelt book about the complicated relationship between a mother, a daughter, and a grandmother.

Gabrielle Malone shows up on her mother’s Arizona doorstep with nothing more than a few belongings, her teenage daughter, and a car with no air conditioning (don’t ask). The rest she left behind—her house, everything she owned, and her ex-husband. Her estranged mother Ida, a former Olympic swimmer and current chain smoker, needs her help after a significant health scare. Gabrielle hopes this is their relationship’s opportunity for a fresh start, and a new beginning for her too.

Thirteen-year-old Juniper feels stranded at an old lady’s house she barely knows. She’s frustrated that her mom uprooted their entire life for a strange place and misses her dad. Forced to attend the pointless last week of school, she embarrasses herself on the first day and is certain she’ll never make friends again. As if that weren’t bad enough, her mother’s nightly binge-eating and cry sessions are concerning to say the least.

Ida is her own woman, resenting being tethered to the oxygen hoses winding through her house. She looks darn good in the old, framed cigarette ads on her wall, holding her gold swimming medal. Heck, she still looks good. Her neighbor Morton certainly thinks so. She had one little health scare. What’s the big deal? Heart surgery. It’s coming for her. She knows it but likes to pretend she doesn’t.

Ida is shocked to learn her own granddaughter can’t swim. The one legacy she had hoped would carry on for generations is at stake. While her health certainly limits her activities, she knows she must teach the skill that brought her a lifetime of pride. Gabrielle may have laughed at the idea of her frail mother getting back into the pool, but that’s exactly what Ida would do. Teach her to swim.

Learning to Swim is a coming of age novel about three women in different stages of life mending relationships. Shayla Dugan’s debut family drama book is a delightful read full of insight, wisdom, and wit.

There are creatures lurking in our world. Obscure creatures long relegated to myth and legend. They have been sighted by a lucky—or unlucky—few, some have even been photographed, but their existence remains unproven and unrecognized by the scientific community.

These creatures, long thought gone, have somehow survived; creatures from our nightmares haunting the dark places. They swim in our lakes and bays, they soar the night skies, they hunt in the woods. Some are from our past, and some from other worlds, and others have always been with us—watching us, fearing us, hunting us.

These are the cryptids, and Systema Paradoxa tells their tales.

***

Ben Keep and Annetta Maikels have lived a quiet life since their first encounter with the unexplained, but when a copy of Natura Occulta falls into their hands—detailing strange phenomena that purportedly happened in their own backyard—they can't resist investigating further.

But perhaps they should have...

Not only does the secret they pursue come with a body count, but some involved want to add Ben and Annetta to that number.

Caught between two inexplicable forces, their only hope to reclaim their lives is to solve the mystery.

As a Black woman in a field with little diversity, Piper McKinney is determined to make her mark on the horse racing world.

Raised on a thoroughbred farm in Kentucky, Piper's dream is for her horse to win the prestigious Kentucky Derby. With the help of her best friend and trainer Tucker Hale, she gains national attention but must grapple with the complications that arise when a journalist delves into her past as a transracial adoptee.

In an effort to win Piper's heart, Tucker formulates a plan to train Piper's horse to victory, hoping to prove himself to her, her parents, and his own self-doubts. Then a shocking scandal hits the media, implicating both Piper and her parents, and she and Tucker will have to survive the onslaught to find their way to the winner's circle--and each other.

Award-winning author Toni Shiloh makes a run for the roses with this heartwarming novel that reminds us that sometimes the greatest victories are found within our own hearts.

When the new provincial governor arrives in Corinth, the esteemed chief magistrate Narkis Ligus is delighted.

He sees a golden opportunity in the governor's presence—a chance to unite their households through the marriage of one of his beautiful unwed daughters to the governor's firstborn son. Such an advantageous union would surely bring divine blessings from the gods, propelling him to greater power and fortune.

Yet complications quickly arise in Narkis's own family. Mariana, his stepdaughter, holds steadfast faith in Yeshua, rendering her hesitant to marry a man devoted to the Roman gods, despite Narkis's urging. On the other hand, Prima, his daughter by birth, yearns for a life of wealth and status and is willing to go to great lengths to secure a marriage that fulfills her desires—even if it means betraying Mariana to do it.

In New York Times bestselling author Angela Hunt's compelling series sequel comes a captivating story of love, sacrifice, and the quest for power set against the backdrop of ancient Corinth.

What if every terrible thing imagined came true? Every fleeting, nightmarish thought a reality?

For grief-stricken Karina, her newfound ability to turn her worst daydreams into palpable truths has sent her into a downward spiral of depression and guilt. Coupled with the appearance of an enigmatic shadow figure and visions of her dead family, she grapples to maintain her sanity while desperately attempting to harness her abilities and reunite with her loved ones.

"Five Stars." "Stumbling Stones by Bonnie Suchman is a must-read! This page-turner is highly engaging with well-crafted dialogue that brings the story and the well-developed characters to life." —Readers' Favorite.

Stumbling Stones tells the story of a German Jewish woman ahead of her time who soon finds her life turned upside down when Adolf Hitler comers to power.

Alice Heppenheimer, born into a prosperous German Jewish family around the turn of the twentieth century, comes of age at a time of growing opportunities for women. So, when she turns 21 years old, she convinces her strict family to allow her to attend art school, and then pursues a career in women’s fashion. Alice prospers in her career and settles into married life, but she could not anticipate a Nazi Germany, where simply being Jewish has become an existential threat.

Stumbling Stones is a novel based on the true story of a woman driven to achieve at a time of persecution and hatred, and who is reluctant to leave the only home she has ever known. But as strong and resilient as Alice is, she now faces the ultimate challenge – will she and her husband be able to escape Nazi Germany or have they waited too long to leave?

Caleb Young, intent on preventing nuclear war, must balance each side’s perceived balance of power, but to do so, he must “shade” his NIE by inflating Soviet capabilities to forestall an effort by the Strategic Air Command (SAC) to launch a preemptive first strike that would annihilate 300 hundred million civilians.

When the U-2 flights from July 5, 1956, through May 1, 1960, fail to confirm a bomber or missile gap, the national security establishment begins to suspect that Caleb has deliberately falsified his reports.

After John F. Kennedy is assassinated in November 1963, Caleb begins to publicly criticize the composition of the Warren Commission, which upsets President Lyndon Johnson, J. Edgar Hoover, and U.S. Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach who are attempting to minimize any Cuban or Russian involvement to avoid an international incident. But the three are curious about what CIA Director John McCone is not telling them about Oswald’s activities in Mexico City and believe Caleb knows how the CIA has conducted paramilitary operations in the Philippines and Guatemala, among other locations.

Katzenbach instructs the head of his criminal intelligence division, William E. Forde (fictional), to impanel a Grand Jury and issue an office subpoena to rein in Caleb’s public statements and follow the money trail where the CIA has toppled legitimate democratic regimes. Over the next ten months, Forde deposes Caleb and is tasked with developing a complete profile of him, including his childhood years and education. Caleb delays and obfuscates to protect Forde and his family from the Agency’s counterintelligence unit.

This book is the culmination of the First Strike Series and takes the reader through the Cuban Missile Crisis all the way to a hot war between China and the US in 2027. It also discloses many secret ops by the US CIA and JFK's assassination.

This fascinating autobiography offers not a success story; nor a paean to the resilience of the human spirit; nor a search for identity constrained by class, race, and gender or the other usual suspects; nor a tearjerker that engenders in the Western reader a sense of superiority or schadenfreude. Rather, it is a tale of the joys and hardships of simple living, of an enduring curiosity about the world, of teachers and friends, of marriage and divorce, of Chinese and American societies, of tofu and jalapeños, of character flaws and personality quirks, of humbug and folly.

About The Author

Dr Xiuwu R. Liu studied English at Hunan University in Changsha, contemporary American society at the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, American studies at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, and the philosophy and methodology of cross-cultural inquiry as well as modern China at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. Since 1994 he has been an assistant professor of interdisciplinary studies at Miami University in Oxford, USA. Liu is a member of the American Philosophical Association.

A Seat at the C-Suite Table is an insightful look at the leadership journeys of 30 African American male C-Suite executives.

In their own compelling words, executives describe earning and maintaining a seat at the C-Suite table. They speak candidly about how the lack of mentors, coaches, and role models impacted – but did not stop them. They talk openly about navigating corporate settings designed years ago by White men. They speak freely about their commitment to supporting the next generation of leaders.

This book was inspired by data suggesting that there is racial/ethnic underrepresentation in corporate leadership roles in the United States. This underrepresentation ranges from the presidency of colleges and universities to the U.S. Senate to corporate boardrooms.

This book provides advice, hope, and inspiration for others. It also includes a road map for all leaders who desire to become better mentors, coaches, sponsors, and allies for current and future underrepresented leaders.

A kingdom at war. A search for missing memories. And a tangled web of love, loss, loyalty, and lies.

After months of recovery, Khara Laveya is desperate to leave the medical wing and restore the memories she lost in a brutal rebel attack. Her responsibility to her kingdom as future Sovereigna is a looming distraction from reclaiming them.

Torn between duty and desperation, Khara is haunted by a mysterious grove that calls to her in her dreams. Finding the grove may lead to her missing memories, but venturing beyond the city walls is an act of treason. Worse, it risks another encounter with the ruthless rebel forces.

To enter the forest could mean death … or something far more sinister.

The secrets lurking in the shadows could destroy the life Khara has sacrificed so much to rebuild and unravel the kingdom itself.

+ + + +

Smoke and Light is a romantic YA fantasy set in a world where magic and science meet and modern royals face off against daring rebels. Perfect for fans of Shadow and Bone, Winter, White and Wicked, and Shatter Me!

We live in a difficult time. The world is changing in ways that are often complex, confusing, and disruptive to our lives and that can't easily be anticipated.

Within such a world, there is a renewed hunger for more direct access to personal gnosis, not dependent on external authorities. Each of us craves a reliable internal compass with which to navigate a world that, in the throes of very large, seemingly insolvable environmental, political, economic, social, racial and cultural problems, is increasingly uncertain.

While astrology may not be able to directly address these global issues, it can help us to cope in meaningful ways by reminding us, through an ongoing, ever-evolving conversation between psyche and cosmos, that we have a place and a purpose in the larger scheme of things. Out of this conversation can come not just a clearer sense of identity and purpose, and a greater capacity to effectively navigate one's life, but also a communion with numinous, sacred mysteries.

This book narrates the history of astrology's co-evolution with science, religion and culture over thousands of years, and shows how in the postmodern era of increasing uncertainty, it can provide a more direct pathway to deep self-knowledge. The author shows how it is possible to go beyond interpretation into a more intimate exploratory relationship to a living cosmos. 472 pages with bibliography and a useful navigational index.

Swinging Away: A Celebration is Victor Pearn's testament to poetry, friendship, and faith.

The story of his life from ranging from joining the Marines in 1969 to becoming a professional publisher is told with his innate gift for description that captures the personalities and quirks of his colleagues and the literary luminaries that he happens to meet.

For Pearn, becoming a poet was an ongoing series of adventures that took place from Illinois to Colorado and from Mexico to China, where he taught English. The narrative is peppered with poetry samples and musings on the natural world, academia, and spirituality.

Sports fans will especially appreciate Pearn's tales of the 1969 Wyoming Cowboys football team and the 1957 season of the high-school basketball team, the Ashland (Illinois) Panthers. Book buffs will enjoy his take on reading and the great works of literature.

Film buffs will relish his adventure as an extra in a Hollywood movie.

Service members will be entertained by his stories of life in the Marines. Whatever life offered him,

Victor Pearn keeps swinging away to make sure he comes out on top-and manages to put it into a poet's perspective.

A light comedy about our darker future.

In a self-contained city of the future, life is a grind until retirement, cooking is a dying art, and the weight of wealth at the top exerts a crushing pressure on the populace below.

She's the best drone pilot around and he's a rising star in food delivery. Her punishing schedule isolates her, making it hard to find happiness outside of virtual reality. He's eager to show her the experiences real life has to offer if he can deal with his event hijacking brother, geriatric hooligans, and a conspiracy to keep the young lovers apart even if it kills them.

How Did Christianity Begin? is a tool to help believers have conversations with non-Christians.

It starts with common ground—the fact that Christianity exists. From there the reader is advised to use a “mosaic” approach to their discussions. That is, to take not just one or two pieces of evidence for Christ's resurrection, but to put all of the pieces (or evidence) together. To lay everything out on the table. Their friend can do the same and the two can compare evidence for and against the Bible. When all of the pieces of the mosaic are put together, we will find that the best answer to the question, "how did Christianity begin?” is the bodily resurrection of Christ.

The book does this by giving answers to the following reasons that some give for not believing in God and more:

• We don't really know how Christianity started
• Christianity is a made-up religion just like all of the others
• Christianity has too many legends and myths mixed in with the truth to know what is real and what isn't
• The New Testament is written too late after the events to be a reliable source for knowing the truth about Jesus
• There is no evidence for Christianity

Six months after the death of Noose Holcomb, Buzzard's Edge rests in an uneasy quiet, but can a town that resonates with such hatred remain peaceful for long?

Dark forces conspire to chase Rory Daggett and his mute adopted daughter, Alice, into exile, framed for a crime they didn't commit.

With a new sheriff and a notorious killer for hire tracking their every move, the two must choose between starting a new life and saving the soul of the town that betrayed them.

Strap yourselves in tight, folks, 'cause the blood-curdling saga of Rory Daggett and Buzzard's Edge is fixin' to unleash a harrowing storm. Get ready to face a nightmarish landscape where gunpowder and the macabre collide in a haunting dance of terror.

"Gripping." "Thought-provoking." "An Enthralling page-turner."

Aiden Baylor loves the forest surrounding his small mountain town. Alone amidst nature, wondrous ideas fill his head-fantasies and words of wisdom. His neighbors think he's crazy. In the near-future world, entirely dependent on automation and artificial intelligence, people have lost all imagination and intuition. When a global war destroys the power sources, the world plunges into chaos and desperation. Aiden steps up as an unlikely leader who teaches the townsfolk to live off the land. As people bond in their struggle to survive, their minds open to an astounding new energy source. The more they connect, the stronger this power of the mind grows. A hidden enemy, however, lurks among them, intent on bringing AI back to keep the population subdued.

Inspired by the story of Adam and Eve, The Return presents a gripping showdown between technology and the human spirit, challenging us to redefine our role in the world.

"Laurie Stevens has crafted a complex novel that demands reflection and proves, without doubt, that connectivity will never be about shared technology. For true connection, we need our shared humanity." —Kim Fay, National Bestselling Author of Love & Saffron

Hi,

My name is MIND GAME, and I proudly welcome you to the labyrinth of the mind, where the ordinary transforms into the extraordinary, and where the words that shape our world shake their capital 'S' to an enigmatic rytm.

Within my 420 pages discover 180 thought-provoking facts that have never been told before (with 87,21% accuracy)! They traverse the expansive landscapes of psychology, the intricacies of the mind, the dynamics of relationships, the mysteries of femininity, the complexities of masculinity, the wonders of science, the mightiness of God, the promises and threads of AI, the meaning of existence, the very depths of love... plus some sparks of me. :)

Each enigma is encapsulated in two ciphers - a concise treasure trove of wisdom and wonder. They always commence on my right side, seamlessly concluding on the left side of my subsequent page, rendering every page a distinct entity with its own significance. Feel free to hop between riddles at your leisure; if you find one challenging, skip it with confidence knowing you'll tackle it later.

Because here's the twist: I'm not just a book to be read; I'm a puzzle to be unraveled. The order of my words has been misteriously scrambled, and in some cases, my letters themselves have joined the dance of chaos. Vowels vanish, letters shuffle, and the result is a tapestry of linguistic intrigue.

So your challenge is to solve the conundrums , decode the cryptic arrangements, and reveal the hidden truths. Some of these truths will yield to your intellect in a swift 10 seconds, while others may demand minutes, hours, days, or even weeks of contemplation, but the results will stay with you forever!

Should you’ve been through all the riddles, you are entitled to quest for The Ultimate Truth.

I'm a test of your wits and intellect, a challenge that will take you from a mere observer to an active participant in the exploration of wisdom. Turn the page, begin the quest, and let's play MIND GAME together! Our world is about to change, one word at a time, word for word, letter by letter, blaa-bla-blaaa-blaaaa...

Author's recommendations:

- Let's win the Nobel Prize together! (Solve this book, and you will learn that if I say it, I mean it!)

When 24-year-old barista Ami is sacrificed by a cult, whose leader happens to be her childhood best friend and first love, Kaleb, she soon discovers a dark secret about her past that may be the world's undoing.

In 2011, the ghosts invaded, and the world, for the most part treated their appearance as a joke. But for Ami, the situation wasn't so amusing when she discovered that the slightest ghostly touch forced her to relive the specters' worst moments. A curse that no mere mortal should have to bear.

But then again, it seems to some that Ami is no mere mortal. At least that's the belief of a group of cultists who are convinced that there is more to the young woman than meets the eye. It's just too bad that she'll have to die to prove that she's not the fabled goddess of the underworld.

As Ami's control of the ghosts grows, she is left with questions she can't answer. Her only option is to force the truth from Kaleb. But that means that she's got to convince him and his followers to quit trying to killing her long enough to talk.

And, when the ghosts shift from being a novelty to becoming a danger to society, Ami must decide if she wants to uncover her forgotten past or if she's willing to let the whole world go to hell to escape it.

A haunted painter's past life visions are not the creative inspiration they seemed. They're a harbinger of her ancient revenge vow, and her FBI husband won't find the serial killer until she fulfills it. But it may already be too late.

1559, ULSTER, IRELAND. When a young noblewoman Neave McConway weds the newly elected King of Tyrone, Aedan O'Neal, the couple's rare union of love and passion becomes the talk of the region. But Aedan's bold rule and fierce defiance of the English crown threatens his powerful enemies, and they'll stop at nothing to crush his growing influence. After Aedan rides off to fight against the English occupiers, Neave suffers a shocking attack that will forever alter both their lives — as well as the lives they have not yet lived.

2009, WASHINGTON, D.C. While mural artist Siena Forte battles a creative block, her FBI husband Ryan Casey struggles with a serial killer case. When research leads Siena to the practice of Past Life Regression, she stumbles upon irresistible inspiration. But after her art exposes her to a vicious ancient adversary, she discovers the true reason for her past life visions. They're a harbinger of her centuries-old revenge vow, and the serial killer can't be stopped until she fulfills it. But there is another person from the past with unfinished business—her husband.

Will Siena and Ryan settle their long-overdue score, or will the past repeat itself in a chilling parallel?

If you love time travel romance with elements of suspense, mystery, fantasy, and a touch of magic, don't miss this thrilling read!

"A true masterpiece. It is a book that once read is impossible to forget. — Highly Recommended Award of Excellence from The Historical Fiction Company

"The intricate and creative plot is one you will not want to miss. Anxiously awaiting book two." — Five Star Review from Reader Views

"Vera Bell's novel successfully combines historical fiction, romance, and a contemporary thriller." — Historical Novel Society

"Past and present lives collide in Vera Bell's hauntingly beautiful debut. A sexy, sensuous tale." — Julie McElwain, national award-winning journalist and author of A Murder in Time

"Perfect for fans of Diana Gabaldon and Susanna Kearsley." — Goodreads Book Reviewer

Meg Hawke’s antique store is faltering. When her octogenarian neighbor Hank asks her to clean out his shed and sell antiques on consignment, she has a real chance at discovering forgotten treasure. If she steps foot on the Montana ranch, however, she’ll come face-to-face with her childhood frenemy and Hank’s grandson, Ryan.

After selling off the ranch’s cattle years before, Ryan Kincaid dove into the world of high-end tourism, devoting everything to the business. For his sanity, he avoids his annoying known-her-since-childhood neighbor, Meg. With the forced proximity of the shed project happening in his backyard, though, he’s singing a different tune. Perhaps he’d been wrong about her.

A surprise discovery spurs both change and challenge, and they’re forced to choose the potential of ever-after or forget each other and finally move on forever.

By the winter of 1943, the city of Naples has become nothing short of a hell on Earth. Food, happiness and hope are scarce; poverty, misery and desolation are plentiful. Prayer in Time of War tells a story of love in a world without room for romance.

For the British Army, fighting its way from the beaches of Salerno, the squalor of the Neapolitan suburbs comes as a shock. For Private Ernest Green, at just 22, it feels like another world. He is alone in a nightmare landscape, until he catches the gaze of Preghiera. She is the lonely teenage daughter of an embittered old butcher, with dangerous entanglements in the local camorra. But for Ernest, she is a celestial being who enters his world at the very moment he needs her most.

He returns as an elderly widower, 50 years later, with a dream of rekindling their ill-fated love affair and proving that true love never fades.

Inspired by Victoria Kelly's experiences as the wife of a fighter pilot during three wartime deployments, this collection follows women whose lives have been impacted by war and military service as they struggle with their fragile ideas of home. 

In Prayers of an American Wife, a Navy wife grapples with loneliness when she discovers that her neighbor, also a Navy wife, is having an affair while their husbands are deployed on the same aircraft carrier. Tensions rise in The Strangers of Dubai as a soldier on leave tries to buy his wife a souvenir from an Afghan vendor. After attending eight funerals with fellow military wives whose husbands died in the Iraq war, the protagonist in Finding the Good Light divorces her Navy husband and tries to start a new life as a movie star. These, along with the eleven other stories in this collection, explore the emotional landscape of the resilient women who remain on the homefront.

Kelly's stories offer readers an intimate, eye-opening look into the sacrifices and steadfastness of military family members.

Detective Ramesh Ryan's career with Sydney's prestigious Organized Crime Unit is on the up, until he loses a court case against the city's most powerful drug dealer. In disgrace, the detective is relocated to the tiny Australian beach town of Barton.

It is off-season in Barton-when its few criminals usually take a well-earned rest. But not this year! With the detective's arrival, the town suddenly becomes murder central. Two bodies are discovered in the space of days, both victims of drug overdoses. Then a mysterious foot is found washed up on the beach, and memories are awoken of an unsolved cold case of the teenager who disappeared fifteen years ago. Add to this a blossoming romance, along with a contract taken out on Ryan's life, and it's clear that the detective has jumped out of the Sydney frying pan into the Barton fire.

What follows is an action-packed adventure, thrilling at every turn-where truth and lies are almost impossible to separate, and unexpected twists are the order of the day.

A genetic accident. A superior species of human. With society torn apart, can a young mortal survive long enough to end the violence and hate?

Earth, 2355. Riva Dorn needs answers. After a century of stasis, hibernating humans have slumbered underground, safe from a lethal pathogen set to go off above. Expected to eliminate the dangerous, golden-eyed variants living on the surface, the untested Colony Manager awakens to an unimaginable mission failure: the genetically engineered countermeasures have failed. Immortals are thriving.

When a chance meeting with a mysterious gold-eyed stranger leads to more doubt, a deadly deception unfolds. Are the immortal variants really a threat to mortal humankind? When things don’t add up, Riva finds herself caught between the violent legacies of the Northern Alliance and the enigmatic truths of her new immortal ally.

With old hatreds flaring and her commander set on redeploying the bioweapon, can she prevent a mutual genocide?

Worlds Apart is the thought-provoking first volume in the Immortal Rising science fiction series. If you like delving into both sides of an issue, races against time, and fascinating what-ifs, then you’ll love L. L. Keyes’s emotion-packed journey.

A magnificent announcement. A mysterious call. A magical promise.

An Element of Magic is the second book in The Broken Spell series; an early-young adult epic fantasy adventure exploring the boundaries of an uncharted world and the friendships that make it magical.

It’s been three months since Mallevia croaked and Brave is grumpy. True’s taken off, he has no friends and his mom refuses to answer important questions. What’s worse, his elements are misbehaving. Being a prince sucks! So when a shock announcement hurls him back into the spotlight and strange threats arise, he’s forced to call on new friends for help.

True is learning to live with wings and a tail and loves the freedom to fly, but her family doesn’t approve. Desperate to escape their selfish plans, she accepts the royal court’s offer, only to discover an impossible task clouded in secrets. How will she survive the countless dangers of the unknown?

Elsewhere, the country rebuilds in the wake of the fake queen’s dark deeds, and in a hidden corner something nameless and loathsome awakens.

The revolution needs a hero. Or a villain. And they’re just in time.

As the mysterious Shroud devices that keep order in the Republic fail, a scion of the aristocracy and an heir of the dissident working class stand on opposite sides of an escalating class conflict. If they discover the secret of the Shroud devices in time, they might find common ground and prevent a devastating revolution.

If not, becoming a monster could be the only way to protect those they love.

Mistborn meets the dawn of the socialist revolution in the first book of a gripping steampunk series inspired by real events and characters of the early 20th century. Perfect for fans of V.E. Schwab, Brandon Sanderson, and P. Djeli Clark.

The series Tales from the Bluebell Woods introduces animals you might find in a typical woodland. The main character is a wise Hedgehog who lives in a hollow log who has many friends in the woods around him.

In this story, it has been raining and raining for ages which eventually causes a stream to flood and endanger some the animals who live near it. Hedgehog with a little help from his friends saves the day and everyone is alright in the end.

She is the bastard child of the demon king, unaware of her roots and raised in the human realm.

Struggling with life and loneliness, she dreams of becoming a great mage, but has no talent for magic at all, until she receives a mysterious ring full of secrets. Her adventure becomes intertwined with four men from three realms. Soon she discovers the world's greatest secret, and nothing she ever believed will remain the same. Strong emotions connecting the characters and captivating words will drown you in a world of love and magic. She will make choices of life and death, love and betrayal.

Will she grow into a great mage in this chaotic world? Will she have her own back and find the one true love despite all the temptations and traps?

Safe Communications Skills have been time-proven to be extraordinary communication norms, creating an atmosphere that enhances our capacity to love & enhances our capacity to accept being loved. They began taking form decades ago when Bill & Doctor Bob started the first AA 12 Step Meetings, modeling them after an altruistic movement by the name of the Oxford Group.

Professionally & personally, I've been observing Safe Communication Skills function for more than 40 years, strengthening emotional connections & blessing couples, families & small groups. To the best of my knowledge, the Best Little Marriage Handbook is the first publication to present & give structure to these powerful communication skills.

It would be difficult to appreciate or experience the benefits of these simple communication skills by merely reading the Handbook. It's something you need to experience, as you practice the skills with your spouse while sharing your responses to the professionally structured Discussion Prompts in Section Two. For folks who have deep-seated patterns of controlling others, criticizing or of giving frequent unrequested advice, etc., it may be challenging to quickly grab onto these skills,

Folks who have sustained a genuine effort at practicing these skills, consistently describe the results as being miraculous.

The Best Little Marriage Handbook will take you on a fun & exciting journey - to surprising places, keeping your marriage intimacy cooking, your hearts deeply connected & increasing your Emotional IQ.

The Good News is that Safe Communication Skills are easy for most folks to embrace, if given a couple of weeks to win you over. Open your Best Little Marriage Handbook with your spouse, every week!

William L. Monette - Author - MEd Counselor Psychology - Arizona State University - Retired Instructor & Counselor for the Arizona & Tennessee Departments of Education & the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services

Two strong women, two mysteries to solve, and one life-changing discovery.

Jacquelyn Holmes is the direct decedent of the infamous Mr. Holmes. No, not the world-renowned detective, Sherlock, or even the heartbeat of the British government, Mycroft. She is the decedent of Sherrinford Holmes, the eldest brother, and mad scientist, who spent his days on a time machine with the single-minded goal of having Sherlock unravel history’s unsolved mysteries. After her uncle’s death, Jacq leaves behind her college studies and skeptical father to travel to England to discover whether five generations of quantum physicists found anything more than an ever-expanding universe.

Locked away in a bolt hole in the Holmes’ estate, Jacq and her sister from another mister, Holly Watts, discover not only had the family not wasted their time, but unearthed the key to time travel. With the aid of coded messages and quantum telepathy, Jacq’s mind leaps into Doctor Watson to take a master class on sleuthing from none other than Sherlock Holmes. Will this leap back in time make her an extraordinary detective, or will time travel be the catalyst for the zombie apocalypse?

Soundbite with Sherlock is the first book in the time-traveling amateur sleuth series, Holmes All Jacq’d Up.

A boy must work with his family and other resort guests to make it off an island after the animals turn feral in Tomi Oyemakinde's We Are Hunted, where White Lotus meets Jurassic Park for the young adult audience and exploring guilt, spectacle, and the dangers of capitalism!

Experience paradise, reimagined.

When 17-year-old Femi Fatona and his older brother are forced to accompany their dad to an island resort, Femi is not looking forward to it. After all, he hasn't exactly been getting along with either of them lately. Not much is known about the resort they'll be staying at, as it's on a newly-discovered island and shrouded in nondisclosure agreements, but at least it promises to be full of all the extravagant luxuries they're used to.

Once they arrive, Femi is thrilled to find that the island is bursting with new and spectacular species of plants and animals. But he soon realizes that sometimes pretty exteriors hide ugly truths—truths that are begging to come to light.

But those truths come with a price. And, when the island is thrown into chaos from animals suddenly becoming feral, what was meant to be a peaceful bonding experience quickly becomes the stuff of nightmares. Femi will have to put aside tension with his family and work with other guests, in order to escape the animals, the island, and his own guilt at the part he may have played in all of it.

Ensnared by a soul...

In the shadows of the forest, two shape-shifting kitsune prowl: Kuro, content with the solitude of the mountains, and his only ally Jaden, a demon with dark dreams for their future.

When a figure from Kuro’s past snaps a photograph of the demon fox, the kitsune are forced to leave their home behind and follow him to Asheville in a bid to prevent its publication.

But trouble has a way of accumulating around Kuro. When police secretary Caroline Lahey sees the kitsune from the top of her barn, she doesn’t hesitate to shoot. Captured, Kuro knows that killing her is his only chance at freedom…but it would also turn him into something he’s not, something that repels and disgusts him.

Someone like Jaden.

As Jaden tries to pull Kuro further into his world of violence, Kuro realizes he can no longer stomach the thought of bloodshed, but neither can he bring himself to reveal everything to Caroline. Forced to rely on her soul for his survival, his life becomes a precarious balancing act of hiding her existence from Jaden…and hiding Jaden’s violence from Caroline.

Soon, Kuro finds himself trapped by his own lies, and when his balancing act fails, Jaden knows that Kuro will do anything to protect the woman he’s fallen in love with.

Even, at last, kill.

A Black and Solemn Silence is a slowburn, paranormal, enemies-to-lovers urban fantasy and the first book in the adult Color by Numbers series. It includes adult themes and ends on a cliff-hanger. The Color by Numbers series is perfect for grown-up readers of the Gumiho duology and The Red Winter trilogy.

Before winning the 1934 Pulitzer Prize for poetry, Robert Hillyer (1895-1961) explored a variety of subjects and poetic forms in his books. This new poetry collection contains six of Hillyer’s pre-Pulitzer books in their entirety, including a longer narrative poem (Carmus) that is a haunting fairy tale for adults with beautiful imagery and sentences.

Hillyer was classmates with E.E. Cummings at Harvard and became lifelong friends with Robert Frost (who said that he and Hillyer had been “running side-by-side all these years, and he knows that I think of his poetry as he thinks of mine: with affection … (and) … admiration.” While poets of Hillyer’s era were flirting with modernism, imagism and symbolism, Hillyer was working with sonnets and pastorals, mostly rejecting free verse and the “existential agonies of modern man” in order to write about eternal themes like nature, love and death. Hillyer was not really an innovator. Hillyer felt most comfortable writing sonnets and other constricted forms with meter and rhyme, and his poems rarely sounded artificial or stilted. Although occasionally the poems used allusions to art and history and mythology, the poems mostly remained accessible and didn’t require elaborate footnotes.

This ebook edition also contains illustrations by Beatrice Stevens and two books of translations: a collection of Danish poetry and an improved translation in verse of the Egyptian Book of the Dead. It also includes an essay about Robert Hillyer’s poetry by horror writer Arthur Machen and an essay that Hillyer wrote comparing Egyptian religion with Christianity.

Recently Personville Press republished Hillyer’s 1942 poetic novel My Heart for Hostage (which evokes Hillyer’s experiences of living in Paris after WWI and presents a coherent aesthetic sensibility for a lyrical novel). This sensibility is apparent in his poems as well. Critics Horace Gregory and Marya Zaturenska said that the “gift that Hillyer possessed was an extremely sensitive ear for verbal music, a gift that, however ‘literary’ its speech may be, never fails to delight the reader, for among the best of Hillyer’s lyrics the clear strains of sixteenth-century music were revived and were sounded with the mastery that conceals its art.”

This volume includes English translations Hillyer did of Danish poems by notable Danish poets (sometimes for the first time). That includes: Adam Oehlenschläger (1779-1850), B.S. Ingeman (1789-1862), Poul M. Møller (1794-1838), Christian Winther (1796-1876), Frederick Paludan-Müller (1809-1876), Holger Drachmann (1846-1908), Johannes Jørgensen (1866-1956), Ludvig Holstein (1864-1943), Jeppe Aakjær (1866-1930), Sophus Claussen (1865-1931) and Johannes V. Jensen (1873-1950) .

The underlying structure of the world’s information is decaying.

Linguist Helen Cherbourne comes to this astonishing conclusion after every piece of digital technology on Earth goes dark. As social order collapses, Helen races to find a scientific explanation for what’s happening. Joining her effort is Giles, a computer scientist she barely knows, one who bears an unwelcome resemblance to Helen’s childhood friend Gabriel Lemont, the quiet boy who grew up and fell in love with Helen and then died trying to impress her.

Helen and Giles make a series of remarkable discoveries about the information decay phenomenon, revelations that challenge some of their most basic assumptions about human history, but any clue to its origin or a way to defeat it eludes them. The phenomenon soon spreads beyond digital information and starts to attack encoded information of every kind. Even the written word disappears.

As Helen and Giles set out across a disintegrating world on a desperate search for answers, Helen’s thoughts draw her back to Gabriel and to half-remembered details of his death. The faded memories hint at a startling connection between the information decay and Helen’s own past and force her to accept the simplest of truths—she will need more than science to save those she holds dear.

The Ring Eternal is a timeless romance about two entwined souls overcoming grief, anxiety, and the laws of physics to realize their destiny together.

Hannah is a successful television producer trapped in a persisting cycle of grief since the sudden death of her soulmate, but a chance encounter with Greyson reignites a passion that forces her out of this self-imposed yet accustomed malaise. At first impression, he’s a winsome and naive 28-year-old who shares almost preternatural similarities to Hannah’s late husband. Is her grief gaslighting her, or is there truly something transcendental at play?

Greyson, a recent PhD graduate, is relocating to Los Angeles for an extraordinary career opportunity at a premier technology company while escaping a dysfunctional relationship. He desperately wants to reboot his stagnant life and free himself from the tethers of his adolescent insecurity.

When tragedy strikes, Greyson must travel back through time to confront his past and ultimately find his future.

Artificial Intelligence isn't coming. A.I. is here now.

This book explores A.I. from the inside out. From the early days of college bulletin boards (BBSes), and MOOS and MUDS to the ChatGPT of today that pumps out content to consume including entire books. This book is completely human-created. It may be the last of its kind on A.I. Learn the history, the present, and future of A.I. in an understandable way and how it will affect you.

In this realm, words are currency.

Step into a wonderland where illusions are shattered and beloved stories are turned on their heads. With truth laid bare, Maithy Vu conjures the muses of fairytales to grapple with gender equity, mental health, cultural identity, love, and purpose.

Poems for Princesses with Peas Under Their Mattresses is a kaleidoscope of emotions spanning from childhood to womanhood. The spellbinding collection invites readers to reimagine the power dynamics of familiar tales—so they can discover the magic within themselves.

Olive loves her Mr. Snuggles more than anything else in the world. He's cuddly. Reliable. Perfect. And unfortunately... lost!

When Mr. Snuggles mysteriously reappears, Olive couldn't be more excited. They are back on track to being best friends forever. Except, something doesn't feel quite right. Mr. Snuggles is a little too clean and a little too fluffy. He's an imposter! And when Olive finds the shiny new box, the proof is undeniable. Now Olive must make room for more than one Mr. Snuggles in her heart or find a way to rid the Imposter from her life for good.

With charming illustrations that draw out the heart and humor of Olive's complicated relationship with the new Mr. Snuggles, The Imposter is sure to become a favorite bedtime or storytime read.

In a secluded mansion hidden away from the outside world, young Kosa lives under the strict and overpowering rule of her enigmatic mother.

For Kosa, the rules set by Mother are the guiding principles of her life, shaping her beliefs and actions. She has been sheltered from the truth about the world beyond the confines of their home, conditioned to fear the darkness and malevolence that supposedly lurks outside.

However, as Kosa grows older, she begins to question the reality she has been presented with. Doubts eat away at her, fueled by a deep-rooted curiosity and a burgeoning sense of independence.

But Kosa possesses a mysterious and powerful ability that Mother desperately needs to sustain her own existence. Mother, a figure shrouded in shadows and secrets, will stop at nothing to ensure that Kosa's power remains potent and under her control. The sinister grasp that Mother has on Kosa becomes increasingly suffocating as she tightens her grip, isolating Kosa further from the truth that exists beyond their home.

In this dark and captivating tale, Kosa's journey unravels the intricacies of control, the strength of one's convictions, and the true nature of the world beyond the shadows. The choices she makes will not only determine her fate but also influence the fate of those around her.

When Vanessa kidnaps her ex-lover’s newborn baby, some might call her evil. Those who know her story might call her justified.

Vanessa thought she found her soulmate in August. Mind-bending sex. Soul-baring conversations. Safety and acceptance and being seen. Perhaps too perfect? Yes. August is married to his college sweetheart, Cassidy. When Vanessa gets pregnant, August manipulates Vanessa into getting an abortion with promises of a future together, but dumps her soon after. Vanessa plots her revenge, kidnapping August’s baby, Daisy, from her nursery.

Each member of this haunting love triangle tells their story as a nationwide search for Daisy ensues. August’s secret affairs play a pivotal role in the police investigation, Cassidy learns her marriage is a sham, and Vanessa struggles to keep Daisy alive.

Come And Get Me is a forty-eight hour pulse-pounding domestic thriller that explores issues of truth and consequence and how one decision can have an unforeseeable rippling effect on countless lives.

Princesss Ohletherbe wants everything her way until her parents discover mice living in her hair.

Author Jane Durbak tries looking at the world through the eyes and mind of a child, as an adult.

Princess Ohletherbe has allowed her to run free of all the adult restrictions that we as adults carry with us daily.

Jane has rediscovered the incredible open nature of children and appreciates it even more now that she has become a grandmother.

Lord Byron is the greatest writer you've never read.

The biographer of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis tells the story of Britain's most glamorous and most tortured writer.

He was rich and handsome. He was a swimmer and a poet. He loved both sexes. In his work he made a queer love life both thrilling and universal.

He was born with a deformed right foot. An emotional hurt dating back to abuse when he was a boy also affected the man he became. But his hand moved on the page and his body in the water with ease and assurance. His is the story of transcending his disability and his childhood trauma in his verse.

Byron's biography may shine a spotlight on your story too. The disappointments he felt in love, as well as the personal transformation he achieved in his work will strike a chord with anyone who is a reader, a writer, or a lover.

Grab your jacket and head outside with twins Finlay and Leo as they complete their chores and work up an appetite for a savory farm-fresh treat.

Based on the author's homesteading adventures, this book is sure to be a hit with nature-loving (and curious!) kids who are keen to learn about basic sustainable living practices. Readers follow siblings Finlay and Leo on a journey to collect colorful eggs, check on the pigs in the silvopasture, and find the tallest grasses where the cows wait to be milked. At home, the twins carefully collect vegetables from the garden. Mama's two helpers are ready to enjoy the rewards of their hard work... a hearty shepherd's pie!

With playful, warmly-colored illustrations, this "farm-to-table" themed book is sure to become a favorite with young kids who love farms, animals, environmental themes, and learning to prepare and share fresh food with family.

Discover the audiobook that unlocks your limitless potential with Me Power, the motivational nonfiction book that has garnered acclaim as a 7-time award winner.

"Who do you want to be?" This timeless question serves as the cornerstone of ME POWER, urging listeners to envision their aspirations and take bold action toward realizing them. ME POWER redefines empowerment through research-based insights and practical strategies, teaching us to tap into our inherent strength and resilience while forging meaningful connections with others.

No matter our obstacles, Me Power inspires us to harness our inner power and reject the notion that power is finite or external. As you immerse yourself in the wisdom of Me Power, you'll gain invaluable tools to navigate life's challenges with confidence and grace, empowering both yourself and those around you.

Are you ready to activate your Me Power and transform your life? Take the first step today by diving into this audiobook.

Following in her father's footsteps, Withanee Andersen begins the expedition of a lifetime when she and her comrades embark on a trek from Mt. Whitney to Death Valley, tracing the rugged path her father, Jim Andersen, traversed forty-three years earlier.

With hopes of being listed in the Guinness Book of World Records, Jim led the first documented walk from the highest to lowest point in the contiguous United States­ in 1974.  He lived, albeit just barely, to tell the tale to his daughter, sparking a desire in Withanee to retrace his steps in his honor. In 2017, she took on the incredible task of recreating Jim's legacy trek of 131 miles with the help of divine intervention, ice-cold beer, and her parents, who were following along as the support party.

Walk of Ages humorously relates the parallel journey of an epic adventure told from two perspectives-a daughter's difficult quest, and a father who supports her, through it while recalling his own experiences from four decades earlier. Throughout this momentous odyssey, readers will realize how a once-in-a-generation adventure leads to life-changing transformation, and that the bond between father and daughter knows no bounds.

When his father disappears, Dax faces every living nightmare to find him.

Dax Candeland is navigating another difficult day at school, where no one shows enough consideration for his dislike of contractions or his obsession with numbers. One thought sustains him: it's his sixteenth birthday, and he will celebrate it with his father.

Alone, the two of them enjoy their meal and a special understanding–until Dax visits the bathroom, where the sinister clown from a poster comes alive, making him both fear and doubt reality.

Back outside, the world has changed beyond recognition, and his father has gone. So begins Dax's quest to find his father and learn why he vanished in the first place.

In this new world, Dax meets gargoyles, monsters, witches and giants–but why do they bear a strange resemblance to the people in his life? His tendency to overthink and obsession with details become his greatest advantage as he is forced to solve riddle after riddle to advance his search.

Yet the closer he gets to solving the mystery, the more dangerous the creatures in this new world become. All Dax knows is that he must find his father quickly–before the search kills him for real.