The fully articulated skeleton of a female saint, dressed in an intricate costume of silk brocade and gold lace, withered fingers glittering with colorful rubies, emeralds, and pearls this is only one of the specially photographed relics featured in Heavenly Bodies. In 1578 news came of the discovery in Rome of a labyrinth of underground tombs, which were thought to hold the remains of thousands of early Christian martyrs. Skeletons of these supposed saints were subsequently sent to Catholic churches and religious houses in German-speaking Europe to replace holy relics that had been destroyed in the wake of the Protestant Reformation. The skeletons, known as the catacomb saints, were carefully reassembled, richly dressed in fantastic costumes, wigs, crowns, jewels, and armor, and posed in elaborate displays inside churches and shrines as reminders to the faithful of the heavenly treasures that awaited them after death. Paul Koudounaris gained unprecedented access to religious institutions to reveal these fascinating historical artifacts. Hidden for over a century as Western attitudes toward both the worship of holy relics and death itself changed, some of these ornamented skeletons appear in publication here for the first time."

    One night of pure weakness and lust has her running away from it all and seeking refuge in Alamosa with her best friend. But it seems life has other plans for her when she finds herself lost in the small town of Keaton. Jason Bradley is a charming country guy. He lives a simple life that’s nothing like what Cassandra is used to. A single moment in life changed everything he thought he once knew, leaving him with a broken heart and an unplanned future. What happens in Keaton is nothing Cassandra or her heart could have ever prepared for. The instant connection she shares with Jason is no secret, but what they're keeping hidden from one another is. Will these two be able to find a way to trust each other or will their secrets tear them apart?

    It has never been easy for her to connect with anyone other than her adoptive parents, but that hasn’t kept her from leading a quietly happy life...until now.Suddenly Willow’s world is tragically changed when her parents both die in a car crash, leaving her alone in a baffling world. The triumph of this book is that it is not a tragedy. This extraordinarily odd, but extraordinarily endearing, girl manages to push through her grief. Her journey to find a fascinatingly diverse and fully believable surrogate family is a joy and a revelation to read.

    

    My best friends. A piece of my soul. My glue. My bind. My everything. We were inseparable.But life doesn't always give us what we want and when given a choice, sometimes we can't choose. How do you pick between two people you love so deeply? So I ended up alone.Then I found Jase again. He's sick. Cancer. He can't find Whiskey and it's now up to me to reunite the brothers but what if I can't? What if Whiskey doesn't want to be found? What if I can't face the man I loved so deeply?Losing Jase will break me, but he's part of how this story comes together. Life goes how life goes and to understand mine and Whiskey's story, you have to understand Jase's. Even if it burns. So this...this is our story.

    Her grandmother is stern, the people on the island are strange, and children are supposed to be seen and not heard. But no matter how hard Inge tries to be good, mischief has a way of finding her. Could it be that a bit of mischief is exactly what Grandmother and the people of Bornholm need?

    That day changed everything for her. No longer was she the party girl. No longer did she care about being popular and no longer was her family the happy unit she always thought existed. The only person who could help her heal is the same person who loved her brother as much as she did, his best friend. She only hopes to keep her entire heart from breaking when Jesse will move on, and she knows he will. After Ethan died, Jesse excelled at basketball, partying, and girls. He used it all to turn his emotions off, but the irony was that Alex was the only person who could do that for him. She helped him forget, but she was the one person he shouldn't be with because the secrets he knows could shatter everything. They could shatter her.

    He lies down in his favourite clearing, and falls asleep for ever. Before long, Fox's friends begin to gather in the clearing. One by one, they tell stories of the special moments that they shared with Fox. And so, as they share their memories, a tree begins to grow, becoming bigger and stronger with each memory, sheltering and protecting all the animals in the forest, just as Fox did when he was alive.

    With only a few minutes to consider their options, her grieving family made the life-changing decision to donate her organs. Knowing Taylor's caring spirit, they were sure this was what she would have wanted. Over the course of the next two years, Tara and Todd Storch connected with four of the five people who now live because of Taylor's gift. And through these encounters, the Storches have discovered unexpected blessings that are changing countless lives.Now Tara and Todd share their inspiring story, shining a light at the end of the tunnel for those enduring the suffering of losing a loved one. Through the stories of the donor recipients, readers will discover hope in the midst of pain. Honest with their struggles, the Storches show readers that life is a gift and our response to grief is a choice. They also speak with a clear voice about the importance and the blessing of being an organ donor, telling the inspiring story of the creation of Taylor's Gift Foundation and its goals to raise awareness of the need for organ donation, to re-gift life, renew health, and restore families. They are changing the conversation around the globe that organ donation is not about death--it's about life! Foreword by Max Lucado.

    She thinks that Dante has no romantic interest in her but she's wrong. Dante doesn't believe in love or commitment or any kind. Sabrina has gotten under his skin, but Dante has no intention of acting on it. One wild night changes their relationship forever, but Dante lacks faith in love and doesn't believe in Happily Ever Afters. Can Sabrina break through and fix what's broken in Dante Hart?Book Two: SHATTERED HARTDamien Hart will never allow himself to fall into a committed relationship. He's seen the worst of the worst, and he knows that there isn't a woman on earth that will ever change his mind. All of that changes the moment he meets Brooke Tyler. Damien's entire view of women and relationships is rocked by her, and though he tries, he can't make himself stay away. Brooke is everything Damien never acknowledged that he wanted. Will he be able to let go of his past and take a chance on love?Book Three: LOVING HARTDestiny gave them each other... From the moment he saw her, Spencer Cross knew that Delilah Hart was special. Understanding that she needed him to be strong for her, Spencer endured a childhood filled with secrets, lies and abuse. Delilah gave him a reason to live as she protected his heart and kept him from going off the rails. Delilah knew that fate had delivered the love of her life to her at a very early age. Spencer was her anchor and the reason she believed in true love. She'd never doubted that they were meant to be together forever. Until chance threatened to rip them apart... Will Delilah be able to convince Spencer to let go of his demons, or will she be forced to walk away with only the memories?Book Four: UNBROKEN HARTThere were reasons why Dante didn't believe in love, reasons why he kept people at bay. For the first time, you will find out how Dante really felt about Sabrina from the very beginning. Catch up with the couple that started the Hart Family series. Dante is as steamy as ever!

    But I should've been. It was raining, of course. And he and Sylvie were arguing as he drove down the slick road. No one ever says what they were arguing about. Other people think it's not important. They do not know there is another story. The story that lurks between the facts. What they do not know—the cause of the argument—is crucial.So let me tell you...

    In this profoundly beautiful and intensely moving lament, artist and writer Karen Green conjures the inscrutable space of love and loss, clarity and contradiction, sense and madness. She summons memory and the machination of the interior mind with the emotional acuity of music as she charts her passage through the devastation of her husband's suicide. In crystalline fragments of text, Green's voice is paradoxically confessional and non-confessional: moments in her journey are devastating but also luminous, exacting in sensation but also ambiguous and layered in meaning. Her world is haunted by the unnameable, and yet she renders that world with poetic precision in her struggle to make sense of not only of death but of living. In counterpoint, tiny visual collages punctuate the text, each made of salvaged language and scraps of the material world-pages torn from books, bits of paper refuse, drawings and photographs, old postage stamps and the albums which classify them. Each collage — and the creative act of making it — evinces the reassembling of life. A breathtaking lyric elegy, Bough Down uses music and silence, color and its absence, authority of experience and the doubt that trembles at its center to fulfill a humane artistic vision. This is a lapidary, keenly observed work, awash with the honesty of an open heart.

    She surrounds herself with pictures of cats, stuffed cats, even cat-headed slippers. But she’s never been allowed to have a real cat of her own. Her father has always told her no, for reasons he won’t explain. So when a fluffy snowball of a kitten darts through their front door and into her life, Sara believes her dream might finally come true. But convincing her father to break his strict No Cats policy seems impossible. She has less than a week to persuade him that this kitten is exactly what their lonely, broken family of two needs to heal. Told in lyrical, spare verse, Serendipity & Me is a sparkling novel that elegantly handles the topic of loss for a middle grade audience.

    Now in their late 30s, the deeply devoted couple has everything-except the baby they've always wanted.When an accident leaves Elle brain dead, Matt is devastated. Though he cannot bear the thought of life without her, he knows Elle was afraid of only one thing-a slow death. And so, Matt resolves to take her off life support.But Matt changes his mind when they discover Elle's pregnant. While there are no certainties, the baby might survive if Elle remains on life support. Matt's mother, Linney, disagrees with his decision. She loves Elle, too, and insists that Elle would never want to be kept alive on machines. Linney is prepared to fight her son in court-armed with Elle's living will.Divided by the love they share, Matt and Linney will be pitted against each other, fighting for what they believe is right, and what they think Elle would have wanted resulting in a controversial legal battle that will ultimately go beyond one family . . . and one single life.

    It will inspire the necessary and difficult conversations we all need to have with loved ones as it illuminates a path to a better way of death.Like so many of us, award-winning writer Katy Butler always assumed her aging parents would experience healthy, active retire­ments before dying peacefully at home. Then her father suffered a stroke that left him incapable of easily finishing a sentence or showering without assistance. Her mother was thrust into full-time caregiving, and Katy became one of the 24 mil­lion Americans who help care for aging parents. In an effort to correct a minor and non–life threatening heart arrhythmia, doctors outfitted her father with a pacemaker. The device kept his heart beating but did nothing to prevent his slide into dementia, incontinence, near-muteness, and misery. After several years, he asked his wife for help, telling her, "I am living too long." Mother and daughter faced a series of wrench­ing moral questions: When does death cease being a curse and become a blessing? Where is the line between saving life and prolonging a dying? When is the right time to say to a doctor, "Let my loved one go"? When doctors refused to disable the pace­maker, sentencing her father to a protracted and agonizing death, Katy set out to understand why. Her quest had barely begun when her mother faced her own illness, rebelled against her doctors, refused open-heart surgery, and instead met death head-on. Knocking on Heaven's Door, a revolution­ary blend of memoir and investigative reporting, is the fruit of the Butler family's journey. With a reporter's skill, a poet's eye, and a daughter's love, Butler explores what happens when our terror of death collides with the tech­nological imperatives of modern medicine. Her provocative thesis is that advanced medicine, in its single-minded pursuit of maximum longevity, often creates more suffering than it prevents. Butler lays bare the tangled web of technology, medicine, and commerce that modern dying has become and chronicles the rise of Slow Medicine - a growing movement that promotes care over cure. Knocking on Heaven's Door is a visionary map through the labyrinth of a broken and morally adrift medical system. It will inspire the necessary and difficult conversations we all need to have with loved ones as it illuminates a path to a better way of death.

    Driven by anxiety—enslaved to the fear of death—we are revealed to be morally and spiritually vulnerable as "the sting of death is sin." Beck argues that in the face of this predicament, resurrection is experienced as liberation from the slavery of death in the martyrological, eccentric, cruciform, and communal capacity to overcome fear in living fully and sacrificially for others."Richard Beck's new book seamlessly integrates deep theological reflection with sound psychological insight while never compromising either discipline. Liberating ideas about fear, sin, and death from the mire of abstraction, The Slavery of Death invites believers to discover and embrace true freedom together at the far side of the cross, a freedom reflected in and essential to the very nature of God. This book is a gift to the church." —Jamie Arpin-Ricci, author, "The Cost of Community""With Eastern Orthodox tradition and the work of modern theologians like McGill, Stringfellow, and Kelsey in one hand, and social science texts in the other, Richard Beck analyzes our culture of death in this compelling book. What can liberate us from this demonic power that is feared and fetishized, institutionalized and internalized, and reconfigure our self-enclosed identities? The kenotic love of the risen Christ! With the colloquial skills of a gifted teacher, Beck has written a prophetic, practical—and urgent—manifesto."—Kim Fabricius, minister, the United Reformed Church (UK)"It's an age-old Faustian tale. We conspire with demonic principalities and powers to cheat death and save ourselves. Such idols, Richard Beck warns, inexorably enslave and damn us. He follows this indictment, however, with a prophetic analysis that is nothing short of an emancipation proclamation. Christ's resurrection not only burst the gates of hell and destroyed death's sting, but also freed us from the enslaving addiction of self-empowerment—resurrecting us for self-expenditure and sacrificial love."—Richard Goode, co-editor, "And the Criminals With Him""Beck is like the 'rabbi trained for the kingdom of heaven' that Jesus talked about: a master pulling out things old and new, weaving together ancient theology and contemporary psychology in a way altogether provocative and compelling, rightfully re-orienting us with regard to some of our most basic convictions. Good, good, good work." —Lee C. Camp, author, "Mere Discipleship"

    Then one day, her life changes forever when she loses her husband in a tragic accident. No longer sure how to navigate life after her enormous loss, Kayley clings to her newborn baby, her family, and her friends to keep herself living.When she meets someone that challenges her belief that she's better off alone, she has to decide if she is capable of letting him in after swearing she was never going to love anyone the same way again.She's not the only one with a painful past. He is struggling with trust issues after a previous relationship went horribly wrong. After a terrible misunderstanding brings out both of their insecurities, will the painful memories of the past keep them both from living again?

    They journey through ud and rain and long cold nights, and soon their survival becomes more important than any possessions they carry.But as the years go by, Peter never forgets the treasure box, and one day he returns to find it ...

    They traded the comforts of suburban southern California for the crowded cobblestone streets of the Middle East. They explored remote areas and they befriended nomadic tribes people, courageously bringing a message of hope and freedom to those needing to hear it.But none of those adventures would compare to where God led them next: a journey of visions, revelations, and sorrow. A journey into stage-four cancer, and a journey that beckoned them to walk the shrouded path through the Valley of the Shadow of Death. Yet even there they discovered peace, grace, and a new hope for the lost around them.

    It may not be the one you wanted exactly, but it will be the one you need. It will prepare you for the next step in your journey and help you learn to accept the life you are given, even if that life can be heartbreaking.

    Though April Wright stubbornly keeps an upbeat attitude about her daughter's future, she has let her own dreams slip away. Just across the bridge lives old Luca, scarred from his time in a Romanian gulag years before. Though he has seemingly given up on people, Sierra is drawn to him despite his prickly edges. No one else is comfortable with the unpredictable old man spending time alone with Sierra, not even Luca's son. Yet it is this unconventional relationship that will bring two families together to form friendships and unearth their family stories, stories that just might give them all the courage to soar on wings toward a new future.

    They live normal lives just like everyone else. Zaria is ride or die for her husband Quasym. She believes in holding her man down to the fullest extent. But when Quasym becomes sick of his wife being the one to hold him down, he forces his way into the game bringing his best friend Devon along with him. Quasym is suddenly the King of the South and is seeing money that he had never expected. With his sudden change in status, he and his wife Zaria are hit with one thing after another. Yessenia and Devon are happily married. Yessenia is a hair stylist who does everything a wife is supposed to do for her husband. She believes in catering to her man's every need. But when she finds out that her husband is holding on to secrets, Yessenia ends up caught in a web of lies that could cost both her and Devon their lives. Cherie is young and full of life. All she wants is to marry a man with money and to be taken care of. When her love life isn't going as expected, she becomes jealous of her sister Zaria. She's desperate for a mate and will do anything to have one. But what happens when her get rich schemes begin to backfire? These three women have to deal with the drama, lies, betrayal, and even murder....but will being a thug's wife become too much for them?

    We live with others. We die alone."In his riveting, artfully written memoir The Autobiography of an Execution, David Dow enraptured readers with a searing and frank exploration of his work defending inmates on death row. But when Dow's father-in-law receives his own death sentence in the form of terminal cancer, and his gentle dog Winona suffers acute liver failure, the author is forced to reconcile with death in a far more personal way, both as a son and as a father.Told through the disparate lenses of the legal battles he's spent a career fighting, and the intimate confrontations with death each family faces at home, Things I've Learned from Dying offers a poignant and lyrical account of how illness and loss can ravage a family. Full of grace and intelligence, Dow offers readers hope without cliché and reaffirms our basic human needs for acceptance and love by giving voice to the anguish we all face--as parents, as children, as partners, as friends--when our loved ones die tragically, and far too soon.

    Kyle was my first one true love, my first in every way.Then, one stormy August night, he died, and the person I was died with him. Colton didn't teach me how to live. He didn't heal the pain. He didn't make it okay. He taught me how to hurt, how to not be okay, and, eventually, how to let go.

    She shares the care of her paralysed father with her domineering, difficult mother, forced to cut down on her hours at school to help support the family with a part-time rest home job. She's very much alone, still grieving the loss of her older sister Van, who died five years before. Her only source of consolation is her obsession with art and painting in particular. Most especially she is enamoured with Vincent Van Gogh: she has read all his letters and finds many parallels between the tragic story of his life and her own. Luckily she meets the intelligent, kindly Professor Max Stockhamer (a Jewish refugee and philosopher) and his grandson Johannes, and their support is crucial to her ability to survive this turbulent time. NZ Post Award-wining author Mandy Hager tackles the difficult topic of suicide fearlessly, with a novel that's not afraid to go to the dark places but which resolves its story beautifully. It's uplifting and positive.

    Now available**They say there are five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.Not everyone will grieve in this order, nor will everyone go through every stage. It’s during the stage of denial when Alex Hart meets Andrew Foster. He takes her one-step closer to acceptance: the stage when new, meaningful relationships are formed. The stage when the realization occurs that this is now the new state of normal.Just when Alex thinks she is on her way to healing, she enters the bargaining phase. That’s the phase where you wonder what you could have done differently. You wonder “what if?” Specifically, what if the ones you loved hadn’t left you?Leaving…this is what makes heading off to war so difficult and frightening for Alex. She knows all too well what it’s like to be the one on the losing end of life, which is why she’s made it her personal mission in life to save as many lives as possible. The extreme high she gets from treating trauma victims turns into Alex’s own form of therapy, or so she thinks.When faced with her world being turned upside down, Alex may just find that her true therapy is in the one who has always saved her.

    But it wasn’t his first time there. Ben suffered from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), a heart condition that posed a constant risk of sudden death. His condition, a thickening of the heart muscle, worsened over time, leaving him weak and fatigued. It also led Ben to some close calls medically, in particular cardiac arrest on four separate occasions, during which he felt the presence of angels and experienced the perfect peace of heaven.Precocious and warm, Ben was close with his family and two siblings, and forged deep relationships with his friends. He loved to wakeboard and wakesurf, and he had dreams of visiting foreign countries around the world. He created the YouTube channels TotalRandomness512 and BreedloveTV, and cocreated the channel OurAdvice4You,  where he posted videos about everything from dating advice for girls to more serious topics like his spirituality and heart condition.Unbeknownst to his parents and family, Ben created a two-part video called “This Is My Story,” in which he used flash cards to tell the world about his near-death experiences and his beckoning toward heaven.When he died a short while later at the tender age of eighteen, his family and the rest of the world stumbled upon these videos. The world responded with overwhelming acceptance of the message Ben shared.Ben’s vision of heaven was his gift to his family, and to the world. And now this is the Breedlove family’s gift to us—an in-depth look at the life and near-deaths of Ben, the strength and faith of a family, and, ultimately, the hope of heaven.Do you believe in Angels or God? I Do.—Ben Breedlove

    Well, perhaps not that kindly.

    Unfortunately, if the terminally-ill leukemia patient doesn't find a lover or a stem-cell match within months, her fear will become reality. When her cancer mentor is revealed to be a hottie entrepreneur from California, it seems fate might finally be on her side.Tech-geek Gavin Taylor has everything he ever wanted, except someone to grieve for him when he's gone. With his melanoma cancer beyond the help of his riches, he agrees to participate in a cancer patient mentoring program where he's matched with a dying teen from Texas. Despite his immediate attraction, the Silicon Valley whiz intends only to provide friendship and happy memories to the beautiful, young woman who is determined to win his love.When it's discovered that his frozen sperm and her harvested eggs could lead to a cure, Taylor's mother offers to be a surrogate. And Gavin must decide if he can risk the heart he has never given and a child he'll never know to a girl he just met.

    The text also features the large number of people who walked the funeral route and were buoyed by MLKs positive influence, as well as Ada and Belle, the mules that pulled the cart.

    When an unexpected trip to Miami, Florida goes horribly sour, the best friends find themselves working together in a way that they vowed never to do. Malcolm undeniably loves his girlfriend, Diamond, but a higher authority threatens to end their happily ever after union. With stressors making his life more difficult after proving to be dishonorable, yet again, he must decide if staying in the game is worth his relationship or if he should cut his ties and walk away. Russell spoils his wife with all things luxury, but only in hopes that she’d one day forgive him for his infidelity and open her heart back up to him. After forming an unlikely alliance, he feels that his luck is about to change for the better, but he’s unaware that it’s only a lure to pull him deeper in a world of monstrous intentions that will be much harder to get out of. The loyal becomes distrustful and the weak becomes the prey. No one is safe unless you’re at the top, but even then, someone is lurking to remove you of your position and by any means necessary. Dope Boyz isn’t your ordinary Dope Tale, but it is a hot new romance series that’s sure to leave you staggered in thoughts of what’s next to come…

    As if high school wasn’t hard enough on its own, now she spends her days helping unhappy ghosts move on to the afterlife. Dealing with death on a daily basis is too much for one girl to handle, so when she finds a way to get rid of her supernatural sight, she jumps at the chance. But when a missing student turns up as a freshly murdered ghost with a taste for vengeance, Bridget realizes she's the only one who can find the killer. With innocent lives hanging in the balance, Bridget must decide if she’s willing to sacrifice her one chance at a normal life. Join Bridget and her rag-tag team of ghostly companions for a nail-biting mystery that will keep you up all night.

    Billy's vivid, real-time account of his on-going journey through the mysteries of death will change the way you think about life. Death and your place in the Universe.In his foreword, Dr. Raymond Moody, author of Life after Life, explains the phenomena of walkers between the worlds, known to us since ancient times, and says that Dr. Kagan's thought-provoking account is an excellent example.

    She awakens in a derelict hospital, chained to a bed with no memory of who she is, or how she got there. A band of pale skinned men, led by the gorgeous Luca, burst in, whisking her away to safety. Once at Haven House, Evaine is introduced to The Family. Like them, she has become A Deader, a reanimated Undead.Luca is hell-bent on stopping the experimentations, and killing those responsible. He has no time for a Newborn who is struggling to control her rages, hunger, and powers. Nor does he have the desire to deal with the feelings she's awakening within him.Despite their best efforts, Evaine and Luca find their connection intensifying when suddenly, she remembers not only who she is, but also her fiancé, Tristan; who is still looking for her. Torn between her first love and her new heart’s desire, Evaine runs back to Tristan putting everyone in danger. When a rogue faction of Deaders, called Feeders, attempts to kidnap her, Luca suspects Evaine is the key to the experiments. Can everyone band together to keep Evaine off the cutting table of those she escaped from? Or will second death tear her away from everyone, for good?

    Its symbol is worn by hundreds of millions worldwide. Its spiritual meaning is recalled daily in time-honored rituals. It is the most passionately debated murder of all time. In Killing Jesus: The Hidden Drama Behind the World's Most Famous Execution, New York Times best-selling author Stephen Mansfield tells the gripping story of the conspiracy to assassinate Jesus Christ and the graphic details of his torturous death. Approaching the tale at its most human level an approach often neglected by worshippers of Christ and the unbelieving alike Mansfield uses both secular sources and the biblical accounts to bring fresh perspective and fire to this familiar saga. Rooted in scholarship but told simply and with vivid detail this thrilling, page-turning account of the death of Jesus will fascinate and stir readers whatever their beliefs might be.

    In it a young man teaches his entire family “a new way to die” with wit, candor, and, always, remarkable grace. This emotionally riveting account probes the heart without sentimentality or self-pity. As the book opens, Richard Lischer’s son, Adam, calls to tell his father, a professor of divinity at Duke University, that his cancer has returned. Adam is a smart, charismatic young man with a promising law career, and an unlikely candidate for tragedy. That his young wife is pregnant with their first child makes the disease’s return all the more devastating. Despite the crushing magnitude of his diagnosis and the cruel course of the illness, Adam’s growing weakness evokes in him an unexpected strength.  This is the story of one last summer and the young man who lived it as honestly and faithfully as possible. We meet Adam in many phases of his growing up, but always through the narrow lens of his undying hope, when in the final season of his life he becomes his family’s (and his father’s) spiritual leader. Honest in its every dimension, Stations of the Heart is an unforgettable book about life and death and the terrible blessing of saying good-bye.

    To enter into these poems one must be fully committed, as the poet is, to seeing this world as it is, to staying with it, moment by moment, day by day. Yet these poems hold a dark promise: this is how you can do it, but you must be fully engaged, which means you must be fully awake, you must wake up inside it. As we proceed, the how-to of the beginning poems subtly transform, as the animals (or, more specifically, the livestock) we are engaging begin to, more and more, become part of us, literally and figuratively we enter inside of that which we devour.--Nick FlynnThis is the book you want with you in the cellar when the tornado is upstairs taking your house and your farm. It's the book you want in the bomb shelter, and in the stalled car, in the kitchen waiting for the kids to come home, in the library when the library books are burned. Its instructions are clear and urgent. Rebecca Gayle Howell has pressed her face to the face of the actual animal world. She remembers everything we have forgotten. Read this! It's not too late. We can start over from right here and right now.--Marie HoweIn every one of these haunting and hungry poems, Howell draws a map for how to enter the heat and dew of the human being, naked and facing the natural world, desperate to feel. I did not realize while reading RENDER how deeply I was handing everything over.--Nikky Finney

    She has a family that loves her, friends that make her laugh, and she's wrapped up in the excitement of graduating high school and going off to college to pursue her dream of becoming an author. When her mother, who also happens to be Addison's best friend, dies unexpectedly, her world comes to a crashing halt. Death changes everyone... To make the pain go away, Addison and her father travel down separate, dark paths. She chooses to end her grief forever, while he drowns his sorrows in the bottom of a bottle. How do you learn to live again when the most important person in your life is gone? Addison struggles to pick up the pieces of her life. Instead of getting back to being the carefree teenager she once was, she's stuck handling all of the responsibilities that should have been her father's. She has no time to grieve, no time for emotions, and no time for happiness...until Zander Reinhardt walks in. All it takes is one little handwritten note on a napkin to kick-start her back to life and help her realize that maybe there's more to that life than pain. But can it really be that simple? Can she really trust this man who makes her feel alive again for the first time in a year?

    But that isn’t stopping him from trying to find a missing girl. Concealing his illness, he stays on to continue the struggle to solve the case. Several other girls who’ve disappeared have all turned up dead, and Jack knows he doesn’t have much time. But the case goes cold, and Jack has all but given up hope until 9 year old Rebecca provides the clues which can catch the killer. Unaware of the secret that she’s carrying, Rebecca is tormented by nightmares and visions she can’t understand. While undergoing therapy, her doctor uncovers the root of her fear, the memory of a horrific murder. But the identity of the victim is the most shocking of all. When Jack learns how the girl’s story was acquired, it challenges everything he believes. Jack dismisses her account until an incident reveals her story to be irrefutable. The events that follow will change Jack forever, and prove to him that there’s a reason and purpose for every life...and death.

    A reporter’s firsthand, close-up-and-personal look at the impact of our recent wars on America’s unlucky soldiers.

    Avery Rhodes’ world imploded the moment she lost Josh. Her life and future unravelled in an instant. Alone and pregnant, she finds herself facing an unimaginable, turbulent and painful new reality.With his newfound guide Gabriel, Josh is witness to the unintended consequences of his death, until he can't take it anymore. He has to fight for everything and everyone he loves.Together, Josh and Avery are forced to learn what happens IF TOMORROW NEVER COMES.

    More than 1.5 million Americans a year die in hospice care—nearly 44 percent of all deaths—and a vast industry has sprung up to meet the growing demand. Once viewed as a New Age indulgence, hospice is now a $14 billion business and one of the most successful segments in health care. Changing the Way We Die, by award-winning journalists Fran Smith and Sheila Himmel, is the first book to take a broad, penetrating look at the hospice landscape.Changing the Way We Die is a vital resource for anyone who wants to be prepared to face life’s most challenging and universal event. You will learn:— Hospice use is soaring, yet most people come too late to get the full benefits.— With the age tsunami, it becomes even more critical for families and patients to choose end-of-life care wisely.— Hospice at its best is much more than a way to relieve the suffering of dying. It is a way to live.

    If you want to travel back in time, you need to be at least eighteen years old. You can only travel within your own lifespan for a maximum of six months. And above all else, you must never, ever, change the past.But that's exactly what Brooke Wallace plans to do.As Brooke faces existence without her beloved brother, his life cut short by a rare disease, she can think of only one solution - travel back in time to prevent his death. However, her attempts at fixing the past challenge her to confront everything she believes to be true about herself. And ultimately, she is forced to discover whether or not we can ever truly be in charge of our own destiny.

    An interesting tale that will leave you wondering about what happens when we die. I really enjoyed the idea behind this book as it is a question that we all ask at some time in our lives." -- Readers' Favorite"The Death of Death by K. N. Parker is a gorgeous fairytale like story that is equal parts haunting and beautiful... Parker manages to weave this truly dark tale in a tone that can only be described as sweet... The amount of imagery in this book was great from the description of the guides to the world around them..." -- Online Book ClubSYNOPSIS:Death guides usually have rather normal names like John, Mary, Harry, and Jessica. And even ones not quite so normal, like Bartholomew or Ambrosia. They also have the most interesting tales behind their deaths. But one particular death guide has a few problems: she cannot remember her name or the details of her demise, and thus has no story of her own. One fateful night, she meets a young girl that may change her death forever.Inspired by and in the style of Children's tales of old, The Death of Death is a tragic, yet sweet little tale about loss and acceptance. Suitable for ages 12 and up.

    But her vacation comes to an unexpected end when the body of a young Latino boy is found on the beach.Kit teams up with D.C. cop David O Connor to investigate the murder with the smallest of clues tomato seeds and acorns found in the boy s pockets. Using plant DNA evidence, Kit traces the young boy to a huge farm where more than a killer looms. With grit, determination, and a growing interest in David, Kit pursues her case and discovers that, to truly move forward in life, justice has to be tempered with mercy."

    Since then, nothing has been the same. Follow the Cardwell family as they band together to overcome murder, mayhem and a family imposter.

    “There are barbels in the mud. They will wake up if you step on them.” When Paul and Dominique are sent to boarding schools in Natal, their idyllic childhood on a Free State farm is over. Their parents’ leftist politics has made life impossible in the local dorp school. Angry schoolboy Paul is a promising poet, his sister his confidant. But his literary awakening turns into a descent. He flees the oppression of South Africa, only to meet his death in London. Dominique Botha’s poignant debut is an elegy to a rural existence and her brother – both now forever lost. The novel is based on true events.

    But what makes Schmidt even more compelling to us is his day job. For forty-five years, Schmidt was an efficient and prolific public executioner, employed by the state to extract confessions and put convicted criminals to death. In his years of service, he executed 361 people and tortured, flogged, or disfigured hundreds more. Is it possible that a man who practiced such cruelty could also be insightful, compassionate, humane—even progressive? In his groundbreaking book, the historian Joel F. Harrington looks for the answer in Schmidt’s journal, whose immense significance has been ignored until now. Harrington uncovers details of Schmidt’s medical practice, his marriage to a woman ten years older than him, his efforts at penal reform, his almost touching obsession with social status, and most of all his conflicted relationship with his own craft and the growing sense that it could not be squared with his faith. A biography of an ordinary man struggling for his soul, The Faithful Executioner is also an unparalleled portrait of Europe on the cusp of modernity, yet riven by conflict and encumbered by paranoia, superstition, and abuses of power. In his intimate portrait of a Nuremberg executioner, Harrington also sheds light on our own fraught historical moment.

    In the beginning, Troy Stanton’s young niece, Clara, becomes pregnant, and there is much contention as to the father and how to manage the circumstances. When the pregnant Clara suddenly vanishes, Troy is mired in indecision and finds few answers with no one to turn to. The Stantons suspect foul play from someone inside the small town, but Clara’s brother, Silas, discovers the secret and must bury it from the eyes of the community for the truth is never to be told. From the greatest desires comes the most bitter hatred, and the Stantons must stand their ground in order to survive in a world fraught with unjust grievances and black-hearted adversaries. The story is built as Clara embarks on a treacherous journey and brother Silas copes with living on the mountain, ultimately defending his own life, while Troy goes in search of his niece after she mysteriously disappears from their mountain home. Along the way, Clara's fatherless, unborn child is in peril as Clara undertakes the dangerous road to another life and onto her final destination, one that she never intended arriving at in the first place. Involving matters in the region, the Stantons are faced with generational hatreds that refuse to die and negotiating their lives in the highlands of Appalachia becomes increasingly difficult. They are paired with many challenges and dilemmas of moral choices, life decisions, compromising situations, danger, distrust and honor. Life in the mountains is hard and keeping his family name is first and foremost to Troy Stanton.This story is an intriguing journey of love and struggle, even murder and death, between the will to move their lives onward and the desire to become a family once again. Turn the cover to find the opening pages compelling, the heart of the book strong, and the ending satisfying yet bittersweet. Down from the Mountain is a tasteful début novel that will fill you with wonder, entice your soul, and leave you wanting more.

    Filled with romance and friendships reminiscent of Chick-Lit novels, Unfinished Business is a humorous and heartwarming adventure. When Angela Panther's mother Fran Richter wakes her up in the middle of the night ranting about stolen Hershey Bars, Angela thinks her mother's got a screw loose. And then it hits her. Her mother is dead. Just a few hours before, Angela watched as the funeral home staff nearly dropped her mother's body off the gurney while sliding her into the hearse. So maybe she's the one that's nuttier than a fruitcake? But Fran keeps popping in and with a volcano full of drama already brewing at home--crazy or not--Angela's grateful for her mother's presence. It's the other ghosts Angela can do without. Seems Fran's return opened a portal between Angela and the other side and ghosts are hitting up the reluctant psychic medium for help. From the naked British guy juggling balls in the coffee shop parking lot to the woman desperately trying to save her sick child, Angela must find a way to balance her own life with the unfinished business of the dead. This book was a finalist in the 2014 RONE Awards from InD'Tale Magazine.

    At 19, her only sibling was killed in a car crash. At 34, she lost her husband to a sudden heart attack. But at 36, her teenage daughter found her on Facebook and began to reshape the course of Tré’s life. The sum of these milestones is Splitting the Difference: A Heart-Shaped Memoir, a nonfiction work that is equal parts inspiring, irreverent and heart-rending.Through sharply immediate prose, Tré unpacks her experience of being young and widowed in New York City: the “dumb sh*% people say”; the “brave face” she wears to work or social events; and the lack of solace in one-night stands.Her perspective only begins shifting when she spontaneously brings Alberto’s ashes on a trip and sets into motion the ritual of spreading him in bodies of water around the world. Traveling to Bucket List destinations like Savannah, Brazil and Cuba, Tré discovers a strategy for facing her roughest days.Alberto’s loss becomes a portal through which Tré views her past and embraces her future: she quits her corporate job, explores her husband’s homeland of Cuba and joyfully reunites with her biological daughter in North Carolina. A deeply moving narrative, Splitting the Difference is written with the “raw-thenticity” of a woman transformed by heartbreak and inspired by love’s legacy.

    Unfortunately for him, the medical examiner assigned to help with the case is Abby Hart, a woman who has secrets of her own. As Abby and Mark investigate the latest deaths, they discover a sinister, seemingly empty church in the heart of the city. A mysterious cult is gathering, determined to raise the father of the vampire race, who was supposed to have been killed many years ago. Soon, Abby is drawn into the heart of the cult, which is when she realizes that rather than trying to stop them, she might actually want to help...

    Writing from personal experience, he examines the biblical truths that carried him through such a painful time and that minister to him on dark days still known to come around.Ultimately, Melissa: A Father's Lessons from a Daughter's Suicide is beauty from ashes, a book of wisdom and hope that Page wishes he could have read before going through this valley, and a resource the church can use to directly address an all-too-real problem.

    Girl, slightly more cynical, takes a little longer. And they lived happily ever after, right?It definitely wasn't supposed to end the way it did. For fans of Colleen Hoover, Jojo Moyes and Eleanor Rowell, Charlie and Pearl is a breathtaking story of unconventional love, of finding that spare part you never knew you were missing and what happens when love simply isn't enough."This is an incredible story. As long as you don't mind getting kicked in the gut, shedding a few tears, and having your heart squeezed at the pain the characters go through, you'll love this book. It's simple, yet elegant. Painful, yet heartwarming. It is put simply, an incredible story told well." Mark Paxson

    His father is an abusive drunk with muddled religious views, and his mother, as hard as she tries to defend her son, only ever ends up delaying the inevitable. Things take a turn for the worse one Friday when Bobby brings home a black eye from school. The following day his father brings him out into the woods on a mission to do “God’s Work” and bring him into adulthood. A coming-of-age story about the sins of a father and a son’s chance to absolve himself from them.

    In April alone, they’d rushed thirty-four patients to the hospital. But no one expected such a horrific cause to be behind it all.Kimberly Clark Saenz was a well-liked licensed vocational nurse at the center. The East Texas nurse was a mother of two, and known for her smiles and the stories she told to help patients pass the time. But on April 28, 2008, witnesses came forward to say that instead of lifesaving medication, they’d seen Saenz adding toxic bleach to IV ports. Turns out, it wasn’t the first time. Once caught, the shocking story of Saenz’s murderous practices began to unravel…INCLUDES PHOTOS

    Small Porcelain Head metaphorically explores the stark stillness of loss through the inanimate quality of dolls and revisits lines from a suicide note as a means of final "conversation."

     "Destiny my ass." Jade Glaster refuses to believe the Fates rule her life. Orphaned after an attack by Scourge soldiers, a young Jade vows never to be powerless again. Once grown and strong, wielding the affinities of fire and healing, Jade protects innocents as an enforcer for her world's elite policing agency—The Talon. When an emissary mission to reinstate a race of exiled Elves brings Galan into her life, Jade finds herself overwhelmed by new passions, some welcome, some not. Although Galan's antiquated views on women offend her to her heated core, when the Scourge attack his family, she helps him navigate the outside worlds he knows nothing about—the magical Realm of the Fair and, stranger still . . . the modern streets of Toronto. Through their sensually charged pursuit of justice, Jade discovers that when dealing with the Fates—destiny is never random.

    They are found in traditions across the world, east and west, old and new. They were the guiding force of the occult revival at the turn of the 20th century, and continue to aid us today. Often overlooked in the traditions of the Witch, yet ever present in the form of the Mighty Dead, first written about publicly in the works of Gerald Gardner. These are the elder spirits who gather by the edges of our circle to witness our magick, and if asked, can enter into relationship with us. They are the true teachers of the mysteries, and the true initiators. The Mighty Dead help us regenerate our own lost traditions, awakening our spiritual roots to deeper truths. By forging connections with them, collectively or individually, we too can learn how to evolve and pass through the cycles of reincarnation to become one with these sanctified masters. Hand in hand we shall ecstatically dance together at the eternal Sabbat of the Witch.

    At least until she wakes up one night and finds out she’s dead. Well, she isn’t technically dead—she just doesn’t have any hair . . . or a nose . . . or skin. Yep—all bones, no body. Human by day and skeleton by night, Cindy is definitely cursed. And because her mother recently died, Cindy has no one to turn to except a father who’s now scared of her and an evil stepmother who makes her do the housecleaning with a toothbrush. To make matters worse, the Spring Fling dance is approaching, and Ethan, the cutest boy in sixth grade, doesn’t seem to know Cindy exists. Of course, Cindy doesn’t think letting Ethan find out she’s part skeleton is the best way to introduce herself.While facing such perils as pickled pig’s feet, a wacky fortune teller, and a few quick trips to the Underworld, Cindy’s determined to break the curse—even for a single night.

    But after her father’s sudden death, money is tight, and Aunty Violet decides to give Max away—he is just too big for their cramped new life. Binny knows she can’t get her dad back, but she never stops missing Max, or trying to find him. Then, when she’s eleven, everything changes again.Aunty Violet has died, and left Binny and her family an old house in a seaside town. Binny is faced with a new crush, a new frenemy, and…a ghost? It seems Aunty Violet may not have completely departed. It’s odd being haunted by her aunt, but there is also the warmth of a busy and loving mother, a musical older sister, and a hilarious little brother, who is busy with his experiments. And his wetsuit. And his chickens.

    While on a case that has dynamic implications to uncovering an espionage ring operating on American and British soil, Helen defuses a hostage crisis in a bank robbery gone wrong, unearths an explosive coffin, and is introduced to a dead English hero who seems very much alive. The fate of an innocent girl and the world’s two most dynamic leaders depend upon Helen’s connecting cases before Wilbur Shellmeyer faces a firing squad, and Churchill and Roosevelt meet for a secret conference in upstate New York. Set against the backdrop of the early days of World War II, A Date with Death combines action, adventure, mystery, and romance in a tale that will keep readers on the edge of their seats until they, like Helen Meeker, answer the question, “Do I save the leader of the free world or an innocent man scheduled to die to protect someone he loves?” Which life is more important? Though the answer to this question will be revealed at the end of A Date with Death, Helen’s action and adventure will continue at a break-neck pace throughout the “In the President’s Service Series,” as she takes on new challenges and dangers. Purchase the eBooks each month here!

    She had a normal upbringing, a stable career and a good love life, finally meeting “the One,” Colby.But life has a funny way of turning the tables on you.Faced with a devastating diagnosis, Kinsey sets out to write her last story – her own.Her journey reunites her with each man she’s fallen in love with and with their words, along with other friends and family, she pieces together the story of herself. With each meeting, Kinsey begins to realize that each of her past loves has happened for a reason. And she’s left footprints on their lives just like they did for her.Every life is special, especially your own.

    Part One shows how to prepare one's mind and how to help others, before, during, and after death. The author explains how spiritual preparation for death can completely transform our relationship to the end of life, dissolving our fear and helping us to feel open and receptive to letting go in the dying process. Daily meditation practices, the stages of dying and how to work with them, and after-death experiences are all detailed in ways that will be particularly helpful for those with an interest in Tibetan Buddhism and in Tibetan approaches to conscious dying. Part Two addresses the practical issues that surround death. Experts in grief, hospice, the funeral business, and the medical and legal issues of death contribute chapters to prepare the reader for every practical concern, including advance directives, green funerals, the signs of death, warnings about the funeral industry, the stages of grief, and practical care for the dying. Part Three contains heart-advice from twenty of the best-known Tibetan Buddhist masters now teaching in the West. These brief interviews provide words of solace and wisdom to guide the dying and their caregivers during this challenging time. Preparing to Die is for anyone interested in learning how to prepare for death from a Buddhist perspective, both spiritually and practically. It is also for those who want to learn how to help someone else who is dying, both during the time of illness and death as well as after death.

    Seventeen-year-old Corinne has everything. Her life. Family. Friends. Boyfriend. But in that one second, she loses it all. Now she's left with harrowing nightmares. Hallucinations. And panic attacks that seem to come out of nowhere. She tries everything to take the pain away, but there's only one option she sees as a true way out. When Corinne is sent to live in a psychiatric institution, she doesn't want to talk. It's pointless. They can't help her. But slowly Corinne opens up and wants to remember what it's like to be happy so she begins reliving her past life to her doctor. She knows she can't live in the past, but she sees no future and is faced with the hardest decision of her life.

    Gabby is pushy and a real pain - but she's the reason I've survived this long.She's my sister. And now she's gone.Criminals are sent to the colonies to work as slaves. There is no escape. I know that it's a savage place, not a place for a teenage girl from the wrong side of London.I might die trying. I'll probably never see London again. But they've taken my sister, and I'm going to get her back.

    2.) The scariest things imaginable are not those that can kill you, but those you can live through. And probably the most prominent: 3.) The most horrible possibility is not what could happen to you, but what you could become – I became a killer.” ~Hope Wellman Brief Description:Hope Wellman has a childhood full of horrific memories, a bone chilling recurring nightmare, and a persistent paranoid sense of being followed that she would rather keep repressed. Is evil reaching from beyond the grave to capture the tattered remnants of her soul once and for all, is it only a machination of her disturbed mind, or is there something happening more sinister than even she can imagine? Attending the funeral of her abuser is the first step in putting her life back together as she is about to turn twenty-one. She struggles with the fact she never told anyone what happened to her, and that the grave they are mourning over is empty. She'd find it a lot easier to move on and believe in the future if he were in the box, ready to be covered with dirt. She fears the last thread of her sanity has snapped when she sees Lucas everywhere she turns, and can't escape a recurring nightmare. Is her tormentor alive, or is she imagining it? Is her dream triggered by past fears or is it a prediction of the future?From the Author: I am a survivor of abuse. It changed me. I closed myself off. It changed the way I saw myself. It changed the way I thought others saw me. It changed my outlook on the whole world. It changed the way I let people treat me, and had a snowball effect on my life. I married an abusive man. I divorced an abusive man. I finally broke the cycle. Most of all, I wanted to express how important it is to encourage the discussion of abuse. In my book, as in my life, silence is the enemy. Three Rules was written as fiction in order to make it an enjoyable read, but, much of the thought processes, feelings and reactions are real. However, there are no gory detailed scenes. It was written with sincere respect and sensitivity for the reader while trying to convey the honest and realistic feelings of an abuse survivor. ~ Marie

    His tiny museum in Bramber, Sussex, was crammed full of multi-legged kittens, two-headed lambs and a bewildering assortment of curios.Closed in the '70s, the museum was variously re-established before being auctioned off in 2003. It was reported that a £1M bid by Damien Hirst to keep the collection intact was refused, but in 2010 many of Potter's key pieces were exhibited by the artist Sir Peter Blake at London's 'Museum of Everything', attracting over 30,000 visitors in 6 weeks. The subsequent dispersal of Potter's works has meant the loss of a truly unique Victorian legacy. Here, perhaps for the last time, the collection is preserved and celebrated with new photographs of Potter's best-loved works.

    Sara Walker knows firsthand what it feels like to have your reality ripped away, scrambled, and shoved back at you in an undone puzzle where pieces are missing and nothing fits. She's lost so much and is struggling to live and to find the strength to forgive herself for being human. With the help of Lincoln, her husband's brother, Sara realizes it's not about finding who she used to be, but about finding who she is now.You breathe in, you breathe out, and everything you know isn't gone, but reborn.

     He was big and beautiful and even though we were from different worlds, we fell madly in love with each other. When he was sent to prison, he left me pregnant and devastated. But ten years later, he's back, angry, accusing, and demanding his child. I'm married now, with a husband who loves me and my son knows nothing of Red. How do I handle Red's unbridled thirst for vengeance? How do I manage the beautiful memories that flood me every time I look at him, even though he wants to destroy me? How do I manage my longing for Red and stay faithful to my marriage, to my husband? Warning: contains sex scenes, violence, strong language, racial themes, sexual violence.

    The dead are called Histories, and the vast realm in which they rest is the Archive.Last summer, Mackenzie Bishop, a Keeper tasked with stopping violent Histories from escaping the Archive, almost lost her life to one. Now, as she starts her junior year at Hyde School, she’s struggling to get her life back. But moving on isn't easy -- not when her dreams are haunted by what happened. She knows the past is past, knows it cannot hurt her, but it feels so real, and when her nightmares begin to creep into her waking hours, she starts to wonder if she's really safe. Meanwhile, people are vanishing without a trace,and the only thing they seem to have in common is Mackenzie. She’s sure the Archive knows more than they are letting on, but before she can prove it, she becomes the prime suspect. And unless Mac can track down the real culprit, she'll lose everything, not only her role as Keeper, but her memories, and even her life. Can Mackenzie untangle the mystery before she herself unravels? With stunning prose and a captivating mixture of action, romance, and horror, The Unbound delves into a richly imagined world where no choice is easy and love and loss feel like two sides of the same coin.

    Through their different lenses� one as a preacher and one as a funeral director� Thomas G. Long and Thomas Lynch alternately discuss several challenges facing the good funeral, including the commercial aspects that have led many to be suspicious of funeral directors, the sometimes tense relationship between pastors and funeral directors, the tendency of modern funerals to exclude the body from the service, and the rapid growth in cremation. The book features forewords from Patrick Lynch, President of the National Funeral Directors Association, and Barbara Brown Taylor, highly praised author and preacher. It is an essential resource for funeral directors, morticians, and pastors, and anyone else interested in current funeral practices.

    With an overbearing obnoxious attitude, he allows few people to enter his otherwise private life. Most of the people that he encounters come from his internet blog, and pose no real threat to him or to his odd lifestyle. The Fat Kid is a self-proclaimed therapist who devotes his life to help people that have difficulties helping themselves, people he considers to be ‘broken’. When he encounters a bulimic teenage girl through his internet blog who threatens to commit suicide, he begins to reflect on parts of his life that he has spent years repressing. He continues to assist her, and many other ‘Broken People’ through his blog. When he meets an extremely independent woman who challenges him, his way of living, and his way of viewing life, he reluctantly listens. In doing so he challenges his past mistakes, his future, and ultimately he finds himself. Five broken people, five points of view, one story. From each of five characters perspective, this story unfolds and grips you from the beginning. If there is any part of you that feels broken, this book is a mirror held before you. In the end, you'll see your true reflection. From time to time, a book comes along, and makes you stop. It makes you stop and second guess who you are, what you’re doing in life, with life, and for the ones you love. This is that book. Through colorfully painted characters, “Broken People” forces the reader to reflect on self. There will be a broken part of you in one (or all) of these characters, guaranteed. Through The Fat Kid, his reflections on past experiences, and his online assistance to others, we are exposed to everything that high school kids these days deal with. Additionally, we are exposed to what parents should be considering, thinking, and doing - but often don't. The writings of Catherine Ryan Hyde, John Green, and Donna Tartt are similar. If you loved those reads, you'll certainly love Broken People. The characters in this book come to life before your eyes, and you become one with them. The result is a book that will have you laughing, crying, contemplating your own life, and the lives of your parents and/or children. A must read for parents and children alike, regardless of age. It gives teens and young adults an honest look at what parents consider, and provides parents with a realistic view of what teens are exposed to in today’s competitive social networking world.

    They have a special relationship that has grown far beyond mere friendship.Inseparable, Al and Sam have spent their lives with one another—from childhood secrets, through awkward teenage years, to finding themselves as adults—it’s always been the two of them together.When unexpected tragedy hits, and Sam is left fighting for her life, Alan can only watch and wait. Left alone without his best friend, Alan spends his time reliving his past, ensnared in the memories of the chaotic relationship with the girl that stole his heart.How would you spend the time until?

    Each page of this small, full-color gift-style book (a companion to the soon-to-be-published Talking to Heaven Mediumship Cards) contains a comforting message to help grieving people come to terms with their loss. The content is simple and direct, because the authors know and respect that grieving people often have difficulty concentrating and following through on what they read. The reader can open up to a random page, designed with beautiful colors and typeset in attractive fonts, and meditate upon the entry.Doreen Virtue and James Van Praagh wrote the book that they wished they could have had when they were both grieving losses. Based upon their years of experience as grief counselors and mediums, Doreen and James have created a gentle book that is a perfect gift for a grieving friend.

    It also becomes a reality for thirty year old Madison West. When young and law abiding citizen Madison West accidentally witnesses not one, but two murders, she finds that her life is no longer her own. And when police tell her that Ricardo Castillo, the man behind the shooting, is heavily involved in the sex trafficking of young women she whole- heartedly agrees to testify against him. And as her life continues to spiral out of control one thing remains constant, she is always protected. Crime lord Ricardo Castillo wants Madison to pay for her performance in front of the grand jury so he puts a contract out on her. After a violent shoot out, Madison is moved some fifteen hundred miles away. But when a freak occurrence uncovers her real identity, Madison knows that she is going to have to think fast on her feet if she has any intentions of getting on with her life. Because if she doesn’t she may have to deal with some severe retribution that will affect not only her, but those around her as well. Including Deputy Tristan Calloway, the United States Marshal assigned to protect her.

    She embarked on a life long personal and scholarly quest for truth. While teaching comparative religion and philosophy, Amy was drawn to the work of supporting women through labor and holding compassionate space for the dying. Amy shares moving tales of birth and death while drawing on her work as a birth doula, hospital chaplain, and her own experience of motherhood. We are born, we die, and in between these irrevocable facts of human existence the breath weaves all moments together. "Birth, Breath, and Death" entwines story, philosophy, and poetic reflection into transforming narratives that are full of grace.

    We become strangers in new lands, places where the landscape is unalterably changed, where the center of gravity has somehow faltered and become weak, making us feel as if we might fall off the surface of the earth. Sometimes, that moment of loss defines the rest of our lives, becoming a center to our compass forever. This unique book is a guidebook, an atlas of those experiences of loss and grief, a map for living through and into change and impermanence, to moving on anew. You are the navigator through the three main sections:   Embrace what is: walk into your new landscapeHonor what was: be grateful for your old landscapeLove what will be: live into your future landscapeIllustrated throughout with art submitted from around the world, this book is an atlas of experience, utilizing map imagery and the richly metaphoric, evocative, and functional language of geography to help you place yourself on your own journey, to find your way through helpful exercises and an empathetic, expert guide.

    For the wolfman it's a silver bullet. For Superman it's kryptonite. For me it was a letter. With one letter, my dad was sent back to Afghanistan to fly Apache helicopters for the U.S. army. Now all I have are his letters. Ninety-one of them to be exact. I keep them in his old plastic lunchbox—the one with the cool black car on it that says Knight Rider underneath. Apart from my comic books, Dad's letters are the only things I read more than once. I know which ones to read when I'm down and need a pick-me-up. I know which ones will make me feel like I can conquer the world. I also know exactly where to go when I forget Mom's birthday. No matter what, each letter always says exactly what I need to hear. But what I want to hear the most is that my dad is coming home.

    Or so she thinks.Until her life is shattered and she is rescued by a Thracian warrior. He takes her to the Haven, a realm of safety for the magical race of Olympians. There she discovers her life was meant for a higher calling as the mate of an Olympian Prince.Her choice will change everything.Ryse Castille has one job: convince Avery to step into her role as a Divine Grace. As with any mission, there are obstacles to overcome. Including the fact he is captivated by her. Of all the gifts the gods have given him, romance was not included. But Avery belongs to him and he will stop at nothing to protect her.The enemy might be closer than they think.Can Avery find the courage to embrace her destiny? Or will evil separate them for eternity?

    Like there'll always be something in me that doesn't fit together in the right way anymore." Seventeen-year-old guitar prodigy Tyler Mills is lost in the wake of his mother's death, searching for a sense of identity in her absence and living with a father who he can barely tolerate. When he finds his mother's journals - and the long-held family secret within them concerning her ties to reclusive ex-rock star Trevor Graves - he sets out alone on an emotional journey to learn the ultimate truth about his mother, his family...and himself.What readers are saying:"Songs from the Phenomenal Nothing is proof positive that Steven Luna is not a one-trick pony...while his Joe Vampire made you laugh, Songs just might make you cry.""The parent/child relationship is often a hard one during those adolescent years, and Luna has woven a story that poignantly delves into that bond.""It takes a special kind of author to encompass the essence of diversity in literature, but Luna does it with one work to the next from funny to poignant with ease.""I’m gonna say it right here, folks. I loved this book—even better than Eleanor and Park."

    She is guided in this by a being she calls the Assembler of Parts, and her task, as she understands it, is to glean her life's meaning. From birth, it was obvious that she was unlike other children: she was born without thumbs. The Assembler left out other parts too, for she suffers from a syndrome of birth defects that leaves her flawed. But soon it becomes apparent that by her very imperfections she has a unique ability to draw love from — and heal — those around her, from the team of doctors who rally to her care, to the parents who come together over her, to the grandmother whose guilt she assuages, to the family friend whom she helps reconcile with an angry past. With a voice full of wisdom and humor, she tells their stories too. Yet, only when she dies suddenly and her parents are suspected of neglect, unleashing a chain of events beyond her healing, does the meaning of her life come into full focus. And only then does the Assembler's purpose become clear.With prose that is rich in emotion — from laughter to tears to outrage to joyful relief — and an eloquence that distills poetry from the language of medicine and the words for ordinary things, Raoul Wientzen has delivered a novel of rare beauty that speaks to subjects as profound as faith, what makes us human, and the value of a life.

    His life went from heartbreak to joyful and then, from friendship to love. The impact Preston had on Lucas’ life was mesmerising. What would you do if you knew you may not have a tomorrow?

    But in 1962, Justice Arthur Goldberg and his clerk Alan Dershowitz dared to suggest otherwise, launching an underfunded band of civil rights attorneys on a quixotic crusade. In 1972, in a most unlikely victory, the Supreme Court struck down Georgia's death penalty law in Furman v. Georgia. Though the decision had sharply divided the justices, nearly everyone, including the justices themselves, believed Furman would mean the end of executions in America. Instead, states responded with a swift and decisive showing of support for capital punishment. As anxiety about crime rose and public approval of the Supreme Court declined, the stage was set in 1976 for Gregg v. Georgia, in which the Court dramatically reversed direction.A Wild Justice is an extraordinary behind-the-scenes look at the Court, the justices, and the political complexities of one of the most racially charged and morally vexing issues of our time.

    If he wins she’ll watch her brother die.Sworn enemies and former lovers must hunt the same enemy with different agendas. Alex Noziak, part-witch; part-shaman must save her brother before warlock Bran eliminates the only man who knows where her brother is hidden.The IR Agency’s new recruits, each with unique if untested abilities, are brought deeper into the world of the preternaturals as their governing body, the Council of 7, is caught in a dangerous and vicious feud between Weres and Shifters.But when Alex has a chance to save her brother and capture the Weres who held him hostage disaster happens.

    He does not realize how great life is until he is killed in a tragic, freak accident and unwillingly transformed into a guardian angel. Ripped away from his life and loved ones, he now finds himself living in an unfamiliar world where fantasy becomes a reality. He must carry the heavy responsibilities of protecting his Delicate (mortal) from dangers unseen to the human eye. With the help of his two new guardian angel friends, Trevor and Rachel, Chase is taking his first steps on the long journey to eternal peace by becoming a dedicated guardian angel. But the road to eternal happiness is far from easy when Chase has to find his inner strength and courage to battle malicious demons, a deranged priest and a merciless fallen angel.

    She has no idea that high school graduation will be the last perfect day of her life. After a tragic car accident, she refuses to accept Max's death because she can still feel his presence. No one believes her and she is completely alone. But all of that changes the moment she meets Blake Andersen. It's not just that he believes her . . . or even just that he's so understanding . . . but why is Max's presence so strong when she's with Blake?Eternal Mercury is two intertwined books in one. Book one follows Chelsee's bittersweet journey and book two uncovers Blake's story of redemption. In the end, it is Max who will inspire them both to trust fate, live life, and finish well.

    Also included is A Home in Hopeful, a special release not sold separately. In a trio of heartwarming mysteries bad things happen to good people, but love, trust and friendship have a way of righting the world's wrongs. Get ready to lose your heart to Olivia Doyle, an independent woman who discovers the very thing she's been avoiding is what will ultimately bring her the greatest happiness. These stories of one woman and the children whose lives she changed have found their way into countless hearts, will yours be next? OVER 500 REVIEWS with a 4.5 to 5 STAR Rating average.

    That's what Chicago detective Alicia Raymond discovers when she's assigned to investigate the gruesome torture and murder of a middle-aged trucker with a horrible secret.Before she can get a lead on one crime, however, the bodies start piling up and Alicia, better known as Berg, finds herself the unexpected target of the very same legal system she has dedicated her life to.While simultaneously under attack from a formidable past, an enemy that seems to know too much, and a conniving killer, Berg is forced to confront her own darkness: her obsessive need to track down killers at the expense of everything else in her life; her increasing craving for violence just to feel normal; and her potentially devastating feelings for her partner, the charming and handsome Detective Inspector Jay O’Loughlin.The more Berg works her original case, the more she learns about the sheer viciousness of the trucker’s past, and the more she questions if his murderer should even be punished by a justice system that only seems determined to free the guilty. When she also finds herself sympathizing with a sadistic butcher exacting revenge for a decades-old crime, she realizes the most dangerous secret of all might just be her own state of mind.While Berg struggles with her morality, a killer is determined to recruit her and use her for a devastating end game.As Berg’s carefully constructed life falls apart and she struggles to maintain a grip on reality, she faces a choice: surrender to the evil inside or finally acknowledge the brutal past she would rather bury.The Enemy Inside is the first in the Edge of Darkness series, which challenges the concept of justice, asks if vengeance sometimes justifies murder, and explores whether you can ever heal from a broken past

    Everything about him, from his obvious confidence to his charisma, makes her melt like ice cream on a sundae cone.One day, someone threatens to challenge her for his affection and Jasmine goes into a jealous rage, unable to control her emotions.Obsession sends her over the edge and there is no turning back. In the eye of a brewing storm, she has to come up with a clever way to get out of the catastrophe she has created and she won’t give up, even if she has to die trying.

    He is grieving the murder of his son Ronald, who died at the hands of Rain Robinson. King blames one man for all his troubles—Mike Black. From his prison cell, King plots his revenge. He is determined to have Black join him behind bars. He gets an opportunity when he hears an urban legend about Black. Knowing that all urban legends have some basis in fact, King takes a shot. The result: Mike Black is arrested and charged with kidnapping a U.S. congressman.It has taken some time and some careful planning and preparation, but Wanda Moore finally has what she has always wanted. She is now the head of the criminal organization. A position that Wanda felt she deserved for quite some time. With the power she’s carrying, Wanda moves quickly to consolidate her power. Now, with enemy-turned-loyal ally, Rain Robinson, at her back, Wanda is furthering their business concerns, settling old scores and making new enemies.

    Created specifically by and for the writer who has experienced illness, loss, or the death of a loved one, Braving the Fire takes the writers' perspective in exploring the challenges and rewards for the writer who has chosen, with courage and candor, to be the memory keeper. It will be useful to the memoirist just starting out, as well as those already in the throes of coming to terms with complicated emotions and the challenges of shaping a compelling, coherent true story.Loosely organized around the familiar Kübler-Ross model of Five Stages of Grief, Braving the Fire uses these stages to help the reader and writer though the emotional and writing tasks before them, incorporating interviews and excerpts from other treasured writers who've done the same. Insightful contributions from Nick Flynn, Darin Strauss, Kathryn Rhett, Natasha Trethewey, and Neil White, among others, are skillfully bended with Handler's own approaches to facing grief a second time to be able to write about it. Each section also includes advice and wisdom from leading doctors and therapists about the physical experience of grieving. Handler is a compassionate guide who has braved the fire herself, and delivers practical and inspirational direction throughout.

    The work is animated by a proposition: that violence, both personal and collective, produces continuing sonar, an echolocation that finds us, even when we choose to be unaware or indifferent. This collection breaks new ground in its approach to the saga that is Canada/Air India, an event and its aftermath that is both over-reported and under-represented in our national psyche. "329 deaths. 82 Children. Canada's worst mass murder. The accused acquitted. What does it mean to be Canadian and lose someone in Air India Flight 182?" Why does 9/11 resonate more strongly with Canadians than June 23, 1985? The poems in this book search out answers in the "everything/ness and nothing/ness" of an act and its aftermath, revealing a voice that re-defines and re-visions. Air India never happened. Air India always happens.

    Nothing is what it seems in this ravaged landscape where danger is all-encompassing and enemies come in every form. In this world surviving is hell. Staying dead is impossible.

    Michael A. Aquino, who served as High Priest of the Temple of Set from 1975 to 1996 Received by Aleister Crowley in April 1904 in Cairo, Egypt, the Book of the Law is the most provocative record of magical working in several hundred years, affecting not only organizations directly associated with Crowley such as the Ordo Templi Orientis but also modern Wicca, Chaos Magic, and the Temple of Set. Boldly defying Crowley’s warning not to comment on the Book of the Law, Ipsissimus Don Webb provides in-depth interpretation from both Black and White Magical perspectives, including commentary from Dr. Michael A. Aquino, who served as High Priest of the Temple of Set from 1975 to 1996. Webb examines each line of the Book in the light of modern psychology, Egyptology, existentialism, and competing occult systems such as the teachings of G. I. Gurdjieff and contemporary Left-Hand Path thought. Discarding the common image of Crowley formulated in a spiritually unsophisticated time when the devotee of the Left-Hand Path was dismissed as a selfish evil doer, Webb unveils a new side of Crowley based on his adoption of the Loki archetype and his aim to become a vessel of love for all humanity. In so doing, he shows how the Book of the Law is connected to both Right- and Left-Hand Paths and reveals how Crowley’s magical path of mastery over the self and Cosmos overthrew the gods of old religion, which had kept humanity asleep to dream the nightmare of history. Providing in-depth analysis of Crowley’s sources and his self-identification with the First Beast of Revelation from a profound esoteric perspective, Webb takes his views out of the Golden Dawn matrix within which he received the Book of the Law and radically recasts the Cairo Working as a text of personal sovereignty and a relevant tool for personal transformation.

    A time when marriage was an agreement between a woman's father and the man he chose for her. Most women had no romantic interest in their future husbands. In the worst case, they were promised to complete strangers. Madelyn "Linny" Remington is the great-great granddaughter of strong-spirited ex-slave, Miemay, who oversees her rearing. While other women were raised to be broken, Linny was reared to build and repair. When other women were expected to be seen and not heard, Linny was expected to vote beside men. As other women prayed they would be chosen for marriage before they were too old, Linny cleaned her rifle to hunt. While her sister hoped to honor her husband by bearing a son, Linny wondered how a single woman could provide for herself, when only male children could expect an inheritance. A secret has Linny slated as her father's favorite son. Until Linny makes a promise that frees her from a conventional woman's role, but the promise also brings shame on her family. Will Linny, threatened with alienation, honor her promise? Or bow to her father's will and go back on her word?

    This merry band of recycled friends will teach us all a thing or two about caring for our most important resource, planet earth. Of course, Zombie-Kids do everything in the zaniest, funniest, and most outrageous ways imaginable. There’s lot of belly laughs for everyone.Hold onto your recyclables—Zombie Kids are back!

    Sunny Haralson's debut novel is a semi-illustrated, postmodern journey built from three generations of family tales, personal hardships, and many, many hamsters.

    Whether along the roads or on the forest trails, he loves to push his speed to the limit. To him, running provides the freedom to dream. Already the fastest kid in his school, he has his sights set higher. He wants to be famous. He dreams of being legendary. But running also provides the freedom to not think at all. Because sometimes thinking leads to memories. And there are some memories of Mom and Grandpa that Dexter would rather forget. When he runs straight into a debilitating illness he has to wonder - will he ever be fast again? Will he ever be somebody?

    . . Three hours after Skyler kissed me for the first time. Forty-five minutes after she sent me her last text. Jaycee and Rachel were best friends. But that was before. . .before that terrible night at the old house. Before Rachel shut Jaycee out. Before Jaycee chose Skyler over Rachel. Then Rachel is found dead. The police blame a growing gang problem in their small town, but Jaycee is sure it has to do with that night at the old house. Rachel’s text is the first clue—starting Jaycee on a search that leads to a shocking secret. Rachel’s death was no random crime, and Jaycee must figure out who to trust before she can expose the truth. In the follow-up to her powerful debut, Jennifer Shaw Wolf keeps readers on their toes in another dark, romantic story of murder and secrets.