Best of
Tragedy

2017

The Flight of Hope


H.J. Bellus - 2017
    A mother in mourning. Can a second chance rise from the wreckage? Marlee Foster’s life was just getting started. She couldn’t wait for the return of her husband from deployment. After all, he’d be there just in time for the birth of their daughter. The welcome home party is full of joy, but on the way home, tragedy strikes…When Marlee loses her husband and daughter, her friends and family do their best to heal her broken heart. But painful reminders of a future she’ll never see haunt her every day in the small town. Her only hope at a second chance is to leave it all behind…As she sets out on a soul-searching adventure, the mourning widow wonders if the wilderness will give her hope for a brighter future or if she’ll forever be chained to a devastating past. During her journey, Marlee is about to learn that love has a funny way of coming back to those who need it the most…The Flight of Hope is a heart-wrenching contemporary romance in the vein of Nicholas Sparks. If you like emotional journeys, strong-willed heroines, and second chance romances, then you’ll love HJ Bellus’ touching tale. Buy The Flight of Hope to settle in with a tear-jerker today!

No Regrets


Nicky James - 2017
    Literally. After being given a terminal diagnosis, he is living on borrowed time. Determined to make the best of the life he has left, Landon makes a bucket list of all the things he wants to accomplish before he dies. Big and small. It all counts. Abel was supposed to be nothing more than a tick on that list. A random, faceless hook-up in a country far from home. Besides, what are the chances he’ll ever see him again? Assertive and free-spirited Abel has different plans. One night with Landon is never going to be enough. He’ll follow him to the ends of the earth and worm his way into Landon’s heart—somehow. Fighting against all his ingrained urges to run, Landon finds himself drawn down a road he swore he’d never take. But Abel doesn’t know Landon is sick. How can anyone love a man with no future? Telling Abel might cause him to run, but staying silent means living a lie. A lie that will only reveal itself in time. **This story ends with a HFN.**

Viral Misery: Book One


Thomas A. Watson - 2017
    The bird flu out of China has mutated. Now able to latch on and replicate within humans, the virus will spread swiftly throughout the world. When you spread a virus before you even know you have it, everyone becomes a carrier. There is no preparation, and there is no cure. You can only hope that you are one of the few who are immune, or can survive long enough to fight. Wendy and Arthur have spent their lives in service to others. Having raised one child, and learned to live off the land, their only wish is for their son to give them grandchildren. They want to retire in comfort, knowing that they are self-sufficient and able to take care of themselves. Having never been apart for more than a few nights, Wendy has the opportunity to take a well deserved ladies vacation. Little do they know that their entire world will change in an instant, and they ll be left alone to live, or to die, a thousand miles apart.

Groomed: Danger lies closer than you think


Casey Watson - 2017
    She is expecting it to be her daughter Riley. But it isn’t Riley. It’s a woman from the Emergency Duty Team. So begins Casey and Mike’s latest fostering challenge – a fifteen-year-old girl called Keeley who’s run away from her long-term foster home 25 miles away.The Jonathan Ross Show has just started when Casey gets the call. She thinks it will be Riley – telling her that her favourite actor is going to be on TV. But it’s something far more urgent: a fifteen-year-old girl who has run away from her foster family and accused her foster father of sexual abuse. The family deny in vehemently, but such an allegation can never be taken lightly, so a new home must be found for Keeley.Keeley is polite, but she’s sharp, and she has all the hallmarks of a child who has been in the system a long time, and knows how to play it. Whether the allegation is true or not, Casey knows there will be no winners here. If it is true, then a young girl’s life has been torn asunder. If not, then the heartache for the family will only be surpassed by the bleak outlook for Keeley.In the short term, it’s a case of providing a safe, supportive home for a vulnerable child. But with the dangerous world of the internet at her disposal, it seems this strong-minded youngster has her own ideas of where that safe place should be…

The To-Hell-And-Back Club


Jill Hannah Anderson - 2017
    Through the “Hell Club”, Peyton learns it’s never too late to begin again. These been-there-felt-that women use their sense of humor, strength, and support to help pull her off the couch and back to living her life.She rebuilds the life she’d put aside two decades ago. But when Peyton digs up time capsules she and her friends buried years ago, and uncovers secrets about those she loved, she struggles to keep her own life-changing secret buried.The “Hell Club” women help remind Peyton of the strength within her. She finds a renewed hope in life and love when she faces the mistakes and guilt that have troubled her for years. When Peyton’s secret is discovered, she needs the “Hell Club” women more than ever. The To-Hell-And-Back Club is an inspiring book that reminds us that it’s never too late to start over and that living a life of regrets is no life at all.

Teacher's Pet


Hayley McGregor - 2017
    Good looking and charismatic, he was classic schoolgirl-crush material. Hayley was flattered by the attention he gave her, and he soon befriended her parents. Little did they know they were all being groomed. Hayley allowed Mr Willson to do unspeakable things to her, and after the relationship ended it took almost 20 years of guilt and crippling self-esteem issues before a complete breakdown prompted her to tell her parents, and they went with her to the police. This is the shocking true story of a schoolgirl groomed by her teacher, and her courageous journey to heal the wrongs of her past.

The Long Way Home


Roslyn Bane - 2017
    After being abandoned by her father and raised in a foster home, she has made the Marine Corps her life. As a helicopter pilot she has excelled under the demands of her career. Always a fierce competitor, she now faces her toughest challenge...living with a disability that threatens her career and dealing with survivor’s guilt that threatens her emotional stability. Lieutenant Commander Kristine Matthews is a highly skilled, combat experienced Navy Surgeon well accustomed to handling the worst destruction war can do to a person. One fateful afternoon their paths cross and their lives change forever. In a world where independence and strength are as valued as teamwork, and these two women struggle through rehabilitation, will they heal enough to live again and find happiness? Or will their shared experience destroy them?

Beyond the High Blue Air


Lu Spinney - 2017
    . ." He lands hard on the ice and falls into a coma. This begins the erratic loss -- Miles first in a coma and then trapped in a fluctuating state of minimal consciousness -- that unravels over the next five years. Spinney, her husband, and three other children put their lives on hold to tend to Miles at various hospitals and finally in a care home. They hold out hope that he will be returned to them. With blunt precision, Spinney chronicles her family's intimate experience. This is a story about ambiguous loss: the disappearance of someone who is still there. Three quarters of the way through, however, Spinney's story takes a turn. The family and, to the degree that he can communicate, Miles himself come to view ending his life as the only possible release from the prison of his body and mind. Spinney, cutting her last thread of hope, wishes for her son to die. And yet, even as she allows this difficult revelation to settle, she learns that this is not her decision to make. Because Miles is diagnosed as a being in a -minimally conscious state- rather than a -persistent vegetative state, - there is no legal way to bring about his death, a bewildering paradox that Spinney navigates with compassion and wisdom. Encompassing the lyrical revelations of a memoir like Jean-Dominique Bauby's THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY and the crucial medical and moral insights of a book such as Atul Gawande's BEING MORTAL, Lu Spinney's BEYOND THE HIGH BLUE AIR is at once a portrait of the fearlessness of familial love and the profound dilemma posed by modern medicine.

The Mourning Parade


Dawn Reno Langley - 2017
    Desperate to find relief from her unspeakable loss, she volunteers as a veterinarian on an elephant sanctuary in Thailand, but soon realizes she may be in over her head. Battling the memories that torment her day and night, Natalie must find a way to heal an angry, injured elephant named Sophie. Through love, acceptance, and gentle care, Natalie and Sophie heal together, finding new ways to enjoy life again.

Losing Lola (Mercy's Angels, #5)


Kirsty Dallas - 2017
    She ran until she reached the small-town comfort of Claymont. She hid within its quaint embrace, and as soon as she let her defenses down, he came for her. “He broke me.” Three words that would haunt Drew King until the day he died. An imposing man of brute strength and frightening scars, Drew preferred to keep to the shadows, watching from afar. Lola had drawn his attention the first time he laid eyes on her. Her aloof nature intrigued him, her beauty struck him right in his dark heart. The night she fell into his arms broken, bleeding, and dying, a fire was lit in his soul. The best revenge is that which is served cold and bloody. SERIES READ ORDER:Saving EllaFighting BackTortured SoulMother's LoveLosing Lola

Come Undone


Penny Dee - 2017
    And even though I don’t want a new agent, Mackenzie Eden is pretty determined to be mine.Did I mention she’s annoying?So of course I get snowed in with her at my grandfathers logged cabin. For four days.Four long, secluded, hot days…MACKENZIEI’ve never met anyone so damn stubborn in my life.And I’m a sports agent!But I can see potential in Jake Pennington and I’m determined to draw him out of the darkness and back into the sunshine.The problem? He’s a stubborn ass.THEIR STORYFollowing a career ending tragedy, hockey superstar Jake Pennington decides to pursue a quiet life in Canada. He’s done with hockey and wants nothing more than to see out his days fishing, brooding and forgetting about his past.But when Mackenzie Eden sees a kindred spirit in him, she enters his life like a snowstorm. She is determined to make him number one again. Why? Because she has something to prove.Come Undone is a story of two people finding each other in the darkness. A sports romance, it will make you laugh, cry and want to sing karaoke in a snowed-in cabin with one very sexy hockey player.

Soldiers of Peace


Vladimir Wilson - 2017
    The matter no longer remains personal. It becomes a threat to the State security of the countries that are involved in espionage activities. World's premier agencies at the time like the KGB, MI6, and CIA etc. become the antagonist of the plot, and the whole world act in hypocrisy. The division of their love is at Berlin. It is the Berlin Wall. This wall divided not just two individuals, but the entire humanity into two pieces. The Book answers some of the deepest questions of philosophy too. The dialogues are philosophical in nature. Some new concepts, interpretations as well as terms have been coined and introduced in the story. Also, it has "seriously-witty" situations. Some of the questions that are answered include- What is Cold War? What is Propaganda? What is Love-Crime? What is Body complex? What is Slave-Paradox? What is Love-Republic? How to pass a secret mail? What is Rim's Psychology? What is Cemetery Paradox? What is Operation-Separation? Why Life is not a Bed of Roses? Where is the heart of a KGB Spy? How to suppress a Counter-Revolution?

In Dreams: An Intimate Portrait of Roy Orbison: The Authorized Story


Alex Orbison - 2017
    Roy Orbison died in 1988 but he's hardly forgotten. Raised in rural Texas, Orbison became one of the pioneers of rock and roll in the 1950s, sharing the famed Sun Records with Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash. He achieved superstar status in the 1960s, writing and releasing a series of smash singles, such as Oh, Pretty Woman, Only the Lonely, and Crying, plus many others that remain the most well-known songs of the era. IN DREAMS features rare memorabilia from Roy's career, much of it unseen for decades. This stunning biography, written by his sons along with Jeff Slate, tells the true story of their father's remarkable life, including his personal tragedies, reinventions, and untimely death.

The Agonist


Shastra Deo - 2017
    With its wildness and originality, The Agonist is an exhilarating collection. Exploring the languages of anatomy, etymology and incantation, these poems spark conversations about fracture and repair, energy, love and danger.

I Couldn't Even Imagine That They Would Kill Us: An Oral History of the Attacks Against the Students of Ayotzinapa


John Gibler - 2017
    This meticulous, choral recreation of the events of that night is brilliantly vivid and alive, it will terrify and inspire you and shatter your heart." --Francisco Goldman, writer for The New Yorker, author of The Interior Circuit: A Mexico City ChronicleOn September 26, 2014, police in Iguala, Mexico attacked five busloads of students and a soccer team, killing six people and abducting forty-three students--now known as the Iguala 43--who have not been seen since. In a coordinated cover-up of the government's role in the massacre and forced disappearance, Mexican authorities tampered with evidence, tortured detainees, and thwarted international investigations. Within days of the atrocities, John Gibler traveled to the region and began reporting from the scene. Here he weaves the stories of survivors, eyewitnesses, and the parents of the disappeared into a tour de force of journalism, a heartbreaking account of events that reads with the momentum of a novel. A vital counter-narrative to state violence and impunity, the stories also offer a testament of hope from people who continue to demand accountability and justice.John Gibler is the author of Mexico Unconquered and To Die in Mexico: Dispatches From Inside the Drug War. His work on Ayotzinapa has been praised in The New Yorker, published in California Sunday Magazine, and featured on NPR's All Things Considered.

The Small-Town Sea


Anees Salim - 2017
    He reluctantly makes friends with Bilal, a boy who lives in the orphanage run by the local mosque. Together, they embark on clandestine adventures while his ailing father-whose last wish is to die listening to the sea he has grown up by and written books about-rediscovers people from his childhood by accident. But his father's death unsettles the boy's life again, and he finds himself grappling with altogether unexpected challenges.Lyrical and haunting, sharply funny and achingly sad, The Small-town Sea is a masterful tale of love, friendship and family from one of our most compelling storytellers.

Without Warning


Thomas C. Sanger - 2017
    It had become a silhouette barely distinguishable against the darkening twilight sky, but Lemp was close enough to see the foaming white wave thrown up by its bow. He smiled when the spray arched higher, signaling the ship had begun changing course again.“You’re right on schedule,” he said to the image in his eyepiece.Lemp’s pulse quickened with the knowledge that his war was about to begin . . .On September 1, 1939, the passenger liner Athenia set sail from Glasgow for Montreal by way of Belfast and Liverpool. She carried 1,100 passengers, nearly three-quarters of whom were women and children. On September 3, Athenia was torpedoed by a German submarine. In Without Warning, author Thomas C. Sanger tells the harrowing story of the sinking of the Athenia from the perspective of eight people: six passengers, Athenia’s chief officer, and the commander of the German U-boat.Based on accounts written by passengers, personal interviews with survivors and descendants of survivors, books, newspaper stories, and original documents, Without Warning honors the memory of Athenia’s passengers, both living and dead.

The Liars' Asylum


Jacob M. Appel - 2017
    Appel’s seventh collection. We meet a psychiatrist dabbling with infidelity during a crisis in which rain turns into truth serum, a Finnish-American soldier charged with facilitating his commanding officer’s extra-marital affair, and a couple transporting a wealthy, “locked-in” patient across the Piedmont to his new nursing home. Appel’s literary short fiction offers a quirky window into the pangs and promise of love.

Tell Me Something Real


Kristen Kehoe - 2017
    Sees everything." ...our fingers fan against one another, eventually threading together, where we grip tightly. "She sees everything, too. In him." Lincoln Brewer was no stranger to disappointment and heartache. An addict mom, no money, and an autoimmune disease which required far more time and attention than she had, taught Lincoln early on that people like her could only survive-dreams were for other people, the kind to whom the word future meant more than a high school diploma and moving far, far away from the town they had grown up in. Go to school, work, run, repeat. Look for the day she could leave and begin life without the baggage. This was her life. And it was enough. Until him. Ford Slaughter didn't give a damn about anyone. It was easier that way. Well, had been easier, until it landed him in the middle of a lawsuit/scandal that his parents couldn't deal with, which then landed him in the middle of Podunk U.S.A., aka Albany, Oregon. Regardless of location, his plan was simple: engage with no one, go to school, and count down the days until he was eighteen and graduated so he could finally be free. What Ford didn't count on was the girl who literally fell into his lap that first day. He didn't count on Lincoln Brewer. He didn't count on falling in love.

From a Distance


L.M. Carr - 2017
    Together they lived a life fit for royalty. But when tragedy strikes, Karrie is devastated and left to face the consequences of her husband's deepest, darkest secrets. Discovering the strength to carry on while making important, life-changing decisions, she finds herself desperate for answers. And holding the key to the puzzle is the one man she loathes immensely. For up and coming motorcycle drag racer Tyler Strong, keeping painful secrets was never part of the plan. Racing motorcycles and winning was all he ever wanted to do. But when his best friend's lies begin to unravel, Tyler is sent into a tailspin when he's forced to come face to face with the one woman he vowed to stay away from. The woman he refuses to speak to, the woman he avoids, the woman he watches...from a distance. As the truth becomes clear, will destiny bring these two unlikely souls together or tear them apart forever?

Darkness Before Dawn


Leigh Robbins - 2017
    For years, she secretly desired him, keeping her fantasies hidden from the rest of the world. After a downward spiral, Matthew secluded himself in his prison of darkness, but his sister and friends helped him find his way. Having worked hard to become a Master Instructor in Close Quarters Combat, Matthew's world seems normal until tragedy strikes. When Dawn’s life is threatened, Matthew refuses to let her deal with it alone. Can Dawn trust him to protect her? Will Matthew finally believe he can have sunshine in his world?

Wildlife Photographer of the Year: Portfolio 27


Rosamund Kidman-Cox - 2017
    This powerful collection of pictures features all the winning photographs from the 2016 competition. The collection represents the work of many international photographers, both professionals and amateurs. The photographs are chosen by an international jury for their artistic merit and originality, from categories that together represent a diversity of natural subjects. The range of styles is also diverse, as is the genre of photography, including action, macro, underwater, landscape, or environmental reportage. Together this outstanding collection is a reminder of the splendor, drama, and variety of life on Earth. Each stunning photograph is accompanied by an extended caption and there is an introduction by one of the world's most respected nature photographers.

Guilty: A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance


Nikki Chase - 2017
    Now it's your turn, baby. I’m filthy rich. They call me a genius on the front page of the business newspapers, and you’re just as likely to see my face on the tabloids. I used to love it all. The spotlight, the women, the glamor. But it was getting old. That’s when Emily sashayed her way into my life. With her long legs and full hips, my reaction was primal and instantaneous. I wanted to rip her clothes off, pin her down and feel those curves writhing under me. I had to have her. And I’m a man who gets what he wants. But one split second changed everything. Now a man lies six feet under, and everything is upside down. A deadly secret stands between Emily and me. I’ll lose everything I’ve worked so hard for if I get any closer to her. So I swore to keep my dirty paws off her. For her own good. But when she looks at me with those big blue eyes so full of pent-up desire, those luscious lips tempting me to have a taste, all my good intentions go out the window. I want nothing more than to break all the rules and make her mine. Note: This is a full-length standalone novel with a guaranteed happily ever after. No cheating, no cliffhanger.

Only Ten Cents


Pansy - 2017
    Nettie likes the idea, but unlike her wealthier Sunday-school friends, Nettie has only ten cents to spend. How can she possibly buy a nice gift to add to the barrel with so little money? Whatever Nettie sends will have to be made by hand, and with plenty of love. Is it possible Nettie’s small gift can make a difference in the life of a stranger in need? This edition of the 1894 classic Christian novel includes a biography of the author.

New Star Rising


Cameron Cooper - 2017
    Reynard Cardenas, Bellona’s father and head of the family, receives anonymous, unsubstantiated news that she has been found. He sends the most disposable person in the family to investigate—Sang, the family android.Sang’s investigation trips off chain reactions which shift the generations-old luke-warm war between Erium and Karassia into a galaxy-wide conflagration which will engulf the known worlds, including the neutral, fiercely independent free states…unless a hero can be found who will fight to hold the line against the two colossal forces.New Star Rising is the first book in the Indigo Reports science fiction series by award-winning SF author Cameron Cooper.The Indigo Reports series:0.5 Flying Blind1.0 New Star Rising1.1 But Now I See2.0 Suns Eclipsed3.0 Worlds BeyondSpace Opera Science Fiction Novel__Praise for New Star Rising:You won't be disappointed if you're looking for a journey into a never-explored futuristic world before.It is not a novel that can be skimmed through. Take your time and enjoy the new world that is presented to you.This novel is fascinating for its rich and complex story line set on multiple planets/worlds.What an amazing book from start to finish.What is there not to like? I found myself digging into this book and disappointed at the end of it because I wanted more now rather than having to wait for the next book.A complex story line that draws you in then keeps you engaged. Nothing formulaic.Well thought out story. The science fiction components are consistent.Science fiction with real science! LaGrange points – I am so giddy.Roller coaster of a story following fabulous characters who move through varying planet and spacecraft environments whilst always dealing with a war that's not a war!Waring enemies setting each other up to eliminate another enemy. Throw in a "neutral" entity that does lots of dirty work and this book has all the makings for a great series.__Cameron Cooper is the author of The Indigo Reports science fiction series and the alter ego for an Amazon #1 bestselling author in an unrelated genre. The Indigo Reports was originally conceived as a one-off series, but readers demanded more.  A new series will be released in 2020.Cameron tends to write space opera short stories and novels, but also roams across the science fiction landscape.  He was raised on a steady diet of Asimov, Heinlein, Herbert, McCaffrey, and others. Peter F. Hamilton and John Scalzi are contemporary heroes.  He is an Australian Canadian and lives near the Canadian Rockies.

Transition


Billie Winterholer - 2017
    He felt he was as much a girl as his sister. But society disagreed and demanded that he act as the gender a doctor had declared him to be, and the conflict waged for years. Then came puberty, when his body sided with Society despite what he felt, resulting in an all-out war – a war that nearly killed him. Kevin Rariak had been married to Mary for sixteen years. with the last few of those years witnessing the marriage fail as daily fighting made the Rariak home an unwelcome place for all, including their two sons, Carl and Dennis. But his hopes of reconciliation were shattered with the arrival of a Judicial Marshall holding divorce papers Mary had filed. Then, at Berryman Financial Services in Boston, the two met and came to help each other, and from the ashes of both their battles, an amazing relationship bloomed.

Vacationland


Susan X. Meagher - 2017
    Snow-shoeing, cross-country skiing, even some ice-fishing, all spent in surprisingly pleasant temperate conditions. Now re-imagine that scene, but make it a team-building exercise with co-workers you’re not overly fond of. The bloom falls off that chilly rose pretty quickly, at least from Sunny Thompson’s perspective. But when they meet their guide, the remarkably pretty, stunningly fit Devin Savary, Sunny’s opinion starts to change. Devin’s fun, playful, and patient, something the little group of Dallas natives desperately needs. Now all they have to do is bond, a silly waste of time in Sunny’s view. You can’t force people to rely on each other by fiat. That only comes from being tested, a situation unlikely to happen when you’re traveling with a woman everyone seems to agree is one of Maine’s best guides. What could possibly go wrong?

Fame F#$K*D


Marissa Holt - 2017
    Now that she is starting college, he is ready to concentrate on his own life…a calmer life. That is until his Aunt Peggy persuades him to interview as a personal assistant for her newest client, Nash Jameson – a bad boy pop star, currently topping the billboard charts. Brian is reluctant to take a job working with the difficult singer, but the pay and the fact that Nash is absolutely gorgeous is too enticing. But Brian isn’t prepared for the flirtations, enormous ego, and underlying issues that come with Nash Jameson and his celebrity life. Trying to remain professional may prove to be too much. Nash Talent and good looks have brought Nash Jameson everything he thought he wanted – Fame. And that fame has come with an entitlement that Nash enjoys to the fullest, including both women and men. But when he lays eyes on Brian, all that changes. Brian is the only one Nash wants in his bed. But Nash also needs an assistant to help run his life that almost seems to be breaking apart at times. And Brian is the only glue holding it together. When Nash and Brian realize their feelings for each other may run deeper than simply physical…Nash’s crazy life of fame, fans, and paparazzi could rip them apart.   If that happens…they’re both F#$k*d! Fame F#$K*D is a 75,000 word M/M novel, steamy to scorching heat level and guaranteed HEA.

Blackbird Fly Home


Kendel Duncan - 2017
    The kick in the balls, both literally and figuratively, happened to Noah Pierce a long time ago. Ten years to be exact, when, to cap off a brutal and horrendous four-year relationship with the man who claimed to love him, that man buried a butcher knife in his side. It was the final wound in a seemingly endless cycle of bruises, cuts, breaks, sprains and other things that sent him to the hospital. He thought he was going to die. But when he opened his eyes in that ER room and saw a stranger with kind yet determined eyes looking back at him and with his boyfriend nowhere in sight, Noah knew that life was going to change for him. And it did. For ten years he was stronger, he was better, he was……hollow. He didn’t realize that last part until he saw one man. One pair of haunting blue eyes beside the very man who had ruined Noah all those years ago. One pair of frightened eyes. One pair of hollow, hopeless eyes that Noah couldn’t have walked away from if he tried…..because someone else hadn’t walked away from him all those years ago. Noah didn’t realize it at the time, but by saving Jesse Miller from the clutches of his ex, he was going to learn to fly….. This is an adult M/M romance intended for readers over 18. It has an HEA (happily ever after) for the main characters in this book with no cheating. Trigger warning: This book contains mentions of past sexual abuse.

Murder in the Zambezi: The story of the Air Rhodesia Viscounts shot down by Russian-made missiles


Ian Pringle - 2017
    In this in-depth exploration of a little-known piece of southern African history, Ian Pringle tells a true story of terrorism, sabotage, and survival. Pringle, who lived in Rhodesia at the time of the crashes, collected interviews from survivors, witnesses, pilots, ground staff, accident investigators, family members, and experts. These testimonies reveal stories of heroism and courage in the wake of a major tragedy. Air Rhodesia Flight RH825 was the first airliner ever to be shot down by Russian surface-to-air guided missile. The surviving passengers tell the story of the crash and its horrific aftermath. Five months later, Air Rhodesia Flight RH827 was downed in the same way. This time, there were no survivors. In addition to presenting vivid first-person testimonies, Pringle examines how the attacks—and the ensuing collective rage of the Rhodesian people at those responsible—contributed to the instability of the country. He shows how these tragedies indirectly led to the rise of Robert Mugabe and laid the groundwork for a very different future for the African nation.

My Name Is Ayla


Phetra H. Novak - 2017
    But, Peter Andreasson, a Police Officer with the Gothenburg Police, knows that isn't always the case. The day he walks into the hospital emergency room and meets a badly beaten woman, Ayla Aydin, he is heartbroken but drawn to her strength. Ayla knows who she is. She’s proud of the person she has become. It’s her third generation Swedish family that cannot accept her transformation from male to female and she is not prepared for what comes next. She has dishonored them, and for this, she must pay the ultimate price. When two cultures collide, Ayla’s life is put at risk, will she run or stay and fight? Will she escape their wrath even with Peter by her side?

Hooked


Karla Sorensen - 2017
     That’s what happens when you meet in court-mandated group therapy and then try to steal from him to pay off your blackmailing drug dealer. Former drug dealer, thank you very much. I'm turning over a new leaf and all that. Which is why I should leave him alone. Except he tempts me to do things I swore I’d stop doing. It’s that whole gruff, grumbly, anti-social thing he has going on. Him, flame. Me, moth. Something about him calls to me, makes the blood hum in my body. And I don't want that feeling to end. Lucy Connors is straight-up insane. She looks like a Disney princess and tries my patience in more ways than I thought possible. Besides the fact that I have to save her cute little ass from jail, I can’t quite figure out how to leave her alone. Even when she’s trying her hand at Breaking and Entering. Especially when it's myhouse she's burglarizing. Yeah, we were probably doomed from the start. But that’s the thing about being hooked on something so good, and so bad for you—you don’t walk away when you should. Note from the authors: This book deals with subject matter that is highly improbable, sometimes campy, and definitely illegal. Please don't use it as a guideline for how to live your life, but enjoy nonetheless.

Dark Lady: A Novel of Emilia Bassano Lanyer


Charlene Ball - 2017
    To make matters worse, she comes from a family of secret Jews. When she is raped as a teenager, she knows she probably will not be able to make a good marriage, so she becomes the mistress of a much older nobleman. During this time she falls in love with poet/player William Shakespeare, and they have a brief, passionate relationship--but when the plague comes to England, the nobleman abandons her, leaving her pregnant and without financial security. In the years that follow, Emilia is forced to make a number of difficult decisions in her efforts to survive, and not all of them turn out well for her. But ultimately, despite the disadvantaged position she was born to, she succeeds in pursuing her dreams of becoming a writer--and even publishes a book of poetry in 1611 that makes a surprisingly modern argument for women's equality.

Every Last Minute


Ellen Smith - 2017
    After surviving a campus shooting, they both went on to finish college, fall in love, and start a new life together as husband and wife. That’s not to say things have been easy: Will suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and Mara has debilitating chronic pain from her gunshot wound. Despite it all, they feel lucky to be alive and even luckier to be in love. Then a new initiative from the Justice Department offers Will and Mara the chance of a lifetime. The shooter has been rehabilitated and his crime qualifies for a timeline rectification. With Will and Mara’s consent, they can all travel through time back to the original scene of the crime, giving the gunman a chance to put things right. It sounds like a dream come true, but both Will and Mara have their doubts. Timeline rectification—called “time wrecking” by its critics—is at the center of a politically charged debate. Will and Mara aren’t entirely sure where they fall on this issue and the clock is ticking for them to decide. Is it moral to change time for the rest of the world, just to undo one crime? Is it moral to deny the gunman a chance to correct his past crimes? And what if this one ripple means that they never meet . . . or fall in love? Set in 2011, Every Last Minute is the first book in the Time Wrecker Trilogy.

God Of Slaughter


Ni Cang Tian - 2017
    The only times he felt alive was when adrenaline coursed thorough his veins. He quickly found that extreme sports, bungyjumping, cave diving & skydiving, gave him the biggest kicks. The bigger the adrenaline kick, the closer he was to death, the more alive he felt. Waking up in a pile of dead bodies in an unknown land, after a diving adventure had ended disastrously, he quickly realizes the body he now possessed was not his own. Follow Shi Yan as he explores this new world where danger lurks around every corner, and death is only a breath away; a world in which Shi Yan could not feel any more alive.

Dazzle Patterns


Alison Watt - 2017
    Clare Holmes, a flaw checker at the local glassworks, is saving up for passage to England, to work for the Red Cross and be near her fiancé, Leo, who is fighting in France. But one normal Thursday morning, a deadly explosion in the Halifax harbour shatters the city – and Clare is caught up in the blast.As Clare struggles to recover from her injuries, she stumbles upon the School of Art, where she finds solace in drawing, and a mentor who encourages Clare’s burgeoning artistic ambitions. But how can one be an artist when the whole world has gone mad? When her own city is half-destroyed? When she’s not sure if Leo will ever come home?Meanwhile the city, weary from the seemingly endless war and torn apart by the devastating explosion, is wracked with fear and mistrust of foreigners. Clare’s new friend Fred, a glassmaker from Germany, is pulled into a web of suspicion, causing Clare to question everything she thought she knew.Dazzle Patterns is an unforgettable story about resilience, art, and the casualties of war, abroad and at home. With extraordinary vision and clarity, Alison Watt’s remarkable debut novel brings the past to life.

bare roots


Molly S. Hillery - 2017
    I even had to take some breaks. It's just so incredibly relatable.""Absolutely obsessed and inspired.""I feel so seen reading her work; it's very powerful.""WOW. Her writing truly heals." bare roots has consistently been a bestseller in women's poetry since its debut in April of 2017. Readers were originally captivated by Hillery's fiesty, feminine style of poetry and her ability to bear her soul [and trauma] to the world. Published six months before the rise and height of the "Me Too" Movement, Hillery echoes sentiments bravely expressed by many women who decided that enough was enough. She hopes that by sharing her story of trauma and mental illness, she will empower other women to continue to speak up and rise above.[Original description]: "bare roots is a collection of poetry written for anyone that has ever buried parts of themselves away from the world. The book is divided into six parts— Pruning the Damage, Battling the Weeds, The Roses [and the Thorns], The Seedling Shall Blossom, Cultivating Wisdom, and Buds of Hope are delicately crafted segments that touch on the subjects of femininity, love and loss, trauma, mental illness, the search for meaning, and ultimately, how to grow from it all." Some portions of this book contain mature content and may be triggering to some readers.

The Heart of the Matter


Margot May Lambert - 2017
     When Riley loses her girlfriend Ariana in a tragic accident, she tries to move past the crippling grief and restore some semblance of normality to her life. However, when her sunny new co-worker Isabelle Foster waltzes in with Ariana’s heart beating inside her, Riley finds herself completely out of her depth and treading water once more.

Wrapped in Hope


K.B. Andrews - 2017
    My hardest decision: give into that forbidden desire, or resist all the unrelenting urges inside of me. She wasn’t mine to take, but I reached out and took her like that forbidden apple in the garden she belongs in. She’s my angel. She was put on this earth for the devil himself. And I’m not strong enough to resist her. She’s off limits… forbidden… and all mine. But I know it’s only a matter of time before the hell that is my life engulfs us both with its wicked flame.

Censored: A Literary History of Subversion and Control


Matthew Fellion - 2017
    Ranging from medieval translations of the Bible to Marjane Satrapi's recent Persepolis, they include works now considered masterpieces, such as Joyce's Ulysses, which were banned because they challenged the orthodoxies of their time.

Trauma in First Person: Diary Writing During the Holocaust


Amos Goldberg - 2017