Whether today’s populism represents a corrective to unfair and obsolete policies or a threat to liberal democracy itself remains up for debate. Yet this much is clear: these challenges indict the triumphalism that accompanied liberal democratic consolidation after the collapse of the Soviet Union. To respond to today’s crisis, good leaders must strive for inclusive economic growth while addressing fraught social and cultural issues, including demographic anxiety, with frank attention. Although reforms may stem the populist tide, liberal democratic life will always leave some citizens unsatisfied. This is a permanent source of vulnerability, but liberal democracy will endure so long as citizens believe it is worth fighting for.

     One unlikely friendship When Bethany and Kate first meet they have nothing in common, but their lives soon intertwine as they both embark on the journey of a lifetime.

    Her father hired a stubborn bodyguard to keep her safe, stripping her of authority she’s never had to share. His rules hinder her progress. But in his large and protective arms, she's never felt safer. Being shackled to a desk as a CEO is Daemon Knight's worst fear. He lives for the danger of private security. His military training makes him the perfect bodyguard for a revolutionary's headstrong daughter. And when Daemon decides to steal Zuri away to America, they discover how opposite they truly are. But opposites attract. When duty calls her home, Zuri must leave Daemon or fail her people. Agreeing to her plan means Daemon will have to break a promise to a dying man. Daemon's never lost a client. And he's never broken a promise. Her Special Forces Billionaire is a standalone novel in the Billionaire Boss series. Previously published as The Billionaire Bodyguard with new content.

    All very different from one another. But with one tragic bond between them - they are all widows. Sarah is the organiser of the group. After losing her husband Jonny she’s finally getting used to life on her own. Can she find happiness again with Tony? Kate is struggling to raise two children on her own and misses the physical intimacy of her marriage to Charlie. Will she find love through online dating? Or will she learn she doesn’t need a man to make her happy? Ailsa is determined to get her life going again after losing Tom and signs up for philosophy school and yoga classes. Will she find peace? And maybe even love at her lessons? Victoria is alone and childless, and needs the support of her fellow widows more than any of them. Will Victoria decide to stay in Cape Town and make a go of things? Or will she return to her family in England? 'Moving On' follows the highs and lows of a group of widows as they struggle to re-build their lives. It is a story of friendship, love, loss and hope. A story of new beginnings and second chances. 'An emotional roller-coaster of a read.' - Holly Kinsella, best-selling author of 'Uptown Girl'. Joanna Ross is a journalist, traveller, writer, actress, mother and widow, currently living in Cape Town. 'Moving On' is her first novel. Endeaavour Press is the UK's leading independent publisher of digital books.

    And she designed a dating app to prove it. But when her childhood crush, Graham Dalton, returns home for his brother's wedding, he challenges everything she thought she knew about love. Graham Dalton never forgot the woman he left behind. And when he returns home to San Francisco for a second chance with his first love, he's more than happy to stand-in as her fake boyfriend to improve the public image of her dating app company. But as old feelings resurface, Elle starts to receive anonymous messages through her dating app. And things only get more complicated when a long-kept secret from their past is uncovered.  In the end, will Elle find her missing puzzle piece? Or will her world fall to pieces?  Rating: This sweet romance novella is rated PG, perfect for fans of the Hallmark Channel or other clean and wholesome romance authors.

    They soon discover her house has been tossed, and everything with her company is not as it seems. With both of them on the run, Joshua enlists help from friends, who quickly end up in the cross hairs of a powerful private military group. Can Joshua put aside his quest for revenge long enough to save the beautiful financial wizard? Or will her own choices lead to results that are more than they can handle? Book Two What starts out as a light security job for Kincaid turns explosive as a young bartender named Mindy becomes the target of both a car bomb and a personalized, at home booby trap. But when an attorney from Mindy’s hometown is found murdered in his hotel room while on a trip to meet her, both security agent and barkeeper are quickly put under the microscope by local law enforcement. Forced to flee from the city, they must travel to the one place Mindy can confront her past and the troubles plaguing them both: the home she abandoned as she tried to put her past behind her. Book Three A routine bodyguard detail for a Japanese businessman goes south when Ben ends up at a local underground gambling hall as part of an evening of entertainment. Things get even worse when rivals to the local crime syndicate show up to cause problems, and both he and the hostess Elizabeth are forced to work together to rescue as many revelers and gamblers. Now, Ben is being tapped by a local fixer to find the gambling hall’s head of security, and if he refuses Elizabeth and her younger sister will be the ones held responsible. Ben will have to swallow his pride and work with the attractive woman if he wants to make it out alive. But can he do it, even as a third criminal organization appears seemingly from nowhere and begins to hunt the same man? Book Four He just wanted to deliver a letter from her dead brother. He didn’t want to end up protecting the gorgeous political campaign manager from a crazy stalker ex-boyfriend, or be responsible for trying to extract her former roommate from a communal religious cult. But, as the local Mayoral election heats up, Thomas and Rachel will find out there’s more than meets the eye when it comes to all the moving pieces in the local electoral game. Especially since the cult leader has a shady, murderous past, and is busy trying to secede from the city. Thomas will have to find a way to bring in the cult’s founder while also mustering the courage he needs to tell Rachel that he’s the one really responsible for her brother’s death. Book Five The owner and boss of Eagle Eye has had some of the worst jobs imaginable. At least, he thought so. Now, Mark Riley is forced to deal with hired killers and drug cartel hitmen as he tries to spark a war and save Paige Henry, the daughter of a Washington bureaucrat who can end Eagle Eye with nothing more than a stroke of her pen. The target of his rescue attempt, a covert CIA agent, is less than satisfied with the outcome. The only way she’ll let him return her home to “the company” is if he first helps her bring down the cartel that first kidnapped her. The only problem is that it’s the same cartel that invaded his own adopted city. Can Mark temper Paige’s desperate need for revenge? Or will she drag him down with her as he’s forced to confront Eagle Eye’s own involvement in the cartel’s rise to criminal power?

    When the government she has served targets her Muslim husband and sons, her loyalties are tested. And when her family is about to be torn apart, she must take drastic action to protect them.A House Divided is a tense and timely thriller about political extremism and divided loyalties, and their impact on one woman.

     ˃˃˃ Book 1 RESCUED BY A KISS You’d think Brandy might be a little self-conscious a suave Svengali in one of the gentlemen’s walking clubs mesmerizes her into a big fat Mardi Gras smooch right in front of her boyfriend. But not a bit. Because after all, it's Mardi Gras, and also for another good reason: that kiss was long, slow, hot, unlike any kiss she’d ever had in her life. She makes a date to meet Mr. Great Kisser after the parade but arrives just in time to see him get shot. Before he passes out, he pulls her close and whispers, “Save Isabella. And with that we’re off on a screwball chase all over town, from Lee Circle to the Lakefront, with a stop at Charity Hospital, and finally to the French Quarter’s favorite gay dance club, always accompanied by Schnauzers, one of them named Geaux Cup. ˃˃˃ Book 2 DEAD AND BREAKFAST When Brandy’s best friend Julia, the ex-stripper-turned hotelier, finds her first and only guest covered in blood, lying half on and half off a broken bed, with Julia’s panties swinging from the chandelier, she gets Brandy on the horn. And Brandy does the only sensible thing, makes coffee...with a shot of whiskey--then calls the police. And who should respond, but her recent ex-boyfriend, Dante, with a brand new daggers-looking female partner? But wait! This is not nearly complicated enough for Noo Awlins, where, after all, everybody knows everybody! Julia’s lawyer is none other than Jiff, Brandy’s new squeeze (and the reason Dante’s the ex-boyfriend). As the suspense mounts, the romance blossoms, and not just one. Jiff’s looking more and more like Mr. Right: a 100% Class Act, with his own Schnauzer and a soft spot for Brandy’s three. But Dante makes it clear that he doesn’t plan to go quietly; the former Mr. Right Next Door has a few very sexy moves he’s been holding in reserve, which knock Brandy’s socks--and truth be told, her panties --off! ˃˃˃ Book 3 DRIVE THRU MURDER When Brandy pulls into the drive-thru, she expects to order a box of CLUCK IT! CHICKEN BY THE BUCKET, not hear gunshots and see someone in high heels and a black leather miniskirt climbing out of the pick-up window dragging a body. Her boyfriend, New Orleans Detective Dante Deedler, is on this case and hers as bodies keep turning up and she knows about them before he does. Her neighbor--a palm reader who is also a phone sex operator--has visions of Brandy’s future and past leaving more questions than answers. Murders, family dilemma and a rescued Schnauzer named Jesus has Brandy distracted. Could she be the next victim? There's no place like New Orleans to have a good crime!> ˃˃˃ Book 4 DEATH BY RUM BALLS This will be Brandy’s first Christmas without Dante, but she is determined to enjoy the holiday going to parties and even a “Yappy Hour” with Jiff and both of their schnauzers. Brandy stops to deliver mistletoe for Julia’s party that night when Frank, Julia’s handyman, drags her into the mayhem surrounding the guest list. It seems everyone Julia invited has a grudge against her, and they all confirmed they are coming to her party.

    With the help of a few shape-shifting friends, they pick up the scent of the vampire responsible for the child’s disappearance.Helena is no stranger to dangerous villains. She’s fought more than her fair share thanks to her own strange supernatural heritage.Reluctantly, Helena decides to ask Dominick Pierce, the local vampire king, to help her find the boy before it’s too late.Will this new alliance change the way Helena has always viewed the monsters once and for all?

    Her father, Ngoc, is desperate and with help from a young Australian volunteer overcomes his years of reluctance and writes a letter to his father, a retired American army officer. Ngoc’s letter shocks Peter Trutch. Torn between his sense of honor toward this unknown son and his contentedly pleasant life in Seattle with his devoted wife Catherine, he hurls himself into his past and back to a country and memories that he had left behind forty years earlier. Lien is sold to a brothel in Cambodia and, in his frantic search for her, Trutch confronts not only his past but a seedy, corrupt world where bad cops, pimps and the destitute, clash with courageous international prevention workers and a few honest officials. Along with Trutch, the reader will be outraged at the worldwide plague of sex trafficking.

    With the sun going down and Laura seriously worrying for her life, she stumbles across a tent that looks more like a palace than a campsite. Dehydrated and burnt, it seems like salvation — until men wearing desert garb and toting AK47’s ride out in jeeps to gather her. Sheikh Raheem can barely believe his luck when an American woman is brought into his tent. He is passionate about his country’s natural splendor, but its PR is in desperate need of a makeover — perhaps as much as the dirty beauty in front of him. He makes an offer: Laura, with her eye for finding the beauty in a location, will help him craft a campaign promoting his country, and when she completes the project he’ll send her back to America with a paycheck she can live on for years. Seeing a chance for financial freedom, Laura jumps at the opportunity. As Raheem shows off the magnificence of his land, Laura finds herself getting swept into a fairy tale full of palaces, five-star luxury, and the most sensuous sex she’s ever experienced. Though she values her independence, the temptation to stay — not just for Raheem, but for the beautiful country that isn’t getting the attention it deserves — holds her in place. But when the country’s natural treasures are threatened, Raheem and Laura must decide what means more to them: their love for one another or their original plans.

    Neubauer fled his family, trading coasts to provide himself three time zones of buffer space. Random email and social media posts yield all the contact he needs. Until a late-night phone call from his wistful father. Unaccustomed to hearing his dad say "I love you," C.J. freezes, vowing instead to reciprocate the next time they speak. But when the phone wakes him the following morning, it's his older brother informing him their father has committed suicide.Sporting a nagging conscience and a chip on his shoulder, C.J. books a flight home on his girlfriend's credit card. All he wants is to bury his father and try to make sense of what led him to take his own life. All he has to go on is a note that reads, "Sorry I wasn't what you needed." Was it intended for C.J. and his siblings? The mother who walked out on them twenty-five years ago? Or someone else altogether?Alternately heartfelt and laugh-out-loud funny, Sorry I Wasn't What You Needed explores the familial bonds that obligate us for life--and beyond.

    If you haven't found one by then, I'll find one for you!"Rose wasn't shocked by her mother's announcement. Since Rose's two older brothers had married, her mother had become obsessed with weddings.Rose wasn't against marriage; she just hadn't met the man of her dreams yet. She'd know him when she saw him. He'd be tall with broad shoulders, and he'd have dark coloring to complement her pale skin and fair, red hair. It would be love at first sight.When Jacob comes to town, Rose sees him and knows he's the one!Her hunch is confirmed when they spend every spare moment together. When Rose learns some scandalous news about Jacob, she is devastated and turns to her close friend, Mark.Mark isn't much to look at, and he's only a shade taller than she, but Mark is a man who would never let her down.Is her good friend Mark the one she should be with, or should she give Jacob another chance?Should Rose risk trying to make something more out of Mark's friendship, or will she be risking her heart only to be disappointed again?

    As longtime member Stephanie Lewis steps into a luxurious condo to begin a new season of the garden club, she has no idea of the drama and life changes that await her.Stephanie, a community volunteer and socialite, is convinced that proper civilization ends at the New Orleans city limits. Her friends and fellow members consist of Gloria Vincent, a wealthy widow who manages two international businesses, and Dolores Delacroix, a successful business owner and master gardener who drinks like a sailor. As the roots of improbable friendships grow deeper, the women discover there is more to every life than what appears on the surface. When a chain of events transforms Stephanies life and the existence of the garden club forever, each of the women learns that she must first examine the past and face the present before she can ever embrace future possibilities.In this heartwarming story, the ladies of a French Quarter garden club depend upon reliance, grace, and the bonds of their sisterhood to courageously deal with lifes unexpected twists and turns. For more information visit: www.welcometothegardenclub.com.

    But both Grace and Edith are desperate to escape its confines.Regardless of the word ‘Volunteer’ featured prominently on her official name badge, Grace doesn’t want to be there. The twenty-year-old’s life is enough of a mess without being obliged to front up every week and read to an elderly stranger.And Edith might have the most colourful room in the whole facility but her bright and bold surrounds mask a tragic past with which she is still coming to terms. Her trademark positivity is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain, particularly when she knows she will never truly belong at Rosehill.Everyone has a different story to tell and some of those stories are painful and difficult to communicate. But can the simple act of storytelling begin the process of healing for Grace and for Edith?