Book picks similar to
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His Name Was Ben


Paulette Mahurin - 2014
    Based on real events, Ben and Sara discover that when all else fails, healing can come in the most unexpected ways. Chilling and heart wrenching, His Name Was Ben is a triumph over the devastating circumstances and fear experienced when faced with a terminal illness. In this narrative, the power of love conquers shadows and transforms the very nature and meaning of what it is to be fully alive. From the award winning, best-selling author of, The Persecution of Mildred Dunlap, comes a story filled with soul and passion that will leave the reader thinking about it for days after the last page is closed.“Paulette Mahurin compassionately renders an insightful tale about love and life in the moment, when a moment is all there is. Both ordinary and extraordinary, Sara and Ben kept me up at night rooting for them, as did Mahurin of course, a writer of exceptional heart, for her tender and wise depiction of love against all odds. A rare pleasure, His Name Was Ben is not to be missed.”—Lee Fullbright, author of The Angry Woman Suite “Against the biggest of obstacles a couple can face, the positive message is that it is never too late to start living.” –Christoph Fischer author of Sebastian.

Playing It by Heart: Taking Care of Yourself No Matter What


Melody Beattie - 1999
    And yet, many in recovery find themselves slipping back into the old ways that brought them such grief. In her newest book, Beattie helps readers understand what drives them back into the grasp of controlling behavior and victimhood--and what it takes to pull themselves out, to return to the healing, faith, and maturity that comes with a commitment to recovery. Personal essays, inspiring anecdotes, and prescriptive reminders show readers how to stop acting out their painful obsessions. Marked by compassion and keen insight, Playing It by Heart explores the author's most intense personal lessons and shows readers that, despite setbacks, recovery is a lifelong opportunity for spiritual growth. In her many best-selling books, including Stop Being Mean to Yourself, Codependent No More, and The Language of Letting Go, Melody Beattie draws on the wisdom of Twelve Step healing, Christianity, and Eastern religions.

Dead Peasants


Larry D. Thompson - 2012
    Thompson has decades of courtroom experience in his home state of Texas on controversial and important trials. Now, in Dead Peasants, Thompson has delivered a fast-moving and suspenseful legal thriller featuring a retired lawyer whose life gets turned upside down when a stranger asks for help.Jack Bryant, exhausted after a high-profile career as a lawyer, takes an early retirement in Fort Worth, Texas, where he plans to kick back, relax, and watch his son play football at TCU. But then an elderly widow shows up with a check for life insurance benefits and that is suspiciously made payable to her dead husband's employer, Jack can't turn down her pleas for help and files a civil suit to collect the benefits rightfully due the widow. A chain of events that can't be stopped thrusts Jack into a vortex of killings, and he and his new love interest find themselves targets of a murderer.Gripping, engaging, and written with the authority that only a seasoned lawyer could possess, Dead Peasants is a legal thriller that will stun and surprise you.

The Backbenchers: The Missed Call!


Sidharth - 2012
    She seeks revenge on the girl she suspects to have caused it all, Ananya. She is not going to take her downfall lying down. And now that she has her hands upon something that can ruin Ananya’s life, she can’t wait to have her vengeance. To gain back her pride, she aims to come out on top in the most prestigious quiz competition in the city and accidentally teams up with her once upon a time best friend, Shreya. Shreya stays at a distance and sees Natasha destroy herself in hatred, revenge and pain. It aches her to see her throw her life away like this. But what can she do about it?The Backbenchers - The Missed Call! traces the story of Natasha Malhotra, as she struggles with depression, suicidal tendencies, vengeance and the loss of social equity. Will she get her old life back? Or will she destroy herself in the process?

River Oaks Plantation


B.J. Robinson - 2013
    J. Robinson comes a family saga amidst the backdrop of the Civil War and a deadly hurricane, rising floodwaters in the Big Easy, or Crescent City, as a plantation on River Road in Vacherie, Louisiana, is threatened. Will Hurricane Katrina destroy what the Civil War spared? Margaret Jane Turnrow first laid eyes on River Oaks Plantation amid lush foliage and oak trees dripping with Spanish moss when she returned from her honeymoon as a petite hazel-eyed fifteen-year-old bride to the antebellum mansion. She immediately fell in love with the house and grounds and beautifying the garden with plants. Her first task involved lining the oak drive with azaleas. Determined to have the best plantation gardens, she soon recreated formal ones designed from precious memories of France, Italy, and England she'd toured on her honeymoon. Before the Civil War, she imported plants, and gardening became her passion. During the war, it was her only one. The fertile Louisiana soil loved and nursed her plants as much as she did, and they grew like the cotton and sugarcane. Pale as a magnolia blossom, she sparkled like the sun reflecting off Lake Pontchartrain when she flashed pearly white teeth with her camellia red smile, but small white hands tucked demurely into the folds of her gown as she sat quietly during elegant dinners, concealed her true vivacious spirit. The war would change the shy woman-child as it ravaged through her life and took its toll on the home and family life she came to know and love with all of her heart. Before the Civil War, dashing Danny Paul Turnrow stood six-foot-two-inches, as tall and elegant as the white-columned plantation home he'd purchased on the banks of the Mississippi River. He led a charmed life as a charismatic cotton baron known as one of the richest men on River Road. River Oaks boasted over thirty-five-hundred acres of fertile Louisiana soil, mostly planted in cotton with the exception of some sugarcane along the Mississippi River banks and his wife's gardens. He returned from the war a different man, as broken as the pillared splendor of the South. Surrounded by cypress swamps and sugarcane fields on the river's end and white blankets of cotton edging the dirt roads, River Oaks Plantation still stood, but the grand life he'd led turned to one of backbreaking toil. He no longer stood so tall and proud with an aching back hunched over Louisiana cotton fields. With the future uncertain, fear lurks in his heart and soul and clouds his mind. What will sustain his marriage through the loss? Can they defend what's most precious to them and maintain River Oaks as a working plantation? The manor home is the only legacy he has left and the only life he has ever known. Will he lose it? Years later, Amaryllis Camilla O'Brien is stranded alone with two dogs on the top floor of an antebellum plantation in Vacherie, Louisiana, as a deadly hurricane rips and roars through the city and raging floodwaters threaten to devour the old home. She discovers a yellowed diary. Will family secrets drown in the flood with her? Will the diary matter? She's determined to save it and the dogs, or die trying. Has her grandmother left her a sinking ship? Noah Gautreaux, the plantation manager, took vehicles to higher ground and is supposed to return, but will he make it in time to save Amaryllis and his pet girls? The old house withstood the floods of 1973, 1983, and 1993. He doesn't think he has to worry about it floating off down the Mississippi River, but as excessive rain and wind continue to batter the area and the water continues to rise when the levee breaches, he realizes there's a first time for everything and this could be it for the white-columned beauty of ages past.

The Savant - a novel


Cass Tell - 2018
    Then, one day he falls out of an oak tree and everything changes. He suddenly perceives the world in a different way, where spoken words appear as vibrant colors and minute details emerge from everything. Most surprising, he can foresee outcomes, for instance, knowing which horse will win a race. He considers what to do with this extraordinary ability, and that takes him on an expedition across America and eventually to Europe. Along the way, he encounters intimidating foes, and ultimately, he makes a startling discovery leading him to a confrontation with his greatest adversary. Follow the journey of this fascinating young person who lacks social skills and doesn’t experience emotions in a normal way. At the same time, he has profound insights about the world, as he attempts to find out who he is, and the basis of his identity. The book is also a captivating spiritual journey, as the boy struggles to fathom the meaning of love, and the reasons why things are good or bad. He even uses his prophetic abilities to understand where history is going and its ultimate end. Cass Tell is the author of numerous novels on various themes. The SAVANT deviates from the others. For instance, his last novel, The COOKBOOK is a delightful and fun action thriller about a young woman whose life is shockingly changed because of mysteries she finds in her grandmother's old cookbook. Equally enjoyable, The SAVANT goes in another direction, as it deals with the riches we find in those who are different from the normal. This fiction book is an exploration of the uniqueness of the individual, containing a profound questioning of how and why we perceive and react as we do. Packed with humor and emotion, this story provides insights at a rare level. The Savant is fun and enjoyable, full of adventure, relationships, mystery, and prophecy.

Journey to the East


Baird T. Spalding - 2009
    

Emmy's Journey (Two Feather's Legacy Book 2)


Lila M Beckham - 2015
    Determined to do exactly what she sets her mind to, she explores the mountains and valleys around her home with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge and a keen eye that misses nothing. When her mother dies, Emmaline, Emmy for short, is thrust into the mystical, spiritual world of her mother’s native peoples, the Tsalagi, better known as the Cherokee. Given the power of observation and shape shifting by her immortal g-great-grandfather Two Feathers, who is the keeper of the Sacred Fire’s Ashes, Emmy is told that she must carry on her mother’s duties and is charged with the task of becoming the family “Ka no he ha Ka no Ge sdi,” the Storyteller. She is supposed to remember and pass down her family’s history and tell about their ancestors. As Emmy grows older and matures, her explorations become more advanced. She discovers a hidden path that takes her beyond an ancient willow tree to a layer of the world that at first seems much like her own, but she soon discovers that it is quite different… When she stays longer than allowed a mortal, she discovers that her grandfather can travel between space and time and communicate with all peoples between the layers of her world. Emmy’s Journey is a voyage through time and into the mysterious spiritual and mystical realms of the Cherokees and a world that most never knows exists.

Queen Anne's Lace


Dawn Gardner - 2019
    Lacy starts on a journey to find to find the man that could change her life. As Lacy gets closer to finding the man, circumstances force her to do something that she will regret for the rest of her life. This explosive coming-of-age story set in the late 1970s is full of twists and turns, forgiveness and courage.

Beneath a Blanket of Snow


Arlene Lomazoff-Marron - 2020
    He was on top of the world—until he nearly threw it all away. Meredith Perkins lived a life of luxury, courtesy of her husband’s hard work and diligence, but was isolated from the realities of the working world. Her days were spent decorating their spacious home, lunching with affluent friends, practicing yoga, and shopping in boutiques… Until her husband’s crime turned her world upside down. Meredith found herself hounded by the media, deserted by friends she had counted on for support, and struggling to reconstruct a life for her and her children…But her friends kept their own secrets...How much do you trust your spouse? Do you keep secrets from your partner? How much do you trust your friends? Is everything what it seems on the outside?

The Sarah Winman Collection: WHEN GOD WAS A RABBIT and A YEAR OF MARVELLOUS WAYS


Sarah Winman - 2017
    Discover one of the UK's most eloquent and moving writers through her Sunday Times bestselling, critically acclaimed literary sensations. 'Winman's narrative voice is beautifully true' The TimesIf you've never read the phenomenon that is WHEN GOD WAS A RABBIT, now is your chance. It's a book about a brother and sister. It's a book about childhood and growing up, friendships and families, triumph and tragedy and everything in between. More than anything, it's a book about love in all its forms.Then experience the sheer joy of A YEAR OF MARVELLOUS WAYS, a book that Rosamund Lupton described as 'a glorious poem of a novel'. This is a story about Marvellous Ways, an eighty-nine-year-old woman who sits by a creek in Cornwall, waiting for a last adventure. It's about Francis Drake, a young soldier who washes up there, reeling from war and broken-hearted. It's about the magic in everyday life and the lure of the sea, and how we carry on when grief comes snapping at our heels. Two stories. Two journeys. Two reading experiences you'll never forget.

The Stronger Half


Jeff Coleman - 2018
     It was after his identical twin Bill suffered the traumatic brain injury that left him crippled and unable to speak. George would see the man sitting on a bench at the mall, or at the store standing by the magazines. But he never seemed to notice George, not even when he tried to communicate. Twenty years later, after dropping out of college to care for Bill, George has become a junior high school janitor. Between his struggling with debt, working a physically demanding job, and taking care of Bill’s needs, life has not been easy. But George doesn’t know the meaning of difficult until the man finally acknowledges him, triggering a terrifying series of supernatural events that leaves George and Bill running for their lives. And as George struggles to protect his twin from an otherworldly evil, he discovers a startling secret about Bill—one that leaves him questioning decades-old assumptions and wondering which of them truly is the stronger half.

I forgive you: why you should always (the path of forgiveness)


Eric M. Watterson - 2011
    “I Forgive You: Why You Should Always – The Path of Forgiveness Book 1” explains why it so important to forgive everyone; it’s for your own personal benefit. Without forgiveness, you are hindering your own life in ways you may not understand. This first installment of a three-book path toward complete and total forgiveness explains why no matter what happens…you should always forgive, and we will show you why and how. If you are ever going to truly forgive and release the hurt from your past, you must first understand why it’s so important to do it.

Lotus Land - The Secrets of Padma Kshetra


Bhuban Patra - 2020
    The kingdom of Kalinga though a maritime superpower remained secluded and reclusive to the other nations of Bharat. This was not by chance, but by choice, as this holy land was fulfilling a prophecy that could become the basis of existence for the entire humankind after the Kali Yuga ends. The first book of the Konark Secret Duology is the tale of Bishnu Maharana, the chief architect of the Konark Temple. This is his journey about how he became a master architect and the secrets he unravels while constructing this shrine. Was this temple just a grand monument or were there secrets behind its construction? Why was an unusual technique being used for its creation, when there were tried and tested methods? Did this monument hold some secret within itself? Was Bishnu Maharana an architect or a man of secrets?

Collecting


Miranda Wilson - 2013
    He collects tiny morsels from London’s pavements, parks and gutters and exhibits them at home. Finds include a grape pip, a ball bearing and the wing of a flying ant. When his irritating son, troubled daughter-in-law and much loved baby granddaughter come to stay, a sequence of events lead to Walter being thrust into London’s East End art scene. His son thinks he’s out of control, but his daughter-in-law has found a kindred spirit and Walter discovers more joy and pain than he ever thought possible at his age. This is a book about self discovery that explores how we all are capable of things we may previously have thought unimaginable.