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Can This Be Home?: And Four Other Stories by Bobbe Palmer


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The Fire Thief


Debra Bokur - 2020
     Under a promising morning sky, police captain Walter Alaka'i makes a tragic discovery: the body of a teenage surfer bobbing among the lava rocks of Maui's southeastern shore. It appears to be an ill-fated accident, but closer inspection reveals something far more sinister than the results of a savage wave gone wrong. Now that Alaka'i is looking at a homicide, he solicits the help of his niece, Detective Kali Māhoe.The granddaughter of one of Hawaii's most respected spiritual leaders, and on the transcendent path to becoming a kahu herself, Kali sees evidence of a strange ritual murder. The suspicion is reinforced by a rash of sightings of a noppera-bō--a faceless and malicious spirit many believe to be more than superstition. When a grisly sacrifice is left on the doorstep of a local, and another body washes ashore, Kali fears that the deadly secret ceremonies on Maui are just beginning.To uncover a motive and find the killer, Kali leans on her skills at logic and detection. But she must also draw on her own personal history with the uncanny legends of the islands. Now, as the skies above Maui grow darker, and as she balances reason and superstition, Kali can only wonder: Who'll be the next to die? And who--or what--is she even on the trail of?

Laid Bare


Jesse Fink - 2012
    Add to cart now and you can thank me later.'TIM ROSS ('ROSSO')LAID BARE is Jesse Fink’s startlingly honest, deeply personal account of emotional and mental oblivion after divorce, interwoven with his experiences as an accidental ‘player’ in a world where dating is a blood sport and finding a true connection is harder than ever because of the distractions provided by technology.It doesn’t shy away from self-exposition, discussion of taboo subjects and what men really think about women, marriage and relationships.But at the heart of this extraordinary book is how Fink, then a single father whose personal and professional life was falling apart, maintained and repaired his relationship with his now-teenage daughter, Evie. LAID BARE is one man’s view of love as he tries to figure out what it all means while searching for ‘The One’.‘X-rated, honest and compelling, this is a must-read.’MEN'S HEALTH‘A great read. Go out there and get it, especially if you are a newly single dad as well. It might teach you a thing or two about what to do and what not to do.’DAVID CAMPBELL‘If you’ve had your heart broken/been on the dating scene/had sex, read Laid Bare. Unputdownable.’KERRI SACKVILLE'An unputdownable read. Essential for every man, post separation, nearing separation, in the event of separation, or just anyone who wants the warts and all insights into an unpredictable voyage you never knew you needed before you could come out the other side. Women who want to understand the male psyche should also read this book. For me, it was astonishingly close to the bone from what I hear from men so frequently. If you're up for honesty, rawness and real life, get yourself a copy.'JASMIN NEWMAN, SEX & RELATIONSHIPS COACH, RELATING TO MEN‘An extraordinary depiction of how sex, even too much sex, can be a normal and healthy part of coping and grief in the life of a man.’DR DAVID LEY, AUTHOR, THE MYTH OF SEX ADDICTION‘An excellent writer and storyteller … compelling reading. Fink’s honesty is admirable, his story bittersweet and his experiences will make the reader squirm.’ DAILY TELEGRAPH ‘One notable exception [to the string of unsatisfying books and articles about sex in the digital age] was Jesse Fink’s harrowing memoir, Laid Bare, in which he chronicled his sex-addled online dating adventures as a newly single father. The difference was Fink readily admitted he behaved as a ruthless cad towards the women he met and his self-loathing gave his book an authenticity sorely lacking in similar works.’SYDNEY MORNING HERALD‘A balls-and-all account of a bloke using extreme physical activity to try to mend a broken heart. Fink opens his deep wounds for inspection, his engaging style pitch perfect to document both his foolhardy actions and his extreme vulnerability.’TOWNSVILLE BULLETIN‘Like Penthouse Letters with post-orgasmic guilt … one man’s journey into the “gratification now” of the internet while slowly accepting his complicity in his divorce, before his sanity is salvaged by the unconditional love of his daughter. An engrossing read.’ HERALD SUN‘A great book.’PENTHOUSE‘Fink’s brutally honest, tell-all memoir about his adventures in online dating is worth reading as much for his personal journey from committed family man to ruthless cad to devoted dad as for the missives it issues from the frontlines of modern love … Laid Bare doesn’t just chronicle Fink’s post-divorce “festival of sexual bounty”, but also offers some incisive commentary on modern life – including the observation that there are serious pitfalls to having too much choice.’THE DRUM (ABC)‘Laid Bare might be a story of the apocalypse of and after divorce, but it’s still applicable to the broader male experience, especially as modern man sinks further into the Internet Age.’CAIRNS POST

To Catch a Cat: How Three Stray Kittens Rescued Me


Heather Green - 2016
    She loved her work and threw herself into sixty-hour weeks—once walking into a subway pole, getting a concussion, and still going to the office. Her new boyfriend Matt lived across the river in a New Jersey town that had none of the glamour of New York. She liked Matt—a lot—yet she wasn’t sure what to make of weekends in gritty, dilapidated Union City.   But things changed the summer morning Heather discovered a beautiful stray cat and her three black-and-white kittens in Matt’s neighbor’s backyard. When she made eye contact with one of the kittens, she felt something she’d never felt before. She and Matt had to save the little animals. Because if they didn’t, who would?   The crazy world of cat rescue soon drew Heather in. As she and Matt worked together to figure out how to trap, tame, and find homes for their foundlings, she began to question the life she had back in Manhattan. This is the story of how three furry beings taught one woman about love, community, and what truly matters in life.

Bedlam Boy: The Forger & The Traitor


Ian W. Sainsbury - 2020
    Sainsbury. Two short, punchy, action-packed episodes in each book.They murdered his parents, shot him in the head, and left him to die. They should have made sure.Twenty years after Tom Lewis watched his parents die, those responsible are being killed. One by one.Gentle, brain-damaged Tom, a giant of a man who can barely speak, can’t be responsible for their deaths. Can he?When Tom Lewis was shot, something new was created. Something unique. Something deadly. Something patient enough to plan revenge for twenty long years.Meet Bedlam Boy

The Borrowed Boyfriend


Ginny Baird - 2016
    What started as a college spring break tradition morphed into an annual reunion, ultimately encompassing boyfriends and husbands. Only Allison hasn't brought along a love interest in years, inspiring the others toward goodwill efforts at fixing her up. Faced with the prospect of yet another beach week mismatched with a virtual stranger, Allison's roommate Kate suggests a shocking alternative. Allison can "borrow" Kate's handsome and successful boyfriend for the trip. The trouble is Grady O'Brien stands for everything romantic idealist Allison is against. He's a ruthless businessman who will stop at nothing to get ahead. What Allison doesn't understand is just how far Grady is willing to go...Wine industry entrepreneur Grady O'Brien knows an opportunity when he sees one. Allison Murphy runs a boutique wine label design company, while Grady heads up a firm that buys those sorts of businesses out. When Grady's girlfriend unexpectedly must attend a conference and their vacation plans are cancelled, she encourages Grady to accompany Allison to the beach instead. Grady agrees to participate in the ruse of playing Allison's boyfriend with a secret agenda in mind. He hopes to pave the way for acquiring Allison's Bella Fortuna Wine Designs by winning favor with its pretty owner and her friends. The one thing Grady doesn't count on losing in the bargain is his heart.

On the Sickle's Edge


Neville Frankel - 2016
    What we cannot lose.A sweeping masterwork of love and loss, secrets and survival, On the Sickle's Edge is told through the voices of three characters who lay bare their family's saga: the endearing, scrappy South-African born Lena, transported to Latvia and later trapped in the USSR; her granddaughter Darya, a true Communist whose growing disillusionment with Soviet ideology places her family at mortal risk; and Steven, a painter from Boston who inadvertently stumbles into the tangled web of his family's past. Against the roiling backdrop of twentieth-century Russia and Eastern Europe, the novel delivers equal parts historical drama, political thriller and poignant love story.On the Sickle's Edge takes the reader on a roller-coaster ride through some of the most tumultuous events of the 20th century. Instantly immersed in seven generations of the Shtein family, we witness their exhilarating celebrations and provocative controversies, and gain an intimate understanding of the pivotal events in South Africa, Latvia and the Soviet Union. Neville Frankel's ability to combine historical insight and human passion is spellbinding. I couldn't put it down. --Pamela Katz, The Partnership: Brecht, Weill, Three Women, and Germany on the BrinkIn the hands of a masterful storyteller, On the Sickle's Edge pits the weight of an oppressive regime against individual tenacity and profound personal courage. Inspired by Frankel's own family history, this multi-generational epic holds up a mirror to a universal truth: all immigrants face the powerful tension between assimilation and cultural identity. We have--all of us--lived life on the edge of the sickle. --Rabbi Andrew Baker, Director of International Jewish Affairs, American Jewish Committee

Last Alive: An Apocalyptic Thriller (Last Days Book 1)


M.C. Magill - 2016
    Without warning, life as we knew it ended.Husband and father Will Carter is an ordinary man plunged into an unthinkable situation. An attack has devastated America and everything changed in an instant. Now the Carters must stay alive and together in the face of an unknown enemy.The Carters embark on a rescue mission in a landscape that is no longer the safe haven they once knew. If they want to survive they'll have to rely on their determination, instincts and their strength as a family. Last Alive book 1 of the Last Days apocalyptic thriller series.

This is Not for You


Venus Soileau - 2014
    This is Not for You is a memoir which vividly describes the memories of growing up in a dysfunctional environment and how these circumstances developed a spirit within the narrator. This is a story of resiliency and drive to overcome the extreme adversities that addiction and poverty can create in the life of a young child.

The Replacement Chronicles


Harper Swan - 2016
     Two Lives… separated by millennia but nevertheless linked irrevocably. What possible link could Mark Hayek, an introverted twenty-first century research scientist, have to Raven, a young healer who lived during the late Pleistocene? It has everything to do with an injured Neanderthal man taken captive by Raven’s band while he and his brothers were hunting bison. After Raven heals the captive, he leaves for his tribe, and she tries to forget him as she struggles to remain within the band. But it’s not possible to stay when several band members make her life with the group untenable. Seeking the Neanderthal man she’d helped and facing her fear of being alone on the dangerous steppes, she begins crossing that grassy land—but a woman like Raven isn’t destined to be by herself for long. In the future, Mark Hayek is forced into making his own journey when his uncle dies in the Levant. His travels place him firmly in the footsteps of his Neanderthal and Early Modern Human ancestors, crossing the same ancient lands as he struggles against the fate a wayward kinsman has imposed. He’s been made a pawn in a cruel game, but when he encounters a woman being held prisoner in a cave, he seeks a way to save her. Help arrives for the pair, flowing from an unexpected, ancient source, igniting a struggle deep within Mark to accept that the illogical as well as the logical make up existence. Peoples come and go, one group replacing another over time, and echoes from ancient events have always affected the future, but Mark and Raven discover that in certain environments echoes are able to bounce back and forth, blurring their origins.

Her Billionaire Ex's Unwanted Black Baby


Nicki Jackson - 2017
     Richard Letterman is a billionaire that has it all. But when an old lover comes back into his life, everything is flipped upside down. Romii Scarsdale never thought she would see her secret baby daddy again. So when Richard walks back into her life, she is stunned. Although she will never forget her heartbreak, she can't resist her attraction to him. But can she tell him about their baby? Note: Her Billionaire Ex's Unwanted Black Baby is 43k of sexy, steamy passion between a dominant alpha billionaire and a feisty, beautiful woman.

Flash of Silver: ...the Leap That Changed My World


Graham Kerr - 2015
    It contains a powerful remedy for indifference in just one word...resilience!Resilience has begun to outstrip 'sustainability' as the action to be taken to preserve many species, including our own.Graham Kerr, as the 'Galloping Gourmet' was referred to, during his international TV series, as the 'High Priest of Hedonism'. He had learned how to eat, cook and profit from some of the finest and richest foods in the world and he used those gifts with enormous enthusiasm and good humor.Suddenly everything changed as an accident severed his success with one blow.Searching for a return to resilience for himself and his family he began an ocean sailing adventure that took them 24,000 miles in 2 years.Then follows one of the most observed U turns ever made by one man. The Kerr's went from a conspicuous gourmet lifestyle to that of a small family living their lives beyond immediate self-interest and they did this in plain sight!Graham uses the literary practice of the 'extended metaphor' to enquire how habits are both formed and relinquished. He does this by comparing his life with that of a wild pacific Chinook salmon. Using poetic license, imagination and good science he asks his readers to hear from the salmon...direct and to see how both man and fish have somewhat similar rites of passage.They are swept 'downstream' where they face continuous discovery, some of which are difficult, some joyful...even hilarious.Upon reaching the salt waters they encounter the challenge of an almost limitless 'ocean of opportunity' where they must eat or be eaten, always driven by immediate self-interest and the need to survive.Finally they turn away from conspicuous consumption and begin to go 'upstream on purpose', this time motivated not just to survive as individuals, but also as a species...It's a wild ride as the scent of their natal river begins to provide direction for their way back home, where it all began.Kerr is not an angry activist, as he puts it."I have a story to tell and it's personal. I have made a series of very obvious leaps over some major obstacles, not unlike the salmon. Their flashes of silver are, for me, a splendid example of the resilience that is ours for the asking."Flash of Silver is supported by an extensive web site that includes an interactive 'REFLECTIVE READERS CLUB' at www.grahamkerr.com/RRC

The Pleasure Principle: an erotic evolution


Nicole Falls - 2020
    

Money is the Motto


Mercy B - 2019
    His spell isn't able to be escaped so easily. Money Malaya Richardson is able to attest to the fact. “Love, this is a custom Chanel piece. You don’t wear custom Chanel to three-star restaurants. The earrings alone were $2,500. It’s niggas in here wishing upon a star for that $2,500 to fall out of the sky right now and would do just about anything to get it. Here you are, ready to – unknowingly – hand it to them.” Prophet shoved his hands into both of his pockets to keep himself in line. Tittering, he leaned in, again, and asked, “Money, you trying to get me sent back upstate from bodying one of ‘em about you?” “Please,” she sneered. “You’re killing me, Money. I’m standing on half-buffed floors in front of people who don’t deserve either of our presence and you’re as dazzling as I imagined. Walking out of that door will be harder than the two years I just did. However, your comfort will always be the mission and Money will always be the motto.” Reaching his full potential in height, Prophet buttoned the single button that he’d undone upon reaching Money.

Last Bird Singing


Jane Holland - 2015
    But her days are running out. Perhaps some lives are not worth saving ... A dark and disturbing psychological thriller set in Newcastle of the nineties, from the author of GIRL NUMBER ONE and MIRANDA. A gritty urban read, this contains graphic language and scenes of violence.

She Had No Name


Annie Jai - 2016
    Her desperate measures to create a 'normal' life can only wreak terrible consequences. How will Lucy's story ultimately play out? A psychological suspense novel for readers of books like 'I Let You Go' and 'Gone Girl.'