The Exceptionals: How the Best Become the Best and How You Can Too


Kumar Mehta - 2021
    They are the 1% of the 1%. They have reached seemingly unreachable heights. They may be athletes or entertainers who are household names, or they may be people who have invented life-saving drugs or won a Nobel Prize by making fundamental advances in knowledge. Or they may have changed the world through science or music or business by influencing millions or perhaps billions of lives.They are the people who have succeeded in being able to draw out the best talents they have within themselves and have maximized the physical, mental, and social potential available to them.The Exceptionals is their story, and it provides you with the blueprint to advance yourself from good to great—and from outstanding to elite.

The Reluctant Farmer of Whimsey Hill


Bradford M. Smith - 2016
    That is what troubles animal-phobic, robotics engineer Smith who just got married. He learns that his bride’s dream is to have a farm where there are lots of animals and she can rescue ex-race horses to retrain and find them new homes. But according to a Meyers-Briggs Personality Test that they took for fun, their marriage is doomed. There is only one problem: the newlyweds took the test after the wedding. Whether Smith is chasing a cow named Pork Chop through the woods with a rope, getting locked in a tack room by the family pony, being snubbed by his wife’s dog, or unsuccessfully trying to modernize their barn using the latest technology, the odds are stacked against him. It seems like everything with four legs is out to get him. Will the animals win, forcing Smith to admit defeat, or will he fight to keep his family and the farm together? Enjoy the true, warm, and frequently hilarious stories of Smith’s journey along the bumpy road from his urban robotics lab to a new life on a rural Virginia farm.

Venus, Burning


H. Jewel Lohr - 2017
    Well, at least on the surface. Recently engaged to Seattle’s most loved congressman, Michael Brenner, they are two kids and a yellow Lab short of becoming the picture-perfect family. That is, minus her haunted past and growing dissatisfaction with their relationship. Things get more complicated when she has a chance encounter with an old flame. One that was never extinguished. Psychiatrist and best-selling author William Debroux is one of the only people who know about Ava’s traumatic upbringing, and has always understood her in a way no one else has. Despite the six years that have passed without seeing one another, her heart soars when she lays eyes on him again. She suddenly finds herself longing for the blossoming romance they shared when she was just a silly college girl at NYU, her mind rushing with memories of when she first wandered into his office as a patient. If she wasn’t already conflicted enough, things get even more strange when she finds out that her fiancé has recently befriended William. As their lives start to become more intertwined, and William begins hinting that he intends on winning her back, she begins to ask herself...Is my heart really behind this upcoming marriage? Or was it already stolen in New York all those years ago?Warning: Contains explicit sexual content. Recommended only for readers 18+.

The Ground You Stand Upon: Life of a Skytrooper in Vietnam


Joshua Bowe - 2018
    Wilbur E. Bowe was living on his family’s farm when he was drafted in 1965 and assigned to Alpha Company, 5th Battalion, 7th Calvary. The 5/7th Cavalry was formed as a brand-new battalion in order to fill out the 1st Air Cavalry Division’s 3rd Brigade. The young men of the battalion were largely drafted together in 1965 as the build-up of regular Army forces in Vietnam had just begun. Together, these impossibly young men would be trained in the airmobile infantry and become what were known as “skytroopers”. They would then be sent deep into the jungles of Vietnam, where together they would learn what “search and destroy” meant and face the reality of this new war.The story features many of the letters and photographs my dad sent home from the war zone. His dispatches were sent from some of the most remote valleys and outposts in Vietnam, written under the most austere of conditions, often scribbled in haste before another mission, or by flashlight, under a poncho in the rain. They would travel over 8,000 miles across the ocean, to be placed in a mailbox that stood across from a farmhouse, along a rural county road in Wisconsin.Many former skytroopers of Alpha Company were interviewed for this story, and their personal accounts recall much of the humor and friendship they shared, along with the sadness and tragedy that would accompany a year spent in the jungles of Vietnam. The story also draws upon the 5/7th Cavalry’s daily staff journals and situation reports for every day of the battalion’s first year in Vietnam.This is their story, told in great detail from their time spent training together at Fort Carson – through their historic journey across the ocean aboard the USNS Gaffey, where they would encounter a massive typhoon – through their many battles fought together in Vietnam – and eventually, their final patrol.

Snowed In at the Alaskan Lodge


Amberlee Day - 2020
    Smooth, sophisticated, polished.He was the one who’d messed up, so she could add righteous to her list.Yeah, that would feel good.But then Ingrid never imagined meeting him at an isolated Alaskan resort, one she couldn’t escape from quite so easily. Or, that running away would mean giving up a shot at her dream job.No, she would endure every uncomfortable and awkward situation with her ex so that she could have the satisfaction of winning the job for herself.If only he’d stop looking at her in that way that makes her smooth, sophisticated, righteous knees go weak. And making her laugh, like he always did, which is totally not fair.But that’s okay. She can resist him for four days. As long as the unpredictable Alaska weather holds, she’ll leave this island with her dignity intact, if not her heart.A sweet romantic comedy set in Alaska, with snow, an isolated resort, a couple who messed it up the first time around, and, if they’re very lucky, a second chance at romance. Grab your copy today!Fun fact: If you’ve read Amberlee’s books Family Dinners with the Billionaire or Camping with the Billionaire, this is Ingrid Chastain-Bolt and Tyson Sydow’s story! Goosebumps!!This standalone book is the Snowed In for Christmas Clean Romance Series Book 6

Gilchrist


Christian Galacar - 2017
    . . black as it may be.Two years after losing their infant son to a tragic accident, Peter Martell, a novelist with a peculiar knack for finding lost things, and his wife, Sylvia, are devastated to learn they may no longer be able to have children. In need of a fresh start, and compelled by strange dreams, the couple decide to rent a lake house in the idyllic town of Gilchrist, Massachusetts, a place where bad things might just happen for a reason. As bizarre events begin to unfold around them—a chance encounter with a gifted six-year-old boy, a series of violent deaths, and repeated sightings of a strange creature with a terrifying nature—Peter and Sylvia find themselves drawn into the chaos and soon discover that coming to Gilchrist may not have been their decision at all.Set against a small New England town in the summer of 1966, Gilchrist is a sinister tale about the haunting origins of violence, evil, and the undying power of memory.

Whispering Bodies: A Roy Belkin Disaster


Jesse Michaels - 2013
    Belkin must begin each day with the task he calls The Service: visiting Christian chat-rooms to reply to users innocent questions with mocking answers. “Why do they call the taking of the communion ‘Mass?’”? Belkin124 responds: “They call it the Mass because after Jesus was crucified, a mass of people rushed forward to the cross and ate him. Now they eat the wafer to remember it.” At forty-seven, balding, and mildly agoraphobic, Belkin is a man without direction. He rarely leaves his apartment (he refers to the outside world as The Pounding), and when he must leave, he meticulously recounts the day in his Thunder Book; a journal where he lists all that repulsed him that day.But everything changes the day Belkin returns to his apartment to find the building ablaze along with the suspected murder of the apartment building’s maintenance man. As police question him, Belkin meets the mysterious Pernice Balfour, the alluring, religiously obsessed neighbor accused of the crime. Soon, Belkin has no choice but to come out of his shell (and his apartment) to try to clear her name. But the more Belkin investigates, the muddier things become. Wandering through San Francisco’s seedy Tenderloin district, Belkin begins to unravel the truth behind the murder, and encounters a bizarre series of characters and situations: "pansexual" crime-scene photographer, an idiot detective, and an all-knowing government operative.Whispering Bodies is comical offbeat exploration of the wisdom found in madness and the madness found in conventional life, all brought together in a classic tale of who-done-it.

The Lost Thumb


Orla Owen - 2019
     That evening goes horribly wrong. After Luella wakes up in hospital, she’s kept prisoner at home with her mother acting as her warden. Lara is sent to school to keep up the pretence that she is fine, her sister is fine, and the world is fine. Except they aren’t. The local storekeeper, sensing that something’s wrong, pushes her son to befriend Lara but the results of her meddling are deadly...

The Ballad of Banjo Crossing


Tess Evans - 2011
    Jack McPhail is a man on the run from his past, a drifter who lands by accident in a sleepy outback Australian town called Banjo Crossing. Jack - almost despite himself - becomes slowly drawn into the town, its community, its characters and its concerns.He's on the brink of falling in love with Mardi, a young widow and owner of the local coffee shop, when the community is confronted and divided by an unexpected development. A coal mining company has come to town, intent on buying up the local properties to build an open cut mine. The town of Banjo Crossing rallies together to fight off the threat. Jack wants to help out his new friends, but if he does, he's at risk of his past being exposed. Having his secret out there could change everything for him. Will he help them out, even if it costs him his second chance at happiness?'Highly topical and engaging ... incubating a mystery which must not be revealed until the exact psychological moment ... entertaining and charismatic' Adelaide Advertiser

Quaker's War (The Long Fuse Book 1)


Jason Born - 2021
    He breathes fresh life into familiar characters while introducing a host of new actors, both dear and detested.1752 A.D. What makes a pacifist from Pennsylvania suddenly take up the war hatchet? Runaway and Quaker, Ephraim, finds out quickly on a peaceful summer morning. Thereafter, he meets two very different men who may be able to help him on his sudden quest for revenge. One, an Iroquois Half King, has a similar ax to grind against a certain French officer. The other, a callow Virginian, is motivated not for revenge, but by his own inferiority to his deceased brother. The results of that bloody morn and Ephraim's single-minded pursuit set in motion a chain of events that ensnares evermore of the world's population in a dreadful war. Many will suffer. A few will benefit.Each of these lives collide with one another and history, proving that individuals can affect the fate of nations. Quaker's War begins with a bang. It ends in a torrent. It is a magnificent yarn that instantly transports the reader into the hearts and minds of those souls who battled their way through the birth pangs of a nation.

Slow Down


Lee Matthew Goldberg - 2015
    Neither is watching Dominick have an affair with the lead actress, the gorgeous but troubled Nevie Wyeth. For Noah's dream is to get both the film and Nevie in the end, whatever the cost. And this obsession may soon become a reality once Dominick's spurned wife Isadora reveals her femme fatale nature with a seductive plot to get rid of her husband for good.Slow Down, a cross between the noir styling of James M. Cain and the dark satire of Bret Easton Ellis, is a thrilling page-turner that holds a mirror up to a media-saturated society that is constantly searching for the fastest way to get ahead, regardless of consequences.

The Future Was Now


J.R. Harber - 2020
    Gabriel is the best Contract Enforcer the State has ever created, trained from childhood to efficiently identify and eliminate threats to society’s vital balance and ensure every citizen adheres to their Social Contract.Asa has spent his life in one of the State’s carefully planned farming communities, but he yearns for something more. The day after his twenty-first birthday, he sets out for the metropolis of Horizon—but compliance with his Social Contract turns out to be more complicated than he could have imagined. He soon meets the girl of his dreams, Eve, an outsider in Horizon who has learned to survive for years using her guile and beauty.When an unexpected tragedy forces Asa and Eve to go on the run, Gabriel is determined to track them down and deliver the State’s justice. Their joined paths will take them into the Waste, farther away from the State’s seemingly omnipresent gaze than any of them have ever been. The truths they uncover will force them to reexamine everything they know.

Obedience Over Hustle: The Surrender of the Striving Heart


Malinda Fuller - 2019
    By exploring these biblical narratives alongside her own personal stories of radical obedience, author Malinda Fuller encourages readers to respond to the questions God asks each of us: "Will you trust Me? . . . Will you do what I'm asking you to do?”  Fuller's challenge to all of us is to yield to God's voice—no matter where He leads or what He asks, whether it's complicated or straightforward, accepted by others or challenging to understand, and regardless of how it makes us feel (even if it appears foolish). May we have the courage to surrender to His plan and His timing—to choose obedience over hustle.

99 Truths


Lori Lacefield - 2020
    A career on the line. If she fails to catch him, she’ll lose more than her job. After a recent mistake, FBI special agent Frankie Johnson is desperate to prove she has what it takes to become a lead profiler with the Bureau’s Charlotte, NC field office. So when the district attorney’s daughter is discovered bound, raped, and murdered, she volunteers to assist the local detective on the case to help find her killer. The evidence leads to two suspects—the victim’s husband and her lover—but after a series of intense interrogations, the detective finds himself no closer to uncovering the truth. It’s clear both suspects are lying, but about who, what, and when? Frankie develops four possible profiles based upon the murderer’s motive and intent, but with the facts shifting daily, any one of them could prove correct. She battles the headstrong detective to convince him of her findings, but with physical evidence that is simultaneously damning and circumstantial, she senses their only hope in finding the true killer is to uncover the lies in their suspects’ testimony. Now, it’s a race to expose someone who knows the deception game as well as she does. Can she see through the misleading words and actions of a killer to uncover the one lie that will expose the truth before a killer walks free? 99 Truths is the electrifying first book in the Frankie Johnson FBI Local Profiler thriller series. If you like cop dramas, heroines with heart, and surprising twists, then you’ll love Lori Lacefield’s chilling mystery.

My Remarkable Little Monkey


Mark Lages - 2017
    It is a decision that will soon change his life. The capuchin monkey he purchases turns out to be more than just an ordinary little tree-swinging pet. This monkey, named Shakespeare, is exceptionally bright. Marty does everything he can think of to accommodate his furry brilliant friend, but it just doesn’t seem to be enough. Join Marty and his group of unforgettable friends as they try to give Shakespeare a proper upbringing in an unpredictable human-oriented world. In My Remarkable Little Monkey, the outlandish becomes a reality and the status quo becomes unbelievable. Once you are done reading, you’ll put this book down while scratching your head and wondering what just happened.