maritime industry hit rock bottom starting in the early 1980's, right around the time the author was graduating from the California Maritime Academy. Even in his yearbook it warned about how bad things were—it was a time of cost cutting, reduced wages, desperate shipping companies and a lack of jobs. Eventually he made his way out to sea as both an able-bodied seaman and as a third mate. He saw first-hand what it was like out there; from the crazy captains to the weary sailors, and from the bad food to the dangerous working conditions. This book covers it all, and while the ships he sailed on were all scrapped long ago, the stories of the industry and what it took to make it on them, are remembered. This is his story.

    Besides her solid-as-a-rock husband, her only solace is her two dogs, her sewing students, and her new friends in the women's group her mother-in-law has introduced her to.Alice and Robin want to help Jean, but they don't know how. Alice is dealing with a pregnancy scare, and Robin is trying to help her oldest daughter navigate collegiate options.AJ has the best advice, as she's lived most of her life childless too. But her own baby is requiring more from her than she ever imagined. Eloise provides food and offers Jean a job at her inn though she's drowning to keep her head above water there. Kelli brings her son to Jean as much as possible, but it's not until Kristen convinces Jean to spearhead the new Seafaring Girls program in Five Island Cove that Jean starts to find some purpose to her life.Kristen is consulting on the program, as she ran it successfully many years ago, and her heart is happy as she watches a new generation of girls learn to love the sea while staying safe on it.But when someone returns to the Cove no one ever expected to see again, old wounds open just as they'd started to heal. This group of women will be tested again, both on land and at sea, just as they once were as teens.

    

    Who doesn’t likes a good session of jokes? If you too are looking to add a little humor to your life and you would love to have some rib cracking laugher sessions, we have a perfect book for you. The internet is a vast repository of jokes and the list is practically too big to handle. However, not all jokes are funny and damn, we all know how much it frustrates to read a joke (and some pathetically long ones too) and then end up wondering WTF, where did that go!Heck, I didn’t even twitch an eyelid, leave apart laughing. So, to spare you from all such bloopers... We have brought for you the best jokes of 2016, compiled all together. We have spanned multiple dimensions and we are sure that you can’t have a straight face as you read the jokes. They are just too funny to simply smile. We had a cracker of a time compiling it as we broke into fits of laughter. So, are you all set to truly have a fun ride by dabbling on the best jokes that were hot on the internet?

    

    That is the mind set of Pure Adams, who learned at a young age how to use what she got to get what she wants. No man is spared, nor off limits to Pure when it comes to feeding her lavish lifestyle and need for money, including her best friend’s husband, Isaac Washington. Since the day she laid eyes on Isaac, Pure felt that he was the man she’d been looking for her entire life. She concocts a plan that will tear Isaac and Autumn apart. But even Isaac {Pure’s dream man} has secrets of his own. To the world, he is a prestigious doctor and loving family man, but beneath the surface, he is a ruthless kingpin who will stop at nothing to get what he wants, which could have deadly consequences for Pure when she unknowingly steals his drug money. Despite the close calls, Pure continues to play her hand at the street life, committing almost every sin imaginable to man from theft, to fornication, and even murder. But one ultimate act spins her precious world spirally out of control which could be a devastating end to her games involving her loved ones when she kills the brother of an ex-hustler, Carlos Sanchez, who seeks revenge. Will Pure be able to withstand the tricks of trades of the streets, or will her past sins finally catch up with her.

    Easy reading and enjoyable.." - John P Sam's trousers were round his ankles. The microwaved chicken - long past its sell-by date - had made a hasty exit. He was down a ditch in the middle of nowhere, and there weren't any tissues. Suzy had dumped him. Things weren't going well. He was only one wipe away from his life changing forever when he found a blue IKEA bag packed with banknotes. Gary wants to kill him. So does Vlad. Ashton wants to paint him naked and then there's the Contessa. Suzy isn't certain they've broken up. One thing’s for sure: Sam's life has been turned upside down.

    After losing their small business and life savings to the government’s unfathomable shutdown, the author and her husband are forced to sell their home and move into a travel trailer. Still reeling from financial loss and the deaths of two of their beloved dogs, the pair embark on a new life in a trailer park, populated with some of the most unconventional characters you’d ever hope not to meet. There’s Gretchen, the park’s unsympathetic and conniving manager, and her puny, perverted husband, Lloyd, who “maintains” the park grounds and who gives pool algae a bad name. Daisy and Lonnie May are the author’s closest neighbors, and are, perhaps, the park’s most devoted couple. Only Daisy May happens to be Lonnie’s dog. Trailer Dogs will make you laugh, cry, and maybe even a little angry. But it will never make you bored.

    Everything goes downhill from there as two Space Marines are arrested and accused of dealing China Mike—a highly addictive and illegal synthetic drug—and Fortis is forced to either get involved in the war against the cartel or abandon his Marines to the local legal system.However, as their involvement in the drug war deepens, Fortis suspects the platoon has been plunged into the middle of something much bigger. Rumors of a growing resistance movement against the colonial government abound, and it appears his men are being used to do the security force’s dirty work of putting it down.As Fortis navigates his way between the corrupt colonial government, a corporate espionage agent, intergalactic mercenaries, and his own chain of command, he has to find the truth of the situation and answer one important question—is there any way for Third Platoon to be successful when everyone else on the planet wants them to fail?

    

    But then while taking a selfie on the edge of a cliff, Jessica suddenly vanished. Emily was later handcuffed and jailed without bail. Encouraged by her parents, lawyers and her psychiatrist to plead insanity, she complies and is found guilty. Unable to convince anyone that she's innocent and having nothing better to do, Emily journals her story. While in solitary confinement her mind begins to unravel and forgotten details form a new, unexplainable reality. Emily begins to doubt everything she thought she knew. Was everyone right? Did she push her beloved twin sister to her death, or was it a selfie gone horribly wrong?

    Kate Bratton dreams of more. It’s 1914, and her life is mapped out ahead of her: continue working as a maid in the beautiful Woodicombe House, settle down with Luke the gardener and, of course, start a family.Desperate to run away in search of adventure, Kate’s plans are curtailed by the arrival of the Russell family at Woodicombe House. Tasked with becoming a ladies-maid for their daughter, Naomi, Kate gets a glimpse of the other side of life. Little does she know that all families have secrets, no matter their standing.Will Kate return to the safety of her life before the Russell’s departure? Or will the handsome Ned Russell turn her head? The Woodicombe House Sagas The Housekeer’s Daughter A Wife’s War (Coming March 2019) Praise for The Housekeeper's Daughter: ‘I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and found the story to flow well. There were many twists and turns that built up to the final conclusion. Very enjoyable and definitely recommended’ 5* Reader review

    She leaves him the unusual legacy of the translated journal of his ancient ancestor, who was one of the four Cathar perfecti who escaped from the castle of Montségur with the ‘treasure of the Cathars’ strapped to his back – a treasure which has never been found. She also leaves him a sum of money with the request that he travels to the Pyrenean fastness of le Bézu where she believes the treasure still lies.Meanwhile the famous young French archaeologist Jaqueline Blontard has arrived at le Bézu to start excavations as part of her new television series about the Albigensian Crusade. She believes her team will have the summer to uncover the secrets of the place before they are disturbed by the press and the authorities.However the Roman Catholic Church already knows about their plans and has arranged for their agent to join the archaeologists. Also a secret but very influential body in Paris is sending their man to watch the excavations. Furthermore a criminal gang in Marseilles has become involved in the search for the treasure.The archaeologists are suspicious of Philip but allow him to join them. As they start to uncover the secrets of le Bézu they find themselves in a race to make the information public before they are overwhelmed in a maelstrom of violence caused by the forces trying to stop them so that they can claim the treasures for their own illegal ends.