Eve of the Pharaoh


R.M. Schultz - 2017
    Yet Gavin often dreams of what could have been—if only a consuming disease didn’t restrict his aspirations. Instead, fear caused him to pursue what others deemed appropriate, and he committed an unforgivable mistake. But after receiving a letter from his deceased father, Gavin needs to escape.Young Horemheb from ancient Egypt also desires to alter fate. He inspires Gavin through a lost tale that spans eons and cultures, weaving their lives together. Frightening enemies, magic, unexpected friendship, betrayal, love, and death emerge at every turn.But if either of them are to survive, they must choose between life, love, and the revealing of secrets from the ages.

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.

A Reason to Be


Norman McCombs - 2020
    Douglas McCombs is an accomplished engineer and recent widower driven to discover the truth of who he is by studying the people and places he comes from. After losing his wife to a battle with Alzheimer’s, Douglas is left devastated until a chance encounter with a sharp, compassionate librarian named Suzy Hamilton on the steps of the New York Public Library shakes him from the throes of grief. ​With Suzy’s help, Douglas takes up genealogy and begins an investigation into his Scottish lineage that takes the reader on a sprawling journey through time and the remarkable lives of Douglas’s ancestors—from legendary highland clan chiefs and American war generals to humble farmers and family men. As he traces his ancestry through the generations, Douglas manages to discover not only the roots he was searching for, but also a brand-new reason to be.

8 Miraculous Months in the Malayan Jungle: A WWII Pilot's True Story of Faith, Courage, and Survival


Donald J. "DJ" Humphrey II - 2021
    Humphrey had his B-29 Superfortress directed at Singapore Island. After navigating the 1900-mile trip from India through dangerous weather, they had just successfully bombed their target. And that’s when Japanese Zeroes shot off the wing and sent the mighty aircraft death-spiraling into the Malayan jungle. Jumping to safety, Humphrey and a few of his remaining crewmates found themselves lost in the middle of occupied territory. Enduring vicious crocodiles, deadly snakes, and crippling malaria, the Americans battled just to stay alive. And though they made contact with Malayan resistance fighters, they could never be sure their benefactors weren’t pulling them even deeper into danger… In this harrowing true account, Major Humphrey’s son shares the extraordinary story of his father’s grueling ordeal. Told in the first person, this highly personal narrative puts you inside the mind of a man fighting for his country while struggling to survive. Eight Miraculous Months in the Malayan Jungle is a gripping memoir about overcoming unexpected peril. If you like World War II heroes, incredible stories of courage, and inspirational reads, then you’ll love Donald “DJ” Humphrey II’s captivating biography of his father.GR note: name edited to conform to Goodreads Librarian Manual would read as D.J. Humphrey II, and this is according to the cover image.

The Secret Diaries of Juan Luis Vives: A Novel


Tim Darcy Ellis - 2020
    When England's Sir Thomas More offers him the role of tutor to Mary, daughter of Catherine of Aragon and Henry VIII, he eagerly accepts.While publicly navigating life as a 'New Christian,' Vives is quickly drawn into the secretive and dangerous world of London's Jewish community. With a foot in each world, he is torn between the love of two women.Inside the Tudor court, the king and queen separately seek Vives's assistance to support their opposed demands. He must betray one to help the other, knowing his decision could cost him his life. Whom will he choose? Will his wily skills allow him to manipulate them both? Not only his survival but that of his family and his entire people hang in the balance.

In the Flesh: My Story


Michael Gabriele - 2017
    Prepare to walk in the sandals of a life you never completely contemplated. Dare to endure a sacrifice you never ventured to appreciate. Savor a love you will never fully fathom.Relive the greatest story ever told through the eyes of the one who cured the incurable and walked on water ... who challenged both religious and political establishments ... who suffered all the brutality of a Roman crucifixion ... and who victoriously abandoned his tomb. Let Jesus lead you through a riveting adventure that deeply explores his personal thoughts, joys, fears, frustrations, even his most profound prayers as he walked this earth in the flesh - fully divine and fully human, on a mission to save mankind.IN THE FLESH - MY STORY transcends the conventional to uncover a raw, unrestrained, fast-moving exclusive — the most influential figure in human history personally telling his side of the story.www.InTheFleshBook.com

Deliberate Duplicity (Detective Sasha Frank Mysteries, #1)


David Rohlfing
    A complicated web of clues leaves Sasha and his team with more questions than answers: What's the killer's motive? And how are the victims connected to one another? As the story begins to unravel, the ordinarily calm and collected Sasha begins to feel the immense pressure of the case. Will he be able to solve the mystery before time runs out and bring justice to all who were affected?

Bury Him: A Memoir of the Viet Nam War


Doug ChamberlainDoug Chamberlain - 2019
    Doug Chamberlain endured many challenges. One challenge was a direct order to bury the remains of a Marine that had been left behind by another unit and be forced to participate in the following cover-up. The order was in direct contraction of United States Marine Corps Policy and the Warrior's Honor Code of never leaving any Marine behind. Following this order meant committing an act of incomprehensible betrayal and dishonor.In this captivating new book, Capt. Chamberlain explains in detail the events that transpired as he was forced into playing the role of a political pawn in a massive wartime cover-up. Capt. Chamberlain expertly paints a picture of deceit and military malfeasance, sharing with the reader the moral and mental struggles that ate away at him in the decades that followed this horrible act.

Imagine That


Mark Fins - 2017
    In his imagination, Mark is a heroic soldier, a surgeon, and a daredevil striving to live up to the ideals of the 1950s. When his family uproots from Queens, New York, to start afresh in Massachusetts, Mark finds refuge from loneliness in an unlikely friendship with an eccentric, wealthy, elderly neighbor who has shut out the world following a debilitating accident. Their mutual gift for conjuring up imaginary worlds to cope with reality which for Mark includes the confusing teachings of his Jewish faith leads them to push the boundaries between these two realms, exploring the fine line between love, imagination, and the existence of God."

Born by the River: The true story of a young girl growing up along the Mississippi River during the summer of 1963


Jenness Clark - 2016
     Born by the River is Clark’s account of her nine-month trip around the river to visit extended family, all connected by marriage but markedly different in culture, class, and traditions—circumstances certain to provoke discord. A coming-of-age story set in a time and place deeply divided, Clark’s memoir explores her family’s past, referencing the area’s history from 1820 to 1964. The region acts as a conflicted backdrop, threatening the hopes, the dreams, and the American way of life for the author’s family. Alternating in viewpoint between the reflections of the adult Clark as she looks back on life and her stirring impressions during the time of her river journey, Born by the River is an inspirational memoir lifted from family destruction and the prejudices of a socially divided region.

The Last Orphan


Jeffrey Lowder - 2019
    Two years after his mother and father were murdered in an attack on their California-bound wagon train, little Tommy Dunning crouches in an old root cellar, quivering with cold—and raw fear. Somewhere just above him, men are searching, army men who want to take him away from the only home he remembers. Local settler Eva Dunning believes with every thread of her being that God delivered the orphan to be raised by her. She watches and prays the soldiers will not find the child. But forces beyond her control are closing in. Major James Carleton has orders to collect the boy, Eva’s husband Bennet is threatening to expose their secret, and back in Arkansas, the aging Ruby Seddon is hiring a ruthless gunslinger to help rescue her grandson, no matter the cost in blood or gold. The Last Orphan is the journey of a precocious five-year old and two strong women, each of whom believes God has chosen her to raise the boy in love and the “correct” faith tradition.

Apotheosis Now: Rabbit Hole to the Beyond


Yanhao Huang - 2021
    Because externally, we are always trying to control what is “not me,” and internally, we always get perplexed trying to figure out whether our actions came from our “higher” or “lower” self. As Albert Einstein said: “We can not solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them.”This book will help you to understand:Why we have internal conflictsHow does our ego trap us in undesirable circumstancesHow do our beliefs limit usWhy thought-based teachings (Law of Attraction), or self-improvement advice don’t workHow do we really get what we wantWhy is happiness so rare for usWho we are reallyWhat is the nature of existenceWhat is the meaning of lifeHow do we know if there is a GodWhat is the process of spiritual enlightenmentMany of us are starting to become tired of this game of life. We have been comparing and striving all our life. But no matter how much success we have achieved—we are still hollow and still have found nothing fulfilling. We don’t even know if happiness exists because it is no longer a living thing in our experience—it has become dead, as we only know it as a concept or memory.We have sought self-help advice, philosophies, and religious teachings to transform ourselves but have not gotten anywhere. We have made some superficial improvements—like adopting a new mindset—but our core remains the same. We are still competitive, still fearful, and we get disturbed all the time.The problem with all attempts at self-improvement is that we do not address the fundamental problem, which is: who is the “you” who needs to be improved? We do not see that the one who is making the improvement is the same one who needs to be improved. The more we try to improve, the more conflict we introduce, within and without. The more knowledge we stuff in our heads, the more we become trapped in a conceptual prison of reality. Inevitably, the more confused we get in life.The book guides the reader out of their distorted beliefs to experience reality beyond the mind. When the deeper intelligence is allowed to flourish without our mind's interference, then the game of life becomes effortless.

Smash All the Windows


Jane Davis - 2018
    It will take courage to learn how to live again.‘An all-round triumph.’ John HudspithFor the families of the victims of the St Botolph and Old Billingsgate disaster, the undoing of a miscarriage of justice should be a cause for rejoicing. For more than thirteen years, the search for truth has eaten up everything. Marriages, families, health, careers and finances.Finally, the coroner has ruled that the crowd did not contribute to their own deaths. Finally, now that lies have been unravelled and hypocrisies exposed, they can all get back to their lives.If only it were that simple.Tapping into the issues of the day, Davis delivers a highly charged work of metafiction, a compelling testament to the human condition and the healing power of art. Written with immediacy, style and an overwhelming sense of empathy, Smash all the Windows will be enjoyed by readers of How to Paint a Dead Man by Sarah Hall and How to be Both by Ali Smith.

Speaking in Tungs


Karla M. Jay - 2015
    In this entertaining first novel, set in rural Pennsylvania, a young San Francisco woman searches for her birthparents and from the moment she arrives in the backwoods town of Tungston, she falls under the spell of unforgettable characters, the unexpected-but-real threat of a violent fugitive, and the unexpected-but-real charm of a local fireman—all leading her to discover the true meaning of family.

Braiding Roses


Elise Stoltenbreck - 2021
    Things nosedive from bad to terrible when she finds herself in a shouting match with Gareth, resident doctor and her boss, on her first day.Between the love of her life urging her to return to Perth and a prickly, dismissive, and rude boss practically tossing her to the curb on day one, Mandy faces the coming year with thorns bared, determined to come out with her head held high. While she hones her doctoring skills in order to prove herself to the highly capable Gareth after their less-than-ideal first encounter, she might learn a little something about herself, too.