She had suffered an unimaginable amount of abuse in her short life. Although she couldn’t tie her shoe laces, she could smash a room to pieces; she fought against everything like a wild cat.At the age of five Kira moved permanently to live with Mia and her family, but by the time she was nine years old the whole family was at breaking point.Mia is the kind of person who won’t give in and believes she can always change things for the better, but try as she might she can’t change Kira. So after six years, with a very heavy heart, she is forced to question whether she can really help this lost and damaged child.Raw, shocking and honest, this short story will shed new light on the role of foster carers, revealing the kind of heartbreaking real life situations carers like Mia Marconi are confronted with every day.

    

    Katy’s driving home for Christmas – except an empty, cold caravan hardly seems like home, and it’s not feeling much like Christmas. It wasn’t supposed to be like this: a few months ago she had her dream cottage, a loving fiance, and big plans for a perfect wedding. Now she’s in her car, travelling through the snow along dark, country lanes, heading towards a Christmas spent by herself, with nothing more to look forward to than a frozen turkey dinner and a box of Quality Street. With her friends busy with their guests, her parents on a cruise, and her ex-fiance miles away, the only person Katy is expecting to see at all is Luke, the builder who has been working hard to transform Katy’s cottage before it goes up for sale on the other side of Christmas. Arriving at last in the Holderness village of Weltringham, she’s disappointed to find both the cottage and the caravan in darkness, and Luke nowhere to be seen. It seems everyone in the world has abandoned her to her gloomy fate. Is she doomed to have the worst festive season ever, or is someone about to save Katy’s Christmas? After all, it is the time of miracles … Take a break from those Christmas preparations and curl up by the fire for a couple of hours with this seasonal cosy read.

    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?

    And whether you were there by choice or circumstance, there were lessons to be learned as well as taught. Nobody knew The Bricks better than the women who lived between them. These are their stories of lessons, blessings, love, and loss, brought to you brick by brick. Ladies, and fellas too, you ever invested time in somebody that you knew was no good for you, holding on and waiting for them to change because you thought that you were special? Well I have, and I’m here to tell you that there’s a one percent chance of that change ever taking place, a two percent chance of them becoming a better person than they were before you found them, and a staggering ninety-seven percent chance of someone more deserving coming along if you’ll open your eyes, stop being stupid, and sit down with a common-sense calculator to tally up your worth. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s okay to waste a little time, because contrary to popular belief, there can be a happy ending on the other side of stupidity. And to prove it, I’m gonna take you for a walk through my own experience. I’m Camille, by the way, a resident here at The Rose Palms, aka The Bricks, apartment B17. Glad you stopped by.

    A stranger, Duncan, seeks her out, claiming to be searching for the apparition who murdered his wife. Duncan, with the aid of gruesome photos and Angus’s diary, makes Elizabeth suspect she may be living with an evil presence.Angus, a nebulous force, finds he must now make himself known in more substantial ways as he tries to convince Elizabeth Duncan is lying. He twists her compassion and friendship into a sexual love that threatens to turn into obsession.Duncan also seeks Elizabeth’s heart and uses every sensual skill at his mortal disposal to steal her love and loyalty, and persuade her to allow an exorcism that would vanquish Angus.Elizabeth finds herself spinning into a vortex of love and lust, lies and deceit. She desires them both, even though Duncan may not be the man he claims to be, and Angus may be a spiritual serial murderer. Elizabeth is unwilling to give up either, until a shocking discovery forces her to choose between them.

    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?

    

    

    Keeping her job as a barmaid in the East End wasn’t easy, but with the support of her sweetheart Jack Adams, a local constable, and Frankie Buchanan, whom she loves like a brother, she dreams of a bright future.But there is no love lost between the men. Hackney is ‘Frankie’s manor’ and because of his protection racket, Jack is determined to put its ringleader behind bars.When talk of wedding bells for Jack and Rose meet opposition, Rose isn’t prepared to have her happiness ruined for family pride. But when Rose finds herself alone and heartbroken, Frankie is there to pick up the pieces… A gripping and emotional saga, perfect for readers of Rosie Goodwin and Val Wood.

    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?

    Operating from camps in places like Kontum and Dak To, Special Forces recon men risked their lives behind enemy lines on the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos and Cambodia, conducting missions whose detection often meant death or something worse. Officially, they did not exist. Their government denied that they were operating in “neutral” countries; Hanoi denied the very existence of the Trail. If killed or captured in Laos or Cambodia, the Green Berets would be reported MIA or KIA—in Vietnam. They fought for each other and for their honor as soldiers. It is 1970. The United States Government is seeking a way out of the war “with honor” via a face-saving program called “Vietnamization.” This is the story of the fate of the recon men and the missions they conducted while highly skilled and motivated NVA hunter-killer teams pursued them on the enemy’s home turf. A recon team discovers a choke point on the enemy’s line of communication. For every day the Trail is blocked, enemy support of forces in the south is set back a month, giving South Vietnam a leg up. The special operators in Kontum are given the mission to do just that. There is a rub; the American president and his government must have “plausible deniability.” Therein lies the legacy of lies. “Very few authors have captured the action, intrigue and backstory of the secret missions as well as Colonel Gole does in ‘Legacy of Lies.’ A must read for those seeking the precursor to today’s military support to sensitive activities.” —Michael S. Repass, Major General, US Army (Retired) Special Forces “Gole’s novel is Fantastic! The best part, the top to bottom approach—from the White House, JCS, CINCPAC, MACV, down through SOG, right to the One-Zero firing tracers to mark his position for Covey.” —Colonel, USAF, (Ret) Tom Yarborough, author and decorated Covey pilot for SOG

    In Trump as President, Doug Wead offers a sweeping, eloquent history of President Donald J. Trump's first years in the White House, covering everything from election night to the news of today. The book will include never-before-reported stories and scoops, including how President Trump turned around the American economy, how he "never complains and never explains," and how his actions sometimes lead to misunderstandings with the media and the public. It also includes exclusive interviews with the Trump family about the Mueller report, and narrates their reactions when the report was finally released. Contains Interviews with the President in the Oval Office, chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, Jared and Ivanka Kushner, Donald Trump, Jr., Eric and Lara Trump, and White House insiders.