But with the unexpected death of her husband, her life became an empty, lightless space. Suddenly she was the single mother of two young boys, a widow at forty, clinging to three crumpled pages of instructions her husband had written for things like grocery shopping--things he had done while she did pioneering work as a planetary scientist at MIT. She became painfully conscious of her Asperger's, which before losing her husband had felt more like background noise. She felt, for the first time, alone in the universe.In this probing, invigoratingly honest memoir, Seager tells the story of how, as she stumblingly navigated the world of grief, she also kept looking for other worlds. She continues to develop groundbreaking projects, such as the Starshade, a sunflower-shaped instrument that, when launched into space, unfurls itself so as to block planet-obscuring starlight, and she takes solace in the alien beauty of exoplanets. At the same time, she discovers what feels every bit as wondrous: other people, reaching out across the space of her grief. Among them are the Widows of Concord, a group of women offering consolation and advice; and her beloved sons, Max and Alex. Most unexpected of all, there is another kind of one-in-a-billion match with an amateur astronomer.Equally attuned to the wonders of deep space and human connection, The Smallest Lights in the Universe is its own light in the dark.

    When unplanned pregnancy threatens to derail everything, she fears life is over. Instead, she discovers motherhood to be her new calling. For thirteen years she and her son Charlie are a unit and her world is complete. Everything changes when violence erupts at Charlie’s school. As she reaches out via text in desperation, only the words and the animated ellipsis on the phone screen offer a buffer between life and death. Can she save the person on the other end of the messages in time, and in the process can she save herself too?

    As she learns the truth behind her marriage, she is faced with realizing not all fairytales have happy endings.MEET TAYLOR ROSS, Taylor has made a life for herself as one of the most talented artists of her generation. When Taylor tries to take on mental illness, she is faced with the reality that some things in life cannot be fixed with a paint brush.MEET JACQUELINE “JACKIE” MCKINLEY, after years of waiting for her big Hollywood break, Jackie gets an opportunity of a lifetime that changes her life forever. But was the price of fame worth it?What happens when the life you thought you were going to have is hit with the Reality in Chaos? Through life’s unexpected twist and turns, one thing is consistent for these women; their friendship and sisterhood.

     Tyson "Bulldog" Pike has risen through the ranks of the Hawks Motorcycle Club to the level of Vice by doing whatever it took to prove his loyalty. But he's tired of moving drugs and people across the border, and he knows Daddy is corrupt. The only way he's getting out is to find the proof to take down the President. When Danielle Robbins - doe-eyed and innocent - shows up in the Club one morning with Daddy, Bulldog's protective instincts kick in. He offers to take her, and he finds her a job sorting through the metric-ton of paper in Daddy's office. They're looking for specific documents Bulldog can use to contest Daddy's leadership, but there are deadly consequences to Bulldog's actions among his brethren...if he gets caught. And why does his heart keep whispering to him to step outside the circle of celibacy he's painted himself in? As he and Dani work together, Bulldog starts to let down his guard. He starts to trust. He starts to fall in love. Can Dani and Bulldog work together to outsmart Daddy? Or will they lose everything...including their hearts? Fall in love with motorcycle club romance in a whole new way! You'll love the bad boy in this brand new sweet romance from USA Today bestselling author Elana Johnson. It's 65,000 words of action, suspense, and heartwarming, satisfying sweet romance!

    One of the many Hong Kong "astronaut" fathers, he stays there to work, while the rest of the family immigrated to Canada before the 1997 Handover, when the British returned sovereignty over Hong Kong to China.As she revisits memories of her father through the years, she struggles with unresolved questions and misunderstandings. Turning to her mother and grandmother for answers, she discovers her own life refracted brightly in theirs.Buoyant, heartbreaking, and unexpectedly funny, Ghost Forest is a slim novel that envelops the reader in joy and sorrow. Fung writes with a poetic and haunting voice, layering detail and abstraction, weaving memory and oral history to paint a moving portrait of a Chinese-Canadian astronaut family.

     He fights fires. She saves kids. Can they stop battling each other long enough to realize they want the same thing? Love, family...forever. Social Worker Cammie Parkson regrets not yanking little Jayden from his home after logging concerns about the mother’s boyfriend. If her supervisor hadn’t vetoed her petition, Cammie wouldn’t be pacing the halls of Cherrydale Children’s Hospital alongside the too-hot fire captain who brought Jayden in, waiting for doctors to confirm the suspected abuse. Securing a safe environment for the boy is imperative, so why does Keegan insist on giving her grief? And why does his opinion matter so much… Fire Captain Keegan Madison has witnessed his share of atrocities, but nothing ignites his ire more than child abuse. Even so, Keegan’s not sure the beautiful social worker’s plan to remove the kid from his home is best for the little dude. But Cammie’s ferocious, protective love for the kids at Cherrydale stirs something deep inside him. When she’s offered the opportunity to launch her program in another state, Keegan must convince the obstinate woman that staying is worth the wait, that love is worth the risk. What readers are saying about Fully Involved... "A Five-Alarm Romance! The chemistry between Cammie and Keegan sizzles, but the obstacles they face make the reader wonder if they’ll ever have their happily ever after. This sweet romance will capture your heart from the start." ~Amazon Reviewer, 5 stars "The love story is fantastic." ~Amazon reviewer, 5 stars "Great book! I thoroughly enjoyed it! I hope to read more books by this author." ~Amazon reviewer, 5 stars Fully Involved, another Heart Racing, God-Gracing Romance by Dora Hiers. An utterly charming Christian romance, the first book in the Merriville Firefighter Heroes series, but each book can be read as a stand-alone.

    Two unlikely men meet one morning at the fishing pier on Sanibel Island in Florida. Over the course of the next six mornings, they share more than just snook runs and cold Cokes. Richard Evans is an overweight, stressed out divorce attorney who measures his success by how much money he can manipulate from his clients. Under duress from his wife, Helen, he has taken his estranged family on vacation to Sanibel Island. Helen, whose life has grown to revolve around her soap operas, bridge games, and excessive spending, has anything but time for her family. Subsequently, both their teenage boys are spoiled beyond measure with every toy and game manufactured. Spoiled with everything except love and time from their parents. Sadly, their big, beautiful Midwestern house resembles anything but a home. Carl Johnson and his wife, Marie, had moved to Sanibel decades ago to raise their family in the peaceful serene environment that island life has to offer; Carl as a fishing guide and Marie tending their family, garden and volunteer work. He has lived a long full life and is now old and retired. With his children having moved out of state and Marie having passed away to cancer last year, Carl is living the last years of his life with his fishing tackle and memories. Over the next six mornings, while catching and releasing fish, Carl and Richard share tales of love, losses, heroism, vanity, suicide and life. They share bait, fishing gear and poignant conversations. With each passing morning, something happens to Richard. He begins to realize how superficial and shallow his life has become and contemplates changing, no matter how difficult that change may be.

    Their father, a Ted Hughes scholar and scruffy romantic, imagines a future of well-meaning visitors and emptiness.In this moment of despair they are visited by Crow - antagonist, trickster, healer, babysitter. This self-described sentimental bird is attracted to the grieving family and threatens to stay until they no longer need him. As weeks turn to months and physical pain of loss gives way to memories, this little unit of three begin to heal.In this extraordinary debut - part novella, part polyphonic fable, part essay on grief, Max Porter's compassion and bravura style combine to dazzling effect. Full of unexpected humour and profound emotional truth, Grief is the Thing with Feathers marks the arrival of a thrilling new talent.

    Sorrows are all pain otherwise, pain without sense or meaning. But joys, too, it seems to me, need their context. And sometimes their coexistence needs to be borne. The coexistence or possibility of the opposite can be what gives an experience its meaning. At its simplest, that is a story." --Camilla Gibb, This Is HappyIn this profoundly moving memoir, Camilla Gibb, the award-winning, bestselling author of Sweetness in the Belly and The Beauty of Humanity Movement, reveals the intensity of the grief that besieged her as the happiness of a longed for family shattered. Grief that lived in a potent mix with the solace that arose with the creation of another, most unexpected family. A family constituted by a small cast of resilient souls, adults broken in the way many of us are, united in love for a child. Reflecting on tangled moments of past sadness and joy, alienation and belonging, Gibb revisits her stories now in relation to the happy daughter who will inherit them, and she finds there new meaning and beauty. Raw and unflinching, intelligent and humane, This Is Happy asks the big questions and finds answers in the tender moments of the everyday.

    . . in its own eccentric way, [The Owl and the Nightingale] is every bit as enticing as Gawain . . . it is arguably the greatest early Middle English poem we have. ProspectA graceful, elegant translation. GuardianFollowing his acclaimed translations of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Pearl, Simon Armitage shines light on another jewel of Middle English verse. In his highly engaging version, Armitage communicates the energy and humour of the tale with all the cut and thrust of the original. An unnamed narrator overhears a fierce verbal contest between the two eponymous birds, which moves entertainingly from the eloquent and philosophical to the ribald and ridiculous. The disputed issues still resonate - concerning identity, cultural habits, class distinctions and the right to be heard. Excerpts were featured in the BBC Radio 4 podcast, The Poet Laureate Has Gone to His Shed. Including the lively illustrations of Clive Hicks-Jenkins, this is a book for the whole household to read and enjoy.

    The result is a lyrical and piercingly insightful collection of essays, letters (to her grandmother, to the basketball star Michael Jordan, to Death), and her own brand of essay-meets-prose poetry about identity and culture. Inspired by Maggie Nelson’s Bluets, Lydia Davis’s short prose, and Vivian Gornick’s exploration of interior life, Chew-Bose captures the inner restlessness that keeps her always on the brink of creative expression.Too Much and Not the Mood is a beautiful and surprising exploration of what it means to be a first-generation, creative young woman working today.

    Her only source of comfort is her sweet cousin for whom she acts as chaperone and companion. Enduring a London Season seems daunting, but with matrimony far from her mind, she is content to hide in the shadows until the season is over.James Berkeley, Duke of Cheshire, is the most eligible bachelor in London. At least, he would be if he had any intention to wed. Before he can think about matrimony, he has a secret and solemn duty he must fulfill. The last two London Seasons have come to naught; he is hoping a third will hold more promise, allowing him to solve a mystery and regain his freedom once and for all.James is intrigued when he meets the beautiful Miss Gray; she is elusive, mysterious, and cares little that he is a duke. But when James discovers Miss Gray could be the very woman he is honor-bound to find, he is torn between duty and desire. She might be the key to solving all of his problems, but he’d rather she be the key to his heart. And one thing is certain: she cannot be both.

    Of course it wasn’t. But if she’d just grasped harder, run faster, lunged quicker, she might have saved him. And Edward doesn’t really blame her, though his bitter words at the time still haunt her, and he can no more take them back than she can halt the car that killed their son.Two years on, every day is a tragedy. Edward knows they should take healing steps together, but he’s tired of being shut out. For Zoe, it just seems easier to let grief lead the way.A weekend in Paris might be their last hope for reconciliation, but mischance sees them separated before they’ve even left Gare du Nord. Lost and alone, Edward and Zoe must try to find their way back to each other—and find their way back to the people they were before. But is that even possible?

    A recent recipient of National Book Critics Circle Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award, Oates, whose novels (Blonde, The Gravedigger’s Daughter, Little Bird of Heaven, etc.) rank among the very finest in contemporary American fiction, offers an achingly personal story of love and loss. A Widow’s Story is a literary memoir on a par with The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion and Calvin Trillin’s About Alice.

    A doormat from Target. Twenty-three tubs of fabric. Somehow it comforts Lily to list the things she lost when a wildfire engulfed the Santa Barbara avocado ranch she shared with her husband, Tom. He didn't make it out either. His last act was to save her grandmother's lace from the flames--an heirloom she has never been able to take scissors to, that she was saving for someday...As she negotiates her way through her grief, mourning both the tangible and intangible, Lily wonders about her long marriage. Was it worth all the work, the self-denial? Did she stay with Tom just to avoid loneliness? Should she have been more like her mother, Eleanor-- thrice-married and even now, approaching eighty, cavalier about men and, it seems, even about her daughter's emotions?It is up to Lily to understand what she could still gain even when it seems that everything is lost. Someday has arrived...*Publishers Weekly**Book Club Classics