Marya Layth uses poetry as a lifeline into the most light-deprived places of the past. Ghosts are reawakened and their features are conjured with achingly honest detail—a reminder that "abuse has no expiration date".
'Driftwood' is a current that pulls you into the deep sea where daylight becomes a myth. And yet there is breath in the water. Layth proclaims "sink as the victim, emerge as the survivor" as much to herself as she does to the reader.
Julia Kydd returns in a new mystery set in the beguiling world of the Harlem Renaissance, where reckless revelry leads to devastating crimes.
When stylish young bibliophile Julia Kydd returns to 1920s New York, she’s determined to launch her own private press. Julia’s aspirations take her into the heart of the Harlem Renaissance, a literary movement unlike any she’s known—where notions of race, sexuality, and power are slippery, and identities can be deceptively fluid.
At a risqué soiree, Julia befriends singer Eva Pruitt, whose new book is rumored to reveal lurid details about the Harlem nightlife. But Leonard Timson, a local nightclub owner, is furious when he suspects he’s the inspiration for a violent character in the book. By morning, Timson is dead, and both Eva and her manuscript are missing.
Julia finds herself immersed in a case as troubling as Jazz Age race relations. More questions than answers surface about Eva’s mysterious world, and powerful interests conspire to protect dangerous secrets. Still, no man can stand between Julia and the truth: appalled by violent injustice, she must use her wit and guile to find the killer.
Having escaped crumbling, socialist Venezuela, Yola Palacio hopes she and her family can finally settle into a peaceful new life in Trinidad. And so what if they’re there illegally – them and half the island! But life for the Palacios is never quiet, and when Yola’s formidable Aunt Celia dies, the family once again find themselves living on the edge. For Celia had been keeping a very big secret – a local criminal called Ugly to whom Celia owes an awful lot of money. Without the funds to pay him off, Ugly forces the entire family to do his bidding until Celia’s debt is settled. What Ugly says, the Palacios do, otherwise death could lurk on the other side.
What follows is a year that turns the Palacios’ lives upside down. But in the midst of the turmoil strolls Roman – Ugly’s distractingly gorgeous right-hand man. And although she knows it’s a terrible idea and a dangerous betrayal of her family’s predicament, Yola just can’t help herself... Where, though, does Roman’s loyalty lie? And could this wild, deitful romance turn out to be the saving grace of a terrible year of Ugly?
One Year of Ugly is a delightfully fun, enormously fresh debut about dysfunctional families and messy romance, exploring cross-cultural struggles from a unique immigrant perspective. It brings the vivacious spark of Junot Diaz, the captivating wit of Maria Semple and through Yola, our feisty, young narrator, we’re introduced to an exciting new voice in contemporary fiction.
Sunnie Deelite and Isabella Gloucester forge their creative identities while fending off the torments of unrequited love. Disillusioned, they say goodbye to Fascibook and polarized Isolamicka and travel to Planet Gorp, where they study synesthesia and meditate with Bastet the Egyptian Cat Goddess. In the Androgynous Galaxy, four intergalactic witches battle for supremacy while back on the Blue Green Planet, Turmerico Inflammatorio wreaks havoc as the leader of turbulent Isolamicka.
Short stories featuring a mix of genres. Alternates between stream of consciousness, linear and non-linear prose. This work incorporates dialogue, monologue, inner monologue, satirical poetry and devices of blatant satire. The text moves back and forth between realism, surrealism and dream-like scenarios. Characters morph in and out of absurd, fantastical and over-the-top situations. Specific themes, concepts and idea fragments are interwoven throughout its chapters. While at first glance not appearing to be linked, ultimately these short stories meld together, lending an informal sense of unity to this book.
Please refer to the Blog Posting on the Stephen C. Bird Author Profile Page for Reviews and Quotes from Goodreads Reviews for "To Be to Is to Was".
A homeless young woman finds an unexpected family in beloved New York Times bestselling author Carolyn Brown’s novel of healing hearts and new beginnings in a small Texas town.
In the fading town of Rooster, Texas, all that’s really left is a service station, a church…and the Banty House, a long-ago Depression-era brothel. For more than seventy-five years, Betsy, Connie, and Kate Carson have called their mama’s house a home. The three eccentric sisters get by just fine with their homemade jams and jellies, a little moonshine on the side, and big hearts always open to strangers. Like Ginger Andrews.
An abandoned teen with a baby on the way and nowhere to go, she’s given a room to call her own for as long as she wants. The kind invitation is made all the sweeter when Ginger meets the sisters’ young handyman, Sloan Baker. But with a past as broken as Ginger’s, he’s vowed never to get close to anyone again. As a season of change unfolds, Ginger and Sloan might discover a warm haven to heal in the Banty House, a place to finally belong, where hope and dreams never fade.
From the bestselling author of Matchmaking for Beginners comes a novel about love, loss, and the beautiful mess of family.
Marnie MacGraw and Patrick Delaney have been in love for a few years now, enough to realize that they are imperfectly perfect together. Still, there are some things that maybe need a little attention. Marnie’s ebullient; he’s brooding. She thrives on change; he prefers stability. She sees marriage and parenthood in their future, but he can’t see beyond the shadow of an earlier tragedy.
Then an eight-year-old surprise from Patrick’s past shows up on their doorstep, cartwheeling into their lives and spinning things in all directions. While it’s not exactly the change she envisioned, it looks like instant family to Marnie. But Patrick, afraid of being hurt again, retreats further into himself. Suddenly, two very different pieces of a beautiful puzzle find it harder and harder to fit. How can Marnie trust in the magic of the universe when it seems to be doing its best to knock her off her feet?
But some love stories are worth waiting for. And what’s love without a little chaos anyway?
Enter for your chance to win a digital copy of WHIRLWIND by Janet Dailey!
Everyone’s talking about Whirlwind at this year’s Professional Bull Rider’s Competition. But the promising young bull is the last thing on Shane Tully’s mind once he lays eyes on the lady responsible for bringing Whirlwind to the arena. Beautiful, smart, and sexy as hell, Lexie Champion has this rodeo man hungry for more than the thrill of his next competition. But the daughter of bull rancher Bert Champion wants nothing to do with a daredevil, despite the powerful attraction between them...
After losing her beloved brother to a bull riding accident, Lexie is no stranger to the dangers of rodeo life. Which is why resisting Shane’s rugged allure should have been easy. But nothing is simple about her reaction to the handsome cowboy, from their first kiss, to the terrifying moment Lexie watches Shane go down in the ring. Faced with a devastating decision, will Lexie make the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of love?
Enter for a chance to win a copy of New York Times bestseller, Sometimes I Lie!
My name is Amber Reynolds. There are three things you should know about me:
1. I’m in a coma.
2. My husband doesn’t love me anymore.
3. Sometimes I lie.
Amber wakes up in a hospital. She can’t move. She can’t speak. She can’t open her eyes. She can hear everyone around her, but they have no idea. Amber doesn’t remember what happened, but she has a suspicion her husband had something to do with it. Alternating between her paralyzed present, the week before her accident, and a series of childhood diaries from twenty years ago, this brilliant psychological thriller asks: Is something really a lie if you believe it's the truth?