Newly retired soap-opera-star Abby Langford returns to the small Minnesota town of her childhood and ends up buying a house rife with secrets. First she finds a bloody knife hidden in a sliding door; then she dreams about a murder and finds a bloodstain under the carpet. Abby just wants a new start for herself and her daughter, Maddie, and her adoptive family lends support. But when she begins receiving death threats, Josh, the police chief, thinks it is all just a publicity stunt. After spending some time with Abby, however, Josh begins to fall for her, and she for him.
As the heiress to a vast fortune amassed by her millionaire father, Francesca Cahill's life should be mapped out for her: find an eligible suitor, marry, and have children. But Francesca is an unconventional young lady who is not about to give up her knack for sleuthing--even though she was almost killed in her last outing... Murder strikes once again in the seamy underbelly of New York's high society, exposing scandalous secrets and unleashing an intense investigation into one of the most brutal crimes the city has ever known. Francesca must join forces with Rick Bragg, New York City's Police commissioner and the mans he cannot resist loving, as their search takes them through a twisted labyrinth of menacing lies, corruption, and a passion that refused to be denied...
"You still push every one of my buttons." Not long after Eliza Harvey-Reed got married, her husband David's infidelity proved she married the wrong brother. But was Brandon Reed, her old high-school flame, the right one? Now Eliza's back in their hometown of Vengeance, Texas. And when she first lays eyes on Brandon, it's obvious the heat between them is as all-consuming as ever. Brandon Reed's still furious that Eliza married his brother. Even more frustrating is that he can't help being drawn to her like a moth to a flame. But when David is murdered, Eliza tops the suspect list. Now Brandon must help clear her name before the real killer destroys his second chance at true love….
“Chad Ford reminds us that humanity lies within all of us, and although conflict is everywhere in today's world, we have the tools we need to overcome obstacles and to thrive. This is a fantastic, timely book that I highly recommend." —Steve Kerr, Head Coach, Golden State Warriors Knowing how to transform conflict is critical in both our personal and professional lives. Yet, by and large, we are terrible at it. The reason, says longtime mediator Chad Ford, is fear. When conflict comes, our instincts are to run or fight. To transform conflict, Ford says we need to turn toward the people we are in conflict with, put down our physical and emotional weapons, and really love them with the kind of love that leads us to treat others as fellow human beings, not as objects in our way. We have to open ourselves up with no guarantee that anyone on the other side will do the same. While this can feel even more dangerous than conflict itself, it allows us to see the humanity of others so clearly that their needs and desires matter to us as much as our own. Ford shows dangerous love in action through examples ranging from his work in the Middle East to a deeply moving story about reconciling with his father. He explains why we disconnect from people at the very time we need to be most connected and the predictable patterns of justification and escalation that ensue. Most importantly, he gives us a path to practice dangerous love in the conflicts that matter most to us.
In Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea, Mark Blyth, a renowned scholar of political economy, provides a powerful and trenchant account of the shift toward austerity policies by governments throughout the world since 2009. The issue is at the crux about how to emerge from the Great Recession, and will drive the debate for the foreseeable future.
An intimate and inspiring memoir and call to action from Pat Mitchell -- groundbreaking media icon, global advocate for women's rights, and co-founder and curator of TEDWomen Pat Mitchell is a serial ceiling smasher. The first woman to own and host a nationally syndicated daily talk show, and the first female president of CNN productions and PBS, Mitchell has been lauded as a powerful changemaker and a relentless advocate for women and girls. In Becoming a Dangerous Woman, Mitchell shares her own path to power, from a childhood spent on a cotton farm in the South to her unprecedented rise in media and global affairs. Full of intimate, fascinating stories, such as an encounter with Fidel Castro while wearing a swimsuit, and traveling to war zones with Eve Ensler and Glenn, Becoming a Dangerous Woman is an inspiring call to arms for women who are ready to dismantle the barriers they see in their own lives.
How three key figures in Moscow, Beijing, and Tehran built ruthless irregular warfare campaigns that are eroding American power. In Three Dangerous Men, defense expert Seth Jones argues that the US is woefully unprepared for the future of global competition. While America has focused on building fighter jets, missiles, and conventional warfighting capabilities, its three principal rivals—Russia, Iran, and China—have increasingly adopted irregular warfare: cyber attacks, the use of proxy forces, propaganda, espionage, and disinformation to undermine American power. Jones profiles three pioneers of irregular warfare in Moscow, Beijing, and Tehran who adapted American techniques and made huge gains without waging traditional warfare: Russian Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov; the deceased Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani; and vice chairman of China’s Central Military Commission Zhang Youxia. Each has spent his career studying American power and devised techniques to avoid a conventional or nuclear war with the US. Gerasimov helped oversee a resurgence of Russian irregular warfare, which included attempts to undermine the 2016 and 2020 US presidential elections and the SolarWinds cyber attack. Soleimani was so effective in expanding Iranian power in the Middle East that Washington targeted him for assassination. Zhang Youxia presents the most alarming challenge because China has more power and potential at its disposal. Drawing on interviews with dozens of US military, diplomatic, and intelligence officials, as well as hundreds of documents translated from Russian, Farsi, and Mandarin, Jones shows how America’s rivals have bloodied its reputation and seized territory worldwide. Instead of standing up to autocratic regimes, Jones demonstrates that the United States has largely abandoned the kind of information, special operations, intelligence, and economic and diplomatic action that helped win the Cold War. In a powerful conclusion, Jones details the key steps the United States must take to alter how it thinks about—and engages in—competition before it is too late.
