A New York Times Bestseller Brady Bledsoe and his mother, Carmyn, have a strong relationship. A single mother, faithful churchgoer, and the owner of several successful Atlanta beauty salons, Carmyn has devoted herself to her son and his dream of becoming a professional football player. Brady has always followed her lead, including becoming a member of the church's "Celibacy Circle." Now, in his senior year at college, the smart and very handsome Brady is a lead contender for the Heisman Trophy and a spot in the NFL. As sports agents hover around Brady, a beautiful and charming cheerleader named Barrett enters the picture. Barrett is set on seducing Brady and getting a piece of his multimillion-dollar future. But is that all she wants from him? Is she acting alone? In a story that combines football, family, faith and secrets, Just Too Good to Be True is a sweeping novel that proves once and again why E. Lynn Harris is a bestselling author.
It is 1969 as fifteen-year-old Derek Moore pedals to his new high school for the first day of summer conditioning. He has no idea what is in store for him. After all, he is the fresh meat rookie on the football team. But when he is befriended by popular upperclassman, Mark Maris, a tiny sliver of hope begins to emerge for Derek. The teams illustrious leader is Coach Sizemore, a determined motivator who has a staff of passionate assistant coaches under him who have made it their mission to work the boys on the field until they achieve more than they ever believed they could. With a pop song always in his mindset, Derek must learn to navigate through classroom, first love, and social challenges, all while attempting to make a positive impact on the football field. But it is not until the season culminates in an exciting game that Derek finally realizes the true value of being a part of a team intent on achieving great things. In this coming-of-age novel, a teenage boy growing up during late sixties America must attempt to adjust to a new schooland football teamwhile facing adolescent obstacles
Young man fighting to be the best player he can be, only able to overcome obstacles through the power of God and being obedient to God's instructions. He taps into his potential.
Sarah Bartlett was an Academy Award-nominated film star, an Emmy-nominated television actress and a Tony-nominated stage performer. She was also awarded her very own Varsity Jacket by the former director of the US Department of Music’s Federal Hip Hop Administration. Appearing in over 20 films (including Hearts of Sorrow, Hearts of Celery; Perkwit’s Secret Bramboráky (the fourth installment of the Blurg movies); and Shadow of the Fish), she also starred on stage in such shows as Howling at the Moon: The Dog Musical; Billiard Balls of Death; and Dreadful About Those Shock Treatments, Eh? The woman was also an accomplished musician who performed guitar and baglama not only with her own group (Zooey’s Lampshade) but also with the Hattiesburg Symphony Orchestra and Industrial Pole Bean Outlet; with the Palm Frond and Banana Spider Symphony Orchestra; and with the ’56 Elvis Quintet at the Memphis in November: From Too Cool to Too Cold Music, Art and Law Practice Festival). There were other sides to Sarah, sides that she preferred people not know much about, sides involving Queen Victoria costumes, drinking way too many sodas at one sitting, and that whole ceramic curry serving bowl (from 2400 BCE) incident, which she knew would greatly upset anthropologists all over the world. Here, for the first time, is the entire story of Sarah Bartlett’s life, including her children, her husband, her boyfriend, her shoes, her Toyota Cadberry, and her dreams (some of them involving picture frames made of cheese; some of them involving the Poky Little Puppy; some of them involving Gloria Swanson wearing a miniskirt, a pair of orange flip-flops and a T-shirt with a picture of Andy Warhol and the phrase “Hey, look, I’m a can of soup” on it; some of them involving cats with lobster claws for legs; and some of them involving copious amounts of Ranch Dressing). The book also includes over 150 illustrations, and some of them actually make sense. If you’re looking for a book that offers the best ratio of cost per laugh, look no further. Further? Farther? Wait, let’s think this through. Uhh, farther has an a in it, and measure has an a in it, so farther relates to distance. So, yeah, further is the right adjective to use. The Seattle Drainpipe Gazette says, “Rigatoni is to books as cat hair is to dogs.” The Farmington Inquirer calls Rigatoni “unobtrusive,” “mildly trapezoidal,” and “looks great under some flowerpots.” And the Tucson Rock Trader says, “If we crowdfund, we can raise enough money to get this author the serious help he so obviously needs. This isn’t a cry for help, this is a sustained scream through a set of Peavey Dark Matter DM 118 Powered PA Subwoofer Speakers.”
Florida Historical Society Samuel Proctor Award Rare accounts of Cuban migration in the words of the exiles themselves Bringing together an unprecedented number of extensive personal stories, this book shares the triumphs and heartbreaking moments experienced by some of the first Cubans to come to the United States after Fidel Castro took power in 1959. Ninety Miles and a Lifetime Away is a moving look inside fifteen years of migration that changed the two countries and transformed the lives of the people who found themselves separated from their homeland. David Powell presents interviews with refugees who left Cuba between 1959 and the 1962 Missile Crisis, as well as those who embarked on the Freedom Flights of the late 1960s and early 1970s. During these years more than 600,000 Cubans migrated to the US, some by way of other countries and many arriving in Miami with only a few clothes and pocket money. In their own words, exiles describe why they left the island, how they prepared for departure, what situations they faced when they arrived in the US, and how they integrated into American life. Offering historical background that illuminates this pivotal period in the context of the Cold War, Powell shows how the US government’s Cuban refugee assistance program had far-reaching effects on refugee policy, bilingual education, and child welfare programs. The testimonies in this book include new information about low-cost “Cuban Loans” that enabled young exiles to attend US colleges, preparing many to be builders and leaders in their adopted country today. A powerful portrayal of the initial effects of a revolution that began a new era in Cuba’s relationship with the world, this book preserves rare accounts of the motivations and struggles of early Cuban exiles in the words of the emigres themselves, adding gripping detail to the history of the modern Cuban diaspora. Publication of this work made possible by a Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
The University of Alabama boasts one of the nation's most storied football programs, and the recruiting acumen of coaches like Bear Bryant and Nick Saban plays a major role in that. The Road to Bama is a wild ride into the competitive world of college football recruiting, revealing how many Crimson Tide players found their way to Tuscaloosa.
From the author of The Cheerleaders comes another dark YA thriller set in the same town of Sunnybrook. When a mysterious accident befalls a member of the all-star high school football team, the town's deadly history stands to repeat itself—and the price of discovering the truth is higher than anyone could imagine. It was the deaths of five cheerleaders that made the town of Sunnybrook infamous. Eleven years later, the girls' killer has been brought to justice, and the town just wants to move on. By the time Hadley moves to Sunnybrook, though, the locals are more interested in the Tigers, the high school's championship-winning football team. The Tigers are Sunnybrook’s homegrown heroes--something positive in a town with so much darkness in its past. Hadley could care less about football, but shortly after she gets assigned to cover the team's latest championship bid for the school newspaper, one of the Tigers is poisoned at a party, and almost immediately after, Hadley starts getting strange emails warning her to stay far away from the football team. It's becoming clear Sunnybrook's golden boys have secrets, and after a second player is mysteriously killed, Hadley’s beginning to suspect that someone wants the team to pay for their sins. Or does this new target on the football team have something to do with what happened to the cheerleaders all those years ago? As an outsider in Sunnybrook, Hadley feels like she's the only one who can see the present clearly, but it looks like she’s going to have to dig up the darkness of the past to get to the bottom of what’s happening now. Luckily, there are still some Sunnybrook High grads who never left--people who were around eleven years ago—and if she can just convince them to talk, she might be able stop a killer before another Tiger dies.
He was one of pro football’s most beloved and respected stars, admired not only by NFL fans and his own teammates, but by his opponents as well. Super Bowl champion; six time Pro Bowler; NFL Comeback Player of the Year; NFL Man of the Year; fifth all-time leading rusher in the NFL; future Hall of Famer; now NBC Sports commentator. You may think you know Jerome Bettis, but you don’t. In The Bus, Jerome Bettis tells his full, unvarnished story for the first time--from his sometimes troubled childhood in inner-city Detroit to his difficult transition at Notre Dame, to a pro coach who almost caused him to quit the game, to a trade for the ages that resulted in ten glorious seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers. As a chunky child wearing glasses, Jerome’s only sports-related aspiration was to become a professional bowler. But growing up in one of the roughest neighborhoods in Detroit, he eventually found his escape on the high school football field, thanks to the devotion of hard-working parents, a concerned coach, and his prodigious talent. He arrived at Notre Dame as one of the nation’s best prep players, but despite his incredible performances, he never stopped worrying that he would somehow blow his chance to make good. Drafted and later discarded by the Los Angeles Rams, it was in the football-obsessed city of Pittsburgh that Jerome found his home and became a legend. The Bus captures the sweetness and honesty of Bettis, but also details the jaw-dropping, violent nature of the game he loved, the mind-boggling injuries he endured, and the cut-throat NFL business tactics he overcame and later mastered. Through it all, Jerome was also a loving son, an adoring father, and the ultimate teammate and mentor. The Bus not only takes you under the helmet, but inside the huddle, the locker room, the practice field, the negotiating table, the owner’s office, and the Super Bowl sideline. You’ll learn how Bettis became The Bus, how he helped engineer the greatest trade in Steelers history, how he almost cost Pittsburgh a conference championship, and how sweet it was to win—finally—one for the thumb.
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six (under the penname Olivie Blake) comes Twelfth Knight, a YA romantic comedy and coming of age story about taking up space in the world and learning what it means to let others in. Download a FREE sneak peek today! Viola Reyes is annoyed. Her painstakingly crafted tabletop game campaign was shot down, her best friend is suggesting she try being more “likable,” and her school's star running back Jack Orsino is the most lackadaisical Student Body President she’s ever seen, which makes her job as VP that much harder. Vi’s favorite escape from the world is the MMORPG Twelfth Knight, but online spaces aren’t exactly kind to girls like her—girls who are extremely competent and have the swagger to prove it. So Vi creates a masculine alter ego, choosing to play as a knight named Cesario to create a safe haven for herself. But when a football injury leads Jack Orsino to the world of Twelfth Knight, Vi is alarmed to discover their online alter egos—Cesario and Duke Orsino—are surprisingly well-matched. As the long nights of game-play turn into discussions about life and love, Vi and Jack soon realise they’ve become more than just weapon-wielding characters in an online game. But Vi has been concealing her true identity from Jack, and Jack might just be falling for her offline... At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
From the beloved author of Because of Mr. Terupt comes the sequel to The Perfect Score, about a lovable group of students at Lake View Middle School and the rewards and challenges of seventh grade. These students are in for a year of secrets, discoveries, and kid power! GAVIN finally joins the football team—a dream come true!—but Coach Holmes refuses to play him for reasons that also threaten to tear Gavin's family apart. When RANDI attends an elite gymnastics camp, she uncovers a startling family connection. SCOTT starts researching an article for the school newspaper and stumbles right into a hornet's nest of lies. With his loser older brother, Brian, out of the house, TREVOR's life is loads better—until he realizes that only he can save Brian from getting into deep trouble. NATALIE's top goals: (1) find out why Mrs. Woods and Mrs. Magenta no longer speak to each other—a mission shared by all the kids—and (2) teach a certain someone an important life skill without anyone knowing. It's tough keeping secrets. And tougher still to deal with the fallout when secrets spill out.
