When popular, sporty sister, Kristina, is diagnosed with cancer, her younger, brainy sister, Tess, is thrown into new roles as she becomes the center of the popular crowd and must be the strong one in her family.
How do you acknowledge something that you don't give a face to? You can't recognize it if you're constantly acting as if whatever hurt you've been subjected to doesn't exist. Generational curses are being passed down because people are taught not to speak on the "uncomfortable hurt." Many people come from families/communities that sweep everything under the rug like the issue never happened. How do you move on with life if your mind is in bondage due to your unaddressed issues? The moment you acknowledge abuse, molestation, depression, suicidal thoughts, addiction, or abandonment (whatever has given you pain) is the moment you give that thing a face. That's when healing takes place. That's when that thing is real and your identity is no longer associated with your past. That thing is no longer leeching off your existence. You can look in the mirror and actually see a person, versus whatever you've labeled yourself or whatever people have labeled you. You can finally talk about the situation and no longer be embarrassed/ashamed of it. Exposure brings about healing. Healing is the key to accomplishing life and giving it our all. That's all God wants from us. Think of life like a buried diamond. How can God use you, or how can you live life to your fullest potential if you are buried in dirt? The diamond is there. However, the different layers of earth are keeping the diamond in bondage. Therefore, there's no use for it at that point. It is simply being prepared to shine bright. I listen to classical music because it triggers the inner child within myself. It brings back bananas covered in peanut butter and the sticker apples that were put on the plastic tree if you behaved (the apple was removed for bad behavior). Mozart would play through the room as we napped on our mats. It brought back the smell of cinnamon that used to cover my father's studio office. Thinking of these good moments will not take away the hurt that wasn't addressed. Get to the bottom of it so that you can glow and live life to the fullest! You deserve nothing but the best, so go for it.
Gripping, emotional, and wire-taut, Rea Frey's Not Her Daughter raises the question of what it means to be a mother—and how far someone will go to keep a child safe. "Brings to mind Jodi Picoult...thought-provoking domestic drama." - Booklist “Will make you miss your bedtime, guaranteed.” – Bestselling author Kimberly Belle Emma Townsend. Five years old. Gray eyes, brown hair. Missing since June. Emma is lonely. Living with her cruel mother and clueless father, Emma retreats into her own world of quiet and solitude. Sarah Walker. Successful entrepreneur. Broken-hearted. Kidnapper. Sarah has never seen a girl so precious as the gray-eyed child in a crowded airport terminal. When a second-chance encounter with Emma presents itself, Sarah takes her—far away from home. But if it’s to rescue a little girl from her damaging mother, is kidnapping wrong? Amy Townsend. Unhappy wife. Unfit mother. Unsure whether she wants her daughter back. Amy’s life is a string of disappointments, but her biggest issue is her inability to connect with her daughter. And now Emma is gone without a trace. As Sarah and Emma avoid the nationwide hunt, they form an unshakeable bond. But what about Emma’s real mother, back at home? PopSugar – The Summer’s Hottest Books * Refinery 29 - Best Summer Thrillers * US Weekly - Summer's Best Send-Offs * Parade - 20 Chilling Thrillers by Women to Read This Year * Brit + Co - 15 New Thrillers by Women That Will Give You Chills This Summer * The Zoe Report – 20 Books to Read this Summer * She Reads - New Summer Thrillers to Get Your Heart Racing * Working Mother - 15 Hot New Summer Beach Reads * Culturalist - Top Ten Domestic Thrillers That Will Make You Question Everything * Crime Reads - 5 Debut Crime Novels to Read This August
It was a Tuesday like any other. And then it wasn't. A simple encounter at a supermarket changed Carin Fletcher's and Leann Cane's lives literally. Suddenly Carin, a pretty, self-absorbed, underemployed college graduate, finds herself living as Leann, an uneducated, perennially poor, obese checkout clerk, and vice versa. Carin is at first horrified: she s enormous, she can barely make ends meet, her husband is an abusive loser, and she's saddled with the kid Leann had when she was a teenager. Meanwhile, Leann is initially thrilled: she's escaped destitution, she looks like a model, and people treat her completely differently. But as the days pass, it becomes clear that life isn't clear-cut for either woman. Carin finds herself attaching to Trevor, Leann's precocious son, and developing feelings for Jimmy, a fellow employee who treats her with the respect few others bother to give her because of her appearance. At the same time, Leann is living a life she's always wanted in a body she's always dreamed about, but that doesn't mean that all of her problems have gone away...and a new one is emerging with Carin's sometimes-boyfriend. Both women are facing unknowable futures that neither could have imagined. Are they destined to live this way forever? And if so, where will it all lead? A brilliant, nuanced, and surprising tale about the way the world sees us and the courses we are on, I'M NOT HER is a remarkably assured first novel that introduces a profound new storyteller."
A desperate man decides to rewrite his wife’s entire life story after a suspected suicide attempt leaves her with no memory of her painful past. In the face of conflicting stories, she realizes that someone is lying to her. But who? When old memories begin to surface, will the feelings of loss and betrayal destroy her once and for all?
An arranged marriage? Who does that anymore? Apparently, my parents think it's okay to sell me off if it will benefit their company. It can't be that bad. Jack Kemble, the man they're marrying me to, is one of the hottest bachelors on the market. He's also an arrogant prick. I try to play the part of his dutiful fiancée until he tells me I'll need to go to a special school to learn how to meet his needs. This is way out of my comfort zone. Should I do my best to mold myself into his perfect wife? This marriage is important to my family, but my heart may already belong to another. Heat level: Smokin' Hot This is a stand-alone novella and was previously published under a different title. keywords: new adult romance, coming of age romance, billionaire romance, bad boy romance, childhood romance, bdsm romance, steamy romance, love triangle
“They’ve kidnapped the governor!” Until five minutes ago, Marc Beader was an out-of-work ex-military man trying to figure out how to adjust to civilian life while also protecting his hapless younger brother from the upstart radical group trying to recruit him. To be honest, Marc wasn’t doing a very good job at any of it. As if his life needed one more complication, suddenly, the governor of the state of Michigan is sitting in his living room, with zip ties around her wrists and a scowl on her pretty face. That radical group managed to kidnap the governor—and dropped her on Marc’s doorstep. He doesn’t want anything to do with all this crazy. He’s proven too many times that he’s nobody’s hero. Until he hears about the group’s plans for the unfortunate politician. Suddenly, they’re both running for their lives, through the rugged countryside to the state capital. As it turns out, it’s hard as hell to hide when the person you’re protecting is a public figure. But Marc will be damned if he lets those nutjobs get to her. Maybe he could be a hero after all. Author’s note: This is a low-heat, high action thriller with a touch of romance.
We all know stories about it, see it in films or literature, and it always looks tragic: a broken heart. Heartbreaks and suffering from them suck, and in real life it is not only limited to 90 mins of crying, sniffing and dramatically watching the rain outside as they do in films. In real life, when you suffer from a broken heart, it can be so painful, you wish you wouldn't feel anything anymore, you want to scream, get away from the pain and feel as if nobody can actually understand you. Although everybody experiences feelings differently, you're not alone, believe me. This is not a guide how to get over a heart break quickly and be a happy butterfly again. This is a simple, real story about life and the heartbreaks I suffered, and how I managed to move on. To show you, that you're not alone with what you feel, to show you, we can manage the horrendous emotional experience, most of us have made or will made in their life. A story to show you, you're not alone with your feelings.
National Book Award Finalist! Instant New York Times Bestseller! The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian meets Jane the Virgin in this poignant but often laugh-out-loud funny contemporary YA about losing a sister and finding yourself amid the pressures, expectations, and stereotypes of growing up in a Mexican-American home. Perfect Mexican daughters do not go away to college. And they do not move out of their parents’ house after high school graduation. Perfect Mexican daughters never abandon their family. But Julia is not your perfect Mexican daughter. That was Olga’s role. Then a tragic accident on the busiest street in Chicago leaves Olga dead and Julia left behind to reassemble the shattered pieces of her family. And no one seems to acknowledge that Julia is broken, too. Instead, her mother seems to channel her grief into pointing out every possible way Julia has failed. But it’s not long before Julia discovers that Olga might not have been as perfect as everyone thought. With the help of her best friend Lorena, and her first love, first everything boyfriend Connor, Julia is determined to find out. Was Olga really what she seemed? Or was there more to her sister’s story? And either way, how can Julia even attempt to live up to a seemingly impossible ideal? “Alive and crackling—a gritty tale wrapped in a page-turner. ”—The New York Times “Unique and fresh.” —Entertainment Weekly “A standout.” —NPR
Growing up on the Aegean Coast, Ozge loved the sea and imagined a life of adventure while her parents and society demanded predictability. Her dad expected Ozge, like her sister, to become an engineer. She tried to hear her own voice over his and the religious and militaristic tensions of Turkey and the conflicts between secularism and fundamentalism. Could she be a scuba diver like Jacques Cousteau? A stage actress? Would it be possible to please everyone including herself? In her unpredictable and funny graphic memoir, Ozge recounts her story using inventive collages, weaving together images of the sea, politics, science, and friendship.