Last Chance Proposal by Barbara DeLeo A wife he needs. The woman he desires. Cy Hathaway needs a wife, fast, to win custody of his son, Jonty. He returns home to discover the childhood sweetheart he once left behind has become a vibrant, beautiful woman. Even though wanting to sweep her off her feet wasn't part of the plan... For Ellie, Cy's sudden reappearance awakens a flood of memories—and resentments for the way he'd abandoned her all those years ago. But she has a life now, a career. She can't simply drop everything and get hitched, even if the sight of him still makes her heart race. But after Ellie meets his little boy, she can't refuse. Certain she has a grip on her old feelings for Cy, she agrees to marry her first love until he gains custody. But when did helping out a friend become something with the capacity to hijack her heart?
Homecoming Reunion John Amman left his Amish community and sweetheart Lydia Goodloe to make his fortune in the outside world, while Lydia stayed behind to devote herself to teaching. She can accept spinsterhood, and even face the closure of her beloved school. But John's return after eight years tests her faith anew. Lydia hasn't forgotten a single thing about John Amman--including the way he broke her heart. John risked becoming an outcast to give Lydia everything she deserved. He couldn't see that what she really wanted was a simple life--with him. Lydia is no longer the girl he knew. Now she's the woman who can help him reclaim their long-ago dream of home and family...if he can only win her trust once more.
Dear Reader, I've been wishing for a miracle for my oldest boy, Stone, and this Christmas my prayers might just be answered! Her name is Lark, and she's here in Last Chance, looking into her father's past-and stirring up a whole mess of trouble without meaning to. As the chief of police, Stone sure has his hands full trying to keep up with her. Ever since his wife died, Stone's put everything into raising his daughters and dodging the Christ Church Ladies' Auxiliary matchmakers. And it's clear Lark has been through some trouble and could use a place to finally call home. I only hope Stone can let go of the past soon enough to keep her . . . Goodness, I need to stop talking and finish up Jane's highlights so we can make the town tree-lighting. You come back by because the Cut 'n' Curl's got hot rollers, free coffee, fresh-baked Christmas cookies-and the best gossip in town. See you real soon, Ruby Rhodes
A newsbreaking memoir that tackles head-on the toughest challenge in the world today. When a dying King Hussein shocked the world by picking his son rather than his brother, the longtime crown prince, to be the next king of Jordan, no one was more surprised than the young head of Special Operations, who discovered his life was in for a major upheaval. This is the inspirational story of a young prince who went to boarding school in America and military academy in Britain and grew up believing he would be a soldier. Back home, he hunted down terrorists and modernized Jordan's Special Forces. Then, suddenly, he found himself king. Together with his wife, Queen Rania, he transformed what it meant to be a monarch, going undercover to escape the bubble of the court while she became the Muslim world's most passionate advocate of women's rights. In this exceptionally candid memoir, King Abdullah tackles the single toughest issue he faces head-on- how to solve the Israeli-Palestinian standoff- and reveals himself to be an invaluable intermediary between America and the Arab world. He writes about the impact of the Iraq war on his neighborhood and how best to tackle Iran's nuclear ambitions. Why would a sitting head of state choose to write about the most explosive issues he faces? King Abdullah does so now because he believes we face a moment of truth: a last chance for peace in the Middle East. The prize is enormous, the cost of failure far greater than we dare imagine.
A powerful, bracing and deeply spiritual look at intensely, troubled youth, Last Chance in Texas gives a stirring account of the way one remarkable prison rehabilitates its inmates. While reporting on the juvenile court system, journalist John Hubner kept hearing about a facility in Texas that ran the most aggressive–and one of the most successful–treatment programs for violent young offenders in America. How was it possible, he wondered, that a state like Texas, famed for its hardcore attitude toward crime and punishment, could be leading the way in the rehabilitation of violent and troubled youth? Now Hubner shares the surprising answers he found over months of unprecedented access to the Giddings State School, home to “the worst of the worst”: four hundred teenage lawbreakers convicted of crimes ranging from aggravated assault to murder. Hubner follows two of these youths–a boy and a girl–through harrowing group therapy sessions in which they, along with their fellow inmates, recount their crimes and the abuse they suffered as children. The key moment comes when the young offenders reenact these soul-shattering moments with other group members in cathartic outpourings of suffering and anger that lead, incredibly, to genuine remorse and the beginnings of true empathy . . . the first steps on the long road to redemption. Cutting through the political platitudes surrounding the controversial issue of juvenile justice, Hubner lays bare the complex ties between abuse and violence. By turns wrenching and uplifting, Last Chance in Texas tells a profoundly moving story about the children who grow up to inflict on others the violence that they themselves have suffered. It is a story of horror and heartbreak, yet ultimately full of hope.
Part 1: The Test of Time Icy winds have been blowing continuously for nine days. Jon walked slowly towards the drilling site, slapping his shoulders to keep warm. Normally he was clean shaven, but he was now thankful for having grown his beard. It has been eight hours since he last felt the warmth of the heated office, back at the base camp. Now would be the time for a nice mug of steaming hot coffee, he thought. Through the snow, which started as a blizzard at 5:00 a.m. but had now thankfully dwindled to a steady fall of snow with visibility reduced to ten meters, Jon heard the distant faint rumble of the Powertech drilling machine. The drilling had started in the morning of the fourth of November, thirteen days ago. When they started, the weather forecast had been favorable with prospects of clear weather holding for at least the remainder of the month. Four days into the drilling their luck had changed for the worse, the weather turned, without warning, into a snow blizzard within a matter of hours. It had taken Jon and his two-man crew the best part of two hours to try and secure all equipment. Because of the extreme windchill factor of -49C, they were not successful in locking down all equipment and machinery. This had resulted in the loss of one of the two snowmobiles. The gusting wind had been so strong that it became impossible to properly secure the twenty-meter-high mast of the drilling machine. During the blizzard it had toppled forward and fallen onto the two snowmobiles that were their only means of transport in this barren stretch of snow- and ice-filled land known as Antarctica. In the past few days, Jon has managed to use parts from one of the snowmobiles to render the other serviceable. How did this all start? he thinks back. Its Jons fifty-first project with the South African company Eneco Holdings (Pty) Ltd., the company founded and run by his best friend and major shareholder Jason Menton. In his twenty-six years of service with the company, Jon had seen it grow from a small research company with limited resources to presently the largest oil and energy company in South Africa. They specialized in offshore oil drilling, but on occasion, they also extended their expertise to projects like this one. At moments like these Jon wished that he had remained on his game farm in the Northern Province, back home in South Africa, because he did not have to be here. In all his years with the company, he had received stock options every Christmas. Looking through the financial figures of last year, presented to him and all other shareholders, he once again realized that he could have stopped working twelve years ago, when the company found oil in the Atlantic Ocean near Walvis Bay in Namibia. The Company had nearly gone bankrupt then and had poured its last reserves and $14 billion from bankers and other investors into this venture. Within four months of drilling, they found the biggest and most lucrative oil field of the southern hemisphere. Jon became an instant multimillionaire, but was never able to give up working. He tried it for a short period of time and bought a game farm in the Northern Province of South Africa. After eight months he got bored and started to hunger for the thrills of his previous vocation. Leaving the game farm in the care of his sister and brother-in-law, he returned to his former employer and best friend. Now he was stuck here in this unforgiving ice-covered landmass. He had not felt his fingers for the past six hours, but Jon realized, This is what I enjoy, here I feel at home. Because of his profession, Jon spent up to 80 percent of the year away from home. This had led to a difficult divorce from his high school sweetheart, Adel. She could not adjust to the lonely days and nights, and soon after their marriage, she began to enjoy her life by having relationships with other men. Soon she found what she called the perfect husband and playmate. He was a young Itali
In the heart of Europe's current crisis, one of the continent's foremost statesmen issues a clarion call to radically remake the European Union in the mold of the United States' own federal government Europe is caught in its greatest crisis since the Second World War. The catalog of ills seems endless: an economic crisis spread through most of Europe's Mediterranean tier that has crippled Greece and driven a wedge between northern and southern Europe; terrorist attacks in Paris, Cologne, Brussels, and Nice; growing aggression from Russia in Ukraine and the Baltic states; and refugees escaping war-torn neighbors. The European Union's inability to handle any of these disasters was a driving factor in Great Britain voting to leave, and others may soon follow. The result won't just be a continent in turmoil, but also a serious threat to American and British security-the Atlantic, let alone the Channel, simply isn't big enough to keep European troubles in Europe. For everyone's sake, Europe must survive. The question is how. In Europe's Last Chance, Guy Verhofstadt-former prime minister of Belgium and current leader of the liberal faction in the European Parliament-provides the essential framework for understanding Europe today, laying bare the absurdity of a system in which each member state can veto legislation, opt in or out of the Euro, or close borders on a whim. But Verhofstadt does not just indict the European Union, he also offers a powerful vision for how the continent can change for the better. The key, argues Verhofstadt, is to reform the European Union along the lines of America's federal government: a United States of Europe strong enough to stand with the United States of America in making a better, safer world. A visionary book from one of today's luminaries of European leadership, Europe's Last Chance is a clarion call to save the European Union, one of the world's greatest chances for peace and prosperity.
Last Chance Mustang is the story of Samson, a formerly free-roaming, still wild-at-heart American mustang that was plucked from his mountainous Nevada home and thrown into the domestic horse world where he was brutalized and victimized. After years of abuse, Samson had evolved into a hateful and hated, maladjusted beast until the day he found his way to a rural Illinois farm, an ill-equipped owner, and one last chance. Mitch Bornstein's task was to tame the violent beast whose best defense had become offense. He had twenty years of experience fixing unfixable horses, but Samson would be his greatest challenge. Through the pair's many struggles and countless battles, Samson would teach Mitch about the true power of hope, friendship, redemption and the inspiring mettle of the forever wild and free American mustang. Last Chance Mustang explains Samson's violent and antisocial behavior while addressing the remedial techniques employed to remedy these issues. The art of working with damaged horses is demystified. Though his story is sad, the reader is asked to respect Samson—not pity him. He has good and bad days, and he has a dark side. Like all of us, Samson is far from perfect. And his saga will move the reader to both tears and laughter. Part history lesson, part training manual, and part animal narrative, Samson's is a story that all readers will be able to relate to: a story of survival, of trust, and ultimately, finding love.
His final undoing… Leo Aleksandrov is used to being obeyed—a perk of his coldhearted ruthlessness. Having to explain to an enticingly pure day-care owner exactly why he's never met his own son? Not how he likes to operate. There are some secrets so dark they should never be told…. Employing Lexi Somers as a stand-in nanny pushes this merciless tycoon to the edge. Her warm innocence could never even start to atone for the sins of his past, but if giving in to temptation is inevitable, blazing pleasure is the only thing he'll allow himself to feel in her arms….
