He’s young, he’s hot and he’s set to be the biggest thing in pop – 16-year-old Cody Simpson is sending shockwaves around the world. Now, in his first official book, Cody reveals all about his meteoric rise to fame. From the beaches of Australia to touring the world with Justin Bieber, this is a must-have for any true fan.
A finalist for the PEN Center USA Award for Nonfiction Welcome to Paradise, Now Go to Hell, is surfer and former war reporter Chas Smith’s wild and unflinching look at the high-stakes world of surfing on Oahu’s North Shore—a riveting, often humorous, account of beauty, greed, danger, and crime. For two months every winter, when Pacific storms make landfall, swarms of mainlanders, Brazilians, Australians, and Europeans flock to Oahu’s paradisiacal North Shore in pursuit of some of the greatest waves on earth for surfing’s Triple Crown competition. Chas Smith reveals how this influx transforms a sleepy, laid-back strip of coast into a lawless, violent, drug-addled, and adrenaline-soaked mecca. Smith captures this exciting and dangerous place where locals, outsiders, the surf industry, and criminal elements clash in a fascinating look at class, race, power, money, and crime, set within one of the most beautiful places on earth. The result is a breathtaking blend of crime and adventure that captures the allure and wickedness of this idyllic golden world.
The first official all-access look into the life of singing sensation Cody Simpson. Follow Cody as he goes from singing cover songs in his bedroom to opening sold-out concerts for Justin Bieber. With never-before-seen photos, behind-the-scenes interviews, and exclusive information, this book is perfect for pop music fans and for Cody's Angels.
Mahi Binebine's courageous novel delves into a world that most readers know only from stories on the nightly news, delivering a compassionate glimpse into the difficulties facing asylum seekers and a striking portrait of human desperation. Mahi Binebine’s courageous novel takes place in Morocco, where seven would-be immigrants gather one night near the Strait of Gibraltar to wait for a signal from a trafficker that it is time to cross. While they wait, their stories unfold: Kacem Judi is an escapee from the civil war in Algeria; Nuara, with her newborn child, hopes to find her husband, who hasn’t been in touch for months since moving to France; and Aziz, the young narrator, and his cousin Reda are severed, in different ways, from their families in southern Morocco. They all share a longing to escape and a readiness to risk everything. Welcome to Paradise delves into a world that most readers know only from stories on the nightly news, delivering a compassionate and striking portrait of human desperation.
Welcome to Florida. If only I had a sand dollar for every time an odd occurrence was explained away with the unique expression: Welcome to Florida. My wife, Vikki, and I decided to leave our home state of Wisconsin and follow our dream with a move to paradise, known to us as Florida. We had vacationed in the Sunshine State many times, and the sun and the sand had always called our names, so we finally followed the calling and landed in the town of Punta Gorda, just north of Fort Myers on the Gulf side of the state. For the most part, paradise was just as we'd imagined, but as we settled into our new home, we experienced many quirky and previously unknown facts of life. Turns out, Florida is not all Mickey Mouse and beaches. Several of our neighbors and colleagues are transplants themselves, experiencing many of the same abnormalities on their own when making the move south. As we shared our anecdotal stories with our now fellow Floridians, we were frequently met with that simple phrase in response: Welcome to Florida. I began to jot down these stories so that we might have more to offer future Floridians when they shared their tales with us. As I abbreviated the phrase "Welcome to Florida," I realized quickly that the acronym was WTF! It seemed appropriate that the common slang for "What the f----!" shared an abbreviation with the three words we heard so often. As you read about our Welcome to Florida journey, you too might find yourself shaking your head and saying, "WTF!"
Frank is a noncombat veteran and is the retired president of an electrical engineering and testing firm, which he founded in 1985. Throughout the past thirty-five years, he has served as a Bible teacher, ordained deacon, trustee, and finance director, along with other leadership roles in the church. He has traveled extensively throughout all fifty states and many foreign countries. As a private pilot, he enjoys flying, golf, photography, travel, and writing, along with other business-related interests. He lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with his wife of thirty-six years and has two children. You can visit Frank at http://godsperfectwork.com. “In a culture that, at times, seems to have lost its way, My Road to Paradise unearths a treasure chest of lifetime rewards. As the father of three beautiful daughters and four awesome grandkids, I know firsthand the value of a loving family circle. This book presents a vivid illustration of God’s intended purpose for the family and the foundation from which it must grow. No matter where you are along your road of life, stop and read this book.” Cornelius Phillips, Senior Pastor; McCullough Christian Center, Atmore, Alabama “As an artist, I have the unique gift of expressing my encounters with life on canvas. With each stroke of my brush, I struggle to achieve one simple goal: the portrayal of the truth of life. Similarly, My Road to Paradise clarifies truth through a comparison of the Tree of Knowledge to the Tree of Life. Frank defines the true meaning of life in terms of good that is acceptable only through Christ, the Tree of Life. Life is encapsulated within the knowledge that “the best is yet to come.” Katherine Rutledge, artist
First in the romantic series about a prudent woman who throws sensibility to the wind to find herself in the sunny climes of Portugal. Alice Dorothy Matthews is sensible. While her best friend Kathy is living it up in Portugal and her insufferable ex Adam is traveling the world, Alice is working hard to pay for the beloved London house she has put her heart and soul into renovating. But then a postcard from Buenos Aires turns Alice’s life upside down. One very unsensible decision later and she is in Cascais, Portugal. Thus begins her lesson in going with the flow; a lesson that sees her cat-sitting, paddle boarding, dancing on top of bars and rediscovering her artistic talents. But perhaps the most important part of the lesson for Alice is that you don’t always need a house to be at home. Winner of the Search for a Star competition sponsored by Your Cat magazine
'Chasing Fears' the first instalment of 'A Broken Paradise'. Awen finally escapes from the family home, from her initial fears and spontaneously decides she's going on a self-discovery mission to America, where her childhood holidays took her and she met her friends. But the moment she leaves her home, with her poor teenage sister Dylis, she's faced with danger and utter terror as it seems there really was a reason her family kept her so secret and it wasn't because of her many gifts that were unnatural to human's such as you or I, it was because Awen is being hunted by beings we can't even begin to grasp, understand, comprehend. And to accomplish any of that you'd also have to believe that they not only exist, but they are human, their far more human than you or I, that the possibility that you and I aren't what we thought, that maybe we're the Aliens of this planet and not Awen and her kind.... In any case, she'll go searching to find out what her family have kept from her, her whole life!. "Ooh!, and do you wanna know what Jesus was really protecting you from?"