Harry Truman
America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.
Attribution
Yoko Ono
There's a long life ahead of you and it's going to be beautiful, as long as you keep loving and hugging each other.
Attribution
Robert Brault
In childhood, we yearn to be grown-ups. In old age, we yearn to be kids. It just seems that all would be wonderful if we didn't have to celebrate our birthdays in chronological order.
Attribution
February 12, 2021
I have been standing up to work a lot more this week thanks to my standing desk. I really love the way I am not trapped sitting all day long. I keep making new tweaks to my desk and office setup to get it the way I want it. Next up will be hiding the endless number of cords surrounding my work space. What sparked joy for me this week? A 4-port USB hub with power switches and a multi-plug wall charger. I know, I am amused very easily. There are a lot of tech gizmos around here that I never had thought of before, but I am loving them.
Editorial Content for We Run the Tides
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Chronicling one year in the lives of four teenage girls in pre-tech boom San Francisco, Vendela Vida’s WE RUN THE TIDES is an instantly gripping, hauntingly beautiful tribute to the interior lives of young women and how the world begins to change them. Read More
Teaser
Teenage Eulabee and her magnetic best friend, Maria Fabiola, own the streets of Sea Cliff, their foggy oceanside San Francisco neighborhood. They know Sea Cliff’s homes and beaches, its hidden corners and eccentric characters --- as well as the upscale all-girls’ school they attend. One day, walking to school with friends, they witness a horrible act. Or do they? Eulabee and Maria Fabiola vehemently disagree on what happened, and their rupture is followed by Maria Fabiola’s sudden disappearance --- a potential kidnapping that shakes the quiet community and threatens to expose unspoken truths.
Promo
Teenage Eulabee and her magnetic best friend, Maria Fabiola, own the streets of Sea Cliff, their foggy oceanside San Francisco neighborhood. They know Sea Cliff’s homes and beaches, its hidden corners and eccentric characters --- as well as the upscale all-girls’ school they attend. One day, walking to school with friends, they witness a horrible act. Or do they? Eulabee and Maria Fabiola vehemently disagree on what happened, and their rupture is followed by Maria Fabiola’s sudden disappearance --- a potential kidnapping that shakes the quiet community and threatens to expose unspoken truths.
About the Book
An achingly beautiful story of female friendship, betrayal and a mysterious disappearance set in the changing landscape of San Francisco.
Teenage Eulabee and her magnetic best friend, Maria Fabiola, own the streets of Sea Cliff, their foggy oceanside San Francisco neighborhood. They know Sea Cliff’s homes and beaches, its hidden corners and eccentric characters --- as well as the upscale all-girls’ school they attend. One day, walking to school with friends, they witness a horrible act. Or do they? Eulabee and Maria Fabiola vehemently disagree on what happened, and their rupture is followed by Maria Fabiola’s sudden disappearance --- a potential kidnapping that shakes the quiet community and threatens to expose unspoken truths.
Suspenseful and poignant, WE RUN THE TIDES is Vendela Vida’s masterful portrait of an inimitable place on the brink of radical transformation. Pre–tech boom San Francisco finds its mirror in the changing lives of the teenage girls at the center of this story of innocence lost, the pain of too much freedom and the struggle to find one’s authentic self. Told with a gimlet eye and great warmth, WE RUN THE TIDES is both a gripping mystery and a tribute to the wonders of youth, in all its beauty and confusion.
Audiobook available, read by Marin Ireland
Editorial Content for The Princess Spy: The True Story of World War II Spy Aline Griffith, Countess of Romanones
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
THE PRINCESS SPY is pure nonfiction, but it’s also an enjoyable read. Author Larry Loftis keeps the excitement going from the first page of the prologue. We read about a strange noise outside Aline Griffith’s apartment window in Madrid. Then the shutters are pried open, and a hand pushes back the curtains. Loftis writes, “She raised the gun.” Read More
Teaser
As the US enters the Second World War, college graduate Aline Griffith is desperate to aid in the war effort, but no one is interested in a bright-eyed young woman whose only career experience is modeling clothes. Aline’s life changes when, at a dinner party, she meets a man named Frank Ryan and reveals how desperately she wants to do her part for her country. Within a few weeks, he helps her join the Office of Strategic Services --- forerunner of the CIA. With a code name and expert training under her belt, she is sent to Spain to be a coder, but is soon given the additional assignment of infiltrating the upper echelons of society, mingling with high-ranking officials, diplomats and titled Europeans, any of whom could be an enemy agent.
Promo
As the US enters the Second World War, college graduate Aline Griffith is desperate to aid in the war effort, but no one is interested in a bright-eyed young woman whose only career experience is modeling clothes. Aline’s life changes when, at a dinner party, she meets a man named Frank Ryan and reveals how desperately she wants to do her part for her country. Within a few weeks, he helps her join the Office of Strategic Services --- forerunner of the CIA. With a code name and expert training under her belt, she is sent to Spain to be a coder, but is soon given the additional assignment of infiltrating the upper echelons of society, mingling with high-ranking officials, diplomats and titled Europeans, any of whom could be an enemy agent.
About the Book
“As exciting as any spy novel” (Daily News, New York), THE PRINCESS SPY follows the hidden history of an ordinary American girl who became one of the OSS’s most daring World War II spies before marrying into European nobility. Perfect for fans of A WOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE and CODE GIRLS.
When Aline Griffith was born in a quiet suburban New York hamlet, no one had any idea that she would go on to live “a life of glamour and danger that Ingrid Bergman only played at in Notorious” (Time). As the US enters the Second World War, the young college graduate is desperate to aid in the war effort, but no one is interested in a bright-eyed young woman whose only career experience is modeling clothes.
Aline’s life changes when, at a dinner party, she meets a man named Frank Ryan and reveals how desperately she wants to do her part for her country. Within a few weeks, he helps her join the Office of Strategic Services --- forerunner of the CIA. With a code name and expert training under her belt, she is sent to Spain to be a coder, but is soon given the additional assignment of infiltrating the upper echelons of society, mingling with high-ranking officials, diplomats and titled Europeans, any of whom could be an enemy agent. Against this glamorous backdrop of galas and dinner parties, she recruits sub-agents and engages in deep-cover espionage to counter Nazi tactics in Madrid.
Even after marrying the Count of Romanones, one of the wealthiest men in Spain, Aline secretly continues her covert activities, being given special assignments when abroad that would benefit from her impeccable pedigree and social connections.
“[A] meticulously researched, beautifully crafted work of nonfiction that reads like a James Bond thriller” (Bookreporter), THE PRINCESS SPY brings to vivid life the dazzling adventures of a spirited American woman who risked everything to serve her country.
Audiobook available, read by Kate Reading
Editorial Content for The Burning Girls
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
During the time of Queen Mary’s purge of Protestants, the small English village of Chapel Croft in Sussex saw eight of their villagers burned at the stake, two of whom were young girls. These horrific deaths are commemorated regularly through the distribution and placement of small twig dolls, which have come to be known as the Burning Girls. The chapel and accompanying graveyard have allegedly been haunted by their ghosts. If one of them appears to you, that means you are in trouble and bad things shall befall you. Read More
Teaser
A dark history lingers in Chapel Croft. Five hundred years ago, Protestant martyrs were betrayed --- then burned. Thirty years ago, two teenage girls disappeared without a trace. And a few weeks ago, the vicar of the local parish hanged himself in the nave of the church. Reverend Jack Brooks, a single parent with a 14-year-old daughter and a heavy conscience, arrives in the village hoping for a fresh start. Instead, Jack finds a town rife with conspiracies and secrets, and is greeted with a strange welcome package: an exorcism kit and a note that warns, “But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed and hidden that will not be known.”
Promo
A dark history lingers in Chapel Croft. Five hundred years ago, Protestant martyrs were betrayed --- then burned. Thirty years ago, two teenage girls disappeared without a trace. And a few weeks ago, the vicar of the local parish hanged himself in the nave of the church. Reverend Jack Brooks, a single parent with a 14-year-old daughter and a heavy conscience, arrives in the village hoping for a fresh start. Instead, Jack finds a town rife with conspiracies and secrets, and is greeted with a strange welcome package: an exorcism kit and a note that warns, “But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed and hidden that will not be known.”
About the Book
An unconventional vicar must exorcise the dark past of a remote village haunted by death and disappearances in this explosive and unsettling thriller from the acclaimed author of THE CHALK MAN.
A dark history lingers in Chapel Croft. Five hundred years ago, Protestant martyrs were betrayed --- then burned. Thirty years ago, two teenage girls disappeared without a trace. And a few weeks ago, the vicar of the local parish hanged himself in the nave of the church.
Reverend Jack Brooks, a single parent with a 14-year-old daughter and a heavy conscience, arrives in the village hoping for a fresh start. Instead, Jack finds a town rife with conspiracies and secrets, and is greeted with a strange welcome package: an exorcism kit and a note that warns, “But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed and hidden that will not be known.”
The more Jack and daughter, Flo, explore the town and get to know its strange denizens, the deeper they are drawn into the age-old rifts, mysteries and suspicions. And when Flo begins to see specters of girls ablaze, it becomes apparent there are ghosts here that refuse to be laid to rest.
Uncovering the truth can be deadly in a village with a bloody past, where everyone has something to hide and no one trusts an outsider.
Audiobook available, read by Gemma Whelan and Richard Armitage
Editorial Content for This Close to Okay
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Tallulah (Tallie) Clark has finally been putting the pieces of her life back together after her divorce. Despite having her heart broken by her ex-husband, who had an affair and got his mistress pregnant even as he and Tallie were undergoing unsuccessful fertility treatments, Tallie has begun to bounce back. She has a thriving practice as one of the few Black therapists in Louisville, has a supportive family and loving friends nearby, loves her home (and her cats, Jim and Pam), and even has begun to think about adopting a baby on her own. Read More
Teaser
On a rainy October night in Kentucky, recently divorced therapist Tallie Clark is on her way home from work when she spots a man precariously standing at the edge of a bridge. Without a second thought, Tallie pulls over and jumps out of the car into the pouring rain. She convinces the man to join her for a cup of coffee, and he eventually agrees to come back to her house, where he finally shares his name: Emmett. Over the course of the emotionally charged weekend that follows, Tallie makes it her mission to provide a safe space for Emmett, though she hesitates to confess that this is also her day job. What she doesn’t realize is that Emmett isn’t the only one who needs healing --- and they both are harboring secrets.
Promo
On a rainy October night in Kentucky, recently divorced therapist Tallie Clark is on her way home from work when she spots a man precariously standing at the edge of a bridge. Without a second thought, Tallie pulls over and jumps out of the car into the pouring rain. She convinces the man to join her for a cup of coffee, and he eventually agrees to come back to her house, where he finally shares his name: Emmett. Over the course of the emotionally charged weekend that follows, Tallie makes it her mission to provide a safe space for Emmett, though she hesitates to confess that this is also her day job. What she doesn’t realize is that Emmett isn’t the only one who needs healing --- and they both are harboring secrets.
About the Book
A powerful, vibrant novel about the life-changing weekend shared between two strangers, from the award-winning writer Roxane Gay calls "a consummate storyteller."
On a rainy October night in Kentucky, recently divorced therapist Tallie Clark is on her way home from work when she spots a man precariously standing at the edge of a bridge. Without a second thought, Tallie pulls over and jumps out of the car into the pouring rain. She convinces the man to join her for a cup of coffee, and he eventually agrees to come back to her house, where he finally shares his name: Emmett.
Over the course of the emotionally charged weekend that follows, Tallie makes it her mission to provide a safe space for Emmett, though she hesitates to confess that this is also her day job. What she doesn’t realize is that Emmett isn’t the only one who needs healing --- and they both are harboring secrets.
Alternating between Tallie and Emmett’s perspectives as they inch closer to the truth of what brought Emmett to the bridge’s edge --- as well as the hard truths Tallie has been grappling with since her marriage ended --- THIS CLOSE TO OKAY is an uplifting, cathartic story about chance encounters, hope found in unlikely moments, and the subtle magic of human connection.
Audiobook available, read by Kamali Minter and Zeno Robinson
Editorial Content for Ladies of the House: A Modern Retelling of Sense and Sensibility
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Debut novelist Lauren Edmondson turns to Jane Austen for inspiration in LADIES OF THE HOUSE, a surprisingly fresh retelling of SENSE AND SENSIBILITY. She shifts the action from Regency England to present-day Washington, D.C., a place with a social scene every bit as byzantine and ruthless as that of the ballrooms of 19th-century London. In both, a single misstep can have devastating consequences, as 34-year-old Daisy Richardson discovers. Read More
Teaser
No surprise is a good surprise. At least according to 34-year-old Daisy Richardson. So when it’s revealed in dramatic fashion that her esteemed father had been involved in a public scandal before his untimely death, Daisy’s life becomes complicated --- and fast. For one, the Richardsons must now sell the family home in Georgetown they can no longer afford, and Daisy’s mother is holding on with an iron grip. Her younger sister, Wallis, is ready to move on to bigger and better things but falls fast and hard for the most inconvenient person possible. And then there’s Atlas, Daisy’s best friend. She’s always wished they could be more, but now he’s writing an exposé on the one subject she’s been desperate to avoid: her father.
Promo
No surprise is a good surprise. At least according to 34-year-old Daisy Richardson. So when it’s revealed in dramatic fashion that her esteemed father had been involved in a public scandal before his untimely death, Daisy’s life becomes complicated --- and fast. For one, the Richardsons must now sell the family home in Georgetown they can no longer afford, and Daisy’s mother is holding on with an iron grip. Her younger sister, Wallis, is ready to move on to bigger and better things but falls fast and hard for the most inconvenient person possible. And then there’s Atlas, Daisy’s best friend. She’s always wished they could be more, but now he’s writing an exposé on the one subject she’s been desperate to avoid: her father.
About the Book
No surprise is a good surprise. At least according to 34-year-old Daisy Richardson. So when it’s revealed in dramatic fashion that her esteemed father had been involved in a public scandal before his untimely death, Daisy’s life becomes complicated --- and fast.
For one, the Richardsons must now sell the family home in Georgetown they can no longer afford, and Daisy’s mother is holding on with an iron grip. Her younger sister, Wallis, is ready to move on to bigger and better things but falls fast and hard for the most inconvenient person possible. And then there’s Atlas, Daisy’s best friend. She’s always wished they could be more, but now he’s writing an exposé on the one subject she’s been desperate to avoid: her father.
Daisy’s plan is to maintain a low profile as she works to keep her family intact amid social exile, public shaming and quickly dwindling savings. But the spotlight always seems to find the Richardsons, and when another twist in the scandal comes to light, Daisy must confront the consequences of her continued silence and summon the courage to stand up and accept the power of her own voice.
Audiobook available, read by Emma Lysy





