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IPPY 2016 Bronze Medal Winner in Historical Fiction 2016 Foreword INDID Awards Finalist in Historical Fiction “Across decades and continents, Tasa follows a song of hope that is uplifting even in the face of great adversity, proving that an indomitable spirit can transcend the greatest hardships. Kass depicts a heartbreaking time with great sensitivity and detail in this beautifully rendered historical drama.” ―Booklist An extraordinary novel inspired by true events. 1943. Tasa Rosinski and five relatives, all Jewish, escape their rural village in eastern Poland―avoiding certain death―and find refuge in a bunker beneath a barn built by their longtime employee. A decade earlier, ten-year-old Tasa dreams of someday playing her violin like Paganini. To continue her schooling, she leaves her family for a nearby town, joining older cousin Danik at a private Catholic academy where her musical talent flourishes despite escalating political tension. But when the war breaks out and the eastern swath of Poland falls under Soviet control, Tasa’s relatives become Communist targets, her new tender relationship is imperiled, and the family’s secure world unravels. From a peaceful village in eastern Poland to a partitioned post-war Vienna, from a promising childhood to a year living underground, Tasa’s Song celebrates the enduring power of the human spirit. Author: Linda Kass Publication Date: May 3, 2016 -
International Book Awards 2016 finalist for literary fiction IPPY 2017 Gold Medal Winner in Autobiography/Memoir “Monica Starkman offers a penetrating look at the drastic capabilities of the obsessed mind. Written beautifully and carefully, at just the right pace, The End of Miracles is a thoroughly compelling piece of work.” —Roger Rosenblatt, New York Times bestselling author, literary editor of The New Republic, essayist for Washington Post and Time magazine When a pregnancy following years of infertility ends in premature labor, Margo Kerber’s grieving becomes intertwined with feelings of inadequacy and shame. An imaginary pregnancy shields her from despair until ultrasound images confront her with the truth—at which point Margo sinks into a depression requiring psychiatric hospitalization. There, her harrowing experiences magnify her sense of being abnormal. When an opportunity arises, she flees. But following her escape, a chance encounter with a mother and her briefly unattended baby evokes another fantasy: she can better nurture this infant than can its mother. This new self-deception propels Margo into a gripping, heartbreaking series of increasingly daring and dangerous actions—with profound consequences for herself and others. Author: Monica Starkman Publication Date: May 3, 2016 -
Queerspawn in Love is a memoir about what happens when the daughter of a quartet of lesbians falls in love with a man serving in the Israeli Defense Forces. Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area as the daughter of four lesbians, Kellen Anne Kaiser nonetheless envisioned her life working out, fairytale like, with a Prince Charming. Super-Femme, she spent countless childhood hours playing dress up in lacey wedding gowns, and committing her Barbies to matrimony. However when her possible prince did arrive, it was not without complications. Home on leave from the Israeli army, the man she picks doesn’t seem like a sure bet. Starting with some casual sex gone awry, they face obstacles like: war in the Middle East, long distance romance, differing views on sex and approaching adulthood. Along the way they find themselves most challenged by a more mundane concern, the upkeep of a relationship between two people. Whether it is in the uncharted territory of dating as Queerspawn, or the angst of compromising politically, it becomes clear that even if the particulars are peculiar, heart break is the same. A modern coming of age story, it reflects on identity, family and love. Author: Kellen Kaiser Publication Date: May 3, 2016 -
2017 International Book Awards Finalist in Literary Fiction 2017 International Book Awards Finalist in Best New Fiction 2017 National Indie Excellence Book Awards Winner in Suspense Recently widowed and adapting to the challenges of single motherhood, Mercedes Bell is a paralegal at Crenshaw, Slayne & McDonough when she meets Jack Soutane, a dashing San Francisco lawyer who has recently begun leasing office space from the firm. It’s the 1980s. The crack epidemic, homelessness, and AIDS explode on the scene, Jack’s law practice booms—and the Crenshaw firm eagerly shares his bounty. Meanwhile, despite all the warning signs, Mercedes falls under Jack’s spell. When calamity strikes and Jack succumbs to his own dark surprise, Mercedes finds herself in a race to survive and to protect her daughter. In order to do so, she must make sense of wildly inconsistent information—and face the truths that emerge. Compelling and full of suspense, The Tolling of Mercedes Bell is a story about honesty in the face of deception, courage in the pursuit of happiness, and the unexpected places that quest can lead. Author: Jennifer Dwight Publication Date: May 3, 2016 -
International Excellence Body, Mind, Spirit Book Awards Winner: Self-help 2017 IPPY Silver Medal Winner in Self-Help “This Way Up is a bold new path to personal growth and one that will help any woman who caretakes everyone but herself, whether at work or at home. Patti Clark's approach is wholly unique and the meditations, visualizations, questions, and journal prompts will gently lead you back to yourself.” —Brenda Knight, author of Be a Good in the WorlBe a Good in the World Women spend so much of life nurturing and giving to others that when they find themselves alone—because of an empty nest, the end of a marriage, or the death of a partner—they often struggle with feeling purposeless. This Way Up: Seven Tools for Unleashing Your Creative Self and Transforming Your Life provides a step-by-step way out of this sense of loss and into a life filled with enthusiasm, creativity, and joy. This story of healing centers on the essential wisdom of introspection and on the importance of following one’s dreams. Join the protagonist, Katya, a widow whose two sons have recently left home, as she learns seven tools for uncovering her best self: visualization, heart-centered goal setting, positive focus, meditation on love; meditation on forgiveness, gratitude, and taking action on inspiration. Katya’s experience highlights these insights in an easily digestible, highly relatable format that readers can systematically apply to their own circumstances as they work through This Way Up’s twelve weeks’ worth of day-by-day journaling exercises, thought-provoking questions, and reader support. For any woman who yearns to lead a fuller life but doesn’t know how to begin, this book is an ideal starting point. Author: Patti Clark Publication Date: April 26, 2016 -
“Nicole Waggoner’s writing sings in this beautiful story of love and friendship. Center Ring will have you cheering for Norah and her posse of gal pals so much, you’ll wish they were yours!” —Kim Boykin, best-selling author of A Peach of a Pair, Palmetto Moon, and The Wisdom of Hair Norah Merrit, a dedicated obstetrician known for her bedside manner and service to Doctors Without Borders, walks into girls’ night out with a confession to make—and what she has to say shakes the group to its core. In the aftermath of Norah’s revelation, each of the women she calls her sister-friends—photojournalist Camille, stay-at-home mom Leila, publicist Ellison, and designer Kate—are left questioning the roads they haven’t taken, and revisiting the vastly different choices they’ve made in life and love. Told in alternating points of view between the five friends, Center Ring is a story about modern women finding balance through action, relationships, and growth in the midst of challenges and change. Author: Nicole Waggoner Publication Date: April 26, 2016 -
“Powerful . . . U-Meleni Mhlaba-Adebo transforms her many paths of life into a poetic prayer.” —Jean Dany Joachim, award-winning poet Soul Psalms, a collection of poems from Zimbabwean American poet U-Meleni Mhlaba-Adebo, is filled with lyrical and vivid imagery that takes you on a emotional journey toward finding self. Exploring themes of family, love, body image, acceptance, and belonging, Mhlaba-Adebo’s words flow melodically and powerfully, bringing readers to a place of peace. The themes in Soul Psalms may be personal, but they appeal to a universal pull: the desire to become. Author: U-Meleni Mhlaba-Adebo Publication Date: April 19, 2017 -
2016 USA Best Book Awards: General Fiction, Finalist 2016 USA Best Book Awards: Literary Fiction, Finalist Broken by their unorthodox Midwestern childhood, sisters Catherine, Anne, and Jessica Mathers search for love, acceptance, and worth – often in the most unlikely places. Catherine, the oldest of the Mathers sisters, is an English professor battling breast cancer with Cytoxan, red wine, and profanity. Anne is a wife and stay-at-home mother of two, struggling to make ends meet in a suburban existence that both suffocates and confounds her. Jessica, the youngest by ten years and estranged – by choice – from her family, is an exotic dancer who feels safer on stage than in a relationship. But when the sisters are faced with an incomprehensible loss, they are forced to reevaluate themselves, their damaged bonds, and their fragile future. Overwhelmed by their shared and sacred grief, Catherine, Anne, and Jessica must now face the questions that have been their silent, lifelong companions: How long must the sins of the parents define the lives of the children? When do the choices we make become ours and ours alone? What does it take to begin anew? Parting Gifts illuminates one highly dysfunctional family’s tentative, desperate crawl toward a life of meaning and worth. Author: Katrina Anne Willis Publication Date: April 19, 2017 -
2016 Foreword Indies: Gold Mystery Winner 2016 Shelf Unbound: Top 100 Notable Indie 2016 Chanticleer Awards: Mystery and Mayhem, Winner 2017 IPPY: Gold Medal Winner in Mystery/Cozy/Noir Henrietta Von Harmon works as a 26 girl at a corner bar on Chicago’s northwest side. It’s 1935, but things still aren’t looking up since the big crash and her father’s subsequent suicide, leaving Henrietta to care for her antagonistic mother and younger siblings. Henrietta is eventually persuaded to take a job as a taxi dancer at a local dance hall—and just when she’s beginning to enjoy herself, the floor matron turns up dead. When aloof Inspector Clive Howard appears on the scene, Henrietta agrees to go undercover for him—and is plunged into Chicago’s grittier underworld. Meanwhile, she’s still busy playing mother hen to her younger siblings, as well as to pesky neighborhood boy Stanley, who believes himself in love with her and keeps popping up in the most unlikely places, determined to keep Henrietta safe—even from the Inspector, if need be. Despite his efforts, however, and his penchant for messing up the Inspector’s investigation, the lovely Henrietta and the impenetrable Inspector find themselves drawn to each other in most unsuitable ways. Author: Michelle Cox Publication Date: April 19, 2016 -
Winner of the Gold Medal in the 2016 Living Now Book Awards 2016 Best Book Award Finalist in Social Change 2017 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Winner in Motivational In the course of their lifetime, one out of two men and one out of three women will be diagnosed with cancer. Many of us watch in desperation as our friends and loved ones fight for their lives. But after seeing several of her patients and her dearest aunt engage in a battle with cancer, Dr. Christine Meyer decided to embark on a quest for hope—and through happenstance and love, a team of runners emerged that empowered a community to make a difference, not only in the lives of cancer patients, but in one another’s lives. Along the way, Meyer learned that the true measure of a doctor’s success is not the number of lives saved but the number of lives touched. Author: Christine Meyer Publication Date: April 12, 2017 -
2016 USA Best Book Awards: Literary Fiction, Finalist “[Meyers] weaves a strange pattern of beautifully detailed memories, tragic events, and science into an unforgettable tale of loss, longing, and the reality that one tries to escape in order to move on.” ―Booklist Charles Lang is a renowned scientist whose wife Julie and daughter Jess vanished mysteriously several years ago. Yet Charles remembers none of this, not even his own name. All that he has left of his identity are the accidental remnants scattered throughout the house, and the only clue Charles has regarding what happened to him is a thick cap of bandages wrapped around his head. As Charles starts to have memories of the past, memories that may or may not be his own, he realizes that only by uncovering the details of his former life will he have any hope of being reunited with Julie and Jess. A haunting tale of love and longing, of fate and free will, of the blurring lines between fiction and reality, Glass Shatters explores the dangers of trying to reinvent oneself. With the lyricism of Nicole Krauss, the exhilarating suspense of Kazuo Ishiguro, and the Gothic sensibility of Mary Shelley, Michelle Meyers’s debut novel showcases a daring new voice in the contemporary literary landscape. Author: Michelle Meyers Publication Date: April 12, 2017 -
2016 Nautilus Book Awards: Gold Winner, Women’s Category 2017 Next Generation Indie Book Awards: Finalist, Women’s Issues 2017 Next Generation Indie Book Awards: Finalist, Self-Help What if you knew that limiting beliefs—feeling that who you are is not enough, that your real value is based only on what you do, or that you’ll never make a real difference in the world—were holding your innate potential hostage? In The Way of The Mysterial Woman, women’s leadership development pioneers Suzanne Anderson and Dr. Susan Cannon use their five-step source code—The Mysterial Sequence—along with complementary tools and practices, to help readers liberate their natural genius. Using nine case studies of women drawn from fifteen years of running university certificate leadership programs, Anderson and Cannon show how Empowered Radiant Presence, Joyful True Authority, and Alchemical Authenticity can be cultivated to ignite a profound ‘internal operating system’ upgrade. They also reveal how the Mysterial Sequence predicts the essence of the six major cultural stages that have emerged throughout history, and, in a fascinating twist, make some grounded predictions for a postmodern future—one far friendlier to, and more influenced by, women. Inspiring, groundbreaking, and evocatively written, The Way of The Mysterial Woman offers women an elegant, comprehensive map to unlock their greatest potential. Author: Susan Cannon and Suzanne Anderson Publication Date: April 12, 2016 -
2015/2016 Sarton Story Circle Winner in Memoir 2017 Independent Press Awards Winner in Relationships 2017 Reader Views Awards Winner in Best from West Pacific As a bereavement care specialist, Dr. Virginia Simpson has devoted her career to counseling individuals and families grappling with illness, death, and grieving. But when her own mother, Ruth, is diagnosed in 1999 with a life-threatening condition, Virginia is caught off guard by the storm of emotions she experiences when she is forced to inhabit the role of caregiver. In a quest to provide her mother with the best care possible, Virginia arranges for Ruth to move in with her—and for the next six years, she cares for her, juggling her mother’s doctor’s appointments, meals, medication schedules, transportation needs, and often cranky moods with her own busy schedule. In The Space Between, Simpson takes readers along for the journey as she struggles to bridge the invisible, often prickly space that sits between so many mothers and daughters, and to give voice to the challenges, emotions, and thoughts many caregivers experience but are too ashamed to admit. Touching and vividly human, The Space Betweenreminds us all that without accepting the inevitability of death and looking ahead to it with clarity, life cannot be fully lived. Author: Virginia A. Simpson Publication Date: April 5, 2016 -
Silver Medal Winner in Contemporary Fiction: Independent Publisher Books Awards (IPPY) Finalist: Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist: USA Best Book Awards It is the spring of 1989 in New York City when Jill Dodge, a post-punk rocker from Texas, finally gets her big promotion at Mega Big Records. She is thrust into a race to find a gritty, urban rapper before the “Gangsta” trend passes their label by. As Jill and her mostly middle-class coworkers search for the next big rap star, they fluctuate between alliances and rivalries, tripping over the stereotypes of race, class, and musical genre. They work to promote their current roster of acts and promote the new rap artist they sign to a contract. It turns out, he may not be what they expected. Full of original lyrics and wit, Start With the Backbeat is a compelling examination of the nuances of class, race, and culture in America—which are sometimes ridiculously serious. Author: Garinè B. Isassi Publication Date: April 5, 2016 -
2016 Next Generation Finalist in Women’s Issues 2016 Best Book Award Finalist in Women’s Issues 2017 Independent Press Awards Distinguished Favorite in Women’s Issues In 1998, after having been married to Duncan—a bully who’s been controlling her for the fourteen years they’ve been together—Karen E. Lee thought divorce was in the cards. But ten months after telling him that she wanted that divorce, Duncan was diagnosed with cancer—and eight months later, he was gone. Lee hoped her problems would be solved after Duncan’s death—but instead, she found that without his ranting, raving, and screaming taking up space in her life, she had her own demons to face. Luckily, Duncan had inadvertently left her the keys to her own salvation and healing—a love of Jungian psychology and a book that was to be her guide through the following years. In The Full Catastrophe, Lee explores the dreams she had during this period, the intuitive messages she learned to trust in order to heal, and her own emotional journey—including travel adventures, friends, and romances. Insightful and brutally honest, The Full Catastrophe is the story of a well educated, professional woman who, after marrying the wrong kind of man—twice—finally resurrects her life. Author: Karen E. Lee Publication Date: April 5, 2016 -
2017 IPPY Gold Medal Winner in Best Regional Fiction: South “This debut author has a knack for storytelling and great characters.” —Booklist After attending the funeral of her estranged friend Skip in Knoxville, Tennessee, Vrai (short for Vraiment), a forty-something art history librarian with sons of her own, rescues ten-year-old Jonathan, who has been abandoned with no shoes in the funeral home parking lot. The Blizzard of 1993 strands this unlikely duo at the Smoky View Motel, where, motivated in part by the unsolved murders of Jonathan’s parents, they begin to uncover the truth about Skip’s death. With elements of mystery and intrigue, True Stories at the Smoky View is primarily a novel about relationships: the love Vrai feels for her husband and sons, all of whom have left home; her friendship with Skip, which she begins to see in a new light; and her deepening bond with Jonathan. For Vrai and Jonathan, this is a story of mutual rescue—one that results in new lives for them both. Author: Jill McCroskey Coupe Publication Date: April 5, 2016 -
2016 Best Book Award Finalist in Self Help: General 2016 Next Generation Finalist in Inspiration 2016 Next Generation Finalist in Motivational 2017 Human Relations Indie Book Awards Director's Choice Award Winner for Outstanding 'Life Adjustment Book' 2017 Human Relations Indie Book Awards Silver Winner in Self-Help and Wellness 2017 Human Relations Indie Book Awards Silver Winner in Motivational 2017 Human Relations Indie Book Awards Silver Winner in Life Challenges 2017 Human Relations Indie Book Awards Silver Winner in Life Journey There are times in life that shake us to our very foundations. We wish for things to get better, fast. But the truth is that moments of “falling apart” are also our most powerful catalysts for growth and change. In Falling Together, Donna Cardillo, a registered nurse, Dr. Oz blogger, and beloved public speaker, reflects on the overwhelming challenges that fall into every life, and the renewal that comes when we are able to meet them with courage. A funny, big-hearted self-help memoir that takes on issues like divorce, caregiving, and burnout—and many women’s biggest enemies of all, fear, insecurity, and self-doubt—Falling Together shows how to turn the challenges that threaten to knock us to the ground into the building blocks we need to become more successful, more joyful, and ultimately, more alive. Author: Donna Wilk Cardillo Publication Date: April 5, 2016 -
2016 Benjamin Franklin IBPA Award Gold Medal Winner in Parenting and Family 2016 Foreward INDIE Awards Silver Medal Winner in Humor 2016 IndieFab Finalist in Humor Based on Norine Dworkin-McDaniel and Jessica Ziegler’s popular illustrated humor blog, Science of Parenthood: Thoroughly Unscientific Explanations for Utterly Baffling Parenting Situations takes the duo’s mix of high-brow science and low-brow humor to a whole new level. Using their trademark brand of quirky, witty humor, and bolstered by all kinds of slick graphs and spiffy flow charts, Dworkin-McDaniel and Ziegler dig deep into the core sciences—biology, chemistry, physics and mathematics—to help moms and dads everywhere solve for “y.” As in, “Y” is my child doing that . . . that . . . THING? And please, dear lord, is there a way to make them stop!? Anyone who’s ever wondered why the kid who plays Minecraft for hours can’t sit still for ten damn minutes to finish a math worksheet; who’s marveled at how their toddler always picks the most inopportune moment to poop; or who’s despaired of ever showering, sleeping, or finding a moment’s peace again will find this book a hilarious, enlightening, and relatable read. Author: Norine Dworkin-McDaniel and Jessica Ziegler Publication Date: November 17, 2015 -
2017 Independent Reader Discovery Awards: Winner - Health/Medicine 2016 Reader's Favorite Award: Gold Medal Winner (Non-Fiction - Health - Medical) 2016 The Beverly Hills Book Awards: Winner - Health Are you confused about vitamins? Unsure of which ones you need for optimal health, and what levels are safe? You’re not alone. Many people’s health issues could be improved with vitamins—if they only knew how to use them. In this award-winning book, The Vitamin Solution, Drs. Romy Block and Arielle Levitan provide a common-sense, medically sound approach to using vitamins to improve your diet, exercise plan, and overall health. In clear, accessible, language, they explain which vitamins and supplements can be helpful, which can be harmful, and which are altogether unnecessary; explore health topics including migraine, hair loss, fatigue, irritable bowel syndrome, hot flashes, and more; and address preventive care, providing insights on topics such as screening tests, weight loss, and preserving memory. Illuminating and accessible, The Vitamin Solution is an indispensable guide to safely incorporating vitamins and supplements into any lifestyle—one that will leave readers educated, informed, and armed with simple, everyday strategies for bettering their health. Author: Romy Block and Arielle Miller Levitan Publication Date: November 17, 2015 -
A collection of sixty-four black-and-white photographs and sixty-two poems, Unfolding in Light offers a vision of hands as images, symbols, and archetypes, allowing the numinous to shine through the mundane. Sisters Joan Scott and Claire Scott provides an intimate pause that gives the reader a quiet moment to reflect on the meaning of everyday hands: an ill child’s hands; a dying woman’s hands; hands of lovers, young and old; hands at work, at play, in pain, in prayer, and in love. Author: Joan and Claire Scott Publication Date: November 17, 2015 -
The aviation world is a man’s world—it always has been, and it continues to be so today. In fact, women make up a mere 5 to 6 percent of the total pilot population worldwide. But from the first time Erin Seidemann experienced what it was like to see the world from a small plane’s perspective, she was hooked—and she’s spent much of her time since then fighting her way into becoming one of that 5 to 6 percent. Postcards from the Sky: Adventures of an Aviatrix tells of the struggles and adventures one encounters as a woman in the male-dominated space of aviation. With humor and equanimity, Seidemann recounts her varied experiences as a female pilot—from the chauvinistic flight instructor she makes the mistake of falling in love with to the many, many customs agents who insist she can’t possibly be her plane’s owner (“Where’s your boyfriend?”)—while at the same time giving insight about just what makes flying so incredible . . . and so very addictive. Frank, funny, and full of adventure, Postcards from the Sky is an entertaining foray into a world few women have dared enter. Author: Erin Seidemann Publication Date: November 10, 2015 -
Indie Reader Discovery Awards Winner for Parenting Bronze Medal Winner Inspirational Memoir-Female Living Now Book Awards-Books for Better Living When LeeAndra Chergey is told that her son, Ryan, is no longer considered “normal,” she and her family are forced into a new way of handling the outside world. Together, Chergey’s family and a team of carefully chosen therapists put in years of hard work, and eventually teach Ryan to speak and express emotions. Through it all, Chergey follows her heart—and in the process, she learns that being “normal” is not nearly as important as providing your child with a life full of joy, love, and acceptance. Tender and candid, Make A Wish For Me is a story of accepting and tackling a disability stigmatized and misunderstood by society. Author: LeeAndra Chergey Publication Date: November 10, 2015 -
As a young girl growing up in the Midwest, Sunny is taught to think differently. Her parents are the founders of a small Christian school that practiced Socratic Discourse and encouraged its students to question everything—a lesson Sunny embraces wholeheartedly. As Sunny grows older, she begins to build the life she’s always wanted: she marries, buys a house, enrolls in graduate school, and soon has a baby on the way. But when she experiences the psychological phenomena of orgasmic labor, it triggers a chain of bizarre events, and she gradually descends into a world of delusion and paranoia. As Sunny struggles to separate the real from the unreal, she relies upon friends and family to ground her in truth and love—and keep her from going over the edge into madness. Author: Sunny Mera Publication Date: November 10, 2015 -
Winner IPPY Silver in Mystery and IndieFab Finalist in Mystery and Multicultural Fiction “One of the best mysteries I've read in a long time. Kept me from doing ten important things I should have been doing because I just had to finish it! Kate Raphael writes great women characters and does a fantastic job of portraying the realities of Palestinian life as background to a gripping story.” —Starhawk, best-selling author of The Fifth Sacred Thing and The Spiral Dance “Both [Chloe] and Rania work, in their own ways, to protect the innocent from easy labels like terrorist―labels that Raphael dismantles and examines in this provocative novel.” —Publishers Weekly When Rania—the only female Palestinian police detective in the northern West Bank, as well as a young mother in a rural community where many believe women should not have such a dangerous career—discovers the body of a foreign woman on the edge of her village, no one seems to want her look too deeply into what’s happened. But she finds an ally in Chloe—a gay, Jewish-American peace worker with a camera and a big attitude—and together, with the help of an annoying Israeli policeman, they work to solve the murder. As they do, secrets about war crimes and Israel’s thriving sex trafficking trade begin to surface—and Rania finds everything she holds dear in jeopardy. Fast-paced and intricately plotted, Murder Under The Bridge offers mystery lovers an intimate view of one of the most fraught political conflicts on the planet. Author: Kate Raphael Publication Date: November 3, 2015
