-
For adventurous fiction lovers, this debut novel tells the story of a young geologist working with ancient rocks who finds herself in present mortal danger when Mount St. Helens erupts with catastrophic power. After an inspiring trip to the Grand Canyon, Lauren Brown falls in love with geology—so much so that she convinces her husband, Kenny, to follow her from Philadelphia to East Texas, where she enters a male-dominated graduate program at Texas Polytechnic. Lauren thrives on the adventure geology affords her—studying undersea volcanoes, shepherding clueless undergraduates in a remote national park, and climbing canyons in Oregon to collect rock samples—but at home, things are deteriorating. After separating from her straying husband, she becomes best friends with Chris, an honorable male colleague who helps her fend off a predatory professor. When Mount St. Helens awakens, geologists from all over the world flock to Washington. Lauren is determined to be part of the action and witness an erupting volcano. The dream event of a lifetime is at hand. On a Saturday in May, she and Kenny, with whom she has reconciled, convene with Chris to stake out Mount St. Helens. The first day, the mountain remains annoyingly quiet. The next day, it erupts with catastrophic power—and irreversibly upends Lauren’s life. Author: Susan Sizer Bogue Publication Date: May 6, 2025 -
“. . . a survival story of the highest order, navigating the complex terrain of marriage, medical crisis, and a future reimagined.” —CAROLINE VAN HEMERT, award-winning author of The Sun is a Compass A marine biologist’s adventurous life as a professor and mother in Alaska is upended when her healthy husband is slammed by a rare type of stroke. His radical approach to recovery clashes with her instinct to keep him safe at home and sets them on a collision course as he insists on ambitious sailing expeditions with Beth and their young son in Alaska’s magnificent yet unforgiving waters. Author: Beth Ann Mathews Publication Date: May 2, 2023 -
Eve Sprunt, a shy young woman with big ambitions, dreams of a life that includes both scientific work and a family. In 1969, she enters MIT, where women are still a small minority on campus and skepticism follows her every step. As she advances academically, Eve confronts professors who underestimate her—and others who cross professional boundaries. One mentor, however, urges her toward a PhD at Stanford, where she becomes the first woman to earn a doctorate in geophysics. Nine months after defending her thesis, Eve gives birth to her first child—then interviews for jobs with her baby in tow. Six oil companies make offers. When she begins work in Dallas, her carefully laid plans unravel, forcing her to reinvent herself as a petroleum engineer. Over a thirty-five-year career in the oil and gas industry, Eve repeatedly adapts to workplace bias, shifting markets, and high-stakes corporate culture, transforming setbacks into new opportunities for growth, global adventures, and leadership. In Defending My Work, Eve shares her remarkable journey as a woman navigating—and succeeding in—a male-dominated field, offering practical guidance, encouragement, and hard-won insight for readers of all ages. Author: Eve Sprunt Publication Date: November 10, 2026 -
Del Rio, California, a once-thriving Central Valley farm town, is now filled with run-down Dollar Stores, llanterias, carnicerias, and shabby mini-marts that sell one-way bus tickets straight to Tijuana on the Flecha Amarilla line. It’s a place you drive through with windows up and doors locked, especially at night—a place the locals call Cartel Country. While it’s no longer the California of postcards, for local District Attorney Callie McCall, her dying hometown is the perfect place to launch a political career and try to make a difference. But when the dismembered body of a migrant teen is found in one of Del Rio’s surrounding citrus groves, Callie faces a career make-or-break case that takes her on a dangerous journey down the violent west coast of Mexico, to a tropical paradise hiding a terrible secret, and finally back home again, where her determination to find the killer pits her against the wealthiest, most politically connected, most ruthless farming family in California: her own. Publication Date: May 18, 2021 Author: Jane Rosenthal -
Jessica Fischer wants nothing more than to build her law practice in small-town Ashton, Georgia. She’s well on her way when the local town hero, football coach Frank “Tripp” Wishingham III, hires her to represent him in a paternity suit. Coach is everything Jessica despises—arrogant, sexist, entitled—but it’s her job to make him look good in public. This is made doubly difficult when her burgeoning relationship with a local reporter gets in the way of telling the truth. Are things as black and white as Jessica thinks? And can she find a way to succeed without compromising her own personal values—or her personal life? Author: Lori B. Duff Publication Date: November 12, 2024 -
For fans of the new Matlock reboot, a legal thriller featuring an idealistic young lawyer who believes her bruised and abused client . . . even after discovering that client is keeping secrets that are beyond belief. Attorney Jessica Fischer is back, and this time she feels good about helping her client. Susan Wolan is the wife of a county commissioner and the victim of domestic violence. Jessica knows the abuse happened—she’s seen the handprints on Susan’s body. But she also suspects her client is holding something back from her. What is it—and can she help save Susan from her powerful and connected abuser without damaging her own career? As if all this weren’t enough, Jessica is simultaneously forced to deal with her estranged father, who has just come back into her life with secrets of his own. After a fall lands him in the emergency room, Jessica realizes that he and her paralegal, Diane—a person she depends on to keep her sane—might be falling for each other. She wonders if she’ll be able to stop herself from falling . . . apart. Author: Lori B. Duff Publication Date: October 7, 2025 -
When Adrienne Rubin enters into the jewelry business in 1970s Los Angeles, she is a maverick in a world dominated by men. She soon meets a young hotshot salesman who doesn’t seem to struggle at all, and when he asks her to be his partner, she is excited to join him. She doesn’t know him well, but she does know his father, and she believes he is as trustworthy as the day is long . . . Diamonds and Scoundrels shows us how a woman in a man’s world, with tenacity and sheer determination, can earn respect and obtain a true sense of accomplishment. Following Rubin’s experiences in the jewelry industry through the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s—with the ups and downs, good guys and bad—this is a tale of personal growth, of how to overcome challenges with courage and resilience. It’s a story for the woman today who, in addition to a rich family life, seeks a self-realized, fulfilling path toward a life well lived. Author: Adrienne Rubin Publication Date: September 17, 2019 -
Leora, a juvenile court judge, wife, mother, and daughter, is caught in the routine of work, taking care of her family and aging parents, and playing it safe. But she’s also a second-generation Holocaust survivor. It’s an identity she didn’t understand was hers until she accidentally discovered a secret file of handwritten notes addressed to her father. A further discovery of a seemingly random WWII postcard in a thrift store sets her on a collision course with the past in this lyrical memoir about secrets hidden within secrets, both present-day and buried deep within wartime Europe. Author: Leora Krygier Publication Date: August 24, 2021 -
We live in a critical and oftentimes violent world. People are afraid to talk about what they feel, think, or believe. They withhold energy for fear of being ridiculed, punished, or excluded. They hide their deepest dreams and desires away and cover them up with doubt, insecurity, old experiences, and fears. Cynthia James know this—because that was her experience. Covering seven decades of living, traveling, and growing, Does My Voice Matter? follows James’s journey of self-discovery and authenticity as she gradually recognizes that she has a voice—and learns how to use it. She uses her own life experiences as a backdrop for her exploration of how the voice is used as a tool of engagement; how a singular or collective voice can enhance empowerment, transparency, and accountability; and, finally, how expression can develop new ideas, shift cultures, political views, transform organizations, create laws, and improve lives. Written for anyone who wants to discover the power within that makes them special, Does My Voice Matter? has a vital message: Uniqueness is your own glorious imprint on this planet, and it is calling you to come out. It doesn’t matter if your awakening is large or small, it doesn’t matter what your age, race, religion, or history is—anyone can begin right where they are, right now. Author: Cynthia Jones Publication Date: September 27, 2022 -
2017 International Book Awards Winner in Animals/Pets 2017 Living Now Awards Gold Medal Winner in Animals/Pets Written for the dog and cat lover, animal advocate, and fan of natural medicine, Dog as My Doctor, Cat as My Nurse reveals how our timeless relationships with our beloved animal friends hold the keys to our optimal health. Acupuncturist, plant-based nutritional consultant, and animal advocate Carlyn Montes De Oca weaves together an insightful tapestry of prescriptive advice, personal stories about her lively “six-pack” of rescue dogs and cats, and testimonials from other dog and cat lovers, including best-selling author Jack Canfield. In an age when most people will suffer from a preventable chronic disease, Dog as My Doctor, Cat as My Nurse opens readers eyes’ to the fact that our beloved companion animals can be some of the most powerful allies we will ever have on the journey towards a healthier, happier, and more extraordinary life. Author: Carlyn Montes De Oca Publication Date: April 18, 2017 -
Patricia Eagle’s account of her lifetime of relationships with dogs reveals the clarity, strength, and wisdom she gained from them, even in the most challenging of situations, over six decades. As Eagle chronicles the lives of her ten dogs over seven decades and the lessons she’s learned from them—including how to become a better dog owner and companion, and even a better human—her dogs come alive on the page, each with their own unique personality, from the feisty to the meek. If you are a dog person, if you are considering getting a dog yourself, or if you want to better understand someone who loves dogs—this book is for you. With the benefit of Eagle’s hard-earned wisdom, discover how dogs can change you and can help you learn to listen better, to trust and be trusted, to nurture with devotion, and to love with all your heart. Author: Patricia Eagle Publication Date: March 18, 2025 -
"In this new edition of her memoir, Linda Joy Myers illustrates just how powerful the combination of memory confronted, forgiveness offered, and new love expressed, can be. What I admire most about this book is the way the author takes you to her most sustaining love -- the prairie land of the Midwest -- and concludes her story as a return to that place where forgiveness becomes "a feather on my heart, as natural as the plains wind." -Shirley Showalter, former president of Goshen College, author of the blog I Have a Story. “I wanted to tell the secret stories that my great-grandmother Blanche whispered to me on summer nights in a featherbed in Iowa. I was eight and she was eighty . . .” At the age of four, a little girl stands on a cold, windy railroad platform in Wichita, Kansas, watching a train take her mother away. For the rest of her life, her mother will be an only occasional—and always troubled—visitor who denies her the love she longs for. Linda Joy Myers’s compassionate, gripping, and soul-searching memoir tells the story of three generations of daughters who, though determined to be different from their absent mothers, ultimately follow in their footsteps, recreating a pattern that they yearn to break. Accompany Linda as she uncovers family secrets, seeks solace in music, and begins her healing journey—ultimately transcending the prison of her childhood and finding forgiveness for her family and herself. This edition includes a new afterword in which Myers confronts her family’s legacy and comes full circle with her daughter and grandchildren, seeding a new path for them. Author: Linda Joy Myers Publication Date: February 1, 2013 -
As a young girl in the Midwest, Constance Hanstedt was consumed by fear—of her parents, especially her disapproving mother, of social situations, and of people in general. Unable to connect with those around her, she embraced perfectionism as a substitute for love. Raising her own family eased some of Hanstedt’s self-doubt, but even as an adult, she remained guarded around her mother, avoiding conflict with her at all costs. Still, when her mother developed Alzheimer’s, Hanstedt did what the perfect daughter she’d always struggled to be would do: she returned to the Midwestern town where she was raised to care for a mother who could no longer care for herself. In Don’t Leave Yet, Hanstedt recounts her journey toward facing her fears and rising above the past; her mother’s unrelenting bitterness toward life, even as she loses her memories of it; and her unexpected discovery of an emotion that reaches beyond familial duty: compassion. Author: Constance Hanstedt Publication Date: April 21, 2015 -
For James Herriot fans and pet lovers, a modern-day, funny-yet-poignant memoir about what it is like to be the only person in a small family not employed in the veterinary profession. Patti Eddington should have known when she married her veterinary student boyfriend that she would spend anniversary and birthday dinners not sitting at tables at fancy restaurants but kneeling under a surgery table in a cocktail dress, desperately trying to mop up a steady stream of blood and urine with cheap paper towels. She should have guessed that every knock at the door or ring of the phone would mean her husband would be torn away from the family for hours—sometimes returning deflated, sometimes smiling. But she could never have dreamed that her beautiful, curly-haired young daughter would one day bathe and sleep with an inflatable tick (until the day it was mysteriously punctured by a salad fork) or that she would go through her marriage of forty-five years opening every freezer door with caution. Don’t Look in the Freezer is a humorous, poignant, loving look into the sometimes strange, mostly unglamorous, life of a veterinarian’s wife. Patti’s little family is not at all like that of famous veterinarian James Herriot’s—but is still absolutely filled with compassion and love for animals and the people who adore them. Author: Patti Eddington Publication Date: April 28, 2026 -
In the aftermath of World War II, the members of the Sutton family are reeling from the death of their “golden boy,” Eddie. Over the next twenty-five years, they all struggle with loss, grief, and mourning. Daughter Harriet and son Nat attempt to fill the void Eddie left behind: Harriet becomes a chemist despite an inhospitable culture for career women in the 1940s and ’50s, hoping to move into the family business in New Jersey, while Nat aims to be a jazz musician. Both fight with their autocratic father, George, over their professional ambitions as they come of age. Their mother, Eleanor, who has PTSD as a result of driving an ambulance during the Great War, wrestles with guilt over never telling Eddie about the horrors of war before he enlisted. As the members of the family attempt to rebuild their lives, they pay high prices, including divorce and alcoholism―but in the end, they all make peace with their losses, each in his or her own way. Author: Ames Sheldon Publication Date: August 27, 2019 -
“Why is this moment happening in my life and what can I learn from it?” Michelle Douglas asked and answered this question almost every day for ten years, writing down one thing she learned each day from ages twenty-one to thirty-one. In these pages, she shares her experiences and learnings from the adventures that lie ahead for young adults—moving, working, loving, losing, quitting, building, and more, all while attempting to maintain a strong sense of self. Written for anyone just starting out or suddenly starting over, this field guide—part advice book, part journal—will help you discover the very important yet not-so-obvious lessons to be learned in your own life right now. Things like . . .- the weakness isn’t necessarily where the leak is
- surround yourself with people who are willing to lift while they climb
- you can’t change the shape of a piece to force it into your puzzle
- don’t go looking for love, go looking for things you love to do
- it’s what you bring to the table, not how long you’ve been sitting at it
-
Edna and Leo, a perpetually waring, tyrannical pair in their 80s, begin wintering In Mexico, where they abandon their usual prudence to embrace adventure and a bevy of sketchy new friends. Soon, Edna adopts a pair of wacky, shyster builders whom she trusts over her own architect-daughter Elizabeth, and a farcical house results. Blithely indifferent to the calamities that result, the pair refuse all help from their too-compliant only child. Later, following her mother’s sudden death, Elizabeth’s wise, principled father attempts to fill his late wife’s shoes with a string of loopy, live-in housekeepers—with privileges, he hopes. Before it is over the Mexican escapade will bring down the kind of disasters commonly found in pulp fiction. Why can’t Elizabeth stop any of this from happening? No matter the madness, she cannot confront her parents any more than she ever could. In the end, the surprising way in which they come undone reveals just what they spent their lives trying to hide, thereby setting her free. Though unique in its loony details, Don’t Say A Word! will resonate with beleaguered adult-children everywhere who will recognize the special misery of watching, helpless, as stubborn, diminished parents careen precariously toward the end of life. Publication Date: May 11, 2021 Author: Elizabeth Roper Marcus -
Mona is living the dream . . . until, at thirty-eight, her busy stay-at-home-mom life is upended. Her grandmother moves into assisted living, her teenager, Grace, doesn’t need her anymore, her charity work kicks her to the curb, and none of her friends are showing up for her. Suddenly, Mona has no purpose—unless you count stress-eating. But she seems to be the only one struggling. Shy Grace—ignoring her mother’s dreams for her to join the “it kids” in drama club—is off finding her voice (and a new band) at Bubby’s retirement home and making friends. Even Bubby’s too busy fending off resident mean girls and finding romance to pay Mona much mind. Then, on top of it all, Mona’s twenty-year high school reunion goes viral for all the wrong reasons, leaving her convinced she’s wasted her life. But when tragedy strikes, she is forced to face the truth: The only person who can make you feel small is you—and sometimes you have to lose everything you thought defined you to find what truly matters. Heartfelt, funny, and refreshingly honest, Drama Drama Drama is a celebration of second acts, self-worth, and learning to skip the drama and live your own life. Author: Gerilyn Bass Greenberg Publication Date: October 20, 2026 -
“…Animal antics are on full, delightful display throughout these pages—and so is the pain of losing them, always affectingly related by the author.” —Kirkus Reviews Mary Carlson didn't start out to become a veterinarian, let alone the owner and caretaker of cats (many), dogs (two, both huskies), and horses (some with manners, some without) in Colorado. She was a suburban Chicago girl; all she knew of the American West came from the stories her uncle, who had settled in northern Colorado, told her during his annual visits. But thanks to him, she ended up moving to Fort Collins, Colorado for college―and after falling in love with a man she'd become friends with in her final year of college, when he was a student at the CSU School of Veterinary Medicine, she remained there. Watching the work Earl did as a veterinarian inspired Mary to eventually leave her tenured teaching position and enter vet school, after which she opened her own, feline-exclusive clinic. Along the way, there were numerous pets, grueling years of vet school, a shattered hip, an enduring love, illness, and death―and the rediscovery that life, especially a life full of delightful animals, is worth living. Author: Mary Carlson, DVM Publication Date: August 28, 2018 -
Have you ever driven home from work wearing nothing but a pair of rubber boots? For Dr. Melinda McCall, a large animal veterinarian in rural Virginia, this is living the dream. Caring for cattle, goats, sheep, pigs, llamas, and the occasional alpaca, unusual mishaps and mind-blowing adventures abound. Getting caught driving home naked after a tough day at work is just another day at the office for Dr. Melinda. Ride along in the vet truck as this fearless vet confronts every obstacle that crosses her path while building a thriving veterinary practice with an all-female foundation. She prevails through a fractured skull, back surgery, rare zoonotic diseases, and other extreme challenges. With stubbornness and grit, she surpasses the expectations of adversaries, including her own father, to become the owner of a successful veterinary business and mother of an inquisitive, spirited young daughter. Offering a firsthand glimpse into the fascinating world of veterinary medicine, Driving Home Naked is a smart, riveting, and heartfelt memoir that will captivate animal lovers and inspire people to follow their dreams on any scale. Buckle up for a wild ride. Author: Melinda G. McCall, DVM Pub Date: August 8, 2023 -
2016 Best Book Award Finalist, Self-Help: General “Drop In is a potent and practical guide for the journey of turning inward, but there is an even more powerful aspect to this book. Sara Harvey Yao warmly and continually points the reader to foundational truths about the human experience and offers perspectives that have the potential to radically and positively shift your orientation to leadership and life.” —Cy Wakeman, New York Times best-selling author of Reality Based Leadership In a society that deeply values productivity, speed, and external rewards, we often find ourselves with less of what we really long for: space, clarity, connection with others, and a sense of well-being. Our attempts to improve our lives and bottom lines by adding more to our calendars, expanding our to-do lists, and constantly being plugged in to technology is backfiring. Instead of getting more done, our minds are spinning, leaving us stressed, disconnected, and unable to focus. Drop In challenges our assumptions about the effectiveness of our busy lives and offers a compelling alternative approach to success by inviting people to learn how to “drop in” to the present moment. Deepening our awareness of the present moment, asserts Sara Harvey Yao, is the most efficient and sustainable way to navigate the complexities of work and life and to access our clarity, connection, and courage so we can lead more powerfully. Full of practical tools, Drop In will help busy professionals get out of the spin cycle of their minds and tune in to their already-existing wisdom and clarity. Author: Sara Harvey Yao Publication Date: October 4, 2016 -
Though educated as a painter, fifty-three-year-old Lee MacPhearson has lived her life coloring inside of the lines. The quintessential working mother of four, Lee has been the proper faculty wife—an ill-fitting role at best—while somehow managing to nurture her passion project, Mad Dog Gallery, into one of the Pacific Northwest’s most notable galleries. The casualty in all of this has been Lee’s marriage—and her sense of self. Having just delivered her last child to college, Lee is overwhelmed by her empty nest, and she’s left wondering what happened to the woman she once was. Ultimately, however, Barb Yakamura, Lee’s best friend and the brilliant and irreverent Artistic Director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, is the one who truly overflows with ideas about what Lee should do—including one that leads Lee, Brian, and the entire MacPhearson family to an ending they never expected. Author: Tracey Barnes Priestley Publication Date: May 14, 2013 -
For fans of Jeannette Walls, Jodi Picoult, and Alice Sebold, a heartening memoir about a girl who survives abuse and molestation to become a powerful advocate against gun violence in America. The inspiring memoir of a woman who overcomes the physical, emotional, and sexual abuse of her early life to blossom into a gun violence prevention activist. Growing up in a toxic, male-centered household where she’s repeatedly told, “Don’t be a dumb girl,” Heidi’s abused by her dad—starting with a punch in the face at five years old—and left to fend for herself by her alcoholic mom, who neglects to protect her from either her violent father or her brother who molests her. For years, Heidi’s traumatized and without a voice. Then comes Columbine. Thirteen years after Heidi graduates from Columbine High, this horrific school shooting rocks the nation—and gives her a sudden sense of purpose. Despite her childhood wounds, or perhaps even because of them, she becomes determined to stop gun violence. Gradually, she finds her voice: organizing vigils and protests, joining the Brady Campaign Board to battle the NRA, and eventually writing a book and directing a documentary about the after-effects of gun violence. In doing so, she finds her inner strength and resolve and overcomes her fear of conflict—and learns that when you frame it the right way, even being “dumb” can be a superpower. Author: Heidi Yewman Publication Date: August 19, 2025 -
“The essays in Dumped are ferocious and loving, devastating and hopeful, insightful and perplexing. A savage, thorny look at friendship... and a rare, uncensored, sometimes terrifying glimpse into the female psyche.” —Neil White, author of In the Sanctuary of Outcasts and publisher There are 161 million women in America today, and our friendships are still as primary and universal as back when Ruth and Naomi, Elizabeth and Susan B., Lucy and Ethel, and Thelma and Louise made history. And that’s what makes being dumped by a woman friend so excruciating: you expect romantic relationships to break up eventually—but you don’t expect it from your friendships. And when it happens, you feel as though there should be an Adele song for you—but there isn’t. Dumped: Women Unfriending Women fills that void, exploring the universal experience of being discarded by those from whom you expected more. The essays in Dumped aren’t stories of friendship dying a mutually agreed upon death, or of falling out of touch and reconnecting years later to find you haven’t missed a beat. These are stories by established and emerging authors who, like you, may have found themselves erased, without context. These, like your own, are stories that stay with you, maybe for a lifetime. Author: Nina Gaby Publication Date: March 3, 2015
