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NOTES FROM PLANET WIDOW: Finding my way after loss by Gwen Suesse - Synopsis, Excerpt, Gwen's Thoughts

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Loss has a way of altering everything at once. Familiar routines become unfamiliar. Silence takes on new meaning. Even ordinary moments can feel impossible to navigate. In Notes from Planet Widow , Gwen Suesse writes from inside that reality, offering an intimate and deeply human account of grief after the sudden death of her husband. Rather than presenting formulas or promises of healing, the book explores what it means to live through disorientation one day at a time. Through reflections shaped by loneliness, fear, anger, memory, and unexpected moments of grace, Suesse examines how grief changes not only daily life, but also identity, relationships, and a person’s understanding of themselves. The result is a thoughtful, compassionate work for readers searching not for easy reassurance, but for honesty, recognition, and the quiet possibility of finding steadier ground again. EXCERPT PLANET WIDOW. A desolate, hostile land. Bleak. Unfamiliar. Foreign. So far away until suddenly it was n...
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DANCE LIKE NOBODY'S WATCHING by Michelle Wadleigh - Spotlight

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  Unearth your sacred, authentic self in this bold guide to inner transformation. In  Dance Like Nobody’s Watching (St. Martin's Press) , spiritual teacher and forgiveness authority Michelle Wadleigh invites you on a transformative journey through the twelve essential dimensions of self—from Self-Awareness to Self-Love. With each chapter, you are guided through illuminating truths, gentle provocations, and practical soul work to uncover the power, presence, and potential already within you. Drawing from her lifetime of spiritual practice, teaching, and lived experience, Wadleigh offers a grounded yet poetic path toward embodied freedom. Combining the  insights of beloved spiritual traditions with the tools of modern coaching,  Dance Like Nobody’s Watching  helps readers confront internalized beliefs that keep them small—such as  self-criticism, shame, and unworthiness—and replace them with liberating practices of self-inquiry, self-forgiveness, and self-exp...
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SOMEBODY WORTH KILLING by Jessica Payne - Spotlight

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  In SOMEBODY WORTH KILLING (Berkley) by Jessica Payne, Nadia Davis is living the dream as a successful working mom with a career she loves, two adorable little girls, and a devoted husband who has no idea that she’s secretly a hired assassin and psychopath who kills certified bad guys.  So when Nadia finds out she’s been “mommy tracked” by her assassin’s agency and is no longer getting the bigger, more exciting jobs, she demands an important mark…somebody worth killing.   But it turns out that big kill is the last person she expects—her husband. How is the sweet, kind, teller-of-dad jokes she’s promised her life to an evil villain who needs exterminating? Has their whole life together been a lie?  Now Nadia must choose between the two things she loves most in life, the career that keeps her sane or the family she thought she knew. Jessica Payne  lives in Washington State with her daughter and husband and an internet search history that would raise eyebrows. A f...
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THE GEOGRAPHY OF DESIRE by Linda Gambill - Spotlight

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  It's 1978, and twenty-four-year-old Linda Gambill is stuck with a dead-end job, a nightly marijuana habit, and a troubled relationship with a former professor. Desperate to explore the world and find her place in it, she makes good on a long-held dream. She joins the Peace Corps.  A year later, she arrives in Medina, a devout Muslim village in The Gambia, West Africa. She's tasked with teaching health and nutrition to the village women, but they have no confidence in a young white woman trying to change their ways. Instead of finding a sense of belonging, Linda becomes so depressed she can barely leave her hut.  When tragedy strikes, her perspective shifts from self-absorption to service. She learns the local language, forges friendships, and begins to make her mark on the village, all the while falling in love with two very different men.  But it is only when violence erupts that the course of her life becomes clear.  Richly sensual and poignant,  The Ge...
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THE CHATEAU ON SUNSET by Natasha Lester - Spotlight

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  In 1957, newly orphaned Aria Jones is sent to live with her aunt, a fading star who hides away in Hollywood's infamous Chateau Marmont. There, two aspiring actresses, Calliope and Flitter, take grieving Aria under their wing. But the Marmont isn't meant for small girls with big hearts, and Aria's first few nights reveal an insidious secret that continues to haunt her as she grows up in the hotel's halls, where the bright lights of Hollywood cast even darker shadows. If Aria can just stay invisible and invite no trouble as she saves money, then she can leave the Marmont and live life on her own terms—alone, but free.  All her carefully laid plans are shattered when the hotel is bought by Theo Winchester: a reclusive rockstar turned unexpected caretaker of his daughter, Adele, and unlike any man Aria has met before. To earn the last bit of money she needs to escape, Aria becomes Adele's tutor, which brings Aria closer to Theo and ignites a passion she never expected...
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THE FORTY-YEAR GRUDGE by Liza Tully - Spotlight

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  THE FORTY-YEAR GRUDGE by Liza Tully is the second book in the "Merritt and Blunt Mysteries series." When the World’s Greatest Detective reunites with her college friends, she discovers that time doesn’t heal all wounds. It’s been four decades since the women of Sigma Delta Tau were last together. The passing years, growing families, and maturing careers may have strained the bonds of sisterhood, but now a reunion at the Western ranch of one member offers an opportunity to renew acquaintances…and at least one long-standing grudge. Still, this weekend is supposed to be a pleasant diversion for former sorority member and current private investigator Aubrey Merritt. She’s come to New Mexico to reconnect with old friends and she’s brought along her personal assistant, Olivia Blunt—an aspiring detective who is learning more about packing bags on this trip than about solving crimes. The shocking murder of a sorority sister changes everything. With the local police overmatched, all...
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NANTUCKET SECOND CHANCES by Pamela Kelley - Spotlight

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Nantucket is the perfect place for a new beginning. Claire Shipman never imagined she'd be the single mom of a teenager, going through a contentious divorce, and unexpectedly pregnant. On the bright side, at least she's on Nantucket, where she grew up, and where her mother and grandmother welcome her home with open arms. For years, Claire lived an enviable Manhattan lifestyle. Until her ex had a marriage-ending affair, lost his job, and lost all their money. Claire's high school friends invite her to their book club, and an offhand joke that she could sell one of her Hermes bags sparks a business idea.  Her friend's brother, Cody, is a furniture builder with a spare storefront. He's initially skeptical about the prospects of a "used handbag shop". But Claire is determined. With the support of Lily, her mother, grandmother, old friends, and new ones, she begins to build a true second chance at a new life. b Pamela Kelley is a USA Today and Wall Street Journ...
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