THOUGHTS ON THIS 'n THAT

  I haven't read many books that have scared the life out of me. IN DEEP WATER (StMartinsPress) is one of those books that did, and kept me reading straight through. I've often think about shark attacks when swimming in the ocean. Now I can add going out in a boat. This is the terrifying true story of a fight for survival for 28 hours in shark-infested waters. October 8, 2022. Three friends are fishing for red snapper when their boat, tied to an oil rig, begins taking on water and sinks 15 miles out in the Gulf of Mexico. Suddenly, the three men find themselves in a struggle for their lives. Their vessel succumbs to the building seas so quickly that the fisherman are unable to send out a radio Mayday call, and their cell phones have no reception. They only have time to put on their life jackets and hold onto a cooler as they are swept further out to sea. They vow to stay together no matter what and must make several life or death decisions. Suffering from hypothermia and severe...

  Eunice Carter, assistant district attorney for the City of New York and Manhattan’s first Black female prosecutor, has her sights set on the one and only Lucky Luciano, head of New York City’s five largest organized crime families. Other prosecutors have tried to bring down Lucky, but they’ve all focused on the crime syndicate’s traditional businesses—bootlegging, gambling, loan sharking, and drug dealing—or tax evasion. No one has thought to approach the mob through its hand in prostitution. Until Eunice. But she can’t get Luciano alone. Polly Adler has worked long and hard to build up her high-class brothel business. Her client list is filled with well-known names, both the famous and the infamous, who all know her booze is top-notch, her music first-rate, her food exquisite, and her girls the best. But Lucky has gone too far, putting her girls in danger, and Polly finally sees the chance to end his reign once and for all. Together, Eunice and Polly fashion a case utilizing a n...

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...

  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...

  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...

  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...