He's A Straight Shooter!

This book is the perfect gift for our lovers of sports and television. It's provocative, moving, and eye-opening.

If you like your stories delivered straight to the heart, then this is the book for you.

America’s most popular sports media figure tells it like it is in this surprisingly personal book, not only dishing out his signature, uninhibited opinions but also revealing the challenges he overcame in childhood and at ESPN, and who he really is when the cameras are off.

Obviously, I am talking about Stephen A. Smith's new book
Straight Shooter: A Memoir of Second Chances and First Takes.

Here is Smith on Good Morning America.

Stephen A. Smith has never been handed anything, nor was he an overnight success. Growing up poor in Queens, the son of Caribbean immigrants and the youngest of six children, he was a sports-obsessed kid who faced a number of struggles, from undiagnosed dyslexia to getting enough cereal to fill his bowl. As a basketball player at Winston-Salem State University, he got a glimmer of his true calling when he wrote a newspaper column arguing for the retirement of his own Hall of Fame coach, Clarence Gaines.

Smith hustled and rose up from a high school reporter at Daily News (New York) to a general sports columnist at The Philadelphia Inquirer in the 1990s, before getting his own show at ESPN in 2005. After he was unceremoniously fired from the network in 2009, he became even more determined to fight for success. He got himself rehired two years later and, with his razor-sharp intelligence and fearless debate style, found his role on the show he was destined to star in: First Take, the network’s flagship morning program.

In Straight Shooter, Smith writes about the greatest highs and deepest lows of his life and career. He gives his thoughts on Skip Bayless, Ray Rice, Colin Kaepernick, the New York Knicks, the Dallas Cowboys, and former President Donald Trump. But he also pulls back the curtain and talks about life beyond the set, sharing authentic stories about his negligent father, his loving mother, being a father himself, his battle with life-threatening COVID-19, and what he really thinks about politics and social issues. He does it all with the same intelligence, humor, and charm that has made him a household name.

"Yesterday's Tides"

We are excited to let our readers know that one of our favorite authors, Roseanna M. White (a bestselling, Christy Award winning author) has a new book releasing titled Yesterday's Tides.

Roseanna "has long claimed that words are the air she breathes."

She says, "When not writing fiction, I'm homeschooling my two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending my house will clean itself."

Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years.

"Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into my books…to offset my real life, which is blessedly ordinary."

To read more information about Roseanna go to https://www.roseannamwhite.com/about-roseanna

In Yesterday's Tides Roseanna tells us how In two world wars, intelligence and counterintelligence, prejudice, and self-sacrifice collide across two generations.

In 1942, Evie Farrow is used to life on Ocracoke Island, where every day is the same--until the German U-boats haunting their waters begin to wreak havoc. And when special agent Sterling Bertrand is washed ashore at Evie's inn, her life is turned upside down. While Sterling's injuries keep him inn-bound for weeks, making him even more anxious about the SS officer he's tracking, he becomes increasingly intrigued by Evie, who seems to be hiding secrets of her own.

Decades earlier, in 1914, Englishman Remington Culbreth arrives at the Ocracoke Inn for the summer, never expecting to fall in love with Louisa Adair, the innkeeper's daughter. But when war breaks out in Europe, their relationship is put in jeopardy and may not survive what lies ahead for them.

As the ripples from the Great War rock Evie and Sterling's lives in World War II, it seems yesterday's tides may sweep them all into danger again today.

SARAH SUNDIN, bestselling and award-winning author of The Sound of Light and Until Leaves Fall in Paris says, "Yesterday's Tides has delicious romance, fascinating history, heart-pounding mystery, and wrenching family drama. . . . Please don't miss this novel."


KRISTY CAMBRON, Christy Award-winning author of The Paris Dressmaker says, "Yesterday's Tides triumphs with raw and real emotion, pulse-pounding action, and romance that pays tribute to the legacy of yesterday to anchor the path of our tomorrows."

With these two great endorsements this is one book I must read.

Meet Sarah Jio!

Have you met the author, Sarah Jio? If not in person, then perhaps you've met her while reading one of her books. If not, let me introduce you to Sarah.

Sarah is the #1 international, New York Times bestselling author of ALWAYS, in addition to THE VIOLETS OF MARCH (a Library Journal Best Book of 2011 and a USA Today bestseller), THE BUNGALOW, BLACKBERRY WINTER (an instant New York Times and USA Today bestseller, as well as an international bestseller), THE LAST CAMELLIA (a Kirkus Books Most Anticipated Book of 2012), MORNING GLORY, and GOODNIGHT JUNE (to be published in June 2014).


To date, Sarah's novels are published in more than 30 countries, including Italy, France, Brazil, Turkey, Slovenia, Russia, China, Norway, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Spain, and many others.

A magazine writer and the former founding health and fitness blogger for Glamour Magazine, Sarah has contributed to The New York Times, Redbook, O, The Oprah Magazine, Cooking Light, Glamour, SELF, Real Simple, Fitness, Marie Claire, Hallmark magazine, Seventeen, BRIDES, Health, Bon Appetit, Gourmet, The Seattle Times, Parents, Woman's Day, Parenting, and many others. She has also appeared as a commentator on NPR's Morning Edition.

Sarah lives in Seattle and is the mother of three young sons.


Now let me introduce you to Sarah's book, With Love From London.

When a woman inherits her estranged mother’s bookstore in London’s Primrose Hill, she finds herself thrust into the pages of a new story—hers—filled with long-held family secrets, the possibility of new love, and, perhaps, the single greatest challenge of her life.

When Valentina Baker was only eleven years old, her mother, Eloise, unexpectedly fled to her native London, leaving Val and her father on their own in California. Now a librarian in her thirties, fresh out of a failed marriage and still at odds with her mother’s abandonment, Val feels disenchanted with her life.

In a bittersweet twist of fate, she receives word that Eloise has died, leaving Val the deed to her mother’s Primrose Hill apartment and the Book Garden, the storied bookshop she opened almost two decades prior. Though the news is devastating, Val jumps at the chance for a new beginning and jets across the Atlantic, hoping to learn who her mother truly was while mourning the relationship they never had.

As Val begins to piece together Eloise’s life in the U.K., she finds herself falling in love with the pastel-colored third-floor flat and the cozy, treasure-filled bookshop, soon realizing that her mother’s life was much more complicated than she ever imagined. When Val stumbles across a series of intriguing notes left in a beloved old novel, she sets out to locate the book’s mysterious former owner, though her efforts are challenged from the start, as is the Book Garden’s future. In order to save the store from financial ruin and preserve her mother’s legacy, she must rally its eccentric staff and journey deep into her mother’s secrets. With Love from London is a story about healing and loss, revealing the emotional, relatable truths about love, family, and forgiveness.

Here is one book that we can enjoy during these cold January days!

Cozy Chair, Crackling Fireplace and a Good Book in Winter!

Who doesn't like to cozy up with a blanket in a comfy chair by a glowing, crackling fireplace in winter? Throw in a cup of hot chocolate, and a good, clean, romantic book with a little mystery and you have an afternoon of delight. I recommend you grab Jennifer Deibel's new book as soon as it releases in February, 2023. The Maid of Ballymacool. Perfect book to read next to the fire on a cold winter day. (You can pre-order on Amazon.com.)

Jennifer Deibel has first hand immersive experience abroad. She writes stories that help redefine home through the lens of culture, history and family.

After nearly a decade of living in Ireland and Austria, she now lives in Arizona.

Erica Vetsch, author of the Thorndike & Swann Regency Mysteries (These are some more books you will want to put on your list) said, The Maid of Ballymacool is "A slow-building, delicious romance wrapped in a mystery!" What better endorsement can you get?

Brianna Kelly, the protagonist in the book, lives at Ballymacool House and Boarding School. She has lived here since she was a wee girl and feels she will likely die here. After all it's the only home she has ever known. Despite a sense she was made for something more, Brianna feels powerless to change her situation, so she consoles herself by exploring the Ballymacool grounds, looking for hidden treasures to add to the secret trove beneath the floorboards of her room.


When Michael Wray, the son of local gentry arrives at the school to deal with his unruly niece, he finds himself drawn to Brianna, immediately and inescapably. There is something about her that feels so familiar.

When Brianna unearths an intriguing silver platter in the woods, she commits to learning its origins. Could the handsome newcomer hold the key? If so, this discovery could change everything.

About the Author

Jennifer Deibel is the author of A Dance in Donegal (winner of the Kipp Award for Historical Romance) and The Lady of Galway Manor (a Parable Group bestseller). Her work has appeared on (in)courage, on The Better Mom, in Missions Mosaic magazine, and in other publications. With firsthand immersive experience abroad, Jennifer writes stories that help redefine home through the lens of culture, history, and family. After nearly a decade of living in Ireland and Austria, she now lives in Arizona with her husband and their three children. You can find her online at www.jenniferdeibel.com.

America's Most Dangerous Female Spy. . .

Jim Popkin

Code Name Blue Wren: The True Story of America's Most Dangerous Female Spy—and the Sister She Betrayed.

The incredible true story of Ana Montes, the most damaging female spy in US history, drawing upon never-before-seen material and to be published upon her release from prison, for readers of Agent Sonya and A Woman of No Importance.

Just days after the 9-11 attacks, a senior Pentagon analyst eased her red Toyota Echo into traffic and headed to work. She never saw the undercover cars tracking her every turn. As she settled into her cubicle on the 6th floor of the Defense Intelligence Agency in Washington, FBI Agents and twitchy DIA officers were hiding in nearby offices. For this was the day that Ana Montes--the US Intelligence Community superstar who had just won a prestigious fellowship at the CIA--was to be arrested and publicly exposed as a secret agent for Cuba.

Like spies Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen before her, Ana Montes blindsided her colleagues with brazen acts of treason. For nearly 17 years, Montes succeeded in two high-stress jobs. By day, she was one of the government’s top Cuba experts, a buttoned-down GS-14 with shockingly easy access to classified documents. By night, she was on the clock for Fidel Castro, listening to coded messages over shortwave radio, passing US secrets to handlers in local restaurants, and slipping into Havana wearing a wig.

Montes didn’t just deceive her country. Her betrayal was intensely personal. Her mercurial father was a former US Army Colonel. Her brother and sister-in-law were FBI Special Agents. And her only sister, Lucy, also worked her entire career for the Bureau. The highlight of her distinguished 31 years as a Miami-based language specialist: Helping the FBI flush Cuban spies out of the United States. Little did Lucy or her family know that the greatest Cuban spy of all was sitting right next to them at Thanksgivings, baptisms, and weddings.

In Code Name Blue Wren, investigative journalist Jim Popkin weaves the tale of two sisters who chose two very different paths, plus the unsung heroes who had to fight to bring Ana to justice. With exclusive access to a “Secret” CIA behavioral profile of Ana, family memoirs, and Ana’s incriminating letters from prison, Popkin reveals the making of a traitor—a woman labelled “one of the most damaging spies in U.S. history” by America’s top counter-intelligence official.

After more than two decades in federal prison, Montes will be freed in January 2023. Code Name Blue Wren is a thrilling detective tale, an insider’s look at the clandestine world of espionage, and an intimate exploration of the dark side of betrayal.

Jim Popkin is an investigative journalist whose work has appeared in the Washington Post, WIRED, Newsweek, Slate, The Guardian, Washingtonian, and on National Public Radio. He started and ran the NBC News Investigative Unit, where he was a Senior Producer as well as an on-air correspondent. Popkin reported for NBC News for nearly 14 years, and his stories have appeared on NBC’s TODAY Show, the NBC Nightly News, MSNBC, and CNBC. Popkin has won four national Emmy Awards for outstanding journalism, two Edward R. Murrow Awards, the George Polk Award, and was a finalist for the National Magazine Award. The American Journalism Review profiled him as one of Washington’s “most enterprising journalists.” He received a BA from Northwestern University and a Master’s in Law from Yale Law School, and lives in Washington, DC.

A Man Who Made A Difference~Helping The Homeless

The powerful story of an inspiring doctor who made a difference, by helping to create a program to care for Boston’s homeless community—by the Pulitzer Prize–winning, New York Times bestselling author of Mountains Beyond Mountains

“I couldn’t put Rough Sleepers down. I am left in awe of the human spirit and inspired to do better.”—Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting for Stone

Tracy Kidder has been described by The Baltimore Sun as a “master of the nonfiction narrative.” In Rough Sleepers, Kidder shows how one person can make a difference, as he tells the story of Dr. Jim O’Connell, a gifted man who invented ways to create a community of care for a city’s unhoused population, including those who sleep on the streets—the “rough sleepers.”

When Jim O’Connell graduated from Harvard Medical School and was nearing the end of his residency at Massachusetts General Hospital, the chief of medicine made a proposal: Would he defer a prestigious fellowship and spend a year helping to create an organization to bring health care to homeless citizens? Jim took the job because he felt he couldn’t refuse. But that year turned into his life’s calling. Tracy Kidder spent five years following Dr. O’Connell and his colleagues as they served their thousands of homeless patients. In this illuminating book we travel with O’Connell as he navigates the city, offering medical care, socks, soup, empathy, humor, and friendship to some of the city’s most endangered citizens. He emphasizes a style of medicine in which patients come first, joined with their providers in what he calls “a system of friends.” 
 
Much as he did with Paul Farmer in Mountains Beyond Mountains, Kidder explores how a small but dedicated group of people have changed countless lives by facing one of American society’s difficult problems instead of looking away.

Praise for Rough Sleepers:


“What does it mean, in our time of inequality, to care for the vulnerable in ways that strengthen the better angels of our common humanity? Tracy Kidder’s book, and the work of Dr. Jim O’Connell, connect us to unforgettable individuals, who allow us to get closer to the suffering that is only one part of what we need to see."
—Adrian Nicole LeBlanc, author of Random Family

“The nightmare of homelessness can seem both overwhelming and slightly abstract to the safely housed. That abstraction vanishes in the pages of Rough Sleepers. Tracy Kidder has reported the hell out of important stories before, but never more finely and relentlessly. The Sisyphean work of Dr. Jim O’Connell and his team, the embattled humanity of their patients living on the cold streets of Boston—it’s a story full of hard questions, a story with many heroes.”
—Bill Finnegan

“I couldn’t put Rough Sleepers down till the last page. Kidder's writing sidesteps labels like “homeless” to reveal the humanity of those who live on the streets. I agonized with the dedicated physician and the army of others who give their lives to a cause most of us pretend is invisible; I rejoiced in the fleeting victories. As with Mountains Beyond Mountains, I am left in awe of the human spirit and inspired to do better. That is Kidder’s genius.”
—Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting for Stone

“The estimable Tracy Kidder has found another unsung saint—this time not in the back country of Haiti or in genocide-ravaged Burundi, but, literally, on the streets of a major American city. And once again, as with his earlier books, this finely-crafted story sheds light on a larger landscape of injustice.”
—Adam Hochschild, author of American Midnight: The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy’s Forgotten Crisis

https://www.tracykidder.com/

Tracy Kidder graduated from Harvard and studied at the University of Iowa. He has won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the Robert F. Kennedy Award, and many other literary prizes.

Remember A Page In History~Long Overdue

Stacy Schiff

Schiff brings our attention back to a page of history in our nation. One perhaps we have forgotten yet is long overdue for remembrance.

 A Few Reviews:

"A glorious book that is as entertaining as it is vitally important.” —Ron Chernow

"A beautifully crafted, invaluable biography…Schiff ingeniously connects the past to our present and future, underscoring the lessons of Adams while reclaiming our nation’s self-evident truths at a moment when we seemed to have forgotten them." —Oprah Daily

A revelatory biography from a Pulitzer Prize-winner about the most essential Founding Father—the one who stood behind the change in thinking that produced the American Revolution.

Thomas Jefferson asserted that if there was any leader of the Revolution, “Samuel Adams was the man.” With high-minded ideals and bare-knuckle tactics, Adams led what could be called the greatest campaign of civil resistance in American history.

Stacy Schiff returns Adams to his seat of glory, introducing us to the shrewd and eloquent man who supplied the moral backbone of the American Revolution. A singular figure at a singular moment, Adams amplified the Boston Massacre. He helped to mastermind the Boston Tea Party. He employed every tool available to rally a town, a colony, and eventually a band of colonies behind him, creating the cause that created a country. For his efforts he became the most wanted man in America: When Paul Revere rode to Lexington in 1775, it was to warn Samuel Adams that he was about to be arrested for treason.

In The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams, Schiff brings her masterful skills to Adams’s improbable life, illuminating his transformation from aimless son of a well-off family to tireless, beguiling radical who mobilized the colonies. Arresting, original, and deliriously dramatic, this is a long-overdue chapter in the history of our nation.

Stacy Schiff Bio:


A Pulitzer Prize-winner, Stacy Schiff is the author of several bestselling biographies and historical works including, most recently, The Witches: Salem, 1692. Her previous book, Cleopatra: A Life, appeared on most year-end best books lists, including the New York Times’s Top Ten Books of 2010, and won the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for biography. Cleopatra was translated into 30 languages. Schiff’s other work includes Véra (Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov), winner of the Pulitzer Prize; Saint-Exupéry, a Pulitzer Prize finalist; and A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America, winner of the George Washington Book Prize, the Ambassador Award in American Studies, and the Gilbert Chinard Prize of the Institut Français d’Amérique. Schiff is a Guggenheim and NEH Fellow and was a Director’s Fellow at the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library. Among other honors, the New York Public Library named her a 2011 Library Lion, a Boston Public Library Literary Light in 2016, and in 2017 received the Lifetime Achievement Award in History and Biography from the New England Historic Genealogical Society. She received the 2019 Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award. In 2018 she was named a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture. Awarded a 2006 Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, she was inducted into the Academy in 2019. Schiff has written for The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New York Review of Books, The Times Literary Supplement, and The Los Angeles Times, among many other publications. She lives in New York City.

https://www.stacyschiff.com/

Telling Their Stories ~ Honoring our Veterans

 

K. Michael (Mike) Ware

What an honor it is for me to write the stories of American’s unsung military veterans.

For the last decade while volunteering with Diane Hight’s Forever Young Veterans Organization, I spent hundreds of hours listening to the personal war stories of the ‘average’ soldier, sailor,airmen, Marine and Coast Guardsman.

I escorted WWII, Korea and Vietnam veterans to Europe,Washington DC, New Orleans, and Pearl Harbor. I visited with them in their homes, in managed care facilities, and during honor ceremonies. 

In many cases, I listened as they reminisced about their life as they entered end of life care. In the latter, I became aware their stories were disappearing at a rapid rate and needed to be recorded for future generations.

I soon found writing their stories was a daunting task, especially with a word limit for their significant life events were many. Foremost, my words needed to tell their true story and honor their sacrifice for our great nation. I strived to tell the story through their eyes—the hardships, the glee of comradeship, the fear of battle, the taste of death be it a fellow comrade
or an enemy, and their challenges of transitioning back to civilian life. I wanted to make the veteran proud of his or her accomplishments and the world to recognize the debt we owe them for their unselfish service to the cause of freedom. 

I found myself immersed in their world and wondered if I could have served so gallantly.

A daunting task…but one worth every second spent in their presence be it listening to their words in person or pounding the keyboard at home. I am a far better citizen.

K. Michael Ware is a retired Air Force fighter pilot and airline pilot. He is a published author and motivational speaker. His passions include volunteering, writing, and golf. He and wife Suzanne have been married 45+ years, have three married children and 10 grandchildren. He resides in Travelers Rest, SC.

First Week of January!

The first week of January we celebrate not just the New Year but "Life".

Hope all of your week was rewarding.


Fluffy Wolf Publishing has a great book for all of us to try:

Happy New Year Coloring Book: Funny and Cute New Year Coloring Pages| New Year Eve Coloring for Women, Teen, Senior | December and New Year Coloring Pages, Anti Stress and Anxiety Coloring Book.

Feeling stressed? Bored? Needing something to pass the time? Let our coloring book pages take you back to a simpler time. Your mind will be at ease and the stress will melt away, even for a brief time.
Teen & Adults, Kids, will enjoy coloring all of these unique coloring pages.

What a great way to start the first week, releasing our stress and just enjoying our time.
Have Fun!

Meet Donna Ball from the Northeast Georgia Mountains

                                                              

Northeast Georgia Mountains

If you don't know Donna Ball here is your chance to get to know Donna and her writing.

Donna Ball published her first book in 1982. Since that time she has written over 100 books under pseudonyms that include Rebecca Flanders, Donna Carlisle, Leigh Bristol, Taylor Brady, and Donna Boyd. 

Though she has been published virtually in every genre, she is best known for her work in women's fiction and suspense. Her novels have been translated into multiple languages and published around the world.

She is the holder of the Storytelling World award, 2001, the Georgia Author of the Year Award, 2000, Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Awards for consecutive years 1991-1996, the Georgia Romance Writer's Maggie Award, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from Romantic Times, among others.

Donna lives in the heart of the Blue Ridge Divide in a restored Victorian barn which was the inspiration for the bestselling A YEAR ON LADYBUG FARM. She spends her spare time hiking, painting, and enjoying canine sports with her three dogs.

In September of 2022, she released an Epic Installment ( her 15th book) in the Raine Stockton Dog Mystery Series titled The Judge's Daughter. All her fans of this series are excited to get this 15th book in the series.

In this pivotal fifteenth book in the ground-breaking Raine Stockton Dog Mystery Series, the death of an old friend leaves Raine Stockton with an unwanted inheritance, an old wound reopened, and the most challenging mystery of her life.

The name Stockton has always carried weight in the small Smokey Mountain community of Hanover County, North Carolina, and Judge Jonathon Stockton was one of the most respected men in the county… until a scandal was uncovered that destroyed his legacy and shook his daughter, Raine, to the very foundation of her being. Now her father’s misdeeds are once again threatening to upend Raine’s world, this time in the form of a relative she never knew she had.

Both Raine’s ex-husband, county investigator Buck Lawson, and her fiancé, Miles Young, warn Raine that Casey Macintosh is not what he appears to be. But while Raine is not as naïve as either man seems to suspect, she finds herself unwillingly charmed by this stranger who claims to be her long-lost brother, and more curious than suspicious. But the more she learns about Casey the more she realizes that he is not only deceptive, he may also be dangerous.

Raine and her search-and-rescue golden retriever, Cisco, have spent their lives rescuing others who have stumbled off the trail. She has never faced a crisis she couldn’t manage with the help of her devoted dog and her friends. But with Buck in the midst of an out-of-state move and a new county prosecutor looking to make a name for himself, Raine soon finds herself entangled in a desperate situation with no way out and no one to turn to. This time, she is not the savior, but the victim. And not even Cisco can help her now.

You will love her blog. Be sure and drop in and see the information "Writing Without A Net". 

https://www.donnaballblog.com/

We hope you will enjoy her new book as much as we did.

Happy Reading?

Color For Me and You!

 So why are we introducing the new color of 2023? Here is an excerpt: 

Color can establish mood, provide clues to the emotional states of characters, highlight particular objects in illustrations, and signal links between characters and/or objects. ..

https://eric.ed.gov/?q=color+for+books&id=EJ1271575

Are the covers of the new books being published in 2023 showcasing the new color of 2023 to bring eye attention to their books?

The books below have a variant of the color either in the font or the picture that is on the cover. I went through seventeen books to find these five.

2023

2023

2023

2023

2023

These year it will be interesting to follow the books being published and see not only the varients of the viva magenta being used on their covers or font but to see how many publishers take advantage of using that color.


Happy New Year everyone! Let us all pray for a blessed and safe new year.

Happy New Year