Midlife is more than a crisis. It is a summons to grow and a challenge to change. Midlife beckons one inward. It is a move to interiority, a passage to the deeper places where we discover our authenticity, where we realize both our limitations and our grandeur.

“The world is broken. I am broken. And my need is dire.” This stark revelation is the path to divine surrender. Our courage has a chance to flourish when we reach a point where we have no control and nothing to lose. In a series of letters, Rebecca Reynolds uses imagery to breathe truth to the lonely, the weary, the restless, and afraid. If you feel the ache of brokenness, you will be refreshed by the source of all courage illuminated in these pages. God is available and wants to join you, in the midst of any mess. You can take heart. As Aslan of Narnia whispered (and only Lucy heard), Courage, dear heart.

Long beloved for her artful prayers, best-selling author Joyce Rupp presents an entirely new collection of 106 meditative poems on a theme she has woven masterfully through all her writing--the pain of loss and the hope of restoration. My Soul Feels Lean is a journey into compassion. Drawing on insights from her Christian faith and a lifelong connection to the Iowa farmland of her birth, Joyce Rupp explores themes of loss and restoration in this luminous collection of poems. Returning to an undercurrent in her work since the publication of Praying Our Goodbyes, Rupp offers here sensitive insights on the pain of loss and the hope she finds when she is willing to let go and trust. Rupp's leanness of soul has taught her to observe and celebrate the harsh beauty of life. "Loss has encouraged me to find joy and meaning here instead of pining for it elsewhere," she writes, "to live more simply and be content with less, to appreciate more fully what I now have."

I didn't plan on him.... Or for him. Or anything that had to do with Cal Donovan from Boston. Meeting him had been a complete and utter surprise, taking me completely off guard. I met new people every single day in my line of work and none of them affected me. Wasn't that the way of things though? You could meet a thousand people and none of them would mean anything to you, but then you'd meet one and they suddenly meant everything. I was a self-professed workaholic. When did making yourself your number one priority become such a horrible thing? I wasn't entirely sure, but I learned fairly quickly after my last breakup that men didn't like being second on a woman's priority list. And they seemed to be intimidated by a motivated female, calling me things like "hard to handle," "challenging, " and "difficult." Being single seemed to work best for me and I had no plans on changing my relationship status anytime soon. And then I met Cal. And he fucking ruined everything.

A King who would not be denied, a woman who would be Queen - and a gentle poet forced to watch helplessly as his one true love slips out of his arms forever. Throughout the course of Anne's tumultuous and tragic life, her cousin Thomas Wyatt is a meticulous narrator, reporting the events around him with the keen eye and tender heart of a poet. "Though framed as an account of arguably the most famous of Henry VIII's six wives, Dear Heart, How like You This? is far more than another re-telling of a well-trodden tale. For entwined with the glamorous, ultimately tragic, story of Anne Boleyn's life and death, is that of an inherently good man's struggle with the evils of his time, and of the toll that is often exacted of those who finds themselves immersed in the sweeping tides of historical change." - C. W. Gortner "I would recommend Dear Heart to anyone who enjoys a love story or who has even a passing interest in English history. It is a beautifully written novel of love and betrayal. In fact, I'm off to read it again, just as soon as I dry my eyes." - Debra Stang. www.adistantmirror.press www.wendyjdunn.com