Scott came home that evening expecting his normally calm, upscale suburban neighborhood to be normal and calm. The sight of police, fire department, and helicopters hovering above his house did not seem normal and calm. The crashed car on the lawn near the front entrance of his house foretold the chaos within. A detective warned him that the scene inside would be traumatic. The sight of his wife sitting in a pool of blood on the living room floor was a bit more than traumatic. The sight of blood on the walls, on the ceiling, everywhere, was a bit more than traumatic. But the sight of a man's savagely butchered body on the kitchen floor took traumatic to an entirely new level. What happened that fateful evening? Who killed the guy in the kitchen? And by what miracle did his wife survive? What led to that fateful evening was years in the making. From the very beginning, things between husband and wife were not at all what they seemed. Someone in the household was not who they claimed to be. But then, neither was the other someone in the household. As old secrets came to light, it became clear the marriage could not survive. But this is not a story of betrayal, of infidelity. This story goes much deeper than that. This story is about paths that crossed before either of them was born. What began as a boy meets girl, boy falls in love, boy marries girl story, quickly morphed into the terrifying inner workings of an altered mind, foreign intrigue, and courting with assassins story. An organization intentionally brought together two people who never should have even known each other. The fallout resulted in someone’s desperate attempt to cover for a botched covert operation that occurred years earlier. No one had any idea what a colossal mistake that was until it was much too late to reverse course. As things unfolded, a realization emerged that divorce, though not yet on the table, could not be an option. There were too many secrets, too much emotional pain, and too many people working behind the scenes to ensure an unthinkable outcome. One of the two, husband or wife, simply could not to survive.

From New York Times best-selling author Thea Harrison comes a vintage contemporary romance, as originally published under the pen name Amanda Carpenter in 1985. Model Jessica King had success, wealth, and a no-strings relationship with businessman Damien Kent that she was certain would develop into more. Then Damien announced his intention to marry another woman in a business agreement…and keep Jessica as his mistress. Devastated and angry, Jessica knows it’s time to move on. Leaving Damien shattered her heart, and then a devastating car accident shattered her body and spirit. Disfigured, Jessica is forced to abandon her modeling career and the charmed life she’d known. Hiding away from the world, she’s determined to seal herself off from anyone who may hurt her. But Damien has realized he’s not ready to let Jessica go. She needs time to heal her wounds, both physical and emotional. Can Damien become the man she’s always wanted him to be? Can he convince her to rejoin a world that’s brought her so much pain? Or will Jessica’s rage be too much of an obstacle to overcome?

***A BEST BOOK OF 2018 SELECTION*** NPR * The Washington Post * Book Riot * Autostraddle * Psychology Today ***A BEST FEMINIST BOOK SELECTION*** Refinery 29, Book Riot, Autostraddle, BITCH Rage Becomes Her is an “utterly eye opening” (Bustle) book that gives voice to the causes, expressions, and possibilities of female rage. As women, we’ve been urged for so long to bottle up our anger, letting it corrode our bodies and minds in ways we don’t even realize. Yet there are so, so many legitimate reasons for us to feel angry, ranging from blatant, horrifying acts of misogyny to the subtle drip, drip drip of daily sexism that reinforces the absurdly damaging gender norms of our society. In Rage Becomes Her, Soraya Chemaly argues that our anger is not only justified, it is also an active part of the solution. We are so often encouraged to resist our rage or punished for justifiably expressing it, yet how many remarkable achievements would never have gotten off the ground without the kernel of anger that fueled them? Approached with conscious intention, anger is a vital instrument, a radar for injustice and a catalyst for change. On the flip side, the societal and cultural belittlement of our anger is a cunning way of limiting and controlling our power—one we can no longer abide. “A work of great spirit and verve” (Time), Rage Becomes Her is a validating, energizing read that will change the way you interact with the world around you.

A reluctant PI with two hot cases... All Daria Barnes wants to do is produce plays, but can't make a living at it. So, her best friend, private investigator Berto Esparza, talks her into working for him as his associate investigating the death of Larry Ochoa, drummer for country-western star Luke Winston. Then Berto is seriously injured in a hit and run that was probably not an accident. and Daria gets tagged with keeping the Ochoa investigation going long enough for Berto to recover. More importantly, she needs to find out who wants to kill Berto. No surprise, the bad guys are practically taking numbers to take Esparza out. And Luke Winston is not only keeping tabs on Daria, he's showing more than an appropriate interest in her, especially after Jay Swanson, Luke's young assistant, disappears. It doesn't matter how many people are reminding Daria that she's a natural at the investigation game, she feels completely out of her element. As the leads go nowhere, the suspects get meaner. Daria struggles on, and eventually finds the path to a suspect who isn't just enraged. He's desperate.

"Anger has a bad reputation. Many people think that it is counterproductive, distracting, and destructive. It is a negative emotion, many believe, because it can lead so quickly to violence or an overwhelming fury. And coming from people of color, it takes on connotations that are even more sinister, stirring up stereotypes, making white people fear what an angry other might be capable of doing, when angry, and leading them to turn to hatred or violence in turn, to squelch an anger that might upset the racial status quo"--

“Howerton writes unflinchingly about what it means to be raising children in today’s world and how to liberate ourselves from the myth of perfect motherhood.”—Glennon Doyle, author of Untamed and Love Warrior, founder of Together Rising In this smart and subversively funny memoir, Kristen Howerton navigates the emotional and sometimes messy waters of motherhood and challenges the idea that there’s a “right” way to raise kids. Recounting her successes, trials, mishaps, and hard-won wisdom, this mother of four advocates for letting go of the expectations, the guilt, and the endless race to be the perfect parent to the perfect child in the perfect family. This book is for ● the parent who loves their kids like crazy but feels like parenting is making them crazy, too ● the parent who said “I will never . . .” and now they have ● the parent who looks like they have it all together but feels like a hot mess on the inside ● the parent who looks like a hot mess on the outside, too ● the parent who asks Am I good enough? Doing enough? Doing it right? What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with these children? Are they eighteen yet? With her signature blend of vulnerability, sarcasm, and insight, Howerton shares her unexpected journey from infertility to adoption to pregnancy to divorce to dealing with the shock and awe of raising teens. As a mom of a multiracial family and as a marriage and family therapist, she tackles the thorny issues parents face today, like hard conversations about racism, disciplining other people’s kids, the reality of Dad Privilege, and (never) attaining that elusive work/life balance. Rage Against the Minivan is a permission slip to let it go and allow yourself to be a “good enough” parent, focused on raising happy, kind, loving humans.

Have you ever blown up at your best friend or sibling? Maybe you were just so angry, but you didn't really know why. The answer is in the science of rage! Whether you keep your anger bottled up or sometimes lash out with or without meaning to, middle school is a time when you get ALL. THE. FEELS. But next time you or your friends get mad, you'll understand what's really going on in your brains. Plus, you'll learn tips to decode aggressive body language and how to listen when your anger is telling you something is wrong. Find out what's happening in your body and how anger can actually be useful. But keep your head! Mental health is still important, so when rage and aggressive feelings have crossed the line, you'll also learn when it's time to reach out for help.