A “special work” (J. S. Park) that honors life’s deep griefs, great joys, and unsettled in-betweens through every sacred season, assuring us that we are never alone “Oh, I love this book. . . . Honest and hopeful, masterfully written, both a balm and a bolstering.”—Shauna Niequist, New York Times bestselling author Exquisitely told and urgently resonant, Even After Everything is a love letter to anyone who has opened their heart only to be hurt. Stephanie Duncan Smith proposes that it’s not through grit or forced resilience that you will find a way forward, but through receiving the full spectrum of our lives, just as we receive the empathy of God-with-us in every moment. Duncan Smith’s disorientation began when she lost her first pregnancy on the winter solstice, just as the world readied to celebrate its most historic birth on Christmas. Then a new yet uncertain pregnancy unfolded parallel to the pandemic, until nearly one year to the day of her loss, she gave birth to her daughter at the peak of mortality in their city. These contradictions compelled Duncan Smith into a desperate search for steadiness, which she found in the liturgical year as a grounding force and the promise that we are seen by God in every season. In Even After Everything, Duncan Smith traverses the church’s circle of time and reorients herself and us in the sacred story told through Advent, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, and Ordinary Time. She reveals the sacred year—through its endless interplay of love, loss, risk, and resurrection—as a mirror to the human experience, an anchor for turbulent times, and a womb strong enough to encompass every human care. At its heart lives the promise of God-with-us, inviting us into the spiritual practice of taking courage in the trust that we are accompanied in everything, and love will always have the last word.

It’s never too late to make amends. They’ve been the best of friends for decades. They’ve seen everything—marriage, divorce, success, and bankruptcy. They think that there are no more surprises, that they’ve learned all of life’s lessons. But they’re wrong. They’ve only just begun. Recently divorced and seeking to find herself, Penny moves to a picturesque town in France, happy to live alone—that is until she meets an irresistible American philosophy professor. Meanwhile, handsome bachelor Peter falls head over heels for the first time in his life with curvaceous, sexy, and fiercely independent Frieda; Tim and Angie face challenges in their childless, co-dependent marriage; and Jeremy, twice divorced and the most successful of them all, struggles with a destructive addiction. At the heart of the story is Sandy, Penny’s ex-husband and once an acclaimed songwriter. He realizes too late that he’s taken his wife and two children for granted. His life is in disarray until a close call prompts him to attempt a reconciliation with his son and daughter. This quest takes him from London to the noisy swarming streets of an Indian hill town, where his children are living. But before he can make amends with them, Sandy has to confront a secret tragedy that has haunted him, and his relationships, for decades. Wonderfully wise and deeply engaging, After Everything is about the frailties and joys of friendship and family and the struggle of learning how to live in a changing world. In this heartwarming novel about midlife coming-of-age, some relationships blossom, others fade, but all reveal the ambivalent nature of the ties that bind us to each other.

Fans of Eleanor and Park, The Spectacular Now, Willow, and Perfectly Good White Boy won't be able to put down this gritty but hopeful love story about two struggling teens. Tyler has a football scholarship to Stanford, a hot girlfriend, and a reliable army of friends to party with. Then his mom kills herself. And Tyler lets it all go. Now he needs to dodge what his dad is offering (verbal tirades and abuse) and earn what his dad isn’t (money): He needs a job. It’s there that he reunites with Jordyn, his childhood best friend, and now the token goth girl at school. Jordyn brings Tyler an unexpected peace and, finally, love. But with his family in shambles, he can’t risk bringing Jordyn too deeply into his life. So when violence rocks Tyler’s world again, will it be Jordyn who shows him the way to a hopeful future? Or after everything, will Tyler have to find it in himself? This tough, realistic page-turner reveals a boy's point of view on loss and love—perfect for fans of Rainbow Rowell, Tim Tharp, Julia Hoban, Carrie Mesrobian, and Mindi Scott.

For fans of Nina LaCour's We Are Okay and Adam Silvera's History Is All You Left Me, this heartfelt and ultimately uplifting novel follows one sixteen-year-old girl's friend breakup through two concurrent timelines--ultimately proving that even endings can lead to new beginnings. "Stunning." --Nic Stone, bestselling author of Dear Martin and Odd One Out You can't rewrite the past, but you can always choose to start again. It's been twenty-seven days since Cleo and Layla's friendship imploded. Nearly a month since Cleo realized they'll never be besties again. Now Cleo wants to erase every memory, good or bad, that tethers her to her ex-best friend. But pretending Layla doesn't exist isn't as easy as Cleo hoped, especially after she's assigned to be Layla's tutor. Despite budding friendships with other classmates--and a raging crush on a gorgeous boy named Dom--Cleo's turbulent past with Layla comes back to haunt them both. Alternating between time lines of Then and Now, When You Were Everything blends past and present into an emotional story about the beauty of self-forgiveness, the promise of new beginnings, and the courage it takes to remain open to love. "Breathtakingly beautiful....Woodfolk has a way of making words sing and burst with light." --Tiffany D. Jackson, award-winning author of Monday's Not Coming and Let Me Hear A Rhyme

As an artist, writer, teacher, wife, and mother of two young girls, Claire struggles to maintain balance. Institutionalized for manic-depression as a result of her third suicide attempt, Claire is confined both in her hospital room and in her mind. However, she begins to find awareness and direction during her stay at a mental institution, mainly because she allows herself to enter her past in a way she has never before. Claire examines her childhood--how she and her siblings unrelentingly adored their mother, whose death marked the end of their innocence. But it is not until she returns to her hometown of Clare, MI to see her ailing father that she truly discovers just how deep the secrets of her childhood are. Along the way, the dark corners of her mother's past reveal the healing truth of love. In her journey to battle the idealized notions of motherhood and artistry, Claire finds purpose and inspiration in simple treasures: her children.

“An engaging, humorous, revealing, and refreshingly human look at the bizarre, life-threatening, and delightfully humdrum exploits of everyone from sports heroes to sex workers.” -- Douglas Rushkoff, author of Coercion, Ecstasy Club, and Media Virus This wide-ranging survey of the American economy at the turn of the millennium is stunning, surprising, and always entertaining. It gives us an unflinching view of the fabric of this country from the point of view of the people who keep it all moving. The more than 120 roughly textured monologues that make up Gig beautifully capture the voices of our fast-paced and diverse economy. The selections demonstrate how much our world has changed--and stayed the same--in the three decades prior to the turn of the millennium. If you think things have speeded up, become more complicated and more technological, you're right. But people's attitudes about their jobs, their hopes and goals and disappointments, endure. Gig's soul isn't sociological--it's emotional. The wholehearted diligence that people bring to their work is deeply, inexplicably moving. People speak in these pages of the constant and complex stresses nearly all of them confront on the job, but, nearly universally, they throw themselves without reservation into coping with them. Instead of resisting work, we seem to adapt to it. Some of us love our jobs, some of us don't, but almost all of us are not quite sure what we would do without one. With all the hallmarks of another classic on this subject, Gig is a fabulous read, filled with indelible voices from coast to coast. After hearing them, you'll never again feel quite the same about how we work.

A hidden world full of danger and love. A powerful dream walker, Adriana Paige spends her time reaching into other people's dreams and ferreting out terrible secrets the rebellion desperately needs. Someday she'll become the perfect weapon—if she survives the dangerous forces hunting her. Her survival hinges on her friends—her friends and alpha shape shifter Alec Graves. Alec brings along dangerous enemies of his own, but Adri can't get him out of her mind. Gorgeous, loyal, and compassionate—Alec is worth fighting for. But with both of them on the run and hundreds of miles separating them, things started out just this side of impossible, and they are about to get much worse. A new player wants to control Adri and they're willing to go after the people she cares most about in order to force her hand. Publisher's Note: Shattered is a YA Urban Fantasy novel with a touch of romance, and is one of the books that make up the Reflections Universe. The Reflections Universe is a series of clean YA Paranormal books featuring vampires, shapeshifters, werewolves and more, which have been written so they can be safely enjoyed by both young adults and older readers alike. Readers new to the Dark Reflections series (and its wonderful shape shifters) should start with Bound, one of several free Young Adult books available from Dean. The Reflections Universe: Some stories are too full of teen urban fantasy shapeshifter goodness to fit into just one series! Dean Murray is the successful author of multiple clean young adult paranormal romance, urban fantasy, and epic fantasy series which collectively have more than half a million copies in circulation.