From Burned Out to… Once a wild child, Susie’s now stuck in an ordinary life in Minnesota. To atone for past sins, she’s devoted her energies to volunteer work and empowering others. But in helping people find their hidden strengths, Susie’s exhausted her own emotional batteries. Her choices are to either keep treading water and risk drowning or dive into the deep end of life. Sunburned! Uprooting everything familiar, Susie moves to Florida, planning to recharge by repairing her fractured relationship with her sister, become part of her nieces’ lives and build friendships. As self-therapy, she also unleashes her inner snark by writing a blog describing the strangeness of life in Florida and her new community. Tropical depressions often become hurricanes… Susie’s loving life in paradise, especially when a hunky deputy sheriff moves into her apartment complex. But Florida’s not all blue skies and sunshine when an unpopular neighbor is found face down in the lake. Susie discovers that the people she thought she knew each possess a secret. Secrets worth killing to keep. Only discovering her own hidden strengths can save Susie from becoming the next victim…

In Jennifer L. Holm's New York Times bestselling, Newbery Honor winning middle grade historical fiction novel, life isn't like the movies. But then again, 11-year-old Turtle is no Shirley Temple. She's smart and tough and has seen enough of the world not to expect a Hollywood ending. After all, it's 1935 and jobs and money and sometimes even dreams are scarce. So when Turtle's mama gets a job housekeeping for a lady who doesn't like kids, Turtle says goodbye without a tear and heads off to Key West, Florida to live with relatives she's never met. Florida's like nothing Turtle's ever seen before though. It's hot and strange, full of rag tag boy cousins, family secrets, scams, and even buried pirate treasure! Before she knows what's happened, Turtle finds herself coming out of the shell she's spent her life building, and as she does, her world opens up in the most unexpected ways. Filled with adventure, humor and heart, Turtle in Paradise is an instant classic both boys and girls with love. Includes an Author's Note with photographs and further background on the Great Depression, as well as additional resources and websites. Starred Review, Kirkus Reviews: "Sweet, funny and superb." Starred Review, Booklist: "Just the right mixture of knowingness and hope . . . a hilarious blend of family drama seasoned with a dollop of adventure."

Elegant, brutal, and profound—this magnificent debut captures the grit and glory of modern Hawai'i with breathtaking force and accuracy. In a stunning collection that announces the arrival of an incredible talent, Kristiana Kahakauwila travels the islands of Hawai'i, making the fabled place her own. Exploring the deep tensions between local and tourist, tradition and expectation, façade and authentic self, This Is Paradise provides an unforgettable portrait of life as it’s truly being lived on Maui, Oahu, Kaua'i and the Big Island. In the gut-punch of “Wanle,” a beautiful and tough young woman wants nothing more than to follow in her father’s footsteps as a legendary cockfighter. With striking versatility, the title story employs a chorus of voices—the women of Waikiki—to tell the tale of a young tourist drawn to the darker side of the city’s nightlife. “The Old Paniolo Way” limns the difficult nature of legacy and inheritance when a patriarch tries to settle the affairs of his farm before his death. Exquisitely written and bursting with sharply observed detail, Kahakauwila’s stories remind us of the powerful desire to belong, to put down roots, and to have a place to call home.

‘Rich and valuable’ ANJAN SUNDARAM ‘Honest ... written in sharp, rippling prose’ ANDREW FIDEL FERNANDO ‘A brave and timely effort’ JASON BURKE ‘Immersive and eye-opening’ HASSAN UGAIL ‘A moving, personal and heartfelt tale of the real Maldives: far deeper and more sinister waters than the azure lagoons of the resorts for which it is famed’ JJ ROBINSON In the autumn of 2011, the postman-turned-journalist Daniel Bosley embarked on an unexpected adventure which started as an internship in London’s Maldives High Commission – the diplomatic mission of the Indian Ocean tourism hotspot. Little did he know that he would soon set off on an odyssey through an imperilled island nation undergoing one of the most tumultuous periods in its history. Over the next seven years, Bosley worked as a journalist in the Maldives, reporting on its volatile political landscape and shattering the picture-perfect view of this supposed paradise. Taking us into a nation of a thousand isles, he reveals a shaded past of sultans, imperialists and Western explorers before a modern-day dictatorship was finally overturned by a democracy that immediately plunged into turmoil. While dissenters and intrepid reporters faced abduction, imprisonment, and even death, the climate crisis and Islamist zealots posed ever greater threats to the country’s vulnerable environment and its ancient culture. As the editor of the Maldives’ main English-language news website, Bosley witnessed some of these events first-hand, his personal distress assuaged only by the love and hope he would come to find – against all odds – within these isolated atoll communities. Richly observed and infused with empathy and essential humour, Descent into Paradise thoroughly alters our understanding of the Maldives, a place where magical waters and surreal skies hide unthinkable dangers even as the struggle for justice risks submersion.

All his life Tate McCullom has been taught to be responsible, and he is the very model of what a respectable man should be. Until the night he gets drunk and sleeps with a woman he barely knows. Now, six weeks later, she's pregnant, alone, and broke. Once again, Tate must take responsibility for his actions, and makes plans to marry his child's mother. There's only one problem...he has to tell his fiancee. Abby Grayson hasn't had an easy life. As the daughter of the town whore, people either avoid her or think she's like her mother. For Abby, it's a struggle just to fill her belly and keep a roof over her head. Loneliness and a secret yearning for this man she thought she'd never have led her to spend the night with Tate. But the last thing she needs is a baby when she can barely take care of herself. Desperate, but too proud to ask for help, she finally agrees to accept a job from Tate the job of being his wife. Now she has almost everything she's ever dreamed of. Unfortunately, only one thing will gain her Tate's love - his realization that the night he spent with her was no drunken accident. It was a last-ditch attempt to win the woman he really wanted.

Over 13,000,000 people are currently blogging with thousands being created each day. But what about the blogs you haven't seen, written by the iconic men and women you're dying to know the most intimate details about but who died before the internet was invented? This original take on the biggest literary development since the paperback offers 200 blogs inspired by the most famous minds in history, detailing their hysterical personal revelations, such as: John Lennon's thoughts after meeting Yoko Ono (and her obsession with the Beatles' publishing rights): Marilyn Monroe's annoyance at her new beau 'J', who breaks off their dates with excuses like having to avert a war in Costa Rica: Read Shakespeare on a treatment for a new play about two princes who misplace their horse and carriage and spend the entire play trying to find it or how a stray hot dog nearly derailed Ghandi's hunger strike: There's also the transcript of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin's intensely competitive game of "Rocks, Paper, Scissors," to decide who would be the first man to set foot on the moon and much, much more. In this book Paul Davidson proves that matters, proving there's no such thing as "too much information."

'Weblogging' or 'blogging' has joined e-mail and Internet home pages as one of the most popular uses of the Internet. This book focuses on the British blogosphere, comparing British bloggers to the more researched US. Motivations covered include the desire to connect with others online, the need to express opinions or blow off steam, or to share experiences, and a growing financial motivation in the blogosphere. Other motivations explored include a desire to become a 'citizen journalist', a need for validation, the commercial possibilities of blogging and the possibility of turning your blog into a published 'book'. - Expands the discussion of the blogging phenomenon outside the US - Focuses on the British blogosphere, comparing British bloggers to the more researched US - Includes a discussion of the motivations of women bloggers