When I read stories of women on ranches, I wonder if I should consider myself a ranch woman at all. I lost that life when I was twenty years old. Then I realize in my heart I have never left the ranch. It is where I will always be. If you'd ever lived a cowboy life, it will forever define who you are. Those years defined who I am from my work ethic to my love of being outdoors and alone. The spirit of the west is alive and well in me. I've worked to turn every place I've ever lived into Sunnyside. By reading the stories I've written, I'm hoping my readers will feel some connection to a life I thought was so special.

Wonder meets Three Times Lucky in a story of empowerment as a young woman decides to help solve the mystery of multiple suspicious deaths in her group home. Sally Miyake can't read, but she learns lots of things. Like bricks are made of clay and Vitamin D comes from the sun. Sally is happy working in the kitchen at Sunnyside Plaza, the community center she lives in with other adults with developmental disabilities. For Sally and her friends, Sunnyside is the only home they've ever known. Everything changes the day a resident unexpectedly dies. After a series of tragic events, detectives Esther Rivas and Lon Bridges begin asking questions. Are the incidents accidents? Or is something more disturbing happening? The suspicious deaths spur the residents into taking the investigation into their own hands. But are people willing to listen? Sunnyside Plaza is a human story of empowerment, empathy, hope, and generosity that shines a light on this very special world.

When is a summer vacation not really a summer vacation? Sunny Lewin has been packed off to Florida to live with her grandfather for the summer. At first she thought Florida might be fun -- it is the home of Disney World, after all. But the place where Gramps lives is no amusement park. It's full of . . . old people. Really old people.Luckily, Sunny isn't the only kid around. She meets Buzz, a boy who is completely obsessed with comic books, and soon they're having adventures of their own: facing off against golfball-eating alligators, runaway cats, and mysteriously disappearing neighbors. But the question remains -- why is Sunny down in Florida in the first place? The answer lies in a family secret that won't be secret to Sunny much longer. . .

The only woman to achieve major success as a songwriter during the golden age of the American musical, Dorothy Fields brought a genuinely feminine point of view to the writing of romantic lyrics. She wrote the words for more than 400 songs, among them unforgettable standards like "I'm in the Mood for Love", "On the Sunny Side of the Street", "A Fine Romance", and "The Way You Look Tonight". On the Sunny Side of the Street chronicles Dorothy's start in life as the daughter of vaudeville star Lew Fields, and her determination to break into show busines despite her parents' opposition. It brings to life her experiences working in New York and Hollywood from the roaring twenties to the rocking sixties and seventies, her friendships with legendary figures of the musical theatre, and her parallel existence as a wife and mother. Woven through the text is a generous sampling of her finest lyrics, never before collected in book form. In addition, comments by songwriters such as Fred Ebb, Sheldon Harnick, Burton Lane, and Stephen Sondheim and performers such as Rosemary Clooney and Michael Feinstein help to put the achievement of Dorothy Fields in perspective.

In today's challenging times, many are looking for inspiration, and "how-to" best get through the days and months ahead. Life on the Sunny Side: Inspirations for Busy Women That Will Ignite Your Dreams And Brighten Your Life is timely and topical. Filled with bite-sized motivational vignettes that move the reader from zero to action in three minutes, Life on the Sunny Side is straight talk delivered with the honesty and humor needed today. This transformational nonfiction is authored by a life and career coach who knows how to motivate others to kick negativity to the curb and do life on the sunny side. I am a change agent offering pragmatic advice that works across ethnic and socioeconomic lines. Life on the Sunny Side is a book you read on the fly and buy for all your girlfriends. Written with just the right balance of tenderness and tough love, the 21 chapters include advice on how to eliminate procrastination, develop an optimistic outlook, get organized, and accomplish goals. Each chapter links to the book's theme and narratives are titled to ignite reader curiosity. Included are enlightening statistics, empirical data where applicable, humor, and thought-provoking quotes.

From the author of the acclaimed Carter Beats the Devil comes a grand entertainment with the brilliantly realized figure of Charlie Chaplin at its centre: a novel at once cinematic and intimate, thrilling and darkly comic, which dramatizes the moment when American capitalism, a world at war, and the emerging mecca of Hollywood intersect to spawn an enduring culture of celebrity. Sunnyside follows three overlapping fortunes: Leland Wheeler, son of the last (and worst) Wild West star, as he heads to the battlefields of France; snobbish Hugo Black, drafted to fight in Russia under the British general, Edmund Ironside; and Chaplin himself, contending with studio moguls, accusations of cowardice, his unchecked heart and, most menacing of all, his mother, as he pursues the goal of making a movie ‘as good as he was’. With a cast of enthralling characters both historical and fictional, Sunnyside is a heart-rending, spellbinding novel about dreams, ambition and the dawn of the modern age.