Great big beautiful love.Does it really exist? Everyone tells me it does. They say, "Spencer Elliott, don't worry, you'll find it one day. You just have to find the right man and when you do, it will surprise the heck out of you."I'm still waiting for that heck of a surprise to hit. It has proven to be elusive thus far. I'm pretty sure the entire world is lying about love and the joke is on me.I know I want a man in my heart and in my life. Unfortunately, most men immediately push my OFF button and I lose interest quickly.Feeling pressure to prove I'm trying to find my soulmate, I finally give in and agree to a date. Huge mistake. Afterward I find myself abandoned in the middle of nowhere, in desperate need of help.That's when I meet Stony by chance.He's a silent and unsmiling man who intrigues me with his ability to keep going after life has knocked him down. Suddenly the abstract notion of love becomes tangible and within my reach. Once I experience it, I wonder how I ever lived without it.That's when I stay with Stony by choice.But when Stony's hidden past and present-day reality collide, his silence is broken. And the truth about his life nearly brings me to my knees. I can't compete with ghosts from the past.I refuse to fight for a man's love. He either loves me or he doesn't. It's as simple and as complicated as that.My only hope is . . . he does.Please note: The Sound of Silence Series is a three book series.Book One: Stone Silence, Spencer's StoryBook Two: Jailbird, Mia's StoryBook Three: Hothouse Flower, Shay's StoryEach book has a happy ending and there are no cliffhangers. They are not standalones and should be read in order.

Hadrian Marlowe, a man revered as a hero and despised as a murderer, chronicles his tale in the galaxy-spanning debut of the Sun Eater series, merging the best of space opera and epic fantasy. It was not his war. The galaxy remembers him as a hero: the man who burned every last alien Cielcin from the sky. They remember him as a monster: the devil who destroyed a sun, casually annihilating four billion human lives—even the Emperor himself—against Imperial orders. But Hadrian was not a hero. He was not a monster. He was not even a soldier. On the wrong planet, at the right time, for the best reasons, Hadrian Marlowe starts down a path that can only end in fire. He flees his father and a future as a torturer only to be left stranded on a strange, backwater world. Forced to fight as a gladiator and navigate the intrigues of a foreign planetary court, Hadrian must fight a war he did not start, for an Empire he does not love, against an enemy he will never understand.

USA Today Bestselling Author Dakota Willink delivers an emotionally gripping, dark romantic suspense that is guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat! Gianna There’s a common expression I remind myself of every day: that which does not kill us, makes us stronger. People think I live an idyllic life with my perfect husband, but they don’t know what lies beneath the façade. Like the delicate petals of the daisies he loved to give, I was easily crushed—broken, just as he wanted me to be. I’ve learned to accept what is, but I won’t let it destroy me. Instead, I do the only thing I can to survive—I run. Derek I knew she had a story. I knew it most likely contained violence. But never did I imagine the horrors she’d been through. I’d waited so long and she’d experienced so much. She was perfectly imperfect, her scars more than skin deep. It was near impossible to separate truths from lies but I knew her secret. And yet, I couldn’t help wanting to get closer. She was strong and there was beauty in strength. I was drawn to it—drawn to her. I wanted to erase her horrors and give her something new to dream about. TRIGGER WARNING: This story contains situations of domestic violence and abuse. Some aspects may be sensitive for some readers.

Musings on joy and suffering, midlife and meaning, by a National Book Award–nominated poet and essayist praised for his “fine ear” (Publishers Weekly). Midway through the journey of his life, Dan Beachy-Quick found himself without a path, unsure how to live well. Of Silence and Song follows him on his resulting classical search for meaning in the world and in his particular, quiet life. In essays, fragments, marginalia, images, travel writing, and poetry, Beachy-Quick traces his relationships and identities. As father and husband. As teacher and student. As citizen and scholar. And as poet and reader, wondering at the potential and limits of literature. Of Silence and Song finds its inferno—and its paradise—in moments both historically vast and nakedly intimate. Hell: disappearing bees, James Eagan Holmes, Columbine, and the persistent, unforgivable crime of slavery. And redemption: in the art of Marcel Duchamp, the pressed flowers in Emily Dickinson’s Bible, and long walks with his youngest daughter. Curious, earnest, and masterful, Of Silence and Song is an unforgettable exploration of the human soul. Praise for the writing of Dan Beachy-Quick: “Intelligent, compassionate, exquisite . . . a unique voice.” —Cole Swensen “Rich, profound, fascinating.” —Los Angeles Times

In the visionary tradition of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, One Square Inch of Silence alerts us to beauty that we take for granted and sounds an urgent environmental alarm. Natural silence is our nation’s fastest-disappearing resource, warns Emmy-winning acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton, who has made it his mission to record and preserve it in all its variety—before these soul-soothing terrestrial soundscapes vanish completely in the ever-rising din of man-made noise. Recalling the great works on nature written by John Muir, John McPhee, and Peter Matthiessen, this beautifully written narrative, co-authored with John Grossmann, is also a quintessentially American story—a road trip across the continent from west to east in a 1964 VW bus. But no one has crossed America like this. Armed with his recording equipment and a decibel-measuring sound-level meter, Hempton bends an inquisitive and loving ear to the varied natural voices of the American landscape—bugling elk, trilling thrushes, and drumming, endangered prairie chickens. He is an equally patient and perceptive listener when talking with people he meets on his journey about the importance of quiet in their lives. By the time he reaches his destination, Washington, D.C., where he meets with federal officials to press his case for natural silence preservation, Hempton has produced a historic and unforgettable sonic record of America. With the incisiveness of Jack Kerouac’s observations on the road and the stirring wisdom of Robert Pirsig repairing an aging vehicle and his life, One Square Inch of Silence provides a moving call to action. More than simply a book, it is an actual place, too, located in one of America’s last naturally quiet places, in Olympic National Park in Washington State.

In an increasingly noisy, distracting world, the idea of enjoying silence-healthy silence-has become for many people just a mirage. We talk about ""a little peace and quiet"" not because we experience it regularly, but because it's a joke we tell ourselves when we're overwhelmed. Silence is on the endangered experiences list. Today, if you're lik.

Written by a young human rights worker, "Silence on the Mountain" is a virtuoso work of reporting and a masterfully plotted narrative tracing the history of Guatemala's 36-year internal war, a conflict that claimed the lives of more than 200,000 people.