This "blistering anti-romance" (Catherine Lacey) paints a riveting, cathartic story about love addiction and what it does to us. Wouldn’t I do anything to reverse my loss, the absence of him? In the first scene of this provocative gut-punch of a novel, our unnamed narrator meets a magnetic writer named Ciaran and falls, against her better judgment, completely in his power. After a brief, all-consuming romance he abruptly rejects her, sending her into a tailspin of jealous obsession and longing. If he ever comes back to her, she resolves to hang onto him and his love at all costs, even if it destroys her… Part breathless confession, part lucid critique, Acts of Desperation renders a consciousness split between rebellion and submission, between escaping degradation and eroticizing it, between loving and being lovable. With unsettling, electric precision, Nolan dissects one of life’s most elusive mysteries: Why do we want what we want, and how do we want it? Heralding the arrival of a stunning new literary talent, Acts of Desperation interrogates the nature of fantasy, desire, and power, challenging us to reckon honestly with our own insatiability. "Hot as viscera." —The New Republic

Sherwood Baptist Church pastor Catt uses biblical and modern stories to show how brokenness can be a blessing.

What could be good about being broken? Michael Catt, innovtive pastor and executive producer of hit films Facing the Giants and Fireproof, finds treasure at rock bottom in The Power of Desperation, a book for anyone who has ever cried out for God’s strength in life’s moments of absolute weakness: “Maybe you are feeling alone, immersed in a time of darkness. I’ve got good news: God is on the verge of getting you alone with Him, so He can get the ‘you’ out of you and fill you with Himself.” Through biblical and modern stories of incomplete people whose only path to victory is through total surrender, Catt introduces yet another breakthrough concept worthy of widespread personal application. Discover the power of desperation.

2019 International Book Awards, Finalist: Christianity 2018 Catholic Press Association Book Awards, Third Place: Prayer, Books about Prayer 2018 Association of Catholic Publishers’ “Excellence in Publishing Awards,” First Place: Inspiration 2018 Association of Catholic Publishers’ “Excellence in Publishing Awards,” BOOK OF THE YEAR When life has driven you to your knees, the only thing that works is prayer. Desperation has many faces: the addict who has hit bottom; the laid-off worker struggling to make the next house payment; the person who seems to have it all together but is wracked with fear, guilt, anger, or shame. We know we need help, but we are afraid to let anyone—especially God—see how broken we truly are. In Holy Desperation, Heather King demonstrates that, when we’re desperate, it’s precisely the right time to cry out to God. King, a survivor of addiction and other forms of desperation, begins with the basics of how to pray when you’re uncertain that God exists or when you feel that you’re beyond God’s reach. She challenges the assumptions that only the saintly can pray and that prayer ought to be tidy and nice. She reveals how prayer leads us beyond ourselves and into a life of purpose, lived for the good of others. Ultimately, Holy Desperation is an invitation to engage in bold, come-exactly-as-you-are prayer, offering a way forward, upward, and outward for anyone desperate enough to cry out for God’s help and presence. You are not alone.

If necessity has been the mother of invention throughout the history of professional football, it could also be said that desperation is the father. Rare are the football innovations that have occurred without an owner, general manager, coach, or player up against the wall and reaching for a way to succeed anyway. In this meticulously researched, lively book, Bleacher Report lead NFL scout Doug Farrar traces the schematic history of the pro game through these "if this/then that" moments—paradigm shifts in the game from 1920 through the present. More than just a book about schemes and strategies, The Genius of Desperation: The Schematic Innovations that Made the Modern NFL also tells the stories of the game's most prominent innovators, the adversities they endured, and the ways in which they learned to exceed their own expectations on the path to true greatness. Everyone from George Halas to Greasy Neale, Paul Brown to Sid Gillman, Bill Walsh to Chip Kelly is featured, as well as many more. The Genius of Desperation is a narrative arc through the history of the game as it's never been told before.

Only two weeks from his crucifixion, Jesus has stopped in Bethlehem. He has returned to visit someone important—the innkeeper who made a place for Mary and Joseph the night he was born. But his greater purpose in coming is to pay a debt. What did it cost to house the Son of God? John Piper shares a tale of what might have been through the story-poem of an innkeeper whose life was forever altered by the arrival of the Son of God. Ponder the sacrifice that was made that night. Celebrate Jesus's birth and the power of his resurrection. And encounter the hope his life gives you for today—and for eternity. This imaginative story has been redesigned and makes a great gift for families.

Experiencing God's power in our desperate moments.