Beyond the Alluring Sky (Beyond Cycle Book 1)by Anthezar

“You’re the light that brightens the sky.”

For Kei, rescuing orphans from slavers is his life, even when having too many mouths to feed is hard on his resources. With his money stretched, his dream of leaving the oppressive city of Allegetra is next to impossible. But everything changes when he meets Sky, the newest ‘stray’ he rescues from the slavers. Though Kei usually sends all his rescues to his friend, Nolst, it’s Sky’s unique way of charming the consumers that convinces Kei to strike up a partnership. Teaching his new stray about all the dangers Allegetra offers becomes a full time job, since Sky’s naivety often puts them at risk.

As their lives connect and a powerful friendship is forged, Kei learns that Sky has many secrets, not unlike himself.

But as he tries to keep Sky out of trouble, Kei becomes too confident. His life unravels and the demons he had once buried now rise from the shadows. Everything he had worked so desperately to build and to protect could come crashing down in one fell swoop.

No matter how dark the shadows, Kei must become ‘the light that brightens the sky’ if he wants to survive.

Everywhere That Mary Went (Rosato & Associates Book 1)by Lisa Scottoline

Mary DiNunzio is trying to make partner in her cutthroat Philadelphia law firm. She's too busy to worry about the crank phone calls that she's been getting–until they fall into a sinister pattern. Mary can't shake the sensation that someone is watching her. Following her every move. Then the shadowboxing turns deadly, and she has to fight for something a lot more important than a partnership–her life.

Just Like Other Daughtersby Colleen Faulkner

“Beautifully written with rare insight.” –Susan Wiggs, #1 New York Times bestselling author

It’s how you love that matters.

Alicia Richards loved her daughter from her very first breath. Days later, when tests confirmed what Alicia already knew–that Chloe had Down syndrome–she didn’t falter. Her ex-husband wanted a child who would grow to be a scholar. For Alicia, it’s enough that Chloe just is.

Now twenty-five, Chloe is sweet, funny, and content. Alicia brings her to adult daycare while she teaches at a local college. One day Chloe arrives home thrumming with excitement, and says the words Alicia never anticipated. She has met someone–a young man named Thomas. Within days, Chloe and Thomas, also mentally challenged, declare themselves in love.

Alicia strives to see past her misgivings to the new possibilities opening up for her daughter. Shouldn’t Chloe have the same right to love as anyone else? But there is no way to prepare for the relationship unfolding, or for the moments of heartbreak and joy ahead…

“So real, so honest…I laughed, I hoped, I cried. It’s that good.” –Cathy Lamb, author of The Language of Sisters

Being Authentic: A Memoirby Morhaf Al Achkar

Our existence is fragile. I learned that in many intricate ways, so I do not take today for granted. I do not know what tomorrow will bring. I do not even know if tomorrow will come.

On the eve of Thanksgiving 2016, I received the diagnosis of stage 4 lung cancer. Next to dying, I fear the spread of cancer to my brain and losing my ability to think, speak, or write. This loss would be devastating to me.

The fragility of our life made me want to be authentic. Therefore, I am writing this memoir to be authentic–we become our true selves when we author who we are.

I am afraid of being forgotten. Death does frighten me. But more than dying, I am scared of having no one remember me or, even worse, of being recognized differently from who I was. At the same time, I have never thought that I was entitled to ask others not to forget me. But, not to be forgotten is precisely what I yearn for.

While I am writing for the other, I am simultaneously writing for myself. I am one of the readers and will test the subject as it gets written. My criteria are stricter. I want to say, “This is my narrative.”

I need to be able to say, “This is my narrative.”

ROADS TO MEANING AND RESILIENCE WITH CANCER: Forty Stories of Coping, Finding Meaning, and Building Resilience While Living with Incurable Lung Cancerby Morhaf Al Achkar

The book tells the stories of 39 patients with incurable lung cancer. It aims to help patients, families, and healthcare providers understand the experience of living with cancer. It also invites reflections on the essential questions of meaning, resilience, and coping with adversity in life. The author is a family doctor, teacher, and researcher who is also a stage 4 lung cancer patient himself. He is patient #40.
Patients with cancer often have an urgency to find meaning in life. They struggle with the illness, its emotional impact, and the consequences of treatments. However, with time, reflection, and support from others, they develop resilience. Cancer patients often are not passive. Instead, they choose different strategies to maintain and restore their health. They also leverage a variety of approaches to cope better with their struggle.
The book is for cancer patients who are tarrying at the limits of time. It is also for those who live around patients with cancer: caregivers, families and friends, and health care providers. People who struggle with other illnesses will also find aspects of their story reflected here. Also, the ones who have experienced a crisis of identity will discover elements of their story here as well. By sharing the experiences of the forty authentic individuals, the book opens the space for them to teach others. This book is about the essence of the human experience at its limits. It is for every reader.

The In-Between Artist: The Story of Tony D’Oraziby David F. D’Orazi

A biography of an artist and entertainer afflicted with schizophrenia.

This is a portrait of Tony D’Orazi, an artist and entertainer, a dedicated husband and father of four, a successful salesman and character actor.

The most amazing thing? Tony was afflicted with schizophrenia.

In the end, despite all these roles he played and the countless hurdles he faced, Tony remained an artist in between.

Ultimately, his story proves that no matter what obstacles one faces, art always finds a way.

A NEW WAY OF LIFEby Samy Barnat

This book is about protecting all of us from the big crises coming. COVID-19 will not be the last and showed us what happens when we are not prepared.

Let’s start with pandemics: globalization can kill you. Is that an exaggeration?! Not at all. COVID-19 was caused by globalization, because, with so much international travel, especially by planes, infectious diseases can spread fast and far. The next pandemic might be far worse than COVID-19. In the past, without planes, the Black Death killed up to 60% of the population of Europe! That’s hundreds of times more than COVID-19! Imagine what it would be like to have a new virus similar to the Black Death, but with planes and globalization… This means death for you and your family, have no doubt.

But this book explains how you can protect yourself and those you love, and not only from infectious diseases. If you act, YOU WILL PROUDLY BE THE SOLUTION TO THE MANY CRISES our deeply mad and unhealthy civilization is facing:

• You can be the solution to the cycle of economic crises where the rich get richer, the poor get poorer, banks steal from us, and inequality grows greater, while so many don’t even have decent food or healthcare…

• You can be the solution to the ecological crisis, including climate change! We pollute the food we eat, the water we drink, the air we breathe… Climate change has started to kill hundreds of thousands through heat, flooding, hurricanes, a lack of food and water, which can lead to wars… The worst-case scenario could lead to human extinction, as it did 250 million years ago when 96% of species died because of climate change from volcanoes’ CO2 emissions.

• You can be the solution to other crises: police violence, overpopulation…

• You can be the solution to political corruption. Politicians pretend to care about what you think to get elected, but then really only care about what the richest push them to do through lobbying. Also, they almost started a nuclear war without our authorization! We live in a dangerous, false democracy…

There is an alternative system in which you can really be the solution to all these crises: future pandemics like COVID-19, climate change, economic crises… Does it sound impossible? This book proves that it is possible based on referenced science and facts.

Protect Yourself and Those You Love. Be the Solution.