Bree Fellshadow is a master assassin who excels at killing the queen’s enemies with precision and efficiency. Targets die quickly, questions don’t get asked, and Bree moves on to the next assignment without emotional entanglement. It’s clean work for someone with her particular skills. But when she’s sent to work as a spy deep in the enemy court, she finds herself desperately out of her depth in ways no amount of combat training prepared her for. 🗡️
Killing targets is easy compared to pretending to be a biddable wife or dealing with court politics where every conversation hides three meanings. Even worse is managing her obnoxious chief-enforcer husband—a powerful warrior-druid named Cailean mac Brochan who both enrages her with his assumptions and unsettles her with his perceptiveness. He’s assigned to watch her, keep her in line, ensure she fulfills wifely duties appropriate to her cover story. Their marriage is political theater, a convenient fiction. Except Cailean treats it with disturbing seriousness. 💍
The warrior-druid is also worryingly suspicious of everything about Bree, constantly studying her with eyes that see too much. She keeps drawing his attention despite her best efforts at appearing unremarkable. Every interaction becomes a dangerous dance where one wrong word could expose her true purpose. But Bree must gain his trust completely—she needs access to military plans, troop movements, the information about where and when the enemy will strike that only someone in Cailean’s position would know. ⚔️
That means getting close to a man trained to detect deception, powerful enough to kill her before she could draw a blade, and intelligent enough to question everything about their arranged marriage. Bree’s greatest challenge isn’t surviving the enemy court’s intrigues or avoiding discovery by rival spies. It’s pretending her growing feelings for Cailean are part of the act when they’re becoming dangerously real, and determining whether his increasing protectiveness toward her represents successful manipulation or mutual attraction that will destroy them both when her true allegiance is inevitably revealed. 💕
What makes this captivating: Jayne Castel’s Scottish historical fantasy romance follows master assassin Bree Fellshadow sent as a spy to enemy court where pretending to be a biddable wife proves harder than killing, especially when dealing with her obnoxious warrior-druid husband Cailean mac Brochan who’s worryingly suspicious—forcing Bree to gain his trust for military intelligence while her growing feelings become dangerously real.
Can beauty truly come from ashes when everything you believed is revealed as a lie? Gone to Texas uncovers a deception that shatters seventeen souls’ understanding of their lives and forces an impossible choice: stay on as sharecroppers working land that was supposed to become theirs, or heed the lure of free land promised in the faraway wilderness of a new Republic called Texas. The betrayal runs deep—years of labor based on promises that were never meant to be kept. 💔
Rife with peril and adversity that tests faith and endurance beyond imagination, three families knit together by blood and friendship through Liberty O’Neal decide to gamble everything on the prospect of land ownership they can work together. Corbin Harrell, a widowed man carrying his own grief, joins them with his daughter and slave, believing that fresh starts sometimes require leaving everything familiar behind. The journey ahead promises hardship, but staying means accepting a future built on lies. 🏜️
Two of the young people forge a special bond during preparations for departure. Alicia Van Zandt and Flynn O’Neal have known each other their whole lives as friends in their tight-knit community. But proximity during the harrowing covered wagon journey across untamed territory changes everything between them. Friendship deepens into puppy-love as they face dangers that make children into adults faster than anyone should mature—hostile encounters, treacherous river crossings, illness that stalks wagon trains, and the constant fear that any day could be someone’s last. 💕
The question becomes whether their connection can survive the brutal reality of pioneering life to blossom into the forever love and marriage both families hope for. Texas promises land and freedom, but delivers challenges that break weaker bonds and strengthen those built on genuine commitment. Flynn and Alicia must discover if what they feel for each other can endure hunger, hardship, heartbreak, and the relentless demands of carving homes from wilderness. Beauty can come from ashes, but only if faith and love prove stronger than the fires that try to consume them. 🌾
What makes this moving: Caryl McAdoo’s Christian western family saga follows seventeen souls discovering a deception forcing them to choose between sharecropping or heading to the Texas Republic’s wilderness, including young Alicia Van Zandt and Flynn O’Neal whose friendship transforms into puppy-love during the harrowing covered wagon journey testing whether their bond can survive pioneering hardships to become forever love.
Gwynn Reznick’s life shatters when her best friend and co-worker at Wilton Oil & Gas Company dies in a car crash that investigators quickly label accidental. But Gwynn knows her friend—knows her driving habits, her caution, the routes she took. Nothing about the crash makes sense. The accident explanation feels wrong in ways Gwynn can’t articulate but can’t ignore either. Her suspicion that something darker happened gets confirmation when a private investigator named Ruben Dordi shows up at her door with disturbing news. 🚗
Ruben’s team has discovered a trail of unusual deaths and disappearances among Wilton employees stretching back years. Each incident was explained away—car accidents, suicides, sudden health crises, people who simply vanished and were written off as quitting without notice. Individually, each death seems plausible. Together, they form a pattern suggesting something systematically eliminating Wilton workers who knew too much or asked the wrong questions. Gwynn’s friend was just the latest casualty in a long campaign of silencing. 💀
To make matters exponentially worse, Gwynn discovers she’s under constant surveillance by those responsible for her friend’s murder. They’re watching her apartment, monitoring her movements, tracking her communications. Going to work at the Wilton Tower becomes walking into the enemy’s territory every single day. But that doesn’t deter her from getting involved in Ruben’s investigation—her friend deserves justice, and the people killing Wilton employees deserve exposure and prosecution. 🔍
Danger lurks in every corner of the Wilton Tower’s gleaming corporate headquarters. Colleagues could be allies or threats. Executives smile while concealing murderous intentions. One false move during the investigation could turn a risky situation into a death trap. Gwynn must navigate office politics while uncovering evidence of systematic murder, maintain her cover while digging into secrets people kill to protect, and stay alive long enough to expose the truth about what Wilton Oil & Gas values more than employee lives. Some companies measure success in profits. Wilton apparently measures it in body count. ⚠️
What makes this gripping: Inge-Lise Goss’s mystery thriller follows Gwynn Reznick whose best friend dies in a suspicious car crash at Wilton Oil & Gas, confirmed as murder by private investigator Ruben Dordi who’s discovered a trail of unusual employee deaths—forcing Gwynn under constant surveillance to investigate from inside Wilton Tower where danger lurks in every corner and one false move means death.
La Lucci
Emmy Award-winning actress and legendary television icon Susan Lucci—affectionately known as “La Lucci” since her groundbreaking early days on All My Children—is set to captivate audiences once again with her deeply personal second memoir. This compelling new book explores Susan’s journey through love tested by time, joy shadowed by loss, reinvention forced by circumstance, and resilience discovered through facing profound losses both personal and professional. 📺
With her signature warmth and honesty, Lucci shares pivotal moments that shaped her perspective on what matters when fame fades and personal crises demand real courage. She reveals experiences that taught her how to move forward with gratitude when life seemed determined to push her backward, how to maintain hope when circumstances justified despair, and how to access grace when anger felt more justified. 💕
La Lucci delivers a heartfelt narrative that’s at times humorous, always inspiring, and consistently honest in its reflection on strength discovered through struggle. The memoir doesn’t just recount a famous woman’s life; it explores universal themes of how we survive loss, rebuild after devastating setbacks, and find courage to embrace life’s unexpected turns when the script we imagined gets rewritten without permission. 🌟
In addition to intimate stories from her remarkable five-decade career and personal life, the book features a special chapter entitled “Thank You for Asking” where Susan answers frequently asked questions from devoted fans worldwide—addressing behind-the-scenes All My Children stories, maintaining grace under pressure, and what she’s learned about love, loss, and new beginnings. Written in collaboration with New York Times bestselling author Laura Morton, La Lucci promises to be a remarkable memoir celebrating life, love, and the courage to embrace new chapters when previous ones end in ways we never anticipated. This is a story of transformation, resilience, and the redemptive power of choosing hope even in the face of profound loss. ⭐
What makes this inspiring: Emmy-winning television icon Susan Lucci’s deeply personal second memoir explores her journey through love tested by time, joy shadowed by loss, and reinvention forced by circumstance—sharing pivotal moments with signature warmth and honesty while answering devoted fans’ most frequent questions in a celebration of resilience, courage, and embracing new beginnings after profound personal and professional losses.
Maintenance is what keeps everything going. It’s what keeps life going. Yet it’s also easy to shirk or defer—until the thing breaks, the system falters, and everything stops. The apparent paradox is profound: Maintenance is absolutely necessary and maintenance is optional. 🔧
The first in a multi-volume work, Maintenance: Of Everything, Part One offers a comprehensive overview of the civilizational importance of maintenance. The book begins with a dramatic contest of maintenance styles under life-critical conditions: the Golden Globe around-the-world solo sailboat race of 1968. It goes on to explore the insights that can be gleaned from vehicle maintenance, from the zeal of motorcycle maintainers to the maintenance philosophies that fought for dominance of the auto industry to the state of electric vehicle manufacturing today, with absorbing detours into the evolution of precision in manufacturing, the enduring importance of manuals, sustainment in the military, and the never-ending battle against corrosion. 🚗
This profound examination reveals how maintenance thinking shapes whether complex systems endure or fail. From biological maintenance your body performs constantly, to social maintenance preserving relationships, to mechanical maintenance preventing infrastructure collapse, this fundamental activity underlies everything humans rely upon. Yet people consistently undervalue maintenance work until its absence creates crisis. ⛵
Whole Earth Catalog creator Stewart Brand explores why critical infrastructure crumbles, why relationships deteriorate, why civilizations collapse—all rooted in the tension between maintenance’s objective importance and its subjective urgency. Understanding this paradox represents the first step toward building societies that survive rather than collapse under deferred maintenance. Through the lens of sailors racing around the world, motorcycle enthusiasts treating mechanical care as spiritual practice, and auto manufacturers whose survival depended on maintenance philosophy, Brand illuminates principles applicable to everything from personal relationships to global infrastructure. The battle against entropy never ends; the question is whether we maintain what matters or let it deteriorate until failure becomes catastrophic. 🏗️
What makes this essential: Whole Earth Catalog creator Stewart Brand’s first volume explores maintenance’s civilizational importance through the 1968 Golden Globe solo sailing race where survival depended on maintenance strategies, then examines vehicle maintenance from motorcycle zealots to auto industry philosophies to electric vehicles—with detours into manufacturing precision evolution, manual importance, military sustainment, and the endless battle against corrosion.
Your grandmother didn’t need a pharmacy—she walked into her garden. When everyday pain flares up, digestion feels off, or skin becomes irritated, you want natural remedies that actually work. Timeless Herbal Apothecary is a practical guide to using accessible herbs for real-life needs, from muscle aches and gut discomfort to minor injuries and seasonal issues. 🌿
Magalynne MacGuffin is not interested in trendy wellness fads or unverifiable claims—she wants remedies that work, organized so you can actually find them when you need them. Inside Timeless Herbal Apothecary, you’ll discover: 💊
Treatments using herbs local to North America—no impossible-to-find imports or high-priced exotics. 100-plus common conditions covered—200-plus total treatments, from sleepless nights and digestive upset to everyday aches, joint and muscle pain, irritated skin, and minor injuries. 20-plus cognitive improvement treatments—supporting memory, focus, and mental clarity naturally. 20 essential starter herbs—affordable, accessible, and versatile enough to address dozens of conditions. 📚
Every remedy ready same-day—no weeks-long tinctures or month-long infusions; most preparations take under 30 minutes. A double-indexed reference system—search by condition and herb. Step-by-step preparation methods—tinctures, salves, syrups, poultices, and infused oils explained clearly. Honest safety guidance—contraindications, herb-drug interactions, and clear red flags for when to seek professional care. Dosing for real life—adults, children, and elders, with adjustments for body weight and acute versus long-term use. 🌱
This comprehensive handbook provides practical, accessible herbal medicine without impossible-to-source ingredients or unproven wellness trends. MacGuffin prioritizes remedies based on traditional use and available research, organized for quick reference during health crises rather than leisurely reading. From minor injuries to cognitive support, this guide offers same-day preparations using affordable North American herbs with honest safety information and realistic dosing across all ages. 🧠
What makes this practical: Magalynne MacGuffin’s comprehensive herbal handbook provides 200-plus step-by-step remedies using North American herbs for 100-plus common conditions from pain and digestive issues to cognitive improvement—featuring 20 essential affordable starter herbs, same-day preparations under 30 minutes, honest safety guidance with contraindications, and dosing for adults, children, and elders without trendy wellness fads or unverifiable claims.