For almost ten years, Ashleigh Nowakowski stood on stage alongside her brother in front of countless students across the Midwest sharing their stories of the impact that substance abuse had on their lives from different perspectives: the user and the sibling. They talked about her brother's recovery, providing hope for others that their loved ones could get sober ... until Ashleigh's world came crashing down on her when her brother relapsed.

It wasn't until then that Ashleigh realized she had never really healed from the past and was still living in her brother's shadow. The Shadow Child offers a raw and vulnerable inside look at the thoughts, feelings, and emotions a sibling goes through as he or she watches the loved one abuse substances.

A native and current resident of southeastern Wisconsin, Ashleigh drew upon her experiences with her brother to create Your Choice to Live Inc., a nonprofit organization specializing in drug and alcohol prevention education. For more than a decade, she has spoken in middle schools and high schools, educating parents, teachers, and community members, and working with high-risk youth. She is the voice of many who are silently suffering through their sibling's addiction.

The book features a poignant and personal foreword by Tom Farley, brother of the late comedic actor Chris Farley, who died of a drug overdose in 1997 at the age of 33. Tom Farley has spent years speaking on substance abuse and what it does to the family of the abuser, even writing a New York Times bestselling book about his experiences. He and Ashleigh are both Wisconsin natives who have gotten to know each other through their work in this area.

Ashleigh has a Master of Public Administration degree, a prevention specialist certification, and is working toward her substance abuse counselor certificate.

Walk with her in The Shadow Child as she heals from the past and finds herself.

The affluent community of Greenwich has another side to it. It's where the have nots seek their own success and status, sometimes by any means necessary. That was true back in the summer of 1979, when a beautiful young woman with assets she's willing to use, a reporter seeking headlines and redemption, and a New England tough waitress with a dark secret were among those making, breaking, and keeping promises What people are saying about Post Road Promises Jim Ramsey really knows his territory-The Greenwich of 1979, before the high walls and hedge funders, when the town still had rough edges, dark corners, and great local characters. That Greenwich is between these covers. - Timothy Dumas, author of Greentown: Murder and Mystery in Greenwich, America's Wealthiest Community My younger days in Greenwich came back alive in vivid detail. If I had been a part of a story like this back in 1979, I would have made Lieutenant a lot sooner - Lt. Tommy Keegan, GPD (Retired), GHS 1971 A fascinating look at my hometown. It reminds me you still have to be able to meet everyone at their own level, whether at the Bruce Park Tavern or the Greenwich Country Club. A fabulous reflection of life in Greenwich. I loved every word. - David Theis, Greenwich Board of Selectmen, GHS 1967

Little Kara had big dreams. But she had seen others around her defeated by the obstacles thrown at them, and she was fearful she might endure the same fate and never attain her dreams.

Was she good enough?

Was she strong enough?

Would she be able to overcome hardships?

Kara, a young tree in the forest, decides to ask a wise, mature tree for advice. The mentoring helps Kara realize that she has everything within her to reach her dreams; she just needs to adjust to her surroundings and believe in herself.

This wonderful children's story represents the debut book by Ritu Anand of Sarasota, Florida. The tale is augmented by Veen Redwood's rich, beautiful illustrations.

Kara's Dreams is a tale of faith, growth, and resilience. Any child will love the story and pictures.

An introspective look at how the experiences of an intensive care unit physician helped shape his optimistic worldview during a thirty-two-year medical career.

In Blessings and Sudden Intimacies: Musings of a Pediatric Intensivist, Dr. Greg Stidham entertains, inspires, and expresses gratitude for the experiences that have enriched his life. Not only does he reveal many of the extraordinary things he's experienced, but he also opens a way for us to view our own lives as a series of blessings.

Encounters with critically ill and dying children and their parents, present the poignant sudden intimacies of the book. The blessings refer to the young patients, families and healthcare personnel who touched him. Throughout, he tells of trying to ease, understand and make sense of the suffering of his young patients and their families. But he also balances the serious narrative with funny stories, letting us in on the sort of silly humor that helps a medical staff get through its day.

The book doesn't just cover Dr. Stidham's professional life. Now retired, he intertwines stories from his personal life, too, looking at how experiences at home and work have shaped and influenced each other, and him. He covers topics such as friendships, marriage, birth of children and grandchildren, relocations, health issues, vacations, and travel.

Through it all, the Cleveland native and Kingston, Ontario, resident maintains an optimistic mindset that gave him the empathy and strength needed to sustain a long medical career, most of which was spent at the University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center and LeBonheur Children's Medical Center in Memphis.

An accomplished writer, Stidham has published a memoir, numerous pieces of short fiction, and creative nonfiction. But his real passion is writing poetry.

Blessings and Sudden Intimacies presents a series of experiences that take readers on a ride along with Dr. Stidham as he comforts, cares, grieves, and comes to understand how one can find blessings in some of life's most difficult times. The stories are told in direct, clear language that brings his patients and their struggles to life in vivid fashion, which helps us find meaning, as he has, in the smallest, most fleeting encounter.

Above all, this book radiates Optimism and Joy and serves as one of those blueprints for those of us women who keep reinventing ourselves... - Ali MacGraw In her first book, Gracefully - Looking and Being Your Best at Any Age, cover model, author and speaker, Valerie Ramsey shared her secrets on nutrition, beauty, and positive workouts for body, mind, and soul. Now in the sequel, Creating What's Next - Gracefully, Valerie gives valuable advice and information on how to create your own What's Next. Using examples from her own life and with entertaining, behind-the-scenes stories, Valerie shares her secrets for overcoming challenges and winning in the second half of life - and tells you how you can too. Valerie Ramsey has appeared on numerous TV shows including the TODAY Show, Fox News, and many others. She is represented by Wilhelmina Models, and agencies in Toronto and Paris, as well as Premiere Speakers Bureau. Previously Valerie was public relations and media manager for Pebble Beach Resorts. She and her husband, Wally, live in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. www.ValerieRamsey.com

This book is meant to trace the long life stories of the fruits and vegetables we grow within the United States today 1968], where they came from, and, whenever possible, who were the dedicated men and women who developed them into the superior products picked and harvested across out continent in this computerized, jet-propelled age in which we live. - From the Introduction This delightfully original book makes colorful individuals of each of our fruits and vegetables, in character sketches that trace them down through history side by side with man. Apple and orange, pomegranate and dig, papaya, mango and banana, are as adventurous on their travels from land to land, from continent to continent as any Marco Polo or Columbus. Vegetables, too, are not to be outdone So whether one is historian, agronomist, vegetarian, anecdotist, gourmet, or just plain housewife-going-to-market one will be most happily entertained and seriously instructed by these biographic vignettes with their charming illustrations by Frank Aloise. - Leslie Frost (Daughter of Robert Frost)

High-profile politicians are dying by their own hand. These aren't aged bureaucrats breaking under the strain of political baggage; they are rising stars whose stresses and scandals are still ahead of them. Only genius scientist Dr. Deacon Creel knows how to save them. There's one problem, though: he now prefers the bottle to the laboratory and the alley to the office.

Creel is about to get tossed in jail for public drunkenness when he's bailed out by Homeland Security bigshot Nelson Barzoon, one of the few who know how a cure for Alzheimer's was perverted into an assassin's dream. Barzoon wants Creel back in his old job at Unit 13, a clandestine biodefense lab.

Only Creel knows the antidote to this plague of suicides, but he's tormented by guilt for his part in releasing it upon the world-and for what it cost him. With the help of a quirky, lesbian assistant and a female marine corpsman who's a constant reminder of the price he paid, Creel races against time to stop the carnage before he and his pals become the next victims.

Author John Bukowski uses his background in medical research and writing to add authenticity to this wild ride. Strap in as he pits Creel and company against a labyrinth of potholes and detours along the road to uncovering the nefarious goals of Project Suicide.

Emma would love to learn to dance, but that's a difficult thing to do when you have eight legs. During class, she falls and is almost ready to give up ... almost.

A chat with her parents convinces her to give it another try.

Do you think Emma figures out how to dance despite her obstacle?

Emma's Dancing Day is a delightful, rhyming children's story of not giving up on the dreams that God has placed within your heart. The inspiring story by Kimberly S. Hoffman is augmented by lovely illustrations by Em Vickers.

Emma would love to learn to dance, but that's a difficult thing to do when you have eight legs. During class, she falls and is almost ready to give up ... almost.

A chat with her parents convinces her to give it another try.

Do you think Emma figures out how to dance despite her obstacle?

Emma's Dancing Day is a delightful, rhyming children's story of not giving up on the dreams that God has placed within your heart. The inspiring story by Kimberly S. Hoffman is augmented by lovely illustrations by Em Vickers.

Dyslexic: My Journey offers a wealth of information and hope for parents of learning-disabled children.

Dyslexic is the remarkable story of Mike Balzano, an undiagnosed learning-disabled child of working class immigrants whose antisocial behavior earned him the name Crazy Mikey. Failing at everything, he became a garbage collector until crippled by a back injury. He then entered an optical apprenticeship that turned his life around. He earned a high school diploma, graduated from a university magna cum laude, and earned a PhD with distinction from Georgetown University.

Balzano believes that the apprenticeship gave him the discipline and self-confidence to begin his journey. He urges parents, teachers, school counselors, and superintendents to expand their current focus of promoting college careers to include promoting careers that require apprenticeships.

Dyslexic includes the testimonies of parents who chose different approaches to address the learning disabilities of their children, and appendices where parents can find help. Balzano's story illustrates that with the appropriate education or training, young people can capture the American Dream.

High-profile politicians are dying by their own hand. These aren't aged bureaucrats breaking under the strain of political baggage; they are rising stars whose stresses and scandals are still ahead of them. Only genius scientist Dr. Deacon Creel knows how to save them. There's one problem, though: he now prefers the bottle to the laboratory and the alley to the office.

Creel is about to get tossed in jail for public drunkenness when he's bailed out by Homeland Security bigshot Nelson Barzoon, one of the few who know how a cure for Alzheimer's was perverted into an assassin's dream. Barzoon wants Creel back in his old job at Unit 13, a clandestine biodefense lab.

Only Creel knows the antidote to this plague of suicides, but he's tormented by guilt for his part in releasing it upon the world-and for what it cost him. With the help of a quirky, lesbian assistant and a female marine corpsman who's a constant reminder of the price he paid, Creel races against time to stop the carnage before he and his pals become the next victims.

Author John Bukowski uses his background in medical research and writing to add authenticity to this wild ride. Strap in as he pits Creel and company against a labyrinth of potholes and detours along the road to uncovering the nefarious goals of Project Suicide.

It's the early 1970s in Northern Wyoming ranch country ... not exactly an accommodating atmosphere for a gay man.

But that's exactly the situation third-generation rancher Jim Gustafsson faces as he fears the end of his ranch's legacy: trying not only to come to terms with the revelation that his only son is gay, but also consider Howard's requirement to stay and work on the Arrowhead Ranch is that his partner, Dave, moves in with them.

Gustafsson and his neighbors have always expected cowboys to be a manly men who love to perform the hard, physical labor of herding, feeding, watering, doctoring, branding, calving, and castrating cattle. They have also expected them to love only women.

Howard and Dave must prove they are willing and able to do the hard work, but they also face the even harder task of confronting prevailing prejudices of those around them.

Ranch Legacy is the debut novel by Earle Kirkbride, who turned 95 years old around the time of its release. The story follows two families that cope in unpredictable ways with the predictable challenges of LGBTQ+ issues and ranch life in the 1970s in the rugged West.

Little Kara had big dreams. But she had seen others around her defeated by the obstacles thrown at them, and she was fearful she might endure the same fate and never attain her dreams.

Was she good enough?

Was she strong enough?

Would she be able to overcome hardships?

Kara, a young tree in the forest, decides to ask a wise, mature tree for advice. The mentoring helps Kara realize that she has everything within her to reach her dreams; she just needs to adjust to her surroundings and believe in herself.

This wonderful children's story represents the debut book by Ritu Anand of Sarasota, Florida. The tale is augmented by Veen Redwood's rich, beautiful illustrations.

Kara's Dreams is a tale of faith, growth, and resilience. Any child will love the story and pictures.

Lucy can't find her princess crown anywhere, and she's quite upset. Her older sister, Eva, agrees to help her find it.

The girls check out every lead they can think of to try and find the missing crown. As they work through their investigation, Lucy and Eva play dress-up; meet up with their soccer-playing friend, Alejandro; discuss the case with Mom and Dad; play with their silly dog, Prince; and spend some time in their tent.

Will the girls find out what happened to the crown? With these young Princess Investigators employing teamwork and an inquisitive spirit, they've got as great a chance as anyone.

Lucy can't find her princess crown anywhere, and she's quite upset. Her older sister, Eva, agrees to help her find it.

The girls check out every lead they can think of to try and find the missing crown. As they work through their investigation, Lucy and Eva play dress-up; meet up with their soccer-playing friend, Alejandro; discuss the case with Mom and Dad; play with their silly dog, Prince; and spend some time in their tent.

Will the girls find out what happened to the crown? With these young Princess Investigators employing teamwork and an inquisitive spirit, they've got as great a chance as anyone.

For almost ten years, Ashleigh Nowakowski stood on stage alongside her brother in front of countless students across the Midwest sharing their stories of the impact that substance abuse had on their lives from different perspectives: the user and the sibling. They talked about her brother's recovery, providing hope for others that their loved ones could get sober ... until Ashleigh's world came crashing down on her when her brother relapsed.

It wasn't until then that Ashleigh realized she had never really healed from the past and was still living in her brother's shadow. The Shadow Child offers a raw and vulnerable inside look at the thoughts, feelings, and emotions a sibling goes through as he or she watches the loved one abuse substances.

A native and current resident of southeastern Wisconsin, Ashleigh drew upon her experiences with her brother to create Your Choice to Live Inc., a nonprofit organization specializing in drug and alcohol prevention education. For more than a decade, she has spoken in middle schools and high schools, educating parents, teachers, and community members, and working with high-risk youth. She is the voice of many who are silently suffering through their sibling's addiction.

The book features a poignant and personal foreword by Tom Farley, brother of the late comedic actor Chris Farley, who died of a drug overdose in 1997 at the age of 33. Tom Farley has spent years speaking on substance abuse and what it does to the family of the abuser, even writing a New York Times bestselling book about his experiences. He and Ashleigh are both Wisconsin natives who have gotten to know each other through their work in this area.

Ashleigh has a Master of Public Administration degree, a prevention specialist certification, and is working toward her substance abuse counselor certificate.

Walk with her in The Shadow Child as she heals from the past and finds herself.

Even the most difficult of marriages can survive a lifetime through commitment, acceptance, and work. In Love Always, Hobby and Jessie, the improbable bond that was the marriage of Hobby and Jessie Robinson showcases one example of a rocky marriage that eventually finds its footing. Defined by their heritage and their experiences, Hobby and Jessie met, merged, -and split many times as they unknowingly defined their unique relationship. The conditions implemented to keep peace forged an eventual lifelong truce and acceptance. Those outside of their marriage would have been puzzled the solutions that Hobby and Jessie found. As unconventional as they were to each other, their attempts at brokering their special treaties mirrored their individual styles. Couples who settle on the edges of their relationship often find themselves at the very center of it. Sara Robinson grew up in Elkton, VA and currently resides in Charlottesville, VA.

What happens when a spider is extraordinarily rare? Absolutely square? Sigmund is more than happy to tell you. Well, maybe happy is not the right word for it.

Sigmund Stanley Spider Squared is a comical tale of a spider that is shaped a bit differently than the rest and how this shape presents its own unique set of problems. Will Sigmund learn to just cope with his peculiarity and master the skills needed to conquer his I can'ts?

The two upstarts, Abby Cat and Furgy Cat, aided by their beloved guardian angel and friend Holly Cat, travel overseas to England on a magic carpet from their century home in Bobcaygeon, Ontario Canada.

After eagerly exploring the usual tourist attractions, like the Tower of London and Buckingham Palace, they find themselves transported back in time by Holly to meet three famous authors and some of their more memorable characters. The trio then reluctantly head home to the family that surrounds them with love and keeps their wanderlust at bay, at least temporarily.

LYNN COULTER is part owner of a pizza restaurant and co-producer of tribute concerts for theatres and festivals. This is her inaugural children's book about her three rescue cats. She was, for many years, an executive assistant for a research company located in the city of Mississauga, Ontario Canada before embarking on a self-employed venture in the Tourism and Hospitality industry in Toronto.

Lynn resides in the town of Bobcaygeon, part of the Kawartha Lakes, with her husband Paul, their son Bob and his wife Angela, son Bill and, last but not least, the stars of her story, the impish and daring Furgy, the sweet and sensitive Abby and their guardian angel and loving companion Holly.

Life in a small affluent town is disrupted when a cherished historical landmark, the Putnam plaque, is stolen in the winter of 1980. The previous summer, newspaper reporter Steven Rollins helped the town avert a massive embezzlement scheme. Now he becomes ensnared in yet another captivating crime. Just when a trail of clues becomes clearer, the mayor of Greenwich disappears and his body is found in a most astonishing place A stolen plaque and the death of the mayor - are these two stories too hot for one reporter to handle?