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My research for Dial P for Perfectcame from deep within. I've always considered myself on the heavier side of the scale. Being measured for a costume for Brigadoonas a High School Junior was traumatic. The moms that volunteered that day may not have said the words, but I heard them in my mind. I felt "less than," or bigger than, as the case may be. Identifying with Ginger in Dial P for Perfectwas easy for me, and I felt her pains and triumphs, her fears, and her confusion.
Marbeth removes the “food-obsessed, short-of-breath, perpetually sweaty, and utterly unattractive to anyone not willing to see beyond her flawed curvy-girl stereotype” from her stories. Her plus-sized characters are not on the road to recovery, under a doctor’s care, and losing weight by the end of the book. Marbeth’s characters are real; by the end of the story, you find a piece of yourself changed because of her well-written words and exceptionally crafted heroines.
As a reader, I want to connect with a book’s characters. I may empathize with one and wish I were another, but when I find a book where I feel I AM the character, it’s a keeper. Marbeth doesn’t shy away from complex topics yet does an excellent job of moving the reader through the process of change – in their heart.
As an author, I work to align myself with like-minded authors who can reach deep…
Caroline Taft did her best to live a life of service and sacrifice, “above reproach,” but when her teaching career at Benchmark Baptist Christian School is cut short, she discovers that she hasn’t lived much of a life at all. Despite going on visitation every Saturday, teaching Sunday school, singing in the choir, directing children’s music, leading Wednesday’s Bible club, and, of course, teaching fourth grade (her actual job), it isn’t enough to keep her on. She wonders if it isn’t what she has or hasn’t done or if it’s her weight. Caroline is one of the few plus-sized women…
My research for Dial P for Perfectcame from deep within. I've always considered myself on the heavier side of the scale. Being measured for a costume for Brigadoonas a High School Junior was traumatic. The moms that volunteered that day may not have said the words, but I heard them in my mind. I felt "less than," or bigger than, as the case may be. Identifying with Ginger in Dial P for Perfectwas easy for me, and I felt her pains and triumphs, her fears, and her confusion.
Autumn Macarthur had me at Scotland. I love an opposites attract/deception romance, and the storyline on this one has a fun and unique twist. A low rumble of tension without overplayed drama carries the story to a well-crafted ending. The author knows how to keep sparks flying while keeping the heat level sweet, which is appropriate to the spiritual theme of the book. An engaging story with characters that feel like friends.
He's an embittered cynic. She's a perpetually cheerful Pollyanna. They both need to learn what trusting God really means.
Disabled since birth, bullied as a child, Edinburgh author Brodie Maclean has no faith in God, or in human nature. He learned young that his best weapons are his sharp tongue and his biting honesty, and he doesn’t hesitate to use them. When he’s forced to employ Flynn Ferguson as his housekeeper, it’s instant dislike. She’s too cheerful, she’s too loud, she’s too everything. Including distracting. How is he supposed to write with her around?
Even always-look-on-the-bright-side Flynn finds it hard…
My research for Dial P for Perfectcame from deep within. I've always considered myself on the heavier side of the scale. Being measured for a costume for Brigadoonas a High School Junior was traumatic. The moms that volunteered that day may not have said the words, but I heard them in my mind. I felt "less than," or bigger than, as the case may be. Identifying with Ginger in Dial P for Perfectwas easy for me, and I felt her pains and triumphs, her fears, and her confusion.
Mikal Dawn knows how to write a romantic comedy with equal parts rom and com. Mikal blends these genres into an unforgettable story that will keep you on the tips of your tingling toes. Her characters are authentic and believable. Mikal’s ability to seamlessly weave in a spiritual theme throughout the story leaves your heart full of the knowledge that God loves each of us. Prepare to laugh, fan your face, and wipe your tears all in the span of a single page. This debut novel will not disappoint.
*This is a romantic comedy with a Christian worldview.Allegra Spencer has been living a careful life. Her safe job as an accountant is bookended by going to church and the gym. Okay, sometimes the gym. Fine. She goes to church. And the coffee shop. She avoids risk at all cost, preferring to stay safe in her cozy condo. Until her accounting firm goes belly up and she's out of a job. Tyler Hawk had a glorious career as a star NFL tight end. He retired on a high note and now lives a second dream of owning his own business…
My research for Dial P for Perfectcame from deep within. I've always considered myself on the heavier side of the scale. Being measured for a costume for Brigadoonas a High School Junior was traumatic. The moms that volunteered that day may not have said the words, but I heard them in my mind. I felt "less than," or bigger than, as the case may be. Identifying with Ginger in Dial P for Perfectwas easy for me, and I felt her pains and triumphs, her fears, and her confusion.
USA Today bestselling author Valerie Comer’s plus-sized character, Sadie Guthrie, has much to learn, even though she is a gifted lawyer. She may be a confident, independent woman, but her emotional struggles and decisions are not easy. Choices about love, life, and even food options weigh on her. She’ll need to be as honest with herself as she expects others to be with her. The gardener might get under her skin like the dirt under his nails, yet may be just what she needs to learn to love herself and see herself for who she truly is – a beautiful child of God.
She pictures a relaxing oasis. He sees food for the less fortunate. They both claim the same backyard. Family lawyer Sadie Guthrie snaps up a heritage house with a backyard perfect for relaxing with her caramel espresso and cinnamon rolls. Now some guy is digging in her garden and thinks he has a claim to it. For vegetables! Too bad he doesn’t realize he’s taken on a veggie-hating attorney in her den.
Urban farmer Peter Santoro had a deal with his elderly neighbor to cultivate her yard for his business, but when she dies and the property is sold, the…
Growing up in a post-industrial city that bore the scars of urban renewal, I developed an early fascination with historic preservation. I began my studies as an architecture major; by my second year, I switched to American history because my passion lay in studying and understanding existing buildings and landscapes. Preserved is the product of inspiration that hit me when I spotted a beautifully preserved funeral home. Most of the neighborhood’s nineteenth-century refined residential fabric had been erased, but the grand Italianate mansion served as a reminder of what the area was like at the start of the twentieth century. At that moment, I realized that this was a story worth telling.
This was a bittersweet read for me. I grew up in Lynn, Massachusetts, a post-industrial city that was a shadow of the bustling place it was when my parents were growing up there in the 1940s and 50s. Young’s recounting of his return to the city of his childhood, Flint, Michigan, speaks to all of us who long not just for the places that we think we know but for those places that had already ceased to exist before we were born.
At the same time, Young’s poetic exploration of place, tinged with nostalgia, teaches us that even the cities and towns hardest hit by the unforgiving forces of globalization and corporate capitalism and haunted by ghosts of past prosperity can be fertile with new possibilities and new stories.
After living in San Francisco for fifteen years, journalist Gordon Young found himself yearning for his Rust Belt hometown: Flint, Michigan, the birthplace of General Motors and the "star" of the Michael Moore documentary Roger & Me. Hoping to rediscover and help a place that had once boasted one of the world's highest per capita income levels but had become one of the country's most impoverished and dangerous cities, he returned to Flint with the intention of buying a house. What he found was a place of stark contrasts and dramatic stories, where an exotic dancer could afford a lavish…
Like many of my generation, my formal introduction to the zombie genre started with George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead. Stories of the zombie apocalypse, and the arterial sprays, dismemberments, and eviscerations that accompanied it, have fascinated me ever since. But, I'm also a psychology professor. Although I was initially captivated by the carnage of the undead, I quickly found that the mindsets of the survivors were equally fascinating. More than anything, I love seeing how fictional worlds represent real-world psychological concepts.
I will never survive a zombie apocalypse. I'm pretty sure my last words will be, "OMG, Zombies! I'm going to take a selfie! Arrgghh." But for those with good sense and practical intelligence, plans for defeating the undead will need to be developed and set in motion. That's where The Zombie Survival Guide comes in. Max Brooks' offering is a fascinating "how-to guide" for living in a world overrun with the living dead. This book has it all, from weapons and combat techniques to offensive and defensive strategies. The information in this book is invaluable for those prepping for the inevitable plaque of the undead.
Don't be reckless with you most precious asset - life. This book is your key to survival against the hordes of undead who may be stalking you right now without your even knowing it.
It covers everything you need to know, from how to understand zombie behaviour to survival in any territory or terrain.
The Zombie Survival Guide offers complete protection through proven tips for safeguarding yourself and your loved ones against the living dead.
It might just save your life.
'A bloody-minded, strait-laced manual for evading the grasp of the undead.' Time Out
If you spend as long looking at medieval churches as I do, you also end up collecting a lot of books on the subject. Any church archaeologist cannot help also becoming something of a librarian. A passion for churches - and books. There are hundreds of church guidebooks out there, all of which have their own merits, but these are a small selection of books that look at different aspects of church history. They look at these amazing buildings through a different lens. These aren't a definitive guide - just books that I find myself returning to time and time again - for both information and pleasure.
Stephen Hart spent a lifetime travelling around English churches and was one of the most knowledgeable - and good-natured - individuals I ever had the pleasure to work with. One of his passions was for flushwork - the decorative flint work seen on many English churches, most especially in East Anglia. This book was published towards the end of his career and brings together many of his thoughts and ideas - as well as a fantastic selection of images.
Flint Flushwork is a wholly external decorative medium, where the skills of medieval craftsman blended with the iconography of the medieval church to create a unique new art form. It is an artistic achievement that is built into the very fabric of many hundreds of medieval churches. As such, many examples of Flushwork survive where more impermanent artworks have succumbed to the ravages of reformation and over-zealous restoration. Despite this, however, ithas not attracted the same depth of research and analysis as other aspects of church architecture.
This book provides a wide perspective on the several different modes of Flushwork…
I participated in a coaching program where I put alcohol to the side for 90 consecutive days and I was so completely transformed that I couldn’t even consider going back to the way things were. I attribute my success in staying alcohol free to the fact that I recognized God’s instruction embedded in all of the things I learned in that coaching program. For me, it was the collision of modern science, personal suffering, and Biblical Wisdom. I am a Certified Positive Intelligence and Alcohol-Free Coach and I so enjoy witnessing the transformation people experience when following this program. It gives me such joy.
This book talks about the science of the brain and a methodology for changing brain patterns, habits, and neural pathways. The uniqueness of this book lies in her connection with God’s Word. The author provides much evidence through biblical scripture for the rewiring of the brain. This resonated with me personally because I have also taken the science of the brain and matched it up with biblical wisdom.
According to researchers, the vast majority--a whopping 75-98 percent--of the illnesses that plague us today are a direct result of our thought life. What we think about truly affects us both physically and emotionally. In fact, fear alone triggers more than 1,400 known physical and chemical responses in our bodies, activating more than thirty different hormones! Today our culture is undergoing an epidemic of toxic thoughts that, left unchecked, create ideal conditions for illnesses.
Supported by current scientific and medical research, Dr. Caroline Leaf gives readers a prescription for better health and wholeness through correct thinking…
I have a passion for helping people move past the pain of divorce because I’ve been there myself. As a counselor I knew what I needed to do to cope and heal but I also quickly realized the importance of making prayerful decisions and trusting God. It’s my joy to walk you through steps you can take to cope now and move to a brighter future. My education, career, faith, and experiences have resulted in my book Peace after Divorce being recognized as an exemplary Christian self-help book by the Illumination Book Awards.
So many women have silently suffered abuse for years in the name of trying to do what they believe God would have them do. Sadly, their well-meaning efforts, and at times misunderstanding of the Scriptures, can actually feed the destructive cycle in their marriages. In this book, Leslie Vernick reaches out to the reader with practical strategies for recognizing emotional abuse and taking steps to break free of its bondage. She outlines what needs to happen for hope to be restored in a marriage and shares how to leave if the cycle of destruction continues. Many women I’ve worked with through my groups and Peace after Divorce Workshops have cited that this book literally saved their lives.
You can’t put it into words, but something is happening to you. Your stomach churns, your heart aches, and the tension in your marriage is making you feel weary and a little crazy. The constant criticism, disrespect, cruelty, deceit, and gross indifference are eroding your confidence and breaking your spirit.
For any woman caught in an emotionally destructive marriage, Leslie Vernick offers a personalized path forward. Based on decades of counseling experience, her intensely practical, biblical advice will show you how to establish boundaries and break free from emotional abuse. Learn to:
In my late high school years and during college I was confronted with a question that has dogged many artists over the years who are in the church: should a Christian be in the arts or not? As it turns out, the first person to be described as filled by the Spirit in the Bible was an artist. I had to wait until my college years to find that out by reading Francis Schaeffer’s book Art and the Bible. This and Madeleine L’Engle’s Walking on Water gave me a theology that valued art. Now I'm a full-time artist and curate a small art gallery, but I've never stopped looking for good books on Art and Faith.
From the moment that Jesus Christ first proclaimed the Kingdom of God, he appealed to our imagination. He made that appeal through the parables, the paradoxes of the Gospel, his miracles, and those moments when the heavens opened and the ordinary was transfigured. In this book, the poet Malcolm Guite explores how the creative work of poets and other artists can begin to lift the veil, kindling our imaginations for Christ. N.T. Wright has commended this book, calling it “A small treasure-house of beauty and imagination, helping us in turn to imagine God’s world and God’s love with multi-faceted and grateful wisdom.” Although I heartily recommend other recent books, Lifting the Veil is my favorite new work in the Art and Faith conversation.
Christianity has often been suspicious of the human imagination, equating it with what is imaginary or merely made-up, while in the secular world the arts are often seen as little more than a source of entertainment. In Lifting the Veil, Malcolm Guite explores the vision from which all his writing springs - that there is a radiant reality at the heart of things which our dulled sight misses, and that the imagination is an aspect of the image of God in us that can awaken us to the presence and truth of God shimmering through all creation.
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