Salty air, low lying clouds, and crooning of seagulls near the towering Astoria Column and the flowing Columbia River set the scene for Humanity's Grace, a collection of linked short stories. Frank, Anne, Monica, and Sarah all reappear from the pages of Montgomery's novel, Beyond the Ripples. New characters: An elderly mother and her son, a police office and spouse, a childhood friend, a counselor, a bystander appear, are all uniquely connected to a murder in downtown Astoria, Oregon. Frank's untimely death creates a spectrum of consequences for his loved ones, acquaintances, and strangers. The ensuing murder accusation throws a trio of characters into darkness, as they reassess earlier beliefs, past decisions and actions. Other characters are impacted in unique and unexpected ways. A police officer is haunted by his past. A young woman awakens from a vivid dream of a friend from before. A mother wonders what she did wrong. A son aches for others to be kind. A daughter questions her father's past, while her mother remembers parts of the man she had forgotten. A stranger ponders the significance of a message she's received. The characters in Humanity's Grace intertwine as they laugh, scream, and cry, do good or create evil. Most of all, they meander through sorrow and sadness, joy and regret, as they remind the reader of the startling and collective beauty of life's connections.

How might a small decision you make, an action you take, a phone call you initiate change your path? Impact other lives? Months after spying a bottle wedged into a fallen cottonwood snag in the Columbia River, Ernest pulls it from the river. The bottle's note connects Ernest, an old man living in a tiny Oregon town, to teenage Annie, provoking a mysterious and sudden friendship between Ernest's daughter Amelia with Sarah, the daughter of the most recent resident of the home Annie once occupied. The two middle-aged women's quest to learn more about Annie and her secret introduces readers to stories about family members through backstory, and introduces new characters, all connected through the finding of the bottle. Together, Amelia and Sarah explore their unfinished business with their mothers, intimate relationships, and regrets over life choices as they embark on their personal searches for something bigger in their very different lives.

Welcome to Weston Locher's Musings on Minutiae where the author offers up hilarious observations and insights on topics of great importance such as: Living in an urban apartment complex ( if I become an admitted pet owner, then I have to pay not only a several hundred dollar deposit to the apartment complex, but I'm pretty sure that they also reserve the right to harvest some of my bodily organs ), living with felines ( as I'm walking anywhere in my apartment. They scamper in front of my legs, causing me to fall and face plant into whatever furniture is closest. They especially like to play this game when I'm carrying piping hot coffee.), his childhood Memories (Our family was nearly torn apart on several occasions by arguments started when the refrigerator door was open for what my father deemed as 'too long.'), and much more. Chock full of humorous essays and personal anecdotes, Musings on Minutiae will keep you laughing for as long as you have a pulse.

There are moments in your life that you hold close within your heart. They become memories that you cherish, that you hold dear. You keep them locked away in a secret place in your heart and only can be reached through the opening of your soul. That is where you hold your most treasured blessings. Only those treasures find there way into this chamber and only those treasures remain when others fall away. This special place is your soul's heart chest; its key is only found through the special corridor of your heart.Sometimes beautiful souls find there way into this special place. This is what makes them more than friends, more than soulmates, it makes them part of your heart, part of your soul. They become part of your most cherished treasures; they become part of your soul's heart chest where they are protected forever. I have been blessed with very few who have touched me in this way and I know that I am blessed beyond measure to have been touched by such rare treasures. It is within my soul's heart chest that I keep you forever protected. Your souls are more than amazing and beautiful doesn't even come close to describing you. You have lit my path in the darkness and helped me find my way home. You have reminded me that it's ok to be me, that it's ok to be wounded. That it's ok not to be perfect. Most importantly, you have accepted me for who I am and loved me for it in spite of it, unconditionally. To open up and receive the love you offer and give love back in return without fear.You will always be protected in my soul's heart chest. Where I keep all of my most treasured blessings and there you will stay forever. You are always part of my heart and soul and I love you for who you are but also for who I am because of you.Daddy don't cry, your Wounded Butterfly finally learned how to fly... I miss you, thank you for believing in me when nobody else did. Sending so much love to you up in Heaven.

Alexie Aaron has given us a motley crew of ghost hunters and a wide cast of supernatural beings fighting the good fight against evil in her popular thirty-two book "Haunted Series" and its companion series "Cid Garrett P.I.". This time she has tackled a love story set in an enchanted bookshop. Chicago's enchanted secondhand bookshop owner Nash Greene has been given a second chance at life. He never imagined that he'd also be given a second chance on love with Chef Clara Tyler. Their leap from friendship to lovers was magical enough without the interference of the books on the second floor. Each move the couple makes seems to be punctuated in the pages of the well-loved novels of the last few centuries.Books are powerful things. They can bring on emotions and encourage the timid heart to accept love. Some books are written to take the reader into a world that only the brave dare to tread. Unfortunately, there are books that are created not to entertain, amuse, or nurture. These are life-snatching books. One is taking out the members of Wendell Baumbach's evening book club at an alarming rate.Within the city is a society called the Order of Scrolls created after the great fire in Alexandria to save books for humanity but, when called upon, will act to save humanity from books. The Order of Scrolls summons their knights to fight to save Chicago from a very dangerous book. Join Nash, Clara, and the secret Order of Scrolls in their quest to find the life-snatching book and destroy it before it destroys them.

Sawkill Girls meets The Hazel Wood in this lush and eerie debut, where the boundary between reality and nightmares is as thin as the veil between the living and the dead. If I could have a fiddle made of Daddy’s bones, I’d play it. I’d learn all the secrets he kept. Shady Grove inherited her father’s ability to call ghosts from the grave with his fiddle, but she also knows the fiddle’s tunes bring nothing but trouble and darkness. But when her brother is accused of murder, she can’t let the dead keep their secrets. In order to clear his name, she’s going to have to make those ghosts sing. Family secrets, a gorgeously resonant LGBTQ love triangle, and just the right amount of creepiness make this young adult debut a haunting and hopeful story about facing everything that haunts us in the dark.

The book provides the essence of the extensive travel undertaken by the author over a period of 20 years and how these voyages and exploration brought about the transformation in his personality and general perspective about life.