My name is Heath Germaine. As the starting cornerback for the Southeast San Antonio University football team, all eyes are on me. Under such crushing pressure, there’s no room for error in my bid to reach the NFL and help support my large family. With stakes this high, who can afford distractions? Not me, which is how I ended up in a fake relationship with the most irritating woman I know – Lauren Bagley. As a competitive gymnast, her only focus is securing a spot at the college nationals competition. If being her pretend boyfriend helps keep the idiot guys on her team off her back and the cleat chasers off mine, it’s a price I’m willing to pay. Nothing is real. We’re only pretending. Everything’s a game. So why does she suddenly matter to me? Matters to Me is the fourth book in the bestselling Hart series but can easily be read as a standalone. The series order is: Change of Hart Hart to Heart Matters of the Hart Matters to Me Topics: contemporary romance, football romance, sports romance, football series, modern romance, hot romance, emotional romance, college sports romance, HEA, strong heroine, college football player, college gymnast, anxiety, heart-warming, happy ending, alpha, romance, pro football, family, love, enemies to lovers, fake relationship, M.E. Carter, M.E. Carter football, single woman, interracial relationship, alpha hero, Hart series, new adult romance

Three years of marriage. For the sake of the moonlight in his heart, Lu Ziran had hurt his beloved Yu Sheng time and time again. He wished that she could die. With a tearful smile, he asked, "Do you really hate me that much?" He said coldly, "I wish you could die." When she was really dead, he was like a madman. He held on tightly to her body, insisting that she come back to life. However, everyone knew that she wouldn't come back to life ...

Here is a humorous, reflective, and evocative collection of stories of fatherhood, written from the perspective of a young father. These entertaining and tender tales recall a family's journey together, delving into pursuits that drew them close, even as the growing independence those activities fostered in the children eventually eased them apart. Both parents heeded a wise adage about raising children: hug them close, then let them go. The first part was easy; the latter somewhat more difficult. The author, a grandfather now, recalls those bygone years with a mixture of appreciation and nostalgia---appreciation, arising from the joy and love his daughters provided for their parents; and nostalgia, knowing those days are gone forever, living on only in shared remembrances of times past. If you have a son who is, himself, a father, you must get him to read this book! www.jbradleyburt.webs.com

The message "You matter to God" is presented using the parable of the Prodigal Son. Cartoon. Age range: Children, Youth, Adults

What happens when one small boy picks up one small piece of litter? He doesn't know it, but his tiny act has big consequences. From the minuscule to the universal, What Matters sensitively explores nature's connections and traces the ripple effects of one child’s good deed to show how we can all make a big difference.

In the '60s and '70s, America's music scene was marked by raucous excess, reflected in the tragic overdoses of young superstars such as Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. At the same time, the uplifting harmonies and sunny lyrics that propelled Karen Carpenter and her brother, Richard, to international fame belied a different sort of tragedy—the underconsumption that led to Karen's death at age thirty-two from the effects of an eating disorder. In Why Karen Carpenter Matters, Karen Tongson (whose Filipino musician parents named her after the pop icon) interweaves the story of the singer’s rise to fame with her own trans-Pacific journey between the Philippines—where imitations of American pop styles flourished—and Karen Carpenter’s home ground of Southern California. Tongson reveals why the Carpenters' chart-topping, seemingly whitewashed musical fantasies of "normal love" can now have profound significance for her—as well as for other people of color, LGBT+ communities, and anyone outside the mainstream culture usually associated with Karen Carpenter’s legacy. This hybrid of memoir and biography excavates the destructive perfectionism at the root of the Carpenters’ sound, while finding the beauty in the singer's all too brief life.

More than a decluttering guide, this book “speaks to the heart and soul of the minimalist lifestyle . . . a must-have manual for serenity in the modern world!” (Anne Sage, author of Sage Living). For anyone looking to declutter, organize, and simplify, author Erin Boyle shares practical guidance and personal insights on small-space living and conscious consumption. At once pragmatic and philosophical, Simple Matters is an essential manual for anyone who wants to bring more purpose and sustainability to their daily lives. Boyle demonstrates how the benefits of “living small” are accessible to us all—whether we’re renting a tiny apartment or purchasing a three-story house. Filled with personal essays, projects, and helpful advice on how to be inventive and resourceful in a tight space, Simple Matters shows that living simply is about making do with less and ending up with more: more free time, more time with loved ones, more savings, and more things of beauty.

Places that Matter asks the reader to identify a place that matters in their life—their home, a place of worship, a park, or some other site that acts as an emotional and physical anchor and connects them to a neighborhood. Then readers are asked: In what ways do I currently support—or fail to support—that neighborhood? Should support be increased? If so, in what ways? Joan Ferrante guides students through a learning experience that engages qualitative and quantitative research and culminates in writing a meaningful plan of action or research brief. Students are introduced to basic concepts of research and are exposed to the experiences of gathering and drawing on data related to something immediate and personal. The class-tested exercises are perfect for courses that emphasize action-based research and social responsibility. The book’s overarching goal is to help students assess their neighborhood’s needs and strengths and then create a concrete plan that supports that neighborhood and promotes its prosperity. Accompanying the book is a facilitator’s companion website to guide action-based research experiences, which includes rubrics that are aligned to common learning objectives and are also designed to make tracking and reporting easier.