"There are rules for what I've done. Specific punishments for crimes against friendship." Laren Olivier knows the rules, but her attraction to a friend's ex-boyfriend is strong. She tells herself that if she and Scott can keep their new romance a secret, no one will get hurt. But Laren is not the only one with something to hide. Thus begins a year-long journey through secrets, lies, exposures and betrayals. Somehow, Laren must find a way to reconcile who she is with what she's done. And when tragedy strikes, she finds herself struggling with a discovery so shocking it rocks the very foundation of her world. A novel in free verse by award-winning author Valerie Sherrard. Reviews: "Counting Back from Nine is a powerful young adult novel. It's not just another story of a high school romance that fails; it's about the tensions (and joys) of family relationships, the impact of losing a parent at a formative point in one's emotional development, and the social fall-out resulting when a girl knowingly breaks the unspoken rules of high school female friendships and finds herself "un-friended". "Anyone who has read Valerie Sherrard's other works knows that she is expert at capturing the nuances of adolescent conversation. In Counting Back from Nine, the voices of Laren and her mother are strong and distinct. "The novel is written in free verse, and not only does the poetry capture the rhythms of speech more effectively, but the visual impact of the free verse adds another powerful dimension. And, somehow, the nastiness of which teen-age girls are especially capable, is even meaner when rendered in poetry... While the novel certainly isn't "chick lit", this is a book which will be read and enjoyed primarily by a female audience. Guys just aren't going to pick up a book with a cover featuring photo vignettes of a younger and older girl, surrounded by abstract bubbles. It's a shame, because Counting Back from Nine is an excellent novel." Highly Recommended. -- CM Magazine "The language is stark but poetic, and the free verse format perfectly suits the story. Sherrard's characters are written with compassion, and a keen understanding of how teenagers think and feel. Laren's voice feels authentic and emotionally true, and readers will empathize with her feelings of isolation and grief. "Counting Back from Nine is poignant and emotionally resonant, and teens will be wholly engaged from the first page to the last." Recommended -- Canadian Children Booknews

Charlie McLeod was a golf prodigy. His father taught him the game and then injury took it away. Twenty-five years after his last swing, McLeod is finally back on the course, working as a caddy in San Francisco. Though he is older and slightly disheveled, he can still drive the ball as straight and as far as the best players in the world. When his extraordinary skills are discovered, he quickly becomes embroiled in a high stakes game between his wealthy employers and a ferocious pro. What ensues is the hilarious and touching story of an underdog and the joys and life lessons found in the great game of golf.

Over the last decade and a half, Larry Gavrich has worked with hundreds of couples and individuals searching for their dream homes in golf-centric areas. Most of them opted to buy a home or property inside the gates of a golf community, guaranteeing themselves not only access to a golf course (or two) within walking or golf-cart distance from their houses, but also putting them close to a wide range of other amenities, such as fitness centers, walking trails and swimming pools. A few chose to live in more traditional neighborhoods but a short drive to excellent golf. If you are retired, or near retirement, and have dreamed about a move to a warm climate with plenty of outdoor activities, including golf, what are you waiting for? Glorious Back Nine: How to Find Your Dream Golf Home details a step-by-step approach that starts with a kitchen-table discussion about retirement goals and ends at the front door of your dream home on the course. In between you will learn about how climate and geography affect your ultimate choice; lifestyle options; how to select a qualified real estate buyer's agent; the various types of country club memberships; cost-of-living variables; homeowner association costs; how to plan your inspection visits and the right questions to ask during those visits; and much more. Glorious Back Nine is the only guide of its kind published in the last decade. It will answer many of your questions and, just as important, will arm you with the right ones to ask. The purchase of any home is a huge investment, possibly the biggest of your life, and you want to make sure you have all the information you need before taking the leap. Your retirement is the payoff for a successful career and family life. You should be armed with all the information you need to find your Glorious Back Nine. You will be if you read this book.

Includes a reading group guide with discussion questions.

Follows the fortunes of a German immigrant family through nine generations, beginning in 1845, as they experience American life and play baseball.

In this twisted Lauren Oliver-meets-A.S. King debut, Julian has just eight more lives to burn in order to uncover a brutal secret. In an alternate world startlingly close to our own, humans have nine lives—and they can’t wait to use them up. The government has death incentives aimed at controlling overpopulation. As you shed lives, you shed your awkward phases: one death is equal to one physical and mental upgrade. Julian’s friends are obsessed with the idea of burning, but Julian is determined to stay on his first life for as long as he can. His mother burned too fast and inflicted a debilitating rebirth sickness on herself. Julian realizes that he’s going to have to burn at some point—especially when he becomes a target for Nicholas, the manipulative leader of the Burners, the school’s suicide club. And when Julian eventually succumbs, he uncovers suspicious gaps in the rebirth system that may explain exactly why his mother went so far down the rabbit hole years ago. Along with a group of student dissenters, Julian sets out to find answers and is soon on the verge of exposing the greatest conspiracy ever unleashed on the world.

In 1982, Doug Manning wrote his first book dealing with the issues and decisions to be faced with aging loved ones, When Love Gets Tough. He was fifty-years-old at the time and wrote from the experiences he had dealt with as a pastor, a counselor and with his own family. He brought a great deal of wisdom and power to the conversation about determining the best and healthiest path for caring for those who need care. It has been a best seller for In-Sight Books for thirty-two years. Now, in his eighties, Doug is living those choices and those issues. He has found that too many people of his generation are becoming defeated by the frustrations of an aging body and mind and are just waiting until the end without purpose or a plan. So now he writes from the other side of those decisions and the adjustments and accommodations that must be made. (back cover, partial)

After riding the gravy train for more than ten years in the mortgage banking industry, author Tony Caico's industry and his life met at an intersection and crashed. His worth was so closely tied to what he did for a living that he no longer knew who he was. After some careful soul searching, his healing began, and he put his life back on track. Using the back nine holes of a golf course as a guide, Caico uses his experiences to help others analyze what they need to do better to truly enjoy the second half of their lives. Each golf hole represents one of the following nine key life components: family, health and wellness, knowledge, career, spirituality, leadership, relationships, self-improvement, and happiness. In My Back Nine, Caico synthesizes current thinking and research on careers, evaluating strengths, and formulating life plans to offer a guide to making changes for the better. The essential qualities needed for success in golf preparation, focus, patience, discipline, integrity, and honesty are the same qualities necessary to be successful in life. My Back Nine shows how both life and sports can often create real winners on and off the playing field.

Allison Hong is not your typical fifteen-year-old Taiwanese girl. Unwilling to bend to the conditioning of her Chinese culture, which demands that women submit to men’s will, she disobeys her father’s demand to stay in their faith tradition, Buddhism, and instead joins the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Then, six years later, she drops out of college to serve a mission—a decision for which her father disowns her. After serving her mission in Taiwan, twenty-two-year-old Allison marries her Chinese-speaking American boyfriend, Cameron Chastain. But sixteen months later, Allison returns home to their Texas apartment and is shocked to discover that, in her two-hour absence, Cameron has taken all the money, moved out, and filed for divorce. Desperate for love and acceptance, Allison moves to Utah and enlists in an imaginary, unforgiving dating war against the bachelorettes at Brigham Young University, where the rules don’t make sense—and winning isn’t what she thought it would be.