Fake it so Real takes on the fallout from a punk-rock lifestyle—the future of “no future”—and its effect on the subsequent generations of one family. In June of 1983, Gwen, a gnarly Nancy Spungen lookalike, meets Damian, the enigmatic leader of a punk band. Seven years and two unplanned pregnancies later, Damian abandons Gwen, leaving her to raise their two daughters, Sara and Meg, on her own. The fourteen chapters that make up this book usher Gwen and her daughters through five decades, haunted by Damian’s ghost. Fuelled by vodka and scrappy determination, Gwen balances a responsibility to her daughters with her narcissistic, self-destructive tendencies. Sara and Meg scramble through adolescence and enter adulthood walking the line between selfishness and self-sacrifice, attempting to avoid their parents’ mistakes, all the while making a whole new set of mistakes of their own. In the voices of Gwen, Damian, Sara, Meg, Damian’s bandmate and Gwen’s true love, the novel weave a raw and honest tapestry of family life as told from the underbelly, focused on the grey area between right and wrong, the idea that we are all equally culpable and justified in our actions, and the pain and ecstasy that accompany a life lived authentically.

Fake it so Real takes on the fallout from a punk-rock lifestyle--the future of "no future"--and its effect on the subsequent generations of one family. In June of 1983, Gwen, a gnarly Nancy Spungen lookalike, meets Damian, the enigmatic leader of a punk band. Seven years and two unplanned pregnancies later, Damian abandons Gwen, leaving her to raise their two daughters, Sara and Meg, on her own. The fourteen stories that make up this book usher Gwen and her daughters through five decades, haunted by Damian's ghost. Fuelled by vodka and scrappy determination, Gwen balances a responsibility to her daughters with her narcissistic, self-destructive tendencies. Sara and Meg scramble through adolescence and enter adulthood walking the line between selfishness and self-sacrifice, attempting to avoid their parents' mistakes, all the while making a whole new set of mistakes of their own. In the voices of Gwen, Damian, Sara, Meg, Damian's bandmate and Gwen's true love, these stories weave a raw and honest tapestry of family life as told from the underbelly, focused on the grey area between right and wrong, the idea that we are all equally culpable and justified in our actions, and the pain and ecstasy that accompany a life lived authentically.

An award-winning CEO and communications expert shows how authentic leadership eliminates the need for the shortcuts that sabotage success. “Fake it till you make it” just doesn't work—at least not long enough to build a sustainable business. Driven to succeed under constant pressure, entrepreneurs and business leaders alike can be tempted to exaggerate their strengths, minimize weaknesses, and bend the truth. Through the twin lenses of running her own national public relations firm and advising thousands of executives for a quarter-century, Sabrina Horn revisits the core of leadership; defines authentic, reality-based business integrity; and shows readers how to attain and maintain it. With firsthand accounts of sticky situations and painful mistakes, Horn lays out workable strategies, frameworks, and mental maps to help leaders gain the clarity of thought necessary to make sound business decisions, even when there are no right answers. In her straightforward, no-nonsense style, she shares the power of humility and empathy, mentorship and self-assessment, and a strong core value system to build a leader's confidence and resilience. Horn's fake-free advice will empower readers to disarm fear, organize risk, manage setbacks and crises, deal with losing and loneliness, and create a culture and brand designed for long-term success.

Fake. That's what we are. That's what we agreed to be. So why does it feel so real? I thought it would have been harder, convincing everyone our school's star receiver was mine and mine alone, but I was wrong. We played our parts so well that the lines between us began to blur until they disappeared completely. The thing about pretending, though, someone's always better at it, and by the time I realized my mistake, there was no going back. I fell for our lie. And then everything fell apart. It turned out he and I were never playing the same game. He didn't have to break me to win. But he did it anyway.

We live in a world of fakers. Rather than being real with each other, we present a carefully crafted persona that hides our faults and magnifies our good qualities. But inside we long to be loved, warts and all. We long to stop hiding from each other--and especially from God. With candor and clarity, pastor Rick Bezet calls readers to a life built on authenticity, showing that the way to true freedom lies through reclaiming our hearts, reviving our souls, and renewing our minds in light of what God has done for us through Jesus Christ. Through biblical stories and (often funny) personal examples, Bezet encourages readers to live with passion, integrity, and perseverance. He releases readers from the spiritual death that comes with pretending and leads them into a new life characterized by transparency rather than fear.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Frankly in Love comes a young adult romantic comedy about identity and acceptance. Perfect for fans of John Green and To All the Boys I've Love Before and now in paperback! When Sunny Dae--self-proclaimed total nerd--meets Cirrus Soh, he can't believe how cool and confident she is. So when Cirrus mistakes Sunny's older brother Gray's bedroom--with its electric guitars and rock posters--for Sunny's own, he sort of, kind of, accidentally winds up telling her he's the front man of a rock band. Before he knows it, Sunny is knee-deep in the lie: He ropes his best friends into his scheme, begging them to form a fake band with him, and starts wearing Gray's rock-and-roll castoffs. But no way can he trick this amazing girl into thinking he's cool, right? Just when Sunny is about to come clean, Cirrus asks to see them play sometime. Gulp. Now there's only one thing to do: Fake it till you make it.

The acclaimed author of There Are No Children Here takes us into the heart of Chicago by introducing us to some of the city’s most interesting, if not always celebrated, people. Chicago is one of America’s most iconic, historic, and fascinating cities, as well as a major travel destination. For Alex Kotlowitz, an accidental Chicagoan, it is the perfect perch from which to peer into America’s heart. It’s a place, as one historian has said, of “messy vitalities,” a stew of contradictions: coarse yet gentle, idealistic yet restrained, grappling with its promise, alternately sure and unsure of itself. Chicago, like America, is a kind of refuge for outsiders. It’s probably why Alex Kotlowitz found comfort there. He’s drawn to people on the outside who are trying to clean up—or at least make sense of—the mess on the inside. Perspective doesn’t come easy if you’re standing in the center. As with There Are No Children Here, Never a City So Real is not so much a tour of a place as a chronicle of its soul, its lifeblood. It is a tour of the people of Chicago, who have been the author’s guides into this city’s—and in a broader sense, this country’s—heart. From the Hardcover edition.

Argues that there is no authentic self, that reality is people continually remaking themselves to look like the people they want to be, and that there is nothing inherently wrong with that.

Enjoy this bad boy romance at a terrific discount. I needed a fake wife with no strings attached. But I Knocked her up, and now we are having a baby! I was born rich and loved to be a playboy. I had the looks, the body, and soon all of my family's wealth. Everything was going perfect until my father threw a stipulation into his testament. Fall in love, get married, or I would be out of his will. After weeks of searching, I remembered beautiful Cecile. The only woman to ever reject me. I reached out to her to help me out, and she agreed. Everything was supposed to be fake until we spent a wild night together. Now I genuinely want her as my wife, but I need to show her that I can commit to her, and that's going to be a problem. Keywords: Guaranteed HEA, no cliffhangers, happily ever after. billionaire, bad boy, office romance, steamy romance, contemporary romance, love books, love stories, new adult, alpha male, romance, action, adventure, steamy romance, small-town secrets, hot, alpha hero. free book, free novels, romantic novels, and sexually romantic books.