There is a place that promises acceptance, spiritual growth, and friendship, but instead delivers criticism, abuse, and exploitation. A place that declares marriages will be strengthened, treasured, and protected, but instead weakens, diminishes, and marginalizes them. A place that claims to obey the word of God, but in practice weaponizes the word against those who disagree or doubt. A place where the good news of a tenderhearted, loving Savior is blurred by leaders who are controlling, traumatizing, and self-serving. A place that calls loudly to the storm-tossed at sea, only to lure them to the rocks where they flounder and fall apart. A place that appeared to be a house of friendship but was a place of betrayal. That place might be a Christian church. It might be a cult. It is probably both. In the House of Friends: Understanding and Healing from Spiritual Abuse in the Christian Church is written for survivors of abusive churches, their families and friends, and all who want to understand spiritual abuse and help the abused. Dr. Garrett is a long-term pastor of a diverse, urban congregation and combines personal experience, sound academic research, and pastoral theology to address a poorly understood, rarely admitted problem today—spiritual abuse in Christian churches.

There is a place that promises acceptance, spiritual growth, and friendship, but instead delivers criticism, abuse, and exploitation. A place that declares marriages will be strengthened, treasured, and protected, but instead weakens, diminishes, and marginalizes them. A place that claims to obey the word of God, but in practice weaponizes the word against those who disagree or doubt. A place where the good news of a tenderhearted, loving Savior is blurred by leaders who are controlling, traumatizing, and self-serving. A place that calls loudly to the storm-tossed at sea, only to lure them to the rocks where they flounder and fall apart. A place that appeared to be a house of friendship but was a place of betrayal. That place might be a Christian church. It might be a cult. It is probably both. In the House of Friends: Understanding and Healing from Spiritual Abuse in the Christian Church is written for survivors of abusive churches, their families and friends, and all who want to understand spiritual abuse and help the abused. Dr. Garrett is a long-term pastor of a diverse, urban congregation and combines personal experience, sound academic research, and pastoral theology to address a poorly understood, rarely admitted problem today--spiritual abuse in Christian churches.

"Don't expect sense from these poems, in which grief, politics, literary theory, and sexuality interweave. But do expect language surprise and beautiful metaphors. . . . When [Akilah] Oliver presents her experiences in metaphor-rich language, the reader feels what she feels: incredible loss, infinite pain."--Library Journal "An extraordinary gift for everyone."--Alice Notley Written for her son, Oluchi McDonald (1982-2003), Akilah Oliver's poems incorporate prose, theory, and lyric performance into a powerful testimony of loss and longing. In their journey through the borderlands of sorrow, they grapple with violence, find expression in chants, and, like the graffiti she analyzes, become a place of public and artistic memorial. "If memory is the act of bearing witness," she writes, "then the dream is a friend driving us somewhere." Akilah Oliver is the author of the she said dialogues, recipient of the PEN/Beyond Margins Award. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she currently lives in Brooklyn and curates the Monday Night Reading Series at the Poetry Project.

You can go after the job you want…and get it! You can take the job you have…and improve it! You can take any situation you’re in…and make it work for you! Since its release in 1936, How to Win Friends and Influence People has sold more than 30 million copies. Dale Carnegie’s first book is a timeless bestseller, packed with rock-solid advice that has carried thousands of now famous people up the ladder of success in their business and personal lives. As relevant as ever before, Dale Carnegie’s principles endure, and will help you achieve your maximum potential in the complex and competitive modern age. Learn the six ways to make people like you, the twelve ways to win people to your way of thinking, and the nine ways to change people without arousing resentment.

Laura Ingalls shares adventures and good times with her friends while growing up on the western frontier.

“An insightful, keenly observant debut about the power and complexities of a lifelong female friendship. Engrossing and wildly relatable.”—Carola Lovering, author of Too Good to Be True “A bighearted story with deep roots in a complicated old friendship . . . [A] moving tale of love and life-changing choices.”—Hannah Orenstein, author of Head Over Heels A timeless story about female friendship with an incredibly timely hook that makes it perfect for the millennial reader Jules O'Brien and Michelle Davis have been best friends since third grade, when Jules and her single mother moved from Cleveland to the small Alabama town where Michelle's family has lived for generations. Now in their midtwenties, the childhood friends live miles and worlds apart. When Jules agrees to be the maid of honor in Michelle's wedding, she quickly realizes just how different the two have become. Over the years, their passions and politics have diverged, and in the middle of wedding-planning squabbles, they feel more like strangers than the sisters they once were. When their friendship reaches a breaking point, Jules will have to decide if the bond they once had as girls is strong enough to reunite the women they are now. Is shared history enough to carry their friendship through a lifetime? Disarming and wildly relatable, this novel is perfect for anyone who knows the complex love we have for our friends from home. It will have you calling the Michelle to your Jules immediately to discuss.

Seth is so confused. If Coulson is straight, why is he checking Seth out? Seth is an out and proud Secret Service agent. When he’s asked to assist the FBI on an investigation, he meets FBI agent Coulson. Coulson is straight. Or so he says. Seth has no reason to doubt that, not even when they become close friends. Really close friends. But that’s all they are: friends. Until Seth finds himself checking Coulson out a little too closely—especially certain over-sized body parts—and notices Coulson doing the same to him. For someone who’s straight, Coulson shows a lot of interest in Seth’s dating life, his preferences, and his hookups. Could it be that he’s not so straight after all? Meanwhile, every discovery they make in their investigation leads to even more questions. Who’s really behind the assassination? How did they pull it off? And most importantly: what are they planning next? Friends is a friends-to-lovers romance that begins with a slow burn friendship but ends in high steam. The White House Men series is a romantic suspense set in the White House. Like what would happen if The West Wing and The American President had a gay lovechild. Each book has a new love story with a happily ever after, but the suspense plot ends on a cliffhanger and will be continued in the rest of the series, so the series needs to be read in order. Strong TW for detailed description of terrorist attack.

"And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.-Zechariah 13:6 Yes, long ago Jesus came to this earth - the "house of His friends" - and was mortally wounded. But this would not be the last time His presumed friends would wound Him. This book is the story of a time much closer to ours, when Jesus came near again, bringing with Him a priceless gift to present to His church - the full measure of the Holy Spirit in Latter Rain power. But though some few accepted it fully with joy, many others chose to wound the Giver by resisting and rejecting His gift. The Latter Rain that might have been was delayed - and waits even yet to resume. This story is our chance to learn from the past, to avoid repeating it - it's another chance to welcome the Giver fully and receive His gift with unbounded gratitude. (From the Back Cover) Wounded in the House of His Friends is really a summary volume, in The Return of the Latter Rain series-Vol. 1 being first published in 2010. The RLR manuscript represented a simple, yet unique compilation of Ellen White statements on the subject of the latter rain and the loud cry, placed in chronological order. Originally, the manuscript's main objective was to address the core questions surrounding the 1888 episode that have plagued Adventism since the 1890s: Did in fact the Lord send the beginning of the latter rain and the loud cry in 1888-and were they accepted? As the RLR manuscript continued to develop it began addressing many other related topics and issues. As a consequence, the first volume drawn from the original manuscript only covered the years 1844 to 1891. Work will continue on the series, covering in greater depth the main theme in Wounded, as well as many of the other related topics and issues that surround the 1888 Minneapolis General Conference and its aftermath. (From the Introduction)

Friendships are like flowers. If you take care of them, they grow and bloom until you have a beautiful garden! The Little Book of Friendship shows young readers what they need to know to make a friend and to be one too.