Fantasia Barrino, star of the 2023 film The Color Purple, tells the story of her astonishing rise from hopeless high school dropout to American Idol superstar in the inspirational New York Times bestseller Life Is Not a Fairy Tale. In one moment, with one tearful performance of "Summertime," the nineteen-year-old Fantasia captured the hearts—and the votes—of millions of American Idol fans. Her powerful voice and independent style made her an overnight national sensation. But life wasn't always sensational for Fantasia. At the age of seventeen, despite the promise of her extraordinary voice, Fantasia was in danger of becoming just another sad statistic: an uneducated, unmarried teenage mother living in the projects. But Fantasia had been raised by two strong, influential women: Both her grandmother and mother are preachers, and she was raised with an unshakable faith. In Life Is Not a Fairy Tale, Fantasia speaks—with a spirit as strong as her voice—about what it takes to believe in the power of one's self. She turns all that she's learned into uplifting life lessons, including: • Recognize your gift • You made your bed, now lie in it • Give props where props are due • Like mother, like daughter • It ain't about the bling Fantasia keeps it real with her sassy, self-confident style and down-to-earth advice, making us laugh and cry with her. Life Is Not a Fairy Tale is more than just a celebrity success story. It's a book of revelations that will inspire everyone to reach for their greatest potential.

Keerthi, a young, ambitious and determined woman, has an urge to always stay on the top. For someone like Keerthi, hardship and turmoil are nothing new, but this time, it drains her out completely, leaving her with nothing but a chronic disorder. For all the best things life had brought her, a supportive family, a soulful friend, and a perfect job, she ended up in a tight spot. A silent admirer, who sees her personality beyond her illness develops a secret crush towards her. Will the crush turn into love? What led her to this? Will she fight through her illness and lead a normal life? Ibrahim, her psychologist, travels to her past to uncover reasons that led her to this mental condition. The story switches between her past and her present life in parallel, slowly revealing the mystery behind. Let's explore with the author as she unravels the life of Keerthi, who could be someone you already know.

Tony's life is not perfect but he seems to be able to cope with the adversity that comes his way. This story will help students learn how to cope when things may not be going well in their lives.

Happy are the dreamers who were not afraid to pay the price to make their dreams come true” —Silianise Moise

Written by entrepreneurial phenomenon Emily Williams, I Heart My Life is a guidebook for women to change their money mindset, get clarity on what they want and start living the life of their dreams. I Heart My Life is a guide for living life in a different way to everyone else--going for your desires and no longer letting doubt, shame, insecurity or other people's judgment stop you from moving forward with that "something big" you know you're meant for. It brings together mindset, money beliefs, success principles, vulnerability, and real-life stories of women who have made their career and life dreams come true. Emily Williams once couldn't even get a job at Starbucks. Yet she went on to move to a new country, clear $30k in credit card debt and build a seven-figure coaching business from scratch. Having worked for years with thousands of women around the world to release what holds them back from the success they want, Emily is now sharing all her most powerful tools to help women radically transform their lives. In this book, you'll discover how to: cultivate a success mindset and trust the intelligence within your heart become clear about what you really want--then, go after it embrace gratitude as a driver for your ambition and success get big results and handle things when they don't go as planned be consistent, persistent and confident on the path towards your dreams Whether you're dreaming of starting your own business, getting ahead in your career, or just experience more joy, adventure and fulfilment in your life, I Heart My Life will catapult you toward your greatest desires.

The different lives of two sisters: Salena is married off to a man she doesn't know, while Zuhra travels the world and rewrites fairytales on her fairytale blog

A CBC BOOKS BEST NONFICTION OF 2020 AN ENTROPY MAGAZINE BEST NONFICTION 2020/21 A NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY BOOK OF THE DAY (07/23/2022) Fairy tales shape how we see the world, so what happens when you identify more with the Beast than Beauty? If every disabled character is mocked and mistreated, how does the Beast ever imagine a happily-ever-after? Amanda Leduc looks at fairy tales from the Brothers Grimm to Disney, showing us how they influence our expectations and behaviour and linking the quest for disability rights to new kinds of stories that celebrate difference. "Historically we have associated the disabled body image and disabled life with an unhappy ending” – Sue Carter, Toronto Star "Leduc persuasively illustrates the power of stories to affect reality in this painstakingly researched and provocative study that invites us to consider our favorite folktales from another angle." – Sara Shreve, Library Journal "She [Leduc] argues that template is how society continues to treat the disabled: rather than making the world accessible for everyone, the disabled are often asked to adapt to inaccessible environments." – Ryan Porter, Quill & Quire "Read this smart, tenacious book." – The Washington Post "A brilliant young critic named Amanda Leduc explores this pernicious power of language in her new book, Disfigured … Leduc follows the bread crumbs back into her original experience with fairy tales – and then explores their residual effects … Read this smart, tenacious book." – The Washington Post "Leduc investigates the intersection between disability and her beloved fairy tales, questioning the constructs of these stories and where her place is, as a disabled woman, among those narratives." – The Globe and Mail "It gave me goosebumps as I read, to see so many of my unexpressed, half-formed thoughts in print. My highlighter got a good workout." – BookRiot "Disfigured is not just an eye-opener when it comes to the Disney princess crew and the Marvel universe – this thin volume provides the tools to change how readers engage with other kinds of popular media, from horror films to fashion magazines to outdated sitcom jokes." – Quill & Quire “It’s an essential read for anyone who loves fairy tales.” – Buzzfeed Books "Leduc makes one thing clear and beautifully so – fairy tales are fundamentally fantastic, but that doesn’t mean that they are beyond reproach in their depiction of real issues and identities." – Shrapnel Magazine "As Leduc takes us through these fairy tales and the space they occupy in the narratives that we construct, she slowly unfolds a call-to-action: the claiming of space for disability in storytelling." – The Globe and Mail "A provocative beginning to a thoughtful and wide-ranging book, one which explores some of the most primal stories readers have encountered and prompts them to ponder the subtext situated there all along." – LitHub "a poignant and informative account of how the stories we tell shape our collective understanding of one another.” – BookMarks "What happens when we allow disabled writers to tell stories of disability within fairytales and in magical and supernatural settings? It is a reimagining of the fairytale canon we need. Leduc dares to dream of a world that most stories envision is unattainable." – Bitch Media

Elaborates a theory of reading developed in an earlier book, by offering a larger discussion of what constitatutes the act of literacy engagement and the ways these acts contribute to the ongoing invention of the "reading subject."

Grim Reaper Charley Davidson is back in Eleventh Grave in Moonlight, the latest installment of Darynda Jones’ New York Times bestselling paranormal series. My entire life can be summed up in one sentence: “Well, that didn’t go as planned.” —T-Shirt A typical day in the life of Charley Davidson involves cheating husbands, errant wives, missing people, philandering business owners, and, oh yeah...demons, hell hounds, evil gods, and dead people. Lots and lots of dead people. As a part time Private Investigator and full-time Grim Reaper, Charley has to balance the good, the bad, the undead, and those who want her dead. Now, Charley is learning to make peace with the fact that she is a goddess with all kinds of power and that her own daughter has been born to save the world from total destruction. But the forces of hell are determined to see Charley banished forever to the darkest corners of another dimension. With the son of Satan himself as her husband and world-rocking lover, will Charley be able to defeat the ultimate evil and find a way to have her happily ever after after all?

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A stunning “portrait of the enduring grace of friendship” (NPR) about the families we are born into, and those that we make for ourselves. A masterful depiction of love in the twenty-first century. NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • MAN BOOKER PRIZE FINALIST • WINNER OF THE KIRKUS PRIZE A Little Life follows four college classmates—broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition—as they move to New York in search of fame and fortune. While their relationships, which are tinged by addiction, success, and pride, deepen over the decades, the men are held together by their devotion to the brilliant, enigmatic Jude, a man scarred by an unspeakable childhood trauma. A hymn to brotherly bonds and a masterful depiction of love in the twenty-first century, Hanya Yanagihara’s stunning novel is about the families we are born into, and those that we make for ourselves. Look for Hanya Yanagihara’s latest bestselling novel, To Paradise.