Many people, including men and women, go through a lot of abuse behind closed doors. They are either embarrassed to talk about what's going on, or fear no one will believe them. I, Sharonda Muse, am one of those many people. From childhood into my adult life, I experienced sexually, mental, and physical abuse by the hands of people that were supposed to love me. For decades, I chose to self medicate which took me down a very dark path. My body became exhausted, and I was mentally drained! One summer morning, the Holy Spirt entered my body, and I felt a feeling that words can't describe. SlowIy but surely, I began to come out of the darkness, and worked on getting my life together. God never gave up on me, and because of Him, I have become the woman I am today.

Bobby Herrera has a simple leadership philosophy: -We all struggle. -Inside every struggle is a gift. -Leaders share their gifts with others. In The Gift of Struggle, Bobby Herrera, cofounder and CEO of Populus Group, lives that philosophy by telling the stories of his struggles, identifying the gifts he found, and sharing those gifts with you.

Raina Telgemeier's #1 New York Times bestselling, Eisner Award-winning graphic memoir based on her childhood! Raina just wants to be a normal sixth grader. But one night after Girl Scouts she trips and falls, severely injuring her two front teeth. What follows is a long and frustrating journey with on-again, off-again braces, surgery, embarrassing headgear, and even a retainer with fake teeth attached. And on top of all that, there's still more to deal with: a major earthquake, boy confusion, and friends who turn out to be not so friendly.

Anja Christoffersen learned early on that you can never judge a book by its cover. Born with a congenital disability that deformed her digestive, skeletal, reproductive, circulatory, urinary and respiratory systems; she had her first surgery at five hours old. Despite a grim diagnosis, from the outside you would be unable to tell she was any different. You would never have known that at birth, the medical fraternity warned that she would never live a normal life. Once Anja grew to an age where she could understand her medical differences, she made the decision that she did not want an ordinary life anyway - she wanted an extraordinary one. As soon as Anja realised happiness is a choice, she made the decision she would be happy despite her circumstances. From surgical theatres to chasing her dreams led her to a career as an international fashion model. Join Anja as she walks the catwalks of Australia and Europe with her hidden medical condition, overcomes challenges and discovers how to keep smiling no matter what.

As part of her recovery from a devastating car accident, Grace Thomas embarks on a surprise cruise booked by her husband, Cameron. The accident still haunts Grace and she is a little anxious to be leaving her family, but excited to fulfil what has been a life-long dream of hers - cruising around the Mediterranean with some girlfriends - even if her husband's secretary, Chantelle is tagging along for the trip. Maybe this is a chance to start a fresh with this woman. But Chantelle appears to be everywhere Grace turns, and her instincts can’t all be wrong. Something is off. Not only does Chantelle resemble Grace, it soon becomes clear that she is desperate for Cameron’s attention, but at what lengths would she go to get it? Were Cameron's motives for sending Grace away on this cruise as admirable as she first thought and is her husband's relationship with the ever-present Chantelle as platonic as he claims? Grace's journey of self-discovery suddenly begins to feel rather sinister. Her friends are distant, Chantelle is incessantly playing with her mind, and Grace feels more lost and alone than ever. Then, she discovers that her husband has told the children she’s died. Grace's world is shattered. Everything she knows has been a lie and the truth has devastating consequences for everyone... Fans of T.M. Logan, C.L. Taylor and K.L. Slater won’t be able to put this one down. JA Andrews is the author of gripping twisty psychological thrillers, Mummy's Boy (2020), You Let Him In (2020) and I Let Her Go (2021). As well as writing fiction, JA Andrews enjoys reading a mix of genres, watching various reality TV and spending time with family and friends. He is a member of the Crime Writers Association.

Having lost her mother as a child, she now faces the pain of losing a father, and the torturing brought to her by her step mother. Wicked as she was, Pearl's step mother was unwilling to be a parent to her and her sister. At a young age she was exposed to the ruthlessness of the world. Choose this story to find out the twists and turns in Pearl's life as she struggled to protect herself and her sister, and how she fought to over come all obstucles in life to achieve her father's long lasting wish for her. In the end, justice prevails, and love conquers all.

Besides being a football coach at his Michigan High School, Mike Kersjes taught special education classes, dealing with children whose disabilities included Tourette syndrome, Downs Syndrome, dyslexia, eating disorders and a variety of emotional problems. One autumn Kersjes got the outlandish idea that his students would benefit from going to Space Camp, where, in conjunction with NASA, high school students compete in a variety of activities similar to those experienced by astronauts in training for space shuttle missions. There was only one problem: this program had been specifically designed for gifted and talented students, the best and the brightest from America's most privileged high schools. Kersjes believed that, given a chance, his kids could do as well as anybody, and with remarkable persistence broke down one barrier after another, from his own principal's office to the inner sanctum of NASA, until Space Camp opened its doors, on an experimental basis, to special ed students. After nine months of rigorous preparation, during which the class molded itself into a working team, they arrived at Space Camp, where they turned in a performance so startling, so surprising, that it will leave the reader breathless. A truly triumphant story of the power of the human spirit.

“A remarkable book . . . I found myself thinking that all expectant and new parents should read it.” —Michelle Slater A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice In Raising a Rare Girl, Lanier explores how to defy the tyranny of normal and embrace parenthood as a spiritual practice that breaks us open in the best of ways. Like many women of her generation, when Heather Lanier was expecting her first child she did everything by the book in the hope that she could create a SuperBaby, a supremely healthy human destined for a high-achieving future. But her daughter Fiona challenged all of Lanier’s preconceptions. Born with an ultra-rare syndrome known as Wolf-Hirschhorn, Fiona received a daunting prognosis: she would experience significant developmental delays and might not reach her second birthday. The diagnosis obliterated Lanier’s perfectionist tendencies, along with her most closely held beliefs about certainty, vulnerability, God, and love. With tiny bits of mozzarella cheese, a walker rolled to library story time, a talking iPad app, and a whole lot of pop and reggae, mother and daughter spend their days doing whatever it takes to give Fiona nourishment, movement, and language. Loving Fiona opens Lanier up to new understandings of what it means to be human, what it takes to be a mother, and above all, the aching joy and wonder that come from embracing the unique life of her rare girl.

Today, country music enjoys a national fan base that transcends both economic and social boundaries. Sixty years ago, however, it was primarily the music of rural, working-class whites living in the South and was perceived by many Americans as “hillbilly music.” In Smile When You Call Me a Hillbilly, Jeffrey J. Lange examines the 1940s and early 1950s as the most crucial period in country music’s transformation from a rural, southern folk art form to a national phenomenon. In his meticulous analysis of changing performance styles and alterations in the lifestyles of listeners, Lange illuminates the acculturation of country music and its audience into the American mainstream. Dividing country music into six subgenres (progressive country, western swing, postwar traditional, honky-tonk, country pop, and country blues), Lange discusses the music’s expanding appeal. As he analyzes the recordings and comments of each of the subgenre’s most significant artists, including Roy Acuff, Bob Wills, Bill Monroe, Hank Williams, and Red Foley, he traces the many paths the musical form took on its road to respectability. Lange shows how along the way the music and its audience became more sophisticated, how the subgenres blended with one another and with American popular music, and how Nashville emerged as the country music hub. By 1954, the transformation from “hillbilly” music to country music was complete, precipitated by the modernizing forces of World War II and realized by the efforts of promoters, producers, and performers.