Small Life

In her hilarious New York Times best seller You’ll Never Blue Ball in This Town Again, Heather McDonald recounted her adventures as an unwilling virgin in Hollywood. Now happily married with three wonderful kids, she shows that life as a grown-up - even a pretend grown-up - has its challenges. Heather’s a working mom with parents who live next door, a sister who keeps asking for one of her still-fertile eggs, and friends who are up to more hijinks than even Heather can handle.

Fran loves Will with all her heart. They had a whirlwind romance, a perfect marriage and a wonderful life. Until everything changed. Now Fran needs to find her way again, and teaching a yoga retreat in Spain offers her just that. Leaving behind a broken marriage, she has some very important decisions to make. Will needs his wife. He needs her to open up to him if they're to ever return to the way things once were. But he may have damaged any possibility he had of mending their relationship, and now Fran is in Spain, and Will is alone.

Worry, stress, anxiety – whichever label you prefer to use – can have consequences that impact not only our lives, but the lives of others around us. When we worry it’s like the engine of our mind is constantly being revved up. It doesn’t allow us time to switch off and rest. It tires us out. And when we’re tired we are less likely to think straight. And when we’re not thinking straight it’s easy to make stupid mistakes and confuse priorities...But relax. There is a way forward.

Jonathan Evison’s Small World is an epic novel for now. Set against such iconic backdrops as the California gold rush, the development of the transcontinental railroad, and a speeding train of modern-day strangers forced together by fate, it is a grand entertainment that asks big questions. The characters of Small World connect in the most intriguing and meaningful ways, winning, breaking, and winning our hearts again.

When the McPheron brothers see Victoria Roubideaux, the single mother they’d taken in, move from their ranch to begin college, an emptiness opens before them—and for many other townspeople it also promises to be a long, hard winter. A young boy living alone with his grandfather helps out a neighbor whose husband, off in Alaska, suddenly isn’t coming home, leaving her to raise their two daughters.

Ira Levinson is in trouble. At 91 years old, in poor health, and alone in the world, he finds himself stranded on an isolated embankment after a car crash. Suffering multiple injuries, he struggles to retain consciousness until a blurry image materializes and comes into focus beside him: His beloved wife, Ruth, who passed away nine years ago. Urging him to hang on, she forces him to remain alert by recounting the stories of their lifetime together - how they met, the precious paintings they collected together, the dark days of WWII and its effect on them and their families.

Born and raised in idyllic Sullivan's Island, Susan Hayes navigated through her turbulent childhood with humor, spunk, and characteristic Southern sass. But years later, she is a conflicted woman with an unfaithful husband, a sometimes resentful teenage daughter, and a heart that aches with painful, poignant memories. And as Susan faces her uncertain future, she realizes that she must go back to her past. To the beachfront house where her sister welcomes her with open arms.

Been thinking about going into business for yourself but feel too scared to take the leap? Want to go from employee to entrepreneur? Well, you can. With the right mindset, strategies and skills you can transform your career, your life and your income.

Our world will change more in this century than in all of human history, driven by many factors including technology, climate change, demographics and inequality. Such extreme change is throwing up unprecedented opportunities and creating an ‘adaptive challenge’ for individuals, organizations and societies. Those who can adapt to a fast-flowing, complex, volatile and uncertain world will flourish. Those who cannot will suffer greatly. There are clear signs everywhere that we need new ways to think about the world and our place in it.

Returning home to Ditto, Texas, is bittersweet for Lila Matthews. Her dear and feisty aunt Gracie has passed away, leaving Lila her estate. That includes a centuries-old house, a field of the freshest strawberries in Atascosa County, more money than Lila can count, and a secret Aunt Gracie took to her grave. All the angels in heaven won’t be able to pry it out of her.

Sara Bliss (yes, that’s her real name) tracked down more than 65 people who transformed their lives to learn how they did it so you can, too. Take the Leap is packed with inspiring profiles, quotes, and other pieces of creative advice from game changers, rule breakers, and side hustlers, including successful entrepreneurs like Barbara Corcoran, Bobbi Brown, writer turned actress (at 40) Jill Kargman, Black Crowes drummer turned sports radio host Steve Gorman, writer Simon Doonan, and NFL player turned artist/activist Aaron Maybin, and many more.

When Marina Moore decides to expand her farmers market and pop-up dinner business, the next step is a cafe on the shores of Summer Beach. But challenges loom, and Marina must quickly become more creative than ever, especially when her children need help. Her sister Kai's position with a musical theater troupe forces more changes. Their sister Brooke is having marital challenges, while grandmother Ginger continues to contribute her advice on the life well-lived—if only her granddaughters will listen.

The inside story of the founding and growth of Taylor Guitars, one of the world's most successful guitar manufacturers. Bob Taylor mixes the details of his experience as a tradesman and cofounder of Taylor Guitars, a world-famous acoustic and electric guitar manufacturer, with philosophical life lessons that have practical application for building a business. From the "a-ha" moment in junior high school that inspired his very first guitar, Taylor has been living the American dream.

Hi, my name is Fiona Ferris and I have made it my life's work to become a 'chic success', the soft way. The feminine way. The easy and fun way. I love to make things happen, but I want it to be light and playful too. Life is too short to do anything unpleasant or difficult! If you too want to be 'a success story' but can't, honestly, really be bothered doing it the hard, boring, dry, way, this petite book is for you. In it I go through one-hundred of my favourite ways to motivate yourself, inspire great actions, and make your life fabulous and fun.

As Darby Dixon sits in a tiny Texas church bathroom on her wedding day holding a positive pregnancy test, she realizes marrying her fiancé would be the worst decision of her life. She's never been very good at standing up for herself, but she'll sure as hell stand up for her baby. With very little cash and a ton of courage, she flees town to take a new name and start a new life.

Orphaned cousins Jane and Lucilla, both 19, receive the exciting news that their guardian is at last allowing them to leave boarding school. But their rosy future is thwarted when they find he has made some bad investments and fled, leaving them with a cottage in the English countryside and a modest bank account.

In the newly revised second edition of Conquer the Chaos, celebrated author and CEO of Keap Clate Mask delivers yet another incisive and exciting roadmap to entrepreneurial success for small business owners. The book offers six non-negotiable, must-have strategies for entrepreneurs, as well as an engaging mix of stories, quotes, anecdotes, and examples that highlight businesspeople who have successfully confronted and overcome the daunting challenges that accompany self-employment.

Business owners want growth but fear it will take over their lives. Surprisingly, the only way to truly grow your company is to reduce its reliance on you - to scale. Jeff Hoffman and David Finkel offer a blueprint to rapidly grow your business while also gaining more freedom. Based on their own experiences starting, scaling, and effectively exiting from multiple successful companies, they provide seven clear principles that will help you determine the best strategy for growth in your company.

It’s the summer of 1987 in Swift River, and Diamond Newberry is learning how to drive. Ever since her Pop disappeared seven years ago, she and her mother hitchhike everywhere they go. But that’s not the only reason Diamond stands out: she’s teased relentlessly about her weight, and since Pop’s been gone, she is the only Black person in all of Swift River. This summer, Ma is determined to declare Pop legally dead so that they can collect his life insurance money, get their house back from the bank, and finally move on.

Microwins: Go Small, Build Momentum, and Tackle the Goals that Actually Matter in Life, by Daron K. Roberts, a former NFL coach turned leadership advisor and author, presents an invigorating approach to achieving your most ambitious goals through the accumulation of small victories. Daron shares his insights on harnessing the power of Microwins—modest, manageable successes that collectively pave the way to significant triumphs.