From Blood and Ash (Blood And Ash, #1) by @JLArmentroutnews

“Action, adventure, sexiness, and angst! From Blood and Ash has it all and double that. So many feels and so many moments it made me cheer for the character. Read. This. Book! You'll be obsessed!”

 - Tijan, New York Times bestselling author

From Blood and Ash, a captivating, sexy and action-packed high fantasy novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout, is available now! 

If you love forbidden romance, this book is for you. If you love snark, this book is for you. If you love action and intrigue, edge of your seat moments and being caught off guard by what you’re reading, this book is for you. And if you’ve been missing . . . vampires in your life, this book is for you.

A Maiden… 

Chosen from birth to usher in a new era, Poppy’s life has never been her own. The life of the Maiden is solitary. Never to be touched. Never to be looked upon. Never to be spoken to. Never to experience pleasure. Waiting for the day of her Ascension, she would rather be with the guards, fighting back the evil that took her family, than preparing to be found worthy by the gods. But the choice has never been hers.

A Duty…

 The entire kingdom’s future rests on Poppy’s shoulders, something she’s not even quite sure she wants for herself. Because a Maiden has a heart. And a soul. And longing. And when Hawke, a golden-eyed guard honor bound to ensure her Ascension, enters her life, destiny and duty become tangled with desire and need. He incites her anger, makes her question everything she believes in, and tempts her with the forbidden.

A Kingdom…

 Forsaken by the gods and feared by mortals, a fallen kingdom is rising once more, determined to take back what they believe is theirs through violence and vengeance. And as the shadow of those cursed draws closer, the line between what is forbidden and what is right becomes blurred. Poppy is not only on the verge of losing her heart and being found unworthy by the gods, but also her life when every blood-soaked thread that holds her world together begins to unravel.

Enter to win a box of ARCs!! Hosted by @CrossroadReview

Hey guys were doing a massive giveaway during this time of isolation.  We hope you are all keeping safe and we are hard at work getting posts done for next week.  Here is Florida we currently have over 1,100 cases its been insane.   This giveaway is open to those in the USA only due to shipping cost.  There will be three winners and each winner will win an assortment of ARCs that have been laying around.  I have three boxes full of books. 

#BookReview: Deprivation by Roy Freirich ~4Stars

Synopsis: After a mysterious, silent child is found abandoned on the beach clutching a handheld video game, residents and tourists alike find themselves utterly unable to sleep. Exhaustion impairs judgment, delusions become hysteria, and mob rule explodes into shocking violence. Told from three perspectives: Chief of Police Mays tries to keep order, teenaged tourist Cort and her friends compete in a dangerous social media contest for the most hours awake, while local physician and former Harvard psychiatrist Dr. Sam Carlson battles his guilt over a student's suicide and the blurriness of his own insomnia, to try to treat the sleepless—until he and the child must flee the violent mob that blames the child for the epidemic. 

#ReleaseBlitz for Dirty Hookup by Mira Lyn Kelly @GiveMeBooksPR #Giveaway ($20 Amazon gift card)

Title: Dirty Hookup
A Slayers Hockey Series Novel

Author: Mira Lyn Kelly

Genre: Hockey Romance

Release Date: March 31, 2020

Blurb

One look and I know… this chick hates me.
I should walk away, find some puck bunny to gleefully sit on my lap and tell me what a big, hot, hockey stud I am--totally true, BTW. But there’s just something about this feisty redhead I can’t let go. She’s got an edge to her that’s sexy as hell and a smart mouth that’s been tying me up since the night I met her.

She tells me to forget it, we’re not happening. But this isn’t the kind of woman a guy ever forgets. Especially when the air starts to sizzle and pop every time we get within ten feet of each other. She’s in my head and under my skin, and all I can think about is the way she looked at me that one time. Like she already knew how it could be between us.

I’m not the kind of guy a girl like her takes home… But maybe I want to be.

#ReleaseBlitz for Surviving His Scars by @terriannebrowning @GiveMeBooksPR

Title: Surviving His Scars

Series: Angels Halo MC Next Gen #4

Author: Terri Anne Browning

Genre: New Adult/MC Romance

Release Date: March 31, 2020

Blurb

Monroe

I have a secret.

One that will get the man I’ve been crushing on for years killed if my father ever finds out.

My sister says he’s a stalker—how else could he know exactly when I’m in trouble and come to rescue me?

I don’t care. He’s saved me over and over again, so I know he doesn’t want to harm me. And every time I get so much as a glimpse of him, my heart becomes even more his.

Gian

Everyone who hears my name instantly thinks I’m a monster.

They don’t know the real me. The one who hated the men who tried to make me just as evil as them.

All I wanted was to burn their empire to the ground.

Until I saw her.

My precious one.

Her family thinks I wanted to hurt her when all I want is to protect her.

The scars of my past aren’t pretty. They shroud me like a dark cloak, making me feel like the devil I’ve been cast as. It would taint her sweetness if I let them touch her.

But when she disappears on me, I can’t hold back any longer.

#BookReview: I Will Be Okay by Bill Elenbark 5~Stars

Synopsis: The intensity of two boys’ feelings for each other threatens to be overwhelmed by family tensions that rip them apart before their relationship even starts. Mateo’s father is overly obsessed with his fifteen-year-old son’s baseball achievements to the exclusion of other interests (manga, indie rock music, and Stick—the boy from the “troubled” family down the street, the one with thirteen children of mixed races). 

Mateo’s mother comes from a sprawling Puerto Rican family that provides little privacy and complicated support as Mateo and his father clash over a baseball injury that jeopardizes his season. Down the street, Stick is dealing with the sudden loss of his father and living up to an image he believes his father saw in himself, one that wasn’t gay, which drives him to drink and do drugs beyond anything he and Mateo have experimented. They come together and fall apart. Like a mantra, Mateo repeats the words from one of the band’s songs whenever he gets hurt or afraid: I WILL BE OKAY. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work. 

#ReleaseBoost for Liar, Liar, Hearts on Fire by @ReadPippa @GiveMeBooksPR

Title: Liar, Liar, Hearts on Fire
Series: Bro Code #3

Author: Pippa Grant

Genre: Romantic Comedy
 Release Date: March 24, 2020

Blurb

Never borrow pants from your brother. Especially if he’s a size smaller than you are, because all that pressure in the junk will short-circuit your brain.

And you’ll lie to a woman in a club about your real name.

Leave her unsatisfied after making out in a bathroom.

Then find out that she’s the one thing standing in the way of your dreams. And she very much doesn’t like being lied to.

Now I have to convince Lila Valentine—the woman I can’t stop thinking about, my biggest regret, and my new boss—that I’m what’s best for the baseball team she’s inherited.

If we can’t work together to save the Fireballs, the commissioner’s forcing a sale and moving them across the country.

I’ll do anything to save my home team.

But the one thing I can’t do?

Keep my hands to myself.

Which would be fine, if she hadn’t been telling me lies this whole time too.

Liar, Liar, Hearts on Fire is a rocking fun romance between a single dad obsessed with baseball, an heiress with secrets, baseball pants, a rundown team, and rabid ducks. It stands alone and comes with a guaranteed happily-ever-after.

#BookReview: Belladonna by Anbara Salam ~4Stars

Synopsis: An evocative, atmospheric story of friendship and obsession set in the 1950s that follows two schoolgirls from Connecticut whose lives are changed forever when they travel to a silent convent in northern Italy to study art for a year

Isabella is beautiful, inscrutable, and popular. Her best friend, Bridget, keeps quietly to the fringes of their Connecticut Catholic school, watching everything and everyone, but most especially Isabella.

In 1957, when the girls graduate, they land coveted spots at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Pentila in northern Italy, a prestigious art history school in the grounds of a silent convent. There, free of her claustrophobic home and the town that will always see her and her Egyptian mother as outsiders, Bridget discovers she can re-invent herself as anyone she desires.

Only Isabella knows the real Bridget, just as Bridget knows the true Isabella. But as that glittering year goes on, Bridget begins to suspect Isabella is keeping secrets from her, secrets that will ruin all of her plans and that will change the course of their lives forever. 

#BookReview: Release Blitz for Pained by @VeraHollins @GiveMeBooksPR

Title: Pained

Series: Bullied #2

Author: Vera Hollins

Genre: Dark High School Romance

Release Date: March 31, 2020

Blurb

Two months have passed since the day I pushed Hayden away. Two months since I found out he loved me and wanted to be with me. I’ve been trying to move on and forget about him, but my heart refuses to listen.

Hayden had almost died saving me. Half of me wants to forgive him for everything and give him another chance. The other half prevents me from doing so, distrusting him and ignoring my heart's desires. Hayden is dark and complicated, and as the days pass, he gets further away from me, ignoring me whenever our paths cross.

I have less than a year before I go to college, and I won't see him ever again. I have to believe I will get over him and move on with my life. I have to believe in my future without him. 

Unless he didn't really move on, and our masks are about to fall.

#BookBlitz: Perfect Pending by Lucia Ashta @XpressoTours #Giveaway

Perfect Pending
Lucia Ashta
(Witches of Gales Haven, #1)
Publication date: April 1st 2020
Genres: Adult, Paranormal, Romance
Marla’s ancestors saddled her with frizzy red hair, sarcasm on tap, the Gawama last name, and the urge to run from her problems.
Her bloodline was also supposed to guarantee she’d be a powerful witch.
She isn’t, not by a long shot.
Only those with magic are allowed in her hometown. Now that her teenage children are awakening, and sparking enough power to be a fire hazard, she’s headed back.
Even if she isn’t ready. Even if she’s fresh out of divorce court.
Home is where her family is. Her nan is head of the council, and her aunts claim multiple orgasms are the source of their limber joints.
But then Marla and her kids all but blow up the town on day one. And her first boyfriend, the one who broke her heart long before her ex did, seems better than ever.
He has his eye on her…
So does everyone else.
Somehow it’s on her, and the magical creature who won’t get out of her head, to save Gales Haven. Before her former mother-in-law redecorates the town in baby pink … and breaks the centuries-old spell that keeps it safe and hidden.
Perfect Pending is a Paranormal Women’s Fiction novel. If you love snarky stories with women so empowered they’re a force to be reckoned with, then you’ll love Perfect Pending, the first book in the Witches of Gales Haven series.

#BookBlitz: Slayer by @Cyndi_Friberg @RABTBookTours

Shadowborn Rebellion, Book 1

Sci-fi Romance

Date Published: March 2020

Publisher: Anything-but-Ordinary Books

General Malik Xett doesn't have time for romance. His one and only concern is curtailing the power and influence of the ruthless Sarronti elite. Still, the human female working with him lingers in his mind and fuels his imagination.

Though Kara O'Leary has been attracted to Malik since they first met, she never dreamed he returned her feelings. One kiss ignites a hunger neither can deny, but the timing couldn't be worse. Hostilities rapidly escalate and new threats are revealed. How can Malik and Kara bring freedom to the "world below" when all they can think about is each other?

#BookReview: Darling Rose Gold by @stephwrobel 4~Stars

Synopsis: Sharp Objects meets My Lovely Wife in this tightly drawn debut that peels back the layers of the most complicated of mother-daughter relationships...

For the first eighteen years of her life, Rose Gold Watts believed she was seriously ill. She was allergic to everything, used a wheelchair and practically lived at the hospital. Neighbors did all they could, holding fundraisers and offering shoulders to cry on, but no matter how many doctors, tests, or surgeries, no one could figure out what was wrong with Rose Gold.

Turns out her mom, Patty Watts, was just a really good liar.

After serving five years in prison, Patty gets out with nowhere to go and begs her daughter to take her in. The entire community is shocked when Rose Gold says yes.

Patty insists all she wants is to reconcile their differences. She says she's forgiven Rose Gold for turning her in and testifying against her. But Rose Gold knows her mother. Patty Watts always settles a score.

Unfortunately for Patty, Rose Gold is no longer her weak little darling...

And she's waited such a long time for her mother to come home.

#ReleaseBlitz: Double Blind by Sara Winokur #Giveaway @RABTBookTours

Mystery Thriller

Date Published: March 31, 2020

Publisher: Anchor House Publishing

A young boy disappears in the chill of North Iceland. Twenty years later, a mysterious poem lands on the desk of his twin sister Brynja, a forensic geneticist, and rekindles her hopes that her brother might be alive. As Brynja unravels the clues, more poems arrive, each bearing dire consequences for those who receive them: the guard of the medieval manuscript of Icelandic sagas that possibly has the answer to her burning question, the prime minister’s secretary, the local pastor.

Is the poet out to stop Brynja from finding her brother and shut down her access to the DNA database? Or is the verse maker simply a psychopath copycat killer?

Fighting the visual auras that have plagued her since childhood and now threaten everything she holds dear, Brynja must summon the strength to navigate the twisted labyrinth of the poet’s mind and confront the dark secret buried in her family’s past.

DOUBLE BLIND is a wild ride through the cultural landscape of Iceland, from rural farmsteads to icy fjords to the high-tech world of DNA forensics. This crime thriller packed with twists and turns that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end.

#NerdBlast: Angel Raven by @heatherburch @JeanBookNerd #Giveaway

Sometimes dead is better.

Raven has always considered himself a casualty of war. An outsider to all he secretly longs for, his dark fate and a broken heart have isolated him from his fellow Halflings. He's lost Nikki--a devastating blow. So it's fine with him that the other Halflings assume he's dead.

When Raven overhears Dr. RIchmond--his favorite human--has a college-age daughter in mortal danger, he swoops in to save her.

Raven finds that like him, Jessica Richmond has a dark side. Fleeing together, the two fight an unbearable attraction while they outsmart the thugs sent to kidnap Jessica. Raven is falling hard for the kick-butt college girl.

But Jessica holds a dark secret. One that could threaten everything the Halflings are working to protect.

In this fourth installment of the Halflings series, you'll journey with Raven as he rides the thermal currents between darkness and light. Grab your copy now. It's time to fly.

#BookReview: Finding Your Voice: A Path to Recovery for Survivors of Abuse by Mannette Morgan ~5Stars

Synopsis: "An excellent book which can help not only survivors of abuse, but all women who are feeling like victims."

– Library Journal

Finding Your Voice is a personal, comprehensive guide for survivors of abuse making the journey toward healing. Led by an author who has walked the path for more than three decades, readers will find encouragement and hope as they move step-by-step to a place of recovery.

Part memoir, part blueprint for recovery, Finding Your Voice uses a mix of personal anecdotes, accumulated knowledge, expert techniques and good, common sense to help readers navigate a new path in the aftermath of abuse.

With clear instructions and insightful examples, the author leads readers through the five stages of healing— while teaching them how to improve and strengthen their relationships - built upon the foundation of years of self-help work, therapy, and reflection, and the author’s own transformative approach to healing.

Recognize abuse Embrace the Big 3- Self acceptance, love and self-respect Understand how your behaviors are the key to lasting change Learn how to manifest your true desire Discover the joy you deserve by applying the “Happy Booster.” 

The healing journey takes time and patience. The mix of empathy, practicality and encouragement running throughout Finding Your Voice provides the ideal guide for that journey.

A workbook is available as a companion to Finding Your Voice.

#BookReview: The Unstoppable Irish by Dan Milner

Synopsis: The Unstoppable Irish follows the changing fortunes of New York's Irish Catholics, commencing with the evacuation of British military forces in late 1783 and concluding one hundred years later with the completion of the initial term of the city's first Catholic mayor. During that century, Hibernians first coalesced and then rose in uneven progression from being a variously dismissed, despised, and feared foreign group to ultimately receiving de facto acceptance as constituent members of the city's population. Dan Milner presents evidence that the Catholic Irish of New York gradually integrated (came into common and equal membership) into the city populace rather than assimilated (adopted the culture of a larger host group). Assimilation had always been an option for Catholics, even in Ireland. In order to fit in, they needed only to adopt mainstream Anglo-Protestant identity. But the same virile strain within the Hibernian psyche that had overwhelmingly rejected the abandonment of Gaelic Catholic being in Ireland continued to hold forth in Manhattan and the community remained largely intact. A novel aspect of Milner's treatment is his use of song texts in combination with period news reports and existing scholarship to develop a fuller picture of the Catholic Irish struggle. Products of a highly verbal and passionately musical people, Irish folk and popular songs provide special insight into the popularly held attitudes and beliefs of the integration epoch.

#BookReview: Black Brother, Black Brother by @jewell_p_rhodes

Synopsis: From award-winning and bestselling author, Jewell Parker Rhodes comes a powerful coming-of-age story about two brothers, one who presents as white, the other as black, and the complex ways in which they are forced to navigate the world, all while training for a fencing competition. 

Donte wishes he were invisible. As one of the few black boys at Middlefield Prep, he feels as if he is constantly swimming in whiteness. Most of the students don't look like him. They don't like him either. Dubbed the "Black Brother," Donte's teachers and classmates make it clear they wish he were more like his lighter skinned brother, Trey. Quiet, obedient.

When an incident with "King" Alan leads to Donte's arrest and suspension, he knows the only way to get even is to beat the king of the school at his own game: fencing. With the help of a former Olympic fencer, Donte embarks on a journey to carve out a spot on Middlefield Prep's fencing team and maybe learn something about himself along the way. 

#ReleaseBlitz: FRAT HOUSE CONFESSIONS: BRODY by @BethanyLopez2 @InkslingerPR

Today we are celebrating the release of of FRAT HOUSE CONFESSIONS: BRODY by Bethany Lopez. It is a contemporary romance, standalone title you won't want to miss. Purchase your copy now. Enter to win a giveaway of each title in the series here.

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Frat House Confessions: Brody by Bethany Lopez

Contemporary Romance

Synopsis:

She’s looking for someone with a rich character, not bank account… Emma’s life has not been easy. Rather than using her disadvantages as a crutch, they have fueled her passion for helping others. She believes in working hard, loves her brother unconditionally, and has no time in her busy life for a certain cocky playboy who has obviously never been denied a thing in his life. He’s searching for something, but isn’t sure what… Brody may come across as a fast-talking rich boy with a sweet car. He’s secured a position in the hottest frat on campus and has the attitude of a guy who’s never known what it’s like to go without. So, yeah, it’s a pretty accurate description. But there’s more to the youngest Temple brother than meets the eye.

When Brody keeps showing up in Emma’s world, her initial assumption is that he’s still playing games. As his confessions come to light, Emma starts to see beneath the surface. Will it be enough to change her perception of him? And will she be able to teach Brody that love is worth more than all his money can buy?

#BookBlitz: Clean Water for Developing Countries by John A. Dracup PhD @RABTBookTours

Environmental Studies

Date Published: January 8, 2020

Publisher: Clean Water Press

The main purpose of this book is to assist the reader in choosing the best method for providing clean and safe water in a developing country. Most of the book’s content comes from the knowledge gained from:

-Fifty-plus years of research and teaching in water resource engineering, hydrology and clean water for developing countries at both the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of California, Berkeley.

-Thirty-five years as an expert witness on numerous hydrologic and water resource engineering legal cases.

-Clean water projects that I was involved with in Kenya, Peru, Honduras and Guatemala between 2011 and 2017.

-Attendance at various courses including ones at the Centre for Affordable Water & Sanitation Technologies (CAWST) in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and at “Potters for Peace” in Dodgeville, Wisconsin.

-My many colleagues and students.

The sites needing clean water can be diverse, e.g. an individual household, an entire village, a group of villages, a school, a clinic, an orphanage, etc. The focus of this book is to provide the reader with a basic understanding of how to bring clean water supplies to these entities. The optimal approaches will depend on both the Point of Use (POU), which may be large or small, and the state of the water (quantity, turbidity, type and concentration of pathogens/bacteria/viruses present) at the water source. Point of Use (POU) is the location where the water is to be consumed.

The majority of those impacted by unsafe water live in isolated rural areas of the developing world. Cost, sustainability, cultural differences and acceptance by those who will use the water are all important factors in providing clean drinking water to these people.

These factors include:

-Community Involvement. By far, the most successful water enhancements in developing countries are tied to community organizations, particularly among the female population.

-The Source of Water. It could be from groundwater, rainwater harvesting or surface water, such as springs, creeks, rivers, lakes and reservoirs.

-The Quality of the Source Water. The water may have physical, biological and/or chemical pollution.

The Size of the Demand Population. Is it an individual household, a school, an orphanage, a small or large village, or a group of villages? Obviously, this affects the amount/volume of clean water needed, and this affects the methodology to be used.

-The location of the population to be served. Are they close together or widely dispersed?

#BookReview: The Unwilling by @KellyBraffet

Synopsis: A penetrating tale of magic, faith and pride...

The Unwilling is the story of Judah, a foundling born with a special gift and raised inside Highfall castle along with Gavin, the son and heir to Lord Elban's vast empire. Judah and Gavin share an unnatural bond that is both the key to her survival... and possibly her undoing.

As Gavin is groomed for his future role, Judah comes to realize that she has no real position within the kingdom, in fact, no hope at all of ever traveling beyond its castle walls. Elban - a lord as mighty as he is cruel - has his own plans for her, for all of them. She is a mere pawn to him, and he will stop at nothing to get what he wants.

But outside the walls, in the starving, desperate city, a magus, a healer with his own secret power unlike anything Highfall has seen in years, is newly arrived from the provinces. He, too, has plans for the empire, and at the heart of those plans lies Judah... The girl who started life with no name and no history will soon uncover more to her story than she ever imagined.

An epic tale of greed and ambition, cruelty and love, this deeply immersive novel is about bowing to traditions and burning them down. 

#BookBlitz: Guardian of the Sunshine Bride by Austin Real @RABTBookTours

Sīhalt Series, Book One

Fantasy, Epic Fantasy

Publisher: Lock10 Press

A man with a dark past meets a girl with a bright future. Their choices will change the world.

Princess Kathleen is betrothed to the powerful Prince of Tyath. The arrangement was made when she was just a child. She is duty bound to save her people from starvation and sees the marriage as her only option. That is until she meets the Sīhalt Guardian sent to protect her during her dangerous journey to the altar. The vigorous guardian steals her first kiss, but will he be able to keep her safe and steal her heart?

Jared spent his childhood in the cold north training to be a Sīhalt Guardian – the fiercest of protectors. While seeking revenge for his sister’s death, he sets off a chain of events that endangers the next person he decides to protect. Will one act of vengeance cost him the forbidden love of the Princess he longs for?

Heathron has managed to become the heir to an empire, but he needs to be married to assume the throne. Despite all the manipulative efforts of the beautiful, back-stabbing young ladies of the Golden City, he dreams of the illustrious young girl the met as a child. Will he still love the Princess as secrets unravel and he discovers the truth about her journey to him with the warrior?

Cedric will stop at nothing to reclaim the ancestral lands of his people and drink from the skull of the man who killed his father. As he unites his army of ruthless barbarians, Cedric knows that capturing the Princess is his best chance at securing all his evil desires. Will the Princess survive being a pawn in his dangerous scheme filled with deceit and destruction?

Enjoy this epic fantasy adventure.

#NerdBlast: What I Like About Me by @JennaGuillaume @JeanBookNerd #Giveaway

You know all those movies where teenagers have, like, THE TIME OF THEIR LIVES? This vacation is probably not going to be that.

The last thing sixteen-year-old Maisie Martin thought she’d be doing over vacation is entering a beauty pageant. Not when she’s spent most of her life hiding her body from everyone. Not when her Dad is AWOL and her gorgeous older sister has returned to rock Maisie’s already shaky confidence. And especially not when her best friend starts flirting with the boy she’s always loved. But Maisie’s got something to prove.

As she writes down all the ways this vacation is going from bad to worse in her school-assignment journal, what starts as a homework torture-device might just end up being an account of how Maisie didn’t let anything, or anyone, hold her back.

Jenna Guillame’s American debut features a plus-size protagonist with a compelling, funny, and authentic narrative voice. This relatable and charming novel about friendship, confidence, and self-love will draw readers in as Maisie’s realistic emotional journey unveils the importance of embracing one’s body and celebrating one’s self.

#BookReview: The Monster Under the Bed: Sex, Depression, and the Conversations We Aren’t Having by JoEllen Notte

Synopsis: Almost everyone has had some interaction with depression. Whether it’s you, a family member, a friend, or a partner who is affected, depression has the potential to touch us all. Even so, many of us don’t know how to handle depression becoming part of our love life and it can quickly become the monster under the bed. 

From “you have to love yourself first,” to “don’t stick it in the crazy,” to dead silence, popular responses to the topic leave much to be desired. But you’re not alone and you can have successful relationships and satisfying sex with depression. 

JoEllen Notte will help you understand how sexual function is affected by depression and what keeps us from effectively addressing it. Heavily informed by the author’s research, including surveys of over 1,000 people and interviews with close to 200, this is the first book of its kind. 

With practical tips and real-life examples, this is both a guidebook for people with depression and the people who love them, as well as a reference tool for mental health professionals.

#BookReview: Too Much: How Victorian Constraints Still Bind Women Today by Rachel Vorona Cote

Synopsis: Lacing cultural criticism, Victorian literature, and storytelling together, "TOO MUCH spills over: with intellect, with sparkling prose, and with the brainy arguments of Vorona Cote, who posits that women are all, in some way or another, still susceptible to being called too much." (Esmé Weijun Wang)

A weeping woman is a monster. So too is a fat woman, a horny woman, a woman shrieking with laughter. Women who are one or more of these things have heard, or perhaps simply intuited, that we are repugnantly excessive, that we have taken illicit liberties to feel or fuck or eat with abandon. After bellowing like a barn animal in orgasm, hoovering a plate of mashed potatoes, or spraying out spit in the heat of expostulation, we've flinched-ugh, that was so gross. I am so gross. On rare occasions, we might revel in our excess--belting out anthems with our friends over karaoke, perhaps--but in the company of less sympathetic souls, our uncertainty always returns. A woman who is Too Much is a woman who reacts to the world with ardent intensity is a woman familiar to lashes of shame and disapproval, from within as well as without. 

Written in the tradition of Shrill, Dead Girls, Sex Object and other frank books about the female gaze, TOO MUCH encourages women to reconsider the beauty of their excesses-emotional, physical, and spiritual. Rachel Vorona Cote braids cultural criticism, theory, and storytelling together in her exploration of how culture grinds away our bodies, souls, and sexualities, forcing us into smaller lives than we desire. An erstwhile Victorian scholar, she sees many parallels between that era's fixation on women's "hysterical" behavior and our modern policing of the same; in the space of her writing, you're as likely to encounter Jane Eyre and Lizzie Bennet as you are Britney Spears and Lana Del Rey. 
This book will tell the story of how women, from then and now, have learned to draw power from their reservoirs of feeling, all that makes us "Too Much."

#BookReview: Good Will by @TiffanyKilloren

Synopsis: Four women learn to let go—and get back more than they ever expected.

There's no road map for what to do when your husband dies—when he jumps off a bridge to escape mistakes that he made, or even welcomed, into your lives. 


But Lily doesn't need to consult a map for this particular part of her journey; she knows the way back to the small town she left behind.

 With a precocious seven-year-old who reminds her too much of his father tucked safely in the back seat, Lily leaves New York with everything she owns packed in a U-Haul, including memories that come in waves like fields along the highway, and an envelope she is too afraid to open.

Once she settles in, she sifts through a box of things destined for the local thrift store—items from her past that will connect four women in unexpected ways and give them all the strength they need to move on.

#BookReview: Break Your Glass Slippers (You Are Your Own Fairy Tale #1) by @ladybookmad

Synopsis: "more forgetting time.
more midnight dances with yourself."

amanda lovelace, the bestselling & award-winning author of the “women are some kind of magic” poetry series, presents a new companion series, “you are your own fairy tale” the first installment, break your glass slippers, is about overcoming those who don’t see your worth, even if that person is sometimes yourself. in the epic tale of your life, you are the most important character while everyone is but a forgotten footnote. even the prince.

#BookReview: Night Warden (The Dark Dreamer Trilogy, #3) by @AmberR_Duell

Synopsis: The Nightmare Lord has fallen.
The usurper, beaten.
Now darker forces rise.

Nora accepted her role as the Lady of Nightmares. With the Nightmare Kail at her side, she's even managed to excel, but past mistakes refuse to stay quiet. Not only is the Weaver narrating Nora's every move, but Mara—the Ancient that hitched a ride back to the Nightmare Realm—is intent on opening the Ever Safe. The Sandman is doing his best to plan Mara's defeat, but secrets threaten to tear everything apart.

In the thrilling conclusion to the Dark Dreamer trilogy, Nora and the Sandman must face old friends, dead enemies, and new betrayal if they're going to keep the Ever Safe shut. If they fail, both the Day and Night Worlds will descend into darkness.

#BookReview: Music from Another World by @robin_talley

Synopsis: It’s summer 1977 and closeted lesbian Tammy Larson can’t be herself anywhere. Not at her strict Christian high school, not at her conservative Orange County church and certainly not at home, where her ultrareligious aunt relentlessly organizes antigay political campaigns. Tammy’s only outlet is writing secret letters in her diary to gay civil rights activist Harvey Milk…until she’s matched with a real-life pen pal who changes everything.

Sharon Hawkins bonds with Tammy over punk music and carefully shared secrets, and soon their letters become the one place she can be honest. The rest of her life in San Francisco is full of lies. The kind she tells for others—like helping her gay brother hide the truth from their mom—and the kind she tells herself. But as antigay fervor in America reaches a frightening new pitch, Sharon and Tammy must rely on their long-distance friendship to discover their deeply personal truths, what they’ll stand for…and who they’ll rise against.

A master of award-winning queer historical fiction, New York Times bestselling author Robin Talley once again brings to life with heart and vivid detail an emotionally captivating story about the lives of two teen girls living in an age when just being yourself was an incredible act of bravery.