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Hot Cocoa Cookbook (paid link)
You know you want to write a book, so why does it feel so hard to sit down and do the writing? And once you get in a flow, why is it so difficult to stay in flow? And once you’ve finished writing, how do edit and revise so you know it’s a good book, that you’re proud to sell?
NONFICTION writers, this is a STEP-BY-STEP guide that walks you through how to write a book. These steps will show you:
the myths about writing that make us feel like we’re not “good enough” to be an author,
how to develop the good writing routines and a solid timeline,
how to write a first draft and revise the draft,
how to bring in beta readers and incorporate their feedback, and
finally, how to pull it all together into a finished manuscript.
When a shocking murder shatters the tranquility of a sleepy Oregon town, and a priceless sculpture turns up missing, all fingers soon start pointing at new resident Zack Anderson. Armed with a determination to clear his name, Zack sets out to solve the case with the help of his feisty canine companion, a corgi named Sherlock who has an uncanny ability to sniff out clues.
With evidence mounting against him, can Zack and Sherlock identify the killer and locate the missing sculpture before he ends up in the doghouse?
American heiress Sophia Wilson leaves Old New York for a Season in London. Her goal: to marry into the English aristocracy and help improve her family’s social standing in America. Sophia knows her marriage will be a business transaction—her father will provide a generous financial settlement in exchange for a title—but secretly, what she desires most of all is to marry for love.
Love is the last thing on James Langdon’s mind. The darkly handsome Duke of Wentworth comes from a menacing past and has learned to avoid his passions at all cost. But his castle in the north is falling into disrepair and what he needs is a swift cash infusion, not to mention an heir. A business transaction with a beautiful American heiress seems the perfect solution.
Manners and Monsters (paid link)
Except Hannah discovers her role is to apologise in the wake of the rude and disgraced man tasked with finding the murderer. The obnoxious Viscount Wycliff thinks to employ Hannah purely as a front to satisfy Whitehall, but she’ll have none of that.
The two must work together to find the murderer before the season is ruined. But the viscount is about to meet his greatest challenge, and it’s not a member of the ton with a hankering for brains.
Haunted by regret, filled with a rage I can’t control, I destroy my favorite guitar.
A J. Olsen original. The only instrument that allows my fingers to caress my music into creation.
Now, I need a new one, and in order to get it fast, I have to work with her—Jenna. She stirs something deep inside me. Something I haven’t felt in years.
When I stare into her breathtaking eyes for the first time, I see struggles that echo my own. The kind of torment that colors a woman’s soul. But I’m drawn to her—I just can’t stay away.
As our emotions start to blossom, creating a magic that rivals the music, Jenna’s dangerous ex reappears to play a reckless game. Between his lust for revenge and the unreasonable demands of my record label, we can’t catch our big break.
Yesterday’s Gone: The Complete Series (paid link)
They thought they were alone. They were wrong…
On October 15th, humanity went missing.
A handful of scattered survivors wake to find the world empty of friends, family, and neighbors.
Among them, a child searches for his family. A special agent turned enemy of the state survives a fiery plane crash with no way to reach his daughter. A serial killer discovers he’s no longer at the top of the food chain.
Now these strangers must find the strength inside them to weather the new world.
But they are not alone.
In the absence of civilization, a new threat emerges. In the stillness, it waits and watches, preying on their weakness. Their only hope is to find more survivors, rise above their fear, and face the oncoming darkness.
The Beck Diet Solution Weight Loss Workbook: The 6-Week Plan to Train Your Brain to Think Like a Thin Person (paid link)
Midnight on the River Grey (paid link)
Rebecca fears she has developed feelings for the man she swore to see hanged, her brother’s murderer.
After her brother’s mysterious death, Rebecca Hunter vows to expose the man she believes responsible: Mr. Lewis Browning—known by the locals as the Midnight Devil and by Rebecca as her new guardian.
Summoned to his reclusive country estate to await her London season, Rebecca plans her own secret investigation among the darkened corridors of the mysterious Greybourne Hall. Yet Lewis Browning is not as she once imagined, and his motivation is horribly unclear. Recurrent nightmares and Rebecca’s restless feelings are further complicated by the shadow of her mother’s prior descent into madness and wondering if she, too, will follow the same heartbreaking path.
The little-known story of screenwriter Salka Viertel, whose salons in 1930s and 40s Hollywood created a refuge for a multitude of famous figures who had escaped the horrors of World War ll.
Hollywood was created by its “others”; that is, by women, Jews, and immigrants. Salka Viertel was all three and so much more. She was the screenwriter for five of Greta Garbo’s movies and also her most intimate friend. At one point during the Irving Thalberg years, Viertel was the highest-paid writer on the MGM lot. Meanwhile, at her house in Santa Monica she opened her door on Sunday afternoons to scores of European émigrés who had fled from Hitler—such as Thomas Mann, Bertolt Brecht, and Arnold Schoenberg—along with every kind of Hollywood star, from Charlie Chaplin to Shelley Winters. In Viertel’s living room (the only one in town with comfortable armchairs, said one Hollywood insider), countless cinematic, theatrical, and musical partnerships were born.
Mozart’s Starling (paid link)
On May 27th, 1784, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart met a flirtatious little starling in a Viennese shop who sang an improvised version of the theme from his Piano Concerto no. 17 in G major. Sensing a kindred spirit in the plucky young bird, Mozart bought him and took him home to be a family pet. For three years, the starling lived with Mozart, influencing his work and serving as his companion, distraction, consolation, and muse.
Two centuries later, starlings are reviled by even the most compassionate conservationists. A nonnative, invasive species, they invade sensitive habitats, outcompete local birds for nest sites and food, and decimate crops. A seasoned birder and naturalist, Lyanda Lynn Haupt is well versed in the difficult and often strained relationships these birds have with other species and the environment. But after rescuing a baby starling of her own, Haupt found herself enchanted by the same intelligence and playful spirit that had so charmed her favorite composer.
The scientific evidence behind why maintaining a lifestyle more like that of our ancestors will restore our health and well-being.
In Go Wild, Harvard Medical School Professor John Ratey, MD, and journalist Richard Manning reveal that although civilization has rapidly evolved, our bodies have not kept pace. This mismatch affects every area of our lives, from our general physical health to our emotional wellbeing. Investigating the power of living according to our genes in the areas of diet, exercise, sleep, nature, mindfulness and more, Go Wild examines how tapping into our core DNA combats modern disease and psychological afflictions, from Autism and Depression to Diabetes and Heart Disease. By focusing on the ways of the past, it is possible to secure a healthier and happier future, and Go Wild will show you how.
The Emissary (paid link)
Japan, after suffering from a massive irreparable disaster, cuts itself off from the world. Children are so weak they can barely stand or walk: the only people with any get-go are the elderly. Mumei lives with his grandfather Yoshiro, who worries about him constantly. They carry on a day-to-day routine in what could be viewed as a post-Fukushima time, with all the children born ancient—frail and gray-haired, yet incredibly compassionate and wise. Mumei may be enfeebled and feverish, but he is a beacon of hope, full of wit and free of self-pity and pessimism. Yoshiro concentrates on nourishing Mumei, a strangely wonderful boy who offers “the beauty of the time that is yet to come.”
A delightful, irrepressibly funny book, The Emissary is filled with light. Yoko Tawada, deftly turning inside-out “the curse,” defies gravity and creates a playful joyous novel out of a dystopian one, with a legerdemain uniquely her own.
… See the rest of today ‘s Book Picks here on page 2Page 2