A Powerful Midlife

Half-witch, half-necromancer, Ava Harper has finally accepted her destiny, her inheritance, and her insane power. Yet, there is still so much more to learn. And it’s time to use it to do some good. Necromancers are being held captive at the vampires’ headquarters in Milan. No big deal for our Ava. She’s the most powerful necromancer in like… possibly ever? She can handle those fanged suckers. Things go a little crazy and Ava gets some help from a very unexpected ally. Together, the group of friends and ghouls have to free the world from the influence of a couple of very corrupted vampires. That’s not to mention the rest of her to-do list: wedding planning, figuring out the souls in the Viking blade, helping Olivia deal with her family’s new magic, and don’t forget the mess Crystal left with the shifters. It’s all going to be okay. Ava is powerful, right? She’s got this.

From Mad Men to MAGA: how nostalgia came to be and why we are so eager to indulge it. From movies to politics, social media posts to the targeted ads between them, nostalgia is one of the most potent forces of our era. On Nostalgia is a panoramic cultural history of nostalgia, exploring how a force that started as a psychological diagnosis of soldiers fighting far from home has come become a quintessentially modern condition. Drawing on everything from the modern science of memory to the romantic ideals of advertising, and traversing cultural movements from futurism to fascism to Facebook, cultural critic David Berry examines how the relentless search for self and overwhelming presence of mass media stokes the fires of nostalgia, making it as inescapable as it is hard to pin down. Holding fast against the pull of the past while trying to understand what makes the fundamental impossibility of return so appealing, On Nostalgia explores what it means to remember, how the universal yearning is used by us and against us, and it considers a future where the past is more readily available and easier to lose track of than ever before. "If nostalgia was a disease in the Good Old Days, then David Berry's cogently argued, intelligent, and witty book should be prescribed reading for anyone wishing to understand what sometimes feels like a peculiarly virulent epidemic of our current times." —Travis Elborough "We're so lucky to have a writer as thoughtful, funny, smart, and cutting as David Berry. Nostalgia dictates so much of our world, and there isn't a better cataloger, critic, and guide through it than Berry." —Scaachi Koul

Widow and empty nester, Ava Harper, never dreamed of turning forty without the love of her life. Nor did she know she would bury her favorite aunt, who raised her after the death of her mother, a few years later. Then again, she doesn’t have the power of foresight. No, her powers are much darker. Powers she has kept behind lock and key. With her only son off to college and her life savings depleted, Ava returns home to Shipton Harbor, Maine. She’s only there to clean out, fix up, and sell the family home. But like everything in her life in the last five years, things change. Plans get canceled. Arriving in Shipton Harbor is like stepping into another world. Her high school rival is married to her best friend and is set on making up for every devious thing she did when they were teens. The magic in the house reawakens, making it impossible to sell. It doesn’t want new owners, apparently. And to top it all, the sheriff looks like he belongs on the cover of a romance novel. When an old friend of the family turns up dead, Ava must delve deep into the powers she’s repressed all her adult life to find the killer. Only a necromancer could’ve killed her friend. Now she must open up to her own wells of dark magic to find the murderer while working with the hottie sheriff she’s sure has his own secrets.

"After finding my soon-to-be ex-husband with my soon-to-be ex-assistant, I realize his "for better or worse" didn't include my forties. A vacation on a remote Italian island sounds like the perfect antidote to a midlife crisis--until I arrive. I'm expecting Chianti and pasta, not a run-down bed and breakfast with the oldest Nonna in existence. There's something odd about this island, like how everyone calls me Mamma, or how I'm the first tourist in decades. And that's before I wake up to a talking chipmunk holding a glass of wine. He says I have something ancient in me, and for once, it's not my creaking joints. When I finally discover the island's deepest secrets, I know my forties are about to be fabulous, if only I can survive long enought to enjoy them." --

As seen on OWN’s Super Soul Sunday! The need for change as we get older—an emotional pressure for one phase of our lives to transition into another—is a human phenomenon, neither male nor female. There simply comes a time in our lives—not fundamentally different from the way puberty separates childhood from adulthood—when it’s time for one part of ourselves to die and for something new to be born. The purpose of this book by best-selling author and lecturer Marianne Williamson is to psychologically and spiritually reframe this transition so that it leads to a wonderful sense of joy and awakening. In our ability to rethink our lives lies our greatest power to change them. What we have called "middle age" need not be seen as a turning point toward death. It can be viewed as a magical turning point toward life as we’ve never known it, if we allow ourselves the power of an independent imagination, utilizing thought-forms that don’t simply flow in a perfunctory manner from ancient assumptions handed down to us, but rather flower into new archetypal images of a humanity just getting started at 45 or 50. What we’ve learned by that time, from both our failures as well as our successes, tends to have humbled us into purity. When we were young, we had energy but were clueless about what to do with it. Today, we have less energy, perhaps, but we have far more understanding of what each breath of life is for. And now at last, we have a destiny to fulfill—not a destiny of a life that’s simply over, but rather a destiny of a life that is finally truly lived. Midlife is not a crisis; it’s a time of rebirth. It’s not a time to accept your death; it’s a time to accept your life—and to finally, truly live it, as you and you alone know deep in your heart it was meant to be lived.

A Paranormal Women's Fiction murder mystery for anyone who believes you can find your powers at any age.Constance Campbell has made a few questionable decisions in the run-up to her fortieth birthday. So in a way, moving two thousand miles away from everything she's ever known makes perfect sense.Creel Creek, Virginia is the last place either of her ex-husbands would ever think to look for her. What better place to hide from her humiliations than a town too small to warrant a mention on a map?Laid off, and recently divorced from husband number two, this former workaholic moves in with her estranged-and very strange-grandmother.A grandmother who informs Constance that she comes from a long line of powerful witches. And on the day she hits the big 4-0, she'll come into her powers.It turns out that she's not the only paranormal person in town. Under the sleepy surface, the small town is teeming with supernatural beings.When Constance finds the town's resident vampire dead, things go from surreal to scary. The local sheriff is convinced that a killer is lurking in the shadows, hunting anyone with supernatural abilities?including witches like her.He's not wrong.Can Constance learn enough magic to save herself and Creel Creek from this unknown foe?

At no other time in society have there been so many women at midlife looking for new answers, new attitudes and new ways of being. This powerful, insightful book provides you with the tools to choose how to live the second half of life, and it offers you vital possibilities for meaningful and profound change. Picture this woman: she is aged between 35 and 50 and, although relatively content until recently, she is now experiencing bewildering feelings of sadness, anger and apathy, and a yearning for a different life. Robyn Vickers-Willis writes about the importance of adults living consciously from midlife and beyond. She believes that it is important for women to embrace these turbulent feelings, rather than ignore, sedate or run away from them. Through shared stories, metaphor, dreams and reflections, and based on a sound psychological framework, you are given a map, complete with all the signposts, so you can choose your unique path to a life full of personal meaning, new passions, aliveness and creativity. This valuable and engaging book is a practical resource for women experiencing important life changes and for health professionals working with women.

From the hugely respected journalist Miranda Sawyer, a very modern look at the midlife crisis - delving into the truth, and lies, of the experience and how to survive it, with thoughtfulness, insight and humour.