An Unexpected Gift

Meet the Becker Street Pack: Pete, Paul, Chad, and Razor, four friends united for life. Seeking a little fun on the night they graduate from high school, the boys find themselves hired by the most powerful mobster in town, a dangerous man known as the Shiv. What starts out as a glamorous, lucrative lifestyle begins to fray the Pack’s friendship over the years. As Pete tries to keep his head down as the gang’s “accountant,” Razor is tasked with meting out justice when people are short of what they owe... even when it’s old friends like Paul and Chad who begin to slip. Torn between loyalty to his friends and fear of the Shiv, Pete finds himself falling into debt just as he meets the love of his life and his father is diagnosed with cancer. In the midst of this whirlwind comes an unexpected gift that may show Pete his true path in life... if he can survive the Shiv’s brutal rule, that is. A tale of friendship, love, crime and cruelty, An Unexpected Gift explores how loyalty is tested when power and money is involved.

In this heartfelt and thoughtful book, Christopher Heuertz writes of the dangers of isolation, the challenges we face when we join together and the struggles and joys that emerge from genuine community bonding. “Ironically, as much as we yearn for deep friendships and meaningful communities, many of us seem to be unable to find our way into them. Even if we know we’re made for community, finding one and staying there seems almost impossible. Though we hate to admit it, if we stay long enough in any relationship or set of friendships, we will experience failure, doubt, burnout, loneliness, transitions, a loss of self, betrayal, frustration, a sense of entitlement, grief, and weariness. Yet it’s these painful community experiences, these tensions we struggle to navigate, that hold surprising gifts.” —FROM THE PREFACE IN A STRIKINGLY confessional tone and vividly illustrated through story, Unexpected Gifts names eleven inevitable challenges that all friendships, relationships, and communities experience if they stay together long enough. Rather than allowing these challenges to become excuses to leave, Chris Heuertz suggests that things like betrayal, transitions, failure, loss of identity, entitlement, and doubt may actually be invitations to stay. And if we stay, these challenges can become unexpected gifts. *** Betrayal, failure, loss of identity, doubt. If your relationships have suffered from any of these pitfalls, this book will show you that staying together can create something more—even something beautiful. IN THIS HEARTFELT and thoughtful book, Christopher Heuertz writes of the dangers of isolation, the challenges we face when we join together, and the struggles and joys that emerge from genuine community bonding. Whether readers are forming a new community, searching for deeper community, or participating in a longtime community, they will find inspiration, caution, guidance, and encouragement as they discover the beauty of pressing in to the ambiguities of growing relationships in this tender and honest testimony about how we are woven together by grace.

He's the cocky doctor with a mission to drive me insane. And I had to walk down the aisle with him. "It's my brother's wedding day," I told myself... Caden's a neurosurgeon. Devastatingly handsome, and a total Casanova. Arrogant, egotistical, and a complete a$%hole. The enemy disguised as Prince Charming. We fought at every encounter. Then tragedy struck. And I was forced to live with the man that I hate. We were left in charge of my niece, Posie. He bought us a beautiful home. Watching him with Posie... How he took care of her. How he took care of us. I let my guard down. I let him in. I can't believe I gave him my virginity. A one-night stand was all it should have been. But now I'm knocked up. No way he could ever change his ways, right?

Janie Nolan’s future had never been more uncertain, she was just learning to live with the loss of her mother from cancer, she suddenly finds herself jobless after an unexpected diagnosis with autism at the age of fifty-five. The thought of moving back to her childhood home in the idyllic town of Cape May, New Jersey to assess her future is a daunting proposal. It is in that sleepy shore town that she must reconnect with her abusive father.... Now ailing, he has handed over control of the family business, a failing small theater, as a possible means for a fresh start. However, Janie is uncertain as to what his true motives might be. Alec Ryan, a handsome, former intern of her father’s and now a successful Broadway producer and director arrives from New York carrying his own tumultuous past with plans to assist Janie in restoring the theater to its former glory. Along the way, Alec discovers qualities in Janie that prove she is more than just her diagnosis and resolves to help restore Janie as well, simultaneously putting his own demons to rest and learning to love again. But when the small town gossip mill begins to buzz about Alec and a piece of jewelry left by her mother is revealed, Janie learns of a secret that may take things in another direction could change the course of her life forever.

Originally written and pressed as Christmas cards for friends and family, An Unexpected Gift: Three Christmas Stories collects and presents three funny, tender, modern tales from Marcel Theroux. A hard-pressed barber gets an angelic last-minute customer, a struggling retailer finds un-looked for freedom, and a grieving anthropologist procures a new piece for her collection. These stories are beautifully crafted and underpinned with a wit, charm and light touch that provide perfect seasonal reading.

Drew Robbins Warren is a mother of two, whose husband has just left her for a younger woman. Leah Cline is a pregnant eighteen-year-old with no family, no friends, and no money. The only thing these women have in common is loneliness. Through their unlikely friendship, Drew and Leah learn to embrace life and everything that has been offered to them. But will either woman open her heart to love another man again?-Author Tour: Northern Georgia