Bella And Dash

Bella has spent her childhood dreaming of distant lands, spurred on by her grandmother’s tales of traveling the world. But after her grandmother passes away, she is forced to find her own adventures. She befriends a neighbourhood Siamese cat named Dash, who seems to share a passion for adventure, and they embark on twilight excursions into the forest that surrounds her west coast home. Their trips soon introduce them to some of the beasts of the forest, both native and exotic. She knows this is dangerous, and has to be careful to keep her activities from her mother. Instead, Bella confides in her best friend, Dianna, who threatens to reveal her secret. Bella is forced to face her new discoveries on her own, with only Dash as a willing companion. Bella and Dash is a fast paced YA fiction that straddles the line between reality and fantasy. It takes Bella from carefree dreamer to animal activist and propels her towards a future she could never have imagined.

One of Esquire's Best Cookbooks of 2020 and one of The Washington Post's Best Food Books of 2020 "In epigrammatic, nearly poetic diction, Grant . . . reminds us of how transformative the junctures where food and life collide can be." --The New York Times Book Review “What a beautiful, rich, and poetic memoir this is . . . Like the best chefs, Phyllis Grant knows how to make a masterpiece from a few simple ingredients: truth, taste, poignancy, and love.”—Elizabeth Gilbert, author of City of Girls and Eat, Pray, Love Phyllis Grant’s Everything Is Under Control is a memoir about appetite as it comes, goes, and refocuses its object of desire. Grant’s story follows the sometimes smooth, sometimes jagged, always revealing contours of her life: from her days as a dancer struggling to find her place at Julliard, to her experiences in and out of four-star kitchens in New York City, to falling in love with her future husband and leaving the city after 9/11 for California, where her children are born. All the while, a sense of longing pulses in each stage as she moves through the headspace of a young woman longing to be sustained by a city into that of a mother now sustaining a family herself. Written with the transparency of a diarist, Everything Is Under Control is an unputdownable series of vignettes followed by tried-and-true recipes from Grant’s table—a heartrending yet unsentimental portrait of the highs and lows of young adulthood, motherhood, and a life in the kitchen.

As a child both Jo and Michael grew up in turmoil and faced challenges. At the age of fourteen Jo was placed in a foster home and it was in that foster home she was assaulted. The foster parent because a leading suspect in a murder investigation of little girl and Jo became a crucial witness in the case. She spent over thirty-five years in hiding. Michael lost his father at ten he became a firefighter at twenty-one, and for 30 years he served. Although both deal with the effects of PTSD and both have found their own way of coping. Both understand the impact of having tools in the tools chest to heal. Those tools may come in many forms. A rescue dog, Bella a wee puppy when Jo and Michael adopted her everything changed. She came via long-haul truck and stood only five inches when they all first met. Pint-sized and yet she was a master healer. Bella was brilliant and some might even say she was clairvoyant, her intelligence and focus were unparalleled but more than that was her innate curiosity, joy, and her ability to be live fully present in each moment. Her impact was felt far and wide, and in her short dash on earth, she touched every soul she interacted with even in the quietest of ways. Bella's teachings were not to be missed, and she taught through example. Unbeknownst to Jo and Michael they quickly became her students in the mastery of life. Bella lived a large life as did the other members of The Pack.

To the world, Dash Black is famous, wealthy, wildly good-looking, and intriguing. To say that he came into my life and shook my world is an understatement. He looked into my eyes and I swear our souls connected, but then, I saw what no one else was ever allowed to see. I saw a complicated man with secrets, a man who hides behind a persona that tells only part of his story. And ultimately, I felt his pain and he felt mine. He told me I belonged with him. I believed I did. But in the book of life, the pages don't turn with a simple flip of a sheet of paper. In life, sometimes the page won't turn. Sometimes we discover that what is right is more terrifying than what is wrong. I love Dash Black, but he terrifies me. I believe he feels the same about me. And I'm not sure where that leaves us or what comes next. Because I Can is the second book in the Necklace Trilogy.

A necklace delivered to the wrong Allison: me. I'm the wrong Allison. That misplaced gift places a man in my path. A man who instantly consumes me and leads me down a path of dark secrets and intense passion. Dash Black is a famous, bestselling author, but also a man born into wealth and power. He owns everything around him, every room he enters. He owns me the moment I meet him. He seduces me oh so easily and reveals another side of myself I dared not expose. Until him. Until this intense, wonderful, tormented man shows me another way to live and love. I melt when he kisses me. I shiver when he touches me. And I like when he's in control, especially when I thought I'd never allow anyone that much power over me ever again. We are two broken people who are somehow whole when we are together, but those secrets—his, and yes, I have mine as well—threaten to shatter all that is right and make it wrong. What If I Never is the first book in the Necklace Trilogy.

Afraid and weak, an abandoned mama dog and her six-pack of wee pups are in dire need. Bella, a tenacious furball, is destined for great things, though she doesn't know it yet. It isn't long before she chooses her humans: a retired firefighter and his wife, a former witness in protection, who themselves are searching for the missing piece of their hearts. Bella's imprint touches all who know her during her short journey through the world. You'll cry, cheer and laugh your way through the profound emotional impacts that lead to transformation from grief and trauma to joy and health. Bella's Dash and the Pack is a collection of true stories about the power and purpose of adopting the otherwise forgotten, while gaining immeasurable love and hope.

I believe that there is one person in this world that can both break us and make us whole. One person who can love us more than life can hurt us. With this comes deep, intense passion, and a burning connection. But in turn, that person can destroy us, cut us, make us bleed in ways no other ever could. They have power over us. For me, that one person is Dash Black. He walked into my life in a rush of sunshine, in the darkness of heartache and uncertainty. We were broken apart, and whole together. He healed me. I believed I did the same for him. Until the past became the present, and every moment of suffering in his life consumed him. Instead of seeking refuge in me, he pushed me away. As the famous quote from an unknown author says, “If you love something, set it free. If it comes back, it’s yours; if it doesn’t, it never was.” I've set Dash Black free. Now, I wait. When I Say Yes is the third and final book in the Necklace Trilogy.

Born out of the popular blog Kale & Caramel, this sumptuously photographed and beautifully written cookbook presents eighty recipes for delicious vegan and vegetarian dishes featuring herbs and flowers, as well as luxurious do-it-yourself beauty products. Plant-whisperer, writer, and photographer Lily Diamond believes that herbs and flowers have the power to nourish inside and out. “Lily’s deep connection to nature is beautifully woven throughout this personal collection of recipes,” says award-winning vegetarian chef Amy Chaplin. Each chapter celebrates an aromatic herb or flower, including basil, cilantro, fennel, mint, oregano, rosemary, sage, thyme, lavender, jasmine, rose, and orange blossom. Mollie Katzen, author of the beloved Moosewood Cookbook, calls the book “a gift, articulated through a poetic voice, original and bold.” The recipes tell a coming-of-age story through Lily’s kinship with plants, from a sun-drenched Maui childhood to healing from heartbreak and her mother’s death. With bright flavors, gorgeous scents, evocative stories, and more than one hundred photographs, Kale & Caramel creates a lush garden of experience open to harvest year round.