Braving Home

A journalist visits five of America’s disaster-zone towns and the devoted residents who chose to stay despite hellish conditions. As a young reporter, Jake Halpern became obsessed with stories about "some outlandish and often hellish place inhabited by a handful of stalwarts who refused to leave." His fellow reporters joked with him and nicknamed him the Bad Homes Correspondent. But the more he learned about these people, the more he was drawn to them. Braving Home is Halpern’s irresistible portrait of these hometowns and his friendships with their most loyal residents. In North Carolina, Halpern meets a retired mill worker who single-handedly manned his hometown in the wake of a devastating flood. In Alaska, he visits a lone snowbound high-rise at the foot of a glacier. At the base of a Hawaiian volcano, he stays with a hermit whose house was surrounded by molten lava. Among the glitterati of Malibu, a longtime "hillbilly" teaches him the traditions of firefighting. And on a barrier island off the coast of Louisiana, a legendary storm rider tells of surviving hurricanes—even if it means tying one's hair to a tree. Throughout his journey, Halpern explores the value of rootedness in an age when American society is more mobile than ever.

“Little did I know at the time that I’d one day look back and remember it as the beginning of what I call our ‘weeping years.’” — Ashleigh Slater We all have “weeping years,” seasons where the trials seem to come one after another. For Ashleigh and her husband, their weeping years included miscarriage, multiple job losses, feelings of betrayal, panic attacks, anti-depressants, cross-country moves, and even suicidal thoughts. Loss is a constant of life, but the intensity of those years changed Ashleigh, altering how she understood and responded to grief. This book tells her story. Braving Sorrow Together: The Transformative Power of Faith and Community When Life is Hard explores loss and trial in a conversational, storytelling manner. It gently encourages those experiencing grief of any kind to seek comfort in God and in the “me too” of community. Ashleigh gives an honest and vulnerable account of her personal stories of loss, as well as those of her friends, with reflections from literature and Scripture sprinkled throughout. She examines the nature of grief and loss in several universal arenas, such as relationships, health, career, and the home. Anyone who ever struggles (and that’s all of us) will be able to move through trial with more wisdom, releasing anxiety and receiving the help and comfort God so bountifully provides. Readers of Braving Sorrow Together will be encouraged that they are not alone, inspired to reach out to close friends, and reminded that God—the Author of all of our stories— can be trusted through the tears. Includes an appendix with further reflections on leaning into community in difficult seasons.

"Julian Mortimer: A Brave Boy's Struggle for Home and Fortune" by Harry Castlemon is a captivating journey through the life of Julian Mortimer, a young protagonist facing formidable challenges. Castlemon's storytelling expertise shines as he masterfully narrates Julian's story of resilience and determination. The book imparts invaluable life lessons on perseverance, resourcefulness, and the pursuit of dreams. Readers of all ages will be engrossed in Julian's brave adventures, making it a timeless tale that continues to inspire generations.

Her choice defines not only the fate of her family, but the whole of Castre. Princess Eavan would do anything for her younger sisters. The protect them at any cost, she must marry a man from a strange land. For her family and her country, marriage cannot be so terrible. Now, Eavan’s new husband Rais puts her to the test to prove she is worthy of the honor to be his wife. A test that would determine whether she is to live or perish under Orthilioan laws. Stepping uncertainly onto the platform, Eavan faces a large orange dragon. Eyes closed, she swallowed the dryness in her throat. Would she succeed in protecting those she loves? Read for yourself if Eavan can be the force Castre needs her to be in this epic novel of love and sacrifice.

When a firefighter is targeted for murder, she turns to a scorching-hot bodyguard in the USA Today–bestselling author’s romantic thriller. Firefighter Kenzie Hughes never thought saving lives would make her a target. When a man she rescued files a complaint against her, the harassment is bad enough. But when someone rigs her car, Kenzie needs help—the kind of help sexy Stephen Galway can offer. Ever since Stephen’s fiancée was killed, he’s sworn off romance and devoted himself to justice. Knowing the danger Kenzie faces, he insists on being her bodyguard. But as the danger heats up, so does the undeniable attraction between Stephen and Kenzie. Can he keep her safe and out of his arms when they’re forced to confront what they fear most?

A “thin place” is where God’s grace is waiting to happen. Your thin place might be an important threshold, a soul friendship, a fresh chapter in your own life story, a painful secret or fear, or a time of hardship. Whatever the circumstance, a thin place is where God and humanity meet in a mysterious way. These moments open us to places of rawness and beauty. When we enter into a thin place, something seems to break open inside us, and words are inadequate to describe what we are experiencing. In these moments, we feel a sense of breakthrough as we break free of the ordinary and experience the extraordinary amid our daily lives. Drawing on her Irish-Celtic heritage, Julianne Stanz helps us explore those times and holy places of transformation. Inspired by faith and guided by spiritual practices, we can experience each thin place as a point of departure on a sacred journey to a truer understanding of who we are meant to be.

Summary of Braving the Shadows Local leaders in a village in Cucuta, Colombia struggle with ways to improve their town and to prevent the continued encroachment of land-grabbers and an over zealous government. At the same time, half a world away, a small town in Kentucky is struggling to unravel a murder and a counterfeiting ring. It becomes apparent to the local sheriff and a Secret Service agent who have joined forces that the murder and counterfeiting problems are but a small part of their town's difficulties; and as they uncover the international nature of these crimes, the body count increases. These two investigators are not many days into their case before they realize that there are very few people around them who are what they seem; and it is by ferreting out who they are not that the mystery is finally solves.