Longing For Normal

Love letters are potent. They breathe. They speak. They can arouse, comfort, captivate. They can also cut deep. The powerful, deeply personal letters collected here reveal the painful underside of love. Witness Winston Churchill 'growl with anger to be treated with benevolent indifference' and Edith Piaf reel in the throes of a 'terrible' passion. Through the letters of literary icons Charlotte Brontë, Oscar Wilde and Virginia Woolf, Hollywood stars Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton and statesmen Henry VIII and Franklin D. Roosevelt, Yours Always offers an unusually intimate insight into the lives of such illustrious figures. Love is revealed here in its many shades of disharmony and confusion: unrequited, uncertain, imbalanced, unconventional, thwarted, failed and forbidden. Love is not always rose-tinted, and Yours Always illuminates the sorrows that can accompany falling in, falling out, and staying in love. Includes letter to and from: Charlotte Brontë, Richard Burton, Lord Byron, Winston Churchill, Marie Curie, Charles Dickens, Ernest Hemingway, Henry VIII, Ted Hughes, Graham Greene, Franz Kafka, Marilyn Monroe, Iris Murdoch, Edith Piaf, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Elizabeth Taylor, Oscar Wilde, Virginia Woolf, W.B. Yeats

School Library Journal Best Book * ALA Notable Children’s Book * New York Public Library’s “One Hundred Titles for Reading and Sharing” * Chicago Public Library Best of the Best * Cooperative Children’s Book Center Choice * Connecticut Book Award Winner * American Library Association Schneider Family Book Award Winner This poignant and joyful novel is filled with meaningful moments and emotional resonance. Addie is waiting for normal. But Addie's mother has an all-or-nothing approach to life: a food fiesta or an empty pantry, her way or no way. Addie’s mother is bipolar, and she often neglects Addie. All-or-nothing never adds up to normal, and it can't bring Addie home, where she wants to be with her half-sisters and her stepfather. But Addie never stops hoping that one day, maybe, she'll find normal. “A heroine with spunk and spirit offers an inspiring lesson in perseverance and hope. First-rate.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

When hopes for motherhood are deferred... Childlessness remains a taboo topic in today’s culture, especially in Christian circles. Many women feel isolated, ashamed, or uncertain of how to reconcile this trial with a loving God. The death of the dream of motherhood—whether from infertility, barrenness, miscarriage, or the loss of a child—is one of the hardest journeys women can walk through. In Longing for Motherhood, Chelsea Patterson Sobolik speaks to these burdens specifically. She shares vulnerably about her own journey of childlessness and how she has ultimately come to view her story through the lens of Scripture and our hope in Christ. While remaining tender and empathetic toward suffering and longing, she discusses the comfort we have in knowing that the Lord is sovereign over all, and that His love is sufficient to carry us through any and every situation. A timely book for women struggling with childlessness, as well as for pastors, friends, and family who want to care for them well, Longing for Motherhood is a tender, truthful companion for a difficult journey.

Quadriplegia--what could shatter your life more? Katie Childers is about to find out when the love of her life is thrown from his horse and suffers a spinal cord break. Kirk's prognosis turns their tranquil ranch life upside down. How can they survive with no income and no place to live? Who can she trust? Will their sons stand by them? In Eldon Reed's Longing for Normal, Katie will walk you through this tragedy in her own words. Trusting God is a struggle for her. Will she ever see normal again?

A botched abduction, a little seduction. Some mistakes are worth repeating. In Elisa Braden's enchanting Midnight in Scotland series, the unlikeliest matches generate the greatest heat. And this steamy winter novella about a desperate Scottish widow and the Englishman she takes captive might be the hottest one of all. A duke, an abduction. What could go wrong? Young widow Lucie Carmichael has made too many mistakes in her life—choosing the wrong husband, trusting the wrong solicitor, wearing the wrong shade of red to a funeral. But this time is different. This time, she has a plan. The Duke of Dingwall is about to evict her family from their ancestral home, and she means to change his mind, even if it involves a little abduction. A night in Scotland, a woman in red. What’s a man to do? Silas Northfield is not the Duke of Dingwall, no matter how many times a mad Scottish beauty in a tight red dress insists he is. When she abducts him from a meeting with his half-brothers, Silas decides to take matters—and the luscious Lucie Carmichael—into his own hands. But teaching Lucie to unleash her stunning sensuality might be his greatest mistake. Because she’s sworn never to remarry, and he’ll need more than a night to satisfy his hunger for this heartbreaking woman. He’ll need a lifetime. **This story was first published as part of the Duke in a Box Holiday Collection released in November 2022** This is a SHORT NOVELLA of approximately 17,000 words. It can be read in one sitting as a standalone story with a satisfying happily-ever-after. In the sequence of the Midnight in Scotland series, it can be placed between books 3 and 4.

There is a pathway through suffering. It's not easy, but God will use it to lead you toward healing. This path is called lament. Lament leads us between the Already and the Not Yet. Lament minds the gap between current hopelessness and coming hope. Lament anticipates new creation but also acknowledges the painful reality of now. Lament recognizes the existence of evil and suffering-- without any sugarcoating-- while simultaneously declaring that suffering will not have the final say.

"Even as they see their wages go down and their buying power decrease, many parents are still putting their kids' material desires first. These parents struggle with how to handle children's consumer wants, which continue unabated despite the economic downturn. And, indeed, parents and other adults continue to spend billions of dollars on children every year. Why do children seem to desire so much, so often, so soon, and why do parents capitulate so readily? To determine what forces lie behind the onslaught of Nintendo Wiis and Bratz dolls, Allison J. Pugh spent three years observing and interviewing children and their families. In Longing and Belonging: Parents, Children, and Consumer Culture, Pugh teases out the complex factors that contribute to how we buy, from lunchroom conversations about Game Boys to the stark inequalities facing American children. Pugh finds that children's desires stem less from striving for status or falling victim to advertising than from their yearning to join the conversation at school or in the neighborhood. Most parents respond to children's need to belong by buying the particular goods and experiences that act as passports in children's social worlds, because they sympathize with their children's fear of being different from their peers. Even under financial constraints, families prioritize children "feeling normal". Pugh masterfully illuminates the surprising similarities in the fears and hopes of parents and children from vastly different social contexts, showing that while corporate marketing and materialism play a part in the commodification of childhood, at the heart of the matter is the desire to belong."--pub. desc.

A new STANDALONE age-gap, arranged marriage romance from USA Today Bestselling author Cora Reilly!Sofia knows how it feels to be the consolation prize.Too young.Not blond.And definitely not an ice princess.Her sister is-was all those things. Perfection. Until she wasn't. Until she ran off to be with the enemy and left her fiancé behind.Now Sofia is given to Danilo in her sister's stead, knowing she'll never be more than second best. Yet, she can't stop longing for the love of the man she's been crushing on even when he was still her sister's.Danilo is a man who's used to getting what he wants.Power.Respect.The sought-after ice princess.Until another man steals his bride-to-be. Danilo knows that for a man in his position losing his woman can lead to a loss of face.Wounded pride.Thirst for revenge.A dangerous combination-one Danilo can't leave behind, not even when a girl just as precious takes her sister's place to placate him. Yet, she's got one flaw: she's not her sister.Unable to forget what he's lost, Danilo might lose what he's been given.