On Motherhood Fireflies To First Dates

On Motherhood: Fireflies to First Dates offers a collection of memorable essays on parenthood written by a seasoned humor/slice-of-life columnist and mom of three. Within its pages, author Melinda L. Wentzel candidly shares what the journey has taught her: that it is the harvest of tiny moments that matters most and that extraordinary often lives deep within the ordinary. Filled with warmth, wit and wonder and colorful, descriptive details, this is a compilation of Wentzel’s previously published articles. Praise for On Motherhood: Fireflies to First Dates I love Planet Mom ... it’s where we all live. —Lisa Novotny, Pennsylvania [Planet Mom], I have read and enjoyed your column for years. It just really hits home for me. It’s what all moms are thinking and feeling and dealing with on a daily basis. I love how straightforward and honest you are about the ups and downs and everything in between, and you make even the most boring everyday stuff hilarious! It helps us moms to know we’re not the only ones! —Sharon Steinbacher, Cogan Station, PA [Planet Mom], I love your easy humor. I was a huge bookworm growing up and went through a huge Erma Bombeck phase. You channel her for me. —Susan Weissman, Author, Feeding Eden, New York, New York Parenting is an unbounded experience spanning years, a million different moments encompassing unique challenges and providing unexpected gifts. No one knows this better than Melinda Wentzel, aka Planet Mom, whose touching essays illuminate so many of these experiences. —Garrett “Neanderdad” Rice, Author, Neanderdad, San Mateo, California I love the passion with which you write ... and share your personal journey. —Jodi Moore, Author, When a Dragon Moves In, When a Dragon Moves In Again and I Love My Dragon

Go on a first date with beloved romance author Jackie Ashenden! Check out the first few chapters of each of the books in her Alaska Homecoming series to see if you're interested in more: Small-town Alaska Sizzle Enemies to Lovers Romance Fiercely Independent Heroines and Rugged Mountain Men Heroes Deep River, Alaska boasts a fiercely independent though small population. The people who live here love it, and they don't much care what anyone else thinks. Come Home to Deep River Hope Dawson never expected to leave Deep River. Her mom needs her. Her grandfather died and left her the local hangout to run. Her dreams of college and adventure died long ago. Until Silas Quinn comes back to town, holding the key to set her free. But freedom means she loses him again, and he's the one she's really always wanted. Deep River Promise Astrid James didn't ask to be mayor of Deep River but since she is, she'll do everything she can to do right by the town and her son. And the last thing she needs is arrogant outsider Damon Fitzgerald coming in and taking charge, no matter how attractive he is. But when Astrid starts to realize that Damon is more than just a pretty face, she'll have to decide whether she can risk her heart and her son's happiness on a man whose mission is to leave Deep River. That Deep River Feeling Zeke Calhoun doesn't care much about Deep River, but he'll do just about anything to keep the promise he made to look out for his best friend's sister. As the sole police officer in Deep River, Morgan West won't be bossed around, but Zeke is irresistible. He's tough, challenging, and all kinds of sexy, but getting involved is the last thing on her mind. Or is it...?

Marisa St. George is devastated when she is a victim of downsizing and has no choice but to return to the small Texas town where she grew up. Though it's a giant step backward, she accepts a position as business manager at the struggling Rainbow's End resort. The only silver lining is Blake Kendall, a new guest who is making her believe in love at first sight. But will her dreams of happily-ever-after be turned upside down when she discovers who he really is? Romance readers will love this warm and witty story of mistaken identity and second chances from bestselling author Amanda Cabot.

From the New York Times bestselling author Kristin Hannah comes a powerful novel of love, loss, and the magic of friendship. . . . now a #1 Netflix series! In the turbulent summer of 1974, Kate Mularkey has accepted her place at the bottom of the eighth-grade social food chain. Then, to her amazement, the "coolest girl in the world" moves in across the street and wants to be her friend. Tully Hart seems to have it all---beauty, brains, ambition. On the surface they are as opposite as two people can be: Kate, doomed to be forever uncool, with a loving family who mortifies her at every turn. Tully, steeped in glamour and mystery, but with a secret that is destroying her. They make a pact to be best friends forever; by summer's end they've become TullyandKate. Inseparable. So begins Kristin Hannah's magnificent new novel. Spanning more than three decades and playing out across the ever-changing face of the Pacific Northwest, Firefly Lane is the poignant, powerful story of two women and the friendship that becomes the bulkhead of their lives. From the beginning, Tully is desperate to prove her worth to the world. Abandoned by her mother at an early age, she longs to be loved unconditionally. In the glittering, big-hair era of the eighties, she looks to men to fill the void in her soul. But in the buttoned-down nineties, it is television news that captivates her. She will follow her own blind ambition to New York and around the globe, finding fame and success . . . and loneliness. Kate knows early on that her life will be nothing special. Throughout college, she pretends to be driven by a need for success, but all she really wants is to fall in love and have children and live an ordinary life. In her own quiet way, Kate is as driven as Tully. What she doesn't know is how being a wife and mother will change her . . . how she'll lose sight of who she once was, and what she once wanted. And how much she'll envy her famous best friend. . . . For thirty years, Tully and Kate buoy each other through life, weathering the storms of friendship---jealousy, anger, hurt, resentment. They think they've survived it all until a single act of betrayal tears them apart . . . and puts their courage and friendship to the ultimate test. Firefly Lane is for anyone who ever drank Boone's Farm apple wine while listening to Abba or Fleetwood Mac. More than a coming-of-age novel, it's the story of a generation of women who were both blessed and cursed by choices. It's about promises and secrets and betrayals. And ultimately, about the one person who really, truly knows you---and knows what has the power to hurt you . . . and heal you. Firefly Lane is a story you'll never forget . . . one you'll want to pass on to your best friend.

“Rachel Macy Stafford's post "The Day I Stopped Saying Hurry Up" was a true phenomenon on The Huffington Post, igniting countless conversations online and off about freeing ourselves from the vicious cycle of keeping up with our overstuffed agendas. Hands Free Mama has the power to keep that conversation going and remind us that we must not let our lives pass us by.” --Arianna Huffington, Chair, President, and Editor-in-Chief of the Huffington Post Media Group, nationally syndicated columnist, and author of thirteen books http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ DISCOVER THE POWER, JOY, AND LOVE of Living “Hands Free” If technology is the new addiction, then multi-tasking is the new marching order. We check our email while cooking dinner, send a text while bathing the kids, and spend more time looking into electronic screens than into the eyes of our loved ones. With our never-ending to-do lists and jam-packed schedules, it’s no wonder we’re distracted. But this isn’t the way it has to be. In July 2010, special education teacher and mother Rachel Macy Stafford decided enough was enough. Tired of losing track of what matters most in life, Rachel began practicing simple strategies that enabled her to momentarily let go of largely meaningless distractions and engage in meaningful soul-to-soul connections. She started a blog to chronicle her endeavors and soon saw how both external and internal distractions had been sabotaging her happiness and preventing her from bonding with the people she loves most. Hands Free Mama is the digital society’s answer to finding balance in a media-saturated, perfection-obsessed world. It doesn’t mean giving up all technology forever. It doesn’t mean forgoing our jobs and responsibilities. What it does mean is seizing the little moments that life offers us to engage in real and meaningful interaction. It means looking our loved ones in the eye and giving them the gift of our undivided attention, leaving the laundry till later to dance with our kids in the rain, and living a present, authentic, and intentional life despite a world full of distractions. So join Rachel and go hands-free. Discover what happens when you choose to open your heart—and your hands—to the possibilities of each God-given moment.

The first eight books in the Firefly Hollow universe, the dramatic Small Town Women's Fiction Romance series that follows the Campbell family through generations of love, heartache, and laughter, in one convenient volume. Book One - Firefly Hollow. The girl next door + the mysterious recluse = happily ever after? Book Two - Kathy. Out of unspeakable tragedy comes a second chance at life and happiness. Book Three - Butterfly Lane. A marriage in trouble. Two broken hearts. Can they heal their wounds and find each other again? Book Four - Dragonfly Creek. Can a second chance at a first love work? Book Five - Cattail Ridge. Their biggest obstacle to happily-ever-after is convincing themselves they both deserve a chance at a new beginning… Book Six - Cricket Cove. She thinks he’s a stubborn mule with a stick up his backside. He thinks she’s a flighty airhead who takes nothing seriously. And between them, there’s enough electricity to light up the planet. Archer’s Cat - The bonus short story full of unexpected surprises for Archer and Emma and their growing family. Book Seven - Stormking Road. Sydney Campbell Gibson is all grown up now. Divorced and mostly over it, she returns to her hometown, ready to get on with her life. She wants a husband and a family. What she finds is a new job with a family friend who doesn’t want to hire her. And if that isn’t mortifying enough, she’s still hopelessly in love with the man. Book Eight - Fern Valley. Been there, done that. As far as Rachel is concerned, one relationship with a cop was more than enough for this lifetime. She’s forty-seven, her son is in college, and she isn’t looking for love. Especially not with the gorgeous state trooper twelve years her junior who just moved in across the street.

Mix together a beautiful ballerina and ballet teacher, a sexy single dad, and a precocious-yet-sweet daughter, and emotions run high. Add racial and cultural differences, work contracts coming to an end, and hurts and memories from the past and sparks fly. Rowena loves to dance but has ended up teaching ballet instead. When she helps out Cameron’s difficult daughter, a bond develops between the two dancers. Cameron makes Rowena uncomfortable because he stirs up new, unwanted feelings which make no sense when he intends to leave Zambia soon when his contract ends. Cameron can’t resist sanguine live-wire Rowena who makes his daughter smile for the first time in years. But can he risk his heart again when memories of his late wife come back to haunt him? And Rowena has a lot more at stake in giving her all.