Our Big Blue Sofa

Is it a hot air balloon? Is it a taxi? No! It's . . . a sofa! Jessy and Tom love their big blue sofa. They love pretending it's a submarine. They love riding it like an elephant. And most of all, they love bouncing on it. Until one day . . . THUD! A joyful adventure story about family life and imaginative play, featuring bright, colourful artwork that will appeal to all ages. Our Big Blue Sofa by Tim Hopgood was the winner of the Cambridgeshire 'Read It Again!' Award and was nominated for the Kate Greenaway Medal. This warm and funny book from the award-winning author-illustrator of WOW! Said the Owl is as fresh and original as when it was first published. The perfect book for any child who has ever bounced on the sofa - and every adult who has ever told them not to!

The creative force behind Blackberry Farm, Tennessee’s award-winning farm-to-table resort, reveals how she found herself only after losing everything in this powerful memoir of resilience. “I couldn’t put down this wise, honest, beautifully written story.”—Shauna Niequist, New York Times bestselling author of Present Over Perfect and Bread & Wine Born with the gift of hospitality, Kreis Beall helped create one of the nation’s most renowned resort destinations, Blackberry Farm, in Tennessee’s Smoky Mountain foothills. For decades, she was a fixture in the travel and entertaining world and frequently appeared in the pages of popular home and design magazines. But at the pinnacle of her success, Kreis faced a series of challenges that reframed her life, including a brain injury that permanently impaired her hearing and the conclusion of her thirty-six-year marriage to her best friend and business partner, Sandy Beall. Alone and uncertain as her world shifts and marriage ends, Kreis begins a new journey to find her faith and find God. After spending years on her beautiful exterior life and work, she begins the hardest undertaking of all: reclaiming and redesigning her interior life and soul. Kreis retreats to Blackberry Farm, moving into an unassuming, 300-square-foot shed with peeling paint on the exterior walls, “where I met myself for the first time.” She examines what it takes to redefine life after deep loss and acknowledges, for the first time, often unbearable truths that existed beneath the beauty she had created. By turns fiercely honest, heartbreaking, and warm, Kreis Beall’s story will resonate with anyone who can benefit from her discovery that “All it takes is all you’ve got. And it is worth it.”

From the acclaimed author of Miami Manhunt and Boston Boys Club, comes a witty, new, warmhearted novel of friendship, familia, and finding a place to call home--even in a city where it's almost impossible to get an authentic Cuban sandwich. . . Carlos Martin is twenty-seven years old and ready for a change. Cuban-born and Miami-raised, the cute but slightly awkward high school teacher figures that Boston is about as far from the crazy South Beach social scene as he could get--and a way to escape the bittersweet reminders of his recently departed mother. Life in "Beantown" is quite a culture shock--until Carlos meets Tommy Perez, another Miami transplant who quickly shows him the ropes. Now, in the course of one wildly unpredictable year, Carlos is going to learn to embrace his newfound independence, as well as his individuality. . . Praise for Johnny Diaz and Miami Manhunt "The excellent Johnny Diaz has produced another hilarious arresting novel about that most impossible of all quests: finding love, true love, in Miami." --Juno Diaz, New York Times bestselling author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

Appendix includes a list of the songs co-written by Carole Bayer Sager.

Flanked by gorgeous brick row houses in the heart of Boston's South End, the Club Café is a bar where everybody knows your name--and who you slept with last. Every night men like Tommy Perez, Rico DiMio, and Kyle Andrews take their place among the glistening crowd sporting chest-defining shirts and lots of smooth, tanned skin, sizing up the regulars and the new blood while TV monitors blare Beyoncé and Missy Elliott. For Tommy, Thursdays at the Club Café in the company of his wingman Rico and a Skinny Black Bitch (vodka and Diet Coke) are unmissable. Recently relocated from Miami to Boston to take a reporting job at The Boston Daily, Tommy is finding it hard to break away from his tight-knit Cuban family, but his homesickness goes into rapid remission when he meets Mikey, a blue-eyed, boyish guidance counselor from Cape Cod. Smart, funny, and wicked cute, Mikey is perfect boyfriend material. . .until his drinking leads Tommy to suspect that he's got some issues of his own. Rico--a tough-talking, Italian-American accountant with a gamma ray smile and mournful green eyes that hint at a past he'll admit to no one--is sure Mikey is bad news, but to Rico any relationship that lasts longer than three hours sounds like bad news. Then there's Kyle, the lean, preening model and former reality show star who makes a red-carpet entrance into the CC every Thursday as if a swarm of cameras still follows his every move, but whose real life is about to take a dramatic turn he never anticipated. Over the course of one unforgettable year, Tommy is forced to rethink everything he's ever believed about life, lust, and love. And in the Club Café, a place filled with endless possibilities--of stumbling upon the perfect partner, the perfect story idea, or just a play buddy for the night--Tommy might finally discover the person he was meant to be. "Make way for the boys of summer! Johnny Diaz has written a sexy beach-read romp you won't be able to put down." --William J. Mann, author of Where the Boys Are and All American Boy

From the author of the acclaimed Roll with It comes a moving novel about a girl with a sensory processing disorder who has to find her own voice after her whole world turns upside down. Lou Montgomery has the voice of an angel, or so her mother tells her and anyone else who will listen. But Lou can only hear the fear in her own voice. She’s never liked crowds or loud noises or even high fives; in fact, she’s terrified of them, which makes her pretty sure there’s something wrong with her. When Lou crashes their pickup on a dark and snowy road, child services separate the mother-daughter duo. Now she has to start all over again at a fancy private school far away from anything she’s ever known. With help from an outgoing new friend, her aunt and uncle, and the school counselor, she begins to see things differently. A sensory processing disorder isn’t something to be ashamed of, and music might just be the thing that saves Lou—and maybe her mom, too.

After suffering a devastating loss, Claudia writes letters to family and friends, the famous and the infamous, as a means to explore the events in her own life and find meaning in human connections. In this third memoir by Claudia Sternbach, she once again knits together fragments — this time using letters written to the likes of Goldie Hawn, Leonard Cohen, Vermeer, the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and more — to shape a story of a woman attempting to make sense of the life she is living and those who have been a part of it — knowingly or not. Her letters show us that we are all connected even by the thinnest of threads, that exploring those connections helps give shape and understanding to our past, and shines a light on what the future may hold. In a time where emails are thought of as too time-consuming, and text messages seem to be our main way of communicating, Sternbach reminds us that the art of letter writing should not be tossed aside so quickly.

Decorating your home for each season doesn't have to be stressful, overwhelming, or expensive--just ask The Nester! In Welcome Home, New York Times bestselling author Myquillyn Smith guides you through a minimalist process of creating and enjoying a seasonally decorated home with more style and less stuff. No matter what the world says, embracing the seasons doesn't require endless bins of factory-made decor or loads of time. In fact, your home can be festive, stylish, and cozy with minimal effort and a limited budget. With engaging how-tos and inspiring photos, Welcome Home will help you create a home that's fresh, meaningful, beautiful, and (bonus!) always ready for guests. Myquillyn guides you step by step through purposeful design decisions to cultivate a space where loved ones gather, meaningful connections are celebrated, and lasting memories are made. Myquillyn's realistic and down-to-earth design tips will teach you how to: Seasonalize your living spaces with simple, actionable steps Pay attention to the rhythm of your life in order to cultivate spaces that work for you and your family Incorporate the beauty of the natural world by paying attention to the five senses Feel confident in volunteering your house for gatherings, parties, and impromptu get-togethers Know what to focus on and what not to worry about as a relaxed and confident hostess Truly enjoy your home Welcome Home will help you rise above the trends, discover your unique style, and usher in each season with more style and even less stuff.