Saving Sara

For nearly fifty years, Sara Somers suffered from untreated food addiction. In this brutally honest and intimate memoir, Somers offers readers an inside view of a food addict’s mind, showcasing her experiences of obsessive cravings, compulsivity, and powerlessness regarding food. Saving Sara chronicles Somers’s addiction from childhood to adulthood, beginning with abnormal eating as a nine-year-old. As her addiction progresses in young adulthood, she becomes isolated, masking her shame and self-hatred with drugs and alcohol. Time and again, she rationalizes why this time will be different, only to have her physical cravings lead to ever-worse binges, to see her promises of doing things differently next time broken, and to experience the amnesia that she—like every addict—experiences when her obsession sets in again. Even after Somers is introduced to the solution that will eventually end up saving her, the strength of her addiction won’t allow her to accept her disease. Twenty-six more years pass until she finally crawls on hands and knees back to that solution, and learns to live life on life’s terms. A raw account of Somers’s decades-long journey, Saving Sara underscores the challenges faced by food addicts of any age—and the hope that exists for them all.

Best friends to lovers is a risky game… Pro hockey player Aaron Ferrar has shit luck with women. With one divorce, one psycho, and far too many one-night stands under his belt, he can’t seem to break his bad dating habits. He knows he’s not good enough for his sweet, sexy best friend, so he would never go there, but it’s getting harder and harder to resist her. Veterinary assistant Sara Chandler has floundered since graduating from college. She left both academia and hockey behind, and now she’s a nanny for her best friend while working part-time at a local veterinary clinic until she gets into veterinarian school. She’s always been hot for her hockey-playing best friend, but she’s not in his league and she’s leaving Anchorage soon anyway. When disaster strikes, Aaron doesn’t hesitate to jump in, but nothing is ever going to be the same for them. He doesn’t know how to help her and neither of them ever do things the easy way.

When her daughter desperately needed a lung transplant to survive, Janet Murnaghan rallied against the outdated restrictions in healthcare that would limit her daughter's options. Sarah had been dying of cystic fibrosis since the day she was born. The disease quickly ravaged her lungs and little body bit-by-bit. Fragile and frail, she had only weeks to live, when her mom realized the reality of Sarah’s situation: transplant laws, restricting access to lungs based on arbitrary age restrictions, meant Sarah’s options were limited. The injustice of her daughter’s fate spurred Janet to start a public battle against outdated health care regulations and a battle to save Sarah’s life. Janet transformed her pain and desperation into a voice for Sarah and other kids using social media to broadcast the unfairness, which was robbing Sarah of her right to life with the help of friends and family who emerged as Sarah’s army. How does a family navigate catastrophic illness and life in a hospital, while still maintaining a sense of normalcy? Saving Sarah is a story of hope and courage, and a mother’s determination to never give up. It's also the story of how a family—Janet and her husband Fran have four other children—reacts and adjusts when one of its members is in ongoing crisis. “I need to fight, and I cannot fight and fall apart at the same time. Each single moment is all that matters.” —from Saving Sarah

Susy's first passion is her family, her husband and their three young children. Her second passion is helping her 9-year-old daughter, Sarah*, to live, love and laugh with ADHD. In her first book Saving Sarah: Learning to Live, Love and Laugh with ADHD Susy shares in raw, painful and honest detail, the dark side of parenting a child with ADHD but also paints the positive picture that people often don't see or understand. By sharing Sarah's story, Susy hopes to start a 'Positive ADHD movement' to remove the stigma, misunderstanding and labelling that comes with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. * Name has been changed to protect identity

When Sara Hardy inherits a cottage in the small town of Redemption, Connecticut, it is just the break she needs to draw a line under her past--to begin again, on her own. Sara never thought she'd be starting over. She was married, successful, and the mother of a beautiful girl. But the life she thought was on the right path has taken a series of wrong turns... Meanwhile Jake Mathieson has a lot on his plate. Still reeling from a tragedy for which he feels responsible, he finds himself unexpectedly caring for his six-year-old nephew. In desperation, he comes to Redemption to enlist the help of his Aunt Cilla, a widow with demons of her own. Jake is intrigued by Cilla's cautious new neighbor. Like him, Sara is desperate to put the past behind her but not quite sure how to begin. Can Redemption offer either of them a second chance to find hope and happiness--perhaps even to take a risk on new love?

Artist and founder of The Painting School Sara Woster invites readers into the vibrant world of painting as a creative practice powerful enough to transform our lives. Sara Woster is a painter, teacher, and art evangelist. She believes in art as a form of mindfulness, a ritual for healing, and an outlet for self-expression. In Painting Can Save Your Life, Woster welcomes readers into this transformative art form, inviting them to pick up a brush and discover how painting can help you see the world in a whole new way. Weaving soup-to-nuts instruction on how to paint—from choosing the right materials to painting the human body—with her own story of discovering a passion for painting, this book includes: simple and easy techniques for painters of all skill levels playful and challenging painting exercises tips on how to build a creative community using art insights on how to use painting to cultivate a sense of calm in a stressful world Part how-to-paint, part sheer inspiration, Painting Can Save Your Life is a wise and inspiring guide to the power of painting.

Princess Penelope wants nothing more than to study at the Academy of Mages. Despite her natural talent, her father refuses to even entertain the idea. So when the opportunity arises to visit her mysterious wizard godfather, Penelope leaps at the chance. She never expects to find a different kind of magic in the arms of her godfather’s reclusive nephew, Stefan. When an unexpected enemy uses Stefan’s secrets against them, Penelope’s magic and courage are put to the test. Can she rescue the man she loves? Or will she fall Saving the Dragon?

Sara Schley is the founder of a consulting business and has worked with hundreds of renowned companies worldwide. She's a proud mother, grandmother, community leader and has been married for twenty-six years. She also has a bipolar II brain. Fearing the stigma, she kept this secret for decades. Until now. In her acclaimed memoir BrainStorm: From Broken to Blessed on the Bipolar Spectrum, Sara tells her life-changing story to help end the bipolar stigma, optimize brain health, and save lives. At twenty-one, as a senior in college, Sara was a scholar-athlete who seemed to have it all. Then, like the flip of a switch, she had her first brain breakdown: A tailspin into a living hell. It was terrifying. It took her twenty-five years and five psychiatrists to get the diagnosis that saved her life: Sara is on the bipolar spectrum with a bipolar II brain. If you've never heard of the bipolar spectrum, you're not alone: Most healthcare professionals still don't know it exists. Misdiagnosis results and the wrong medications make broken brains worse. However, bipolar exists on a broad spectrum. Understanding this changes everything: With the correct diagnosis, medication, support, and self-care, people who have experienced severe, persistent depression-which is actually a form of bipolar-can live rich, full lives. Sara's life is proof. The self-care disciplines Sara has honed over forty years of living with her bipolar II brain can help anyone who experiences anxiety, stress, or depression heal. Read this book to transform your life or that of someone you love.