Thirty Something And Over It

Kasey Edwards has everything she's always wanted: a successful career and the lifestyle and assets to match. But she's empty and uninspired and doesn't want to go to work . . . Ever again. Terrified that she'll spend the rest of her life wearing pinstripes and pretending to care about 'adding value', Kasey embarks on a quest to rediscover passion and purpose in her life and work. We follow her on a journey of self-discovery as she looks for meaning in a puppy's eyes, begs her gynaecologist to cure her existential crisis, dabbles with the Law of Attraction and braves ten days of silent meditation. Meanwhile, her best friend Emma, who is experiencing a similar crisis, concentrates her search in the fields of casual sex and vodka shots. This irreverent yet poignant memoir will make you question our definition of the 'perfect life', laugh at the absurdity of the modern workplace and be warmed by the story of a friendship. Rise above your office cubicle for a moment and join Kasey in asking life's big questions - and find the courage to listen to your answers.

An irreverent and self-deprecating memoir by a successful and ambitious career woman who woke up one morning and realised she didn't want to go to work - not just that day, but ever again. Kasey Edwards had a glamorous, successful and highly coveted career, flying around the world consulting to blue-chip organisations and commanding a six-figure salary. But all of a sudden her job didn't seem quite so challenging or glamorous, the role she'd been playing as a high-powered business woman felt phoney, and her whole life lost its zing. Kasey embarked on a journey of discovery into why she'd lost her purpose and meaning, and what she needed to do to find it again. Kasey also follows the story of her best friend, Emma, a senior marketing executive suffering a similar crisis. Both Emma and Kasey are well and truly over it, yet their approaches - and the results - are very different. Written with great honesty and wit, THIRTY SOMETHING AND OVER IT is a memoir for modern women seeking the key to life, love and happiness.

A romantic comedy for anyone who is, has been or is ever likely to be a grown up. Being a thirtysomething man isn't easy (especially when you still yearn to be a twentysomething man). Meet Harry Spencer. History teacher, lover of snack food and terrified of growing up. However, when his wife Emily drops the P-Bomb, Harry is suddenly thrust into the role of expectant father. When he's tempted by the greener grass of an ex-girlfriend past, Harry has to make the most important decision of his life. Does he have what it takes to become a man, or will he succumb to the lure of adolescent fantasy? This is a love story about what happens after we've fallen in love, when we've swapped frolicking in the bed for cigarettes in the shed and Match of the Day for Mothercare. Brutally honest, laugh-out-loud funny and heart-warming, this is a diary about one man's bumbling journey on the road to adulthood. Visit Jon's website at www.jonrance.com or follow him on Twitter @JRance75. You can also email him at [email protected].

Much has been written about the profound impact the post-World War II baby boomers had on American religion. But the lifestyles and beliefs of the generation that has followed--and the influence these younger Americans in their twenties and thirties are having on the face of religion--are not so well understood. It is this next wave of post-boomers that Robert Wuthnow examines in this illuminating book. What are their churchgoing habits and spiritual interests and needs? How does their faith affect their families, their communities, and their politics? Interpreting new evidence from scores of in-depth interviews and surveys, Wuthnow reveals a generation of younger adults who, unlike the baby boomers that preceded them, are taking their time establishing themselves in careers, getting married, starting families of their own, and settling down--resulting in an estimated six million fewer regular churchgoers. He shows how the recent growth in evangelicalism is tapering off, and traces how biblical literalism, while still popular, is becoming less dogmatic and more preoccupied with practical guidance. At the same time, Wuthnow explains how conflicts between religious liberals and conservatives continue--including among new immigrant groups such as Hispanics and Asians--and how in the absence of institutional support many post-boomers have taken a more individualistic, improvised approach to spirituality. Wuthnow's fascinating analysis also explores the impacts of the Internet and so-called virtual churches, and the appeal of megachurches. After the Baby Boomers offers us a tantalizing look at the future of American religion for decades to come.

Consider the age-old question of how much you should save to enjoy a comfortable retirement: Are your knees knocking? Are you nervously biting your nails? In The Rule of 30 personal finance expert Frederick Vettese provides a surprising — and hopeful — answer. Through conversations between a young couple and their neighbor, a retired actuary, the couple and the reader discover: • How they would have fared had they been saving over various periods in the past, and how the future investment climate will differ • The problem with saving a constant percentage of pay • The Rule of 30 and why it is a more rational way to save • Whether investing in real estate is a viable alternative to investing in stocks The Rule of 30 changes the mindset from saving the same flat percentage of pay to saving when it is most convenient to your situation. In most cases, it means less saving early on while mortgage payments are high and children are costly, and more saving later. Saving for retirement is a high priority, but it is not the only priority in life. It is time to dispense with old myths like “just save 10% of your take-home pay.” The truth is we should save differently throughout our pre-retirement years — and The Rule of 30 is a road map for doing so.

If he had been with me everything would have been different... I wasn't with Finn on that August night. But I should've been. It was raining, of course. And he and Sylvie were arguing as he drove down the slick road. No one ever says what they were arguing about. Other people think it's not important. They do not know there is another story. The story that lurks between the facts. What they do not know—the cause of the argument—is crucial. So let me tell you...

"Hattie Hoffman has spent her whole life playing many parts: the good student, the good daughter, the good girlfriend. When she's found brutally stabbed to death, the tragedy rips right through the fabric of her small-town community. Full of twists and turns, Everything You Want Me to Be reconstructs a year in the life of a dangerously mesmerizing young woman, during which a small town's darkest secrets come to the forefront, and she inches closer and closer to her death."--

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.