Hunting the Wild Blue Poppy is the story of a remarkable journey when Bill Terry and his wife, Rosemary, joined a party of Dutch and British alpine plant hunters intent on botanizing on the roof of the world. The expedition travelled in a convoy of eight jeeps over roads that were rarely paved, frequently subject to falling rock, and, in places simply terrifying, confined to a single lane, with a cliff on one side and a precipitous drop of several hundred feet to the valley below. They crossed fifteen passes, as high as 5,000 metres (16,500 feet), where even in midsummer, the wind scoured exposed skin like steel wool. As the journey unfolds, Terry sketches the history of the region and, in particular, observes life for Tibetans under direct Chinese rule and the ever-alert Peoples Liberation Army.

"The greatest luxury my family had were some tiles that my father had laid down for my mother. My father was a manual laborer. He had taken all of us to one of the tile factories on a family trip. My father couldn't afford the tiles, so he had us sort through the rejects, the broken and imperfect shards so that we could have something beautiful. I remember how he got on his hands and knees for my mother and for us children. I remember how he concentrated intently as he placed together a work of art for us. It may seem odd to walk across a work of art, but those tiles were our flying carpet and a reminder of his love for us. All these years later, I understand that love and beauty are inseparable." Behind every smile and success, there is a story and a journey. Ferial Youakim, internationally known as an image consultant, reveals, for the first time, the tragedy that shaped her life. Born in a refugee camp, she would overcome a lack of education, poor self-esteem, and a crippling fear of public speaking, and create a global company. Her spirit and passion to help people, the love and support of her family, and her unending faith have all been her driving force. Ferial believes that beauty goes beyond more than a word, it's a way of living the life one deserves. Click HERE to see the author being interviewed by Netanel Semrik about her publisher journey. Click HERE to see the author summarizing her interview with Netanel Semrik.

This lovely book presents essays and recent works in porcelain by Brother Thomas Bezanson, praised as "one of the greatest artists in the Western pottery world" by well-known Japanese ceramicist Tatsuzo Shimaoka. Brother Thomas explores his faith and the process of creation side by side with illustrations of the celebrated porcelain vases, plates, and tea bowls that are his life's work. The book also contains a nineteen-page photo essay on Brother Thomas at work in his studio by Bill Aron of Los Angeles, an introduction by Joan Chittister, and an illustrated index of the works of Brother Thomas now held in more than fifty museum collections around the world.

In Equal Natures, Shalyn Claggett argues that Victorian women writers used scientific understandings of the brain to challenge socially constructed forms of power and gender inequality. Focusing on phrenology—the first science of brain localization and the most popular science in nineteenth-century Britain—Claggett shows how these writers leveraged phrenology's premise that the seat of identity is innate rather than acquired to make new claims about women's intellectual abilities and psychological complexity. Whereas male scientists often used phrenology to support racist and colonialist agendas, in the hands of women, an appeal to biology became a tool of subversion. Through historically contextualized analyses of works by Charlotte and Anne Brontë, Harriet Martineau, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, and George Eliot, Equal Natures demonstrates how biology was used to contest conventional understandings of individual identity and interpersonal relations. In doing so, it counters a dominant assumption in feminist theory that essentialism has been the exclusive province of patriarchal values and reactionary political aims.

This CEO has everything! Except the love of the right woman… The first time guarded tycoon Theo Molenaar crossed paths with his business partner’s sister Mia Boelens, he was compelled by her bright-eyed beauty. The second time it was her fierce protective instincts. Now there are too many things to count… Theo knows all too well you can’t believe appearances. But Mia’s the first woman with whom he’s felt his secret—and his heart—might actually be safe…

From a New York Times–bestselling author, an arranged marriage turns to love when the convenient wife helps her husband escape an unjust murder charge. Unrepentant rake Rule Dewar is living the good life when a most surprising event occurs—he falls in love with his wife. After their strategic “marriage of commerce” three years ago, Rule quite forgot about Violet Griffin, the teenage heiress to a Boston manufacturing fortune. He simply spoke his vows, took over her father’s business and returned to England to resume his usual pursuits: high-priced wine, high-stakes gambling and highborn women. Yet when Violet, now a sophisticated woman, unexpectedly appears at Rule’s London town house, husbandly duties no longer seem so odious—he can’t wait to take his stunning bride to their marriage bed. Violet, however, is not so easily led: she has her own ideas and is seeking an annulment to marry another. But as Rule attempts to win her over, someone else is determined to frame him for murder and keep him out of the way for good . . .

“The Redemption Mountain series is as good as historical romance gets—vivid settings, memorable characters, love, and lots at stake. Shirleen Davies knows how to bring the old west to life. You feel as if you've traveled, with the characters, to the frontier. I hope there will be more to come!” Book Review He thought he’d found a quiet life… Cash Coulter settled into a life far removed from his days of fighting for the South and crossing the country as a bounty hunter. Now a deputy sheriff, Cash wants nothing more than to buy some land, raise cattle, and build a simple life in the frontier town of Splendor, Montana. But his whole world shifts when his gaze lands on the most captivating woman he’s ever seen. And the feeling appears to be mutual. But nothing is as it seems… Alison McGrath moved from her home in Kentucky to the rugged mountains of Montana for one reason—to find the man responsible for murdering her brother. Despite using a false identity to avoid any tie to her brother’s name, the citizens of Splendor have no intention of sharing their knowledge about the bank robbery which killed her only sibling. Alison knows her circle of lies can’t end well, and her growing for Cash threatens to weaken the revenge which drives her. And the troubles are mounting… There is danger surrounding them both—men who seek vengeance as a way to silence the past…by any means necessary. Survivor Pass is book five in the Redemption Mountain historical western romance series. It is a full length novel with an HEA. From the Author Join Shirleen Davies’ Newsletter to Receive Notice of: · New Releases · Contests · Free Reads & Sneak Peeks To sign up copy and paste this site address into your browser's address bar: http://bit.ly/1KqhKwm

Saylor Christy knew chances were slim to none that any of her silly little daydreams would ever actually come true, especially any daydreams involving Mr. Booker. Yet, working as a candy striper at Rawlings Rehab, Saylor couldn't help but dream of belonging to Mr. Booker. And Mr. Booker stole her heart, perhaps unintentionally, but with very little effort.

Swept up in political intrigue, an assassin and a princess embrace a passionate love in this fourteenth-century romance by a New York Times–bestselling author. As the last unmarried princess of Monteverde, Elayne is trapped in a marital bond when her hand is promised to the land’s ruler. On the voyage to meet her future husband, she is captured by Allegreto Navona—the living embodiment of the dark angel she’s seen in dreams. Endowed with godlike beauty, his eyes burn bright with sin. A woman of modesty would flee such a man. But try as she might, a wanton hunger binds her to his side . . . Trained as an assassin, Allegreto is the bastard son of an ambitious lord who raised him to murder for control of Monteverde. Now that his father is dead, if Allegreto can make Elayne his wife, it will cleanse his tainted blood, and the country will be his, but she is no mere maiden to be possessed. Unexpectedly, he falls in love with her, finding in her quick mind and azure eyes the conqueror of his heart. But will his dark past scare her off? With a legendary ability to create lovers you’ll never forget, the author of Flowers from the Storm offers a lively historical romance.