2016 James Beard Award winner and 2016 International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) nominee for Best American Cookbook A collection of classic Southern comfort food recipes--including seven-layer dip, chicken and gravy, and strawberry shortcake--made lighter, healthier, and completely guilt-free. Virginia Willis is not only an authority on Southern cooking. She's also a French-trained chef, a veteran cookbook author, and a proud Southerner who adores eating and cooking for family and friends. So when she needed to drop a few pounds and generally lighten up her diet, the most important criterion for her new lifestyle was that all the food had to taste delicious. The result is Lighten Up, Y’all, a soul-satisfying and deeply personal collection of Virginia’s new favorite recipes. All the classics are covered—from a comforting Southern Style Shepherd’s Pie with Grits to warm, melting Broccoli Mac and Cheese to Old-Fashioned Buttermilk Pie. Each dish is packed with real Southern flavor, but made with healthier, more wholesome ingredients and techniques. Wherever you are on your health and wellness journey, Lighten Up, Y’all has the recipes, tools, and inspiration you need to make the nourishing, down-home Southern food you love.

Featuring new recipes and photographs, this revised and updated edition of Virginia Willis’s best-selling culinary classic also features new variations and commentary on the original recipes plus options using healthier ingredients. More than two hundred heritage and new recipes seamlessly blend into a thoroughly modern Southern cookbook. The daughter and granddaughter of consummate Southern cooks, Willis is also a classically trained French chef and an award-winning writer. These divergent influences come together splendidly in Bon Appétit, Y’all, a modern Southern chef’s passionate and evolving homage to her culinary roots. Espousing a simple-is-best philosophy, Willis uses good ingredients, concentrates on sound French technique, and lets the food shine in a style she calls “refined Southern cuisine.” Approachable recipes are arranged by chapter into starters and nibbles; salads and slaws; eggs and dairy; main dishes with fowl, fish, and other meats; sides; biscuits and breads; soups and stews; desserts; and sauces and preserves. Collected here are stylishly updated Southern and French classics (New Southern Chicken and Herb Dumplings, Boeuf Bourguignonne, Fried Catfish Fingers with Country Rémoulade) and traditional favorites (Meme’s Biscuits, Mama’s Apple Pie, Okra and Tomatoes), and it wouldn’t be Southern cooking without vegetables (Cauliflower and Broccoli Parmesan, Green Beans Provençal, and Smoky Collard Greens). More than one hundred photographs bring to life both Virginia’s food and the bounty of her native Georgia. You’ll also find well-written stories, a wealth of tips and techniques from a skilled and innovative teacher, and the wisdom of a renowned authority in American regional cuisine, steeped to her core in the food, culinary knowledge, and hospitality of the South. Bon Appétit, Y’all is Virginia Willis’s way of saying, “Welcome to my Southern kitchen. Pull up a chair.” Once you have tasted her food, you’ll want to stay a good long while.

Comedian and motivational speaker Ken davis uses his unique sense of humor in 90 light hearted devotions designed to bring a smile to your face and a spark of inspiration to your day. Enjoy solid nuggets of truth from God's word and occassional opportunities to go deeper if you wish. The joy of the Lord is our strength. Take this opportunity to lighten up and live!

In this, the 5th, Ed McAvoy Mystery, the ex-wife of a prominent U.S. Senator, her Country/Western singer lover, and the driver of the limousine in which they had been riding are all killed in a tragic traffic accident while trying to shake off a cadre of reporters and photographers. The sole survivor, the singer's bodyguard Darren Corbett, has been left with total amnesia about the crash and the events leading up to it. But Darren's memory is starting to return in disjointed bits and pieces, and attempts have been made on his life. Even when he visits his old Air Force buddy Porky Jarvis in Peekamoose Heights in an effort to escape from public view, the attempts continue. Now it's up to McAvoy to try and discover who wants Darren dead, and why.

Three winners of the nation's most distinguished award for African American playwriting.

Life is a crazy rollercoaster, and I have been thrown around too much. Do I get off this rollercoaster, or do I keep on it and keep rollin' along? The other thing I worry about is, am I too careless or too cautious?

Georgia, SuSu, Teeny, Diane, and Linda are back in a warm, sassy Southern novel from the New York Times bestselling author of QUEEN BEE OF MIMOSA BRANCH and RED HAT CLUB. Georgia, SuSu, Teeny, Linda and Diane have been friends for more than thirty years. But when Pru Bonner, black sheep of the group, falls off the wagon so hard it shakes their world, "the girls" stage a hilarious kidnapping in Vegas to help their childhood friend clean up her act. As the women confront their pasts along with their hazardous adventure, they discover surprising strength in themselves and their friendships. Laughter is spiced with secrets, surprises, and pitfalls aplenty, including a midlife pregnancy test, the perils of internet dating, an all-expense-paid plastic surgery cruise, and a surprise celebration that proves it's never too late for love. As in THE RED HAT CLUB, these irrepressible heroines face the challenges of friendship in sickness and in health, with heart and indomitable humor. So join The Red Hats and remember that age is all in your head, calories should always be in chewable form (Diet Coke with chocolate éclairs!), and that when all else fails, your Red Hats will see you through.

Kira and her ragtag team are at it again. In a race against time and hell, it remains to be seen who will come out the victor. The race for the second key piece is in full swing. Add a new virus that is affecting the were animal kingdom and you have a recipe for disaster. Will Kira and her team be able to end the virus and get to the key piece in time, or will the world become hell's domain? Will loss and heartbreak destroy the team, or will good prevail even over a broken heart? In the end, everything decays, but whether it has to is the real question only Kira and her team can find the answer to.

Athena Brkovich believes in true love. Born into a blue collar family in 1968, young Athena and her sisters are sent away when their mother is hospitalized and their father is unable to care for them. The beginnings of trauma, separation, denial and suffering set Athena on her path. Brilliant, but naive, Athena refuses to grow up and become part of an adult world she doesn’t trust. But as time unfolds, the guilt that swirls around her beloved sister Lejla, and the blossoming desire for her soulmate Niko, plunge Athena into confusion. When circumstances bring them all together in high school, betrayal threatens to engulf Athena in shame and hatred. No matter how many walls Athena builds to escape her painful past, she must confront the person she is becoming in a society where only the strong survive. Compelling, and at times tragic, Book 1 explores the themes of childhood trauma, family conflict, alcoholism, and teenage love. Despite the darkness, Athena struggles to follow the little light inside herself, guiding her to forgiveness, peace, redemption, and the ultimate prize, love.

Even the worst of us have a story to tell and a rationalization to share. The problem is that the "best of us" have already judged them unworthy. Many plays for student actors shy away from serious subjects. Even so, today's world is a serious place, and young people are facing some of the biggest challenges of their lives-gangs, drugs, bullying, broken homes, violence in the street. Seeking to address these topics, playwright Samuel Williams presents When Men Don't Cry and Other Plays for Teens, the last in his four-book series of plays. Powerful and relevant, these short dramatic works offer insight, understanding, and social commentary for today's youths, their teachers, and their families. Educational as well as entertaining, these plays shine a light on a troubled and often misunderstood generation. Acted out on stage or read aloud in a group setting, Williams' easy-to-read tales look past teens' tattoos, piercings, gang colors, and sagging pants to find their humanity. Ideal for schools and church groups, parents, and teens, When Men Don't Cry and Other Plays for Teens explores a litany of experiences and seeks to positively change the fundamental way that people see today's youth and family dynamics.