Can a mother's love heal the deepest wounds of a daughter's heart? That's the challenge for Dolly Devereaux, a thirty-something divorced mother from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Dolly has spent twenty years fighting tooth and nail to break free from the grasping tentacles of her poor, rural origins and work her way into the middle class. But can Dolly save April, her rebellious 18-year-old daughter, from the neglect of her absentee father and seduction by a local drug dealer and the exciting, dangerous world he offers? First, Dolly has to understand her own unrealistic relationships in order to reach her lost daughter. This powerful, emotional story weaves its way through the secret worlds of teenagers and the lives of the parents and grandparents who try to guide and nurture them. In this troubled time when love and loyalty are tested, a family must discover where their true bonds lie and escape their misconceptions of love. The tale is set against the gaudy backdrop of tourist-crazy Myrtle Beach, the epicenter of The Redneck Riviera. There, four women clash and ultimately forge the intensely loving, supportive family none of them were born into. In bookstores and ebookstores now.

The Rise and Decline of the Redneck Riviera traces the development of the Florida-Alabama coast as a tourist destination from the late 1920s and early 1930s, when it was sparsely populated with "small fishing villages," through to the tragic and devastating BP/Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010. Harvey H. Jackson III focuses on the stretch of coast from Mobile Bay and Gulf Shores, Alabama, east to Panama City, Florida--an area known as the "Redneck Riviera." Jackson explores the rise of this area as a vacation destination for the lower South's middle- and working-class families following World War II, the building boom of the 1950s and 1960s, and the emergence of the Spring Break "season." From the late sixties through 1979, severe hurricanes destroyed many small motels, cafes, bars, and early cottages that gave the small beach towns their essential character. A second building boom ensued in the 1980s dominated by high-rise condominiums and large resort hotels. Jackson traces the tensions surrounding the gentrification of the late 1980s and 1990s and the collapse of the housing market in 2008. While his major focus is on the social, cultural, and economic development, he also documents the environmental and financial impacts of natural disasters and the politics of beach access and dune and sea turtle protection. The Rise and Decline of the Redneck Riviera is the culmination of sixteen years of research drawn from local newspapers, interviews, documentaries, community histories, and several scholarly studies that have addressed parts of this region's history. From his 1950s-built family vacation cottage in Seagrove Beach, Florida, and on frequent trips to the Alabama coast, Jackson witnessed the changes that have come to the area and has recorded them in a personal, in-depth look at the history and culture of the coast. A Friends Fund Publication.

The book is about a southern Licensed Massage Therapist named Ms. Linnie Delmar. She uses her unusual unique style and different massage therapy techniques that sets her apart from all the others. She has worked with over 10 motion picture production companies and has traveled around the world working with well known A-list actors all of which have interesting stories to tell. She considers herself to be the female version of Forrest Gump due to doors continue to open for her because she has always been at the right place at the right time throughout her life of thrills and adventure. She has also managed to have four husbands on her life's journey. She wants women to listen to their inner spirit and pay attention to the warning signs that a mistake is on the way. Find out how she found her place and purpose in life without having a man to define her as the person she is today. She wants women to learn from the mistakes she has made about falling for a good looking, smooth talking, man who will steal your heart and try to trash your soul. Follow her into the light of life and happiness that were like ashes in the wind to her wild past and gave her the courage and strength to look forward to her future. Her story may inspire you, it may amuse you, but it will never bore you! Linnie's southern humor will entertain you and make you laugh with joy and cry with heartbreak!

From the banks of the Verdigris River in Oklahoma to Floridas Emerald Coast, this novel chronicles Steve Bronsons planned disappearance and the efforts of his wife and an insurance company investigator to prove he has not drowned.. In Florida, Steve assumes a new name and becomes both a nightclub pianist and a crewmember on a fishing boat. He meets a female singer who will add a new dimension to this family-friendly novel. Steve steps in to help senior citizens who are being victimized by a scam artist and also foils a scheme involving forged drug prescriptions. Working with law enforcement officials, Steve uncovers a plan to involve college coeds in dangerous and illegal activity, and stops physicians who are performing bogus surgery. This novel vividly portrays life along the worlds most beautiful beaches. There is adventure, romance, and a high-tiding scene you will never forget.

Queering the Redneck Riviera recovers the forgotten and erased history of gay men and lesbians in North Florida, a region often overlooked in the story of the LGBTQ experience in the United States. Jerry Watkins reveals both the challenges these men and women faced in the years following World War II and the essential role they played in making the Emerald Coast a major tourist destination. In a state dedicated to selling an image of itself as a “family-friendly” tropical paradise and in an era of increasing moral panic and repression, queer people were forced to negotiate their identities and their places in society. Watkins re-creates queer life during this period, drawing from sources including newspaper articles, advertising and public relations campaigns, oral history accounts, government documents, and interrogation transcripts from the state’s Johns Committee. He discovers that postwar improvements in transportation infrastructure made it easier for queer people to reach safe spaces to socialize. He uncovers stories of gay and lesbian beach parties, bars, and friendship networks that spanned the South. The book also includes rare photos from the Emma Jones Society, a Pensacola-based group that boldly hosted gatherings and conventions in public places. Illuminating a community that boosted Florida’s emerging tourist economy and helped establish a visible LGBTQ presence in the Sunshine State, Watkins offers new insights about the relationships between sexuality, capitalism, and conservative morality in the second half of the twentieth century.

“A sweet narrative of friendship, fathers and sons, aging and of course, fishing.” — Washington Post Book World “What a wonderful book Howell Raines has wrought... as lovely as a stream.” — Pat Conroy

Native guide Clint Sisnuket is one of the hottest guys in Alaska! But he's managed to keep a close watch over his battered heart...until he meets Tessa Bellingham. In the independent videographer, Clint finds the sexual soul mate he'd been dreaming of. Too bad she's got temporary fling written all over her. Tessa's in town to record native culture...but she can't seem to turn her camera lens away from Clint. The strong, silent, sexy man can make her tremble with a single smouldering glance. And, oh, what he can do when he actually touches her! Still, even though she feels at home in his arms, she doesn't fit into his world. And they can't stay in bed indefinitely. Or can they...?

Colin Freeman is a tabloid hack, wasting his life hanging around outside the houses of minor celebrities. His job is soul-destroying and his personal life isn't much better. So he jacks it all in and goes to Iraq - as Britain's most amateur war correspondent. Against the odds, Freeman finds his feet and reveals a slice of Iraq unlike any other (getting shot in the backside along the way) and delivers a hilarious and insightful travelogue from the edges of modern journalism.

“Parker’s exquisitely titled book is as off-kilter as a Kurt Vonnegut novel, and wholly absorbing.” —Maclean’s Jeff Parker went to Russia intending to write a book about the country’s resurgence as a major global superpower under President Vladimir Putin and about the emergence, for perhaps the first time in history, of a Russian middle class. But Russia tends to resist any attempt to pin it down. In the midst of the social and financial upheaval of the years that followed, the answers Parker sought only raised more questions: What was Russia? How did it work? How did people live? And how could they eat kholodetz (meat jelly)? As tensions strain once again between Russia and the West, Parker looks beyond the global politics to the heart of everyday life by giving us the story of his friendship with Igor, a barkeep and draft dodger. Igor is not the model perestroika-generation man nor some kind of Putin-era everyman; he is, like The Dude in The Big Lebowski, a man for his time and place. He is the metaphor for a Russia in crisis, and, as Keith Gessen wrote, “his story is the story of Russia over the last twenty years.” Where Bears Roam the Streets gives a moving account of a friendship between two people who grew up on the opposing sides of the Cold War and paints a smart, funny, revealing portrait of a country that continues to beguile.

It is a place with a feudal code and a populist history, a tragic psyche and an earthy humor.