Shameless plugs—not for me but for authors I’ve collaborated with or edited. Buy these—they’re all good reads!

River Avenue—Jan M. Walton—Fiction—In a 1930s Pennsylvania coal town, sixteen-year-old Dan struggles to hold life together for his siblings when their troubled mother disappears, leaving Dan to confront their tyrant father about the devastating secrets his parents kept from each other. Older Dan reflects on the life-altering choices he made and the man he became to save his family.

Traveling by the Seat of Our Pants: A Year on the Road—Anna Evans—Travel Memoir—After retiring, Anna and her husband decided to buy an RV and travel “for a year,” exploring the US like pioneers while searching for a place to settle. Only their “prairie schooner” had a/c, a bathroom, and running water. They were like two kids in a candy store, anxious to try everything, and logged 8,000 miles that year. Anna’s travel journal shares the amusement, excitement, and frustrations of learning about life on the road.

Lessons Learned from the Men I Have Loved & a Few I Loathe—Diana O’Donnell Moreno—Memoir—There are good men and bad men out there. I have loved and learned from both. The most important lesson I learned is that a man should be judged by the way he makes you feel, not by the way he looks, the size of his bank account, his hands, or his feet…

Writing in Wet Cement—Jayne Lisbeth—Memoir—All these years later, nightmares of that marriage wrack my sleep. Heart pounding, I am cowering, running, trying to escape. My whimpers awaken the man now beside me, who loves me with only kindness and laughter. I stare into the darkness of the night and memories. I wonder, not why did that marriage fail, but why did I allow it to last so long? To the outside world, it looked perfect.

The Secret Life of a Weight-Obsessed Woman: Wisdom to Live the Life You Crave—Iris Ruth Pastor—Memoir—This insightful and inspiring book shares a story of recovery from a decades-long battle with bulimia. Iris brings a poignant and relatable honesty to her story, using both wisdom and humor to bring readers on the journey from despair to healing.

The Run That Changed the World—Richard Cohen—Fiction—A series of seemingly unrelated events began to unfold over 16 months when a college professor woke up one morning and had a sudden urge to go to his synagogue for morning prayers. This act caused the start of a chain reaction that altered his life, the lives of his family and a group of total strangers and may have led to a platform for peace the world has sought for decades.

Red Diaper Daughter: Three Generations of Rebels and Revolutionaries—Laura Bock—Memoir—Looking back on her family, her choices, and the paths she took, Laura’s memoir tells of the legacy she received, the impact of McCarthyism on her childhood, coming of age in the civil rights and anti-war movements of the 1960s, and how she found her voice in the second wave of the women’s liberation movement of the mid-1970s.

How to Put the FUN in Fundraising: Secrets to a Successful Event—Phyllis Eig—Nonfiction—Fundraising for charities is no easy task, but can be incredibly rewarding—especially when drawing on the advice of this superstar of an event planner. Phyllis’s approach to event planning has always been that hard work, a little wine, and a few laughs add up to “Huge Success!”

Liz Here Now—Todd Connor—Autobiographical Fiction—A privileged child’s life is forever changed by the bravery of the family’s Black maid when she refuses to silently witness the abuse he and his siblings receive at the hands of their wealthy, prominent parents.

Thriving in the Care of Many Mothers—Rosemary Yvonne Borel—Memoir—Taken from the only home she’d known at three, Rosemary had no idea she would be cared for by many “mothers” who enriched theconstant love of her own mother, to become the first Jamaican womanaccepted to England’s prestigious Leeds University, to a position with theUN and a Carnegie Fellowship , to marriage and the challenge of being a widow with two young children, and ultimately to happiness in a new marriage and life in the US.

Connecting Caregivers: Answers to the Questions You Didn’t Know You Needed to Ask—Linda Burhans—Nonfiction—Life rarely prepares us to become a caregiver. When we don’t even know what we don’t know, where do we turn for help or guidance? Linda Burhans was just as unprepared when she was thrust into caring for her mother. Today she’s a leading caregiver advocate, author, and speaker offering information and inspiration from her own experience, and from experts with advice, practical tools, and personal stories to empower and guide you.

We Answered with Love: Pacifist Service in World War I—Nancy Learned Haines—Nonfiction—America in 1918 was a time of zealous patriotism. But not everyone believed in the rightness of war. Leslie Hotson’s conscience led him to France to repair the wounds of war. On the home front, Mary Peabody worked as a radical socialist and anti-war activist. Both hoped their love of mankind would lead them to living out their highest ideals. Told through the letters of these two thoughtful young people is a personal perspective on the role of pacifists during the Great War, and reveals a story of friendship that turned into love.

Bridge of the Paper Tiger—John Chaplick—Fiction—In an unlikely partnership, a mild-mannered accountant teams up with a tough, maverick FBI agent to thwart a terrorist plot to blow up the Golden Gate Bridge.

Forbidden Chronicles of a Roman Centurion—John Chaplick—Fiction—An archaeological dig under London streets unearths a Roman Centurion’s 2000-year-old letter, which threatens the foundations of Christian doctrine and modern society. Is it possible the New Testament is a forgery promulgated by the Roman Catholic Church?

The Rivergrass Legacy—John Chaplick—Fiction—What begins as a routine business analysis of a tropical fish hatchery turns into the discovery of an international money-laundering plot.

The Treason of Mary Louvestre—My Haley—Historical Fiction—From the widow and collaborator of Alex Haley, award-winning author of Roots, comes a new American epic from the Civil War. Based on the true story of a seamstress slave from Norfolk, Virginia, when her owner gets involved with modifications to the ironclad CSS Virginia, Mary copies the plans and sets out to commit treason against the South.

Don’t Tell Me I Can’t—Bob Samuels—Memoir—Plucked by fate, Samuels rose from a childhood in the south side of Philadelphia to become one of the first African-Americans to break the color barriers of New York City’s financial world and set out to open doors for others to follow. Soon after retiring, at the age of fifty-six he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and found an added mission that ultimately led to creating a leading foundation and testifying before Congress.

Love and Other Letters—Nancy Oestreich Lurie—Nonfiction—When she finally got around to opening the shopping bag filled with packets of letters from her mother’s attic, Nancy assumed she already knew about her family and their hometown, Milwaukee. Yet, spanning 1915–1922, what she discovered turned out to be historically enlightening and entertaining far beyond the concerns of a particular family.

Mishbucha: The Family—Golda Fruchter Brunhild—Historical Fiction—A loving look back to those pioneers who left behind all they knew and loved in the Old Country to bravely restart their lives among strangers in America, and who found family was their anchor to the familiar.

From Lederhosen to Jeans: A Sweet and Sour Kraut’s Journey to America—Armin K. Wendt—Memoir—A tale of exodus from the tyranny and destruction of war-torn Germany to the liberating shores of America is a quintessential story of the 20th century. Filled with riveting accounts of growing up under Allied fire bombings and post-apocalyptic Europe, to eluding Russian guards behind the Iron Curtain, to encountering banditos in S. America this is an enthralling, entertaining, and humorous story of an immigrant who achieves the American Dream.

Good Night and God Bless: Celebrating Love, Laughter, and the Lessons of Loss—Linda Burhans—Memoir—Filled with humor and heartfelt inspiration for anyone facing the challenge of caring for a loved one at the end of life, this journal reveals hope for human strength and understanding of weakness during a difficult time.

Mothering Mother: A Daughter’s Humorous and Heartbreaking Memoir—Carol D. O’Dell—Memoir—Compelling and heartrending, this personal memoir chronicles the author’s decision not to put her mother, who has Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, in “one of those homes” and the far-reaching consequences on her entire family. Detailing the challenges of reversing roles and learning to mother one’s own mother will help those struggling with their own decisions on elder care in the home. Touching on the importance of relationships, it explores the larger questions of faith, hope, and ultimately death.

TheWonder Years: My Life & Times with Stevie Wonder—Ted Hull—Memoir—In the early days of Motown, Ted was hired to teach “Little Stevie Wonder” on the road. Over the next years, he became much more—from road manager to surrogate father. Visually impaired himself, Ted showed the teen that blindness needn’t limit independence, and celebrity didn’t confer entitlement.