Phoebe Olenka’s illusions and the antics she uses to cope with her life disappointments are so over the top, you will find yourself wanting to find out what this loon, indeed a veritable hoot, will do next. One of her many pretenses is that she is a qualified therapist. She has ONE sad-sack client. The fantasy that is most outrageous is that Brad Pitt has fallen in love with her based upon her fan letters to him. Her odd means of coping make the novel a fun read.

• ISBN13: 9780452296367
• Condition: New
• Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!

Amazon Best of the Month, August 2009: Jonathan Tropper writes compulsively readable, laugh-out-loud funny novels, and his fifth book, This Is Where I Leave You is his best yet. Judd Foxman is oscillating between a sea of self-pity and a "snake pit of fury and resentment" in the aftermath of the explosion of his marriage, which ended "the way these things do: with paramedics and cheesecake." Foxman is jobless (after finding his wife in bed with his boss) and renting out the basement of a "crappy house" when he is called home to sit shiva for his father--who, incidentally, was an atheist. This of course means seven days in his parent's house with his exquisitely dysfunctional family, including his mom, a sexy, "I've-still-got-it" shrink fond of making horrifying TMI statements; his older sister, Wendy, and her distracted hubby and three kids; his snarky older brother, Paul, and his wife; and his youngest brother, Phillip, the "Paul McCartney of our family: better-looking than the rest of us, always facing a different direction in pictures, and occasionally rumored to be dead." Tropper is wickedly funny, a master of the cutting one-liner that makes you both cringe and crack up. But what elevates his novels and makes him a truly splendid writer is his ability to create fantastically flawed, real characters who stay with you long after the book is over. Simultaneously hilarious and hopeful, This Is Where I Leave You is as much about a family's reckoning as it is about one man's attempt to get it together. The affectionate, warts-and-all portrayal of the Foxmans will have fans wishing for a sequel (and clamoring for all things Tropper). --Daphne Durham

• ISBN13: 9780452275355
• Condition: New
• Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!

Tess O'Reilly can't forget the words engraved inside the ring Zak de Neuville gave her when he promised to love her always, then disappeared from her life without a word. Eskauldun fededun--the Basque is faithful. More appropriately, the Basque is faithless! And now, after seven years, Zak's back in Baker's Creek. He's also the father of a boy who had to have been conceived shortly after he left. Tess too has returned to Baker's Creek to help her ailing father. After a lengthy estrangement from him because of Zak, she's come home to try to rebuild the relationship they once had, before it's too late, and she has no intention of getting involved with Zak again. The problem is, time has done nothing to temper the white-hot flame that's once again building. 60,542 words

In this follow up to Amazon Bestseller Before You Go, Wade Hodges poses a number of questions designed to help pastors think and pray through the decision of when to leave their current church for a new opportunity. He addresses a difficult topic with just the right combination of introspection, honesty and humor. The issues Hodges raises in When to Leave are applicable to pastors, non-profit leaders, and anyone else trying to discern when to move on to something new.

In this follow up to Amazon Bestseller Before You Go, Wade Hodges poses a number of questions designed to help pastors think and pray through the decision of when to leave their current church for a new opportunity. He addresses a difficult topic with just the right combination of introspection, honesty and humor. The issues Hodges raises in When to Leave are applicable to pastors, non-profit leaders, and anyone else trying to discern when to move on to something new.

From leading psychologist Dr. Kristin Neff comes a step-by-step guide explaining how to be more self-compassionate and achieve your dreams in life

The relentless pursuit of high self-esteem has become a virtual religion—and a tyrannical one at that. Our ultracompetitive culture tells us we need to be constantly above average to feel good about ourselves, but there is always someone more attractive, successful, or intelligent than we are. And even when we do manage to grab hold of high self-esteem for a brief moment, we can't seem to keep it. Our sense of self-worth goes up and down like a ping-pong ball, rising and falling in lockstep with our latest success or failure.

Fortunately, there is an alternative to self-esteem that many experts believe is a better and more effective path to happiness: self-compassion. The research of Dr. Kristin Neff and other leading psychologists indicates that people who are compassionate toward their failings and imperfections experience greater well-being than those who repeatedly judge themselves. The feelings of security and self-worth provided by self-compassion are also highly stable, kicking in precisely when self-esteem falls down. This book powerfully demonstrates why it's so important to be self-compassionate and give yourself the same caring support you'd give to a good friend.

This groundbreaking work will show you how to let go of debilitating self-criticism and finally learn to be kind to yourself. Using solid empirical research, personal stories, practical exercises, and humor, Dr. Neff—the world's foremost expert on self-compassion—explains how to heal destructive emotional patterns so that you can be healthier, happier, and more effective. Engaging, highly readable, and eminently accessible, this book has the power to change your life.

When Connor Swann, the dissolute son-in-law of renowned and influential Sir Gerald and Dame Caroline Asherton, is found floating in a Thames River lock, the circumstances eerily recall a strangely similar tragedy. Twenty years ago, the Ashertons' young son, Matthew, a musical prodigy, drowned in a swollen stream while in the company of his sister Julia -- Connor Swann's wife.

Police Superintendant Duncan Kincaid and Sergeant Gemma James quickly discover that Connor's death was no accident, and that nothing in the Asherton family is as it seems. Connor, though estranged from Julia for more than a year, still lives in her London apartment, where his exploits with women and gambling suggest plenty of motives. The Ashertons are far more attached to Connor than to their own daughter, and these are only the first of the secrets that haunt the suspects. New lies cover older lies, as Kincaid finds himself dangerously drawn to Julia Swann, and Gemma must confront her own troubling feelings for Kincaid.