GaryE

Trying not to fall in love can be…challenging. One might think that, as an ER nurse, I live a full and exciting life. If you think this, you are sadly mistaken. I’m pretty sure there's hardly a soul more boring than me. Ask my best friend, she’ll agree. Which is why she's come up with a 30-day plan to transform me from boring Lucy to, well…the real Lucy. The Lucy before the accident. Each day, I have to complete some ridiculous challenge, usually involving something embarrassing or new. That includes getting my coworker, Dr. Graham Shackwell, involved.

Young Eddie Russett has no ambition to be anything other than a loyal drone of the Collective. With his better-than-average red perception, he could well marry Constance Oxblood and inherit the string works; he may even have enough red perception to make prefect. For Eddie, life looks colorful. Life looks good. But everything changes when he moves with his father, a respected swatchman, to East Carmine. There, he falls in love with a Grey named Jane who opens his eyes to the painful truth behind his seemingly perfect, rigidly controlled society.

A collection of humorous insights into important topics ranging from being targeted by annoying ads ("Nowhere to Hide"), to resorting to symbols when you've forgotten your words ("At a Loss for Words"), to figuring out what door that extra key opens ("My Extra Key"). Other essays examine how sitting is the new smoking (whatever that means) and why it is just so hard to focus when you have the attention span of a gnat.

For the first time, all in one place, the award-winning books A Trip to the Hardware Store & Other Calamities and I'm Not Talking About You, Of Course plus seven bonus essays. What a collection! If this doesn't make you smile, then you're not even trying.

Warm and witty, Mrs. G.P. makes grammar interesting with rhyming, wishful thinking, storytelling, and a champagne toast. You are cordially invited to join her for a spot of tea!

Anna Pigeon, a Ranger with the National Park Service, is newly married but on administrative leave from her job as she recovers from the traumas of the past couple of months. While the physical wounds have healed, the emotional ones are still healing. With her new husband back at work, Anna decides to go and stay with an old friend from the Park Service, Geneva, who works as a singer at the New Orleans Jazz NHP. She isn't in town long before she crosses paths with a tenant of Geneva's, a creepy guy named Jordan.

"Nagging just sounds so negative, and I am not a negative person. Truth is, I'm the kind of person you'd ask for directions if you were lost, or tell your life story to while waiting in line at the grocery store, which has happened on more than one occasion, believe me." Sure, Ella Boudreaux is great at nagging - in fact, she's the best - but where has it gotten her? Nowhere, that's where.

Reluctant family law attorney Jamie Quinn is loving life - and why wouldn't she? Her boyfriend Kip is back from Australia, her long-lost dad finally has his visa, and she's about to start her dream job at an art foundation. But it all falls apart when Jamie is accused of stealing priceless art from a rare book collection. If she can't find out who framed her, she can kiss her dream job goodbye - and her law license, too.

Topical, relatable, and just plain fun, these and many other stories in this collection deal with friendship, kinship, and the complexities of the modern world, and are sure to leave you with a smile.