Best of Family & Relationships
Best of Family & Relationships
"So Many Books, So Little Time!"
Susan: A Jane Austen Prequel (Warleigh Hall Press Jane Austen Series)
by Alice McVeigh
Susan is a Jane Austen Prequel (or Pride and Prejudice Variation) brilliantly capturing Austen's own Lady Susan as a young girl.
A BookLife 2021 Quarterfinalist, Susan has won the Gold Medal/First Place in the PenCraft, Global, eLit and Historical Fiction Company Book Awards, along with numerous other awards.
Publishers Weekly starred review: "McVeigh's prose and plotting are pitch-perfect. Emma mingles with Pride and Prejudice in a delightful confrontation between the two books' worlds... This Austen-inspired novel echoes the master herself."
Familiar characters abound - Frank Churchill, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Mr Collins - but Susan - mischievous and manipulative - is the star. This is Austen that even Austen might have loved, with a touch of Georgette Heyer in the romantic sections. Fans of Bridgerton will also relish this classic regency romance, the first in a six-book series.
Sixteen-year-old Susan Smithson - pretty but poor, clever but capricious - has just been expelled from a school for young ladies in London.
At the mansion of the formidable Lady Catherine de Bourgh, she attracts a raffish young nobleman. But, at the first hint of scandal, her guardian dispatches her to her uncle Collins' rectory in Kent, where her sensible cousin Alicia lives and "where nothing ever happens."
Here Susan mischievously inspires the local squire to put on a play, with consequences no one could possibly have foreseen. What with the unexpected arrival of Frank Churchill, Alicia's falling in love and a tumultuous elopement, rural Kent will surely never seem safe again...
Summer Heists Don’t Count
by Kelly Shade
Every summer, Vicky Morales disappears into seven days of sun, lies, and beautiful crimes.
Alexander Brooks does the same.
Controlled, dangerous, and impossible to resist, Alex is her partner in crime and the one person who understands how much of real life is performance.
Once a year, they steal something beautiful, walk away clean, and return to their separate lives before the game becomes something neither of them can control.
This year’s target is the Valmont Collection, a priceless set of jewels displayed at an exclusive yacht party in Mallorca.
The heist should be flawless. Until a man is murdered.
Suddenly, their usual seven-day escape is no longer a vacation. It’s an investigation. The police are watching, the jewels are missing, and evidence begins turning up exactly where it shouldn’t.
Their perfect summer game stretches past its deadline, trapping them together long after they should have walked away.
To survive, they’ll have to stay one step ahead of the police, the evidence, and each other, while keeping anyone from discovering who they really are.
But the longer they’re forced to trust each other, the more their carefully built rules start to crack.
In a world of fake alibis, stolen jewels, dangerous secrets, and impossible trust, the wrong lie could expose them.
And the wrong truth could destroy them both.
Summer Heists Don’t Count is a glamorous heist mystery with murder, stolen jewels, sharp banter, morally gray thieves, and dangerous romantic suspense.
The Lost Sentinel:
An epic fantasy adventure
(Silent Sea Chronicles - Book 1)
by Arjay Lewis
The magical island of Kalaya is dying, and it falls to Tei, an exiled mystic, to save it. But with Kalaya’s corrupt Assembly attempting to eradicate magic, can Tei help the exiles restore the island’s power before it’s too late?
When her father is murdered by the Assembly’s Masked Riders, Tei flees to the hidden mountain sanctuary of Turrak. Welcomed by the exiles, she is tasked with finding the realm’s next Sentinel before the old one dies. Tei must navigate the monster-ridden Astral Plane, while being pursued by the Soul Eater, a dark entity that devours lost spirits.
As Tei risks everything to find the hidden Sentinel, a lone Assemblyman attempts to dismantle the Assembly from within and prevent its persecution of magic. While across the Silent Sea, a reluctant naval commander, who is being manipulated by telepathic visions, readies an invasion fleet, pulling all their destinies towards a devastating war for the island’s survival.
To save Kalaya, Tei must learn that true power isn’t just about wielding magic - it’s about surviving the devastating sacrifices required to protect it.
If you like multi-dimensional characters in intricate worlds, then you’ll love The Lost Sentinel - the spellbinding novel that kicks off the action-packed fantasy trilogy Silent Sea Chronicles.
TOP 10 FINALISTS
(4th to 10th Place)
GENRE WINS
(HONORABLE MENTIONS)
BooksShelf
FICTION WINNERS
Climb Greater Heights
How to Accelerate Your Business Growth, Amplify Your Success, and Build a Legacy of Significance
by Tony Jeton Selimi
True success doesn’t come from doing more. It comes from becoming more.
In Climb Greater Heights, visionary thought leader, Tony J. Selimi, who rose from homelessness to spearheading billion-pound technology transformations, unveils his life-tested formula for personal and professional reinvention.
Inside, you’ll master his revolutionary 12-Step Growth Accelerator Method®, the same system that has helped CEOs, entrepreneurs, and leaders across the globe master their mindset, scale their ventures, and build legacy-driven empires without burning out.
Inside, you’ll learn how to:
• Craft a purpose-driven business that aligns with your values and vision
• Rewire your mind to build unshakable confidence and turn setbacks into scalable opportunities
• Build magnetic authority, credibility, and global influence
• Build a market-driven ecosystem of products for sustainable growth and profitability
• Master sales, publicity, and strategic partnerships to exponentially accelerate your success
Packed with real-world case studies, breakthrough strategies, and actionable exercises, this book is for high achievers who know they’re meant for more and are ready to claim it.
If you’re ready to turn pressure into purpose, and success into significance, Climb Greater Heights will show you the way.
Start today. Your legacy awaits.
Life and How to Live It:
Begin the Begin
by Chaz Holesworth
Chaos and poverty dominated his world. When chance opens the door, can this young boy discover what it means to live?
Pennsylvania, 1980’s. Chaz Holesworth grew up trapped between extremes. Born to a heroin-addicted father and a devoted evangelical Christian mother, he battled against roaches and rats at home while dodging gangs and drugs on the streets of Philly. And the isolated thirteen-year-old began to realize that he faced a dead-end future without hope.
Hitting painful puberty while developing a growing awareness of society’s many plights, Chaz’s unhappiness and anger escalated with no help in sight. Until a random visit to an arcade when he’s shocked to discover a lifeline in a jukebox playing R.E.M.’s Losing my Religion.
Could he take the next brave step to his survival?
In this poignant and inspiring story, Chaz Holesworth shares his unfiltered and darkly funny journey to self-discovery. And captivated by a narrative raw with emotion and empathy, you’ll walk in the shoes of someone who confronted loss of faith, a broken family, and the damaging polarity of sin vs. salvation.
Life and How to Live it is the candid first volume in the Life and How to Live it memoir series. If you like real-life struggles, inspiring personal enlightenment, and fascinating coming-of-age tales, then you’ll love Chaz Holesworth’s triumphant awakening.
Buy Life and How to Live it to stop holding back today!
Sustained
Grieving in the hands of Jesus: A Devotional Account of learning to live and hold onto faith in the midst of loss
by Hanna Marmalich
When our world unexpectedly shatters and it becomes immersed in unspeakable pain and grief, life can look empty and void of all reason to hope. As believers in Christ we are reminded that He is our living hope and the pain of today is “but for a moment.” Yet how do we reconcile our faith with the daily demands grief puts on us? Is it possible to both grieve well and live out our faith well at the same time? Can we live with both Jesus and grief being active in our lives and still thrive in the aftermath of loss? Can the same God that allowed this to happen still be trusted?
In Sustained; grieving in the hands of Jesus, author Hanna Marmalich shares her personal experience and wisdom of trusting God in the midst of the unknown in grief. As she journeyed through her personal testimony of pain, her understanding of God’s loving comfort, along with the misconceived ideas she encountered about grief, helped give her insight into why there exists such a struggle for faith and grief to live harmoniously together.
Hanna walks through snapshots in time where this struggle appeared in various settings and how God faithfully led her through each one. She addresses the practical interactions with grief that effected her everyday life, to the deep heart wrenching examples of learning to breathe through the waves of grief. Through each bite sized chapter, Hanna reveals how God’s nearness to the brokenhearted is a sacred space.
GENRE WINS
(HONORABLE MENTIONS)
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NONFICTION WINNERS
Escala's Wish
(Tales of Valla Book 1)
by David James
Escala Winter broke the one law no faerie princess was ever meant to break.
Born with mortal blood that made her curious where her kind was cautious, Escala has always been an outsider in the glittering Court of Dreams. When she risks everything to understand human love, one forbidden kiss rekindles ancient grudges and sets a revenge plot in motion, threatening the fragile balance between the fae realm and the mortal world.
The Court's judgment is swift.
Stripped of her wings, her title, and even her faerie form, Escala is banished to the harsh world of Valla and given an impossible choice: repair the damage she has caused or never return.
She never expected her greatest challenge to be the man sworn to help her.
Roedyn is a quiet ranger who trusts the wilderness more than people. He wants no part in prophecies or faerie royalty, but once he learns the truth behind Escala's situation, he vows to help Escala—even knowing she is destined to leave him behind when her quest is complete.
She was forbidden to love him.
He wasn't supposed to let her matter.
Heartbreak was inevitable.
As ancient enemies awaken and impossible choices test their resolve, duty collides with desire, and fate demands sacrifices neither is willing to make. Together, Escala and Roedyn must decide whether saving two worlds is worth losing the one person they cannot bear to leave behind.
Told with wit, heart, and unforgettable charm by the self-proclaimed Bard Extraordinaire Wigfrith Foreverbloom, Escala's Wish is the award-winning first novel in the Tales of Valla series—a sweeping romantasy filled with fae intrigue, epic adventure, found family, humor, sacrifice, and a love worth risking everything for.
Winner of multiple national and international book awards, including the Kirkus GET IT Award, Mom's Choice Gold Award, Book Excellence Award, BookFest Award, Literary Titan Gold Award, PenCraft Award, American Legacy Award, and the London Book Festival Award.
Perfect for readers who love A Court of Thorns and Roses, The Cruel Prince, and character-driven fantasy romance filled with magic, adventure, and unforgettable characters.
The Horses of Saddlers Ranch: Cloud: Book One
by Alison Bellringer
"Come on, you beast!" The man mumbled under his breath, quite unaware that he was being observed by several rather stunned onlookers. "Get over here!"
Despite his terse command, as if sensing the man's edginess, the gelding merely laid his ears back and started shaking his head, soon lashing out with his long, delicate legs. High-pitched squeals of outrage soon followed, and at the disturbance, another person's face suddenly peered out of the passenger window of the cab.
"You see, Daddy? That kind of behavior is exactly why we can't keep it! I need a reliable horse that I can depend upon at all times." The blonde-haired girl stared at the scene, almost in disdain, and then immediately continued whining again. "Hurry up, Daddy! I want to ride Secret Service again as soon as we get home. That horse is so much better behaved!"
Welcome To Superhero School
(The Vork Chronicles Book 1)
by Gracie Dix
Welcome to Superhero School! Join Oliver, Jess, and all their friends on a mission to destroy the power-hungry, evil villains of Vork. From subterranean sewers to lush jungle, from dinosaurs to dragons, our heroes will be pushed to their limits in ways they’d never imagined.
Will their collective Powers—Flight, Morphing, Invisibility, Mind Reading, and more—be enough for them to overcome the malevolence of Vork? Or will they stumble over their own doubts and painful histories?
This action-packed journey of friendship, hardship, and humor will take our heroes to thrilling new heights and a deeper understanding of their own place in the world. But will that be enough—or will Vork always be one step ahead?
GENRE WINS
(HONORABLE MENTIONS)
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Young Adult / Coming-of-Age WINNERS
A Very Loud Christmas
by Amy Schisler
Meet Crash, Belle, Carol, Thor, and Joy, the Loud children. They love to laugh and sing and enjoy life - loudly! The rest of the families in their quiet, mountain village don't understand why the Loud children are always so loud, and the other children are not allowed to play with them. One Christmas, little Johnny Thompson gets lost in the woods, and the village must rely on the very Loud family to bring Johnny home.
This delightful book will enchant children with its illustrations and lovable, often relatable, characters and will warm the hearts of parents with its valuable lessons on acceptance, friendship, and prayer. It's the perfect gift at Christmas or any time of the year.
I Found My Piece
by Rashmi Kumar Shah
“#1 National Bestseller on Amazon & Barnes & Noble”
When a child learns that his family is moving to a new place for his mommy’s job, he doesn’t know how to react. The new place is very different from what he is used to, and he is filled with questions about his new school: Will I make any friends? What will my teacher look like? What if the class has learned more than I have at my old school? He finds himself feeling very nervous. Fortunately, his mommy is there to help guide him. She teaches him about meditation, a way to sit with his feelings, focus on his breath, and find a way to feel calm - replacing the puzzle piece of himself that had started to unravel. Meditation helps him put roots on his feelings so that he can face the change with a clear mind and heart.
Cathy's Concert:
Bright-eyed Bugs Club Series Book#7
by Thea Whitehead
Cathy's a cricket who loves music. She wants to make her own music and perform a concert for the other bugs in the Bright-eyed Bugs Club.
But everything Cathy tries just doesn't work! Trying to hum like a bee causes her to do "raspberry blips". Trying to sing like a bird just doesn't work. She tries rubbing her arms together like Bella Butterfly suggested (after seeing a boy play a violin). But Cathy just gets tangled!
Will Cathy ever be able to make music? Gary Grasshopper gives her hope when he brings a piece of paper that says that crickets use their wings to sing. Cathy leaves overjoyed to start to practice.
But her friends notice that the article says only BOY crickets sing with their wings! They decide not to tell Cathy...
Purchase this book to discover how Cathy finally succeeds making music for her friends!
The perfect book for any child who feels like they just "can't do things".
GENRE WINS
(HONORABLE MENTIONS)
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CHILDREN'S BOOKS WINNERS
The Wisdom I Can't Teach
by Paul Coyne
The Wisdom I Can't Teach is the debut collection of poetry from award winning innovator, author, and stroke survivor turned healthcare leader, Dr. Paul Coyne.
Written during his son's first five years of life, the collection offers a rare glimpse into the lessons that one wishes to teach their children that are only fully learned from those who know firsthand that they may not be there to teach them.
Through seemingly simple rhyme scheme and syntax, Coyne compresses the vast complexity learned from living with a heart disease since birth, being hospitalized and wheelchair bound for part of high school, suffering a stroke while beginning a career on Wall Street, the death of his girlfriend in his mid-twenties, obtaining five degrees in four years in his late twenties, cofounding a healthcare technology company in his early thirties, becoming one of the youngest Chief Nurse Executives in the country at thirty-six, and most importantly, finding true love and acceptance along the way through God, his wife, his family and friends, and in himself.
While his inspirational life provides the canvas, the specifics of the events are never drawn on the page. It is only the wisdom learned from the experiences that has been carefully extracted and illustrated into poetry, in the hope that his son will be better able to paint the masterpiece of his own life.
With a humble heart and vulnerable spirit, Coyne invites the world on a one hundred poem journey to remind his son, and all of us, that in a world full of differences, there is one universal similarity ― our shared humanity.
Exits
by Stephen Pollock
WINNER OF AN UNPRECEDENTED 65 LITERARY AWARDS,
Exits is a poetry collection readers call "breathtaking" and "brilliant."
Exits by Stephen C. Pollock
What if every ending held the seed of a beginning?
We live our lives counting moments, those we hope will last forever, and those we fear. In Exits, award-winning poet Stephen C. Pollock transforms these moments into sublime and sensuous music. The poems in the collection explore the beauty and frailty of life, the cycles of nature, and the mysteries of renewal that arise from even the darkest places.
Each poem is paired with evocative artwork, creating an immersive reading experience that lingers long after the final page. From myth to mourning, from dreams to decline, and from flora and fauna to the warming of our world, Exits reminds us that beauty is never far from loss, and that every departure leaves a door ajar.
Winner of the 2024 North Street Book Prize for Poetry, the 2026 PenMasters Book of the Year for Poetry, and sixty-three other literary honors, Exits is a masterful collection for those who believe that poems should move you, stay with you, and change the way you look at life.
Step into these pages. Lose yourself in poetry that's both technically exquisite and emotionally arresting. And discover why every exit is, in its own way, an entrance.
When the Light is Mine:
Poetry for the People
by Chaz Holesworth
When the Light is Mine, A Poetry Collection for People Searching for Meaning
In the quiet places of the heart, where emotions linger and memories echo, poetry becomes the language we finally understand.
When the Light is Mine invites readers into an intimate space, a place where love, loss, healing, and self-discovery meet in soft, honest lines.
Through thoughtful reflection and vivid emotional depth, this collection explores the beauty and difficulty of being human. These poems speak to anyone who has loved deeply, questioned their path, or searched for light during darker moments.
Inside this collection, you will find:
Poems exploring love, heartbreak, growth, and the truths we often keep hidden
Reflective verses that offer comfort, clarity, and emotional release
Gentle moments of healing and self-awareness
A lyrical journey through experiences we all feel but rarely express
Perfect for readers who enjoy:
Contemporary poetry, emotional reflection, uplifting messages, and writing that feels like a heartfelt conversation with the soul.
If you’re seeking connection, understanding, or simply a moment of inner calm, When Light is Mine will meet you exactly where you are.
GENRE WINS
(HONORABLE MENTIONS)
