The Rock in Our Story

Just when ten-year-old Maria Della Notte becomes comfortable with her surrogate mother and their surroundings she discovers an unsettling truth about her origin. Who is she? How did she get here? Why does she have a surrogate mother? Who left her in the care of a surrogate mother and why? Where did she come from? Why is she forced to leave? Can she learn to live in a new country without family or friends where language, customs and traditions are unfamiliar and intimidating? Whom can she trust? Will she ever love and be loved? Will she find answers to her endless questions?

Coming from a poverty-stricken, war-torn country, Maria quickly learns the benefits and advantages of wealth, education and her new life in a place filled with opportunity. While she is pleased with her newly acquired affluence and experiences, Maria has never been truly happy since she left her homeland. The friendship she offers at school, and the kindness she extends to some of her classmates is met with ridicule and rejection.

At every turn, Maria feels unloved, so she withdraws and buries herself in studies and extracurricular activities. She strives to be the best at every challenge put before her. Her goals stretch far beyond seeking not only to win, but to win by a landslide.

Maria is a young lady dreaming of reconnecting with her mentor, while carrying a big chip on her shoulder waiting for the right someone to gently remove it.

The Price of Love

What am I to do now, Sally thought as she trudged down the macadam road with her few possessions. It was getting dark. She was without family, home, money or food. She had no place to go for the night and she knew what happened to young girls on the street. Her mother, selfish and mean, had abandoned her, disappeared without a trace after giving her away to strangers. Anyway, living with her family had been disastrous. Her mother and stepfather had both mistreated her.

She was not a typical 14-year-old after being rejected by her mother many times and living in so many homes with strangers. She was conscientious and helpful, always willing to work for her room and board even when she was younger.

Now, the family Sally lived with forced her to leave as they could no longer afford her. The time had come for her to fend for herself, but how was she to do it?

The Once and Future Universe

Open your mind to a universe that is both awe-inspiring and accessible in The Once and Future Universe. This enlightening book presents a captivating journey through the cosmos, providing a basic understanding of its structure and ongoing mechanisms. From galaxies to subatomic particles, grasp the fundamental principles that govern the universe, unveiling its mysteries and fostering a deep appreciation for its interconnected wonders. Prepare to expand your horizons and embrace a newfound understanding of the universe’s profound beauty and complexity.

The Man Who Wanted to Be Cary Grant

George is at rock bottom: His wife is leaving him, his job is gone, and even his kids can barely stand him. But instead of wallowing in despair, George opts for a drastic makeover. Inspired by his cinematic hero, Cary Grant, he sets out to reinvent himself, enlisting the help of modern-day mentors akin to Henry Higgins and Colonel Pickering from ‘My Fair Lady.’

Suddenly, George is the toast of Hollywood. He rubs elbows with A-listers like Bradley Cooper and George Clooney, while acclaimed directors like Spielberg are captivated by his charm.

But when George’s estranged mother orchestrates a reunion with his childhood love, he’s forced to ponder the cost of his new life. Is this glamorous façade worth losing the one who got away? The choice becomes even more complicated when he spots her in the arms of another man.

Returning to LA, George finds that his friends and family have teamed up for the ultimate romantic intervention – with a celestial assist from Cary Grant himself.

The Liberation of Oliver Rook

Oliver Eastmund’s life is hell. He is married to Mona who makes him and his children miserable, yet nothing can stop her or help Oliver and their two children, Gavin and Gwendolyn. Mona’s cruelty is relentless, and just when you think she has done her worst, she reaches a new level of malice.

The courts, police, child-welfare authorities, and mental-health systems fail Oliver and his attempts at protecting his children, himself, and even Mona. He makes his wife a promise: “When the children are gone and our debts are paid, I will leave you,” which seems to him the worst thing he can do to someone with her mental instability.

But he is wrong. He discovers that he is capable of far worse. He moves away, changes his name, yet must go back to find deliverance from his guilt. As Winston Churchill said, “If you are going through hell, keep going.” This is what Oliver Rook must do.

The Jungle Entrepreneurs

Allen and Franco are two young entrepreneurs coasting their last year of Business School in New York. Feeling drained and uninspired by the pressures of success, they take on an expected journey to the jungle of Costa Rica, where they will do what they can to make a business out of an old, abandoned property, submerged in local rumors.

Once surrounded by the power of the place, they unravel an unexpected family history, which will take them on a wild and spiritual inner journey. The struggles of arduous work and lack of resources will shape these men’s partnership, new friendships, and the way they each understand their lives.

In this intimate tale, N.V. Parks takes us on a unique spiritual journey, a rite of healing and transformation into adulthood, unraveling a new meaning of happiness and success, while soaking in the magnificent beauty of Ostional Wildlife Refuge.

The Jazz Man

It is 1953 and Charles Robinson has been a successful private detective in New York for seven years. Although most of his clients reside in Harlem, his cases sometimes take him to other boroughs.

This is one of those times.

Jimmy “Smooth” Brooks, a local jazz musician, has gone missing, and his brother Jeremiah has hired Robinson to find him. As Robinson’s investigation takes him from the bohemian & artistic streets of the West Village to a cold industrial section of Brooklyn, he discovers that he and Jimmy have something significant in common: They have complicated relationships with men.

Some of these men have the power to change their lives. For Jimmy, was this change the end of his life?

The End of a Thing is Better Than The Beginning

Gertie dreamed about the day when Kelley would pull up to her yard and take her away to some new and exciting place. But before she could do that, something wonderful happened, and she met Willard. She felt captivated by the interest he had taken in her. At last, she was beginning to feel important. She had never felt so special, not since she was a little girl back home with her papa. Not only was she impressed by the dark tan on his arms from hoeing tobacco long hours every day in the blazing sun, but also the masculinity of his form left her dazzled. Indeed, she wanted him to come again.

The Eden Evacuation

When young historian Adam and his daring art conservator girlfriend Gina embark on a Roman holiday, they expect delicious food and captivating sights – not a bewildering mystery. While touring the Vatican Museums, Gina suddenly vanishes. Adam’s desperate search for her uncovers a shadowy art forgery conspiracy greater than either could have imagined.

To unravel the truth and reunite with Gina, Adam plunges headlong into a thrilling quest spanning centuries of history, culture, religion, and current affairs. As the perilous investigation spreads across two continents, Adam and Gina are each forced to confront what really matters most. Will their love unite them despite the dangers they face? Or will the high stakes of the mystery tear their relationship apart?

The Devil's in the Details

You know how learning a language can feel like it’s ruining your life? Well, learning Latin did it for me. What seemed like a simple assignment caused me to summon a demon hell-bent on buying my soul. The only problem is I’m not selling. Now he wants to stick around. What could go wrong?

The Air That We Breathe - Book One

Father Marcellinus warns the young monk, saying, ‘The air that we breathe, that is the creature that we become’ explaining how every influence, both good and evil ultimately shape us into the person that we are. Based on real events, this novel unfolds in a nineteenth century abbey and is about a young man who struggles to face the truth of who he really is, something that all of us must ultimately do in our own lives. The reader is invited into that cloister, so full of passions and conflicts.

Simon desires only one thing since he was a little boy, and that is to serve God as a priest. He dreams of wearing silken gold vestments and being enveloped in great clouds of incense, offering the Sacrifice to God. When he is seventeen, he leaves home and becomes a monk far north in the mountains of Pennsylvania. His faith is genuine, and he gives himself to his studies in order to become a Roman Catholic priest.

But not all is as he expected. A sexual awakening he had not anticipated, blossoms in him and boyhood dreams are shaken to the core as he wrestles with a side of himself he never counted on. He falls in love in a monastic world filled with holy men, mischievous souls, colorful individuals and also great scoundrels.

A powerful visitor invites him to Rome, something Simon never expected. There is a dark price tag, however, something Simon is unaware of.

Submission

This is a story about a marriage breakdown and the difficulties facing primarily women in protecting themselves and in collecting support payments under the Ontario justice system.

This is a story about justice delayed, justice denied, and how the justice system failed to level the playing field.

Every day a woman is demoralized in not being able to collect on support orders.

Every day in Canada a woman is subjected to ongoing abuse with her partner with minimal assistance through the legal system.

This story is typical of a woman’s plight going through a legal system where the parties have lost faith and face the dilemma of giving up or taking the law into their own hands.