Books
Not Like My Mother : Azra Alagic
Not Like My Mother
Survival triumphs against all odds in the battered Balkan lands. It is an heirloom passed down from generation to generation along with richness of tradition, recipes, love and land.
At fourteen, Samira leaves her childhood home to create a new life with returned soldier Azis. She carries with her visions of romance and babies, but his dark secrets have consequences for everyone around him.
Samira’s love for life and her effervescent spirit are passed on to her mischievous sons and daughters, but the traumas of war return to drive their family apart. Her beloved son, Muhammed, flees home and his father at the tender age of twelve. Though it breaks Samira’s heart, she knows it is the only way for her son to survive.
Years pass, and after wandering from one Balkan region to another, Muhammed joins Anika and her family, who are escaping the oppression of Tito’s communist Jugoslavia across the Austrian border. The young couple look with hope far across the other side of the world, to Australia where they are promised a life filled with opportunity and success. They carry with them the pride of their culture, the traditions of their heritage, and a willingness to work hard and succeed in the golden land.
But happiness is elusive and another Balkan war and religious differences begin to create a rift in the family. Unable to shake the emotional and psychological shadows of their past, it is left to Anika and Muhammed’s daughter, Yasna, to try to repair their fragile domestic peace and break the cycle of anger and displacement. Will her hope and love for her family, the country of her cultural origins and its people save them all?
Not Like My Mother is a poignant story that tracks the spirit, the love and the pain of three generations of women and their families over two continents, as well as examining the divide between three religions that has torn a country and its people apart. A meditation on a country, its people, its politics and its colliding differences.
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The Queen of Hearts : Valérie Lieko
Caribbean Black Jack : Book 1 The Queen of Hearts
At the end of the 18th century, Liliane de la Roche is treacherously abandoned by her wealthy lover on a deserted Caribbean island. Castaway in an unknown and hostile environment, she will do anything to survive.
Centuries later, Andrew Brooks is a card dealer in one of Sint Maarten’s prestigious casinos. One night, a mysterious woman, Soledad de La Cruz, plays Black Jack at his table and will turn his life upside down.
Dive into a nail-biting suspense while discovering Caribbean folklore and beliefs throughout history.
The Queen of Hearts is the author’s second novel and the first part of Caribbean Black Jack, an addictive series containing four books.
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Benjamin Sorrow : P.G.Challis
Benjamin Sorrow : One for Sorrow
Benjamin is retired. Borell is drunk.
Jackson Burns, a genius scientist and an old friend of Benjamin’s, is brutally robbed of an important and powerful device. The good news is only Jackson knows the secret to the device’s operation.
The bad news is he’s now being hunted for this knowledge. Benjamin leaves retirement behind and returns to the secretive Society to protect his friend and recover the stolen device.
Meanwhile, Borell, a talented thief and competent killer, is hired by a mysterious woman to find the same device.
With his criminal past and immoral attitude, can he recover the device first, or have Benjamin and Borell been set on a collision course?
Player : M L Sparrow
Player
Let the game begin…
After a tragic accident which leaves her tormented by guilt, Chloe Newman accepts a scholarship to study a St. Joseph’s University. Traveling from England to Texas, the last thing she expects is to meet the schools charming quarterback on her first night. However, Parker Mitchell is a player both on and off the field.
Parker is immediately fascinated by Chloe and, after a rocky start, they manage to find a way to make their relationship work despite interference from others on campus, including Parkers jealous ex, and the ghosts that haunt Chloe’s conscience.
But, the real test comes when they visit Parker’s family over Christmas break and he finds himself being pulled back into their lifestyle…
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Friendship : Francis Mandewah
FRIENDSHIP: A True Story of Adventure, Goodwill, and Endurance
Young Francis Mandewah dreamed of a better future, but saw no way out of his impoverished situation… until one day when he met a man who would change his life forever.
An African boy from the region made famous by the Hollywood film “Blood Diamond” is befriended by an American pilot. That friendship brings great opportunities and blessings that affirm the boy’s faith in a God of miracles. But the boy’s journey also brings many trials and tribulations that test his courage, strength, and endurance.
The Hollywood movie “Blood Diamond” starring Leonardo DiCaprio was nominated for five Academy Awards. It brought attention to a rebel war in West Africa in which “blood” diamonds, also known as “conflict” diamonds, were used to finance warlords and their activities.
Two decades before this war Thomas Johnson, a pilot from Minnesota, was employed to fly boxes of gems and alluvial diamonds in Sierra Leone, from Yengema to Freetown where a British Airways jet would fly the gemstones to London.
This American pilot met and befriended young Francis Mandewah, an impoverished Sierra Leonean boy, and gave him generous support that opened new a new life of opportunity, which would eventually take Francis to America. Along the way Francis had many harrowing experiences, including crossing the Sahara Desert, which almost cost him his life. His challenges continued in Italy, Greece, Turkey, and finally in America. In the end, Francis became aware that his real voice that has emerged through all his trials and tribulations is one of deep faith and gratitude for God’s miracles and wonders in his life.
“On my way home I walked in a haze. I was in shock over the miracle that had just happened in my life. That night as I settled down to sleep on my mat on the floor of my cousin’s house, I lay in the dark and prayed, “Dear God, I can’t take any more heartbreak. Please let this be real. What did I do to deserve such a blessing? I promise to do well in school and make You proud. Please don’t let me die in my sleep tonight.” –Francis Mandewah
Saving Grace : L B Johnson
A Story of Adoption
It started with a birth certificate and ended up with an adoptee facing the same decision her birth mother made. For she was born to a teen mother on a warm day in August–a small, painful beginning in which she had been an unwilling participant, yet one that would shape her destiny.
Her childhood couldn’t be happier but when fate tears her adopted family apart and she finds herself alone – and pregnant, still a teen. The options are obvious, but there is only one decision she could make: to give her child up to a family praying for one, and walking away.
Written in a series of vignettes written to the child she may never meet, Saving Grace is a deep look at family and how we find love and healing with souls, both two and four-legged, that may not share our blood or our last names but who are our true family.
True Course and Small Town Roads by Brigid Johnson are also on Whizbuzz Books.
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Olivia Stone and the Trouble with Trixies : Jeffery E Doherty
Olivia Stone and the Trouble with Trixies
Can a broken young girl help a guilt-ridden grotesque stop the monsters?
An Unprotected City
The Grotesque statues have been taken down from the roof of St. Giles Old Priory School. With the Guardians statue-trapped, there is no one left to protect Haven from the monsters.
Unexpected Heroes
Despite crippling injuries from a falling grotesque statue, twelve year old Olivia Stone finds herself on the front lines in the battle between Good and Evil.
Olivia needs to; rescue Yip, the smallest living grotesque and the cause of her accident, discover the hidden power locked within herself and find a way to out trick the trixies. But trixies know every trick in the book.
Trixies may look sweet and childlike but something nasty is drawing these solitary pests together and their pranks are turning deadly.
Five Stars “This was a great read. Every chapter holds suspense and leaves the reader wanting to know what happens next. Not the usual Trixie tale.”
Gail Kamer
(Amazon review)
‘It has elements of a junior Stephen King novel, without being too graphic for sensitive children.’
Debra Clewer
(Goodreads review)
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How to Meditate and Why : Mara M. Zimmerman
How to Meditate and Why
Interested in meditation and wondering if it could benefit you? Seeking meaning and purpose in your work or life, stress relief, or just looking for a little peace and quiet?
There are many benefits of meditation for everyone of all walks of life. Learn where meditation comes from, and how and why this ancient practice is necessary and relevant in modern times.
How to Meditate and Why offers a history, types, techniques, and an opportunity to explore and gain an understanding of the many individual and universal healing possibilities of meditation.
Gain insight into the process of meditation and know it is accessible and only a breath away. Learn to take pause, make better choices, problem solve, restore your energy, and create the life you want to live. Become a leader and succeed at your highest level. Experience emotional balance and the mind-body connection. Attain spiritual or personal growth. Discover meditative moments throughout your day.
Become more intuitive and mindful of your individual and personal needs. Gain an understanding of how and why meditation fits into your life.
Learn to let go, and if letting go is not accessible right away, learn to let it be.
Meditation has a history and you have yours.
Meditation looks different wherever you go, but it can help you wherever you are.
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Butterfly Bones : Savanna Redman
Butterfly Bones – Visions are the Voice of the Soul
Life is good for Amanda, normal, just the way she wants it; until she’s awakened on the back lawn by a ghost from her childhood and her dog.
Nightmares and premonition dreams have returned with a sickening dread of change.
Events push her. Dreams pull her. Her past and future are only a nightmare away.
When the unthinkable happens – reality slams into her with jarring force – she realizes everything can change in less than a day.
The thin walls between reality and imagination begin to blur with the psychological twist of her dreams.
She’s on a dangerous path that threatens everything.
The life she’s worked so hard to create begins to crumble.
Her mind dangles by a damaged thread.
Is there another life she’s supposed to be living?
If there is, will she live to see it?
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If It Does Not Grow: Say No : Kerry Alison Wekelo
If It Does Not Grow: Say No – Eatable Activities for Kids
If It Does Not Grow – Just Say No Eatable Activities for Kids Book was created for children of all ages to discover how much fun they can have with fruits and vegetables. They will be entertained for hours as they:
* draw and write about their favorite foods,
* learn why fruits and vegetables are so awesome,
* try easy recipes for fun foods,
* see how brave they are about trying new fruits and veggies,
* make food art,
* and more!
Whether they ask a friend to join them, or do activities on their own, kids will have a blast on this food adventure. Get your fruits and veggies ready; they’re about to become very popular!