Here are 64 books that The Bright Forever fans have personally recommended if you like
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The sound of waves rolling to shore. The scent of beach roses and salty air, mixed with suntan lotion. Breezy summer days with no agenda. This is the promised escape when I discover a cozy mystery with a waterfront cover. I’m immediately transported to a journey of respite with a sprinkle of intrigue tucked deep within the pages. The waterfront setting is one that I desire in both to read and to write, and I know I’m not alone. I’ve compiled a list of favorites for you when choosing a book that revolves around seaworthy things.
Set in the emerald cove of Florida’s Panhandle, Three Shots to the Wind by Sherry Harris is the third book in the cozy Chloe Jackson, Sea Glass Saloon Mystery series.
The characters in this series are realistic and likable and embody that sense of community that cozy mystery readers long for. A fun premise with an ex-fiancé winding up dead and her current love interest a prime suspect.
The third installment in Sherry Harris’s Agatha Award-nominated series finds former Chicago librarian Chloe Jackson loving her new life as a bartender in Florida…until a surprise visit from her Windy City ex-fiancé ends with him blown away in the Panhandle!
DEAD EXES TELL NO TALES
Saloon owner Chloe Jackson appears to have a secret admirer. She’s pouring drinks at the Sea Glass Saloon in Emerald Cove when an airplane flies by above the beach with a banner reading I LOVE YOU CHLOE JACKSON. She immediately rules out Rip Barnett. They are in the early stages of dating and no one…
The Victorian mansion, Evenmere, is the mechanism that runs the universe.
The lamps must be lit, or the stars die. The clocks must be wound, or Time ceases. The Balance between Order and Chaos must be preserved, or Existence crumbles.
Appointed the Steward of Evenmere, Carter Anderson must learn the…
Janet and I have traveled extensively and found inspiration and story ideas at every destination. As writers for more than 10 years and as fans of classic detective stories, we feel qualified to tackle this genre.
Not a detective story, but one that will get your heart racing and blood boiling. Set in New York City a rich family hires a babysitter who goes off the deep end. Women authors give a different point of view to crime stories and this one is proof of that.
A child is left in the care of a disturbed babysitter in “surely one of the finest pure terror-suspense stories ever written” (The New York Times).
Bunny’s parents shouldn’t have brought her to New York City, but her father has an important speech to make, and her mother couldn’t bear to be away from their darling nine-year-old daughter. And when her mommy and daddy leave for the speech, Bunny will stay in the hotel with a babysitter, sound asleep and perfectly safe. What could possibly go wrong?
The sitter is Nell, a plain young woman from Indiana. She puts Bunny…
As a youth, I was very athletic and always aspired to be the captain of the team. I worked hard and was very driven to earn this right. As a business person, I have continued that passion for leadership. In addition, due to my sports experience, I am passionate about coaching others. I feel that with the right direction, the right motivation, and the right information, anyone can be successful. All of the authors for the leadership books I have recommended are also giving back to society in their own way. I hope you all enjoy the books on your journey to becoming a great leader!
I recommend this book because Mike Kraus understands that leadership comes in different forms and at different levels within an organization. I like how he describes leadership from varying perspectives, making it more of a journey than a destination. This is a must-read for anyone new to management or aspiring to become a manager.
Supervisor, Manager, Leader; The Basics of Being a Boss: A common sense approach to the critical skills that most organizations fail to teach their people. "A concise, practical handbook for bosses of all stripes." Kindle Reviews
The Guardian of the Palace is the first novel in a modern fantasy series set in a New York City where magic is real—but hidden, suppressed, and dangerous when exposed.
When an ancient magic begins to leak into the world, a small group of unlikely allies is forced to act…
I have been a baseball fan since the New York Mets won the World Series in 1969. Unfortunately, I am not an athlete, so I needed to figure out how to experience the sport in my own way. That path led me to baseball analysis and fantasy and a career writing about them. I pinch myself every morning that I have been able to turn my passion into my career.
Bill James challenged common wisdom and turned us into more intelligent baseball fans with his Baseball Abstract series back in the 1980s.
I could have recommended any one of the many books he wrote, but this book is a terrific summary of his impact on the game as retold by “colleagues, critics, competitors, and fans.” Who better to describe how important he was to the game than those who were most affected by him? I consider this a great entry point to digging into his terrific work.
Since self-publishing his revolutionary Baseball Abstracts over 25 years ago, Bill James has changed the way that baseball insiders, professionals and fans look at baseball ? and not always for the better, according to some. Recently named to Time magazine's ?100 People Who Shape Our World, ? his influence has been recognized the world over. This book is a collection of essays from baseball insiders on what Bill James has meant to them and what they each see as his biggest influence on the game of baseball.
I’m A.M. Geever, and I write post-apocalyptic and disaster fiction. I’ve always been curious about what we are as humans—good or bad, or a mix of both? I'm fascinated by how ordinary people rise—or break—when the world falls apart. Disasters and apocalypses strip life down to its essentials: survival, love, loyalty, and the choices that define us. While I'm woefully unprepared for a zombie apocalypse or other disasters, I’ve spent years imagining "What would I do if...?" That curiosity fuels my writing and my reading. The books on this list captured that same feeling for me—gritty, hopeful, and deeply human stories that keep you wondering: if society crashed tonight, who would you become?
I could not stop listening to Deadly Lockdown because it was so exciting. I had to know what happened next.
I’ve thought of how I would get through different disaster scenarios (as you do), and a pandemic is the one that actually scares me. I’m not worried about zombies or an EMP, but a deadly disease? Egad. The pace of this story never lets up, and the characters were ones I cared about. I found them frustrating at times, but whatever they chose, I believed it.
One thing I really liked was the medical accuracy. Misty Zaugg is a physician, and her expertise made this ‘What if?’ story feel all the more real. And scary.
A deadly illness. Panicked lockdown. And two sisters who’ll stop at nothing to save each other.The second wave of the Siberian Flu catches the country completely unprepared.Instead of killing the old and frail, the young and healthy are dropping . . . in hours, not days.Kate, a new doctor, will sacrifice everything to break her and her sister free from a controlling stepfather and a dead-end small town existence. Moments from landing the critical job she needs, St. Louis falls apart around her.Now it’s a race to survive. She has to fight through a city turning deadlier by the second…
What is it about women in their forties, fifties and beyond? What’s that you say? They feel invisible? A bit boring? Something about menopause? No, actually, I was going to say they’re absolutely bloody brilliant. That’s why (especially after entering my own fifth decade) I wondered where all the kickass midlife women were on TV and in literature. One editor admitted to me once that it was ‘safer’ to write about younger women, that people weren’t so drawn to the midlife heroine. But the more I thought about it, the more I realised how many great stories just weren’t being told.
This poignant, tragi-comedy of a novel is
both relatable and uplifting.
And though the protagonist is going through a bit
of a crisis, it’s ultimately a story of a woman finding herself and coming into
her own.
Grace’s relationship with her teenage daughter is so well described –
as mum of a teen girl I recognised the sadness she felt when she realised her
daughter needed her less than she’d used to.
Aury and Scott travel to the Finger Lakes in New York’s wine country to get to the bottom of the mysterious happenings at the Songscape Winery. Disturbed furniture and curious noises are one thing, but when a customer winds up dead, it’s time to dig into the details and see…
I’ve been reading baseball annuals and previews since I was a kid and my must-haves were Street & Smith’s Baseball Yearbook and Bill Mazeroski’s Baseball. I was a contributing writer for several years to Ultimate Sports Publishing’s annual baseball magazines, which for a while came close to the old Mazeroski releases. I edited several of Baseball America’s Almanacs when I was on staff there and have written Top 30s for a number of the Prospect Handbooks. I get that everything is available online these days, but there’s something about having it all in one place, locked in for all time, there for reference whenever needed.
The Sporting News last released the Guide in 2006. TSN stopped printing magazines altogether several years later. But I have dozens of the old ones in my library, dating back to the 1940s. They’re a handy reference, and a great place to fall down rabbit holes. When the internet became the go-to place for baseball statistics, TSN found it hard to sell these.
Baseball America’s annual Almanac fills some of that real estate, and fortunately they keep printing them.
I first realized the power of games when I won the Geography Bee in my elementary school. I had been playing Carmen Sandiego, which encouraged me to study maps and read almanacs. I started to see how games could motivate interest in all different topics. But I didn’t realize I could makegames until I was a graduate student at MIT, and I made an augmented reality game to teach history. Since then I have been designing games to inspire connection, care, and curiosity. I am Associate Professor and Director of Games at Marist College, and I have designed media for organizations like the World Health Organization, Scholastic, and Nickelodeon.
If we want to inspire the world, we need to start by teaching the next generation. Gaming SEL shows us how games can teach important skills like compassion, care, and perspective-taking. Dr. Farber, the book’s author, and I have collaborated on research in this area, and it is exciting to see the power of games in helping our students learn, grow, and care about each other.
Games enable children to practice emotions in spaces that are free from actualized consequences. With thoughtful guidance, games can help children manage emotions, perspective-take, demonstrate empathic concern, and exhibit prosocial behaviors.
Emerging research suggests that these competencies-also known as social and emotional learning (SEL) skills-are, in fact, teachable. In Gaming SEL: Games as Transformational to Social and Emotional Learning, Matthew Farber investigates the rich opportunities games have in supporting SEL skill development. Experts from the fields of education, game development, and SEL-including folks from CASEL, the Fred Rogers Center, Greater Good in Education, iThrive Games, Minecraft Education, and UNESCO MGIEP-share…
I am a chocolate loving writer, goat yoga enthusiast, and author of several successful children’s books specializing in early learning, along with an award-winning line of gratitude coloring journals. I hope to inspire a love of reading through education and laughter. My latest book, Gomer the Gassy Goat has sold over 21,000 units since 2021, and was recently referenced in The New York Times about the importance of using humor in books for kids to inspire a love of reading. “Not every book has to reach a lesson. Sometimes it can just be fun.” - Mr. Price
This poor little boy thinks his butt is broken because there’s a crack at the back. Told in rhyme, little ones and adults alike will love the silliness of this book as the main character searches for a new butt. The giggles will be plenty... they were in our house.
Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!
On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…
I have dedicated four decades to guiding couples toward deeper intimacy and understanding. My passion for relationship dynamics has driven me to teach couples courses for over 30 years, experiences from which my book listed below was directly inspired. Witnessing countless relationships blossom through improved communication and emotional connection fuels my enthusiasm. I have selected books for this list that personally moved and enlightened me, each contributing unique insights into cultivating richer, more fulfilling relationships and sparking genuine transformations in myself and the couples I've supported.
I appreciated this book's idea of 'relationship ceilings' and how we unconsciously limit our capacity for intimacy. I also liked its practical approach and practical tools that I could practice with my wife and modify for my own workshops.
I resonated with its emphasis on the importance of vulnerability and its association of vulnerability with courage.
Here is a powerful new program that can clear away the unconscious agreements patterns that undermine even your best intentions. Through their own marriage and through twenty years' experience counseling more than one thousand couples, therapists Gay and Kathlyn Hendricks have developed precise strategies to help you create a vital partnership and enhance the energy, creativity, and happiness of each individual. You will learn how to: Let go of power struggles and need for control; Balance needs for closeness and separateness; Increase intimacy by telling the "microscopic truth"; Communicate in a positive way that stops arguments; Make agreements you can…
