Memoirs Books

Book SynopsisClimb aboard Big Blue and ride along with veteran trucker, Long-Haul Larry as he tells tales of his journeys across America's heartland.Share in the humor and struggle of driving a truck for the first time and teaching others to do the same.Experience nail-biting tension while trucking through ice and wind.Learn how to train a cat and how not to train your wife.Find out what to wear when the shooting starts and discover the fastest way to get a Thanksgiving turkey.Know how NOT to meet your maker and what it's like to walk a stranger to the hereafter.Larry's stories will move, entertain, and impress you in ways you never imagined as you experience life as an American trucker.Publisher Note: Truckerology is a clean and wholesome read appropriate for readers of all ages. This book is a series of short-stories sure to warm the heart and tickle the funny-bone.

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Book SynopsisMelanie Gibson was an independent woman with a good job, multiple college degrees, and a condo in the trendy part of town. She also had a few mental illnesses, a minor substance abuse problem, and rotten relationship skills. She was a high-functioning crazy who needed a good kick in the pants, literally and metaphorically. In early 2013, as a last desperate means to save her sanity, Melanie turned to a nearly forgotten childhood activity: the Korean martial art of taekwondo. As if the universe were listening, she discovered her West Texas childhood taekwondo instructors’ Grandmaster operated a taekwondo school a few miles from her home in Fort Worth, Texas—and she decided to start her training over as a white belt. In taekwondo, Melanie felt like she had a fresh start in more ways than one. She found an inner peace she’d never known before, a sense of community, a newfound confidence, and a positive outlook on life. The kicking and screaming she was doing in class quieted the long-term kicking and screaming in her mind. Funny and frank, Kicking and Screaming: A Memoir of Madness and Marital Arts is the story of Melanie’s life-changing journey from troubled, lost soul to confident taekwondo black belt.Trade Review“Melanie’s story proves that mental illness can be overcome. That alone would be enough, but that fact that she rekindled her love of taekwondo and used it for its true purpose (inner peace) made it that much more compelling. A must-read for anyone looking to get out of a rut!” —Grayson Berry, actor on Cobra Kai “Gibson’s sharp-witted, tenacious personality radiates throughout this spirited book, and her determination should prove contagious, spurring readers to discover a pathway through which they can combat mental illness and discover their true selves. . . . An inspirational, sharp, and disarmingly humorous account about taekwondo and mental health.” —Kirkus Reviews “I am left in awe of Melanie’s courage to reveal her darkest struggles in the hope of helping others. Her fight to find the light inside herself and share it with the world is a tale of inspiration for anyone–martial artist or not. Let the breakthrough in these pages be a call to us all to transform from our own worst enemy to our own best friend.” —Ando Mierzwa, Happy Life Martial Arts

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Book SynopsisJanet Duffy, a spunky, seventeen-year-old Irish girl, is eager to start college—but instability between her alcoholic father and self-absorbed mother jeopardize her dream, so she sets up her own apartment with her younger sister in Jamaica, Queens, and treks to City College in Manhattan, New York. The routine is deadening, but she finds purpose in the black community, working for a mural painter and volunteering for a civil rights activist. After turning eighteen, Janet marches with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and falls for a young black saxophone player, Carmen. Her father, a policeman, explodes over their relationship, so Janet rebels—runs away with the jazz musician, and then winds up in the East Village in the Summer of Love. In the ensuing months she deals with heartbreak, sexual harassment, poverty, and danger—but eventually, she asks for the help she needs in order to pick up the pieces of her life and return to her dream.Trade Review“Candid and wholehearted, Rebellion, 1967: A Memoir offers a window into an era of turbulence and dramatic change, and keeps the reader’s attention riveted from cover to cover. Highly recommended!” —Midwest Book Reviews “It takes rare courage to be this vulnerable, honest, and authentic in a memoir. With heart wide open, Janet reveals herself as a girl whose path was driven by intellect, curiosity, and a quest for justice. The history she weaves into her personal story gives gravity to the book. A compelling story.” —Denise Page, writer, storyteller, diversity trainer, and vision engineer with F.U.N. (Fired Up Network) “Now is the best time for this memoir to come out. Janet has an important message to deliver.” —Sonja Ahuja, Capacity Building and Training Partner, Co-Creating Effective and Inclusive Organizations (CEIO)

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Book SynopsisHope Is a Bright Star is the story of a mother’s journey from shock and fear at her young daughter’s cancer diagnosis to anguish and despair at her death just a year later—and, finally, to peace and acceptance of her new life.When thirteen-year-old Elizabeth is diagnosed with a rare bone cancer, Faith is in awe of her courageous child, who faces her plight straight on and inspires all who meet her. Despite an army of medical professionals who provide innovative care for Elizabeth, she dies, and Faith and her surviving daughter, Olivia, are thrown into a maelstrom of grief. They find unexpected comfort in the arms of their family, friends, and community—but Faith faces another shock when she has her own cancer diagnosis while navigating the uncharted waters of a life she never expected. In time, Faith discovers moments and places of comfort and peace, and she slowly changes from a mother in despair to a woman with hope for the future. At turns heartbreaking and heartwarming, Hope Is a Bright Star reveals how abiding love can heal a family.Trade Review2022 16th Annual National Indie Excellence Awards Finalist in Grief2021 CIBA Journey Book Awards Finalist2021 Nonfiction Authors Association Book Awards Gold Winner2021 Living Now Book Awards Gold Winner in Digital Media2021 Firebird Book Awards Winner in Cancer2021 Firebird Book Awards Winner in Memoir2021 Firebird Book Awards Winner in Parenting & Family“A strong, poignant addition to the genre; best for fellow travelers.”—Kirkus Reviews“Faith encapsulates the strength of humanity, the real essence of a life well-lived, and the power of the human mind to overcome adversity and rise stronger, enlightened, and aware of your real purpose on earth. Elizabeth and Faith’s story is going to help others find the strength to find light when everything seems engulfed in darkness. This is a highly recommended read.”—Readers’ Favorite, 5-star review“From the very beginning of the book, the reader is swept up into all the emotions that author Faith Wilcox pours onto each page. The depth of grief and heartbreaking loss is present throughout, but it is tempered by the strength of love and its enduring and amazing ability to heal even the deepest, most unfathomable pain—the loss of a child. Readers who have suffered such a loss will find the author's emotional struggles familiar and raw, but the message of hope and survival in the face of such tragedy may help guide them through their own journey from darkness into light.”—Nonfiction Authors Association Book Awards“Beautifully written, insightful, and unsentimental, Hope Is a Bright Star reminds us that love, loss, and life's unexpected turns reveal an intelligence blessing all of us and this world.”—Maria Housden, author of Hannah’s Gift and Unraveled“Hope Is A Bright Star, a memoir by Faith Fuller Wilcox, is a raw, honest and beautiful reflection on loss, love, and healing. In 2000, Faith's thirteen-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a malignant tumor of the bone that would ultimately end her life. Wilcox invites us into her journey, allowing us to feel with her and to glimpse the profound impact that such a diagnosis and loss can have on a mother and on a family. As readers, we witness a young girl’s courage in the face of a life-threatening illness, a mother’s grief, and, finally, a family’s resilience as they piece their lives back together and move forward, finding meaning where they can, holding on to hope despite devastating loss. Reading this intimate account was a privilege and an inspiration; it shows us all that it is possible to survive and even eventually thrive when faced with life's greatest challenges.”—Annie Brewster, Internist at Massachusetts General Hospital, Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School, Founder of Health Story Collaborative“A tender and honest recounting of one bereaved mother’s halting steps through the dark of grief back toward the light of human connection. Hope Is A Bright Star offers us compelling evidence of the redemptive power of love to restore meaning to a world ruptured by loss and a compass for those on the journey through the reaches of grief, pointing us back home.”—Pat O'Malley, MD, Medical Director Pediatric Palliative Care, MassGeneral Hospital for Children (MGHfC)“This memoir takes us from the devastation of a grieving mother’s loss, through the painful and light-filled paths that lead to her healing. The clarity and simplicity of her prose immersed me in a story that will resonate with anyone who has suffered loss, a story that moves through death to embrace life.”—The Reverend Cathy H. George, Associate Dean, Berkeley Divinity School at Yale

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Book SynopsisIt is August 1990, and Iraq has just invaded Kuwait, setting off a chain reaction of events leading up to the first Gulf War. Vicki Cody’s husband, the commander of an elite Apache helicopter battalion, is deployed to Saudi Arabia—and for the next nine months they have to rely on written letters in order to stay connected.From Vicki’s narrative and journal entries, the reader gets a very realistic glimpse of what it is like for the spouses and families back home during a war, in particular what it was like at a time when most people did not own a personal computer and there was no Internet—no iPhones, no texting, no tweeting, no Facetime. Her writing also illuminates the roller coaster of stress, loneliness, sleepless nights, humor, joys, and, eventually, resilience, that make up her life while her husband is away. Meanwhile, Dick’s letters to her give the reader a front row seat to the unfolding of history, the adrenaline rush of flying helicopters in combat, his commitment to his country, and his devotion to his family back home. Together, these three components weave a clear, insightful, and intimate story of love and its power to sustain us.Trade Review2021 CIBA Military & Front Lines Book Awards First Place Winner “A searchingly personal memoir that also provides a thrilling peek into the Gulf War.” —Kirkus Reviews “In Vicki Cody’s Fly Safe, her moving follow-up to her first memoir, Army Wife, she delivers a tour de force full of emotion, determination, grit, and hope, something our country needs now more than ever. Vicki’s engrossing writing style takes us inside her world of handling critical roles as army wife, mom, family readiness group leader, and friend to so many as her husband famously fired the first shots of the Gulf War.” —Anthony J. Tata, Brigadier General, U.S. Army (Retired) and national best-selling author of Chasing the Lion “Cody gives us a front-seat ride on her journey as an Army wife, this time through journal entries and personal letters from her husband as he flew the most dangerous missions of Operation Desert Storm more than thirty years ago. Vicki weaves the correspondence into a gripping, historical narrative that chronicles the fears, tensions, high notes, and loneliness of an Army family waiting at home, all at a time when handwritten letters and sporadic phone calls were the only lifelines. A truly American tale of sacrifice, love, and commitment that, as readers will find out, isn’t over yet. An elegant and riveting work.” —Gina Cavallaro, author of Sniper: American Single-Shot Warriors in Iraq and Afghanistan “Cody has an uncanny way of giving us a vulnerable look behind the curtain of a Commander in theater, and the woman who loves him back on post. Her intimate details of ‘deployed love’ are honest and heartfelt . . . with a level of candor I’ve never before seen. Thank you for your bravery in giving us all a window to your soul, the soul of your marriage, and the soul of those who serve.” —Heidi Collins, former CNN news anchor and proud wife of USAF fighter/attack pilot, Capt. Matt Collins “With unparalleled grace and humility, Vicki Cody pours her soul out on the page for all to experience. In bearing her soul, she captures our hearts. Fly Safe is a must read for all Americans.” —Jimmy Blackmon, author of Pale Horse and Cowboys Over Iraq

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