One of our favorite authors, Patricia Leavy, delighted us earlier this year with Shooting Stars Above. Now she’s back at it with a sweeping love story I couldn’t put down, Cinematic Destinies. By the time I was done, there were happy tears rolling down my cheeks. This book is that good. 

Today’s high schools—constrained by low expectations for working-class kids, limitations on teachers’ autonomy, and more segregation than 50 years ago—find it challenging to create an environment that cultivates engagement, learning and a sense of belonging. They can learn something from the successes of the past.

Did you ever wonder about the intricacies of cross-cultural families, reasons for immigration, and family history? It’s so interesting…and complex.

I loved Such Good People, a new book by Amy Blumenfeld. It’s a book about friendships, relationships, life, and how both our choices and our character are always a part of our stories. 

100 Things to Do in Michigan Before You Die, written by travel writer extraordinaire Kath Usitalo (herself a Michigander), is the latest book in a series we absolutely love from Reedy Press.

They are must-reads for any travel, culture, and food lover.

Achieving work / life balance is commonly a goal most of us are told to strive towards. Like climbing a mountain, once on the top, a sense of accomplishment, possibly even fulfillment, awaits. Certainly, the concept of “balance” is welcoming and conjures up a picture of the harmony that exists when both sides of the scale are perfectly even and almost ethereal.

But, how long will that last? 

What does it mean to delve deeply into your life to write a novel? How do you even start? How does an author write deep, diverse characters? 

Such were the questions that AJ Frazier worked through to write his new novel, Mariel. 

He answered them, and then some, in this fascinating thriller that encompasses extraordinarily complex themes in a new and interesting way.

There is so much to discover in Paris that a lifetime isn't enough. And what to do, when we are far away and planning (or dreaming about) a trip? What to see, do, eat, buy? We need help (and inspiration).

Enter the most BEAUTIFUL and inspiring new book: Paris Shopfronts, illustrated by Joel Holland, words by Vivian Song, foreword by Sarah Andelman.