One More Bite Darling dives into topics of eating disorders, depression, and recovery. It is a collection of the author’s personal journal entries over the past six years. In the first two parts, the author, Bronté Rawlings, takes us on a journey from her personal struggles with her mental health and her battle with an eating disorder and depression. In part three “the healing”, she showcases her journey in recovery, bringing hope and light to the reader that things can get better and recovery is possible. She outlines the beauty of her journey with the hope of helping others feel less alone in such an isolating disorder.

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My Love and My Heart is a heartfelt story about a parent’s journey to balance their career passions with the unwavering love and devotion to their children.

As a mother of two beautiful young kids, she faces the challenge of juggling her profession while trying to be fully present for her family. From hectic mornings and after-school activities to soothing bedtime routines, the love between mother and child remains unshakeable. Ultimately, it is in the arms of her son and daughter that she finds peace and gratitude—her heart full, her spirit whole.

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With nothing but a backpack and an open mind, Jean Ramer was ready to turn life on its head. Fed up with a career spent in a classroom of unruly children, Jean decided a change of scenery was in order. The year was 1975, and the Hippie Trail through West and South Asia was a popular route for young people eager for adventure. There began the journey of a lifetime.

Departing from London, England, Jean started out in France and Italy, then moved on to Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, and Thailand, before she made it to Australia. However, Jean’s journey was not without its setbacks. Travel in the 1970s meant no internet, no GPS, and no easy way to retrieve cash. Access to safe drinking water was not guaranteed. Jean describes

with candour and humour how she tackled obstacle after obstacle as she roamed further into unfamiliar cultures.

Although Jean didn’t know it at the time, many places she visited were about to go through drastic changes. The Iranian Revolution and the Soviet-Afghan War closed borders and changed the face of Asia. The eventual capture of serial killer Charles Sobhraj, many of whose victims were back-packers travelling on the Hippie Trail at this time, casts her adventures in a whole new light. Jean’s writings provide a snapshot into this part of the world during a fascinating era in its history. For adventure lovers, armchair travellers, and everyone in between, Jean Ramer’s travel memoir is an eye-opening story of resilience, awe, and self-discovery.

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Part 1 follows Daisy; twenty-one and newly single, hoping a European cruise with her parents will be the perfect way to forget her cheating ex-boyfriend. She plans to put romance on the backburner, unwind and see the world. Instead, she meets the handsome, sarcastic and ever confident Lucca. Torn between her insecurities and their magnetic infatuation, she tries to go with the flow, making friends with a colourful cast of other cruisegoers and exploring the wonders of Europe at each port. However, when the cruise comes to an end, Daisy and Lucca find themselves in a mind field of uncertainty and doubt as they reluctantly say ‘goodbye.’

Part 2 switches to Lucca’s perspective and the effects of their romantic fling once he’s faced with the real world. It tracks the fallout of their love torn relationship years into the future as regret continues to quietly haunt him. By chance, they found one another on that cruise ship, and perhaps chance will let them meet again. Will years of What If grant them a second chance at love or give them the strength to let go of the fantasy forever?

What If. explores the line between infatuation and true love, chance encounters, and a young woman’s awakening into adulthood.

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I AM CORNELIUS is a wonderful read-aloud book with lessons in practicing self-love, gratitude, and kindness that will enrich the lives of children and adults alike. Cornelius shows us how to use these skills to build confidence and self-esteem, navigate bullying, support a friend, and regulate difficult emotions in difficult or scary circumstances. Even when he faces new challenges, with help from his parents and daily practices and affirmations, Cornelius knows deep in his heart that being himself is something to be proud of—and he feels it with love.

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Twenty-five-year-old Taylor Lively has just lost her beloved Aunt Beth—the last of her family. After losing her parents four years ago and then her baby, it was Aunt Beth who helped her through her heartbreak. Now, with Beth gone, Taylor is all alone and unsure of how to move forward.

After the funeral, Taylor learns that Beth has left her everything—including her cottage by the sea. There, Taylor discovers two letters from her aunt: one revealing the cottage is magical, and the other saying that someone—a friend of Beth’s—will be there to help her heal.

That “someone” turns out to be Garrett . . . a ghost. And their meeting is anything but conventional. Garrett promised Beth he’d watch over her niece, though secretly haunting her wasn’t quite what she had in mind. Despite his promise, he didn’t expect to fall for Taylor so quickly—or to struggle with how to reach her.

Despite the shock of meeting a ghost, Taylor can’t ignore Garrett’s charm or the comfort he brings. As they grow closer, Garrett reveals he must complete a task before he can move on, and Taylor is forced to confront her fear of loss once again.

Can she open her heart to someone she may have to say goodbye to? And what will happen when Garrett’s task is complete?

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At some time in our life we will feel the sadness of cognitive impairment or memory loss. It may be our own or that of someone we love. We need stories to shape our sadness in heart-healing ways. This is one of those stories. In it we follow "the woman who loved a thousand things" through a rich life in her home, in a small town on the marsh, through cognitive decline, and a move into assisted living. The woman finds new companions, feels her loss and dreams a hidden growth.

"[Nothing Forgotten] is an exquisite, brilliantly written and tender picture book for adults - and maybe children who are ready, when a family member is experiencing memory loss . . . I can’t think of a book that has moved me this much in a very long time."

—Sheree Fitch, storyteller, poet, educator, and member of the Order of Canada

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Much to the dismay of a wee child, Chaussette—a small, soft, and striped sock—doesn't come back from the laundry one day. But what happens to our favourite socks when they disappear?

Chaussette discovers the answer to that mystery: the world of Under the Dryer! In that magical land she befriends dust bunnies, meets other socks, and has wonderful adventures. But Chaussette misses her twin. Will she ever get back to Christophe and the wee one? Or is her life above ground over for good?

Where Is My Sock? is a charming story about what happens when our socks vanish from the laundry. Full of imagination and delightful illustrations, it’s a perfect book for young readers who love to ask, “Why?” and who want the answer to be as silly and fun as possible.

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Agents 314 and 999 are at it again in this fifth book in the Agents Amiss series.

This time, they are sent to Hollywood, California, in order to work alongside an American agent, Agent 47, to solve a series of ten murders, all committed by poison darts. Aided usefully, for once, by Inventor 12’s latest creation, the agents must catch the felon before more murders occur.

In a journey that takes them down the Californian coast, will the bumbling detectives succeed in yet another adventure, or will they fail at the hands of the Hollywood Hoodlum?

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It was then that John and I were slapped awake by the brilliant color and majestic presence of our hosts. The walls and ceilings that gave us shelter by night had, in the morning’s light, come alive with the vivid forms of men, deer, mountain lion, bighorn sheep, birds and rabbits, all superimposed within a great mural.

The Indigenous peoples of Baja California have long survived the unforgiving conditions of the desert by adapting to nature. But everything changes when the Spanish conquistadors start arriving and the missionaries are deployed. With no written language, the Indigenous shamans paint their people’s history into murals on the walls of mountain caves. As suggested by one such mural, Califa, a clever Cochimi healer, and her shaman husband, temporarily trick the Spanish invaders into retreat. But nothing can keep the massive galleons away forever, and over the next centuries, the Native peoples either acquiesce to the missionaries out of hunger or die from illnesses introduced by the Europeans.

Nearly three hundred years after the establishment of the first Spanish mission, three young American men set out to backpack the length of Baja California. They follow the Camino Real along the trail of the Jesuits, seeking out the Indigenous rock-art sites and what remains of the missions. Along the way, they are frequently aided by descendants of the first colonists and the original Native peoples, though these ranchers, vaqueros, and other hard-working people aren’t exactly sure whether these backpackers aren’t crazy. As they make the 1200-mile, 110-day trek, the Americans encounter many of the same dangers and challenges faced by the Indigenous peoples and their conquerors, while also thrilling to the beauty of the landscape, the generosity of the people, and the mystical enchantment of the cave paintings.

A thoroughly engaging blend of history, historical fiction, and memoir, The Elusive Conquest of Queen Califa brings history to life both as it happened and as it’s being reflected upon in the midst of a great adventure undertaken by three intrepid young men hundreds of years later.

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Every child is unique. Just as each child is different, each child’s adventures will be different too!

Join Frankie as she dives into a great underwater adventure! With her brother by her side, Frankie will use her favourite words to adapt to the underwater world and learn about all her new-found abilities.

These six favourite words, known as the “F-words” for child development, will help Frankie and you – Frankie’s Friends – discover your own adventures and decide how you want to face them.

Originally designed by CanChild as a guiding approach to childhood disability, The F-words for Child Development are based on the World Health Organization's International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health Framework. This book helps readers learn how they can use the F-words in their own lives to discover all of their unique abilities.

A portion of profits from this book will be donated to CanChild to support research supporting childhood development.

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Do you have any disappointments in your life? 

Do you experience any depression?

Do you have feelings of doubt or regret over the way your life has turned out?

Do you feel like you’ve been abandoned? 

Do you feel like nobody cares about you anymore?

Have you been sexually abused? 

Was there someone in your life that took advantage of you sexually? 

Do you harbor feelings of guilt or shame?

Did your Social Developmental skills get hindered as a result of all these things that have happened to you?

Has your belief system that you were taught as a child changed at all as a result of the things that you have had to adapt to? 

Did you have any competitive siblings in your family as you were being raised? 

Were you a “Bedwetter?” 

Feelings of being misunderstood and not being able to find the right words to explain yourself because you’re still trying to figure things out for yourself.  

Do you have Suicidal Thoughts? 

Have you ever thought “Am I good enough?” 

Do you have low self Esteem?

Do you find yourself Giving Up too easily?

Have you or do you abuse Drugs and Alcohol to help take off the stress or use it to mask your pain and hide your feelings? 

Do you live a dangerous lifestyle?  IE: Drive faster than you should?

Do you make bad decisions due to carelessness?

Have you found yourself lashing out or finding it hard to manage your anger? 

We are going to deal with all these issues and more to help you take back control of your life.

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“We all go into the B&B business with rose-coloured glasses. Our enthusiasm piqued, we’re excited to be the best hosts we can be and with optimistic dreams of the happily-ever-after. Then reality hits.”

Embark on a laugh-out-loud journey through the gritty realities of B&B ownership in the Canadian Rockies. What began as a dream of picturesque hospitality soon descends into chaos as the author recounts the highs, lows, and downright absurdities of hosting the public. From entitled guests to atrocious neighbors, every chapter reveals another truth behind the seemingly idyllic life of an innkeeper.

This brutally honest, and often hilarious, account sheds light on the struggle to maintain charm and grace while juggling impossible expectations, operational mishaps and a difficult business partner. You'll laugh, cringe, and never look at a B&B the same way again. Whether you’re thinking about starting your own bed-and-breakfast, or just in need of a wild ride through one woman's survival in the hospitality industry, this book is sure to entertain—and maybe even teach you a thing or two.

Real guests. Real problems. Real survival.

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When Nonna Ida needs a little help, she calls for her granddaughter, Lidia, over the fence. Lidia loves to go over and help Nonna sweep the house, pick beans and tomatoes from the garden, and make apple cake. But one day, Nonna Ida isn’t there to call over the fence. Lidia has to come to terms with her grandmother’s passing—and learn how to keep the memory of her grandmother alive in her heart forever.

Cake with Nonna is a heartwarming, poignant tale about family love, grief, and how we stay close to the memories of our loved ones. The story is full of gently humorous moments that help children and parents talk through a difficult topic. Children need comfort, support, and hope after the passing of a loved one. This book helps them learn how to deal with that loss, and how to find love and joy on the other side.

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Abbottsville, at its surface, is a charming border-town on land never meant to be settled. It’s land that some say is cursed, but that many others have made a suspiciously lucrative living; at a cost that is often unchallenged by its citizens. However, when a young woman, Megan Wilson, goes missing the silence is broken. Unrest is felt amongst the Town as her family accuse an influential leader.

As faith is lost in the local authorities a renowned investigator, John Tarot, is hired by the Mayor to find Megan. Tarot has a clairvoyant gift that once made him a celebrated asset in military intelligence—until his wife was killed and he turned to drink and cynicism. Now working as a private investigator he keeps his gift a secret; but as he arrives in Town his talent is mysteriously no longer available to him.

With the premonitions he once heavily relied on to solve his cases stripped away, Tarot is left to navigate blindly as he uncovers the bizarre underworld that fuels Abbottsville’s prosperity and encounters one perplexing puzzle after another.

Is his on-again, off-again gift finally gone for good? Without it, how can he penetrate the multiple layers of intrigue, greed and conspiracy that lie between him and Megan before it’s too late? Will he ever recover the optimism he had before he lost his wife and, along with her, his faith in humanity?

Without Conviction is an entertaining blend of whodunit and hard-boiled noir for adult fans of classic private eye thrillers.

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Montreal, 1960. Max Marchand’s life is seemingly perfect. He has a beautiful wife, Erin, and together with their four teenaged children, they live in a large house in Westmount—Montreal’s most desirable neighbourhood. Max is successful in his career as a real estate developer, and things couldn’t be going better.

However, the threat of a world nuclear holocaust looms large over the country including the citizens of Montreal, sixty miles from Plattsburg, the site of a U.S. missile installation. Not only that, but Max is dealing with problems of his own. No matter how much he drinks, he can’t get rid of the voice inside his head telling him that his life is meaningless. When things start to escalate and Max’s precarious mental state begins to bleed into both his professional and family life, he decides it's time for him to seek medical help.

But as Max spends more and more time under psychiatric care, Erin begins to worry. Every time Max comes home from the Simpson Memorial Institute, he seems less and less like himself, and Erin starts to suspect that Dr. Smiley isn’t being completely honest with her. Little does Erin know: The truth about the care Max is receiving has deeper, more sinister roots related to the CIA and, on an even larger scale, the Cold War.

Destroying Max is a thrilling historical tale full of family drama and political intrigue as well as moments of connection and hope. Step back into the 1960s and join the Marchands as they navigate a turbulent time in Montreal’s history.

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"...to build a solid foundation for understanding wild medicine and its practical use in our daily life, we must begin at the source. We must recognize the role ecology plays in the lives of these plants. The medicine is more than the plant itself, it is the ecosystem that supports it, and the delicate interweaving of connections that make up the natural world. For nature does nothing without purpose." And thus begins the story of wildcraft medicine.

Wildcraft medicine, as laid out in the pages of this book, is more than a catalogue of medicinal plants, natural cures and remedies. Wildcraft Medicine: In the Presence of Wonder is a very personal exploration of the interrelationship between North American Indigenous plants and their ecosystem. The author’s life long dedication and passion for the subject can be felt through her personal stories of working with the plants and her intimate understanding of their medicinal properties, specifically toward first aid and pain management.

Written using the traditional storytelling style for passing on knowledge, the book incorporates anecdotal stories of time spent with the plants, Indigenous teachings, poems, quotes and pictures to bring life to the written page and enhance the reader’s understanding of the subject matter. The book delves deep into the ethnobotany of Canada’s northern rain forest and Boreal forest regions. Included in the book are over 40 medicinal plant profiles and 25 recipes and remedies with practical advice on their application and usage. Beyond the medicinal properties and home remedies laid out in this book, the author highlights the importance of Indigenous teachings and traditional Earth stewardship, environmental concerns and ecological responsibility.

Wildcraft Medicine: In the Presence of Wonder is a love story!

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As he nears retirement, high school history teacher Ben Henry finds himself thinking more and more about his elderly parents and the loss of family history through the passage of time. With his grandson, Michael, approaching an age where military enlistment was a possibility, Ben’s thoughts increasingly turn to his uncle Ernie Wilson, whom he never really knew. Sixteen-year-old Ernie had lied about his age, joined the army, and on August 27, 1943, shipped out from Halifax to do his part in the fight against fascism and bring his older brother, Bill, a POW, home.

In I Am Able to Tell You Now, author Bill Kennedy skillfully weaves together two very different fictional storylines—that of a brave young man and his best friend, Jean-Paul Beauchamp, as they suffer the chaos, the fear, and the devastation of war on the Normandy battlefield, and Ben, whose exhaustive research in the early years of the twenty-first century about his uncle and that same battlefield becomes the genesis of I Am Able to Tell You Now, a “book within a book.”

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Adventure often ignites fear, but it’s that risk you take that spreads your wingspan wider. This true story takes place in the North African oilfields of Libya where Laureen, a young Canadian woman, lived as an expatriate from 1990 to 1993. There, she learned to appreciate the tranquil Mediterranean and adapt to the serene lifestyle of the Sahara Desert Arab, Muslim and Bedouin cultures.

However, whispering in the calm desert winds, was controversy between the Arab nations and the U.S. Western allies. Also, a civil uprising was brewing in Libya, where the country’s leader Colonel Muammar Al-Gaddafi, who was originally admired by his followers, had developed opposition against him.

The Gulf War broke out causing turmoil throughout most Arab nations and Libya had earned a spotlight on the world stage with accusations of terrorist activity. In April 1992, sanctions applied against Libya by the United Nations affected the oil business, travel options and expatriates’ lives. Laureen’s peaceful introduction to the country had been disturbed and negative incidents planted a seed of unease that perhaps her newfound life would not be as wonderful as originally imagined.

The isolation and female suppression became a struggle and although the cultural, racial, and gender differences sometimes resulted in comical incidents, more often they led to danger — such as black market activities, sexual assault, dramatic escape attempts and being interrogated at gunpoint. But by experiencing fear and prejudice, this young, naïve woman evolved into a strong, resilient survivor who gained worldly knowledge and was given an incredible story to tell.

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To live while drowning. To endure without expecting rescue.

Water is a raw and luminous collection of poetry that wades deep into the currents of trauma, mental illness, and survival. With the wise voice of an old mountain woman—weathered, wise, and unwavering—Grandma Urchin holds the water still long enough for us to peer beneath the surface. From the bleak and unrelenting weight of grief to the flickers of light scraped together in the darkness, her poems uncover profound beauty and goodness in unlikely places: a graveyard, a night snowstorm, the banks of a creek where a beloved horse lost its life, old vinyl records. She speaks from her heart, and from her own personal struggles with autism, schizoaffective disorder of the bipolar flavor, and dissociative identity disorder (formerly known as multiple personality disorder). From a lifetime of physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional hardship, Grandma Urchin offers not solutions, but solidarity.

This book is for the ones awake at 3 a.m. in hospital wards and hollow places, for those navigating diagnosis, their identity, and the aftermath of abuse. Water is a companion, a candle in the fog, a quiet voice saying: You are not alone. There is still something worth finding. Please keep going.

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