Daily Archives: April 21, 2017

Confessions of an American Doctor: A true story of greed, ego and loss of ethicsby Max Kepler

In 2005, I was arrested by agents from both the US Postal Service and the Food and Drug Administration for the importation of illegal human growth hormone and botulinum toxin (Botox) from China.

At the time of my arrest, I was a thirty-seven year old Harvard graduate with medical and post-doctoral degrees. I attended one of the finest residency and fellowship training programs in the world at the University of California, San Francisco. I played two sports in college, earned awards at every level of education and training, had wonderful friends and a beautiful three-year-old daughter. Having grown up the son of a restaurant manager and a housewife, I had transcended the humble beginnings of a small Midwestern town to become the quintessential American Dream.

Or so I thought.

But with my arrest on felony importation charges, everything I had worked so hard for was swept away and the entire trajectory of my life was indelibly altered. I would embark on a three year battle not only for my medical license, but also for my freedom. This journey would lead to intense personal introspection, and in that process, I would discover with ugliness, there was also beauty, and with punishment, mercy.

There are many reasons I have written this manuscript, with one of the most important being that I hoped my story would resonate with others who have gone through difficult circumstances as a consequence of a dark side of their personality. With this book, I hope to inspire others to accept and embrace the good and bad, while continually striving for improved self-understanding and acceptance.

I have changed names primarily for legal purposes, but the facts are unchanged. Although the events described in the book occurred more than ten years ago, I think about them nearly every day. The shame and humiliation are ever-present. Any simple Google search of my name reveals the truth, and that truth has affected me over and over, despite the years, as it probably should. As the judge told me that day in a federal courtroom, “You have betrayed the public’s trust.”

This is my confessional.

Korean Girl in Americaby Hope Kim

Hope is not your typical teenage girl. After a tumultuous childhood, she is once again in a new town and a new school which her mother has dragged her to. As is often the case, she is one of the only Asian kids in an all-white school and is still dealing with family issues. Hope is struggling to adjust to her new environment as a freshman in high school, where she meets a school counselor who helps her wade through the entire school year as well as pushes her to explore her past and what it means to her well-being. She is spunky and humorous, as well as contemplative, using prose and poetry to search for answers from the world as well as from God.

Deeply personal to the author, Korean Girl in American is a profound and poignant story about struggling through difficult times and the angst which inevitably comes with tough family situations, new environments, and being in the minority. There is a blend of hardship, humor, pain, and laughter as one teen girl explores her own actions, thoughts, and dreams through the typical as well as unusual events of her teenage life. Join her as you feel, ponder, seek, and laugh with every new hurdle in her life, and search for meaning in her history and future.

Intimate Loverby Jan Springer

One stormy night an injured fugitive with amnesia forces his way into Sara Clarke’s secluded home…

Sara lives alone in the isolated wilderness of Canada, until one stormy night when an injured fugitive forces his way into her home. He’s dangerous, sexy-as-sin and unleashes lusty cravings she never knew she had. Although there can be no future with a man on the run, she’s willing to do whatever it takes to keep him in her life and in her bed.

She smells of sweet peppermint and makes him burn with hot desires. He wants her, needs her and yearns to forget the terror-filled flashbacks that haunt him. Crooked cops hold the key to his mysterious past, and if he’s ever going to give Sara a future they both crave, he’ll have to prove his innocence, and that means facing his dangerous past head on.

Includes a yummy Peppermint Cheesecake with Whipped Cream Recipe!

Dead Dreamsby Brian W. Peterson

When Donald moved back in with his parents, the dreams began. Each dream was different, but they always ended the same way.

Murdered, by his family.

He met a beautiful brunette who was sweet, charming, and smart. Being with her helped put him at ease and made him forget his troubles…but there was something about her that disturbed him, too.

The dreams intensified until they began to blur with reality. His psychologist said the murderous dreams were caused by deeply repressed childhood memories; something horrific had happened in Donald’s past, and the psychologist was determined to help Donald remember.

He could not recall certain events from his past, but he feared–he knew–his dreams were telling him that his family was about to murder him.

He had to stop the dreams–or stop his family.

Tempt Me Like Thisby Bella Andre

"Angst, sexy, sweet and addicting are all things I have come to expect in a Bella Andre book. She delivers that and more." ~ Abbi Glines, #1 New York Times bestselling author

"Pure Bella Andre magic–sweet, sexy and enrapturing. Don't miss this one!" ~ Jasinda Wilder, NYT bestselling author

"Addictions come in all shapes and sizes, but nothing feels as indulgent and irresistible to me as a new Bella Andre book." ~ Natasha Is A Book Junkie Reviews


BOOK DESCRIPTION: From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Bella Andre comes the second book in a new contemporary romance series about The Morrisons! More than 6 million books sold so far!

As one of the biggest rock stars in the business, Drew Morrison can have anything–and anyone–he wants. Only Ashley Emmit, who has joined his tour to work on a college research project, is completely off-limits. Drew promised her father that, once the tour was over, he would send her home pure and untouched by the rock 'n' roll world. But he has never been so tempted by anyone in his entire life. How is he going to make it through this tour without giving in to the urge to drag her into his arms and kiss her breathless?

Ashley has always lived by the rules. But from the moment she meets Drew, none of those rules make sense anymore. Not only does Drew's music affect her deeply…but she's never wanted to kiss anyone so badly. Not that a magnetic star like Drew would ever feel the same way about a brainiac like her, of course. And even if he did, she knows from painful experience that two people as different as they are simply don't belong together.

But when the attraction between Drew and Ashley burns hotter every moment they're together on the tour bus–and they begin to share their deeply hidden and emotional secrets–will either of them be able to resist temptation? Or could giving in to their feelings lead them straight toward a love they never saw coming…

Born of Waterby A.L. Knorr

Everything you thought you knew about mermaids is wrong.

Life for a small-town high school kid in Saltford should be simple and straightforward – for 17-year-old Targa MacAuley, it’s anything but. Navigating life with a supernatural mother is tricky enough, but dealing with the feelings of guilt that she’s never been able to ‘change’, and confusion that she doesn’t seem to be attracted to boys (or girls for that matter), Targa feels like she’s got more demons than the average kid.

When the opportunity to salvage a mysterious wreck in the Baltic arises for her mom, a professional salvage diver by day, Targa jumps at the chance to go abroad for the summer. But it’s when she meets Antoni Baranek, and a boating accident puts them both in danger, that Targa’s world turns completely inside out in more ways than one.

This YA book was such a fun read, I couldn’t put it down (I read the whole book in a day).

Amazon Reviewer

Hide and Seekby Michael Zolezzi

There are certain criminal cases that are talked about generations after the investigation is closed.

They are biopsied, broken down, with every move by the detective analyzed. These cases can make legends or goats out of the investigators.

In Hide and Seek, such a case lands in Detective Jake Skinner and his partner, Detective Dan Rico’s, laps. Having just transferred from South Bureau Homicide, Jake thought taking down an armed bank robber on his first day was as wild as the RHD ride got. He was wrong.

The kidnapping of the wife of the mayor of Los Angeles, who also happens to be a federal prosecutor threatens the core of one of the world’s most famous cities. An internal power struggle, false leads, meddling media, the victim’s own family, and Jake’s personal struggles all threaten to derail the investigation, an investigation that leads to pure evil.

The Mostly Honest History of the City of God, Texasby Will Woodard

The Mostly Honest History of the City of God, Texas

A wonderfully humorous gallop through the historical strangeness that makes up the city of God, Texas. Will Woodard weaves tales of wacky goings-on from the 21st and 19th centuries to help the reader solve the mystery of how this city earned its unusual name.

In the city of God, Texas, fried pies are a form of art. Cows dream of a better life. And in the center of it all there’s Sonny Stevens, wondering when it will rain again, tryin’ not to worry about the bank taking his farm.

And just who is telling us all these crazy stories? Well, he’s probably mostly honest.

Royal Dateby Sariah Wilson

This Cinderella didn’t plan on a prince . . .

Kat MacTaggart is a girl who has a plan for everything–including her holiday ski trip to Monterra with her best friend. Everything is going according to plan until she finds herself careening out of control down a mountainside and being rescued by a guy who looks like Superman’s hotter Italian cousin.

HRH Prince Nico is intrigued by the woman he saved on the slopes and her refusal to date him. He offers Kat a deal–let him show her his country and he’ll pay her to write articles that will help Monterra’s tourism industry. Kat agrees, but given her past and lingering distrust of men, she has one condition–absolutely no kissing.

Thanks to the claims of a jealous British noblewoman and the schemes of a meddling paparazzo, Kat’s rule doesn’t seem to be a problem at first. But the more Kat gets to know Nico and the people around him, the harder it is to remember her keep-your-distance plan. Should she stick to it or risk everything for a chance at happily ever after?