Business & Investing

The Farmer’s Kitchen Handbookby Marie W. Lawrence

More and more cooks are turning to their own gardens or to local farmers’ markets to find inspiration for their meals. Eating fresh, local produce is a hot trend, but lifelong Vermonter Marie Lawrence has been cooking with produce from her gardens, buying milk from the farmers up the road, and lavishing her family and lucky friends with the fruits of her kitchen labor since she was a kid. In this book she includes recipes for everything from biscuits and breads to pies and cookies, soups and stews to ribs and roasts. Also included are instructions for making cheese, curing meats, canning and preserving, and much more.

Organized by month to coordinate with a farmer’s calendar, cooks will find delicious recipes including orange date bran muffins and old fashioned pot roast in January, hot spiced maple milk and fried cinnamon buns in March, mint mallow ice cream in July, Vermont cheddar onion bread in October, and almond baked apples with Swedish custard cream in December. Other recipes include grilled chicken with peach maple glaze, veggie tempura, raspberry chocolate chip cheesecake, and dozens of other breads, salads, drinks, and desserts that are fresh from the farmer’s kitchen.

In addition to the recipes, readers will find old-fashioned household hints, a harvest guide, and a place to record your own favorite family recipes. Whether you have your own farm and garden or support your local farmers’ market, this book will make seasonal cooking a true pleasure.

Ron Howard: From Mayberry to the Moon…and Beyondby Beverly Gray

Ron Howard: From Mayberry to the Moon… and Beyond, the first full-length biography of Ron Howard, takes an in-depth look at the Oklahoma boy who gained national fame as a child star, then grew up to be one of Hollywood's most admired directors. Although many show biz kids founder as they approach adulthood, Ron Howard had the advantage of brains, common sense, and two down-to-earth parents who kept him from having an inflated view of his own accomplishments. He also had a longstanding goal: to trade the glare of the spotlight for a quieter but equally creative life behind the camera. This biography tracks his career from 1960, when he debuted as six-year-old Opie Taylor on The Andy Griffith Show through 2002, when he accepted his Academy Award® as Best Director for A Beautiful Mind.

Author Beverly Gray, an entertainment industry veteran, has spoken to teachers, friends, and professional colleagues from all phases of Howard's career. She has also combed the archives to gain further insight into this very private man whose accomplishments have brought pleasure to so many.

Werewolf Nightsby Mari Hamill

It’s not easy living in a small town where everyone knows your high school sweetheart disappeared and your husband died in a boating accident. That’s what Catherine Mercy, star of this new novel, faces every time she goes on a date.But the small-town bakery owner is drawn to Greg Byron, a sexy movie star in town to film the story of Wereville’s werewolf legend, and gets closer to him when she’s cast to replace the female lead who vanishes. Fate steps in, however, and the legend becomes more than just a story.Although Catherine had just about given up on love, Greg makes his way into her heart, despite some deception when they first meet. Just when the two realize their feelings, a wolf bites Greg.Suddenly Greg, Catherine and friend Steve, a werewolf legend buff, must figure out if the town’s legend is real. Should that be the case, Greg will turn into a werewolf when the moon becomes full, and someone’s destined to die. Catherine must decide if she has the courage to help Greg once and for all, even if it ruins her last chance for true love.In Werewolf Nights, author Mari Hamill blends fantasy, intrigue and passion to create a chilling, unique story.

Misdirection: How Misaligned Incentives, Corporate Greed and Irresponsibility Caused a Blind Spot on Your P&Lby Michael M. Adams

“Misdirection” is a step-by-step playbook for CEOs, CFOs, business owners and HR executives that will help you identify and mitigate what can be the largest cause of negative operating leverage in your business.

No matter your industry, company size, or location, this book will provide the tools to help you uncover what every other consultant has ignored. These expenses, hiding in every business, are disguised as liabilities but can become a powerful asset. You can look at this book as a self defense, judo of sorts, to protect your company from unnecessarily overspending on what should be a manageable expense. Not only do we address cost but we discuss employee morale, improving company culture and how all these topics are tied together.

Many times I see companies sacrifice the important for the urgent. This causes businesses to neglect what they believe they cannot change and instead focus on what they know they can.

This blind spot on your P&L has been largely overlooked because you have been trained to overlook it. In fact, most business owners, C-suite executives, mayors, governors, and union heads have been trained to delegate this expense to non-P&L managers. This is because they’ve always thought there was no way to control this expense. In reality, they have been kept in the dark by the misaligned incentives in this multi-billion dollar industry.

Warren Buffet once famously called GM “a health and benefits company with an auto company attached.” It has also been reported that Starbucks spends more on health insurance for its employees than it does on coffee beans. For most companies, health insurance is the second or third largest expense after payroll and raw materials.

This puts you in the healthcare business! I have just one question for you–how is your healthcare business doing? If my asking that question made you feel uncomfortable, that’s ok–it’s just the Cartel’s programming taking over.

When organizations spend millions of dollars in a belief system, they try very hard to hold on to it. In this book, you will learn:

– The financial hedging strategy that will allow your company to arbitrage risk of $40,000 – $1M, down to less than $5,000.
– Who is the Cartel and how they have been paid billions by ripping off millions of people and business just like yours.
– Why your company unnecessarily overpays for what should be a manageable expense.
– How to turn a rented liability into an asset you own.
– Why healthcare supply chain price gouging causes the quality of your health plan to diminish, and what you can do about it.
– How a few simple steps can increase your company’s EBITDA each and every year.
– The fastest way to recapture a decade or more of losses – that you have already experienced.
– Recognize the “learned helplessness” that has gradually crept into your awareness over the last 10+ years.
– How price and cost are different and how we can use this to make your health plan better.

This book is a plainly written, common sense guide to why you overpay for healthcare at work and how to give your employees the best health care plan they have ever had. Doing this will give you a literal competitive edge in your market, just be sure to read this before your competitor does.

Forward by Craig Lack, Best Selling Author and labeled as “The most effective consultant you’ve never heard of”.

The Call of Magic – Book One of The Fool’s Journeyby A.R. C.

Freshly graduated from high school, Emma Lie has never let go the betrayal her father served her.
On the eve of her college departure, burdened with grand designs, Emma finds herself branded by a strange mark.

Bewildered by its appearance, Emma becomes distracted, then suspicious, of a captivating boy named Thies. Amid a passionate moment, she demands the truth from him. The cryptic answers Emma gets in return skew her reality forever.

Emma is thrust into the world of magic, stolen away from her home. Lofty intentions derailed, her mother in mortal danger, and forced into magical servitude, Emma must fight for survival and the life she had planned even as she battles for her own heart.

Looking for more reasons to read The Fool’s Journey?

The Call of Magic is the first book in a massive New Adult Paranormal Romance / Urban Fantasy series. With elements of Sword and Sorcery and Magic Realism, the universe is bound by a grand metaphysical reveal of the tarot cards.

And there’s never a wait for new content.

Daily-published short stories within the universe (written / audiobook) can be found on the publisher’s website, and a new full-length novel will be released every month.

This series contains some language and written descriptions of violence, sex, and death.

Fumbleby Eva Haining

Faith Fairchild has a plan.

Now, all she needs is the man.

Hunter Vaughn was voted sexiest man alive four years running. He is mouthwatering in every way imaginable. A football legend – he’s about to be entered into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. My job is to keep him happy no matter what.

He has charm, class, money, and experience…

Everything I want in the man I’m going to convince to take my virginity.

Faith Fairchild is my new assistant and half my age, with no concept of just how sexy she is. I would love nothing more than to bend her over my desk and show her who’s boss, but my golden rule is don’t sleep with virgins. I want no strings sex with a woman who knows what she’s doing.

Just because I don’t plan to score, doesn’t mean I can’t play the game… right?

When challenged to a little bump-and-run, can the innocent virgin really play the ultimate player?

FUMBLE is a sexy, lighthearted romance.

STANDALONE FULL-LENGTH NOVEL

The Elements (Silver Coin Saga Book 1)by Mark Stallings

Death comes with the Harvest. Salvation lies in the Valley of the Moon, along the path of Martial Magic.

Xan always assumed he would be apprenticed to an herbalist in the sleepy village of Mogu and follow the Path of Peace, just like his father before him. It is the way–has always been the way.

But when his village is sacked by a raiding force of vicious monsters, corrupted by dark Qi, life as Xan knows it is over. Family dead. Villagers slain. His home burnt to ash.

Now, all Xan wants to do is figure out why his people were targeted and get revenge on the merciless creatures sweeping across the continent like a plague of locusts. Spreading their vile corruption. His only hope at salvation and retribution lies in the Valley of the Moon, at the fabled Xing Yi School of Martial Magic. If he is to succeed, he will need to learn to cultivate the energy of the elements, hone his martial and crafting skills, and complete the school’s harsh tests and trials. It will take more than a passing grade at this school, though, and not all that fail survive the experience…

“A thrilling blend of mystical martial arts, crafting, and cultivation!” –eden Hudson, Bestselling Author of the Path of the Thunderbird, Rogue Dungeon, and Jubal Van Zandt series

The Cavanaugh Houseby Elizabeth Meyette

Age-old secrets are locked in this house . . .

And a ghost holds the key.

Why did Aunt Helen leave Jesse Graham this deserted house? The convenience to her new job is uncanny, but people’s reaction to her living there is unnerving.

Questions about her aunt’s death lead Jesse to investigate, and she finds it difficult to trust anyone, even her self-absorbed mother. She uncovers a web of deceit that reaches far beyond the occurrences of twenty-eight years ago.

Her dearest friend Maggie, aka Sister Angelina, SSJ, is her lifeline to sanity. Joe Riley is irresistible, but secrets obstruct involvement with him until Jesse can solve the mystery surrounding her aunt’s death.

As the house slowly reveals its secrets, Jesse’s life is threatened. Someone doesn’t want those secrets unearthed and will stop at nothing, even murder, to keep them hidden.

This mystery will keep you guessing. Start guessing now.