Uplifting Love

After losing her husband, writer Abigail Carson has all but given up on life. Having spent the last year cocooned in her Manhattan apartment, Abigail is suddenly forced to find a new home where she can stretch her dwindling savings. Intent on isolation, she moves to a tiny village in Nova Scotia where she'll have no one to interrupt her solitude. Little does Abigail realize that small-town life offers far less privacy than the big city. With neighbors knocking on the door bearing homemade treats and invitations, Abby soon finds herself immersed in the lives of the people of South Haven.

When the Mayor of a picturesque Italian town launches a new scheme to rejuvenate the community, his advertisement is read with interest and excitement by many. Zara is in her thirties and desperate to get on the property ladder. Tim and Lynda are retiring and need a project. Some are looking for a peaceful bolthole. Others hope to make a profit, start a business, escape a dull life or an unhappy relationship. And there is someone who just might be hiding their true motivation...

As one of the world's leading experts on disaster, Lucy Easthope has been at the centre of the most seismic events of the last few decades - advising on everything from the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami to the 7/7 bombings, the Salisbury poisonings, the Grenfell fire and the COVID-19 pandemic. She has travelled across the world in this unusual role, seeing the very worst that people have to face and finding that even the most extreme of situations, we find the very best of humanity. In her moving memoir, she reveals what happens in the aftermath. 

Ever since Ruby was tiny, she has been unique. Her smiles are magically rare, and she likes things done in a very particular way - her blocks are always color-coded, and her toy animals stand in regimented lines. She’s also the daughter of Sara’s dreams - even on days when being a mother to a three-year-old is exhausting. Not everyone understands Ruby like Sara does though. Not Sara’s husband Mike, and certainly not her disapproving mother-in-law, Barbara. So when circumstances force their family to move in with Barbara, Sara knows it’s going to make motherhood even harder. 

When Jemima loses her beloved grandfather, keeping his allotment alive seems like ideal way to feel close to him. She's never fitted in before - is this her chance to find where she really belongs? Finally Melissa has the allotment she's been longing for to distract her while her husband works away - even if it is chest-high in weeds. But when she looks for help in the wrong place, she finds she's the hottest topic of gossip.

Love is in the air in the little village of Barton-in-the-Dale. Anyone can see that Ashley Underwood and Emmet O'Malley are made for each other. They've just got to admit it to themselves. But as the saying goes, the course of true love never did run smooth. While romance blossoms on one side of the village, an angry young boy struggles to believe in love. But when tragedy strikes, he learns that comfort and care can come from the most unexpected of places.

Seven-year-old Jake's heart is failing, and he doesn't want to leave his dad, Simon, alone. So he makes a decision: to find Simon someone to love before he goes. Beth is determined to forget the past. But even when she leaves New York to start afresh in a Lake District village, she can't shake the secrets that haunt her. Single dad Simon still holds a candle for the woman who left him years ago. Every day is a struggle to earn a living while caring for his beloved son. He has no time for finding someone new.

Eve, Nessa, and Molly are all in their 70s. Over the years, they’ve laughed and cried and they’ve been by each others’ sides as colleagues, flatmates, and mothers. And they’ve grown old disgracefully together in their golden years....

But all good things must come to an end. As one of their trio takes her final journey, a very large glass is raised to fun, frolics, and–most importantly–friendships.

Luna Lark used to love her name, but that was before people started saying it differently. Luna doesn't want pity, what she wants is a fresh start. Somewhere she can make headway on her next novel, mend her broken heart and - most importantly - keep herself to herself. For that Luna needs the most remote place she can find: Ondingside, a magical little island off the wild coast of Scotland. And when the town is cut off on her first night by a freak July snowstorm it feels like fate. 

Single mum and all-round superwoman Sally Freeman wants a better life for herself and her son, Charlie, so she sets about improving things for them. Just as her mission begins, enter Spencer Knight, who's offering Sally a ticket to a new life. He's got the looks, the charm—everything she could wish for. But is he really the answer to her prayers, or does her hapless ex-boyfriend, Johnny, still hold the key to her heart?

When your life crumbles around you, it's hard to find something to be thankful for. Nevertheless, Gabby Marshall is determined to start anew in sunny Miami. New city, new job, and two new interesting roommates bring lots of new opportunities for a fresh start. As well as some challenges and surprises. Gabby's putting her heart and soul into her new career, without the distraction of love getting in the way.

Are you ready to embark on a heartwarming journey that celebrates the beauty of aging? Dive into Ageless Adventures: 101 Uplifting Short Stories for Seniors, a collection of 101 unforgettable short stories designed to uplift your spirits and reignite your zest for life. From humorous escapades to touching moments of love and heroism, this book is a tapestry of emotions that will leave you inspired and brimming with joy.

Listen to stories from the best-selling Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul series, Volumes I, II, and III. This trilogy is packed with compassion, love, experience, and wisdom.

Summer 1968. When thirteen-year-old Jack Elliot overhears the barbershop men grousing, he devises a secret plan to keep his oldest brother, Pete, from the draft. If famous boys don’t go to war, he’ll make his brother their small town’s biggest celebrity. Jack gets unexpected help when his book-smart cousin Frankie arrives in their rural Pennsylvania town for the summer. Together, they convince Jack’s brothers to lead an expedition to find a fighter jet that crashed many winters ago—the perfect adventure to make Pete a hero. 

TV reporter Kate Bradley arrives in Manhattan ready to take on a challenging new position as a national news correspondent. When a massive power outage plunges New York City into darkness, the disaster she expected to cover takes an unexpected turn. Someone is leaving thousands of mysterious gifts throughout the city, and the only clue to the giver's identity is the occasional note from "A Stranger."

It is music to the spirit and the rhythm of the soul. There’s no feeling more wonderful than to know that you are loved and supported unconditionally. Yet, for the strong Black queen, love can be quite elusive sometimes. Her assertiveness is labeled as aggression; her standards are labeled as arrogance. She’s been told to conform to an image that is not her, nor that of her ancestors. Sometimes, she’s been so hurt that she ends sabotaging her relationships herself, because she feels undeserving of affection, unworthy of love.

The rules are simple. Choose the most significant moments from your relationship - one for each hour in the day. You'd probably pick when you first met, right? And the instant you knew for sure it was love? Maybe even the time you watched the sunrise after your first night together?  

Make each of your morning a ritual where you celebrate yourself as the Black queen you are. Embrace the infinite goodness in your heart. Just be. Expect all that is good to come to you. Let go of your indecisiveness and speak abundance, peace and success into your life. You are blessed. You are an amazing and beautiful person who deserves endless happiness! Here you’ll find empowering positive affirmations carefully crafted to start your day the best way possible. Listen to them at least five minutes a day.

The strong Black woman is the healed woman. Emotional self-care affirmations are grounded on kindness, even when the message is brutal honesty. They are not just a ritual to cross off a checklist. They are a hard reset of the way you show yourself love. They are a reminder that you are beautifully created, no matter your flaws, and that you are brilliant and wonderful regardless of what life is throwing at you. Listen to them everyday. Feel them in your soul. Make it a ritual that you’ll look forward to performing each and every day.  

 Children shouldn’t have to worry whether their actions and choices, rights or wrongs, or who they are will cause you to withhold love or affection. They should feel able to count on your love no matter what.