Failure Point by Rebecca Hodge

 When a child’s life is on the line, failure isn’t an option.

Jordan Winthrop, an experienced security agent, has built her career on precision and control. But when a high-profile protection assignment leaves a public figure dead, her confidence plummets and her career skitters onto life support. Her last chance at redemption is almost insulting: babysit a single mother suspected of stealing corporate secrets. Her boss is adamant—observe, report, stay invisible.

Then the woman’s eleven-year-old daughter is kidnapped at gunpoint, and orders become irrelevant. A child’s life is at stake, and Jordan can’t stay on the sidelines.

Off the grid and out of options, she allies with the desperate mother in a race to track kidnappers whose motives reach into a multimillion-dollar corporate conspiracy.

But has she identified the real enemy? At the failure point, even trust shatters.

FAILURE POINT is a gripping story of emotionally rich suspense by award-winning author Rebecca Hodge. Dive in for a story you’ll long remember.

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Failure Point - Kindle edition by Hodge, Rebecca. Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

Rebecca Hodge is the award-winning author of WILDLAND, OVER THE FALLS, and ISLAND ENDGAME, books of page-turning suspense that have plenty of heart. When her characters find themselves in impossible situations, they take the initiative instead of watching from the sidelines. In doing so, they discover unexpected inner strength, resilience, and courage.

Following a scientific career as a veterinarian and clinical research scientist, Rebecca discovered how much fun it is to create fictional worlds of her own. She lives in North Carolina, where you’ll find her sipping tea on the screened-in porch with a dog at her feet and a computer on her lap. Visit her online at rebeccahodgefiction.

The Christmas yes List by Melissa Ferguson

 Have you preordered you copy of the Christmas Yes List by Melissa Ferguson yet?

What are you waiting for?

All she wants for Christmas is a rejection.

Chloe Hollis is done being a people-pleaser. After one too many bad decisions--including a job that asked her to cross a line she couldn't--she's determined to change. Her plan? Collect ten nos before Christmas by asking strangers for the most ridiculous favors she can think of.

It should be easy.

But then? Then she meets James.

Instead of shutting her down, the charming out-of-towner keeps saying yes--to Christmas karaoke, to small-town holiday traditions, to every spontaneous, hilarious, totally chaotic idea she throws his way. And the more he says yes, the harder it becomes for Chloe to stick to her plan . . . or protect her heart.

Because James has a reason for saying yes to everything, too--and it might cost them both more than they bargained for.

As their opposite missions collide in a swirl of festive mishaps, unexpected courage, and undeniable chemistry, Chloe starts to wonder if the biggest risk isn't rejection after all . . . but saying yes to something real.

#uplitread #thechristmasyeslist #fiction #holidayromance #feelgoodromance

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The Christmas Yes List: A Heartwarming Holiday Novel: Ferguson, Melissa: 9781400356713: Amazon.com: Books

Melissa Ferguson is the bestselling author of titles including Meet Me in the Margins, Famous for a Living, and How to Plot a Payback. She lives in Tennessee with her family in their growing farmhouse lifestyle and writes heartwarming romantic comedies.

You can find her on her socials at @ourfriendlyfarmhouse.

Eagle Pass by Kristi Copeland

 Family is everything. Even when not connected by blood.

For third-generation rancher Joe Cunningham, the treacherous Rio Grande is more than just a river, it’s a source of frustration and financial loss. As migrants use his land to enter the United States illegally, they destroy his property and put his livestock—and livelihood—at risk.

Migrant crossings increase, forcing Joe to take matters into his own hands. Instead of following protocol, he delivers trespassers directly to Border Patrol. That is, until a young boy, abandoned by the very people Joe has been fighting against, puts his values to the test.

Exhausted and alone, Luis clings to his teddy bear and Joe's loyal dog as his only sources of comfort. But to Joe, the boy represents something more—a glimpse of the son he lost years ago. The more time he and Luis spend together, Joe not only realizes that he's been missing out on the joys of fatherhood but also questions everything he thought he knew about illegal immigration.

As the Cartels close in and Border Patrol hinders his efforts, Joe must rely on the strength and determination of his tight-knit community to keep Luis safe. With his own men falling victim to the ruthless Cartels, Joe knows that time is running out.

Desperate to retrieve their lost merchandise, the Cartels force Joe to make a life-threatening decision: Hand over the boy and give up the newfound purpose in his life, or risk everything to protect him.

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Amazon.com: Eagle Pass: 9798996319619: COPELAND, KRISTI: Books

All my life, writing, sharing experiences through story-telling, and intensive research has interested me. All of these loves are combined to give my readers an experience through the written word. I reside in a small town in northeast Texas and originate from a small town in Michigan. Both MI and TX are prominent in my writing.

Everywhere I look, I see someone begging me to write about them. Music, every day life, and even my husband’s dreams inspire ideas about new books! Like so many of my favorite novels have done for me, I sincerely hope to connect with you through my writing. My simple communication style brings words off the page to a vision in your mind.

Join me as I create scenarios that could happen to anyone…and probably have. Maybe me, maybe you.

Word Salad by Susan Coll

 Matilda loves logic and order, and now her structured world is falling apart—in a bookstore.

Former economics major Matilda is moving back to her hometown of Washington D.C. to care for her ailing mother, and she’s desperate for money. She takes a job at her neighborhood bookstore and tries, in vain, to make sense of illogical business of books. To make things worse, she’s forced to team up with a new hire—the enigmatic, flaky, larger-than-life, Sage—who shows up on her first day of work with zero administrative skills and her tiny, puffy, incessantly urinating dog that resembles an underfed rat.

Something in the chaos begins to remind Matilda of her long-neglected creative side, and she starts to rediscover the person she once was before so much got in the way. But things get even more unmanageable when Matilda and Sage are tasked with putting together an event for the reclusive and controversial Dr. Jordan Rutabaga, a windbag of a public intellectual with a cult following that includes a number of people who would like to literally and figuratively see him dead. Rutabaga has a long list of alleged misdeeds, from plagiarism to failure to pay child support to stiffing the nanny.

As the event date approaches, Matilda and Sage discover that Sage and Rutabaga have their own not uncomplicated past, adding yet another person to list of people who do not wish him well. Add in a lawsuit and an impending snowstorm along with the potentially sinister presence of Rutabaga himself, and Matilda is about to come undone.

Bestselling author Susan Coll’s gastric, bookish, laugh-out-loud comedy of manners reminds us that sometimes things have to completely fall apart for them to perfectly come together.

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Word Salad: A Novel: Coll, Susan: 9781400346684: Amazon.com: Books

Susan Coll is the author of seven novels including REAL LIFE & OTHER FICTIONS AND BOOKISH PEOPLE. Her novel, Acceptance, a satire of the college admissions process, was made into a 2009 television movie starring Joan Cusack and Mae Whitman. Her other books include The Stager, Beach Week, Rockville Pike, and karlmarx dot com. Her work has appeared in publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, NPR dot org, atlantic dot com, and The Millions. She works at Politics & Prose Bookstore and was the president of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation for five years.

Pretty As A peach by Grace Helena Walz

 Delilah Thomas has a stellar track record of avoiding conflict. Her life mantra? Keep the peace. Born to a family she has never fit in, Delilah learned early that no matter what it costs her, it's best to keep quiet, nod, and agree. Now in her late thirties, she has mastered the art and employs it daily with the preschoolers she teaches.

Then Peach Pit sets up shop in her small hometown and infiltrates every female relationship, including Delilah's lifelong best-friend group. A direct sales business, Peach Pit claims its beauty products are organic and all-natural and recruits women to become "Darlings" who host parties to sell products to friends and family. Delilah's friend Betsy is ecstatic to join, drawn by promises of sisterhood and easy income. But something seems off to Delilah.

When customers, including her pregnant friend Eliza, start reporting rashes, Peach Pit refuses to take responsibility. Then Betsy lets an unsettling secret slip, and Delilah can't hold her tongue any longer. With the help of her retired neighbor, Mrs. Chopra, and travel journalist Jasper--Delilah's longtime pen pal and childhood crush, finally in town for a visit--Delilah investigates the company and uncovers the grim truth. She is faced with a choice: Stop pushing and keep the peace, or find her courage and expose Peach Pit's shady business practices, even if it costs her the unthinkable.

Pick up your copy here..                                                                                                                                      Pretty as a Peach: Your next favorite book club pick – for fans of charming, small-town emotional reads in 2026!: Walz, Grace Helena: 9781400352852: Amazon.com: Books

Grace Helena Walz is a former social worker who writes heartfelt book club fiction with Southern settings and characters you'll want as friends. Her titles include Southern by Design and Good Hair Days. Grace resides outside of Atlanta, GA with her husband and two children and writes in the moments between driving carpool and making grocery lists. Pretty as a Peach is her third novel.

Monkeypig by Huw Aaron

 She's a monkey! No, she's a pig! She's . . . Monkeypig?

Molly happily resides in the jungle alongside all the other monkeys, living her best monkey life among the treetops. There's just one problem.

She's actually a pig.

And head monkey Norman knows it. To prove his instincts right, he puts Molly and the rest of her forest family through a series of tests designed to weed out any non-monkey monkeys. Molly gamely jumps . . . er, flops . . . through all of Norman's hoops, doing her piggy best to be the ultimate primate. At the end of this ropes course, they discover a surprise reveal about who the real monkey is after all.

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Monkeypig: Aaron, Huw, Aaron, Huw: 9798217039159: Amazon.com: Books

Huw Aaron is a Welsh cartoonist, author, and illustrator. After a short and fairly hopeless career in finance, Huw found a niche as a magazine cartoonist, producing joke cartoons for, among others, Harvard Business Review, Reader’s Digest, Private Eye, and The Spectator (London). He then started making comics and illustrating children’s books in his native Welsh. Huw’s harshest critics—and his best friends—are his wife, Luned,and their two daughters.

Hollow Twilight by Kieran Starovsky

 It's all fun and games until somebody dies. Delve into the unsettling world of Hollow Twilight, a Ready Player One meets Stranger Things LitRPG where there's no XP to collect and no loot to scavenge, but one wrong move could be the difference between life and death.

Reid, a seemingly average high school senior, is bored of his meaningless life. That is, until he and his friends learn about a new mobile game, Hollow Twilight, and decide to give it a shot. But what starts as a strangely immersive dark fantasy RPG turns out to be far more as the teens realize they've literally crossed over into the game world and must now fight the shadowy monsters hunting them with no clear understanding of how to survive.

It’s do or die for the group, which is par for the course in video games. But in Hollow Twilight, to die doesn’t just mean an inconvenient respawn, and when one of their party members is killed by a vicious monster known as a Pariah, it results in their real-life death.

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Hollow Twilight: Starovsky, Kieran: 9781039014183: Amazon.com: Books

KIERAN STAROVSKY works in the Toronto start-up space, has a degree in English Literature from York University, and wanders the city with his wife and children. When not writing, he is usually scouring specialty stores for old video games he owned once as a kid.