Play & Book Excerpts
Below are selected scenes from original plays as well as book excerpts.
Thanks to all who shared their work.
Click on photo or book cover to view excerpt.
Thanks to all who shared their work.
Click on photo or book cover to view excerpt.
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NEW! Excerpt from: The Christmas Sisters (HQN Books), by USA TODAY bestselling author Sarah Morgan: This is Sarah's second multi-generational women’s fiction novel. Will it be a perfect McBride Christmas...or will it unravel? Will these sisters find that their close-knit bond is strong enough to withstand anything, including buried secrets? Find out if these sisters can find their way to a Merry Christmas.
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NEW! Excerpt from: How to Be Perfect like Me (Central Recovery Press), by humorist Dana Bowman: This is a story that offers comic relief and encouragement to moms dealing with tremendous pressures to be perfect. For moms who struggle with alcoholism, parenting can prove to be especially challenging. Parents from all backgrounds will appreciate Bowman's playful sarcasm and unbridled observations. This book is a follow-up to Dana's award-winning memoir, Bottled.
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Excerpt from: Season of Wonder (HQN Books), by New York Times and USA Today bestselling author RaeAnne Thayne: This novel follows the romance between a single mother with a dark secret and a police officer who just might be able to find a place in her guarded heart. It's a story about confronting long-buried secrets and making peace with the past. RaeAnne's books have won many honors, including three RITA® Award nominations from the Romance Writers of America and a Career Achievement Award from RT Book Reviews.
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Excerpt from: The Hawkweed Legacy (Hachette Books), by screenwriter and author Irena Brignull: This is a sequel to her critically acclaimed YA debut, The Hawkweed Prophecy. This is a fantasy novel which deftly explores friendships and the entanglements of love, and it also examines the dark side of sacrifice and betrayal. Irena is also well-known for writing the screenplay for the Oscar-nominated, animated movie, The Boxtrolls, for which she was nominated for Best Screenplay at the Annie Wards (2014) and other acclaimed films.
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Excerpt from: I Am Not a Tractor! How Florida Farmworkers Took on the Fast Food Giants and Won (ILR Press), by Susan L. Marquis: Susan is dean of the Pardee RAND Graduate School and is RAND’s vice president for Innovation. In her newest book, Susan unveils how, even without new legislation, regulation, or government participation, Florida farmworkers dramatically improved their work conditions. She is also the author of Unconventional Warfare: Rebuilding U.S. Special Operations Forces (1997).
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Excerpt from: The Phantom Tree (Graydon House), by international bestselling author Nicola Cornick: Cornick offers a provocative alternate history of rivals, secrets and danger, set in a time when a woman's destiny was determined by the politics of men and luck of birth. The novel is "filled with romance, drama, mystery and intrigue" (Historical Novel Society). Cornick is the author of over 40 novels which have been translated into 26 languages.
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Excerpt from: Grief Is... (CreateSpace) by Lonnie Terralavoro: When Lonnie's mother lost her battle with cancer, she embarked on a journey of growth and discovery. She realized the depth of her grief was an accurate representation of the depth of her love, and in the end, that love was an absolute blessing! Join the author as she shares poignant quotes, poetry and beautiful images in the hopes of helping you "heal and deal" through your own journey with grief.
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Excerpt from: Beautiful Exiles (Lake Union Publishing), by New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Meg Waite Clayton: This novel is the riveting story of the romance of headstrong and accomplished journalist Martha Gellhorn and world-renowned author Ernest Hemingway. The Booklist Starred Review says that Clayton's "take on their boozy, love/hate relationship is packed with details of the war...a dramatic backdrop for her fictional tale of two vivid personalities and world-altering writers."
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Excerpt from: Stegosaurus Would Not Make a Good Pirate (Picture Window Books), by Thomas Kingsley Troupe (author) and Step Calvert (illustrator): This children's book is part of a four book series which blends lighthearted text, humorous art and facts about dinosaurs. Troupe is an award-winning author who has written more than 30 children's books and Calvert is an award-winning illustrator and elementary school art teacher.
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Excerpt from: Heaven Adjacent (Lake Union Publishing), by New York Times bestselling author Catherine Ryan Hyde: This is a novel about realizing life is too short to put off happiness and that the people we celebrate each day with should make us the most joyful of all. As the story's main character beings to accept a new reality free of material wealth, she discovers that she is rich in something that can’t be replaced: family. Catherine is also the author of the bestselling novel Pay It Forward and is the founder and former president of the Pay It Forward Foundation. Her novels Allie and Bea and The Wake Up have also been excerpted in Sanctuary.
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Excerpt from: The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell (Lake Union Publishing), by New York Times bestselling author Robert Dugoni: This is a novel Dugoni holds close to his heart. It's inspired by his mother's unyielding support for his mentally disabled brother. The story is told through the voice of the title character through a series of flashbacks about Sam's upbringing as well as interwoven events that unfold decades later. This is a powerful story about family, friendship, and the importance of standing up for oneself and those you love in the face of adversity.
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Excerpt from: Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids Workbook (PESI Publishing & Media), by Dr. Laura Markham: This is a guide which provides parents with strategies and tips to control their emotions while responding to the needs of their children with patience and love. It offers tips on using games and exercises to increase laughter and play, while decreasing tantrums and fights. It offers discipline strategies that teach kids self-management and emotional intelligence and helps parents to strengthen bonds with their children so that children want to cooperate.
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Excerpt from: Lessons from the Praire (Hachette Books), by Melissa Francis: Melissa shares behind-the-scenes stories from the set of Little House on the Prairie (she played Cassandra Cooper Ingalls for this popular TV series that ran from the late 70s through the early 80s) and lessons learned from the show's dynamic creator, Michael Landon. With novel insights on hard work and making mistakes, she shares inspirational and practical life lessons. This is a humorous and candid self-help book which reveals how she handles motherhood with a full-time career and other issues most women face.
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Excerpt from: Savory Home Cooking: From Our Sicilian Home to Yours (Self-published), by Jayne Baratta-DuBraski: This cookbook teaches you how to make delicious meals with fresh, easy-to-find ingredients - whether from your local market or straight from the garden. To either a novice or seasoned cook, these recipes are easy to follow and eliminate the need to search for gourmet ingredients in specialty stores. Jayne shares her favorite family recipes and her personal tips for organizing a kitchen and planning meals.
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Excerpt from: The Complete Guide to Autism & Healthcare (Future Horizons), by Anita Lesko, RN, CRNA: This guide is an in-depth reference book which informs medical professionals and caregivers of strategies and supports to improve health care for individuals on the autism spectrum. Anita combines her professional expertise as an accomplished nurse anesthetist with her personal experience as an autistic adult to offer those on healthcare teams an inside glimpse of strategies and supports that really work.
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Excerpt from: Before I Let You Go (Graydon House), by USA TODAY bestselling author Kelly Rimmer: This a novel which explores addiction, motherhood, the failures of the justice system, and the unbreakable bonds of sisterhood. Publisher's Weekly says, "Rimmer's timely novel captures the unbreakable bond between two sisters and humanizes the difficult intersection of the opioid epidemic and the justice system."
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Excerpt from: The Family Gathering (Mira Books), by New York Times bestselling author Robyn Carr: This is a moving tale about the power of love, familial bonds and finding a place to call home. This is the latest installment in her fan-favorite Sullivan's Crossing series. Robyn's novels have been translated into 19 languages in 30 countries. Also excerpted in Sanctuary: The Summer that Made Us and The Life She Wants.
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Excerpt from: The Tuscan Child (Lake Union Publishing), by New York Times bestselling author Rhys Bowen: This is a riveting multi-generational novel about love, war and family secrets. The story explores betrayal, family relationships and finding one's place in the world. Rhys's novels have won numerous awards and her novel In Farleigh Field is also excerpted in Sanctuary.
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Excerpt from: The Wake Up (Lake Union Publishing), by New York Times bestselling author Catherine Ryan Hyde: This novel explores the revolutionary power of empathy. Hyde shows how easy it is to get shut off from other people, and how this is exactly what we have to fight against. Hyde is also the author of the bestselling novel Pay It Forward and is the founder and former president of the Pay It Forward Foundation. Her novel Allie and Bea was also excerpted in Sanctuary.
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Excerpt from: The Kickass Single Mom (TarcherPerigee), by Emma Johnson: This is an essential guide for women who are seeking real-world advice and inspiration from those who have found success and happiness on their own. Emma is the creator of the immensely popular blog, WealthySingleMommy.com and the podcast, "Like a Mother," where she explores issues facing professional single moms like herself.
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Excerpt from: Now that You Mention It (HQN Books), by Kristan Higgins: Injured in more ways than one, Nora feels her carefully built life cracking at the edges. Nora needs to find a way to tackle old pain and make room for a promising future. Kristan is a New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author and two-time winner of the Romance Writers of America RITA® Award. Her book On Second Thought was also excerpted in Sanctuary in January 2017.
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Excerpts: 2017
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Excerpt from: Sugar Pine Trail (HQN Books), written by RaeAnne Thayne: In this heartwarming holiday romance, unexpected attraction between two polar opposites might just make for the best match yet. "RaeAnne Thayne is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors... Once you start reading, you aren't going to be able to stop." ~ Fresh Fiction
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Excerpt from: The Feminist's Guide to Raising a Little Princess (TarcherPerigee), written by Devorah Blachor: In this book inspired by her viral New York Times Motherlode piece “Turn Your Princess-Obsessed Toddler Into a Feminist in Eight Easy Steps,” Blachor offers insight, advice, and plenty of humor and personal anecdotes for other mothers who cringe each morning when their daughter refuses to wear anything that isn’t pink.
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Excerpt from: The Room at the End of the Hall: An Ombudsman's Notebook (Sense Publishers), written by Bette Ann Moskowitz: This first-person narrative describes what it is like to be a volunteer, long-term care ombudsman, and how, with thirty-six hours of training, she entered the unfamiliar world of a nursing home to advocate for its almost three hundred residents. She brings the reader along as she learns the ropes, makes mistakes, and meets tragic and beautiful people struggling for their lives. The book was a Finalist in the New York Foundation for the Arts literary non-fiction category in 2012.
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Excerpt from: The Summer that Made Us (MIRA Books), written by New York Times bestselling author Robyn Carr: This novel is a powerful multi-generational story about mothers and daughters, sisters and cousins, and the ties that bind us together forever. Everyone has a summer they’ll never forget,
and for the women of the Hempstead family, this has never been more viscerally true. USA Today writes, “Appealing characters and a fresh and heart-tugging twist to a familiar conflict..." |
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Excerpt from: The Happiness Diet (Atria Books), written by bestselling author and mental health advocate Rachel Kelly. Since suffering from her last serious bout of depression, Kelly has developed a broad holistic approach to staying healthy and happy, and the heart of her recovery process involves a crucial shift in diet. Kelly and nutritionist Alice Mackintosh have drawn from more than 100 scientific studies to identify the foods that either drag us down or lift us up. The book contains over five dozen recipes that target particular symptoms, from insomnia and mood swings to anxiety and exhaustion.
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Excerpt from: Ignore It! (TarcherPerigee), written by Catherine Pearlman, Ph.D., LCSW: This guide teaches parents to selectively ignore bad behaviors so kids actually learn from their mistakes. Readers will learn how to eliminate problem behaviors, how to use time-outs effectively, how to create a reward system that actually works, and how to work out discipline when Mom and Dad are not on the same page. Pearlman is the founder of The Family Coach.
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Excerpt from: Something Like Happy (Graydon House), written by Eva Woods: Eva was inspired to write Something Like Happy after surviving her own brush with cancer and the breakdown of her marriage. It is an emotional novel that asks the question, "What would you do if you only had 100 days to live?" The Guardian says this novel is "Page-turning." Note: As Eva Woods, she writes contemporary women's fiction. She writes crime fiction as Claire McGowan.
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Excerpt from: Ultimatum (Sourcebooks, Inc.), written by K. M. Walton: This YA novel is a gripping and emotional story of two brothers who must come face-to-face with their demons - and each other - if they are going to survive a very uncertain future. They must make the ultimate decision about what's more important: family or their differences. Publisher’s Weekly describes the story as “a heart-wrenching portrait of a dysfunctional family and its destructive force.”
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Excerpt from: Stop Dieting Start Living (Interior design: Bright Flame Books), written by Ellie Savoy: This guide is a #1 international bestselling book. Ellie is also the founder of the Stop Dieting Start Living Weight Loss System. Her commonsense and step by step approach has literally transformed the way people look at their body, health and life. Ellie spent over two decades under a great deal of stress. She lost sight of the importance of her health time and time again, gaining weight and yo-yo dieting to take care of it, skipping meals during the day, eating too late at night, and letting work dictate how all of her time was spent. Her message: You no longer have to suffer in silence, live with pain or resort to harmful dieting practices to lose weight.
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Excerpt from: Clean Out the Closets of Your Life (Born Successful Publishing), written by DeLores Pressley: This book will help you uncover those obstacles in your life that keep you from living your dreams. Through the use of worksheets and thought provoking processes you will learn to identify those things in life that hold you back, put a plan in place to make the necessary changes in your life, learn developmental techniques for creating balance in your life, and, most importantly, you'll learn to discover a new you. Bestselling author, Les Brown, says, "This book is going to change your life!"
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Excerpt from: Beneath a Scarlet Sky (Lake Union Publishing), written by Mark Sullivan: Mark is the bestselling author of 18 books, including the award-winning The Purification Ceremony. This latest novel is based on the true story of a forgotten hero who saved countless lives during WWII. Mark spent time with Pino Lella over a ten year period as he listened to him recall his past. This story is one of courage, love and redemption.
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Excerpt from: Three Green Rats: An Eco Tale (Ink Pinn Press), written by Linda Mason Hunter and Suzanne Summersgill: This award-winning book teaches children to be eco-friendly. John Adams, Founding Director of Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), wrote, “With simplicity and charm, they tell how three green rats lead their hometown away from greed for too much stuff to the fullness of a simple life that respects the earth.” (For ages 7 to 11 and precocious adults)
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Excerpt from: Allie and Bea (Lake Union Publishing), written by Catherine Ryan Hyde, the award-winning author of Pay It Forward: This is a cross-generational story about two women, whose lives could not be more different, and their struggle for survival and search for a place to call home. The Denver Post reports, "Catherine Ryan Hyde is a magnificent storyteller, an expert at plot and pacing and voice."
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Excerpt from: In Farleigh Field (Lake Union Publishing), written by New York Times bestselling author Rhys Bowen: This is an historical novel which takes place during WWII. The book begins when a soldier with a failed parachute falls to his death at Farleigh Place, the ancestral home of Lord Westerham and his five daughters. This suspenseful page-turner weaves a tale about loyalty, blurred class lines, love and betrayal.
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Excerpt from: Pretty Little World (Lake Union Publishing), written by Elizabeth LaBan, author of The Restaurant Critic's Wife, and Melissa DePino: This novel is a story about how an unconventional living arrangement, once thought to be idyllic, tests the bonds of friendship and marriage. When boundaries are blurred, the couples are forced to question their choices and reimagine the true meaning of family.
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Excerpt from: On Second Thought (HQN BOOKS), written by New York Times bestselling author Kristan Higgins: This story is about sisterhood, marriage and loyalty. It weaves a tale of how heartache leads to coming to terms with the inevitable imperfection of relationships and family. The Library Journal Starred Review states, "Emotional depth is seared into every page along with wry banter, bringing readers to tears and smiles."
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