“But whyyyy?”

“Because I said so.”

It’s the answer that rolls off the tongues of mamas from all over. In Because I Said So, veteran mama Annie Oeth tells of the worries, laughter and sheer terror of being a mother. Trips to the emergency room, college graduations and the dangerous combination of teenagers and fireworks are all fair game in this romp through southern motherhood. Spilling the (jelly)beans on Easter egg hunts, Santa Claus and frogs in mailboxes, Annie Oeth writes of life, love and raising children while hanging on to her sense of humor.

From stories of laughter to tales of tears shed, she remembers her own growing-up years in small-town Mississippi, her parents’ 44-year romance and her own children’s travels on their way to adulthood, crafting stories that will touch hearts and funny bones.

Anyone who’s ever rocked a baby, worried over a teenager or seen family game night degenerate into a knock-down, drag-out can relate to these life lessons, straight from The Mom Zone.

Mamas are tender-hearted, but don’t mistake their kindness for an absence of backbone. In these stories, the love, strength, humor and super powers of mothers are hailed for the wonders that they are. Whether you’re a mama to sons who have an affection for reptiles and bottle rockets or a daughter who thinks you’re wrong just when you’ve figured out your own mother was right, you’ll love yourself, your kids and your life more after this read.

“Why?”
“Because I Said So.”

A lifelong Mississippian, Annie Oeth is a graduate of Mississippi University for Women. She currently works as a features editor for The Clarion-Ledger, the state’s largest daily newspaper. She writes about family and fun and The Mom Zone blog. Annie is the author of Because I Said So: Life in The Mom Zone, which was published April 2014. She is a solo mom to four, and currently resides in Ridgeland, Mississippi. 

A teenager returns home from school to find a gruesome scene: the apartment he shares with his mother, Shao Mei, in Boston’s Chinatown has been ransacked and she is dead. There is a bottle of Moutai—the most exotic and expensive Chinese liquor—left at the scene and traces of rat poison in one of the two shot glasses on the kitchen counter. This was evidently a homicide, but who could possibly be the killer?

Ann Lee and Fang Chen, close friends of the victim, team up with the Boston police to solve this mystifying crime: why would anyone want to murder a harmless middle-aged woman, one who worked as an unassuming mailroom clerk, with no money, no connections, and presumably, no enemies?

Realizing that important clues behind the motive may be buried deep in the victim’s past, they travel to Beijing, where Shao Mei spent more than fifty years of her life. While there, surrounded by the antiquities of China’s rich and complex history, they stumble unwittingly into a cobweb of mystery and danger. Fearing for their lives but determined to press on, they end up unearthing a scandal more deceptive and far-reaching than either could have imagined.

Disclosure: The three main characters and the victim also appeared in The Mystery of Revenge by G.X. Chen.

About the Author: 

G.X. Chen is a freelancer who lives in Boston ( both of her mystery novels are based in Boston); permanently moved from China to the US after Tiananmen Massacre in 1989. Previously published books include The Mystery of Revenge (a mystery novel) and Forget Me Not: A Love Story of the East (a historic fiction/romance) and several other novels in Chinese.

Connect with G.X. Chen: Website | Twitter | Goodreads

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Shaan is a recent 27 year old aerospace masters grad, who lands the perfect job in a leading aeronautics and space exploration company in Los Angeles. At the urging of his parents' he goes down the traditional arranged marriage route, leaving behind a lover and a complicated relationship in Los Angeles. As a result, Shaan and Ruhi's marriage has an awkward and uncomfortable start. The begrudging spouses make a pact: Ruhi will stay with Shaan in the United States only long enough to avoid embarrassment from their family and peers. Ruhi, remaining optimistic thinks that she can use this time to try and win Shaan's heart, but to no avail. Follow Ruhi and Shaan on a roller coaster ride as they attempt to be “friends without benefits” and expose their true selves to each other in search of love and happiness.

While An Incurable Insanity provides fascinating glimpses into traditional Indian culture, it is an intriguing love story with universal appeal. 

About the Author: 

Simi K. Rao was born in India and has been living in the United States for several years. The inspiration for An Incurable Insanity came from what she has seen transpire among and within the immigrant community. Some of the experiences included are her own; some have been garnered from friends and casual conversations with acquaintances.

Connect with Simi:  Twitter | Goodreads


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After graduating from high school and working several dead-end jobs, JD landed a job as a personal trainer at a newly opened gym. It puzzled him just how much money people were willing to spend to train with him despite the fact he was so inexperienced. He then started learning the ropes of the business and carved a niche for himself training well-to-do housewives and successful older women.  As time goes on, he finds that not only can he help with their physical demands, he can also help them out with their erotic ones. 

JD starts to fight an internal struggle between making money satisfying his clients and knowing what he is doing is wrong. All it would take is his girlfriend or any one of his clients' spouses to find out about their sultry affairs, and everything could blow up in his face causing him to lose his career. However, it's very difficult to turn away from the attention of many attractive and sexy women.

I Like Your Form is a hilarious and honest collection of stories giving advice for personal trainers and clients. Based on a true story, JD's real-life confessions provide a look at the lesser-known aspects of personal training.

About the Author: 

Photo courtesy of JDconfessions.com

JD Holmes is a certified strength and conditioning specialist with over 15 years experience in the health & fitness industry. He holds a master's degree in physical therapy and is a certified athletic trainer. JD currently resides in Tampa, FL. For more information, visit http://jdconfessions.com/.

The Hidden Chamber in the Great Sphinx, by Linda A. Cadose, is a YA mystery adventure novel set in Giza, Egypt. 

The book follows archaeologist Dr. Cliff Post and his friend Dr. Abdul Saad who discover a hidden chamber in the Great Sphinx. Inside of the right paw they find ancient scrolls and 13 crystal skulls that form a supercomputer.  This great discovery soon takes a dangerous turn when Drs. Saad and Post are followed, spied on and eventually kidnapped. On this extraordinary adventure, readers learn information about not only the Great Sphinx but also about Egypt, its mysteries, and the study of archaeology. 

The Hidden Chamber in the Great Sphinx is the first book in a series featuring the tales of American archeologist, Dr. Cliff Post. Follow him in later books as he visits underwater pyramids and goes to Jerusalem. 

Linda Cadose is a retired respiratory therapist who is now a children's book author. She likes to travel, enjoys reading, and loves history. She has been to Egypt and has visited all of the historical sites she discusses in her book. Linda currently resides in Carver, MA. For more information, visit http://lindacadose.authorsxpress.com/.

“You don’t normally wear hats, Em,” Eric commented as I met him outside the arcade. My cheeks flushed as I self-consciously pulled the beanie a little farther down my head to hide the bandage.

“Maybe I wanted to surprise you?” It didn’t throw him off the scent as I’d hoped, but he knew I wouldn’t admit what happened.

Eric took a deep breath and raised his eyebrows as we trudged down the street. “So...” He wasn’t going to make it easy for me.

“Who have you got for Registration this year?”

“Oh, Mr. Carter.”

“The Physics teacher?”

“That’s the one. The Bogeyman!” Eric swooped beside me and tried to dig his fingers into my sides.

I smiled as I dodged him and couldn’t help but give him a playful punch. “It wasn’t bad enough that you caught him digging for gold so now he has to put up with your face for the next year?”

Eric’s jaw dropped in mock disgust. “What’s wrong with my face?” His hands pawed at his perfectly chiselled jaw.

“Oh you know, you just have a little something,” I waved my hand in a circle in front of him, “right around here.”

“Your words cut me to the very core, Em.” A wry smile passed over his handsome face, and my stomach clenched in response.

“I’m sure you’ll survive. Maybe you and Mr. Carter could comfort each other?”

“Maybe you’re right. Maybe I’ll tell Mr. Carter about crying myself to sleep at night because you don’t like my face.”

“I didn’t say that.”

A wicked gleam leaped into his brown eyes, and a grin stretched at my cheeks. “So you like my face?”

“I didn’t say that, either.”

The magical adventure continues in the spine-tingling fantasy-adventure, HEADACHE: The Hair-Raising Sequel to BELLYACHE! Crystal Marcos delivers another whimsically entertaining escapade for ages seven and up. Readers will delight in more sit-on-the-edge-of-your-seat, non-stop action adventures of Peter and his best friend, Lina. 

When Peter Fisher sets out for school one morning, he has no idea that trouble is stirring in his hometown. With the unexpected arrival of his new Candonite friends from Maple Town, Peter and Lina have extra help saving their beloved town and loved ones from the clutches of the one villain they had hoped they would never see again. Humorous and thought provoking, this unforgettably entertaining story teaches a valuable lesson about standing up and facing one's fears.

Lending a sympathetic ear and dispensing sage words of advice is all part of the job for psychologist Pilar Alvarez, and she’s everything a good therapist should be: warm, compassionate, supportive. She listens, she cares, and she has all the answers, but how’s the woman everyone turns to in their hour of need supposed to cope when her own life starts to fall apart?

While working hard to make a success of her recently-opened practice in trendy South Beach, Pilar must also find time to cater to the demands of her boisterous Cuban family, which includes younger sister Izzy, an unemployed, navel-pierced wild child who can't stay out of trouble, and their mother, a beauty queen turned drama queen who’s equally obsessed with her fading looks and getting Pilar married before it’s “too late.” Although she’d like to oblige her mother and make a permanent love connection, Pilar’s romantic prospects look grim. Her cheating ex, who swears that he’s reformed, is stalking her. A hunky, but strictly off-limits, patient with bad-boy appeal and intimacy issues is making passes. And the sexy shrink in the suite across the hall has a gold band on his left ring finger.

When a series of personal and professional disasters lead Pilar into the arms of one of her unsuitable suitors, she's left shaken, confused, and full of self-doubt. With time running out, she must make sense of her feelings and learn to trust herself again so that she can save her business, her family, and most importantly, her heart.

When Tess Tremaine starts a new life in the colorful town of Goose Pimple Junction, curiosity leads her to look into a seventy-five-year-old murder. Suddenly she’s learning the foreign language of southern speak, resisting her attraction to local celebrity Jackson Wright, and dealing with more mayhem than she can handle.

A bank robbery, murder, and family tragedy from the 1930s are pieces of the mystery that Tess attempts to solve. As she gets close to the truth, she encounters danger, mystery, a lot of southern charm, and a new temptation for which she’s not sure she’s ready.