"Funny, introspective, and touching. . . . The lessons Meichi gently shares with us through delightful stories are full of wisdom for people at any life stage who need a reminder they're not alone." -Mari Andrew, author of Am I There Yet? From the creator of Barely Functional Adult, a painfully relatable webcomic with over 130k followers on Instagram, comes a never-before-seen collection of incriminating short stories about exes, murder, friendship, therapy, anxiety, Hufflepuff, sucking at things, freaking out about things, calming down momentarily, melodrama, wrinkles, pettiness, and other wonderful delights. Wielding her trademark balance of artful humor, levity, and heartbreaking introspection, Meichi Ng's indisputably relatable collection of short stories holds a mirror to our past, present, and future selves. Featuring a swaddled Barely Functional Adult as its protagonist who says all the things we think but dare not say, this book is equal parts humorous and heartbreaking as it spans a spectrum of topics from imposter syndrome, therapy, friendships, first loves, letting go of exes, to just trying to find your purpose in the world. Prepare to excitedly shove this book in your friend's face with little decorum as you shout, "THIS IS SO US!" In this beautiful, four-color collection compiled completely of never-before-seen content, Meichi perfectly captures the best and worst of us in every short story, allowing us to weep with pleasure at our own fallibility. Hilarious, relatable, and heart-wrenchingly honest, Barely Functional Adult will have you laughing and crying in the same breath, while taking solace in the fact that we're anything but alone in this world.

'As funny as it's intellectual, this page-turner about crashing and burning is spot-on about ambition, infatuation, theatre, film, ethics, teens, and everything else.' Emma Donoghue, author of Room 'Witty...Earnest...Laugh-out-loud...Pitch-perfect' New York Times In the pursuit of fame, how do you know when you've gone too far? When Cass - a thirty-something, promising, queer playwright - receives a prestigious award, it seems as though her career is finally taking off. That is until she finds herself at the centre of a searing public shaming, which relegates her from rising star in New York to a nobody on her best friend's sofa in L.A. As she comes to terms with the extent of her failure, she is forced to question who she is without the thing that has always defined her: her art. So she fills the days by stalking her playwright nemesis, of whom she is excruciatingly envious, and getting pulled into the orbit of the charismatic but manipulative filmmaker next door. As Cass becomes increasingly involved with her neighbour and the group of pugilistic teenage girls she's documenting, Cass begins to dream of a comeback. But when the film spins dangerously out of control, Cass is once again forced to reckon with her ambition, and her rage. We Play Ourselves is a darkly funny novel about the cost of making art, and the art of making enemies. 'Funny, sharp, modern - this is an excellent debut novel. Its bold, edgy, strange heroine has adventures and misadventures, screws up again and again, but somehow won my love. I couldn't put this book down.' Weike Wang, PEN/Hemingway-award winning author of Chemistry

With playful wit, worldly advice and savvy observation, the bestselling authors of How to Be Parisian tackle the Parisian art of growing up.

Caroline de Maigret and Sophie Mas are back to amuse you, saying what you don’t expect to hear, just the way you want to hear it. But this time they reveal how they are modifying their favourite bad girl habits and mischievous mindsets now they are more ‘madame’ than 'mademoiselle’.

These iconoclastic, bohemian Parisiennes advise on love, seduction, fashion and dating as well as family, work, living alone and accepting imperfections.

Both poignant and laugh-out-loud funny, this gorgeous, tongue-in-cheek guide astutely illuminates what it means to be a fully-fledged woman.

A practical conversation about creating a fulfilling and contented second half, including twenty practical activities to create a new you.

Midlife uncertainty is uncomfortable. You are trying to find the door leading to a more fulfilling life, but are dragged back to the constant responsibilities of work and relationships. That door is open, but you need to search for it. This book provides insights and exercises to help you make the mental connections, and take you to the important decisions that you must confront with in this phase of your life. It is crucial that you find that door yourself. It is there, it is open. You simply need to see it.

It fills you with a gnawing concern that somehow you are missing out. Everybody else around you is living purposeful, high achievement lives, and you are wallowing in drudgery. We spend the early part of our adult lives building a career, building a family or support structures around us; we become so bound up in the boredom of day-to-day survival that when we get those things sorted during this phase, we feel let down and disappointed.

James Forson studied at the University of Cape Town and was dragged into the world of business with work experience in the mining, steel, pharmaceutical and banking industries. For the past 24 years he has been an independent management consultant working with clients across a broad range of industries and environments. In the course of his consulting practice, he has worked with a number of executives who have expressed dissatisfaction with their lives. This is where his interest in midlife renewal was awakened, as he counselled and supported his clients to live more humanly rewarding lives. He has taken the tools, methods and concepts he used and developed and has created a book to assist folks dealing with the complexity and anxiety of midlife renewal.

'A goldmine of wisdom' CYNDI DARNELL 'Gentle, kind and embracing' JUNO ROCHE 'Interesting and engaging' JUSTIN HANCOCK Gay, straight, queer, pansexual, demisexual, ace...? Sexuality is complex and diverse, but it doesn't have to be confusing. This down-to-earth guide is the ultimate companion for understanding, accepting and celebrating your sexuality. Written by two internationally renowned authors and therapists, the book explains how sexuality works in terms of our identities, attractions, desires and practices, and explores how it intersects with our personal experiences and the world around us. With activities and reflection points throughout, it offers space to tune into yourself and think deeply about your own sexuality. You'll hear from people across the sexuality spectrum and in different relationship set-ups, and be inspired by the ideas of scholars, activists and practitioners. Sexuality is a vast and wonderful landscape - let this book guide you on your journey!

Parents believe what they do matters. But, how does it matter? How do parents' beliefs about their children early on translate into the choices those children make as adolescents? The Eccles' expectancy-value model asserts that parents' beliefs about their children during childhood predict adolescents' achievement-related choices through a sequence of processes that operate in a cumulative, cascading fashion over time. Specifi cally, parents' beliefs predict parents' behaviors that predict their children's motivational beliefs. Those beliefs predict children's subsequent choices. Using data from the Childhood and Beyond Study (92% European American; N 723), we tested these predictions in the activity domains of sports, instrumental music, mathematics, and reading across a 12-year period. In testing these predictions, we looked closely at the idea of reciprocal infl uences and at the role of child gender as a moderator. The cross-lagged models generally supported the bidirectional influences described in Eccles' expectancy-value model. Furthermore, the findings demonstrated that: (a) these relations were stronger in the leisure domains than in the academic domains, (b) these relations did not consistently vary based on youth gender, (c) parents were stronger predictors of their children's beliefs than vice versa, and (d) adolescents' beliefs were stronger predictors of their behaviors than the reverse. The findings presented in this monograph extend our understanding of the complexity of families, developmental processes that unfold over time, and the extent to which these processes are universal across domains and child gender.

"I highly recommend this insightful book to all married couples."--GARY CHAPMAN, PhD, author of The 5 Love Languages Let's Talk about Sex Most people are curious about sex and would love a few answers. "Are we normal?" "Why isn't my spouse as interested in sex as I am?" "I don't want to feel pressured, but don't want to disappoint my spouse either--what do I do?" "How do we handle the impact of medication, menopause, porn, ED, pain . . . ?" Most importantly: "How can we get on the same page and create a thriving intimate life?" Sex is one of the most common marriage issues (for example, almost 80% of couples are mismatched in how often they want it), but it doesn't have to be that way. Relationship researcher Shaunti Feldhahn and renowned sex therapist Dr. Michael Sytsma have identified eight simple, transformational factors to help you move from disconnection to delight. This is knowledge you can trust, based on vast clinical experience and their breakthrough research, including the largest nationally representative study ever conducted with married couples about sex. This book is not a "sex manual"; it is a fascinating, practical field guide that will help you intimately understand your spouse and create the marriage you've always wanted.

#1 New York Times bestselling authors and renowned psychologists Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott share the single most important secret to happy relationships. Relationships are rife with disappointment--but they are also the primary source of personal happiness. So it is no surprise that the number one question Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott hear over and over is, What's the single most important thing you can do for your relationships? After over twenty-five years of researching, writing, and speaking on this subject, in Healthy Me, Healthy Us the Parrotts have whittled down their answer to the truth contained in this single sentence: if you try to build intimacy with another person before you have gotten whole on your own, all your relationships become an attempt to complete yourself. Relationship skills, tips, and tactics? Sure. They have their place. But meaningful relationships--the kind we all long for--grow from something deeper, something stronger, something that has more to do with being than doing. This groundbreaking book provides the three hallmarks to psychological, emotional, and spiritual health, pointing the way to true and lasting wholeness that can revolutionize every relationship you attempt to build.

Raising Our Children Out of Poverty shows what can be done at the national and local community levels to raise children out of poverty by strengthening families, communities, and social services.
br>Based on the April 1998 symposium "Raising Our Children Out of Poverty" at the Saint Louis University School of Social Service, this important book is particularly timely given the prevalence of poverty among children in the United States. Social Work practitioners and other helping advocates will discover chapters discussing the future of foster care, ecumenical housing, collaborative practice in low income communities, fostering resiliency in children, programs that are alternatives to incarceration, and an innovative family support and empowerment program.
This important book will help you provide improved services to families and children living in poverty.

Shows in simple terms what it takes to be a successful husband and father and to bless those closest to you--your wife and children.

John Bradshaw is arguably the most accomplished and well-known leader alive today in the addictions field. He taught us about functional and dysfunctional families, showed us how shame could become toxic and poisonous to our core selves, and helped us understand and heal the wounded, vulnerable inner child conceived by, and thriving in, that environment. In Post-Romantic Stress Disorder (PRSD), Bradshaw gives readers a clear explanation of the difference between falling in love, lust, and true love. Based on his research, PRSD is a deeply serious psychological disorder and the cause of 40% of all divorces -divorces that could have been prevented. Every day people throw away perfectly good relationships because they just don't know how to navigate the tides, but if they could learn and understand the concepts Bradshaw presents in this book, the portrait of the family unit could have a whole new landscape. Join this great teacher as he opens the gates to a new frontier, tackling issues that threaten and endanger so many modern relationships. Be encouraged as he leads the way to a deeper and more fulfilling spiritual union. As he so eruditely observed some time ago, As the health of the marriage goes, so goes the health of the family. Yet Bradshaw ladles out hope unlimited?if parents could restore a deep, authentic love for each other it could be passed on to their children and families would actually flourish.

In 1990, Paula Caplan, a nationally recognized expert on the psychology of women, wrote the groundbreaking "Don't Blame Mother." Now, almost ten years later, she finds that we are still blaming mothers. Fully revised, updated with a new introduction, this second edition proposes new ways of mending the mother-daughter relationship.
"The New Don't Blame Mother: Mending the Mother-Daughter Relationship" shows us that dangerous myths about mothers pervade our culture and have created or aggravated many of the problems between mothers and daughters. Myths of the "Perfect Mother" give rise to impossible expectations and set mothers up for failure--good mothers don't get angry, good mothers are endlessly giving--and myths of the "Bad Mother" exaggerate mothers' failings and create a monster figure in her image--mothers are too needy, mothers can't let go.
Caplan shows that if women can identify these myths then they can take concrete steps to build a strong and loving relationship with their mothers. "The New Don't Blame Mother" shows how the anger and agony of the mother-daughter relationship can be replaced with a new bond based on understanding and respect.
"The New Don't Blame Mother" is a must-read for all mothers and daughters. Caplan, drawing on over twenty-five years of research, clinical practice, and the experience of workshop participants, will show you how to stop blaming mother and, instead, start loving her.

Raising Our Children Out of Poverty shows what can be done at the national and local community levels to raise children out of poverty by strengthening families, communities, and social services.
br>Based on the April 1998 symposium "Raising Our Children Out of Poverty" at the Saint Louis University School of Social Service, this important book is particularly timely given the prevalence of poverty among children in the United States. Social Work practitioners and other helping advocates will discover chapters discussing the future of foster care, ecumenical housing, collaborative practice in low income communities, fostering resiliency in children, programs that are alternatives to incarceration, and an innovative family support and empowerment program.
This important book will help you provide improved services to families and children living in poverty.

Heralded by the "New York Times" and "Time" magazine as the couple therapy with the highest rate of success, Emotionally Focused Therapy works because it views the love relationship as an attachment bond. This idea, once controversial, is now supported by science, and has become widely popular among therapists around the world. In HOLD ME TIGHT, Dr. Sue Johnson presents Emotionally Focused Therapy to the general public for the first time. Johnson teaches that the way to save and enrich a relationship is to reestablish safe emotional connection and preserve the attachment bond. With this in mind, she focuses on key moments in a relationship-from Recognizing the Demon Dialogue to Revisiting a Rocky Moment-and uses them as touchpoints for seven healing conversations. Through case studies from her practice, illuminating advice, and practical exercises, couples will learn how to nurture their relationships and ensure a lifetime of love.

New York Times bestselling author Susan Scott guides couples through eight must-have conversations to create a fierce love that stands the test of time and grows stronger over the years. Often in our romantic relationships, we long for deep connection, but we don't know how to communicate well and sometimes withhold what we're really thinking and feeling. This can lead to fighting, resentment, or, worse, complacency--where you are just going through the motions, more like roommates than two people in love. As Susan writes, "It's as if we've pulled off our own wings." As couples, we don't stop to think how important our conversations are. And we certainly don't understand that what we talk about and how we talk about it determine whether our relationships will thrive, flatline, or fail. In Fierce Love, New York Times bestselling author Susan Scott guides couples through eight must-have conversations that lead to deep connection and lasting commitment. Through the use of true stories and hands-on exercises, Susan helps us understand that the conversation is the relationship; identify and dispel five relationship myths that mislead and derail us; learn eight conversations that are critical to enriching relationships; and stop fighting or ignoring issues and start connecting in a deep and meaningful way. After a season where many relationships were tested and tried, where some relationships thrived and others have exposed cracks couples didn't even realize were there, or realized but didn't acknowledge, now is the best time to learn to communicate well. By having honest, compelling conversations with our partners, we can foster true connection and a fierce love that will withstand the test of time and grow stronger over the years.

Discover God in the messiness of your marriage, as popular marriage and family columnist Joshua Rogers offers spouses hope with real-life stories from his own marriage and helps you see how God is at work in the ordinary and extraordinary of your relationship.

Confessions of a Happily Married Man is a husband's painfully honest account of his first ten years of marriage. It offers a window into the perspective of a man who went from "hello" to "I do" in nine months and then figured out how hard marriage could be.

When Joshua Rogers thought back on the marriage books he had read or sermons about marriage he had heard, it occurred to him that he could only remember one thing about them: the stories. That's why this book is anchored by stories that other couples will relate to and can easily learn from. The stories are cringe-worthy, humorous, inspiring, heart-breaking, and full of wisdom--but the author isn't telling the reader what to do with that wisdom. He's letting the reader learn along with him as he's gradually becoming more self-aware, increasingly grateful for his wife, and surprised to discover what God is doing in the middle of it all.