Some people are meant to travel the globe, to unwrap its secrets and share them with the world. And some people have no sense of direction, are terrified of pigeons, and get motion sickness from tying their shoes. These people are meant to stay home and eat nachos. Geraldine DeRuiter is the latter. But she won't let that stop her. Hilarious, irreverent, and heartfelt, All Over the Place chronicles the years Geraldine spent traveling the world after getting laid off from a job she loved. Those years taught her a great number of things, though the ability to read a map was not one of them. She has only a vague idea of where Russia is, but she now understands her Russian father better than ever before. She learned that what she thought was her mother's functional insanity was actually an equally incurable condition called "being Italian." She learned what it's like to travel the world with someone you already know and love -- how that person can help you make sense of things and make far-off places feel like home. She learned about unemployment and brain tumors, lost luggage and lost opportunities, and just getting lost in countless terminals and cabs and hotel lobbies across the globe. And she learned that sometimes you can find yourself exactly where you need to be -- even if you aren't quite sure where you are.

Seven clean Christmas romances from bestselling authors. . . Rhett by Liz Isaacson A fake Christmas bride—friends-to-lovers cowboy billionaire romance at its finest. Finding Faith by B. E. Baker A failing holiday charity and a widowed single dad—can Mary heal both this Christmas? Trudy’s Holiday Suitor by Clara Pines A handsome professor falls for a lonely widow at her historic inn over the holidays. The Cowboy’s Reunited Christmas by Danae Little A second chance to snag the cowboy who got away. . .for Christmas. Summer with the Carpenter by Ellie Hall An enemies-to-lovers, Christmas-in-July, bed-and-breakfast remodel romance! Decker and Joy by Elle Rush A purrfect romance for cat-lovers at Christmas. Mystery, foster-kittens, and swoony kisses. Christmas Lullabies by Annabeth Avery A second-chance romance with a surprise Christmas gift that helps a couple come back together. KW: Clean Christmas romance; free christmas romance; free christmas romance collection; free romance boxset; free romance anthology; free romance books; free clean romance; free clean and wholesome romance; holiday romance; holiday romance boxset; free holiday romance; free holiday romance collection; romance collection; free romance collection.

Born and raised in Mississippi, Peter K. Lutken, Jr. (1920–2014) joined the army in 1941 and was assigned to the Coast Artillery. Originally sent to India to guard airfields, he was reassigned to the British V Force, then the American OSS (Office of Strategic Services and precursor to the CIA) after he volunteered for reconnaissance missions behind Japanese lines. Skills he had learned as a boy in the backwoods and swamps around the Pearl River stood him in good stead, and by the end of the war, he attained the rank of major, commanding an entire battalion of ethnic Kachins and other local people of northern Burma (now called Myanmar). Lutken's stories carry the reader along as he sails on a troop ship to India, then treks into the mountainous jungles of northern Burma to gather intelligence and engage in guerrilla warfare with the Japanese. In his straightforward way, he describes how he learned the language of the Kachins and much about their customs and legends, and how he fought alongside them for the course of the war. Adventures of rafting uncharted rivers, surprise attacks, sabotage, natural hazards and disease, feasts and ceremonies, the plight of refugees, and tragic events of war are all told from the perspective of a young soldier, who finds himself half a world away from home. Based on hundreds of pages of transcripts from tapes recorded late in his life, A Thousand Places Left Behind recounts the untold story not just of one soldier’s experiences, but of the little-known history of American and British forces in Burma during World War II. Supported by original maps based on Lutken’s personal travels as well as photographs from his scrapbook, the book traces Lutken’s journey overseas, his expeditions into the jungle, and his return to Jackson, Mississippi in 1945. Beyond the war, Lutken’s connection with the Kachins culminated in “Project Old Soldier,” a crop exchange program which he and other veterans of OSS Detachment 101 initiated in the 1990s and which lasted until after his death in 2014. The book tells a remarkable story of bravery, friendship, history, and the unbreakable bonds forged in times of war.

A collection designed to help families create Christmas celebrations and traditions, including recipes, carols, stories, and poems.

The Fortune clan welcomes a French relative for the holidays—and one woman wants to lure him to the Lone Star State for good . . . The Yuletide season brings something très magnifique to Austin, Texas, in the form of French entrepreneur Amersen Beaudin. The sexy but standoffish playboy has zero interest in meeting his newly discovered Fortune relatives, least of all the man who is his biological father. But when matriarch Kate Fortune dangles an all-too-attractive business proposition, he is intrigued enough to take some time off from his winery and nightclub. And once he meets Kate’s beautiful gardener, Robin Harbin, he starts to rethink his holiday plans . . . A spicy affair with the blonde, blue-eyed Texan is now at the top of Amersen’s wish list. But all Robin wants for Christmas is the flirty Parisian’s heart and soul. Can she convince him that love—and family—can lead to a joyeux Noël?