Veronica is eternally fifty-one years old with a proclivity for problematic drinking. Like most hormonally challenged women negotiating the change of life, she is a hot mess. To retain her sanity, she attends weekly AA meetings and adheres to a strict diet of organic, locally-sourced, (mostly) cruelty-free human blood from the hospice facility where she works. Her life stopped being fun about a hundred years ago, right about the time her teenage daughter stole her soul and took off for California with a hot, older guy. These days, Veronica’s existence is just that – an existence, as flat and empty as her own non-reflection in the bathroom mirror. When her estranged daughter contacts her via Facebook, Veronica learns that she has one chance to escape her eternal personal summer: she must find and apologize to every one of the people she’s turned into vampires in the last century. That is, if they’re still out there. With raging hormones and a ticking clock, Veronica embarks on a last-ditch road trip to regain her mortality, reclaim her humanity, and ultimately, die on her own terms.

This book explores themes of consumerism, gender and sexuality, genre, popular culture, and American culture in Diamonds Are Forever, situating Ian Fleming’s novel and Guy Hamilton’s film as important milestones in modern popular culture.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Kathy Reichs, a producer of the Fox hit show Bones, is back with her fifteenth "pulse-pounding" (Publishers Weekly) novel featuring North America's favorite forensic anthropologist, Tempe Brennan--a story of infanticide and murder set in the high stakes, high danger world of diamond mining. Beneath a diamond's perfect surface lies a story of violence and greed. Just like bones... In a run-down Montreal apartment, Tempe finds heartbreaking evidence of three innocent lives ended. The landlord says Alma Rogers lives there--is she the same woman who checked into a city hospital as Amy Roberts, then fled before doctors could treat her uncontrolled bleeding? Is she Alva Rodriguez, sought by a man who appeared at the crime scene? Heading up an investigation crackling with the sexual tension of past intimacies, Tempe leads homicide detective Andrew Ryan and police sergeant Ollie Hasty along the woman's trail and into the farthest reaches of mining country--where the grim industry of unearthing diamonds exacts a price in blood. And where the truths the unlikely trio uncovers are more sinister than they could have imagined.

Barring devastating accidents and disseminated cancer, man usually dies because of the failure of just one organ. Theoretically, through progressive replacement of failing organs, man could live forever and veritably spout the fountain of youth for the first time in history. However, a critical four-hour survival time between organ donor and recipient is a limiting factor for making organ replacement feasible. To start the fountain flowing, to offer transplantation on demand, and to anticipate over-flowing demands, would require one of the greatest discoveries of the decade-a simple means for organ preservation. Through meticulous research and happenstance, Dr. Frederick Middleton does indeed discover a unique freeze-dry formula to preserve organs without fracturing the cell walls, so invariably typical of any freezing or thawing process. But, as with all things good, a profiteering underworld soon corrupts the organ exchange business, garnering fortunes from trusting recipients who hopefully would give most anything they own for one just more fling at life. Within this milieu, this struggle for life, lies a stream of patients whose heart-rending stories question traditional concepts for dealing with the dying. UPDATED BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION Maurice S. Rawlings, M.D. - Physician to President Dwight Eisenhower - Physician to Joint Chiefs of Staff - Assoc. Clinical Professor of Medicine, Univ. of Tennessee - National Teaching Faculty, American Heart Association - Medical Director, Aventis and ZLB Bio-science Laboratories - Author of Beyond Death's Door, Before Death Comes, Life Wish, and To Hell and Back. (Multiple languages. The first and last publications were also made into movies). - Fellow, American Colleges of Cardiology, Angiology and Chest Physicians - Diplomat, American Board of Cardiology - Chairman, TVA Medical Retirement Board - Pilot, Instrument, Multi-engine

" I worked all my life to build what I have. I'll be damned if I'll let it all go out the window on my death." B. T., a client of the Gilfix and La Poll office "Protect $5 million or $10 million this year?! Amazing. And Gilfix explains how accessible it is." Andy Cohen, CEO, Caring.com " Thanks for showing us how to keep everything for our kids and, better yet, for our grandkids!" G. C., a client of the Gilfix and La Poll office A must read if your estate is over $1 million.

Two high school seniors believe their love to be so strong that it will last forever.

It was something she would never forgive herself for... it wasn't until lunchtime that Jessi remembered to call home. No answer. She tried calling several times while she ate her lunch. Still no answer. She closed her eyes and rested her arms and head on her desk. She breathed deeply, wishing she had remembered to call earlier. Until Forever is a story of a young family that is torn apart by the devastating effects of alcoholism. Can healing take place in a relationship when an unforgivable act is committed? Will Jessi's pain and Mark's guilt keep them apart forever, or will unforeseen circumstances bind them together? 'Darlene is an extremely gifted and exciting new author. Her story of a family suffering and growing and changing manages to leap beyond the clichés of the genre and stand as an original work.' -Cliff Graham, Author of Day of War 'Until Forever delves into the difficult realms of reconciliation, redemption, and forgiveness. Shortridge illustrates a story that is at times poignant and compelling. I found myself vicariously experiencing Jessi and Mark's tragic loss and desperately wanted them to be fully healed and restored. If you battle with the perception that you are unconditionally loved and forgiven by God, this novel is for you.' -Jeral Davis, Author of Tomorrow