Riley is cursed. No, really! After a fairground incident - TOTALLY not his fault - bad luck follows Riley everywhere, causing disaster after disaster. It's got so bad that no one wants to go near Riley, including his teachers! But when new student Brad Chicago shows up, Riley quickly realizes that Brad is the human equivalent of a good luck charm. Can Brad's good luck cancel out Riley's bad luck? Or is this yet another recipe for disaster?

The true life story of James and Ellen Kenny (McEntyre) who were married in January 1915, raised five children and survived together in marriage until January 1987 - truly a marathon marriage. BookView Ireland Marathon Marriage By M.F. Kenny Michael Kenny's book about his parents, James and Ellen Kenny, is a ramble through Ireland in the 20th century, a story centred on Banagher in Co. Offaly but also encompassing Limerick, Tipperary, Cavan and Galway. James and Ellen were married for an incredible seventy-two years and appeared on Gay Byrne's Late Late Show in the mid-1980s after having won the prize of being the oldest couple with an account with the Bank of Ireland. It is indicative of James Kenny's patriarchal and dictatorial way that it was only then that his family discovered that the pair had been married in secret and lived apart for the first year of their married life. Kenny has a conversational style of writing about his family, interspersed with historical details which take him off at a tangent at various points in the narrative. What comes over the most strongly, however, is the way in which his father treated himself and his three brothers, giving them neither responsibility nor salaries though all four were involved in the various family businesses. James was an entrepreneur without the astuteness necessary for business and often made wrong decisions, but would never admit to them. Michael Kenny claims that the only person for whom James had any feelings was his wife Ellen, for he barely tolerated his children. The author describes how his father totally ruled the household, where his word was law. Some of his actions are inexplicable; he refused medical aid to his son Shem who had fallen from the top of scaffolding, and went to the pub while the rest of his family attended the funeral of his grandchild. For all his harshness, when his father died Michael reports that he "had a good cry for a great father whose likes I will never see again". This is a story of one family, packed with detail and neatly fitted into the context of both time and place which makes it a fascinating account. The title I had assumed referred simply to the length of the marriage but I believe that, despite the obvious love between the pair, it truly was a marathon for James' long-suffering wife Ellen. Reviewed by Pauline Ferrie ISBN: 141201446-8 Price: ¥28.49 Pages: 506 Publisher: Trafford Date reviewed: 2004/02

When Riley Jones' husband, Jack, told her he was planning a blow up birthday surprise for her, Riley didn't expect the surprise to come prettily wrapped as divorce papers. Now Riley is homeless, husbandless and penniless. As the debris of her life tumbles down around her, Riley scrambles to pick up the pieces. Reinforced with determination and a dollar menu budget, Riley plunges back into single life and into the arms of an old flame, the irresistible firefighter, Deric. Will it be happily ever after, or will their relationship go up in smoke? Whether she's hanging from a tree, hiding from the police, or making the evening news as a "person of interest," Riley is unstoppable. Look out world, here comes Riley Jones. She's somewhere she never intended to be... back out on her own. Except now, she's divorced, dating and potentially dangerous! What could possibly go wrong?

A story of a small one man piano retail and restoration business over a period of 58 years. His life, times and the raising of his family.

Ellison Gamble owns the most successful luxury real estate firm in Boston, but the accomplishment feels hollow when she comes home to an empty house. Institutionalizing her mother for her own safety was the hardest thing Katie Crawford has ever done. The costs are becoming more than she can manage, and her only solution is to sell her childhood home that has fallen into disrepair. After a tense first interaction with Katie, Ellison eventually finds herself in an unlikely friendship and makes a risky offer to help Katie sell her mother’s home. Katie will do anything to help her mom, but being attracted to a woman for the first time was not in the plan. Will the risks they take be worth the reward? Or have they wagered on a losing bet?

"Explores the author's life in a commune at Black Bear Ranch, established in a remote area of the Klamath Mountains near the California-Oregon border in the 1960s, and his subsequent move to a nearby rural town, where he worked variously logging, gold mining, and growing marijuana, all the while negotiating complex relationships with the local residents, including Native American population."--Provided by publisher.