Shining Scars


Book Description

Krystian Leonard is a sophomore in high school and entered her first pageant at age 14. She wrote Shining Scars as a way to reach out to children healing with visible scars. Krystian developed and created her own non-profit organization Shining S.C.A.R.S. at age 15 as a result of the scars she endured. She spends countless hours volunteering and promoting her organization as well as competing in pageantry. Growing up she experienced first-hand the trials and self-esteem issues associated with visible scars. Healing with visible scars left Krystian feeling damaged and ashamed. She found the strength she needed to overcome her self-image and entered her first beauty pageant at the age of 14. One year later she summoned the courage to compete in the Miss America Scholarship Organization. As part of her application, Krystian was to choose a platform for which she would become an advocate. She wanted to choose a platform she could be passionate about, and thus Shining S.C.A.R.S. was born.




Scars on the Soul


Book Description




Hell Is a Very Small Place


Book Description

“An unforgettable look at the peculiar horrors and humiliations involved in solitary confinement” from the prisoners who have survived it (New York Review of Books). On any given day, the United States holds more than eighty-thousand people in solitary confinement, a punishment that—beyond fifteen days—has been denounced as a form of cruel and degrading treatment by the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture. Now, in a book that will add a startling new dimension to the debates around human rights and prison reform, former and current prisoners describe the devastating effects of isolation on their minds and bodies, the solidarity expressed between individuals who live side by side for years without ever meeting one another face to face, the ever-present specters of madness and suicide, and the struggle to maintain hope and humanity. As Chelsea Manning wrote from her own solitary confinement cell, “The personal accounts by prisoners are some of the most disturbing that I have ever read.” These firsthand accounts are supplemented by the writing of noted experts, exploring the psychological, legal, ethical, and political dimensions of solitary confinement. “Do we really think it makes sense to lock so many people alone in tiny cells for twenty-three hours a day, for months, sometimes for years at a time? That is not going to make us safer. That’s not going to make us stronger.” —President Barack Obama “Elegant but harrowing.” —San Francisco Chronicle “A potent cry of anguish from men and women buried way down in the hole.” —Kirkus Reviews




Sachiko


Book Description

This striking work of narrative nonfiction tells the true story of six-year-old Sachiko Yasui's survival of the Nagasaki atomic bomb on August 9, 1945, and the heartbreaking and lifelong aftermath. Having conducted extensive interviews with Sachiko Yasui, Caren Stelson chronicles Sachiko's trauma and loss as well as her long journey to find peace. This book offers readers a remarkable new perspective on the final moments of World War II and their aftermath.




Who I Am: American Scar Stories


Book Description

Ever wonder how many more curveballs life will throw at you? Ever question how other people triumph over life changing hardships? Who I Am: American Scar Stories is the first book to unite riveting portraits and inspirational short stories of lives interrupted by physically scarring life changing events. Inside the book, you will discover the turning point for Kona Triathlete BethAnn Telford, childhood cancer survivor Courtney Ott, attempted murder victim José Rios, rising Miss America pageant queen Krystian Leonard, fashion designer Amy Tippins, and seven more men, women, and children. Stories of illness, bullying, organ donation, self-harm, near death experiences, recovery and victory underline how to find silver linings in life's obstacles. Who I Am: American Scar Stories illuminates the tenacity and passion of the human spirit and how it is never too late to reinvent yourself. Foreword: David Mezzapelle (Bestselling Author: Contagious Optimism; Viva Editions, 2014) Hardcover/Case Laminate 60 pages







10 Habits of Truly Optimistic People


Book Description

Author and business leader David Mezzapelle, author of 2013's best-selling Contagious Optimism, is on a mission to get people to "power their lives with the positive." He has worked with top influencers, business people, and others and observed that each one of these folks had a few things in common — they overcame obstacles, looked forward instead of backwards, made mistakes and learned from them, and, most of all, they stayed positive no matter what. In this silver linings playbook, readers can learn the secrets to living a life filled with joy, abundance, forward momentum, and contagious optimism. Learning these ten habits can jumpstart your life in the same day! The excellent advice, inspiring stories, suggested actions, and insights from David Mezzapelle and his contributors will help readers become unstoppable optimists.




Scars and Stilettos


Book Description

Fear of being abandoned keeps nineteen-year-old Harmony Dust trapped in an abusive and cruel relationship. She thinks she has hit bottom--tens of thousands of dollars in debt, struggling to get by, and so controlled by her boyfriend that she doesn't protest when he begins openly sleeping around. Things can't get worse . . . until someone tells her how much money she can make as an exotic dancer. For the next three years, Harmony lives a double life as Monique, a dancer in a fully-nude strip club. Scars and Stilettos is Harmony's stark, honest, and ultimately hopeful story of how God found her in that dark, noisy place and led her out. She has since married, completed an MA in social welfare, and now leads Treasures, an organization helping women in the sex trade discover their true worth. "Harmony wrote her story so that you and your friends may get help out of whatever dark tunnel you find yourself in. I know her heart, and it is to see all of us live our lives in the very purpose for which we were created. I do want to warn you . . . once you start this book, you will not be able to put it down. You will laugh, you will cry, you will be encouraged, you will fall in love with God all over again . . . and you will want to get a copy for every person you know." --Holly Wagner, from the preface "Harmony's story is compelling evidence of how far the love of God reaches to heal broken lives and restore all that has been stolen." --Nancy Alcorn, Mercy Ministries




King of Scars


Book Description

A 2020 LOCUS AWARD FINALIST! See the Grishaverse come to life on screen with the Netflix series, Shadow and Bone -- Season 2 streaming now! Discover what comes next for daring rogue Nikolai in King of Scars, the start of this captivating new duology from #1 bestselling author, Leigh Bardugo. "[Bardugo] touches on religion, class, family, love — all organically, all effortlessly, all cloaked in the weight of a post-war reckoning with the cost (literal and figurative) of surviving the events that shape both people and nations." —NPR "The story exists at an intersection of past and future selves, and in the dawning understanding that what you most fear may be what you most need." —Washington Post Face your demons...or feed them. The dashing young king, Nikolai Lantsov, has always had a gift for the impossible. No one knows what he endured in his country’s bloody civil war—and he intends to keep it that way. Now, as enemies gather at his weakened borders, Nikolai must find a way to refill Ravka’s coffers, forge new alliances, and stop a rising threat to the once-great Grisha Army. Yet with every day a dark magic within him grows stronger, threatening to destroy all he has built. With the help of a young monk and a legendary Grisha general, Nikolai will journey to the places in Ravka where the deepest magic survives to vanquish the terrible legacy inside him. He will risk everything to save his country and himself. But some secrets aren’t meant to stay buried—and some wounds aren’t meant to heal. Read all the books in the Grishaverse! The Shadow and Bone Trilogy (previously published as The Grisha Trilogy) Shadow and Bone Siege and Storm Ruin and Rising The Six of Crows Duology Six of Crows Crooked Kingdom The King of Scars Duology King of Scars Rule of Wolves The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic The Severed Moon: A Year-Long Journal of Magic The Lives of Saints Demon in the Wood Graphic Novel Praise for the Grishaverse “A master of fantasy.” —The Huffington Post “Utterly, extremely bewitching.” —The Guardian “This is what fantasy is for.” —The New York Times Book Review “A world that feels real enough to have its own passport stamp.” —NPR “The darker it gets for the good guys, the better.” —Entertainment Weekly “Sultry, sweeping and picturesque. . . . Impossible to put down.” —USA Today “There’s a level of emotional and historical sophistication within Bardugo’s original epic fantasy that sets it apart.” —Vanity Fair “Unlike anything I’ve ever read.” —Veronica Roth, bestselling author of Divergent “Bardugo crafts a first-rate adventure, a poignant romance, and an intriguing mystery!” —Rick Riordan, bestselling author of the Percy Jackson series




One Hundred & Thirty-Six Scars (the Devil's Own, #1)


Book Description

SO CONSUMING, SO RAW, SO DARK, SO INTENSE, SO GRITTY, SOOOOOO EPIC!! - Kitty Kats Crazy About Books Meadow I was four years old when I learnt what evilness the world could bring. I fought through life with my scarred soul, wrangled through the dark empty nights where I'd pray I didn't wake up the next morning. I would shut my eyes and mentally take myself to my happy place. Red roses The sound of waves crashing on the sand under my feet. The final time the cold blade pushed up against my thigh, and I waited for my blood to trickle over the other One hundred and thirty-six scars that covered my skin- never came. Who was this man who just saved me? He had no idea how close I came to ending myself that day. I was ready to blow my brains all over the bedroom walls and I had a nine sitting under my pillow to prove it. Beast Some people have families, I had engineered human killing machines surrounding me my whole life. I'd been a part of this unit since I was a baby, raised in a community that was shut off from the real world. A community where we were nothing but empty vessels, until Hella (my best friend) and I escaped. Hella took us to a girl who was in foster care with him before he was summoned into The Army. After finding out yet another complication in my life, I needed space. I booked in to a run down apartment, ready to clear my head. Only my head didn't clear, because I was haunted every night from the screams that would vibrate through my walls. This is not a story of a perfect man coming in to save the day. This is a story of what happens when fate interferes and two completely broken souls collide. *Potential triggers lie within this book. ** This book is gritty and contains dark content.