Spotlight: Surviving Suicidal Ideation by Gina Cavalier and Amelia Kelley

A guide to help those who experience suicidal ideation heal and find peace.

Surviving Suicidal Ideation embarks on a profound journey through the underlying causes, stages, and powerful emotions that shape the experience of having suicidal thoughts. More importantly, it provides proven tools, exercises, and steps to curtail and heal this preventable condition. With sensitivity and clarity, Dr. Amelia Kelley and Gina Cavalier explore the interconnectedness of addiction, mental health, and trauma.

Using a unique combination of analytic and spiritual practices, mindfulness, cutting-edge brain therapy, and compassionate support, this book offers therapies and self-help techniques with corresponding exercises; hand-inked illustrations by Cavalier; a foreword by Thomas Moore, New York Times bestselling author of Care of the Soul; and an extensive list of resources.

As a public speaker, Cavalier focuses on memoir-style storytelling about living with suicidal ideation. Together, the authors present holistic approaches to suicide prevention and debunk prevalent myths. They also go beyond individual healing, emphasizing the importance of community and relationships. Ultimately, Surviving Suicidal Ideation provides a nonjudgmental guide that enables the reader to develop self-compassion and work toward a positive future filled with hope and resilience.

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About the Author

Gina Cavalier is an author and illustrator, inspirational speaker, spiritual seeker, intuitive healer, and founder and host of The Liberated Healer Podcast™. Cavalier is a media veteran, former entertainment studio executive, and technology enthusiast. Cavalier’s speaking career started at the Warner Bros. studio lot, where she founded and co-chaired a business resource group with thousands of members and produced insightful events.

For more than fifteen years, Cavalier has embarked on a fascinating healing journey that has helped her heal her suicidal ideation. She has co-authored and illustrated a book with Dr. Amelia Kelley for the Swedenborg Foundation titled Surviving Suicidal Ideation: From Therapy to Spirituality and the Lived Experience. She also wrote the illustrated book How I Became Santa Claus and penned and produced several television and film projects. She is a founding member of the first-ever Suicidal Ideation Anonymous Group, a non-profit that provides resources to those who need assistance. For booking information, please email gina@theliberatedhearler.com and visit our website at www.theliberatedhealer.com.

Dr. Amelia Kelley is a trauma-informed therapist, author, co-host of The Sensitivity Doctor's Podcast, researcher, and certified meditation and yoga instructor. Her specialties include art therapy, internal family systems (IFS), EMDR, and brainspotting. Her work focuses on women’s issues, empowering survivors of abuse and relationship trauma, highly sensitive persons, motivation, healthy living, and adult ADHD.

She is a psychology professor at Yorkville University and a nationally recognized relationship expert featured on SiriusXM Doctor Radio’s The Psychiatry Show as well as NPR’s The Measure of Everyday Life. Her private practice is part of the Traumatic Stress Research Consortium at the Kinsey Institute. She is the author of Powered by ADHD, Gaslighting Recovery for Women: The Complete Guide to Recognizing Manipulation and Achieving Freedom from Emotional Abuse, coauthor of What I Wish I Knew: Surviving and Thriving After an Abusive Relationship, Surviving Suicidal Ideation: From Therapy to Spirituality and the Lived Experience, and a contributing author for Psychology Today as well as Highly Sensitive Refuge, the world’s largest blog for HSPs. Her work has been featured in Teen Vogue, Yahoo News, Lifehacker, and Insider. You can find out more about her work at ameliakelley.com. Follow her on Instagram @drameliakelley.

Spotlight: No Ordinary Thursday by Anoop Judge

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing

Print length: 335 pages

Lena Sharma is a successful San Francisco restaurateur. An immigrant, she’s cultivated an image of conservatism and tradition in her close-knit Indian community. But when Lena's carefully constructed world begins to crumble, her ties to her daughter, Maya, and son, Sameer—raised in thoroughly modern California—slip further away.

Maya, divorced once, becomes engaged to a man twelve years her junior: Veer Kapoor, the son of Lena’s longtime friend. Immediately, Maya feels her mother's disgrace and the judgment of an insular society she was born into but never chose, while Lena’s cherished friendship frays. Meanwhile, Maya's younger brother, Sameer, struggles with an addiction that reaches a devastating and very public turning point, upending his already tenuous future.

As the mother, daughter, and son are compromised by tragedy, secrets, and misconceptions, they each must determine what it will take to rebuild their bonds and salvage what’s left of their family.

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About the Author

Born and raised in New Delhi, Anoop is the author of four novels, The Rummy Club which won the

2015 Beverly Hills Book Award, The Awakening of Meena Rawat, an excerpt of which was nominated for the 2019 Pushcart Prize, No Ordinary Thursday, and Mercy and Grace.

Her essays and short stories have appeared in Green Hills Literary Lantern, Rigorous Journal, Lumiere Review, DoubleBack Review, and the Ornament anthology, among others. 

 Anoop calls herself a “recovering litigator”—she worked in state and federal courts for many years before she replaced legal briefs with fictional tales. She holds an MFA from St. Mary’s College of California and was the recipient of the 2021 Advisory Board Award and the 2023 Alumni Scholarship. 

She lives in Pleasanton, California, with her husband, and is the mother of two admirable young adults.

You can follow the author at:

Website: https://anoopjudge.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/judgeanoop/?hl=en

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anoop-ahuja-judge-94396743/

Spotlight: Hidden Queen by Amber Allee

Release Date: June 27 

AVAILABLE IN KINDLE UNLIMITED

It’s Sin City, what could go wrong?

“You have your whole life ahead of you and I won’t let you throw it away to that awful place. The answer is no. I’m not going to say it again.”

When Kendall Drake disregards her guardians’ warning and arrives in Las Vegas to accept the summer internship of a lifetime, she doesn’t expect to meet Wyatt Dawson. Arrogant, rich, and exceedingly handsome, he is a delicious distraction that she does not need as she tries to make a name for herself in a male-dominated business. As she juggles her new position and Wyatt’s irresistible seduction while pretending to be on summer vacation with her friend, Harper, she finds herself caught in a world she never knew actually existed. Power plays, secrets, deception, and murder. Kendall soon realizes she’s bit off more than she can chew when her new life becomes entwined with the life she once led. 

Who is Wyatt really? 

Why was she told not to come to Sin City? 

Danger follows her every move and the ghosts of her past lurk in the shadows waiting to tie up loose ends.

Buy on Amazon Kindle | Paperback

Meet Amber Allee

Amber Allee is a brand-new author with her debut novel The Prince out in early 2024. She started writing in 2015 but finally pulled the trigger to publish recently. Amber loves to write about romance, drama, and suspense along with hot alpha heroes.

She lives in the great state of Texas in the same town she grew up in. She lives there with her husband and two kids. When she isn’t writing, Amber can be found under blankets reading or playing games with her family. She loves to travel and shop. She is the lover of wearing animal print and everything bling!

Connect with Amber Allee:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AmberAlleeAuthor

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/author.amberallee/

Spotlight: You've Got Male by Marina Adair

Publisher: Entangled: Amara

Format: Paperback

Publishing: June 25, 2024

She has zero time for a relationship. A fake one will have to do―in New York Times bestselling author Marina Adair’s new romance that brings the humor and the heart…

Evie Granger’s life is one crisis away from a complete meltdown.

Between single-parenting a sixteen-going-on-forty daughter, managing a mom living her best life way out loud, caring for an ailing father, and keeping the family’s struggling coffee shop afloat, Evie hasn’t looked after herself in far too long.

So naturally her best friend chooses this moment to post a video of Evie describing the ideal man...and sends it stratospherically viral.

Now Evie’s an overnight social media sensation and every eligible (and otherwise) guy in a five-state radius is turning up with his “I’m the one” credentials. But Evie can’t bring herself to let any Prince Charming into a life that’s barely holding together. A life she doesn’t even recognize as hers.

So she strikes a bargain with her sexy―if equally overwhelmed―neighbor to convince America she’s taken. But can a faux fairytale start to feel real...or is it just as doomed from the start?

Marina Adair’s clever, uproarious story captures the utter chaos and irrepressible joy of balancing kids, parents, love, and finding a spare minute for yourself―while the whole world watches every disastrous minute.

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About the Author

Marina Adair is a New York Times and #1 nationally bestselling author whose fun, flirty contemporary romances have sold over a million copies. In addition to the When in Rome series she is also the author of the Destiny Bay series, the Heroes of St. Helena series, the Sugar, Georgia series, and the St Helena Vineyard series, which was the inspiration behind the original Hallmark Channel Vineyard movies: Autumn in the Vineyard, Summer in the Vineyard and Valentine in the Vineyard. She currently lives with her husband, daughter, and two neurotic cats in Northern California. marinaadair.com

Spotlight: The Prince She Kissed in Paris by Scarlett Clarke

Published by: Harlequin Romance
Publication date: June 25th 2024
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Synopsis:

What happens when an architect has to work with the far-too-tempting prince she shared one magical evening with in Paris? Find out in Scarlett Clarke’s debut for Harlequin Romance!

ONE STARLIT NIGHT IN PARIS…

Architect Maddie is still thinking about her steamy kiss with a stranger when she walks into her meeting the next morning… And finds her new client, Nicholai, is that stranger and a prince! No matter how incredible the attraction, he’s now completely off-limits. He’s her boss, a dutiful royal and she’s sworn off men. But when their inevitable second kiss is caught on camera, there’s only one solution to the impending scandal—faking their engagement!

From Harlequin Romance: Be swept away by glamorous and heartfelt love stories.

Excerpt

Prince Nicholai Adamović braced his arm against the balcony doorframe as the wrought iron beams of the Eiffel Tower lit up with hundreds of sparkling white lights. The display no doubt dazzled the hordes of tourists who, despite the late hour, would be thronging the Pont d’léna and surrounding streets to snap the perfect picture.

 He’d seen it plenty of times, had frequently dismissed it as nothing more than a cheap trick to attract visitors and romantics.

But tonight, he, too, watched the show.

When would he have the freedom to be in his own hotel room alone again? Without security guards or press or his family lurking about?

Or worse, a wife.

The lights performed one last dance before settling into a steady golden glow. A beacon for all of Paris to look to. One of hope, history and love.

He snorted. Love was for books, movies and the occasional lucky sap who stumbled upon their soulmate. For people like him, love was not always an option. Especially when the law of his country required that he have a wedding ring on his finger before accepting the crown.

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About the Author

From sneaking behind the shelves of her local library to read a few pages of romance to absconding with her mom's copy of A Rose in Winter by Kathleen Woodiwiss, Scarlett has loved romance for as long as she can remember. By day, she works in public relations. By night, she powers through her most hated chore (laundry) and writes sweet, contemporary romance with strong heroes and the fierce heroines who make them realize true love really is possible.

When she's not reading or writing, she's wrangling her two little ones while trying yet again to plant a vegetable garden, visiting her husband at the fire station, or sitting on her front porch savoring a cup of hot tea and the sight of the Midwestern countryside.

Connect:

https://www.scarlettclarke.com/

https://x.com/sclarkeromance

https://www.instagram.com/sclarkeromance/

https://www.facebook.com/SClarkeRomance/

Note from the author:

Dear Reader,

THE PRINCE SHE KISSED IN PARIS is my debut royal romance with Harlequin Romance. Kicking off the story in Paris was a no-brainer; it was my husband’s and my first international trip together. I fell in love with the old architecture, the iconic landmarks, and just the overall feel of the city. 

It was a lot easier to write the chapters set in Paris than creating the country of Kelna, although I learned so much about world-building throughout this process! Kelna was inspired by the country of Croatia, a stunning setting that is now on my travel bucket list. 

I also want to give a shout-out to my incredible sister-in-law Rachel, for helping bring Madeline and her passion for architecture to life. Rachel is an architect in the Pacific Northwest and has worked on everything from museums to embassies. She was a wonderful resource on how design processes, site visits, and construction work, and let me get away with some twisting of how an actual timeline would progress!

I hope you enjoy Madeline and Nicholai’s romance. Happy reading, and have a wonderful summer!

Love, Scarlett

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Spotlight: Redeemed: A Memoir of a Stolen Childhood by Penny Lane

Penny's life was like a fairy tale--the terrible kind. Penny Lane was four years old when she was snatched from her home. The strange man's foreign accent was as rough as his kisses; her beloved Aunt Charlotte introduced him as Penny's father. As the girl and her suitcase were bundled into a car, Aunt Charlotte revealed a horrifying truth: Penny's mother died when she was a baby, and her Hungarian father had suddenly claimed her. Her illusion of family shattered, from that moment Penny's uprooted life became an exercise in survival. 

The abuse started quickly: Her new stepmother beat her bloody for eating a slice of bread without asking, beat her for lies she never told, beat her without excuse. As she grew into a young adult, Penny's boyfriend introduced her to church. But instead of finding solace, she was sucked into a too-familiar cycle of manipulation as the charismatic leaders exerted cult-like control. After being pressured into marriage and enduring years of forced confessions, Salem-style accusations, secretive disciplinary actions, and ostracization, Penny reaches her breaking point. Could she leave the church and her husband--and confront her abusers--and finally navigate life on her own terms?

A harrowing story of survival, this deeply poignant narrative explores learning to give yourself what others have denied you.

Excerpt

Chapter One: Losing Home

The man kissing me told me he was my father, but I did not know him. His face was rough and scratchy, and his smell unfamiliar. His sloppy kisses soon turned into hugs as he babbled away in a foreign accent that I did not recognize, acting as if he knew me. I didn’t want him to kiss me but did not know how to tell him to stop. I tried to pull away, but he was too big, and I didn’t stand a chance. My throat closed up, and I couldn’t talk. 

The year was 1963. I was four years old. Before this strange man walked down my driveway, I had been plum happy sitting on my red tricycle, scanning the neighborhood for someone to play with. I had a great life in a big, brown two-story house in Linden, New Jersey, with lots of yard on a shady, tree-lined street. We had a long, wide driveway on which I could ride back and forth all day or play hopscotch with my cousins. I lived with my Aunt Charlotte and Uncle George and their kids, Georgie, and Alex. Living downstairs were my Uncle Buddy and Aunt Mary and their brood, Maggie, Rebecca and Ted. We had neighbors next door who were old but still nice, and there were lots of kids and fun on our street. I fit right in.

“Penniké,” the new man called out enthusiastically, grinning with his funny teeth. He kept calling me Penniké, though my name was Penny, and he called me another funny word, csillagom.

Just then, Aunt Charlotte came outside in her going-to-town dress and began talking to this man like she knew him. She did not seem surprised by his presence, or his odd words, which made my stomach queasy. She looked at me with eyes I could not read, then quickly looked away.

The street was quiet, except for the grown-ups talking, and it was hot. My clothes were starting to itch and stick to my back, making me even more uncomfortable. After a while, my aunt hunched down to me, her soft, tender eyes at my level. She smiled as she stroked my cheek, but I could sense that she was having a hard time of it, her smile cracking into a sad face.

“Precious,” she said, “this is your father, and he’s come to take you home.” 

What? I thought to myself. I had never seen him before in my life.

Home? I was already home. This was where we had birthday parties and ice cream, where we kids played hide-and-seek and chased fireflies in the backyard at night. I had always lived here, and I did not like this stranger. Aunt Charlotte held my hand as she and the man started walking way too fast toward a car parked at the curb. I dragged my feet and pulled back, but Aunt Charlotte tugged me along with a force that I had not experienced with her before. I let go of my tricycle and hoped it would not tip over. What was going on? And why was this man carrying the suitcase I had seen in the kitchen that morning? As I looked back at the house, I saw my cousins Georgie and Alex in the front window, watching. I looked up at the adults talking to each other over my head, but I could not make out the words. Something was very wrong. 

In the car, a man waited for us in the driver’s seat. He smiled and handed me a beautiful teddy bear, which calmed me down a little. Maybe this was not so bad. The driver’s eyes were kind, and he held my gaze for a few moments, as if to communicate some sort of comfort, but did not say anything. As we got in the car, the driver spoke to my father, but their words were in a funny language, and I did not get any of it. 

I sat in the backseat with Aunt Charlotte, who continued holding my hand. She told me we were going to see Uncle George at the train station. My Uncle George was a ticket agent for the Pennsylvania Railroad, a glamorous-sounding job to me. But we’d never visited him at the train station before. 

As we pulled away from my home, I looked back at my tricycle left in the driveway. Aunt Charlotte held me close, her arm around my back. The two men in the front seat were still conversing in their strange language. Sometimes I heard them mention that name, Penniké. 

I could tell by the struggle on her face that my aunt was getting ready to say something and was choosing her words carefully. “Precious, your mother died when you were a baby,” she told me gently. She said she had taken me in, and I had been living with her and her family ever since.

“You were too young to remember,” she said.

My head and throat were starting to hurt, and I became dizzy. I had always thought that Aunt Charlotte was my mother and that Uncle George was my father and that I was part of their family. Why hadn’t anyone told me? 

I kept quiet. There was a lot of chatting among the adults the rest of the way to the train station, but I was still reeling from what Aunt Charlotte had told me. Why did my mother die? Would Aunt Charlotte die? Would I die, too? I held on to Aunt Charlotte’s hand for dear life. I looked at the two men in the front of the car as if in a dream, wondering how they got there. My eyes filled up. I could not speak.

When I gazed up toward Aunt Charlotte, I noticed that she was biting her lip as she looked out the window, and there were tears in her eyes, too. Soon, we got to the station, and she squeezed my hand.

“I’ll be right back, Precious,” she said, not looking back at me. In a flash, she was out the door, disappearing into the crowd before I could say anything or muster the courage to run after her. She never looked back. 

In that moment, I had no way of knowing that my carefree, happy life was about to turn into a nightmare I could never have imagined. That I was being ripped from my loving home into a world full of fear, neglect and abuse that would take decades to escape. That I was about to become an unwanted alien, lost in a cold, foreign home, and a powerless scapegoat lacking any sense of self or worth, one that not even God could save. 

Until I finally broke free and found a way to stand on my own. 

In the car, the two men in the front seat remained silent as we drove away. I waited nervously for Aunt Charlotte to come back. But it would be more than fifty years before I saw her again.

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About the Author

Penny Lane is a writer, wife and mother with an insatiable passion for life and books. Originally from Jackson Heights, Queens, she loves being outdoors-cycling, hiking, traveling, and connecting to, and inspiring people. She has a BS in business and management from the University of Phoenix and an MA in industrial/organizational psychology from Golden Gate University. In her spare time, she helps underserved youth learn to read, apply to college, and find jobs once they graduate, and in food pantries and other non-profits near her home in Mill Valley, California. Find out more at her website here.

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