BEDSIDE READING

Books to Devour by Jane Ubell-Meyer, Founder of Bedside Reading

BOOKS WE RECOMMEND Bedside Reading® places books by the bedside in luxury & lifestyle hotels. As we march towards Spring we are showcasing new thrillers, memoirs, romance novels, and business reads. All of our authors are carefully selected before being placed in our hotels. This month we feature David Crow, author of the memoir The Pale-Faced Lie and Sharon Ann Ziegler, author of the novel, The Association.

The Body Double by Emily Beyda

A dark, glittering debut novel, The Body Double is the suspenseful story of a young woman who is recruited by a stranger to give up her old life and identity to impersonate a reclusive Hollywood star. A strange man discovers our nameless narrator selling popcorn at a decrepit small-town movie theater and offers her an odd and lucrative position: she will forget her job, her acquaintances, even her name, and move to Los Angeles, where she will become the body double of the famous and troubled celebrity Rosanna Feld.

Vanishing Girls by Lisa Regan

Read the USA Today bestselling thriller that “keeps the dramatic reveals coming” as Detective Josie Quinn desperately chases a killer hidden within her close-knit town before it’s too late and they claim another victim (Publishers Weekly). The little girl curled into a tiny ball as the chamber grew colder around her. “Please,” she whispered, rocking back and forth. “I want to go home.” When Isabelle Coleman, a blonde, beautiful young girl goes missing, everyone from the small town of Denton joins the search. They can find no trace of the town’s darling, but Detective Josie Quinn finds another girl they didn’t even know was missing. Mute and unresponsive, it’s clear this mysterious girl has been damaged beyond repair. All Josie can get from her is the name of a third girl and a flash of a neon tongue piercing that matches Isabelle’s. The race is on to find Isabelle alive, and Josie fears there may be other girls in terrible danger. When the trail leads her to a cold case labelled a hoax by authorities, Josie begins to wonder is there anyone left she can trust? Someone in this close-knit town is committing unspeakable crimes. Can Josie catch the killer before another victim loses their life?

The Prize by Geoffrey M. Cooper

What does it take to win a Nobel Prize? Deceit? Fraud? Maybe even murder? When she finds a drug that has the potential to treat Alzheimer’s disease, Pam Weller is certain she’s made the discovery of a lifetime. But her success threatens the supremacy of Eric Prescott, a leading figure in Alzheimer’s research, who sees his chances at a Nobel Prize slipping through his fingers. His lust for the prize and the accolades that come with it drive him to concoct a plot against Pam that threatens her career, her freedom, and even her life.

July 1939. War is on the horizon but on Monk Island, Maine life goes on as usual. As the daughter of a lobsterman, Ellie Ames’ future seems limited until a mysterious German couple comes off the ferry with their nineteen-year-old son. From the moment she meets Karl Brink, the two become inseparable and not everyone approves because locals are suspicious of outsiders. Ellie ignores their scorn, however, and the secret she learns about Karl’s family makes her even more determined to be with him. The magical summer ends when the Brinks suddenly have to go home. And although Karl promises to return in the fall, by then Europe is at war. Two years pass and Ellie has all but given up hope when she gets a letter in the mail that will change her life forever. The Storm Beyond The Tides is the story of the unlikely romance between a small-town girl and a German on the eve of the Second World War and explores a frightening time in America’s past—when U-Boats prowled the East Coast and put small, coastal communities on the frontline of a global conflict.

Grace In The Wings by Kari Bovee

New York City, 1920. Grace Michelle has everything she wants: a home, a family, and a future career as a costume designer for famed showman Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr.’s Ziegfeld Follies. Pretty good for a girl who once lived on the streets of New York City. But when her sister, Sophia, the star of the show, is murdered, Grace’s safe and protected life is shattered.Battle-scarred by the war and emotionally scarred by his past, Chet Riker has made it a practice to keep his distance from others; love, after all, leads only to pain. But Chet has a problem—a big one: he’s become indebted to mob-boss Joe Marciano in an attempt to save his estranged mother’s life, and Marciano wants him to pay up or else. Desperate to get the money, he contacts former client Florenz Ziegfeld for work.

In Challenge Everything™: The Battle Cry That Blew Sh*t Up and INVNTd Live Brand Storytelling™ Scott Cullather and Kristina McCoobery the husband and wife co-founders of INVNT™, the global live brand storytelling agency™ share their story of launching a scrappy start-up – at the beginning of a global recession – and evolving it into a fully fledged global agency business, discuss the power of live brand storytelling and provide tactics for incorporating it into wider marketing strategies, and reveal the next frontier of business success: predictive analytics. So whether you’re a budding entrepreneur considering going out on your own, a business leader looking to take your company to the next level, or CMO eager to build your brand, this book will help you blow sh*t up and take your projects, partnerships, and performance to the next level. Challenge Everything by Scott Cullather & Kristina McCoober

Bulwark by Brit Lunden

Sheriff Clay Finnes has to admit that the fantastical stories, told by an accident victim as well as unusual sightings of wolves, things are getting a bit strange. A visit to the ominous Gingerbread House makes him realize that his life as he knows it will never be the same.

Leadership is never easy. Almost all leaders deal with both triumph and tragedy, oftentimes in equal measure. The fact of the matter is that leadership insists on constant rejection of the status quo. True leaders demand continuous reflection and improvement of those around them, and even more importantly, of themselves. True leaders are Changemakers. You will learn to become unafraid of doing something different in the service of a good cause and how to spark a movement that others can’t help but rally around. The Changemaker is a roadmap of sorts, designed to deliver comprehensive, common sense leadership strategies to people from all walks of life.

Conversations with our authors

DAVID CROW, THE PALEFACED LIE

A heart-wrenching memoir of a childhood that endured unspeakable brutality. David Crow’s life speaks to the enduring belief of the power of the spirit.

The Golf Course Millionaire by Robin Richter

When properly applied, golf has the amazing power to introduce you to interesting and influential people; to establish lasting relationships with movers and shakers; and to help you reach your full potential in your career and in your social circles. In short, golf has the incredible power to improve your life! Robin Richter, former golf pro, has been playing golf for over four decades. She has built her successful promotional products company, Wearable Imaging, Inc., through the many meaningful relationships that were developed on the golf course. In her book, The Golf Course Millionaire, Robin shares how a great hobby can lead to fulfillment both on the course and off; in business and developing lasting friendships and alliances. If you’re an avid golfer, this book will help you to use the sport to improve your life. If you don’t play golf, she provides ways to use golf to connect with influencers too! Get Robin’s book to leverage the amazing power of golf and witness the transformation that will happen to you!

Q: Your father had his own code of ethics. What is your code and how is it different from his? A: Most of society’s ills are caused by people with a code of conduct like my father’s, which justifies being dishon est, immoral, narcissistic, cruel, and violent. That is the convict code, and I’m sure every prison is filled with men and women with these characteristics. People like my father are devoid of empathy and sympathy. As a young man, after helping him with one too many of his crimes, I decided to be his exact opposite. I strive to be honest, mor al, transparent, kind, and empathetic. For certain, I have not always lived up to those standards, but I work as hard as I can to do so. I learned early on that you can’t attract people with high moral standards if your own morals are lacking. And on the flip side, you become like the people you befriend.

Q: The Pale-Faced Lie talks about strength and forgiveness. How did you find the strength to forgive your parents? A: Finding a way to cope with the trauma of my childhood was by far the hardest part of my journey, and I didn’t have any success until I was in my 50s. I knew that facing up to everything that had happened was a must. But how? Selfhelp books and therapy didn’t help.

For decades, most of the memories of what happened in Gallup when I was 10 stayed buried. I remembered little bits, hints, but that was all. Over the years, I returned to my childhood haunts, hoping to recall the details. Nothing. And then I met the owner of the house where I had been living at the time. He invited me in, and being in that space brought it all back. In a matter of hours, I told a kind stranger my life story, remembering everything about the house, myself, my siblings, and my mother and father. Afterward, I called my parents and asked them if they felt any guilt or remorse about how they had treated me. Both of them said I had been a terrible disappointment as a child and adult.

I realized that my parents would never change, that they would never think they had done anything wrong. In that moment, I decided to forgive them. Unconditionally. I did it for my benefit, not theirs. After years of feeling angry and guilty, I was somehow ready to let it all go and move on. Forgiveness is what finally worked for me. Other people might have chosen a different path. There’s no right or wrong way.

THE ASSOCIATION Sharon Ann Ziegler,

Back after an extended hiatus, a young female attorney takes on a powerful homeowners association and uncovers fraud, mystery, and murder! Along the way, she must find it within herself to navigate and succeed in a world where grossly confident men grandstand in gold jewelry, private investigators are always listening, and judges are not honorable—a world where people aren’t at all who they seem to be.

Q: How did you decide to write a novel, do you have any prior writing experiences or other experiences? A: Over the years I wrote numerous legal briefs and motions and I argued before a number of distinguished courts. I even argued a case before Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito when he was on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, a few months before he became a Supreme Court Justice.

Q: What are some of the issues you wanted to tackle in your novel? A: The book took close to four years to write. I wrote it with a different approach than other legal thrillers I have read. Most legal dramas deal with the big trial and the preparation for it. I wanted to show that there are many more aspects to the profession other than the big legal trial because trials are much more uncommon than what one would expect since most cases settle out of court. So I designed the book around the other types of court appearances attorneys routinely make i.e. call of the calendar on motion practice days, motions to dismiss, appellate and state supreme court arguments, etc. In addition, I tried to highlight how legal investigations are conducted and I tried to touch on how volatile negotiations between attorneys can become. Overall the practice of law can be very vicious at times.

Q: What is particularly sentimental to you about your book? A: On a personal note, my husband designed the cover and he is very proud of it. So proud in fact that I secretly secured for him a copyright on the image and surprised him with it.