When she is offered the opportunity to move to Texas as a mail-order bride, she jumps at the chance, hoping to be able to start a new life. Her new husband, and her new home, aren’t everything she dreamed they would be, and she must learn to adjust to life as a married woman. Abner Phelps has wanted a wife for years, but none of the women in Nowhere, Texas will give him the time of day. When he approaches Edna Petunia Sanders about finding him a bride, she immediately agrees to send away for a mail-order bride for him. When his new bride arrives, she’s everything he dreamed she could be. Will he be able to convince her that he is her one and only love? Or will she spend the rest of her life pining for what she doesn’t have?

    In spite of their attraction and for reasons unknown to Rose, Andre distanced himself from her. As the years passed, she remained a spinster, making a monotonous, although worthwhile life, by working at the library and keeping house for her brother. Then Marty dies, leaving her practically destitute. Andre Bellaire is living what he calls his third life--the first being his childhood and youth as part of a wealthy Creole family in New Orleans, his lonely middle years as a successful manufacturer in New York, and his later years as a philanthropist in the small town of Sweetwater Springs, Montana. In spite of a weak heart, he's savoring life, living with his newfound daughter and her family, while designing a library, a park, and helping to fund a new church. Then his comfortable routine is disrupted by a letter from his best friend Marty saying he’s dying and asking Andre to take care of his sister--the woman he once loved. Andre offers Rose the job of librarian in Sweetwater Springs and a room in his home. Not wanting to deter Rose from accepting the job, he doesn’t relate the library is only land and architectural plans, and the physical structure has yet to be built. Although Rose is shocked to find the job isn’t what she expected, the challenges of her new life prove stimulating. Still she guards her heart against Andre, not wanting the devastating hurt that would come from loving him and once again being rejected. Even if Andre could change Rose’s mind about a relationship, he holds back. The former barriers to their love no longer matter. But new ones do--at least for him. Can love bloom again in the winter of their lives?

    A beautiful, eerie story of love and memory. If you try to pick up the pieces, sometimes that's when they fall into place Rosie Milford inherits a house in an old silk factory after her mother's death and moves there with her young children. The discovery of a shocking truth about her own childhood, when she is already reeling from the breakup of her marriage, fills her with distrust and fearfulness. Then she starts seeing a strange child, wandering in the garden, who seems as lost as she is. In 1812, silk master Septimus Fowler has grand plans to keep his factory in step with the industrial revolution: he will plant mulberry trees, rear silkworms and import new mechanized looms. Orphan Beulah Fiddement works as a bobbin winder and has secrets that the master would go to any lengths to get. Caught up in a dark adult world of illicit love, rebellion and revenge, Beulah must put away her childhood and draw on all her spirit to protect those she loves. Beulah's story of guilt and bravery will echo down two centuries and change Rosie's life as she struggles to overcome the hand of her own past and find redemption.

    Before she can complete her task, she may need to resort to a little murder and experience a bit of Hellfire, but that's to be expected when the threads of time are ruled by sexist Thraeder pigs. Fortunately, a certain irresistible man (who happens to be the ultimate feminist) makes everything worthwhile in the end. CATEGORY: Time Travel Romance. (Not, in general, for sexist Thraeder pigs.)

    Each of them is handed a tantalizing clue to her true heritage—a clue which takes Maia across the world to a crumbling mansion in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Once there, she begins to put together the pieces of her story and its beginnings.Eighty years earlier in Rio’s Belle Epoque of the 1920s, Izabela Bonifacio’s father has aspirations for his daughter to marry into the aristocracy. Meanwhile, architect Heitor da Silva Costa is devising plans for an enormous statue, to be called Christ the Redeemer, and will soon travel to Paris to find the right sculptor to complete his vision. Izabela—passionate and longing to see the world—convinces her father to allow her to accompany him and his family to Europe before she is married. There, at Paul Landowski’s studio and in the heady, vibrant cafes of Montparnasse, she meets ambitious young sculptor Laurent Brouilly, and knows at once that her life will never be the same again.In this sweeping, epic tale of love and loss—the first in a unique, spellbinding series of seven novels—Lucinda Riley showcases her storytelling talent like never before.

    As he struggles to make a dent in the icy exterior of the townspeople he wonders if his efforts will be wasted--then he meets Matilda, and everything changes.From the moment they meet Danny finds himself entranced by her ambition, and Matilda is captured by his passion and determination. But life in Bear Creek is difficult for outsiders and despite the attraction, their blossoming romance could end in tragedy.How can Danny choose between the chance at love and his life's dream? Will Matilda lose her independence if she admits how she feels?Grace Cranfield dreams of freedom from high-society and the suitors her parents push onto her. When all seems lost, she finds a chance at hope when she spots an ad in the church from a Montana rancher looking for a wife.Left alone after the sudden deaths of his brothers, Malcolm Wilson longs for someone to help build a new life from the rubble of his old one. Grace is charming and kind, and as sparks fly she finds herself on a train speeding towards a new home, but also a world like nothing she's ever known.Will Grace be able to find a place in this new world and discover who she truly is? More importantly, will she survive long enough to get the chance?All Mayme Ruble wants is to feel like she belongs. When she comes across an ad from a farmer looking for a wife, she feels a glimmer of hope--a chance to start over and maybe even find love.Thomas Harris has spent most of his life running his farm, and now it's time for him to marry. Mayme's kind, honest response strikes a chord with him and there is instant chemistry. She leaves her hometown with tentative optimism that a new chapter in her life is about to begin.Despite Thomas' warmth and the welcoming townspeople, Mayme struggles to shed her self-consciousness. All seems well, until disaster strikes in Bear Creek and Mayme is forced to make a decision: will she step up and be the woman she hopes to become? Or will she lose this chance at happiness once and for all?When Rachel Maxwell discovers that her home - and her hand in marriage - have been sold to notorious poker player, Salis Dangerfield, her world is thrown into turmoil. Despite the stories swirling around town, Rachel has no plans to give in easily.Salis is a ruthless businessman and highroller. But right now, he's just a man in search of a safe haven. Faced with distrust from both his wife and the locals, it seems as though he and his young sister will never find their footing in Bear Creek.Rachel soon discovers the kind man behind the facade and Salis thinks he may have finally found the peace he's been looking for.Will Salis be able to overcome his demons? Can he and Rachel find a way to be together even when the whole world is against them?In Bear Creek Brides: Books 9-12, you will discover four captivating stories of vulnerability, danger, and determination as these four brides navigate peril and heartache to hold onto the chance for true love.

    This is the mystery the two daughters must unravel as they stay up late reading the words penned by Elizabeth so long ago. Their mother can’t give them the answers: After a massive stroke, she lies mute and near death in a nursing home. Only the pages of her diary can provide clues to what really happened.In a richly detailed journey into the past, we see Elizabeth lose her heart to one man while remaining devoted to another. Finally, she must choose between the stable, loyal Bob...and the electrifying and unpredictable A.J., who spent time in juvenile detention as a teen. When a suspicious fire in the neighborhood is linked to A.J., Elizabeth is faced with another dilemma: She’s the only one who can clear A.J.’s name, but to do so would ruin her reputation. Surprisingly, it’s Bob who comes to the rescue, forcing Elizabeth to make perhaps the most painful decision of her life....The Diary is a love story. It’s also the story of the unshakable bond between a mother and her daughters.

    Badly wounded, he found refuge in a ruined monastery and in the arms of Sofia Bartoli. But the love that kindled between them was shaken by an irreversible betrayal.Nearly thirty years later, Hugo’s estranged daughter, Joanna, has returned home to the English countryside to arrange her father’s funeral. Among his personal effects is an unopened letter addressed to Sofia. In it is a startling revelation.Still dealing with the emotional wounds of her own personal trauma, Joanna embarks on a healing journey to Tuscany to understand her father’s history—and maybe come to understand herself as well. Joanna soon discovers that some would prefer the past be left undisturbed, but she has come too far to let go of her father’s secrets now…

    She and her mother live a privileged life. Beautiful and talented, Grace is looking forward to a pleasant summer celebrating her engagement to a wealthy young gentleman.But when her lovely, charming, and disgraced cousin Etta arrives, Grace finds her place in society—and in her mother’s heart—threatened. Etta enchants everyone as she maneuvers to secure a station in Galveston’s upper echelons. Grace, in a reckless moment, reveals Etta’s scandalous past, and as punishment, she’s sent to work in Galveston’s back alleys, helping the poor. There, a silent waif known only as Miss Girl opens Grace’s eyes to new love and purpose. She’s determined to save this girl who lost her entire family in the hurricane and now slips along the shadows of the unfinished seawall with a mysterious resolve.Soon, the lives of the three young women will converge as betrayal, mistaken identity, and a family secret sweep them toward a future that defies all expectations.

    Brothers and sisters. Mothers and daughters. Okay, everybody. Hold on tight. Davis Winger has it all. A respected engineer who designs roller coasters in theme parks across the country, he is deeply in love with his wife and has a beautiful young daughter and a happy home. Until an accident strikes on one of his rides. Nothing fatal—except to his career. And to his marriage, when a betrayal from his past inadvertently comes to light. In one cosmically bad day, Davis loses it all.His sister, Molly, is at a crossroads herself. She’s coasting through a dire relationship with an incompatible man-child. And she’s a journalist whose deeply personal columns about mothers and daughters are forcing her to confront the truth about her own mother, who abandoned Molly and Davis years ago and disappeared.For these two siblings, it’s just a matter of bracing themselves for one turbulent summer in this redemptive and painfully funny family drama about making the best of the sharp turns in life—those we choose to take and those beyond our control.

    'In the beginning, it was the summers I remembered - long warm days under the palest blue skies, the cornflowers and forget-me-nots lining the road through the Lys forest, the buzz of insects going about their work, Violet telling me lies.' Iris is getting old. A widow, her days are spent living quietly and worrying about her granddaughter, Grace, a headstrong young doctor. It's a small sort of life. But one day an invitation comes for Iris through the post to a reunion in France, where she served in a hospital during WWI. Determined to go, Iris is overcome by the memories of the past, when as a shy, naive young woman she followed her fifteen-year-old brother, Tom, to France in 1914 intending to bring him home. On her way to find Tom, Iris comes across the charismatic Miss Ivens, who is setting up a field hospital in the old abbey of Royaumont, north of Paris. Putting her fears aside, Iris decides to stay at Royaumont, and it is there that she truly comes of age, finding her capability and her strength, discovering her passion for medicine, making friends with the vivacious Violet and falling in love. But war is a brutal thing, and when the ultimate tragedy happens, there is a terrible price that Iris has to pay, a price that will echo down the generations. A moving and uplifting novel about the small, unsung acts of heroism of which love makes us capable.

    . .'An endearing novel about one gutsy, smart and inspirational woman. I want to be Shirley when I grow up.' Rachael Johns'Elderly. Is that how the world sees me? A helpless little old lady? If only they knew. I allow myself a small smirk.'When Shirley Sullivan signs her 83-year-old husband, Frank, out of the Sunset Lodge Nursing Home, she has no intention of bringing him back.For fifty-seven years the couple has shared love, happiness and heartbreak. And while Frank may not know who his wife is these days, he knows he wants to go home. Back to the beach where they met in the early 1960s . . .So Shirley enacts an elaborate plan to evade the authorities – and their furious daughter, Fiona – to give Frank the holiday he’d always dreamed of.And, in doing so, perhaps Shirley can make amends for a lifelong guilty secret . . .

    It has been years since her last visit and her relationship with her mother, Molly, is strained but Charlie is determined to patch up their differences.The reunion, however, is interrupted when Molly suffers a heart attack. With her mother airlifted out for life-saving surgery, Charlie is left to take the reins of the struggling family business, alongside friends old and new, including the captivating local stockman Mike.The authorities declare Annabelle to have taken her own life, but when a woman’s body turns up at an abandoned mine site, Charlie begins to wonder what else is being covered up, and why.Beginning a search for the truth, a perilous bush chase unfolds that threatens her own life, causing Charlie to wonder whether she ever knew Annabelle at all …From the bestselling author of The Heartwood Hotel comes the suspenseful new outback mystery from Australia’s authentic rural writer and beloved voice of the bush.

    Amanda follows the rules—at the school where she works; in her community; and as a picture-perfect daughter, wife, and mother-to-be. Erin follows her heart—in love and otherwise—living a bohemian lifestyle on a shoestring budget and honoring her late father’s memory with a passion for music and her fledgling bath-products business.The sisters are content leading separate but happy lives in their hometown of Potomac Point until everything is upended by lies that force them to confront unsettling truths about their family, themselves, and each other. For sisters as different as these two, building trust doesn’t come easily—especially with one secret still between them—but it may be the only way to save their family.

    And now she’s dead, it’s worse than ever. With nothing but his skateboard and a few belongings in a garbage bag, Sam goes to live with the strangers his mum cut ties with seven years ago: Aunty Lorraine and his cousins Shane and Minty. Despite the suspicion and hostility emanating from their fibro shack, Sam reverts to his childhood habit of following Minty around and is soon surfing with Minty to cut through the static fuzz in his head. But as the days slowly meld into one another, and ghosts from the past reappear, Sam has to make the ultimate decision … will he sink or will he swim.