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Acts of Kindness by Heather Barnett


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Bocas


Thomas M. Barron - 2018
    Does the occasional female tourist ever sleepover? Sure. But that’s nothing compared to PJ’s scorecard. PJ should be registered with the Center for Disease Control.Warm water, cold beers and no Shawna—life couldn’t be better on the island. Until George takes a little road trip to Colombia. Raúl, his boss at the bar, offered him a free ride. He always knew Raúl moved a little bit of cocaine. Who doesn’t? But guns?So… he absolutely should not write Shawna. That clever soul-crushing beauty destroyed him. Maybe it would be OK if she came for just a week? Just one week...

False Light


Eric Dezenhall - 2021
    After Fuse is asked to leave his paper pending a disciplinary investigation, he has plenty of time on his hands. So when his oldest friend approaches him for advice after the man’s daughter says she was sexually assaulted by her boss, a prominent media star, Fuse agrees to help. He gives his buddy the only options he feels are available: report the incident to the police and risk a huge “he said/she said” smear campaign against the girl, or plan something even better—revenge. As a journalist, Fuse has a colorful background investigating criminals, politicians, gangsters, drug lords, and all-around shysters—and knows plenty of shady sources—so he’s the perfect person to enact a complex (and ultimately, entertaining) plan to bring the popular media mogul down in the court of public opinion . . . and make him pay.

The Moon, the Stars, and Madame Burova


Ruth Hogan - 2021
    She and her trusty pack of Tarot cards have seen the lovers and the liars, the angels and the devils, the dreamers and the fools. Now, after a lifetime of keeping other people's secrets, Madam Burova is ready to have a little piece of life for herself. But she still has one last thing to do--to fulfill a promise made in the 1970s, when she and her girlfriends were carefree, with their whole lives still before them.In London, it is time for another woman to make a fresh start. Billie has lost her university job, her marriage, and her place in the world when a sudden and unlikely discovery leaves her very identity in question. Determined to find answers, she must follow a trail...which leads to Brighton, the pier, and directly to Madame Burova's door.In a story spanning over fifty years, Ruth Hogan has conjured a magical world of 1970s holiday camps and seaside entertainers, eccentrics, heroes and villains, the lost and the found. Young people will make careless choices which echo down the years....but it's never too late to put things right.

Escape to the Hummingbird Hotel


Daisy James - 2021
    Keen to share her happiness, she organises a huge surprise party for all their family and friends… except things don’t quite work out as she expected, and instead of planning a flower-filled wedding, she finds herself single, and fired from a job she loves.Desperate to escape her heartbreak, she jets off to her aunt’s quirky Hummingbird Hotel on the gorgeous island of Corfu. Little did she know that instead of spending her time lounging by the pool, drinking cocktails, and soaking up the sun, she’d be stepping into the role of the island’s newest hotelier.The arrival of unexpected guests sends Abbie into a tailspin of panic, and she’s forced to turn to snippy, but charismatic, vineyard owner-turned-chef, Nikos Angelopoulos, for help. Why does the kitchen fill with smoke whenever she makes coffee? Why is there a naked man swimming in the pool? And why do the hotel’s toiletries turn their guests’ hair pink?Despite all the chaos, the Hummingbird Hotel works its magic on Abbie, and she finds herself with a decision to make. Will she return home to the drizzly grey skies of London? Or will she take a leap of faith and embrace the new opportunities that little corner of paradise has to offer, and maybe, just maybe, discover a sprinkle of romance along the way?Let Daisy James whisk you away to gorgeous Corfu with a feel-good summer read filled with sun, sea and a sprinkle of romance. Perfect for fans of Mandy Baggot, Sue Roberts & Sandy Barker.

Someone Else's Secret


Julia Spiro - 2020
    Lindsey and Georgie have high hopes for their summer on Martha’s Vineyard. In the wake of the recession, ambitious college graduate Lindsey accepts a job as a nanny for an influential family who may help her land a position in Boston’s exclusive art world. Georgie, the eldest child in that family, is nearly fifteen and eager to find herself, dreaming of independence and yearning for first love.Over the course of that formative summer, the two young women develop a close bond. Then, one night by the lighthouse, a shocking act occurs that ensnares them both in the throes of a terrible secret. Their budding friendship is shattered, and neither one can speak of what happened that night for ten long years.Until now. Lindsey and Georgie must confront the past after all this time. Their quest for justice will require costly sacrifices, but it also might give them the closure they need to move on. All they know for sure is that when the truth is revealed, their lives will be forever changed once again.From a fresh voice in fiction, this poignant and timely novel explores the strength and nuance of female friendship, the cost of ambition, and the courage it takes to speak the truth.

A Week at Most


Claudia Shelton - 2020
    Change can be even worse. But there comes a time in life when there's nothing else to do… Big-city newscaster Ashley Lanovan never envisioned herself divorced and unemployed by thirty-eight. She agrees to housesit a friend's property in small town USA, but rapidly realizes she's a fish out of water. Learning to adapt has never been her strong point, but the neglected community is friendly and needs her business savvy. A computer hack has put CIA agent Mark Garmund's life in danger, so he takes a few days refuge with friends in Nature's Crossing. His career secrets are dangerous and changing professions has been foremost in his thoughts lately. He realizes it's time to make a choice when a chance encounter with the woman his friends introduced him to years ago, leads to more than hello. But first, he has to make sure their future will be safe. Mark figures earning Ashley's trust may not be easy. He should have called her years ago…

Across the Street


Laurie Lisa - 2013
    For Sam, years of infertility, followed by an unthinkable tragedy, have left her despairing of ever having a child. Money is tight, and IVF is expensive. Sam’s only hope may be to ask her sister to be a surrogate. Alex will do anything for Sam, but when the sisters embark upon an unorthodox route to surrogacy, jealousy, guilt, and legal complications soon follow.As the limits of sisterly devotion are tested, the family’s hidden wounds and secret addictions come to light, shaking the foundation of their marriages and their lives.An emotional story of a woman’s struggle with infertility and a riveting book about the complexities of family, Across the Street makes an excellent selection for book clubs.

A Typical Family Christmas


Liz Davies - 2019
    She wants harmony and happiness, smiling,glowing faces, tables groaning with food, carol singing around thetree. She wants love, kindness, and goodwill to all men, especially inher own house.What she doesn’t want is drama. Absolutely no drama, whatsoever.But what she gets is three stroppy children, two equally stroppygrandmothers, a husband who can’t manage to change a lightbulb, and Pepethe poodle.It’s no wonder she feels unappreciated, overworked, and ignored. At the endof her tinsel-coated tether, and with the only Christmas spirit being inthe form of a bottle of raspberry gin, Kate decides to leave them to it,and see how they manage without her.A quiet little hotel somewhere near the sea, where she can pretendChristmas doesn’t exist, is just the thing she needs. Isn’t it?

Isolation


Jenni Regan - 2020
    The strain of it on her young shoulders led her to a downward spiral of drug abuse, which in turn led to Alice being placed with her grandmother.But Alice’s life, living with her grandmother, isn’t much better and by the time she is 21 she is suffering from a host of mental health problems, with a growing fear of what lies outside her front door. Stuck in her house and fearful of being outside, Alice uses social media to compensate for her miserable life, building an online persona over the years, that is nothing like she is in reality. With it she lives out her fantasies, safe in the knowledge that her grandmother will provide what she needs.But when Alice suddenly disappears from her online world and cannot be contacted, Rachel turns to her estranged brother for help. With a body discovered in the house and a man closely linked to Alice now in custody, they search for the truth about her disappearance.What has happened to the daughter Rachel lost all those years ago? And what is the truth behind the body in the house? The truth will be far stranger than they could have imagined.

The Mothers


Genevieve Gannon - 2020
    Inspired by a real-life case of an IVF laboratory mix-up.Grace and Dan Arden are in their forties and have been on the IVF treadmill since the day they got married. Six attempts have yielded no results, and with each failure a little piece of their hope dies. Priya Laghari and her husband Nick Archer are being treated at the same fertility clinic, and while they don’t face the same time pressure as the Ardens, the younger couple have their own problems. On the same day that Priya is booked for her next IVF cycle, Grace goes in for her final, last-chance embryo transfer. Two weeks later, both women get their results. A year on, angry and heartbroken, one of the women learns her embryo was implanted in the other’s uterus and must make a devastating choice: live a childless life knowing her son is being raised by strangers or seek custody of a baby who has been nurtured and loved by another couple.

Bells and Bows on Mistletoe Row


Emily Harvale - 2018
     The last person Juliet Bell expects to see when she returns home for Christmas is Harrison Bow. Especially with the most beautiful woman in the world by his side. Twenty years ago, Juliet and Harrison had the shortest romance in history, consisting of one date – and one blazing row. But Juliet will never admit when she’s wrong, and Harrison doesn’t forgive easily, so they haven’t seen, or spoken to one another since. Harrison Bow vowed he’d never visit his grandfather at The Grange, again, or drive along Mistletoe Row, the scene of one of the unhappiest times of his life. He hasn’t been back for twenty years and he’s only here now because his brother pleaded with him to come. At least with his executive assistant joining him, he’ll be able to do some work. But Juliet’s sister, Zoe and Harrison’s brother, Luke have some surprises in store for their elder siblings, and so it seems does Fate. After Harrison risks his life to save Juliet, the least she can do is be nice. The problem is, Harrison is hotter than the log fire in The Mistletoe pub, and when she’s surrounded by twinkling lights and softly falling snow, it doesn’t take long for her to realise she’s in love with the man she thought she hated. Even if he doesn’t appear to be in love with her.

Three More Months


Sarah Echavarre - 2021
    Vowing to change, she plans a trip home. Sadly, hours before she arrives, her mother passes away, leaving Chloe without a goodbye and riddled with grief and regret. But maybe…maybe it’s not too late.Just days before the funeral, Chloe finds her mother unaccountably alive and well. And it’s no longer May; she’s been transported back in time to March. No one—not Chloe’s brother, friends, or colleagues—understands why Chloe is so confused. How can she make sense of this? It’s impossible. But Chloe is going to make the most of it. She’s going to do everything differently: repair family rifts, forge new bonds, tell her mother every day how much she loves her, and possibly prevent the inevitable.This is a second chance Chloe never saw coming. She’s not wasting a minute of it.

Finding You


T.M. Cromer - 2020
    Due to adult themes, this book is not recommended for anyone under the age of 18.Heat level: 3.5Tissue consumption level: 1 boxShe didn’t see this one coming.Samantha Holt had the perfect relationship—until one day, she didn’t. For a woman with psychic abilities, she definitely missed the important signs leading to her boyfriend’s tragic accident. One moment she’s blissfully happy; the next, her world is turned upside down.It takes Samantha two interminable years to rebuild her life, and despite a new love interest, she can’t rest until she learns the truth. Her persistent inner voice won’t stop until she takes a trip to the city where all her romantic dreams were so ruthlessly crushed.A stranger could be the key to discovering the answers she needs.A chance encounter makes Samantha question what really happened that day so long ago. Forced to delve into the mystery of her soulmate's disappearance or accept the new love that life has offered her, Samantha faces a difficult decision.

Laura Lake and Luxury Press Trip


Wendy Holden - 2017
    She's been asked to write an exclusive on celebrity getaway Coconut Cay, a private paradise belonging to billionaire businessman James Redmond. When a couple of pompous journalists turn up unexpectedly, scuppering Laura's chances of an exclusive, she decides to enjoy the glittering sea and golden Caribbean sands instead. But Laura soon discovers that the hi-tech, haute luxe, seven-star comfort of Coconut Cay hides some dark secrets. And she's determined to get the scoop before her rivals...

Sunshine Over Bluebell Cliff


Della Galton - 2020
    Bluebell Cliff Hotel is a place to make your dreams come true...Clara King is left in sole charge of a fabulous new clifftop hotel for the summer.The owner has barely left the country when Clara realises that someone is hell-bent on putting the Bluebell Cliff Hotel out of business.It becomes a race against time to hunt down the sneaky saboteur before they succeed in bringing the hotel to its knees.With her dream job under threat and her personal life in chaos, Clara discovers that, when what you love the most is in danger, it can bring out the very best in you.