Summer at Willow Lake


Susan Wiggs - 2006
    Tempted by the hazy, nostalgic memories of summers past - childhood innocence and the romance and rivalries of her teens - it's the perfect place to flee after her broken engagement. But what began as an escape may just be a new beginning...As Olivia uncovers secrets buried thick with dust, one by one her family return, their lives as frayed at the edges as the resort.

The Sweetest Thing


Barbara Freethy - 1999
    A touch of mysticism adds an extra layer to this story of love and family. Alone in the world, Faith Christopher had always yearned for love ... and a man who'd make her heart pound. But her dreams of a place to call home were getting harder to hold on to ... Alex Carrigan liked fast cars, fast women and fast deals - then a tough-talking teenager arrived on his doorstep claiming she was his long-lost daughter, and his meddling grandfather decided to move in. Suddenly, Alex has to face the family he never expected. Enter Faith. Little did the outspoken and beautiful baker know that deep inside Alex was a well of tenderness ... and that she might have the recipe to bring him true love - the sweetest thing life has to offer.

In Case You Missed It


Lindsey Kelk - 2020
    And, possibly, her old life back. Because everyone at home has moved on, her parents have reignited their sex life, she’s sleeping in a converted shed and she’s got a bad case of nostalgia for the way things were.Then her new phone begins to ping with messages from people she thought were deleted for good. Including one number she knows off by heart: her ex’s.Sometimes we’d all like the chance to see what we’ve been missing…

How to Knit a Love Song


Rachael Herron - 2010
    Leaving the oppressive city for the greener pastures of a small California beach town, she intends to turn her cozy little windfall into a knitting shop and spend her days spinning, designing, and purling. But she's not going to be welcomed with open arms by her new neighbor. Eliza's disgruntled nephew, the gorgeous Cade, now owns everything surrounding Abigail's ramshackle new home, and he views this sexy city girl as an unwanted interloper.But chemistry working overtime is drawing two very different people closer than they ever thought possible. And when the past that Abigail thought she'd left behind comes calling, she'll have to somehow learn to trust her handsome adversary with much more than just her heart.

Slightly South of Simple


Kristy Woodson Harvey - 2017
    But now that her marriage to a New York high society heir has fallen apart in a very public, very embarrassing fashion, a pregnant Caroline decides to escape the gossipmongers with her nine-year-old daughter and head home to her mother, Ansley. Ansley has always put her three daughters first, especially when she found out that her late husband, despite what he had always promised, left her with next to nothing. Now the proud owner of a charming waterfront design business and finally standing on her own two feet, Ansley welcomes Caroline and her brood back with open arms. But when her second daughter Sloane, whose military husband is overseas, and youngest daughter and successful actress Emerson join the fray, Ansley begins to feel like the piece of herself she had finally found might be slipping from her grasp. Even more discomfiting, when someone from her past reappears in Ansley's life, the secret she’s harbored from her daughters their entire lives might finally be forced into the open. Exploring the powerful bonds between sisters and mothers and daughters, this engaging novel is filled with Southern charm, emotional drama, and plenty of heart.

It's Raining Men


Milly Johnson - 2013
    They have been dreaming of a little cottage away from it all, long walks in the country and just a bit of time away from it all. But when they arrive in Ren Dullem, a small Yorkshire seaside town, it seems it is not the place they thought it was...May has never quite found her niche in life, or her Mr Right. Then in Dullem she falls hook line and sinker at first glance for one of the inhabitants - but he's already taken.Lara is living with James and his awful step-children who taunt her with tales of his younger, prettier ex whom they adored. The woman who Lara walks in to find James in bed with despite all his protestations that he wouldn't touch her again with a barge pole. Reeling from the hurt, she needs the sea air of Dullem to heal her. What she doesn't need is to be constantly in battle with the owner of the holiday cottage - a man who is every bit as bitter and resentful and untrusting of the other sex as she is. Clare's fiance Hugh wants her to go and live abroad with him for two years, but she's just been offered the promotion of a life-time. She needs some headspace to think about what she needs to do, but then she meets a very bad boy who is everything Hugh isn't - impulsive, wild and dangerous. Will this holiday be the break they all need? Or will it bring them all to breaking point...?

Secret Wishes and Summer Kisses on Lily Pond Lane


Emily Harvale - 2019
     Mia’s been exceptionally lucky since moving to Lily Pond Lane. But even on her honeymoon with the man of her dreams, she still has one remaining wish. Ella wishes Gill would propose. But since Mia’s wedding something’s changed in their relationship. Now he’s spending time with newcomer, Tabbie Talbaine, Ella wishes Tabbie will leave as quickly as she arrived. Tabbie wishes she hadn’t driven her car into a pond. But it could be the best thing that’s ever happened to her. When she discovers Hollywood heartthrob, Justin Lake’s staying in the village, getting an interview for her popular blog isn’t her only wish. Bree was told she couldn't have a baby. Now she’s expecting twins and is simply wishing it all goes well. And as for Hettie ... she wishes she could get her hands on an old map of the village. Because there’s something hidden in Little Pondale that Hettie Turner really wants to find. This is the final book in the Lily Pond Lane series.

Plain Jane Wanted


Rose Amberly - 2020
    She’s just lost everything: job, marriage and home which is all her own fault. What else do you call sacrificing ten years to support the cheating husband who just called you frumpy, dumpy and beige? Then she reads a job advert for a plain woman to work for a cranky old man on some tiny island in the English Channel. It sounds like the perfect new start Three months later, Millie has blossomed. Sunny days out exploring the lovely island have improved her fitness and colouring. Distance from her nasty husband has restored her confidence and joy and reawakened her dreams of a wild herb café by the sea.The icing on the cake is her boss’s sexy, fascinating, knight-in-shining-armour son. She has no idea that she’s exactly the kind of woman he avoids.A heart-warming love story (Cosy women’s fiction/romance) set in Britain and focussing on the emotional dynamic between the characters and the woman’s personal growth.

Unexpecting: Baby! Baby? Baby?!


Holly Kerr - 2012
    And she’s not happy about it."FINALLY! A pregnant woman who...Loved being Pregnant!"Kindergarten teacher/wine saleswoman Casey Samms has always wanted to be a mother. Now that the blessed event is actually going to happen, she's ready to give up the wine and chocolate brownies and prepare for the swollen ankles and sleepless nights.But she has no idea what to do about the father.Her plan for immaculate conception—or as close as she could get to it via sperm donor—is ruined by the one drunken night with her roommate J.B. and the expired condom that spoils everything.Who knew condoms had expiry dates?Sexy J.B., with his long list of past girlfriends, is the last person Casey expects to stick around for the morning sickness and doctor visits but this time J.B. isn’t running away. He's reading the baby books and asking the questions and that time when he touched her belly...Casey has nine months to get ready to do the baby thing on her own, but J.B. isn’t making a move to get out of the way.One night changed Casey’s life. Is J.B. ready to change as well?Find out how Casey deals with the unexpected in this sweet, laugh-out-loud, friends-to-lovers romantic comedy about second chances (and third...and fourth...)

The Baby Planner


Josie Brown - 2011
    Katie Johnson may make her living consulting with new moms on the latest greatest baby gadgets no parent should be without, or which mommy meet-ups are the most socially desirable, or whether melon truly is the new black, but the success of her marriage to her husband, Alex, depends on controlling her own urges toward motherhood.He's adamant that they stay childless. Sure, Katie understands that he's upset over the fact that his out-of-town ex-wife rarely lets him see their ten-year-old son, Peter. But living vicariously through her anxious clients and her twin sisters' precocious children only makes Katie resent his stance more deeply.While helping a new client—Seth Harris, a high tech entrepreneur who must raise Sadie, his newborn daughter, as a single parent after the tragic death of his wife in childbirth—maneuver the bittersweet journey from mourning husband and reticent father to loving dad, Katie’s own ideals about love, marriage, and motherhood are put to the test as she learns ones very important lesson about family:  How we nurture is the true nature of love.

That's My Sister (That's Our Family Book 1)


Roxanne Rhaman - 2019
    Having one who’s on the cover of magazines and is loved by all? Torture. For single mom Marie Stephens, all she wants is to survive her new business, provide for her children, and ignore the intense feelings she has for her married neighbor. When her famous sister, Sadie, shows up after a five-year absence, Marie’s normal life ceases to exist. Add in their celebrity-obsessed mother, it’s no wonder they can’t get along. The most important thing Sadie and Marie will learn? Accepting your sister can change your life.

Well...THAT Was Awkward


Megan Montgomery - 2020
    Medallion!John and Em meet on the boardwalk as the moonlight dances off the Chesapeake Bay.She thinks he’s gorgeous and comes down with a case of instalove.He thinks she’s a panhandler and gives her five dollars.The embarrassment is enough to send Em running for a life makeover. The only problem is, she’s spent the last decade looking after everyone else in her little town and now she’s totally forgotten how to self-care.Adding to that garbage heap of a situation is tonight’s blind date.Of course it turns out to be the man who mistook her for homeless. And, of course, he’s a Navy test pilot stationed a stone’s throw away from her antiques shop. All the whiskey and chocolate in the café can’t help the awkwardness between Em and this cold and stoic modern-Mr. Darcy.Fortunately, their tiny, tight-knit community won’t let one (or two) bad nights come between what everyone knows might just be an uncannily perfect couple.When they both let down their guard, Em and John’s chemistry creates more sparks than a jet's afterburners, but there’s a lot to lose if she tries—and fails—at this relationship.Unless she decides to trust John to help her navigate, Em might be stuck circling the runway in a loveless holding pattern.

More Like Her


Liza Palmer - 2011
    More Like Her is the story of a seemingly perfect woman who’s the envy of her friends, neighbors, and co-workers…until the life of the object of their jealousy spectacularly, unexpectedly, and disastrously explodes. A novel of secrets, disappointments, false impressions—and what really goes on behind those suburban picket fences—More Like Her is ultimately about facing reality and appreciating everything that life has to offer.