Book picks similar to
Hometown Harbor: The Beginning by Tammy L. Grace


contemporary
chick-lit
fiction
free-ebooks-not-r4r

Baskerville for the Bear


C. Rysa Walker - 2019
    She takes off through the woods to confront him but stumbles upon more than she bargained for--a bear trap, complete with a dead bear.Even though the sheriff and others advise her not to make waves, Ruth isn't inclined to let it go, especially after she finds an injured and abandoned cub in her shed. Will Ruth track down the bear's killer or find herself caught in his trap?

Year of the Dog: A Novel


Shelby Hearon - 2007
    She flees to Burlington, Vermont, home of Aunt May, her mother's only living relative. There she adopts Beulah, a Labrador puppy in training to become a companion dog for the blind. Not for a moment does Janey suspect that this "year of the dog" will change her life forever.Shelby Hearon is an acknowledged master at illuminating the nuances of relationships. In Year of the Dog, she explores the surprising ways that the heart heals after a betrayal. While Janey is training Beulah, Beulah leads Janey to a new love, James Maarten, a smart, "fidgety" teacher they meet at the dog park. As Janey soon discovers, James has suffered a betrayal of his own that makes it hard for him to open up and trust her with even the smallest details of his past. While Janey tries to help James, she also reaches out to her enigmatic Aunt May, a retired librarian reputed to be the friend, perhaps even the lover, of popular mystery writer Bert Greenwood. When Janey attempts to solve the twin mysteries of why her great aunt has distanced herself from the family—and what her true relationship is with Bert Greenwood—Beulah provides the clues that lead Janey to uncover the secrets of her aunt's life. By the time Beulah's stay with Janey comes to an end, the people whose lives she's linked will discover that healing and reconciliation can come in the most unexpected ways.

Come Back


Sally Crosiar - 2017
    But what if your aunt begs you to perform at her 60th birthday bash? She cared for you like neither of your parents ever did. And something about her voice on the phone seems off? Vi can’t say no. How bad can three days be? She can act like she has no secrets for that long, can’t she? What if you’ve fretted about why your kid ran away and you hadn’t seen or heard from her in ten long years? What if you know tongues are wagging again all over town – this time about why she’s staying with her aunt and not you? Ben Johansen worries the girl will shame him again before he can make her say why she left. What if you’ve schemed and plotted to get the perfect life? But your stepdaughter could take it all away? Would you be scared? Tammy Johansen is. Down to her bones. What if Ben finds out why Vi ran, and that Tammy has always known? She’s built her life around loving Ben. What if he won’t forgive her? What then? What if the girl you worked so hard to get over waltzes into the diner where you’re having breakfast? What if you know you should hate her for the suspicion her disappearance rained down on you? But you can’t? What if you know neither of you are the same people you were? Would you still want her? Nate Barlow does. Against his better judgment. What if you and Nate pinky-swore to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth? Would you keep your oath and risk your last drop of hope? Of all the questions Vi faces when she comes back to Freedom, Iowa, this might be the biggest? Three days? It’s no ride on a pink duck.

The Bend in Redwood Road


Danielle Stewart - 2019
    No more than a quiet wondering around the edges of her mind.   What has become of the baby she left behind?   Smiling through the pain and suffering in silence, Leslie Laudon marches forward. Embracing the life skillfully designed by her husband Paul. Living right could be penance for an impossible choice made with an uneasy heart. Dutiful and anchoring, Leslie poured herself into her other children. Nurturing them through infancy, protecting them as toddlers, guiding them as teens. As her youngest child heads off to college with her suitcases and coordinating dorm room accessories, so goes Leslie’s identity. The chaotic life of a busy working mother threatens to become dangerously quiet. Quiet enough to hear the voices she’s tried to silence for decades.   Gwen Fox was adopted by two perfect people. Noel and Millie have always treated her the same as their two biological sons. Her parents love is strong and unwavering, yet a soul-deep ache still lingers. Plagued by an unnamed, hard to explain, longing Gwen could never shake.   Riddled with doubt and dragged down by the undertow of unanswered questions, Leslie and Gwen both find their lives suddenly upended. One seeks the truth about the day she was born. The other seeks herself, the woman she was before motherhood. Before she made a choice to leave a piece of her heart lying asleep in the hospital nursery.   In this complex journey for answers, blame is abundant. Guilt is thick enough to choke on. Marriages are brought to the brink of disaster. As the ripples of the past vibrate through their lives, Gwen and Leslie realize there is no turning back. What they have put into motion cannot be stopped. The road toward the truth will be littered with casualties.

When Love Comes


J.H. Croix - 2014
    Once wild and impulsive, she shut her heart off to love and adventure after her parents died. When she meets Luke Winters, their immediate attraction is overwhelming.Burned once before, Luke has committed himself to nothing but casual dalliances with women. Rugged and smoldering, he finds no shortage of women happy to oblige. When Hannah comes along, he questions what he might be missing. Both fight the depth of their feelings—love is not part of the plan.Hannah’s sense of identity is shaken when she unearths a surprising truth about her family. Meanwhile, Luke’s interfering family and complications from his past challenge Hannah and Luke to face their true feelings for each other. Can two people who don’t believe love is worth the risk find the courage to face their fears and open their hearts?

The Villa in Sicily


Elise Darcy - 2020
    Her mother, who never travelled abroad, was going to Sicily without telling a soul. Why was she keeping her trip to Sicily a secret and who is the mysterious woman who wrote the journal? Josie travels to Sicily and follows in the footsteps of two young women in the journal, sisters who visited the Italian island in the nineteen sixties. What secrets will Josie uncover and why does she feel she is being followed at every turn?Josie soon discovers there was more to their trip than a just a holiday. Amongst the stunning sites and scenery of Sicily, an unimaginable tale of love, loss and tragedy unfolds. The tentacles of their story reach down the generations.Josie and Michael, a young American on the tour, soon realise their part in this story is only just beginning…Can they right the wrongs of the past before

Forever Christmas


Christine Lynxwiler - 2007
    But after two broken engagements, she's content to forget romance and run her Christmas shop in Jingle Bells, Arkansas. She thinks her biggest fear is making it down the aisle as maid of honor in her best friend's Christmas wedding, with at least one ex-fiancé looking on. But when her beloved Jingle Bells is threatened, Kristianna struggles to sort through her jumbled feelings concerning the handsome lawyer hired to change the town name and her childhood sweetheart who has returned just in time to come to her aid. Will her heart discover the truth before both her town and her Christmas spirit is extinguished?

Return Of The Runaway Bride


Donna Clayton - 1994
    Theirs was to be a fairy-tale wedding. But Savanna's second thoughts were too big to be ignored, so the would-be bride ran away.As the years passed...Daniel's heart turned to ice. It was this unfeeling man that Savanna faced upon her return. The love of her youth was now a stranger. Could Savanna ever make Daniel understand why she abandoned him? And could she convince the man of her dreams he would always be her Prince Charming?

The Mountain's Morning Song


William Graney - 2019
    They know that a day of reckoning is approaching, but events in the United States, and around the world, cause an acceleration of the timeline.La Société de la Frontière Ouverte must awaken and prepare for the exodus.

Coming Home


Holly Kerr - 2014
    Liking them is the hard part. After her cheating husband destroys her career, Brenna has nowhere to go but home. Home means her four sisters in the tiny Northern Ontario town with no Starbucks and well-meaning townsfolk who know her every move. Every mistake.And Brenna is making more than a few mistakes. From falling asleep at the local bar to hooking up with her niece’s boyfriend, Brenna’s life is giving the town a lot to talk about.Her sister Cat wants nothing to do with her. Content living in the family home with the ghost of their mother, Cat’s left a trail of broken hearts and failed marriages on the road to Brenna’s ex, Seamus Todd. Brenna’s return brings back old insecurities and unanswered questions for Cat. Sibling rivalries, old grudges and a least one knock-out, drag-down kitchen fight ensue as Brenna and Cat are forced to live under the same roof.And to make it worse, Brenna’s not the only one coming home.

Bed-Bugged


Susan J. Kroupa - 2010
    Sniffing out bed bugs? Easy as pie. Well, easier, actually, as getting pie can be a problem for a dog. Doodle finds best part of the new job is Molly, the boss’s ten-year old daughter, who slips Doodle extra treats when she’s not snapping photos with the camera she carries everywhere. But Molly has secrets of her own. And when she enlists Doodle’s help to solve a crime, his nose and her camera lead them straight into danger.Readers have called the Doodlebugged mysteries perfect of fans of Spencer Quinn’s popular Chet & Bernie mysteries, and best-selling author Virginia Smith called Bed-Bugged, "a first-rate mystery" and a "triumphant beginning to a series."

Heads or Tails


Leslie A. Gordon - 2015
    Deeply committed to her devoutly childless marriage, Hillary doesn’t know the first thing about infants – and has zero interest in learning. But Margot’s postpartum depression has reached a dangerous peak. With the baby a sperm donor production and Margot’s mother Jean suffering from Parkinson’s, there’s no one else. And for reasons nobody knows, Hillary owes both Margot and Jean.Fans of Jodi Picoult, Emily Giffin and Jennifer Weiner will be drawn to the fresh premise of HEADS OR TAILS, a story that explores themes of friendship and loyalty and what happens when your core identity is challenged. The gripping second novel from the author of Cheer: A Novel, Beshert and Peeps, HEADS OR TAILS will stay with you long after you’ve read the final page."Gordon really hits it out of the park...a terrific follow-up to the author’s absorbing Cheer: A Novel." -- CHICK LIT CENTRAL"[A] a beautiful examination of family." -- Girly Book Club

All He Wants This Christmas


Claire Woods
    Falling for the hunky single-dad every woman in town is hot for—is not on her Christmas list.So what, if the looks he gives her could melt the North Pole? She has no plans to get involved with another man who looks like sin on a stick.But maybe this Christmas, Kate will learn that some men are totally worth melting for.Gianni...All I wanted was for things to turn around for my son at school.I'm a simple man with simple wishes.But I never expected my Christmas Angel to be the mother of my son's nemesis. Or that we'd create enough heat to burn the house down every time we touched.The trouble is... she's already been burned.I don't want to break her heart. I just want to be the next man who takes it. But unlike her ex... I'm gonna cherish it and her FOREVER.All I want for Christmas is Kate--wrapped around me and under my tree..Authors note: This is meant to be a yummy, funny and sexy holiday read that will leave you feeling all mushy and gooey... like a melting piece of chocolate Santa stuffed into a stocking hanging on a mantel on Christmas Eve. No Cheating, HEA with plenty of fire to melt those Kindles. I hope you fall in love with Gianni just as Kate did!

In A New York Minute


Claudia Carroll - 2015
    Right isn’t quite as easy as Amy first thought.Following in the footsteps of her favourite New York movies Amy is determined to have that romantic Manhattan moment. But like all good romances – love often turns up in the most unexpected of places…A heart-warming, 23 page short story from best-selling author, Claudia Carroll, this is the perfect read for Valentine’s Day.

The Birthday Girls


Pauline Lawless - 2013
    Their friendship has now lasted thirty-five years. As their birthdays all fall in the same week they long ago made a pact to spend each big decade birthday together. So far they'd managed it. Now as their thirty-ninth birthday looms, Angel, a famous Hollywood actress, announces that this will be her last birthday. Terrified of aging, she absolutely refuses to turn forty. So Lexi, the mother hen of the group and an artist, invites them to Florida for a week-long celebration of this, their last birthday together. Brenda, mother to five grown-up children, flies in from Dublin, eagerly looking forward to her first foreign holiday ever. Mel, however, has to be prised away from New York where she is a successful partner in a law firm - she is a workaholic with no other friends or love in her life. The four come together for the celebration but soon things start to unravel and the week ends disastrously. Lexi is distraught. Can their friendship endure? Only time will tell.