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The Lilac House by Barbara Josselsohn
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High Stakes
Danielle Steel - 2022
Jane Addison is an ambitious young woman with big dreams of owning her own company someday. At twenty-eight, she arrives in New York to start a job at Fletcher and Benson, a prestigious talent agency. Eager to impress her new colleagues, Jane jumps right in as an assistant to Hailey West, one of the agents in the literary department. Hailey is dedicated to the authors she represents, but her home life is chaotic and challenging. After her husband’s tragic and untimely death, she was left widowed with three children to raise on her own.Then there’s Francine Rivers, the stern and accomplished head of the literary department. Also a single mom after her husband’s affair with the nanny, she has overcome the resulting financial hardships, but only with unbearable sacrifice. Compared to Hailey and Francine, drama agent Allie Moore’s life seems much more carefree and uncomplicated. She relishes her success and loves working with the talented actors they represent—until a passionate relationship with one of her rising star clients threatens to derail her career. Merriwether Jones is the CFO for the agency. She appears to have it all--beauty, success, and a perfect marriage until her husband's jealousy over her career threatens to blow everything up. Even though she’s a newcomer, Jane quickly realizes that there are damaging secrets hidden behind the doors of Fletcher and Benson. As one of the youngest employees, she has the least power, but is also the least willing to accept things as they have been for years. When she puts everything on the line to right these wrongs, the consequences will leave no one unscathed. In this riveting novel, Danielle Steel tells the story of a group of remarkable women navigating the challenges of balancing their families, their personal lives and the high stakes of ambition at the top of their game.
The Secrets of Married Women
Carol Mason - 2007
Frustrated, she seeks comfort in her friends: fierce Leigh, with her high-powered career and doting family, and sweet, uncomplicated Wendy, who has a rock-solid marriage any woman would envy.Leigh and Wendy’s lives seem perfect. But beneath the surface are secrets that could tear their friendship apart.Leigh has grown tired of her stay-at-home husband and is looking for excitement—outside of the marriage bed. And after seventeen years of marriage, Wendy can’t shake the sense that there is something missing in her life.As Jill is drawn deeper into her friends’ relationships, she is confronted by a temptation of her own: an intriguing stranger whose good looks and charm spark an instant connection.Full of the realities of modern-day marriage, The Secrets of Married Women asks the question: how well can we ever know our husbands, our friends, or even ourselves?
Revised edition: This edition of Secrets Of Married Women includes editorial revisions.
The Inn at Willa Bay
Nicole Ellis - 2020
Twenty years later, she’s devoured hundreds of wedding magazines and planned thousands of events. All of her dreams will come true when she’s promoted to Event Manager at the lodge she’s worked at for the last decade. Of course, life seldom works out the way one hopes it will. Zoe’s friend Meg used to be a big city chef, but when her mother was diagnosed with cancer, Meg returned to Willa Bay to work at the lodge and be closer to her family. Now she’s wondering if small town life is right for her. Their co-worker Cassie, the lodge’s pastry chef, is struggling to find her way as a divorced mom of two, but it seems like it’s always one step forward, two steps back. When an accident leaves their elderly friend Celia in a coma, Zoe, Cassie, Meg, and a mysterious newcomer, Shawn, come together at Celia’s home, the Inn at Willa Bay, to discover a secret that she’s harbored for over sixty years. Armed with this knowledge, Zoe and the others take stock of choices they've made in the past and make decisions that will alter their futures forever. This heartwarming novel will renew your faith in love, friendship, and family.
The Healing Summer
Heather B. Moore - 2021
They’d been trapped beneath a collapsed roof for hours, injured and unable to call for help.The morning of their rescue, Orlando Gallo promised he would find her again. But Maggie hasn’t seen or heard from him in over seventy years, and now, widowed and childless, Maggie hopes to leave her estate to Orlando’s descendants. She invites her neighbor, forty-year-old Jo Sampson, to travel with her, and as the two women return to San Francisco to track down Orlando, they form a strong bond of friendship and healing that transcends time and place.
Lean on Me
Pat Simmons - 2020
Her once organized lifestyle is in disarray and her patience is tested. On Sunday mornings, when Aunt Tweet drags her to church, though Tabitha isn't a believer, the peaceful presence of faith is a welcome relief.Marcus Whittington believes in second chances, so he hires former inmates to staff the industrial cleaning service he owns with his brother. When a mystery woman who keeps showing up on his porch turns out to be an elderly neighbor, Marcus is outraged at what he perceives as neglect on the part of her caregiver.Marcus soon learns that being a caregiver is a demanding, compassionate act of kindness that he has never experienced before. After several encounters with Aunt Tweet and Tabitha, his heart is drawn to the family's distress. Marcus is determined to help Tabitha, and a friendship that started out with a grave misunderstanding soon begins to blossom into a relationship filled with love, faith, and partnership. Life is easier, when you have someone to lean on.
St. Francis Society for Wayward Pets
Annie England Noblin - 2020
Francis Society for Wayward Pets, where women knit colorful sweaters for the dogs and cats in their care. But there’s also an undercurrent of something that doesn’t sit right with Maeve. What’s the secret (besides her!) that her mother had hidden?If Maeve is going to make Timber Creek her home, she must figure out where she fits in and unravel the truth about her past. But is she ready to be adopted again—this time, by an entire town…?
Home Fires
Luanne Rice - 1995
Her marriage has crumbled in the wake of a tragic accident. Now she has returned to the home on Salt Whistle Raod that has always meant shelter, security, family and love. When she awakens one snowy night to a fire that roars through the old house, Anne escapes--but runs back into the blaze to save something so precious that it's worth risking her life for. It is that reckless act of blind desperation that sets a miracle in motion.
Seabreeze Inn
Jan Moran - 2019
An old crush. One summer to get her life back.Ivy Bay’s life implodes after discovering that her late husband had spent their life savings on a beach house. Strapped for cash as an art teacher and with nowhere to go, Ivy and her recently jilted sister head to Summer Beach to recreate their lives. If only renovating a historical home didn’t unveil a host of hidden secrets in the beachside community—and the mayor wasn’t her former high school crush.Bennett Dylan led a campaign against Ivy’s late husband to block the rezoning of the beach house land for a high-rise resort. Although it’s been ten years since his wife’s death, Bennett is avoiding the pain of loving—and possibly losing—another woman. And then the FBI shows up… Ivy’s demands for a zoning variance for a bed-and-breakfast couldn’t come at a worse time for him. Despite distractions, Ivy has one summer to sway the town to salvage her livelihood and the new life in Summer Beach she’s come to love.With spellbinding intrigue and poignant self-discovery, the Seabreeze Inn is a sweet summer beach read. If you like sun-soaked beach sagas you can lose yourself in, the Seabreeze Inn and Summer Beach’s fascinating characters are for you. Get it now and start your vacation in Summer Beach.
A Sparkle of Silver
Liz Johnson - 2018
Simons Island, Georgia. Now, Millie plays a 1920s-era guest during tours of the same manor. But when her grandmother suggests that there is a lost diary containing the location of a hidden treasure on the estate, along with the true identity of Millie's great-grandfather, Millie sets out to find the truth of her heritage--and the fortune that might be hers. When security guard Ben Thornton discovers her snooping in the estate's private library, he threatens to have her fired. But her story seems almost too ludicrous to be fiction, and her offer to split the treasure is too tempting to pass up . . .Get ready for a romantic escapade through dark halls and dusty corners that will have you holding your breath and sighing with delight as two charming characters get caught up in the adventure of uncovering the past and finding their way to an unexpected future.
All the Breaking Waves
Kerry Lonsdale - 2016
The art history professor crafts jewelry as unique and weathered as the surf-tumbled sea glass she collects, while raising her daughter in a safe and loving environment—something Molly never had. But when Cassie is plagued by horrific visions and debilitating nightmares, Molly is forced to return to the one place she swore she’d never move back to—home to Pacific Grove.A riveting exploration of love, secrets, and motherhood, All the Breaking Waves is the poignant story of a woman who discovers she must confront her past, let go of her guilt, and summon everything in her power to save her daughter.
Thoroughbreds and Trailer Trash
Bev Pettersen - 2012
But when the Thoroughbred Wellness Center experiences a hostile takeover headed by a charming but ruthless corporate shark, both her heart and career are in jeopardy.
The English Wife
Adrienne Chinn - 2020
Her charismatic Newfoundlander husband Thomas is still missing in action. Until a letter arrives explaining Thomas is back at home on the other side of the Atlantic recovering from his injuries.Travelling to a distant country to live with a man she barely knows is the bravest thing Ellie has ever had to do. But nothing can prepare her for the harsh realities of her new home…September 11th 2001Sophie Parry is on a plane to New York on the most tragic day in the city’s history. While the world watches the news in horror, Sophie’s flight is rerouted to a tiny town in Newfoundland and she is forced to seek refuge with her estranged aunt Ellie. Determined to discover what it was that forced her family apart all those years ago, newfound secrets may change her life forever…
Spring Tides at Swallowtail Bay
Katie Ginger - 2020
Even gorgeous but grumpy local Miles can’t take the shine off things. But then her ex-husband announces he’s getting married again, and someone in the village starts gossiping about Stella…Is Stella's dream over already? Or, with her new friends behind her, can Stella fight back and save her new life – and find the happy ever after she's been waiting for?
Fans of Cathy Bramley, Debbie Johnson and Jenny Colgan will fall in love with Swallowtail Bay!
One Mountain Away
Emilie Richards - 2012
She's at the top of that mountain…but her life is empty. Her friends are as grasping and insincere as she has become. Far worse, she's alienated her family so completely that she's totally lost touch with her only daughter.One terrifying day, facing her own mortality, she realizes that her ambition has almost destroyed her chance at happiness.So Charlotte vows to make amends, not simply with her considerable wealth, but by offering a hand instead of a handout. Putting in hours and energy instead of putting in an appearance. Opening her home and heart instead of her wallet.With each wrenching, exhilarating decision, Charlotte finds that climbing a new mountain—one built on friendship, love and forgiveness—will teach her what it truly means to build a legacy.
The Mother of All Christmases
Milly Johnson - 2018
And she’s decided that she and her husband Jacques should renew their wedding vows with all the pomp that was missing the first time. But growing problems at Winterworld keep distracting them … Annie Pandoro and her husband Joe own a small Christmas cracker factory, are well set up and happy together despite life never blessing them with a much-wanted child. But when Annie finds that the changes happening to her body aren’t typical of the menopause but pregnancy, her joy is uncontainable. Palma Collins has agreed to act as a surrogate, hoping the money will get her out of the gutter in which she finds herself. But when the couple she is helping split up, is she going to be left carrying a baby she never intended to keep? Annie, Palma and Eve all meet at the ‘Christmas Pudding Club’, a new directive started by a forward-thinking young doctor to help mums-to-be mingle and share their pregnancy journeys. Will this group help each other to find love, contentment and peace as Christmas approaches?The brand new novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Perfectly Imperfect Woman; a gorgeous read full of love, life, laughter - and crackers!
Praise for Milly Johnson:
'A glorious, heartfelt novel' ROWAN COLEMAN ‘Absolutely loved it. Milly's writing is like getting a big hug with just the right amount of bite underneath. I was rooting for Bonnie from the start' JANE FALLONThe novel features Eve and Jacques from A Winter Flame as main characters, while Cariad from The barn on half moon hill is a prominent secondary character, along with the other employees at Winterworld. Raychel from A Summer Fling and Helen, Janey and Elizabeth from The Yorkshire Pudding Club all appear as supporting characters.