Book picks similar to
Saint And Warrior by Valerie Windsor
women
already-read
chick-lit
The Mothers of Country Day
Arlene Matthews - 2012
When Josie Messina's wunderkind 12-year-old son earns a full scholarship to one of New Jersey's toniest private schools, this hardworking, cash-strapped single mom is intimidated. Will she ever fit in with the wealthy and fashionable mothers of Little Fawn Country Day? But when Josie runs into Country Day's most famous parent, rock legend Billy Stand - known to her as the boy she used to babysit - their embrace in the school parking lot, viewed by three of the school's most influential social butterflies, rockets her to "A list" status. What happens next will bring truth to the warning, "Be careful what you wish for." This timely, irreverent send-up of contemporary academia -- and the wicked ways of the one percent -- will delight any parent who has ever been dragged to a PTA fundraiser, has sweated out their children's grades and college prospects, or who has wondered what, exactly, their kids are learning at school all day.Editorial Review"A smart, poignant fiction debut...What makes this work stand out is Matthews' handling of social issues such as class boundaries and the state of education in the country...The cause-and-effect relationship intertwined in each plot element creates moments of laughter and societal insight, making the novel an entertaining, shrewd read."- Kirkus Reviews
Broke-Ass Women's Club
Sharon Sala - 2021
All but one of them are left penniless and about to lose their homes, and all of them are too shocked to grieve.Finding out they'd been deceived was bad enough, but coming face to face with each other at the funeral home wasn't quite what they'd expected. Before the day was over, the first wife--the only legal one--made them an offer they couldn't refuse...From Sharon Sala, a winner of numerous honors including the Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award, this is a poignant, funny story of four women wrestling with betrayal, grief, and anger--and finding hope for the future in their unexpected friendship.Praise for Sharon Sala's novels: "A well-written, fast-paced ride." --Publishers Weekly"There are not many authors who can write a story with such depth and emotion." --RT Book Reviews
Pieces of My Sister's Life
Elizabeth Joy Arnold - 2007
One unforgivable moment. And a second chance…There’s something to talk about in every chapter of Elizabeth Joy Arnold’s poignant, insightful debut novel—the perfect summer read for all those who loved Elisabeth Robinson’s The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters, Judy Blume’s Summer Sisters, and Jodi Picoult’s My Sister’s Keeper.Once, Kerry and Eve Barnard did everything together: sailing the Block Island harbor with their father, listening to their neighbor Justin’s magical fairy tales, and all the while longing for their absent mother. They were twin girls arm in arm, secrets entwined between two hearts. Until the summer of their seventeenth birthday, when their extraordinary bond was shattered. And thirteen years later, it will take all the courage they can summon to put the pieces back together—at a time when it matters most.…
A Suite Deal (Suite Love Series Book 1)
Sue Gibson - 2008
But when she finds an enormous, new-age hotel spoiling the view from her cherished inheritance, the tiny and pristine Osprey Island, Lily decides that the Nirvana Hotel's handsome owner warrants closer scrutiny. Ambitious hotelier Ethan Weatherall cut his teeth in the hotel industry and is determined to buy Lily's treasured island and convert it to a concrete helipad. Career-climbing, cosmopolitan Ethan cannot risk falling for a woman who could never be happy away from the wilds of nature. But it seems that boat may have already sailed, as he falls into the deep end for Lily's sweet soul and independent spirit. Lily must figure out a way to stop Ethan from destroying the tranquility of Loon Lake while trying to resist his charming city-bred manners. If she can't, there's more than just Osprey Island at stake. A Suite Deal is the first book in the Suite Love Series by Sue Gibson.
The Everything Girl
L.E. Maleki - 2018
Determined to avoid crawling back to her dead-end life in California, Paris applies for an assistant position to a hedge fund CEO. Sure, she's not totally qualified for the position, but who is these days? Fake it till you make it, right? Wrong. All too quickly, Paris realizes her "job" is to cater to the whims of a maniacal dictator intent on ruining her day and possibly even her life. Between ducking her new employer's random tantrums, arranging his exotic entertainment, balancing office politics, and nurturing a new relationship, Paris can't possibly keep her head above water. But when she discovers incriminating evidence against the CEO, information that could take her down in the process, she finds herself faced with a decision: sacrifice her life and dignity for the job or her chance at a real future.
Lavender Lane
Christina Jones - 2004
Bob and Amy Phillips and their four grown-up children run Lavender Cabs in the small Berkshire market town of Appleford. Everyone is involved. The business has grown – through three generations – into a thriving taxi and garage business. But when Bob is taken ill, he and Amy decide to retire to Devon, but to do this they would have to sell the business which would throw the entire family’s lives into turmoil…
A Cook for Caleb (Mail-Order Mama, #5)
Elissa Strati - 2021
How can he carry on without the woman he's loved since they were children themselves?Pearl's comfortable life was turned upside down with the death of her beloved husband. She has three children depending on her and cannot afford the mortgage. Her best friend Mattie shows her the listing in the newspaper: "Looking for a Spinster or Widow of good character who can cook and keep house and be a good mother to the children. Your children would be welcome, too." Have her prayers been answered?
The Beautiful Years
Katia Lief - 2016
Unfolding the story over seven years on three separate milestones—a graduation, a funeral, and a wedding— Katia Lief weaves between perspectives to reveal a tapestry rich in motive and emotion. The Beautiful Years is a dazzling rendering of hubris, consequence and the complexity of love.
Second Chances: A wonderful, warm novel about finding love where you least expect it
Minna Howard - 2017
Perfect for fans of Trisha Ashley and Katie Fforde.
Succumbing to a rather clichéd midlife crisis, Dan Haywood swaps his family for an expensive red sports car and a younger woman. After 24 years of marriage, his wife Sarah is left to pick up the pieces. Trying her best to re-style her life, comfort hurt children, make time for 'helpful' friends and maintain her burgeoning career as a dress designer, Sarah feels pulled in a hundred directions. And it doesn't help that obstacles – mostly in the form of other middle-aged men – seem to conspire against her. Proud of herself for moving house and starting to build an independent life, she is shocked when Robert Maynard, her rather dashing new next-door neighbour, insists that the house was promised to him. Now she is destined to be pulled into his life by events beyond her control. After one failed marriage, will she be able to find happiness again? And do second chances really come to those who wait?
This book was previously published as The Orchid Lover under the name Mary De Laszlo.
The Almosts
Em Barrett - 2014
A new love that can never be. An unexpected pregnancy. A decision that changes everything. And all Lizzy Sutter ever wanted was a simple life… This new companion novel to Leaving Green Island follows the characters you love to places you never would have imagined. ** NOW AVAILABLE ON AMAZON ** http://www.amazon.com/Almosts-Em-Barr...{As a heads up, this book contains small amounts of underage drinking, explicit language and sexual content.}
Ace and Bleu IV: A Dope Boy Love Story
Sol - 2017
A world without Bleu's existence isn't worth living in, so he gives up his hustling ways. Ace dedicates his life to his woman in her last days. "Promise me that you’re going to fight when the time comes," he once told her. Melo is up next on the throne. Once Ace passes over the torch, Melo takes it and runs with it. He's young, rich, and flashy, like most young dope boys. He's also reckless, running through multiple women just because he can. Then Yoncé enters his life, proving to be his biggest challenge yet. He'll stop at nothing to get her. There are many unanswered questions in this last installment. Who's plotting the Newsome's demise? Will Ace lose yet another love or does Bleu make it out alive? Melo gets the girl, of course, but will he be able to keep her? Which couple gets the happy ending? Or does both Newsome Brothers end up crashing and burning in the end? This gripping finale of a dope boy's love story will surely take you on an emotional roller coaster.
The Capture and Escape: Life Among the Sioux (1870)
Sarah Luse Larimer - 2012
When her wagon train was 8 miles from Fort Laramie, Wyoming, a Sioux Oglalas war party, in war-paint, suddenly appeared and began to encircle their wagons, pretending to be most friendly and asking for presents. The Indians urged the emigrants on, and offered to accompany them, so that they pushed on in company for a short time, until it was saw that they were approaching a ravine where his party would be at a disadvantage, and he insisted on camping outside of it. The Indians, after some hesitation, agreed, and the travellers began to make preparations for supper, when suddenly the Indians fired a volley at them. Some of those who escaped the attack succeeded in hiding in the brushwood, but Mrs. Kelly and her adopted daughter, Mary, as well as Mrs. Larimer and her children, became the prisoners of the Indians. After the second night of capture, Larimer and her son Frank managed to escape and were later reunited with her husband at Camp Collins, Colorado Territory. Larimer wrote of her harrowing captivity and escape in her 1871 book "The Capture and Escape: Life Among the Sioux." In describing dangers encountered during their escape from the Indians, Larimer noted: "The horrors of our situation were harassing to contemplate. The wolves seemed congregated upon the highlands, and, awaking from their night’s repose, their wailing cries echoed back from the distant hills with terrific clearness. These prowling creatures abound in that country, where some species attain a great size. Even the buffalo, which does not fear them in the herd, knows his danger when overtaken alone; and the solitary bull, secreted from its hunter, succumbs before the united force of a gang of wolves." Sarah Luse Larimer (1836-1913) was born in Pennsylvania, headed west in 1859 with her husband, living for a while in Allen County, Kansas, where she operated a photographic gallery. In 1864, along with her husband and son the family set out for the mines of Idaho Territory, when their plans were disrupted by Oglalas on the warpath. John Bratt in his 1921 book "Trails of Yesterday" writes of Larimer: "At Sherman Station I became well acquainted with Mrs. Larimer and her son, who kept a general store there, bought and sold ties and cord wood, while her husband had a star route mail contract from Point of Rocks north. There was also a Mrs. Kelly living near the station. These two women and Mrs. Larimer's son had been captured by the Sioux Indians near Fort Laramie. Mrs. Larimer and her son, after two weeks' captivity in the lodge of the chief, stole away one night and though the Indians hunted them day and night, they succeeded in eluding them and got back to the fort, after suffering unmentionable cruelties. Mrs. Kelly, not so fortunate, was taken by the Indians up on the Missouri River and kept with the band over six months." In describing the moment of rescue by a passing wagon train, Larimer writes that "as we sat in this shelter, which proved to be the last, a most joyful and welcome sound greeted our ears —one in which there was no mistake—our own language, spoken by some boys who passed, driving cattle."
By the Shores of Gitchee Gumee
Tama Janowitz - 1996
From the author of Slaves of New York and The Male Cross-Dresser Support Group, this satire in the all-too-rare genre of Evelyn Waugh's The Loved One tells a compelling story of the sex lives of people and invertebrates at the end of America's 20th century.
One Summer at Deer's Leap
Elizabeth Elgin - 1999
Cassie Johns is a young, lovely writer on the threshold of success after a less-than-silver-spooned girlhood. Driving through the glorious countryside to a fancy-dress party in the Vale of Boland, she gives a lift to a mysteriously attractive young man wearing the uniform of an RAF pilot: ready for the party Cassie assumes. But in the evening there is no sign of the airman.Cassie – hitherto rational, sceptical, a woman of her times – becomes obsessed by Jack Hunter, a pilot whose plane crashed in 1944, but whose long-ago love for a girl at Deer’s Leap makes him unable to rest in peace. Cassie’s love for the dead hero takes her into an unknown war-torn past, where old passion burns and becomes entwined with new.
The Camera Never Lies
Tess Daly - 2011
But when things don't go to plan her dreams of seeing her face on billboards are shattered, and she is forced to pick up the pieces and start again.