Book picks similar to
Shooting Butterflies by Marika Cobbold
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women
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Aunt Daisy's Letter
S.J. Crabb - 2020
Successful, driven and in control of her own life, so when she died suddenly it was quite a shock.Her niece Lily was the next powerful woman in the making and based everything in her own life on that of her successful Aunt. She was determined to walk in her shoes, which is why when they found Aunt Daisy’s notebook, it was given to Lily.Tucked between the pages was a letter that Aunt Daisy wrote to herself. It turned out that far from being happy with her perfect life; she was about to change everything. She had many regrets and wanted to put them right, but never had the chance.Lily makes a vow to honour her Aunt’s memory and complete the list before taking on her own new position of power. That way she would not have the same regrets in her own life that Aunt Daisy died with.However, completing somebody else’s bucket list in four weeks proves to be a challenge Lily underestimated. Can she tick every item off the list and look back on her own life with no regrets, or will she discover there was a reason her Aunt failed in the first place?In her travels, Lily discovers her Aunt’s shocking past and reaches a crossroads herself that could change the direction her own life is heading.Follow Lily on her journey from London to Provence and discover the beauty of a life seen through open eyes. Will Aunt Daisy finally rest in peace, or is history about to repeat itself?
Domestic Violets
Matthew Norman - 2011
In the tradition of Jonathan Tropper and Tom Perrotta comes Matthew Norman's Domestic Violets—a darkly comic family drama about one man’s improbable trials of love, loss, and ambition; of attraction, impotence, and infidelity; and of mid-life malaise, poorly-planned revenge, and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
The Truth About Love and Dogs
Lilly Bartlett
‘Shannon!’There’s just one problem: her name isn’t Shannon.Rewind six months and Scarlett and Rufus aren’t in the honeymoon stage anymore so much as the honey-should-we-bother phase. Desperate to get their sparkle back, Scarlett has plotted, planned and waxed more than any woman should have to, but none of it is working. Which makes it very hard to start the family they want. At least her business is going strong, even if her marriage isn’t. She and her best friend spend their days tangled up in dog leads and covered in fur. Scarlett is the fairy dogmother, training hopeless pets like compulsive eater Barkley, impulsive Romeo Murphy and bossy Biscuit. Meanwhile, her best friend walks the dogs and pines for the man who doesn’t know she exists. Thank goodness the women have each other. If only Scarlett could work out how to get her marriage back on track. But Rufus isn’t sharing his feelings with her. He is, though, sharing with her best friend. Her best friend, Shannon.
Life After Coffee
Virginia Franken - 2016
Now neither she nor her husband, a talented but unemployed screenwriter, are earning any income. For the first time in her life, Amy faces the daunting responsibilities of being a stay-at-home parent—and quickly realizes two things: she may be the world’s most incompetent mother…and she’s going to need a lot more caffeine.Suddenly Amy’s days are no longer filled with meetings but with messy playdates, dirty dishes, and put-together PTA moms, while her husband finds work. And as their family dynamic begins to change in both fun and frustrating ways, she’s asking herself the big questions: Can her marriage survive this kind of role reversal? How do you clean puke off a car seat? And what does she really amount to when the job she thought defined her is removed from the equation? It might just be the best thing that ever happened to her…
The Light of Paris
Eleanor Brown - 2016
From the outside, it looks like she has everything, but on the inside, she fears she has nothing that matters. In Madeleine’s memories, her grandmother Margie is the kind of woman she should have been—elegant, reserved, perfect. But when Madeleine finds a diary detailing Margie’s bold, romantic trip to Jazz Age Paris, she meets the grandmother she never knew: a dreamer who defied her strict, staid family and spent an exhilarating summer writing in cafés, living on her own, and falling for a charismatic artist. Despite her unhappiness, when Madeleine’s marriage is threatened, she panics, escaping to her hometown and staying with her critical, disapproving mother. In that unlikely place, shaken by the revelation of a long-hidden family secret and inspired by her grandmother’s bravery, Madeleine creates her own Parisian summer—reconnecting to her love of painting, cultivating a vibrant circle of creative friends, and finding a kindred spirit in a down-to-earth chef who reminds her to feed both her body and her heart. Margie and Madeleine’s stories intertwine to explore the joys and risks of living life on our own terms, of defying the rules that hold us back from our dreams, and of becoming the people we are meant to be.
Thursdays at Coconuts
Beth Carter - 2014
It doesn’t help that she’s still pining for her high school sweetheart, the one who got away. Handling neurotic brides is the best part of Suzy’s day until her son brings home a bombshell from Europe. Alexandra, a beautiful marketer with a “touch” of OCD, falls for a bad-boy cop who's married and possibly stalking her. But he sure is sexy. Alex tries to stay at arm’s length after she puts her job—and life—on the line for the officer who isn’t always a gentleman. Hope hates her name, looks, and frizzy hair. As a high school counselor, she dishes out sage advice to students, yet can’t see she’s enabling her deadbeat, stuck-in-the-seventies hippie parents. After tragedy strikes, she reexamines their relationship and discovers a secret that almost went to the grave. Friends since high school, the thirty-something women meet every Thursday at Coconuts for their own form of friendapy.
Forever Beach
Shelley Noble - 2016
Two young girls pledged to be best friends forever. Separated by circumstance and hurt, they are reunited years later as they struggle to put their differences aside for the sake of a special little girl—perfect for fans of Elin Hilderbrand, Jane Green, and Kristin Hannah.Two women…One little girl…Can they forgive the past in order to ensure the future of an innocent child…?Once a foster child herself, Sarah Hargreave can’t wait to finalize the adoption of her foster daughter Leila. Sarah longs to give her all the love and stability she was denied in her own childhood. She’s put her own friendships and even her relationship with Wyatt, her longtime lover, on hold in order to give Leila her full attention. When Leila’s biological mother suddenly reappears and petitions the court for the return of her daughter, Sarah is terrified she’ll lose the little girl she’s come to love as her own. Convinced the mother is still addicted to drugs, Sarah and her social worker enlist the help of high profile family lawyer, Ilona Cartwright. But when they meet, Sarah recognizes her as Nonie Blanchard who grew up in the same group foster home as Sarah. They’d promised to be best friends forever, then Nonie was adopted by a wealthy family, and Sarah never heard from her again. Sarah still hurts from the betrayal. But Nonie harbors her own resentment toward Sarah who she believes abandoned her when she needed her most.Mistrustful of each other, the two women form a tenuous alliance to ensure Leila’s future, but when Leila’s very survival is on the line, they’ll have to come to terms with their own feelings of hurt and rejection to save the child they both have come to love.
Small Admissions
Amy Poeppel - 2016
It seems that nothing will get Kate out of pajamas and back into the world. Miraculously, one cringe-worthy job interview leads to a position in the admissions department at the revered Hudson Day School. Kate’s instantly thrown into a highly competitive and occasionally absurd culture, where she interviews all types of children: suitable, wildly unsuitable, charming, loathsome, ingratiating, or spoiled beyond all measure. And then there are the Park Avenue parents who refuse to take no for an answer. As Kate begins to learn there’s no room for self-pity or nonsense during the height of admissions season or life itself, her sister and friends find themselves keeping secrets, dropping bombshells, and arguing with each other about how to keep Kate on her feet. Meanwhile, Kate seems to be doing very nicely, thank you, and is even beginning to find out that her broken heart is very much on the mend. Welcome to the world of Small Admissions.
Love & Gelato
Jenna Evans Welch - 2016
She’s only there because it was her mother’s dying wish that she get to know her father. But what kind of father isn’t around for sixteen years? All Lina wants to do is go back home.But then she is given a journal that her mom had kept when she lived in Italy. Suddenly Lina’s uncovering a magical world of secret romances, art, and hidden bakeries. A world that inspires her, along with the ever-so-charming Ren, to follow in her mother’s footsteps and unearth a secret that has been kept for far too long. It’s a secret that will change everything she knew about her mother, her father—and even herself.People come to Italy for love and gelato, someone tells her, but sometimes they discover much more.
Save The Best For Last (Gen/Liv/Cesca Book 1)
Bettye Griffin - 2009
THE LAW AND THE LADY . . . Graphic artist Genevieve L'Esperance has got it all together, even by tough New York standards: A thriving career, a spacious Upper East Side condo, even a sort-of boyfriend named Barry. But the one thing she *doesn't* have is something Americans take for granted . . . and if she's found out it'll mean the end of life as she knows it. And now the law is closing in on her . . . THE LADY AND THE LAWYER . . . Gen's friend Barry comes up with a solution and quickly moves her to a rented room uptown while he finalizes arrangements to keep her safe. While Gen is grateful to him, she can't help feeling that she's sold out her future. But then Barry's master plan gets delayed, and when she meets Dexter Gray, the struggling law student who occupies the other room on the floor, things *really* start to get complicated . . .
Green Beans and Summer Dreams
Catherine Ferguson - 2015
As fresh and bubbly as a pint of homemade lemonade on a hot day, this is the only book you need this summer.You can bury a lot of troubles by digging in a garden…When Izzy Fraser’s long-term boyfriend walks out on her, she finds herself in a bit of a pickle. Whilst she may have the house of her dreams, she’s now left with a crippling mortgage that she has to pay on her own.It’s time for her to take matters into her own hands and, having always been a keen gardener, she realises she can put her skills to use. She decides to set up Izzy’s Organics, delivering crates of fresh fruit and vegetables to the local villagers.Along the way she meets all sorts of characters, including the very handsome Erik and the very Grumpy Dan. But can Izzy sort the wheat from the chaff? And will her new business be the change to her life that she needs?A heartwarming tale, full of the joys of summer. Perfect for fans of Jenny Colgan and Lucy Diamond.
How to Stop Time
Matt Haig - 2017
I had existed whole years without her, but that was all it had been. An existence. A book with no words."Tom Hazard has just moved back to London, his old home, to settle down and become a high school history teacher. And on his first day at school, he meets a captivating French teacher at his school who seems fascinated by him. But Tom has a dangerous secret. He may look like an ordinary 41-year-old, but owing to a rare condition, he's been alive for centuries. Tom has lived history--performing with Shakespeare, exploring the high seas with Captain Cook, and sharing cocktails with Fitzgerald. Now, he just wants an ordinary life.Unfortunately for Tom, the Albatross Society, the secretive group which protects people like Tom, has one rule: Never fall in love. As painful memories of his past and the erratic behavior of the Society's watchful leader threaten to derail his new life and romance, the one thing he can't have just happens to be the one thing that might save him. Tom will have to decide once and for all whether to remain stuck in the past, or finally begin living in the present.How to Stop Time tells a love story across the ages--and for the ages--about a man lost in time, the woman who could save him, and the lifetimes it can take to learn how to live. It is a bighearted, wildly original novel about losing and finding yourself, the inevitability of change, and how with enough time to learn, we just might find happiness.Soon to be a major motion picture starring Benedict Cumberbatch.
Invincible Summer
Alice Adams - 2016
Twenty years. One unexpected journey. Inseparable throughout college, Eva, Benedict, Sylvie, and Lucien graduate in 1997, into an exhilarating world on the brink of a new millennium. Hopelessly in love with playboy Lucien and eager to shrug off the socialist politics of her upbringing, Eva breaks away to work for a big bank. Benedict, a budding scientist who's pined for Eva for years, stays on to complete his PhD in physics, devoting his life to chasing particles as elusive as the object of his affection. Siblings Sylvie and Lucien, never much inclined toward mortgages or monogamy, pursue more bohemian existences-she as an aspiring artist and he as a club promoter and professional partyer. But as their twenties give way to their thirties, the group struggles to navigate their thwarted dreams. Scattered across Europe and no longer convinced they are truly the masters of their fates, the once close-knit friends find themselves filled with longing for their youth- and for one another. Broken hearts and broken careers draw the foursome together again, but in ways they never could have imagined. A dazzling depiction of the highs and lows of adulthood, Invincible Summer is a story about finding the courage to carry on in the wake of disappointment, and a powerful testament to love and friendship as the constants in an ever-changing world.
Birds in the Air
Frances O'Roark Dowell - 2016
Her husband loves his new job and her kids are finding their way at school. But Emma — no natural when it comes to talking to strangers — will have to try a little harder, especially after the sweet, white-haired neighbor she first visits slams the door in her face.Luckily, a few of the quilters of Sweet Anne’s Gap adopt Emma and she soon finds herself organizing the quilt show for the town’s centennial celebration. But not everyone is happy to see the job go to an outsider, especially one who has befriended an outcast pursuing her own last best chance at redemption.With Birds in the Air, Frances O’Roark Dowell (winner of the Edgar Award, the William Allen White Award and the Christopher Medal) has created a warm, funny novel about fitting in, falling out and mending frayed relationships one stitch at a time.