If only she’d stayed in Wisconsin, she might never have met Anthony Shaw, and she would have held onto the future she’d so carefully planned for herself. Instead, Ann ends up harboring a devastating secret that strains her relationship with her parents, sends her sister Poppy to every corner of the world chasing waves (and her next fling), and leaves her adopted brother Michael estranged from the family. Now, fifteen years later, her parents have died, and Ann and Poppy are left to decide the fate of the beach house that’s been in the Gordon family for generations. For Ann, the once-beloved house is forever tainted with bad memories. And while Poppy loves the old saltbox on Drummer Cove, owning a house means settling, and she’s not sure she’s ready to stay in one place.Just when the sisters decide to sell, Michael re-enters their lives with a legitimate claim to a third of the estate. He wants the house. But more than that, he wants to set the record straight about what happened that long-ago summer that changed all of their lives forever. As the siblings reunite after years apart, their old secrets and lies, longings and losses, are pulled to the surface. Is the house the one thing that can still bring them together––or will it tear them apart, once and for all?Told through the shifting perspectives of Ann, Poppy, and Michael, this assured and affecting debut captures the ache of nostalgia for summers past and the powerful draw of the places we return to again and again. It is about second homes, second families, and second chances. Tender and compassionate, incisive and heartbreaking, Christina Clancy's The Second Home is the story of a family you'll quickly fall in love with, and won't soon forget.

    But when the merriment takes a bizarre twist, he retreats by himself to call it a night... Until his attention is captured by a teary-eyed Santa in a very short skirt.Holly's quest to find herself again ends in a disastrous Christmas date, leaving her discouraged and alone in a town far from home. But when her date returns, angry and violent, she's rescued by a gorgeous stranger--the kind of guy she once would have pursued. But that was before.Seeking cheer but preferring anonymity, they embark on an innocent game playing the roles of old friends catching up. Without encumbrances, honest conversations uncover hidden desires. Sparks fly, directing them to an outcome they hadn't expected and shouldn't pursue. But will it thrust them into each other's arms or leave them longing for what could have been?AUTHORS ADVISORY: While this romance is sweet, it's on the spicy side. If you like your romance STEAMY, your men HOT, and your sex DIRTY... this is for you.

    A group of young people squatting in an apartment in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. The Hospital for Broken Things, which specializes in repairing the artifacts of a vanished world.William Wyler's 1946 classic The Best Years of Our Lives. A celebrated actress preparing to return to Broadway. An independent publisher desperately trying to save his business and his marriage. These are just some of the elements Auster magically weaves together in this immensely moving novel about contemporary America and its ghosts. Sunset Park is a surprising departure that confirms Paul Auster as one of our greatest living writers.

    But one student can't stand to witness this budding relationship: Ian decides to destroy the friendship between the black boy and the golden girl. By the end of the day, the school and its key players - teachers and pupils alike - will never be the same again. The tragedy of Othello is transposed to a 1970's suburban Washington schoolyard, where kids fall in and out of love with each other before lunchtime, and practice a casual racism picked up from their parents and teachers. Peeking over the shoulders of four 11 year olds Osei, Dee, Ian, and his reluctant girlfriend Mimi, Tracy Chevalier's powerful drama of friends torn apart by jealousy, bullying and betrayal will leave you reeling.

    The elusive underwear thief is busy plundering the local washing lines hoping his identity will never be revealed, whilst the Pappas is up to his neck in nefarious schemes. Mail order Russian bride Masha is indulged by that old fool Vasilis in her passion for plastic surgery, and Stavroula plots to extricate herself from her marriage to the supposedly dead Toothless Tasos. Not a day goes by in Astakos without deviousness and humour as part of the scenic backdrop. The humorous antics of life in a fictional Greek village have the feel good factor to make you laugh-out-loud.

    Like him, they are diminutive but graceful, unique, and with surprising depths. Perhaps that's why he answers the enigmatic personal ad in his collector's magazine.Letter by letter, Bramber Winters reveals more of her strange, sheltered life in an institution on Bodmin Moor, and the terrible events that put her there as a child. Andrew knows what it is to be trapped, and as they knit closer together, he weaves a curious plan to rescue her.On his journey through the old towns of England, he reads the fairy tales of Ewa Chaplin--potent, eldritch stories which, like her lifelike dolls, pluck at the edges of reality and thread their way into his mind. When Andrew and Bramber meet at last, they will have a choice--to break free and, unlike their dolls, come to life.A love story of two very real, unusual people, The Dollmaker is also a novel rich with wonders: Andrew's quest and Bramber's letters unspool around the dark fables that give our familiar world an uncanny edge. It is this touch of magic that, like the blink of a doll's eyes, tricks our own.

    On the last night of 1937, twenty-five-year-old Katey Kontent is in a second-rate Greenwich Village jazz bar when Tinker Grey, a handsome banker, happens to sit down at the neighboring table. This chance encounter and its startling consequences propel Katey on a year-long journey into the upper echelons of New York society—where she will have little to rely upon other than a bracing wit and her own brand of cool nerve. With its sparkling depiction of New York’s social strata, its intricate imagery and themes, and its immensely appealing characters, Rules of Civility won the hearts of readers and critics alike.

    Except, as Peter and Helen Radley know but their children have yet to find out, the Radleys happen to be a family of abstaining vampires. When one night Clara finds herself driven to commit a bloodthirsty act, her parents decide to explain a few things.

    This invisible red thread will never break and you will either find your way back to me somehow, or me to you.” This is the promise that Jack makes to Esha at the end of their precious week together in London. Esha has to return to India for her wedding to Dev, which has been arranged by her wealthy parents. Aware of her cultural commitments and knowing in her heart that they cannot have a future together, their separation is marked with a single promise. The turbulent years that follow are recorded in Esha’s journal, in the form of letters to Jack, which eventually find their way into his hands and which rock his world to the core. The rigid traditions and formalities of the social world of Amritsar, in which Esha is trapped, and to which Jack has no access, may well stretch their scarlet thread to breaking point. Can a single promise made seven years ago bring together two star crossed lovers in this gripping tale, spanning two cities?

    

    Flor decides that none of it—the private jets, the vacation homes and the luxury cars—were real. Or at least they really didn’t matter. The only thing that’s real for Flor is her love of horses and her desire to go to veterinary school. Heading into her final year of college, Flor seeks out the help of an unlikely benefactor to secure a summer internship working with horses. Arriving at the secluded Belo Horizonte ranch, Flor is awed not only by the majestic beauty of the place, but also by handsome cowboy and skilled horse trainer, Collin Taylor. Yet nothing is quite as it appears on the surface. When the hidden past is revealed, will love end up blossoming for Flor?

    Please see the information for "Finding My Favorite" (The Lake Effect Series, Book 1) to begin reading this series.

    The Great Depression, the austerity years,President Kennedy's assassination, Neil Armstrong's moon walk and the death of Princess Diana are among the many events of this turbulent century that are told through their effect on her long life.

    The story of wild Johnny Larson and quiet Elise Quinn begins with a stolen kiss and ends with . . . well, read it and see. Johnny Larson is a star football player and a one-night stand guy who lives for wild parties, casual sex and his NFL dream. But when he impulsively kisses his brother's girlfriend one rainy afternoon, their sexual attraction ignites a passionate affair that won't be denied. Johnny calls it their destiny. Elise calls it love. Their happiness is complete when Johnny is picked in the first round of the NFL Draft, but it ends when he drives drunk after his draft party and kills a pedestrian, turning their dream into a nightmare. When Johnny's struggle with a corrupt prison system leads to his conviction for aggravated murder, Elise joins a desperate legal battle to save him from the death penalty. But does love have the power to overcome destiny? One reviewer wrote: "This book is a must read! Not only is it well researched and factual, it will have you wondering what's to come with each page you read. Sex, love, death, commitment, prison life, football, childbirth and final goodbyes; it's all here. An excellent book you won't want to put down. Enjoy." This is not your traditional Happily Ever After love story. You will need tissues as you read this sweeping saga of sexual passion and desire, criminal conspiracy and legal injustice, capital murder and death row, terminal illness and assisted suicide. Get ready for an emotional experience that will confirm your belief in the power of undying love. For ages 18+ due to sex scenes, adult situations and sensitive issues.

    Its walls hold stories. Births and deaths, comings and goings, people and events passing through... For now, however, it lies suspended in a kind of emptiness, as if it has fallen asleep or someone has put it under a spell. This silence won't last: can't last. Something will have to be done."When brother and sister Charlie and Ros discover that they have inherited their aunt's grand English country house, they must decide if they should sell it. As they survey the effects of time on the the estate's architectural treasures, a narrative spanning two and a half centuries unfolds. We meet those who built the house, lived in it and loved it, worked in it, and those who would subvert it for their own ends. Each chapter is skillfully woven into the others so that the story lines of the upstairs and downstairs characters and their relatives and descendants intertwine to make a rich tapestry. A beautifully written novel full of humor, heart, and poignancy, Ashenden is an evocative portrait of a house that becomes a character as compelling as the people who inhabit it.