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The Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes
Ruth Hogan - 2018
Once a spirited, independent woman with a rebellious streak, her life has been forever changed by a tragic event twelve years ago. Unable to let go of her grief, she finds solace in the silent company of the souls of her local Victorian cemetery and at the town's lido, where she seeks refuge underwater - safe from the noise and the pain. But a chance encounter with two extraordinary women - the fabulous and wise Kitty Muriel, a convent girl-turned-magician's wife-turned-seventy-something-roller-disco-fanatic, and the mysterious Sally Red Shoes, a bag lady with a prodigious voice - opens up a new world of possibilities, and the chance to start living again.Until the fateful day when the past comes roaring back...
The Summer Job
Lizzy Dent - 2021
What if you could be someone else? Just for the summer...Birdy has made a mistake. Everyone imagines running away from their life at some point. But Birdy has actually done it. And the life she's run into is her best friend Heather's. The only problem is, she hasn't told Heather.The summer job at the highland Scottish hotel that her world class wine-expert friend ditched turns out to be a lot more than Birdy bargained for. Can she survive a summer pretending to be her best friend? And can Birdy stop herself from falling for the first man she's ever actually liked, but who thinks she's someone else?One good friend's very bad decision is at the heart of this laugh-out-loud love story and unexpected tale of a woman finally finding herself in the strangest of places.
19 Myths About Cheating
Randy Susan Meyers - 2018
Aren’t troubles with men a woman’s daily bread? Worse yet, I was sleeping with the trouble and he wasn’t my husband—a secret as undeserved as cruel. Adam’s marriage crimes were cold but not savage, and certainly not worthy of infidelity.”Isabelle needs one good reason to shave her legs with joy. Her husband broods over cholesterol, white flour, and his dental patients; her nervous eight-year-old son worries about everything, and her teen-aged daughter thinks Isabelle is an embarrassment.Isabelle begins her affair for many reasons—her husband treats her as an employee, her daughter turns more sour each day, and she feels she’s holding onto pretty by her teeth. But the lust isn’t worth the guilt, and when her daughter strikes up an unexpected friendship with the daughter of her lover, Isabelle’s two worlds approach a devastating collision."Randy Susan Meyers brings her razor-sharp humor, wit, insight, pathos and empathy to 19 MYTHS ABOUT CHEATING as she brings a marriage to life, and to the brink of death with deftness and sensitivity. Meyers writes with sass and smarts in this heart-wrenching and funny novella that every woman will read with a mixture of recognition, terror, and delight. I found myself saying, yes, yes, marriage is just like this, over and over. No character is every black or white, no decision is ever right or wrongShe has us rooting for everyone even when we don't agree with them, and hoping that this time, love will triumph over adversity and that the book will last just a few pages longer." —NYT Bestseller, M.J. Rose
This Is Not How It Ends
Rochelle B. Weinstein - 2020
Weinstein comes a moving novel of hearts lost and found, and of one woman torn between two love stories.
When Charlotte and Philip meet, the pair form a deep and instant connection. Soon they’re settled in the Florida Keys with plans to marry. But just as they should be getting closer, Charlotte feels Philip slipping away.Second-guessing their love is something Charlotte never imagined, but with Philip’s excessive absences, she finds herself yearning for more. When she meets Ben, she ignores the pull, but the supportive single dad is there for her in ways she never knew she desired. Soon Charlotte finds herself torn between the love she thought she wanted and the one she knows she needs.As a hurricane passes through Islamorada, stunning revelations challenge Charlotte’s loyalties and upend her life. Forced to reexamine the choices she’s made, and has yet to make, Charlotte embarks on an emotional journey of friendship, love, and sacrifice—knowing that forgiveness is a gift, and the best-laid plans can change in a heartbeat.This Is Not How It Ends is a tender, moving story of heartbreak and healing that asks the question: Which takes more courage—holding on or letting go?
Skyfall
Saba Karim Khan - 2020
Despite the worst of humanity every day – her madrassa running father selling her mother's body and beating her sister – Rania remains the 'Troublemaker', unable to give up on her dreams.When an Indian filmmaker encourages her to enrol in a music contest that can take her to New York, her dreams take flight. But even as she wins the hearts of her listeners, a family secret threatens to bring her life in Heera Mandi back in sharp relief, upending the new life she has built for herself.From the oppressive walls of religious hypocrisy to the orange jumpsuits of American prisons, Skyfall is a tender, piercing debut that teaches us the strength of human endeavour and our desire for love in a time of hate.
New Beginnings at Rose Cottage
Erin Green - 2019
Perfect for fans of Lucy Diamond, Sarah Morgan and Holly Martin.
When solo travellers Benni, Emma and Ruth find themselves holidaying together at charming Rose Cottage in Brixam, Devon, they are initially disappointed to be sharing with strangers of a different age group.But 'friendship and home comforts' are guaranteed at Rose Cottage and soon a bond blossoms between the women, who each have valuable life lessons to share.As the summer unfolds, Benni, Emma and Ruth begin to realise that age is just a number. Before their time at Rose Cottage ends, will they take the chance to grasp the dreams that are now within their reach?
This Other Island
Steffanie Edward - 2021
So this was my strange new home…When Yvette receives a call to say her estranged father Joe has been attacked in a seemingly random act of violence, she rushes to his side.But when she arrives, she finds a man different to the larger-than-life father of her memories. Joe is broken, too scared to describe his attacker to the police, and seemingly haunted by memories of his past – memories he’s fought to suppress.About the boat journey that brought him and his wife Dolina to their new home in a hostile and unwelcoming Britain – as part of the Windrush Generation. About the secrets left behind in St Lucia… And about the darkest secret of all – the one that he has carried with him since stepping off the boat that cool, wet August day.As he fights for his life, he begs Yvette to find out what really happened on the last day of that crossing. Because, for forty years, Joe has believed that he killed a man. A man who had loved Dolina too. And who might hold the key to Yvette’s own story…What follows is a heart-stopping debut novel about family, identity, secrets, lies, and the journeys that define us. It will grip you, challenge you, and ultimately break you into a thousand pieces. Perfect for fans of Small Island and Girl, Woman, Other.
Return To Me
Katie Winters - 2021
The mother she's resented for over twenty years. A return to Martha's Vineyard, where healing can finally begin.Janine Potter grew up on the other side of the tracks. Her mother, Nancy, struggled with just about everything: alcohol, men, money -- and Janine made a pledge to herself that she would never be like her.At age nineteen, Janine met Jack Potter, the son of an oil tycoon, and never looked back. Her life became a series of cocktail parties and multi-million-dollar apartments all across the world and rubbing elbows with celebrities. Slowly, memory of her mother faded -- although the trauma never really did.Fast-forward to the present. Janine is forty-three, with two beautiful daughters, a perfect apartment, a handsome husband who betrays her beyond her wildest dreams.Soon, Janine is cast out from her picture-perfect life. She has nothing.Her mother, Nancy, who's gone through trials and triumphs of her own over the previous twenty years, sees Janine's very public devastation as an opportunity to reach out to the daughter she's missed so desperately over the years."Come to Martha's Vineyard. Return to me. Let's heal together, after the shared trauma of our past."Janine has nowhere else to turn. For the first time in twenty-five years, her mother is her only answer.But the world that awaits her on Martha's Vineyard is beyond her wildest dreams. There are new friends, two step-sisters, beautiful ocean waters, and even a potential love interest -- a summer she'll never forget.Can Janine and her mother find a way to heal the wounds of their past? Can Janine overcome the ultimate betrayal?Dive into book one of The Katama Bay Series -- a heartwarming journey of motherly and sisterly love, healing, and promise for better days, all on the island of Martha's Vineyard, with its gorgeous ocean views, its endless summer days, and its bubbly cast of islanders.For fans of Susan Mallery, Jill Shalvis, and Debbie Macomber.
The Year We Turned Forty
Liz Fenton - 2016
This time around, she’s determined to bury the secret of Lucas’ paternity, and to repair the fissures that sent her wandering the first time. Gabriela regrets that she wasted her most fertile years in hot pursuit of a publishing career. Yes, she’s one of the biggest authors in the world, but maybe what she really wanted to create was a family. With a chance to do it again, she’s focused on convincing her husband, Colin, to give her the baby she desires. Claire is the only one who has made peace with her past: her twenty-two year old daughter, Emily, is finally on track after the turmoil of adolescence, and she's recently gotten engaged, with the two carat diamond on her finger to prove it. But if she’s being honest, Claire still fantasizes about her own missed opportunities: a chance to bond with her mother before it was too late, and the possibility of preventing her daughter from years of anguish. Plus, there’s the man who got away—the man who may have been her one true love. But it doesn’t take long for all three women to learn that re-living a life and making different decisions only leads to new problems and consequences—and that the mistakes they made may, in fact, have been the best choices of all…
Judith Wants To Be Your Friend
Annie Weir - 2015
She’ll find out what you do and where you go. She’ll make sure she’s there too. 36-year-old Judith Dillon hasn’t found her place in society. She struggles to make and maintain relationships, especially with women. In Carlisle in September 2009, Judith becomes attracted to Joanna. She follows her, finds out about her family and infiltrates her life. By Christmas they are close enough for Joanna to insist that Judith spends Christmas Day with them. However, all does not go as planned as Joanna’s mother drinks too much and asks Judith awkward questions about her past. That is the start of Judith’s past life catching up with her. Suspensive and gripping, Judith Wants to be Your Friend will appeal to those looking for an intriguing story with thrilling undertones.
The Summer Guests
Mary Alice Monroe - 2019
Late August is a beautiful time on the Southern coast—the peach trees are ripe, the ocean is warm, and the sweet tea is icy. A perfect time to enjoy the rocking chairs on the porch. But beneath the calm surface bubbles a threat: it’s also peak hurricane season. When a hurricane threatens the coasts of Florida and South Carolina, an eclectic group of evacuees flees for the farm of their friends Grace and Charles Phillips in North Carolina: the Phillips’s daughter Moira and her rescue dogs, famed equestrian Javier Angel de la Cruz, makeup artist Hannah McLain, horse breeder Gerda Klug and her daughter Elise, and island resident Cara Rutledge. They bring with them only the few treasured possessions they can fit in their vehicles. Strangers to all but the Phillips, they must ride out the storm together. During the course of one of the most challenging weeks of their lives, relationships are put to the test as the evacuees are forced to confront the unresolved issues they have with themselves and with each other. But as the storm passes, they realize that what really matters isn’t what they brought with them to the mountains. Rather, it’s what they’ll take with them once they leave. With Mary Alice Monroe’s “usual resplendent storytelling” (Patti Callahan Henry, New York Times bestselling author), The Summer Guests is a poignant and compelling story of self-discovery, love, and redemption.
More Than Words
Jill Santopolo - 2019
Raised by her father, owner of New York City's glamorous Gregory Hotels, after her mother's death, Nina was taught that family, reputation, and legacy are what matter most. And her boyfriend Tim, thoughtful, kind, and honest, not to mention her best friend since childhood, feels the same. But after Nina's father passes away, she learns he may not have practiced what he preached. As her world falls apart, Nina begins to question everything she thought she knew and to see the men in her life--her father, her boyfriend, and unexpectedly, her handsome and attentive boss, Rafael--in a new light. Soon Nina finds herself caught between the world she knows and loves, and a passion that could upend everything.More than Words is a heartbreaking and romantic novel about grief, loss, love, and self-discovery, and how we choose which life we are meant to live.
A Family of Strangers
Emilie Richards - 2019
Knowing she could never top Wendy’s achievements, she didn’t even try. Instead Ryan forged her own path while her family barely seemed to notice.Now Wendy shares two little girls with her perfect husband while Ryan mourns the man she lost after a nearly fatal mistake in judgment. The sisters’ choices have taken them in different directions, which is why Ryan is stunned when Wendy calls, begging for her help. There’s been a murder—and Wendy believes she’ll be wrongfully accused.While Wendy lies low, Ryan moves back to their hometown to care for the nieces she hardly knows. The sleuthing skills she’s refined as a true-crime podcaster quickly rise to the surface as she digs for answers with the help of an unexpected ally. Yet the trail of clues Wendy’s left behind lead to nothing but questions. Blood may be thicker than water, but what does Ryan owe a sister who, with every revelation, becomes more and more a stranger?Is Wendy, who always seemed so perfect, just a perfect liar—or worse?
The Other Woman
Amanda Brookfield - 2020
She packs a case, leaves a note for her bullying husband Pete, and one for her beloved twenty-year-old son Harry, and heads to the airport - and freedom.In another house, on another street, Helena is desperately baiting her husband Jack into a fight. These days it feels like the only way to get Jack to take notice of her. Passionate, volatile, increasingly fragile, Helena is fast running out of hope.What Helena and Fran don’t know, is that soon their lives are going to collide in ways neither expect nor understand. And if Fran and Helena are going to change their own futures, then first they will have to change each other’s.
What You Wish For
Katherine Center - 2020
But she wasn’t always that way.Duncan Carpenter is the new school principal who lives by rules and regulations, guided by the knowledge that bad things can happen. But he wasn’t always that way.And Sam knows it. Because she knew him before—at another school, in a different life. Back then, she loved him—but she was invisible. To him. To everyone. Even to herself. She escaped to a new school, a new job, a new chance at living. But when Duncan, of all people, gets hired as the new principal there, it feels like the best thing that could possibly happen to the school—and the worst thing that could possibly happen to Sam. Until the opposite turns out to be true. The lovable Duncan she’d known is now a suit-and-tie wearing, rule-enforcing tough guy so hell-bent on protecting the school that he’s willing to destroy it.As the school community spirals into chaos, and danger from all corners looms large, Sam and Duncan must find their way to who they really are, what it means to be brave, and how to take a chance on love—which is the riskiest move of all.With Katherine Center’s sparkling dialogue, unforgettable characters, heart, hope, and humanity, What You Wish For is the author at her most compelling best.