Under the Willows


Pamela McCord - 2020
    Dealing with her overwhelming grief is a struggle as she adjusts to life in a small town. And, just as she’s beginning to feel more comfortable, life takes another unexpected turn. The Alexa unit in her son’s bedroom starts to cry, and a little girl’s voice comes out of it asking for help. At first Kelly is unnerved by the presence of the voice. After ruling out all the other likely possibilities, she begins to put the pieces together, and suspects the girl is a ghost. Unwilling to be uprooted from another home, she decides to find out what the child wants. Maybe she can help. Kelly isn’t the only one interested in the voice. Detective Rob Porter is investigating the disappearance of a child named Marilee. As the two cross paths, Porter is taken aback when Kelly’s ghost mentions Marilee’s name. In fact, the ghost says “Marilee’s with me.” Whether that means the child is a ghost as well is a question Rob and Kelly hope to answer.

Someday, Someday, Maybe


Lauren Graham - 2013
    But so far, all she has to show for her efforts is a single line in an ad for ugly Christmas sweaters and a degrading waitressing job. She lives in Brooklyn with two roommates - Jane, her best friend from college, and Dan, a sci-fi writer, who is very definitely not boyfriend material - and is struggling with her feelings for a suspiciously charming guy in her acting class, all while trying to find a hair-product cocktail that actually works. Meanwhile, she dreams of doing "important" work, but only ever seems to get auditions for dishwashing liquid and peanut butter commercials. It's hard to tell if she'll run out of time or money first, but either way, failure would mean facing the fact that she has absolutely no skills to make it in the real world. Her father wants her to come home and teach, her agent won't call her back, and her classmate Penelope, who seems supportive, might just turn out to be her toughest competition yet. Someday, Someday, Maybe is a funny and charming debut about finding yourself, finding love, and, most difficult of all, finding an acting job.

Shoe Addicts Anonymous


Beth Harbison - 2007
    Lorna Rafferty is up to her eyeballs in debt and can't stop her addiction to Ebay. Sandra Vanderslice, battling agoraphobia, pays her shoe bills by working as a phone sex operator. And Jocelyn Bowen is a nanny for the family from hell (who barely knows a sole from a heel but who will do anything to get out of the house).  On Tuesday nights, these women meet to trade shoes, and, in the process, form friendships that will help them each triumph over their problems—from secret pasts to blackmail, bankruptcy, and dating.  Funny, emotional, and powerful, Shoe Addicts Anonymous is the perfect read for any woman who has ever struggled to find the perfect fit.

The Impulse Purchase


Veronica Henry - 2022
    . .Cherry, Maggie and Rose are mother, daughter and granddaughter, each with their own hopes, dreams and even sorrows. They have always been close, so when, in a moment of impulse, Cherry buys a gorgeous but rundown pub in the village she grew up in, it soon becomes a family affair.All three women uproot themselves and move to Rushbrook, deep in the heart of Somerset, to take over The Swan and restore it to its former glory. Cherry is at the helm, Maggie is in charge of the kitchen, and Rose tends the picturesque garden that leads down to the river.Before long, the locals are delighted to find the beating heart of the village is back, bringing all kinds of surprises through the door.Could Cherry's impulse purchase change all their lives - and bring everyone the happiness they're searching for?Escape to the glorious Somerset countryside with this joyful and uplifting story of family, love and hope.

Stepping Up


Sarah Turner
    It's not that she hasn't tried to grow up, it's just that so far, the only commitment she's held down is Friday drinks at the village pub.Then, in the space of a morning, her world changes.Beth is now guardian to her teenage niece and toddler nephew, catapulted into an unfamiliar world of bedtime stories, parents' evenings and cuddly elephants. Having never been responsible for anyone - or anything - it's not long before she feels seriously out of her depth.What if she's simply not up to the job?With a little help from her best friend Jory (purely platonic, of course ...) and her lovely, lonely next-door neighbour, Albert, Beth is determined that this time she's not giving up. It's time to step up.This is a story about digging deep for strength you never knew you had and finding magic in things that were there all along.

The Beekeeper's Promise


Fiona Valpy - 2018
    The old château echoes with voices from the past, and soon Abi finds herself drawn to one remarkable woman’s story, a story that could change the course of her summer—and her life.In 1938, Eliane Martin tends beehives in the garden of the beautiful Château Bellevue. In its shadow she meets Mathieu Dubosq and falls in love for the first time, daring to hope that a happy future awaits. But France’s eastern border is darkening under the clouds of war, and history has other plans for Eliane…When she is separated from Mathieu in the chaos of German occupation, Eliane makes the dangerous decision to join the Resistance and fight for France’s liberty. But with no end to the war in sight, her loyalty to Mathieu is severely tested.From the bestselling author of Sea of Memories comes the story of two remarkable women, generations apart, who must use adversity to their advantage and find the resilience deep within.

When A Thug Has Feelings


Senoj - 2017
    When her parents found out, they decided to uproot them to another city. After losing contact with Dreon, she experienced her first heartbreak and decided to shift her focus back on her education. Now twenty-three, Niya is in her final year of law school, but over the years she continued to experience the short end of any relationship she was in, including the relationship with her parents. She finally accepts that her heart has never fully healed, but that all changes once she sees Dreon again. She doesn’t know how he will feel about the secret she’s been keeping from him. Dreon Carter was known for the havoc he wreaked growing up. But after being abandoned by his mother on his grandmother’s steps, he was angry and released that anger on other kids. Sometimes, even letting Niya tag along. Barely graduating high school, due to poor attendance, he went into the streets full time and was now known by the street name Menace. He ended up serving some time in prison, but now at twenty-five, he is the king of the dope game in Cleveland, running the streets with his right-hand man, Renzo. He has a two-year-old daughter by a crazy baby mama who’s set on being a pain in his ass and causing friction between him and Niya. Along with running the streets, he’s trying to run his home, but with the streets and his home life trying to cross, he runs into problems. The bond of Menace and Niya is undeniably unbreakable, but is Niya strong enough to be the woman of a thug, going against everything she’s about, and dealing with the drama that comes along? Can Menace avoid the pressures of the street life and be the man Niya wants him to be, while also not giving up his streets, or will it all be too much?

On Strike for Christmas


Sheila Roberts - 2007
    Trimming the tree, mailing the cards, schlepping to the mall, the endless wrapping--bah humbug! So this year, Joy and Laura and the rest of their knitting group decide to go on strike. If their husbands and families want a nice holiday--filled with parties, decorations, and presents--well, they'll just have to do it themselves.The boycott soon takes on a life of its own when a reporter picks up the story and more women join in. But as Christmas Day approaches, Joy, Laura, and their husbands confront larger issues in their marriages and discover that a little holiday magic is exactly what they need to come together.Sheila Roberts gives the best gift of all in this funny, heartwarming novel that touches the very core of Christmas spirit.

In the Shadow of Trees


Elenor Gill - 2006
    A romantic thriller set in present-day New Zealand, In the Shadow of Trees covers a period of several weeks in the life of Regan, a nationally acclaimed sculptor, who is renowned for her work in wood.Fleeing a disastrous relationship with a much younger man, Jason Sullivan, Regan retreats to an isolated house on the Sullivan estate in the remote forests of Northland to prepare a series of sculptures for a major new exhibition.

More Like Her


Liza Palmer - 2011
    More Like Her is the story of a seemingly perfect woman who’s the envy of her friends, neighbors, and co-workers…until the life of the object of their jealousy spectacularly, unexpectedly, and disastrously explodes. A novel of secrets, disappointments, false impressions—and what really goes on behind those suburban picket fences—More Like Her is ultimately about facing reality and appreciating everything that life has to offer.

The One That Got Away


Bethany Chase - 2015
    She’s well on her way to having the family she’s hoped for since her mother’s death ten years ago. But with Noah on a temporary assignment abroad and retired Olympic swimmer — and former flame — Eamon Roy back in town asking her to renovate his new fixer-upper, Sarina’s life takes an unexpected turn.Eamon proves to be Sarina’s dream client, someone who instinctively trusts every one of her choices — and Sarina is reminded of all the reasons she was first drawn to him back in the day. Suddenly her carefully planned future with Noah seems a little less than perfect. And when tragedy strikes, Sarina is left reeling. With her world completely upended, she is forced to question what she truly wants in life — and in love.Full of both humor and heartbreak, The One That Got Away is the story of one woman’s discovery that, sometimes, life is what happens when you leave the blueprints behind.

A Hundred Summers


Beatriz Williams - 2013
    That is, until the Greenwalds decide to take up residence in Seaview.Nick and Budgie Greenwald are an unwelcome specter from Lily’s past: her former best friend and her former fiancé, now recently married—an event that set off a wildfire of gossip among the elite of Seaview, who have summered together for generations. Budgie’s arrival to restore her family’s old house puts her once more in the center of the community’s social scene, and she insinuates herself back into Lily's friendship with an overpowering talent for seduction...and an alluring acquaintance from their college days, Yankees pitcher Graham Pendleton. But the ties that bind Lily to Nick are too strong and intricate to ignore, and the two are drawn back into long-buried dreams, despite their uneasy secrets and many emotional obligations. Under the scorching summer sun, the unexpected truth of Budgie and Nick’s marriage bubbles to the surface, and as a cataclysmic hurricane barrels unseen up the Atlantic and into New England, Lily and Nick must confront an emotional cyclone of their own, which will change their worlds forever.

Small Town Rumors


Carolyn Brown - 2018
    The former high school queen bee—and wealthy darling of Bloom, Texas—has returned home after all these years, riding on a common bus and bearing two bounced alimony checks. In a town that thrives on gossip, Jennie’s fall from grace has shamed her mother, set the town buzzing, and caused old, jealous enemies to whisper in delight. They say she’s taken a job as a housekeeper, gotten a garage apartment, and might be crushing on Rick Lawson, a simple farmer with modest dreams.As romance starts to bud, Jennie relishes what it means to follow her heart, find real new friends, and finally be herself—regardless of all the lying town chatter. But fate has another twist in store. Rumor has it that Jennie now stands to lose what matters most…unless she can convince Rick of one true thing—and that’s love.