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We Turn to Face the Sun by Stephanianna Lozito
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Men Like Air
Tom Connolly - 2016
Nineteen-year-old Finn has just arrived in the city with his irrepressible and volatile girlfriend, Dilly, determined to even the score with his older brother Jack for abandoning him in the UK in the aftermath of their parents’ deaths. Across town, successful gallery owner Leo Emerson is haunted by loneliness, unsettled by the contrast between his life and that of his brother-in-law and oldest friend Isidor, who is enviably contented in his faith and his marriage. When Finn wanders into Leo’s gallery, a series of unexpected and interconnected events unfold, changing the lives of all four men, for better or worse. Leo and Isidor’s settled existences are overturned by events outside of their control, while Jack and Finn’s complex relationship reaches its long overdue showdown. Beautifully orchestrated and richly comic, Men Like Air explores the romance and solitude of cosmopolitan life, the transformative power of art, and the impact we have on one another’s lives—and what happens when the ties that bind us are tested or broken. It is an intense and uplifting story of growth and renewal, mapping the complex workings of the human heart across the streets of New York City.
This Time Tomorrow
Emma Straub
On the eve of her 40th birthday, Alice's life isn't terrible. She likes her job, even if it isn't exactly the one she expected. She's happy with her apartment, her romantic status, her independence, and she adores her lifelong best friend. But her father is ailing, and it feels to her as if something is missing. When she wakes up the next morning she finds herself back in 1996, reliving her 16th birthday. But it isn't just her adolescent body that shocks her, or seeing her high school crush, it's her dad: the vital, charming, 40-something version of her father with whom she is reunited. Now armed with a new perspective on her own life and his, some past events take on new meaning. Is there anything that she would change if she could?
The Summer Place
Jennifer WeinerJennifer Weiner
When her twenty-two-year-old stepdaughter announces her engagement to her pandemic boyfriend, Sarah Danhauser is shocked. But the wheels are in motion. Headstrong Ruby has already set a date (just three months away!) and spoken to her beloved safta, Sarah’s mother Veronica, about having the wedding at the family’s beach house on Cape Cod. Sarah might be worried, but Veronica is thrilled to be bringing the family together one last time before putting the big house on the market. But the road to a wedding day usually comes with a few bumps. Ruby has always known exactly what she wants, but as the wedding date approaches, she finds herself grappling with the wounds left by the mother who walked out when she was a baby. Veronica ends up facing unexpected news, thanks to her meddling sister, and must revisit the choices she made long ago, when she was a bestselling novelist with a different life. Sarah’s twin brother, Sam, is recovering from a terrible loss, and confronting big questions about who he is—questions he hopes to resolve during his stay on the Cape. Sarah’s husband, Eli, who’s been inexplicably distant during the pandemic, confronts the consequences of a long ago lapse from his typical good-guy behavior. And Sarah, frustrated by her husband, concerned about her stepdaughter, and worn out by challenges of life during quarantine, faces the alluring reappearance of someone from her past and a life that could have been. When the wedding day arrives, lovers are revealed as their true selves, misunderstandings take on a life of their own, and secrets come to light. There are confrontations and revelations that will touch each member of the extended family, ensuring that nothing will ever be the same. From “the undisputed boss of the beach read” (The New York Times), The Summer Place is a testament to family in all its messy glory; a story about what we sacrifice and how we forgive. Enthralling, witty, big-hearted, and sharply observed, this is Jennifer Weiner’s love letter to the Outer Cape and the power of home, the way our lives are enriched by the people we call family, and the endless ways love can surprise us.
He Loves Me, She Loves Me Not
Emersyn ParkEmersyn Park - 2021
Thankfully Lily has a devoted father, Ben, who loves and adores her up until his sudden death, leaving Lily the sole caregiver for her ill mother, Daisy.The latest family tragedies have forced Lily to question the history her parents claimed to be true. With the discovery of disturbing diaries kept by her mother, Lily will uncover dark twists that her curiosity will not let stay buried in the past. Lily has always struggled to understand what made her mother so callous and unloving. Within the contents of the secret diaries, the sinister truth will finally come to light.
Polk, Harper & Who
Panayotis Cacoyannis - 2017
Raised by remarkable parents, he has grown up happy and grounded, uninterested in his "other parents" or in why they might have had to give him up.Having lost her father at fifteen, and still suffering a terrible relationship with "mother", Eva has more issues than she cares to admit, and it falls to an unexpected visit by two policemen to uncover a secret she has kept from her husband since the first day they met.With the past at last explained, and the worst of it now apparently behind them, today has been a day of good news, which Eva is looking forward to sharing with the friends who have invited them to dinner. But their hosts seem to have very different plans for the evening, and the air is thick with tension as gradually the reason for their invitation begins to come out...Its satirical humor sometimes black and irreverent, POLK, HARPER & WHO is a contemporary tale of complex family relationships, of friendships being put to the test, and of imperfect London love within imperfect London lives.
The Sisters Sweet
Elizabeth Weiss - 2021
I would have to make my own. All Harriet Szász has ever known is life onstage with her sister, Josie. As "The Sisters Sweet," they pose as conjoined twins in a vaudeville act conceived of by their ambitious parents, who were once themselves theatrical stars. But after Josie exposes the family's fraud and runs away to Hollywood, Harriet must learn to live out of the spotlight—and her sister's shadow. Striving to keep her struggling family afloat, she molds herself into the perfect daughter. As Josie's star rises in California, the Szászes fall on hard times and Harriet begins to form her first relationships outside her family. She must decide whether to honor her mother, her father, or the self she's only beginning to get to know. Full of long-simmering tensions, buried secrets, questionable saviors, and broken promises, this is a story about how much we are beholden to others and what we owe ourselves. Layered and intimate, The Sisters Sweet heralds the arrival of an accomplished new voice in fiction.
A Cauldron of Hot Coffee
Samantha Silver - 2021
Never one to believe in superstitions, let alone magic, the receptionist makes the best discovery of her life during her worst day on the job.Eliza is a witch. A witch born into a family banished from the paranormal world generations ago due to bad behavior. Well, they can't be that bad, can they?Introduced to her long-lost family and powers she never knew she had, Eliza moves to the island of Enchanted Enclave, where she falls in love with the quirky little Pacific Northwest town and the coffee shop owned by her family. But her dream come true quickly turns into a nightmare when one of Eliza's customers is poisoned.Unfortunately, the smoking hot guy she has her eye on also has an eye on her, but for the wrong reason — turns out he’s the lead detective on the case. Eliza sets out to clear her name and hopefully her calendar for a date with Mr. Dimples-when-he-smiles. Will Eliza find the killer before it’s too late or will her new start come to an untimely end?This is a boxed set containing the first three books in the Enchanted Enclave Mysteries: Wake Up and Spell the Coffee, Whole Latte Magic, and A Witch, Dark Roast.
Secrets of a Kept Woman
Shani Greene-Dowdell - 2009
Entering the drug game is his ticket to the finer things in life, but it’s called a game for a reason. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. After marrying Shayla, attaining a lakeside property, and having anything he wants at his fingertips, he should be living the good life. But there’s always someone coming for the number one spot.Shayla Wilson gives up everything for her first love. Her pursuit of being a psychiatrist to help the mentally ill, attending church, and ties with her family are all broken when she marries Titus. However, she loves him too much to let go. Along with Titus, her best friends Gladys LaQuinn and Rhonda Jackson are all Shayla needs until the day she finds out that the people closest to her are not who they say they are. What will Shayla do when her beautiful, expensive, expertly designed house of lies threatens to fall?As rival drug cartels invade their lakeside property and friends unveil themselves as foes, will the walls come falling down around Titus and Shayla, or will they survive the darkest test of their lives?This is the second edition of Secrets of a Kept Woman, which has been edited and revised with 10,000 words of new content added.
The Crying Bird
E.J. Stillings - 2017
Now, she’s a middle-aged millionaire, grieving the loss of her family. The only living relative she has left is her smothering younger sister. May’s sanity is already threatened when tensions rise, so she sets out to find solitude in Florida. However, life has other plans for her. Animal encounters, unlikely friendships, sisterly squabbles and hilarious scenarios take May on an unforgettable journey from the depths of grief to a new life. But, will she embrace it?
All the Water in the World
Karen Raney - 2019
Smart, funny, and profound, she has loyal friends, a mother with whom she’s unusually close, a father she’s never met, devoted grandparents, and a crush on a boy named Jack. Maddy also has cancer. Living in the shadow of uncertainty, she is forced to grow up fast. All the Water in the World is the story of a family doing its best when faced with the worst. Told in the alternating voices of Maddy and her mother, Eve, the narrative moves between the family’s lake house in Pennsylvania; their home in Washington, DC; and London, where Maddy’s father, Antonio, lives. Hungry for experience, Maddy seeks out her first romantic relationship, finds solace in music and art, and tracks down Antonio. She continually tests the depths and limits of her closeness with her mother, while Eve has to come to terms with the daughter she only partly knows, in a world she can’t control. With unforgettable voices that range from tender to funny, despairing to defiant, this novel illuminates the transformative power of love, humor, and hope.
A Tropical Frontier: The Indian Fighter
Tim Robinson - 2019
SMITH AWARD, 2018.The Second Seminole War would be the longest and most costly of all Indian conflicts in the United States in both lives and national treasure. In 1842, Colonel William J. Worth, commander of the Florida Campaign, declared hostilities at an end. Although as many as 3,000 Seminole and Miccosukee had been relocated to the Oklahoma Territory, several enclaves remained in the extreme southern portions of the peninsula at Big Cypress, Fisheating Creek, Catfish Lake, and New River. A census taken three years later accounted for 120 warriors, (70 Seminoles, 30 Miccosukee, 12 Creek, 4 Uchee, and 4 Choctaw), 100 women, and 140 children - a total of 360 souls. The Florida Indians had prevailed, and old Sam Jones would fulfill his vow to die in the land of his birth.
Rosa's Castle
Deanna Edens - 2016
An investor in the growing railroad industry, he played host to US presidents. And when he fell in love, he fell hard. Rosa Pelham was almost two decades younger than Suit, who courted her unsuccessfully for five long years. Then, in 1883, he found the chink in Rosa’s romantic armor. She dreamed of living in a castle. Suit vowed to build her one if she accepted his proposal. He was as good as his word, and Berkeley Castle became part of West Virginian history. Some say the story of Rosa and her castle ended badly, with heartache, financial ruin, and insanity. Some darkly hint that vengeful ghosts now walk the halls of Berkeley Castle, tormented by secret misdeeds. Others tell a different tale—one of love and courage in the face of changing fortunes. Rosa’s Castle tells this tale—a dazzling “what if” based on one of America’s most striking love stories. As for ghosts…well, not all are vengeful shades. Some haunt out of love for those they left behind.
Looking for Leroy
Melody Carlson - 2022
They only break your heart. But just when she makes this declaration, her friend Jan convinces Brynna to join her on a camping vacation in Sonoma Wine Country. As they wind their way toward their destination, spanking-new mini camper in tow, Brynna recalls her teenage camp romance with a boy named Leroy. How can it have been nearly 30 years ago? All she remembers is that Leroy was a genuinely good guy and that his family owned a vineyard--in Sonoma. She doesn't even remember his last name. Jan insists they look for him, and the search begins.Beyond the slim chance they'd ever be able to find him are questions that have haunted Brynna for decades, including What is the point of digging up the past? and Can Leroy ever forgive me for losing touch?Bestselling author Melody Carlson invites you on a trip to rediscover the carefree days of youth and, just maybe, to get a second chance at love.
Corfu Capers
Joy Skye - 2021
What could possibly go wrong?
A holiday in a luxury villa on Corfu sounds like the answer to all their prayers but it will change their lives forever. A week in paradise might not be long enough........
To Everything A Season
Sherri Schaeffer
While she strives to adapt to Amish life, she bonds with the family, especially with two of the Yoder siblings: Jacob and Becca.Jacob, the eldest son, refuses to baptize and join the church, and according to his frustrated father, lacks direction. He not only faces a grave physical challenge resulting from his actions that June night, but also harbors a secret that threatens to upend his family and community. Becca is 16, entering her rumspringa, the time period when she is free to explore the normally forbidden modern world. When Taylor returns to her Philadelphia penthouse, Becca accompanies her for the summer and for the first time is exposed to city life—museums, music, technology, restaurants, fashion, even religious faiths different from her own.Taylor mentors Becca’s city fling and helps Jacob conceal his secret, actions that jeopardize her relationship with the Yoder family and her father. As the two cultures clash, both families struggle to determine whether the deep ties that bind them are greater than the differences that may tear them apart. Ultimately, Taylor, Jacob and Becca must answer for themselves: Are we more than what we do for a living or where we’re born? And if so, what price, if any, is too steep to walk away from family expectations?To Everything A Season is a perfect book club selection—smart and sophisticated women's fiction that invites discussion as well as touches the heart.Awards for To Everything A Season:2018 Next Generation Indie Book Awards, Finalist, Multicultural Fiction category12th Annual National Indie Excellence Awards, Finalist, Multicultural Fiction category