Book picks similar to
Mary Indiana by Anneke Campbell
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The Billionaire's Christmas Gift
Laura Haley-McNeil - 2020
How’d she get on his agenda?Quint Fairchild, head of Fairchild Films, learned long ago that in Hollywood everything’s make believe, including love. So why can’t he resist the small town innocence of struggling scriptwriter Chrystelle Bach? She’s entirely too fascinating, but he can convince himself he doesn’t want her⸻he wants her script.Chrystelle wishes she could spend Christmas with her beloved grandmother in her Colorado hometown. Then Quint offers her a contract to produce her TV series. She almost believes this is the best Christmas ever⸻until she reads the contract. He doesn’t just want rewrites, he wants her to change everything. The battle begins, but when Chrystelle’s grandmother takes ill, Chrystelle knows where she belongs and hops the next bus home.What she hadn’t expected was Quint on her front porch, and not to wish her a Merry Christmas. He wants her script⸻on his terms, of course. Their conflict continues, but the more time Chrystelle spends with this stubborn billionaire, the harder it is for her to remember why she can’t change her script. But sprinkle this battle with grandmotherly wisdom and holiday charm, and the season of blessings reveals love in more ways than Chrystelle and Quint ever imagined.
Off Balance
Terez Mertes Rose - 2015
That is, until the day Alice's boss asks her to befriend Lana, a pretty new company member he’s got his eye on. Lana represents all Alice has lost, not just as a ballet dancer, but as a motherless daughter. It’s pain she’s kept hidden, even from herself, as every good ballet dancer knows to do. Lana, lonely and unmoored, desperately needs some help, and her mother, back home, vows eternal support. But when Lana begins to profit from Alice’s advice and help, her mother’s constant attention curdles into something more sinister. Together, both women must embark on a journey of painful rediscoveries, not just about career opportunities won and lost, but the mothers they thought they knew. OFF BALANCE takes the reader beyond the glitter of the stage to expose the sweat and struggle, amid the mandate to sustain the illusion at all cost. From the Publisher Advance Praise for OFF BALANCE "Any readers who have ever grappled to find the courage to strengthen or to soften, to embrace a dream or to let go of one, will find themselves rooting for the two willful, yet wounded, protagonists in Terez Mertes Rose's edgy debut, OFF BALANCE. I loved this exquisitely written, fast-paced novel from the first page to the last." -- Sandra Kring, bestselling author of The Book of Bright Ideas “The demands of the stage—or memories of it—bring two lifelong dancers into an unlikely friendship that helps them face their respective breaking points. Powerfully rendered, sensuously artistic and hauntingly beautiful, OFF BALANCE is on track to become one of my favorite reads of the year.” -- Tara Staley, author of Need to Breathe and Conditions are Favorable "... A realistic and gripping account of the grittier side of ballet." -- Grier Cooper, author of Wish
She Sins at Midnight
Whitney Dineen - 2014
On the outside, she's a hard-working dedicated employee, a good friend, and a loving daughter. But above all else, she's been raised to be a lady, which of course is why she's determined to conceal her secret life. If her straight-laced friends and family back home ever discover that she is really the smashing new author of a steamy romance novel, their disapproval would shame her forever! That's why Lila has chosen to publish her sexy narrative under the nom de plume, Jasmine Sheath. With her fifteenth high school class reunion on the horizon, Lila finds herself at a crossroads. More than anything she wants to go home and see her childhood friends but is embarrassed that she hasn't accomplished the things she feels she should have by this time in her life; mainly marriage and children. After another brutal run-in with Melinda Forrester, Oscar nominated actress and client of her boss, Josh Furber, Lila decides that fleeing Hollywood for a month is the best thing for her. Lila packs her bags for her childhood home of Bentley Hills, sure that her friends and family will be the touchstone of normalcy that she so desperately needs. What she doesn't expect is that Melinda will follow her and a tabloid media circus will ensue! Not only does Lila discover that her home is nothing like she remembers, but she meets and falls in love with the very man that inspired the hero in her novel. She Sins at Midnight is full of laugh out loud hi-jinks that will make you never look at Hollywood the same way again! Author, Whitney Dineen, swears that this novel is based purely on fiction and that any characters bearing any resemblance to any celebrities you know are completely and totally fictitious; even though she spent eighteen years in La La Land, with a celebrity client base for her real job...
A Christmas Star
Judith S. Keim - 2018
Now, she knows she cannot endure another holiday season at home in Boston. At the urging of four women at the assisted-living community where she serves as health director, Noelle decides to rent Seashell Cottage on the Gulf Coast of Florida for the holidays. She meets Silas Bellingham, the cutest seven-year-old boy she’s ever seen, and his great-grandmother, Althea. Noelle discovers Althea’s caretaker has been abusing her and goes into action, ending up with the temporary care of both Althea and Silas. Becoming part of the Bellingham household has an entirely different series of challenges when it comes to Althea’s grandsons, Jake and Brett, who are having problems of their own with hotels to run and their parents missing in a plane crash. But after sparring with her, Silas’ father, Jake, realizes Noelle is just what he and his family need, and when she finds the perfect Christmas star for Silas, they both know he’s right.
Year of the Chick
Romi Moondi - 2011
It's the sort of thing that would turn almost anyone into a man-crazy freak with romance tunnel-vision, and that's exactly what happens to her. All the while, a lack of inspiration in her corporate job leads Romi to her love of writing, in what quickly becomes a man-quest play-by-play.From whiskey-breath scum bags to uni-brow creeps and everything in between, Romi and her wingmen come up empty time after time. And that's when she meets a fellow writer.On the Internet.So will it be arranged marriage doom, or an Internet affair that's not as creepy as "To Catch a Predator"?Time will tell in the "year of the chick," a twelve-month quest to find love.Tick-tock.
Crystal Magic
Madeline Freeman - 2014
Windows break. Books rocket across the room. Lights flicker. Strange occurrences follow the sixteen-year-old everywhere. When tragedy forces her to move to the small town of Clearwater, Michigan, with her estranged aunt Jodi, Kristyl tries to leave her past behind. But Clearwater has secrets of its own—a mystical history that intersects with Kristyl’s life and might shed light on the inexplicable events that plague her. When a mysterious illness threatens her aunt’s life, Kristyl will do anything to cure her. Enlisting the help of witches could save Jodi, but is dealing in magic worth the consequences?
Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen
Susan Gregg Gilmore - 2008
The town of Ringgold, Georgia, has a population of 1,923, one traffic light, one Dairy Queen, and one Catherine Grace Cline. The daughter of Ringgold's third-generation Baptist preacher, Catherine Grace is quick-witted, more than a little stubborn, and dying to escape her small-town life. Every Saturday afternoon, she sits at the Dairy Queen, eating Dilly Bars and plotting her getaway to Atlanta. And when, with the help of a family friend, the dream becomes a reality, she immediately packs her bags, leaving her family and the boy she loves to claim the life she's always imagined. But before things have even begun to get off the ground in Atlanta, tragedy brings Catherine Grace back home. As a series of extraordinary events alter her perspective and sweeping changes come to Ringgold itself Catherine Grace begins to wonder if her place in the world may actually be, against all odds, right where she began. Intelligent, charming, and utterly readable, Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen marks the debut of a talented new literary voice.
The Teacher's Billionaire
Christina Tetreault - 2012
Not only is her father alive, but he's none other than presidential candidate Senator Warren Sherbrooke. Billionaire and confirmed bachelor, Dylan Talbot, is devoted to his family. When his stepfather Warren Sherbrooke receives a letter from a past love telling him they have a daughter together, Dylan is instantly suspicious. In order to keep the media vultures away and protect Warren's political aspirations, Dylan convinces Warren to let him handle the situation. As Callie and Dylan spend time together, they can't resist the feelings that blossom between them. However, when Callie learns the real reason he has been spending time with her their fledgling romance is put in jeopardy and only complete honesty can save it.This is a Contemporary Romance. It contains love scenes. AN EDITED VERSION OF THIS BOOK WAS UPLOADED. HOWEVER, IT IS POSSIBLE THAT SOME READERS PURCHASED THE BOOK PRIOR TO THAT EVENT.
Ordained Irreverence
McMillian Moody - 2011
When he lands an internship at a large metropolitan church, he quite literally stumbles his way through as he learns to baptize and bury, visit and marry the faithful flock. Think Ferris Bueller Goes to Church with a side of Holden Caulfield thrown in for good measure. The cast of characters filling the pews at First Church keep him on his toes and more than a little bewildered at times. The salty widow who serves up a homemade pie with a surprise ingredient. The quirky single adult with a heart as big as Elvis who deems himself quite the ladies man. The larger-than-life music minister who pulls more than a few punches along the way, and even an old church janitor with a few ancient secrets of his own. Woven throughout Elmo�s adventures is a hundred-year-old mystery he'�s determined to solve and even a chance at true love along the way. Elmo�'s story pulls back the sacred curtain and allows the reader to examine the inner workings of a mega-church with all its warts and wonders. Ride along and watch as Elmo's cynicism slowly transforms into hope.McMillian's Moody fast-paced novel will bring a smile to even the most backslidden amongst its readers.
A Beginner's Guide to Free Fall
Andy Abramowitz - 2020
Brothers and sisters. Mothers and daughters. Okay, everybody. Hold on tight.
Davis Winger has it all. A respected engineer who designs roller coasters in theme parks across the country, he is deeply in love with his wife and has a beautiful young daughter and a happy home. Until an accident strikes on one of his rides. Nothing fatal—except to his career. And to his marriage, when a betrayal from his past inadvertently comes to light. In one cosmically bad day, Davis loses it all.His sister, Molly, is at a crossroads herself. She’s coasting through a dire relationship with an incompatible man-child. And she’s a journalist whose deeply personal columns about mothers and daughters are forcing her to confront the truth about her own mother, who abandoned Molly and Davis years ago and disappeared.For these two siblings, it’s just a matter of bracing themselves for one turbulent summer in this redemptive and painfully funny family drama about making the best of the sharp turns in life—those we choose to take and those beyond our control.
Next Christmas in Girouette (Adventures in Girouette Book 1)
Michael Welch - 2011
This book will appeal to people of all ages—nine to ninety-nine—who want to share a classic, heart-warming literary adventure at Christmastime. Next Christmas in Girouette is the story of a brother and sister—Autry and Oxana Quinn—who find themselves stranded in a Girouette, a virtual ghost town, from Thanksgiving through Christmas when their father is taken seriously ill. Their grandfather, a Marine Captain long retired, plus an eccentric old café proprietress, a Blackfeet Indian horse trader who once served as the town’s mayor, a couple who published the local newspaper and an ancient deaf-mute trapper are the only remaining inhabitants of Girouette. These self-styled, “diehards” all seem to have one thing in common. Thanks to a mysterious event 60 years earlier, they still believe in Santa Claus. Girouette features something for everyone: carefree cowboys who race their horses over snow covered country road, a team of wolves trained to pull a dogsled, a stroll that nearly turns tragic on a buffalo jump, a serialized newspaper story titled “The Adventures of Rocky Mountain Santa,” a desperate attempt to escape from an abandoned copper mine, a night-time journey through the mountains on a frozen river and the miracle that delivers wayfaring strangers to Girouette during a storm on Christmas Eve. The book revels in the solitary beauty of winter in Big Sky Country, the enduring wisdom of the elderly citizens of Girouette, the excitement of frontier history coming to life, the inspiration of a family healing itself and the magic of an old-fashioned western Christmas. Read Next Christmas in Girouette with your family this year, and you’ll want to revisit it for years to come at holiday time.
Dating Mr. Darcy
Kate O'Keeffe - 2020
Darcy's heart?Clothing designer Emma Brady is having serious doubts about how far she'll go to promote her new activewear line. Sure, being on a reality show would be great for business, but is putting up with Mr. Darcy-wannabe Sebastian Huntington-Ross really worth it?Sebastian is straight out of an Austen novel. But it's hard to focus on his chiseled jaw, broad shoulders and wickedly sexy accent when all Emma can see is his pride, arrogance, and smug demeanor.But Sebastian has a secret reason for being on the show, and when Emma figures out what it is, her heart warms to him — without her permission.Will Emma hold fast and keep the aristocratic Sebastian at arm's length? Or will she put her reservations aside when the lines between reality and "reality show" start to blur?Dating Mr. Darcy is a laugh-out-loud feel-good rom com for fans of Bridget Jones's Diary, Sophie Ranald, and Sophie Kinsella.
The Sound of Crickets
Marissa Farrar - 2014
Four lives inextricably joined ... Four friendships that will last forever ... Named after Amelia Earhart, the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, Amelia Thompson always thought life would have given her wings. Instead, she finds herself stuck at home with three small children, and a body she no longer recognises. Hoping to connect with like-minded people, she decides to reach out on a women’s forum to try to find others with whom to start a blog. To her delight, she gets a response. Sara, a romance author whose elderly mother has just moved in with her. Kelly, whose husband only wants to spend time down the pub, and Charlotte, who is suffering from empty nest syndrome now her daughter has left home. Told in the medium of their blog posts and emails to each other, The Sound of Crickets is a touching novel of friendship in the digital age.
Stand By Your Man
Bobby Hutchinson - 2005
And she's pretty certain Sebastian is guilty as charged, so she’s trying her best not to find evidence to the contrary. She's doing the exact opposite of what Finn hired her to do, betraying the guy she—well, the guy she’s supposed to be working for, the guy she just might, maybe, almost be falling for . . .
Blabbermouth (A Brit Moran Mystery)
Joel Travis - 2010
Fortunately, Moran’s injuries are not fatal; unfortunately, his compromising admissions have been heard by a motley assortment of bedside visitors, including a local police detective and the younger brother of Cesar Hernandez, Moran’s backer in his bookmaking business. The book follows, courtesy of Moran’s often hilarious first-person narration, the consequences of his ill-timed frankness, which include assault, vandalism, theft and murder. When the police identify Moran as the prime suspect in the killing, he embarks on an amateurish and offbeat quest for the truth. Readers who like to smile while reading a whodunit should hope that the author manages to enmesh his creation in further investigations.