She’s got enough complications without getting caught in the middle of a stick-up in a gas station mini-mart and falling in love with a great wall of a man named William Ashe, who willingly steps between the armed robber and her son.Shandi doesn’t know that her blond god Thor has his own complications. When he looked down the barrel of that gun he believed it was destiny: It’s been one year to the day since a tragic act of physics shattered his universe. But William doesn’t define destiny the way other people do. A brilliant geneticist who believes in science and numbers, destiny to him is about choice.Now, he and Shandi are about to meet their so-called destinies head on, in a funny, charming, and poignant novel about science and miracles, secrets and truths, faith and forgiveness,; about a virgin birth, a sacrifice, and a resurrection; about falling in love, and learning that things aren’t always what they seem—or what we hope they will be. It’s a novel about discovering what we want and ultimately finding what we need

    

    Both fathers hope the union will save their ailing businesses; little do they know that each is as bankrupt as the other. But Morgan's inclinations have long lain in another, perverse, direction and poor Esther must struggle as best she can not only to survive a loveless marriage, but also to build up a business of her own in a man's world.

    Vignette #2 brings back a very minor character - Simon Gardner, the owner of the local Antique Shoppe. The third vignette takes us to Sweet Beans and an interaction between Sal and Camille. There is always something happening at the coffee shop. Vignette #4 is a little deeper insight into some of the agony that Heath Harvey has faced at the loss of his parents. His life changed drastically and the boy never was given time to deal with it. The final vignette - #5 is a look at our favorite waitress from Joe's Diner. Lucy is a steady, solid presence in the lives of so many people in Bellingwood, but what is her story? This is an opportunity to find out.The Bellingwood books are written from Polly's perspective and every once in a while it's fun to look at what's happening behind the scenes from the viewpoint of other characters. These vignettes were originally published on the nammynools.com website and in the monthly email newsletter to Bellingwood readers.

    

    The brightest girl in her class, Ruth had planned to attend college but the realisation that she was pregnant forced her to abandon all hopes of a career. Now, five years later, she still lives in Shepherd's Bush with her parents, twin brothers and daughter, Jenny. Conscious of a need to make ends meet, Ruth works as a shop assistant at the local chemist while her mother looks after Jenny. Ruth's best friend Kitty bitterly resents what has happened, but never once does Ruth regret the outcome of that magical night. And the joy that Jenny brings is ample reward for the sacrifices she has made. Ruth meets someone new and tries to put the past behind her, but yesterday's friends have an uncanny way of catching up with her and when her father turns up unexpectedly, Ruth's world is thrown into confusion once again...

    She is a lifeguard at the pool at the Dunes hotel in Las Vegas, caught off guard by the new attention from men and boys, not quite sure of her own footing in the world. Her mother, Kathy, suddenly finds herself in a place equally uncertain: her children getting older, her stable marriage perhaps too stable, the slow days of summer leaving her adrift. When Kathy meets Helen’s boss, the manager at the pool, her life is on the brink of a different sort of change.Following Helen and Kathy through three summers, this novel is an intimate picture of two sexual awakenings under one roof and their aftershocks on a family. The Perfect Age is set in workaday Las Vegas, where people are married at drive-through chapels, and escort services are advertised alongside 99-cent shrimp cocktail. The novel takes the reader beyond the glitz of showgirls and Elvis impersonators and reveals the everyday life in homes and schools, and among the lukewarm waters of Lake Mead and the semi-cool of the surrounding mountains. In The Perfect Age, Heather Skyler explores the nature of beauty, sex, and class divisions in a society where things are at once normal and bizarre, showing us that the validity of life’s deepest experiences—love, betrayal, acceptance—is never compromised by age.

    About the AuthorAuthor of the best-selling Penny Rushmore novels, including “A Sandwich Short of a Picnic”, Felicity Price has also written several other published novels, the John Britten biography “Dare to Dream” and a couple of company histories. Sandwiched (like Felicity's fictional character Penny Rushmore) between the emotional turmoil of elderly parents, teenagers, a demanding career and a badly-behaved spaniel, Felicity similarly tries to juggle with jelly and often feels it slither between her fingers.

    Belkin must begin each day with the task he calls The Service: visiting Christian chat-rooms to reply to users innocent questions with mocking answers. “Why do they call the taking of the communion ‘Mass?’”? Belkin124 responds: “They call it the Mass because after Jesus was crucified, a mass of people rushed forward to the cross and ate him. Now they eat the wafer to remember it.” At forty-seven, balding, and mildly agoraphobic, Belkin is a man without direction. He rarely leaves his apartment (he refers to the outside world as The Pounding), and when he must leave, he meticulously recounts the day in his Thunder Book; a journal where he lists all that repulsed him that day.But everything changes the day Belkin returns to his apartment to find the building ablaze along with the suspected murder of the apartment building’s maintenance man. As police question him, Belkin meets the mysterious Pernice Balfour, the alluring, religiously obsessed neighbor accused of the crime. Soon, Belkin has no choice but to come out of his shell (and his apartment) to try to clear her name. But the more Belkin investigates, the muddier things become. Wandering through San Francisco’s seedy Tenderloin district, Belkin begins to unravel the truth behind the murder, and encounters a bizarre series of characters and situations: "pansexual" crime-scene photographer, an idiot detective, and an all-knowing government operative.Whispering Bodies is comical offbeat exploration of the wisdom found in madness and the madness found in conventional life, all brought together in a classic tale of who-done-it.

    Estep follows her first novel, "Diary of An Emotional Idiot, " with a set of linked stories that glimpses two women through the eyes of the men in their lives.

    His old enemy, the Yakutians, having risen from defeat, are now in the ascendancy. And with their warships making cruel in-roads into Confederation space, the Admiralty is in desperate need of Faulkner’s experience.It’s a call he can’t refuse.Eve of War is the first book in the Silver Fleet series with books 2 and 3 to be published in the Spring of 2020. If you love Old Man’s War and Jack Campbell’s Lost Fleet books you’ll love this epic military sci-fi series.

    Then his beautiful daughter is diagnosed with Leukemia. He can almost accept her impending death. He can almost accept the fact that he will have to live without her. But he cannot stand the thought of his little girl having to face death alone. He answers her innocent question in a moment of desperation, testing his marriage, his professional judgment and his sanity to the limit. As cracks form in Simon's previously perfect family, we wonder, as do his loved ones ... will he really make the ultimate sacrifice? Combining poignant moments of both humour and pain, 'Simon's Choice' is a penetrating account of parenthood at the sharp-end.

    But her passion for investigative journalism scares him no end. She is calling while reporting from a crime scene and promising to switch to anchoring when he hears a gunshot. Will she be able to fulfil her promise?Dhruv can do anything to please Vratika, for he seems bound to her for life. They have been going steady for a while and he feels she brings smiles and light to his life like no other. Can one misunderstanding in a moment of anger finish it all?For Aamir, little Dhruv is the best gift life has given him. More than just brothers, they are the beginning and end of their family. After years, struggles and pain are slowly fading away in the face of happier times. But one phone call changes their entire life. Life throws Aamir and Dhruv in a vortex of pain, loss and guilt. While Dhruv wanders for redemption, he meets Sachi. She reads his heart, soothes his soul and brings him face to face with his real self. I Still Think About You is a story of love, brotherhood, passion, dedication, pain and the depths to which a heart can go to win back lost love.

    Situated along the Connecticut River Valley, Oldham bursts with color every fall, as the leaves on its trees evolve into an unmatched palette of scarlet, orange, purple, yellow, and bronze. For more than three decades, the Gold family has been a central part of Oldham in the fall, its Sugar Maple Inn a destination for “leaf-peepers” from all over the country, and its annual Halloween party a stirring way to punctuate the town’s most active month.But this year, more than just the leaves are changing. With the death of their parents, the Gold siblings, Maria, Maxwell, Deborah, Corrina, and Tyler, have decided to sell the Sugar Maple Inn, and this year’s Halloween party will be the last. As October begins, the Golds contend with the finality that faces them, and the implications it has for a family that has always been so close. For some, it means embracing new challenges and new love. For others, it means taking on unimagined roles. And for others, it means considering the inconceivable. Complicating it all is a series of “hauntings” that touch each of the Gold siblings, a series of benign interventions that will remain a mystery until October draws to a close.Filled with romance, tension, and unforgettable family drama, Leaves is the first in a series of novels about a world and a family that readers will want to make their own.

    Now, mostly estranged from one another, the remaining five reluctantly gather at that same house on the eve of what would have been Bea’s fortieth birthday.But along with the return of the friends come old grudges, unrequited feelings, and buried secrets. Catherine, the CEO of a domestic empire, and Owen, a stay-at-home dad, were picture-perfect college sweethearts—but now teeter on the brink of disaster. Lindy, a well-known musician, is pushing middle age in an industry that’s all about youth and slowly self-destructing as she grapples with her own identity. Behind his smile, handsome plastic surgeon Colin harbors the heartbreaking truth about his own history with Bea. And Annie carefully curates her life on Instagram and Facebook, keeping up appearances so she doesn’t have to face the truth about her own empty reality.Reunited in the place where so many dreams began, and bolstered by the hope of healing, each of them is forced to confront the past.