Book picks similar to
The Spa at Lavender Lane by Phyllis Melhado
women-s-fiction
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womens-fiction
Love You, Always
Cristin Cooper - 2015
Forced to move forward with her life, Anna was reeling as she enrolled in college. There she made a friend who had been there and done that, hired a sexy younger man to tutor her in math, who also taught her how to have fun again, and she met a man to love her, whether she wanted him to or not. The lessons in life Anna received over her first year of college gave her the strength to live again.
Coming Home
Kimberley O'Malley - 2017
Elizabeth Abbott Fitzgerald has spent the last ten years of her life running; from tragedy, from family, from love. But now her mother’s failing health calls her home to Windsor Falls, North Carolina; to the place where her past awaits. Sam Bishop can’t believe his eyes when the love of his life returns after ten long years. All he wants is to clear his conscience and get back the family he lost when Connor, his best friend and Elizabeth’s husband died tragically. Could it really be true that time heals all wounds?
More Than You Know
Nan Rossiter - 2013
A sure winner." - Debbie Macomber, #1 New York Times bestselling author"Loosely connected to Rossiter's previous novels, this tale is peopled with wonderfully intriguing characters, both two- and four- legged. The story within a story is moving: quite emotional with much sadness, but there's also joy. This truly inspirational tear-jerker will be remembered long after the last page." - RT Book Reviews, 4.5 stars, TOP PICK!From the back cover:New York Times bestselling author Nan Rossiter weaves a poignant, empowering novel in which three sisters gather to celebrate their mother's life--and find new inspiration for living their own...Losing her father on the night she was born could have torn Beryl Graham's family apart. Instead, it knitted them together. Under their mother's steady guidance, Beryl and her older sisters, Isak and Rumer, shared a childhood filled with happiness. But now Mia Graham has passed away after battling Alzheimer's, and her three daughters return to their New Hampshire home to say goodbye.Swept up in memories and funeral preparations, the sisters catch up on each other's lives. Rumer and Isak have both known recent heartache, while Beryl has given up hope of marriage. But surprising revelations abound, especially when they uncover Mia's handwritten memoir. In it are secrets they never guessed at--clandestine romance, passionate dreams, joy and guilt. And as Beryl, Rumer, and Isak face a future without her, they realize it's never too late to heed a mother's lessons--about taking chances, keeping faith, and loving in spite of the risks...
The Town with No Roads
Joe Siple - 2019
Memorable objects from Aspen Collins’ childhood are appearing in the town square, accompanied by notes in her father’s handwriting. The notes relate to things happening in her life now. But that’s impossible —Aspen's father is in a coma. The miracle brings chaos in the form of a ghost hunter, three different factions of people with conflicting beliefs about the miracle, and a television reporter who Aspen finds herself falling for. But when everything comes to a head, an impossible choice must be made. And the consequences of either decision could be too much to bear. An enchanting follow-up to Siple’s award-winning debut, The Five Wishes of Mr. Murray McBride, The Town with No Roads is a story of forgiveness and redemption that explores whether unconditional love should hold us close or set us free.
Leaving Green Island
Em Barrett - 2012
With a new job at a prestigious Chicago law firm and an engagement ring on her finger, everything seems to be falling into place for Brecken Pereira these days. However, all this perfection quickly unravels when Reed Whalen, Brecken’s first love, unexpectedly resurfaces. Despite the years that have passed since Brecken and Reed met as teenagers on exclusive Green Island in northern Michigan, Brecken has never been able to fully escape her lingering heartache over the unresolved end of their relationship. After Reed's return, Brecken is torn between her longing for the past and the world she has carefully built for herself since Reed vanished from her life years before. Her relatable and complex relationships with her two best friends provide the backbone that supports Brecken, both as the life she knows quickly dissolves around her and as she struggles to pick up the pieces. {This book contains underage drinking and a bit of explicit language and sexual content.}
Prospects of a Woman
Wendy Voorsanger - 2020
But she soon realizes her husband is not the man she thought—and neither is her father, who abandons them shortly after they arrive. As Nate struggles with his sexuality, Elisabeth is forced to confront her preconceived notions of family, love, and opportunity. She finds comfort in corresponding with her childhood friend back home, writer Louisa May Alcott, and spending time in the company of a mysterious Californio. Armed with Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Self-Reliance, she sets out to determine her role in building the West, even as she comes to terms with the sacrifices she must make to achieve independence and happiness. A gripping and illuminating window into life in the Old West, Prospects of a Woman is the story of one woman’s passionate quest to carve out a place for herself in the liberal and bewildering society that emerged during the California gold rush frenzy.
Let the Willows Weep
Sherry Parnell - 2010
Fragile, easily torn apart, and often there are too many pieces to pick up.”In the tradition of the best Southern fiction—from Bastard Out of Carolina to Where the Crawdads Sing—Sherry Parnell’s Let the Willows Weep is a heart-wrenching portrait of hardscrabble, humble lives in rural America. A keenly-observed and unflinching look at the life of Birddog Harlin as she grows up in her dysfunctional family, this novel explores the line between destruction and redemption.
A New Chapter
Susan Coventry - 2016
Five years later, they meet again, both newly divorced, and in the process of rebuilding their lives. Emma finds comfort in the bookstore that she owns, while Zack is busy caring for his four-year-old daughter Gracie.Despite their attraction, Emma and Zack decide to be “just friends,” but soon discover that staying in the friend zone is easier said than done! Sometimes love comes along when you least expect it, but when will Emma be ready to trust her heart again? How will she know when the time is right to begin…A New Chapter?
Home Place: A Novel
Sally Crosiar - 2020
Whip Tyler of all people! Hasn't their family lost enough at Whip's hands?Hasn't Paul Patterson caused enough damage in Whip's life? But if he won't take the job, Paul will get someone else - a developer who will rape the land and throw Kat's hopes to the wind. It would be easier if Whip didn't care. Or if that long-ago promise didn't stand between him and Kat.
Losing London
Joey Jones - 2016
Until this point, his only reason to live, a five-year-old cancer survivor named Hannah, was his closest tie to London.Harper, recently divorced, never imagined that work-a research project on recent shark attacks-and an unexpected package from London would take her back to the island town where her family had vacationed in her youth. Upon her arrival, she meets and is instantly swept off her feet by a local with a hidden connection that eventually causes her to question the boundaries of love.As Mitch's and Harper's lives intertwine, they discover secrets that should have never happened. If either had known that losing London would have connected their lives in the way that it did, they might have chosen different paths.
We Are the Ghosts
Vicky Skinner - 2019
Now, the only people who seem to understand what she's going through are Luke's best friend and his ex-girlfriend, who she bonds with over their desire to figure out where Luke went when he walked out of their lives. As she gets closer to them, and closer to Cade, a boy who seems determined to get to know her better, she realizes that she’s not the only one with reasons to be angry at Luke. And when Ellie makes a discovery that changes everything, she and her new friends hit the road, hoping that following Luke's trail will bring them answers about the life Luke was living away from them.
For Love or Money
Clodagh Murphy - 2020
This was my favourite kind of read - one where you fall in love with the characters to the point that they feel like your friends. Highly recommended!' Sarah Painter
Lesley has always fancied herself as an amateur sleuth, a sort of modern day Miss Marple without the support stockings.So when Al wants to hire her to investigate his elderly uncle’s young fiancée, she jumps at the chance. It doesn’t hurt that the job will involve posing as Al’s girlfriend and joining his glitzy, star-studded family on holiday in Nice.Stella still can’t quite believe she’s engaged to legendary actor Sir Peter Bradshaw. She accepted what she thought was a deathbed proposal. Now she has a living, breathing fiancé and a wedding to plan.First, though, she has to get through a holiday in the South of France with Peter’s extended family, who all seem convinced she’s a gold-digger with her sights set on the family fortune.As Lesley bonds with Stella over shopping trips and bottles of rosé, she thinks she has it all figured out. After all, it’s no great mystery why a young woman would marry a fabulously wealthy seventy-two-year-old with a heart condition, is it? It’s an old story.And Al may be the nicest boyfriend she’s ever had (even if he is fake), but Lesley believes in instant attraction and there’s just no spark ... no matter how fit he looks in his swimming trunks. So there’s no chance he’s going to grow on her.But people have a way of surprising you, as she’s about to discover ...
Love on the Cape
M.K. Meredith - 2017
But when Van Buren Enterprises announces plans to develop historic Cape Van Buren into a gold-plated playground for the wealthy, Larkin refuses to watch one more beautiful thing in her life be destroyed, so she sets out to preserve the historic cape—and with it, the memory of her son. Only it isn’t the company she needs to fear, it’s the dangerously irresistible CEO who has the power to derail her plans. Annoyingly arrogant one minute and beautifully wounded the next, he awakens something in her heart that had died with her son even as his actions promise to break it once again.Ryker Van Buren needs closure from his dark childhood and the best way to do that is to level his family home. As the rightful owner of the estate, he plans on developing it into a master community—what better way to secure his future than by selling off his past? Until he locks eyes with the passionate conservationist who fights him at every turn for the rights to his legacy. He can’t keep his hands off her, but worse, he can’t get her off his land or out of his dreams.Attraction sparks and two broken souls recognize each other through the pain. Against all odds, love blooms on the cape. But when their pasts collide, will they choose love in the moment, or will they lose their chance at forever?
Growing Season
Melanie Lageschulte - 2017
Facing forty and downsized from her copywriting job at a Twin Cities ad agency, Melinda is struggling to find her way forward when a phone call brings her home to rural Iowa. It's not long before Melinda is living in a faded farmhouse, caring for a barn full of animals, and working at her family's hardware store in the community of Prosper, whose motto is "The Great Little Town That Didn't." And just like the vast garden she tends under the summer sun, Melinda soon begins to thrive. Filled with memorable characters, from a big-hearted farm dog to the weather-obsessed owner of the local co-op, "Growing Season" celebrates the challenges and joys of rural life.
Squalor, New Mexico
Lisette Brodey - 2009
From the moment Darla asks to know more about her mysterious aunt, she is offered nothing but half-truths, distortions, and evasions. As Darla grows into her teen years, her life is oddly yet profoundly affected by this woman she has never known. She can't help but notice that Rebecca seems to exist only in dark corners of conversations and that no one ever wants to talk about her - with Darla. Squalor, New Mexico is a coming-of-age story shrouded in family mystery. As the plot takes twists and turns, secrets are revealed not only to Darla but to the "secret keepers" as well. Darla learns that families are only as strong as the truths they hold and as weak as the secrets they keep.