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Wynn in Doubt
Emily Hemmer - 2014
Unfortunately, her life stalled somewhere between graduating from college and slinging drinks at the local dive bar. Stuck in a one-room apartment with no career, no boyfriend, no…life, she dreams of something more. Something amazing. Something like Oliver Reeves, her high school crush, who’s back in town and reminding Wynn of the way she used to be.When a forgotten news clipping falls out of a book belonging to Wynn’s grandmother, a well-kept family secret is finally revealed. Is Wynn’s gypsy spirit the result of an overactive imagination, or did she inherit it from a woman so determined to live a big life, she gave up everything to have it?Together, Wynn and Oliver attempt to put together the missing pieces of her family’s past and unravel the mystery behind her great-grandmother’s disappearance. But after so much time succumbing to fear and regret, can Wynn ditch her safe, routine life for the chance at an extraordinary future?
The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg -- Review
Expert Book Reviews - 2014
The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion compares the contrasting worlds of present-day Southern life and Midwestern immigrant cities during World War II. After learning that she was adopted, Sookie is filled with questions of self-doubt and becomes determined to learn the truth behind her roots. Fannie Flagg depicts adventurous and courageous women as WASPs during WWII as she tells the story of the Jurdabralinski sisters. These roles contradict Sookie's upbringing in Alabama where society is ruled by social norms and status. The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion offers an inspirational tale with accurate historical details that are presented through an engaging plot. This review of Flagg's novel gives you a broader view of the author and her writing style. Read quotes from literary critics to discover the book's appeal, or lack thereof. Sookie counters a cast of larger-than-life characters as she finds adventure and realizes her underlying identity. The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion captures a journey of self-discovery mixed with realism and humor to delight all readers.
A Christmas Snow
Jim Stovall - 2010
Although she has tried to forget her past, it has not forgotten her, and in the days leading up to Christmas, an unforgiving blizzard traps her in her home with two unlikely roommates who bring her face to face with the hurts of her past-and the hope of a happier future.Will she let go of the past and grad hold of a future full of love and forgiveness? Or will she continue to be haunted by her pain as the snow storm of the century brings with it the hope of lasting joy?
Finding Emma
Steena Holmes - 2012
She's the little girl standing in the supermarket, the child waiting for the swings at the playground, the girl with ice cream dripping down her face. But it's never Emma.Emma's been missing for two years.Unable to handle the constant heartache of all the false sightings, Megan's husband threatens to walk away unless Megan can agree to accept Emma is gone. Megan's life and marriage is crumbling all around her and she realizes she may have to do the thing she dreads most: move on.When Megan takes a photo of a little girl with an elderly couple at the town fair, she believes it to be her missing daughter. Unable to let go, she sets in motion a sequence of events that could destroy both families lives.Proceeds from each book sold will be donated to Missing Children's Society of Canada - www.mscs.ca - an organization dedicated to reuniting families.
The Promise of Stardust
Priscille Sibley - 2013
Now in their late 30s, the deeply devoted couple has everything-except the baby they've always wanted.When an accident leaves Elle brain dead, Matt is devastated. Though he cannot bear the thought of life without her, he knows Elle was afraid of only one thing-a slow death. And so, Matt resolves to take her off life support.But Matt changes his mind when they discover Elle's pregnant. While there are no certainties, the baby might survive if Elle remains on life support. Matt's mother, Linney, disagrees with his decision. She loves Elle, too, and insists that Elle would never want to be kept alive on machines. Linney is prepared to fight her son in court-armed with Elle's living will.Divided by the love they share, Matt and Linney will be pitted against each other, fighting for what they believe is right, and what they think Elle would have wanted resulting in a controversial legal battle that will ultimately go beyond one family . . . and one single life.
Painting Deception
Brian Hebbel - 2018
On the beach you'll be laughing and crying between the changing of the tides. Take a ride with the main character, Lily Clarke, as you contemplate her and your own lasting legacy. Lily Clarke, the elderly mother of three dysfunctional and distant daughters, makes life altering discoveries regarding her new found wealth and other dark secrets, after she receives a diagnosis that she has a terminal illness. The challenges and decisions she must face in her final months will define her lasting legacy. To execute her plan, she invites her three dysfunctional and distant daughters to her home for a short stay to determine you will receive her new found wealth. Her plans become disrupted when dark secrets emerge, questioning her decision making and the meaning of her entire life. The book includes family dysfunction, drama, humor, an a bit of historical fiction. From the book: Chapter 1: The old saying goes that everyone has a story. Unfortunately today, October 2, 2016, Lily Elizabeth Clarke’s story was coming to a quick end. It was a sunny day at the Sacred Heart Cemetery in Dundalk, Maryland, as cars began pulling up shortly after noon for her 1:00 p.m. funeral. Old rusted smoke stacks from a bankrupt steel mill could be seen in the background of the cemetery in this gritty part of Baltimore. Neighborhoods with seventy-year-old brick weathered rowhouses surrounded the neatly manicured cemetery. The funeral was taking place exactly as Lily had arranged it. No details were left out of the planning. While she was alive, she made sure that her funeral, burial arrangements, and reading of her Last Will and Testament were organized and would be executed exactly to her wishes. No one knew what would take place over the next twenty-four hours and weeks to follow except Lily, and she was deceased. Not even her lawyer and confidant, Jake Snyder, knew all of the hidden details that Lily had intentionally failed to disclose to him; some of which had remained bottled and silenced for a lifetime. He had been Lily’s lawyer for more than twenty years, and over the next two days, he would implement her final plan exactly as she had instructed. Jake knew her for almost his whole life and thought he knew everything about her, but he didn’t know the dark secrets about her past or the ones she intended to reveal in stages following her death. The health crisis that led to Lily’s death was nothing compared to the mental struggle she faced as a result of the long forgotten secrets resurfacing during the final months of her life. Lily’s struggle whether to reveal her secrets while she was alive and how to reveal them after her death would change lives and define her legacy. Lily didn’t want to have a formal viewing at a funeral home. She wanted her funeral to be short and sweet at the gravesite, so that everyone could get on with their lives. Lily’s three daughters didn’t remain close to her after they graduated from college and settled in the state of their college alma maters. Lily was unsure why her children didn’t stay close to her. She wasn’t sure if it was her sometimes overbearing husband or the fact that her children wanted to get out of the dirty blue-collar town Baltimore was in the 1970s. Maybe they were a little rebellious, stubborn, and adventurous, all rolled into one. In truth, Lily often wondered if the secrets she harbored created impenetrable barriers in her relationship with her daughters. However, it seemed the longer they were away from Baltimore, the further they grew apart from Lily, and she didn’t have the strength or courage to correct the situation. ...
When I'm Gone
Emily Bleeker - 2016
I didn’t want to leave you...
Luke Richardson has returned home after burying Natalie, his beloved wife of sixteen years, ready to face the hard job of raising their three children alone. But there’s something he’s not prepared for—a blue envelope with his name scrawled across the front in Natalie’s handwriting, waiting for him on the floor of their suburban Michigan home.The letter inside, written on the first day of Natalie’s cancer treatment a year ago, turns out to be the first of many. Luke is convinced they’re genuine, but who is delivering them? As his obsession with the letters grows, Luke uncovers long-buried secrets that make him question everything he knew about his wife and their family. But the revelations also point the way toward a future where love goes on—in written words, in memories, and in the promises it’s never too late to keep.
Modern Lovers
Emma Straub - 2016
But nothing ages them like having to suddenly pass the torch (of sexuality, independence, and the ineffable alchemy of cool) to their own offspring.Back in the band's heyday, Elizabeth put on a snarl over her Midwestern smile, Andrew let his unwashed hair grow past his chin, and Zoe was the lesbian all the straight women wanted to sleep with. Now nearing fifty, they all live within shouting distance in the same neighborhood deep in gentrified Brooklyn, and the trappings of the adult world seem to have arrived with ease. But the summer that their children reach maturity (and start sleeping together), the fabric of the adults' lives suddenly begins to unravel, and the secrets and revelations that are finally let loose—about themselves, and about the famous fourth band member who soared and fell without them—can never be reclaimed.Straub packs wisdom and insight and humor together in a satisfying book about neighbors and nosiness, ambition and pleasure, the excitement of youth, the shock of middle age, and the fact that our passions—be they food, or friendship, or music—never go away, they just evolve and grow along with us.
These Old Shades / Sprig Muslin / Sylvester / The Corinthian / The Convenient Marriage
Georgette Heyer - 1977
Hilarious comedy, fast moving drama, romance spiced with wit and charm - Miss Heyer combines all this with the period conversation and manners she knows to perfection.These five books will give hours of entertainment and lasting pleasure.
How to Walk Away
Katherine Center - 2018
Then, suddenly, on what should have been one of the happiest days of her life, everything she worked for is taken away in one tumultuous moment. In the hospital and forced to face the possibility that nothing will ever be the same again, Margaret must figure out how to move forward on her own terms while facing long-held family secrets, devastating heartbreak, and the idea that love might find her in the last place she would ever expect.
Finding Dreams
Lauren Westwood - 2018
Perfect for the fans of Jane Costello and Milly Johnson.
Lizzie Greene is about to lose everything when her husband suddenly dies and his debts come to light. To make ends meet she opens up her quirky old house to be used as a set for a film based on a bestselling romance novel. Her life and household are turned upside down when a whole cast of colourful characters enters her family's lives: from an enigmatic author, a handsome location scout, a brooding director, to a heart-throb leading man, never mind her now ex-mother-in-law camped out in her drive. As Lizzie delves deeper into the film's book, all is not as it seems. Will her desire to save her house and unravel the secrets of the past lead to new love, or to mortal danger?
First Comes Love
Emily Giffin - 2016
Growing up, Josie and Meredith Garland shared a loving, if sometimes contentious relationship. Josie was impulsive, spirited, and outgoing; Meredith hardworking, thoughtful, and reserved. When tragedy strikes their family, their different responses to the event splinter their delicate bond. Fifteen years later, Josie and Meredith are in their late thirties, following very different paths. Josie, a first grade teacher, is single—and this close to swearing off dating for good. What she wants more than the right guy, however, is to become a mother—a feeling that is heightened when her ex-boyfriend’s daughter ends up in her class. Determined to have the future she’s always wanted, Josie decides to take matters into her own hands. On the outside, Meredith is the model daughter with the perfect life. A successful attorney, she’s married to a wonderful man, and together they’re raising a beautiful four-year-old daughter. Yet lately, Meredith feels dissatisfied and restless, secretly wondering if she chose the life that was expected of her rather than the one she truly desired. As the anniversary of their tragedy looms and painful secrets from the past begin to surface, Josie and Meredith must not only confront the issues that divide them, but also come to terms with their own choices. In their journey toward understanding and forgiveness, both sisters discover they need each other more than they knew . . . and that in the recipe for true happiness, love always comes first. Emotionally honest and utterly enthralling, First Comes Love is a story about family, friendship, and the courage to follow your own heart—wherever that may lead.
Suzanne and Gertrude: A Novel
Jeb Loy Nichols - 2019
Suzanne and Gertrude is a tale of intermittent griefs and wonderments. How do we live, not just with each other, but with memories, with impermanence, with the inevitable melancholy of being? Suzanne and Gertrude is a spare novel with a profound impact.
Rush
Lisa Patton - 2018
What’s more, Lilith suggests their daughters, both incoming freshman, room together. What Wilda doesn’t know is that it's all part of Lilith’s plan to ensure her own daughter receives an Alpha Delt bid—no matter what.Cali Watkins possesses all the qualities sororities are looking for in a potential new member. She’s kind and intelligent, makes friends easily, even plans to someday run for governor. But her resume lacks a vital ingredient. Pedigree. Without family money Cali's chances of sorority membership are already thin, but she has an even bigger problem. If anyone discovers the dark family secrets she's hiding, she’ll be dropped from Rush in an instant.For twenty-five years, Miss Pearl—as her “babies” like to call her—has been housekeeper and a second mother to the Alpha Delt girls, even though it reminds her of a painful part of her past she’ll never forget. When an opportunity for promotion arises, it seems a natural fit. But Lilith Whitmore slams her Prada heel down fast, crushing Miss Pearl’s hopes of a better future. When Wilda and the girls find out, they devise a plan destined to change Alpha Delta Beta—and maybe the entire Greek system—forever. Achingly poignant, yet laugh-out-loud funny, RUSH takes a sharp nuanced look at a centuries-old tradition while exploring the complex, intimate relationships between mothers and daughters and female friends. Brimming with heart and hope for a better tomorrow, RUSH is an uplifting novel universal to us all.