Loving Eliza


Ruth Ann Nordin - 2009
    A chance to be something she never had the opportunity to be before: a lady--a woman with a good reputation. John Evans has never belonged in his small town. So when Eliza shows up and treats him better than anyone ever has, he's ready to marry her before she finds someone she'd rather be with. But she harbors a secret that makes someone like her unsuitable for marriage, and she is determined that no one will ever find out. Ever. Until someone from her past shows up... Then who is going to dare love a woman like her?

The Eve Tree


Rachel Devenish Ford - 2011
    Lush prose, conflicted characters so vividly drawn you would recognize them passing them on the street." ~Melissa Westemeier, Ecowomen.net When Molly's ranch is threatened by a nearby forest fire, she realizes she will do whatever she can to save it, even at the cost of her fragile mental stability. Jack, Molly's husband, will do whatever he can to save Molly. He alone knows the true cost of her breakdown, sixteen years ago. Catherine, Molly's elderly mother, is caught between regrets of the past and the present fiery threat. She returns to the ranch and begins a project that she hopes will somehow bring Molly back to wholeness, a project that has nothing to do with fighting fires. As the whole family waits out the four days that the fire continues toward them, they dig deeply into the past to find the healing that they need and reclaim their place on the earth. The Eve Tree is a haunting, lyrical novel about the desperation of family, the difficulty of love, and the beauty of forgiveness.

The Second Chance Supper Club


Nicole Meier - 2019
    Now, each at a crossroad in her own life, two sisters’ paths are about to intersect.Broadcast journalist Julia Frank has it all: a career, an ambitious fiancé, and the hard-won respect of her peers. Until a ruinous decision destroys her reputation, puts her job at risk, and sends her reeling toward the only soul left to turn to: her estranged sister, Ginny.The owner of a clandestine supper club hidden in the Arizona desert, Ginny Frank has a lot on her plate. The last thing she wants is more drama—or the burden of nursing her younger sister’s wounded ego. But family is family. Besides, Ginny can use the help in more ways than one, and she’s going to make sure Julia pulls her weight.As a tenuous reunion reopens old wounds, Julia and Ginny have no choice but to confront the pain and betrayals of the past. Will working to keep the secret supper club running be just what they need to find common ground and a path toward forgiveness, or will the increasing stress push them even further apart?

The Way Life Should Be


Christina Baker Kline - 2007
    She is single in New York City, stuck in a job she doesn’t want and a life that seems to have, somehow, just happened.  She inherited a flair for Italian cooking from her grandmother, but she never seems to have the time for it—these days, her oven holds only sweaters. Tacked to her office bulletin board is a photo from a magazine of a tidy cottage on the coast of Maine—a charming reminder of a life that could be hers, if she could only muster the courage to go after it.On a hope and a chance, Angela decides to pack it all up and move to Maine, finding the nudge she needs in the dating profile of a handsome sailor who loves dogs and Italian food.  But her new home isn’t quite matching up with the fantasy. Far from everything familiar, Angela begins to rebuild her life from the ground up. Working at a local coffeehouse, she begins to discover the pleasures and secrets of her new small-town community and, in the process, realizes there’s really no such thing as the way life should be.

Into the Jungle


Erica Ferencik - 2019
    Banner, USA TODAY bestselling author) thriller from the author of the “haunting, twisting thrill ride” (Megan Miranda, New York Times bestselling author) The River at Night, a young woman leaves behind everything she knows to take on the Bolivian jungle, but her excursion abroad quickly turns into a fight for her life.Lily Bushwold thought she’d found the antidote to endless foster care and group homes: a teaching job in Bolivia. As soon as she could steal enough cash for the plane, she was on it. When the gig falls through, world-weary Lily decides to stay in Bolivia when an intense passion finds her in the form she least expected: Omar, a savvy, handsome local man who’d abandoned his life as a hunter in Ayachero—a remote jungle village—to try his hand at city life. When Omar learns that a jaguar has killed his four-year-old nephew in Ayachero, he gives Lily a choice: Stay alone in the unforgiving city, or travel to the last in a string of ever-more-isolated river towns in the jungles of Bolivia. Thirty-foot anaconda? Puppy-sized spiders? Vengeful shamans with unspeakable powers? Lovestruck Lily is oblivious. She follows Omar to this ruthless new world of lawless poachers, bullheaded missionaries, and desperate indigenous tribes driven to the brink of extinction. To survive, Lily must navigate the jungle—its wonders as well as its terrors—using only her wits and resilience. “Gripping, breathtaking, and exquisitely told—Into the Jungle pulls you into another world, returning you forever transformed” (Wendy Walker, USA TODAY bestselling author).

Whatever Happened to Vicky Hope's Back Up Man?


Laura Kemp - 2017
     Twenty-one and insecure, Vicky Hope comes up with a plan on the eve of travelling the world with her high flying friend, Kat Lloyd: if she isn't married by the time she's thirty, she'll marry her geeky best mate Mikey Murphy. Fast-forward eight-and-a-bit years, Vicky, now Vee wakes up on her thirtieth birthday in Brighton, expecting a proposal of marriage from her arty boyfriend Jez. Instead he tells her their relationship is over and she has no choice but to return to her parents' home. Devastated and alone in her childhood bedroom, she decides she has nothing to lose and tracks down her two old mates. With shock, she discovers Mikey, now Murphy, is a successful app designer driven by his tragic upbringing. Kat, or Kate, never made it - but she hides a devastating secret, which threatens the happiness of all three.

The Little French Bistro


Nina George - 2010
    After forty-one years, she has reached her limit, and one evening in Paris she decides to take action. Following a dramatic moment on the banks of the Seine, Marianne leaves her life behind and sets out for the coast of Brittany, also known as the end of the world.Here she meets a cast of colorful and unforgettable locals who surprise her with their warm welcome, and the natural ease they all seem to have, taking pleasure in life's small moments. And, as the parts of herself she had long forgotten return to her in this new world, Marianne learns it s never too late to begin the search for what life should have been all along. With all the buoyant charm that made The Little Paris Bookshop a beloved bestseller, The Little French Bistro is a tale of second chances and a delightful embrace of the joys of life in France.

The Shortest Way Home


Juliette Fay - 2012
    But when burnout sets in, Sean is reluctantly drawn home to Belham, Massachusetts, the setting of Fay’s much-loved Shelter Me. There, he discovers that his steely aunt, overly dramatic sister, and quirky nephew are having a little natural disaster of their own. When he reconnects with a woman from his past, Sean has to wonder if the bonds of love and loyalty might just rewrite his destiny. Completely relatable, The Shortest Way Home is another perfect serving of a slice of life from the irresistible Fay.

The Likely Resolutions of Oliver Clock


Jane Riley - 2020
    Is there really room for something as unpredictable as love? Oliver Clock has everything arranged just so. A steady job running the family funeral parlour. A fridge stocked with ready meals. A drawer full of colour-coded socks. A plan (of sorts) to stay trim enough for a standard-sized coffin. And in florist Marie, he’s even found the love of his life—not that she’s aware of it.When a terrible tragedy takes Marie out of his life but leaves him with her private journal, he discovers too late that she secretly loved him back. Faced now with an empty love life, a family funeral business in trouble, a fast-approaching fortieth birthday and a notebook of resolutions he’s never achieved, Oliver resolves to open himself up to love—and all the mess that comes along with it.But, with a habit of burying his feelings, can he learn to embrace his lovability and find the woman who will make him feel whole?

The Break


Marian Keyes - 1999
    . . We're taking a break.''A city-with-fancy-food sort of break?'If only.Amy's husband Hugh says he isn't leaving her.He still loves her, he's just taking a break - from their marriage, their children and, most of all, from their life together. Six months to lose himself in south-east Asia. And there is nothing Amy can say or do about it.Yes, it's a mid-life crisis, but let's be clear: a break isn't a break up - yet . . .However, for Amy it's enough to send her - along with her extended family of gossips, misfits and troublemakers - teetering over the edge.For a lot can happen in six-months. When Hugh returns if he returns, will he be the same man she married? And will Amy be the same woman?Because if Hugh is on a break from their marriage, then isn't she?The Break isn't a story about falling in love but about staying in love. It is Marian Keyes at her funniest, wisest and brilliant best.

The Cherry Tree Café


Heidi Swain - 2015
    Perfect feel-good summer reading for fans of Great British Bake-OffLizzie Dixon's life feels as though it's fallen apart. Instead of the marriage proposal she was hoping for from her boyfriend, she is unceremoniously dumped, and her job is about to go the same way. So, there's only one option: to go back home to the village she grew up in and to try to start again.   Her best friend Jemma is delighted Lizzie has come back home as she has just bought a little cafe and Lizzie's sewing skills are just what she needs to help get it ready for the grand opening. With a new venture and a new home, things are looking much brighter for Lizzie. But can she get over her broken heart, and will an old flame reignite a love from long ago...?  For everyone who loves settling down to watch Great British Bake-Off, the Great British Sewing Bee, or curling up to read Milly Johnson or Jenny Colgan,The Cherry Tree Cafe is a coffee-break treat.   'A heart-warming sweet treat of a read' Mandy Baggot   'Fans of Jenny Colgan and Carole Matthews will enjoy this heartfelt debut novel from talented new author, Heidi Swain. The Cherry Tree Cafe is that most delicious of things - a warm and gently funny story of reinvention, romance, and second chances that you'll devour in one sitting' Katie Oliver, author of the bestselling 'Marrying Mr Darcy' series   'The Cherry Tree Cafe is every bit as delicious as the cover promises. Drop in for a minute, and the fabulous world of the crafting cafe wraps itself around you, pulling you in right from the first page. Beautifully written, with a heroine I rooted for all the way, and a great supporting cast. Original and assured, and like a cup of Orange Pekoe tea - perfect to enjoy in the afternoon' Jane Linfoot, author of The Vintage Cinema Club

Yours, Jean


Lee Martin - 2020
    “Well, I had that gun. What else was I to do?”Lawrenceville, Illinois, 1952: Jean De Belle, the new high school librarian, is eager to begin the next phase of her young life after breaking off her engagement to Charlie Camplain. She has no way of knowing that in a few short hours, Charlie will arrive at the school, intent on convincing her to take back his ring.What happens next will reverberate through the lives of everyone who crossed paths with Charlie and Jean: the hotel clerk who called him a cab, the high school boy who became his getaway driver, and the English teacher who was Jean’s landlady, her confidant, and perhaps more.Based on a true crime and ideal for readers of The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers and Elizabeth Strout’s beloved Anything Is Possible, Pulitzer Prize finalist Lee Martin's Yours, Jean is a powerful novel about small town manners and the loneliness that drives people to do things they never imagined.

One Thousand Stars and You


Isabelle Broom - 2018
    It might not be the adventurous life she once imagined, but more than anything she wants to make everyone happy - her steady boyfriend, her over-protective mother - even if it means a little part of her will always feel stifled.Max is shaking things up. After a devastating injury, he is determined to prove himself. To find the man beyond the disability, to escape his smothering family and go on an adventure.A trip to Sri Lanka is Alice's last hurrah - her chance to throw herself into the heat, chaos and colour of a place thousands of miles from home.It's also the moment she meets Max.Alice doesn't know it yet, but her whole life is about to change.Max doesn't know it yet, but he's the one who's going to change it.'An irresistible love story' Daily Express'Left us with tears in our eyes and a smile on our face' Heat'We devoured it in one sitting' Closer'The ultimate will-they-won't-they. Be sure to have tissues ready' Rosie Walsh, author of The Man Who Didn't Call'You can always expect an exotic location, some heart-melting romance and maybe even a few tears from an Isabelle Broom novel' Red Online'Pack your passport, because Isabelle Broom is about to take you on a beautiful emotional journey' Adele Parks, author of The Image of You'Goregously romantic. This book will pick you up and sweep you into its pages' Milly Johnson, author of The Perfectly Imperfect Woman'Her beautiful writing is romantic and evocative and totally transported me to paradise' Cathy Bramley, author of Hetty's Farmhouse Bakery

A Christmas to Remember


Jenny Hale - 2014
     Fans of Carole Matthews, Susan Wiggs and Scarlett Bailey – and anyone who loves the sound of Christmas songs and the sparkle of decorations on the tree – will adore this festive holiday treat! Everyone loves Christmas – don’t they? Carrie Blake loves her job as a nanny but, while her friends are settling down, all of Carrie’s spare time is spent with other people’s families. Though it breaks her heart, her New Year’s resolution is to embark on a new career and fix her love life. As Carrie starts her last job, she’s sure she’ll be going out on a high – the house is amazing , the kids are adorable, and she’s in charge of decorating the tree! The only problem could be her boss… single-dad, Adam Fletcher might be both handsome and successful, but he’s always working. Doesn’t he realise he’s missing out on precious moments with his son and daughter? As Adam’s family arrive for Christmas including his sensitive sister, Sharon, and his fun-loving elderly Grandpa, Walter, Carrie realises that she might just have found the perfect allies in her quest to persuade Adam to loosen up. There’s still time for Carrie to make this the best Christmas ever… after all, Christmas is the time for miracles, isn’t it? Let the festivities begin!

Finding Fraser


K.C. Dyer - 2015
    He was tall, red-headed, and at our first meeting at least, a virgin. He was, in fact, the perfect man.     That he was fictional hardly entered into it...   On the cusp of thirty, Emma Sheridan is desperately in need of a change. After a string of failed relationships, she can admit that no man has ever lived up to her idea of perfection: the Scottish fictional star of romantic fantasies the world over—James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser.   Her ideal man might be ripped from the pages of a book, but Emma hopes that by making one life-altering decision she might be able to turn fiction into fact. After selling all her worldly possessions, Emma takes off for Scotland with nothing but her burgeoning travel blog to confide in.   But as she scours the country’s rolling green hills and crumbling castles, Emma discovers that in searching for her own Jamie Fraser, she just might find herself.