The only things missing were a husband and a brood of kids. Love happens when you least expect it, her mom always said. An appointment to show her photography portfolio brought her front and center with Jack Barnes, a gorgeous, successful Manhattan businessman. Mia was smitten, and they married less than a year later. Unfortunately, the marital bliss she craved never showed up. Jack, the controlling absentee husband, had a secret: someone else was occupying his mind and bed. Mia had no idea until a chance sighting revealed the real Jack with his mystery woman. Payback was definitely in order and way overdue. With a little help from her friends and a lot of Merlot, Mia was on a mission to take Jack down. With hilarious speed bumps, hiccups, and crazy calamities along the way, Mia’s ridiculous plot for payback turned into a chance for unexpected friendships and real love.Payback and a Bottle of Merlot, Book One, in the Like Sisters series, is a romantic comedy novel that will appeal to fans of chick lit, women's fiction and humorous books. Like Sisters is a laugh out loud series of best friends, hot guys and the right amount of steam to have you anxiously waiting for the next book.Note: There are no cliffhangers in this series, but since the characters carry over, the books are best read in sequence.Like Sisters Romantic Comedy Series:#1 Payback and a Bottle of Merlot#2 Insecurity and a Bottle of Merlot#3 Destiny and a Bottle of Merlot#4 Intrigue and a Bottle of Merlot #5 Desire and a Bottle of Merlot Like Sisters Categories:Chick Lit NovelsChick Lit SeriesChick Lit ComedyRomantic Comedy NovelsRomantic Comedy SeriesWomen's Fiction Comedy Novels

    Rosaline Palmer has always lived by those rules—well, except for when she dropped out of college to raise her daughter, Amelie. Now, with a paycheck as useful as greaseproof paper and a house crumbling faster than biscuits in tea, she’s teetering on the edge of financial disaster. But where there’s a whisk there’s a way . . . and Rosaline has just landed a spot on the nation’s most beloved baking show.Winning the prize money would give her daughter the life she deserves—and Rosaline is determined to stick to the instructions. However, more than collapsing trifles stand between Rosaline and sweet, sweet victory.  Suave, well-educated, and parent-approved Alain Pope knows all the right moves to sweep her off her feet, but it’s shy electrician Harry Dobson who makes Rosaline question her long-held beliefs—about herself, her family, and her desires.Rosaline fears falling for Harry is a guaranteed recipe for disaster. Yet as the competition—and the ovens—heat up, Rosaline starts to realize the most delicious bakes come from the heart.

    

     ♥ When Hannah Wyatt returns home to her family's Colorado ranch for the holiday season, she thinks the biggest surprise is the early inheritance of land parcels that her parents are gifting her and her four siblings. Little does she know that her pen-pal from the UK is about to add to the exciting homecoming! Especially when she realizes that the British friend she thought she knew, is ready to unveil a surprising twist…one that has the ability to throw an additional wrench into Hannah’s new life equation... ~From sweeping scenery to trusting-your-heart life decisions to magical snowstorms~ Join Hannah and her family as they navigate the long holiday season: A fun and bumpy ride starting with a heartwarming Thanksgiving, snowshoeing through a perfect Rocky Mountain Christmas, and into what just may be a very, merry New Year!

    For a while, she found a safe haven in her marriage to bestselling crime novelist Stephen Ludlow—until his car skidded into Echo Bay. But Stephen’s wasn’t the only body pulled from the icy waters that night. When details about a mysterious violet-eyed blonde become public, a media circus ensues, and Christy-Lynn runs again.Desperate for answers, she’s shattered to learn that Stephen and his mistress had a child—a little girl named Iris, who now lives in poverty with her ailing great-grandmother. The thought of Iris abandoned to the foster care system—as Christy-Lynn once was—is unbearable. But she’s spent her whole life running—determined never to be hurt again. Will she finally stand still long enough to open herself up to forgiveness and love?

    Her husband has mysteriously disappeared, leaving Birdie to cope with their unmarried daughter’s unplanned pregnancy. Birdie and Hannah disagree about the baby. Birdie urges her daughter to consider abortion, but Hannah is determined to see the pregnancy to term. When Hannah returns for her last semester in college, Birdie must face her demons, the problems in her marriage that drove her husband to clean out their bank accounts and run off with another woman.While struggling to hide her pregnancy from her roommates and ex-boyfriend, Hannah interviews for jobs that will take her and her baby far away from her mother. After graduation, with months to kill before the start of her new job, she returns to Palmetto Island for the summer to await the birth of her baby. Tension mounts between Hannah and Birdie when they move from their waterfront home to a two-bedroom apartment above a bakery. Can mother and daughter mend their relationship? Or will they be lost to each other forever?

    But news of her beloved father's heart attack brings Bella rushing back to Australia along with her aunt Liz, an acclaimed musician who's been living in London for the past thirty years. While her father recuperates, Bella seizes the chance to prove to him that she is capable of running Mullinjim, the family property in Far North Queensland. But coming home is fraught with emotional danger for both Bella and Liz. While Bella is confident she can deal with drought, bushfires and bogged cattle, she dreads facing her neighbour. Gabe Mitchell is the man she once hoped to marry, but he's also the man who broke her heart. And for Liz, Mullinjim holds a painful secret that must never be revealed...In the rugged beauty of the outback, new futures beckon, but Bella and Liz must first confront the heartaches of the past.

    But when her fiancé, James Donato, vanishes in a boating accident, her well-baked future is swept out to sea. Instead of walking down the aisle on their wedding day, Aimee is at James’s funeral—a funeral that leaves her more unsettled than at peace.As Aimee struggles to reconstruct her life, she delves deeper into James’s disappearance. What she uncovers is an ocean of secrets that make her question everything about the life they built together. And just below the surface is a truth that may set Aimee free…or shatter her forever.

    With every touch and word between us, I ache to possess her.I have no business thinking about Devon as anything other than a family friend. No business craving her.Just when I think I've pushed my inappropriate lust to the side, she falls under a vicious attack, tarnishing her reputation and putting her dreams of a future in music at risk.If they think they can go after what's mine... they're going to have to answer to me.I have no right to take an sweet and pure light like Devon.But after just one taste, the professor in me takes over and refuses to ignore this lesson in lust.And she's about to be educated.***** Author's note: All of Colleen's heroes and heroines are of legal age to consent. Educated is a steamy, long, age-gap novella by USA Today Bestselling Author, Colleen Charles, about a sexy professor who can't stop himself from falling for his best friend's daughter. It's the second book in the Taboo Tales series and is a standalone with all the steam and feels you're looking for, along with an emotional HEA.

    Estranged from her family over her sister's mental illness and death, Esther can't help but feel alone. And when Esther hears the voice of her twin sister who committed suicide seven years ago, she begins to question her own sanity, leading her to wonder if anything is what it seems. Searching for answers, Esther must confront her past while looking towards a new future—one in which she is finally accepted. Through humor and heartbreak, Esther learns that blood does not mean family, that absence does not make the heart grow fonder and that silence can speak volumes.

    Her father has another family which includes a mistress and a daughter. Determined to uncover the truth behind her father's secret life, Christine heads to Magdalena, prepared to hate the people who have caused her to question everything she thought she knew about her father. But what she finds is a woman who understands her, a half sister who cherishes her, and a man who could love her if she'll let him. The longer she's around them, the more she questions which family is the real one. . . Attention Book Clubs! Included on my website is a Book Club Discussion Guide for A Family Affair. This story is filled with moral ambiguity, difficult choices, and second chances--all great topics for conversation and contemplation. Truth in Lies Series: Book One: A Family Affair Book Two: A Family Affair: Spring Book Three: A Family Affair: Summer Book Four: A Family Affair: Fall Book Five: A Family Affair: Christmas Book Six: A Family Affair: Winter (TBA) Book Seven: A Family Affair: The Promise (TBA)