For Angie Mangiamele and her award-winning team, it's almost too good too be true - and impossible to pass up.But for Angie, the prospect of visiting Miss Zula's home town in the Deep South is a mixed blessing because it means coming face to face with the man she once thought was the love of her life. Now head of Ogilvie University's literature department, John Grant is engaged to local beauty Caroline Rose. In a small town rich in tradition and rife with gossip, the sparks that fly when the two former lovers meet again can't escape the attention of the closeknit community, mind Caroline's four sisters and the overbearing Aunt Patty-Cake, who aren't about to let any strangers from the city interfere with the impending nuptials.Beautifully drawn with a vibrant cast of characters more than ready for their close-ups, TIED TO THE TRACKS a sharp, witty and grown up love story.

    There, she unexpectedly meets up with an old acquaintance, famous model-turned-photographer Lee Miller. Neither has emerged from the war unscathed. Nora is racked with the fear that her efforts to survive under the Vichy regime may have cost her daughter’s life. Lee suffers from what she witnessed as a war correspondent photographing the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps.Nora and Lee knew each other in the heady days of late 1920s Paris, when Nora was giddy with love for her childhood sweetheart, Lee became the celebrated mistress of the artist Man Ray, and Lee’s magnetic beauty drew them all into the glamorous lives of famous artists and their wealthy patrons. But Lee fails to realize that her friendship with Nora is even older, that it goes back to their days as children in Poughkeepsie, New York, when a devastating trauma marked Lee forever. Will Nora’s reunion with Lee give them a chance to forgive past betrayals…and break years of silence to forge a meaningful connection as women who have shared the best and the worst that life can offer?A novel of freedom and frailty, desire and daring, The Beautiful American portrays the extraordinary relationship between two passionate, unconventional women.

    VICTORIA ROSE. Fifty years before, a group of teenage friends promised each other never to leave their idyllic lakeside town. But the call of Hollywood and a bigger life was too strong for Victoria . . . and she alone broke that pledge. Now she has come home, intent on making peace with her demons, even if her former friends shut her out. Haunted by tragedy, she longs to find solace with her childhood sweetheart, but even this tender man may be unable to forgive and forget. HEATHER BREGMAN. At twenty-eight, after years as a globe-trotting columnist, she’s abandoned her controlling fiancé and their glamorous city life to build one on her own terms. Lulled by a Victorian house and a gorgeous locale, she’s determined to make the little community her home. But the residents, fearful of change and outsiders, will stop at nothing to sabotage her dreams of lakeside tranquility. As Victoria and Heather become unlikely friends, their mutual struggle to find acceptance—with their neighbors and in their own hearts—explores the chance events that shape a community and offer the opportunity to start again.

    She embeds herself in the dark business of piracy, carving out her role against the resistance of powerful pirate leaders and Cheung Po Tsai, her husband’s flamboyant male concubine.Caught between bitter rivals fighting for mastery over the pirates—and for her heart—Yang faces a choice between two things she never dreamed might be hers: power or love.Based on a true story that has never been fully told until now, The Flower Boat Girl is the tale of a woman who, against all odds, shaped history on her own terms.

    An educational and humorous look at life, language and culture in Britain through the eyes of an American who lives in Scotland, sometimes against her will.

    'It all goes on in this high-speed read' - Sun'An exciting and deliciously escapist read' - Closer'Sizzling' - Daily Express'The perfect companion to sun, sea and sand, this book has to find its way into your beach bag this summer' - Candis

    But what else can he do when a barefoot, catatonic Jayne Doe turns up practically in his backyard? Who is she, and what is she so afraid of? Jayne Doe doesn't remember anything about her life before she crawled into a hollow tree at the lake next to Saul's home. All she knows is that she's afraid of something-or someone. Together, Saul and Jayne set out to uncover her past. But they are in more danger than they know, and it will take all of Saul's skill and training to track down the past that's stalking them.

    They daydreamed of glorious futures, full of riches, romance and fabulous jobs. The world would be their oyster.Twenty-five years later, Olive cleans other people's houses to support her lazy, out-of-work husband and his ailing mother. Roz cannot show her kind, caring partner Manus any love because her philandering ex has left her trust in shreds. And she and Frankie have fallen out big time.But Ven is determined to reunite her friends and realize the dream they had of taking a cruise by the time they hit forty. Before they know it, the four of them are far from home,on the high seas. But can blue skies, hot sun and sixteen days of luxury and indulgence distract from the tension and loneliness that await their return?Find out in this warm, sparkling new novel from the bestselling author of A Summer Fling.

    She began to recklessly punch her daughter about the face and head, that unprovoked outburst, resulted from nothing other than seeing her young 7 year old daughter in 'her' home. Exasperated as Mother was almost every single day. “Go ahead say it Judith Ann,” and with that my clue was given, “I know Mother, I know I deserve nothing because I am nothing, and I am worth even less than that.” I said it as vehemently as one tells a child they're loved. My older adopted brother Jimmy, was in for it next. Although Mother never quite gave it to him in the same way. That didn't mean Jim was off the hook, for that same evening Father would begin his violent alcohol induced rages that may land him bleeding and slumped in the corner of his own bedroom. That was only the beginning of that evening’s terror because on many nights, Father would come to me next... This was our life, for no more than after we were adopted as mere babies, Mother went on to have two biological children, her beloved son and daughter. The doctor's admonition that conception would never occur, was certainly incorrect. Jim and I spent a lifetime paying for that physician's transgression. Judy's physical damage required over 10 surgeries to repair 'years old' bodily damage discovered in early adulthood where doctor upon doctor inquired, “how did this happen, who did this to you!” Unfortunately for Jimmy, a once bright and gifted straight A student, life since age 18 has him confined to mental facilities/ group home settings, never having the ability to live on his own. This is due to Jim's violent propensity to lash out in society, copying the abhorrent behavior Father unleashed at him for some thirteen plus years. If the emotional and physical torture went on through the childrens’ late teenage years, that would be tragic enough! However, what sets this story apart is Mother and Father's extreme self-righteous belief that in exchange for adopting them, a lifetime of repayment is required. Well into adulthood, with a cult like prevailing attitude Judy seeks to constantly pay them back- physically, emotionally and monetarily. Yet it is never enough as her own Mother seeks to destroy her oldest daughter's life. For these two children were despised, hated and came close to death throughout their lifetime, too many times to recall. For in this story- like no other out there, the age of adult children make no matter when parents want pay back for legally adopting. For nowhere will one find such a shocking look at an unbelievable attempt at survival. “Not One of Them: A story of Adoption, Alcoholism and Abuse" is the chilling true story of Judy Baldaccini, a little girl who went through hell, and not only survived, but became a stronger person because of it.

    From her past, from her ex, and from her own secrets. When she turns up alone in the remote mining town of Blackmore asking about Shayna Fowles, the local girl who disappeared, everyone wants to know who Clare really is and what she's hiding. As it turns out, she's hiding a lot, including what ties her to Shayna in the first place. But everyone in this place is hiding something from Jared, Shayna's golden-haired ex-husband, to Charlie, the charming small-town drug pusher, to Derek, Shayna's overly involved family doctor, to Louise and Wilfred, her distraught parents.Did Shayna flee? Was she killed? Is it possible she's still alive?As Clare uncovers the mysteries around Shayna's disappearance, she must confront her own demons, moving us deeper and deeper into the labyrinth of lies and making us question what it is she's really running from. Twisting and electrifying, this is a get-under-your-skin thriller that will make you question what it means to lose yourself and find yourself in the most unlikely places.

    Land of chaos and home of the ambitious... A botched assassination on the eve of Election Day throws the routine transfer of presidential authority on its head and the American government into chaos. With Congress and the Supreme Court locked in a constitutional standoff, rabble-rousing state governors fueling the fire and shadowy opportunists pulling strings, the nation teeters on the verge of a Second Civil War. While the politicos play their chess games, the pawns refuse to sit idly by. Sometimes the tail doesn’t just wag the dog, but strangles it. Sergeant Major John Brown, a hard charging paratrooper, is about as political as a potato. He’s the last man anyone imagined inciting a revolution… Young Sophie Kampbell, a social justice crusader, despises violence in every form. On the other hand, when tragedy shoves her into the arms of the mysterious “Freedom Brigade” militias, she finds that a rifle delivers a lot more permanent social justice than any picket sign… From the rhetoric-stained halls of power to the reluctant warriors on the ultramodern battlefield, get ready to take an extreme tour of the next major chapter in US history. Keep low, stay alert, and just maybe you'll survive a tour of duty in Operation: Enduring Unity. About the author: Richard Peters is a US Army veteran who spent 27 months bringing peace at any price to the post-apocalyptic streets and mahalla’s of Baghdad as a 13F (Forward Observer).

    That night, Caroline takes the jar down from the shelf. Intending only to look at the buttons, she opens the lid . . . and pours out her family's secrets.THE BUTTON COLLECTOR unfolds with a series of vignettes in which each button reveals a piece of the complicated history of Caroline's family. A tragic accident has forever altered the relationship between Caroline, her mother Emma, and her cousin Gail. Caroline sifts through the joys and anguishes of the past, bringing both herself and the reader to the realization that memories—like buttons—can sometimes be used to fasten together something we have left undone by mistake.

    She's promised her five-year-old son, Wyatt, they will be happy there. She's promised herself this is the place to begin again after her husband's death in Afghanistan. The cabin holds so many wonderful memories, but from the moment she crosses its threshold Allie is seized with doubts. Has she done the right thing uprooting her little boy from the only home he's ever known?Allie and her son are embraced by the townsfolk, and her reunions with old acquaintances—her friend Jax, now a young mother of three with one more on the way, and Caroline, the owner of the local coffee shop—are joyous ones. And then there are newcomers like Walker Ford, who mostly keeps to himself—until he takes a shine to Wyatt . . . and to Allie.Everyone knows that moving forward is never easy, and as the long, lazy days of summer take hold, Allie must learn to unlock the hidden longings of her heart, and to accept that in order to face the future she must also confront—and understand—what has come before.

    But for four lucky, talented girls, fashion is a full-time, style-transforming . . . internship in New York City Some might call it work, but as interns at high-end Couture magazine, Callie, Nadine, Ava, and Aynsley are workin' it in style.Callie Ryan:Innocent aspiring designer or claws-out fashion phony?Nadine Van Buren:Brings the party. Loves to party (even if it's a pity party).Ava Barton:Happy to be here . . . and about to take overAynsley Rothwell:Sexy socialite with a killer wardrobe--and the attitude to match.Hanging with the Couture interns is what's in this season. But who's the glamorous sage behind the Fashionista blog serving up style wisdom and sartorial send-ups?It's enough to spark a hot-and-heavy fashion frenzy. Hold on to your Manolos . . . read on and find out.

    Their father has been killed at Dunkirk and their mother goes into hospital to have her fourth child, leaving the children with a neighbour. In one of the worst bombing raids of the war their home is destroyed and the neighbour is killed. Bewildered and frightened, the children wander the streets until they are taken in by some nuns. But their problems are not over; no-one can trace their mother and, labelled as orphans, they are sent as child migrants to Australia.The story traces their adventures in their new country, the homesickness, the heartbreak when Billy is separated from his sisters and the loneliness of life in a cold and unfeeling orphanage. Eventually the children make new lives for themselves, but Maggie is still convinced that her mother is alive and once she is old enough, begins to search for her.The story, a work of fiction, is based on the experiences of real people and reflects the attitudes of the day to child migration during and after the Second World War.