Book picks similar to
How to Lose a Husband and Gain a Life by Bernadette Strachan
chick-lit
fiction
dnf
bernadette-strachan
Is that a Moose in Your Pocket?
Kim Green - 2003
So it’s goodbye to San Francisco and her sexy ex-boyfriend—and howdy to roughing it in the wilds of Montana.As a reporter for Montana’s Meredith Gazette, Jen is suddenly getting cruised by park rangers and interviewing ranchers who think crème brûlée is men’s hair gel. Then she meets a rugged western vision in jeans and snakeskin boots: EPA agent Bruce Mortensen. So what if he has baggage—a manipulative soon-to-be-ex-wife and a jealous ten-year-old daughter? He’s a real man who’s making her feel like a real woman for the first time in her life.But is it really love or just the hottest sex ever? Jen’s on a mission to find out...especially when her ex comes back into the picture. Now she’s caught between two men who couldn’t be more different. And what happens next will surprise everyone—even her...
My Favourite Goodbye
Sheila O'Flanagan - 2001
She's twenty-nine, single and self-supporting. So, shouldn't she be out there every night, swilling Chardonnay and falling in love? Or, if she isn't, at least having a great time moaning about it with her best friends? Doesn't she know how to be a single woman?Trouble is, Ash likes things as they are. She doesn't do impulsive and relationships scare her to death. At the first hint of commitment, it's goodbye. No way is she going to let herself get hurt.But as Ash watched Dan Morland - who employed her to cook the ultimate dinner the night he proposed to his girlfriend - trying to sort out a life with the woman he loves, she begins to wonder if being Miss Self-Contained-and-Secure might also mean Missing Out...
The Speed of Light
Elissa Grossell Dickey - 2021
Diagnosed with MS, she awaits the results of another anxiety-inducing MRI. She’s just walked away from Connor, “a fixer” but possibly the love of her life. And nearing the holidays, the sights and sounds of winter in South Dakota only prick memories of better years gone by. Then, on a December morning at the university where she works, jarring gunshots pierce the halls. In a temporary safe place and terrified, Simone listens and pretends this will all be over soon.As she waits for silence, her mind racing, Simone’s past year comes into focus. Falling in love and missing it. Finding strength in family and enduring friendships. Planning for the future, fearing it, and hoping against hope in dark places. Her life has been changing at the speed of light, and each crossroad brought Simone here, to this day, to endure the things she can’t control and to confront those that she can.
Better Off Without Him
Dee Ernst - 2010
But when her husband, Brian, leaves her for someone younger, thinner, blonde, and French, she has to step back and take a good, long look at her life.First, her career. She can’t continue to write about “Happily Ever After,” so she changes the heroine of her new book from a hot young thing to a forty-something woman who manages to find happiness without a man. Her agent isn’t too happy—the heroine is how old? She doesn’t get the guy in the end? How is that even possible?But Mona is tough, and she’s got Anthony, her personal assistant, and a few good friends to cheer her on and keep the stiff martinis flowing. And Ben. Ben is her plumber, but not your average plumber. He’s smart enough to know that Brian was never good enough for her, and sexy enough to be cast as the romantic lead in quite a few of her books. The sound of his voice alone can send her imagination into full romantic overdrive.Then she meets Mitch, who might be just the guy for her. And there’s still Ben, who’s managed to come to her rescue more than once. But—there’s a book to publish, a soon-to-be-ex-husband to deal with, and what has Aunt Lily done this time? Can Mona work this all out? Can life imitate art, and can Mona write her own happy ending?
Gone to the Dogs
Mary Guterson - 2009
She was just casually driving by his new house, taking stock of his new life, when the dog invited himself into her car...Okay, so she stole the dog. But how could Brian, her boyfriend of seven years (not to mention "unofficial" fiancé), have done this to her? Fallen off the face of the earth, only to resurface with a gorgeous, live-in girlfriend and live-in dog? Honestly, a girl can only take so much. Besides, how could a yellow lab as great as this one be happy living with those two very bad people?Unfortunately, being a dog-napper is the least of Rena's problems. Her mother's dating a "potential" serial killer, her sister's having an identity crisis and she's the target of one hopeless fix-up after another—most recently, the highly moral Chuck, who just happens to know all about Rena's dog-napping escapades. If Rena wants to straighten things out, she'll have to face up to the choices she's made, the dreams she's put on hold, and the man who broke her heart.
Champagne and Lemon Drops
Jean Oram - 2013
Two men. One meddling small town.Raised by her older sister in the small town of Blueberry Springs, all Beth Wilkinson wants is to create a family so big she’ll never be alone. Things are going great until her fiancé, Oz, rethinks everything from his own career to their nuptial plans—forcing Beth to do the same.As Beth works to rediscover herself in hopes of reattracting Oz, she catches the eye of the charming new city doctor, Nash. Not only does he see her as she’d like to be seen, but he knows exactly what he wants from life—and that includes Beth.Torn between the two men, as well as two versions of herself, Beth discovers that love and dreams are much more complicated than they seem.
From Notting Hill with Love... Actually
Ali McNamara - 2010
. . wishing he looked more like Hugh Grant. Scarlett loves the movies. But does she love sensible fiancé David just as much? With a big white wedding on the horizon, Scarlett really should have decided by now . . . When she has the chance to house-sit in Notting Hill - the setting of one of her favourite movies - Scarlett jumps at the chance. But living life like a movie is trickier than it seems, especially when her new neighbour Sean is so irritating. And so irritatingly handsome, too. Scarlett soon finds herself starring in a romantic comedy of her very own: but who will end up as the leading man?
Behaving Badly
Isabel Wolff - 2003
As an animal behaviourist, she can get inside the heads of deluded Dalmatians and introverted iguanas, but she can’t work out why the men in her life behave so badly. Animals are braver kinder and a lot more reliable. So Miranda’s given up on love to open her own clinic and work her magic on neurotic pets and their grateful owners.But can she keep the whole male species at bay for ever? Her best friend, Daisy, an incurably romantic wedding-planner, doesn’t think so. When a delicious photographer comes into her life, even Miranda starts to wonder if she’s been a bit hasty. But, just when she’s letting her guard down, her past starts to catch up with her. Now, she has to face up to her own behaviour, which hasn’t always been as sweet as she’d like to pretend…
The Sunshine and Biscotti Club
Jenny Oliver - 2016
But with a dash of sunshine and a sprinkling of old friends, Libby’s kitchen nightmare might just become the best thing that’s ever happened to her.After all, you can’t bake biscotti without breaking a few eggs…
For guaranteed sunshine all holiday long, pack your bags and escape to The Sunshine and Biscotti Club – the irresistible new book from Jenny Oliver!
Summer Friends
Holly Chamberlin - 2011
Over the course of one eventful summer, nine-year-old native Mainer Delphine Crandall and Maggie Weldon, a privileged girl "from away," become best friends. Despite the social gulf between them, their bond is strengthened during vacations spent rambling around Ogunquit's beaches and quiet country lanes, and lasts throughout their college years in Boston. It seems nothing can separate them, yet after graduation, Delphine and Maggie slowly drift in different directions. . .With her MBA, Maggie acquires a lucrative career, and eventually marries. Delphine is drawn back home, her life steeped in family and the Maine community she loves. Twenty years pass, until one summer, Maggie announces she's returning to Ogunquit to pay an extended visit. And for the first time, the friends are drawn to reflect on their choices and compromises, the girls they were and the women they've become, the promises kept and broken and the deep, lasting ties that even time can never quite wash away. . .
Circle of Three
Patricia Gaffney - 2000
After the sudden death of her husband, Carrie must come to terms not only with her grief, but with the guilt that their love had already died. Struggling to go on, to support her loving and vivacious daughter, Ruth, she slowly shakes off the sorrow that surrounds her and begins a new life. Complicating matters is Carrie's mother, Dana, who believes she has always acted in her daughter's best interests. Having driven Carrie away from her first love, the soulful, unconventional Jess, Dana has no idea how to behave now that he has re-entered her daughter's life. Skilfully weaving together the voices of Ruth, Dana and Carrie, Patricia Gaffney explores the dichotomies inherent in all female relationships in a spirited and wholly unsentimental way. CIRCLE OF THREE is about believing in impossible things, like second chances - and maybe even happy endings.
The Trouble With Marriage
Debby Holt - 2008
Ten years on, the sparkle has faded - household bills, household chores, two small children and a dog have seen to that - but Tilly is convinced their love can survive even the attentions of interfering in-laws and a glamorous ex-girlfriend.
Wife 22
Melanie Gideon - 2008
. . and finding herself again . . . in the middle of her life.Maybe it was those extra five pounds I’d gained. Maybe it was because I was about to turn the same age my mother was when I lost her. Maybe it was because after almost twenty years of marriage my husband and I seemed to be running out of things to say to each other. But when the anonymous online study called “Marriage in the 21st Century” showed up in my inbox, I had no idea how profoundly it would change my life. It wasn’t long before I was assigned both a pseudonym (Wife 22) and a caseworker (Researcher 101). And, just like that, I found myself answering questions. 7. Sometimes I tell him he’s snoring when he’s not snoring so he’ll sleep in the guest room and I can have the bed all to myself. 61. Chet Baker on the tape player. He was cutting peppers for the salad. I looked at those hands and thought, I am going to have this man’s children. 67. To not want what you don’t have. What you can’t have. What you shouldn’t have. 32. That if we weren’t careful, it was possible to forget one another. Before the study, my life was an endless blur of school lunches and doctor’s appointments, family dinners, budgets, and trying to discern the fastest-moving line at the grocery store. I was Alice Buckle: spouse of William and mother to Zoe and Peter, drama teacher and Facebook chatter, downloader of memories and Googler of solutions. But these days, I’m also Wife 22. And somehow, my anonymous correspondence with Researcher 101 has taken an unexpectedly personal turn. Soon, I’ll have to make a decision—one that will affect my family, my marriage, my whole life. But at the moment, I’m too busy answering questions. As it turns out, confession can be a very powerful aphrodisiac.
The Cosy Teashop in the Castle
Caroline Roberts - 2016
Life is definitely on the rise as Ellie replaces spreadsheets for scones, and continues her Nanna’s brilliant baking legacy.When Lord Henry, the stick-in-the-mud owner, threatens to burst her baking bubble with his old-fashioned ways, Ellie wonders if she might have bitten off more than she can chew. But cupcake by cupcake she wins the locals over, including teashop stalwart, Doris, and Ellie’s showstopping bakes look set to go down in castle history!Now all that’s missing in Ellie’s life is a slice of romance – can Joe, the brooding estate manager, be the one to put the cherry on the top of Ellie’s dream?
Roommates
Whitney Lyles - 2005
She thought starting her life over in San Diego would mean writing at the beach and rendezvousing with sun-kissed surfer gods. But once she arrives, her California dreaming' turns into a nightmare. Her apartment is miles from the ocean, her roommie Justine's boyfriend has moved in (and he isn't kicking in a penny-just smoking up a storm). And Elise is starting to get used to the helicopters that fly overhead, warning everyone to lock their doors. But she knows there must be better places to live, and better people to room with. Like Max. Actually, she'd like to share a whole lot more with him than a bathroom.