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Friends and Neighbours: A heart-warming journey of self-discovery by Ruth Torjussen
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To Everything A Season
Sherri Schaeffer
While she strives to adapt to Amish life, she bonds with the family, especially with two of the Yoder siblings: Jacob and Becca.Jacob, the eldest son, refuses to baptize and join the church, and according to his frustrated father, lacks direction. He not only faces a grave physical challenge resulting from his actions that June night, but also harbors a secret that threatens to upend his family and community. Becca is 16, entering her rumspringa, the time period when she is free to explore the normally forbidden modern world. When Taylor returns to her Philadelphia penthouse, Becca accompanies her for the summer and for the first time is exposed to city life—museums, music, technology, restaurants, fashion, even religious faiths different from her own.Taylor mentors Becca’s city fling and helps Jacob conceal his secret, actions that jeopardize her relationship with the Yoder family and her father. As the two cultures clash, both families struggle to determine whether the deep ties that bind them are greater than the differences that may tear them apart. Ultimately, Taylor, Jacob and Becca must answer for themselves: Are we more than what we do for a living or where we’re born? And if so, what price, if any, is too steep to walk away from family expectations?To Everything A Season is a perfect book club selection—smart and sophisticated women's fiction that invites discussion as well as touches the heart.Awards for To Everything A Season:2018 Next Generation Indie Book Awards, Finalist, Multicultural Fiction category12th Annual National Indie Excellence Awards, Finalist, Multicultural Fiction category
Because of You
Allie Boniface - 2019
Blake Carter's fraternity was scandalized. Misterion College closed down altogether. And Blake's girlfriend, Emerson Doyle, fled the island after her best friend died and never looked behind her.Now they're back.Blake's the CEO of a multi-million dollar tech firm looking to relocate to the island. Emerson owns a yoga studio in the building he wants to buy. They haven't spoken in ten years. They're on opposite sides of the bargaining table.But old flames die hard.And the more Blake and Emerson fight both the past and each other, the more they realize that coming to terms with tragedy is their only chance of finding love again...
Hadley & Grace
Suzanne Redfearn - 2021
A woman who can’t even kill a spider, Hadley soon finds herself pushed to the limits as she fights to protect her family.Grace, new mother of baby Miles, desperately wants to put her rough past behind her for good, but she finds it impossible when her path crosses with Hadley’s, and her quest for a new start quickly spirals out of control and turns into a terrifying flight for survival.Stronger together than apart, the two find their fates inextricably entwined, and as the danger closes in, each must decide how much she is willing to risk for the other.A powerful story of self-discovery, Hadley and Grace is the heart-racing tale of two women facing insurmountable odds, racing to stay one step ahead of the trouble that is chasing them, and discovering new kinds of love and family along the way.
The Seven Day Switch
Kelly Harms - 2021
What a difference a week makes in a heartfelt, laugh-out-loud novel by the Washington Post bestselling author of The Overdue Life of Amy Byler.Celeste Mason is the Pinterest stay-at-home supermom of other mothers’ nightmares. Despite her all-organic, SunButter-loving, free-range kids, her immaculate home, and her volunteering awards, she still has time to relax with a nice glass of pinot at the end of the day. The only thing that ruins it all is her workaholic, career-obsessed neighbor, who makes no secret of what she thinks of Celeste’s life choices every chance she gets.Wendy Charles is a celebrated productivity consultant, columnist, and speaker. On a minute-by-minute schedule, she makes the working-mom hustle look easy. She even spends at least one waking hour a day with her kids. She’s not apologizing for a thing. Especially to Celeste, who plays her superior parenting against Wendy whenever she can.Who do Celeste and Wendy think they are? They’re about to find out thanks to one freaky week. After a neighborhood potluck and too much sangria, they wake up—um, what?—in each other’s bodies. Everything Celeste and Wendy thought they knew about the “other kind of mom” is flipped upside down—along with their messy, complicated, maybe not so different lives.
lost in texas
Sandy Appleyard - 2021
The city girl in a strange predicament. The scoundrel that thinks fiancés come with a price tag.Never, ever date a client. That’s what I keep telling myself. Until Terence Daniels walks into my office. Fine. I caved. Biggest mistake of my life. Next thing I know I’m fleeing Louisiana, hunkering down with my best friend in Dallas. I’m starving, terrified, so confused, and I’m thinking…things just cannot get any worse. Until Kate’s car breaks down outside this bar that looks like their patrons kill women with sticks. We have no choice but to go inside. What I find in there is nothing that I would expect. What unfolds in the coming weeks are more mistakes. Better ones. And then one that I’ll forever call my favorite mistake.***After the day I’ve had, I’d sooner eat my boot than cook something. My brother Zack agrees, so we go to this hillbilly bar, where we keep a tab. One cranky woman and her sidekick show up, looking like lawyers among us cowboys, and we ask if we can help. The cranky one thinks we’re trying to steal her car, but the other one softens. All is fine and dandy until she hits us with something that would shock a groundhog back into his burrow until hell freezes over. The look in her eyes is what gets me. Fear. I can’t stand that in a woman. Especially this one, with the tough exterior, making out like she’s fine when inside she’s a crumbling mess. Never figured she’d turn things around like she does. Never figured I’d be the one to help her put it all back together. Never figured she’d see right through me yet show me the way in a way that nobody else has.…and for the life of me, I never figured that she’d inadvertently bring so much danger to the ranch.HEA (Happily Ever After)Ranch romanceCowboy romanceMedium heatCourse languageCliffhanger ending
The Drought
Lily White - 2012
Reserves are drying up, local officials have failed to enforce water-rationing regulations, and the relentless heat is causing panic and unrest among the town's citizens.The Drought follows an eclectic cast of characters through a volatile two weeks of greed, lust, and violence, leading to an inevitable and extraordinary climax no one will see coming.And it all begins with Willie Strasbourg stealing a pair of underwear from the girl next door . . .
Love at Sunset Lake
Sally Bayless - 2018
An artist who's withdrawn from the world. A property battle that just might heal them both.When struggling caterer Tess Palmer inherits her great-aunt's home at Sunset Lake, Missouri, she thinks she's found the way to save her business. Selling the property can provide just the infusion of capital she needs to pay off her debts and move to a larger commercial kitchen.Wildlife painter Jack Hamlin, who lives across Sunset Lake, wants the area kept exactly as it is--a place where waterfowl can thrive and where he can find peace and solitude to ease his troubled heart. Although he's drawn to Tess's honesty and beauty, he's appalled to learn she would welcome a deal with a developer, and he vows to stop her.As Tess discovers the reasons why Jack is so passionate about protecting the lake, she finds him more and more attractive. She takes a tentative step past her own emotional pain to risk her heart again. But there seems to be no solution to the impasse over the property. As a sale becomes imminent, can Jack and Tess trust God--and each other--and finally find a love that will last?
My Perfect Life at Cornish Cottage
S.J. Crabb - 2016
Sophie Bailey has it all or so she thinks until one day she wakes up to find that her husband of 20 years is leaving her for a younger woman. With no job, no money, no self esteem and the threat of losing her home Sophie will have to push aside her heartbreak and act fast. With a 6 year old son and wayward puppy to care for failure is not an option. As if things aren't bad enough she finds herself village gossip fodder, pursued by the mafia - playground variety, forced into servitude and resigns herself to a lifetime of shopping in Poundland. On the plus side there is the gorgeous Mr Rainford on hand to fantasise about twice a day. The only one she can count on is her totally mad friend who thinks that life is like one of the books on her Kindle. With her 40th birthday looming Sophie doesn't think that it can get any worse - she was wrong. Suddenly Sophie's life goes Viral! A bittersweet love story that will have you laughing out loud before crying into your latte. When life explodes around you who can you really count on? This is a story of shattered dreams and broken promises. When life deals you a hard blow you have no choice but to carry on. Throw in a mad dose of humour and you can get through anything. Can't you?
Woman Last Seen in Her Thirties
Camille Pagán - 2018
Perpetually anxious, she’s also accumulated a list of semi-reasonable fears: falling air conditioners, the IRS, identity theft, skydiving, and airbag recalls. But never once did Maggie worry that her husband of nearly thirty years would leave her.On the day Adam walks out the door, everything that makes Maggie secure goes with him. Only then does she realize that while she’s been busy caring for everyone else, she’s become invisible to the world—and to herself.Maggie cautiously begins to rebuild her life with a trip to Rome, a new career, and even a rebound romance. But when a fresh crisis strikes and an uncertain future looms, she must decide: How much will she risk to remain the woman she’s just become?
The Forgotten Hours
Katrin Schumann - 2019
Katie’s life fell apart almost a decade earlier, during an idyllic summer at her family’s cabin on Eagle Lake when her best friend accused her father of sexual assault. Throughout his trial and imprisonment, Katie insisted on his innocence, dodging reporters and clinging to memories of the man she adores.Now he’s getting out. Yet when Katie returns to the shuttered lakeside cabin, details of that fateful night resurface: the chill of the lake, the heat of first love, the terrible sting of jealousy. And as old memories collide with new realities, they call into question everything she thinks she knows about family, friends, and, ultimately, herself. Now, Katie’s choices will be put to the test with life-altering consequences.
Wasted Pretty
Jamie Beth Cohen - 2019
Alice has mixed feelings about her surprising transformation.On the plus side: Chris Thompson, the hot college guy she has a crush on, talks to her.On the minus side: Her dad's creepy friend, professional athlete Karl Bell, lets his eyes, and his hugs, linger too long.After a disturbing encounter in a dark hallway, Alice realizes the response some men have to her new body isn’t just disgusting, it’s dangerous. Her life is further complicated by her parents’ crumbling finances and the family’s entanglement with Karl.Set in Pittsburgh in 1992, Wasted Pretty is about a girl determined to protect her body, her future, and her heart.
Honeysuckle Season
Mary Ellen Taylor - 2020
Though her new life as a wedding photographer provides a semblance of purpose, it’s also a distraction from her profound pain.When asked to photograph a wedding at the historic Woodmont estate, Libby meets the owner, Elaine Grant. Hoping to open Woodmont to the public, Elaine has employed young widower Colton Reese to help restore the grounds and asks Libby to photograph the process. Libby is immediately drawn to the old greenhouse shrouded in honeysuckle vines.As Libby forms relationships and explores the overgrown—yet hauntingly beautiful—Woodmont estate, she finds the emotional courage to sort through her father’s office. There she discovers a letter that changes everything she knows about her parents, herself, and the estate. Beneath the vines of the old greenhouse lie generations of secrets, and it’s up to Libby to tend to the fruits born of long-buried seeds.
When You Were Older
Catherine Ryan Hyde - 2012
On the morning of September 11, 2001, the phone rings while Rusty is rushing to work. The news is devastating: Rusty's mother has died of a stroke, leaving his brain-damaged older brother Ben alone. This news also saves Rusty's life. He's still at home when two planes hit the World Trade Center--and only one of his friends and colleagues survives. In a single day, the life Rusty built in New York crumbles to the ground. Rusty returns to his tiny hometown and the brother he was more than happy to leave behind. Ben hasn't changed a bit, but the town has. Tensions are running high in the wake of the terrorist attack, while Rusty struggles to put the the past behind him and care for the exasperating brother he loves. He finds refuge drinking coffee in the early morning with beautiful Egyptian-American Anat in her father's bakery. Rusty is beginning to get his life back...until one awful night threatens to take it all away again.
Like Wind Against Rock
Nancy Kim - 2021
But in the face of divorce, eviction, and the recent death of her father, she doesn’t have a choice.Watching as her mother thrives in a new job and meets younger men at the local gym, Alice struggles, reflecting on her parents’ marriage, her relationship with each of them, as she adjusts to being single again for the first time in twenty years. Then she finds her father’s old journal…and uncovers a shocking family secret that forces her to question everything she thought she knew about love, regret, family, and her own path forward.As Alice comes to terms with the man her father really was, she must finally decide who she wants to be and what it will take to get there.
Evanthia's Gift
Effie Kammenou - 2015
An emotional novel about family bonds and the difficult pull between home and heritage. In the year 1956, Anastacia Fotopoulos finds herself pregnant and betrayed, fleeing from a bad marriage. With the love and support of her dear friends Stavros and Soula Papadakis, Ana is able to face the challenges of single motherhood. Left with emotional wounds, she resists her growing affection for Alexandros Giannakos, an old acquaintance. But his persistence and unconditional love for Ana and her child is eventually rewarded and his love is returned. In a misguided, but well-intentioned effort to protect the ones they love, both Ana and Alex keep secrets - ones that could threaten the delicate balance of their family. The story continues in the 1970’s as Dean and Demi Papadakis, and Sophia Giannakos attempt to negotiate between two cultures. Now Greek-American teenagers, Sophia and Dean, who have shared a special connection since childhood, become lovers. Sophia is shattered when Dean rebels against the pressure his father places on him to uphold his Greek heritage and hides his feelings for her. When he pulls away from his family, culture and ultimately his love for her, Sophia is left with no choice but to find a life different from the one she’d hoped for. EVANTHIA’S GIFT is a multigenerational love story spanning fifty years and crossing two continents, chronicling the lives that unify two families.