Book picks similar to
The Italian Island by Daniela Sacerdoti


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A Christmas at Gingerbread Falls


Katie Mettner - 2021
    Filled with twinkling lights, festive carols, and happy endings, they’re the perfect escape from reality—for her and the audience. Then Tinseltown calls. Braxton Timothy is Hollywood’s biggest action star. Handsome and talented but decidedly on the naughty list, no one can fathom his sudden desire to produce a feel-good Christmas movie—least of all, his no-name co-star. Alternating between scenes reminiscent of everyone’s favorite made-for-TV movies and unexpected, off-screen chemistry, Gingerbread Falls has surprises in store this holiday season. The question is, will there be enough Christmas magic to convince two imperfect people that they’re perfect for each other?

Wishing Under a Starlit Skye


Lisa Hobman - 2022
    Glentorrin bakery owner, and lone parent, Caitlin Fraser, is single and finally ready to mingle.With her daughter, Grace, about to become a teenager, and her friends all settling down, Caitlin decides she deserves a shot at happiness too.Resisting the pull of dating apps, Caitlin embarks upon a series of disastrous singles events where she bumps into fellow villager, and astronomy buff, Archie Sutherland, who is nursing his own past secrets.When Grace’s best friend’s father, handsome Lyle Budge, asks Caitlin to dinner, things progress quickly and she has a taste of what their future as a family could be, much to both their daughters delight! But when Archie makes a shocking discovery, and he turns to Caitlin for help, she soon discovers Lyle isn’t the sharing type, meaning prickly ultimatums loom for everyone.Will wishing upon the stars over Glentorrin help Caitlin to figure out her way forward? Or is her hunt for romance like a once in a lifetime comet, easily missed in the blink of an eye?

The Runaway Children: The heartbreaking, page-turning new historical saga from Lindsey Hutchinson for 2022


Lindsey Hutchinson - 2022
    

My Mother's Secret


Julia Roberts - 2021
    I’d have known,’ she says, her voice little more than a whisper and her eyes searching mine. ‘A mother would know if her child died, wouldn’t she?’The phone call comes in the middle of the night, rousing Danni from her safe, warm bed. The police have found her mother Diana wandering along the main road, miles from her house, confused and lost.Danni races to her mother’s side, but when she arrives, as always, her mother doesn’t seem to care. ‘Go away, Danni,’ she says. ‘I don’t want you.’When she was a child, Danni would lie awake at night wondering what she had done to make her mother so cold. Now she is determined to put the past behind them and make Diana as happy as she can in the time they have left.But as some of Diana’s memories are slipping away, others are forcing their way to the surface. One night Diana breaks down in tears and reveals her heartbreaking secret. Years before Danni was born, there was another baby who never got to see the world. Now there is one last thing Danni can do for her mother. She will find her brother’s resting place, and bring Diana some peace.But good intentions can have unexpected consequences, and soon Danni’s life will be changed forever. Are some secrets best left buried?A completely heartbreaking and compelling story of families, secrets, and the fierce love between mothers and children. Fans of Amanda Prowse, Ali Mercer and Jodi Picoult will smile through their tears.

Falling for a French Dream


Jennifer Bohnet - 2021
    After tragically losing her husband, Nicola Jacques and her teenage son Oliver relocate to his father’s family's olive farm in the hills above the French Riviera.Due to a family feud, Oliver has never known his father's side of the family but Grandpapa Henri is intent that Oliver will take over the reins of the ancestral farm and his rightful inheritance.Determined to keep her independence from a rather controlling Grandpapa, Nicola buys a run-down cottage on the edge of the family's Olive Farm and sets to work renovating their new home and providing an income by cultivating the small holding that came with the Cottage.As the summer months roll by, Nicola and Oliver begin to settle happily into their new way of life with the help of Aunts Josephine and Odette, Henri’s twin sisters and local property developer Gilles Bongars.But the arrival of some unexpected news and guests at the farm, force Nicole and Aunt Josephine to assess what and where their futures lie.This book was previously published as The French Legacy.

Protecting His Brother’s Babies


Katie Knight - 2020
    After her boss and ex, Devon Shepperton, ends up dead, Lake worries someone is trying to kill her too.When Devon’s Navy SEAL twin, Drake, shows up to settle his late brother’s estate, she reaches out for help. Drake offers to keep her safe in his condo until danger passes—especially as she’s pregnant with his brother’s child. But as the two spend more time together, Lake soon realizes that with the gruff and delicious SEAL around, keeping her heart intact might be her biggest challenge.Drake knows he’s returning to his SEAL team, so getting romantically entangled with the gorgeous Lake is definitely off the table. His role is protector, not lover. Then comes The Kiss. That one kiss from Lake is throwing him off his game, and making him feel things he’s never felt.But he needs to stay focused. The danger to Lake is very real, and he strongly suspects the Shepperton Foundation is at the heart of it. As the danger swirling around them becomes a tempest, Drake finds himself drawn closer to Lake, realizing he’ll do just about anything to keep her safe. And to win her heart…

The Boatman's Wife


Noëlle Harrison - 2021
    She might never be able to lay his body to rest, but she could gain some kind of closure by finding out who the man she married was.When Lily married her soulmate Connor, buffeted by the sea spray and wild winds of her coastal homeland in Maine, she never imagined she’d be planning his memorial just three years later. Connor has been lost at sea in the bleak stormy Atlantic, leaving Lily heartbroken.But as she prepares to say goodbye to Connor for the last time, she is shocked to discover a message to him that he never told her about: Does your wife know who you really are, Connor Fitzgerald? Don’t ever think you can come home. Because if you do, I swear I’ll kill you.Unable to bear living in the home she and Connor shared, Lily decides to find out her husband’s secret. She flies to Connor’s home town of Mullaghmore on the west coast of Ireland, a harbour town hugged by golden beaches and emerald-green fields. But when doors are slammed in her face, she begins to realise that she knows nothing about her husband’s past.Connor’s grandmother, a hermit living on the cliffs of the wild Atlantic, must know the truth about her grandson. But when Lily tries to find her, threatening notes are pushed through her door warning her not to stay. Will Lily leave the darkness of the past where it belongs? Or will she risk everything to find out the truth about the man she married…A completely heartbreaking story about the lies we tell to protect the ones we love. Fans of The Light Between Oceans, Lisa Wingate and Susanne O’Leary will lose their hearts to The Boatman’s Wife.

The Safe Place


L.A. Larkin - 2021
    The snap of a twig tells her someone is close by. As she treads lightly towards the back door, she says a silent prayer—don’t let him find me…Everyone in Eagle Falls knows Jessie Lewis. Ever since she reported her boyfriend, fire chief and local hero, for beating her, she’s been an outcast from the small town. But when someone sets fire to a house in the woods, killing the entire Troyer family in their beds, the locals turn on her once again. And when rumors circulate about her very public argument with Paul Troyer, they take it as proof that she killed them.Devastated that anyone could think her capable of such an atrocity, Jessie knows that if people don’t believe she’s innocent, more lives will be in danger. She turns to Ruth: new in town, and an ex-FBI agent, Ruth could be the exact person Jessie needs to smoke out the killer. But can she trust her with her life?Days later, another house linked to Jessie is set ablaze. Falling to her knees in the scorched remains, Jessie finds something buried in the ash which she immediately recognizes. The murders must be linked to the death of someone very close to her, and, terrified, she realizes the killer is coming for her…As local wildfires take hold of Eagle Falls and the town is evacuated, Jessie drives at high speed toward the fires, knowing she must put herself in unthinkable danger in order to catch the killer. When she finally faces the person who wants her dead, will she have the strength to take them down first?

Dreams of a Little Cornish Cottage


Nancy Barone - 2021
    But having kicked out her adulterous ex-husband, her house is filled with nothing but echoes and Nat yearns for the coziness and bustle of seaside living. In particular, the rundown Lavender Cottage that has gone up for sale.But when her mother has a fall, Nat's dream of a quiet new life crumbles as she instantly brings her into her home to care for her. With her two energetic nieces then dumped on her doorstep and her recently heartbroken daughter moving back into the nest, Nat can't possibly abandon her family... Lavender cottage will just have to wait.That is until Irishman Connor enters Nat's life and makes her realize that it's okay to put herself first, and she's allowed to wish for more.

Mothers and Daughters


Erica James
    

The Wartime Singers


Lesley Eames - 2021
    

Dublin's Girl


Eimear Lawlor - 2021
    A farm girl from Cavan, Veronica McDermott is desperate to find more to life than peeling potatoes. Persuading her family to let her stay with her aunt and uncle in Dublin so she can attend secretarial college, she has no idea what she is getting into. Recruited by Fr Michael O'Flanagan to type for Eamon De Valera, Veronica is soon caught up in the danger and intrigue of those fighting for Ireland's independence from Britain.The attentions of a handsome British soldier, Major Harry Fairfax, do not go unnoticed by Veronica's superiors. But when Veronica is tasked with earning his affections to gather intelligence for Sinn Féin, it isn't long before her loyalty to her countrymen and her feelings for Harry are in conflict. To choose one is to betray the other...

A Letter from Nana Rose


Kristin Harper - 2021
    You were once so happy in this house. Now I’m gone, all I ask is that you spend one last summer here together on Dune Island. And please forgive me, your Nana, for the secret I’m about to tell you…”Arriving at the honeysuckle-covered beach house inherited from her beloved grandmother, recently heartbroken Jill hopes to convince her two feuding sisters not to sell a place so full of happy childhood memories. But the envelope waiting on the driftwood table changes everything. In her elegant handwriting, Nana Rose promises a new letter will arrive each day of the summer revealing a family secret she took to her grave.Shaken, Jill anxiously awaits each letter filled with Nana’s bittersweet memories of her own sister who she loved more than anyone—and lost far too young. But why did Nana never speak of this tragic loss to her grandchildren?Watching the sunset each night and wondering how well they really knew Nana Rose, Jill feels her family is closer than they’ve been in years. And after a chance encounter with blue-eyed tree surgeon Alex, she wonders if Nana believed being back on Dune Island would help Jill find love, too?But when Nana’s final letter arrives, the revelation about how her sister died is more shocking than Jill ever imagined. Suddenly, despite the chance of happiness with Alex, selling the house seems the only way forward. Will Jill find a way to forge new bonds of sisterhood and save their inheritance, or will Nana Rose’s secret tear them all apart?

The House at Hope Corner


Emma Davies - 2019
    The farmhouse behind her glows pink in the morning sun. It’s like stepping into a postcard, except that this magical place is real. It’s her new home. With her beloved shop in danger of shutting down, meeting Ned, a gorgeous farmer with an irresistible twinkle in his eye, couldn’t have come at a better moment for free-spirited florist, Flora Dunbar. But no one is more surprised than her when their whirlwind romance leads to the offer of a new life on Ned’s farm. Arriving at Hope Corner, Flora sets about becoming the perfect farmer’s wife, but her creative, alternative thinking falls flat in a household built on tradition and strict routine. Even Ned is becoming more distant by the day… Pulling up her signature striped socks and throwing herself into her chores, little by little Flora learns to love the order and patterns of life on the land. But the more she learns about her new home, the more she suspects it’s under threat, and worse, that Ned is hiding a heartbreaking secret from her. But this time, Flora’s not going to run from her problems. Do Ned and his family trust her enough to let her stay and fight for love and the first house she’s ever truly called home? Does she trust herself? An absolutely gorgeous and utterly uplifting romance to sweep you off your feet! Perfect reading for fans of Jenny Colgan, Lucy Diamond and Debbie Johnson. What readers are saying about Emma Davies: ‘Simply brilliant… hooked from the first page and wanted to give it far more than the five stars… so heart-warming and romantic and uplifting and such a delight to read… has you in tears… An amazing read and so uplifting. I highly recommend I couldn't put it down at all.’ Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars ‘A heart-warming, feel-good tale that will have you staying up all night to finish… A wonderful read.’ Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars ‘If you need something to put a smile in your heart this summer, this is it!... A sumptuous read and a first-class series, this is one for your reading list. Without any doubt, it is completely worthy of a full five stars!’ Reviewer Lady Good ‘n’ Read-y, 5 stars ‘I really, really loved this book. It's so full of warmth, it just leaves you feeling all gooey in the middle… Emma's writing is so easy to read and her stories flow along at a wonderful pace... I just LOVE this series and can't wait for the next one!’ Rona Halsall, 5 stars ‘Tears in my eyes and goose pimples galore!’ B Is For Book Review ‘Such a lovely read! Heart-warming and uplifting… A delightful feel-good story that will leave you with a smile on your face.’ Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars ‘A charming story that I enjoyed reading every second of.

Cowboy's Unexpected Family


Leslie North - 2021