Book picks similar to
The Summer Season by Julia Williams
chick-lit
romance
julia-williams
ebook
The Irresistible Blueberry Bakeshop & Cafe
Mary Simses - 2013
Ellen leaves Manhattan and her Kennedy-esque fiance for Beacon, Maine. What should be a one-day trip is quickly complicated when she almost drowns in the chilly bay and is saved by a local carpenter. The rescue turns Ellen into something of a local celebrity, which may or may not help her unravel the past her grandmother labored to keep hidden. As she learns about her grandmother and herself, it becomes clear that a 24-hour visit to Beacon may never be enough. The Irresistible Blueberry Bakeshop & Cafe is a warm and delicious debut about the power of a simpler life.
The First Last Kiss
Ali Harris - 2004
The first time Molly kissed Ryan, she knew they'd be together forever. Six years and thousands of kisses later she's married to the man she loves. But today, when Ryan kisses her, Molly realises how many of them she wasted because the future holds something which neither of them could have ever predicted…
Save the Date
Mary Kay Andrews - 2014
The only problem is, life seems to be conspiring against her. Cara's implacable father, "The Colonel", doesn't believe in Cara's business savvy and is about to call in his twenty-thousand-dollar loan. Then, on the morning that someone steals her dog, Cara's refrigerator goes on the blink, turning twelve thousand dollars' worth of gorgeous blooms into road kill. And if that's not enough, the dog-napper, Jack Finnerty, turns up at her latest wedding and then mysteriously leaves her stranded on the dance floor.All this turmoil will be solved if Cara can pull off the lavish Trappnell-Strayhorn wedding. The payday will solve all her problems—even the looming problem of a celebrated florist named Cullen Keane who is moving into her turf from Charleston. But the wedding is in six weeks, the bride is acting strangely (even for a bride) and the stepmother of the bride is becoming Cara's biggest headache. What Cara needs is to focus, but that's not easy when Jack is turning up at every wedding in Savannah (the man seems to know everybody), with Cara in his sights and seduction on his mind.When Brooke Trappnell spirals into a shocking crisis and the wedding is in jeopardy, Cara must come to the rescue and figure out what she really believes in. Is it love? Is it her own strength? In the end, for everyone, "Save the Date" has more meanings than one. Told with Mary Kay Andrews's trademark wit and keen eye for detail, Save the Date is one you won't want to miss.
The Color of Tea
Hannah Tunnicliffe - 2011
It was time to find a life for myself. To make something out of nothing. The end of hope and the beginning of it too. After moving with her husband to the tiny, bustling island of Macau, Grace Miller finds herself a stranger in a foreign land—a lone redhead towering above the crowd on the busy Chinese streets. As she is forced to confront the devastating news of her infertility, Grace’s marriage is fraying and her dreams of family have been shattered. She resolves to do something bold, something her impetuous mother would do, and she turns to what she loves: baking and the pleasure of afternoon tea.Grace opens a café where she serves tea, coffee, and macarons—the delectable, delicate French cookies colored like precious stones—to the women of Macau. There, among fellow expatriates and locals alike, Grace carves out a new definition of home and family. But when her marriage reaches a crisis, secrets Grace thought she had buried long ago rise to the surface. Grace realizes it’s now or never to lay old ghosts to rest and to begin to trust herself. With each mug of coffee brewed, each cup of tea steeped and macaron baked, Grace comes to learn that strength can be gleaned from the unlikeliest of places.A delicious, melt-in-your-mouth novel featuring the sweet pleasures of French pastries and the exotic scents and sights of China, The Color of Tea is a scrumptious story of love, friendship and renewal.
Your Perfect Year
Charlotte Lucas - 2016
He’s going to enjoy the day…
For hyper-particular publishing heir Jonathan Grief, the day starts like any other—with a strict morning fitness regimen that’ll keep his divorced, easily irritated, cynical, forty-two-year-old self in absolutely flawless physical condition. But all it takes to put a crimp in his routine is one small annoyance. Someone has left a leather-bound day planner with the handwritten title Your Perfect Year in his spot on his mountain bike at his fitness course!Determined to discover its owner, Jonathan opens the calendar to find that someone known only as “H.” has filled it in with suggestions, tasks, and affirmative actions for each day. The more he devotes himself to locating the elusive H., the deeper Jonathan is drawn into someone else’s rich and generous narrative—and into an attitude adjustment he desperately needs.He may have ended up with a perfect year by accident, but it seems fate has set Jonathan on a path toward healing, feeling, and maybe even loving again…if only he can meet the stranger who’s changing his life one day at a time.
Summer Sisters
Judy Blume - 1998
Dazzling, reckless Caitlin welcomed Vix into the heart of her sprawling, eccentric family, opening doors to a world of unimaginable privilege, sweeping her away to vacations on Martha's Vineyard, a magical, wind-blown island where two friends became summer sisters...Now, years later, Vix is working in New York City. Caitlin is getting married on the Vineyard. And the early magic of their long, complicated friendship has faded. But Caitlin has begged Vix to come to her wedding, to be her maid of honor. And Vix knows that she will go—for the friend whose casual betrayals she remembers all too well. Because Vix wants to understand what happened during that last shattering summer. And, after all these years, she needs to know why her best friend—her summer sister—still has the power to break her heart...
My Husband's Sweethearts
Bridget Asher - 2008
After all, Artie’s sweethearts were there for the good times—is it fair that Lucy should have to manage the hard times herself? In this wise, wickedly funny new novel, Lucy dials up the women in Artie’s black book and invites them for one last visit. The last thing she expects is that any will actually show up.But one by one, they do show up: The one who hates him. The one who owes her life to him. The one he turned into a lesbian, and the one he taught to dance. And among them is a visitor with the strangest story of all: the young man who may or may not be Artie’s long-lost son.For Lucy, the jaw-dropping procession of women is an education in the man she can’t forgive and couldn’t leave. And as the women find themselves sharing secrets and sharing tears, they start to discover kindred spirits—and even something that’s a lot like family. But Lucy knows one thing for certain: the biggest surprises are yet to come….Full of heart, Bridget Asher’s unforgettable novel is about mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and the deep friendships between women. It’s about sweet liars and tenderhearted cheaters—about loving those we love for reasons we can’t always fully rationalize, and about the sort of forgiveness that can change someone’s entire life in the most unexpected and extraordinary ways.From the Hardcover edition.
The Fortnight in September
R.C. Sherriff - 1931
The family’s only regret is leaving their garden where, we can imagine, because it is September the dahlias are at their fiery best: as they flash past in the train they get a glimpse of their back garden, where ‘a shaft of sunlight fell through the side passage and lit up the clump of white asters by the apple tree.’ This was what the First World War soldiers longed for; this, he imagined, was what he was fighting for and would return to (as in fact Sherriff did).He had had the idea for his novel at Bognor Regis: watching the crowds go by, and wondering what their lives were like at home, he ‘began to feel the itch to take one of those families at random and build up an imaginary story of their annual holiday by the sea...I wanted to write about simple, uncomplicated people doing normal things.’
The Bungalow
Sarah Jio - 2011
In the summer of 1942, twenty-one-year-old Anne Calloway, newly engaged, sets off to serve in the Army Nurse Corps on the Pacific island of Bora-Bora. More exhilarated by the adventure of a lifetime than she ever was by her predictable fiancé, she is drawn to a mysterious soldier named Westry, and their friendship soon blossoms into hues as deep as the hibiscus flowers native to the island. Under the thatched roof of an abandoned beach bungalow, the two share a private world-until they witness a gruesome crime, Westry is suddenly redeployed, and the idyll vanishes into the winds of war.A timeless story of enduring passion from the author of Blackberry Winter and The Violets of March, The Bungalow chronicles Anne's determination to discover the truth about the twin losses-of life, and of love-that have haunted her for seventy years.
The Goodbye Gift
Amanda Brooke - 2016
Just twenty-four, she’s spent most of her life going in and out of hospital and after numerous operations, there’s nothing more the doctors can do, other than wait for the right donor. The day she gets the call is a day of joy and sorrow. Because for Lucy to get a new heart, someone else doesn’t need it any longer…Julia, Helen and Phoebe are bound by long-standing friendship and mutual support, but each faces her own demons and a tragic accident is about to impact on their lives in a way they couldn’t have foreseen.As the bonds of friendship are tested, we know one thing: Lucy will get her heart. The question is, who will give the gift of life?
All the Beautiful Girls
Elizabeth J. Church - 2018
When she was eight years old, Lily Decker somehow survived the auto accident that killed her parents and sister, but neither her emotionally distant aunt nor her all-too-attentive uncle could ease her grief. Dancing proves to be Lily's only solace, and eventually she receives a "scholarship" to a local dance academy--courtesy of a mysterious benefactor.Grown and ready to leave home for good, Lily changes her name to Ruby Wilde and heads to Las Vegas to be a troupe dancer, but her sensual beauty and voluptuous figure land her work instead as a showgirl performing everywhere from Les Folies Bergere at the Tropicana to the Stardust's Lido de Paris. Wearing costumes dripping with feathers and rhinestones, five-inch heels, and sky-high headdresses, Ruby may have all the looks of a Sin City success story, but she still must learn to navigate the world of men--and figure out what real love looks like.With her uncanny knack for understanding the hidden lives of women, Elizabeth J. Church captures both the iconic extravagance of an era and the bravery of a young woman who dances through her sadness to find connection, freedom, and, most important, herself.Advance praise for All the Beautiful Girls"A riveting novel, at once raw and tender, of a woman's struggle to heal the wounds of a devastating childhood . . . Elizabeth J. Church makes us feel Ruby Wilde's pain and root for her to survive. This is a heartbreaking story, passionately told."--Ellen Feldman, author of Next to LovePraise for Elizabeth J. Church's The Atomic Weight of Love"Oh, what an incandescent debut! Church follows one extraordinary woman who is brave to enough to challenge the times, take defiant wing, and chart her own extraordinary flight path. The Atomic Weight of Love is so engrossing I couldn't wait to read another page, and so alive I never wanted the story to end."--Caroline Leavitt, author of Is This Tomorrow"A tightly crafted novel."--The New York Times Book Review"Exquisite . . . the beautifully written story of a woman who must negotiate the tricky terrain of love, responsibility, ambition, and sacrifice. . . . It shows the impossible choices women faced--and still face--between family and self."--Tara Conklin, author of The House Girl"What does love require of us? How does one strike a balance between compromise and self-fulfillment? In her debut novel, Church writes to these issues in a style that is thoughtful and elegant. . . . Church hits the mark in this emotionally driven debut."--Library Journal"A striking story of a woman forced to choose between the future she desires or the path society insists she take."
--Harper's Bazaar
"An elegant glimpse into the evolution of love and womanhood."--Kirkus Reviews