Having the Soldier's Baby


Tara Taylor Quinn - 2019
    So when Winston arrives on her doorstep very much alive, Emily’s overjoyed. Winston’s a changed man, though. He may have survived the unthinkable. But he believes he doesn’t deserve Emily—or their unborn child. And Winston’s secret shakes Emily to the core. But at that core is still love…

The Unexpected Gift of Joseph Bridgeman


Nick Jones - 2015
    When his annoying accountant suggests hypnotherapy might help him sleep, Joseph accidentally discovers he can time-travel and things get a little complicated. With the help of Vinny, a local record shop owner, Mark, his old school friend, and Alexia Finch, his hypno-time-travel guru, Joe sets out to change the course of his life. He needs to get back to 1992, the year his world fell apart, the year that Amy, his sister, went missing. The only problem (apart from his clothes disappearing) is that the further back he goes the less time he gets to stay there. Can Joe master his new-found gift before time catches up with him?

Ditch Flowers


Amanda Linsmeier - 2015
    Just holding one sets Julia’s heart thumping. She’s wanted a child for so long. When she finally gets pregnant, she’s bursting to tell the world….until a checkup from the doctor confirms a miscarriage.Julia’s world feels like it’s dissolving. This second tragedy following her father-in-law’s death, shakes her and her husband Greg. To support his mother, they uproot their lives and move to Greg’s childhood home. Under the bright Midwestern sky, Julia can feel a new world and new hope beginning.But trouble comes in threes, and soon a boy shows up at Julia’s new daycare whose blue eyes and freckled face look eerily like Greg’s. Despite her love for her husband, Julia finds her thoughts haunted by the boy’s face, and she can’t shake the feeling that her husband has a secret.

Where Hope Begins


Catherine West - 2018
    With her daughter in college and her son in boarding school, Savannah retreats to her parents’ lake house in the Berkshires, where hope and healing come in the form of an old woman’s wisdom, a little girl’s laughter, a touch of magic, and a handsome man who’s willing to risk his own heart to prove she’s still worth loving.But when her husband asks to reconcile, Savannah is faced with the hardest challenge of all: Forgiving the unforgivable. Somehow she must find freedom from the chains of their past and move forward, or face an unknown future without him.

The Silver Compass


Holly Kennedy - 2008
    Then along came Louie, who saved her from shame with a beautiful lie. He changed several lives on that day. Now, recently widowed and with a troubled teenage daughter of her own, Ellis has returned to her childhood home, where life will catch her by surprise-and point her in new directions.

The Spark


Vi Keeland - 2021
    A deep, velvety voice answered, and as luck would have it, he had my suitcase, too.Donovan and I met at a coffee shop to do the exchange. Turned out, it wasn’t just his voice that was sexy. The man holding my luggage was absolutely gorgeous, and we had an immediate spark. He got me to admit that I’d snooped in his bag and then convinced me to make it up to him by letting him buy me coffee. Coffee led to dinner, dinner led to dessert, and dessert led to spending an entire weekend together. Donovan wasn’t just handsome with a panty-dropping voice. He was also funny, smart, and surprisingly down to earth for a man who wore seven-hundred-dollar shoes. Did I mention he also did my laundry while I slept?Definitely too good to be true.So what did I do to repay him for his kindness?I waited until he was in the shower, then ghosted him.My life was too complicated for such a great guy.In the months that passed, I thought about Donovan often. But New York City had eight million people, so what were the chances I’d run into him? Then again, what were the chances I’d run into him a year later…when I’d just started dating his boss?

Kings of Mayhem


Penny Dee - 2019
    We grew up side by side. Two kids tied together by the Kings of Mayhem Motorcycle Club. But I broke us. I broke her. So, she fled. Now she’s back after twelve long years. And I’m going to show her all the reasons why we should be together and make her forget all the reasons why we shouldn’t. INDY I’m back in town but only because I have to be. I’m here to help my mom bury my father. And the sooner we get it done, the better. Because I want to see Cade as much as I want a hole in the head. He broke me once—no, he broke my everything— and I’ll be damned if I’ll let him do it again. Get in and get out. That is the plan. But you know what they say about best-laid plans.

Indiscretion


Charles Dubow - 2012
    Someone who writes it down after it's all over. Why am I the narrator of this story? I am because it is the story of my life—and of the people I love most. . . ."Harry and Madeleine Winslow have been blessed with talent, money, and charm. Harry is a National Book Award–winning author on the cusp of greatness. Madeleine is a woman of sublime beauty and grace whose elemental goodness and serenity belie a privileged upbringing. Bonded by deep devotion, they share a love that is both envied and admired. The Winslows play host to a coterie of close friends and acolytes eager to bask in their golden radiance, whether they are in their bucolic East Hampton cottage, abroad in Rome thanks to Harry's writing grant, or in their comfortable Manhattan brownstone.One weekend at the start of the summer season, Harry and Maddy, who are in their early forties, meet Claire and cannot help but be enchanted by her winsome youth, quiet intelligence, and disarming naivete. Drawn by the Winslows' inscrutable magnetism, Claire eagerly falls into their welcoming orbit. But over the course of the summer, her reverence transforms into a dangerous desire. By Labor Day, it is no longer enough to remain one of their hangers-on.A story of love, lust, deception, and betrayal as seen through the omniscient eyes of Maddy's childhood friend Walter, a narrator akin to Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby, Indiscretion is a juicy, richly textured novel filled with fascinating, true-to-life characters—an irresistibly sensual page-turner that explores having it all and the consequences of wanting more.

No Way Back


Kelly Florentia - 2017
    Audrey Fox has been dumped by her unreliable fiancé Nick Byrne just days before the wedding. Heartbroken and confused, the last thing she expects when she jumps on a plane to convalesce in Cyprus is romance. But a chance meeting with handsome entrepreneur and father-of-one Daniel Taylor weaves her into a dating game she's not sure she's ready for. Audrey's life is thrown into further turmoil when she discovers on her return to London that Nick has been involved in a serious motorcycle accident that's left him in intensive care. Distraught yet determined to look to the future, Audrey must make a decision - follow her heart or listen to well-meaning advice from family and friends? Because sometimes, no matter what, it's the people that we love who can hurt us the most...

A Father’s Revenge


Kitty Neale - 2011
    Pearl, thinking that Bessie will recover from her illness and live for many more years, agrees, but less than a week later, Bessie passes away.Pearl will now have to take over Nora’s care and plans to take her to Winchester. However, when Bessie’s will is read, she has left the shop and premises to Pearl, yet with a proviso. Pearl not only has to take over Nora’s care, she must do it in Battersea, moving into the shop and premises and living there for the rest of Nora’s natural life. Then, and only then, can she sell up.While Pearl is persuaded to move back to Battersea, Kevin is granted parole but desperate for money, approaches his parents. Once he gets what he wants Kevin intends to see his son, and nothing is going to stand in his way.

Contingency


Paula Wiseman - 2010
    The email teases, "My whole evening is free again." After an angry confrontation with Chuck, she is left with the broken remains of an eighteen year marriage. Where is God? Bobbi agrees forgiving Chuck is the right thing, the God-honoring thing to do, but it leaves her empty and isolated. Teaching her second-graders is a burden. Taking care of her boys saps all her energy. It seems God Himself has walked away, leaving her to struggle alone. Is God faithful? Bobbi can't deny the transformation in Chuck, but genuine forgiveness requires trust, and trust is a risk she's not willing to take. Can she let go of her deepest, most primal fears and save her marriage?

A Family Affair


Mary Campisi - 2006
    Her father has another family which includes a mistress and a daughter. Determined to uncover the truth behind her father's secret life, Christine heads to Magdalena, prepared to hate the people who have caused her to question everything she thought she knew about her father. But what she finds is a woman who understands her, a half sister who cherishes her, and a man who could love her if she'll let him. The longer she's around them, the more she questions which family is the real one. . . Attention Book Clubs! Included on my website is a Book Club Discussion Guide for A Family Affair. This story is filled with moral ambiguity, difficult choices, and second chances--all great topics for conversation and contemplation. Truth in Lies Series: Book One: A Family Affair Book Two: A Family Affair: Spring Book Three: A Family Affair: Summer Book Four: A Family Affair: Fall Book Five: A Family Affair: Christmas Book Six: A Family Affair: Winter (TBA) Book Seven: A Family Affair: The Promise (TBA)

This Heavy Silence


Nicole Mazzarella - 2005
    A sudden, inexplicable event leaves the daughter of her childhood friend in her care. Pressured by her community to allow her former fiancé to raise the child, Dottie must face the past she has worked fifteen years to forget.Spanning a decade, This Heavy Silence explores the power of the vows we make to others, and, more binding, those we make to ourselves. Evoking the hardship, spring-fed beauty, and the complexities of community in the rural Midwest, this award-winning, beautifully observed novel leads us to question our ideas about motherhood, faith, and the debts we owe. "Like the land she inhabits and the people she attends, Nicole Mazzarella offers a subtle and enduring beauty, born of intense interiority, and vision both broad and deep." -Scott Cairns, author of Philokalia: New & Selected Poems

The End of the Road


Rosaline Riley - 2014
    But almost before the weekend gets under way, Fran goes missing – a seemingly inexplicable happening which throws Jane’s life and those of their inter-related families into turmoil again. In the months following this traumatic weekend, as one guilty secret after another comes to light, she is forced to re-assess both her marriage and her relationship with Fran. The End Of The Road is a novel about family relationships, friendship, betrayal and deception. The wise, we are told, forgive but do not forget. But is forgiveness ever really possible when some things are impossible to forget?

Love Me in the Dark


Mia Asher - 2017
    He was the artist upstairs with the tantalizing smile and laughing eyes.He was the devil inviting me to sin, seducing me to dance in the bright moonlight.He was desire and need.When he touched me, my body sang. My soul came alive.But I belonged to another man, and he didn't want to let me go.