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And So We Dream
“A lucidly described coming-of-age tale” about a young boy and three teenage sisters who have “a mysterious, almost mythic feminine glamour.” —Kirkus
"Linda Mahkovec discusses the importance of family, friends, hope, and love, in happy and difficult times. I would highly recommend this thought-provoking and memorable story for other readers!" —Linda's Book Obsession Blog
In this coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, a lonely boy finds acceptance when he spends the summer with a loving family with three beautiful daughters.
Twelve-year-old Joey Roland is sent away to family friends while his parents try to work things out. He’s eager to leave sadness and secrets behind in Chicago and head downstate to the small town of Greenberry, where the Vitale family awaits him. He thinks of their town as boyland—a world of bike riding, fishing, and going barefoot. Though initially shy of the teenaged daughters—Anne, Vita, and Beth—they welcome him into their lives of adventure, beauty, and dreams.
Joey especially bonds with the middle sister, Vita, and her all-or-nothing pursuit of an acting career. Joey's “there must be more” merges with Vita’s “I must make it happen” resulting in a magical summer where the town of Greenbury becomes the crucible for two desperate dreamers.
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Author Bio:
Linda Mahkovec is the author of World War II historical fiction, short stories, and contemporary novels.
Themes of love, family, and home dominate her stories, and though they may be set against the backdrop of war or deal with the disappointments in life, the overarching feel is uplifting and hopeful. Threads that run through her work are the search for beauty and meaning, and the artistic female character—whether she is a painter, a gardener, or simply someone who lives creatively and seeks connection.
Mahkovec was born and raised in a small town in Illinois. She then spent several years in the San Francisco Bay area and Seattle, and for the past thirty years has lived in New York City. She has a PhD in English, specializing in Victorian literature. She has previously published as Agnes Irene.
Book Excerpt:
Prologue
Stage lights, glittering chandeliers, ornate balconies. Crimson brocade curtains and period costumes, a deafening applause. All the stuff of magic and dreams she had so loved.
Joseph’s eyes burned with pride as he watched his old friend and mentor, Vita Vitale, standing center stage bathed in adulation from the audience. Luminous. That was the word that kept coming to his mind. Tall and graceful, the stage lights casting a golden halo around her long auburn hair. She was as beautiful as ever. No. More so. She owned it now. When he knew her, she didn’t know who she was, what she had. She was just a bundle of adolescent yearnings with vague visions of her future.
“Vita!” “Brava!” “Vita!”
All around him the audience cheered her—Vita, Vicky, Victoria, Vi. The girl with all the names. Joseph rose to his feet with the others and continued to applaud. He smiled down at his wife, happy that she was finally encountering one of those three magical sisters he had told her about—Anne, Vita, and Beth. His work had taken him to the far-flung parts of the world, and he had lost touch with the family that had helped to shape him.
Now the gap of almost twenty years had, in an instant, closed on this New York City Broadway stage. And he saw that Vita had kept her promise.
There had been updates from his mother over the years, news that Vita had met with some success. But it wasn’t until recently, now that he was back in the States, that he understood just how successful Vita had become. An unexpected trip to New York City had him reaching out to all his contacts to help get tickets for the final night of her performance.
And now, there she was, the star of a play that had been written for her. He realized with a jolt how appropriate this role was, a play that reminded him of The Tempest. From high above—cliff tops, a tower, a balcony—she wielded her power. Vita—the girl who had been afraid of heights. The brave girl who had sought out the high places in her small, flat Midwestern town in order to conquer her fears.
The curtain briefly closed, and then reopened for another round of applause. The cast linked hands and took another bow. Calls of “Brava!” and “Vita!” continued from the crowd, flowers falling about her feet. Vita took a step forward, gathered up a large bouquet into her arms, and graciously swept a low bow. She placed one hand on her heart and let her eyes travel over the audience, as if thanking each person individually.
Joseph looked about him. They loved her. Wanted more of her. She had made them feel the weight of sorrow, the desperate longing for love, and the ultimate transformation—triumph after despair. They were grateful that she had confirmed hope and love, after loss and hopelessness. She had made them believe in themselves and in the magnificent beauty of life. They didn’t want this moment to end and clapped harder in hopes of prolonging the affirmation.
The crimson curtains slowly closed, and the brightness of the house lights increased. The audience became aware of themselves now, self-conscious of their clapping, of the awkward smiles that passed between people, of the desire to linger in the afterglow of the performance.
After several minutes, the applause lessened, and eyes left the stage. The closed curtains in the bright lights no longer held the universal and the wondrous. The show was over, the magic dispelled. The lights revealed the disarray of people gathering their coats and playbills, exiting the rows, commenting amongst themselves.
Joseph put his arm around his wife’s shoulder and kissed her hair. He saw other couples with arms linked, friends placing a gentle hand on an arm or shoulder, “after you” gestures allowing others to exit the rows—he laughed at himself. Was there really such kindness and gentleness? Or was he once again seeing her world vision?
“We must hurry if we want to catch her,” his wife said, pulling Joseph into the aisle.
They wove their way through the lobby and, once outside, fell in with the line of eager fans. As they waited, the crowd grew larger.
They stood close together in the crisp autumn night, trying to maintain their position by the police barricade that separated the star-struck crowd from the path Vita would take to sign playbills and smile for photographs. Across the street, Joseph saw a similar crowd burst into cheers as the star of that show greeted his fans.
Joseph’s eyes filled with worry. Perhaps she wouldn’t come. She should have been outside by now. When would he have another chance to see her—
His wife drew a sharp breath. “Here she comes! Oh, look at her.” She pulled Joseph a step closer. “Stand here. You haven’t seen her since she was fifteen and you were— what, ten, eleven?”
“I was twelve.” Joseph realized he sounded like a boy again.
“I wonder if she’ll recognize you.”
He shook his head. Of course she wouldn’t.
He could see her clearly now. Though close to twenty years had passed, he recognized the charm and beauty, the smile and determination—and, behind the gaze, the yearning. An unanswered hunger in her eyes. The quest always in the distance.
Joseph had his playbill ready. He overheard the comments from the crowd:
“Don’t worry, she’ll sign.”
“She always makes time for her fans.”
“She’s even more beautiful up close!”
Joseph inched forward. He felt like an overgrown groupie, but he wanted to see Vita face to face, to see if she might remember him.
She made her way down the line. Though she was tall, the crowd diminished her size. Outside, she was an ordinary mortal at the end of her workday.
Yet, there was also that element that made her different from everyone he had ever known. Something that set her apart. Something solitary, otherworldly. Both proud and vulnerable. A contrast that pulled you in. She had access to the world of magic and beauty, and like an alchemist, could transmute the ordinary into the extraordinary. But it came at a price. He saw the world weariness behind the smile and imagined that she desperately needed to be alone now—or was he projecting again? They were alike, after all.
Playbills were thrust forward as Vita’s name was called out. Her manager-husband shielded her from the pressing line of admirers and kept a protective hand on her shoulder, his eyes scanning the adoring crowd.
She was close now and Joseph’s heart beat faster at her nearness. Would she recognize him?
The woman next to him extended her playbill. “To Debbie, please.”
As Vita signed, the woman bounced on her toes in excitement. “Oh, thank you! You were just wonderful! Can I take a picture with you? My sister won’t believe me otherwise.” Vita nodded as the woman twisted sideways so her friend could snap a photograph. “Thank you!”
Joseph leaned forward and offered his playbill.
Vita took it. “How shall I sign?” Her face lifted in a quick smile at him.
His heart sank. Of course, she wouldn’t recognize him, after so many years. She posed for a few cameras, poised her pen, and asked again. “To . . .?”
Joseph swallowed. “To—D’Artagnan.”
Vita’s head snapped up and her eyes flashed. “Joey!” She threw her arms around his neck and squeezed him.
“Oh, Joey!” Her embrace tightened. “Let me look at you!”
Tears shot to his eyes as she said his name. There she was, his old small-town, ordinary friend. Smiling her familiar smile.
“Hello, Vita. You were brilliant!” He took his wife’s hand. “My wife—Souad.”
“Your wife!” Vita embraced her as well. “So pleased to—”
Vita’s husband leaned forward to shake Joseph’s hand. “So this is D’Artagnan! How nice to finally meet you. I wasn’t sure you really existed.”
Joseph flooded with happiness. She had talked about him? His head turned from Vita to her husband to Souad as they all talked over one another.
“Oh, how I wish we could visit—” said Vita.
“But we leave for London in a few hours,” finished her husband. “The show opens in the West End next week.”
Vita clasped Joey’s hands. “Mom sent us photographs from your Moroccan series. They were magnificent!” Her eyes locked on Joseph’s in pride.
“They hang in our London apartment,” said Vita’s husband. “National Geographic!” “That’s—”
“Please sign,” a young woman said, snapping a photo and handing Vita a playbill.
Vita’s husband shrugged in amusement at the demanding fans. “We must get together. Soon.”
Vita looked up from signing and placed a hand on her husband’s arm. “Give him—”
But he was already handing his business card to Joseph.
Vita squeezed their hands in goodbye as she was pushed and pulled down the line. “Call us! We simply have to—” Her words were lost but she kept turning her head back, seeking Joseph, as if convincing herself that he was really there.
In a flash, he remembered her old word. “You were wondrous!” he called after her, and was rewarded by a sweet smile—the shy smile he knew so well, not the professional smile of the actor.
As she signed and posed, her eyes kept searching for him in the crowd.
“She’s just as you said, Joseph!” Souad linked her arm with his and craned her neck to keep Vita in sight.
He followed Vita with his eyes. He was filled, once again, with visions of the world as beguiling and beckoning, and the wild desire to set off on a quest.
He wrapped his arm around his wife. “I knew she’d make it.”
Souad reached up to kiss his cheek. “Just as she knew you would.”
Vita stood tall, scanned the crowd, and found him one last time. Their eyes locked and she gave the old nod of collusion—and waited, just a moment, to see if he would remember.
He broke into a smile at their old “handshake,” their unspoken pact that nothing would get in their way. Their “I will, if you will” bond. He nodded back.
He filled with all the things he wanted to say. That it was she who planted the seeds of hope in him. She who believed in the part of him that was bold and brave and adventurous. She who convinced him that nothing was more important than playing an active role in this wild and wonderful world.
Joseph watched the crowd as it closed around her and her magic. The glittering lights of the theater marquees doubled in brightness for the Night Queen. Or perhaps it was tears of joy that blurred his vision.
Seeing her again had conjured up the past, and he remembered—as if it were just yesterday—that summer.
The summer he learned to dream.
Chapter 1
This was why he didn’t like Chicago. The train station so crowded you couldn’t see anything. Just a swirl of people, brushing and bumping against him as he stood next to his parents. His dad reluctant to hand over the small suitcase.
His mother leaned over one more time to kiss his cheek, smooth his hair, and straighten his collar. “You be good. And call us the moment you arrive.” She handed him the sack lunch she had made.
Joey wished she hadn’t stayed up late baking cookies for him. Her face looked strained, as if she hadn’t slept.
They moved closer to the train.
“You brought your books?” his father asked.
Joey patted his jacket.
“You have a good time,” his mom said. “Play with the neighborhood kids. Remember, the girls are older now and have jobs and boyfriends.”
Joey nodded. “I won’t bother them.”
“And remember, Victoria—as she’ll always be to me—now goes by Vita.”
Joey added that to his list of things to remember.
His father gave a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Everything will be all right, son. We just need a little time to work some things out. That’s all. And in the meantime, you’ll be with your friends, having all kinds of adventures. And the girls . . . What did you used to call them? The Petticoat Junction sisters?”
Joey shrugged. “I don’t know.” He reached for the suitcase.
“Take care, son.” His father’s voice broke.
Joey’s eyes darted around his dad’s face, looking for an answer. Inside, he said, Please don’t cry, please don’t cry, not sure if he meant him or his dad.
“ALL ABOARD!” came the conductor’s long up-reaching cry.
The people in line began to make their way onto the train, waving goodbye, giving a few final embraces. Joey turned around and hugged his mother. “Sorry, Mom.”
“Nonsense. This will be good for you. A little break is all you need. We’ll—we’ll . . .”
“Call when you get there, son.” His father lurched forward in an awkward embrace.
“I will. Bye, Dad.” His eyes began to burn and he squeezed them shut. For one safe moment, he let himself sink into the comfort of his dad’s chest. Then he broke apart and boarded the train.
Joey turned to the left and walked down the aisle behind the other passengers. Midway, he found an empty row. He stashed his suitcase on the overhead rack and sat at the window.
There was his dad, standing marooned, his shoulders pulled down by heavy rock hands. A pasted-on smile that matched his mom’s.
She touched a hankie to her nose, raised her hand, lifted her head.
Joey waved back. Please don’t cry.
Then, in a gesture Joey would always remember—because it was so unfamiliar—his dad draped his arm around his mom’s shoulder. They stood smiling with worried eyes, looking like cardboard-cutout parents that he didn’t recognize.
He became aware of the shuffling all around him as people took their seats. A quick reassuring glance out at his parents. He waved again. And again. They hadn’t budged.
Joey’s hand tightened on the armrest when the train began to move, leaving his parents behind. A final wave, in case they were still looking, in case they could still see him.
He leaned back and released his clutch on the sack lunch, keeping his eyes fixed on the back of the seat ahead of him. Like gazing into a deep black pool that had no reflection. It grew deeper and darker.
He rubbed away the vision and raised his head above the seats, looking in front of him and then behind.
He didn’t see any other kids on the train—none by themselves anyway. He had never traveled alone before. He felt a little older. Like he was already thirteen and had been for a long time.
People were settling in, putting bags and suitcases on the overhead rack, then deciding that they needed a jacket or book that was packed, and getting settled again.
Across from him, two older ladies arranged their knitting projects on their laps. One had a ball of pale pink yarn. The other had shades of blue.
Behind them, two men with Afros were talking about ’Nam. Twisting in their seats, spitting mad. Saying it wasn’t their war. Joey’s next-door neighbor in Chicago, Tony, also had to go to Vietnam. He gave Joey his football pennant when he left. It had felt like a goodbye gift. Maybe it was.
One of the men shot his eyes to Joey and raised his chin.
Joey leaned back in his seat, realizing that he had been staring.
He wanted to tell them that he hoped they would come back. That they wouldn’t get hurt. That’s what he had told Tony. But once the words were out of his mouth, he wished he had thought of something better to say.
Joey looked at the seat back again. In six years or so, it would be his turn to go to war. And who knew if he would come back.
People from the train car behind his were pushing the doors open, hoping to find seating together. He was beginning to think that maybe, just maybe, he would have the whole seat to himself.
No such luck. He moved his jacket to his lap as a large man claimed the seat beside him. Joey looked up at him, ready to give a smile, but the man wasn’t interested in being friendly.
Joey leaned his head back. They were outside the station now. A fine drizzle on the window obscured his view.
The conductor made his way from seat to seat, waddling with the rhythm of the train. Joey lifted his ticket and tried another smile, but the conductor didn’t feel like being friendly either. He punched Joey’s ticket and continued down the aisle.
Joey wondered if his parents were out of the station by now. Were they seated in their car yet? Were they talking on their way back home? Or sitting quietly, deep in their faraway worlds.
After chugging along, the train picked up speed. The drizzle blew sideways in little streaks and cleared the window somewhat, revealing the wide railyard and the world outside. The pale morning air looked sooty. Like some kid had chosen a gray crayon and colored the world blah. His stomach tightened as he gazed out at the rails and tracks converging and splitting off to countless destinations. If the train broke down and he had to get out, he would be lost for sure. This time, without any idea of how to get back home. Broken bottles and papers littered the tracks. Farther away, industrial warehouses and sad-looking buildings leaned against the gray sky. Not a speck of color anywhere. He shut his eyes against the dizzying pull of so many different directions, glad he was going to one place. One very specific place where it would be hard to get lost once he was there.
He rubbed his eyes. They felt grainy from barely sleeping last night. “Don’t bother the girls,” his mother had said as she packed his suitcase. “They’re four years older since the last time you saw them. Teenagers now. Play with the neighborhood boys. And help Sal with his garden.”
“I will.” He would try not to get in anybody’s way. His parents had talked late into the night, this time in soft voices. The one time he wanted to hear them, he couldn’t make out what they were saying.
They were sending him away for the remainder of summer. Alone for the first time in his life. Shipping him off. Dumping their problem on someone else. Joey folded his arms. For the rest of July and all of August, he would be far away from home.
And he was glad.
Anything was better than the arguments. Sitting in his room. Waiting for it to be over. Trying to read. Sometimes covering his ears. Pretending to be asleep at night. His dad sitting with his head in his hands. His mom staring out the window while tears rolled down her cheeks. Was it really so hard to get along? Sometimes he wished they would get a divorce. Just to make it end. But then—he didn’t want to be without either one of them. It was at such times that he wished he had a brother. Or sister. A big family.
He twisted angrily in his seat and stared at the passing world. Shoving him off to his mom’s old friend so he wouldn’t be in the way while they probably got divorced. Then what? Or more likely, they would move somewhere. Again. They had moved many times—three towns or cities that he could remember. Four different houses. It always seemed to help for a little. He bounced back and forth between anger and sadness and just plain old feeling lost in it all.
He looked out the rain-streaked window again. The same sad buildings were still there—as if they had moved along with the train. Making their escape. Or maybe they just went on forever.
The train was speeding along now. The wooden ties and rails ran on and on, a low heartbeat throbbing beneath the wheels. Now and then the long, sad wail of the train whistle sounded above the heartbeat. It was comforting, somehow. Like it was on his side. It was comforting to be moving. Going somewhere. Anywhere.
He pulled up the collar to his jacket, tucked his head between the seat and wall, and closed his eyes. His body rocked with the rhythmic rumble of the train. The fatigue of the past few days took over, and he gave into a deep, welcoming sleep.
The Wright Collection
Open Road: A Midlife Memoir of Travel and the National Parks
I had a dream to live a "normal" life, and I attained it; but along the way, I lost myself.
My story began in Freckled: a Memoir of Growing up Wild in Hawaii, but it continued after I married the man of my dreams, completed my education with multiple degrees, had a successful career, and raised two beautiful children.
I sacrificed to get to where I was. Though I didn't regret anything, flat on my back in the doctor's office on the cusp of my fiftieth birthday, my health was crumbling.
I no longer recognized myself.
I turned my head and saw a calendar on the wall: Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah beckoned me with its mysterious sandstone hoodoos.
A road trip traveling through the national parks was just what I needed to rediscover the girl I'd been. It could help me turn a corner into my new career as a writer, and my husband would enjoy a chance to photograph the natural wonders we saw.
Sometimes, a twelve-thousand-mile road trip is also a personal quest.
An absorbing travel narrative about defining and facing the limitations and opportunities of midlife. KIRKUS
My Heart Went Walking: An Irish tale of love, loss, and redemption
The only man she's ever loved is seeing her sister.
And now they have to save her together.
Sally Hanan's sublime debut mixes the prose of Sue Monk Kidd with the dialogue of Maeve Binchy. With captivating warmth, she pulls us in to how it felt to live and love in Ireland's changing culture of the '80s, and how it often made a woman's decisions for her.
"I can't bear to keep walking. But you can't keep a secret in this town unless you leave with it."
Kept apart by their love for one man, two sisters embark on their own paths towards survival, love, and understanding, until all three finally meet again in the worst of circumstances. And the reality might break them all.
My Heart Went Walking is a heartbreakingly beautiful novel that sweeps from the small Irish town of Donegal to the "big smoke" of Dublin City; a book that celebrates the pull of family and the chance of redemption. It is a novel for everyone who feels connected to the Irish approach to life-that of grit and laughter-and also for everyone who loves an overriding message of hope and restoration in all things.
Lunch at The Beach House Hotel
Ann Rutherford's and Rhonda DelMonte Grayson's lives continue to be full of surprises as they run The Beach House Hotel, their small, upscale hotel on the Gulf Coast in Southwest Florida. Things heat up when Tina Marks (Valentina Marquis, a famous young movie star) is sent to the hotel in secret to lose twenty-five pounds in eight weeks for her next starring role. As much as Ann and Rhonda want to help Tina succeed, the hotel is known for its delicious food as well as its promise of anonymity, and Tina is impossible to deal with. Then, when Rhonda is faced with a "mysterious illness," Ann's role becomes even more stressful as she tries to find time for her fiancé, Vaughn Sanders, the star of a television soap opera, who deserves the attention she can't give him. As Ann discovers, life is about choices, and she's determined to make the best ones she can to keep Vaughn in her life.
A light, "beach read" with humor sprinkled in for readers' enjoyment. Be sure to read the next books in the series! Dinner at The Beach House Hotel, Christmas at The Beach House Hotel, Margaritas at The Beach House Hotel, and Dessert at The Beach House Hotel. Or read the first book in the series, Breakfast at The Beach House Hotel. And check out Judith Keim's other series - The Hartwell Women, the Fat Fridays series, the Salty Key Inn series, the Chandler Hill Inn series, the Desert Sage Inn series, and the Seashell Cottage Books that readers are loving.
Freckled: A Memoir of Growing up Wild in Hawaii
We never call it homeless. We're just "camping" in the jungle on Kauai...
We live in a place everyone calls paradise. Sure, Kauai's beautiful, with empty beaches, drip-castle mountains, and perfect surf...but we've been "camping" for six months, eating boiled chicken feed for breakfast, and wearing camouflage clothes so no one sees us trespassing in our jungle hideout. The cockroaches 1/2leave rainbow colors all over everything from eating the crayons we left outside the tent, and now a tractor is coming to scrape our camp into the river.
Standing in front of the tent in my nightgown, clinging to my sister as we face the tractor, I know my own truth: I just want to be normal.
But Mom and Pop are addicted.
Addicted to Kauai's beauty, to drugs, to surfing, to living a life according to their own rules out from under their high-achieving parents' judgmental eyes. I'm just their red-headed, mouthy, oldest kid. What I want doesn't matter.
But I'm smart. I will make a different life for myself someday if I keep up my grades no matter what happens.
No matter how often we run out of food.
No matter how many times I change schools...or don't go to school at all.
No matter how many bullies beat me up for the color of my skin.
Dinner at The Beach House Hotel
The Beach House Hotel, the seaside mansion Ann Rutherford and Rhonda DelMonte converted to an upscale boutique hotel, continues to be a success. Not only is it the spot for breakfast and lunch, it's become the "IN place" for dinner. The sudden, unexpected deaths of Ann's ex and his wife, leave the care of their son, Robbie, to Ann's daughter, Liz, while she is still in college. Ann and Vaughn decide to relieve Liz of this responsibility by adopting Robbie as Rhonda becomes both a mother and grandmother. Vaughn's plane disappears on a fishing trip in Alaska at the same time they learn investors want to buy the hotel. Ann and Rhonda are faced with one of the biggest decisions of their lives. The hotel is their baby too--their pride and joy. But they know no matter what the future holds, their love and friendship for each other will endure.
Christmas at The Beach House Hotel
Ann and Rhonda are fed up with the way the new, majority owners are changing The Beach House Hotel from the small, elegant hotel they once owned and operated into a tacky, South Beach wannabe property. What's their only recourse? Buy back the property to save it from getting even worse. And with the new management ruining Ann's daughter's plans for a Christmas Eve wedding, they have to get to work right away to regain control of the hotel. Facing a number of challenges along the way, including rumors of Vaughn's dalliance with Ann's old nemesis, Lily Dorio, Ann and Rhonda work to make it the best-ever Christmas at The Beach House Hotel.
Brooklyn Monroe Wants It All
Love, career, kids-Brooklyn Monroe wants it all. Her beauty company? A triumph. Her love life? Total fail. At 42, that makes motherhood her top priority. With no man in her life, she's prepared to fly solo, but her plan is derailed when a mailing list mishap turns Brooklyn into a someone-get-me-pregnant internet meme. Making her PR nightmare go away entails a soul-baring interview on national TV. And the guy asking the questions? Her all-too sexy ex.
Talk show host Alec Trakas is the king of bad timing. Case in point, his heartbreaking romance with Brooklyn. Alec was all about commitment but Brooklyn was launching her start-up, and forever wasn't in the cards. Now a shot at his ultimate dream job depends on convincing Brooklyn to spill the secrets leading to her viral celebrity. It sets Alec's star rising, but puts Brooklyn in a sea of flirty men. Fate has thrown them back together. Sparks are flying. But is the timing finally right? Because having it all might not be worth the risk of losing each other again.
Brooklyn Monroe Wants It All will be released October 25, 2021. It's set in the beauty circles of Manhattan, just like Gray Hair Don't Care, and includes appearances from Lela and Donovan. Happy ending guaranteed!
"With this funny, surprising novel, Booth might just have written the definitive Gen-X romance." -Publishers Weekly starred review for Gray Hair Don't Care.
Bring Me Back
"For every woman who had a crush on a rockstar and still secretly wishes her fantasy would become reality. Smart, sexy and fun, with enough realism that it could be you." —USA Today bestselling author Louise Bay
Single mom Claire Abby is the glue that holds her dad and her college-bound daughter together, so when her journalism career takes a nosedive, she has to resuscitate it. Now the biggest interview of her life hinges on convincing a notoriously private man to spill his secrets. If only he wasn't one of the sexiest guys ever...
Tall, square-jawed Brit Christopher Penman was Claire's celebrity crush when she was a teen. In person, he's as she feared—unfairly handsome, utterly charming, and completely nerve wracking. Claire has no choice but to ask the tough questions, the ones he's avoided for a decade, but Chris isn't talking...he's flirting...
Before Claire can get her head straight, an improbable friendship forms. Then there's a kiss...and an invitation...and ultimately, nights Claire once only dreamed of. But as they grow closer, she learns that Chris's pain runs deep. When his heartbreaking history repeats itself, will Claire risk her future—and her heart—to save her love with the man she could never forget?
More Reviews:
“This had me gripped from the very first pages…I fell in love with all the characters in the book...This is an adult romance that I completely immersed myself in, and I highly recommend you do the same.” —Best Chick Lit (5 Stars)
“Karen Booth has crafted a compelling story about life, love, and second chances…Ms. Booth has hit a home run with this riveting story that's full of life, trials and tribulations, joy, but most of all, love." —Blackravens’ Reviews (5 Stars)
“Fast-paced, sexy and altogether irresistible, Bring Me Back is made all the more appealing by Karen Booth's inside knowledge of the music industry. A flat-out fabulous read!" —NYT bestselling author Celia Rivenbark
“ Bring Me Back is brilliant! It’s heart-wrenching, funny, sexy, and a dream come true for it’s heroine Claire and for the readers who get swept up into the romance and drama of this book. I loved it…If you are a fan of drama, humor and heart with a wonderful blend of bittersweet and delicious sensuality, then you need to read Bring Me Back. I've added it to my absolute favorites, the ones I curl up with when I'm down and need to remember to love and laugh and believe in magic." —The Book Tart (5 Stars)
"Bring Me Back is a story that will make you laugh, cry, blush and sigh...it is a story that will leave you wanting more." —Jersey Girl Book Reviews
"Hang on for an exciting, sexy, humorous and convincing dream-come-true read...It's one for my keeper shelf." —Manic Readers
"All I can do is gush over Bring Me Back.” —Talk Supe
"Full of humor, love, acceptance, compromises and raw sensuality, Karen Booth delivers an amazing read that is sure to land on your favorites list!" —Hesperia Loves Books
"Bring Me Back is a story every woman who has ever had a teenage crush on a band member can relate to." —Read Your Writes Book Reviews (5 Stars)
"Excellent. Full of swoon!" —Scandalicious Book Reviews
Author Bio:
Karen Booth is a Midwestern girl transplanted in the South, raised on 80s music, Judy Blume, and the films of John Hughes. A former music-industry exec, Karen writes smart, steamy contemporary romance—big city loves stories and rock star romances. When Karen isn't creating fictional musicians, she's listening to everything from Otis Redding to Duran Duran to Tokyo Police Club with her kids, honing her Southern cooking skills (she makes some mean collard greens), or sweet-talking her astoundingly supportive husband into whipping up a batch of cocktails.
Breakfast at the Beach House Hotel
When Ann Rutherford's husband dumps her for the bimbo in his office, unfairly leaving her without a home or a job, she reluctantly joins forces with Rhonda DelMonte to convert Rhonda's Florida seaside estate into the small upscale hotel it once was. Ann, quiet and reserved, is no match for brash, bossy Rhonda, who left the family's New Jersey butcher business after she won the lottery. Amid their struggles to succeed, The Sins of the Children, a soap opera, films a number of episodes at the hotel and things get complicated in unexpected ways when Ann falls for Vaughn Sanders, the star of the show.
Back Forever
"Poignant, bittersweet and satisfying, Back Forever sustains the plausible fantasy-to-reality charm of Bring Me Back." —Manic Readers
Christopher Penman and Claire Abby know very well that their break-up was the ultimate test of their love. Now back together, they're looking only to the future. Christopher's band is making a run at it after a long hiatus. Claire lands a magazine job she never dreamed of. Only a ring on Claire's finger and a baby on the way could make their new life more complete, and Chris is determined they'll have it all.
But when her college-bound daughter starts pushing the limits and they get news about Claire's dad that shakes her to the core, Chris and Claire's picture-perfect plans unravel. Only love can get them through the tests they never saw coming. Back together was one thing, but can they hold on to forever?
More Reviews:
“I fell even more in love with Claire, Chris and Sam in Back Forever than I thought was possible.” —Book Crush
"With Back Forever, Karen Booth delivered the perfect sequel to Chris and Claire's story, and the perfect story for any fan of contemporary romance to fall in love with!" —Hesperia Loves Books (5 Stars)
"Back Forever is the perfect sequel to Bring Me Back. All of the characters grow and blossom." —Scandalicious Book Reviews
"I delighted in every bit of Back Forever." —Bookworm Brandee (5 Stars)
"Chris and Claire's love story is phenomenal. Intense-sexy-fun." —Sassy Girl Books
"I had high expectations for this book and it totally lived up to them." —A Little Fiction of Every Flavor (5 Stars)
"Wow...Karen Booth did it again and couldn't have given a better ending to Claire and Christopher's journey." —For the Love of Books
"These books are unlike anything I've ever read...two wonderfully written real characters that are so very, very different from each other but by sheer will, want to be together and find a way to make that happen." —Toot's Book Reviews
"Back Forever was a magnificent love story." —Cruising Susan Book Reviews
"I ended Back Forever feeling fulfilled and complete and with a huge grin on my face. These are characters that stay with you, and a story which I will sure to be re-reading many times!" —A Reading Nurse
Author Bio:
Karen Booth is a Midwestern girl transplanted in the South, raised on 80s music, Judy Blume, and the films of John Hughes. A former music-industry exec, Karen writes smart, steamy contemporary romance—big city loves stories and rock star romances. When Karen isn't creating fictional musicians, she's listening to everything from Otis Redding to Duran Duran to Tokyo Police Club with her kids, honing her Southern cooking skills (she makes some mean collard greens), or sweet-talking her astoundingly supportive husband into whipping up a batch of cocktails.
The Waratah Inn
Wrested back to Cabarita Beach by her grandmother's sudden death, Kate Summer discovers a mystery buried in the past that changes everything.
Kate returns home to the sleepy hamlet of Cabarita Beach and the run-down Waratah Inn for her grandmother's funeral. She spent many happy childhood years at the inn, but all she wants to do now is sell the dilapidated boutique inn and head back to the city and her busy, professional life. But she and her two estranged sisters discover they've inherited the inn together. To sell, they need all three sisters to agree to the sale.
Soon, her carefully constructed life begins to unravel and Kate decides to stay in Cabarita Beach to renovate the elegant, old building. Despite her misgivings about reviving the crumbling structure, she quickly becomes consumed with crown moulding, history and an attractive horse wrangler she can't seem to ignore.
When she discovers a clue to a mystery from the past in her grandmother's things, she'll be drawn down a path that raises more questions than answers. Piece-by-piece she and her sisters will uncover the secret former life of their beloved grandmother. A life of love, intrigue, and loss. A life they never knew she had.
An opportunity to sell the Inn pushes them to make a choice: commit to the Waratah Inn and family, or walk away from the Inn and each other, back to their separate and isolated lives.
The Sunrise Cove Inn
A divorced criminal lawyer. Her first love. The island she abandoned for a better life over twenty years ago.
Susan Sheridan knows Martha's Vineyard like the back of her hand. She grew up there as the eldest of the three Sheridan Sisters, their father the longtime owner of the Sunrise Cove Inn in Oak Bluffs. The Inn, the water, the sun all spun with laughter, and love, with the most important people-- her family and friends. It was her glittering, perfect life--until it wasn't. Tragedy struck over twenty years ago, and Susan has hardly said a word to her sisters or her father or anyone else she ever loved. Not until now. Her father and Sunrise Cove Inn are both falling apart, just like Susan's life. Her husband left her for the secretary at their shared law firm, and her children have their separate lives. And she's keeping her own secrets. Now it's time to go back to the island she once loved so much. Time to face the horrors and secrets of her past, everything she's tucked away since she left the Vineyard and started a family of her own. But as she digs deeper into the dark psyche of her past, she digs up old truths, lost loves, and regrets--all with the once-familiar backdrop of this gorgeous island. The Vineyard has been waiting for her. But can she handle what she finds there? Can she forgive and never again regret? Dive into this new women's fiction series by heading to Martha's Vineyard-- a backdrop of white sand and crystal blue waters that follow the stories of the Sheridan sisters. A heartwarming journey of friendship, loss, and love that will have you wanting the next book. For fans of Pamela Kelley, Caroline Brown, Debbie Macomber, and Jan Moran.The Summer Sisters
*** Now a USA Today bestseller ***
Set against the backdrop of the golden sands and crystal clear waters of Cabarita Beach three sisters inherit an inn and discover a mystery about their grandmother's past that changes everything they thought they knew of their family...
Bindi Summer, the hard-working manager at The Waratah Inn is tired, feeling low, and wondering where her life is headed. Then, she is blind-sided by a shock revelation and the sudden arrival of her ex-boyfriend, who shows up at the inn, questioning his decision to leave her almost two years earlier.
When Josh Owens, an old high school crush, shows up out of the blue, all Bindi wants is to hunker down and ride out the storm, but Josh won't be put off so easily.
In the midst of her chaotic life, it's Bindi's turn to read the journals Nan wrote years earlier, discovered by her sister Kate in an old wooden box. The mystery of what happened to Charlie Jackson continues to unravel as his letters to Edie follow his journey from a teenager in love, to a pilot for the RAAF and beyond.
In this dramatic conclusion to the heartwarming saga, the three Summer sisters will finally learn the truth they've longed to uncover about their past, and why Nan kept so many secrets from them all these years.
A heartwarming journey from brokenness to wholeness for fans of Carolyn Brown, Lauren K. Denton, Rhys Bowen and Danielle Steele.
The Stairs to Chapel Creek
The Shore at East Bonnet Beach
Motherhood adds and subtracts at a feverish pace. More belly laughs and moments of awe. Far less sleep and hardly any self-care. With the toddler years in full effect, Gwen has found herself both overwhelmingly happy and suddenly rudderless. Seeking a work/home balance proves baffling as she watches her identity float off like pollen in a summer breeze. When a family friend seeks out her expertise as a geneticist to solve a long-forgotten cold case, Gwen feels a bit of her old self returning. Being able to give someone their identity and provide peace for a family in turmoil is a purpose she deeply connects to. But the situation has the potential to create palpable danger she may not be able to avoid.
Being a grandmother suits Leslie perfectly. Lightheartedly sharing hard-won lessons and indulging and spoiling as often as she can. She's the keeper of the cookies and the soothing song that magically induces sleep. However, with the promotion to grandmother comes the uncanny ability to see and know when trouble is brewing. The urge to protect pushes her into overbearing territory.
Gwen and Leslie must once again navigate the complexity of their relationship as their roles continue to shift. Leaning on Griff and Mark, the women are forced to decide if self-preservation outweighs the chance to give a long-forgotten Jane Doe her identity back. And perhaps peace to her waiting family.
Book 1: The Bend in Redwood Road
Book 2: The Pier at Jasmine Lake
Book 3: The Bridge in Sunset Park
Book 4: The Stairs to Chapel Creek
Book 5: The Cabin on Autumn Peak
Book 6: The Shore at East Bonnet Beach
Book 7: The Field on Oakwood Farm
The Second Chance Inn: A Sweet Small Town Romance
The Pier at Jasmine Lake
The Holiday Ex-Files
"The holidays have never been more fun!" —USA Today bestselling author, Becky Monson
Once upon a time people called me the holiday queen. But catching my husband under the Christmas tree with another woman kind of did something to me. Like make me digitally crop him out of all our wedding photos and post them online. Who knew that post would go viral? Thanks to all the requests I received to do the same for other jilted partners, I started a new business called, the Holiday Ex-Files. And I couldn't be happier. Well...at least I'm not unhappy.
Then along comes my ex-husband's best friend, Noah Cullen. Yep, like the vampires. He's extremely gorgeous like them too. He has a plan to help me believe in the magic of holidays again. But the more I'm around him, I begin to think he's the magical one, and that perhaps I picked the wrong best friend to begin with. Maybe, just maybe, it will be a very merry Christmas after all.
Get ready for a laugh-out-loud, heartwarming holiday rom-com, perfect for any season, by USA Today bestselling author Jennifer Peel.
Author Bio:
Jennifer Peel is a USA Today bestselling author who didn’t grow up wanting to be a writer, she was aiming for something more realistic like being the first female president. When that didn’t work out, she started writing just before her fortieth birthday. Now after publishing several award-winning and bestselling novels she’s addicted to typing and chocolate. When she’s not glued to her laptop and a bag of Dove dark chocolates, she loves spending time with her family, making daily Target runs, reading, and pretending she can do Zumba.
The Cabin on Autumn Peak
Book 1: The Bend in Redwood Road
Book 2: The Pier at Jasmine Lake
Book 3: The Bridge in Sunset Park
Book 4: The Stairs to Chapel Creek
Book 5: The Cabin on Autumn Peak
The Bridge in Sunset Park
The Bend in Redwood Road
Seaside Manor Bed and Breakfast
The heartwarming conclusion for the Emerald Cove duet from a USA Today Bestselling Author.The Seaside Manor Bed & Breakfast has been an institution in Emerald Cove for as long as anyone can remember. But things are changing and Diana is nervous about what the future might hold for her and her husband, not to mention the historic business.With no experience to back him up, Ethan Flannigan moves back home to the Cove and takes on the bed and breakfast as a part-owner. Diana's niece, Emily, agrees to help her aunt and uncle, but the charming man they sold half of the business to does nothing but get under her skin, even if the spark between them is hard to ignore.Rebecca Mair is the new cop in town but she's got a secret she hasn't shared with anyone else, including her boss, and that secret is about to catch up with her.Sarah Flannigan finally has the man of her dreams, but her career is spiraling out of control. With a difficult choice set before her, will she stay in the Cove with Mick and her family, or head back to the city to save her job?Please note: This book is the second and final installment in the Emerald Cove duet.
One Summer in Italy
Reeda Summer is running from a troubled marriage and a truth she can't face.
When the Summer sisters discover their grandmother's journals after her death, they unlock a mystery that shakes their family to the core. Who is Charlie Jackson? Is he their grandfather? And if so, what happened to him?
Reeda leaves the Waratah Inn and returns to Sydney, her husband, and her thriving interior design business, only to find her marriage in tatters. She's lost sight of what she wants in life and can't recognise the person she's become.
Instead of facing her problems, Reeda embarks on a journey to discover more about the grandfather she never knew, leaving her troubles behind her.
Her search takes her to Italy, where a trail of clues leads her across the country with few answers to satisfy her burning curiosity about the past. And instead of helping her to forget, her pilgrimage reminds her of everything she loves and what she's left behind.
Under the Italian sky, Reeda discovers that the joy she was searching for was hidden inside her all along. And instead of running from her problems, she embraces the healing she needs to face them.
Readers who enjoy Inglath Cooper, Rhys Bowen, Lisa Wingate, Debbie Macomber, and Lauren K. Denton will love taking this healing journey through delightful Italy.
My Not So Wicked Stepbrother
Firefly Nights
Christine Sheridan is the middle sister of the Sheridan clan: lost between her older sister, Susan, a successful criminal lawyer and her whip-smart little sister, Lola. Over twenty years apart, she and her sisters have just learned the secret that their dead mother has kept from them all these years, of their mother's true fate. Now, Christine returns to New York City, to her boyfriend Frank, to a life she once loved. But the prestige's restaurant they own is no more, and Christine is left once again without solid ground.
At forty-one, unable to have children, and with nowhere to go--she knows only to return home to the Vineyard and her family. Martha's Vineyard is in full summer bloom. After over twenty years away, Christine falls in love again with the water, with boating, the people, and with carefree days that meander and pop with bright conversations with Lola and Susan and long afternoon swims through crystal waters. Unfortunately, her high school rival, the ever-handsome Zach Walters, seems to lurk everywhere she goes--even offering her a pastry chef position at the Sunrise Inn Bistro. Almost reluctantly, she takes it--and soon becomes the most championed pastry chef on the island. Zach doesn't seem so bad, either, although he does seem to harbor his own secrets.
Still, the Sheridan clan is never far from heartbreak. As the Sheridan sisters grow closer, their father loses even more of his memory; their mother's real killer remains on the loose, as does Scott's brother, who stole an obscene amount of money from the Sunrise Cove Inn. Secrets swirl through the family--and drama escalates when Lola's daughter, Audrey, calls with shocking news that sends ripples through the entire Sheridan family.
Every day, the Sheridan sisters find new ways to support, enrage, love, and surprise one another. At forty-one, Christine feels caught between her old life and her new one--poised on the brink of either collapse or the greatest love she's ever known. Will she find happiness on the island? Come and find out
Dive into book two of this new women's fiction series: a backdrop of white sand and crystal blue waters, following the Sheridan sisters' heartwarming journey of friendship, loss, and love.
For fans of Pamela Kelley, Caroline Brown, Debbie Macomber, and Jan Moran.
Finding Tomorrow
Meet the Sullivan sisters of Bluebird Bay in this heart-warming USA Today bestseller!
Celia Burrows thought she had it all—a handsome husband, two successful children, and a gorgeous beach house on the Northern coast of Maine. But her perfect life cracks apart when her husband of thirty years informs her that he’s leaving. In a note. And since problems come in threes, her adult children reveal they’ve both been struggling with issues of their own.
Before the separation, Celia was the main caretaker for her elderly father, but as her sisters step up to help in the wake of her troubles, neither of them takes to the role. Being tethered in Bluebird Bay is a nightmare for Anna, the youngest, whose passion for travel photography has taken her around the world. And Stephanie has struggled ever since her husband died in a freak boating accident a couple of years ago.
As Celia begins to come to terms with her own shocking loss, she’s surprised to feel a giddy sense of freedom. For thirty years, she’s buried her own dreams in support of her husband’s vision. But that was the past. It’s time to pick herself up, dust herself off, and create a better, more fulfilling tomorrow. Now, if only she can convince the people she loves to do the same...
Author Bios:
Denise Grover Swank was born in Kansas City, Missouri. At nineteen, she became a nomad, living in five cities, four states, and ten houses over the next decade before returning to her roots. Her hobbies include making witty Facebook comments and dancing in the kitchen. She has six children and hasnt lost her sanity or so she leads everyone to believe.
Christine Gael lives with her sweet, funny husband in South Florida, where she spends the majority of her day writing and consuming mass amounts of coffee. Her favorite pastimes include playing pickle ball and tennis year-round, and texting pictures of palm trees and the beach to her New England-based friends in the wintertime.
Finding Redemption: A Bluebird Bay Novel
The most disturbing part, though? The apparent owner of the home, Alice. She's young, beautiful, and amazingly talented. She's also the last kind of distraction he needs right now. How is he supposed to work 70 hours a week to ensure his mother's legacy is intact when every waking thought is of a curly-haired, dark-eyed woman who has all but bewitched him?
As Todd tries to balance his career with his love life, Cee-cee is busy trying to figure out what in the world is going on with her ex-husband, Nate. He's been acting very strange, and it's upsetting their daughter, Max. No matter how many times she tries to get him to confide in her, though, he refuses. When it becomes clear that he's in trouble, she wants to help...but at what price?
Finding Forgiveness: A Bluebird Bay Novel
Finding Forever: A Bluebird Bay Novel
Finding Acceptance
Cottage on Oceanview Lane
"If readers are looking for an author who is the perfect mix of Debbie Macomber and Nora Roberts, Lilly Mirren is it " - InD'tale Magazine
When a renowned book editor returns to her roots, she rediscovers her strength & her passion in this heartwarming novel from the author of The Waratah Inn.
Sarah Flannigan is moving home to the small, beachside hamlet of Emerald Cove. After years in the city building a career as an editor at one of the top publishing houses in the country, she's uprooting her life to help her mother run the family cafe after the divorce.
Cindy Flannigan never thought she'd find herself single and alone in her sixties, but when her husband runs off with a younger woman, she uncovers secret debts he's accumulated that will leave her in dire financial straits for the first time in her life. She calls on her eldest child to help and is delightfully surprised when her daughter moves home to the Cove. But concerns for her daughter's future happiness soon mar the reunion.
Take a trip to Emerald Cove, where no one's a stranger, in this heartwarming and uplifting tale for fans of Debbie Macomber, Danielle Steele, and Sheila Roberts.
Christmas at the Waratah Inn
Christmas is a time for second chances...and for love.
Elizabeth Cranwell's children left home, her husband divorced her and dissolved their shared business, and she's set to spend Christmas alone.
Without her husband or the thriving business she spent years of her life building, Elizabeth doesn't know who she is or what to do with her days. She's dreading spending her first Christmas alone when her friends convince her to book a holiday at the Waratah Inn.
Robert Patch thought things couldn't get any worse when his only daughter married a controlling and angry man. That was until his grandchildren arrived. When his son-in-law won't allow Robert to stay with them over the holidays Robert does the next best thing and books into a nearby inn so he can see the children. He is pleasantly surprised when he meets a woman who reminds him of the love he lost so many years ago, in a way that reawakens a heart he'd long thought dormant.
Filled with memorable characters, from a cheeky possum to a cook who moonlights as an amateur counsellor, this sweet, small-town Christmas story celebrates the camaraderie of a life lived in community and second chances at life and love.
A stand-alone, heartwarming Christmas romance for fans of Sheila Roberts, Debbie Macomber, and Debbie Mason.
Chalet on Cliffside Drive
The touching fourth instalment in the Emerald Cove saga from a USA Today Bestselling Author.
At forty-four years of age, Ben Silver thought he'd never find love. When he moves to Emerald Cove, he does it to support his birth mother, Diana, after her husband's sudden death. But then he meets Vicky.
Vicky Hawkins is younger than Ben, much younger. But there's something about his earnest brown eyes, the sadness behind them, the depth to them, that draws her in. He becomes her friend, but it isn't long before she realises there's more to their relationship than that.
It's time for Cindy to get on with the rest of her life. She'll have to decide if the cafe she's spent her life nurturing will be a part of her retirement or if it's time for her to let it go.
Sarah finally finishes the book she's been working so hard to write. But will she be able to rejoin the industry she left behind? Even as she steps forward, she and Mick are considering the next phase of their relationship.
If you haven't begun this uplifting ongoing series yet, be sure to start at the beginning. Enjoy these moving stories of love, hope, loss and heartache for fans of Debbie Macomber.
Please note: This book is the fourth instalment in the Emerald Cove saga.
Bungalow on Pelican Way
The dramatic continuation of the Emerald Cove saga from a USA Today Bestselling Author.
Moving to the Cove gave Rebecca De Vries a place to hide from her abusive ex. Now that he's in jail, she can get back to living her life as a police officer in her adopted hometown working alongside her intractable but very attractive boss, Franklin.
When Franklin's ex-fiancee comes back to town it will disrupt everything developing between the two of them.
Cindy's ex-husband has returned to the Cove as well, along with the woman he left her for. And it isn't long before his presence disrupts Cindy's burgeoning relationship with the town doctor, his former best friend. A face-off with the girlfriend throws Cindy into a tailspin, but in the end she'll have to make a decision about what, or who, is more important to her.
Meg and Brad get some good news, but with his paraplegia they'll learn once again that nothing is as easy now as they'd hoped it would be.
Please note: This book is the third instalment in the ongoing Emerald Cove saga.
Beyond the Crushing Waves
Two generations from one family face heartbreak and injustice in this poignant and emotional novel inspired by true events.
Married to her dream man, and with a baby on the way, Dr Mia Sato's life is in perfect order.
When her beloved grandmother has a fall, the photograph clutched in her hand prompts Mia to ask questions her grandmother isn't willing to answer. Then she cries out a confession that rocks Mia to her core and leads her to make a shocking discovery of a past filled with lies, broken families and forced child migration.
Mary Roberts is a poor gutter child living in a council house in 1950's London. When she and her sister are given away to an orphanage by their mother, they could hardly imagine the turn their lives were about to take.
Harry Evans is an orphan who finds himself with Mary and her sister on a ship bound for Australia. To a farm for children, where abuse and neglect are rife. A journey that will change their lives forever, and from which they'll never return.
Based on one of Britain most secret and shameful real-life scandals in which over 100,000 British children were forcibly deported to Canada, South Africa, and Australia over several decades. Lilly Mirren's heartbreaking, captivating and ultimately uplifting tale reminds us that no matter where the journey leads us, our heart will always find its way home to those we love.
For readers of Before We Were Yours and Where the Crawdad Sings.
Author Bio:
Lilly Mirren is a USA Today bestselling author. She lives in Brisbane, Australia with her husband and three children.
She always dreamed of being a writer and is now living that dream. When she's not writing, she's taxiing her children to various after school activities, visiting her parents at the beach, or drinking coffee with friends.
Her books combine heartwarming storylines with achingly realistic characters readers can't get enough of.
August Sunsets
Unanswered questions. A sailing adventure gone wrong. The Sheridan sisters face the end of the season that changed their lives forever.
Lola Sheridan is the youngest Sheridan sister: a whip-smart journalist with a flair for the dramatic. As her older sisters settle into new lives on the Vineyard, Lola demands more out of the summer season with a fantastical sailing expedition up from the Florida Keys to Martha's Vineyard. The sailor who takes her? The mysterious, dark-eyed loner, Tommy Gasbarro--the ex-stepson of the Sheridan sisters' greatest enemy. He represents so much of what went wrong in Lola's life--and knows secrets about her mother that she was never allowed to learn.
Susan continues on with her chemotherapy, and her illness remains on the forefront of the sisters' minds. Wes Sheridan grapples with his dementia, as Christine continues to find new ways to push beyond her traditional gloomy behavior. All the while, Lola's only daughter, the nineteen-year-old Audrey, inches through her pregnancy, and comprehends the depths of her mistake and what second-chances are really all about.
August on Martha's Vineyard is a last grasp at the beauty of summer. As the tourist season comes to a close, the Sheridan sisters find opportunity for rest, for renewal, for strength, and for acceptance. Surrounded by crystal blue waters and white sandy beaches, they turn inward--toward one another and the memories they've kept within them for many years--to find peace, to be better lovers, to accept what came before and build something new for the future. If this season has taught them anything, it's that together, anything is possible. Come to the Vineyard, to the last of the Vineyard Sunset Series--and find out what happens to Lola, Susan, Christine, and everyone else they hold dear.
An Emerald Cove Christmas
The USA Today Bestselling author of The Waratah Inn series, Lilly Mirren, proves there's no place like Emerald Cove for the holidays.
Adele Flannigan wants a fresh start. She's moved back to the Cove to escape a failed affair and to repair her broken heart. When a handsome new resident in the small beachside village helps load a Christmas tree into her car, she realises there may be a chance for a Merry Christmas, after all.
Cindy's hosting Christmas, but the Flannigan family has changed in recent years and she's nervous about how things will go. There's been a divorce, new members added, stray dogs adopted, heartbreak, romance and even a brand new bouncing baby. Christmas at Cindy's has the potential to be a delightful family feast, or to set off fireworks that could ruin the entire holiday.
Can this blended family learn to love one another during the Christmas season or will their family be torn apart?
A big family Christmas may be just what the doctor ordered for these residents of Emerald Cove.
This is the fifth book in the Emerald Cove series.
Christmas at the Restaurant
Nantucket's famous Christmas Stroll is always the first week of December and this year sisters Mandy and Emma and Paul, the executive chef want to do something extra special for Mimi's Place, the restaurant that they co-own. It will be Emma and Paul's first Christmas together as a couple and Mandy's first holiday as a newly single and divorced mother of two. Although Mandy does have a promising new relationship, though she wants to take things very slow.
Their sister Jill and her new husband, Billy, are planning to spend the whole month of December on Nantucket too, juggling working remotely for the executive search firm they own together in Manhattan and relaxing and spending time with family and helping out at the restaurant too. And Gina, their awesome bartender is spending her first winter on Nantucket and it's a bit of an adjustment—winters on Nantucket are so much quieter than the city life she was used to. She's even more confused when someone she had a major crush on back in the city moves to Nantucket. Suddenly her boring winter is starting to look a lot more interesting.
Author Bio:
Pamela Kelley is a USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author who mostly writes women's fiction and suspense. A book worm since before she can remember, she still reads often. She currently resides in a historic seaside town near Cape Cod.
Summer Reads Collection, Books 1-3
Three New York Times Bestselling standalone novels in one special collection: Summer Secrets, Golden Lies and Don't Say A Word
Summer Secrets:
Eight years ago, the three McKenna sisters-Kate, Ashley, and Caroline-had their fifteen minutes of fame. Driven by their ambitious father, they won an around-the-world sailing race as teenagers. But something happened out on the turbulent sea during a fierce storm they could never forget.
Now Tyler Jamison has come to Castleton, a picturesque island off the coast of Washington State, asking questions about the famous McKennas. But even as the sisters close ranks against the tenacious reporter, the past threatens to drown them in its wake. It will take Caroline's willingness to right a wrong, Ashley's struggle to face her greatest fears, and Kate's attempt to embrace life-and love-again to finally calm the winds and stop the rain.
Golden Lies:
Every family has secrets -- some too intriguing to resist ... some too dangerous to ignore...
A novel about three remarkable families-the fifty-year-old promise that once bound them together, the fiery betrayal that tore them apart, and the ancient bronze dragon that could destroy their future.
Riley McAllister, Paige Hathaway, and Alyssa Chen come from very different worlds. Tough guy Riley has overcome the hard knocks of a working-class upbringing. Paige struggles to define her place as the heir to a famous antiques emporium. And Alyssa feels trapped by the restrictions of her family's old world attitudes. Now this unlikely trio of strangers must come together to follow an elusive trail through the streets of San Francisco-from glittering Pacific Heights to colorful Chinatown to trendy south of Market. Each will have to make the impossible choice between romantic love and family loyalty, between sheltering lies and revealing truth. Once the door to the past is opened, there's no turning back...
Don't Say A Word:
Everything she's been told about her past is a lie...
Julie De Marco is planning a perfect San Francisco wedding when she comes face-to-face with a famous photograph, the startling image of a little girl behind the iron gate of a foreign orphanage-a girl who looks exactly like her. But Julia isn't an orphan. She isn't adopted. And she's never been out of the country. She knows who she is-or does she?
Haunted by uncertainty, Julia sets off on a dangerous search for her true identity-her only clues a swan necklace and an old Russian doll, her only ally daring, sexy photographer Alex Manning. Suddenly nothing is as it seems. The people Julia loved and trusted become suspicious strangers. The relationships she believed in-with her mother, her sister, and her fianc -are shaken by new revelations. The only person she can trust is Alex, but he has secrets of his own. Each step brings her closer to a mysterious past that began a world away-a past that still has the power to threaten her life ... and change her future forever.
In the Aftermath
"This is an absorbing book, and I cared about every character in it…Jane Ward did an excellent job capturing the upheaval suicide has caused." —Windy City Reviews
When David Herron—overwhelmed and despairing, his family's business and finances in ruin due to the bursting lending bubble of 2008—takes his own life one chilly spring morning, he has no idea the ripple effect his decision will set into motion.
Two years later, his widow, Jules, is now an employee of the bakery she and David used to own—and still full of bitterness over David's lies, perceived cowardice, and ultimate abandonment of her and their now-teenage daughter, Rennie. Rennie, meanwhile, struggles socially at school, resents her work-obsessed mother, and is convinced she's to blame for her father's death.
When Denise, the former police detective who worked (and, due to her own personal struggles at the time, mishandled) David's case, catches sight of Rennie at her sons' school, she's struck by the girl's halo of sadness--and becomes obsessed with attempting to right the wrongs she believes she perpetrated two years ago.
And as all this unfolds in Boston, Daniel, the guilt-ridden young man who, in his old life as a banker, helped create the circumstances that led to David's suicide, continues to punish himself for his sins by living half a life, working odd jobs and bouncing from one US city to another, never staying long enough to make friends or build something lasting.
Ultimately, each of these very different people—all of them tied together by one tragic event—must learn in their own way how to say good-bye to the past and move into a brighter future.
More Reviews:
"Ward masterfully builds a sense of dread with mundane details in the first section, and the way that she finds significance in moments of ordinary, everyday life is reminiscent of the work of Anne Tyler. This deeply empathetic novel deals sensitively with difficult subjects…An insightful and psychologically astute story of ordinary people moving forward after personal tragedy." —Kirkus Reviews
"In the Aftermath is a masterful novel in which a man's suicide leaves indelible marks on those left behind." —Foreword Clarion Reviews
"Jane Ward's deeply resonant, beautifully written, and emotionally complex exploration of this tragedy's fallout is riveting…Less about suicide than it is about survival, In the Aftermath is a gripping testament to the need for policies that value human life and a vivid reminder that a kinder, more loving world is within our reach." —Rain Taxi Review of Books
Author Bio:
Jane Alessandrini Ward is the author of Hunger (Forge 2001) and The Mosaic Artist. She graduated from Simmons College with a degree in English literature and began working almost immediately in the food and hospitality industry: private events planner with Creative Gourmets in Boston, planner of corporate parties at The 95th Restaurant in Chicago, and weekend baker at Quebrada Bakery in Arlington, Massachusetts. She has been a contributing writer for the online regional and seasonal food magazine Local In Season and a blogger and occasional host of cooking videos for MPN Online, an internet recipe resource affiliated with several newspapers across the country. Although a Massachusetts native, Jane recently settled in Chicago after returning to the US from Switzerland.
Independently published with She Writes Press
The Restaurant
Mandy, Emma and Jill are as close as three sisters who live hundreds of miles apart can be. They grew up together on Nantucket, but Mandy is the only one that stayed.Jill lives a glamorous life in Manhattan as a co-owner of a successful executive search firm. Never married, she is in her mid-thirties and lives in a stunning, corner condo with breathtaking views of the city and Hudson river. Everyone thinks there's something going on with her partner, Nick, because as a workaholic, she spends more time with him than anyone else. But there's never been anything but friendship between them and Nick loves being a bachelor in NYC.
Emma lives in Arizona and is an elementary school teacher and an aspiring photographer. She met her college professor husband, Peter, in grad school and they've been married for over fifteen years. In recent years, she's noticed that Peter has grown distant. But when he shares a surprising secret, she doesn't see it coming and her world is turned upside down.
Mandy followed her high school boyfriend, Cory to Boston College, and right after graduation, they married and settled in Dover, just outside of Boston. Cory joined a successful hedge fund, while Mandy took a job at a downtown financial services firm as an administrative assistant. She quit a year later, when Blake, the first baby came. Two years later, when Brooke was born, Cory left to open a competing Hedge Fund and they moved home to Nantucket. Now that the children are older, Mandy has more free time and is eager to do more than just volunteer with local charity events. But Cory doesn't want her to work. He thinks it doesn't reflect well on him and appearances are everything to Cory. Though when Mandy finds a second cell phone in his gym bag, she begins to question what is really going on.
When their beloved grandmother, Rose Ferguson passes peacefully in her sleep a week before her ninety-ninth birthday she leaves them quite a surprise. In addition to her Nantucket home, they learned that she was the silent owner of Mimi's Place, one of Nantucket's most popular year-round restaurants.
There is of course, a catch--she left the restaurant equally to Mandy, Emma, and Jill--and also to Paul, the chef for the past twelve years.
And before they can sell, all three girls need to work at the restaurant for a period of one year--or else their shares will go to Paul--who was also Emma's first love.
About the Author
Kelley, Pamela M.: - Wall Street Journal and USA Today Bestselling author.
Summer Secrets
A #1 New York Times Bestseller
“Graced with sympathetic, well-defined characters and an intriguing multi-threaded plot, this is an emotionally involving story...sure to please Freethy's growing fan base, and like Kristin Hannah's novels, neatly bridges the gap between romance and traditional women's fiction." —Library Journal
Eight years ago, the three McKenna sisters—Kate, Ashley, and Caroline—had their fifteen minutes of fame. Driven by their ambitious father, they won an around-the-world sailing race as teenagers. But something happened out on the turbulent sea during a fierce storm they could never forget…
Now Tyler Jamison has come to Castleton, a picturesque island off the coast of Washington State, asking questions about the famous McKennas. But even as the sisters close ranks against the tenacious reporter, the past threatens to drown them in its wake. It will take Caroline's willingness to right a wrong, Ashley's struggle to face her greatest fears, and Kate's attempt to embrace life—and love—again to finally calm the winds and stop the rain.
More Reviews:
"In the tradition of LaVyrle Spencer, gifted author Barbara Freethy creates an irresistible tale of family secrets, riveting adventure and heart-touching romance." —New York Times bestselling author, Susan Wiggs
"Barbara Freethy writes with bright assurance, exploring the bonds of sisterhood and the excitement of blue-water sailing." —New York Times bestselling author, Luanne Rice
"Freethy skillfully keeps the reader on the hook, and her tantalizing and believable tale has it all—romance, adventure and mystery." —Booklist
"Freethy's zesty storytelling will keep readers hooked, and the sisters' loving but prickly interactions will make anyone with a sibling smile." —Publishers Weekly
Author Bio:
Barbara Freethy is a #1 New York Times bestselling author of 41 novels ranging from contemporary romance to romantic suspense and women's fiction. Traditionally published for many years, Barbara opened her own publishing company in 2011 and has since sold over 4.8 million copies of her books. Nineteen of her titles have appeared on the New York Times and USA Today Bestseller Lists. In July of 2014, Barbara was named the Amazon KDP bestselling author of ALL TIME! She was also the first indie author to sell over 1 million copies at both Barnes and Noble and Amazon. An author known for writing emotional stories about ordinary people caught up in extraordinary situations, Barbara has received starred reviews from Publishers' Weekly and Library Journal and has also received six nominations for the RITA for Best Single Title Contemporary Romance from Romance Writers of America. She has won the honor twice for her novels Daniel's Gift and The Way Back Home.
After Happily Ever After
“Smart and funny, After Happily Ever After is an exciting debut.” —Laura Dave, international best-selling author of The Last Thing He Told Me
Maggie Dolin is forty-five and isn't dealing with getting older very well. Seventeen years ago, she gave up her job in publishing to raise her daughter, Gia—but now her only child is about to leave for college, and Maggie isn't sure what her new purpose will be. She's been the caretaker and nurturer for so long that she can't even remember the last time someone took care of her. She wishes Jim, her husband of nineteen years, would take that role on—but he's been distracted and disconnected, and she's convinced he's hiding something from her. Her self-involved, judgmental mother and resentful brother, meanwhile, are certainly no help, and her father—the only person in her life who's always been there for her and asked nothing in return—is dealing with increasingly serious health issues, leaving Maggie without her rock.
As all these stressors pile on, a chance meeting with a younger man causes Maggie to act in a way that is completely out of character for her. As she gets deeper in, she's forced to make some big decisions about what she wants and deserves—decisions that could change her life forever.
After Happily Ever After deals with love, marriage, family, the empty nest, aging parents and what happens when they all come crashing down at the same time.
Awards:
2022 Eric Hoffer Book Awards Honorable Mention in Commercial Fiction
2022 Independent Press Awards Distinguished Favorite in Contemporary Novel
2022 Reader Views Literary Awards Silver Winner in General Fiction/Novel
2022 Reader Views Literary Awards Silver Award Winner in General Fiction/Novel
2022 Independent Press Awards Distinguished Favorite in Contemporary Novel
One of Popsugar's Best Books of 2021
2021 Top Shelf Awards Runner Up in Fiction (Women’s)
2021 Literary Titan Book Awards Silver Winner
2021 Firebird Award Winner in multiple categories, including Contemporary Novel and Marriage
2021 Book Excellence Awards Finalist in Marriage
2021 International Book Awards Finalist in Fiction: Women's Fiction
2021 Readers' Favorite Book Awards Finalist in Fiction: Realistic
2021 Hollywood Book Awards Honorable Mention in General Fiction
2021 NYC Big Book Awards Winner in Marriage
2021 NYC Big Book Awards Distinguished Favorite in New Fiction (First-time published)
2021 IAN Book of the Year Awards Finalist in Fiction: Women’s Fiction
More Reviews:
"A soon-to-be empty nester learning to love herself one blunder at a time. After Happily Ever After is delightful..." —Foreword Reviews
“Rasmussen is a freelance journalist and former TV sitcom writer and the latter is evident in the novel’s sharp, funny dialogue and Maggie’s wry, observational narration.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Leslie A. Rasmussen has written a fiction story that most women can relate to in one way or another with compassion and love. After Happily Ever After is a wonderful read that will not disappoint. I highly recommend After Happily Ever After to women both young and old.” —Readers' Favorite
“Leslie A. Rasmussen’s After Happily Ever After gives voice to many women in the ‘sandwich generation’—and the voice is a funny one.” —Leslie Lehr, prize-winning author of A Boob’s Life and What a Mother Knows
“With warm tenderness, peppered with humor throughout, Leslie A. Rasmussen has written a novel of fresh, relatable characters, easy to root for and easy to know. Anyone juggling the lives of loved ones while navigating their own will recognize the protagonist as she struggles to find the missing parts of a so-called life that turns out to be…herself.” —Sande Boritz Berger, author of Split Level and The Sweetness
“After Happily Ever After is a road map for every empty nester whose marriage has lost its spark. You can’t help but see yourself on these pages.” —Adrienne Barbeau, actress and author of There are Worse Things I Could Do and the Vampyres of Hollywood series
“This book takes a very real look at the complex lives of forty-something women who are torn between their duties to all family members while still trying to fulfill their own desires. The characters ring true, and although there are heavy themes, the book manages to be very funny at times and also a fast, easy, read. Many women will see a lot of themselves in Maggie and will enjoy seeing how her circumstances and decisions will play out.” —Seattle Book Review
“Written with honesty and humor and grit, Leslie A. Rasmussen’s wonderful debut novel is filled with poignant and truth and so much clever. Yes, you will cry, and yes, you will laugh out loud and…fall in love with this book.” —Amy Ferris, best-selling author, screenwriter, and playwright
“Author Leslie A. Rasmussen peppers the story with humor and sarcasm, making Maggie, the protagonist, likeable and easy to identify with. Her breezy writing style is entertaining, but there’s real meaning beneath her attitude. If you like women’s fiction, After Happily Ever After is worth your time.” —Story Circle Book Reviews
Author Bio:
Leslie A. Rasmussen was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She graduated with a bachelor's in communications from UCLA and went on to write television comedies for Gerald McRaney, Burt Reynolds, Roseanne Barr, Norm McDonald, Drew Carey, and Ralph Macchio, as well as The Wild Thornberrys and Sweet Valley High. Later, she earned a master's degree in nutrition and ran her own business for ten years. Most recently, Leslie has written personal essays for online magazines such as Huffington Post, Maria Shriver, and SheKnows. She loves dogs and besides having two adorable Labradors, she volunteers at the Burbank Animal Shelter in Burbank, California. Leslie lives in Los Angeles and has two sons, and a husband she's been with since college. This is her debut novel. She lives in Los Angeles.
Independently published with She Writes Press
The Sound Between the Notes
The highly anticipated new novel from the multiple award-winning author of Queen of the Owls . . .
What if you had a second chance at the very thing you thought you’d renounced forever? How steep a price would you be willing to pay?
Susannah’s career as a pianist has been on hold for nearly sixteen years, ever since her son was born. An adoptee who’s never forgiven her birth mother for not putting her first, Susannah vowed to put her own child first, no matter what. And she did.
But now, suddenly, she has a chance to vault into that elite tier of “chosen” musicians. There’s just one problem: somewhere along the way, she lost the power and the magic that used to be hers at the keyboard. She needs to get them back. Now.
Her quest—what her husband calls her obsession—turns out to have a cost Susannah couldn’t have anticipated. Even her hand betrays her, as Susannah learns that she has a progressive hereditary disease that’s making her fingers cramp and curl—a curse waiting in her genes, legacy of a birth family that gave her little else. As her now-or-never concert draws near, Susannah is catapulted back to memories she’s never been able to purge—and forward, to choices she never thought she would have to make.
Told through the unique perspective of a musician, The Sound Between the Notes draws the reader deeper and deeper into the question Susannah can no longer silence: Who am I, and where do I belong?
Author Bio:
Barbara Linn Probst is a writer, researcher, clinician, and “serious amateur” pianist living on a historic dirt road in New York’s Hudson Valley.
Barbara’s novels (Queen of the Owls, April 2020, and The Sound of One Hand, coming in April 2021) tell of the search for authenticity, wholeness, and connection. In both novels, art helps the protagonist to become more fully herself.
Queen of the Owls has been chosen as a 2020 selection by the Pulpwood Queens Book Club, a network of more than 780 book clubs across the U.S.
Author of the groundbreaking book on nurturing out-of-the-box children, When the Labels Don't Fit, Barbara also holds a PhD in clinical social work and is a frequent guest essayist on major online sites for fiction writers.
Independently published with She Writes Press
The Wiregrass
“Webber has crafted a summer setting that is both magical and dangerous in this profound coming-of-age story. I laughed out loud. I held my breath. I anxiously pressed on for 'just one more page' (page after page, after page) and I cried. She has touched me on many levels in this, her first novel. It’s ending has haunted me for days since finishing it. It is a book I'll not soon forget. For this reviewer, The Wiregrass was reminiscent of To Kill a Mockingbird, Tom Sawyer, and Of Mice and Men, yet all the while it was its very own unique story written with a large measure of tenderness and grace. What a privilege to have the opportunity to read this book that is surely destined to become a best-seller!” ―Story Circle Book Reviews
“There are deep southern traditions at work here, of memory, courage, sweetness, and sadness. This is a brave book at the same time it's complex and gentle, and the way it honors a sense of time and place is truly remarkable.” ―David L. Robbins, New York Times bestselling author of Scorched Earth and The Empty Quarter
Reminiscent of the stories and styles of Harper Lee, Sue Monk Kidd, and Jan Karon, Pam Webber's The Wiregrass is an extraordinary tale about a magical time in an ordinary place full of lovable and unlovable characters. Infused with laughter, tears, love, loss, and hope, the story follows fourteen-year-old cousins Nettie, J.D. Eric, and Sam as they navigate the summer of their discontent, struggle with the physical and emotional turbulence of puberty and disappearing childhood, feel the excitement of first love, and run for their lives after they uncover an evil secret hidden in the shadows of the small town they love. Their story promises to stay with you a lifetime.
Author Bio:
Pam Webber is a nationally certified nurse practitioner and award-winning university-level nursing educator. She has published numerous articles and co-authored four editions of a nursing textbook. Pam resides in Virginia's Northern Shenandoah Valley with her husband. The Wiregrass is her first novel.
Independently published with She Writes Press
The Greek Persuasion
About the Author
Robeson, Kimberly K.: - Kimberly K. Robeson is a Greek-American assistant professor at Los Angeles Valley College, where she teaches world literature, creative writing, and composition, and is the coadvisor for the college's LGBTQ+ Club. She grew up in Greece, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and California. She holds a master's degree in comparative literature and has taught English in Greece, Peru, and the United States for the past twenty-seven years. Kimberly, like her yiayia, has always been a storyteller, and Greece is always in her heart. She currently resides in Los Angeles with her husband, Hugo, and their three bulldogs, Achilles, Oia, and Opa. The Greek Persuasion is her debut novel.
A Haven on the Bay: A Willa Bay Novel
Now that the Inn at Willa Bay is well on its way to becoming a premier wedding destination in the Pacific Northwest, chef Meg Briggs hopes it's finally time for her to realize her own dream—converting the old barn on the property into a first class restaurant. However, the barn has been a dumping ground for resort castoffs for years and renovations seem a far off prospect. Can a mysterious journal she finds while cleaning out the barn help her find contentment and happiness in unexpected places?
Taylor loves his job as the head chef at a local lodge, but after Meg and the others quit their jobs there, it's not quite the same. He misses his family in Southern California and maybe it's time to consider a big move.
Tia's found her groove as an event coordinator at the Inn, and things are looking up—until tragedy strikes. Her parents don't think she can make it on her own in Willa Bay, and maybe she can't.
Samantha's made a life-changing decision, but as she tries to move on, life keeps handing her lemons. Improving her future is going to take a brand new outlook and willingness to try new things.
Debbie wants nothing more than to spend quality time with her grandkids and immerse herself in her crafting projects. But, the needs of her family always come first—until some devastating news changes her perspective.