Contemporary Family Life Women Fiction

Summer has started in idyllic Sag Harbor, and for Emma Mapson that means greeting guests at the front desk of The American Hotel. But when one of the town's most famous residents, artist Henry Wyatt, dies suddenly, Emma learns he has mysteriously left his waterfront home - a self-designed masterpiece filled with his work - to her teenage daughter, Penny. In Manhattan, legendary art patron Bea Winstead's grief at her lifelong friend and former business partner Henry's passing turns to outrage, and she descends on Sag Harbor determined to reclaim the house and preserve Henry's legacy.

A rainy-day ritual - a tea party between three little girls - becomes the framework of not only their friendship, but their lives. Blonde, curly-haired Zoe Alexander is openhearted, kind, and free-spirited, but struggles with body image. Emily Waters is shy, diminutive, and would prefer to live vicariously through books. And Shannon Morell - tall, athletic, strong - has a deep sense of loyalty, but will always fear abandonment. As years pass, they forge careers, have their hearts broken, marry, and have children, but the one constant that remains is each other and their tea parties.

At 66 Star Street in Dublin, someone is watching over the lives of the people living in its flats. But no one is aware of it - yet... One of them is ready to take the plunge and fall in love; another is torn between two very different lovers. For some, secrets they want to stay buried will come to light and for others, the unveiling of those secrets will have tragic consequences.

Bruce Peyton wonders where he went wrong. A widower, he worries that he has spoiled his 13-year-old daughter Jolene, and in doing so, caused so much tension and hostility in his home that his new - and pregnant - wife, Rachel, has left him. He struggles to regain her trust and to raise a daughter he can be proud of, because in Cedar Cove, nothing is more important than family.

This city girl's about to get a dose of cowboy charm. Emily Baker doesn't rough it - anymore. Born and raised on a farm, she's worked hard to distance herself from that life, thank you very much. But when the seniors at the nursing home where she works beg for a ranch retreat, she caves and heads up to the Longhorn Canyon spread. With one glance at the sexy cowboy who opens the door, she's suddenly thinking a week with him might not be so bad after all.

Dinah Taylor has an orderly life that is just how she likes it. A perfectly furnished luxury apartment, a satisfying career as a scientist and CEO of her own company, and an uncomplicated personal life. But all of that changes when she meets seven-year-old Jonah. The boy shows up one day, a scruffy dog by his side, in front of her office building. Dinah knows nothing about kids and even less about animals, but after she buys him breakfast, he shows up the next day...and the next. She tries to learn more about him, to help him, but he's remarkably skilled at evading her questions.

Charming ladies’ man Rory Randall dies with one last trick up his sleeve: His will includes a calculating clause mandating a summer-long reunion for his daughters, all from different marriages - that is, if they hope to inherit his posh Nantucket house. Relations among the three sisters are sour thanks to long-festering jealousies, resentments, and misunderstandings. Arden, a successful television host in Boston, hasn’t been back to the island since her teenage years, when accusations of serious misbehavior led to her banishment.

The spotlight doesn't only shine. Sometimes, it burns. Being the bad-boy bassist for the world's hottest band has earned Griffin Hancock some perks: A big house, a fast car, and most importantly his incredible wife Anna. The one thing it hasn't brought him is the spotlight. Anna tells him to be patient, that his talent will win out. But Griffin is through waiting for permission to shine. Without warning, Griffin makes a shocking decision and takes the gamble of a lifetime.

Verity Love - Jane Austen fangirl and an introvert in a world of extroverts - is perfectly happy on her own (thank you very much), and her fictional boyfriend, Peter, is very useful for getting her out of unwanted social events. But when a case of mistaken identity forces her to introduce a perfect stranger as her boyfriend, Verity's life suddenly becomes much more complicated.

National best-selling author Lauraine Snelling brings a small mountain town to thrilling life when a natural disaster threatens to destroy lives. US Border Patrol agent Ben James' life is in tatters. A tragic accident stole the love of his life and he never finished grieving. Turning to the bottle for support, he lost sight of what was important. While making his last patrol run before a storm rolls in, Ben's canine partner Bo finds an abandoned baby hidden in the woods. As Ben rushes the child to the only clinic in the area, the storm strikes with unexpected fury.

Rosa Galvez’s attraction to Officer Wyatt Townsend is as powerful as the moon’s pull on the tides. But with her past, Rosa knows better than to act on her feelings. When Wyatt and his adorable son become Brambleberry House’s newest tenants, Rosa finds her resolve slipping. Her solo life slowly becomes a sun-filled family adventure - until dark secrets threaten to break like a summer storm.

The fascinating, and largely autobiographical, sequel to J. G. Ballard’s prize-winning Empire of the Sun, that follows Jim to post-war England. The Kindness of Women continues the story of the boy whose life in Japanese-occupied Shaghai was described so memorably in Empire of the Sun, it sets those traumatic events within the context of a lifetime as we follow the narrator, Jim, to England and suburban Shepperton after the war.

Mia Carter's life has always been about her family and their charming bed and breakfast in the idyllic Blue Ridge Mountains. When her mother passes away, Mia is left to run the Sweet Tea B&B alone. But a routine DNA test changes everything. Mia discovers she has a sister named Kate, who lives in Rhode Island. The sisters meet for the first time at the will reading and are shocked to learn that their mother's final wish was for them to run the B&B together.

In Australian author Charlotte Nash's US debut, a young woman attends her ex-boyfriend's Paris wedding and discovers more than she ever dreamed in the ultimate city of love. Imagine you are invited to Paris, the City of Love, to witness the wedding of your first love to a woman you’ve never met. Would you go? It’s been ages since Rachael West has seen the man she once believed she couldn’t live without. Receiving his wedding invitation was bittersweet - she was oddly touched he’s asked her, but knows that facing him on this day would be the hardest thing she’s ever done.

A poignant, surprising love story told backwards over five decades, with a devastating secret at its heart. Robbie and Emily they have been together for decades. Now, their joints are creaking and their eyesight is failing - but their love for each other is as fresh and fierce as the day they first met. They have had children and grandchildren, lived full and happy and intimate lives. But they have been keeping a secret since the day they met, when their lives changed forever. Over the years, the sacrifices and choices they made have sealed their fates together.

Gus Hollister owes all his success to his feisty grandmother, Rose, and he knows it. It was Rose and her two sisters, Iris and Violet, who raised Gus, sent him to the best schools, and helped him start his own accounting business. Rose even bought the house Gus lives in with his wife, Elaine. But now, Gus stands to lose everything - his home, his car, and his business. Worse, he’s alienated his beloved grandma, who tried to warn him about Elaine’s greedy, gold-digging ways.

Linda Davis’s local fabric shop is a place where women gather to share their creations: quilts commemorating important events in their lives. Wedding quilts, baby quilts, memorial quilts - each is bound tight with dreams, hopes, and yearnings.Now, as her only child readies for college, Linda is torn between excitement for Molly and heartache for herself. Who will she be when she is no longer needed in her role as mom? Mother and daughter decide to share one last adventure together.

Sweeping powers of description transport her listeners to another time and place. Rosanna Ley, author of best-selling The Villa and Return to Mandalay. Some memories can be forgotten.... Others won't ever go away. For renowned actor Sir Mungo, his quiet home village in Devon provides the perfect retreat. Close by are his brother and his wife, and the rural location makes his home the ideal getaway for his old friends in London.

For Holly Marshall, there’s no such thing as a perfect match. That’s reflected in the unpredictable, fun clothing combos the aspiring artist wears around her hometown of Sugar Springs - and in her inability to fit in anywhere else. But when she sets out to prove to her family that she’s ready to grow up by settling down, could she have found her perfect mismatch in a play-by-the-book guy wearing a business suit?

Natalie and Rose are transported in their imaginations to the Atlantic Ocean in 1943, where one of their ancestors survived in a lifeboat for 50 days. Natalie struggles when her daughter, Rose, is diagnosed with type-1 diabetes, but the researching and retelling of Grandad Colin's story provides them both with a way to fight through. Louise Beech has always been haunted by the sea, and regularly writes travel pieces for the Hull Daily Mail, where she was a columnist for ten years.