Contemporary Family Life Women Fiction

After three marriages and a lot of living, resilient Billie Slate knows exactly what trouble love can bring. Now she’s reinvented herself as the Heartbreak Bunny, an on-call performance artist who can heal anyone who’s been burned by that four-letter word, LOVE, by hopping about and whisking away sad mementos from their past relationships. Call it magic. Call it peculiar. But her bunny costume is as perfect as her breakup mantra: SNAP OUT OF IT.

There's always time to help out a stranger...isn't there? Supermarket delivery driver Charlie enjoys his new job, because he doesn't have to spend too long with people, who, he's found, are nothing but trouble. But when he's assigned the Hope Row street, he realises there are a lot of lonely people out there - and for some, he's their only interaction. The supermarket boss tells Charlie he's a driver, not a social worker - but Charlie can't abandon the Hope Row residents and he sets about trying to draw them out of their shells and back into the world.

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.

In the fading town of Rooster, Texas, all that's really left is a service station, a church…and the Banty House, a long-ago Depression-era brothel. For more than seventy-five years, Betsy, Connie, and Kate Carson have called their mama's house a home. The three eccentric sisters get by just fine with their homemade jams and jellies, a little moonshine on the side, and big hearts always open to strangers. Like Ginger Andrews.

The puppy started it. The poor thing was cold and trembling, abandoned on their front doorstep. Dash, impulsive as always, decides on the spot that they should keep it. But her husband, Andrew, thinks it's the craziest thing he's ever heard. A fight over a scruffy little dog doesn't seem like much of a reason to walk out on your husband of 20 years - but the spat over the puppy is just the last of many straws.

As a helicopter medic, Daniel Bliant saves other people’s lives. He’s cool under pressure, a calm presence for trauma victims on the worst day of their lives. So why can’t he heal himself? When he answers an emergency call at Phil’s Bar, he can’t believe who the bartender is: the beautiful woman he saw in his ER months ago and hasn’t been able to stop thinking about. But even though Annika is intelligent, lively, and gorgeous, he knows he should forget her.

She'd resolved to "act more sophisticated" and "get out more". But the rumpled bedding, the coffee brewed by other hands, and The Note reminded Rachel Harper that she'd done something completely out of character. She'd brought a man home from a bar. And apparently made a baby.

When Claire Parker left Sanctuary, West Virginia, she thought it was for good. But now she’s back, reeling from an ugly divorce. Readjusting to small-town life is harder than Claire expected, so she’s surprised, and grateful, to find companionship in Willow, an abused Thoroughbred mare. Willow is Claire’s "whisper horse", and they share a special, rare bond. Except Willow isn’t the only one helping Claire heal; Willow’s ruggedly handsome veterinarian, Dr. Tim Arbuckle, is sympathetic…and secretive.

Scotland, 1912. Antonia McCulloch’s life hasn’t gone the way she planned. She and her husband, Malcolm, have drifted apart; her burgeoning art career came to nothing; and when she looks in the mirror, she sees disappointment. But at least she will always have Balmarra, her family’s grand Scottish estate, and its exquisite glass house, filled with exotic plants that can take her far away. When her estranged brother’s wife, Cicely Pick, arrives unannounced, with her young daughter and enough trunks to last the summer, Antonia is instantly suspicious.

Everything Olivia Grayson touches in the business world turns to gold. Now, though, she reflects upon her life, and wishes she’d invested in her family as much as she did in her business. Eager to atone for past sins, Olivia does her utmost to support each of her children as they struggle through mid-life crises. While one of her sons is unhappily married to a cold, domineering woman, the other is completely oblivious to his son’s struggles as a gay teen.

Bay Singer has bigger secrets than most. Not that she knows about them. Her mother, Nan, is sure that the burden of those secrets would be too much, and that's why she never told anyone the truth... not even Bay. There's a lot that Nan has kept quiet over the years, especially those times with Mavis and Ruthie - times that were dark and full of guilt. But some secrets have a power all their own, and Nan realizes she needs Mavis and Ruthie now more than ever.

As a child, Skylar Mackenzie’s imagination always got her in trouble. Now it’s making her a fortune. She owns Imagine That, a toy and bookstore and creativity center in a small Rhode Island beach town where children, and adults, can use their imagination free from judgment. Skye is about to embark on her biggest venture yet, a weekend retreat of family exploration. But it begins to unravel when she finds her estranged half sister, Amy, on the doorstep. And Amy’s not alone. She’s brought Skye’s first love, Connor Reid - the boy who broke her heart.

Emma Laurent has always preferred helping others to asking for help. But now, she’s the one in need. Her stepmother is selling her late father’s candy shop, her grandmother’s assisted-living facility has become a financial burden, and the anniversary of her fiancé’s death is quickly approaching. Rather than face her problems, Emma does what she does best - finds someone else to help by offering a mother and son with nowhere to go somewhere to stay.

Susan Jones, a brash and ballsy chef who hopscotches from one demanding restaurant job to the next, was barely in her 20s when she married and had a son, Henry. But after her marriage to Andrew fell apart, she ceded most of the raising of the baby to her mother-in-law, the very opinionated Edith Vale, a woman as formidable and steely as her stiff blond bouffant, the veritable helmet that helps her soldier through life. Now, after letting Henry drift away, Susan is determined to make things right.

Corey Bennett knows how to handle loss: she buries her grief, just as she buried her loved ones. After losing her parents to a tragic car accident and then her husband to cancer, Corey has focused all her attention on her career - first in law school and then on the partner track at a prestigious Atlanta law firm. When her boss insists she take a vacation, Corey balks. But two weeks on the Florida Gulf Coast, where she reconnects with Tripp, a childhood friend, prove to be profoundly rejuvenating.

There are those who never grow old because they are taken too soon. There are those who grow old without worries, enjoying everything life has to offer. There are those who desperately try to slow down the ticking clock. And then there's Betty - Betty, who mysteriously stops growing old on her 30th birthday, the same age at which her mother died. The years leave no trace on Betty's face, but as everyone around her is transformed by the relentless march of time, her once golden life begins to come apart.

After a blizzard roared across the island in February, Lola Sheridan was forced to postpone her wedding to Tommy Gasbarro, the handsome Italian sailor who stole her heart two summers back. Their June wedding approaches—and the Sheridan women have a surprise party up their sleeves, one that will shock all involved and make Lola question her allegiances.

Abby passed away, leaving her granddaughter Krista to discover a family secret hidden for six decades; a secret of passion so strong it would change all of their lives and forever change what they thought they knew about the family matriarch. Yet, knowing the truth and deciding what to do with that knowledge are two different things. As her own love affair with a childhood friend is just beginning to blossom, Krista is faced with accepting what she learned about the grandmother she loved and needing to share her newfound knowledge with the rest of the family.

Durante 18 anos, Jude pôs as necessidades dos filhos em primeiro lugar, e o resultado disso é que seus gêmeos, Mia e Zach, são adolescentes felizes. Quando Lexi começa a estudar no mesmo colégio que eles, ninguém em Pine Island é mais receptivo que Jude. Lexi, uma menina com um passado de sofrimento, criada em lares adotivos temporários, rapidamente se torna a melhor amiga de Mia. E, quando Zach se apaixona por ela, os três se tornam companheiros inseparáveis.

Meghann Dontess é uma mulher atormentada pela tristeza e pela solidão, e não consegue lidar com a difícil decisão que tomou na adolescência e que a fez perder tudo, inclusive o amor da irmã. Advogada de sucesso, trabalhando com divórcios, ela não acredita em relacionamentos, até que conhece o único homem capaz de fazê-la mudar de ideia.