Contemporary Family Life

When their last embryo is accidentally given to another woman, Quinn and James reminisce about the child they gave up 4 years prior... All Quinn has ever wanted is to be a mother. Although her husband James brings her comfort, the knowledge they have no embryos left, and that their child is out there being raised by another family, is tearing them both apart. When the clinic tells Quinn and James they have the right to spend time with little Emily, at first they hesitate. Of course, they would never want to come between Emily and her loving family.

Twelve Years. It’s been twelve years since the last time I heard from the Aldridge family. That one voicemail changes everything - I need the money the late William offers. In exchange, I have to live eighteen months in Baker’s Creek. I’ve survived cancer, the jungle, and the plague. This should be easy compared to all that, right? Or so I think until...I see him.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Russo's skillful use of dialogue perfectly suits the audio medium. A wonderfully fun and perceptive novel in the traditions of Thornton Wilder and Anne Tyler, The Risk Pool is set in Mohawk, New York, where Ned Hall is doing his best to grow up, even though neither of his estranged parents can properly be called an adult.

Tilly is overjoyed when an estranged relative comes to Heritage Cove wanting to make amends. But as she lets him in to her life and Tilly’s Bits ‘n’ Pieces—the shop she owns and loves—her friends aren’t so sure whether everything is quite as it seems. Benjamin’s parents run Mistletoe Gate Farm, selling Christmas trees, wreaths and mistletoe. Benjamin and Tilly have been falling for one another since the summer but will family complications put an abrupt stop to what is looking like a burgeoning romance?

Jason Manning is content with his life as a bachelor, a slob and a sports fan. Then a precocious teen named Carrie Weston decides to play matchmaker, introducing him to her mother. To his relief, Charlotte is as uninterested in marriage as he is. But Jason’s feelings start to change once he gets to know his Bride on the Loose. James Wilkens was almost a Manning groom—because he almost married one of the Manning sisters. With that broken engagement behind him, he spends New Year’s Eve in Las Vegas...where he meets Summer Lawton.

Now happily settled with the woman he’s pined after for years, Adam Sutherland is about to find out what their 10 year courtship was like for Ellie, through the journals she kept during their ups and many downs. And though Adam may have Ellie now, he has no idea how close he came to losing her....

Abbie MacIntyre is living the dream in the picturesque Nova Scotia town she calls home. She is a successful surgeon, is married to a handsome cardiologist, and has a model teenage son who is only months away from going off to college. But then one fateful night, everything changes. When a drunk driver hits her car, Abbie is rushed to the hospital. She survives, but the accident forces unimaginable secrets out into the open and plagues Abbie with nightmares so vivid that she starts to question her grip on reality.

Her life is missing the love… When Katelyn “Katie” Morrison attends her brother’s wedding, the glamorous hotel heiress wonders if she’ll ever find “the one”... especially when she sees her sexy-as-sin ex, Dean Prescott. While attending his best friend’s wedding, Dean can’t stop staring at Katie’s sinful curves. He swore he’d never repeat the mistake of falling for her. Learning that Katie has a newborn, Dean knows there’s more going on than Katie admits.

When a group of neighborhood women gathers, wine in hand, around a fire pit where their backyards meet one Saturday night, most of them are just ecstatic to have discovered that their baby monitors reach that far. It's a rare kid-free night, and they're giddy with it. They drink too much, and the conversation turns personal. By Monday morning, one of them is gone. Everyone knows something about everyone else in the quirky small Ohio town of Yellow Springs, but no one can make sense of the disappearance.

Ever since Ruby was tiny, she has been unique. Her smiles are magically rare, and she likes things done in a very particular way - her blocks are always color-coded, and her toy animals stand in regimented lines. She’s also the daughter of Sara’s dreams - even on days when being a mother to a three-year-old is exhausting. Not everyone understands Ruby like Sara does though. Not Sara’s husband Mike, and certainly not her disapproving mother-in-law, Barbara. So when circumstances force their family to move in with Barbara, Sara knows it’s going to make motherhood even harder.

As she cleans up the cottage her mother left behind, Clara Hannigan discovers a locked hope chest. Inside is a book that might have the answers to her questions...if she can connect the dots between her mom and a prominent local. Complicating matters is one of Clara's students: a mean girl who has a bone to pick with the Hannigans.

Stella's mama never should've put Stella on the church prayer list. With Stella's 27th birthday coming up fast, Nancy desperately wants to see her daughter married and giving her grandbabies. Petitioning heaven seems like a surefire way to get it done. But in Cadillac, Texas, where the gossip's hotter than the city's famous jalapeño peppers, it isn't long before all hell breaks loose.

The Condition tells the story of the McKotches, a proper New England family that comes apart during one fateful summer. One day on the beach, Frank McKotch is struck by an image he cannot forget: his 13-year-old daughter, Gwen, strangely infantile in her child-sized bikini, standing a full head shorter than her younger cousin Charlotte. At that moment, he knows a truth that he can never again unknow: something is terribly wrong with his only daughter.

"Il me reste quelques rêves à réaliser et le moment est venu de m'y atteler. Je vous aime très fort. À très bientôt ! Maman." Léna n'en revient pas. Comment sa mère, qui l'a convoquée pour passer Noël dans la maison de son enfance, a-t-elle pu disparaître en ne lui laissant que ce message sibyllin ? La voilà donc coincée dans le petit village de Vallenot au cœur des Alpes de Haute-Provence et condamnée à passer la fête qu'elle hait plus que tout, entourée de sa famille pour le moins... haute en couleur ! Mais les fêtes de famille ont le don de faire rejaillir les secrets enfouis.

Georgia Chambers has spent her life sifting through other people's pasts while trying to forget her own. But then her work as an expert on fine china - especially Limoges - requires her to return to the one place she swore she'd never revisit. It's been 13 years since Georgia left her family home on the coast of Florida, and nothing much has changed except that there are fewer oysters and more tourists.

After his twin brother died on the night of their senior prom, Jason Parker disappeared from Pilgrim Cove. Nine years later he returns in order to make peace with his family - with Lila Sullivan, the woman he can't forget - and with himself. But nothing and no one is the same as he remembers. Certainly not his family. Not Lila, with her fiance and a child. Not even his old house. Can a wanderer ever find home again? Do second chances really exist?

Anne decides to learn to quilt to help her aunt, and in the process, learns family secrets. Then she uncovers a mysterious presence in her mother's basement, or does she? Anne learns about love, too, in various forms. She and the members of the Colebridge community go through some big life changes. Are their decisions wise or does trouble lie ahead? The Basement Quilt is not just the title of this first novel in a series; the basement quilt itself is a character. You'll want to meet other quilt 'characters' throughout the series.

Noah Wilson isn't exactly "life partner" material, and he sure as hell isn't "father material." He's my older brother's best friend, and has been off limits, sworn off, locked in the highest tower and out of reach since we met over 10 years ago. With his devilish good looks, tattoos, motorcycle, and trail of broken hearts and tears, I've had good reason to stay away from the bad boy my mother warned me about. Until one night. One stupid, regrettable night that changed both of our lives forever.

Detective Shane Ford, Sugarland's favorite cop, has been blindsided by the sudden death of his best friend, NFL star Brad Cooper, and by becoming the legal guardian of Brad's son, Drew - a bitter, angry 16-year-old with a dangerous secret. Shane is determined to pry the truth from Drew, but he manages only to alienate him - and winds up going head-to-head with Juvenile Officer Daisy Callahan, whose job is to protect the teen's best interests.

When Milwaukee-area wife and mother MJ Boudreaux notices her husband, Chris, seems more interested in the casino than her, she's bothered that she isn't more upset. She picks up poker as a way for them to spend more time together - and reignite their marital flame. Although the game doesn't give her the quality time with Chris that she'd hoped, MJ finds she has a knack for it.