Contemporary Family Life

Hope Anderson is at a crossroads. At 36, she's been dating her boyfriend, an orthopedic surgeon, for six years. With no wedding plans in sight, and her father recently diagnosed with ALS, she decides to use a week at her family's cottage in Sunset Beach, North Carolina, to ready the house for sale and mull over some difficult decisions about her future.

From the best-selling author of The Beekeeper’s Promise comes a gripping story of three young women faced with impossible choices. How will history - and their families - judge them? Paris, 1940. With the city occupied by the Nazis, three young seamstresses go about their normal lives as best they can. But all three are hiding secrets. War-scarred Mireille is fighting with the Resistance; Claire has been seduced by a German officer; and Vivienne’s involvement is something she can’t reveal to either of them.

Christmas is fast approaching at the new Hope Farm and Bev has convinced a reluctant Molly to organise an open day to raise some much needed funds ahead of the New Year. Their nativity tableau has everything they need: anti-social sheep, alpacas munching the Baby Jesus doll and a hairdresser dressed up as Santa Claus. But on Hope Farm it's going to take more than mulled wine and Christmas lights to get everyone in the festive spirit.

The warm and wonderful new novel from the natural heir to Maeve Binchy.... Tess used to be happy with her lot: she lives in the idyllic Irish coastal village, Avalon, with her teenage son, Zach, and nine-year-old Kitty, and works in the local antiques shop. Her only regret in life is that everything went so horribly wrong with her first love. Then her marriage falls apart and her first love returns to Avalon.

Blythe moves into an apartment building with a loud upstairs neighbor who keeps throwing parties all night long. It's during one such party when Krit opens the door to find his new neighbor standing there. Blythe wants him to turn down the music, but he convinces her to stay. She's nothing like the women who parade in and out of his apartment, but Krit can't resist her - her brown hair, cute glasses, and sexy innocence is too much for him to ignore. Determined to win Blythe over, Krit Corbin may have just found his biggest addiction yet.

Andi has spent much of her adult life looking for the perfect man, and at 37, she's finally found him. Ethan - divorced with two daughters, Emily and Sophia - is a devoted father and even better husband. Always hoping one day she would be a mother, Andi embraces the girls like they were her own. But in Emily’s eyes, Andi is an obstacle to her father’s love, and Emily will do whatever it takes to break her down. When the dynamics between the two escalate, they threaten everything Andi believes about love, family, and motherhood....

Sam Elling works for an internet dating company, but he still can't get a date. So he creates an algorithm that will match you with your soul mate. Sam meets the love of his life, Meredith. When Meredith's grandmother, Livvie, dies suddenly, Sam creates a computer program that will allow Meredith to have one last conversation with her grandmother. Mining from all her correspondence - email, Skype, texts - Sam constructs a computer simulation of Livvie who can respond to email or video chat just as if she were still alive. Meredith loves it, and the couple to wonders if this is something that could help more people through their grief.

Romance author Dakota Laurens believes that happily-ever-afters exist only between the covers of her sexy novels. But to her surprise, she finds a real-life hero when she meets a handsome emergency room doctor. The outspoken author feels an instant and intense attraction to Dr. Walt Eddy, and the feeling is mutual. When the globetrotting doctor pulls a disappearing act on Dakota, she's prepared to write him off... until fate brings a blindsiding twist to her story.

On Big Sawyer island, life is as steady as the routine of the lobstermen who leave with the tide each morning and return with their haul each night. But for 40-year-old New Yorker Julia Bechtel, life and what’s important in it are about to be forever altered when she survives a terrible boat accident en route to the island. Now, in the company of her aunt and daughter, Julia finds herself feeling strangely connected to the tragedy’s other survivors - Noah, a divorced lobsterman, and Kim, a young woman rendered mute since her rescue - and newly outraged at the state of her marriage....

Leigh Chen Sanders is absolutely certain about one thing: When her mother died by suicide, she turned into a bird. Leigh, who is half Asian and half white, travels to Taiwan to meet her maternal grandparents for the first time. There, she is determined to find her mother, the bird. In her search, she winds up chasing after ghosts, uncovering family secrets, and forging a new relationship with her grandparents.

Simon Steinberg and Blaire Scott are among the most respected couples in Hollywood. Simon, a major movie producer, and Blaire, an award-winning television writer, have defied the Hollywood clichés, keeping their marriage together for decades. Their three children—aspiring teenage model Samantha, pre-med student Scott, and entertainment lawyer Allegra—are successful and happy but must face the challenges we fear for our own children as well.

Life is meant to be savored, but that’s not easy with no family, limited prospects, and a past you’d rather not talk about. Still, Callie Smith doesn’t know how to feel when she discovers she has a brother and a sister - Malcolm, who grew up with affection, wealth, and privilege, and Keira, a streetwise 12-year-old. Despite her trepidation, she moves into the grand family home with her siblings and grandfather on the shores of Lake Washington, hoping just maybe this will be the start of a whole new life. But starting over can be messy.

The charming vacation house on the coast of Maine was meant to be a heavenly retreat for Danica Lindsay and her husband Blake, a place where they could mend the wounds of a strained and tired marriage. Instead, she finds herself mostly there alone while Blake's political star is rapidly rising back in Boston. Were it not for the companionship of her new neighbor, gentle and caring Michael Buchanan, Danica would surely be overcome by loneliness and despair.

Kate Owen is a woman fleeing from the past. Leaving a rewarding job in London, she’s uprooted her life and given away her daughter to keep them both safe. Damaged from a traumatic event that broke her family apart, she attempts to find peace in Liverpool. There she meets the seemingly eligible Alex Price, who offers her a glimpse of a happy future. But there are those in London who can never forget what she did and believe she holds the key to the unfinished business she left behind in the capital.

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.

Sometimes Lily wishes she weren't so sensible. If she were less reliable, then perhaps she'd have more fun. As it is, her hardworking but flaky mom and her dreamy older brother count on her to run the house. She wishes things could be different, but how can she change her responsible ways? Perhaps, she thinks, she should fall in love! Meanwhile, her scheming grandmother is planning a family party and, as is typical, Lily worries.

Fanny Thornton, the proud matriarch of the Thornton dynasty, will do anything for her family. Her four children, now grown, mean everything to her, as does Babylon, the most dazzling casino in Las Vegas and the Thorntons' crowning achievement. But her children have dispersed across the globe, and so she chooses Jeff, the illegitimate son of her deceased husband, to run the casino.

Fixing things has always been Alex McFarland's greatest gift and keenest pleasure. But with her own life thoroughly broken, she's signed on to renovate the dilapidated Pelican Point lighthouse, hoping to reconnect with herself. The last thing she expects is to find herself falling in love - with the glorious coastline, with age-old secrets and welcome-home smiles - and with rugged Logan McCrae, the man she just might be able to build new hopes on. DIY is so much better with two.

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.

Eight years have passed since Ave Maria Mulligan married Jack Mac, moved up into the hills, and dug in her roots even deeper. But Ave Maria soon discovers that the mountains cannot shelter her from the painful lessons of the heart.