Island Women

Following the incident that brought justice to her parents’ killers but ended her career, former FBI Special Agent Rebecca West needs a fresh start. Hoping to find peace, she decides to spend a few months in the sleepy beach town of Shadow Island, where she spent idyllic summers as a kid. However, her vacation is cut short when a seventeen-year-old goes missing with no leads or clues. When the girl’s body is found in a nearby marsh with strangulation marks around her neck, Rebecca can’t say no when the overworked sheriff asks her to help investigate.

Kelli is ready to make memories with her son in the house where she grew up. It needs a lot of work, but with the sunlight coming through the colorful stained-glass windows, she's confident she can do it. When she gets way over her head, she calls the people who she can rely on for anything. Eloise is only a week away from tying the knot, but she shows up at the house on Seabreeze Shore with sandpaper and her fiancé's power tools. They get to work, only to find Kelli's father's will underneath a floorboard. What's really in the will changes everything for Kelli and her mother.

‘Iwa Young’s life is high in the Maui rainforest. As a field biologist, she’s happiest in the company of trees and birds and waterfalls. When a developer arrives with plans for a so-called eco resort in the middle of a forest full of endangered species, ‘Iwa puts all her energy into the fight to protect it. But a chance encounter threatens to distract her. His name is Dane Parsons, a big-wave surfer from California. ‘Iwa has a few unbreakable rules, and at the top of her list: never date a surfer.

Shadow Island lore insists that anyone who steps in the shadow cast onto the old witch’s cottage is cursed. But when two bodies are discovered inside the cottage, their heads arranged in a ghastly tableau, Rebecca is more concerned about the real monsters—the human ones who’d commit such an atrocious murder.

Cassandra Haslam loves plans. Lunch plans, wedding plans, and floor plans—they all bring her joy. In fact, she's had her entire life planned out—career, marriage, and family—since age 10. She's smart, hardworking, and a go-getter, and everything has fallen into place so far. Until her husband dies suddenly, right when she's about to enjoy the fruits of all of her hard work and planning, leaving Cass reeling and...well, without a plan. When her youngest graduates three months later, making her an empty-nester, Cass decides it's time to make a new plan for herself. A paradise plan.

When Joel Shields dies, Robin Grover's only goal is to get her four best friends back to Five Island Cove to celebrate the life of Kristen's husband. She alone has stayed in the cove while everyone else couldn't wait to get away. Alice Keller comes instantly, because her mansion in the Hamptons and her husband's infidelity is smothering her. Not only that, but Kristen has always been like a mother to her, and she wants to support her.

In her gripping debut novel, Lucy Atkins takes us on one woman's journey to the beautiful and rugged Pacific Northwest to discover the dark secrets of her family's past so she can understand and accept herself. Kal McKenzie was never close to her mother, Elena, whose coldness toward her spoiled any chance of a good relationship. When Elena dies of cancer, Kal feels forlorn: How do you mourn a mother who, inexplicably, just didn't seem to love you?

During WWI, Lukia Mazurets, a Ukrainian farm wife, delivers her eighth child while her husband is serving in the Tsar’s army. Soon after, she and her children are forced to flee the invading Germans. Over the next 14 years, Lukia must rely on her wits and faith to survive life in a refugee camp, the ravages of a typhus epidemic, the Bolshevik revolution, unimaginable losses, and one daughter’s forbidden love. Sunflowers Under Fire is a heartbreakingly intimate novel that illuminates the strength of the human spirit, as shown by its courageous and inspirational heroine.

As Little Bridge Island Public Library’s head of children’s services, Molly hopes the messiest thing in her life will be her sticky-note covered desk. But fate - in the form of a newborn left in the restroom - has other ideas. So does the sheriff who comes to investigate the “abandonment”.

When a massive hurricane severs all power and cell service to Little Bridge Island - as well as its connection to the mainland - 25-year-old Bree Beckham isn’t worried...at first. She’s already escaped one storm - her emotionally abusive ex - so a hurricane seems like it will be a piece of cake. But animal-loving Bree does become alarmed when she realizes how many islanders have been cut off from their beloved pets. Now it’s up to her to save as many of Little Bridge’s cats and dogs as she can, but to do so, she’s going to need help.

Delia Dickens has come home to Dickens Island, a small island in the Long Island Sound, after a twelve year stint in Manhattan. She’s looking forward to helping her father revitalize the general store that the family owns as well as curating a small book nook. Most importantly, she wants to reunite with her 15 year old son. But Dickens Island isn’t the peaceful town Delia remembers–and she might be in more danger here than she ever was in the big city. When a young woman, new to the town council, is found murdered, everything escalates and reaches a new boiling point.

As a storyteller, Maureen Nash can't help but see the narrative cues woven through her life. Like the series of letters addressed to her late husband from a stranger—the proprietor of The Moon Shell, a shop on Ocracoke Island, off the coast of North Carolina. The store is famous with shell collectors, but it's the cryptic letters from Allen Withrow, the shop's owner, that convince Maureen to travel to the small coastal town in the middle of hurricane season. At the very least, she expects she'll get a good story out of the experience, never anticipating it could end up a murder mystery.

Journey to Five Island Cove for a roaring good time with friends old and new, their sons and daughters, and all their new husbands as they navigate the heartaches and celebrations of life and love. When someone returns to the Cove no one ever expected to see again, old wounds open just as they'd started to heal. This group of women will be tested again, both on land and at sea, just as they once were as teens.

All communities have their secrets...but on Widow’s Island, there’s a skeleton in every closet, as Deputy Tessa Black knows all too well. When Tessa stumbles upon a half-buried body in the woods, a peaceful morning hike suddenly turns into a race to catch a killer. Tessa identifies the skeletal corpse as Aurora Franklin, a young college student and aspiring actor. She’d come to Widow’s Island for a summer job, only to be strangled and discarded. Aurora has been dead for over a month - and not a single islander has reported her missing.

When I agreed to stand by my best friend, Basia, on her big day, I had no idea what I was in for. Bouquets and unflattering evening wear I can handle. But between disgruntled dates, a beach venue, and suspicious packages, what else can go wrong? Oh, right - my parents don't know I've moved in with Slash. Oops? Thankfully, I've got everything semi under control, at least as far as Basia and Xavier know. They can leave for their honeymoon happy, knowing Elvis, Slash, and I will keep things safe at home.

Ashley Fox has known three things since age 12: she was an excellent seamstress, what her wedding would look like, and that she'd never leave the island of Getaway Bay. Now, at age 35, she's been right about two of them, at least. With an ill parent to take care of and her trusty sewing machine, Ash loves living in Getaway Bay and owning her own custom wedding dress shop. But the husband and wedding she's always dreamed of? Those seem like they're never going to happen for her.

When Jimmy McMullen, a fireman, is killed in the line of duty, his wife, Jackie, and ten-year-old son, Charlie, are devastated. Charlie idolized his dad, and now the outgoing boy has become quiet and reserved. Trusting in the healing power of family, Jackie decides to return to her childhood home on Sullivan's Island. Awaiting them is Annie Britt, the matriarch who has kept the porch lights on to welcome them. Thrilled to have her family back again, Annie promises to make their visit perfect - even though relations between mother and daughter have never been smooth.

When former FBI agent Cate Wilde moves back to Widow’s Island, she envisions a simpler life than the one she had in law enforcement. But Cate’s past has a habit of catching up with her. When she receives a mysterious package containing a child’s mandible, she finds herself thrust back into action. The mandible leads Cate to an unsolved case she worked seven years ago - the kidnapping of a three-year-old girl. At the time, Cate suspected the girl was kidnapped by her overprotective father. But after they both vanished, the case went cold.

Dr. David Lawrence has spent the last two years atoning for his sins and recovering from the devastating breakup with Gansett Island golden girl Janey McCarthy. As the island's only doctor, he's had ample opportunity to show his fellow island residents that there's more to him than the guy who disappointed Janey so profoundly. Now if only he could find a way to forgive himself, he might be able to move on with his life without the woman he'd expected to love forever...

Julias kleine Schwester verlobt sich vor ihr, Silvester verbringt sie allein in einem fremden Haus, und dann brennt auch noch ihr »Traummann zum Selberbacken« an! Ganz klar: Julia braucht einen Neuanfang.