Uplifting Women

The inhabitants of the Inventor's Housing Estate keep themselves to themselves. There are the friendly 'Hellos' when commutes coincide and the odd cheeky eye roll when the wine bottles clank in number seven's wheelie bin, but it's not exactly Ramsay Street. The dilapidated community centre is no longer the beating heart of the estate that Becky remembers from her childhood. So the new pottery class she's helped set up feels like a fresh start. And not just for her.

The Beachside Inn is up and running, but that doesn’t mean the work is done. In fact, things are busier than ever! After months of preparation, Angela and Lydia are finally hosting their first guests - including Patrick, who needs a place to stay while he hunts for a new house. It’s a summer of changes and challenges, but with laughter, love, and faith, anything is possible.

For elderly churchwarden Arthur Calderbank, there's no place like home. His home just so happens to be a graveyard. He keeps himself to himself, gets on with his job, and visits his wife everyday for a chat. When one day he finds someone else has been to see his wife - and has left flowers on her grave - he is determined to solve the mystery of who and why.

When the Mayor of a picturesque Italian town launches a new scheme to rejuvenate the community, his advertisement is read with interest and excitement by many. Zara is in her thirties and desperate to get on the property ladder. Tim and Lynda are retiring and need a project. Some are looking for a peaceful bolthole. Others hope to make a profit, start a business, escape a dull life or an unhappy relationship. And there is someone who just might be hiding their true motivation...

Jessica Bradley has it all: the perfect boyfriend; influential healthy eating blog; successful PR company; and wonderful daughter, Anna. Or at least that is what her thousands of followers believe. The truth is, her boyfriend just broke up with her in four words on a Post-it; her zest for healthy eating has all but disappeared; her PR success is all reliant on her now not-so-honest online life; and she just got caught eating her daughter's Coco-Pops.

The strong Black woman is the healed woman. Emotional self-care affirmations are grounded on kindness, even when the message is brutal honesty. They are not just a ritual to cross off a checklist. They are a hard reset of the way you show yourself love. They are a reminder that you are beautifully created, no matter your flaws, and that you are brilliant and wonderful regardless of what life is throwing at you. Listen to them everyday. Feel them in your soul. Make it a ritual that you’ll look forward to performing each and every day.

It is music to the spirit and the rhythm of the soul. There’s no feeling more wonderful than to know that you are loved and supported unconditionally. Yet, for the strong Black queen, love can be quite elusive sometimes. Her assertiveness is labeled as aggression; her standards are labeled as arrogance. She’s been told to conform to an image that is not her, nor that of her ancestors. Sometimes, she’s been so hurt that she ends sabotaging her relationships herself, because she feels undeserving of affection, unworthy of love.

Being a woman is a thing of worth, and being black is what we should be proud of. However, being a woman can be challenging. I guess you know that by now. Finding a balance between work, family, and personal life can be difficult.

This latest collection of stories celebrates the shared experiences of being a woman in a 101 new ways. You will be moved by these true accounts of how women like you have embraced life's defining moments by finding love, dealing with loss, overcoming obstacles and achieving their dreams and goals.

Twins Katy and Rachel don't know much about each other's lives anymore. Rachel thinks that Katy is a high-flying event planner in London, while Katy thinks that Rachel lives in idyllic marital bliss in the countryside. Each sister believes the other has created a perfect life—but the truth is that neither twin has the life she pretends she does. And when these sisters unexpectedly swap houses for a week, they're in for a big shock.

Without woman there would be no man. Somewhere along the way society has forgotten the power of not just women but Black women. There is a gradual shift though, a turning of the tide, as the Black woman begins to really embrace her true beauty, power, and essence. From the natural hair to the different hues in skin tone, the black woman is a force to be reckoned with.

Spring 1986, Oxford. Rachel has landed on her feet: engaged to handsome author Jonny, soon to be stepmother to his young daughter Teddy, and with a dream to open her own art gallery. It’s everything she wished for during her unsettled childhood. So when she meets candid and carefree American artist Gabe at a party and feels a familiar spark, she knows she needs to resist. But as her perfect life moves forward, Gabe is never far away, and there’s no denying the lure of the spontaneous, wildly adventurous existence he seems to offer.

On the one-year anniversary of her divorce, Alex Martinez is getting closure—and margaritas with her two best friends. But just before the celebratory meetup, Alex is clobbered by life once again. Damping the cheer is the diagnosis of a brain tumor she can’t pronounce, a procedure she’d rather postpone, and the prospect of what to say to an already heartbroken mother. Not that Alex plans to tell her anything anytime soon.

Ariella Mason has the perfect life. Perfect job? Check. Perfect home? Check. Perfect fiancé? Check. None of this is by accident. Ariella is a card-carrying perfectionist. On the other side of the city lives Ariella’s polar opposite. Caleb Black is an unrepentant smart-ass, seat-of-his-pants, arrogant party-boy getting through life on charisma and raw sex appeal (his words).

Josie is assigned to mystery-shop a chain of lingerie stores, and she’s surprised to find her high school gym teacher, Mrs. Hayes, working as a shop manager and “C-cup counselor.” Even worse, Josie finds a high school acquaintance murdered in a restroom near the shop, her hands bound with the bra she just purchased. Thanks to a secret from her past, Mrs. Hayes has a motive for this murder, and a flimsy alibi. Josie has to find the real killer to save Mrs. Hayes.

Germany, 1911. Certain things are expected of a woman. Defiant Mimi Reventlow has chosen to be the woman she wants to be. For now, that’s the resident, if temporary, photographer in Laichingen. Here, against the odds, in a vocation uncommon for her gender, she maintains a struggling studio. She cares for her aging uncle and mentor. She’s captured the affections of a roguish young local. And she dares to engage in a secret affair with Johann, the village’s prodigal son. But when tragedy strikes, Mimi’s world is thrown into a state of flux.

While at a casino to celebrate her birthday, Jess Clarke proposes a pact to her reserved sister, Liz, and their childhood friend Chloe: the three women will say yes to any adventure that comes their way. Jess is mourning her recent divorce, so the other two reluctantly agree. Twelve hours later, they awaken to the shocking consequences of their behavior.

Seventeen years ago, two pink stripes on a pregnancy test changed Anne Sullivan’s life. She abandoned her artistic ambitions, married her college sweetheart before graduation, and - like the mother she lost in childhood - devoted herself to her family. To say she didn’t see the divorce coming is an understatement. Now, eager to distance herself from her ex and his lover, she moves with her troubled daughter, Katy, to the quaint bayside town of Potomac Point, where she spent her childhood summers.

Beth Brandon has always dreamed of owning a flower shop, but today the bouquets of peonies and bright spring flowers are failing to calm her nerves...because, today, Beth has a life-changing decision to share with her husband. Izzy Vaughan thought she and her husband would stay together forever, but sometime last year, their love began to fade. They both find such joy in their young son Noah - but is he enough to keep them together? Eight years ago, something happened to these two women - something that is about to bring them together in a way no one thought possible....

Macey and Ben Samuelson have much to be thankful for: great friends, a beautiful - if high-maintenance - Victorian house on idyllic Tybee Island, and a rock-solid marriage. The only thing missing is what they want the most. After her fifth miscarriage in six years, Macey worries that the family they’ve always dreamed of might be out of reach. Her sister suggests adoption, but Macey and Ben aren’t interested in pursuing that path...until a three-legged Golden Retriever named Keeper wags his way into their home and their hearts.