Angelindiskyes

Joan Sample is not living the life she expected. Now a widow and an empty-nester, she has become by her own admission something of a recluse. But after another birthday spent alone, she is finally inclined to listen to her sister, who has been begging Joan to reengage with the world. With Emmie’s support, Joan gathers the courage to take some long-awaited steps: hiring someone to tame her overgrown garden, joining a grief support group, and even renting out a room to a local college student. Before long Joan is starting to feel a little like herself again.

Melissa Henderson is leading a quiet life. Once a best-selling author, she now pours all her energy into renovating a Victorian house nestled in the foothills of rural New England. Six years ago, she lost her young son to cancer, and her marriage dissolved. She stopped writing. Then Melissa receives a call from her sister, Hattie. They were close once, but that was before Melissa withdrew from the world. Now Hattie, who became a nun at 25, is determined to help Melissa turn a new page, even if it means reopening one of the most painful chapters of her life.

Luke Rivers is a man of his word. He agrees to marry Kate Logan when she foolishly proposes to him - after one glass of champagne too many - at her former fiancé's wedding reception. And Luke, stubborn rancher that he is, refuses to renege on his promise.

J.B. Hammock played by his own rules, and rule number one was never settle down. He treated his women well, but with a no-strings detachment they all accepted. But sweet Tellie Maddox hovered about like a gossamer butterfly, always trying to take care of him, always caring about him. It was enough to make a confirmed bachelor take drastic measures.

Michelle was a young single mother when she was kidnapped by a local school bus driver named Ariel Castro. For more than a decade afterward, she endured unimaginable torture at the hand of her abductor. In 2003 Amanda Berry joined her in captivity, followed by Gina DeJesus in 2004. Their escape on May 6, 2013, made headlines around the world.

I expected a life of music. I expected to raise my son. It took one look to make everything change. I never expected happiness. I never expected to find her. I never expected to feel desire. I never expected I'd be a family man. I never expected to be loved. I never expected to fall in love. They say you should expect the unexpected, but I didn't realize my unexpected would be the forever kind.

I was never supposed to be a rock star. I had my life all planned out for me. Play football in college. Go to the NFL. Marry my high school sweetheart and live happily ever after. I broke both our hearts that day when I told her I was leaving. I was young. I made the right decision for me, but the wrong decision for us. I've poured my soul into my music, but I've never forgotten her. Her smell, her smile. And now I'm going back. After 10 years. I hope I can explain that after all this time. I still want her to be my forever girl.

Four years ago Kacey Cleary's life imploded when her car was hit by a drunk driver, killing her parents, boyfriend, and best friend. Still haunted by memories of being trapped inside, holding her boyfriend's lifeless hand and listening to her mother take her last breath, Kacey wants to leave her past behind. Armed with two bus tickets, Kacey and her 15-year-old sister, Livie, escape Grand Rapids, Michigan, to start over in Miami. Kacey's not worried. She can handle anything - anything but her mysterious neighbor in apartment 1D.

Back in their college days, Gretchen Wise had been engaged to a top law student. Carol Furness, head cheerleader, had said yes to the school’s football hero. And Maddie Cobain was the girl who’d fallen for a professor. Now the three of them gather around a popular fountain on the college grounds. This fountain was where lovers met, where promises were made...and broken. So it’s fitting that Gretchen, Carol and Maddie sit here to share their stories of betrayal and, yes, revenge.

Abandoned by her mother at age seven, Alexandra Winslow takes solace in the mysteries she reads with her devoted father - and soon she is writing them herself, slowly graduating to dark, complex crime stories that reflect skill, imagination, and talent far beyond her years. After her father's untimely death, at 14 Alex is taken in by the nuns of a local convent, where she finds 26 mothers to take the place of the one she lost, and the time and encouragement to pursue her gift.