Contemporary Family Life Women Fiction

1976. Rushing out of the University Library, undergraduate Alice Kenzie bumps straight into PhD student Tristan Somers. There begins a whirlwind romance, and Alice falls pregnant and gives birth to a baby girl. Then Tristan is killed in a car accident. Unable to cope, Alice takes her baby to Summer House, Tristan's family home in Suffolk, leaves her there and disappears. 2018. Olivia Somers has always been told that her mother died in the same accident as her father. When she finds old letters in Summer House, everything she ever believed about her mother is called into question.

Rachel Lear lives in a dream world with her head in the clouds - and it’s starting to show. There’s the dissertation she can’t quite finish, the ex-boyfriend whom she has yet to kick to the curb, and those pesky 20 pounds she keeps meaning to lose. But when her overbearing father finally runs out of patience and cuts her off from the family fortune, Rachel finds herself thrust into the real world. She never could have guessed that’s where she would finally meet a knight in shining armor.

Decisions is the twelfth novella in the ongoing story of the Andersen family. Livia Andersen was a woman who held her family together with a quiet smile and an iron will. It’s only been months since her death and the four children she leaves behind continue to grapple with the shifting changes in their lives now that she’s gone. Disappointments she kept to herself are slowly coming to light. And the grandchildren she adored are struggling for answers that aren’t always easily found. Chris Andersen has always looked at life as an adventure and the unknowns just around the corner as ...

When Justin walks out on Alice on their honeymoon, with no explanation apart from a cryptic note, Alice is left alone and bewildered, her life in pieces. Then she meets Evelyn, a visitor to the gallery where she works. It's a seemingly chance encounter, but Alice gradually learns that Evelyn has motives, and a heartbreaking story, of her own. And that story has haunting parallels with Alice's life. As Alice delves into the mystery of why Justin left her, the questions are obvious. But the answers may lie in the most unlikely of places...

When Kate was 22, she had an intense and passionate affair with a married man, Callum, which ended in heartbreak. Kate thought she'd never get over it. Seventeen years later, life has moved on - Kate, now a successful actress, is living in London, married to Matt and mother to little Tallulah. Meanwhile Callum and his wife, Belinda, are happy together, living in Edinburgh and watching their kids grow up. The past, it would seem, is well and truly behind them all....

Jake Kyle needed to get away and never more so than now. The political quagmire that he’s help to bring to a boil is about to land on his doorstep. It was time to Retreat to Woodhaven. Under normal circumstances he’d be more than happy to take his critics on face to face and had done just that more than once over the years. And more than once he had been the one to walk away smiling. But this time in the midst of everything he’s embroiled in, he has other far more important things to take care of. People who need him in ways they never had before. Family who counted on him though ...

Willow Parsons’s two new best friends are getting married, putting her squarely on the sidelines of romance - which suits her just fine. After the nightmarish situation she escaped from, featuring the ultimate Mr. Wrong, she is more than happy to spend her days slinging drinks in Dempsey’s Bar & Grill, and her nights alone. But her Anchor Island refuge has just one catch: muscle-bound charmer Randy Navarro. Everyone in town knows that Randy, owner of the local fitness club, is a giant teddy bear. Everyone, it seems, except for Willow.

One almost indiscretion didn’t count, right? Yet it could end up costing Grayson Turner everything. When Belva Turner catches her husband about to kiss another woman, her whole world comes crashing down. Well, what’s left of it anyway. Truthfully, trouble has been brewing in their marriage since the birth of the twins. But this… this would be the end of it. The end of their arguing. The end of trying but failing to make it work. The end of their marriage. Sure, he’d messed up big time, but the last thing Grayson expected was to come home to an empty house. His one mistake costs him ...

Prada-wearing magazine editor Lisa Edwards thinks her life is over when her "fabulous" new job turns out to be deportation to Dublin, launching Colleen magazine. No more jet-setting to the fall collections? No more fabulous parties and photos in the society pages? The only saving grace is that her friends aren't there to witness her downward spiral. Might her new boss, the disheveled and moody Jack Devine, save her from a fate worse than hell?

He's been in love with her forever. She's told him no more times than either of them can count. Can Theo and Sorrell find their way through past pain to a happy future together? Cowboy Theo Lange has worked Fox Hollow Ranch for a while now, and he's had his eye on the middle Adams sister since the day he started. He's asked her out plenty of times, but she's always said no. He knows there's a story there, but Sorrell Adams hasn't told it. Be patient, he tells himself. And don't ask her out again. Sorrell Adams had her heart broken a decade ago, when she swore off cowboys for good. She and ...

Colin Hancock is giving his second chance his best shot. With a history of violence and bad decisions behind him and the threat of prison dogging his every step, he's determined to walk a straight line. To Colin, that means applying himself single-mindedly toward his teaching degree and avoiding everything that proved destructive in his earlier life. Reminding himself daily of his hard-earned lessons, the last thing he is looking for is a serious relationship.e exact narration as the traditional audiobook available, with the addition of music throughout.

When Toots Loudenberry relocated to Los Angeles to be near her daughter, Abby, she expected to bump into the occasional celebrity. She just never expected them to be dead. Meanwhile, Toots, Sophie, and Mavis are concerned that the prestigious Dr. Sameer’s budding romance with Ida may have something to do with his ailing bank balance. And Abby’s attempted makeover of the celebrity magazine The Informer into the most talked-about tabloid in town could end more than just her career.

Nestled on the Maine coast, Blueberry Cove is a peaceful retreat compared to the excitement of exotic cities and foreign lands. But it's also the best place in the world for one woman to find her heart's true home. Kerry McCrae's wanderlust has taken her to parts of the globe most people have only glimpsed in pictures. So why is tending bar at the family pub in Blueberry Cove after her Uncle Fergus's stroke an easier adjustment than she expected? And why hasn't she left once Fergus is back on his feet?

Mary Dell Templeton prefers the quiet charms of Too Much to the bright lights of Dallas any day. She's relieved to be moving back to her hometown - and bringing her cable TV show, Quintessential Quilting, with her. There are just a couple of wrinkles in her plan. Her son, Howard, who is her talented cohost and color consultant, and who happens to have Down syndrome, wants to stay in Dallas and become more independent. Meanwhile, Mary Dell's new boss hopes to attract a different demographic - by bringing in a younger cohost.

Abandoned by his mother when he was young, twenty-two-year-old Rave Wayne knows all about loss. That doesn't mean he's used to it. After he's dumped by the girlfriend he assumed he'd spend his life with, Rave is longing more than ever to connect. Then, as if by miracle, he receives an invitation from his grandfather, a man he thought was long gone, to come for a visit in rural Tennessee.

Hulking ex-rugby player Spencer Carlisle has crushed on Daffodil McGregor since high school. On the field he knew the moves. Off, he was a clueless clod who never gained an advantage. Rejected and rebuffed, his infatuation finally cooled - like ice. Now, it’s impossible not to feel the chill - since he’s the best man and she’s the maid of honor at their siblings’ wedding. For the sake of harmony, they’re calling a truce. Daff has her reasons for being a cynic when it comes to romance. And twice as many for not letting on that she finds Spencer attractive.

Linda Davis’s local fabric shop is a place where women gather to share their creations: quilts commemorating important events in their lives. Wedding quilts, baby quilts, memorial quilts - each is bound tight with dreams, hopes, and yearnings.Now, as her only child readies for college, Linda is torn between excitement for Molly and heartache for herself. Who will she be when she is no longer needed in her role as mom? Mother and daughter decide to share one last adventure together.

When Natalie Seebring announces plans to marry within months of the death of her husband of fifty-eight years, her son and daughter are stunned. In the face of their disapproval, Natalie decides it's time to talk about the past and reveal the secrets she has kept for decades. She hires Olivia Jones to help write her memoir and invites her to spend the summer at the family vineyard. As summer deepens and the vineyard's crop ripens, Natalie's story unfolds and startles one family member after another....

Lauren Adelman and her high school sweetheart, Rory Kincaid, are a golden couple. They marry just out of college as Rory, a star hockey player, earns a spot in the NHL. Their future could not look brighter when Rory shocks everyone - Lauren most of all - by enlisting in the US Army. When Rory dies in combat, Lauren is left devastated, alone, and under unbearable public scrutiny.

Addie Andrews is living a life interrupted. Tragedy sent her fleeing from Chicago to the shelter of an unexpected inheritance - her beloved aunt's somewhat dilapidated home in Eunice, Arkansas, population very tiny. There she reconnects with some of her most cherished childhood memories. If only they didn't make her feel so much!