Family Life Fiction

Would you travel the world with a perfect stranger? Fasten your seat belts for an emotional journey filled with humor and adventure. Bachelor and newscaster Pete McCarney buys two plane tickets for a trip around the world with his girlfriend, but they split up shortly before the trip, and he can't get a refund. In a gutsy last-minute move, Pete goes on social media asking for women with his girlfriend's exact name to join him on the trip. Twenty-one women apply, and the ensuing interview process is both awkward and hilarious.

The pressure's really piling up on Greg Heffley. The only thing he's good at is playing video games, but his mother wants him to broaden his horizons by doing something - anything! - else. When Greg finds an old video camera in his basement, he thinks he may have discovered just the thing to prove he's got big-time talent. With the help of his best friend, Rowley, Greg hatches a plan to make a scary movie and become rich and famous in the process. But is doubling down on moviemaking a smart plan? Or is it just a recipe for doubling Greg's troubles?

It's wintertime at Greenglass House. The creaky smuggler's inn is always quiet during this season, and 12-year-old Milo, the innkeepers' adopted son, plans to spend his holidays relaxing. But on the first icy night of vacation, out of nowhere, the guest bell rings. Then rings again. And again. Soon Milo's home is bursting with odd, secretive guests, each one bearing a strange story that is somehow connected to the rambling old house.

Walter Tipple is looking for adventure. He keeps having a dream that his big brother, Tank, appears before him and says, “Let’s you and me go see my world, little man.” But Tank went to the army and never came home, and Walter doesn’t know how to see the world without him. Then he meets Posey, the brash new girl from next door, and an eccentric man named Banjo, who’s off on a bodacious adventure of his own. What follows is a summer of taking chances, becoming braver, and making friends.

Life for Bertie seems to be moving at a pace that is rather out of his control. In Drummond Place gardens, it seems that Olive has their future together all planned out. Meanwhile, upstairs at 44 Scotland Street, Bertie’s father Stuart is powerless to stop overbearing Irene and her motion for Bertie to travel to Aberdeen on a three-month secondment.

Two years ago, Ellie Grant would have fallen apart at any reminder of her ex-husband, Tucker. But now she doesn't bat an eye when "their song" comes on the radio. She's unfazed by the thought of Tucker's perky new girlfriend. Ellie is totally over him. And things are better for Tucker as well. The single life agrees with him. And they've both done a good job of being civil to each other, for their sons' sake. But the kids aren't buying it. Zach and Kody are convinced that, deep down, their parents are still meant to be together.

Dear Anna, What I have to tell you is difficult to write, but I know it will be far more difficult for you to hear, and I'm so sorry. The unfinished letter is the only clue Tara and Emerson have to the reason behind their close friend Noelle's suicide. Everything they knew about Noelle - her calling as a midwife, her passion for causes, her love for her friends and family - described a woman who embraced life. Yet there was so much they didn't know. With the discovery of the letter and its heartbreaking secret, Noelle's friends begin to uncover the truth about this complex woman who touched each of their lives.

Daisy meets Adam on their first day of university. Immediately, they become friends. But when tongues wag and their relationship is questioned, Adam shares his secret with Daisy, who promises to stand by him. When their grandmother dies, Adam’s older brother Ryan returns from abroad, and Daisy quickly falls for him. After a troubled upbringing at the hands of a drunken mother and jailbird father, Adam and Ryan have only each other. In adulthood, their bond holds firm, glued together by Daisy with whom they are now both in love.

On a cold and snowy night in 1910, Ursula Todd is born to an English banker and his wife. She dies before she can draw her first breath. On that same cold and snowy night, Ursula Todd is born, lets out a lusty wail, and embarks upon a life that will be, to say the least, unusual. For as she grows, she also dies, repeatedly, in a variety of ways, while the young century marches on towards its second cataclysmic world war.

Freelance writer Jacqueline Tate arrives in Los Angeles and soon meets brilliant, award-winning scientist Randall Atwater, the man she's come to cover at a conference on trends and technology. He is everything she's read about - brainy, witty, handsome, and cool. And after a week spent with the most fascinating man she's ever known, there's no way she can give him up. There's just one problem: Randall's wife of 20 years. No matter - men like Randall are few and far between.

In their fifth exploit, Sabrina and Daphne Grimm are on their own while investigating the theft of enchanted items from the Ever Afters. And if they don't solve the case, the villain behind the crimes will unleash chaos upon the residents of Ferryport Landing.

The Garretts are everything the Reeds are not: loud, numerous, messy, affectionate. And every day from her balcony perch, 17-year-old Samantha Reed wishes she was one of them...until one summer evening, Jase Garrett climbs her terrace and changes everything. As the two fall fiercely in love, Jase's family makes Samantha one of their own. Then in an instant, the bottom drops out of her world and she is suddenly faced with an impossible decision. Which perfect family will save her? Or is it time she saved herself?

After traveling to the seaside kingdom of Lilah's betrothed prince, Lulath, Celie and her companions are busy training griffins, enjoying wedding festivities and finishing construction of a grand ship. But on their maiden voyage, the ship steers them far off course into uncharted waters. Celie and Lilah hope that the ship is taking them to the ancient island where unicorns once roamed, but as the journey grows longer and supplies run low, they realise they are in trouble....

In the eighth installment of Alexander McCall Smith’s best-selling Isabel Dalhousie series, the inquisitive heroine helps a new friend discover the identity of her father. Jane, a visiting Australian philosopher on sabbatical in Edinburgh, has more questions than answers. Adopted at the age of six, she knows little about her father, other than he was a student in Edinburgh years ago. Always up for a challenge, Isabel is more than happy to help.

Rilla Blythe, youngest daughter of Anne, is almost 15 in 1914. As her brothers and friends prepare to go off to battle, the irrepressible Rilla realizes that she will be changed forever and the world will never be the same.

Jeff Kinney's Wimpy Kid series is a publishing phenomenon, having reached #1 on the New York Times best-seller list. This fourth hilarious installment finds Greg Heffley approaching summer vacation with a clear plan: Stay inside and play as many video games as possible. Unfortunately for Greg, his mother has a much different idea about how the summer will transpire - she envisions lots of outdoor activities and "family togetherness".

Will one mistake ruin everything? Andrew Bennett has an idyllic life in Magnolia Creek, Australia. He runs a chocolate business he adores, is married to Gemma, the love of his life, and has a close relationship with his father, Louis. But when Andrew receives a message from his high school sweetheart, it sends his world into a spiral, and the relationships he holds dear will never be the same again.

With his mother dead, his father gone, and his older brothers and sisters unable to help, eight-year-old Ethan Cooper knows it's his responsibility to keep him and his younger siblings together - even if that means going to an orphanage. Ethan, Alice, Simon, and Will settle into the Briarlane Christian Children's Home, where there's plenty to eat, plenty of work, and plenty of talk about a father who never leaves. Even so, Ethan fears losing the only family he has. How can he trust God to keep him safe when almost everything he's known has disappeared?

When Pat accepts her narcissistic ex-boyfriend Bruce's invitation for coffee, she has no idea of the complications in her romantic and professional life that will follow. Meanwhile, Matthew, her boss at the art gallery, attracts the attention of the police after a misunderstanding at the local bookstore. Whether caused by small things such as a cup of coffee and a book, or major events such as Stuart's application for promotion and his wife Irene's decision to pursue a PhD in Aberdeen, change is coming to Scotland Street.

Jeff Kinney's highly anticipated sequel to his #1 New York Times best-selling Diary of a Wimpy Kid chronicles Greg Heffley's creative efforts to dodge middle school hazards, dazzle the girls, avoid talent shows, and - above all - guard his embarrassing secret. Ramón de Ocampo's spot-on narration enhances Kinney's authentic portrait of adolescent angst and madcap hilarity.