Flowers Fiction

Willa Noble knew it was bad luck when it was pouring rain on the day of her ever-important job interview at the Dickinson home in Amherst, Massachusetts. When she arrived late, disheveled with her skirts sodden and filthy, she'd lost all hope of being hired for the position. As the housekeeper politely told her they'd be in touch, Willa started toward the door of the stately home only to be called back by the soft but strong voice of Emily Dickinson. What begins as tenuous employment turns to friendship as the reclusive poet takes Willa under her wing.

When Noelle walked away from her adult entertainment gig, she never thought she’d return. Not with a comfortable corporate career in her life. Yet shortly after being laid off, she’s back to escorting the region’s wealthiest women…and growing more tired by the night.

Hugh has finally succeeded in opening his own salon, but the glow of his success is overshadowed by not having anyone to celebrate it with. When brawny, six-foot-three Brendan appears on his doorstep with a bouquet of exquisite flowers, Hugh is tempted to break his no-dating-clients rule. Their friendship blooms fast but so does Hugh’s suspicion of Brendan being straight.

It is 1948. William Thomas Cochrane, an American intelligence agent, is in England with his wife, Laura, visiting friends and family. But when summer arrives, so does the first major international crisis of the postwar years. Cochrane’s country is calling him back to active duty for a special assignment in the newly divided Germany, one which will take him behind newly drawn enemy lines and into a perilous netherworld of ruthless black marketeers, petty criminals, prostitutes, ex-Nazis, and Soviet spies.

There's no love lost between this shy wallflower and society's most formidable duke. The Duke of Mandrick has made it clear he's only aiding Felicity's successful entrance into society because he's taken pity on his friend's poor country relation. Luckily for Felicity, her chaperone Lady Greta has agreed to tutor her in the art of flirtation. And since the coldhearted duke is the last man to fall for her charms, he's the perfect man to practice on.

An astonishing and evocative debut from a new voice in crime fiction. Holly Blain wants to cover real news. The entertainment beat - pop stars and teen trends - was not why she moved to Tokyo. When she meets Inspector Tetsu Tanaka, head of Tokyo’s Metropolitan Police’s Gaikoku-jin unit, it might just be her big break. Tanaka isn’t so sure. Always one to do things by the book, he’s hesitant about bringing this headstrong reporter into his carefully controlled investigation. But young women keep disappearing, and Tanaka is given no choice.

Gertrude, the eldest Killoran sister, has spent a lifetime being underestimated - especially by her own family. She may seem as vulnerable as a kitten, but given the chance, she can be as fierce as a tiger. Her adopted brother, Stephen, has just been snatched back by his true father, and she’ll be damned if she relinquishes the boy to the man reviled throughout London as the Mad Marquess.

Lady Henrietta Prince is far too busy for romance. She’s dedicated her life to turning her family vineyards into a profitable sparkling wine venture. But when she shares a thrilling kiss at midnight with a handsome stranger, she’s captivated...until he claims to be the distant heir to her father’s dukedom.

When Daisy Fitzpatrick discovers a treasure trove of gold in a sea cave near her Granny’s shanty on Dingle Bay, she rents out her art studio in Dingle, buys an old mansion in Killarney, and overnight, finds herself a local celebrity with a wonderful new life. But when the real owner lays claim to the gold, she loses everything, including her fickle, new friends. Can Daisy find it in herself to start over? With Cavan’s help, the sea captain’s ghost, and her granny’s quilt to point the way, the quest for more gold is soon underway. But when a priest ends up dead and a pirate takes up ...

It's a hot, humid summer night in Minnesota, and Virgil Flowers is in bed with one of his ex-wives (the second one, if you're keeping count ) when the phone rings. It's Lucas Davenport. There's a body in Stillwater, two shots to the head, found near a veterans' memorial. And the victim has a lemon in his mouth, exactly like the body they found last week.

If Poppy didn't believe she was in too deep as the only female juror in a high-profile assault case involving an infamously hot-tempered crooner, she's sure of it upon meeting blast-from-her-past Rod Harper. A former TV costar from her short-lived acting days, Rod is as dashing as ever, and now he wants to partner again - this time to locate his missing daughter. Returning a pampered songstress with a penchant for running away back home unscathed shouldn't be too challenging. But dodging Rod's charms while on the job is another story - and so is finding a dead body!

Moving to Rosewood to be close to my aunt and start my floral business has been my dream since I was a little girl. For years, I've worked tirelessly to save every penny to make this my reality. I've missed out on so much, but it's all been worth it to see my dreams come true. Until those dreams are literally crushed before my eyes by an out-of-control car. The driver of the car is a scared, lonely girl, and despite my devastation, I can't bring myself to be angry with her. The accident wasn't her fault, after all.

Miss Prudence Merryweather Payton has a secret. Everyone knows that she's the only graduate from her finishing school to remain unwed on her fourth season - but no one knows why. With her romantic illusions shattered after being compromised against her will, Prudence accepts a proposal even though her betrothed is not exactly a knight in shining armor. When he cowardly pushes her out of their stagecoach to divert a highwayman, she vows never to trust another man again.

In society circles she's known as the Watching Wallflower - shy, quiet, and certainly never scandalous. Yet beneath Lady Sarah Frampton's demure facade hides the mind of The Lady of Dubious Quality, author of the most titillating erotic fiction the ton has ever seen. Sarah knows discovery would lead to her ruin, but marriage - to a vicar, no less - could help protect her from slander. An especially tempting option when the clergyman in question is the handsome, intriguing Jeremy Cleland.

Madame Landini’s memoirs promised to be sensational. Rodney, who had captured them for his publishing house, and Oliver, his literary agent friend who would handle the business side of the book, could congratulate themselves on a brilliant coup. But having covered her childhood as a Russian princess, her years of exile in Paris, and the discovery of her phenomenal voice, the prima donna reached her first husband’s death — "man overboard" — and declared she would write no more. Rodney suspected there was more to this than a display of temperament.

Twenty-year-old Flora Kerner has arrived in Baden-Baden, the “Summer Capital of Europe.” Having spurned the family seed trade, Flora has instead chosen to accept a floristry apprenticeship in the famed German spa town. She is a quick study in the art of flower arranging, but progress is slower in matters of the heart.

Mecklemburgo, 1837: el sueño de una vida mejor convence a los familiares de Ida de emigrar a Nueva Zelanda. Pero cuando el barco Sankt Pauli llega por fin a la Isla Sur, a todo su pasaje le espera una sorpresa desagradable.

Dagoberto Gilb has won the PEN/Hemingway Award and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Sonny Bravo is a young Mexican American struggling to become a man while living with his mom and step-father in a small urban community known as the Flowers. There the assorted residents teach Sonny life lessons, even as racial tensions simmer in the city around them.

This collection includes The Accidental Mistress, The Incorrigible Courtesan, and The Delectable Tart.

Mr. Hardwick will deal with his new assistant as he sees fit. She wasn't his to begin with, but knowing she wasn't in his reach had been too much. Now that he had her just feet away, how could he make her his without sending her running to human resources? A hint of attraction is all he needed to claim what had been on his mind from the moment she called out his name and took away his pain.