Contemporary Family Life Women Fiction

In a heartwarming novel of secret wishes and family lost and found, acclaimed New York Times bestselling author Fern Michaels creates a timeless Christmas story to cherish.

Julia Berkwith's daughter has moved to Alaska, her beloved mother-in-law is in a nursing home, and her ex-husband is in Hawaii - with a younger woman. In her late 40s, Julia is now used to being invisible. But even if she has to do it alone, she's determined to celebrate her victory over breast cancer by hiking Italy's Cinque Terre. Invigorated by the beauty of the Italian countryside, Julia seems unstoppable, until she's injured by a rock - one that happens to belong to 30-something stone mason Vitale DeLuca.

Cassie Callinan is a dutiful corporate wife, carefully preserving the safety of the status quo and her husband's camellias. When she learns she has lost her husband to a younger woman, she panics. Who is she without the familiar props of her marriage? Fleeing her own life, Cassie finds herself among the eccentric inhabitants of Shearwater, an isolated coastal village. She is gradually drawn into the life of the town with all its dramas, joy and secrets, and begins to discover who she really is.

When Milwaukee-area wife and mother MJ Boudreaux notices her husband, Chris, seems more interested in the casino than her, she's bothered that she isn't more upset. She picks up poker as a way for them to spend more time together - and reignite their marital flame. Although the game doesn't give her the quality time with Chris that she'd hoped, MJ finds she has a knack for it.

Still stuck in his small Central Pennsylvania hometown, Ilya Stern is used to feeling like a disappointment. After his high school girlfriend, Jennilynn, drowned, he married her sister, Alicia, only to divorce a decade later. The business they started together is threatened by a luxury development - and Alicia has already sold her stake. Now that Babulya, Ilya's gentle Russian grandmother, has died, there's no one left who believes in him. Or so he thinks.

Everyone that meets Kat Keating is mesmerised. Beautiful, smart and charming, she is everything a good girl should be. Her sister Eleanor, on the other hand, knows she can't compete with Kat. On the awkward side of tall, clever enough to be bullied, and full of the responsibilities only an older sibling can understand, Eleanor grows up knowing she’s not a good girl.

Susan Napier's family once lived on the success of the high-end restaurants founded by her late grandfather. But bad luck and worse management has brought the business to the edge of financial ruin. Now it's up to Susan to save the last remaining restaurant: Elliot's, the flagship in Edinburgh. But what awaits Susan in the charming city of Auld Reekie is more than she bargained for. Chris Baker, her grandfather's former protégé - and her ex-boyfriend - is also heading to the Scottish capital.

The puppy started it. The poor thing was cold and trembling, abandoned on their front doorstep. Dash, impulsive as always, decides on the spot that they should keep it. But her husband, Andrew, thinks it's the craziest thing he's ever heard. A fight over a scruffy little dog doesn't seem like much of a reason to walk out on your husband of 20 years - but the spat over the puppy is just the last of many straws.

Slater knew tragedy from a young age, but with the support of his foster family, he turned his life around. Now, back from a stint in the Navy, he's packed up his motorcycle and returned to Red Hook to help to run the family restaurant - a job that comes with a tantalizing upside. Her name is Rocki. Flirty, sweet, and outgoing, Rocki brings in crowds as the lead singer of the house band. And although she's unable to resist the charms of this intense bad boy, she refuses to open her heart to him.

She's a sexy white-collar executive with blue-collar roots, a bio that closely resembles that of her anonymous author. Morgan's professional life is taking off just as her personal life is bottoming out. Stung by a messy divorce from her Fortune 500 ex, Morgan is twice shy, but increasingly needy - and wanting. This doesn't mean Morgan lacks men in her life. In fact, there's too much testosterone in her orbit. Problem is, Morgan has a difficult time choosing, and there are both pleasures and pitfalls attached to each of Morgan's would-be men.

Jonathan and Rosie have been together so long they finish each other's sentences - so when he (finally) proposes and asks her to move across the country with him, everyone is happily surprised. But when things suddenly unravel, Rosie sends Jonathan packing and moves back home with Soapie, the irascible, opinionated grandmother who raised her.

When Lucy Bagshaw's life in Boston falls apart thanks to a scathing editorial written by her famous artist mother, she accepts her half-sister Juliet's invitation to stay with her in Hartley-by-the-Sea, a charming seaside village in Northern England. Lucy is expecting quaint cottages and cream teas but instead finds that her sister is an aloof host; the weather is wet, windy, and cold; and her new boss, Alex Kincaid, is a disapproving widower who hired her only as a favor to Juliet.

Sarah Talbot never thought she'd live to see another birthday. But through indomitable will and expert medical care, she has beaten the cancer and reopened her bedding boutique, Cloud Nine. In celebration, Sarah's friends give her a special present: a ride over her upstate New York town in a chartered plane. It is on this flight that Sarah meets Will Burke, a former Navy pilot, whose outward confidence hides the wounds he has yet to heal.

Wild horses, wildhearts - and a diapered lamb under the Christmas tree…

Could life get any more hectic at the Lazy Windmill? With the holidays reminding Casie of every mistake she's ever made, and her assistant Emily struggling to be a single mom, it's anyone's guess what the New Year will bring. Then bad boy Colt Dickenson shows up with a ring. No one has ever gotten under her skin like he has, but Casie can't believe a rough stock cowboy will stick around for the long haul.

Andie Shayne believes in forever...for everyone else. She has an up-and-coming wedding planning business, and her own failed engagement, to prove it. Now all Andie wants is to save the date for Seaglass Celebrations becoming a premier destination wedding resort. And making sure the wedding of the summer goes off without a hitch will get her there - despite the arrival of one unexpected guest. The sexy-as-sin best man...who’s also the ex who broke Andie’s heart.

Struggling with both PTSD and the trauma of his ex-wife's infidelity, retired marine Wesley Holt seeks a simple civilian life. His favorite waitress at the Perfect Diner secretly stirs his heart. Yet Wes - scarred by betrayal and racked by guilt over his fallen comrades in Afghanistan - stays quiet, convinced he can never love again...or be loved.

Set Me Free is the new bestseller from Daniela Sacerdoti, following up the huge successes of her first two novels, Watch Over Me and Take Me Home. In London, Margherita’s marriage has slowly been falling apart since her little Lewis’ birth, a surprise baby much wanted by her but not by her husband. To add to her problems, her adopted daughter, Lara, is going through a rough patch, and all of a sudden she’s gone from quiet and introverted to constantly angry.

After her mother's tragic death, Dani Wilde had no choice but to abandon her dreams. She left Columbia University and returned to her family's Montana cherry farm, intent on being a maternal figure to her brothers. Now the kids are grown, and it's finally her time to fly. Her sights are on New York City, and nothing will stop her - not even an old flame with gorgeous green eyes.

Selena Rosenthal left behind her high school sweetheart, who was the love of her life, seven years ago. Now, she and the once-rebellious Oliver Bowman are back in Chandlerville - after his foster father's heart attack and Selena's contentious divorce - to deal with her secrets, the recklessness that caused their breakup, and the almost-strangers they've become to each other and their families.

Suburban soccer mom Amy has always wanted to stand out from the crowd. Former child prodigy Linnie just wants to fit in. The two sisters have been estranged for years, but thanks to a series of personal crises and their wily grandmother, they've teamed up to enter a national bake-off in the hopes of winning some serious cash. Armed with the top-secret recipe for Grammy's apple pie, they should be unstoppable. Sure, neither one of them has ever baked anything more complicated than brownie mix, but it's just pie - how hard could it be?