In a powerful and poignant novel, an artist unravels her mysterious family history and its generations of women who depended on each other to survive.Tig Costello has arrived in Darren, Kentucky, commissioned to paint a portrait honoring her grandfather Benjamin. His contributions to the rural Appalachian town and his unimpeachable war service have made him a local hero. But to Tig, he's a relative stranger. To find out more about him, Tig wants to talk to the person who knew her grandfather best: Eloise Price, the woman who murdered him fifty years ago.Still confined to a state institution, Eloise has a lifetime of stories to tell. She agrees to share them all--about herself, about Tig's enigmatic grandmother, and about the other brave and desperate women who passed through Benjamin's orbit. Most revealing of all is the truth about Whitmore Halls, the mansion on the hill that was home to triage, rescue, death, and one inevitable day that changed Eloise's life forever.As Tig begins to piece together the puzzle of her mysterious family tree, it sends her spiraling toward a confrontation with her own painful past--and a reconciliation with all its heartrending secrets.
In a funny and suspenseful debut, Christine Gunderson explores the myth of the perfect mother, the bonds of female friendship, and the haunting impact of secrets.What you see isn't always what you get.Take Ainsley. The gorgeous mother of two lives a picture-perfect life with her husband, Ben--aspiring politician and heir to a candy fortune--in suburban Washington, DC. But in reality, Ainsley has no idea what she's doing and is terrified someone will figure out who she really is and where she came from.Nikki's fighting to keep afloat as a stay-at-home mother of four, subsisting on chicken nuggets and very little sleep. She's a mess on the outside, and inside yearns for the validation--and the paycheck--of the television news career she left behind.When a dangerous figure from Ainsley's past becomes a coach at her kids' school, she fears the worst and confides in Nikki, spilling every detail of her former life.Together, they devise a plan to expose the coach and safeguard their kids. But can they protect their own lives--and their new friendship--in the process?
"Penelope Auberge is at her breaking point. With an overbearing mother, a married boyfriend, and a boss who gives Pen's high-profile finance clients to male colleagues, it feels like nothing she's accomplished in her thirty-two years belongs to her. Determined to build a life entirely on her own, Pen moves from Minnesota to Tennessee to open a solo financial business. There, she meets siblings Deanna and Grant, who attempt to coax Pen out of her socially anxious shell. Hesitant to open up so she doesn't get hurt again, Pen is slow to develop a friendship with Deana, and she's determined to ignore her feelings for Grant, which is difficult given she's joined his cycling group and a clear something begins to blossom between them. Pen's path in Nashville appears to be smoothing outm but she soon learns that packing up her past isn't quite that easy. If she wants to start fresh, she'll have to decide what she really wants--even if that means riding away from her old life for good."--Publisher description.
In a hazy 1960s Rhode Island summer, three disparate lives converge and combust in this riveting story of the empowerment women find in friendship, solidarity, and rage, from the author of Halfway to You.Winifred is blunt, opinionated, and outrageously colorful. In a community that demands domesticity, she simply doesn't fit. When her wealthy husband suddenly dies, Winifred's fellow society housewives no longer have a reason to play nice. Cast out entirely, Winifred throws roaring parties for the clerks and waiters that serve the town, finding the connections she's been craving--and upsetting the gentle balance of her elite neighborhood in the process.Flailing artist Marie wants to paint over her past before the painful memories consume her. On the brink of making a longtime dream come true, her newfound friendship with Winifred might be the key to finally moving forward--or her undoing.High-society housewife June weathers a chronic pain that would make other women faint. With her veneer crumbling, she has no patience for the free spirit shaking up her community. Filled with a mixture of obsessive hatred and fascination for the outcast, June's determined to destroy Winifred and return her life to the way it used to be.When slow-simmering summer secrets and resentments finally reach the boiling point, everyone is at risk of being burned. Polite Calamities explores what "community" really means when societal survival is at stake, and what happens when women decide it's time to stop behaving and start living.
"A haunting thriller about four friends sworn to secrecy over the events of one fateful summer--and the dark truths that threaten to erupt years later. They never considered how his wife might react, or that by the end of the summer a man would be dead. But Blakely always got her way, and the others followed her lead--even when they knew it was dead wrong. The girls had been friends from day one at Camp Pendleton, a haven for gifted children. But their senior summer was different. When Mr. Crosby, the handsome tennis coach, wound up murdered after a reckless lie, Blakely, Grace, Meg, and Thera swore themselves to secrecy. And never spoke to each other again. Until now. Twenty years later a sinister note claiming to know what they did brings them back together. And once again Blakely is pulling the strings. Unfolding in a dual timeline, If You Tell a Lie is a disturbing journey into the dangerous, sometimes deadly consequences of peer pressure--with a bone-chilling twist you'll never see coming"--
Welcome to Divorce Towers, the Beverly Hills condo where there's more money than sense...more drama than money...and more heat than one high-rise can hold.Addison Torres has nothing left to lose in New York: no job, no fiancé, no parents to lean on. So when Uncle Arnie offers her a concierge gig in sunny California, she hops on a plane without looking back.Before it all came crashing down, Addison had a matchmaking career and handsome partner--then she got a little too cozy with a client. Digging her way out of the wreckage, she's taken a strict vow of celibacy.Unfortunately, Addison's new home is where such promises go to die. As concierge at the luxurious Beekman Towers--nicknamed "Divorce Towers" due to the constant influx of the newly single--she's in constant demand by Beverly Hills' most eligible and entitled bachelors. Like Dante, a cocksure talent agent. And Zach, an adorable tech wizard.Addison Torres thinks she's ready for anything except love. But in Divorce Towers, the world's toughest concierge may have finally met her match.
"Pell is an engineer and digger by trade--unearthing and repairing the fascinating artifacts left behind by the mysterious Ancients who once inhabited the sunbaked planet of Tampere. She'll do anything to help the people of her village survive and to better understand the secrets of what came before. Heartwood and Moseus are keepers of a forbidding tower near the village of Emgarden. Inside are the remnants of complex machines the likes of which Pell has never seen. Considering her affinity for Ancient tech, the keepers know Pell is their only hope of putting the pieces of these metal puzzles together and getting them running. The tower's other riddle is Heartwood himself. He is an enigma, distant yet protective, to whom Pell is inexplicably drawn. Pell's restoration of this broken behemoth soon brings disturbing visions--and the discovery that her relationship to it could finally reveal the origins of the tower's strange keepers and the unfathomable reason the truth has been hidden from her"--
A wronged wife goes toe to toe with her cheating husband at the polls in this hilarious and heart-lifting novel by the bestselling author of Don't Forget to Write.It's a doozy of a bad day for Beverly Diamond when she catches her husband, Larry, in a compromising position with his secretary. What's a DC suburban wife to do with a soon-to-be ex, two young kids, and no degree or financial support in 1962? Beat the louse at his own game, that's what.Larry runs the Maryland senatorial campaign for the incumbent candidate projected to win against his younger underdog opponent, Michael Landau. But Beverly has the pluck, political savvy, and sheer drive to push Landau's campaign in a successful new direction, even if he already has a campaign manager who is less than pleased she has inserted herself into the race.Now it's rival against rival. She and Michael do make a great team...maybe in more ways than one. But with the election heating up, she needs to focus on one thing at a time. If Bev can convince Michael to go modern, pay attention to women's issues, and learn how to dress himself properly, maybe she can show Larry exactly how much he has underestimated her their entire marriage--and make her own dreams come true in the process.
A decade-old animosity is the only thing Liam Davies and Zoe Valentine have in common. Until their mutual best friends pass away and they're appointed co-guardians of the trusting couple's precocious toddler, Mira. Liam is committed only to professional football. Relationship-wise, he's even better at defense. Still wrestling with a tough childhood, he's not cut out to be a father. Why his late best buddy believed in him, Liam has no idea. An optimistic romantic, Zoe has always dreamed of a fairy-tale life. But even though Liam's biceps make her dizzy and she can't stop thinking about his lips on hers, he's not exactly Prince Charming.
From the author of The Millennium Wolves series comes the hauntingly romantic story of a young woman's descent into a League of vampires, and the Lord who means to keep her there.Aileen Henderson's unassuming life conceals a dark past. Outside of work, she hides behind her larger-than-life best friend, Cassidy, whose constant need for attention suits Aileen--and her secrets--just fine.Until the night Aileen dies.Awakening to a new world of brutality, bloodlust, and betrayal, Aileen plots revenge against Ragnor Rayne, the monster who cursed her with the Imprint. The demon who turned her into a vampire. The man whose eyes haunt her dreams.She is going to make this vampire Lord regret the day he kissed her with the curse of immortality and made her his. If she can survive the Auction, and resist temptations of the flesh...
Falling in love with a guy like this is easy. Finally meeting him is a different story in a funny, flirty, and emotional romantic comedy about celebrity, secrets, and plus-sized dreams.Olive O'Brien is a plus-size influencer with half a million followers and big dreams. And she's feeling the pressure to stand out while staying true to herself. To cope, Olive finds solace in an unexpected place: the DMs of Jasper Rafferty, the world's hottest movie star, where she feels safe to share her hopes, fears, and secrets because it's not like he'll read them. Until he does. Kind of.Career-wise, Jasper's younger brother, Jude, is in free fall. After an interview gone wrong, Jude now has the thankless job of managing his brother's social media accounts to help reboot his own image. Olive's messages are unexpected, and her wit and vulnerability catch his interest. How can "Jasper" not respond? And how long can Jude keep up the ruse?As the DMs get flirtier and more personal, the bigger question is what'll happen when Olive finds out she's fallen for a fraud. It might not be what either of them expects.
A woman escaping a violent past finds new friendships, romance, and tenuous sanctuary in an emotionally gripping novel by New York Times bestselling author Eileen Goudge.On the run from her abusive husband, Kyra Smith hits the road. Destination unknown. With a neglected dog she rescued in tow, she lands in the peaceful California town of Gold Creek and is immediately befriended by an openhearted group of women called the Tattooed Ladies Club. They're there for Kyra--and for each other.The maternal Frannie is a tattoo artist struggling with a troubled daughter. Suzy is a self-described fashionista grandma bearing a painful estrangement from her son. Then there's Jo, whose enviable marriage is coming undone. And bookstore owner Marisol. She longs for the kind of romance she only reads about. For them, and for Kyra, fortunes can change.Just as Kyra parlays her artistic talents into a new career, and finally meets a man she can trust in and love, her ex tracks her down. He has a twisted plan to upend everything she now holds dear. Marshaling her renewed power and wisdom, Kyra will stop at nothing to put the past behind her. Once and for all. Whatever it takes.
The death of a legendary actress reveals a wealth of Hollywood secrets in a breathtaking novel about betrayal, rivalry, and the punishing brutality of fame.
Mr. & Mrs. Smith meets political thriller in this heart-pounding series debut about two undercover flames whose new mission risks exposing their true identities to the world...and, worse, each other.Caspian Anderson is a translator for the United Nations--or so he's led everyone to believe. No one suspects that mild-mannered Caspian, with his baggy clothes and sensible car, is actually an elite assassin for the US government. And that's just how he wants it.For ten years, Caspian has worked under the code name Elias for Onyx, a black program deep within the Department of Homeland Security. His latest mission takes him to Switzerland to kill a target tied to a human trafficking ring. There, Caspian stumbles onto a web of conspiracies involving high-level political figures.Meanwhile, Caspian's girlfriend is starting to pull away, and he wonders whether she may have secrets of her own. The truth is, Liesel Bergmann's a spy. But neither knows the truth about the other...yet. As their covert operations converge, trust becomes paramount. Can they work together to bring down the enemy with their lives--and hearts--still intact?
When Chase Stone's estranged father dies, leaving his multibillion-dollar business to his children, no one is more surprised than Chase. Growing up outside of the high-stakes world filled with human vultures, Chase and his sister, Alex, are less than enthusiastic about stepping into their father's shoes. That is until they learn of a half brother they didn't know existed and must find to share their inheritance with. Piper Maddox was the elder Mr. Stone's
A serial killer on death row challenges a forensic linguist to solve his final puzzle in a novel of breathtaking mind games by the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Lies You Wrote.Forensic psychologist Callum Kilkenny lost his wife, Shay, to the very serial killer he'd hunted for five years. When Nathaniel Conrad--known as the Alphabet Man, for his love of tattooing codes onto his victims' bodies--was condemned to death row, Callum thought the game of cat and mouse was over. But just before execution, Nathaniel drops a bombshell: he's not the one who murdered Shay.After analyzing the killer's taunting, coded letters to authorities--one for each victim--FBI forensic linguist Raisa Susanto believes him. The discrepancies bear it out. So was it a copycat? A partner in crime? Or something more sinister? If Nathaniel knows the answer, Raisa fears he'll be taking that closely guarded secret to his grave.As Raisa and Callum are pulled into an investigation to solve Shay's murder, it reopens old traumas that cut deeper than they could imagine. Before someone else dies, Raisa must decipher the unbelievable truth in an ever-twisting case built on a foundation of lies.
In a desert outpost, nuclear scientists and their families face the toll of the secrets they keep from the world and from each other in this gripping wartime novel from debut author Galina Vromen.Los Alamos, 1943. The US Army has gathered scientists to create the world's first nuclear weapon. Their families, abruptly moved to the secret desert base with no explanation, have simple orders: Stand by. Make do. Above all, don't ask questions.Christine, forced to abandon her art restoration business in New York for her husband's career, struggles to reinvent herself and cope with his increasing aloofness.Gertie, the inquisitive teenage daughter of a German Jewish refugee physicist enlists Christine to help her unravel hidden truths and deal with parents haunted by their past.Gertie's father, Kurt, anguished by what the Nazis have done to his family and bent on defeating them, carries burdens he longs to share but cannot confide in his wife--leading him to find comfort elsewhere.And Jimmy, a young army technician, falls for Gertie but is unsure if even her deep affection can overcome his agonizing self-doubts.Will so much secrecy save them or destroy them?
The trail of missing coders leads a spy into an international underworld of treachery, double agents, and digital espionage in a propulsive thriller by a Wall Street Journal bestselling author.Retired intelligence operative Brad Trasker heads security at a remote aerospace facility when there's a major breach. A photo of their top-secret AI-designed hydrogen engine has surfaced online. Trasker's investigation into who did it soon leads to a start-up in Bangkok, where its three software developers have disappeared, along with nearly a million dollars in investment money.Following their tracks, Trasker hits a dead end. The start-up's HQ is a padlocked crime scene. No one--not the cagey locals, the mobbed-up gangs, or the Royal Thai Police--is keen on answering Trasker's questions. But their message is clear: get out of Bangkok or die.Hunted by assassins, Trasker is drawn into the same complex high-tech underworld of cryptocurrency, digital espionage, and betrayal that swallowed up the runaway coders. As the line between ally and enemy blurs, and the stakes become life and death, Trasker must navigate the dangerous intersection of modern intelligence and old-school spy games to survive.
A genius FBI code breaker unravels the mysteries of one of history's most monumental puzzles in a propulsive thriller by Jess Lourey, the Edgar Award-nominated author of Salem's Cipher.Working for the FBI, cryptanalyst and agoraphobe Salem Wiley vows never to return to the conspiratorial underworld her mother revealed to her. Until fieldwork draws Salem to an Ireland farm where a curious discovery has been unearthed: a near-perfect replica of Stonehenge in miniature--except for one extra stone engraved with the word mercy.When seven-year-old Mercy Mayfair, a child in Salem's family's care, is kidnapped, Salem knows it's more than an unsettling coincidence. Mercy's centuries-old lineage holds the key to understanding the greatest Neolithic mystery of the ages. A dangerously patriarchal society, just as ancient, will kill to solve it.As Salem follows a serpentine trail of clues and ciphers, the clock is ticking and her fears are escalating. Because the only way to save Mercy is for Salem to crack the unbreakable code of Stonehenge first.Revised edition: This edition of Mercy's Chase includes editorial revisions.
In this hopeful debut about the silent struggles of motherhood, three very different women want custody of the same two little girls--and learn they have more in common than the children they're fighting for.Determined to be a better mother than her own, Hannah has devoted her life to her daughters. She ignores her increasing exhaustion and isolation as a widowed mom--until a disastrous mistake lands the girls in foster care.Julie is single and lonely and dreams of being a mother. After infertility issues lead her to foster parenting, she falls head over heels for Hannah's daughters. The more she bonds with these sweet, precocious girls, the more she worries about their previous home life and becomes intent on finding a way to keep them.Recently forced into retirement, Elaine is devastated by the way her daughter, Hannah, has shut her out. When she discovers her granddaughters are in foster care, she resolves to rescue them from the system: her one chance at a parenting do-over.Each woman thinks she's the best possible mother, but none understands the full truth. Old hurts, long-held secrets, and budding new relationships collide as they fight for the girls who could make them a family.
A brilliant code breaker shatters a centuries-old conspiracy and unravels her own family secrets in an addictive and heart-pounding thriller by Edgar Award-nominated author Jess Lourey.Salem Wiley is a genius cryptanalyst. She's also a loner who prefers a safe and familiar path. Until her mother disappears in the wake of a brutal murder, leaving behind a cryptic warning of threats to come. Forced out of her safe zone, Salem embarks with her best friend, Bel, on a dangerous quest that reaches back centuries into America's hidden history.Drawn into a labyrinth of messages encrypted by Emily Dickinson and hidden in the legendary Beale Cipher, Salem discovers her mother's double life--and the truth. An ancient and ruthless society is hell-bent on ruling the world, and only a select group of hunted women stands in its way.Now Salem must follow a cross-country trail of clues in a desperate bid to unravel the conspiracy, which threatens not only the present but the very course of history.Revised edition: This edition of Salem's Cipher includes editorial revisions.
"Will Easterly leads a great life in Chicago. The postcollege uncertainty of his twenties behind him, he's married to Rachel Armas, love of his life, and in just a few months he'll become a father too. But instead of feeling excited, he finds himself doubting his ability to be a good parent. Probably because his own dad walked out when Will was only a kid. So the day Rachel comes home in tears, he jumps at the chance to bury his own insecurities and focus on her. Turns out she was just offered her dream job--in Los Angeles. Already overwhelmed by the prospect of motherhood, Rachel turns it down, leaving Will to worry she'll come to regret the decision. Inspired by their binge-watching of the hit reality show Date Me Now!, Will plans a date week for Rachel: a weeklong road trip filled with adventures. But when Will uses the trip to go behind Rachel's back and get involved in her career, their future together is suddenly in doubt."--
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