Both elated and refreshed after her break in the Caribbean with her girlfriends, and the erotic affair she enjoyed with Sean the Surfing Bartender, Sam settles back into her role as a working mom. Things don't stay too normal for too long, though, as she soon receives word that her former lover, the incredibly sexy, 25-year-old stud Lachlan is on his way back to town. In next to no time, the heat is back on in their relationship. However, even though they're unable to keep their hands off each other, Sam begins to wonder if there just might be a future for their relationship. If what Lachlan is saying is true - if he really is in love with her and he's thinking of ensuring he moves back - she needs to introduce him to her parents, her kids... Only Lachlan maybe planning something Sam never expected in a million years.
"Like so many women, Benoit spent her formative years struggling to do the 'right' thing--to make others comfortable, to take minimal and calculated risks, to live up to society's expectations--only to realize that there was so little payoff to this tiresome balancing act. Now, in [this book], she shares her journey from aspiring good girl to proud feminist, and addresses the constantly shifting goalposts of what exactly it means to be 'good' in today's world. [Includes] topics as varied and laugh-out-loud funny as how to be the life of the party (even when you have crippling anxiety), navigating the disappointments of the dating world, and why no one should judge you for having an encyclopedic knowledge of reality TV stars"--
A raw, funny, and fiercely honest account of becoming a mother before feeling like a grown up. When Meaghan O'Connell got accidentally pregnant in her twenties and decided to keep the baby, she realized that the book she needed -- a brutally honest, agenda-free reckoning with the emotional and existential impact of motherhood -- didn't exist. So she decided to write it herself. And Now We Have Everything is O'Connell's exploration of the cataclysmic, impossible-to-prepare-for experience of becoming a mother. With her dark humor and hair-trigger B.S. detector, O'Connell addresses the pervasive imposter syndrome that comes with unplanned pregnancy, the fantasies of a "natural" birth experience that erode maternal self-esteem, post-partum body and sex issues, and the fascinating strangeness of stepping into a new, not-yet-comfortable identity. Channeling fears and anxieties that are still taboo and often unspoken, And Now We Have Everything is an unflinchingly frank, funny, and visceral motherhood story for our times, about having a baby and staying, for better or worse, exactly yourself. Smart, funny, and true in all the best ways, this book made me ache with recognition." -- Cheryl Strayed
Sequel to Ask and I'll Tell Seven years after they meet, and more than four years since RJ initially proposes, RJ and Pad are back. The wedding invitations have been sent again and the date is set. This time, both men are more committed than ever to each other and willing to make their relationship work. But old issues surface that cause conflict before their big day. Will RJ’s recent diagnosis of sexual addiction disorder tear them apart? Can they weather the growing disapproval from their families over same-sex marriage before they walk down the aisle? Will RJ and Pad finally tie the knot?
Unhappily Ever After employs three different narrative techniques to tell the story of Rachel Rothschild, her family and friends, the wealthy young man who will become her husband and their children. Seeking to establish her own identity, other than as her rich husband's consort, Rachel works hard at becoming an investigative journalist, and she is succeeding.. But then she experiences a trauma that threatens to destroy her sanity and marriage. Trying to recover her balance, Rachel, who had always been a star student, enters graduate school in large part as a retreat from life and emotions she cannot control. The story is told in four chapters or books. The first book is an autobiography, begun when Rachel is expecting her first child. It starts with Rachel's tomboy childhood in Santa Monica, California, moves on to the development of a tight circle of girlfriends in junior high and high school and the angst and the sexual experimentation of teen-dom. As in real life, the first book surrounds Rachel not just with her girlfriends but with parents, siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents, each of whose stories is an element in Rachel's own story. After entering the University of Colorado to room with her cousin, Yalie Goodman, Rachel is expelled following a drunk driving accident. She undergoes several months of difficult community service back in the Los Angeles area. Then she reenters college as a beginning freshman at UCLA and the following year is permitted by her parents to transfer to the University of California at Berkeley. There she pursues her goal of becoming a journalist and meets the young man, JJ Weiner, whom she will marry. But the marriage will not take place until JJ completes his law degree and obtains an MBA. Meanwhile, he insists that Rachel complete her senior year at Berkeley, return to her hometown and begin her career. He also refuses to have sex with her until they are married, adding up to more than two years of frustration and bafflement for Rachel. Unwillingly, Rachel accepts JJ's edict because she is not strong enough to stand up to him. It is not until after they are engaged that Rachel realizes that JJ comes from an extremely wealthy family and that their life together in Colorado will be luxurious, but also restrictive. Although she intends to keep her name, her identity will depend on him, not on her own achievements. Following the birth relatively early in the marriage of their first child, Rachel, at her husband's suggestion, goes to work at a local magazine and soon carves out a place for herself, building a reputation for tackling challenging issues. However, a miscarriage and the difficult birth of her second child mire Rachel in post-partum depression. She is just beginning to regain her footing when she experiences the trauma that forever changes her life. The trauma is described in the present tense in the second book. That is, it is taking place in real time while it's being read. The third and fourth books are told in the familiar third person past tense. The two books cover Rachel's efforts to overcome the emotional consequences of her experience, partly with professional help but also with the support of a cousin, Dev Goodman, who lives nearby in Denver, and Jessica Sherman, a rock-solid girlfriend back home in Santa Monica, California. As her young relatives begin to experience professional success, Rachel feels left behind, a damaged person who has retreated to academia to avoid real life in which she considers herself a failure as a mother and wife. Over a period of almost four years, ever reliant on her cousin and girlfriend, Rachel begins to understand the underlying source of her discontent, which has roots extending beyond her trauma. Unexpected developments accumulate and eventually explode into a crisis leading to a startling denouement. This is an ambitious novel with a large cast of characters, each of whose lives is intertwined with
A man hiding from his nature Henry Flanders never dreamed his past would catch up to him. After all, the man he used to be is dead and buried. He made a clean break with life in the CIA. He moved to Bliss under a new name. For years he has been living a dream, married to his lovely Nell. Now a miracle has happened, and they have a baby on the way. Life is perfect, or rather it was until a violent cartel showed up in Bliss ready to reap their bloody vengeance on the man he used to be. A woman shaken to her foundation Nell Flanders has never met a problem she couldn’t handle, but discovering her husband isn’t the man she thought was more than she was prepared for. How can she trust Henry, when John Bishop—the ruthless man he used to be—keeps bringing deadly problems to their door? She has a beautiful life growing inside her, and now she isn’t sure her marriage can survive long enough to welcome their child into the world. A reckoning that will shake Bliss to its core Henry isn’t willing to give up on his life with Nell, but it’s going to take some Bliss magic to overcome the forces pulling them apart. When the full weight of Henry’s past comes to bear on the town and the bullets start flying, it might just be Bishop, and some old friends, who can save the day and win back her heart.
Once upon a Daddy… I entered the beast’s lair and begged the billionaire recluse to keep my mom’s housekeeping job safe while she recovered from an injury. But I could never have prepared myself for what Gareth Fiori offered me in exchange. One thing was for certain; turning him down was not an option. Trapped inside a mansion with a man I barely knew, on hands and knees I scrubbed his floors and obeyed his every command. He was cruel. He was kind. Some days he blew hot, but mostly he encased his heart in rock-hard ice. And although Gareth was no prince, he became my everything. My new master has secrets. Ones he most definitely does not want freed into the world. Little does he know that I’ve been a bad girl; I’ve deceived him, too. My motives for being there weren’t as pure as he thought. I was determined to uncover the truth and break whatever spell he was under no matter what. Even if that meant the fairy tale dissolved into an illusion. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px 'Helvetica Neue'} Daddy Ever After is a full length, billionaire fairytale romance. Perfect for fans of J.S. Scott, Marquita Valentine, and Bella Andre.
International bestseller Patricia Scanlan explores the end of the honeymoon phase for a newlywed couple in this warm and evocative novel featuring “Scanlan at her best” (Irish Independent). When the honeymoon is over, real life begins... Newly married Debbie is at her wits’ end about her and Bryan’s mounting debts, but there’s no way he’s going to stop living the high life and become a stay-at-home husband. Meanwhile, Debbie’s dad has just found out his workaholic second wife, Aimee, is pregnant. He couldn’t be happier, but she's horrified. Is their marriage going to last? Debbie’s mum, Connie, has met a gorgeous new man and is all set to make a life of her own. But her family needs her more than ever to sort out all their problems. Will she put her family first, as always, or can she walk away and finally make a fresh start? Will anyone be happy ever after?
It was my first day as a brand new high school teacher. But I got dumped that morning. Via text. And then one of my students hit on me. And the rest of the day was a complete mess. The beautifully single Mr. Drake McCain found me in my classroom, feeling sorry for myself. And not sixty seconds later he had me laughing and electricity racing through my blood. My family is broken and complicated. I literally don’t know my biological father’s name. My mother is absent and my half-brother barely knows who she is. But Drake? He’s not complicated. He’s sweet and kind and insanely adorable, and comes from a wonderful family. He is everything I want. The chemistry between us? It’s there in spades. I keep telling myself that I should be feeling really awful and depressed since I just got dumped a few days ago. But I keep getting this ridiculous smile on my face every time Drake is around and it’s kind of hard to keep telling myself that. I’m Kaylee Ray. I believe in fairytales and happily ever after’s, and maybe the search for Prince Charming is over. Cue reality check.
An instant New York Time bestseller! Carry On meets Arthurian legend in this subversive, “delightfully original and whimsical” (Kirkus Reviews) young adult fantasy about what happens after the chosen one wins the kingdom and has to get married to keep it…and to stay alive. Arek hadn’t thought much about what would happen after he completed the prophecy that said he was destined to save the Kingdom of Ere from its evil ruler. So now that he’s finally managed to (somewhat clumsily) behead the evil king (turns out magical swords yanked from bogs don’t come pre-sharpened), he and his rag-tag group of quest companions are at a bit of a loss for what to do next. As a temporary safeguard, Arek’s best friend and mage, Matt, convinces him to assume the throne until the true heir can be rescued from her tower. Except that she’s dead. Now Arek is stuck as king, a role that comes with a magical catch: choose a spouse by your eighteenth birthday, or wither away into nothing. With his eighteenth birthday only three months away, and only Matt in on the secret, Arek embarks on a desperate bid to find a spouse to save his life—starting with his quest companions. But his attempts at wooing his friends go painfully and hilariously wrong…until he discovers that love might have been in front of him all along.
