A delightful romantic comedy from New York Times bestselling author Ginny Baird... Successful Boston matchmaker and television personality Meredith Galanes’s reputation is on the line. During a guest appearance on a morning talk show, she’s broadsided by questions about her own romantic attachments, just as she’s trying to secure a syndication deal. Afraid to admit her love life is a total disaster, Meredith blurts out that she’s seriously involved with a very special man—a boatbuilder in Maine. She never expects that small slip to get spun into a story about her supposed engagement. Or that the paparazzi will track the guy down... Derrick Albright is laid-back about many things. Being hounded by the press about some imaginary engagement to a woman he’s only met once—and couldn’t stand—isn’t one of them. Then Meredith actually shows up at his cabin in Blue Hill, Maine, with an apology, a pot roast, and a proposal—play along until she secures her TV deal, and she’ll help him win back his ex. It’s a simple plan, but if they have any chance of pulling it off, they’ll have to survive each other first... Each book in the Blue Hill Brides series is STANDALONE: * The Duplicate Bride * The Matchmaker Bride
Will love conquer...her boss? Beautiful, clever, rich--and determinedly single--Emily Wood is the youngest ever head of HR at her company. Whether dousing corporate fires or matchmaking lonely colleagues, Emily's at the top of her game. Only her handsome, sardonic boss, Jason Kingsley, appears to remain immune to her charm... Jason is used to women falling at his feet, but relationships, with all their illogical demands, are not for him. So why does he find Emily so attractive? She's a highly unsuitable target for his seduction and merger skills--what with her misguided belief in the power of love...
What happens when a lonely matchmaker unexpectedly falls in love with a forbidden client-- a gorgeous, high-flying CEO with a secret past? Confirmed bachelor and sexy jetsetter Carlos Bradley III is in need of a contract bride to win a secret custody battle. He will pay any price for an elite and discreet matchmaking agency to hook him up with an emotion-free relationship of convenience. What he did not bargain for was his attraction to the agency's newest matchmaker, Sophie. Single and not-searching, Sophie Wilson is the newly-hired consultant for Stone's elite matchmaking services. Desperate to pay off her medical bills, she tries to match the agency's top-paying client with charming Carlos, but he has already decided his match. Torn between ethics and her emotions, can she afford to trust him with her heart and her future?
The Lawman Meets His Match Successful Seattle matchmaker Beth Wallin has her most challenging assignment yet—find Deputy Hart McCormick a bride. Beth’s still smarting after the handsome lawman spurned her affections a year ago. But if she finds Hart a wife, Beth will gain favor with the city’s most influential women…and perhaps free her own heart, as well. Marriage is the last thing on the deputy’s mind. After tragically losing his sweetheart, he vowed never to love again. But as sweet, spunky Beth introduces him to potential fiancées, Hart finally feels a spark…for her! The stubborn bachelor will be Beth’s first matchmaking miss, unless they can both admit that she just might be his perfect match.
Since the messy breakdown of her first (and only) relationship, Alice Attwood has sworn off men – for good. The only love she’s interested in is other people’s, which is why she puts all her time, effort and energy into her exclusive match-making service, ‘The Attachment Agency’. Running her business with clockwork precision, Alice sees herself as independent and successful; someone who can do everything on their own. She needs no one – well, apart from Lyndsey, her long-suffering assistant. But then Alice’s perfectly constructed world receives an unwelcome blast from the past: suddenly, the one thing keeping her sane, her beloved agency, is under threat. With no time to spare, Alice takes on the challenge to save her business, and, more terrifying still, finds she has to rely on others to do it. Amidst this confusion, Alice is thrown back into a world she swore she’d never set foot on again: one with the potential for love. Alice has to decide whether the juice is worth the squeeze, or whether going it alone is the only path for her. To get her life back on track and overcome the obstacles in her way, Alice will have to use every skill at her disposal, every favour owed and every trick in the book to rise to the occasion... and who knows, she may even get more than she bargained for in the process. Will Alice be able to do this? Or has the matchmaker met her match?
A manual on household management, the Domostroi is one of the few sources on the social history and secular life of Russia in the time of Ivan the Terrible. It depicts a society that prized religious orthodoxy, reliance on tradition, and absolute subordination of the individual to the family and the state. Specific instructions tell how to arrange hay, visit monasteries, distill vodka, treat servants, entertain clergy, cut out robes, and carry out many other daily activities. Carolyn Johnston Pouncy here offers, with an informative introduction, the first complete English translation.
This is the first in-depth study of Chinese bridal laments, a ritual and performative art practiced by Chinese women in premodern times that gave them a rare opportunity to voice their grievances publicly. Drawing on methodologies from numerous disciplines, including performance arts and folk literatures, the author suggests that the ability to move an audience through her lament was one of the most important symbolic and ritual skills a Chinese woman could possess before the modern era. Performing Grief provides a detailed case study of the Nanhui region in the lower Yangzi delta. Bridal laments, the author argues, offer insights into how illiterate Chinese women understood the kinship and social hierarchies of their region, the marriage market that determined their destinies, and the value of their labor in the commodified economy of the delta region. The book not only assesses and draws upon a large body of sources, both Chinese and Western, but is grounded in actual field work, offering both historical and ethnographic context in a unique and sophisticated approach. Unlike previous studies, the author covers both Han and non-Han groups and thus contributes to studies of ethnicity and cultural accommodation in China. She presents an original view about the ritual implications of bridal laments and their role in popular notions of "wedding pollution." The volume includes an annotated translation from a lament cycle. This important work on the place of laments in Chinese culture enriches our understanding of the social and performative roles of Chinese women, the gendered nature of China’s ritual culture, and the continuous transmission of women’s grievance genres into the revolutionary period. As a pioneering study of the ritual and performance arts of Chinese women, it will be of interest to scholars and students in the fields of anthropology, social history, gender studies, oral literature, comparative folk religion, and performance arts.
Opposites attract—and go head-to-head—in this cheerfully irresistible small-town romance. With just ten days left till her folks’ loan comes due, ever-pragmatic Charlotte Delaney is officially throwing in the towel on the bet that she made with her sisters. It looks like it’s up to her to save their parents’ café and beloved home with a marriage of convenience to her family’s rival. It’s time to get the in-name-only nuptials over with. Of course, Charlotte’s never been one to easily admit defeat... Aidan Strong has exactly zero intentions of marrying one of the Delaney sisters—even Charlotte, his first crush. He’s come to Majestic, Maine, to make things right...only Charlotte has other plans. She’s challenging Aidan to a new wager. And the prize? His billion-dollar coffee empire. Now the tiny seaside town of Majestic is about to witness the ultimate game of hearts...and winner takes all. Each book in the Majestic Main series is STANDALONE: * First Bride to Fall * Second Bride Down * Last Bride Standing
From the book's preface: Skya rgya is a farming village in A mdo, [Tibet] While Tibetans largely welcome the material benefits that have been brought to them by the march of modernity, it is also inevitable that many of their older traditions have come to be seen as outdated. By juxtaposing voices from earlier periods with those that reflect contemporary experiences, [the author] has provided us with a fascinating window onto the processes of change and development, as they are being experienced by Tibetans in this area. [The author's narratives give] us a direct and vivid insight into the lives, experiences and expectations of members of his home community. Fernanda Pirie The Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, Oxford University Also from the book's preface: Blo brtan rdo rje's honest rendering of the details of his family life . . . make this a page-turning account of life in a rural Tibetan area that is already vanishing. When Blo brtan rdo rje was young, there was not even a bridge to cross the Yellow River into Gcan tsha County. . . .After bridges were built in the late 1980s, life has been changing rapidly This is not to suggest that no change had come to this Tibetan village before this time, as the arrival of the troops of the Muslim warlord, Ma Bufang, prior to the Communist period are also documented here. The forced conversion of neighboring (down-valley) Tibetans to Islam was a crucial vehicle for the later commercial changes introduced in the 1990s. . . . this new book could serve as an important part of courses on Tibetan culture, cross-cultural studies of marriage and gender relations. I congratulate Blo brtan rdo rje and Kevin Stuart on this impressive contribution to Tibetan studies! Gray Tuttle Department of East Asia Languages and Cultures Columbia University From the author's introduction: I was born in 1979, the only son of a ten-people farming-herding family on [4.3 acres] of farmland on which we cultivate wheat, barley, peas, rapeseed, potatoes and a few vegetables for self-consumption. In 1985 my father (Rin chen bsod nams, b. 1954) put me on one of our several donkeys and the two of us set out for my paternal grandmother's (Phag mo sgrol ma, b. 1927) home in the mountains. . . .It took us most of the day to reach Grandmother's home, which was a single room where she lived, a long second room for the sheep and goats and a fenced area for the yaks. The area around Grandmother's cottage was mountainous. . . . There was no electricity. Rapeseed-oil lamps provided light at nights. Grandmother fetched water in a wooden bucket that she carried on her back from a transparent stream. . . . Bread with milk tea was our breakfast and lunch. We ate noodles with, sometimes, a few chunks of pork but rarely vegetables. I have three sisters. My elder sister . . . has twin, six year old sons who had not started school in 2006. . . . My two younger sisters are both university students and their school tuition has become a significant worry for my family. My parents have now moved to the local county town where they bought a cheap house with a small yard with the money they earned from selling our family's sheep and goats. Mother raises four milk mdzo mo (a female yak-cow cross) from which she earns an average of twenty-five yuan (about $3.50) per day by selling milk and yogurt in the street. Father does whatever temporary work he can find. . .that pays fifteen to twenty yuan per day ($2.15 to $2.86). . . .Kids from richer families call my mother 'Skya rgya Beggar' when they see her selling milk and yogurt in the bustling streets. This humiliates and causes much pain.
