Following her husband's death in a suspicious car accident, beautiful young widow Joan Medford is forced to take a job serving drinks in a cocktail lounge to make ends meet and to have a chance of regaining custody of her young son. At the job she encounters two men who take an interest in her, a handsome young schemer who makes her blood race and a wealthy but unwell older man who rewards her for her attentions with a $50,000 tip and an unconventional offer of marriage...
Mulan meets The Song of Achilles in a bold, queer, and lyrical reimagining of the rise of the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty from a new voice in literary fantasy. In a famine-stricken village on a dusty yellow plain, two children are given two fates. A boy, greatness. A girl, nothingness... In 1345, China lies under harsh Mongol rule. For the starving peasants of the Central Plains, greatness is something found only in stories. When the Zhu family's eighth-born son, Zhu Chongba, is given a fate of greatness, everyone is mystified as to how it will come to pass. The fate of nothingness received by the family's clever and capable second daughter, on the other hand, is only as expected. When a bandit attack orphans the two children, though, it is Zhu Chongba who succumbs to despair and dies. Desperate to escape her own fated death, the girl uses her brother's identity to enter a monastery as a young male novice. There, propelled by her burning desire to survive, Zhu learns she is capable of doing whatever it takes, no matter how callous, to stay hidden from her fate. After her sanctuary is destroyed for supporting the rebellion against Mongol rule, Zhu takes the chance to claim another future altogether: her brother's abandoned greatness.
"Amber, Lachlan and Raffaele met as teenagers in the Cornish seaside home of kind-hearted foster parents. Years on, the bond between them is unbreakable. But Amber has a secret. She's in love with Lachlan. She can't tell him, because that would never work - he's definitely not the settling-down type. Surely it's better to keep him as a friend than to risk losing him for good? Raffaele has his own dilemma. He had the dream girlfriend in Vee, until it all went horribly wrong and he still can't understand why. Is Vee hiding something from him? Now their widowed foster dad Teddy has found new love. Younger, charming and beautiful, Olga seems perfect. But is she? Or will she break Teddy's fragile heart?"--Publisher.
"In 1761, on a sunny day in September, a King and Queen met for the very first time. They were married within hours. Born a German Princess, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was beautiful, headstrong, and fiercely intelligent--not precisely the attributes the British Court had been seeking in a spouse for the young King George III. But her fire and independence were exactly what she needed because George had secrets-- secrets with the potential to shake the very foundations of the monarchy. Thrust into her new role as a royal, Charlotte must learn to navigate the intricate politics of the court, all the while guarding her heart, because she is falling in love with the King, even as he pushes her away"--Publisher.
Hollis Shaw's life seems picture-perfect. She's the star of the popular food blog, Hungry with Hollis, and is married to Matthew, a dreamy heart surgeon. But after she and Matthew get into a heated argument one snowy morning, Matthew leaves for the airport and is killed in a car accident. The cracks in Hollis's perfect life-her strained marriage and her complicated relationship with her daughter, Caroline-grow deeper. When Hollis hears about something called the "Five-Star Weekend"-a woman invites her best friend from her teenage years, her twenties, her thirties, and mid-life-Hollis decides to host her own "Five-Star Weekend" on Nantucket. But her weekend won't be the Hallmark movie one might expect. Hollis's childhood friend, Tatum, invites Hollis's first love, Jack Finigan, to spend time with them, stirring up old feelings. Meanwhile, Tatum is forced to play nice with Dru-ann, Hollis's best friend from UNC Chapel Hill. Dru-ann's career as a prominent Chicago sports agent is on the line after her comments about a client's mental health issues are misconstrued online. Brooke, Hollis' friend from their thirties, has just discovered that her husband is having an inappropriate relationship with a woman at work. Again! She runs into an old "friend," Electra, a troublemaker who had ousted Brooke from the Wellesley mom friend group where Brooke and Hollis met years before. And then there's Gigi, a stranger to everyone (including Hollis) who reached out to Hollis on her blog. Gigi carries an unusual grace and, as it happens, has many secrets. It will be a weekend like no other.