Winner Fiction: Women's Fiction The 2020 Best Book Awards
Samantha—the fashionable wife of a successful businessman and doting mother of one—struggles to negotiate the spheres of intimacy between her husband and her family of origin. Samantha loves her husband, Richard, and she loves her sister, Elizabeth. But the two of them can barely exist in the same room, which has caused the entire family years of emotional distress. Yet it’s not until Samantha’s sister is diagnosed at age forty-three with lung cancer that her family and her marriage are tipped into full-blown crisis.
A story of love, loss, forgiveness, learning to live with grief, and healing, Appearances will resonate with anyone who has ever experienced tension in their familial relationships—even as it serves as a poignant reminder that no amount of privilege can protect us from family conflicts, marital difficulty, or mortality.
As a young mother with a toddler and a live-in boyfriend, Maggie Fisher’s job at a checkout counter in downtown Phoenix doesn’t afford her much financial flexibility. She dreams of going to college and becoming a teacher, options she squandered when she fled her family home as a teenager. When Maggie stumbles onto an ad offering thousands of dollars to women who are willing to gestate other people’s babies, she at first finds the concept laughable. Before long, however, she’s been seduced by all the ways the extra money could improve her life. Once she decides to go for it, it’s only a matter of months before she’s chosen as a gestational carrier by Chip and Donovan Rigsdale, a married couple from New York.
After delivering twin babies and proudly handing them off to the Rigsdales, Maggie finally gets her life on a positive trajectory: she earns her degree, lands a great job, and builds a family of her own. She can’t fathom why, ten years after the fact, the fertility clinic is calling to ask for a follow-up DNA test.
High-energy and immensely readable, He Gets That from Me explores what it really means to be part of a family.
Sam’s free-spirited nature leads her to Australia and anywhere else that smelled of adventure. Her lust for life often led her down rabbit holes, discovering the places where her fears lived. To create balance, she builds her life around American expats who become her family. Extravagant parties, intimate gatherings and the intrigues of the rich and famous, she finds herself wrapped in a love triangle torn between two suitors - a stalwart Aussie teacher who shares his enthusiasm of the Outback, and a wild Texan with a colorful past who unleashes her passion. Her quest for change now has her head spinning by the depth of choice. Who will Sam choose?
It’s the end of summer, 2001. Erin O’Connor has everything she’s ever dreamed of: good friends, a high-powered career at a boutique Manhattan firm, and a husband she adores. They have plans for their life together: careers, children, and maybe even a house in the country. But life has other plans. Daniel works on the 101st floor of the World Trade Center.
Erin is drinking margaritas on a beach in Mallorca, helping her best friend get over a breakup, when she hears a plane has crashed into Daniel’s building. On a television at the smoky hotel bar, she watches his building collapse. She makes her way home with the help of a stranger named Alec, and once there, she haunts Ground Zero, nearby hospitals, and trauma centers, plastering walls and fences with missing-person flyers. But there’s no trace of Daniel.
Sara Matthews is middle-aged, broke, and facing a divorce she doesn't want. She feels like she's lost her compass in life. What's more, she has many secrets that she keeps from the world at large-the molestation that marred her childhood and a mother who is now a ghost and who haunts Sara only to berate her.
Now she must begin the difficult work of starting her life over. Sara travels to London to work with her business partner, Thomas Hunter, and soon she finds herself involved in a new relationship. But all too quickly, she starts making decisions that lead her down dangerous a path, one that could cost her more than she has to give. Only time will tell whether she'll be able to escape the danger.
Heartbreaking yet hopeful, this novel traces the journey of a middle-aged woman who breaks free from years of abuse only to enter into another life-threatening relationship.
Dying isn’t just hard on the ones left behind, the regret of unfinished lives weighs heavily on the terminally ill. That’s where Dire’s Club steps in, a specialty travel agency that takes a small group of dying people on one final adventure—so they can be free of guilt, be more than a diagnosis, and find a way to confront life…and death.
Life Coach Charlotte Claybrooke built a successful second career guiding people out of grief, but the impending tenth anniversary of her own heart-wrenching tragedy sets her on a journey to find life among the dying.
Staring death in the face was Jimmy Dire’s business. He met it with a warm hug, a kind word, and a smile. Dire’s Club gave the terminally ill one final, bucket-list adventure before passing on, but dying was expensive. The bills, like Jimmy’s lies, were piling up. It’s only a matter of time before he’s forced to face a different type of death.
Reeling from accusations of professional incompetence, high school counselor Kathlyn Murray takes refuge in her uncle’s cabin on Sandshell Island. Instead of finding solace, Kathlyn is confronted by islanders who resent her intrusion, as they struggle to keep their treasured lifestyle safe from the surge of mainlanders. Desperate to stay, Kathlyn puts her counseling skills to the test, fighting to overcome cultural prejudice. When a young girl befriends Kathlyn seeking advice for her future, Kathlyn recognizes the short supply of prosperous jobs on the island for young people. She seizes the opportunity to help and proposes a new initiative for kids to intern at local businesses. Her outspoken idealism sparks controversy amongst the islanders. While most young people are thrilled with her ideas, the entrenched residents ostracize her for butting into island affairs. The tides begin to turn when Kathlyn strikes up a friendship with the local attorney and wins his support. Despite his influence, Kathlyn endures a scathing personal defilement during a town meeting. Before it’s over, she must face her past and open her heart to the people who judge her. Only when Kathlyn confronts her fears and her scars can she find true peace.
"Magnificent. An enthralling and heartbreaking journey." -Bill Dedman, Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times #1 bestselling author of Empty Mansions
Lady Be Good transports us to the glittering, sumptuous era of 1920s New York to follow the life of aspiring actress Dorothy Hale as she comes of age. Breaking societal rules imposed on women, "Peck's Bad Girl of Pittsburgh Society" leaves behind her privileged world for the bright lights of Broadway to chase her dream. From convent school debutante runaway to Ziegfeld showgirl to Hollywood star, Hale transforms herself into one of the most adored figures in the highest echelons of society. Yet behind the public façade the darling of the press contends with heart-rending loss, gossip and betrayal, and a tempestuous friendship with Luce.
Surrounded by her fabulous circle of friends-Gertrude Stein, Fred Astaire, Cole Porter, James Roosevelt, Elsa Maxwell, and other iconic figures-Dorothy finds her way to the other side of heartbreak and prepares for a White House wedding. Then, suddenly, at age thirty-three, at the height of happiness and peak of her fame, she falls to her death. Her life story is revised and written into history by the tabloids and the famed and fêted-leading to this novel's stunning conclusion.
From the magical shores of present-day Kauai to the stately manors of 19th century Europe the gift of a family heirloom exposes a centuries-old mystery. In Secrets of Grace Manor, when Kate Grace receives the gift of a unique family heirloom, a gateway opens to solving a centuries-old mystery exposing a shocking web of intolerance and betrayal, ultimately forging the pathway to understanding and inspiring a new, authentic way to live.
When four life-altering catastrophes hit in just one day—including the loss of her parents in a tragic plane crash—twenty-four-year-old Janie Whitman retreats to her family’s summer house in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. Here she tries to provide stability for her older sister Alyssa and two young nieces by cooking them amazing food.
Through a mix-up with the alumni office at her parents’ alma mater, Janie meets a young high school guidance counselor named Rocky at a volunteer event, and their fast-tracked romance helps Janie to see possibilities beyond the life she had known just a few weeks prior. But with her ex-boyfriend (and former boss) making overtures beyond her wildest dreams, as well as Alyssa’s estranged husband willing to do whatever it takes to win her back, the Whitman sisters are faced with big decisions.
Part dysfunctional marriage, part global romp, this is not your typical expat story. Em’s Awful Good Fortune is a deeply personal, marriage coming-apart-at-the-seams look at the struggle between a woman’s desire for partnership and her need for identity. Fueled by twin demons, love and rage, Em stomps her way around the world coming to terms with the fantasy of having it all: husband, kids, and a career. Em is not just married; it’s more like being handcuffed to her husband’s international career. Her life reads like a fantasy, bouncing between Los Angeles, Paris, Tokyo, Shanghai, and Seoul. But—the good fortune is all her husband’s: Em is just the tagalong wife.
Maxfield’s compelling, non-linear story explores the expatriate lifestyle through the lens of a crumbling marriage, while at the same time tracing the lasting impact of sexual assault and PTSD. Em’s journey exposes the dark corners of this seemingly privileged world: loneliness, depression, infidelity, and loss of career. An empowering, uncomfortably funny narrative about compromise that every woman should read. As Em begins to value her needs before those of her husband’s career, she stops letting herself be dragged along for the ride—and ultimately emerges triumphant.
In 1965 Chicago, thirteen-year-old Dani Marek declares she's in love, and you best believe it. This is no crush, and for six blissful years she fills her hope chest with linens, dinnerware, and dreams of an idyllic future with John. When he is killed in action in Viet Nam, Dani's world shatters. She launches a one-woman vendetta against the men she seeks out in Rush Street's singles bars. Her goal: break as many hearts as she can. Dani's ill-conceived vengeance leads her to a loveless marriage that ends in tragedy. At twenty-four, she's left a widow with a baby, a small fortune, and a ghost-make that two.
Set in the turbulent Sixties and Seventies, Just One Look explores one woman's tumultuous journey through grief, denial, and letting go.
Mom-of-three Sadie Rollins-Lancaster struggles with a crumbling marriage she had hoped to salvage. Though her husband, Theo, initiated the divorce, he's now having a change of heart that's difficult to reconcile as he fights against PTSD demons within. When a chance encounter with a stranger resurrects emotions in Sadie she never expected to feel again, her world is turned upside down. Will Sadie find the courage to shape her own future? Will Theo resolve his internal struggles and win Sadie back?
Rewrite the Stars is an honest, moving portrayal of life and love that reminds us how much of our happiness lies within our own grasp. If you like heartwarming stories about love, loss, and redemption, then you'll love Christina Consolino's debut novel.
Betrayed by Stella, the sister she adored, Grace Burnette struggles to put her previously well-ordered life back together.
News of Stella’s death in Ecuador propels Grace into a dangerous world of intrigue. Accompanied by the man her mother hired to protect her, Grace confronts her ex-fiance and Stella’s widower. She joins forces with Stella’s lover, Adelmo Balsuto, a man with a dangerous past, to bring her sister’s killers to justice.
Adelmo is more interested in revenge than justice, and Grace must choose how far she will go to settle the score for her sister. An explosive encounter with her sister’s killers brings back a long-buried memory that could destroy her family. The choices Grace makes could cause forgiveness and redemption or despair and destruction.
Women. Fishing. The Bering Sea. Some men don’t think they belong together. One woman wants to prove them wrong. Mack Carter’s life is circling the drain. When he hears about how lucrative the fishing industry is in Alaska, he decides to try his luck on the frigid Aleutian Chain. There he meets, Nels Pearson, who teaches the younger man how to be a crab fisherman on the deadly Bering Sea and becomes the friend and father-figure Mack’s never known. Carter must learn to navigate both the foreign world on the water and home life on land, finding a tenuous balance with both. Through circumstances beyond her control, Faith Pearson is inserted into the dangerous life the men live in. To most fishermen in this high-velocity world, women onboard a crab boat is a bad omen. Faith finds life on the sea difficult to maneuver, not just the conditions but the men and superstitions she must also endure.
Nina is a photographer who really appreciates control. She likes to set up just the right shot with the perfect composition, but life is not always as pretty as her pictures. The lighting is off, the timing is wrong, and the subjects just won’t do like she wants them to.She’s engaged to her ex-husband, her teenage daughter is testing all the boundaries, and her childhood memories have a For-Sale sign on them. She’s also keeping a secret about the chance of a lifetime, but what she’ll have to give up to get it might not be worth it. Just when she thinks she’s got it all figured out, an important someone resurfaces and forces her to take a hard look at what she really wants and why.Life can be as prickly as it is sweet. Will Nina be able to let go of the perfect picture she had in her head and let her heart find the sweetness that life has to offer.
The most meaningful journeys encompass more than the distance we travel…
When Martha files for divorce from her controlling and dismissive husband, Tony, she knows she’ll have to begin again. Tony persuaded her to abandon her dreams of chocolate and pastry fame, and to break a promise to her grandmother, to follow him and his dreams.
Martha’s heart pulls her back to her hometown in seaside Maine, to Gram, and to the bakery where Gram is still waiting for her to return. But before she can go home, Martha must learn who she really is, and her journey of discovery leads her south—from Baltimore and Tony’s betrayal, to the Gulf coast of Florida and the friends she’d made in culinary school, when her dreams had felt within her reach.
Faith Nathaniel, a mom in her early thirties, is living the picture-perfect life. Trey, her husband, is tall, dark, handsome, and in-line to take over his family’s multimillion-dollar business, a privately-owned drug and alcohol rehabilitation center, St. Mary’s. Faith matches all the expected images-she volunteers at her children’s private school works with charities, and co-hosts Gala’s across Fairbanks. Initially, she is unfailingly supportive of her husband and of her family’s success. She is happy to write Trey’s papers for his master’s degree. She loves taking care of his very ill stepfather during the day. She delights in telling his mother how beautiful she is every waking minute.
One night in October, Faith’s perfect picture is shattered forever. She intercepts a suspicious text message on Trey’s phone. She confronts him. He refuses to reveal his mistress’s identity. Faith is anguished and kicks him out. Trey moves in with his mother. The following day, Trey and his mother began to viciously attack a heartbroken, unsuspecting, naïve Faith. Faith is left bewildered and with a lot of unanswered questions. As time passes, Faith keeps hoping things will get better, but as family secrets are uncovered, her situation progressively worsens.
Oncologist Emma Blake has dedicated her life to finding a cure for a rare brain cancer. Twenty-five years ago, Emma’s childhood friend Kate died of glioblastoma, and Emma vowed to annihilate the deadly disease. Now, Kate’s father, Ned, is pushing her to work harder to fulfill that promise.
When Emma discovers she’s pregnant, she’s torn between the needs of her family and the demands of her work. While Ned pressures her to do the unthinkable, her husband, Tim, decorates the nursery. Unwilling to abandon her research, Emma attempts to keep both sides of her life in balance.
Emma knows she needs to reconcile her past with her present and walk the fine line between mother and physician. But Ned has a secret, and when Emma discovers what he’s been hiding, the foundation of her world cracks.
Nowhere Near Goodbye is a story of family, failure, and second chances.
Housewife and mother with a loving husband to take care of her - that's all Liz, a Fifties gal, ever wanted. Over her father's objections, she drops out of college to marry Rick, who dreams of living off the land. They buy a farm on a verdant hillside in the Hudson Valley, but can't agree on what to plant. When they discover French-American hybrid grapes, Liz is confident they'll be happy. Grapes are classy.
As the rich soil sinks into her soul and the vines begin to thrive, the marriage grows rocky. Refusing to disappoint her father again, Liz is determined to make her marriage work . . . until she discovers a photograph hidden in the old barn.
Faced with impossible decisions, Liz is desperate. She has a vineyard ready to harvest and no idea how to accomplish the task. Does she have the moxie to flourish? Or will she and the land turn fallow?
Julie and Dan Holliday's lives are the definition of perfect. They have it all: a million-dollar business, properties (including a gorgeous home), and a dog. Julie Holliday is the perfect wife; she is loving, sensuous, and loyal, with adoration for her husband, yet she is in constant fear that her husband and perfect life is all but a facade on the brink of collapse. She finds a note on her husband's desk and is terrified, as it may confirm her suspicions that Dan may be cheating again! Every time she confronts him, he denies it and calls her crazy. Having had enough and determined to live a life afresh without a cheating husband and paranoia, she sells her business, all of her properties, packs her bags and disappears without a trace. Unbeknownst to her, her chapter with Dan is far from over because love may just have other plans for these two.
Soap opera star by day, harried, single mom by night, Calliope Hart's life is a delicate balancing act. When the network cancels her show, Callie's world crumbles and she must decide whether it's more important to fight to save the show or take a risk and start over from scratch.
College is supposed to be the best years of your life, a time when you "find your tribe." But what does that mean for a first-generation, urban, indigenous young woman who stumbled into her freshman year to escape an abusive relationship? Armed with nothing more than piles of students loans, this is one indigenous girl's journey through the most challenging set of obstacles yet ... and finding herself in the process.
YOU LOOK SOMETHING is somewhat of a prequel to the author's award-winning debut novel THE WRONG KIND OF INDIAN (2017). When Julia breaks into college life as an indigenous, first-generation, low-income freshman dubbed "independent" by the FAFSA office due to being homeless as a teen and abandonment by both parents, she enters a world that was never meant to belong to her. Aware of the delicacy of the situation, and the guarantee of a complete fallout if she fails, she grabs onto a façade and goes all-in from joining a sorority to indulging in all of the vices tempting college students at the turn of the century.
Kassie O’Callaghan’s meticulous plans to divorce her emotionally abusive husband, Mike, and move in with Chris, a younger man she met five years ago on a solo vacation in Venice, are disrupted when she finds out Mike has chronic kidney disease—something he’s concealed from her for years. Once again, she postpones her path to freedom—at least, until she pokes around his pajama drawer and discovers his illness is the least of his deceits.
But Kassie is no angel, either. As she struggles to justify her own indiscretions, the secret lives she and Mike have led collide head-on, revealing a tangled web of sex, lies, and DNA. Still, mindful of her vows, Kassie commits to helping her husband find an organ donor. In the process, she uncovers a life-changing secret. Problem is, if she reveals it, her own immorality will be exposed, which means she has an impossible decision to make: Whose life will she save—her husband’s or her own?
Rendered unconscious from a motorcycle accident in Southwest Florida, Robin Stevens awakens to realize she's repressed her past and is living life recklessly and unhappily. Feeling lost and miserable, she begins a profound search full of juicy twists and turns. Forced to confront her traumatic past in New York City, she is led into a profound exploration of the mysterious disappearance of her mother 25 years earlier. She is guided to the South of France where she discovers startling psychic and spiritual revelations.
Awakening is a celebration of life, a passionate and surprising ride in which the reader gains a whirlwind of wisdom and insights. In the interweaving of characters' lives against a backdrop of loss and disappointment, the story subtly conveys the author's extensive trainings with renowned masters in eastern and western traditions. The descriptions and rich details reveal a great depth and appreciation for relationships, the environment, culinary experiences, and seeking to confront one's own fears to find one's true self.
Tess Lee is a novelist. Her inspirational books explore people’s innermost struggles and the human need to believe that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Despite her extraordinary success, she’s been unable to find personal happiness. Jack Miller is a federal agent. After spending decades immersed in a violent world, a residue remains. He’s dedicated everything to his job, leaving nothing for himself. The night Tess and Jack meet, their connection is palpable. She examines the scars on his body and says, “I’ve never seen anyone whose outsides match my insides.” The two embark on an epic love story that asks the questions: What happens when people truly see each other? Can unconditional love change the way we see ourselves?
In the years since she had the twins, CIA Agent Isabella Bendel, never imagined having to think the worst. Now she was living it. After the loss of her husband, she accepts a promotion to Chief Supervisor—a much less dangerous position than what she's accustomed to—so she can raise her two children without fear of leaving her children without parents. But any illusions of safety are shattered when, while on her Sunday morning jog in a Washington, DC park, Isabella survives a brutal assassination attempt. Someone was gunning for her, and gunning hard. While interrogating the assassin, she learns that armed men invaded her home and took that which is nearest and dearest to her heart, her twins and her mom. With the window of time to find her family alive and safe shortening, Isabella needs information fast. As she searches for her family, she discovers vague chatter about a mover and shaker in Russia planning an attack on American soil.
Finalist Fiction: Women's Fiction The 2020 Best Book Awards
The only thing reclusive bookworm Nora, high-powered attorney Christina, and supermom-in-training Leanne ever had in common was their best friend, Molly. When Molly dies, she leaves mysterious gifts and cryptic notes for each of her grieving best friends, along with one final request: that these three mismatched frenemies have brunch together every month for a year.
Filled with heartwrenching scenes and witty prose, Brunch and Other Obligations explores the intricate dynamics of girlhood acquaintances who are forced to reconnect as women. This upbeat novel reminds readers that there’s hope for getting through the hard times in life—with a lot of patience, humor, and a standing brunch date.
Finalist Fiction: Women's Fiction The 2020 Best Book Awards
Allison James is a people pleaser and rule follower, but the day before her thirty-fifth birthday, that all backfires: she is unexpectedly fired from the public relations firm she’s worked at for twelve years, only to come home and find out that her fiancé has been sleeping with her maid of honor.
Feeling lost, Allison takes her friend Jordan’s advice and uses the time off for some self-reflection. Over the next few months, she devours countless self-help books (albeit skeptically), schedules a soul reading with an astrologer/psychic/magician, and goes on a meditation retreat in Costa Rica, where she finally starts to feel like she’s getting her groove back.
Finalist Fiction: Women's Fiction The 2020 Best Book Awards
Southern Culture … Old Friendships … Family Tragedy
One phone call from Renny to come home and “see about” the capricious Ava and Celia Wakefield decides to overlook her distressful past in the name of friendship.
For three reflective days at Renny’s lake house in Heber Springs, Arkansas, the three childhood friends reunite and examine life, love, marriage, and the ties that bind, even though Celia’s personal story has yet to be healed. When the past arrives at the lake house door in the form of her old boyfriend, Celia must revisit the life she’d tried to outrun.
Finalist Fiction: Women's Fiction The 2020 Best Book Awards
Briony, Natalie and Lauren have been best friends since school. Now in their thirties, their lives couldn’t be more different.
Eternally single Briony is desperate to find ‘the one’, while Lauren, a singer onboard cruise ships, is having far too much carefree fun to even think about settling down with ‘Mrs Right’. Or is she?
Meanwhile, long-term married mum Natalie has had her head turned at the gym by sexy spin instructor, Jason. And when he suggests some private, one-on-one sessions, sex-starved Natalie is powerless to resist.
When Natalie’s affair comes to light after a boozy night down their local, where they go to get their alcohol and ice cream fixes, Briony doesn’t think she’ll ever be able to forgive her friend. Luckily, a date with Mani, the hot, chivalrous son of her larger-than-life American boss helps to take her mind off things. Could he be the special someone she has been waiting for all her life?
As the girls embark on some of the most challenging moments of their lives, only one thing is for sure – their friendship will never be the same again . . .
Finalist Fiction: Women's Fiction The 2020 Best Book Awards
Silicon Valley investor Ryn Brennan is on the verge of achieving everything she dreamed. She's succeeded in the male-dominated venture capital world, has a supportive husband, and is about to close the deal of her career. Everything is going exactly as planned, until she meets Carly, her husband's mistress, across the negotiating table. Carly clawed her way back from being a teenage runaway to become an accomplished scientist, caring single mom, and co-founder of her startup. Once she marries her loving fiancé, she'll secure the complete family she craves. But she's blindsided to discover her not so perfect fiancé is already married-to Ryn, her company's biggest investor. In an industry full of not-so-subtle sexism, can the two women rise above, and work together to overcome heartbreak, and ensure their success?
Finalist Fiction: Women's Fiction The 2020 Best Book Awards
When Ida and her daughter Bessie flee a catastrophic pogrom in Ukraine for America in 1905, they believe their emigration will ensure that their children and grandchildren will be safe from harm. But choices and decisions made by one generation have ripple effects on those who come later—and in the decades that follow, family secrets, betrayals, and mistakes made in the name of love threaten the survival of the family: Bessie and Abe Weissman’s children struggle with the shattering effects of daughter Ruby’s mental illness, of Jenny’s love affair with her brother-in-law, of the disappearance of Ruby’s daughter as she flees her mother’s legacy, and of the accidental deaths of Irene’s husband and granddaughter. A sweeping saga that follows three generations from the tenements of Brooklyn through WWII, from Woodstock to India, and from Spain to Israel, How to Make a Life is the story of a family who must learn to accept each other’s differences—or risk cutting ties with the very people who anchor their place in the world.
