Two little girls stand with their heads bowed in my living room. I’m told they’re my granddaughters. Daisy is nine, and Alice seven. Daisy is the spitting image of her mother. This is the first time I’ve met them since my daughter and I fell out after she married that waste of space, Vince. They’ve come to live with me because their mother — my daughter — was murdered. In her own home while they slept close by. I think Vince killed her. But the police can’t prove it. I’ve always known he was no good. He treated my daughter like dirt. I said he’d cheat on her — but she wouldn’t listen.

Who is Audrey Hoedemaker? It's a question her sister Maureen has heard more times than she can count, and she doesn't know what the short answer would be. Little sister, troubled teen, backpacker, musical theatre coach, con artist, childcare worker. Murderer. A tragic, traumatic childhood casts a long shadow on the Hoedemaker sisters. Maureen has worked hard to move beyond the violence of the past and build a good, honest life for herself. Audrey, however, just can't seem to do the same, careening from one state of chaos to another.

Lucas knows the perfect night entails just three things: video games, wine, and pad thai. Peanuts are a must! Other people? Not so much. Why complicate things when he’s happy alone? Then one day the apartment board, a vexing trio of authority, rings his doorbell. And Lucas’s solitude takes a startling hike. They demand to see his frying pan. Someone left one next to the recycling room overnight, and instead of removing the errant object, as Lucas suggests, they insist on finding the guilty party. But their plan backfires. Colossally.

It’s 1984, and life has changed beyond recognition. Airstrip One, formerly known as Great Britain, is a place where Big Brother is always watching, and nobody can hide. Except, perhaps, for Winston Smith. Whilst working at the Ministry of Truth, rewriting history, he secretly dreams of freedom. And in a world where love and sex are forbidden, where it’s hard to distinguish between friend and foe, he meets Julia and O’Brien and vows to rebel.

The 13 chapters of The Art of War, each devoted to one aspect of warfare, were compiled by the high-ranking Chinese military general, strategist, and philosopher Sun-Tzu. In spite of its battlefield specificity, The Art of War has found new life in the modern age, with leaders in fields as wide and far-reaching as world politics, human psychology, and corporate strategy finding valuable insight in its timeworn words.

Francesca Lombardi’s ascent from glamorous Rockette in the late 1950s to star of the Broadway stage seemed like a given; nothing could stand in her way. But something did—something broke her spirit and she gave up dancing and left New York for good, swearing that she’d never set foot on a stage again... Fast forward a few years and Francesca has been refashioned as Frankie, gorgeous wife to one of NASA’s newest astronauts, Ed Maxwell. Frankie’s new group of friends loves her for her acerbic wit and sharp outlook on life, and her close friendship with Jo Booker is keeping both ...

At twenty-seven, Jeanie Florence is shattering glass ceilings and forging a new path for women in the 1960s. As a NASA engineer, the shy, studious Jeanie has never been in a real relationship, and the closest she's come to having real, adult feelings for a man is the way she feels about Bill Booker. But Bill is a married astronaut ten years her senior, and he is NOT a real prospect...if only Jeanie's heart would get that fact the same way her brain does. The glamour and excitement of the 60s plays out as a backdrop to Jeanie's search for love and meaning, and as she dreams of going to space...

A President dies under mysterious circumstances, leaving a secret mistress and their twelve-year-old son…and also a loyal First Lady who has no idea what went wrong with their marriage. Forty-nine-year old widow Ruby Hudson, the former First Lady of the United States, needs a fresh start. As she mourns the loss of her husband, she turns her love of books into a whole new career, opening a little bookshop on a charming, pirate-themed island called Shipwreck Key just off the coast of the Florida Panhandle. Her two daughters think she’s crazy, but Ruby can finally breathe again knowing ...

When a woman needs to flee a bad marriage, it doesn’t matter that she’s the wife of the former Vice President, it only matters that she escapes... Sunday Bond longs for a life far from Washington D.C., and far from the husband who has kept her in a gilded cage for too long, locked up there with only his dark secrets to keep her company. When Sunday’s best friend, the former First Lady, moves south to Shipwreck Key, Sunday goes for a visit and decides to stay. The remote island off the coast of Florida is the perfect place to avoid the world’s prying eyes and to forget about her ...

Alice’s stories of Wonderland did more than raise a few eyebrows - it landed her in an asylum. Now at 15 years of age, she’s willing to do anything to leave, which includes agreeing to an experimental procedure. When Alice decides at the last minute not to go through with it, she escapes with the White Rabbit to Wonderland and trades one mad house for another: The court of the Queen of Hearts. Only this time, she is under orders to take out the Queen. When love, scandal, and intrigue begin to muddle her mission, Alice finds herself on the wrong side of the chopping block.

Spring comes in like a lion on Christmas Key, bringing heat, humidity, and April Fools Day pranks, but leaving romance and expectation in its wake… As usual, Mayor Holly Baxter has her hands full with a visiting group—this time a reunion for a family of redheads famous for starring on a reality show—and life on the island is changing once again. She and Miguel are still happy as clams, spending more time together than apart, and the promise of an upcoming wedding on the island has everyone daydreaming about love. But there are more twists and turns than the locals can imagine, and ...

When a woman is prized first and foremost for her looks, what does she have left to offer when the world decides those looks are fading? Marigold Pim, once the darling of the modeling world, graced the covers of nearly every prestigious fashion magazine on the planet. Her beauty made her the epitome of glamour as a young woman—and also led her straight into the arms of Cobb Hartley, the famous-but-troubled British rockstar. They raised a son together and endured two decades of a complicated marriage, but now they’re happily divorced and living their lives on different continents. For ...

At 41, Vivian Armstrong Gray's life as an investigative journalist is crumbling. Humiliated after taking a bullet in her backside during an exposé, Vivi learns that she's pregnant, jobless, and very hormonal. This explains why she says "yes" to a dreadful job covering suburban living back home in Georgia, a column she must write incognito. Down South, it's her sister's ballroom dance studio that becomes her undercover spot where she learns about the local life - and where unexpected friendships develop.

*This box set includes the first two full-length novels of the series plus one of the novellas. There is no ending in this box set as the series is ongoing! When stagnation threatens the future of her beloved island, 30-year-old mayor Holly Baxter goes head-to-head with the community’s elderly retirees. With secrets swirling, family drama brewing, and an ex-boyfriend hanging around, can Holly find a way to save her slice of paradise? Her best bet is to allow a reality show to film on the island, but not everyone is thrilled to have cameras and prying eyes on Christmas Key. In fact, one of...

A Secret Service agent devotes his life to protecting the people he serves…until one day he realizes that the person who needs protecting is him. Henry Banks is a former Marine, a career Secret Service agent, and the only man allowed into the Shipwreck Key book club full of women. He’s like a handsome brick wall who doesn’t show emotion, but he’s finally let his guard down—just a little bit—to let Sunday Bond in. Banks and the former Second Lady have been dating for a few months, but now that they’re in their fifties and both divorced once, the dating dance has become more ...

Tinsel and lights and cocoa and...murder?! The islanders welcome the first big boat full of visitors to their new dock, and with them, a murder mystery weekend that involves Santa, Mrs. Claus, and an elf with legs like a Rockette. Mayor Holly Baxter is juggling her growing feelings for the island’s newest resident, a letter that arrives in the mail with news she isn’t even sure she wants, and Bonnie’s sudden interest in yet another man who threatens to draw her away from Christmas Key. Will the magic of the season be lost as the body count rises and the mystery builds? Or will the ...

What happens when a medical examiner leaves cold bodies and cold winters behind to chase her dream of running a travel agency in a warm, sunny beach town? Lucy Landish has put a decade into her career, but a heartbreaking divorce and a mother whose medical needs are growing increasingly demanding have driven her to chase her dream south—way south—to Amelia Island, Florida. Dreaming of a fresh start, Lucy hangs out a shingle and opens The Holiday Adventure Club with plans to travel the world for a year, hitting a new location for every major holiday with her groups of intrepid tourists ...

Valentine's Day is near, and romance is in the air on Christmas Key! Things are heating up between Mayor Holly Baxter and the island's newest resident, Miguel, and there's a seafood festival coming to town. Holly's DNA results have come in and suddenly there's a man in her life to fill the role of father figure--but does she even want to meet him after a lifetime of assuming he doesn't exist? When a tragedy happens on the island its residents must pull together to help a stranger--whether they agree with Holly's methods and motives or not. Join Christmas Key's colorful locals for another ...

Davis Way thinks she's hit the jackpot when she lands a job as the fifth wheel on an elite security team at the fabulous Bellissimo Resort and Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi. But once there, she runs straight into her ex-ex-husband, a rigged slot machine, her evil twin, and a trail of dead bodies. Davis learns the truth, and it does not set her free - in fact, it lands her in the pokey. Buried under a mistaken identity, her hot streak runs cold until her landlord, Bradley Cole, steps in.

Ruby Hudson has avoided reading the words of her late husband, President Jack Hudson--until now... For most of his life, Jack kept meticulous and well-written journals and diaries about his life. After his death, everything was boxed up and put into storage, but now, nearly two years after his passing, Ruby is ready to start unpacking her past and making sense of her husband's choices. With the month of August to herself on Shipwreck Key, Ruby brings out the boxes of journals dating back to the 70s, and she tries to unravel the mystery of her marriage: where did it go wrong? What had she ...