Showing results by author "Vanessa" in All Categories

Holed up with other mothers-to-be in a secret maternity home in Los Angeles, Scarlett Chen is far from her native China, where she worked in a factory and fell in love with the married owner, Boss Yeung. Now she’s carrying his baby. To ensure that his child - his first son - has every advantage, Boss Yeung has shipped Scarlett off to give birth on American soil. As Scarlett awaits the baby’s arrival, she spars with her imperious housemates. The only one who fits in even less is Daisy, a spirited pregnant teenager who is being kept apart from her American boyfriend.

For years, Memory Patterson has been running away from her problems and conning her way through life. Then a chance encounter with Pastor Landris’ pregnant wife, Johnnie Mae, puts her on the path toward meeting the mother she never knew. But a storm is brewing on the horizon, and soon Memory, Johnny Mae, and Pastor Landris will find their faith tested.

Are you so busy fulfilling everyone else's expectations that you've lost touch with yourself? Do you find yourself filling up your "free" hours with mundane tasks and rushing around, never getting it all done? For many women, it's the same kind of story-we hustle to overachieve at work and at home, all in the hopes that we can "crush it" until we finally feel fulfilled. Vanessa Loder invites you to consider this question: "What if the point isn't to crush it in life, but to savor it?"

Vinn Costa used to hang the moon in my sky. He's my brother's broad-shouldered, brutally handsome best friend. He doesn't know I exist, but I've always loved him. Until he did something unforgivable. Vinn's not a sweet boy anymore. He's grown into a ruthlessly cold gangster. He's the most powerful man in Boston, a beautiful lost cause. I cut him from my life. I moved on. Or I would have, if he hadn't roped me into a lie so dangerous I had no choice to play along.

Emma James felt secure in her life. Money, social standing, and the protection of her stepbrother. Or so she thought. When she discovers his dark secrets, he turns on her and sells her to a western brothel to keep her quiet. There, she’s forced to work or participate in an auction...and she’s the prize. One look at Emma James, and Whitmore Kane and Ian Stewart know she would belong to them. Marriage was the only way to truly claim her...so they bid and bid well. But danger has tracked Ian around the world and threatens their newfound relationship.

Sarah and Patrick are happy. But after her mother's death, Sarah spirals into depression and overdoses on sleeping pills. While Sarah claims it was an accident, her teenage children aren't so sure. Patrick decides they all need a fresh start and he knows just the place, since the idyllic family home where he was raised has recently come up for sale. There's only one catch: for the past 15 years, it has become infamous as the "Murder House", standing empty after a family was stabbed to death within its walls.

Rebecca Montgomery never expected to leave London and go to the American West, but this was how her brother saves her an impending marriage of convenience. She also never expected her brother to marry her by proxy to a trusted friend before dying on the journey. She quickly discovers that the Montana territory is a far cry from England, and so are the expectations of a wife at Bridgewater Ranch, for she’s married not just to Dashiell, but also to his friend and fellow Scot Connor MacDonald.

An heir on the run. In one month, Aoife Cascade will turn 20 and take her seat on the Council of Cregah, an honor she's been preparing for her whole life. But when she lets a secret slip to her mother with devastating consequences, all her plans for the future crumble. Believing her people to be better off without her, she flees Cregah, stowing away aboard a pirate ship bound for dangerous waters. Captain Declan McCallagh is young compared to the pirate lords, but after 12 years on the grueling sea, he has earned a well-respected ship and the attention of the lords.

Sancerre and Cheetos go together like milk and cookies. The science behind this unholy alliance is as elemental as acid, fat, salt, and minerals. Wine pro Vanessa Price explains how to create your own pairings while proving you don’t necessarily need fancy foods to unlock the joys of wine. Building upon the outsize success of her weekly column in Grub Street, Price offers delightfully bold wine and food pairings alongside hilarious tales from her own unlikely journey as a Kentucky girl making it in the Big Apple and in the wine business.

Life was good, God was blessing and the Marshall family was riding high, until Carmella Marshall's husband, Nelson asks for a divorce and then moves in with his girlfriend-who also happens to be her twenty-three-year-old daughter's best friend. Her son gets arrested, her daughter drops out of college, the bills go unpaid, and then Carmella has a nervous breakdown. But when Nelson left and her life fell apart, she realized just how weak she could become, without the strength of God guiding her way.

Many of the clients who end up in our respective therapist offices thought they were doing relationships right—avoiding the white picket fence, focusing on careers and experiences over babies and legally-binding documents, choosing someone after they “found themselves” first. However, like clockwork, around their early to mid-thirties, these clients show up at our door. Why? For the first time, they realize that they dislike their relationship and are frustrated by their partner but know that another break-up won’t fix things.

Ruth Croome, a Blackamoor heiress, was supposed to get married in a gorgeous wedding gown, made from her father's exquisite fabrics. Instead, they eloped to Gretna Green and upon returning, their carriage was beset by highwaymen and she witnessed the murder of her new husband. Now, four years later, with a child, she wants to move on with her life. A marriage of convenience will do. Ruth already had a love for the ages.

When Laurel Sinclair’s uncaring father seeks to pawn her off in marriage as part of a business deal, she seeks to avoid her fate by fleeing. But running away in a Montana blizzard proves to be a terrible mistake. When handsome ranchers Mason and Brody find the stranded redhead next to her injured horse, they take her in and immediately decide to make her theirs, convinced they can convert the beautiful stranger to an unusual arrangement of marrying them both.

Do you wish you could decode people? Do you want a formula for charisma? Do you want to know exactly what to say to your boss, your date or your networking partner? You need to know how people work. As a human behaviour investigator, Vanessa Van Edwards studies the hidden forces that drive our behaviour patterns in her lab - and she's cracked the code. In Captivate she shares a wealth of shortcuts, systems and behaviour hacks derived from her research, to help you take charge of interactions at work and at home.

The shape-changers believe the Erith are guilty of murder. And Arrow is in the middle of potential new war between the old enemies. Not only is her freedom at risk, but so is her life. It will take all of her training and skill with magic to live long enough to uncover the truth in time to avert a bloodbath. Concealed is the first book of Arrow's story, set in an alternate world where magic and technology exist side by side. If you like your fantasy mixed with mystery and spells, then you'll love this debut series by Vanessa Nelson.

Malaya, 1945. Cecily Alcantara’s family is in terrible danger: her fifteen-year-old son, Abel, has disappeared, and her youngest daughter, Jasmin, is confined in a basement to prevent being pressed into service at the comfort stations. Her eldest daughter Jujube, who works at a tea house frequented by drunk Japanese soldiers, becomes angrier by the day.

Paris Simmons-Holyfield is facing a dilemma - she's pregnant but she is not sure who the father is. After spending a night with Darius Connors, her ex-colleague, the baby could belong to him, but she doesn't want to ruin her marriage. Darius has his own problems. His wife, Tiffany, has kicked him out. But he doesn't want to give up on his marriage just yet - even if Tiffany has found company in the arms of Clarence Walker, the Minister of Music at Followers of Jesus Faith Worship Center.

Frederica Burghley wants to be married by Yuletide. Or else her father will set her up with one of his friends. The bonbon-loving illegitimate daughter of the duke wants to choose her own husband. Advertising in the newspaper seems like the way to go. But a sinister response leads her to enlist the help of her dear friend Jasper Fitzwilliam. A father and widower, Jasper is not only tasked with keeping Frederica safe but also with helping his friend choose a suitable husband. The more he tries to keep the woman alive and find her a good match, the more Jasper realizes he cares for her.

Pushed by her driven mother to become the best in her field, Penny believes fate has stepped in when she receives word she isn’t just an heiress to Steele Ranch, but had a father she never knew. She takes her chance to break free from the family she never truly felt a part of and heads to Barlow, Montana. Two cowboys have set their sights on the smart, beautiful blonde, and they have no intention of letting her go. Jamison and Boone will give her whatever she wants, especially since she’s wrangled their hearts.

At least ten percent of children have excessive fears and worries—phobias, separation anxiety, panic attacks, social anxiety, or obsessive-compulsive-disorder—that can hold them back and keep them from fully enjoying childhood. If your child suffers from any of these forms of anxiety, this book offers new, practical, and evidence-based proven tools that can help.