Download or read book Duck Pond Epiphany written by Tracey Barnes Priestley and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2013-05-12 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Though educated as a painter, fifty-three-year-old Lee MacPhearson has lived her life coloring inside of the lines. The quintessential working mother of four, Lee has been the proper faculty wife—an ill-fitting role at best—while somehow managing to nurture her passion project, Mad Dog Gallery, into one of the Pacific Northwest’s most notable galleries. The casualty in all of this has been Lee’s marriage—and her sense of self. Having just delivered her last child to college, Lee is overwhelmed by her empty nest, and she’s left wondering what happened to the woman she once was. But she’s also giddy: finally, the opportunity to decide what she alone wants. Her estranged husband Brian, however, knows exactly what he wants: Lee and the life they once shared. He launches his campaign to reconcile before Lee even sets foot into her newly empty farmhouse, his apologies well-rehearsed. Ultimately, however, Barb Yakamura, Lee’s best friend and the brilliant and irreverent Artistic Director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, is the one who truly overflows with ideas about what Lee should do—including one that leads Lee, Brian, and the entire MacPhearson family to an ending they never expected.

Download or read book Death Comes As Epiphany written by Sharan Newman and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2002-01-05 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With Death Comes As Epiphany, the first in the Catherine LeVendeur mystery series, medievalist Sharan Newman has woven dark mystery and sparkling romance into a fascinating and richly detailed tapestry of everyday life in twelfth-century France, and one of the most moving love stories of all time: Abelard and Heloise. Catherine LeVendeur is a young scholar come to conquer her sin of pride at the Convent of the Paraclete, famous for learning, prayer, and its abbess, the fabled Heloise. When a manuscript the convent produced for the great Abbe Suger disappears, rumors surface saying the book contains sacrilegious passages and will be used to condemn Heloise's famous lover, Peter Abelard. To save her Order, and protect all she holds dear, Catherine must find the manuscript and discover who altered the text. She will risk disgrace, the wrath of her family and the Church, and confront an evil older than Time itself--and, if she isn't careful, lose her immortal soul. Winner of the Macavity Award for Best First Mystery At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Download or read book The Geometry of Love written by Jessica Levine and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-04-08 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Julia, an aspiring poet, is living with her British boyfriend, Ben, a restrained Princeton professor, when she runs into Michael, a long-lost friend. A complex and compelling composer, Michael was once a catalyzing muse for her—but his return to her life is a destabilizing influence. Julia is drawn to Michael, but feels enormous guilt at the thought of betraying Ben—not to mention fear at the idea of giving up the security of her relationship with him. So, when Michael signals that he’s too wounded to make a commitment, she turns her triangular situation into a square: she sets him up with her cousin. Why is it easier for a woman to be a muse than to have one? Are security and imagination mutually exclusive? Can one be fully creative—in art or life—without the inspiration of erotic love? These are the questions asked in The Geometry of Love, a provocative and deeply psychological tale that explores the surprising choices we make in our romantic lives.

Download or read book A Drop in the Ocean written by Jenni Ogden and published by She Writes Press. This book was released on 2016-05-03 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: GOLD: NAUTILUS BOOK AWARD, FICTION, LARGE PUBLISHER (2016) GOLD: SARTON WOMEN'S BOOK AWARD, CONTEMPORARY FICTION (2016) GOLD: INDEPENDENT PUBLISHER BOOK AWARDS (IPPYS), BEST FICTION, AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND (2016) SILVER: READERS’ FAVORITE INTERNATIONAL BOOK AWARD, WOMEN’S FICTION On her 49th birthday, Anna Fergusson, Boston neuroscientist and dedicated introvert, arrives at an unwanted crossroads when the funding for her research lab is cut. With her confidence shattered and her future uncertain, on impulse she rents a cabin for a year on Australia's Great Barrier Reef. However Turtle Island, alive with sea birds and nesting Green turtles, is not the retreat she expected. Here she finds love—for the eccentric islanders who become her family; for Tom, the laid-back turtle whisperer; and for the turtles whose ancient mothering instincts move her to tears. But Anna finds that even on her idyllic drop in the ocean there is pain, and as the months fly past her dream for a new life is threatened by a darkness that challenges everything she has come to believe about the power of love. Evocative and thought-provoking, A Drop in the Ocean is a story about second chances and hard lessons learned in the gentlest of ways.

Download or read book Love Is a Rebellious Bird written by Elayne Klasson and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2019-11-12 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Who is it we love and why do we love these people? Toward the end of her life, Judith asks these questions, trying to understand why she chose Elliot Pine to love. Why, for sixty years, did she persist in loving someone who never gave as much as he was given? In her quest for understanding, she writes her story to this exceptional man. Meeting as children in Chicago, they move to opposite coasts. Elliot embarks on a remarkable legal career in Washington and New York while Judith raises her children alone in California, after tragedy. Coming together again and again throughout their lives, their love is never equal, Elliot defining the terms of the relationship. Judith examines the role of Beauty in love, for Elliot's face and form were beautiful. She considers the role of Consolation, how they supported one another in devastating times. Insanity, Magic, Deceit, Sensory Fulfillment, and, finally, Being Seen—Judith looks at these many aspects of her love. Her feelings for this man cost her, impinged on every other relationship in her life: friends, her two husbands, even her three children. After sixty years, however, it all changes. Judith makes one more profound sacrifice, finally achieving a sort of long-awaited happiness in her love.

Download or read book Hard Cider written by Barbara Stark-Nemon and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2018-09-18 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abbie Rose Stone’s acquired wisdom runs deep, and so do her scars. She has successfully navigated the shoals of a long marriage, infertility, challenging children, and a career. Now it’s her turn to realize her dream: producing hard apple cider along the northern shores of Lake Michigan that she loves. She manages to resist new versions of the old pull of family dynamics that threaten to derail her plan—but nothing can protect her from the shock a lovely young stranger delivers when she exposes a long-held secret. In the wake of this revelation, Abbie must overcome circumstances that severely test her self-determination, her loyalties, and her understanding of what constitutes true family.

Download or read book Things Unsaid written by Diana Y. Paul and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2015-10-13 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: AWARDS: Bookclub Favorite Winner of New Adult Fiction—Beverly Hills Book Awards Winner of the SILVER Medal for Best Fiction in Drama from Readers' Favorite Finalist USA Best Books Awards in Literary Fiction and in New Fiction “Under its skin, it is a lively, accessible meditation on redemption and the transformative value of good intention and deed.” ―Rebecca Coffey, author of Hysterical: Anna Freud's Story “An outstanding book that is not only deeply honest, heartbreaking, and hopeful, but also brilliant, poignant, and original. It captures what is at the heart of all of us and showcases that life is what we make it. Brilliant, just brilliant! 5 stars.” ―Emily Lewis, Mrs. Mommy Booknerd’s Book Reviews Inspired by a true story about mothers, daughters, and impossible choices—Jules Foster, a child psychologist, upon hearing news of her estranged, narcissistic mother’s terminal diagnosis, chooses to care for her mother over her own daughter, only to find out she has been betrayed all along. Things Unsaid asks us to consider what children owe their aging parents and siblings. Jules Foster is summoned to the local police station to retrieve her elderly parents, after her father has sideswiped a parked automobile. Her parents now rely heavily on her financial support, and Jules finds herself sacrificing her daughter Zoe's dreams for going to college in order to continue bankrolling them. Her husband, Mike, is forced to take sides. Joanne, her divorced younger sister, and Andrew, her brother, refuse to send their parents so much as a Christmas present. Now that their parents are incapable of caring for themselves, Jules, Andrew, and Joanne must decide where to draw the line between obligation and their own families. Throughout Things Unsaid, Jules, Zoe, and Andrew are forced repeatedly to evaluate their personal priorities and avoid repeated misfirings of the heart. As they make impossible choices, they pull back the curtain to reveal deeply buried family secrets. A powerful and courageous tale of family dysfunction and senior citizens, this bold and poignant debut novel presents deep insights into the messy and inevitably complicated world of family relationships, and shows how one woman is able to survive with her sanity and spirit intact.

Download or read book Play for Me written by Celine Keating and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2015-04-21 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It happens without warning: At a folk-rock show at her son’s college, Lily becomes transfixed by the guitarist’s unassuming onstage presence and beautiful playing—and with his final note, something within her breaks loose. After the concert, Lily returns to her comfortable life—an Upper West Side apartment, a job as a videographer, and a kind if distracted husband—but she can’t stop thinking about the music, or about the duo’s guitarist, JJ. Unable to resist the pull of either one, she rashly offers to make a film about the band in order to gain a place with them on tour. But when Lily dares to step out from behind her camera, she falls deep into JJ’s world—upsetting the tenuous balance between him and his bandmate, and filling a chasm of need she didn’t know she had. Captivating and provocative, Play for Me captures the thrill and heartbreak of deciding to leave behind what you love to follow what you desire.

Download or read book After Happily Ever After written by Leslie A. Rasmussen and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2021-04-06 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Smart and funny, After Happily Ever After is an exciting debut.” —Laura Dave, international best-selling author of The Last Thing He Told Me What if you had the chance to relinquish the life you’ve built and begin again? At the age of forty-five, Maggie Dolin is grappling with the realities of aging. Nearly two decades ago, she made the decision to leave her career in publishing to devote herself to raising her daughter, Gia—but now that Gia is about to leave for college, Maggie is confronted with uncertainty about her own identity and purpose. Having spent so many years caring for others, she struggles to remember the last time someone cared for her. Meanwhile, Maggie’s husband of nineteen years, Jim, seems distant and preoccupied, leading her to suspect that he is keeping secrets from her; her mother is self-absorbed and judgmental; and her brother harbors resentment toward her. And to compound matters, the one constant in Maggie's life, her father, is facing serious health challenges, leaving her feeling adrift without his unwavering support. As Maggie embarks on a daunting journey of self-discovery, she finds herself drawn toward decisions that challenge the life she has always known. After Happily Ever After deals with love, marriage, family dynamics, the empty nest, aging parents, and what happens when they all come crashing down at the same time.

Download or read book A Better Next written by Maren Cooper and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2019-05-28 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jess Lawson, a forty-five-year-old healthcare consultant, wife, and mother of two, has spent most of her adulthood fostering the illusion of having a perfect life. Her impending empty-nest syndrome as her youngest child prepares to start college is troubling enough, but when her doctor husband, Arthur, announces his intention to take a prestigious new job on the other side of the country—and relocate without Jess—her world quickly crumbles. Amid their acrimonious divorce, revelations about Arthur's infidelity come to light; and at work, instead of the revitalized career Jess is hoping for, she uncovers surprising financial corruption that threatens a scandal for her client—and the well-being of the many unsuspecting patients and physicians they serve. Ultimately, this superwoman is forced to acknowledge that her put-together veneer can't hold up under the weight of these new burdens. She also, however, refuses to wallow in victimhood. So what now? A smart, relatable story for every woman who’s gone bold to sort out her next chapter, A Better Next shows how—with a little soul searching and a supportive circle of friends and colleagues—it’s possible to redefine happiness and establish a liberating, new normal at any stage of life.

Download or read book A Tight Grip written by Kay Rae Chomic and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-06-10 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Some people might that, at age forty-six, Jane “Par” Parker is too old to win golf tournaments; too old to fear her mother; and too old, after twenty years, to still feel such heavy grief over the murder of her father. But Par has an obsessively tight grip on the past, and no one can tell her to live her life otherwise—not even her three best friends: Pinky, a petite, bossy 911 dispatcher, Carmen, a pot-smoking, dessert-loving masseuse-in-training, and Gail, a business professor, wife of a prison guard, and unlikely romantic. Par is busy preparing for an upcoming tournament, and things are looking good for her—right up until she has to spend a night in jail for a bogus DUI charge and ends up on the front page of her local newspaper as a result. As the week unfolds and Par comes up against one challenge after another, she’s forced to decide: either continue to cling to her memories, or seize the opportunity to evolve and let go of the past once and for all.

Download or read book This Way Up written by Patti Clark and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2016-04-26 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: International Excellence Body, Mind, Spirit Book Awards Winner: Self-help Women spend so much of life nurturing and giving to others that when they find themselves alone—because of an empty nest, the end of a marriage, or the death of a partner—they often struggle with feeling purposeless. This Way Up: Seven Tools for Unleashing Your Creative Self and Transforming Your Life provides a step-by-step way out of this sense of loss and into a life filled with enthusiasm, creativity, and joy. This story of healing centers on the essential wisdom of introspection and on the importance of following one’s dreams. Join the protagonist, Katya, a widow whose two sons have recently left home, as she learns seven tools for uncovering her best self: visualization, heart-centered goal setting, positive focus, meditation on love; meditation on forgiveness, gratitude, and taking action on inspiration. Katya’s experience highlights these insights in an easily digestible, highly relatable format that readers can systematically apply to their own circumstances as they work through This Way Up’s twelve weeks’ worth of day-by-day journaling exercises, thought-provoking questions, and reader support. For any woman who yearns to lead a fuller life but doesn’t know how to begin, this book is an ideal starting point.

Download or read book Flip Flops After Fifty written by Cindy Eastman and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-04-08 with total page 165 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Who hasn’t experienced life’s painful jabs—especially those of us who have rounded the corner into middle age? Emotional family events, stress from lousy jobs, the bittersweet feelings when the kids leave home, body image issues, and turning the big 5-0 . . . it’s all covered here in Cindy Eastman’s collection of personal and insightful essays. In Flip-Flops After Fifty, Eastman tackles the sublime and the ridiculous, the sacred and the profane, with her own brand of easy humor. From her 30th high school reunion to her daughter’s wedding to running away to a cabin in Maine to figure out what she wants to do with her life, Eastman braves the ups and downs of midlife, and she comes out of it changed—for the better. At turns wry, hilarious, and poignant, Flip-Flops After Fifty will amuse and enlighten readers, even as it inspires them to think more deeply about the topics that affect us all.

Download or read book Life and Other Shortcomings written by Corie Adjmi and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2020-08-04 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Life and Other Shortcomings is a collection of linked short stories that takes the reader from New Orleans to New York City to Madrid, and from 1970 to the present day. The women in these twelve stories make a number of different choices: some work, others don’t; some stay married, some get divorced; others never marry at all. Through each character’s intimate journey, specific truths are revealed about what it means to be a woman—in relationship with another person, in a particular culture and era—and how these conditions ultimately affect her relationship with herself. The stories as a whole depict patriarchy, showing what still might be, but certainly what was, for some women in this country before the #MeToo movement. Both a cautionary tale and a captivating window into women’s lives, Life and Other Shortcomings is required reading for anyone interested in an honest, incisive, and compelling portrayal of the female experience.

Download or read book The Book of Old Ladies written by Ruth O. Saxton and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2020-09-05 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a book that champions older women’s stories and challenges the limiting outcomes we seem to hold for them. The Book of Old Ladies introduces readers to thirty stories featuring fictional “women of a certain age” who increasingly become their truest selves. Their stories will entertain and provide insight into the stories we tell ourselves about the limits and opportunities of aging. A celebration of women who push back against the limiting stereotypes regarding older women’s possibility, The Book of Old Ladies is a book lover’s guide to approaching old age and dealing with its losses while still embracing beauty, creativity, connection, and wonder.

Download or read book Shelter Us written by Laura Nicole Diamond and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2015-06-08 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gorgeously written and deeply felt, this heartrending, ultimately hopeful narrative about motherhood, loss, and the meaning of life becomes a true page-turner. Lawyer turned stay-at-home-mom Sarah Shaw is struggling to be present for her two young sons and law professor husband, three years after the death of their infant daughter. Then one day, walking in L.A., Sarah’s heart catches at the sight of a young homeless mother and toddler, and saving them becomes her secret, obsessive mission. When tragedy threatens them, Sarah discovers she is capable of deceptions and transgressions she never imagined. Her lies unleash a downward spiral that will threaten her marriage, family, and her sanity. Shelter Us speaks to the quiet joys and anxieties of parenthood, and illuminates the shadowy space between unconditional love and fear of unbearable loss.

Download or read book What is Found What is Lost written by Anne Leigh Parrish and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-10-15 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Freddie was raised on faith. It’s in her blood. Yet when she loses her husband of many years, she can’t quite bring herself to seek solace from the Almighty, and enters a state of quiet contemplation, instead. Her solitude quickly ends when she meets a man roaming her neighborhood in search of his run-away wife, and later, when her daughter returns home to escape another unwise romance. Soon after, Freddie’s sister, Holly, visits and their thoughts turn to their wretched childhood at the hands of their neglectful and pious mother. Also present is their grandmother, Anna, known only through photographs and letters, who seems so different – strong, yet remote. Freddie feels she and Anna are connected, not just through blood, but through the raising of difficult daughters. This kinship makes Freddie see that she has been shaped by forces she doesn’t directly experience, which reminds her about the true basis of faith. With all that to hand, Freddie faces a family crisis that forces her to confront the same questions she’s asked all her life: What does it mean to believe in God? And does God even care?