Hopewell Cottage; Little Lost Island; Maine; Old, pretty cottage to rent on a small island; Springwater; blueberries; sea glass. August.
So reads and ad on Lottie Wilkes´ and Rose Arbuthnot´s children´s preschool bulletin board.
When the mothers arrive on the island, they are transformed by the salt air; the breathtaking views; the long, lazy days; and the happy routine of lobster, corn, and cocktails on the wraparound porch. By the time of the late-August blue moon, real life and its complications have finally fallen far, far away. For on his idyllic island they gradually begin to open up: to one another and to the possibilities of lives quite different from the ones they´ve been leading. Change can´t be that hard, can it?
When he kissed me, I was shocked. He was a stranger and still so familiar. It wasn´t until I woke up to my picture splashed on the cover of tabloids that I realized I knew who he was. Prince Alexander of Cambridge. Royal bad boy. Exiled heir to the throne. He isn´t Prince Charming. He´s controlling. He´s demanding. He´s dangerous. And I can´t say no to him. We both have secrets - secrets that could tear us apart or drive us closer together - and as the paparazzi exposes each one. I have to decide just how far I´m willing to go for King and Country.
For Abby it´s the best time of the year: Every summer she spends the holidays with her family at the National Park Acadia. But this time the idyll is overshadowed. Engaged for entertainment magician Juspinn fascinated holiday guests not only with his show – he seems to manipulate them. With horror, Abby discovers how her Family and friends change more and more for the worse. Virginia is at once madly. Abby itself feels not only the attraction of the stranger but also the danger that emanates from him. Juspinn seems to be looking – for something that only she can give him.(personal translation)
Roxie Callahan is a private chef to some of Hollywood´s wealthiest, and nastiest, calorie-counting wives. Then a dairy disaster implodes her carrer in one fell ploop, and she finds herself back home in upstate New York, bailing out her hippie mother and running the family diner.
When local organic farmer Leo Maxwell delivers her a lovely bunch of walnuts, Roxie wonders if a summer back home might not be so bad after all. Because Leo´s heavily involved in the sustainable, slow-food movement, and he likes to take his time. In all things. Roxie´s determined to head back to the West Coast as soon as the summer is over – but can the pull of lazy fireflies and her very own Almanzo be enough to keep her back home for good?
On her birthday each year, Lolly´s mother gave her a charm, along with the advice that there is nothing more important than keeping family memories alive, and so Lolly´s charm bracelet would be a constant reminder of that love.
Now seventy and starting to forget things, Lolly knows time is running out to reconnect with a daughter and granddaughter whose lives have become too busy for Lolly or her family stories.
But when Arden, Lolly´s daughter, receives an unexpexted phone call about her mother, she and granddaughter Laura rush home. Over the course of their visit, Lolly reveals the story behind each charm on her bracelet, and one by one the family stories help Lolly, Arden and Lauren reconnect in a way that brings each woman closer to finding joy, love, and faith.
Allyson Healey´s life is exactley like her suitcase - packed, planned, ordered. Then on the last day of her three-week post-graduation European tour, she meets Willem. A free-spirited, roving actor, Willem is everything she´s not, and when he invites her to abandon her plans and come to Paris with him, Allyson says yes. This uncharacteristic decision leads to a day of risk and romance, liberation and intimacy: 24 hours that will transform Allyson´s life.
In Fire & Flood, Tella Holloway faced a dangerous trek through the jungle and a terrifying march across the desert, all to remain a Contender in the Brimstone Bleed for a chance at obtaining the Cure for her brother. She can´t stop - and in Salt & Stone, Tella will have to face the unseen dangers of the ocean, the breathless cold of a mountain, and twisted new rules in the race.
But what if the daner is deeper than that? How do you know who to trust when everyone´s keeping secrest? What do you do when the person you´d relied on most suddenly isn´t there for support? How do you weigh one life against another?
The race is coming to an end, and Telly is running out of time, resources, and strength. At the beginning of the race there were one hundred-twenty-two COntenders. As Tella and her remaining friends start the fourth and final part of the race, just forty-one are left ... and only one can win.
