Harlequin Next
8 total works
If this is Beth Holt Martin's life, she wants a refund.
It's true. At fifty-three, all Beth's got is a sex-starved marriage to Howard the psychiatrist, an (almost) empty nest and a suitcase full of long-forgotten dreams of becoming...well, something more.
Beth doesn't look like the kind of woman who would run away from home, but to heck with reason. If logic were motor oil, she'd be three quarts low. Besides, only one question really counts: Can love survive being stuck in a zipper? Maybe it's time to spread her wings (for everyone's sake), cross her fingers...and see where the open road to acceptance and hope will lead.
Like Mother, Like Daughter (But in a Good Way)
by Jennifer Greene, Peggy Webb, and Nancy Robards Thompson
Playing rockabilly music in church was one thing...
Blowing a hole in her roof to chase a phantom intruder was quite another. And when Delta Jordan hears about her best friend's meltdown, she starts packing. It's clear Emily Jones needs her to be a safety net until she's strong enough to fly solo.
Whisking Emily off to Tuscany, Delta witnesses the Italian countryside's healing effect on her friend. Which is a good thing, because now Delta is the one needing Emily's advice. A renowned Italian artist has decided she's The One. But twice divorced (Emily calls her ex-husbands cowardly knuckleheads), Delta isn't falling into that trap again.
Or is she? Because a wonderful thing happens when both women discover they can face the future and embrace its limitless possibilities....
Surprise even yourself!
When longtime best friends, Patsy Leslie and Louise Jernigan decide to jump-start their not-so-dead libidos, quilting and bridge suddenly take a backseat to, well, more amorous pursuits. Local tongues wag, and Patsy's son and Louise's daughter–who happen to be married to each other–demand answers to the burning questions Who is this man and where's the rest of Mama's skirt?
Then life throws Patsy and Louise another sharp curve, and they don't know whether to drown their shock in hot fudge or buy some strong binoculars and take up spying–on each other! Can forty-five years of friendship and family ties survive unexpected detours on the bumpy road to liberation? Maybe all Patsy and Louise need is to grow wings and learn to fly again….
Because there are no speed limits in life
If there's one thing mystery novelist Maggie Dufrane knows, it's this: Laughter through tears is the Southern way. At least that's what her spitfire mama, aka the Mississippi queen of drama, says. But now the indomitable matriarch is ailing. And reliable Maggie-the-family-chauffeur is moving back in to fix things…again.
Then Maggie's life takes another sharp turn. Her older sister, Jean, drops a shocker, screeching (as always), "What are we going to do?" Jean is terrified. Maggie is exasperated. And Mama's convinced it's the best gossip she's heard all year. But can Maggie tear a page from Mama's book of living large, step back and let her family tackle their own problems for once?
Maybe there's a god of second chances after all.
They couldn't be any more different
Poppy Thompson: The self-proclaimed homeliest woman in town, she deals with animals for a living rather than people.
Bren Price: The ever-proper minister's wife, she does everything her husband tells her, but lately her best just isn't good enough.
They'd never even spoken to one another until a surprise inheritance brings them together. A fortune in sparkling jewelry could give them what each desires most-Poppy's surgical transformation, Bren's escape from her husband. Yet the real treasure just might be the friendship these two total opposites form once they discover all that glitters isn't gold.
WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH, THE TOUGH...
Join the PTA? Yes, according to Maggie, Barbara and Elizabeth. Because despite their differences-one is a recent widow; one is a late-in-life mother; and one is a supermom whose surprise pregnancy, she fears, will result in complications-all three women have one thing in common: their daughters. They'd do anything for them....
But is anything enough?
Because one girl just can't adjust, one is terrified to be alone-and one is the mystery blogger who's wreaking havoc from one end of the student body to the other. Seems as if there are a lot of secrets in this small town. And despite the gossip, not a lot of talking going on....
What happens when two women swap lives?
Soap Opera Star Gloria Hart: After losing her celebrated soap opera role, she winds up crashing her Ferrari Spider and getting stranded in Mooreville, Mississippi. Will America's TV goddess discover the role of her life with handsome rancher Matt Tucker playing the leading man? After all, he's the first man she's kissed off camera in over five years!
Married Mom Jenny Miller: Up to her ears in pies she bakes for her husband's restaurant and the trials of an angst-ridden teenager, she's lost touch with herself. Can her budding friendship with Gloria change that? With a few margaritas, a memorable road trip and a little help from each other, these women are about to find friendship, love and their own secret goddesses!