Romance
Romance
A Seaside Story
C.J. Foster
Love or money? It’s never that simple.
Kate Toscano’s life is upended when her sister is killed in a car accident. This jet-setting writer for a trendy Las Vegas magazine is now the guardian of her five-year-old, autistic nephew, Jimmy, and is forced to move back home. Kate’s mother is skeptical about bringing a young, special needs child into her well-structured and organized home in Avalon Bay, but what other choice does Kate have?
As Kate struggles to begin her life anew, she runs into John Neal, her old high school flame. Their parting fourteen years prior was bittersweet when Kate left home to get her degree in journalism and follow her dreams. Old feelings are rekindled, but not all flames that burn are meant to stay lit, so when she learns their timing might be off yet again, she knows it’s time to make a decision: Choose security, or take a bold chance on an uncertain future.
The Casserole Courtship
Elizabeth Guider
A recent widowed lawyer is pursued by three formidable but very different women.
Each has something tantalizing to offer him…
All of them can cook up a storm.
Casseroles become their calling cards. Since his own wife never bothered herself in the kitchen, the widower is needy enough to savor their dishes but wary about where their overtures might lead. Unintended miscues and mishaps ensue. For him, rejoining the circle of life becomes a dizzying, if much desired, prospect.
For the women, the pursuit becomes an unexpected journey to empowerment. This wry and wistful take on second chances is full of engaging characters who, in midlife, find themselves longing for new purpose – and more specifically, a lasting relationship.
From across the country, the widower’s grown children cast a watchful eye on their father’s entanglements but are eventually drawn westward into this enticing family of strangers. And, once the pandemic takes hold, twists and turns accelerate until, crisis resolved, the main characters find who or what most matters.
Set on the shores of California’s Central Coast, crucial discoveries come to light. Including how little the widower knew about his deceased wife…
…and a mysterious musician that lives along the boardwalk.
Marooned
Louise Jane Watson
A Hollywood actor, a nerdy artist, and the ship’s cat are marooned on a deserted island…what could go wrong?
Sunny Evans is a homely, practical girl with thick glasses and a tender heart. On graduating from art college, she is offered a job on a remote South Pacific research station. Being paid to illustrate the flora and fauna of the island, using her exquisite painting skills, is a dream come true. Life hasn’t been easy for her in the last few years, but it looks as though her luck is finally changing.
Nicky “Kit” Kitson is one of the biggest names in Hollywood. Voted “The Sexiest Man Alive” for three years running, Kit is beginning to tire of his artificial LA lifestyle. Using the excuse of doing background research for his latest blockbuster, he intends to join the scientific team on the island to get out of the limelight for a while. Something has to change, or he is going to burn out.
The two new island recruits are onboard a supply vessel headed toward the station when a devastating series of explosions wreck the boat and blast Sunny, Kit, and Pinky (the ship’s cat) overboard. Kit and Sunny, together with Pinky the cat, have to find a way to work together and survive. But Sunny has lost her glasses, Kit is badly burned, and Pinky has a secret…