The Velvet Box is a fascinating portrait of what it is like for Sophie Gordon, a young girl struggling to cope with life while passionately desiring to become an accomplished artist. Her backstage life is filled with competition, jealousies, and disappointments, as well as many colorful backstage characters. All this puts her through a gauntlet of turmoil. Sophies personal life is as dramatic and full of adventure as her professional life. She has two delightful but complicated romances, one with her fellow actor Ian Lennox and the other with Richard Neville, her theatrical impresario. Richard has been fascinated with Sophie from the first time he met her. She also has attracted the attention of several royal personages throughout her story. All this while she is trying to reconnect with her father, who has come back into her life after a nine-year absence. These trials and tribulations help Sophie to maneuver into the adult world.

Escape your own world into these wonderous and imaginative places in these six science fiction short stories by Rob Vagle. In a world . . . Where a new form of execution transforms more than just the condemned. Where a being made of gears and scales calculates a human life’s monetary worth. Where a stranger courts away mirror reflections of others, leaving one narcissist desperate and alone. Where the Earth holds what completes each of us to fill the hollow inside our bodies. Where one woman glimpses her alternate lives in a strange and sudden room. Where a burning creature of the sun pines for the little blue planet in the distance.

The Road takes you on Lacey's journey and leaves you wanting a deeper understanding of the significance of each character to Lacey, why some love her unconditionally while others hate her innocence. The Road for Lacey Rutledge begins with her first memory at two years old and maps the path she travels within a small town in Western North Carolina. Raised by her parents, grandparents and extended family, as was common in the 30s, her story is filled with colorful characters who unknowingly help establish the woman she becomes. Her Pappy is a man deeply devoted to the things of God and captures Lacey's complete affection, thus causing her to search for her own spiritual destiny. However, having that pure heart of a child, but faced with a world of prejudiced views, Lacey finds herself being singled out by a town full of preconceived ideas and religious bigotry, fighting for what is right and against those things that are wrong in the eyes of God.

Sometimes, ulterior motives can lead to true love... Helping with her celebrity boss's wedding plans is the last thing that recently jilted bride Lizzie Williams needs. Handsome photographer Grant Denver might lure her heart out of seclusion, but can he be trusted? Grant's motives for wooing Lizzie involve an ex-fiance's revenge, and if he succeeds, the reward money will pay for his daughter's medical treatment. If he fails, the price could cost him his career and his child. There's no room to let his heart get involved, but will that stop him from falling for her? A contemporary romance to make you laugh, cry, and swoon.

group favorite, koi, getting rich, era, romance, city, modern romance, modern romance, ending

A People Magazine Top 10 Best Books of the Year • The New York Times best-selling author of Maine returns with an exhilarating novel about Frances Gerety, the real pioneering ad woman who coined the famous slogan “A Diamond is Forever,” and four unique marriages that will test how true—or not—those words might be. "Sullivan is a born storyteller. Like its mineral muse, Engagements shines."—Entertainment Weekly Evelyn has been married to her husband for forty years, but their son’s messy divorce has put them at rare odds; James, a beleaguered paramedic, has spent most of his marriage haunted by his wife’s family’s expectations; Delphine has thrown caution to the wind and left a peaceful French life for an exciting but rocky romance in America; and Kate, partnered with Dan for a decade, has seen every kind of wedding and has vowed never, ever, to have one of her own. As the stories connect to each other and to Frances’s legacy in surprising ways, The Engagements explores the complicated ins and outs of relationships, then, now, and forever.

From Rosanna Chiofalo comes a sumptuous novel that sweeps readers from the Italian-American enclave of Astoria, New York, to the stunning vistas of Rome, and introduces two very different women—in a story of friendship, love, and destiny. . . In college, Pia Santore dreamed of going to New York and taking the Big Apple by storm with her younger sister Erica. Instead, Pia has arrived in Astoria, Queens, with a prestigious journalism internship at a celebrity magazine. . .and without Erica. Though the neighborhood has an abundance of appeal—including the delectable confections sold at her Aunt Antoniella's bakery—the pain of losing Erica a few years ago still feels fresh. Pia's arrival coincides with an unexpected sighting. Italian movie icon Francesca Donata is rumored to be staying nearby, every bit as voluptuous and divaesque as in her heyday. With the help of a handsome local artist with ties to Francesca's family, Pia convinces the legend to grant her a series of interviews—even traveling to her house in Rome. In the eternal city, Pia begins to unearth the truth behind the star's fabled romances and tangled past. And here too, where beauty and history mingle in every breathtaking view, and hope shimmers in the Trevi fountain and on the Spanish Steps, Pia gradually learns how to love and when to let go. For when in Rome, you may find your carissima—your dearest one—and you may even find yourself. . . Rosanna Chiofalo is a first-generation Italian American whose parents emigrated from Sicily to New York in the early 1960s. She is the author of Bella Fortuna and is currently hard at work writing her next novel. She and her husband live in New York City. Advance Praise For Carissima "What a glorious novel this is. It's a celebration of life, love and unlikely friendship through the eyes of two very different women. Yet their similarities bind them together and will endear them to readers long after the last page is turned. Bravissima for Carissima!" --Susan Wiggs, # 1 New York Times bestselling author "Fantastico! I couldn't put it down!" --Lisa Jackson, # 1 New York Times bestselling author Praise for Bella Fortuna "Chiofalo brings the Italian immigrant community and neighborhoods richly to life." —Publishers Weekly "Reading Rosanna Chiofalo's depiction of a modern Italian-American family is like digging into a fresh bowl of pasta—warm, welcome, and satisfying. A deeply felt debut that affirms the importance of friends and family—Italian-style." --Lisa Verge Higgins, author of The Proper Care and Maintenance of Friendship "Well-drawn characters. . .A charmer." —BookPage "Sometimes tough, sometimes tender, always heartfelt and honest, Bella Fortuna is a lively, finely-stitched tale of life and love, family and friendship, and a zest for cose Italiane!" --Peter Pezzelli, author of Home to Italy "Chiofalo's debut is an inspiring read about second chances with love after tremendous heartbreak. . . Readers with Italian-American backgrounds will definitely eat this one up!" —RT Book Reviews

On the run from her adoptive father for five years after being sold to the Russian mafia, Lianna took refuge in the states. She thought New York City was a safe place for her, that it was her ticket out of the mafia world. Little did she know that it’s swarming with people much vile than the place escaped from. This city will pull her deeper into the underworld.

During the late 1990s’ Asian financial crisis and foreign bribes of US officials, an American computer engineer tries to win the admiration of a lovely Indonesian graduate student by getting rich. Will he succeed? Cultural and inter-religious exchange frame this tale of romance and intrigue.