The author shares what she's learned about sending "Grumpy mom" packing and embracing a joyful, intentional motherhood.

A sweet and spicy holiday romance between a spirited artist who returns to her small town for Christmas, and her older brother’s best friend, a serious architect who pushes all her buttons—but whom she can’t seem to stay away from. Lena’s plans are simple. Surprise her family for Christmas, don’t tell them she lost her job, and most importantly, spend the week relaxing with the people she cares about. But when she arrives in Juniper, she discovers she’s not the only unexpected guest this year. Her older brother’s best friend, Gavin, is back after disappearing three years ago without a word. He has the kind of charm Lena has always been drawn to, but she knows he’s also the kind of temptation she needs to stay far away from. Gavin has built his architecture career out of planning strategies for dealing with the unexpected—but he didn’t have a strategy for the possibility of seeing Lena again. Though he’s been dreaming of her since the day he left, he can’t risk giving in to his feelings when they could upend the only family and home he has ever known. New plan: try to be friends again. Just friends. But as the pieces fall into place about why Gavin left, staying friends is the last thing on his mind…and on Lena’s. All the plans they’ve made might end up completely wrecked. And for once, maybe they want it that way.

A low-key romance featuring a young girl and a Scottish boy whose families are vacationing on the island of Corfu.

Over the winter holidays, four roommates at a girls' boarding school agree to keep journals to share their vacation activities, and their pen pal letters, with their friends.

How Santa Gets His Christmas Spirit Back...

Whether you resemble Scrooge or one of the Magi from the East, this delightful Christmas book will inspire and equip you to celebrate the season in fun, creative ways. Filled with humorous and poignant anecdotes -- from her memorable Christmas dinner of potato chips and candy bars to his contagious delight in filling Christmas stockings -- Laura's trademark humor winningly combines with Renaissance-man Michael's creativity in such chapters as "Away in a Ski Lodge," "His 'n Her Christmas Trees," and "Here Comes Doggy Paws, Here Comes Kitty Claws." Full of fun and practical how-to tips, this book will help you discover new ways to make your grown-up Christmas bright -- from hosting the perfect white-elephant gift exchange to recycling that dreaded fruitcake. Book jacket.

Johnnie hadn't minded playing toy theatre with them but wasn't going to play with girls outside, so he went and sat beside Grandad who said it was about time they had a man-to-man talk. That's when he said the thing about him and Tommy being his most important grandchildren because they would be the ones to carry the Kentson name on to the next generation of lightermen. Something told Johnnie that it was not the right time to say that he wanted to be a soldier in the cavalry when he grew up... Early death. Bereavement. Single parenthood. Children. Life. The parallels between her twenty-first century bereaved Canadian family and its mid-Victorian London counterpart become empathetically evident when Holly traces her family history through census records, and finds her imagination captured by glimpses into her ancestors' lives in the crowded Thames-side streets and alleys.