Alma Wade

From the best-selling author Barbara Freethy comes a story of sisterehood, secrets, and lies. Ten years ago, during a party gone out of control, beautiful Emily fell to her death, leaving her best friends and sorority sisters - Natalie, Laura, and Madison - devastated. Now, an unknown writer has written a novel that mirrors their story. But who is he, and how does he know the personal details of their lives?

I knew on the day of the attack that our lives were changed forever. What I didn’t know then was that I’d never see John again after he deployed. One day he was living with me, sleeping next to me, making plans with me. The next day he was gone. That was five years ago. The world has moved on from that awful day, but I’m stuck in my own personal hell, waiting for a man who may be dead for all I know. At my sister’s wedding, I meet Eric, the brother of the groom, and my heart comes alive once again.

While Emma and her bridesmaids are toasting to Emma's future, Max and his brother, Spencer, make a stop on their way to the wedding and suddenly find themselves in a life or death situation. They go from being worried that they might be late to the ceremony to wondering if they'll make it at all. Spencer is used to his younger brother being the hero of the family. But now it's his turn.

Pino Lella wants nothing to do with the war or the Nazis. He's a normal Italian teenager - obsessed with music, food, and girls - but his days of innocence are numbered. When his family home in Milan is destroyed by Allied bombs, Pino joins an underground railroad helping Jews escape over the Alps, and falls for Anna, a beautiful widow six years his senior. In an attempt to protect him, Pino's parents force him to enlist as a German soldier - a move they think will keep him out of combat.

When Chloe Hawthorne is asked to chaperone her cousin during the London Season, it is with a heavy heart that she departs her home and family in Essex. Though she has been widowed for more than a year, she has yet to move on, and is loathe to do so. But when she meets her cousin's fiancee, Lord Andrew Wetherby, she must choose between honoring her cousin's impending marriage and following her heart.

Their scorching, sensual affair ended in heartbreak and recrimination, but Christian Grey cannot get Anastasia Steele out of his mind, or his blood. Determined to win her back, he tries to suppress his darkest desires and his need for complete control, and to love Ana on her own terms. But the horrors of his childhood still haunt him, and Ana’s scheming boss, Jack Hyde, clearly wants her for himself. Can Christian’s confidant and therapist, Dr. Flynn, help him face down his demons?

Bar owner Kevin Kowalski is used to women throwing their phone numbers at him, but lately he's more interested in finding a woman to settle down with. A woman like Beth Hansen. If only their first meeting hadn't gone so badly. Beth's tending bar at a wedding when she comes face-to-face with a tuxedo-clad man she never thought she'd see again. She tries to keep her distance from Kevin but, by last call, she can't say no to his too-blue eyes or the invitation back to his room.

Liz Kowalski is heading home to Whitford, Maine - this time for good. Eager for her family, a fresh start and some fun, she doesn't count on being rescued by the chief of police her very first night back in town. Drew is everything she's not looking for...so why is she still so attracted to him? After a brief, forbidden rendezvous at her brother's wedding, Drew Miller expects Liz to return to New Mexico and stay there. He's searching for someone to settle down with, not a casual fling with his best friend's sister.

Josh Kowalski is tired of holding down the fort - better known as the Northern Star Lodge - while his siblings are off living their dreams. Now that his oldest brother has returned to Whitford, Maine for good, Josh is free to chase some dreams of his own. As the daughter of the lodge's longtime housekeeper, Katie Davis grew up alongside the Kowalski kids. Though she's always been "one of the guys", her feelings for Josh are anything but sisterly. And after a hot late-night encounter in the kitchen, it's clear Josh finally sees her as the woman she is.

Sean Kowalski no sooner leaves the army than he's recruited by Emma Shaw to be her fake fiance;. Emma needs to produce a husband-to-be for her grandmother's upcoming visit, and, though Sean doesn't like the deception, he could use the landscaping job Emma's offering while he decides what to do with his civilian life. And, despite his attraction to Emma, there's no chance he'll fall for a woman with deep roots in a town he's not planning to call home.