Island Women

Penelope “Pen” Banks has a knack for puzzling things out and the uncanny ability to remember everything she sees. Two talents that have helped her make ends meet, playing cards in clubs and speakeasies. Now, they might just help her discover the true cause of death for a dear old family friend.

Para ser una esclava en el Saint-Domingue de finales del siglo XVIII, Zarité había tenido buena estrella: a los nueve años fue vendida a Toulouse Valmorain, un rico terrateniente, pero no conoció ni el agotamiento de las plantaciones de caña ni la asfixia y el sufrimiento de los trapiches, porque siempre fue una esclava doméstica. Su bondad natural, fortaleza de espíritu y honradez le permitieron compartir los secretos y la espiritualidad que ayudaban a sobrevivir a los suyos, los esclavos, y conocer las miserias de los amos, los blancos.

Spring 1946: Best friends Vera Frankel and Edith Ban arrive in Naples. Refugees from Hungary, they managed to escape from a train headed for Auschwitz and spent the rest of the war hiding on an Austrian farm. Now, the two young women are starting new lives abroad. Armed with a letter of recommendation from an American officer, Vera finds work at the United States embassy where she falls in love with Captain Anton Wight. But as Vera and Edith grapple with the aftermath of the war, so too does Anton, and when he suddenly disappears, Vera is forced to change course.

These five best friends made a summer sand pact as teens and have only kept it once or twice - until they reunite decades later and renew their agreement to meet in Five Island Cove every summer. Get ready for more secrets to come to light in Five Island Cove, and for these five women to show each other what it means to love and support someone through thick and thin.

Corfu, Greece, 1943. Though they don’t know it, five-year-old Matilde and three-year-old Anna have kissed their mother for the last time. The Nazis have reached their sun-scorched home, and they are being taken to a place of safety, on the northeastern tip of the rocky island. They are to be hidden, at great risk, by kindly Agata and her husband, until the terrible war is over. Matilde and Anna’s tears are soothed by Agata’s bedtime stories, but she is always alert.

In 1938, a dead whale washes up on the shores of remote Welsh island. For Manod, who has spent her whole life on the island, it feels like both a portent of doom and a symbol of what may lie beyond the island's shores. A young woman living with her father and her sister (to whom she has reluctantly but devotedly become a mother following the death of their own mother years prior), Manod can't shake her welling desire to explore life beyond the beautiful yet blisteringly harsh islands that her hardscrabble family has called home for generations.

Peace, safety, a place to grieve and heal. After her husband is murdered by the Russian mob, Boston detective Callie Jean Morgan comes home to her family's cottage in South Carolina. There, she can keep their teenage son, Jeb, away from further threats. But the day they arrive in Edisto Beach, Callie finds her childhood mentor and elderly neighbor murdered.

When Tara's husband quits his job and extends his trip to the mainland indefinitely, she's left to care for their three children alone. With an overflowing hobby farm and a rapidly dwindling savings account, it will take all of her creativity and courage to keep her family afloat. Next door, Emma searches for fresh purpose that will carry her through her ongoing grief. Lani navigates new love even as her ex works to destroy the life that she's built in Hawai'i.

Sarah Wheeler knows what she wants. Marriage and children are not part of her plans. She’s seen too many marriages fall apart. The last thing she wants is to be a statistic. As for children, Sarah doesn’t see herself as the nurturing type. She’s content helping her mother run the Key Lime Garden Inn on Captiva Island and working as Director of Community Relations at Southwest Florida’s Outreach Center. Work leaves her with little time for romance—until infuriating, charming, and intriguing Trevor Hutchins distracts Sarah and throws her off balance.

Journey to Five Island Cove for a roaring good time with friends old and new, their sons and daughters, and all their new husbands as they navigate the heartaches and celebrations of life and love. When someone returns to the Cove no one ever expected to see again, old wounds open just as they'd started to heal. This group of women will be tested again, both on land and at sea, just as they once were as teens.

It's the grand opening of Daybreak Island's cat cafe, where customers can get cozy with an assortment of friendly felines - and maybe even take one or a few home. Co-owner Maddie James is purring with excitement over her new warm-and-fuzzy venture, until she becomes entangled in a petty drama between one of her volunteers and a wealthy woman who insists on adopting a calico kitty. The catfight that ensues is bad enough for business. But when the snubbed socialite is found dead with a tell-tale catnip toy on the scene, suspicion lands squarely on Maddie's staffer.

In 1921, Inupait seamstress Ada Blackjack joined a a group of four white men who wanted to establish a trading post on Wrangel Island in the freezing Arctic Ocean. The explorers were stranded on the island when their return ship was forced to turn back due to ice. Facing harsh conditions and dwindling food supplies, the men died one by one, but Ada remained. Find out how she alone managed to survive the disastrous expedition.

Afraid for her life, Mary Illingford abandons her home in Sydney and her abusive and violent husband, Paul. With her daughter, Jenni, she embarks on a journey to a place where she thinks he will never find her - the island of Santorini, Greece. On Santorini they meet Mary's two friends - Eleni Kambouridis, owner of Apartments overlooking the beautiful caldera lake, and Julia Jeffries from England. Jenni, meets Eleni’s diffident son Marios who runs a local internet café, and they are immediately attracted. Unknown to Mary, Paul is facing a fraud charge involving his real estate business. ...

Wedding Shower Ends in Bride's Murder Everyone knows the groom's grandmother does not approve of the bride. But would she actually kill her? The richest family in town is implicated in murder and Jenny King reluctantly steps in to investigate. Jenny finds there are very few suspects and hardly any motive. Spring flings are in vogue and the pretty bride may not have been that innocent. Is the distraught groom just putting on an act? Jenny goes around in circles trying to separate the real clues from the red herrings. Meanwhile, Adam and Jenny are in no hurry to tie the knot. But the clock ...

Five wishes...one special place...and a miracle to make it happen each Christmas. The Summers family always chose somewhere special to spend their Christmas holiday instead of at home. Every year their holiday vacation destination was different and carefully determined their Christmas wishes. Hannah and her children loved their Christmas holiday tradition even though it was never easy for everyone to be completely satisfied and this year was no different...or was it? Daniel Summers quickly offered to handle the arrangements for their upcoming Christmas holiday vacation. He knew his mother ...

You can always go home…but what will you find when you do. Jonathan Hansen is about to find out. For years they’ve hidden a huge secret…an island that was home to their small town, the families and friends who live there, and the secrets they've kept for generations. But danger might be right beyond the water’s edge. Together, two guarded hearts are willing to face the impending threat and the danger it poses to the peaceful tranquility of their home. Ainslin O’Cleary wasn’t the type to over-react but she was beginning to feel a little desperate. She loved her home and ...

A hot fling offers them both a chance to escape their pasts… Bridget Hitchcock – Birdie to her friends – is getting married to the man of her dreams. Or so she keeps telling herself. When Fate intervenes to ruin the big day, Bridget’s devastated, but she’s honest enough to admit that the humiliation and embarrassment has upset her more than actually losing Mal. Standing on Wellington quay in the rain in her wedding dress, she contemplates where to go from here, and has no idea. Aaron Reed is dashing through the rain with his son to their hotel room when he spots the beautiful ...

Kiyama Fernando and Vinodhini Dias are involved in another mystery - this time in the sweltering heat of the hottest month of the year. When Vino is invited to judge a beauty pageant as part of the Sinhala New Year celebrations in the small town of Parkaduwa jealous rivalries and social bias soon lead to murder. Why would someone target the local drug lord's daughter? Can Kiyama and Vino pay off their debt to a shady character and see justice done? Will their friendship survive the unforeseen hazards of this case? This book sees the return of quirky but beloved characters like the crime ...

He’d made mistakes...more than a few and probably didn’t deserve the second chance he’d been given. But he was going to do everything he could to prove himself worthy of it. And now with Jansen’s arrival to the canyon...one more person in addition to himself and his grandfather with ties to the island...the stakes were even higher. Ray didn’t have a single doubt that a number of individuals were wondering where he’d disappeared to. With luck it would stay that way...but if it didn’t he probably wouldn’t be around to worry about it. He’d arrived on the island with a ...

One woman's journey in heartbreak, forgiveness, healing, and love on the beautiful, exotic island - Catalina!