Manufacturing a Duchess by Tracy Wise

 She understood industry.

He understood duty.
Neither expected love.

When Alec Raeburn, Duke of Selkirk, leaves his faltering estate to seek an heiress on the Marriage Mart, he has no intention of falling in love. What he needs is a mother for his young daughter, Marjorie, and a partner with security to manage affairs at home. He’s accompanied by Finn, his wealthier cousin and the Duke of Galloway, a friend who lends support but also presents competition.

As the London Season begins, Aurora Hardcastle also arrives with a friend, Millicent Wentworth. The sole inheritor of an industrial fortune, Aurora has resigned herself to the process of finding a husband, but her heart remains in the world of her father’s factory, where she learned the business under his guiding hand.

An outing to the Tower of London brings the four together, and Aurora befriends Marjorie. But Millicent’s beauty and charm make her the Season’s Incomparable, and all eyes are on her—including Alec’s and Finn’s.

At a concert event for the Ton, Alec and Aurora begin to see each other in a new light, with Marjorie as the connecting force. As they grow closer and contemplate a match, a devastating discovery threatens everything. Both are forced to reassess their past and especially, the future they envisioned—if they’re to have any chance at happiness together.

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Amazon.com: Manufacturing a Duchess: A Novel of the Regency Era: 9798993351902: Wise, Tracy: Books

After an international childhood lived throughout Asia because of her father’s non-profit aid work, Tracy Wise has spent her career in theatre, opera, and then higher education administration. She currently writes university presidential speeches, campus communications, and news stories in California’s Inland Empire. She has a BA in Theatre and Spanish from Washington University in St. Louis (which includes a year at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, UK) and an MA in Cultural Studies (a historiography degree) from the University of East London in the UK. A life-long passionate reader, she designs social media for the Friends of her local Redlands, California A.K. Smiley Public Library in her free time.

The Sisterhood of Unlikely Friends by Sara Brunsvold

She's spent a lifetime keeping her heart under lock and key. Now others are reaching out. But is she ready to receive them?

At forty-two, fiercely independent Jess Becker is starting over in Kansas City with minimal furniture, two houseplants, and a newfound faith. After a lifetime of poor choices, she's determined to finally get it right.

When she befriends her fourteen-year-old neighbor and agrees to drive her to church, she's swept into a caring community where she meets Reva, a wise mentor figure, and Austie, a troubled young woman. Jess reluctantly opens her home to pizza nights with her new friends, unwittingly opening her heart to a sisterhood of faith.

Just as these relationships begin reshaping her carefully controlled life, Jess receives news that changes everything. Now she must decide whether to accept the very help she's been trying to give others or risk losing everything she's worked so hard to build.

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 Amazon.com: The Sisterhood of Unlikely Friends: Contemporary Women’s Fiction for Book Clubs Set in a Small Town about Multi-Generational Female Friendship and Community: 9780800746131: Sara Brunsvold: Books

Sara Brunsvold creates stories that speak hope, truth, and life. Influenced by humble women of God who find his fingerprints in the everyday, she does the same in her life and her storytelling. Sara’s recognitions include the 2020 ACFW Genesis Award for Contemporary Fiction. She lives with her family near Kansas City, Missouri, where she can often be spotted writing at a park or library. Learn more at www.sarabrunsvold.com.

I highly recommend this book. 5 stars from me.

Do you Like my Pants? By Carrie Shryock

 This funny picture book about a fashionable cheetah and a cranky tiger celebrates personal style.

Have you heard the latest?
It’s a well-known fact…spots are the greatest!

Cheetah has the world’s finest pair of pants—spotted, sleek, and just his style! At least, that’s what the enthusiastic pants salesman said. Cheetah can’t wait to dance around and show off his perfect spotted pants…until he meets a tiger who insists stripes are superior. Both felines are confused: whose pants are really the cat’s meow? Could it be that the world’s finest pair of pants is…whatever suits you best?

With an energetic text and bright, dynamic art, author-illustrator Carrie Shryock has crafted the perfect picture book debut for celebrating differences and embracing what makes you feel like your fiercest self.

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Do You Like My Pants?: Shryock, Carrie: 9798217110520: Amazon.com: Books

Carrie Shryock is an illustrator and author working in publishing, stationery, and surface design. Do You Like My Pants? is her author-illustrator debut. Carrie grew up on a farm in central Missouri, where she spent her childhood picking bouquets of wildflowers, watching thunderstorms roll across the prairie, and making so many drawings. When she’s not making art, she’s reading a book, going on long walks, and dreaming about building a cabin in the woods.

The Stories We Tell by Savannah Carlisle

 Two corporate pros. One high-stakes documentary. A coastal love story where ambition and heart collide.

Piper Presley has spent years chasing her dreams of stardom, and she’s this close to making it big. When she returns to charming Big Dune Island to oversee a documentary about her superstar client, she sees it as the perfect launchpad, until local marketing director Wyatt Mason turns every plan upside down.

Wyatt’s easygoing style and deep roots on the island clash with Piper’s polished, big-city strategy. But their chemistry is impossible to ignore.

As they navigate behind-the-scenes drama, a buried scandal threatens everything they’re working toward, including their growing connection. With career-defining choices on the horizon and a hurricane brewing offshore, Piper and Wyatt must decide what really matters…and where home truly is.

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Amazon.com: The Stories We Tell: A Touching, Warmhearted Contemporary Romance (Big Dune Island Book 4) eBook : Carlisle, Savannah: Kindle Store

Savannah Carlisle writes heartwarming romance novels with idyllic beach settings. Her stories transport readers to fun and quirky small towns where friends feel like family. So, if you’re ready for a mental vacation, you’ve come to the right place!⁠

Savannah jokes that she's living her own Hallmark movie because she's a former big city corporate attorney who now lives in the small beach town of Fernandina Beach writing romance novels.

When she isn't busy at her laptop writing her next book, Savannah enjoys putting her feet in the sand with a good book in hand. She lives on Amelia Island in Florida with her husband, German Shepherd, and three cats.

All I need is Flights by Jen Ruiz

 A major life transformation starting on your thirtieth birthday, leading to an entirely different and exciting new career? Jen Ruiz (aka @jenonajetplane) has been there and done just that ... and shared that first adventure with readers in 12 Trips in 12 Months.

Getting dumped and having to restart your life completely (again!) just before your thirty-fifth birthday? Definitely not on the agenda.

Abruptly single, Jen made a wish on an Egyptian statue, which became the catalyst for another year of adventure and personal growth.

In All You Need Is Flights, readers are whisked away again for a year of exploration and growth as Jen regains her solo travel magic and learns to love herself. Whether she is eating pizza on a volcano in Guatemala, mending ceramics with gold in Japan, marveling at the Moai on Easter Island (Rapa Nui), or walking among the giant sequoia trees in Yosemite National Park, this intrepid travel writer faces health scares and mountain climbs with curiosity and her signature wit--all while discovering what truly matters and how setbacks can make you stronger.

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All You Need Is Flights: How Kintsugi, Moai, and Volcano Pizza Helped Me Make More Solo Travel Magic: Jen Ruiz: 9798228482272: Amazon.com: Books

Jen Ruiz is a lawyer turned travel blogger and author. She is a 3-time TEDx speaker and 2-time Readers' Favorite Award winner.

Jen has been featured as a budget and solo travel expert by The Washington Post, Huffington Post, ABC News, Matador Network and Elite Daily. She was named "Top 40 Under 40" by the Naples Herald and aims help people fly for less and experience more.

Follow along on the journey by visiting Jen's website, www.jenonajetplane.com.

After We Fall by Deborah Clack

 

Sometimes the place you least expect to belong is exactly where you were always meant to land.

Self-sufficient Penelope Reid has her life completely mapped out--a necessity after surviving foster care. Now she's on a mission to prove that she's capable of managing a halfway house at Twelve Bluebells Ranch. The last thing she needs is hindrance from the charming Luke Granger, who asked her to dance three years ago, then disappeared before the music began.

Luke lives a nomadic lifestyle as a security specialist and has never found a reason to put down roots. So when the ranch neighboring Twelve Bluebells is vandalized, securing the area is just another gig for him before he hits the road--until he's reunited with the bossy brunette and her generous heart.

As Luke and Penelope work alongside each other to care for the ranch's halfway house residents, Penelope makes a mistake she might not recover from. Her careful walls begin to crack, and Luke's restless heart finds reasons to stay. But when tragedy strikes, they must decide if it's worth the risk to lower their guards for a love that could give them the home they've always longed for.

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Amazon.com: After We Fall: A No-Spice Contemporary Security Specialist Romance of Opposites Attract (Shelter and Sky): 9780800746957: Deborah Clack: Books

Award-winning author Deborah Clack is a native Texan who believes in the power of fiction, the lost art of lip synching, and that chocolate should be eaten without nuts. A high school AP history teacher for 10 years, Deborah earned a Master’s Degree in Education and was awarded Teacher of the Year for Arts in Education. Now she creates stories of her own filled with endearing characters and a hard-fought romance.

Not Everything Burns by Carri Karuhn

 Amber Mettle is a Chicago journalist with a rescue instinct—especially for animals.

When she follows her restless husband to Los Angeles for a fresh start, she tries to keep an open mind. But before she can find her footing, she finds herself blindsided by betrayal—no job, no future, no sense of direction. And then, just as she's beginning to rebuild, tragedy strikes. A catastrophic wildfire reduces her home to rubble and claims her beloved pets, thrusting her into a relentless battle with insurance companies, mortgage lenders, and opportunistic grifters.

But Amber's story doesn't end in ash. Following the fire, guided by haunting premonitions and signs from the animals she couldn't save, she channels her grief into action. Fueled by love, an unwavering sense of justice, and an eccentric cast of characters who bring unexpected humor to even the darkest moments, she fights to hold the people responsible accountable—and discovers that even in devastation, hope can take root.

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Not Everything Burns: A Novel: Karuhn, Carri: 9798896363903: Amazon.com: Books

Carri Karuhn is a seasoned strategic communicator, marketer, and storyteller with more than fifteen years’ experience helping organizations shape their voice and connect with audiences in meaningful ways. A longtime journalist, she has reported for the Chicago Tribune and the Associated Press and contributed as a freelance writer to the Los Angeles Times. She holds an MBA from Pepperdine University and an MFA from UCLA. An animal lover and avid equestrian, Carri finds joy riding horses through the Sonoran Desert in Tucson, Arizona, where she now lives with her husband and their dog, Oscar.