Follows the stories of three women who discover the power of saying no, including a lawyer who must save a victim of her tyrannical father, a Dakar teacher whose happiness is thwarted by a depressed boyfriend, and a penniless widow desperate to escape homelessness.

Publisher Annotation: In this dazzling debut, Lara Avery crafts a story of heart, humor, and hope, as a young widow learns that her late husband signed her up for a dating service before his death, propelling her on an uplifting journey of possibility, second chances, and falling in love againwith life. DEBUT NOVEL 288pp., 75K

For Sari, an intelligent girl who's always been an outcast (her fellow villagers suspect her of being a witch because of her medical knowledge), it's the first time in her life she's had friends. When the men return at war's end, the freedom Sari and the others have enjoyed is suddenly snatched from them, and they realize they need to do whatever it takes to hold onto it.

Escaping her ritzy Florida life and her cheating pornographer husband, Portia Kane returns to the South Jersey home of her youth and resolves to save herself by assisting a beloved English teacher who's retired after a traumatic incident.

A debut novel interweaving the story of a heartbreaking, forbidden love in 1930s Kentucky with an unlikely modern-day friendship. Eighty-nine-year-old Isabelle McAllister has a favor to ask her hairdresser Dorrie Curtis: drop everything and drive from Arlington, Texas, to a funeral in Cincinnati. Tomorrow. Dorrie, fleeing problems of her own, agrees. It's a journey that changes both their lives, as she learns Isabelle's tale of a forbidden relationship...

"Abby learns via Facebook that her fiance has dumped her. In an effort to salvage her mental framework and her waistline after six months of wallowing in self-pity and pints of Ben & Jerry's ice cream, Abby and her best friend Grace leave Boston for a summer in Newport, RI. They both hope to rediscover themselves and enjoy a peaceful environment free from their stresses and the control their men have over their hearts and minds. This vacation proves...

"Before Jodie Rattler became a star, she was a girl growing up in St. Louis. One day in 1955, when she was just six years old, her Uncle Drew took her to the racetrack, where she got lucky -- and that roll of two-dollar bills she won has never since left her side. Jodie thrived in the warmth of her extended family, and then -- through a combination of hard work and serendipity -- started a singing career, which catapulted her from St. Louis to New...

"When Patsy gets her long-coveted visa to America, it comes after years of yearning to leave Pennyfield, the beautiful but impoverished Jamaican town where she was raised. More than anything, Patsy wishes to be reunited with her oldest friend, Cicely, whose letters arrive from New York steeped in the promise of a happier life and the possible rekindling of their young love. But Patsy's plans don't include her overzealous, evangelical mother--or even...

"Determined to defeat her social anxiety, [powerhouse movie critic] Violet visits the Algonquin Hotel to pull strength from the hallowed dining room, where Dorothy Parker and so many other famous writers of the 1920s traded barbs. But she gets more than she bargained for when Dorothy Parker's feisty spirit rematerializes from an ancient guestbook and hitches a ride onto her life"--Dust jacket flap.

"Hannah Tate can hardly believe her sleep-deprived eyes when she finds an engagement ring hidden in the closet. Killian, her super responsible, incredibly attractive boyfriend--and the father of her new baby, Bowie--is finally going to propose. But a romantic night out goes horribly wrong when Killian reveals he's dumping Hannah, not proposing. Furious and heartbroken, Hannah takes Bowie and moves in with her mama and stepdaddy in the mountains of...