Friendship

Ivy loves Christmas. As the owner of Christmas Every Day, the year-round festive store, you'd expect nothing less! The only thing missing in Ivy's life is a dash of romance – something her twin sister Holly will not let her forget… When her mother passed away, Ivy vowed to take over the running of her mother’s store and keep the Christmas spirit alive in the idyllic seaside town of Marram Bay. But all this changes when an enigmatic businessman moves to the town, threatening to bulldoze her beloved shop to make way for a holiday complex. Can Ivy save her shop before Christmas?

Five years after seventy-something Tess jetted off to Paris with her best friends, Jen, Rose, Della and Pam - the Five French Hens - for Jen’s hen do, a lot has changed. Prospective groom Eddie has been given the heave-ho, Tess’s husband has been sent packing and the Hens are making the most of their golden years. But Tess is stuck in a rut. Rather than embrace her independence, she watches on as Rose wows Paris, Jen explores Iceland and Pam heads to Greece. But when tragedy strikes Della, Tess is shaken into action.

Eldest sister Frances is about to marry her childhood sweetheart. But with Marcus Danby now a fighter pilot, his fate hanging in the balance. Will he return from war for their happy ever after? Meanwhile youngest daughter Emily is swept off her feet by a dashing young officer, but does she really know him? Brother Daniel has joined up, but not before falling in love with a local kitchen girl Alice. Against the backdrop of war is there hope of a future for them?

Thea Rogers has dedicated her life to her career in corporate law. Apart from her colleague and long-time friend-with-benefits Alasdair, she’s forgone friendships and relationships, and now she’s on track to become her firm’s youngest ever female partner. She should be ecstatic. But when a senior partner dies unexpectedly, Thea realises the people at his funeral are only there out of duty. Suddenly, Thea can’t shake the question: if she disappeared tomorrow, would anyone care?

All she wanted was a lovely family Christmas with perfect turkey and luxury crackers. Instead, daughter Sara announces she’s getting divorced...and where is the fizz? And son, John and perfect wife Vanessa announce they are leaving for New York… and are the vegetables organic? And not one of them has made her a cup of tea! So Joy decides she’s going to leave them all to it and head to France to visit her younger sister Isobel - a break from it all is just what she needs!

It is 2003 – ten years since Spud Milton’s class of 93 matriculated and the boys went their separate ways. Despite their seemingly unbreakable bond, the Crazy Eight – Rambo, Mad Dog, Vern, Fatty, Garth Garlic, Boggo, Simon and Spud – have not kept in touch. Or at least, not as far as Spud knows. When he receives an invitation from the school to attend the ten-year reunion weekend, Spud is determined to avoid the event at all costs, but he hasn’t reckoned with the bombardment of intrusive messages and threatening phone calls from his former dorm mates.

Felicity was never meant to end up with a money-pit farmhouse to renovate and a broken heart to heal…But when Fliss attempts to drown the sorrow of seeing her ex-fiancé and his new wife’s magazine-worthy wedding all over social media, one rash decision loses her a job and gains her a doer-upper in the blink of an eye. The only bright spot of living in the country is the very dishy and very handy loveliest-man-ever Jesse Woods. And when Fliss’s new roof has an ill-advised meeting with a tree in the middle of the night resulting in her literally seeing stars, there’s only one thing for it.

When Fiona’s husband ups and leaves on the same day her only son goes away to college, she suddenly finds herself the wrong side of forty and feeling very alone. Fortunately, there’s a distraction of mammoth proportions swimming in the River Thames. Determined to make sense of the crazy events surrounding her life, Fiona embarks on a journey of self-discovery. But can she juggle her event planning business, a new-found eco-awareness, and a yoga instructor barely older than her son, without it all dragging her under?

If ‘Life Begins at Forty’, then Charlotte Turner's not off to the best of starts. On top of a recent divorce, and trouble with her twelve-year-old son, the husband of her closest friend has just started to show a bit too much interest in her as a newly-single woman. But only when Charlotte has faced up to some uncomfortable truths about her past can she finally shed the unhappy skin she's been so comfortable in and open up her life – and her heart – to all the promise and possibility that her future holds.

After losing her job in Seattle, Maileah moves in with her sister Junie on Crown Island for a fresh start. Now in her thirties, she wonders if she will ever find the partner and future she has dreamed of. When she decides to use a dating app, her friend Sailor, a champion surfer, insists on vetting the suitors. But what happens next is the real surprise.

DESPRE AUDIOBOOK: Se doresc, se amăgesc, își fac griji despre sex și despre lumea în care trăiesc. Poate că, pur și simplu, ne naștem ca să iubim și să ne facem griji pentru oamenii pe care îi știm și ca să continuăm să iubim și să ne facem griji chiar și atunci când există lucruri mai importante pe care ar trebui să le facem. Alice, romancieră, îl întâlnește pe Felix, care lucrează la un depozit, și îl întreabă dacă i-ar plăcea să meargă cu ea la Roma. În Dublin, prietena ei cea mai bună, Eileen, trece printr-o despărțire și începe din nou să flirteze cu Simon, pe care îl știe încă din copilărie.

Ophélie déteste Noël et sa coloc et amie Zoé adore cette fête. Cette année, Ophélie se sent dans un creux de vague : son chum l’a laissée pendant l’été et son avenir en tant prof de littérature au cégep est loin d’être assuré, puisqu’elle est en début de carrière. Zoé propose donc un pari à son amie : si elle réussit à lui faire aimer Noël, elle aura le droit de décorer l’appartement plus tôt l’an prochain. Le bal des activités de saison est lancé. Zoé ne lésine pas sur les classiques des fêtes, ce qui permet à Ophélie de rencontrer Laurent, avec qui le potentiel amoureux est au rendez-vous.

Single mum and nurse-orderly Kelly Adams finds herself swept into a fairytale for one night only at a lavish charity masquerade ball. Wearing a beautiful borrowed gown, her identity concealed, she dances with gorgeous surgeon Tony Grimshaw. But as the clock approaches midnight, with one parting and unforgettable kiss she flees…

Lucas will nichts als seine Ruhe in einer Welt, die ihn einfach nicht in Ruhe lässt. Eine Kurzgeschichte vom internationalen Bestsellerautor Fredrik Backman Videospiele, Wein und Pad Thai – das ist der perfekte Abend für Lucas. Andere Menschen? Muss nicht sein. Warum denn, wenn er auch alleine glücklich sein kann? Als der dreiköpfige Vorstand der Bewohnervertretung überraschend an seiner Tür klingelt und eine Inspektion seiner Bratpfanne verlangt, ist Lucas alles andere als begeistert. Doch Abwimmeln ist nicht.

It’s the new millennium and the anxiety of midlife is creeping up on Sam Singer, a thirty-seven-year-old art advisor. Fed up with his partner and his life in New York, Sam flies to Berlin to attend a gallery opening. There he finds a once-divided city facing an identity crisis of its own. In Berlin the past is everywhere: the graffiti-stained streets, the candlelit cafés and techno clubs, the astonishing mash-up of architecture, monuments, and memorials.

In Dancing with Butterflies, Reyna Grande renders the Mexican immigrant experience in “lyrical and sensual” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) prose through the poignant stories of four women brought together through folklorico dance.

"Carlotta mia, io dell’arancio amaro conosco solo le spine e ormai non mi fanno più male. Ma il profumo del suo fiore bianco è il tuo, è quello della libertà." A cosa serve essere giovane e piena di progetti, se sei nata nel tempo sbagliato? Tre protagoniste straordinarie fronteggiano la sfida più grande: trovare il senso del proprio essere donne in un mondo che vorrebbe scegliere al posto loro. Nardina, dolce e paziente, che sogna di laurearsi ma finisce intrappolata nel ruolo di moglie. Sabedda, selvatica e fiera, che vorrebbe poter decidere il proprio futuro ma è troppo povera per poterlo fare.

Eine Nacht in Las Vegas, eine Ehe auf Rügen, eine Chance aufs Glück... Was der Beginn von Scarletts Zukunft mit Dennis werden sollte, findet auf dem Standesamt ein rasches Ende, als sie erfährt, dass sie bereits verheiratet ist. Eine wilde Nacht in Las Vegas muss der Grund für diese Ehe sein - allerdings erinnert sie sich nur bruchstückhaft daran. Entschlossen, die rätselhafte Ehe aufzulösen, begibt sich Scarlett auf die Suche nach ihrem Ehemann. Elliot ist mit seinem Foodtruck auf Rügen unterwegs, als plötzlich Scarlett vor ihm steht, und Erinnerungen sowie alte Gefühle in ihm weckt.

Odette, Clarice e Barbara Jean sono amiche inseparabili da quarant'anni. Cresciute negli anni Sessanta e soprannominate "le Supremes" dagli amici, hanno sempre vissuto nella stessa cittadina dell'Indiana aiutandosi l'un l'altra e condividendo tutto ciò che la vita ha riservato loro - scelte difficili, drammi familiari, incomprensioni, segreti inconfessabili e tradimenti - grazie a un carattere forte e a una grande passione per la vita. Le tre amiche hanno l'abitudine di ritrovarsi ogni domenica dopo la messa in un ristorante con i loro mariti.

Vivian Molloy hardly expected to retire early from teaching, but for her husband, Dave, she'd do anything. But when Dave abandons her after a weekend away, she returns home to their picturesque town in Tasmania, shell-shocked and alone with nothing to fill her days. When an old colleague tries to rope her into teaching a writing class at the local library, Vivian is hesitant. How can she teach with her life falling apart? But it is the people she meets that help her remember who she is.

Afghan war vet Mike Davenport just wants to run his coffee shop in Pittsburgh when he's approached by folks from his forlorn, rust-belt hometown of Pulver Forge to run for mayor. He's shocked at what he sees—everyone has given up. And this is a town that forged the steel that built the tanks and battleships that won WW2! What happened? Mike decides to run on the most audacious platform ever—everyone who wants a job can have one. The town will heal the sick and feed the hungry. He only asks one thing, and it's not money. Everyone needs to believe the town can do it.

Brought up in Cornwall by her grandparents, Aster thinks often of her parents, who were taken from her at a tragically early age. The only thing she has to remember her mother by is her Flower Book, a journal of pressed flowers that charts Violet’s life and dreams – and keeps all her secrets...On her 21st birthday, Aster receives devastating news that turns everything she knew about herself upside down. Will she finally discover what really happened to her parents?

Una gélida mañana de finales de diciembre, Gyeongha recibe un inesperado mensaje de su amiga Inseon: después de sufrir un accidente en su taller de carpintería en la isla de Jeju, ha sido trasladada de urgencia a un hospital de Seúl. Desde la cama, Inseon le ruega que tome el primer vuelo a la isla y se ocupe de su pequeña cotorra antes de que se le acaben el agua y la comida.

Wien 1976. Die junge Dozentin Katharina Adler sorgt bei den männlichen Kollegen regelmäßig für Schnappatmung. Selbstbewusst trägt sie knalligen Lippenstift und verbotenerweise im Hörsaal Hosen. Außerdem hat sie sich kein geringeres Ziel gesetzt, als die Geschichtswissenschaft zu revolutionieren. Dafür widmet sie sich Büchern, die von Frauen geschrieben wurden, speziell Kochbüchern. Als ihr dabei eine Rezeptsammlung aus der Feder ihrer Mutter Jule unterkommt, erkennt Katharina, dass sie erst die Geheimnisse ihrer eigenen Familie aufdecken muss, bevor sie die Welt verändern kann.

Lifelong friends Joanna, Debbie, and Gwen grew up on Bribie Island together in the quaint little hamlet of Sunshine. Now that they're on the cusp of retirement, they hold a regular potluck brunch to catch up.