marriage of convenience books Audiobooks

For decades, the Campbell women have reunited at the family’s rambling seaside cottage known as Beech House to celebrate life’s many occasions. But this year, they will be called back to Martha's Vineyard for a celebration of a different sort: their beloved matriarch Cora is getting remarried. And all the town gossips are calling him the one who got away, years ago… For renowned chef Mickey Campbell, this wedding isn’t just a welcome excuse to return to the place she first learned to cook at her grandmother’s side. It’s also a chance to regroup while she figures out a way to tell her smoldering head chef boyfriend that she’s mismanaged their restaurant into the red. Mickey’s mother, Hedy, is still mourning the passing of her adored father three years earlier, and she isn’t sure she’s ready to welcome a new man into the fold―and she’s not certain her own thorny relationship with her mother will weather the storm of her upcoming marriage. But everyone knows a woman’s heart holds more than meets the eye. For Cora, drawing her daughter and granddaughter back to Beech House isn’t just about a ceremony, but a chance to reveal a history she has kept close to her heart for decades. As the days leading up to the wedding unfold, secrets of Cora’s past come to light-- a secret that will cause three generations of Campbell women to question marriage, motherhood, and ultimately learn to savor the delicious joy of following your own heart. Told in dual timelines on the sumptuous beaches of Martha's Vineyard, OUR PLACE ON THE ISLAND is the sparkling, romantic read of the season.

From USA Today Bestselling Author KL Donn comes the first book in the Decker Brother’s duet, Wanted, a romantic suspense novel. Small town, big dreams, a nightmare I never expected. I grew up with stars in my eyes and dreams beating a soft staccato in my heart. Career, marriage, then family. I knew what I wanted. How I wanted it. I never expected him. Mason Miller. Charming, arrogant, sadistic. He ruined everything. He ruined me. A hero with a crush, obsession, and a desperate need to touch me. Hale Decker. The complete opposite of everything I thought I knew. Or wanted. He lives, breathes, and bleeds blue blood. So when he pursued me, I wasn’t prepared. For him or his son. But they were relentless, in a good way. A passionate way. Until it all falls apart. All I want now is to be loved, cherished, wanted. And it’s there, within my grasp, but am I brave to continue reaching for it? I want to be. *** Wanted contains extremely sensitive subject matter that may make you uncomfortable. Please read with caution. ***

Reed Lawson was a man I had no business crossing paths with. He was Boston’s most eligible billionaire. Rich and sexy, with a tortured soul every woman wanted to save. The empire he’d created, he had built from the ground up. I was simply a girl who worked in a library. And when I was younger, a few risky choices cost me everything. But now I was content in my safe, secure routine. We were two different people. Living two different lives. His past was pushing him forward. Mine was holding me back. Yet, we somehow managed to meet at the perfect moment in time. On my wedding day.

“Mr. Lu, you mentioned wanting to get married earlier, so I was wondering if I fit the bill?”Tang Ruochu decided to form a marriage partnership with a complete stranger after she was betrayed by her fiancé. They each had their own reasons for getting married, but to her surprise, this marriage would turn out to be the turning point of her life. No one knew what lay ahead—would she suffer a painful heartbreak, or would he dote on her lovingly, or would he become her partner for life?

All work and no play is not how this cowboy intends to spend his day… Former special forces soldier Ryder Lea has dedicated his life to serving others. Now honorably discharged, he’s looking to return to his cowboy roots to work as a rodeo stock contractor and travel the country he’s spent years protecting. But first, he has an obligation in Marietta, Montana to his fallen commanding officer. Surely completing a few hours of community service won’t be that challenging? Physical therapist Edison Martin is short-staffed and underwhelmed when the tall, broad-shouldered cowboy with the ‘awe shucks’ smile swaggers into her clinic as her latest community-service volunteer. She needs trained help, not eye-candy. And Ryder reminds Edi of everything she’s lost and every man who’s done her wrong. Bound by duty and compassionate by nature, Ryder dives into his temporary role with humor and enthusiasm. His motto: make a difference. But what will it take to get statuesque, super serious Edi to smile and remember that each day is a gift?

After ingesting the wrong pills by mistake, Sophie Jensen ends up losing her innocence to Orlando Beaumont. Pregnant out of wedlock, her reputation is torn to tatters. Five years later, she come home with her child. When Orlando discovers this, he tries to get them both back. Yet, Sophie doesn’t let him past the front door. “The child is mine,” she says. “Don’t you dare think about stealing the child.” Meanwhile, Orlando only smiles. The child is his, and so this Sophie. Neither of them would be able to escape his clutches.

THE CLUE is the first book in the Fleming Stone Mystery series by famed New Jersey mystery writer Carolyn Wells (1862-1942). Librarian, author, poet, journalist Wells wrote a total of 170 books, including poetry, humor, and children’s books, but she is best remembered for her mystery novels, the most successful being her Fleming Stone series. Madeleine Van Norman is found stabbed to death on the night before her wedding. The heiress is found in the library of her sprawling country mansion stabbed with her own Venetian letter-opener. Though a suicide note is found, the list of potential suspects grows. Who would benefit from the rich woman’s death? There is her groom who was having an affair. There are family members who might not want her to marry to save their inheritance. There is the groom’s secret lover. Or could it have been the secretary? Rediscover one of the great American mystery writers and her finest work. THE CLUE is a closed-environment traditional mystery that will remind you of the other greats, including Agatha Christie and Ellery Queen.

The Vanishing of Carolyn Wells is the first biography of one of the “lost ladies” of detective fiction who wrote more than eighty mysteries and hundreds of other works between the 1890s and the 1940s. Carolyn Wells (1862–1942) excelled at writing country house and locked-room mysteries for a decade before Agatha Christie entered the scene. In the 1920s, when she was churning out three or more books annually, she was dubbed “about the biggest thing in mystery novels in the US.” On top of that, Wells wielded her pen in just about every literary genre, producing several immensely popular children’s books and young adult novels; beloved anthologies; and countless stories, prose, and poetry for magazines such as Thrilling Detective, Life, The Saturday Evening Post, Harper’s, and The New Yorker. All told, Wells wrote over 180 books. Some were adapted into silent films, and some became bestsellers. Yet a hundred years later, she has been all but erased from literary history. Why? How? This investigation takes us on a journey to Rahway, New Jersey, where Wells was born and is buried; to New York City’s Upper West Side, where she spent her final twenty-five years; to the Library of Congress, where Carolyn’s world-class collection of rare books now resides; and to many other public and private collections where exciting discoveries unfolded. Part biography and part sleuthing narrative, The Vanishing of Carolyn Wells recovers the life and work of a brilliant writer who was considered one of the funniest, most talented women of her time.

After an accident, she found herself pregnant. After identifying the man most likely to be the child’s father, she got married to him. This was supposed to be a loveless marriage, but in the end, they got mixed up in their own feelings.At the end of her pregnancy, he sent her a divorce letter, and finally it all made sense. However, he would one day come running and screaming, “Please come back my love, I’ve always loved you!”