Showing results by narrator "Kimberly Austin" in All Categories

Joleigh Moore lives an almost reclusive life on her small farm in Missouri. But when she witnesses the murder of her boyfriend, Mack, she worries the assailants will come after her next. Planning to hide out until Mack's killers are caught, Joleigh stows away in a neighbor's station wagon and lands in a small Minnesota town. Later, she discovers a large amount of cash in her journal and realizes Mack must have hidden his drug money there. Joleigh now has what the men were willing to kill for.

Still reeling from the shock of her ex-fiancé leaving her at the altar, Willow Anderson flees to Martha’s Vineyard after almost a decade away, forcing her to confront everything she’d left behind. Her father suffered from a horrible fall off a horse at their family farm, and Willow has to return to the scene of a traumatic accident from her youth. Just as she begins to navigate taking care of her father’s farm, her first love, Grayson Turner, walks back into her life. And he’s got a secret that could change everything.

Bette Gartner, a ninety-five-year-old widow, wakes up one morning and decides to throw a dinner party that night for her small family, staff, two neighbors, and a medium—and no one knows why. The story takes place over the course of the day and is told through the multiple points of view of Bette’s guests, switching back and forth between them as we learn about their motivations, dreams, hopes, and fears.

Marta is on the verge of a new life. Hard earned success waits just around the next corner. But only if she’s brave enough to keep walking toward it. Winning the Milton Cesar Foundation for the Arts Award will launch her career. With the spotlight turned her way, she’ll have to face a messy past and dream of a brighter future. Carol is burdened with the desire to fix what’s broken. To make room for more people in the elite foundation she currently runs. But change is hard and the people around her don’t share her vision. Selecting Marta as the award recipient was a bold step.

There is a vast difference between having it all and being fulfilled. In the eyes of most onlookers, Carol Burgess couldn’t ask for a more gratifying life. She’d climbed the corporate ladder and taken her swipes at the glass ceiling, leaving a few cracks along the way. When she’s finally the one in charge, she discovers change is still taboo in the elite literary industry. Faced with the choice of keeping the status quo or starting a revolution of ideas, Carol seeks out a fresh and undiscovered voice in the writing world.

Each of the ten stories in Have Mercy on Us is an illuminating window into a human life. In the way of all the best fiction, these stories enlarge our understanding of what it means to be alive, with characters who leap out of the book. In this award-winning collection, the people are varied in age, race, and origin. Spare, romantic without being sentimental, these powerful stories are, above all, about love, and the impossible and remarkable ways we yearn for connection. Cupolo’s writing is rich with vision, insight and grace—cause for celebration.

After losing her beloved family’s Cape Cod inn right after culinary school, chef Lana Kelly converts her late father’s old fish market next door into a successful restaurant. However, over the years, she’s kept her eye on the inn with dreams to expand. She also hopes she can acquire the property for her grandad, so he’ll know it’s back in the family before his dementia causes the memory to vanish for good. When the inn goes up for sale, she rushes to put in an offer, only to have it denied immediately.

I was so happy when my son, Knox, began dating my best friend’s daughter. Our kids grew up together and we used to joke, as we sipped wine and watched them play, that they’d get married one day. But when Knox came home late after a party, zipping his hoodie up to hide the scratches I caught a glimpse of on his collarbone, a chill went down my spine. That night, our whole world shattered. Now, I hardly recognize my husband as he sweeps into action, calling in a hot-shot lawyer to defend our boy.