by James Wolcott (2001)
Bartender by day, actor by night, Johnny Downs cheerfully floats through life, living alone with his jukebox and his cat. Blindsided when his dazzling girlfriend dumps him, Johnny is wounded, stunned, and, most of all, clueless.You're like most men -- oblivious, says his friend Darlene. Her diagnosis: Johnny is doomed to be rejected by every woman he desires as long as he clings to his outmoded bachelor ways. Darlene puts him on a rigorous crash course to re-brand himself as husband material. But does Darlene really have his best interests at heart? And who are all these catsitters that keep coming into his life?
Katherine Heiny
Throughout these 11 stories, Heiny chronicles the ways in which we are unfaithful to each other, both willfully and unwittingly. Maya, who appears in the title story and again in various states of love, forms the spine of this linked collection, and shows us through her moments of pleasure, loss, deceit, and kindness just how fickle the human heart can be.
Diane Chamberlain
Joelle D'Angelo's best friend, Mara, is left with brain damage after she suffers an aneurysm giving birth to her son. Alone and grieving, Joelle turns to the only other person who understands her pain: her colleague - and Mara's husband - Liam. What starts out as comfort between friends gradually becomes something more.
Suzanne Brockmann
Safe, steady...and unsatisfying—that pretty much summed up Maggie Stanton's life. Until a stranger stirred her imagination until she blushed, a stranger who made Maggie do the unimaginable: take a risk....Shockingly, the man who'd compelled her to forsake predictability for passion was the full-grown version of her childhood best friend. Only, this Matthew Stone wanted marriage, not a walk down memory lane.For a while, Maggie almost believed that their whirlwind wedding was the union of soul mates. Almost. Then she learned the secret Matthew was keeping.
Dana Marton
"For Prince Miklos, a royal wedding was a royal duty, one more step toward saving his beloved, beleaguered country. Unfortunately, his chosen bride-to-be--beautiful, brainy Judi Marezzi--didn't realize that her vacation included an arranged marriage. In fact, from the moment they met, nothing went as planned. A dagerous conspiracy threw him and his princess together, and dragged the ill-matched pair off to an Alpine prison. With his military training, Miklos took charge and made plans to bring them to safety. Danger surrounded them, but so did a shared passion--for his kingdom, for the honor of a free land and for a love that had been foretold since birth."--p. [4] of cover.