New & Current Books by MFW Members
2022
June Release
Seemingly Perfect by Mary Strand
Book Three in The Pendulum Trilogy: When life gives you second chances.
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Victoria Carlyle Bentley has the husband, the kids, the career, the mansion—even the Porsche convertible—of which dreams are made.
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But Vic’s perfect world collapses when her marriage faces some wildly unexpected changes, the FBI visits her Minneapolis art gallery, and a strange young woman stomps all over what’s left of her well-manicured life. And when she thinks her life can’t get any worse, the man who was her first love and greatest heartbreak shows up on her doorstep.
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Sometimes dreams turn out to be nightmares. But with a fresh perspective and the help of good friends, Vic just might wake up and find a new dream life for herself: one that isn’t black or white but, instead, a technicolor rainbow.
To Scotland For Love by Lizbeth Selvig
He needed her passion; she needed his calm.
Sometimes love means finding your missing piece.
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Noah Portman has a super power. He’s a master carpenter who shines brightest when he’s carving a piece of art or turning a derelict building into a show place. Better with wood than relationships, he’s learned that heartaches occur when he lets people get too close. Despite that, when his brother needs help meeting a crucial deadline for renovating the Craigwarren cottage he’s recently inherited, Noah heads for Scotland.
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Feisty Mairi MacDonald loves being a primary school teacher, but her most important job is being mum to precocious seven-year-old Ella. When Mairi’s life and livelihood are threatened by her drug-dealing brother, she takes her daughter to the safe haven that is Craigwarren.
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Even as he settles into a house full of relatives, Noah realizes he’s made a mistake. Renovations he can handle. Living with the outgoing Mairi and her force-of-nature daughter is another thing altogether.
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But as weather, a love-sick goat, and endless set-backs plague the renovation, and as the brother Mairi is hiding from grows more desperate to find her, Noah and Mairi discover the things that irritate them about each other are actually the things they need to change their lives—and loves.
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Can Highland magic strike when opposites do more than attract?
May Release
Driving With The Top Down by Mary Strand
Book Two in The Pendulum Trilogy: When life gives you second chances.
Gwen Stanhope is ready to quit letting life kick her in the teeth. But life seems to have other ideas.
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Two years divorced and facing down her fortieth birthday, Gwen wants to feel joy again. She’d also like to be a good mom, a respected professional, an accomplished pianist, and a confident woman who’s ready to explore romance again. But never-ending issues with her judgmental mother, unwelcome advances from a supervisor at work, a disconcertingly sexy piano teacher, and the sudden reappearance of an old flame make it harder and harder for Gwen to attain her goals—let alone reach for the sky.
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Thank goodness she’s got a sense of humor, a good friend, and a healthy supply of chocolate. With two steps forward and one step back, she just might make her dreams come true.
April Release
Sunsets On Catfish Bar by Mary Strand
Book One in The Pendulum Trilogy: When life gives you second chances.
Liz Tanner has spent her life escaping her traumatic childhood and trying to forget David Carruthers, the first boy she’d ever loved. After learning that her dad is dying, she returns to Wisconsin, planning to spend the summer at her family’s house on the St. Croix River and, at long last, to confront her old demons. As she takes a hiatus from her troubled marriage and unsatisfying career, she realizes that coming home might give her one last shot at happiness.
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Or it might destroy her.
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After nearly twenty years away, Liz discovers that the old demons are still alive and well. But her young daughter blossoms in the sun and water, and Liz throws herself into repairs—to the summer house and to her spirit. Maybe here, in this place that holds so many memories, both good and bad, she will truly find a home.
Cyber Nothing by Mary James
Balancing seeing clients and providing marital advice, she has a secret life online. As a 60+ year old overweight woman, the struggle to replenish her spirit after family obligations and overwrought clients, was difficult until she played against the Scrabble Master.
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Dr. James is a giver – to everyone but herself. She can laugh at herself and tries to before being laughed at. Like meeting a best friend who by comparison makes your life seem great. The marital advice is great, and you may find yourself learning a great deal about yourself and relationships, all while laughing.
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How can a marriage therapist succumb to the affections of a married man? Aren’t there personal or professional ethics that would forbid this? What is the afterlife of an adulterer?