Mother Dear

There's only one thing worse than doing the unthinkable: what you're willing to do to hide it. Helen lives a decent, uncomplicated life. Satisfied in her career, she's raising three happy teenagers, and her family has the most envied house on the street. Admittedly, she's growing just a little disenchanted with her marriage to her workaholic husband, Werner. But that's nothing she can't fix. Then one day Helen comes home to something completely unexpected that threatens to shatter her carefully cultivated world. For disaffected, young petty criminals Ralf and Brian, it was a scheme to make some cash: a quick home invasion. The targets they've chosen are Helen and Werner. With Ralf as lookout, Brian disappears into Helen and Werner's house. But he never comes out. And Helen's nightmare is just beginning. She can't possibly imagine how much worse it can get or just how far she'll need to go to protect her family.

The first collection of poetry from Bunmi Laditan, bestselling author of Confessions of a Domestic Failure and creator of The Honest Toddler, capturing the honesty, rawness, sheer joy and total madness of motherhood. With the compassion and wit that have made her a social media sensation among mothers around the world, Bunmi Laditan puts into evocative and relatable words what so many of us feel but can’t quite express. For mothers who love their children with a fiery fierceness but know what it is to feel crushed at the end of those long days, Dear Mother is like a warm hug that says, “I get it.”

Violet's TV-director dad has traded a job in Vancouver for one in Los Angeles, their run-down house for a sleek ranch-style home complete with a pool, and, worst of all, Violet's mother for a trophy wife, a blonde actress named Jennica. Violet's younger sister reacts by bed-wetting, and her mother ping-pongs from one loser to another, searching for love. As for Violet, she gets angry in ways that are by turns infuriating, shocking, and hilarious. When her mother takes up with the unfortunately named Dudley Wiener, Violet and her friend Phoebe decide that they need to take control. If Violet's mom can't pick a decent man herself, they will help her snag George Clooney. In Dear George Clooney, Please Marry My Mom, Susin Nielsen has created a truly original protagonist in Violet and a brilliant new novel that will delight readers into rooting for her, even when she's at her worst.

Three sisters. Three childhoods ruined. One chance to heal the scars of the past. After the death of their cruel and abusive mother, estranged sisters Alex, Catherine and Beth reunite once again. Alex, the youngest, is a bitter, unhappy woman who refuses to face the horrors of her childhood. Finding solace in a bottle, her life is spiralling dangerously out of control. Eldest child, Catherine, has strived for success, despite her difficult upbringing. But behind the carefully constructed façade lies a secret that could shatter her world forever. Beth, the middle child, bore the greatest burden. But having blocked out the cruelty they suffered, she remained with their mother until her death. Now she must confront the devastating reality of the past. Brought together as strangers, the sisters embark on a painful journey to heal themselves and each other. Can they finally put their terrible childhoods to rest and start over? An emotional, heart-breaking and compelling novel for readers of Diane Chamberlain, Amanda Prowse and Kelly Rimmer. Previously Published as The Middle Child

THIS BOOK CAME ABOUT EIGHT YEARS AGO WHEN I WOULD MAKE UP STORIES ABOUT MY ONE YEAR OLD SON, AJ, WHILE I TRIED TO GET HIM TO SLEEP. HE LOVED TO HEAR HIS NAME IN THE STORIES AND HE WOULD GET SO EXCITED WHEN HE DID SOMETHING GOOD IN THE STORIES I TOLD HIM. AS AJ GOT OLDER, I BEGAN TO USE OUR EVERYDAY LIFE IN THESE STORIES. I TRIED TO LEAD HIM INTO THE RIGHT DIRECTION ON HOW TO HELP PEOPLE EVEN THOUGH WE DID NOT KNOW THEM OR HOW TO DEAL WITH PEOPLE WHO WERE NOT SO NICE TO US. WHEN I WOULD HEAR ABOUT A TRAGIC STORY OF A CHILD WHO WAS TAKEN FROM A MALL OR HIT BY A CAR OR LOST AT A CROWDED ATTRACTION, I WOULD INSERT AJ S NAME WHILE TELLING HIM THE STORY TO HELP HIM UNDERSTAND HOW IMPORTANT IT IS TO LISTEN TO ME WHEN I SAY NOT TO WONDER OFF WHILE IN A STORE OR GO OFF WITH A STRANGER. OF COURSE THESE STORIES WOULD END WITH A GOOD OUTCOME BUT DURING THE STORIES, I COULD SEE HIS WORRY. THIS LET ME KNOW THAT HE WAS GETTING THE MESSAGE. BUT NOT EVERY STORY WAS A LESSON. I HAD TO MAKE UP STORIES ON A NIGHTLY BASIS. SO, I HAVE LOTS OF STORIES TO TELL. I HOPE YOU ENJOY THIS ONE. THIS STORY IS ONE OF HIS FAVORITES."