Everything After by Jill Santopolo

The Light We Lost mixes with a touch of Daisy Jones and the Six in this novel of first love, passion, and the power of choice--and how we cannot escape the people we are meant to be.

Two loves. Two choices. One chance to follow her dreams.

Emily has come a long way since she lost her two passions fifteen years ago: music, and Rob. She's a psychologist at NYU who helps troubled college students like the one she once was. Together with her caring doctor husband, Ezra, she has a beautiful life. They're happy. They hope to start a family. But when a tragic event in Emily's present too closely echoes her past, and parts of her story that she'd hoped never to share come to light, her perfect life is suddenly upturned. Then Emily hears a song on the radio about the woman who got away. The melody and voice are hauntingly familiar. Could it be? As Emily's past passions come roaring back into her life, she'll find herself asking: Who is she meant to be? Who is she meant to love?

When reading the reviews on goodreads.com, this book had mixed reviews, but the description sounded intriguing enough that I wanted to read it.  I wasn't a fan that this story was told as she was talking to a lost baby as at times it was confusing, but overall the story was good & the way she comes to terms with her life, marriage and past was a great way to end it.   The end of the audiobook also had the music performed at the end, which was a nice touch. 

 

The Selfless Act (The Amish Millionaire #6) by Wanda E. Brunstetter, Jean Brunstetter

 

Meet businessman Joel Byler who has gotten himself into a financial bind and his eccentric, wealthy Amish father who is done bailing out his spoiled son. When will Joel learn he most pay for his own mistakes—and at what cost to his business, his fiancée, and his Amish siblings?

Joel must complete a selfless act for the good of others to fulfill his father's wishes. The way he finds himself is a breakthrough & he also makes amends with the girl he left behind and his ex-fiancee.

The Divided Family (The Amish Millionaire #5) by Wanda E. Brunstetter, Jean Brunstetter

 

Meet businessman Joel Byler who has gotten himself into a financial bind and his eccentric, wealthy Amish father who is done bailing out his spoiled son. When will Joel learn he most pay for his own mistakes—and at what cost to his business, his fiancée, and his Amish siblings?

With the will found and read, it causes a rift in the family as Joel doesn't like the conditions & must figure out a way to get by. It also goes through his sisters & some of the issues they are going through. 

The Missing Will (The Amish Millionaire #4) by Wanda E. Brunstetter, Jean Brunstetter

 

Meet businessman Joel Byler who has gotten himself into a financial bind and his eccentric, wealthy Amish father who is done bailing out his spoiled son. When will Joel learn he most pay for his own mistakes—and at what cost to his business, his fiancée, and his Amish siblings?

This one is where they find out that there is a will that was left by the father, but no one know what happened to it.  Joel is getting more frustrated by his finances and missing his ex-fiancee. He keeps bugging his siblings on finding the will & even wants to try to find it himself. 

The Betrayed Fiancee (The Amish Millionaire #3) by Wanda E. Brunstetter, Jean Brunstetter

In Part 3, The Betrayed Fiancée, experience the hurt along with Kristi Palmer when she learns the man she planned to marry has squandered their joint savings on his selfish desires. Can trust broken ever be mended?

The title gives it away letting the reader know that the trust will be broken as Kristi finds out the secret that Joel has been hiding and her feelings toward it all.  

 

The Stubborn Father (The Amish Millionaire #2) by Wanda E. Brunstetter, Jean Brunstetter

 

n Part 2, The Stubborn Father, feel the pain of widower Eustace Byler who stands out in his Amish community for his eccentricity and his wealth and mourns both is deceased wife and living son. Can father and son come to an understanding about their different choices in life before time runs out?

This one goes more in depth with the father & his life and what he does from day to day & his feelings toward his son & his choices.  The ending was unexpected, but it kept you wanting more.

The English Son (The Amish Millionaire #1) by Wanda E. Brunstetter, Jean Brunstetter

 

Meet businessman Joel Byler who has gotten himself into a financial bind and his eccentric, wealthy Amish father who is done bailing out his spoiled son. When will Joel learn he must pay for his own mistakes—and at what cost to his business, his fiancée, and his Amish siblings?    

I had stumbled upon this book while looking for a new read. I was intrigued that it was a 6 part story.  This first one introduces Joel & his fiancee and gives a peek into his amish family.  It sets up the main issue for the 6 parts, so now we get to see how it plays out.

The Royal We (Royal We #1) by Heather Cocks, Jessica Morgan

 

"I might be Cinderella today, but I dread who they'll think I am tomorrow. I guess it depends on what I do next."

American Rebecca Porter was never one for fairy tales. Her twin sister, Lacey, has always been the romantic who fantasized about glamour and royalty, fame and fortune. Yet it's Bex who seeks adventure at Oxford and finds herself living down the hall from Prince Nicholas, Great Britain's future king. And when Bex can't resist falling for Nick, the person behind the prince, it propels her into a world she did not expect to inhabit, under a spotlight she is not prepared to face.

Dating Nick immerses Bex in ritzy society, dazzling ski trips, and dinners at Kensington Palace with him and his charming, troublesome brother, Freddie. But the relationship also comes with unimaginable baggage: hysterical tabloids, Nick's sparkling and far more suitable ex-girlfriends, and a royal family whose private life is much thornier and more tragic than anyone on the outside knows. The pressures are almost too much to bear, as Bex struggles to reconcile the man she loves with the monarch he's fated to become.

Which is how she gets into trouble.

Now, on the eve of the wedding of the century, Bex is faced with whether everything she's sacrificed for love-her career, her home, her family, maybe even herself-will have been for nothing. 

This was an interesting read & it made me think of the love story of Prince William & Kate and wonder if it was loosely based on their courtship and engagement.  I do look forward to reading the next story in the series. This first book had drama & love. It was a good read. 

Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate

Memphis, 1939. Twelve-year-old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live a magical life aboard their family’s Mississippi River shantyboat. But when their father must rush their mother to the hospital one stormy night, Rill is left in charge—until strangers arrive in force. Wrenched from all that is familiar and thrown into a Tennessee Children’s Home Society orphanage, the Foss children are assured that they will soon be returned to their parents—but they quickly realize the dark truth. At the mercy of the facility’s cruel director, Rill fights to keep her sisters and brother together in a world of danger and uncertainty.

Aiken, South Carolina, present day. Born into wealth and privilege, Avery Stafford seems to have it all: a successful career as a federal prosecutor, a handsome fiancé, and a lavish wedding on the horizon. But when Avery returns home to help her father weather a health crisis, a chance encounter leaves her with uncomfortable questions and compels her to take a journey through her family’s long-hidden history, on a path that will ultimately lead either to devastation or to redemption.

Based on one of America’s most notorious real-life scandals—in which Georgia Tann, director of a Memphis-based adoption organization, kidnapped and sold poor children to wealthy families all over the country—Lisa Wingate’s riveting, wrenching, and ultimately uplifting tale reminds us how, even though the paths we take can lead to many places, the heart never forgets where we belong.

I really enjoyed this book. It kept me interested & wanting to see what happened to this family.  The fact that this also was based on some people in history. At the end it gave more info on the lady who ran the "home". I almost want to find more info on it and read about it more in depth.  This is a great read.