Do you prefer to read humorous women’s fiction?
Enjoy Marilyn’s humorous coming-of-middle-age stories.
GROUNDWORK FOR MURDER
Landscape artist Alexandra Newborn dreams of a one-woman show at the Diamond Gallery. But the gallery owner dismisses her paintings as “old, tired, and dull. Lacking excitement.” Those words also describe Alex’s unhappy marriage. Alex’s shocking reunion with her college art professor, Dominick “Nick” Anselmo—once a world-celebrated Italian artist, now a homeless lawn man—reignites their passion and fuels a creative spark for both, helping Nick recover from his wife’s death. With Nick’s provocative sketches, art imitates life, but Alex doesn’t realize they reveal a dangerous liaison between her husband and the gallery owner. Without Nick’s knowledge, Alex arranges an art opening that includes his drawings. When the torrid affair between Alex’s husband and his mistress is exposed, the seeds are sown for murder, mystery, and romance.
BUY LINK
Romantic Times Book Reviews 4 1/2 Star Review by Donna M. Brown
“Baron and Goldman offer a bit of everything in this superb novel. There’s humor, infidelity, murder, mayhem, and a neatly drawn conclusion. The secondary characters are varied, and the maturation of Nick and Alex is gratifying.” Nick Anselmo was Alexandra Newborn’s art professor in college — until he spurned her advances, and she dropped out of school. Now he’s her lawn man, whom she nicknames “The Edger” from an implement he uses to trim her lawn. Their reunion is awkward, but as Alex makes welcoming gestures of cookies and lemonade, the homeless Nick begins to leave exquisite drawings at her doorstep. Alex’s husband is a workaholic, and her twin daughters are away at school, so she takes advice from Nick to further her own painting career. Her good intentions backfire after she arranges a showing of Nick’s drawings at a gallery. His sketches bring to light the affair between her husband and the gallery’s owner. When Alex’s husband is murdered later that night, the list of suspects grows.
THE SIEGE: A NOVEL
Artist Theia Constas receives a tour of Italy from her grandmother as a college graduation present. Before she departs, her ya-ya’s deathbed revelation of a cache of WW II photographs and love letters extends Theia’s itinerary to Crete in search of her unknown grandfather, a promising artist who studied under Chagall but didn’t survive the war.
Wade Bingham, an actuary who always follows the rules and calculates the odds, finds himself alone on his honeymoon trip, wondering why his fiancée jilted him at the last minute.
In the wrong place at the wrong time when their hotel in Florence, Italy, is besieged by terrorists, the two strangers find themselves thrust together in Wade’s honeymoon suite. Immediately attracted to each other, Wade conducts a siege of his own to win Theia’s heart.
BUY LINKS
THE WIDOWS’ GALLERY, LOBSTER COVE SERIES
Childless heiress Abigail Adams Longley and three other widows bond over a Renaissance masterpiece in Florence, Italy, and find love, friendship and joy in their joint venture to open an art gallery at the Longley mansion in Lobster Cove, Maine. Since the death of her husband, Abigail has been lonely and drifting in a house that’s too big and a town that’s too small. When she literally runs into sexy widower and whale-watching excursion captain Tack Garrity on the dock, she’s entranced by his adorable five-year-old daughter. But will Tack, who has harbored a secret crush on Abigail for almost two decades, be able to capture her heart? A secret pact her husband made with Tack could either tear them apart or bring them closer together and change their lives forever.
BUY LINKS
STONES
When Julie Paver’s husband Matt moves his business to Atlanta, she is forced to leave behind her thriving jewelry boutique, Stones. The move threatens their twenty-five-year marriage, because now if Matt isn’t out of town negotiating a merger, he’s spending late hours on overseas phone calls with his sexy-sounding second-in-command.
Feeling neglected and unloved, Julie seeks closure by reconnecting with her first love, Manny, when he pursues her with his Internet innuendos. Manny is unaware he is the father of Julie’s son, and Julie contemplates revealing the secret to him on the eve of their son’s wedding. But would such a walk down memory lane be worth the cost?
Julie and Manny finally meet at her oceanfront condo—in the midst of a hurricane—and elements collide to create the perfect storm in this coming-of-middle-age crisis.
BUY LINKS
SIGNIFICANT OTHERS
For Honey Palladino, the holidays have lost their magic. She is sure her husband is cheating on her. Her daughter plans to spend the time with a friend. Her widowed mother sees the image of Jesus in a live oak tree. As if that’s not enough, her mother is also talking about going on a Christmas cruise with some old geezer, without benefit of marriage. That would be right after she signs away the family business — the real estate agency Honey’s father built into a company worth millions, the job to which Honey has devoted her life.
At her mother’s condo in Boca Raton, Florida, many have recently lost a spouse and are now with “significant others,” and Honey is intrigued by the promise of new love even at an old age but doubts she’ll ever find another significant other after her inevitable divorce. When her mother reunites with a lost love from years before, Honey is completely undone, but the “Jesus tree” puts into motion a series of holiday miracles. Discovering what’s important in life brings a message of hope for lovers of all ages.
BUY LINKS
From Mrs. Condit & Friends Read Books, A 4-Sweet Peas Review of Significant Others by Petra:
This book was unusual in that the main story revolves around Dee Dee, a lady who’s age you are never given (NEVER ask a lady her age!) but has to be in her late sixties. It is basically set in a retirement community in Florida although Dee Dee is just there visiting her sister, and having visions of Jesus in a tree, not something Jewish women claim everyday apparently! Her daughter Honey comes to visit from Atlanta to get her Mother to return home and back to the family business which her Mother is currently set on selling. Honey is also having relationship problems, in fact this story encompasses the whole family, the POV did start to jump around a little which could be a little confusing but it was just nice to read about older people having relationships and not just being written off. The story does not really jump into the past as many do but there are some wonderful letters that were written during WWII that are in there that do create a great nostalgia. There is also a very small part of the story that is a mystery, good job one of Dee Dee’s suitors is a retired police detective!
For me the problem was that the book just wasn’t very christmassy, I know that being set in the Florida sunshine I was never gonna get snowball fights but it was hardly ever brought up and there seemed to be a great lack of festive spirit or decorations. So yes this is a good and enjoyable read, but at any time of the year!
