In this razor-sharp novel for fans of When Life Gives You Lululemons, a Manhattan socialite turns her spin instructor into a fitness superstar to impress her friends. But can she keep her little project under control? Or has she created a monster?
Julia Summers seems to have it all: a sprawling Upper East Side apartment, a successful husband, and two adorable children attending the best private school in the city. She relishes wielding influence over her well-heeled girlfriends . . . but her star appears to be fading. That's why, when stranded in Manhattan for the summer as her entire crowd flees to the Hamptons, Julia is on the hunt for the next big thing that will make her the envy of her friends and put her back on top.
Enter Flame, the new boutique gym in her neighborhood. Seductive and transformative, Flame's spin classes are exactly what Julia needs-and demure, naïve instructor Tatum is her ticket in. But rebranding Tatum as a trendy guru proves hard work, and Julia's triumphant comeback at summer's end doesn't quite go as planned. Tatum begins to grasp just how much power her newfound stardom holds, and when things suddenly get ugly, Julia realizes she's in way over her head.
Julia's life is already spiraling out of control when her husband is arrested for fraud and bribery. As her so-called friends turn their backs on her, and Tatum pursues her own agenda, Julia is forced to rethink everything she knew about her world to reclaim her perfect life. But does she even want it back? Witty and incisive, Sophie Littlefield and Lauren Gershell's That's What Frenemies Are For provides an engrossing glimpse into the cutthroat moms' club of the Upper East Side.
Advance praise for That's What Frenemies are For
"Pack up your beach bag and put your phone on Do Not Disturb: This modern-day Pygmalion story is juicy fun! Fans of Lauren Weisberger and Jill Kargman will delight in this delicious romp about how the other half lives."-Jamie Brenner, bestselling author of The Forever Summer and Drawing Home
"Whether this book hits a little too close to home or offers the perfect escape, readers will love the insanity of Julia's social ups and downs in this clever novel."-Laurie Gelman, author of Class Mom
The day Ron Isherwood calls Maris Vacanti from the Golden Gate Bridge, asking if he should jump, is the day Maris's world completely transforms. Maris has been consumed with grief and anger since her teenage daughter was found dead at the hands of Ron's son. Her marriage is in pieces and her routine shattered. Now, burdened with a terrible choice by a man whose existence is forever entwined with hers-a fellow parent breaking under the weight of the past-she gathers her courage and walks out on her sheltered suburban life.
In a run-down Oakland apartment, engulfed in secrets but surrounded by the kindness of new friends, Maris builds a life in transition, away from the expectations of her well-meaning sister and her ex-husband's criticism. She is free to re-create herself and to decide, perhaps for the first time, what she truly wants. But will she choose to be defined by everything she's lost, or by her resilience to live?
Set against the backdrop of North Dakota’s oil boom, two very different mothers form an uneasy alliance to find their missing sons in this heartrending and suspenseful novel from the Edgar Award–nominated author of Garden of Stones.The booming North Dakota oil business is spawning “man camps,” shantytowns full of men hired to work on the rigs, in towns without enough housing to accommodate them. In such twilight spaces, it’s easy for a person to vanish. And when two young men in their first year on the job disappear without a trace, only their mothers believe there’s hope of finding them. Despite reassurances that the police are on the case, the two women think the oil company is covering up the disappearances—and maybe something more.Colleen, used to her decorous life in a wealthy Massachusetts suburb, is determined to find her son. And hard-bitten Shay, from the wrong side of the California tracks, is the only person in town even willing to deal with her—because she’s on the same mission. Overtaxed by worry, exhaustion, and fear, these two unlikely partners question each other’s methods and motivations, but must work together against the town of strangers if they want any chance of finding their lost boys. But what they uncover could destroy them both…Sure to please fans of Sandra Brown and Gillian Flynn, The Missing Place is a moving chronicle of survival, determination, and powerful bonds forged in the face of adversity.
North Dakota is like nowhere Colleen has ever seen.
Vast rolling plains of silvery snow, studded with shimmering black pools. A landscape both beautiful and terrible. The landscape that swallowed Colleen's son. Across town another mother searches for her missing boy. He too went missing from the oilfields where he worked. Alone, these two women will never find out the truth. But if they team up, then maybe this freezing wilderness will give them back their sons.
In the dark days of war, a mother makes the ultimate sacrifice, in this powerful tale from bestselling author Sophie Littlefield.
Lucy Takeda is just fourteen years old, living in Los Angeles, when the bombs rain down on Pearl Harbor. Within weeks, she and her mother, Miyako, are ripped from their home, rounded up—along with thousands of other innocent Japanese-Americans—and taken to the Manzanar prison camp.
Buffeted by blistering heat and choking dust, Lucy and Miyako must endure the harsh living conditions of the camp. Corruption and abuse creep into every corner of Manzanar, eventually ensnaring beautiful, vulnerable Miyako. Ruined and unwilling to surrender her daughter to the same fate, Miyako soon breaks. Her final act of desperation will stay with Lucy forever . . . and spur her to sins of her own.
The second in the critically-acclaimed, award-winning series featuring 50-year-old Stella Hardesty, a salty, unlikely heroine working outside of the law in rural Missouri.
A debut novel set in rural Missouri featuring a salty, unlikely heroine who runs a sewing shop but has a side business helping women take care of their abusive husbands and boyfriends.
