Showing results by author "Stephanie Taylor" in All Categories

Ruby Hudson thought she knew how to handle grief. Until she lost someone who held a piece of her soul. At fifty, Ruby’s no stranger to life’s heartbreaks. She’s been a mother, a First Lady, and a widow. She’s weathered public scandals, private betrayals, and the messy, beautiful business of starting over. But nothing prepares her for this latest loss—unexpected, intimate, and earth-shifting. As she works through her grief, Ruby finds herself facing an uncomfortable truth: there was so much she didn’t know about the person she loved. Secrets. Stories. Sides of them she somehow ...

On Shipwreck Key, the holiday season comes with twinkle lights, chosen family… and a few surprises no one sees coming. For the first time in years, Ruby Hudson has everything she’s dreamed of: her two daughters home for the holidays, a man who makes her heart feel whole again, and a community of strong, beautiful women by her side. Her best friend, Sunday Bond, is in love. The island is buzzing with holiday spirit. Friends and family have gathered for Christmas cheer. There’s even a whisper of something miraculous in the air—Florida snow. And then there’s the wedding. It’s ...

Scotland in springtime. Easter in Edinburgh. And a holiday adventure like no other. Lucy Landish is leading her next Holiday Adventure Club trip to Scotland, where history, science, and superheroes collide. Between the Edinburgh Science Festival and Comic Con, her group of travelers finds themselves exploring castles by day and navigating capes, costumes, and quirky chaos by night. Her guests this time are as unforgettable as ever: three best friends about to graduate high school and take on the world, a man convinced he’s a real-life superhero, and a couple clinging to one last chance to...

On her fiftieth birthday, Princess Alexandra does the one thing the Crown can’t forgive: she disappears. By morning, the palace is spinning. The tabloids are hunting. And the world is asking the same question: Why would a woman with everything walk away? Alexandra isn’t chasing drama—she’s chasing silence. A windswept island off the New England coast. A weathered house that still smells like her grandfather’s summers. And the quiet thrill of making her own cup of tea for the first time in decades. But peace doesn’t last long. Because there’s a man in her yard with a chainsaw...

One year. Ten adventures. A lifetime of memories. Lucy Landish never imagined that leaving her career as a medical examiner would lead her here: guiding The Holiday Adventure Club across the globe, chasing joy, friendship, and the chance to start over. From gondolas in Venice to cherry blossoms in Tokyo, her travelers have found love, laughter, and second chances in the unlikeliest places. Now, it all comes full circle in New York City on New Year’s Eve. Against the glittering backdrop of Times Square, Lucy brushes past the unforgettable characters who have shared her journeys—each one ...

When a woman needs to flee a bad marriage, it doesn’t matter that she’s the wife of the former Vice President, it only matters that she escapes... Sunday Bond longs for a life far from Washington D.C., and far from the husband who has kept her in a gilded cage for too long, locked up there with only his dark secrets to keep her company. When Sunday’s best friend, the former First Lady, moves south to Shipwreck Key, Sunday goes for a visit and decides to stay. The remote island off the coast of Florida is the perfect place to avoid the world’s prying eyes and to forget about her ...

When a woman is prized first and foremost for her looks, what does she have left to offer when the world decides those looks are fading? Marigold Pim, once the darling of the modeling world, graced the covers of nearly every prestigious fashion magazine on the planet. Her beauty made her the epitome of glamour as a young woman—and also led her straight into the arms of Cobb Hartley, the famous-but-troubled British rockstar. They raised a son together and endured two decades of a complicated marriage, but now they’re happily divorced and living their lives on different continents. For ...

A Secret Service agent devotes his life to protecting the people he serves…until one day he realizes that the person who needs protecting is him. Henry Banks is a former Marine, a career Secret Service agent, and the only man allowed into the Shipwreck Key book club full of women. He’s like a handsome brick wall who doesn’t show emotion, but he’s finally let his guard down—just a little bit—to let Sunday Bond in. Banks and the former Second Lady have been dating for a few months, but now that they’re in their fifties and both divorced once, the dating dance has become more ...

A President dies under mysterious circumstances, leaving a secret mistress and their twelve-year-old son…and also a loyal First Lady who has no idea what went wrong with their marriage. Forty-nine-year old widow Ruby Hudson, the former First Lady of the United States, needs a fresh start. As she mourns the loss of her husband, she turns her love of books into a whole new career, opening a little bookshop on a charming, pirate-themed island called Shipwreck Key just off the coast of the Florida Panhandle. Her two daughters think she’s crazy, but Ruby can finally breathe again knowing ...

Christmas Key will have to function without its beloved mayor, Holly Baxter, while she embarks on a European adventure with her long-distance love... But when Holly's mother arrives on the island with plans to sell off paradise and build a bloated, gaudy casino on the island's shores, the locals have to pull together to keep her at bay. A shocking loss throws the locals for a loop while they welcome three new islanders to Christmas Key in Holly's absence, but if she learns nothing else from her trip across the pond, Holly comes home knowing in her heart that it's time to say "yes" to new ...

She was America’s First Lady. Now she’s just trying to figure out who she is—one cup of coffee, one scandal, and one small-town secret at a time. After the President dies under mysterious circumstances, Ruby Hudson is left with more than just grief. There’s a secret mistress. A child. And a letter from her late husband that she’s not sure she’s ready to read. So, Ruby runs. Not from the public, but toward a new life—on a quirky, pirate-themed island called Shipwreck Key, where the residents don’t care about her past and the only political drama involves who’s bringing ...

Cuba calls—and Lucy Landish can’t say no. With The Holiday Adventure Club’s year of travel nearing its end, Lucy is determined to give her guests an unforgettable adventure. To secure their visas, the group signs on for a humanitarian mission with Underwater Cuba, diving into marine conservation work that has them snorkeling coral reefs and monitoring ocean life by day—and soaking in Havana’s rhythm, culture, and heat by night. Her travelers are as complex as the island itself: a man searching for the truth about his family’s Cuban roots despite his relatives’ protests, sun-...

Ruby Hudson has avoided reading the words of her late husband, President Jack Hudson--until now... For most of his life, Jack kept meticulous and well-written journals and diaries about his life. After his death, everything was boxed up and put into storage, but now, nearly two years after his passing, Ruby is ready to start unpacking her past and making sense of her husband's choices. With the month of August to herself on Shipwreck Key, Ruby brings out the boxes of journals dating back to the 70s, and she tries to unravel the mystery of her marriage: where did it go wrong? What had she ...

She’s building rockets for NASA— but can she build the life she truly wants? At just twenty-seven, Jeanie Florence is blazing a trail few women have ever walked—as one of NASA’s brightest young engineers. While America races to put a man on the moon, Jeanie is quietly making history behind the scenes, her calculations propelling astronauts into space. But when it comes to love? She’s still stuck firmly on the launchpad. Her heart belongs to Bill Booker—an older, married astronaut whose orbit she knows she has no business entering. But emotions don’t always follow logic, and ...

She’s always lived by her heart. Now the world is asking her to choose. Carrie Reed has never been like the other astronaut wives—and she’s never tried to be. She gardens barefoot, raises her kids on vitamins and whole foods, and dreams of a more peaceful, just world. While her husband Jay trains for space missions, Carrie’s passion is right here on Earth: protecting the planet, fighting for civil rights, and teaching her children to do the same. But the closer the country inches toward change, the more Carrie feels pulled in opposite directions. Voter registration drives in the ...

Lights, camera… chaos. Reality TV has arrived on Christmas Key, and Holly Baxter is feeling the heat. Mayor Holly thought she’d seen it all—snowmen made of sand, glitter-covered golf cart parades, and enough retiree drama to last a lifetime. But when the hit reality show Wild Tropics rolls onto the island just in time for a Halloween heatwave, things go from festive to frenzied in a flash. Now she’s juggling: An election challenge that’s heating up faster than a Florida fall A town full of residents who aren’t thrilled about being on camera A surprise visit from River O’Leary...

She gave up the spotlight to protect her heart. Now the past is demanding an encore. Once destined for Broadway stardom, Francesca “Frankie” Lombardi left New York—and dancing—behind after a devastating betrayal stole her spark. Reinvented as the glamorous wife of NASA astronaut Ed Maxwell, Frankie plays the role of confident hostess and loyal friend in Stardust Beach. But behind her flawless façade is a woman still aching from loss… and terrified to hope for more. Her marriage is quietly unraveling under the weight of unspoken grief, and the life she’s built feels as fragile ...

Everyone thinks Barbie Roman has it all. But this time, being perfect might cost her everything. With her picture-perfect looks, polished manners, and political pedigree, Barbie Roman was raised to play the role of the ideal daughter, wife, and mother. From an exclusive enclave in Connecticut to the sun-soaked shores of Stardust Beach, she’s spent her life smiling, supporting, and staying silent. But now, the stakes are too high—and Barbie’s time as the quiet good girl is running out. Her husband Todd is one of NASA’s rising stars, and with three young sons at home, Barbie should be...

When a woman gets to a certain age, everyone forgets that she has a long and vibrant life behind her. Molly is no different; at sixty-five, the residents of Shipwreck Key see her as just the proprietress of The Scuttlebutt, the island's coffee shop. But Molly has lived—really lived—and she has the battle scars to prove it. In 1982, when her beloved husband Rodney died in a boating accident off the coast of Hawaii, Molly was left a widow in her early twenties. But not only was she left to live without her best friend and life partner the day his boat vanished, her hopes and dreams to ...

He’s trained to survive the deadliest conditions in space. But no one prepared him for the silence at home. Lieutenant Colonel Bill Booker is a decorated pilot, a respected astronaut, and a man unraveling by degrees. Beneath the surface of his perfect American life—his rising NASA career, his beautiful wife Jo, and their idyllic home on Stardust Beach—something is breaking. And when his temper flares one too many times, NASA gives him a choice: face therapy, or forfeit his place in the program. Haunted by his past, disconnected from the woman he once loved so fiercely, and quietly ...