Showing results for "Bittersweet" in Literature & Fiction

Bittersweetness recognises that light and dark, birth and death—bitter and sweet—are forever paired. As Bittersweet shows, our obsession with happiness is not making us happy, healthy or whole. It's only by embracing our darker emotions—as well as the light—that we discover our deepest meaning and connection, love and joy. It can change the way we work, the way we create and the way we love—for it is the hidden source of our love stories, moonshots and masterpieces.

“I was in a relationship with two men, and neither were giving me up.” That thought flashed through Charlotte’s brain like a bright neon light as she followed her husband out of her marriage counselor’s office. The office where she’d sat twice a week as she tried to repair the glaring problems in her marriage. The marriage that she’d fought hard to save to a man that wasn’t fighting alongside her. She’d been lied to, ignored, and used as a pawn to climb his ladder to success. Charlotte was broken, not just her marriage.

The four Latimer sisters were famous throughout New South Wales for their beauty, wit and sisterly love. But then they left home to train as nurses, swapping their feather beds for the bunks of nursing accommodation. And now, as the Depression casts its shadow across Australia, they must confront their own secret desires. Will the sisters find the independence they crave? Or is life - like love - always bittersweet?

From the outside, I live a charmed life: hockey legend for a father, my own promising future in the league, a great family, awesome friends. It’s not untrue, but it’s not quite that simple either. My dad’s advice has always been to make hockey my number-one priority—at least until I make it to the pros. So going into my senior year of college, I have a plan. I’ll put in the effort required to pass my classes, play hockey like my life depends on it, and avoid relationships. All I have to do is stay focused on the end game. It should be easy.

Thirty years ago, my father became the other half of a broken love story. A relationship he’s kept hidden for decades. Upon unearthing his secret through a series of emails in our paper’s archives, I began my search for the truth. Haunted by my father’s love story, and in my quest for answers, I never imagined I would discover a love of my own. Or that my love for Easton Crowne would be key in discovering the reason behind what split our parents up.

Wood Green, North London, November 1913. The storm clouds of war gather overhead while one brave girl fights to save her family.... After her mother dies, Livvie Bone knows it's down to her to protect her younger siblings from their drunken father. But life on the worst street in London is dark and dangerous, and one night she needs protection herself. When the mysterious Joe Hunter steps in to help her, Livvie's fascinated by him, in spite of his unsavoury reputation.

Shane Hendrix had a hundred-foot reinforced steel wall around her heart to keep people out, so when she first laid eyes on Jensen Rose, she wanted nothing to do with him. But what started as disdain quickly grew into something so much more. He went from being the boy she hated to the man she loved with all her heart. Then he left without so much as a goodbye, leaving her shattered.

Best-selling author Nevada Barr delights contemporary mystery fans with novels like Deep South and Blood Lure. In Bittersweet, she departs the mystery genre for a touching story of hardship, perseverance, and love in the old West.

Growing up in fear of their cruel, drunken father, Olivia Bone and her siblings haven't had an easy start in life. But when Livvie's fiancé, Joe, is killed at Ypres, and he bequeaths her his house in Islington, it seems like the Bone family might finally escape the worst street in North London. Though their new life is anything but settled, at least Livvie has a good friend in Matilda Keiver and a better one in Lieutenant Lucas Black, her old boss at the Barratt's sweet factory. Lucas and Livvie might be from very different worlds, but he treats her with kindness and respect.

North London, 1916. When Olivia Bone and Lieutenant Lucas Black shared a passionate kiss one summer's evening, it seemed as if their love might finally have a chance to bloom. But their brief happiness is cut short when Lucas is sent to fight on the front line, leaving Livvie uncertain if she'll ever see him again. And after a chance encounter with one of Lucas's old flames, Livvie is left doubting whether an ex-factory girl like her will ever fit into his world - and wondering if she would be better off protecting her heart.

Mayfair Cummings is young, beautiful, and brilliant. But her intelligence makes her the outcast of both the private school she attends and the broken family she hopes to salvage. When she catches the eye of both a popular senior and her handsome English teacher, not even her brilliant mind can help her navigate the explosive new relationships she is forming or a scandal that is brewing....

Emma Laurent has always preferred helping others to asking for help. But now, she’s the one in need. Her stepmother is selling her late father’s candy shop, her grandmother’s assisted-living facility has become a financial burden, and the anniversary of her fiancé’s death is quickly approaching. Rather than face her problems, Emma does what she does best - finds someone else to help by offering a mother and son with nowhere to go somewhere to stay.

It's looking like Anika might be alone for the holidays...unless the very last person she'd ever want to spend them with can convince her otherwise.

Everything changed for Laura Taylor when the South lost the Civil War. The Yankees' arrival in South Carolina drove Laura and her soldier husband, Jesse, westward to seek a new beginning. But Laura's hopes crumble when Jesse dies, and she finds herself pregnant and alone in a wild railroad camp with winter coming in fast. The only one she can turn to is Dr. Spencer Hardin.

Charlie is twenty-three, single and the new publicity assistant at the independent London publishing house Winden & Shane. Richard Aveling is fifty-six, married and the author that has defined his generation. Charlie has long idolised the charming, illustrious writer, who also represents a link to her late mother, who loved his work. But as they embark on an illicit and all-consuming affair, Charlie is forced to hide the relationship from everyone she cares about.

Maplemead Castle is crawling with ghosts, and the new owners need them gone. When Melody Bittersweet and the Girls' Ghostbusting Agency arrive on scene, they quickly identify the troublemakers swinging from the chandeliers...literally. A century ago, stunning trapeze artist Britannia Lovell plunged to her death, and has done every night since. But did she really just fall, or was there something more to her demise?

USA Today and Wall Street Journal best-selling author Tracy Lorraine brings you this dark bully college romance collection that includes Letty and Kane's trilogy: The Revenge You Seek, The Deception You Weave, and The Betrayal You Serve—from their tragic beginning to the twisted conclusion no one saw coming.

In the opening pages of Jamie Ford's stunning debut, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Henry Lee comes upon a crowd gathered outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle's Japan-town. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has made an incredible discovery: the belongings of Japanese families, left when they were rounded up and sent to internment camps during World War II. As Henry looks on, the owner opens a Japanese parasol.

New York, 1926. Reapers - once-human vampires - stalk the shadows. The Saint family has reigned over the city for years, protecting its inhabitants through their thriving reaper-hunting enterprise. But reluctant heir Elise Saint faces a chilling threat: the Harlem reapers want her dead. When new reaper Layla Quinn was turned, she lost her parents, the protection of the saints, and her humanity - and she'll never forget how Elise Saint betrayed her. Now reapers are inexplicably turning part-human, leaving grisly murders in their wake.

Esi is young, beautiful, and smart. She's got it all...and then some, but it's not what you'd expect. Seven years after fate has her colliding - literally - with the man of her dreams, the two finally find themselves walking down the aisle. The day couldn't be more perfect. For one shining moment in time, she has it all. Then a tragic accident changes everything. Getting married was supposed to be the final touch on their already blissful relationship, but after the car crash, nothing seems right anymore.