Hammers, Strings, and Beautiful Things

Would you want to forget the only woman you’ve ever loved? Marlie Rose does.

Everyone thinks Broadway legend Marlie Rose has it all: a fabulous career spanning over five decades, all the major awards, and a lifetime in the spotlight. Only Marlie knows the heavy weight of her memories. When a new, experimental procedure promises to relieve trauma and heartbreak by erasing unwanted memories, Marlie signs up, desperate to let go of her tumultuous childhood, grief, and broken heart.

As Marlie recalls her memories and decides which ones to keep and which to erase, she unexpectedly reunites with Eleanor Olson, the woman she’s been in love with for forty-seven years. As her heartbreak fades and her heart races anew for Eleanor, Marlie discovers their love isn’t as dead as she thought it was, and she starts regretting the procedure.

Eleanor might be the only person who can help her restore her memories, but remembering might break her heart all over again.

Arlette Adair has always done what’s right. From the day she was born, she’s lived the life her parents forced upon her. Now, she’s stuck in a sparkless relationship and a job she never wanted. Her father's presidential campaign will forever root her in the world of politics that she’s trying to escape from.

Brooke Dawson has always made her own rules. She’s a struggling freelance artist by day and a catering bartender at night, but her heart is full…almost. When she picks up a bartending shift at a high society party, she hopes to bring home enough money to pay her rent. She never expects to run into Arlette Adair: her former best friend, the girl she spent all of college secretly crushing on, and the one who got away.

Now face-to-face with their unresolved past, Arlette and Brooke quickly fall back into their old ways while dancing around the biggest question: Why hadn’t they fallen in love all those years ago?

Swimmer Quinn Hughes has given up a lot in order to be an Olympian: her social life, her love life, and everything that comes with being a normal twenty-three-year-old. Just days away from competing in the Tokyo Games, Quinn runs into her childhood best friend and high school sweetheart, Kennedy Reed. Five years earlier, they’d made a pact that they would try again if their paths ever crossed, and now she can’t shake the feeling that this is a sign.

But Kennedy has a whole life in New York City, and Quinn’s at the opposite end of the country in San Francisco, struggling to redefine who she’ll be after the Olympics. Feeling lonely and lost from everything she’s given up, Quinn finds comfort in reconnecting with Kennedy, and they both discover that time and distance have only fueled their passion. As Quinn comes to terms with herself and what the future holds, she’s sure of only one thing: she’s not letting the only girl she’s ever loved get away for the second time.

Hannah knows how to grow her family’s jewelry design company into one of the most successful on the West Coast. But share her emotions? Not so much. She needs to break up with her girlfriend, Bren, but tragedy strikes before she gathers the courage.

It’s been years, but Vanessa hasn’t recovered from her ex, Bren, dumping her. She’s owned her flower shop for over twenty-five years and should be confidently anticipating her fiftieth birthday, but she still battles her mother’s criticism.

When Vanessa mysteriously shows up at Bren’s funeral, questions, and a few eyebrows, are raised. Was Bren who Hannah and Vanessa thought she was? Did they really know her at all? As the secrets and lies mount, the shocking truth reveals why their relationships failed. But will learning from the past give them the skills to build a future with one another?

Kirsten Lindquist has enough on her hands juggling the demands of her work as an orchestral music librarian. Substitute horn player Shay Bradley has been hitting on her for years, but Shay is known for being an operator, so Kirsten avoids her advances, until she can’t resist. She is just beginning to get to know the new personnel manager, Stephanie Wellford, when the orchestra is shocked by the sudden deaths of three musicians and a string of suspicious accidents.

Kirsten, Shay, and Stephanie believe that the events are related, but they aren’t certain how to prove it. Things get more complicated when Shay backs off to hide her depression and Stephanie admits her crush on Kirsten, but they need to stick together to figure out who is responsible for murder—before they become the next victims.