The Mandolin Lunch

Would you trade the life you have for a chance at a life you’ll love?

Devri Cahn is poised on the knife edge of getting everything she’s always wanted: an enviable rental empire in Brooklyn, guaranteed top-tier income, and elevated social status in the cutthroat world of the NYC lesbian elite. It’s finally all at her fingertips, so why does she want to leave it all behind?

Fallon Brynn has returned to her tiny rural fishing village on the southern coast of Ireland with one goal: to buy the rundown cottages by the sea and turn them into slick, modern holiday rentals. After university in Dublin and some real-world experience, she’s determined to reach her goal of marketing Ireland’s undeniable pull to rich American tourists. It’s about time Ireland stepped into the twenty-first century, and she’s the woman for the job, especially if she gets filthy rich doing it.

Devri and Fallon never expect their feelings for each other to linger, but sometimes the search for what you’ve always wanted leads home, to the one you've always needed.

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.

The last thing rock star Harper Cushing needs right now is this attraction to her grandmother’s helper, Frankie, even if she is sneaky-good on the guitar. Returning to her favorite childhood spot, Gram’s nostalgic general store, Harper confronts life-altering decisions: Gram’s future welfare, selling the store, and reassessing her own fast-paced “high life.” If only she could pull it all off without breaking everyone’s heart—including her own.

Having made her own life-altering decision three years ago, Frankie Cosgrove is guardedly single and set to harvest her first cranberry crop. She’s devoted to her elderly storekeeper friend, so when the famous Harper arrives, hell-bent on making changes, Frankie’s defenses rise.

At least they admit to mutual concerns for Gram and the store, and even each other’s heartfelt intentions. But the unexpected musical accord they strike sounds a whole lot like falling in love. Has harmony finally found them?

Lacey Heller is sure that nothing interesting could possibly happen at Camp Lavender, because it never does. Her parents have been running this Christian camp for girls ever since she can remember. Little does Lacey know that Jo Delgado is coming to camp this summer—and she’s going to change everything.

After the incident, Jo’s aunt sends her to Camp Lavender instead of the science camp she desperately wants to attend. Her aunt hopes that Camp Lavender will put Jo on the “right path,” influenced by nice girls like Lacey. The best Jo can hope for is to run a successful experiment so that she doesn’t waste her whole summer.

Lacey is a good Christian girl…or at least she thought she was. But Jo changes all that. There’s something different about Jo—and that something could get Lacey into big trouble.

Lacey and Jo must help each other untangle who they are from who everyone says they’re supposed to be.

Liberty Bell has been on her own for almost a decade after her father and his new family rejected her. With only one thing she cares about, there’s no backup plan. She needs to sing. Her dreams could come true when she makes it onto the latest TV talent show where famous vocalists coach her as she performs a new song each week. Liberty doesn’t trust easily, and she can be all thorns, which she proves when she is on the receiving end of the rude and sarcastic coach Palmer Elliston’s scathing feedback.

Palmer was one of the most sought-after producers and songwriters until she made a mistake that cost her everything. Now she leads a very different life. Jaded and disillusioned, she’s persuaded by an old friend to coach on a new reality talent show in the hope it might rejuvenate her former career. What she doesn’t expect is the prickly Liberty or the unexpected emotions that surge between them whenever Liberty sings. There’s no way Palmer will ever act on her attraction. She’s already made one career-ending mistake and isn’t looking for an encore.

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.