Teacup Novellas

From Diane Moody author of the bestselling Of Windmills and War. Fresh from a Jane Austen tour in England, Maddie Cooper returns home to Texas, determined to bring a touch of "Austen to Austin." She dreams of opening an authentic English tea room and, like Austen's Emma, put into practice her self-proclaimed gift as a matchmaker. But an airport mishap with a cranky Englishman gets her off on the wrong foot (quite literally), especially when he moves into the university guest house across the street. Can Maddie find a love for her unapproachable new neighbor, or has she finally met her match?

The last place twenty-four year old Keri McMillan wants to be is back home in Waterford Bay, Oregon. But after two years at prestigious New York University pursuing a degree in journalism, her bank account is drained. Keri is determined to move home for one year-and one year only-to make some serious money working for her dad's log cabin company, but her goals all go up in smoke when the company's new showcase home burns to the ground. Six months ago, Grant Dawson bought the Waterford Weekly, a small newspaper in his father's hometown. Burned out as a reporter for the LA Times and tired of all the inherent politics, he welcomed the slower pace of this Oregon coastal town and the more relaxed lifestyle producing a weekly paper. He enjoys being close to his dad again, a quiet man who captains a whale-sightseeing boat. Grant is surprised at his unexpected interest in Keri, the niece of columnist Luby Sanders. He thinks Luby is a hoot and can't help but adore her. But she's also playing matchmaker, trying to interest him in her niece. When Keri shows up at a log cabin fire in the middle of the night, she's not the geeky college kid he expected. But he's not about to fall victim to Luby's orchestrations.

It seems everyone needs a second chance. Tracey Collins just left Washington DC after her dream job became a personal nightmare. Back home in Jacobs Mill, Tennessee, she quickly realizes she's not the only one needing a fresh start. Her sister Alex is in the midst of a career change, finding new inspiration restoring furniture. Their father, a former pastor who's had his own share of disillusionment, now mentors a strange bunch of misfit bikers who do odd jobs around town as ministry. Among them, an intriguing former attorney named Noah, still running from a painful past, catches Tracey's eye. Secrets are uncovered and hearts are restored in Jacobs Mill as they all work together to renovate an old smokehouse into a new shop called Second Chances.

When her best friend prayed for God to "blow your socks off," Olivia Thomas had no idea that prayer would be answered only a few hours later. Stunned by such an unexpected gift from someone she'd helped years ago, Olivia suddenly finds herself with unlimited possibilities. She packs her bags and heads to Caden Cove, a tiny coastal town in Maine, where she hopes to figure out what to do with the rest of her life. Little does she know her reservation at the Captain MacVicar Inn has put her in the path of a historic legend. Trevor Bass owns Caden Cove's only bookstore and dabbles in real estate. All the locals know the grouchy bookseller is an avowed bachelor, which explains their utter shock when he invites a "tourist" to visit their book club. The mere hint of romance sends the town into a frenzy wondering if the object of Trevor's affections could be the next victim of the legend's curse. Will history repeat itself once more in Caden Cove?

Lucy Alexander's Teacup Novellas were inspired by a collection of vintage teacups her Aunt Lucille bequeathed to her. She's excited about writing the next book in the series, a Christmas tale loosely based on her aunt and uncle's love story set in the 1940s. But when a hostage situation lands Lucy's boyfriend in the hospital, she sets her work aside to keep a bedside vigil with Mark. As the long hours of waiting stretch on, Lucy starts to read her beloved aunt's handwritten diary. Shocked to discover a frightening story so eerily similar to the one she's living, Lucy longs to find hope and encouragement in the pages of Lucille's diary. December 1944: "The most wonderful things seem to happen when you least expect them," writes Lucille Alexander after a serendipitous meeting with Gary Reynolds, a handsome lieutenant home on leave from the war in Europe. The two are inseparable in the five precious days he has left before heading back overseas. On their last morning together, Lucille accompanies Gary to the train station, already dreading the long separation ahead. But that would be the least of her worries after her brave lieutenant rushes to help an elderly woman in distress. Lucy finds a strange solace in her namesake's ink-stained journal. Though seventy years have passed between them, would their stories have the same ending?

Lucy Alexander has a hopeless case of writer's block. But all that changes when her handsome UPS guy delivers a box of vintage teacups from the estate of her namesake and beloved Aunt Lucille. Happy memories of tea parties they shared when Lucy was young flood her mind. And with them, the forgotten stories her aunt loved to tell over tea and Scottish shortbread. Colorful tales of fascinating characters are woven together with the undeniable power of love. Some were true, most weren't, but it was her aunt's extraordinary gift of storytelling that first ignited Lucy's passion to write. Though still grieving the recent loss of her aunt, Lucy unwraps the fragile cups and saucers, and with them, a flood of memories and story ideas.