female friendship

Gwendolyn Bainbridge and Iris Sparks attend a mutual friend’s wedding and hit it off immediately, both taking credit for the match. After a lovely lunch the pair decide to go into business together opening The Right Sort Marriage Bureau in Mayfair, London in 1946. Their services are much sought after and their pairings have lead to many happy marriages so far. They both have the ability to size people up and get a clear reading of personalities and secrets being withheld. 

Iris doesn’t talk about her training and time spent during the War. But she’s got a lot of particular skills useful for

It’s a little hard to miss all the pink and red hearts present in every retail space right now, the ads for sparkly jewelry, and displays of roses and flowers, but let’s take a few minutes to honor another February holiday: Galentine’s Day, which falls on the 13th of the month.

For those unacquainted with the wonderful show Parks and Recreation, Galentine’s Day is a holiday invented by star Amy Poehler’s character, Leslie Knope, a dedicated public servant and unabashed supporter of all her friends. As she describes it, “Every February 13th, my lady friends and I leave our husbands and our

Philadelphia, 1944. The world is at war and yet Maddie and her husband, Ellis, and their friend Hank don't seem to notice. Having been forced out of their home after a drunken outburst at a New Year's Eve party, Ellis and Maddie are cut off completely from his well-off family. After throwing the final insult and claiming his father was a liar when he saw the Loch Ness monster in Scotland decades before, Ellis plans a reckless trek across the Atlantic with Hank, and Maddie is forced to go with them against her wishes. They believe that they will find the monster, prove their worth to Ellis's

Plain Wisdom tells a heartfelt, true story of two women, one Old Order Amish and one Englischer.  Although culturally worlds apart, they immediately discover a shared bond—love, laughter, and tears.

Cindy Woodsmall is a writer of Amish fiction, and to clarify and make her books more real it is imperative that she understand the people and places she writes about.  With her first invitation into the world of the Old Order Amish community where she meets Miriam Flaud, a friendship is born.  As Cindy and Miriam share stories of food, work, children, faith and a host of other topics, each learns

A plane full of teen beauty contestants crash lands on a tropical island. I was expecting either drama or fluff. What I found was satire aimed at the “ideal” female, reality tv and their sponsors, and beauty contests, with a nod toward foreign relations. While a bit over the top and exaggerated, on the whole I found Beauty Queens to be amusing and entertaining.  Interspersed with the story are commercial breaks and facts pages about the contestants, the ones who survived the plane crash. As the island melodrama unfolds, we learn more about the Miss Teen Dream girls, getting a look behind the

Helen's long-time friend, Nicola has terminal cancer. The doctors have done all they can but Nicola is determined to try alternative therapies. She asks Helen if she can stay with her for 3 weeks while she undergoes treatment at the Theodore Institute. Helen agrees but quickly discovers that she may have taken on more than she can handle. She also suspects that the Theodore Institute is a fraud. Helen's friendship is severely tested by Nicola's belief that the Institute can cure her cancer and by the physical demands of caring for her. The Spare Room gave me insight into what it might be like