Psychotherapist Mia Cosgrove is having a bad week. Her beloved, motherly boss and mentor Judith has retired, she's recently moved into her fiance Patrick's cramped flat at the dodgy end of the Holloway Road and their wedding seems to always be over the horizon, both of them too busy to take the time out to plan it. Everything is in transition. All of this pales into insignificance when she receives a call from her oldest friend, Lysette. A young mum Lysette was close to has died in mysterious circumstances: Sarah Bell's crumpled body was found at the bottom of a multi-storey car park, a text message saying 'I'm so sorry' with a single X on her phone, left unsent and unaddressed. Mia races home to offer support, but as the situation grows ever darker, all of her vows to never get involved in another criminal case start to crumble.

A fascinating look at how mothers and their adult daughters have formed a greater friendship than generations past?and whether or not their should be boundaries. No relationship is more complicated than the one between mothers and daughters? especially today, when a cultural shift can cause a longer period of time of overlapping interests before the traditional adult markers of marriage and family. As a result, these young women are developing deeper bonds with their own mothers, a relationship that sometimes mimics friendship. But are these close bonds healthy? Is it time to cut the umbilical cord? In this eye-opening book, Linda Perlman Gordon and Susan Morris Shaffer explore the modern mother-daughter relationship in all its glorious complexity. Combining a brilliant sociological analysis with fascinating stories of real- life women, Too Close for Comfort? provides a rich, provocative look at the ways mothers and daughters get it right, how they get it wrong?and how they can happily maintain being friends as well as mothers and daughters.

Pip Smith's Too Close for Comfort, is the inaugural winner of the Helen Anne Bell Poetry Bequest, a biennial prize for a book of poetry by an Australian female poet which deals in some way with Australian culture. This award (and future awards) has been made possible by a generous bequest from the estate of Helen Anne Bell, a former student at the University of Sydney. The inaugural award in 2013 drew a highly competitive field of entries, but the judges, joanne burns, Jill Jones and myself, felt that Pip Smith's poems were the ones which engaged most robustly and imaginatively with Australian life, concerns, and culture in the 21st century. From the Foreword by Judith Beveridge.

Countless experts offer us advice on how to create the "perfect relationship," fostering the unrealistic expectation that forming an intimate bond will be a painless experience. Unfortunately, few experts are willing to confront the powerful challenges and emotions inherent within close relationships today. In contrast to other intimacy books, Too Close for Comfort vividly describes the surprising dangers, damage to self-esteem, inadequacies, and immaturities that characterize the contemporary state of romantic intimacy. Too Close for Comfort compassionately explores the risks and misunderstandings that occur within many intimate relationships. Romantic partners tend to hurt each other not only by insensitivity and neglect, but also by criticism, abuse, and betrayal - most of which spring from insecurity. Dr. Piorkowski, a noted consulting psychologist and educator, focuses on the vulnerability both partners experience in intimacy due to the emergence of strong, unrealistic needs that are almost impossible to satisfy. The author contends that people avoid the perils of intimacy by donning one or more defensive "masks" - ranging from acting superior to mysterious, comical to withdrawn, self-sufficient to dependent - in an effort to protect themselves from emotional exposure. Presenting a fascinating range of clinical examples, she sensitively depicts the fears of intimacy that limit contact, namely psychological concerns about loss of control or autonomy, feelings of disappointment and abandonment, or of being attacked and made to feel guilty. Depicting women's reliance on verbal expression to achieve an emotional connection versus men's dependence on physical contact, Dr. Piorkowski brilliantly elucidates the complex barriers to intimacy, especially the chasms of misunderstanding created by vast sexual differences and attitudes. While this book is unique in its exposition of the dangers in intimacy, its message is not pessimistic.

Winner of the Golden Quill Award for Best Romantic Suspense Winner of the Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Awards for Best First Series Book "There is an outstanding new voice in series romance, and her name is Eve Gaddy." 4 1⁄2 Stars --Romantic Times He kidnapped her in her own hospital . . .to keep her alive. Dr. Marissa Fairfax is a calm, cool trauma surgeon. Police officer Jack Corelli is a tough cop who's been assigned to protect her until she testifies at a murder trial--whether she wants his help, or not. Jack's more than willing to enforce the mandatory protection order, but he's got his work cut out for him. Eve Gaddy is the bestselling, award-winning author of sixteen novels for Bantam Loveswept and Harlequin Superromance, with more than a million copies in print. Her books have won and been nominated for awards from Romantic Times, Golden Quill, Bookseller's Best, Holt Medallion, Texas Gold, Daphne Du Maurier and more. She was nominated for a Romantic Times Career Achievement Award for Innovative Series romance as well as winning the 2008 Romantic Times Career Achievement award for Series Storyteller of the year. Visit her at: www.EveGaddy.net

Up close, and way too personal! Breaking and entering is hardly her style, but Iona MacCabe needs her passport back from her ex's motel room. Jaded L.A. private investigator Zane Montoya is staking out a con man's motel room when this pretty Scottish girl gets seriously in the way. For her own safety, he'll keep her under his very close protection…. Except independent, willful Iona is not best pleased to be "rescued"—even by someone as sexy as blue-eyed, gorgeous Zane! And when he discovers just how innocent she really is, suddenly their scorching attraction feels even more dangerous…. Extra bonus: included is The Wedding Dress Diaries by Aimee Carson, the prequel to our fab new quartet!

WHEN IT'S THIS CLOSE… Jeffrey Bradshaw's wellordered life has just taken a detour. Instead of being in L.A. making the pitch of his career, he's stuck in Alaska with a feisty bush pilot. Seductive, independent Cyd Thompson has him so captivated, he's not even thinking about his career. All Jeffrey can focus on is the snow-melting heat he and Cyd create. He'll let his newly discovered twin handle L.A. until he's gotten Cyd out of his system. MAYBE THE ONLY THING TO DO IS GET CLOSER! Cyd wants Jeffrey…she just doesn't want him here. His big-city plans are bound to destroy the Alaska she loves. So she'll do anything she can to distract him from finalizing his business. And if that means seducing the guy…well, she'll do that. But she doesn't count on falling for Jeffrey's intoxicating kisses. So what else can Cyd do but convince him that in the Arctic, there's no such thing as getting too close for comfort?