Return to Willow Lake. Сьюзен Виггс

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      #1 New York Times bestselling author Susan Wiggs brings readers home to Avalon, an idyllic town nestled on the tranquil shores of Willow Lake. There, one woman will rediscover her family and her dreams, and find a surprising new love. …

      Sonnet Romano’s life is almost perfect. She has the ideal career, the ideal boyfriend, and has just been offered a prestigious fellowship. There’s nothing more a woman wants—except maybe a baby...brother?

      When Sonnet finds out her mother is unexpectedly expecting, and that the pregnancy is high risk, she puts everything on hold—the job, the fellowship, the boyfriend—and heads home to Avalon. Once her mom is out of danger, Sonnet intends to pick up her life where she left off.

      But when her mother receives a devastating diagnosis, Sonnet must decide what really matters in life, even if that means staying in Avalon and taking a job that forces her to work alongside her biggest, and maybe her sweetest, mistake—award-winning filmmaker Zach Alger. So Sonnet embarks on a summer of laughter and tears, of old dreams and new possibilities, and of finding the home of her heart.

      Return to Willow Lake

      The

      Lakeshore Chronicles

      Susan Wiggs

       www.mirabooks.co.uk

      To imakepesto from beachwriter

      Contents

       Part One

       Must-Do List

       Chapter One

       Chapter Two

       Part Two

       Must-Do List (Revised)

       Chapter Three

       Chapter Four

       Part Three

       Must-Do List (Revised, Again)

       Chapter Five

       Chapter Six

       Chapter Seven

       Chapter Eight

       Chapter Nine

       Chapter Ten

       Chapter Eleven

       Chapter Twelve

       Chapter Thirteen

       Chapter Fourteen

       Chapter Fifteen

       Chapter Sixteen

       Part Four

       Must-Do List (Revised, Round 4)

       Chapter Seventeen

       Chapter Eighteen

       Chapter Nineteen

       Chapter Twenty

       Chapter Twenty-One

       Chapter Twenty-Two

       Chapter Twenty-Three

       Chapter Twenty-Four

       Chapter Twenty-Five

       Part Five

       Must-Do List (Last One, Promise)

       Epilogue

       Acknowledgments

       Excerpt

      Part One

      SONNET ROMANO’S

      MUST-DO-BEFORE-AGE-THIRTY LIST

       college degree

       overseas internship

       bond with estranged father

       find a better apartment

       fall in love

      A Scout is never taken by surprise; he knows exactly what to do when anything unexpected happens.

      —ROBERT BADEN-POWELL (SCOUTING FOR BOYS, 1908)

      Chapter One

      Moments before the wedding was to begin, Sonnet Romano shuddered with a wave of nervousness. “Mom,” she said, hurrying over to the window, which framed a view of Willow Lake, “what if I screw up?”

      Her mother turned from the window. The late afternoon light shrouded Nina Bellamy’s slender form, and for a moment she appeared ethereal and as young as Sonnet herself. Nina looked fantastic in her autumn-gold silk sheath, her dark hair swept back into a low chignon. Only someone who knew her the way Sonnet did might notice the subtle lines of fatigue around her eyes