Rachel Cullen

The Summer sisters don't have much in common other than shared DNA. But when their father's untimely death reveals an earth-shattering secret, everything they thought they knew about their family -- and their future -- changes overnight.Jen spent her childhood feeling like the ugly duckling, while Lynn longed to be appreciated for something other than her looks. Consequently, both sisters competed for their father's affections but were never satisfied. Jen still hasn't forgiven Lynn for fleeing to California to follow her dreams, leaving Jen to tend to their father and the family insurance business in Chicago's North Shore suburbs. Meanwhile, Lynn is living in exile in Los Angeles, forced to endure the pain of her humiliating divorce in silence because she is too ashamed to reveal her mistakes to her perfect older sister.As the youngest member of the trio, Courtney's life is also turned upside down due to her father's death, only for an entirely different reason; Courtney didn't even know he existed until after he was gone. Now she has to figure out what life looks like with two older sisters who can't stand each other while attempting to piece together her fractured youth.Although this tragedy should bring the sisters together, the depth of their father's betrayal coupled with their tumultuous past makes reconciliation nearly impossible. Only time will tell if the bonds of sisterhood are strong enough to mend past transgressions or if the sisters, and their secrets, will destroy the Summer family forever.

The Last Summer Sister

Jack and Ellie Miller have been happily married for eighteen years and lead a perfectly ordinary life with their three children in an idyllic Connecticut town. Jack is an economics professor at Yale and Ellie owns a thriving yoga studio. Although day-to-day life isn't always carefree, they exist in a world where carpools, soccer games, and bedtimes are their biggest concerns. However, all good things must come to an end. The Millers' picture-perfect life gets turned upside down when Jack gets an unwelcome visit from a ghost from his past, their sixteen-year-old daughter Sydney decides to let down her hair and trade her backpack for a six-pack, and Ellie gets shocking news that requires immediate action. Jack and Ellie can barely pull themselves away from these unexpected challenges long enough to notice that Sydney is careening downward in her own dangerous spiral; but they need to find a way to overcome their issues if they want to save their daughter and their marriage.

First Came Us

It should have been the best summer of their lives - unfortunately, life doesn't always go according to plan. Summer in the Hamptons should be filled with cocktails by the pool, bonfires on the beach, and sunset clam bakes. Instead, Nora, Megan, and Courtney are battling dreadful blind dates, duplicitous roommates, and blackmailing ex-boyfriends. Nora recently moved into her newly constructed dream home on Dune Road. She sold her company in a legendary eight-figure deal and now has unlimited time and money to spend however she chooses. But sadly, she's alienated friends and family on her rise to the top and now finds herself all alone when things may be at their worst. Megan has let a dangerous situation spiral out of control and needs a chance to clear her head and regroup. Her plans for a post-graduation trip have fallen apart, and the closest thing she has to a family is inconveniently using the summer to relocate. So, when Megan gets a last-minute offer for a guest house in Westhampton Beach, she jumps at the chance, even though her hostess is a stranger, and it's only a temporary solution to a persistent problem. Courtney just graduated from college and simultaneously lost the two things that defined her - collegiate basketball and her best friend turned boyfriend. She desperately needs a change of scenery to recover and mend her broken heart, which is why Courtney takes the leap when the opportunity to spend two months in the Hamptons falls in her lap, even though the classmate who invited her is barely more than an acquaintance. When a series of disastrous events transpire, Nora, Megan, and Courtney band together and find solace in their unlikely friendship. While it's a far cry from the respite they each imagined, this improbable trio may not be too late to enjoy an unforgettable summer on Dune Road.

Summer on Dune Road

Upper West Side Story

Remember the world before iPhones, Ubers, and streaming on Netflix? It's 2004 in Manhattan, and real estate is the driving factor behind most relationship decisions. Only here can strangers go from roommates to friends to lovers in less time than it takes a co-op board to approve a purchase. Robin Cromwell is in desperate need of a roommate. She's lucked into a rent-controlled classic-six on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, but her best friend is moving, and she can't afford to live there alone. Jessica Barlowe is counting the days until she moves in with her boyfriend in his renovated one-bedroom co-op. That is until she walks in on him with another woman, and all her plans, including where she is going to live, disappear into thin air. Tory Wallace is determined to move out from under her abhorrent parents' roof, even if that roof is covering a $50 million brownstone on the Upper East Side. Although Tory hasn't spent much time thinking about being self-sufficient, the tension at home has reached a boiling point, and she's got to get out. Zach Sullivan is a successful technology executive living in a modernized pre-war two-bedroom on West 78th Street. He'd never planned on renting out his spare bedroom, but a chance encounter results in an impulsive offer that will change his life forever. An Upper West Side Story is an engaging and heartwarming story about love, friendship, and that time in life when friends are family and drinks at a dive bar in Manhattan can solve all your troubles.

An Upper West Side Story

From the beaches of Cape Cod to the manicured lawns of Westchester to the steamy streets of Manhattan, summer is the time for clambakes, sunbathing at the country club and sunset drinks at exclusive rooftop bars. However, for Sabrina, Molly, Heather and Megan, this summer is when their lives unravel, and they have no one to blame but themselves. Only Summer is the interlaced story of four women who spend the summer making impulsive choices that have difficult and often disastrous effects on those they love most. Career-driven, eternal Manhattanite Sabrina is finally on the straight and narrow and happy in her relationship with Peter, but a surprise engagement and a bigger surprise from an ex-boyfriend prove too much for her to handle and force her back to her self-destructive ways. Sabrina's friend and colleague Heather is recovering from months of illness, but her husband refuses to believe she is strong enough to do anything on her own. As luck would have it, the handsome stranger she meets on the Cape has no problem believing in her and helping her recapture her allure.Sabrina's sister Molly is new to the suburban town of Rye and trying to fit in with a group of women who measure self worth by their dress size and the square footage of their homes. Before she can say no, Molly is wrapped up in a world of excess and she's in so deep, there may not be a way out.After two years of bliss with her boyfriend Ryan, Megan finds herself in unfamiliar territory and unable to turn to her pseudo-stepmom, her friends, or even her unlikely matchmaker Sabrina! Alone once again, Megan reaches out in a new and potentially dangerous direction for comfort. While the carefree days of summer pass them by, these four distressed friends try to put the pieces back together before it's too late.

Only Summer

The tale of four very different women whose lives have fallen off the expected paths and how they navigate the friendships, relationships and uphill journeys through their entangled 'do-overs' in the game of life. Second Chances follows a single mother deserted by her adulterous ex-husband, a socialite who abandoned her family and fled to the Caribbean, a high-powered executive with a disconcerting fear of commitment and a questionable sense of judgment, and a privileged teenager plagued with a lecherous father and absentee mother while bewildered by an unforeseen opportunity with the most sought after boy in school. Although the women are each dealt cards they never expected, they find friendship, family and love in the least likely of places, and with those, they find hope.

Rachel Cullen

About

Books

Join the club