Ciji Ware

Whether it's going from the multi-bedroom suburban house to the city condo, or from a country and city house to one cozy cottage, millions of Americans in the coming years will face the task of planning a shift to smaller or more practical quarters, paring down a lifetime of possessions and furnishing their new lives with things that have meaning. This simplification of surroundings and "stuff" will liberate people in mid-life to pursue their passions such as travel or hobbies without the responsibilities of a big house weighing them down. Rightsizing will be more than a handbook about the process of planning a new environment, jettisoning a lifetime's worth fo surplus household items, and moving painlessly into a more suitable space. It will also be the first comprehensive guide to the emotional passage that this winnowing process entails, providing a prescription for the internal hurdles that can easily sabotage sensible decision making.

Meredith Champlin, newly appointed guardian of her cousin's 11-year old daughter, travels with her Welsh Corgi and the unhappy child to Cornwall, where they plan to spend the summer with English relatives at shabby-chic Barton Hall. The summer gets more complicated with the addition of a former-British-soldier-turned-significant-other, a proposed canine obedience school, and an effort to save the estate from pending insolvency.

"Can memories of a tragic, eighteenth century love triangle be passed down through a descendant's DNA? A compelling, almost mystical attraction draws American designer Fiona Fraser into the force field of visiting Scotsman, Alexander Maxwell, through an eerie happenstance one steamy summer's day in New York City. When Fiona's mercurial boss dispatches her to Edinburgh to create a Scottish Home Furnishings Collection, the chemistry deepens as she and Alex discover their ancestral bonds to the star-crossed lovers Thomas Fraser--the "Lost Lieutenant"--and Jane Maxwell, the flamboyant 4th Duchess of Gordon who died in 1812. From the cobbled streets of Edinburgh's Royal Mile to the tartan and cashmere mills of the Scottish border country, the modern lovers grapple with the imminent threat of financial ruin to their respective firms, along with ancient wounds echoing down through time--and a heartbreaking mystery, hidden for more than two centuries, that will dictate their own destinies"--Page 4 of cover.

A Race to Splendor by Ciji Ware (Goodreads Author) 3.68 · Rating details · 1,178 Ratings · 175 Reviews "Blindly, she inched along a floor pitching as violently as the deck of a boat in a midwinter storm. Her hands touched the threshold opening onto the ninth floor foyer at the instant the glass transom over her head exploded into a thousand pieces. Reflexively, Amelia cast her right arm in front of her face, but not before blood spurted from her scalp and ran down her cheeks. She crumpled beneath the doorframe, curling into a ball. Amelia screamed again as a twenty-five-foot expanse of wood paneling and masonry pitched outward and plunged nine stories to Montgomery Street below. She knew that no structure on landfill, no matter how well built, could withstand much more shaking without collapsing. Then, just as suddenly, the convulsions subsided." Early in 1906, the ground in San Francisco shook buildings and lives from their comfortable foundations. Amidst rubble, corruption, and deceit, two women-young architects in a city and field ruled by men-find themselves racing the clock and each other during the rebuilding of competing hotels in the City by the Bay. Based on meticulous research, A Race to Splendor tells the story of the audacious people of one of the world's great cities rebuilding and reinventing themselves after immense human tragedy. Filled with courage, passion, and conflict, Amelia Bradshaw's spirit will capture your imagination as she strives to redraft her life amidst the ruins with both help and hindrance from a wayward son of privilege who pulls her into worlds she'd never have known.

Re-issued in its original full length, this acclaimed and bestselling romantic historical novel by award-winning author Ciji Ware tells the true story of passionate and flamboyant Jane Maxwell, the 4th Duchess of Gordon (1749-1812). In love since childhood with Thomas Fraser, when she hears that he's been killed in America, she marries the Duke of Gordon with disastrous results. But Fraser, very much alive, returns to England to claim her love.In addition to telling a heart-wrenching love story, Island of the Swans also paints a fascinating portrait of a powerfuland controversial woman and the tumultuous era inwhich she lived. Patroness of poet Robert Burns, advisorto King George, painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds, JaneMaxwell was a towering figure in her own time and is anunforgettable heroine.

A trio of romantic and inspiring tales that imagine three San Francisco women transformed by a magical Claddagh ring.