The Other Woman -- Jane Green

Ellie Black is living her dream life. She is a successful career woman, working for a successful chain of hotels in England. She is in the prime of her life -- in her early 30s. And she is dating cute, dependable, gainfully employed Dan Cooper. And when Dan proposes, Ellie realizes she will soon join the perfect family and life will be all she could have ever hoped it would be.

Only sometimes, life throws a curve ball. What Ellie didn't realize is that Dan's family was not picture-perfect. Before long, Ellie starts to realize there is another woman in Dan's life, and it's his mother Linda. Linda is the matriarch of her family, and she definitely "wears the pants." So when Dan and Ellie get engaged, Linda immediately begins trying to turn Ellie into the daughter she never had (though in all truth, Linda does have a daughter of her own), and butts into their lives daily. She takes over all wedding plans, and winds up planning the wedding of her own dreams, rather than the wedding Ellie wanted. But Ellie strives to take it all in stride, and she isn't surprised when her new mother-in-law becomes even more overbearing when Dan and Ellie share the exciting news that a baby is on the way, but she is certainly quite annoyed by it!

As time goes on and life changes with the birth of a son, Ellie soon discovers that her life isn't the fairytale she thought it was going to be -- and that marriage is hard, and even harder when a child enters the mix. As Ellie struggles with the trials that come from parenthood, marriage, and over-involved in-laws, she wonders if it is really all worth it and if she made the right choices about marriage.

Before Midnight: a Retelling of "Cinderella" -- Cameron Dokey

The day Cendrillon was born was the same day her mother died. Cendrillon's father, Etienne de Brabant, blames Cendrillon for the death of his beloved -- he wasn't even able to be present at her death, becasue he was on an errand for the king. When he returns two weeks after his daughter's birth and his wife's death, he brings with him a two-week old baby boy - a boy about whom he refuses to give any information. In fury and grief, he leaves the boy and his daughter to be raised by Old Mathilde, wishing never to see his daughter again until peace is in his heart.

So for fifteen years, Old Mathilde rasies Cendrillon and Raoul - the name she gave the baby boy. Together they, with the other workers on the de Brabant lands, keep the lands and home running and productive. One day, a soldier, young, weary, and hurt, arrives suddenly at their doorstep. He is a messenger from the land at war with their country, and he brings a message for the queen. Once the young messenger, whose name is Niccolo, has been nursed back to health, and after becoming well-acquainted with the members of the de Brabant household, Niccolo goes to court to deliver his message.

A few months pass before Niccolo's return, but when he does return, he brings with him surprising news: Etienne de Brabant has remarried according to orders from the king, and Cendrillon now has a step-mother and two step-sisters who are en route to their new home. At first, Cendrillon is treated as a servant by her new family, for that is what her stepmother and stepsisters believe her to be. Etienne de Brabant never divulged the existence of his daughter, so nobody from the city knew about her. But when the truth comes out, Cendrillon's life egins to change, and before long -- with a summons by the king to a ball for all elligible young ladies; and a summons by Etienne himself for Raoul to come to court, everyon's lives will be changed as secrets are revealed, betrayals are discovered, and love overcomes all.