Small Town Perfect Boxed Set Five

Small town romantic women’s fiction with love, hope, second chances, and a happy ending!

Note from Mary:


I love secondary characters: writing them, reading about them, even watching them on the big screen. Secondary characters support the “stars”; make them more vibrant and compelling. But when the story ends, I’m often left wondering what they’d do if they were in the “spotlight”. That’s why I’ve created special boxed sets that were part of That Second Chance series and the Truth in Lies series. These boxed sets let the reader follow the before and after of select characters as they first appear in That Second Chance series and later in the fictional town of my bestselling Truth in Lies series. Boxed Set Five contains Not Your Everyday Housewife and A Family Affair: The Gift. I invite you to follow their journey!



Not Your Everyday Housewife

A wise and humorous tale of living large after 40 as women finally make peace with themselves—wrinkles, blubber, neuroses, exes, and all.

Three women embark on a month-long “discovery” journey and uncover quite a few tidbits along the way…one bottle of Clairol Midnight will not cover a full head of red hair, and never talk to men wearing polyester pants hiked up with a tan belt. But most of what they unearth is about themselves—who they are, what they really want, what they really don’t want. The center of controversy is a Maid-for-You mixer, which symbolizes a boring, routine suburban life with no second chances—then along comes insight in the form of Tula Rae, a sixty-something salsa-dancing, Dalai Lama-quoting, four-time widow in Spandex and a gray braid who gives them a different perspective on life, love, do-overs, and the real reason a man buys his woman a Maid-for-You mixer, which she says is all about S-E-X.



A Family Affair: The Gift

Only one thing is missing from Tess and Daniel “Cash” Casherdon’s perfect life—a child. Oh, how they long for one to make their life complete. But what is it people say about being careful what you wish for…? Their wish will come true, but not in the way they think.

Daniel Casherdon’s past is about to catch up with him. It’s bad enough when a woman arrives in Magdalena with a nine-year-old boy she claims is his, but confessing to a terminal illness and asking Tess and Cash to raise the boy when she’s gone? Well, that’s going to require a big leap of faith that won’t be easy or without repercussions. How can anyone refuse a dying mother such a heartbreaking request? Tess is torn between doing right by the child and acknowledging that another woman has given the man she loves something she may never be able to—a child. As the woman pulls Cash closer into her emotional circle, it is Tess who becomes the outsider, and soon she wonders if the woman has secrets she’s not telling.

More than one resident is suspicious of anyone who drives a wedge between one of Magdalena’s favorite couples. The newcomer may look and act like the girl next door, but something isn’t right, and Pop Benito is going to gather ammunition and find out what that something is. But he’d better do it fast, before it’s too late.



Small Town Perfect Series:

Boxed Set 1 includes Pulling Home and A Family Affair: The Promise

Boxed Set 2 includes The Way They Were and A Family Affair: The Secret

Boxed Set 3 includes Simple Riches and A Family Affair: Winter

Boxed Set 4 includes Paradise Found and A Family Affair: The Wish

Boxed Set 5 includes Not Your Everyday Housewife and A Family Affair: The Gift

Boxed Set 6 includes The Butterfly Garden and A Family Affair: The Return