Question:
What do Amy, the new mom;
Meriel, the West-Indian housekeeper;
Claude and Naomi, the alternative couple;
Faith, the elegant widow;
and Talia, the super-skinny ballerina
have in common?

Answer:
Abso-freakin'-lutely-nothing!

Except that they all live lives of not-so-quiet desperation on the Upper West Side of New York City. What gets them through? Their unusual therapy sessions with supershrink Susan Lederer, held in the depths of the laundry room. Susan knows that all of life's problems eventually come out in the wash, but while the washers keep breaking down, she helps her female friends take control.

But Susan's life has become an agitated mess. Her teenage daughter seems destined for a fast-food future; her son's adolescence hasn't quite hit yet . . . and her perfect husband is hiding something. Susan could use a really good shrink.

Instead, her dirty linen exposed, she finds that it's her friends who rally 'round her, and by the final spin, she realizes that while it might not take a whole village, it does sometimes take a laundry room to get rid of the nastier wrinkles in life.

Now if only she could find the formula for getting rid of that ring around the collar.

A behind-the-scenes look into the life of Meghan Markle and her romance with Prince Harry—a dishy, delightful must-read filled with exclusive insights for anyone obsessed with the Royal Family.

When Prince Harry of Wales took his American girlfriend, Meghan Markle, to have tea with his grandmother the queen, avid royal watchers had a hunch that a royal wedding was not far off. That prediction came true on November 27, 2017, when the gorgeous, glamorous twosome announced their engagement to the world. As they prepare to tie the knot in a stunning ceremony on May 19, 2018, that will be unprecedented in royal history, people are clamoring to know more about the beautiful American who captured Prince Harry’s heart.

Born and raised in Los Angeles to a white father of German, English, and Irish descent and an African American mother whose ancestors had been enslaved on a Georgia plantation, Meghan has proudly embraced her biracial heritage. In addition to being a star of the popular television series Suits, she is devoted to her humanitarian work—a passion she shares with Harry. Though Meghan was married once before, Prince Harry is a modern royal, and the Windsors have welcomed her into the tight-knit clan they call “The Firm.” Even a generation ago, it would have been unthinkable, as well as impermissible, for any member of Great Britain’s royal family to consider marrying someone like Meghan. Professional actresses were considered scandalous and barely respectable. And the last time an American divorcee married into the Royal Family, it provoked a constitutional crisis!

In American Princess, Leslie Carroll provides context to Harry and Meghan’s romance by leading readers through centuries of Britain’s rule-breaking royal marriages, as well as the love matches that were never permitted to make it to the altar; followed by a never-before-seen glimpse into the little-known life of the woman bringing the Royal Family into the 21st century; and her dazzling, thoroughly modern romance with Prince Harry.

This timely Brief offers up-to-date findings about bullying--from trends and outcomes to assessment and identification--and workable approaches to combat this social epidemic on multiple fronts. The book examines links between bullying and mental health issues, the complex dynamics between bully and bullied (especially since bullies themselves may be victimized by others) and new challenges presented by youth involvement in social media. Effects of whole-school interventions involving students, teachers, and administrators, on bullying and its consequences, are concisely presented. And clinicians have guidelines for coordinating with children, parents, schools and the community. Included in the coverage: State statutes and federal anti-bullying efforts. A parent's perspective on the bullying of special-needs children. School-based prevention programs. Bullying and special populations. Parent strategies to reduce cyber-bullying. Best practices for promoting awareness and advocacy. Practical Strategies for Clinical Management of Bullying is an important reference for clinicians, parents, professionals at child-serving agencies and organizations, school administrators and staff, policymakers and child advocates. Its coverage strikes the right balance between intervention and prevention, with effective methods for helping victims--and bullies--heal.

Leslie Carroll takes a look at five scandalous and seductive royal stories that will enchant and entertain royalists and lovers of history alike.

Chock-full of shocking scenes, titillating tales, and wildly wicked nobles, "Royal Pains" is a rollicking compendium of the most infamous, capricious, and insatiable bluebloods of Europe.

A funny, raucous, and delightfully dirty 900-year history of the royal marriages of Europe's most famous-and infamous-monarchs.
Since time immemorial, royal marriages have had little to do with love- and almost everything to do with diplomacy and dynasty. Clashing personalities have joined in unholy matrimony to form such infamous couples as Russia's Peter II and Catherine the Great, and France's Henri II and Catherine de Medici-all with the purpose of begetting a male heir. But with tensions high and silverware flying, kings like England's Henry II have fled to the beds of their nubile mistresses, while queens such as Eleanor of Aquitaine have plotted their revenge...
Full of the juicy gossip and bad behavior that characterized "Royal Affairs," this book chronicles the love-hate marriages of the crowned heads of Europe-from the Angevins to Charles and Di-and ponders how dynasties ever survived at all.

When life throws you a curve ball...

Venus deMarley has just been hit with a wild pitch. At forty she's finally found the perfect fiance, when Sophie--the daughter she gave up for adoption twenty years ago--suddenly reappears. Venus has another crisis on her hands as well: her eccentric millionaire dad just died and willed her his pet project--a rag-tag minor league baseball team called the Bronx Cheers--"if" Venus and Sophie can reconcile and once again become a family. Venus knows diddly about sports, but Sophie's a jock, unlike her glamorous mom. And after two decades apart, these two women know nothing about each other, and rarely agree on anything. But maybe--just maybe--they have more in common than they think...

With her sharp wit and riveting style, Leslie Carroll plunges us deep into the world of the overscheduled children of New York, and the oversexed, over-lipoed, overpaid people who raise them -or pay their nannies!
What happens when a trophy wife gets turned in for someone even younger, blonder, and prettier? Claire Marsh doesn't take it lying down. She may have lost both husband and housekeeper in the horrible divorce, but even if she's not able to keep living in the manner to which she's accustomed, she'll do what it takes so that her daughter will - with a little help from her slightly wild, slightly out-of-control sister MiMi.

A touching and hopeful look at the underworld of the office temp from hilarious author Leslie Carroll.Meet Alice Finnegan: 30-something, single, and stuck in a cycle of horrific secretarial temp jobs. She's trying to fulfil her childhood ambitions of on-stage stardom while sharing an apartment with her 90-something grandmother, a feisty, funny, former Ziegfeld showgirl.Along the rocky road to independence Alice encounters a colourful cast of oddballs, nuts, and control freaks (including members of her immediate family). And just to keep life interesting, she succumbs to the pitfalls of office romances and the perils of nasty bosses as she endeavours to keep her sanity intact and make that big break into the spotlights.

This is an encyclopaedic overview of royal scandals, covering nearly 1000 years, from the passionate Plantagenets to Henry VIII's alarming head count of wives and mistresses, to the sapphic crushes of Mary and Anne Stuart right on up to the scandal-blighted coupling of Prince Charles and Lady Diana.