A foster child named Angel and twelve-year-old Stella, who are living with Stella's great-aunt Louise at the Linger Longer Cottage Colony on Cape Cod, secretly assume responsibility for the vacation rentals when Louise unexpectedly dies and the girls are afraid of being returned to the foster care system.
Rose Edelstein, on the eve of her ninth birthday, bites into her mother's lemon-chocolate cake and is immediately aware of the hidden secrets the members of her family hold.
Meridy Dresden, a successful mother and wife, returns to her hometown of Seaboro, South Carolina, to do research on the Gullah, and interviews her family's former housekeeper discovering secrets of her own past.
Tandy Angel is, along with her brothers, a suspect in their parents' murder but having grown up under Malcolm and Maud Angel's perfectionist demands, Tandy decides she must clear the family name no matter what.
Schuyler Van Alen, a loner at a prestigious New York City private school, sets out to learn the secrets of the Blue Bloods, an ancient group of vampires.
Thirteen-year-old Hazel leaves her comfortable, if somewhat unconventional, London home in 1913 after her father has a breakdown, and goes to live in the Caribbean on her grandparents' sugar plantation where she discovers some shocking family secrets.
Bernard Doyle, former Boston Mayor and father of two adopted sons, has done his best to keep his sons interested in politics; however, one snowy evening an accident triggers into motion a series of events that will change their lives forever.
