I Choose You


Charles A. Bush - 2014
    She was valedictorian of her Yale undergrad class, is ranked top of her Yale Medical School class, and unlike her promiscuous roommate, she would rather spend her free nights reading Jane Austen than out partying. Undeniably, the lifelong promise that she made to her dying mother to become a doctor, is firmly in her grasp and she is focused not to let anything or anyone deter her from fulfilling it. That is, until the last day of her second year of medical school, when her friends surprise her with a summer vacation to England. While in England, she breaks one of her many sacred rules and falls for, Jude, a professional footballer with an appetite for wild parties and beautiful women. Over the course of their improbable summer romance, Jude introduces Emily to a new world of excitement and spontaneity, leaving her to question the secluded life she had always known, while Emily shows Jude the depths of the human heart and all the joy it can bring. However, once the summer ends, their love is tested by distance, social class, and the sacrifices needed to make enduring love blossom. And when fate intervenes by sending their lives spiraling on separate paths, will a memorable summer romance years ago be enough to bring them back together? I Choose You is a charming love story that has been compared to the unforgettable romances of A Walk to Remember, and Dear John (Nicholas Sparks). Bush explores the many intricacies of young love and the choices we must make to live life to the fullest.

Two From the Heart


James Patterson - 2017
    After her marriage falls apart and a hurricane destroys her home she realizes that her life has fallen out of focus. So she takes to the road to ask long lost friends and strangers a simple question: "What's your best story?" Can the funny, tragic, inspirational tales she hears on her journey help Anne see what she's been missing? Tyler Bron seemingly has it all-a successful company and more money than he knows how to spend. But he has no life. So he hires a struggling novelist to write one for him. There are no limits to the fictional world that Bron's money can transform into a reality, and he soon becomes the protagonist of a love story beyond his wildest imagination. But will Tyler Bron be able to write the happy ending himself?

Trapped


Richard Greener - 2011
    He had violent hallucinations based on the Iraq war and the reports of terrorism and violence constantly playing on his hospital TV tuned into CNN. He believed his family to be in danger, but he had no way to communicate with them. For a long time after the whole ordeal, he had trouble knowing what had happened. What was real and what wasn't. If part of the core of who we are is our memory, what does it mean when the memory is still there, but false?

The Italian Escape


Catherine Mangan - 2021
    

The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg -- Review


Expert Book Reviews - 2014
    The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion compares the contrasting worlds of present-day Southern life and Midwestern immigrant cities during World War II. After learning that she was adopted, Sookie is filled with questions of self-doubt and becomes determined to learn the truth behind her roots. Fannie Flagg depicts adventurous and courageous women as WASPs during WWII as she tells the story of the Jurdabralinski sisters. These roles contradict Sookie's upbringing in Alabama where society is ruled by social norms and status. The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion offers an inspirational tale with accurate historical details that are presented through an engaging plot. This review of Flagg's novel gives you a broader view of the author and her writing style. Read quotes from literary critics to discover the book's appeal, or lack thereof. Sookie counters a cast of larger-than-life characters as she finds adventure and realizes her underlying identity. The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion captures a journey of self-discovery mixed with realism and humor to delight all readers.

Ireland Rose


Patricia Strefling - 2011
    Rose's father finds a suitable husband, Captain Camden Lovell, twenty-seven years her senior. Captain Lovell takes his bride to Charleston, provides her with a beautiful home on the Battery and good standing in Charleston Society.Three years later Rose is a widow. Captain Wyatt, her husband's trusted employee is now in charge of her affairs. Rose senses he does not like her. One day he brings a young woman with child to her - and a secret that must be kept. A little girl is born, and Rose becomes a mother. Captain Wyatt offers to marry her in name only to protect her from Charleston society gossip, but she is determined she will not marry a second time for protection. She will marry for love or live alone.Just three months later, August 31st, 1886 the city of Charleston suffers the worst earthquake of the century. Her beautiful home is in shambles. Rose has no choice but to return to her parents' birthplace in Ireland. The only record she has of her Irish ancestry is in her mother's Bible. She and her infant daughter take the next ship to Ireland. She has begun to hope she has finally found happiness when Captain Wyatt comes with news that shatters her heart.Every person Rose loves is taken away. Her faith in God is shaken. There is a plan for her, but she can't see it. Captain Wyatt breaks her heart, not once but twice.

Second Sight; The Complete Series Box Set


Hazel Hunter - 2015
    Her psychic ability gives her a second type of vision. When she touches objects and people, she looks into their past. But her gift is equal parts curse. She has yet to find the lover who can accept the brutal truth of what she sees. Isolated and rejected, she is ready to leave Los Angeles and abandon her career when she meets FBI profiler Gavin “Mac” MacMillan... Thrown together when the daughter of a mutual friend is abducted, Isabelle discovers that Mac could be the man who won’t push her away. Despite his controlled exterior, she senses a fevered passion in him that boils just below the surface. But as she and Mac give in to their desires and race to save a young girl, Isabelle must learn yet again that every touch has its price! Torn (Second Sight #2) Psychic Isabelle de Grey and FBI Special Agent Gavin “Mac” MacMillan are an improbable couple. But when her world of seeing into the past and his world of profiling criminals overlaps, an intense, sensual relationship quickly erupts. Despite bi-coastal living arrangements, red-hot desire still consumes them both. Though Isabelle is thrilled that Mac is returning to L.A., her happiness is tempered by the grim reality they must face... The serial killer who escaped them has struck again and kidnapped another young woman. Though Isabelle and Mac work together, he keeps their relationship hidden in order to preserve his job. As the investigation falters and the strain of secrecy takes its toll, Isabelle and Mac struggle to find a way forward. Despite the heated passion that explodes between them, hard decisions lay in store for the couple as they discover that every choice has its cost! Taken (Second Sight #3) Although psychic Isabelle de Grey and FBI Special Agent Gavin “Mac” MacMillan are most definitely a couple, they hadn’t counted on being together 24/7. But when a serial killer known as the Chameleon takes a special interest in Isabelle, Mac refuses to leave her side! Though deeply in love, their relationship is put to the test when the FBI, against Mac’s wishes, asks Isabelle to act as a decoy. Although Isabelle is willing, the plan unwittingly plays into Mac’s darkest and secret fear. As their relationship strains to the breaking point and Isabelle’s life hangs in the balance, Mac finally understands that every predator must have their prey... Chosen (Second Sight #4) The Green Earth Commune isn’t all that it seems. When psychic Isabelle de Grey arrives, only her ability to read the past reveals something is terribly amiss. Though her instincts tell her to run, Isabelle can’t say no to a former friend in desperate need of help! But the turmoil has just begun when FBI profiler Gavin “Mac” MacMillan arrives unexpectedly in Los Angeles. As the passion that has always claimed them heats to beyond boiling, Mac and Isabelle find themselves at a crossroads. Tugged in different directions while confronting both past and future, they find that, when it comes to choice, desire is all that matters... Charmed (Second Sight #5) When psychic Isabelle de Grey discovers her ex-boyfriend is alive, nothing can stop her from finding him. But it seems that all roads lead to the Green Earth Commune and Mac has forbidden her from going. After shots were fired at them, it doesn’t take an FBI agent to know the secluded settlement is dangerous! But disagreeing over her plans is the least of their worries as the reality of living together hits them both full force. Not what either of them had expected, the closeness they’d been desperate for only serves to drive them apart. As the mystery of the commune draws them deeper into its web of lies, Isabelle feels she has no choice. Against Mac’s wishes, she plays a risky game, when the seducer is seduced... Changed (Second Sight #6) Though Isabelle and Mac struggle to settle into a new life together, the world seems set against it. Events at the Green Earth Commune take stranger and stranger turns, until neither of them can turn away. Something dark waits in the heart of the small community, though neither of them suspects the deadly truth... But as psychic and FBI profiler work together, their personal lives stall. The risk of reading Mac too closely looms as a new danger that neither of them had foreseen. As their relationship approaches the brink, Isabelle and Mac can no longer deny that they must come together or they will come apart because there is no going back!

The Second Life of Mirielle West


Amanda Skenandore - 2021
    Based on little-known history, this timely book will strike a chord with readers of Fiona Davis, Tracey Lange, and Marie Benedict.Based on the true story of America’s only leper colony, The Second Life of Mirielle West brings vividly to life the Louisiana institution known as Carville, where thousands of people were stripped of their civil rights, branded as lepers, and forcibly quarantined throughout the entire 20th century. For Mirielle West, a 1920’s socialite married to a silent film star, the isolation and powerlessness of the Louisiana Leper Home is an unimaginable fall from her intoxicatingly chic life of bootlegged champagne and the star-studded parties of Hollywood’s Golden Age. When a doctor notices a pale patch of skin on her hand, she’s immediately branded a leper and carted hundreds of miles from home to Carville, taking a new name to spare her family and famous husband the shame that accompanies the disease.At first she hopes her exile will be brief, but those sent to Carville are more prisoners than patients and their disease has no cure. Instead she must find community and purpose within its walls, struggling to redefine her self-worth while fighting an unchosen fate.As a registered nurse, Amanda Skenandore’s medical background adds layers of detail and authenticity to the experiences of patients and medical professionals at Carville – the isolation, stigma, experimental treatments, and disparate community. A tale of repulsion, resilience, and the Roaring ‘20s, The Second Life of Mirielle West is also the story of a health crisis in America’s past, made all the more poignant by the author’s experiences during another, all-too-recent crisis.

Christmas Inn Love


Kelly Collins - 2019
    She has a wonderful son and a business she loves. Though challenged to make ends meet, she’s come a long way from the tough times she endured as a teenage mom. With the busy Christmas season ahead, things are looking up, until Scrooge himself arrives intent on putting a huge resort next to her inn—a resort destined to put her out of business. Wealthy business developer Rob McKenna is coming back home to the tiny town of Pinetop, Colorado to tie up loose ends. After the death of his mother, he’s inherited her Victorian home, her dog, and hundreds of acres of land he plans to develop into a resort and sell. It all seems so simple until he runs into Celia Roberts. In high school, she was the “it” girl, and he was nobody. She dated the bully, and he was the target. Now he’s back, and she’s single, and as beautiful as ever. However, she’s the only thing standing between him and his plan to get in, get rich, and get out of town. He wants to move the small town into the future. She wants to preserve the past. Can the magic of Christmas leave them both with full hearts and bright futures or will one of them end up with nothing under the tree?

The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith - A 30-minute Chapter-by-Chapter Summary


Instaread Summaries - 2013
    Robin Ellacott's long-term boyfriend, Matthew, proposes on her first day to work for Strike as temp secretary.

Before I Knew Him


Anna Ralph - 2008
    But he doesn’t see much to look forward to. Leo doesn’t fit in. But nothing ever happens to Leo; he never has a story. Then he meets David. Moody, resentful and tough, David is everything Leo is not and an unlikely friendship soon grows between them.Events that summer take a dangerous and disturbing turn, and the results are devastating for both boys and their friendship. In the aftermath, traumatized, they pledge to keep their shared secret, never to meet again, and above all — to forget. But when the terrible truth re-emerges ten years later and forces David and Leo back together, everything and nothing has changed.

Mother Knows Best


Kira Peikoff - 2019
    Now she wants a second chance to be a mother, and finds it in Robert Nash, a maverick fertility doctor who works under the radar with Jillian Hendricks, a cunning young scientist bent on making her mark—and seducing her boss.Claire, Robert, and Jillian work together to create the world’s first baby with three genetic parents—an unprecedented feat that could eliminate inherited disease. But when word of their illegal experiment leaks to the wrong person, Robert escapes into hiding with the now-pregnant Claire, leaving Jillian to serve out a prison sentence that destroys her future.Ten years later, a spunky girl named Abigail begins to understand that all is not right with the reclusive man and woman she knows as her parents. But the family’s problems are only beginning. Jillian, hardened by a decade of jealousy and loss, has returned—and nothing will stop her from reuniting with the man and daughter who should have been hers. Past, present—and future converge in a mesmerizing psychological thriller from acclaimed bestselling author Kira Peikoff.

I Never Knew You


Patrick Higgins - 2020
    A promising career. Good health. A beautiful house. A promising relationship. Most importantly, she was a proud member of the largest and most popular megachurch in all of Seattle—the Blessed and Highly Favored Full Gospel Church.Everything started changing in her seemingly perfect life after a pastor visiting from China created such an uproar at her church, with messages most members found both mean spirited and judgmentally offensive, that Mark Lau was asked to leave and told never to come back.It took traveling all the way to Shanghai, China, with her best friend, Meredith Geiger, for Charmaine to discover the many differences between her church, which was opulent in every sense of the word, and Pastor Lau’s church, which was located beneath a dry cleaners, of all places.Even more telling were the messages both pastors preached. Despite that they taught from the very same Book, their messages couldn’t have been anymore polarizing. While Charmaine was instantly intrigued by the whole “underground” experience, Meredith was so traumatized that she cut short what had been the best vacation of her life, to go back to the States.But not before alarming Charmaine’s boyfriend of the grave danger they faced. Rodney Williams then told lead pastors, Julian and Imogen Martín, who flew 5,700 miles from Seattle to China, to rescue her from the so-called pastor who’d already caused some to leave their megachurch.Upon arriving, they learned their suspicions were quickly confirmed. Mark Lau had used his subterranean gathering place to radically change Charmaine’s way of thinking. Despite her strongest protests, they flat-out refused to believe that God had used him to transform her life and deepen her faith, to the extent that she finally had eternal assurance.Tragically for the Martíns, by the time they discovered the prosperity Gospel they’d been preaching was a false one, it would be too late…

Dead Souls MC Series: Books 1-5


Savannah Rylan - 2019
     Knox Prison is no joke. The food sucks, My roommate snores, And the only thing I have to look forward to is Monroe. My lawyer can look at my briefs anytime. She’s smart, beautiful, and the only way I’m getting out of this hellhole. I didn’t kill Blaze, but when you’re a Dead Soul MC member, no one cares about the truth. And maybe that’s for the best, Because no one can know about Canyon. Monroe is not just getting me out of jail, She’s also getting into my heart. Grave These lawyers can go screw themselves. If they think I’m going to let Everly go into witness protection, they've got another thing coming. They’re right that she is in danger, But I can keep her safe. So she will move in with me. At first, it seems simple, But as the lies unravel, I realize that Everly might be the only good thing in all of this. She’s pure, innocent and everything I’m not. But for her, I would change. Be the man she needs me to be. Forever. Brewer I thought kids were annoying. But after I meet, Ana, the MILF next doors daughter, I change my mind. She has the same sense of humor that I do. She’s a cool person, just on a smaller scale. And hanging out with her means more time with her mom. Makenna is easy on the eyes, But would be better on my bike. Getting close to me is a risk. But I would lay down my life for them. Take a bullet. Girls like battle scars, right? Rock She lied to me. The minute I see Gavin for the first time, I know he is mine. Piper told him his daddy was in jail. I should be angry with her. But with that stethoscope draped around her neck, I know she’s not as bad as I want her to be. She was just trying to protect him. From my life, my club, and the bastards that are trying to kill us. She has every reason to be worried, But no one will touch my son. Or my girl. She may have left before, But this time, I know she’ll stay. Because we both want the same thing. A family. Diesel No one tells me what to do. Except for maybe Dean, The President of the Black Hornets. I need their help in order to defeat the Black Saddles once and for all. But I know that their help is going to come at a cost. I don’t expect the price to be a pretty little thing, named Brynn. His daughter. That I thought was dead. Being in one MC is bad enough. But being a son in law to another MC’s president is going to be hell on earth. That is if she will agree to it. And so far, I can’t even get her to be in the same room with me. She’s feisty, and her good looks are no secret. I love a confident woman, But this one might be too hot to handle. I’m fire and she’s gasoline. Let’s light this sh*t up.

Dragon Apocalypse: The Complete Collection


James Maxey - 2016
    Manipulating the world's most powerful warriors like pawns on a chessboard, can she stave off the coming doom, or will her actions serve as the trigger for the Dragon Apocalypse? DRAGON APOCALYPSE: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION, gathers all four novels of the critically acclaimed series by James Maxey, author of the bestselling BITTERWOOD series. It also includes the novella GREATSHADOW: ORIGINS, the story that provided the inspiration for the novels. GREATSHADOW Infidel is a legendary sword-for-hire, enchanted with impervious skin and the strength of ten men. When her closest companion dies, she decides to retire in style by stealing the treasure horde of the dragon Greatshadow. To do so, she joins an expedition organized by the Church of the Book, who’ve assembled a team of the world’s most dangerous mercenaries to kill the dragon. With half the rogues on the team dreaming of taking the treasure for themselves, can she survive her own companions long enough to fight the dragon? HUSH Infidel must travel to the frozen wastes to fulfill a promise made to a dying friend. When she stumbles across a plot by the Hush, the primal dragon of cold, to murder Glorious, the dragon of the sun, will she be able to save the world from the darkness of an eternal winter? WITCHBREAKER Long ago, Stark Tower, the Witchbreaker, used his hell-forged sword to destroy the kingdom of the witch-queen Avaris. Now, a young woman named Sorrow is on a quest to recover all the lost secrets of witchcraft, and has tapped into the power of Rott, the primal dragon of death, for the might needed to fight her numerous enemies. In the ruins of the land once ruled by Avaris, she discovers a sleeping knight who awakens with no memory of his past, who proves to be a warrior of unmatched skills. They must work together to reach Avaris in her abode in the realms of the dead. But is Sorrow’s new ally secretly her greatest enemy, the long-vanished Witchbreaker? CINDER It’s the end of the world! Twenty years after the attack on Greatshadow, the primal dragon Tempest has torn down the gates of Hell, unleashing an army of the damned onto a world already in ruins from blizzards, floods, and earthquakes. Infidel’s daughter Cinder was born with the power to walk between the realms of the living and the dead. Can she rescue Sorrow and her allies from Hell in time to defend the last stronghold of mankind from the assembled dragons? ‘This one is worth reading right now.' Orson Scott Card on Greatshadow 'Greatshadow's level 30+ adventure is charming, not po-faced, with a group of flawed, quick-witted and oddball adventurers that are equally comfortable with set-piece battle and rapid fire sarcasm.' Pornokitsch on Greatshadow 'A magnificently entertaining romp bursting with charm.' SFX on Greatshadow