Book picks similar to
Dirty To The Grave by Karen P. Williams
urban
karen-williams
issue-abuse
romance
Pretty Dead Girls
Monica Murphy - 2018
Perfect. Dead.In the peaceful seaside town of Cape Bonita, wicked secrets and lies are hidden just beneath the surface. But all it takes is one tragedy for them to be exposed.The most popular girls in school are turning up dead, and Penelope Malone is terrified she's next. All the victims so far have been linked to Penelope—and to a boy from her physics class. The one she's never really noticed before, with the rumored dark past and a brooding stare that cuts right through her.There's something he isn't telling her. But there's something she's not telling him, either.Everyone has secrets, and theirs might get them killed.
How It Went Down
Kekla Magoon - 2014
Tariq was black. The shooter, Jack Franklin, is white.In the aftermath of Tariq's death, everyone has something to say, but no two accounts of the events line up. Day by day, new twists further obscure the truth.Tariq's friends, family, and community struggle to make sense of the tragedy, and to cope with the hole left behind when a life is cut short. In their own words, they grapple for a way to say with certainty: This is how it went down.
That's Not What Happened
Kody Keplinger - 2018
Three years since my best friend, Sarah, was killed in a bathroom stall during the mass shooting. Everyone knows Sarah's story--that she died proclaiming her faith. But it's not true. I know because I was with her when she died. I didn't say anything then, and people got hurt because of it. Now Sarah's parents are publishing a book about her, so this might be my last chance to set the record straight . . . but I'm not the only survivor with a story to tell about what did--and didn't--happen that day. Except Sarah's martyrdom is important to a lot of people, people who don't take kindly to what I'm trying to do. And the more I learn, the less certain I am about what's right. I don't know what will be worse: the guilt of staying silent or the consequences of speaking up . . .
Alice Bliss
Laura Harrington - 2011
Alice idolizes her father, loves working beside him in their garden, accompanying him on the occasional roofing job, playing baseball. When he ships out, Alice is faced with finding a way to fill the emptiness he has left behind. Matt will miss seeing his daughter blossom from a tomboy into a full-blown teenager. Alice will learn to drive, join the track team, go to her first dance, and fall in love, all while trying to be strong for her mother, Angie, and take care of her precocious little sister, Ellie. But the smell of Matt is starting to fade from his blue shirt that Alice wears everyday, and the phone calls are never long enough. Alice Bliss is a profoundly moving coming-of-age novel about love and its many variations--the support of a small town looking after its own; love between an absent father and his daughter; the complicated love between an adolescent girl and her mother; and an exploration of new love with the boy-next-door. These characters' struggles amidst uncertain times echo our own, lending the novel an immediacy and poignancy that is both relevant and real. At once universal and very personal, Alice Bliss is a transforming story about those who are left at home during wartime, and a teenage girl bravely facing the future.
With This Ring
Allison Hobbs - 2013
But now, they are coming the realization that happily ever after might not be attainable, or even a reality. Harlow’s dreams of walking down the aisle are shattered when a muffled gunshot forces her to question her new husband’s character. Is Drake Morgan the determined entrepreneur she thought he was or a gangster and ruthless killer? After a bout with alcoholism and an emotional breakdown, Nivea is trying to rebuild her life, but the explosive result of her child’s paternity test threatens to destroy her fragile family ties. Desperate for her new man to put a ring on it, Vangie sacrifices her morals and puts a lifelong friendship to the test. From the bestselling author of Big Juicy Lips and Double Dippin’, this edgy new novel is sure to please both Allison Hobbs fans and newcomers looking for a spicy read.
One Good Dog
Susan Wilson - 2010
He has it all: the beautiful wife, the high-powered job, the glittering circle of friends. But there is a price to be paid for all these trappings, and the pressure is mounting—until the day Adam makes a fatal mistake. His assistant leaves him a message with three words: your sister called. What no one knows is that Adam’s sister has been missing for decades. That she represents the excruciatingly painful past he has left behind. And that her absence has secretly tormented him all these years. When his assistant brushes off his request for an explanation in favor of her more pressing personal call, Adam loses it. And all hell breaks loose. Adam is escorted from the building. He loses his job. He loses his wife. He loses the life he’s worked so hard to achieve. He doesn’t believe it is possible to sink any lower when he is assigned to work in a soup kitchen as a form of community service. But unbeknownst to Adam, this is where his life will intersect with Chance. Chance is a mixed breed Pit Bull. He’s been born and raised to fight and seldom leaves the dirty basement where he is kept between fights. But Chance is not a victim or a monster. It is Chance’s unique spirit that helps him escape and puts him in the path of Adam. What transpires is the story of one man, one dog, and how they save each other—in ways they never could have expected.
The Lost Hours
Karen White - 2009
For twelve years, it remained untouched.Now a near fatal riding accident has shattered Piper’s dreams of Olympic glory. After her grandfather’s death, she inherits the house and all its secrets, including a key to a room that doesn’t exist—or does it? And after her grandmother is sent away to a nursing home, she remembers the box buried in the backyard. In it are torn pages from a scrapbook, a charm necklace—and a newspaper article from 1939 about the body of an infant found floating in the Savannah River. The necklace’s charms tell the story of three friends during the 1930s— each charm added during the three months each friend had the necklace and recorded her life in the scrapbook. Piper always dismissed her grandmother as not having had a story to tell. And now, too late, Piper finds she might have been wrong.
The Things We Keep
Sally Hepworth - 2016
She also knows there's just one other resident her age, Luke. What she does not expect is the love that blossoms between her and Luke even as she resists her new life at Rosalind House. As her disease steals more and more of her memory, Anna fights to hold on to what she knows, including her relationship with Luke.When Eve Bennett is suddenly thrust into the role of single mother she finds herself putting her culinary training to use at Rosalind house. When she meets Anna and Luke she is moved by the bond the pair has forged. But when a tragic incident leads Anna's and Luke's families to separate them, Eve finds herself questioning what she is willing to risk to help them.
Promiscuous Girl: Craven and Jazel
Nicole Jackson - 2018
He’s so much like her that it’s spooky. They’re two free spirts who want to live life with no restraints, but old demons, and skewed judgements will eventually weigh them down, and no one knows, including them, if they’re strong enough to weather the storms.
Larger Than Life
Jodi Picoult - 2014
Set in the wilds of Africa, Larger Than Life introduces Alice, the unforgettable character at the center of Picoult’s anticipated new novel, Leaving Time. A researcher studying memory in elephants, Alice is fascinated by the bonds between mother and calf—the mother’s powerful protective instincts and her newborn’s unwavering loyalty. Living on a game reserve in Botswana, Alice is able to view the animals in their natural habitat—while following an important rule: She must only observe and never interfere. Then she finds an orphaned young elephant in the bush and cannot bear to leave the helpless baby behind. Thinking back on her own childhood, and on her shifting relationship with her mother, Alice risks her career to care for the calf. Yet what she comes to understand is the depth of a parent’s love.
The Heir War
Jill Williamson - 2016
Trevn, though, is far more interested in his studies with a local priest and the attentions of a young honor maiden. The book that he has been copying during his lessons is not the book that teaches of the god of the soil. Instead, it teaches of a one true God. If accurate, then it means there is no soil god to satiate. There is nothing they can do to save their world, and all of King Echad's sacrifices have been futile.
In Love with A Dope Boy
Treasure Bee - 2014
At a young age, Tyler was forced to grow up and become the man of his family. Always the protector and provider for his sister, Tyler turned to the streets early on in order to survive. Despite her beauty, Skyler is insecure and unsure of herself. With no one to turn to except her brother, she often feels lost in Tyler’s crazy lifestyle. Tori is Tyler’s ride or die, but like most young girls involved with a street nigga Tori is struggling to hold on to her sanity while trying to deal with all the b.s. and drama that comes with being Tyler’s leading lady, as well as dealing with her own demons. Friends will turn into enemies. Secrets will be revealed and love will be tested. Only the strong survive, so who will be left standing?
Thirsty
La'Tonya West - 2013
She doesn't give her goodies to just anyone though. She prefers wealthy Caucasian men. Brothers are not to her liking. She has a thirst for the good life that she feels they cannot fulfill. That is until she crosses paths with Thrill. Initially uninterested Kaliyah has no words for Thrill but once she finds out about the paper that he is sitting on it changes the game. Will her thirst end up being her downfall?
Shattered
Karen Robards - 2010
She's also taken a research job pulling cold case files for District Attorney Scott Buchanan, a former crush. Then Lisa comes across one that freezes her blood.More than twenty-eight years ago an entire family disappeared. That's not all: The mother in the picture bears an uncanny resemblance to Lisa herself at that age. If this is Lisa's past, then she's been living a lie. If it's a lie, then someone has killed to keep it a secret. Now, for Lisa and Scott, untangling a web of deception will have terrifying repercussions -- because whoever had reasons for shattering Lisa's past isn't through with it. Or with her.
The Girls of Mischief Bay
Susan Mallery - 2015
He won't even help take care of their son, leaving Nicole to run the house and work full-time at her Mischief Bay Pilates studio. Can she say enough is enough without losing the man she loves? Sacrificing a personal life for her career is how Shannon Rigg rose to become vice president in her firm, but she wonders now whether she made the right choice. An exciting new relationship with a great guy convinces her that it might not be too late—until he drops a bombshell that has her questioning whether she can have it all. And if she can, does she want it? Although Pam Eiland has a beautiful house and a husband she adores, she feels… restless. She wonders who a stay-at-home mom becomes after the kids are grown. Finding sexy new ways to surprise her husband brings the heat and the humor back to their marriage, but when unexpected change turns her life upside down, she'll have to redefine herself. Again. Through romance and heartbreak, laughter and tears, three very different women will discover that friends can become family, and that life is richer with sisters at your side.