Book picks similar to
Outlaw: Part 1 by Katana Collins
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romance
My Perfect Summer in Greece
Ian Wilfred - 2019
Cheryl is excited her sister Julie has asked for her help in organising her wedding but things aren't turning out the way Cheryl had hoped. There's going to be no little village church and no bridesmaids dress; the wedding is taking place on the Greek island of Holkamos. Vangelis has the perfect beach location for a wedding but his little beach cafe has never catered for weddings before. Will he be able to cope with all of Julie's demands? Andréas has moved back to Holkamos to help run the family gift shop after the death of his father. The business has to move with the times but will his mum allow things to change? Johnny is Cheryl's best friend. He doesn't like the way Julie treats her and has a plan to put things right but is it the right thing for Cheryl and what happens when they both arrive on the Greek island. Could it become more than just a weekend wedding for Cheryl and Johnny?
Surfacing (Returning #3)
A.L. Knorr - 2018
Follow Mira's story as she faces life as a single mother, wrestles with the constant call of the ocean to her mermaid nature, and joins an all-male salvage team who is less than thrilled to have her.
When my mother died, I ran to the ocean like a coward. Its cradle of salt puckered my memories and withered my sorrow like a grape drying in the sun. I had cheated grief and was foolish enough to think I had gotten away with it.When Nathan died, I couldn’t run away. No matter how much I flinched, bending toward the Atlantic the way ivy strains for rays of light, I could not leave. Grief was back to take what belonged to it for the time it was allotted. I had everything I wanted a few short years ago. My mate. My daughter. A home, a family. It made my head spin to think how much could change so suddenly. I mused, wondering later if I was the only mermaid to ever walk fully through the five stages of grief. But I had my daughter.Targa had yet to turn, the color and shape of her fins were yet to be revealed, but she would. I had been so sure of it then. Siren genes are passed from mother to daughter, without fail. Young legs melded into a shimmering virgin tail in response to a salty sea. But Targa didn’t turn in response to ocean water, not the first time, not any time after that. Something was wrong. I shoved my fear down deep into some dark corner where Targa would not see it and said with a smile that we’d just have to keep trying. I had turned at the age of three, but if there could be late-bloomers in the human race, why not ours too?Her fifth birthday came and went, still she hadn’t turned. Concern sent its barbs into me like a thistle, then it rooted and grew.Targa and I had weekly late night secret swims in the Atlantic, which had once been fun but were now polluted with expectation and suspense. Coaching sessions (my idea), where I attempted human psychology exercises I’d found in outdated textbooks at the library; guided visualization, breathing techniques, and even a failed go at hypnosis. The memory of her skinny little frame sitting in a bathtub containing more salt than water (Targa’s idea) is still enough to fill my eyes with moisture.I don’t know exactly when she lost hope, but she hid it expertly, patiently participating however I asked.I ignored the creeping thoughts that whispered in my mind; she didn’t even like water, didn’t really want to go for swim, couldn’t hear the ocean calling her. I would shove the thoughts away violently, excusing them as nothing but my own anxiety. It was ridiculous. A daughter of a mermaid who disliked the ocean. Impossible. When I muzzled those fears, I became aware of others of a different kind. Not my own, but hers, for me.She could see the want in my eyes. Whatever mechanism bees and dogs used to smell fear, Targa had it for despair. She could sense it on me, reeking like cheap perfume. Her eyes dipped in desperation, her obvious desire not to disappoint me sliced through me like a white-hot blade from heart to gut. She thought she was my tormentor. The realization struck like a hammer and gave me the strength to do what was needed: Let it go.The ocean could call. I’d let the smell of it crucify me, the sound of its waves crash against me, echo through me, call me, beg me.Targa’s need and my love for her was greater. If she never turned and I was locked in a land-cycle for the rest of our lives, so be it.So be it.
The Imperfect Art of Caring
Jessica Ryn - 2021
She listens but never talks about herself. She’s friendly but doesn’t have many real friends. She’s become good at keeping people at a distance ever since she left home at eighteen and never looked back.But when Violet is forced to return home to care for her estranged mother Glenys, she quickly finds out that life as a carer isn’t easy. Feeling overwhelmed, she’s forced to turn to the other local carers, including childhood friend Adam, for help. Although returning home still feels like a mistake, maybe it will help Violet right some wrongs. After all, she can’t keep running from her past forever, and in learning to look after others, perhaps Violet can start to finally love herself.
Best Sellers from Reader's Digest Condensed Books: To Kill a Mockingbird / The Shoes of the Fisherman / Seven Days in May / To Catch an Angel
Harper Lee - 1963
To Kill a MockingbirdThe Shoes of the FishermanSeven Days in MayTo Catch an Angel
The Beach Cottage
Joanne DeMaio - 2020
They can spend all day on the beach, or not. Cruise the dusty beach roads, or never leave their deck overlooking Long Island Sound. Fill their itinerary with excursions on the Connecticut shore, or while away the hours in a shingled cottage. Every decision this week is theirs to make.Until it's not. Until life as they know it changes -- and suddenly the Martinellis have to face only each other. Face each other in
The Beach Cottage
and see what they have, or don't have, between them.
Cruel Beautiful World
Caroline Leavitt - 2016
It's 1969, and sixteen-year-old Lucy is about to run away with a much older man to live off the grid in rural Pennsylvania, a rash act that will have vicious repercussions for both her and her older sister, Charlotte. As Lucy's default caretaker for most of their lives, Charlotte's youth has been marked by the burden of responsibility, but never more so than when Lucy's dream of a rural paradise turns into a nightmare.Cruel Beautiful World examines the intricate, infinitesimal distance between seduction and love, loyalty and duty, and explores what happens when you're responsible for things you cannot make right.
The December Deal
Dana Volney - 2015
The insurance company won't cover the costs for an experimental trial that offers his best chance at surviving, and she needs a way to raise funds fast.
Vincent Morgenstern has had a year to fulfill the clause in his dad's will that says if he doesn't marry, he'll lose out on inheriting the family business he loves so much. The deadline is New Year's Eve, and he's determined to get down the aisle, even if he has to pay the bride to be on his arm.
When Lilia overhears his predicament at a coffee shop, the crazy solution to both their problems seems obvious. What's one year of faking it?
But as the holiday season works its magic, their platonic partnership threatens to get very personal. Will Lilia and Vincent's December deal stay professional, or will real feelings ruin everything?
Sensuality Level: Behind Closed Doors
The Bourne Ultimatum. Part 1 of 2 (Jason Bourne, #3.1)
Robert Ludlum - 1990
Ludlum's recent book, The Icarus Agenda, sold nearly one million copies.
Lady Joe
Mark Saha - 2015
“This book touched my heart." - GoodreadsSomebody left Lee Estes in charge of the Walker place while the trainers are on the road and he manages to lose a champion cutting horse scheduled to be picked up by a buyer. The unsophisticated buyer only wants Lady Joe as a trophy horse to impress clients at a prestigious law firm, so Lee buys a cheap no-talent blue roan lookalike. When the buyer tells Lee to enter the animal in a weekend cutting for photographs, he must scramble to find a blue roan cutter to substitute for the bogus horse. By chance, the only blue roan cutter around belongs to Jim Harrison’s wife, who has no use for Lee and is about to divorce Jim. Lee persuades his best friend since high school days that there is opportunity here for Jim to save his marriage. Things go haywire from there in this humorous misadventure that takes an affectionate glimpse at the sport of cutting and becomes a trenchant comment on the future of the horse in a world where it is no longer essential to everyday life.
My Soul To Take
Erin Bedford - 2020
A whole helluva lot. And that’s exactly what I got. Hell.Baby sitting a cemetery was supposed to be an easy job. Stay up all night. Keep an eye out for kids partying. Maybe get some school work in.What I wasn’t supposed to do was deal with three ghosts that wanted nothing more than for me to leave. Did I mention they’re three guys who are as hot as the hell I’m in?I have one thing to say to my ghostly friends. Bring it on.
First Comes Love
Emily Giffin - 2016
Growing up, Josie and Meredith Garland shared a loving, if sometimes contentious relationship. Josie was impulsive, spirited, and outgoing; Meredith hardworking, thoughtful, and reserved. When tragedy strikes their family, their different responses to the event splinter their delicate bond. Fifteen years later, Josie and Meredith are in their late thirties, following very different paths. Josie, a first grade teacher, is single—and this close to swearing off dating for good. What she wants more than the right guy, however, is to become a mother—a feeling that is heightened when her ex-boyfriend’s daughter ends up in her class. Determined to have the future she’s always wanted, Josie decides to take matters into her own hands. On the outside, Meredith is the model daughter with the perfect life. A successful attorney, she’s married to a wonderful man, and together they’re raising a beautiful four-year-old daughter. Yet lately, Meredith feels dissatisfied and restless, secretly wondering if she chose the life that was expected of her rather than the one she truly desired. As the anniversary of their tragedy looms and painful secrets from the past begin to surface, Josie and Meredith must not only confront the issues that divide them, but also come to terms with their own choices. In their journey toward understanding and forgiveness, both sisters discover they need each other more than they knew . . . and that in the recipe for true happiness, love always comes first. Emotionally honest and utterly enthralling, First Comes Love is a story about family, friendship, and the courage to follow your own heart—wherever that may lead.
A Christmas at Gingerbread Falls
Katie Mettner - 2021
Filled with twinkling lights, festive carols, and happy endings, they’re the perfect escape from reality—for her and the audience. Then Tinseltown calls. Braxton Timothy is Hollywood’s biggest action star. Handsome and talented but decidedly on the naughty list, no one can fathom his sudden desire to produce a feel-good Christmas movie—least of all, his no-name co-star. Alternating between scenes reminiscent of everyone’s favorite made-for-TV movies and unexpected, off-screen chemistry, Gingerbread Falls has surprises in store this holiday season. The question is, will there be enough Christmas magic to convince two imperfect people that they’re perfect for each other?
The Marvelous Monroe Girls
Shirley Jump - 2022
Sales are down at her vintage dress shop, her beloved grandmother isn’t her usual spunky self, and Gabby desperately misses the closeness she had with her sisters, Margaret and Emma—who were once so inseparable that their family called them the Monroe Musketeers. When the sisters stumble across a stash of letters that reveals their grandmother’s secret life, Gabby sees an opportunity to bring the sisters back together again and best of all, raise her grandmother’s spirits. And sure, this new project makes it easier to pretend her own life isn’t crashing around her, but concentrating on helping everyone else and ignoring her own feelings is what Gabby does best.Except when it comes to Jake Maddox. Once the boy next door she crushed on—hard—he’s grown into an even more intriguing man, and her attraction to him isn’t so easy to hide. It’s clear he’s just as interested in her, but dating Jake would only muddy up her already complicated life. Or is it finally time to put herself first and risk it all for a chance at happiness?
The Gresham Chronicles
Lawana Blackwell - 1999
Mister Uno: A Short Story Series
Belle Brooks - 2019
The job she loves is on the line when she’s faced with writer’s block and given a deadline she knows she can’t meet—that’s until her best friend, Pip, comes up with the perfect idea.Anthea never says no to a dare, and this one is so perfect it will solve all of her problems.Twelve men. Twelve months. Twelve articles. But there’s a catch: Anthea can’t know the real names of the men she dates, and she must only refer to them by a Spanish number. Mister Uno is unsuspecting victim number one. He’s domineering, alluring, wealthy, and a surprise packet Anthea never imagined. Will Anthea be able to hide her identity from each gentleman suitor?Will she complete the dare and keep her job? And will she do it without falling in love?