Book picks similar to
Burning Dreams by Susan Smith


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For Now, Forever


Trin Denise - 2012
    After a full weekend of celebrating her birthday, she goes to work thinking it will be just another typical workday. That thought comes to a crashing halt when she flips the “Closed” sign to “Open” and finds an elderly mustachioed man standing at the door.Gordon LeVitt, Attorney at Law drops a bombshell that will flip Cassie’s life upside down. The man that she believed to be her father for the last thirty-three years is not really her father, and her recently deceased biological father Collin Masterson has named her as an heir in his Last Will and Testament. The catch: Her presence is required at the reading.Cassie heads to Masterson, West Virginia and has a blow-out that sends her car careening off the side of the road. With her heart racing in her chest, she is relieved when the most gorgeous creature she’s ever seen stops to help and then Cassie does something she has never done in her life—make mad passionate love with a complete stranger named Eelyn M. Carmichael who has agreed to drop Cassie off for her appointment.After Mr. LeVitt’s introductions, Cassie gets an even bigger shock when Eelyn comes strolling into the room and takes a seat next to Lenora, her father’s widow. Feeling sick to her stomach and thinking her world is crashing down, Cassie does the only thing she can—she runs with no intention of looking back. The one thing Cassie forgets is that things are seldom what they seem and Eelyn M. Carmichael has already made up her mind that Cassie Reynolds is not going to be the one who got away because some things that happen in the now, can and do last forever.

Hopes and Dreams


P.J. Trebelhorn - 2020
    There aren't many prospects for true love, but she keeps hoping she'll find it somehow. She dreams of owning the small movie theater she manages, but that takes money, which is hard to get when you live paycheck to paycheck.Victoria Thayer has fallen for a woman more interested in her money than her heart for the last time. When she runs into Riley, the first girl she ever had a crush on, at their high school reunion, she's hoping there might just be a chance for the kind of relationship she's always wanted. But Victoria can't help wondering if Riley too is only after her money, and Riley can't seem to forgive the fact that Victoria was part of a group of kids who used to bully her.When hopes and dreams are on the line, will true love find a way?

The Pleasure Planner


Larkin Rose - 2009
    Logan Delaney is too busy trying to reconcile the legacy of her grandparents’ failed magazine company to invest in anything more than the occasional affair.Can two women who aren't looking for love find it in each other's arms?

Grave Silence


Rose Beecham - 2005
    However when the body of a local teenager shows up with a stake through her heart, Jude finds herself leading an investigation no one wants to touch.

Flowers from Iraq


Sunny Alexander - 2012
    Old comics found in a musty basement and a discarded copy of Alice in Wonderland, become her map to a world of fantasies. From foster child living in Boston, to closeted Army physician wounded while serving in Iraq to family doctor in the rural town of Canfield, whatever her role and wherever her journey takes her, she never travels alone. Kathleen meets and falls in love with Claire Hollander, a free-spirited adventurer and storyteller who will challenge Kathleen to unlock the secret doors to her past. A tale of opposites colliding and then reuniting, Flowers from Iraq balances humor and tragedy, the landscape of battle and the interior of the human mind. A drama that takes place during our own time of war, the story is a compelling reminder of the healing that comes through love and the human connection.

Disobedience


Naomi Alderman - 2006
    The story begins with the death of the community's esteemed rabbi, which sets in motion plans for a memorial service and the search for a replacement. The rabbi's nephew and likely successor, Dovid, calls his cousin Ronit in New York to tell her that her father has died. Ronit, who left the community long ago to build a life for herself as a career woman, returns home when she hears the news, and her reappearance exposes tears in the fabric of the community.Steeped in Jewish philosophy and teachings, Disobedience is a perceptive and thoughtful exploration of the laws and practices that have governed Judaism for centuries, and continue to hold sway today. Throughout the novel, Alderman retells stories from the Torah -- Judaism's fundamental source -- and the interplay between these tales and the struggles of the novel's unique characters wields enormous power and wisdom, and will surely move readers to tears.

Thankful


Edie Bryant - 2017
    She has always tried to foster a decent relationship with her parents but despite this, there is a lot of tension between them. Tension that comes to a head when Danielle finds out that her parents have moved away from her hometown without even telling her, leaving her stranded at an empty house for the holidays. Fortunately, right across the street is Danielle's old best friend, Elise. They haven't seen each other in years, but when Elise sees Danielle alone and confused she takes hold of the opportunity to invite her to Elise's family's Thanksgiving. As grateful as Danielle is, the romantic feelings she had tried to hide for years start bubbling up inside her and she is not sure how to hold them back anymore. Needless to say, it's going to be an interesting Thanksgiving holiday. During this holiday season, Edie Bryant brings us a sweet Thanksgiving tale of love and reconnecting with those we're truly thankful for.

Fully Involved


Erin Dutton - 2007
    An early morning hotel fire turns out to be anything but routine, and firefighter Reid Webb's best friend and partner, Jimmy Grant, dies. Guilt-ridden and grieving, Reid feels responsible for her partner's young son, Chase. She would do anything for him, even if that means spending far too much time in the company of the woman she's harbored feelings for since high school. Isabel Grant doesn't know anything about raising children. But when she returns to her hometown to assume custody of her orphaned nephew, she gets a crash course. Isabel's struggle to keep her footing in the midst of chaos is further complicated by her growing attraction to Reid, a woman whom Isabel blames for her brother's death.

Fingersmith


Sarah Waters - 2002
    Sucksby, a "baby farmer," who raised her with unusual tenderness, as if Sue were her own. Mrs. Sucksby’s household, with its fussy babies calmed with doses of gin, also hosts a transient family of petty thieves—fingersmiths—for whom this house in the heart of a mean London slum is home.One day, the most beloved thief of all arrives—Gentleman, an elegant con man, who carries with him an enticing proposition for Sue: If she wins a position as the maid to Maud Lilly, a naïve gentlewoman, and aids Gentleman in her seduction, then they will all share in Maud’s vast inheritance. Once the inheritance is secured, Maud will be disposed of—passed off as mad, and made to live out the rest of her days in a lunatic asylum.With dreams of paying back the kindness of her adopted family, Sue agrees to the plan. Once in, however, Sue begins to pity her helpless mark and care for Maud Lilly in unexpected ways...But no one and nothing is as it seems in this Dickensian novel of thrills and reversals.

Desert of the Heart


Jane Rule - 1964
    This classic of lesbian eroticism is Jane Rule's first novel.Set in the late 1950s, this is the story of Evelyn Hall, an English professor, who goes to Reno to obtain a divorce and put an end to her disastrous 16-year marriage. While staying at a boarding house to establish her six-week residency requirement she meets Ann Childs, a casino worker and fifteen years her junior. Physically, they are remarkably alike and eventually have an affair and begin the struggle to figure out just how a relationship between two women can last. Desert of the Heart examines the conflict between convention and freedom and the ways in which the characters try to resolve the conflict.

Under the Witness Tree


Marianne K. Martin - 2004
    Erin Hughes, a local history professor with a passion for old houses. Dhari’s life is complicated enough without meeting such an attractive and intelligent woman: Her mother needs her, her father relies on her and her girlfriend worries her. But when Erin finds old letters and a diary, Dhari knows she can’t leave until she finds out the truth . . .Marianne K. Martin is the best-selling author of five novels including Mirrors and Love in the Balance.

The Price of Salt


Patricia Highsmith - 1952
    They fall in love and set out across the United States, pursued by a private investigator who eventually blackmails Carol into a choice between her daughter and her lover. With this reissue, The Price of Salt may finally be recognized as a major twentieth-century American novel.

In Every Port


Karin Kallmaker - 2003
    She has lovers in Chicago and San Antonio, yet tells herself she's not really a lesbian. Then she meets the captivating Cat.

Conflict of Interest


Jae - 2008
    But their first lecturer is not at all what she expected. Psychologist Dawn Kinsley has just found her place in life. After a failed relationship with a police officer, she has sworn to herself never to get involved with another cop again, but she feels a connection to Aiden from the very first moment. Can Aiden keep from crossing the line when a brutal crime threatens to keep them apart - before they've even gotten together?

Under the Southern Cross


Claire McNab - 1992
    the grandeur of Ayers Rock... legendary Alice Springs... the Great Barrier Reef... the primal beauty of Cape Tribulation…Two women, from different continents, with different values, collide with spectacular results... UNDER THE SOUTHERN CROSS.American Lee Paynter has built her Small travel agency into an international tour company. Brash, confident, openly lesbian, her great love is her business. Women? They're to enjoy and let go.Alexandra Findlay is pursuing a career in Australian tourism with quiet focus and determination, convinced that her career is the best she can hope for in her arid, closeted emotional existence.Now Alex has been assigned to accompany Lee on the American woman's visit Down Under, to win Lee's company over to Australian tourism. Suddenly Alex's quiet life explodes... And Lee is challenged by a woman unlike any she has ever known.