Book picks similar to
Lessons I Learned from Nick Nack by Padgett Gerler
fiction
drama
b-r-a-g-medallion-books
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Stormcock
Robin Roughley - 2017
For over five years Abe Mathews has been hunting the white-haired assassin. Obsession and vengeance drives him and at last he is close to bringing the man named Plymouth to justice. Though Plymouth is playing a deadlier game. One in which he is putting his life in the crosshairs in order to bring the guilty forward and he will stop at nothing to inflict his own horrific brand of retribution. However, as Mathews draws closer to his quarry he is forced to question the truth about the man with the blue eyes and savage smile. There are others who will cross any line to kill Plymouth those who have suffered beyond imagining at his hands. As the noose tightens and people start to die, Mathews must decide who he can trust before the clock stops ticking. Meanwhile, Plymouth relentlessly draws out those who want to see him dead in an electrifying game of life and death that will have a devastating impact on those unwittingly pulled into the vortex of violence.
The Bookshop at Peony Harbor (An Aster Island Novel)
Rosie Summers - 2021
Thanks to an unexpected divorce, Eloise is low on funds, and if she doesn’t figure out a way to make ends meet—soon—she’ll lose the beachfront cottage that’s been in her family for over three generations.Then one morning, out of the blue, Eloise receives a mysterious letter from her grandmother who has been gone for over twenty years. Inside the envelope is the deed to a rundown bookshop on Main Street—a gift for Eloise. Is she up to the task of breathing life into the almost-derelict building, or will she have to sell the beloved property so she can afford to stay on the island near her children?Fortunately, Eloise isn’t alone in her decision. She’s got three grown children on her side, though each has problems of their own.Jack, the eldest, is running his own company. Despite his success, he finds that something in his life is missing. Next is Lilah, a mother of two young children whose husband has been spending unexplained late nights at the office, and she’s determined to find out why. The youngest, Angelica, is a free spirit traveling the world for her career. But when she encounters an old flame at home, is it enough to draw her back?Come visit the Paisley family on Aster Island and follow their journey as they explore new love and second chances, as they travel far and return home, and as they throw their hearts and souls into making a dream come true.
Spiderstalk
D. Nathan Hilliard - 2013
In the past year he has broken up with his fiancee, barely survived a terrible car wreck, and had his brother's family vanish while he lay unconscious in the hospital. All they left behind was a frantic call on his cell phone's voice messages, and a blurry photo of a spider. Since then he has been a crippled shell going through the motions of life with nothing but the search for his brother to keep him going. But Adam is about to discover that things can still take a turn for the worse. Much worse. His quest for his brother has brushed up against a very dark corner of the world and something has come out of that darkness with an unholy vengeance. Something unbelievable. He can't fight it, he can't hide from it, and not even the police can protect him as his world descends into chaos. His only hope lies in a mysterious pair of strangers who have appeared out of nowhere with an offer of aid. But they have their own agenda, and his survival may not be their top priority. Now Adam must keep his wits about him and learn to believe in himself again as events send him on a collision course with a monster more horrific than he ever dreamed possible.
Mrs. Everything
Jennifer Weiner - 2019
Jo is the tomboy, the bookish rebel with a passion to make the world more fair; Bethie is the pretty, feminine good girl, a would-be star who enjoys the power her beauty confers and dreams of a traditional life.But the truth ends up looking different from what the girls imagined. Jo and Bethie survive traumas and tragedies. As their lives unfold against the background of free love and Vietnam, Woodstock and women’s lib, Bethie becomes an adventure-loving wild child who dives headlong into the counterculture and is up for anything (except settling down). Meanwhile, Jo becomes a proper young mother in Connecticut, a witness to the changing world instead of a participant. Neither woman inhabits the world she dreams of, nor has a life that feels authentic or brings her joy. Is it too late for the women to finally stake a claim on happily ever after?
Evanthia's Gift
Effie Kammenou - 2015
An emotional novel about family bonds and the difficult pull between home and heritage. In the year 1956, Anastacia Fotopoulos finds herself pregnant and betrayed, fleeing from a bad marriage. With the love and support of her dear friends Stavros and Soula Papadakis, Ana is able to face the challenges of single motherhood. Left with emotional wounds, she resists her growing affection for Alexandros Giannakos, an old acquaintance. But his persistence and unconditional love for Ana and her child is eventually rewarded and his love is returned. In a misguided, but well-intentioned effort to protect the ones they love, both Ana and Alex keep secrets - ones that could threaten the delicate balance of their family. The story continues in the 1970’s as Dean and Demi Papadakis, and Sophia Giannakos attempt to negotiate between two cultures. Now Greek-American teenagers, Sophia and Dean, who have shared a special connection since childhood, become lovers. Sophia is shattered when Dean rebels against the pressure his father places on him to uphold his Greek heritage and hides his feelings for her. When he pulls away from his family, culture and ultimately his love for her, Sophia is left with no choice but to find a life different from the one she’d hoped for. EVANTHIA’S GIFT is a multigenerational love story spanning fifty years and crossing two continents, chronicling the lives that unify two families.
After Love Leaves: The Story of Us
Michelle Alstead - 2017
When she met Brad Sorenson, Zoe was convinced her bad luck with men had finally changed. He saw past her insecurities and the Oreo addiction she just couldn’t shake, inspiring her to chase her dreams. Brad was looking for a good time online, not love. But Zoe was so sweet, so kind. Everything about her was perfect—until she fell for him. Doesn’t she understand he’s the wrong guy for a woman like her? Zoe doesn’t know why Brad left her standing in an airport; he won’t return her calls or texts. With her self-esteem and dreams shattered, she can’t imagine ever loving anyone else… When a devastating diagnosis changes Brad’s life forever, he’s forced to finally face the truth: there’s only one woman he’s ever truly loved.Will Zoe give Brad a second chance or is she done with love for good?***This is not your typical romance. Real love is complicated and messy. This story is written for those who have loved the wrong person for all the right reasons.
Shooting Star
Patricia M. Clark - 2013
One phone call unravels that tidy world when she is summoned to the bedside of her critically ill mother, whose dying declaration stuns her. She is the adopted daughter of a murdered prostitute with an entire family she’s never met. After her mother’s funeral, Joal decides to stay in Indiana to figure out who she really is and poke around the edges of her birth family. As an investigative reporter, Joal has unraveled hundreds of sordid business deals and personal relationships. Eventually someone reveals the truth, but her mother’s murder isn’t the cliché “prostitute killed by pimp.” The answer may lie with the only witnesses. Her grandmother, the matriarch who tries to keep the family together. Her two brothers, one now a supremely optimistic minister and the other an overly pessimistic doctor. Or the murderer himself, now incarcerated in an Indiana prison.From the homey heartland of Indiana to the humid jungles of Vietnam, Joel follows two stories riddled with criminal acts and hidden agendas. Her work sends her overseas to follow a homebuilder Ponzi scheme while at home she widens the net to include some more colorful members of her family. Unwittingly, they all provide little pieces to a puzzle that begins to come together revealing a conspiracy of silence that has been suppressed for over three decades.Shooting Star is first and foremost the story of a woman trying to reclaim her shattered identity. Only by uncovering the essential truths about the mother she never knew can she put some kind of stability back into her life. Solving a thirty year old murder and finding her place in a family she never knew existed are just added bonuses.
The Trouble With Charlie
Kenneth Preston - 2020
If somebody doesn’t stop him, he is going to explode. Fellow student Sam Caffey has never met Charlie, but he’s been watching him. He knows that Charlie is dangerous, and he knows that if he doesn’t act fast, people are going to die.But the more Sam learns about the enigmatic Charlie, the more he begins to question his own sanity. He wants to stop Charlie. He wants to tell somebody that Charlie has killed and is going to kill again. But he can’t. Something in his head won’t let him. Is Charlie controlling Sam’s thoughts? Or is Sam losing his mind?Sam has seen Charlie kill, but nothing can prepare him for what Charlie is about to do next. Charlie wants revenge. He wants to kill everybody who has ever wronged him. Can Sam stop Charlie? Or will he be forced to join him?
Little Maryam
Hamid Baig - 2018
Saadiq Haider, a renowned gene therapist and professor at Stanford University, receives a phone call that changes his life. Abandoning his duties and responsibilities, Saadiq hurriedly boards a flight bound for India, embarking on a journey that spans thousands of miles and pulls him back into a past Saadiq thought long-buried. Seated next to him on the flight, Anne Miller—an intrepid journalist with a nose for headline news—senses the reclusive genius has a story to tell.During the flight, Anne manages to break through Saadiq’s hard exterior and listens, rapt, as he unfurls a tale fraught with love and heartbreak.His story transports Anne back in time to a small, sleepy town nestled in the mountains of northern India, where Saadiq spent his childhood. Through Saadiq’s narrative, Anne meets Maryam and witnesses the friendship between Maryam and Saadiq mature into an intense love; a love that is tested when tragedy strikes and the lovers are separated. Try as they might, their devotion is no match against the workings of fate, and the tighter Saadiq and Maryam cling to one another, the faster they slip apart.Now, after two decades of trying to forget his past with alcohol and drug abuse, Saadiq tells Anne that fate has acted again; Maryam is the hospital, her condition critical. When their plane lands in India, the newfound friends part ways and while Saadiq rushes to Maryam’s side, Anne returns to her life, grateful to have met the enigmatic man.Months later, Anne learns that after wrenching Maryam from the indomitable grip of death, Saadiq took her back to America, where they finally married. But, her assumption that the greatest love story she had ever known would end happily is shattered when Anne receives devastating news.
The English Heart
Helena Halme - 2013
This was love. The stuff she’d read about in books since she was a teenager; the films she’d watched. This was how Ryan O’Neal felt about Ali MacGraw in Love Story, and Barbra Streisand about Robert Redford in, The Way We Were. Kaisa grinned. She’d wanted to pose the same question to the Englishman that Katie had to Hubbell, ‘Do you smile ALL the time?’ When a young Finnish student, Kaisa, is invited to the British Embassy cocktail party in Helsinki to celebrate a Royal Navy visit to Finland, she’s not looking for romance. After all, her future has been carefully planned: she’s to complete her degree, marry her respectable, well-to-do Finnish fiancé Matti, and live happily ever after. Enter the dashing Peter, a newly qualified Navy Officer. Like a moth to a flame, Kaisa falls head over heels in love. Kaisa and Peter embark on a long-distance relationship, but at the height of the Cold War, while the Englishman chases Russian submarines, Kaisa is stuck in Finland, a country friendly with the Soviet Union. Can they trust each other? Can their love go the distance? The English Heart is the first novel in the ‘unputdownable’ Nordic Heart Romance Series. If you liked An Officer and a Gentleman, or enjoy European fiction, you’ll love this stylish love story by the Finnish author Helena Halme. Pick up this heart-warming 1980s Nordic fiction title today! PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED AS 'THE ENGLISHMAN'
Drawing Lessons
Julia Gabriel - 2015
One that isn't an insta-love relationship, it builds with each lesson, making it much more romantic ... There are twists and turns in this story that one will not expect, which is a delightful surprise. Ms. Gabriel does an amazing job of making the reader want to turn every page and savor it." -- InD'Tale Magazine"Gabriel paints white-hot sex scenes."-- Kirkus ReviewsWhen you're enrolled in the school of hard knocks ...Marie Witherspoon can't catch a break. She's been dumped by her husband—a rising political star in Washington, DC—and humiliated by his gossip blogger mistress. Just when she's picked herself up and dusted herself off, her ex changes his mind and calls off the divorce.Falling in love with your teacher can't possibly make things any worse.There's just one hitch. Marie has rekindled an old hobby and her relationship with her new drawing teacher, French artist Luc Marchand, is way past the point of no return. With her heart on the line, she's prepared to do anything to keep from returning to her old life.Or can it?It's been twelve long years since Luc Marchand's life was shattered by a former student. Forced out of academia, he's walled off his heart and his career. Now he has a chance to revive both—if his past doesn't destroy everything for Luc and Marie.
Skylight Confessions
Alice Hoffman - 2007
Yet the two are drawn powerfully together even when it is clear they are bound to bring each other grief. Their difficult marriage leads them and their children to a house made of glass in the Connecticut countryside, to the avenues of
Manhattan
, and to the blue waters of Long Island Sound. Glass breaks, love hurts, and families make their own rules. Ultimately, it falls to their grandson, Will, to solve the emotional puzzle of his family and of his own identity.
Long Time Coming
Vanessa Miller - 2010
Kenisha Smalls has lived in poverty all her life. She has three children by three different men and has just been diagnosed with inoperable cancer. While the meeting between these two women appears accidental, it becomes their catalyst of hope. Neither woman expects the blessing that God has in store for her. While Deidre guides Kenisha on the path to eternal life with Jesus Christ, Kenisha teaches Deidre how to stand strong against the storms of life.
Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen
Susan Gregg Gilmore - 2008
The town of Ringgold, Georgia, has a population of 1,923, one traffic light, one Dairy Queen, and one Catherine Grace Cline. The daughter of Ringgold's third-generation Baptist preacher, Catherine Grace is quick-witted, more than a little stubborn, and dying to escape her small-town life. Every Saturday afternoon, she sits at the Dairy Queen, eating Dilly Bars and plotting her getaway to Atlanta. And when, with the help of a family friend, the dream becomes a reality, she immediately packs her bags, leaving her family and the boy she loves to claim the life she's always imagined. But before things have even begun to get off the ground in Atlanta, tragedy brings Catherine Grace back home. As a series of extraordinary events alter her perspective and sweeping changes come to Ringgold itself Catherine Grace begins to wonder if her place in the world may actually be, against all odds, right where she began. Intelligent, charming, and utterly readable, Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen marks the debut of a talented new literary voice.
Orphan Train: Collection One
Rachel Wesson - 2021
She reluctantly joins an orphan train on a voyage of hope, despair and the search for a home. Not just for her siblings but for almost forty other orphans desperate for a future.
Orphan Train Trials
Bella Jones and Kathleen Collins are as close as sisters and want to stay together. But their pasts come back to haunt them. A past Orphan Train survivor, can Bella save young twins, Megan and Eileen from a fate worse than the one Bella survived? Kathleen can't help, she has her own problems with missing brothers. Can she save them from the hangman's noose?
Orphan Train Christmas
Kenny Clark wants a family for Christmas. Kathleen is working hard to secure the best outcomes for all the orphans but what of her chance of happiness?