Book picks similar to
Pardner's Trust: Cowboy Up by Randall Dale
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Sea of Memories
Fiona Valpy - 2018
They spend the summer together, exploring the island’s sandy beaches and crystal-clear waters, and, for the first time in her life, Ella feels truly free.But the outbreak of war casts everything in a new light. Ella is forced to return to Scotland, where she volunteers for the war effort alongside the dashing Angus. In this new world, Ella feels herself drifting further and further from who she was on the Île de Ré. Can she ever find her way back? And does she want to?From the windswept Île de Ré to the rugged hills of Scotland, Sea of Memories is a spellbinding journey about the power of memory, love and second chances.
Jonathan Unleashed
Meg Rosoff - 2016
His girlfriend wants to marry someone just like him—only richer and with a different sense of humor. He doesn’t remember life being this confusing, back before everyone expected him to act like a grown-up. When his brother asks him to look after his dogs, Jonathan's world view begins to shift. Could a border collie and a cocker spaniel hold the key to life, the universe, and everything? Their sly maneuvering on daily walks and visits to the alluring vet suggest that human emotional intelligence may not be top dog after all. A funny, wise romantic comedy set in Manhattan, Jonathan Unleashed is a story of tangled relationships, friendships, and dogs. Rosoff’s novel is for anyone wondering what to be when they grow up, and how on earth to get there.
A Million Doorways
K. Martin Beckner - 2016
Separated from his friends and mourning the tragic loss of his father, he feels isolated from all the things he has ever known and loved. But his outlook on life begins to change to one day when he takes a summer job working for the mysterious and eccentric Zelma Green. With nearly a century between them, he finds in her an unlikely kindred spirit. His new friend loves to tell stories about her life, taking him on a journey spanning over eighty years, from the happy days of her youth, a time of horse-drawn carriages, to the darkest moments of her life. But just as Ethan starts to settle and make peace with his new circumstances, he becomes shockingly aware of a soul-crushing deception in his life, a deception hidden away for years like the mummified body down in Zelma Green's cellar. As terrible secrets unfold, Ethan faces a decision: does he run, or does he stand and face the truth and his fears head on?
The Last Day For Rob Rhino (Twisted Crime #2)
Kathleen O'Donnell - 2013
I became more immersed with every page, as the plot twisted and turned its way to the end. Kathleen O'Donnell has done an outstanding job with her first book. Can't wait to hear more from her. Hurry! – Ryker, five star review on Amazon. Claire’s a rich widow on a mission, who partakes with abandon from the pharmacy stored in her Prada purse. Rob’s an aging reality show celebrity. Stuck on the same flight, bound for the same eccentric town, she hates him on sight. She thinks she knows all there is to know about him but is dying to find out more. He’s disinterested but somehow still sees right through her. But they’ve both got big problems. Hers is in the Louis Vuitton carryon in the overhead. His is in his pants. To Claire’s dismay, Rob turns up everywhere she goes, yet they form the unlikeliest of friendships. He cares for her in ways she’s never known before. He could be the best thing in her life—or the worst. In a place full of secrets, including their own, they help each other find answers they didn’t even know they were looking for, yet some questions linger. What happened to Rob’s first wife? What happened to Claire’s husband? Will they live through the answers? The Last Day for Rob Rhino is a dark, tragic, and funny novel about the bonds of family and friendship. If you’d love a Gillian Flynn, Paula Hawkins, or Stieg Larsson novel with a humorous twist, this would be it.
We're All Damaged
Matthew Norman - 2016
He had a solid job. He ran 5Ks for charity. He was living a nice, safe Midwestern existence. And then his wife left him for a handsome paramedic down the street.We’re All Damaged begins after Andy has lost his job, ruined his best friend’s wedding, and moved to New York City, where he lives in a tiny apartment with an angry cat named Jeter that isn’t technically his. But before long he needs to go back to Omaha to say good-bye to his dying grandfather.Back home, Andy is confronted with his past, which includes his ex, his ex’s new boyfriend, his right-wing talk-radio-host mother, his parents’ crumbling marriage, and his still-angry best friend.As if these old problems weren’t enough, Andy encounters an entirely new complication: Daisy. She has fifteen tattoos, no job, and her own difficult past. But she claims she is the only person who can help Andy be happy again, if only she weren’t hiding a huge secret that will mess things up even more. Andy Carter needs a second chance at life, and Daisy—and the person Daisy pushes Andy to become—may be his last chance to set things right.
Eagle Security
Kenna Coulby - 2018
To this day, her brothers, Jason and Brandon, and two cousins, Zach and Tyler have never stopped looking. The Fierce Four, as the town’s residence have come to call them, went so far as to open their own private security firm—Eagle—in the name of figuring out what happened to Annabelle. It’s a good thing, too, because ever since the girl’s disappearance, Mystic Springs has been plagued with cases of kidnapping, missing persons, and stalking—it would seem this town is in high need of protection. JASON When a woman by the name of Rebecca Sauder spills into private security agent, Jason Braun’s office with grave concerns for her life—she’s being stalked but can’t prove it, the threats in the air feel like cold hands tightening around her throat, but the police won’t help—everything Jason thought he knew about Mystic Springs—and falling in love—is quickly turned on its head. Not only is Rebecca being stalked to a life-threatening extent, but her aggressor holds the key that will unlock the first clue as to what happened to Annabelle Braun all those years ago. BRANDON When a brand-new client, a quiet mysterious woman by the name of Molly Jaspers hires Eagle Security—and Brandon specifically—he soon realizes he might not want to be a loner forever. Molly is far too enchanting, and the reason she’s come to his private security firm, too intriguing. Her sister was killed in a car crash that Molly knows was no accident. And the twist that keeps her up at night? It was Molly’s own car that her sister was driving. ZACH Agent Zach Winter spent his senior year of high school in love with the girl next door—stunning, French transfer student, Sophia Rothschild. It was never more than that, admiration from afar, despite their mutual attraction. Sophia chose the captain of the football team instead and got married quickly after graduation, but she never left Zach’s thoughts. When Sophia shows up at his private security firm, having been framed for the murder of her late husband, Zach finds the old flame that used to burn in his heart for her is reignited. TYLER Brittany Masterson comes with a dark past, one she’s working hard to forget. Beautiful and slender, with an edge of sorrow radiating from her alluring blue eyes, she’s built her life around her precious daughter, Ella, and is determined to find happiness in Mystic Springs. The bedrock of her effort is a promise she made to herself to never again become involved with a man. But that promise is quickly shattered when she has no choice but to accept the help of the very sexy bodyguard Tyler after young Ella goes missing. JESSICA Adam Walsh has big dreams. Born and raised in the backwoods of Alaska, he’s held his long-term goal of opening a cabin building company in the forefront of his mind. But money has never been easy to come by. Scrimping and saving, for the past three years he’s been moonlighting as an exotic dancer in Anchorage’s premiere male strip club. He’s got the body and the moves, but does he have what it takes to win the heart of a woman like Jessica when he hires her for protection against a stalker who has been targeting a number of the Beefcake dancers?
Magic Hour
Kristin Hannah - 2006
Julia Cates was one of the country's preeminent child psychiatrists until a shocking tragedy ruined her career. Retreating to her small western Washington hometown, Julia meets an extraordinary six-year-old girl who has inexplicably emerged from the deep woods nearby—a child locked in a world of unimaginable fear and isolation. To Julia, nothing is more important than saving the girl she now calls Alice. But Julia will need help from others, including the sister she barely knows and a handsome doctor with secrets of his own. What follows will test the limits of Julia's faith and strength, as she struggles to find a home for Alice . . . and for herself.
Showdown
Tilly Bagshawe - 1999
Her father has forbidden her to ride after a fall left her hospitalised - and there's no arguing with him. As a millionaire racehorse breeder and bastion of the male dominated racing fraternity, he would prefer Milly took up more ladylike pursuits, and left the riding to her brother, Jasper. Although Milly has more talent in her left riding boot than the poisonous Jasper will ever have, her family are determined to fill Milly's life with cookery courses and debs' balls in London. But Milly's life is about to change with the arrival of Bobby Cameron, the most skilled horse-breaker in America. Milly, who previously has had no interest in males of the two-legged variety, develops a passionate crush on the blond, beautiful Bobby. When Bobby offers her the chance to spend a year on his Californian ranch, it's just too good an opportunity to refuse...
Joy for Beginners
Erica Bauermeister - 2011
Wineglass in hand, Kate strikes a bargain with them. To celebrate her new lease on life, she'll do the one thing that's always terrified her: white-water rafting down the Grand Canyon. But if she goes, each of them must promise to do one thing in the next year that is new, or difficult, or scary—and Kate gets to choose their challenges.Shimmering with warmth, wit, and insight, Joy for Beginners is a celebration of life: unexpected, lyrical, and deeply satisfying.
The Birthday Girls
Pauline Lawless - 2013
Their friendship has now lasted thirty-five years. As their birthdays all fall in the same week they long ago made a pact to spend each big decade birthday together. So far they'd managed it. Now as their thirty-ninth birthday looms, Angel, a famous Hollywood actress, announces that this will be her last birthday. Terrified of aging, she absolutely refuses to turn forty. So Lexi, the mother hen of the group and an artist, invites them to Florida for a week-long celebration of this, their last birthday together. Brenda, mother to five grown-up children, flies in from Dublin, eagerly looking forward to her first foreign holiday ever. Mel, however, has to be prised away from New York where she is a successful partner in a law firm - she is a workaholic with no other friends or love in her life. The four come together for the celebration but soon things start to unravel and the week ends disastrously. Lexi is distraught. Can their friendship endure? Only time will tell.
Tales From The Loon Town Cafe
Dennis Frahmann - 2013
Just be assured a cup of coffee at this small town spot always comes with a story. It's the go-go 1980s when journalist Wally Pearson gets mugged in Times Square. It's a jolt that prompts him to throw away his career and open a cafe in his small hometown. Little does he know that in doing so he's about to get entrapped in the collision of fame, fortune, ambition and love in the northwoods of Wisconsin-all tempered with more than a little delusion. His Loon Town Cafe is the common meeting ground for many different forces. Chicago millionaire Henry Van Elkind plots from his lavish summer camp a transformation of the region. The Native American tribe, whose reservation edges the town, is about to flex its muscle on fishing and gambling rights. Wally's young wait staff is more interested in romance, and his oddball trio of regulars spend much of their time arguing over probing spacemen, giant musket and the availability of wild strawberry jam. "Tales from the Loon Town Cafe" captures the unique character and rhythms of small Midwestern towns. But it also recognizes the undercurrent of despair and sometime downright loopiness that emerges when most everyone thinks they know most everything that's going on. But of course they don't really know all, and that's why "Tales from the Loon Town Cafe" is ultimately a mystery of life.
Not Perfect
Elizabeth LaBan - 2018
She’d confess her situation to her friends—if it wasn’t for those dreadful words of warning in his goodbye note: “I’ll tell them what you did.”Instead, she does her best to keep up appearances, even as months pass and she can barely put food on the table—much less replace a light bulb. While she looks for a job, she lives in fear that someone will see her stuffing toilet paper into her handbag or pinching basil from a neighbor’s window box.Soon, blindsided by catastrophe, surprised by romance, and stunned by the kindness of a stranger, Tabitha realizes she can’t keep her secrets forever. Sooner or later, someone is bound to figure out that her life is far from perfect.
The Unorthodox Arrival of Pumpkin Allan
Suzie Twine - 2014
Tom falls off his mountain bike just days before they take ownership of Honeysuckle Cottage; leaving a pregnant Lois and her close friend to collect the keys to their new home. Finding her dream house fraught with unexpected problems, Lois becomes sick with worry that she should never have persuaded Tom to leave the city. But, as they settle, glitches with the cottage are resolved, and a wonderfully eclectic mix of friends, enemies, crooks, and eccentrics is revealed within this extraordinary community. Lois and Tom’s rapid series of major life events culminates in great excitement, with their wedding and the birth of the baby in very quick succession and a melodramatic twist, as uninvited guests arrive at the home delivery.
Like Wind Against Rock
Nancy Kim - 2021
But in the face of divorce, eviction, and the recent death of her father, she doesn’t have a choice.Watching as her mother thrives in a new job and meets younger men at the local gym, Alice struggles, reflecting on her parents’ marriage, her relationship with each of them, as she adjusts to being single again for the first time in twenty years. Then she finds her father’s old journal…and uncovers a shocking family secret that forces her to question everything she thought she knew about love, regret, family, and her own path forward.As Alice comes to terms with the man her father really was, she must finally decide who she wants to be and what it will take to get there.
Together Apart
Natalie K. Martin - 2014
But Sarah has a secret - and she's willing to sacrifice everything to keep it. Going through a break-up is hard enough but having to live together afterwards is even worse, especially when it's a break-up neither person wants. For Adam, there are only three ways to deal with it: sex, drugs and alcohol. For Sarah, its keeping her distance and closely guarding the lengths she's gone to in order to keep her secret safe for the past fifteen years. And she succeeds until Adam finds a box of her teenage diaries. Against a backdrop of lies, secrecy, passion and teenage rebellion, the delicate threads holding Sarah's secret begin to unravel and when her first love is brutally murdered, her past and present collide in a way that makes it impossible to keep them apart. Adam thought he knew everything about Sarah. He was wrong. Romantic, intense and heart-breaking, Together Apart is a contemporary love story exploring what it really means to love and be loved. "I was hooked from page one ..." HarperCollins Authonomy Editor #1 read and Editor's Desk Winner on HarperCollins' Authonomy