Book picks similar to
Beautiful Secret by Dana Faletti
womens-fiction
a-stand-alone-300-399
freebies
pandamoon-authors
Flash burn I
Alexandra Iff - 2014
Only now do I notice that I'm practically panting, my breaths coming in short shallow huffs, and my dick is throbbing in my slacks. I'm almost afraid to move a muscle, because I just fucking might come in my pants… What the fuck was that? Get your fucking shit together, Knight, you're acting like some horny teenager and not the CEO of a multi-billion dollar company. I close my eyes and pinch the bridge of my nose, my left hand sliding under the table and rubbing the hard throbbing bulge in my pants, adjusting it.”Eva Roberts POV“Stop listening to your needy body, Eva! My mind is always here to wake me up.I deliberately minimize the Gmail screen and focus on um…my work emails. Is my breathing shallow? Argh! I place my hands on the edge of the desk and push off. The chair I’m sitting on slides backwards on its wheels and I swivel around, stopping right next to the window, looking outside. I need sex. I really do. I’ve had a very dry year and this is the closest I’ve gotten to fucking. Ok, getting wet. But good wet. Scary wet. Should I email him back? Am I that gutsy? No. I know I’m not.”Having sent a controversial email by error to someone else, James Knight receives a reply from that email address in the same erotic language. What follows is sexting like you’ve never read before and as you read on, all you want to know is, will their virtual relationship become a real one?
The Other Gloria
L.A. Villafane - 2019
There is another who harbors her unspeakable secrets. Meeting her is where the danger lies. On a dark January night in 2019, Gloria finds herself behind the wheel of a car, beaten and covered in blood. She has no idea where she’s coming from, or where she might be headed. After pulling to the side of the road, she begins to fade out of consciousness. The next thing she experiences is waking in bed next to a man who should be her beloved fiancé, Rick. However, she soon discovers it is her dangerous ex-husband, Charles, whom she thought she had escaped two years earlier, in 2017. She eventually finds that the year she was woken to is 2003, and she is living her life with this abusive man all over again. Due to the abuse she endured, Gloria suffers from dissociative disorder, which has stolen the memories of her two young daughters growing up. There is another who holds these memories; the Other Gloria. She thinks maybe God has given her a do-over, and she might be able to do better, stay present, and recover the lost memories of their childhood. She knows, to do this, she must escape Charles once again. Gloria’s plan for escaping this time around includes finding Rick, who doesn’t know she exists in 2003, but she soon comes to the realization that meeting Rick will not be enough. She knows she must do the one thing she never wanted to do – meet the Other Gloria and finally discover the unspeakable secrets she holds. For those who enjoyed The Girl on the Train, Behind Closed Doors, or The Wife Between Us. Villafane has managed to write that type of story that keeps the readers on their toes the whole time and, just when they think they have figured out what’s going on, bam! An amazing twist shocks them out of their comfort zone. Just brilliant! Brunella Costagliola, Best Selling Ghost Writer
A FATEFUL CHOICE: My Survival Story
Abraham Rozenzveig - 2015
A decision is made that changes the course of his and his family’s lives, sealing their fates forever. Hiding deep in the foul swamps and murky forests of Belarus, Avramele endures abandonment and terrible loneliness. But with incredible courage for such a young child, with the help of a remarkable family and a little bit of luck, a strong willed and resilient boy emerges from his dark and painful past. Trekking across war-torn Europe, through refugee camps and an Alpine orphanage, crossing stormy seas and suffering imprisonment in Cyprus, Avramele (Abraham) reclaims his life on the shores of Israel.
Winter Whimsy: Escape this Christmas to the Boardwalk by the Sea
Georgina Troy - 2020
Reflection: The Stranger in the Mirror
Rachel R. Smith - 2015
Nerissa, the Heiress of Chiyo, prepares for the masquerade celebrating the twentieth anniversary of a thwarted assassination attempt on her family. Longing to be admired for herself and not her title, she arranges to switch costumes and enjoy the ball in blissful anonymity. But, when the fateful night finally comes, a prophetic warning of a second attack arrives too late, and the evening turns from revelry and romance to violence. After being pulled from the chaos by an enigmatic guardian, Nerissa learns that the Royal Family has been concealing a formidable secret for generations--and it is only one of many that are about to be revealed. Reflection: The Stranger in the Mirror is Book 1 of 4 in the first story arc of the Records of the Ohanzee series, which is written in a serialized style with a story line that flows continuously between books.
The Day Before Yesterday's Thief
Al Macy - 2018
Only a sociopath would frame a random stranger without a second’s hesitation, yes?The hunt is on to find the suitcase’s owner and retrieve the diamond. But the search leads to much more than she’d bargained for. What she finds imperils not only her life, but that of her fourteen-year-old cousin—the one who has an unnatural ability to open safes.If Viviana can’t conquer her demons, she’ll spend the rest of her life in prison. That is, if the mob doesn’t kill her first.The Day Before Yesterday’s Thief may be read as a standalone book or as a prequel to the Eric Beckman series.
A Part of Me
Karin Aharon - 2019
It was all so unexpected.And now, she needs to fight the greatest battle of her life.Shirley is preoccupied with her non-stop daily routine: her demanding job at a law firm, raising her 18-month son and maintaining her loving relationship with her husband...Shirley’s busy life is turned upside down when her mother, who lives in Australia, comes over to visit and receives painful news – she has cancer.This terrible discovery is just the tip of the iceberg for Shirley, with many more struggles ahead, that she must face.Against all odds, and despite the challenges in her path, she goes on a long and courageous journey, with a single goal in mind – do everything it takes to be there for her children.
The Yorkshire Dipper
Maria Frankland - 2021
The local police are over-stretched and under-resourced.With each life that is pulled into the river’s depths, journalist Lauren Holmes becomes more suspicious and more determined to bring the truth to the surface.Her police sergeant fiancé is well-placed to help her. Yet he is committed to maintaining police reputation and is happy to accept each death recorded as ‘drunken misadventure.’Can Lauren get to the bottom of the deaths without risking her own ‘accident?’
Set the Pace
Kim Karr - 2016
He protected me. Shielded me. Kept me safe. And I would have done anything for him.Fate tore us apart—leaving a world between us, and both our hearts broken.Now Jasper is Detroit's white knight, a reckless rogue turned sexy savior, pulling the city and himself out of destitution.Everything he does is fast. He talks fast, f*cks fast, and drives fast.I know I should keep my distance. That I should stay away. There's too much history between us. Too much left unsaid.Yet I can't resist him.Just being near him is a thrill—his perfect body, our incredible explosive chemistry, the enticing danger that follows him everywhere he goes.But then the city turns against us, and we can't hold on.
When it’s us against the world—will our love survive?
Dog Collar Crime
Adrienne Giordano - 2013
A move that brings her back into the tempting arms of Frankie Falcone, the ex that never fails to make her heart sit up and beg.When Lucie parlays her temporary dog-walking gig into a career making fancy dog accessories, Frankie becomes her number one supporter. Life starts to look like a walk in the park…until three of her bling-wearing clients are dogjacked. Despite help from the on-again, off-again Mr. Fix-It in her life, Lucie is thrown into an investigation that’s more Goodfellas than good doggie. One that could shatter her new life and her second chance at love.
Those I Have Lost : A heart-wrenching and unforgettable World War 2 historical novel
Sharon Maas - 2021
Seas crawling with Japanese spies. A terrible war creeping ever closer…India, 1940. and Rosie is devastated by the sudden death of her beloved mother. The parties, smiles and games disappear, and although Rosie is desperate to stay in her home, her father cannot look after her. All alone in the world, she is sent to Sri Lanka, to live with her mother’s friend Silvia and her three sons.Time passes and Rosie flourishes in her new home amongst the mango trees and canna lilies. And one day, under the heat of the Sri Lankan sun, she falls in love for the first time. But her happiness is short lived, for the brutal war that has devastated families and torn Europe apart is creeping closer to their island. One by one the men depart Sri Lanka leaving Rosie with just memories and a broken heart she must hide.As Rosie waits for letters that never come, tortured by stories of torpedoed ships and massacres of innocent families, she realises that she cannot just sit and wait for news. She volunteers to help the army, working in military intelligence to protect her island paradise. But then her work brings shocking news that makes her blood run cold. The man she loved is missing, feared dead. Yet Rosie cannot lose hope – even as more women are left widows, more children left without fathers. But when the much longed-for news comes that the war is ended, and a limping wasted figure returns home, will one final devastating revelation tear Rosie’s world apart?An emotional and heartbreaking read with rich historical detail set against the backdrop of Sri Lanka during World War Two. Fans of Hazel Gaynor, Fiona Valpy and Kristin Hannah will be swept away by Those I Have Lost.
The Moscow Whisper (Sean Richardson, #3)
Michael Jenkins - 2020
Hours later, with bodies strewn across a terrace, a piece of secret intelligence reveals an international plot of colossal magnitude.For disgraced agent Sean Richardson, this is the beginning of a deniable mission to infiltrate and disrupt a group of Russian mercenaries who are working clandestinely to take over a nation state.Acting covertly as an illicit arms trafficker, Sean is dropped into a deadly cauldron of terrorists and high-tech weaponry that will take a nation down. As the bullets fly and the chaos rains in, can Sean take down the merchants of death…..or has he finally met his match?
A Winter Memory
Lulu Taylor - 2021
They met as students and Helen fell in love, not just with Angus but with the romantic Ballintyre family and their beautiful house on the edge of a loch. But marriage to Angus has not proved happy.Now, years later and with a family, Helen and Angus have been forced to move back to live at Ballintyre with his older brother, Charlie. Helen is surprised to find that Sylla, Charlie’s wife, has disappeared and no one seems to know where she is. Helen is worried, not least because Charlie and Sylla lost their teenage daughter, Rose, only a year before. Surely someone should be looking for her . . .Sylla Ballintyre has spent her life ministering to her husband, Charlie, and coping with the presence of his overbearing mother, Josephine, until the tragedy of losing Rose drained her happiness away. When she stumbles on the path to freedom, she knows she must take it, whatever the cost.As Helen struggles with the fallout of recent events and its effect on her life, Ballintyre House becomes the setting for revelations of love, obsession and betrayal that have resonated beyond the present and into the past, affecting the lives of all those who have called it home.
Blackbird Fly
Lise McClendon - 2009
That’s the delicious underpinning of this sprawling, exuberant, generous-spirited cozy mystery with a yummy side of international adventure.It might be sadder except that once Harry dies, his widow, Merle Bennett realizes almost immediately it was no wonder she didn't know anything about him. They’d pretty much been leading separate lives. Still, the will’s a shock. And so is an intriguing surprise—Harry left her a family home in a tiny French village. But who was Harry’s family? Finding out is half the fun.Merle sets out to claim her inheritance, adolescent son in tow, and thus begins a sojourn reminiscent of A Year in Provence, or perhaps Under The Tuscan Sun all mixed up with something by Carolyn Hart, maybe, or M.C. Beaton. Because Malcouziac, Merle’s tiny Dordogne town, is the quintessential village—just perfect for a murder. And a rollicking good time.Once Merle gets there, she finds…well, France! An unexpected romance! Mystery galore! Murder! And not just murder, but the unnerving experience of being a suspect. Once her passport is confiscated, what can she do but stay and restore her ancient battered house? While enjoying the tender attention of the unusually well-educated, handsome and…yes, quite mysterious roofer she’s hired.
Boone's Crew: A Mafia Romance Box Set
Sofia Westlake - 2019
Not just any man, but a naked man with severe injuries all over her body. She should have driven on, should have left him there. But how could she leave a man to die that way? She took him home, aware that it could be the biggest mistake she’d ever made. She was already on the run, already trying to live as much off the grid as possible. What was she going to do with an injured man? What if he died in her bed? What would she do then? Teaching Lincoln Janet Spence—Summer—is the daughter of the local district attorney who plays at being a thief, doing all she can to humiliate her mother. That is until she gets caught by a local football hero who kidnaps her and plans a dark sort of revenge. Just her luck that Lincoln happens to choose that day to break into the football star’s house and recover items that will just pay off his gambling debts to the Gabbana family. Lincoln shows no interest in the tied up girl at first, but when he learns who she really is, how could he resist collecting this bit of leverage against a district attorney who ran on the campaign promise that she would rid Tampa of Lincoln and his faction of criminals? Cason's Girl Cason Durst was once carefree and popular, the kind of college kid who thinks he knows everything. And then he was arrested and met Lincoln Steele. Lincoln saved him, fixed his problems, and offered him a job. Now Cason keeps to himself, learning all he can from the men who formed Boone’s crew. He’s learned that making friends, falling in love, all those things he once took for granted, are dangerous to him now. He’s learned to keep to himself. In fact, he’s become kind of awkward. Shy, even. Therefore, he’s the last one anyone could have expected Lincoln to send out on a mission to romance a pretty girl. Let It Raine Kara Tripp walks into Jett’s office one afternoon, begging him to forgive the debt of her lover, Harry. She’s willing to do anything, a fact that’s underscored when she begins to undress right there in his office. Jett has had a lot of offers over the years, and he’s never had the patience for it. But when he hears that Kara just happens to be a therapist who works with autistic children, he can’t pass up the opportunity to see if her skills can help improve Raine’s behavior. Jett and Kara make a deal in which she goes to work for him and Raine for six months, and he will forgive Harry’s debt. And it works, for four months, it works perfectly. But then a mole pops up in Boone’s Crew, and Jett finds himself questioning everything, and everyone, around him. Boone's End Titus betrayed his crew. In his world, betrayal was a crime punishable by death. He has two choices: embrace the very enemy that threatens to rip his world apart, or turn himself in to the very men who would like nothing more than to put a bullet in his brain. It’s not a simple choice. Titus has to decide where his loyalties really lay, and figure out who he can trust before it’s too late and an innocent pays for his mistakes. Jude Volz lost her brother to violence, and her father went to jail when she needed him the most. Determined to make someone pay, she trusted the wrong man, and now she’s caught up in something she can’t control. Locked in a car with a traitor, she has no choice but to trust Titus, to open up to him, and hope that together they can find a way out of an impossible situation. But now they’re running not just from his crew, but from hers as well.