Book picks similar to
A Craving by Emily Arnold


adult-read
excellent-book
netgalley
5-stars

24 Minutes On The Other Side: Living Without Fear of Death


Tessa Romero - 2020
    She returned to save another life. This experience transformed her, allowing her to enjoy a full and happy life, free from fear.In “24 Minutes on The Other Side”, Tessa tells us about her amazing journey to the afterlife―where she established contact with other beings―to help you understand the sense of life and death. One cannot exist without the other. Thanks to her experience with patients suffering from a terminal disease, the author learned that it is possible to live without fear of death and presently helps others to overcome their fear and die in peace, with dignity, knowing that death is only an awakening to a new life.Why are we afraid of dying? Is there life after death? Can we live without fear? Tessa invites us to follow her during her journey with the object of finding an answer to these fascinating mysteries. SELECTED REVIEWS “This shocking book gave me goosebumps. It successfully combines experience with science. The story is clear and the reading is fluid. Its pages present the author as a benevolent person with good intentions to help us. In hard times, I remember Tessa and her story, and try not to forget that there is life before death.” Benjamín Espinoza. Chemical engineer “This book has helped me face my death-related fears. It made me aware of how easy it is to live without fearing death as such. It gave me a lot of strength, energy and, most preciously, Love. Tessa taught me that instead of living in fear we should learn how to live.” Filli Ramírez. Entrepreneur. THE AUTHOR Tessa Romero is a writer, journalist, sociologist, and life coach. She is a volunteer for the defense of human rights and a journalist with a wide experience in Spain’s leading news media. She has written educational manuals on lyrical and symphonic music, tourist guides for several countries, as well as touristic and cultural articles for both the Spanish and the international printed press. She won her first literary award when she was only 8 years old and was prompted by her true vocation, as an author, to write her story and thus give life to this, her first personal-growth book, thus fulfilling her dream of helping others. Copyright©TessaRomero2020

"A DIARY FROM HELL": A CHILD BEING SOLD IN AMERICA


THERESA JENKINS - 2017
    She was kept in a closet and beaten daily. Neglected, physically and mentally abused. Sometimes she was allowed to eat and sometimes she wasn't. She was left in the care of a family member who took her young innocents by selling her for sex to men at an early age. When most children are at the tender age of adolescents and playing at the playground she was living in a daily hell. The welfare system failed her many times. Sending her back to a home that only the devil could have occupied. By the age 11, she had attempted suicide seven times. With no success, she ran away to live on the streets of Cincinnati Ohio. Until she was caught and sent to many children's homes and foster homes. Read as she takes you through her journey as she recounts her 'Diary from hell"!

Valencia and Valentine


Suzy Krause - 2019
    To confront those fears, Valencia’s therapist suggests that she fly somewhere—anywhere—before her upcoming birthday. And as Valencia begins a telephone romance with a man from New York, she suddenly has a destination in mind. There’s only one problem—he might not actually exist.Mrs. Valentine is an eccentric old woman desperate for company, be it from neighbors, telemarketers, or even the funeral director (when you’re her age, you go to a lot of funerals). So she’s thrilled when the new cleaning girl provides a listening ear for her life’s story—a tale of storybook love and incredible adventures around the world with her husband before his mysterious and sudden disappearance.The stories of Valencia and Mrs. Valentine may at first appear to have nothing in common…but then again, nothing in life is as straightforward as it seems.

Life and Other Near-Death Experiences


Camille Pagán - 2015
    Despite her new sunny locale, her plans go awry when she finds that she can’t quite outrun the past or bring herself to face an unknowable future. Every day of tropical bliss may be an invitation to disaster, but with her twin brother on her trail and a new relationship on the horizon, Libby is determined to forget about fate. Will she risk it all to live—and love—a little longer?From critically acclaimed author Camille Pagán comes a hilarious and hopeful story about a woman choosing between a “perfect” life and actually living.

The Shell Shop


Mia Alexander - 2020
    But when her husband dies in a tragic diving accident, that’s just where she finds herself. And now the Shell Shop is in danger, and along with it all of Julia’s precious family memories.Julia and her husband started the shell shop decades ago, before their now-grown children were born—he sold the rare shells he found on diving trips around the world and she got to raise their kids amongst the balmy breezes and waving palm trees. She left him to it—he had his own system and she knew nothing about shells. Her world was cooking, making sandcastles and snuggling with the kids. Their arrangement was perfect, until it wasn’t. Now that John’s gone, the bills are piling up and she can hardly bring herself to open the shop even though tourist season is fast approaching. Her eldest, Dillon, knows a bit about shells but doesn’t seem interested in stepping up to help. He prefers diving and surfing to having a proper job. Her daughter Aubrey is having an identity crisis and has her hands full with Julia’s beloved grandchildren. And the baby of the family, even in her mid-twenties, is struggling to make a go of it in a very difficult profession. With all of this on Julia’s mind, she has to dig deep to figure out a way to keep the shop—and her home—afloat. When a world-famous shell collector expects a rare shell that her husband promised to provide, can the Montgomery family rally and figure out the method to John’s madness and keep the shop in business? Escape into this feel-good beach series. You’ll fall in love with the Montgomery family while you visit the warm sunny beaches of the Florida Keys!

The Privileged


Emily Hourican - 2016
    They choose the same university, and through smoke-filled nights, lectures, sexual encounters and first loves, their bond deepens: a friendship which seems like it will last for evermore.But then, at an end-of-year party, something happens which changes everything ... Afterwards, they drift apart. Now Stella, a lawyer in New York, lives for her work; Laura, a struggling journalist in Dublin, is still waiting for the scoop to kick-start her career; while Amanda, broken and beautiful, lives a life of slow decay in London. Then the phone call comes which brings them back together, to the friendship they swore would last, and the night when it all went wrong. The Privileged is a haunting tale of friendship, loyalty and how one decision, one night, can decide the future.

Graffiti Moon


Cath Crowley - 2010
    Lucy is in love with Shadow, a mysterious graffiti artist.Ed thought he was in love with Lucy, until she broke his nose.Dylan loves Daisy, but throwing eggs at her probably wasn't the best way to show it.Jazz and Leo are slowly encircling each other.An intense and exhilarating 24 hours in the lives of four teenagers on the verge: of adulthood, of HSC, of finding out just who they are, and who they want to be.A lyrical new YA novel from the award-winning author of Chasing Charlie Duskin and the Gracie Faltrain series.

Finding Charlie


Katie O'Rourke - 2015
    When Charlie vanishes without warning, the people who love her are worried sick. Even if the law considers her an adult at nineteen, Charlie's still the baby of her already broken family. Older sister Olivia is determined to figure out what's happened. She finds a lost cell phone, an abandoned car and a shady boyfriend she's never met before. And he's not the only secret Charlie's been keeping.This disappearance feels uncomfortably familiar, reminding Olivia and her father of another loss years before. But this will be different, Olivia swears. Charlie's coming back.

The Flower Farm (Applemore Bay #2)


Rachael Lucas - 2022
    

Christodora


Tim Murphy - 2016
    The Christodora is home to Milly and Jared, a privileged young couple with artistic ambitions. Their neighbor, Hector, a Puerto Rican gay man who was once a celebrated AIDS activist but is now a lonely addict, becomes connected to Milly and Jared’s lives in ways none of them can anticipate. Meanwhile, Milly and Jared’s adopted son Mateo grows to see the opportunity for both self-realization and oblivion that New York offers. As the junkies and protesters of the 1980's give way to the hipsters of the 2000's and they, in turn, to the wealthy residents of the crowded, glass-towered city of the 2020's, enormous changes rock the personal lives of Milly and Jared and the constellation of people around them. Moving kaleidoscopically from the Tompkins Square Riots and attempts by activists to galvanize a true response to the AIDS epidemic, to the New York City of the future, Christodora recounts the heartbreak wrought by AIDS, illustrates the allure and destructive power of hard drugs, and brings to life the ever-changing city itself.

We Are All Made of Stars


Rowan Coleman - 2015
    Married to a war veteran who has returned from Afghanistan brutally injured, Stella leaves the house each night as her husband Vincent, locks himself away, unable to sleep due to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.During her nights at the hospice, Stella writes letters for her patients containing their final wishes, thoughts and feelings – from how to use a washing machine, to advice on how to be a good parent – and usually she delivers each letter to the recipient after he or she has died.That is until Stella writes one letter that she feels compelled to deliver in time to give her patient one final chance of redemption…

Things We Set on Fire


Deborah Reed - 2013
    Jackson, Vivvie’s husband, was shot and killed 30 years ago, and the ramifications have splintered the family into their own isolated remembrances and recriminations.This deeply personal, hauntingly melancholy look at the damages families inflict on each other – and the healing that only they can provide – is filled with flinty, flawed and complex people stumbling towards some kind of peace. Like Elizabeth Strout and Kazuo Isiguro, Deborah Reed understands a story and its inhabitants reveal themselves in the subtleties: the space between the thoughts, the sigh behind the smile, and the unreliable lies people tell themselves that ultimately reveal the deepest truths.

The Matchmakers of Minnow Bay


Kelly Harms - 2016
    Her career hasn't taken off, her best friend may no longer be the trusted friend she thought, her boyfriend is a disappointment, and now she can't keep up with the rising cost of living in the city. With no one to turn to, Lily is forced to move from her beloved apartment, but while packing she comes across a piece of mail that had slipped to the back of her junk drawer: a letter detailing further action needed to finalize the annulment of a quickie Vegas wedding. Ten years ago!Lily decides it's time to turn over a new leaf and the first item on her list of things to fix is getting the annulment... but you can't just send a reply ten years later, "Hey by the way we are still married." This is something that must be addressed in person. Lily takes to the road to track down her husband - the charming, fun, and sexy man she connected with all those years ago - Ben Hutchinson.Ben Hutchinson left a wealthy dot-com lifestyle behind to return home to his family and the small town he loves, Minnow Bay. He's been living off the grid and the last thing he expects is a wife he didn't know he had to show up on his doorstep.By chance, Lily arrives at the magical Minnow Bay Inn, and there she will discover not just a place to lay her head, but new friends, a thriving art community, and maybe even the love of her life.

Fish Heads and Duck Skin


Lindsey Salatka - 2021
    Tina yearns for this new setting to bring her the zen-like inner peace she's always heard about on infomercials. Instead, she becomes a totally exasperated fish out of water, doing wacky things like stealing the shoes of a shifty delivery man, spraying local women with a bidet hose, and contemplating the murder of her new pet cricket.It takes the friendship of an elderly tai chi instructor, a hot Mandarin tutor, and several mah-jongg-tile-slinging expats to bring Tina closer to a culture she doesn't understand, the dream job she never knew existed, and the self she has always sought. Fish Heads and Duck Skin will resonate with anyone who has ever wondered who they are, why they were put here, and how they ever lived before eating pan-fried pork buns.

Casacelli Brides


Clare Connelly - 2014
    But now, Bianca needs a favour, and the only man she can turn to is her ex-husband. He's already broken her heart once. Can she trust him again? ALL SHE WANTS FOR CHRISTMAS The widowed Lady Elizabeth Sanderson is no longer interested in men. Her life is ordered, calm and boring: just the way she likes it. So why can't she stop thinking about billionaire bad boy Antonio Casacelli, and the way his body seems to call to hers? THE TYCOON'S CHRISTMAS CAPTIVE The last thing Marcos Casacelli needs is a ward to babysit, especially not one as spoiled and indulged as the Hollywood starlet Kat Van Buren.Kat's not just running from any scandal or heartbreak, though. Her life is at stake, and the one man who can protect her seems to hate her with a passion. THE SHEIKH'S CHRISTMAS MISTRESS Charlotte Faber falls head over heels with The Sheikh Malik Desara the moment she sees him. She thinks he loves her, too, until he propositions her... to be his mistress! How can she accept? How can she refuse?