Book picks similar to
Second Chances by Rachel Cullen


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Apprentice Quest (Ozel the Wizard #1)


Jim Hodgson - 2018
    An incredible wizard. One boy must do the impossible to change his life forever… Ozel wonders if he'll ever escape his angry, fat caretaker. As the orphan hopes for a better future, a mysterious wizard gives him the gift of an apprenticeship and some unbelievable magic. But when Ozel discovers he's the lone heir to a massive fortune, he'll need more than a few spells to claim it. After learning his portly caretaker plans to steal the money first, Ozel races through a forest of blacksmiths, witches, and even the undead to protect his birthright. If he survives the treacherous Tangul forest, the orphan and his wizard may just have to stop a twisted mage to go from zero to wealthy hero. Apprentice Quest is a young adult fantasy novel full of action and humor. If you like powerful wizards, twists and turns, and coming-of-age tales, then you'll love Jim Hodgson's worthy successor to the magical genre. Buy Apprentice Quest to cast an entertaining spell today!

We Thought We Were Invincible


Michelle MacQueen - 2017
    And one day, she dreams of riding that wave out of her small town. Away from everyone.Her plan is simple: graduate high school. With Callie's best friend gone away to college, she plans on spending her senior year skating by. She isn’t looking for friends, and especially not for love - all she needs are her waves and her twin brother. Even if he comes with an annoying best friend, Jamie Daniels, who she can’t stand.Jamie is a care-free, easy-going surfer who has everything. On the surface, his life appears perfect, but reality is far from it. He has his share of secrets, including one that burns deeper than any other. It’s a good thing Callie hates him because if she didn’t, Jamie knows there’s no way he’d be able to stay away.And then, one night, everything changes. And nothing will ever be the same.

A Little Bit of Grace


Phoebe Fox - 2020
    Before Grace's dad ran off with an aspiring actress half his age. Before only-child Grace found out she was unable to have children of her own. Before Brian--her childhood best friend, business partner, and finally her husband--dropped a "bombshell" on her in the form of her stunning new replacement.Which means Grace now has...nothing.Until she receives a letter from a woman claiming to be a relative Grace never knew she had, sending her on a journey from the childhood home she had to move back into, to a Florida island to meet a total stranger who embraces her as family. There, Grace starts to uncover answers about the eccentric woman her family never mentioned: an octogenarian who is the keeper of a secret held for more than fifty years.

Amnesia


Douglas Anthony Cooper - 1992
    The librarian is supposed to be married in four hours' time, but the stranger compels him to listen. Many hours later he is still listening, and still unmarried.The stranger's name is Izzy Darlow, and the story revolves around his fractured family and their obsessions. The family home is a labyrinth. His older brother, Aaron, conducts secret and increasingly perilous experiments in his attic bedroom. His younger brother, Josh, who speaks with a lisp but sings like an angel, wanders the streets at night consumed by visions of destruction. Izzy's own place in this curious family is complicated by disturbing influences: the terrifying books he reads compulsively in the school library, his charismatic but dangerous friend Campbell, the vicious force of his emerging sexuality.Woven into Izzy's tale is the story of a young woman called Katie, who has been confined to a mental hospital as a result of a cruel violation suffered in her youth. Where do these two stories meet? What is Izzy leaving out, what has he forgotten? And why can the anxious librarian not extricate himself from the web that Izzy weaves around him? As the story swirls deeper, taking reference from architecture, literature, history and myth, the reader is drawn into Izzy's frighteningly dislocated world, where the only response to suffering and guilt is amnesia.

This Close


Jessica Francis Kane - 2013
    A recent college graduate living in New York City finds himself in a strangely entangled friendship with his dry cleaner and her son. A daughter accompanies her father to Israel, where, seeing a new side of him away from her mother, she makes an unusual bargain.Through thirteen stories, some stand-alone, others woven with linked characters, Kane questions the tensions between friendship and neighborliness, home and travel, family and ambition. In writing filled with wit and humor and incredible poignancy, she deftly reveals the everyday patterns that, over time, can swerve a life off course.

More Than You Know


Nan Rossiter - 2013
    A sure winner." - Debbie Macomber, #1 New York Times bestselling author"Loosely connected to Rossiter's previous novels, this tale is peopled with wonderfully intriguing characters, both two- and four- legged. The story within a story is moving: quite emotional with much sadness, but there's also joy. This truly inspirational tear-jerker will be remembered long after the last page." - RT Book Reviews, 4.5 stars, TOP PICK!From the back cover:New York Times bestselling author Nan Rossiter weaves a poignant, empowering novel in which three sisters gather to celebrate their mother's life--and find new inspiration for living their own...Losing her father on the night she was born could have torn Beryl Graham's family apart. Instead, it knitted them together. Under their mother's steady guidance, Beryl and her older sisters, Isak and Rumer, shared a childhood filled with happiness. But now Mia Graham has passed away after battling Alzheimer's, and her three daughters return to their New Hampshire home to say goodbye.Swept up in memories and funeral preparations, the sisters catch up on each other's lives. Rumer and Isak have both known recent heartache, while Beryl has given up hope of marriage. But surprising revelations abound, especially when they uncover Mia's handwritten memoir. In it are secrets they never guessed at--clandestine romance, passionate dreams, joy and guilt. And as Beryl, Rumer, and Isak face a future without her, they realize it's never too late to heed a mother's lessons--about taking chances, keeping faith, and loving in spite of the risks...

(Im)perfectly Happy


Sharina Harris - 2020
    Yet ten years later they can't help wondering what happened to the hopeful, confident, driven women they used to be--and how to get them back . . . Radio personality Raina, known as "the black Delilah," hates the wholesome persona that's made her a success. Doling out syrupy versions of her grandma's wisdom feels worlds away from the sarcastic, tell-it-like-it-is woman Raina really is.Kara Jones was sure she'd be a master sommelier by thirty. Life and loss interfered with that plan. Now she has one more chance--but it's taking a toll on her self-esteem and her marriage.Nikki Grayson hardly recognizes the stay-at-home mom she's become. When her band signed a record deal, she swapped the limelight for a minivan and a sensible 'do. Now she's wishing she had followed her heart. Instead, she's drowning her regret in alcohol.Public defender Sienna Njeri willingly put her city council aspirations aside to support her fianc�'s bid for office--and now she's wondering if her loyalty is misplaced.Longing for the support, advice, and tough love they once shared, all four resolve to start meeting up again. After all, their dreams may still be within reach. But are they worth the price they'll pay to achieve them?

Who’s Loving You


Sareeta DomingoAmna Saleem - 2021
    A seed of hope begins to grow out of the ashes of grief, heartbreak and loss. Romance sparks in the most unexpected of places. And an unbreakable bond is formed that transcends countries, continents and even the boundaries of time...In this extraordinary collection, ten writers explore the full spectrum of love in all its messy, joyful, agonising and exhilarating forms. Celebrating and centring the romance, passion and desire of women of colour, these stories burn with an intensity and longing that lingers long after the final page.

Playing Games


Candace Wondrak - 2019
    Free spirit. Troublemaker. That’s me.I never thought I’d meet my match, but I was wrong. Levi Harlen is an unstoppable force just like me, and together we make something truly amazing. Hot, heated, passionate. He does things to me no other guy ever has. I love the way it feels, but I hate it, too.Levi’s a liar, you see, and I stepped into his web unknowingly.This frat boy is about to find out that I’m not going to play his games, I’m going to play my own. He thinks he can hurt me by doing the sh*t he does? He’s wrong. Nothing can hurt me, even as my life spirals out of control.My name is Kelsey Yates, and I’m about to show this liar what it feels like to be rejected and beaten at his own game.Game on.Playing Games is the first in a M/F duology, and it includes steamy scenes. There are some mentions of self-harm, along with some bullying. Kelsey and Levi are both forces to be reckoned with, and neither one will back down. If you’re looking for a story with perfect characters who don’t make mistakes, look somewhere else.

Stealing the Bride


Nadia Lee - 2019
    But I'm not most men. This woman has left her mark and I have to track her down.Imagine my surprise when I discover that she's getting married...So I do what's most logical: steal the bride. Except...am I even at the right wedding?Stealing the Bride is a standalone full-length romance novel with a sexy AF billionaire, smart geeky heroine, identical twins and mistaken identity. No cheating, no cliffhanger. Just lots of heat, heart and humor.

Bayou My Love


Lauren Faulkenberry - 2016
    For Enza, Bayou Sabine means pain and heartache: a mother who left her and a father whose lies have caught up with him. Her only fondness for the bayou comes from the summers she spent there with her grandmother, Vergie. Now that Vergie’s gone, Enza wants to flip the house and put her past to rest—but this small town is full of big secrets—and it has one more surprise for her.When Enza finds her grandmother’s house occupied by sexy firefighter Jack Mayronne, she wants to kick him out. But Jack turns on the charm and convinces her to let him stay in exchange for helping her flip the house. Sparks fly as they share the same roof, and as their fling intensifies, Enza learns that Jack has dangerous secrets of his own. When the truth about her mother’s disappearance begins to surface, Enza must decide: how much is she willing to sacrifice to start over—and can she trust Jack with her heart?  Note: This book was previously published with the title Bayou My Love.“Faulkenberry creates a world of magic, suspense, and desire. An engrossing romance with just the right amount of heat!” -Julie C. Gardner, author of Letters for Scarlet

The Last Word


Samantha Hastings - 2019
    Miss Lucinda Leavitt is shocked when she learns the author of her favorite serialized novel has died before completing the story. Determined to learn how it ends, Lucinda reluctantly enlists the help of her father’s young business partner, Mr. David Randall, to track down the reclusive author’s former whereabouts.David is a successful young businessman, but is overwhelmed by his workload. He wants to prove himself to his late father, as well as to himself. He doesn’t have the time, nor the interest, for this endeavor, but Lucinda is not the type to take no for an answer.Their search for the elusive Mrs. Smith and the rightful ending to her novel leads Lucinda and David around the country, but the truths they discover about themselves—and each other—are anything but fictional.

All the Beloved Ghosts


Alison MacLeod - 2017
    A professor of cardiovascular physiology lingers on the cusp of consciousness as he waits for his new heart to be delivered, still beating, from another body—and is carried on a tidal wave of memories to an attic room half a century ago. Visiting Sylvia Plath’s grave in Yorkshire, the author imagines a conversation with the poet, a fellow North American who settled in grey England. She reflects on the treasured photograph of Princess Diana she took as a teenager, one of a multitude taken during a life cut short. And at Charleston, Angelica Garnett, child of the Bloomsbury Group, is overpowered by echoes of the past—all the beloved ghosts that spring to life before her eyes. MacLeod’s characters hover on the border of life and death, where memory is most vivid and the present most elusive.

Ann, Not Annie


Sage Steadman - 2017
    Easier said than done since Jacob isn't even aware she exists. The truth is, due to Ann's lively temper she spends more time in detention with the rest of the school rejects than she does fantasizing about Jacob Waters wearing spandex. Her best friend and devout alien believer, Lisa, doesn't like the changes she's seeing in her BFF. Neither does Danny Feller, a fellow detention inmate and resident lost boy who has started keeping an extra watchful and unwanted eye on Ann. When a chance encounter in an empty hallway changes everything, Ann finds all her dreams coming true and she is well on her way to living the perfect life she's always wanted. But appearances aren't always what they seem and Ann is going to have to face not just cold hard facts, but also her past.

A Sister's Promise


Renita D'Silva - 2015
    Bound by blood. Torn apart by love. My sister – the glue that held our family together and the gatekeeper to the memories of our shared childhood. The girl I made a pact with – to protect each other for life. The woman who destroyed my family, my future. And the only one who can save my daughter. Set against the dramatic backdrop of India, A Sister’s Promise is a powerful, emotional tale of family secrets, love and the ties that bind sisters together.