Book picks similar to
Personal Demons by G. Streator
pleasing
b-_-d
childhood-books
guilty-pleasures
Steps and Exes
Laura Kalpakian - 1999
At Henry's House on Isadora Island, Celia has created a faux-family homestead, a testament to tradition. Personally, however, Celia's unconventional love life has kept Isadora Island entertained for a generation.Married only once and widowed at twenty-two, Celia has spent a lifetime preaching (and practicing) Unfettered Love, preferring unions free of matrimony, free of the ties that bind -- and can just as easily strangle. Despite all the domestic upheaval, she has acquired a large extended family of children, stepchildren, partners, and ex-partners. Generous and spirited, but notoriously stubborn, Celia nonetheless draws people into her arms and her home.When, much to Celia's dismay, her daughter Bethie announces her engagement, Celia reluctantly agrees to throw a lavish celebration. To this party she must invite everyone in her whole overextended family: her steps and exes, their current partners and starchy in-laws, as well as a host of island eccentrics. As the big day approaches, Celia senses impending disaster. But nothing prepares her for the fallout when the nuclear family explodes and she must reconstruct the past in order to transform the future.
In and Out of Step
Christine M. Knight - 2010
'You could find yourself out of the frying pan and into the fire.' Her past denied and dance championship dreams discarded, Cassie Sleight leaves home. In the seemingly idyllic coastal town of Keimera, she starts a career on the English staff of the local high school. Exposure to Mark Talbut, a man struggling to be modern yet threatened by power shifts in the workplace and in society, causes Cassie to assess her reactions as a teacher and a woman. As she does so, the secrets of her past surface. Will that past continue to choreograph Cassie’s present steps? What sort of woman does she become? ‘In and Out of Step' looks at how the world a person lives in shapes that person for good and for bad. It is a story about friendship and family, belonging, alienation, sexual harassment, and change. The title alludes to the way Cassie Sleight uses dance as a way to interpret life and process her reactions to it.
Throstleford
Susan Evans McCloud - 2008
Esther and her father, the local vicar, are the first to receive copies of the Book of Mormon. Both recognize truth in the book, but recoil from the challenges this knowledge brings. The new message affects the lives of other villagers as well: the Lutheran minister, the grocer, the stone mason, the local squire's son, the stable boy who finds a discarded Book of Mormon, and the innkeeper and his sons, who spearhead the opposition to this new faith. Faith, charm, and romance permeate this glimpse into nineteenth-century England and the early Church.
Ardan's Oath
Maggie Hemlock - 2018
Lion omega, Ian, fled from the only home he ever knew to the Scottish village of Aramore. Across the Atlantic Ocean he hoped to start a new peaceful life free from the chaotic and dangerous life he left behind in Chicago. Surrounded by men in kilts and ancient vampires, Ian struggles to fit in. Life as he knows it is turned upside down at the Festival of Mates when against the odds he meets Lord Ardan Byrne. Fate has delivered him into the lap of his true-mate, but will his past stand in the way of his happily ever after? Alpha Ardan Byrne has waited three hundred years to meet his true-mate. The benevolent ruler of the vampire Coven of Byrne and the proud protector of Aramore doesn’t know what to make of the lion fate deemed as his. When Ian flees the Festival of Mates Lord Ardan is left speechless. As the destined mates grow closer danger lurks around every corner of Ian’s past. Ardan will do whatever it takes to protect him, but is their love enough to overcome Ian’s dark history? Ardan’s Oath is a standalone MPREG romance set in the Hemlock Mpreg Universe.
The Twenty-Year Death
Ariel S. Winter - 2012
1931— The body found in the gutter in France led the police inspector to the dead man’s beautiful daughter—and to her hot-tempered American husband. 1941— A hardboiled private eye hired to keep a movie studio’s leading lady happy uncovers the truth behind the brutal slaying of a Hollywood starlet. 1951— A desperate man pursuing his last chance at redemption finds himself with blood on his hands and the police on his trail... Three complete novels that, taken together, tell a single epic story, about an author whose life is shattered when violence and tragedy consume the people closest to him. It is an ingenious and emotionally powerful debut performance from literary detective and former bookseller Ariel S. Winter, one that establishes this talented newcomer as a storyteller of the highest caliber.
Savannah From Savannah / Savannah Comes Undone
Denise Hildreth Jones - 2005
It is a place know to most as Savannah. It is a place know to me as home. I wish I could tell you it was my love for this city that precipitated my return. But I did not return out of a mere longing for home. I returned because I have something to prove to home. I am Savannah...from Savannah. Savannah Comes Undone Seeing my mother as the lead story on the six o'clock news was no great cause for alarm...until the camera revealed her chained to a downtown monument! I thought I knew my mother—but right now I'm not sure I even know myself. I'm currently a journalist for the Savannah Chronicle. And I don't need drama. Really. I can create my own. Who needs extra? But in spite of the mind-boggling events in Savannah this week, the truth is going to be revealed by one of its very own. I am Savannah...from Savannah.
Where She Went
Kate Walbert - 1998
The first half of the book chronicles Marion Clark, a “company wife”, who repeatedly packs the household and accompanies her husband around the globe with a “melancholy view before her of what seemed like endless houses with endless garages and endless kitchen windows.” In the stories that follow, her adult daughter, Rebecca, dutifully attempts to fulfill her mother’s thwarted aspirations, yet hers is a world viewed with a slightly off-kilter eye, one that invokes Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel, Mohammad’s faithful followers at Topkapi Palace, as well as the landscapes of Italy and Jamaica, Istanbul and Paris. Ironically, if Marion had no free will, Rebecca has an excess. This mother and daughter, each uniquely of her own generation, remain locked, firmly, in longing.
Forsaken
Jana Oliver - 2011
. . .Seventeen-year-old Riley, the only daughter of legendary demon trapper Paul Blackthorne, has always dreamed of following in her father's footsteps. The good news is, with human society seriously disrupted by economic upheaval and Lucifer increasing the number of demons in all major cities, Atlanta’s local Trappers Guild needs all the help they can get – even from a girl. When she’s not keeping up with her homework or trying to manage her growing crush on fellow apprentice Simon, Riley’s out saving distressed citizens from foul-mouthed little devils – Grade One Hellspawn only, of course, per the strict rules of the Guild. Life’s about as normal as can be for the average demon-trapping teen.But then a Grade Five Geo-Fiend crashes Riley’s routine assignment at a library, jeopardizing her life and her chosen livelihood. And, as if that wasn’t bad enough, sudden tragedy strikes the Trappers Guild, spinning Riley down a more dangerous path than she ever could have imagined. As her whole world crashes down around her, who can Riley trust with her heart – and her life?
The Fried Twinkie Manifesto: and other tales of disaster and damnation
Ryan Moehring - 2011
While maintaining a voice unmistakably his own, Moehring evokes the wild imagination of Tom Robbins, the soul of Sedaris, and the wisdom of Vonnegut. Though readers will more often than not find themselves laughing out loud, Moehring's eye for the profound and his unyielding honesty ensure that they are just as likely to cry-or cringe.
The County Fair
Katherine Valentine - 2007
Days are filled from dawn to sunset with last-minute chores, while the women struggle to find time to prepare their special dishes in hopes of winning a coveted blue ribbon at the annual County Fair. As opening day of the fair draws near, folks have plenty to occupy their minds as well. Much to the chagrin of Father James, he has been chosen to help judge the apple pie contest; Matthew Metcalf worries about how to keep his girlfriend and pay for college at the same time; the Petersons welcome a long-awaited and newly adopted baby; and Hudson, Marion Holmes’s butler, hopes to give his beloved employer a new reason to live by researching the parentage of a young boy who has just arrived in town along with the fair. The boy is a carbon copy of Marion’s deceased son, William. Could he be the product of an old love affair between William and a girl whose uncle once owned a carnival? Before this mystery can be solved, however, the sheriff and the FBI must figure out—before it’s too late—that the owner of the fair is planning to risk the lives of the fairgoers in order to hide a major drug deal he is taking part in.THE COUNTY FAIR is a wonderful continuation of the Dorsetville series, where good friends are never farther away than a handshake and God’s intervention is as close as a prayer.
Darkness Brutal
Rachel A. Marks - 2015
Since then, every three years the demons have returned to try to claim her. Living in the gritty, forgotten corners of Los Angeles, Aidan has managed to protect his sister, but he knows that even his powers to fight demons and speak dead languages won’t keep her safe for much longer.In desperation, Aidan seeks out the help of Sid, the enigmatic leader of a group of teens who run LA Paranormal, an Internet reality show that fights demons and ghosts. In their company, Aidan believes he’s finally found a haven for Ava. But when he meets Kara, a broken girl who can spin a hypnotic web of passionate energy, he awakens powers he didn’t know he had―and unleashes a new era of war between the forces of Light and the forces of Darkness.With the fate of humanity in his hands, can Aidan keep the Darkness at bay and accept his brilliant, terrifying destiny?
Everything You Are
Kerry Anne King - 2019
Now, unable to play, adrift in an alcoholic daze, and with only fragmented memories of his past, Braden wants desperately to escape the darkness of the last eleven years.When his ex-wife and son are killed in a car accident, Braden returns home, hoping to forge a relationship with his troubled seventeen-year-old daughter, Allie. But how can he hope to rescue her from the curse that seems to shadow his family?Ophelia “Phee” MacPhee, granddaughter of the eccentric old man who sold Braden his cello, believes the curse is real. She swore an oath to her dying grandfather that she would ensure Braden plays the cello as long as he lives. But he can’t play, and as the shadows deepen and Phee finds herself falling for Braden, she’ll do anything to save him. It will take a miracle of forgiveness and love to bring all three of them back to the healing power of music.
Pride and Prejudice
Beth Johnson - 1813
He falls in love with Jane, the oldest Bennet girl. Everything goes well—for a while. Then the handsome bachelor’s proud best friend, Mr. Darcy, ruins everything.Elizabeth Bennet has never hated anyone as much as she hates Mr. Darcy. How could she ever forgive the man who has ruined her sister’s happiness? She knows everything she needs to know about him. He is proud, hateful, conceited, and horrid—and he wants to marry her.Elizabeth and Darcy’s memorable, witty battle of hearts and minds has made Pride and Prejudice a readers’ favorite for almost two hundred years.Readability Note: This Townsend Library Classic has been carefully edited for clarity and readability.Source: townsendpress.com
The Magic of Found Objects
Maddie Dawson - 2021
All her life she’s been torn between the two. But now that she’s been betrayed by both love and the mother she once idolized, her rational side is winning.So when her best friend from childhood proposes that they give up on romance and marry each other, Phronsie agrees. Who better to spend your life with than your best friend? Maybe the connection they already have is love. Maybe there’s no falling to be done. But immediately after they announce their engagement, she encounters someone who makes a very charming and compelling argument for revisiting romance.While her even-keeled stepmother argues for the safety that comes with her new engagement and her mother relays messages from the universe to hold out for true love, Phronsie must look to her own heart to find the answers that have been there all along.
Forsaken
J.D. Barker - 2014
Barker's Forsaken is a remarkable debut, a gripping tale of suspense in the tradition of Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and John Saul. Truly the birth of a new master in the genre.“J.D. Barker is a one-of-a-kind writer and that’s a rare and special thing. Stephen King comes to mind and Lee Child, John Sandford. All one-of-a-kinds. Don’t miss anything J.D. writes.” James Patterson #1 International Bestselling Author Bram Stoker Award Nominee - Superior Achievement in a First Novel “Barker’s ambitious debut is aimed squarely at fans of classic horror. Witches, spells, miniature demons, and personal doubt give plenty to latch on to… the plot moves at a brisk pace… a promising start to a planned series.” - Editorial Review, Publisher’s Weekly "A talented writer with a delightfully devious mind!" Jeffery Deaver #1 International Bestselling Author After reading Forsaken, I completely understand why Stephen King would grant this author permission to reference his world from Needful Things. Barker is that good. You do not want to miss this book! - The Haven Herald "Incredibly written, supremely creepy. I don't say this lightly: J.D. Barker is a force to be reckoned with." Tosca Lee NY Times Bestselling Author When horror author Thad McAlister began his latest novel, a tale rooted in the witch trials of centuries past, the words flowed effortlessly. The story poured forth, filling page after page with the most frightening character ever to crawl from his imagination. It was his greatest work, one that would guarantee him a position among the legends of the craft. But was it really fiction? He inadvertently opened a door, one that would soon jeopardize the lives of his family. She wants to come back. At home, his wife struggles to keep their family alive. Secretly wondering if she caused it all…a deal she made long ago. A deal with the Forsaken.