Book picks similar to
Cracked Hearts by Linda Masemore Pirrung
romance
need
psychology
mystery
The Sudden Departure of the Frasers
Louise Candlish - 2015
A picture-perfect street with a secret at its heart.When Joe and Christy Davenport step behind the Oxford Blue painted door of their 'for ever' home, they believe their dreams have come true.Yet the boxes aren't even unpacked before a series of events leads Christy to become obsessed with the previous occupant, the glamorous, enigmatic Amber Fraser, whose departure from Lime Park Road is shrouded in mystery.What happened to her? And why are Joe and Christy's attempts at friendship with neighbours met with an unnerving silence?As Christy unravels the shocking truth about the Frasers and the place she now calls home, she discovers that behind the closed doors of even the most desirable postcodes, terrible secrets lurk.
What You Did
Claire McGowan - 2019
A devastating accusation. Who should she trust, her husband or her best friend?It was supposed to be the perfect reunion: six university friends together again after twenty years. Host Ali finally has the life she always wanted, a career she can be proud of and a wonderful family with her college boyfriend, now husband. But that night her best friend makes an accusation so shocking that nothing will ever be the same again.When Karen staggers in from the garden, bleeding and traumatised, she claims that she has been assaulted—by Ali’s husband, Mike. Ali must make a split-second decision: who should she believe? Her horrified husband, or her best friend? With Mike offering a very different version of events, Ali knows one of them is lying—but which? And why?When the ensuing chaos forces her to re-examine the golden era the group shared at university, Ali realises there are darker memories too. Memories that have lain dormant for decades. Memories someone would kill to protect.
The Other Girl
Erica Spindler - 2017
One witness—a fifteen year old girl from the wrong side of the tracks, one known for lying and her own brushes with the law.Is it any surprise no one believed her?Officer Miranda Rader of the Harmony, Louisiana PD is known for her honesty, integrity, and steady hand in a crisis—but that wasn’t always so. Miranda comes from the town of Jasper, a place about the size of a good spit on a hot day, and her side of the tracks was the wrong one. She’s worked hard to earn the respect of her coworkers and the community.When Miranda and her partner are called to investigate the murder of one of the town’s most beloved college professors, they’re unprepared for the brutality of the scene. This murder is unlike any they’ve ever investigated, and just when Miranda thinks she’s seen the worst of it, she finds a piece of evidence that chills her to the core: a faded newspaper clipping about that terrible night fifteen years ago. The night she’d buried, along with her past and the girl she’d been back then. Until now that grave had stayed sealed…except for those times, in the deepest part of the night, when the nightmares came: of a crime no one believed happened and the screams of the girl they believed didn’t exist.Then another man turns up dead, this one a retired cop. Not just any cop—the one who took her statement that night. Two murders, two very different men, two killings that on the surface had nothing in common—except Miranda.
The Butterfly Sister
Amy Gail Hansen - 2013
And then, on that particular October evening, it literally arrived at my doorstep."Eight months after dropping out of Tarble, an all-women's college, twenty-two-year-old Ruby Rousseau is still haunted by the memories of her senior year-a year marred by an affair with her English professor and a deep depression that not only caused her to question her own sanity but prompted a failed suicide attempt.And then a mysterious paisley print suitcase arrives, bearing Ruby's name and address on the tag. When Ruby tries to return the luggage to its rightful owner, Beth Richards, her dorm mate at Tarble, she learns that Beth disappeared two days earlier, and the suitcase is the only tangible evidence as to her whereabouts.Consumed by the mystery of the missing girl and the contents of the luggage-a tattered copy of Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own, the book on which Ruby based her senior thesis, and which she believes instigated her madness-she sets out to uncover the truth, not only about Beth Richards's past but also her own. In doing so, Ruby is forced to reexamine the people from her past: the professor who whisked her away to New Orleans and then shattered her heart and the ghosts of dead women writers who beckoned her to join their illustrious group. And when Ruby's storyline converges with Beth's in a way she never imagined, she returns to the one place she swore she never would: her alma mater.
A Curve in the Road
Julianne MacLean - 2018
She is a successful surgeon, is married to a handsome cardiologist, and has a model teenage son who is only months away from going off to college.But then one fateful night, everything changes. When a drunk driver hits her car, Abbie is rushed to the hospital. She survives, but the accident forces unimaginable secrets out into the open and plagues Abbie with nightmares so vivid that she starts to question her grip on reality. Her perfect life begins to crack, and those cracks threaten to shatter her world completely.The search for answers will test her strength in every way—as a wife, a career woman, and a mother—but it may also open the door for Abbie to move forward, beyond anger and heartbreak, to find out what she is truly made of. In learning to heal and trust again, she may just find new hope in the spaces left behind.
Best Kept Secrets
Sandra Brown - 1989
Twenty-five years before, her mother died a scandalous death. Now as she investigates her mother's former lover, his best friend, and the father figure to them both, she will risk everything to uncover their best kept secrets.
The Wrong Child
Patricia Kay - 2000
Or is there? Both Abbie and Logan are desperate to protect their children and to keep their families intact. Can they find a way to keep both of their daughters? THE WRONG CHILD is a compelling, emotional and romantic story of the bonds that are stronger than blood and the choices that can only be made with the heart. Ripped from the headlines, it gained Ms. Kay thousands of new fans around the world, and was honored by The Romance Writers of America with a nomination for a RITA, its most prestigious award. PRAISE FOR THE NOVELS OF USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR PATRICIA KAY: "A stunning book from a master storyteller. Patricia Kay writes from the heart about matters that touch us all." -- Susan Wiggs, NY Times bestselling author "A beautifully written compelling story you won't be able to put down." --- Georgia Bockoven, USA Today bestselling author "If you love LaVyrle Spencer, you'll love Patricia Kay." --- Deborah Smith "Wonderful . . . (a) sparkling romance." --- Eileen Goudge "Kay's writing is solid, and her narrative swiftly reaches a satisfying finish." -- Publisher's Weekly "Patricia Kay writes from the heart about people we come to love." --- Christina Dodd, NY Times bestselling author "Heartrending and touching . . . Ms. Kay never fails to deliver this kind of story." -- Amanda Kilgore, Huntress Reviews "This marvelous story is full to bursting with winning characters, special moments, and most of all, hope, faith, and the rejuvenating power of love." --- Romantic Times Magazine "An intriguing story of love at first sight." --- Houston Tempo Magazine "There are deep questions about relationships and serious character growth evident in this story, which is also warm, sensuous, and excellent entertainment." --- Rendezvous magazine "A warm, tender, beautifully written love story with an emotional punch that only Patricia Kay can deliver." --- Amanda Stevens, USA Today bestselling author PATRICIA KAY is a USA Today bestselling author of more than 50 novels of romance and women's fiction. An acclaimed teacher who taught writing classes at the University of Houston, she now teaches exclusively online. Born in Ohio, she and her husband have lived in Houston, Texas since 1969. To find out more about her, her books, and her writing classes, visit her website at www.patriciakay.com.
Undercover Love
Lucy Score - 2015
Do you want me to spy on my fiancé or get naked with you?”“Both. I thought that was obvious.”Revenge. It’s the only thing Ashley can think about after finding her supposed fiancé, Steven, with his tongue down the throat of the worst human being in the history of the world—his colleague, Ice Queen Victoria. Turns out it’s not the only body part he’s betrayed her with.Humiliated and furious, Ashley finds herself being propositioned by security expert and ridiculously sexy Jason Baine. But he’s not just looking to get her into bed. He needs her help taking down Steven and Victoria and rescuing his family’s company before it’s too late.Ashley’s a regular girl, a normal person. She doesn’t dabble in corporate espionage or illicit affairs. At least she didn’t until Jason… But now she’s in too deep and things are getting dangerous.
Watch Her Fall
Erin Kelly - 2021
The Prince is on stage for most of the ballet, but it's the swans audiences flock to see. In early productions, Odette and Odile were performed by two different dancers. These days, it is usual for the same dancer to play both roles. Because of the faultless ballet technique required to master the steps, and the emotional range needed to perform both the virginal Odette and the dark, seductive Odile, this challenging dual role is one of the most coveted in all ballet. Dancers would kill for the part.Ava Kirilova has reached the very top of her profession. After years and years of hard graft, pain and sacrifice as part of the London Russian Ballet Company, allowing nothing else to distract her, she is finally the poster girl for Swan Lake. Even Mr K - her father, and the intense, terrifying director of the company - can find no fault. Ava has pushed herself ahead of countless other talented, hardworking girls, and they are all watching her now.But there is someone who really wants to see Ava fall ...
The One
John Marrs - 2016
Just a quick mouth swab and soon you’ll be matched with your perfect partner the one you are genetically made for.That’s the promise made by Match Your DNA. A decade ago, the company announced that they had found the gene that pairs each of us with our soul mate. Since then, millions of people around the world have been matched. But the discovery has its downsides: test results have led to the breakup of countless relationships and upended the traditional ideas of dating, romance and love.Now five very different people have received the notification that they’ve been “Matched.” They’re each about to meet their one true love. But “happily ever after” isn’t guaranteed for everyone. Because even soul mates have secrets. And some are more shocking than others…A word-of-mouth hit in the United Kingdom, The One is a fascinating novel that shows how even the simplest discoveries can have complicated consequences.
The Grave Tender
Eliza Maxwell - 2015
People said her mother, Winnie, was never quite right, but with one single, irreparable act, life as Hadley knew it was shattered. The aftershocks of that moonlit night left her reeling, but the secrets and lies had started long before.When a widowed and pregnant Hadley returns years later, it’s not the safe harbor she expects. The mysteries surrounding a local boy’s disappearance remain, and the townspeople still whisper about Hadley’s strange and reclusive Uncle Eli—whispers about a monster in their midst.But Hadley’s father and grandmother, the cornerstones of everything safe in her world, avoid her questions. If Hadley stays here, will she be giving her children the family they need or putting their lives in danger?The hunt for answers takes a determined Hadley deep into the pine forests, in search of sunlight that will break through the canopy of lies long enough to reveal the truth.
The Art of Inheriting Secrets
Barbara O'Neal - 2018
Raw with grief and reeling from the knowledge that her reserved mother hid something so momentous, Olivia leaves San Francisco and crosses the pond to unravel the mystery of a lifetime.One glance at the breathtaking Rosemere Priory and Olivia understands why the manor, magnificent even in disrepair, was the subject of her mother’s exquisite paintings. What she doesn’t understand is why her mother never mentioned it to her. As Olivia begins digging into her mother’s past, she discovers that the peeling wallpaper, debris-laden halls, and ceiling-high Elizabethan windows covered in lush green vines hide unimaginable secrets.Although personal problems and her life back home beckon, Olivia finds herself falling for the charming English village and its residents. But before she can decide what Rosemere’s and her own future hold, Olivia must first untangle the secrets of her past.
How to Be Lost
Amanda Eyre Ward - 2004
. . Ward's depiction of family, with its attendant love and guilt, will keep you turning pages."--PeopleJoseph and Isabelle Winters seem to have it all: a grand home in Holt, New York, a trio of radiant daughters, and a sense that they are safe in their affluent corner of America. But when five-year-old Ellie disappears, the fault lines within the family are exposed: Joseph, once a successful businessman, succumbs to his demons; Isabelle retreats into memories of her debutante days in Savannah; and Ellie's bereft sisters grow apart--Madeline reluctantly stays home, while Caroline runs away.Fifteen years later, Caroline, now a New Orleans cocktail waitress, sees a photograph of a woman in a magazine. Convinced that it is Ellie all grown up, Caroline embarks on a search for her missing sister. Armed with copies of the photo, an amateur detective guide, and a cooler of Dixie beer, Caroline travels through the New Mexico desert, the mountains of Colorado, and the smoky underworld of Montana, determined to salvage her broken family.
The Black Hour
Lori Rader-Day - 2014
Now he's dead and she's back on campus, trying to keep up with her class schedule, a growing problem with painkillers, and a question she can't let go: Why?All she wants is for life to get back to normal, but normal is looking hard to come by. She's thirty-eight and hobbles with a cane. Her first student interaction ends in tears (hers). Her fellow faculty members seem uncomfortable with her, and her ex--whom she may or may not still love--has moved on.Enter Nathaniel Barber, a graduate student obsessed with Chicago's violent history. Nath is a serious scholar, but also a serious mess about his first heartbreak, his mother's death, and his father's disapproval. Assigned as Amelia's teaching assistant, Nath also takes on the investigative legwork that Amelia can't do. And meanwhile, he's hoping she'll approve his dissertation topic, the reason he came to grad school in the first place: the student attack on Amelia Emmet. Together and at cross-purposes, Amelia and Nathaniel stumble toward a truth that will explain the attack and take them both through the darkest hours of their lives.
Everything We Keep
Kerry Lonsdale - 2016
But when her fiancé, James Donato, vanishes in a boating accident, her well-baked future is swept out to sea. Instead of walking down the aisle on their wedding day, Aimee is at James’s funeral—a funeral that leaves her more unsettled than at peace.As Aimee struggles to reconstruct her life, she delves deeper into James’s disappearance. What she uncovers is an ocean of secrets that make her question everything about the life they built together. And just below the surface is a truth that may set Aimee free…or shatter her forever.