The Sweeney Sisters


Lian Dolan - 2020
    But their mother’s death from cancer fifteen years ago tarnished their golden-hued memories, and the sisters drifted apart. Their one touchstone is their father, Bill Sweeney, an internationally famous literary lion and college professor universally adored by critics, publishers, and book lovers. When Bill dies unexpectedly one cool June night, his shell-shocked daughters return to their childhood home. They aren’t quite sure what the future holds without their larger-than-life father, but they do know how to throw an Irish wake to honor a man of his stature.But as guests pay their respects and reminisce, one stranger, emboldened by whiskey, has crashed the party. It turns out that she too is a Sweeney sister.When Washington, DC based journalist Serena Tucker had her DNA tested on a whim a few weeks earlier, she learned she had a 50% genetic match with a childhood neighbor—Maggie Sweeney of Southport, Connecticut. It seems Serena’s chilly WASP mother, Birdie, had a history with Bill Sweeney—one that has remained totally secret until now.Once the shock wears off, questions abound. What does this mean for William’s literary legacy? Where is the unfinished memoir he’s stashed away, and what will it reveal? And how will a fourth Sweeney sister—a blond among redheads—fit into their story?By turns revealing, insightful, and uproarious, The Sweeney Sisters is equal parts cautionary tale and celebration—a festive and heartfelt look at what truly makes a family.

The Rumour


Lesley Kara - 2018
    That's all it takes.She stabbed little Robbie Harris. To change a life -She's living under a new name.For ever.She's reformed. So they say . . . Joanna is going to regret the day she ever said a word.

Underwater


Julia McDermott - 2013
    The CEO of her own women's shapewear company, she's about to launch a new swimsuit line and make a fortune. When she is guilted into loaning her brother a huge sum of money for real estate, she believes she's simply fulfilling a family promise. In reality, she's enabling a devious sociopath, and now, she's roped into the renovation from hell.For years, Monty Carawan has envied his sister's wealth. Spiteful and self-centered, he's convinced that her success came at the expense of his own future. But when the housing market plunges and Candace attempts to disentangle herself from Monty's mess, her brother's malicious streak brings the family tension to a dangerous boiling point.

Sendero


Max Tomlinson - 2011
    Nina’s father is shot by soldiers, her mother raped, and her brother lost to the shadowy ranks of Shining Path guerrillas. And when Agustín Malqui, the village pastor, files a legal complaint against the military, it’s no surprise when he disappears in the middle of the night—just another casualty of the military regime. Twenty-odd years later, Nina, now an officer in Cuzco’s tourist police, comes across a familiar name on the police printer that she scans daily for any trace of her long-lost brother. Agustín Malqui is alive. After spending years in a political prison, the broken pastor has been wandering the country, saving souls and drowning his demons in pisco. Nina tracks him down, only to lose him yet again in a police sweep of political malcontents. But before Malqui disappears, he tells her a drunken tale she can scarcely believe: that her brother Miguel is still alive. Despite warnings and threats from her chief and the pleadings of her lover, an officer in Peru’s anti-terrorist branch, Nina presses on to find Malqui. Her search takes her through Peru’s underworld, from remote villages high in the Andes to the steaming jungle haunts of the narcotraficantes, and ultimately to a secret political prison in the altiplano, where she learns the truth about Malqui and her own vanished brother.

See


Jamie Magee - 2012
    Charlie Myers is on a life altering path that will cause the dammed to humble in silence.One night…just a few friends, how could it go so wrong? That was the question seventeen year old Charlie Myers was asking when she found herself in the ER. Outwardly nothing was wrong with Charlie, she was a vision of perfect heath, internally she was battling a raging headache…one the doctor told her she would overcome shortly, but Charlie knew something else was wrong …very wrong.Part of her had been stolen…she was missing memories. Those memories were sacred. They held the key to her sanity. They told her that the sinister whispers, the shadows that came to life before her were not as ominous as she felt they were. They held the bond with her late father, a famed musician. They caused her to forget the one talent that allowed her to face the darkness that haunted her every waking hour. They also masked a much deeper bond, the face of the one that had stolen her heart, long before the age of seventeen.Sitting in the ER with her angry mother she couldn’t figure out what she was missing, or even how. Her thoughts told her that she needed to protect Britain, a friend of hers, but that didn’t make any sense – Britain didn’t need to be protected from anyone, he was strong, young, and absurdly wealthy. Charlie also knew that even though her friend Bianca called Charlie her best friend, she didn’t trust her …she was almost sure she despised her, but she couldn’t figure out why, or understand how random thoughts were telling her that she adored both Britain and Bianca – that they were her saviors – that they brought silence to the unstoppable whispers, but the silence scared Charlie. In her mind anyone or anything that could bring silence to something that dark could not be good.Charlie wanted to stay in NY, figure out what she was missing, why, and who was behind it all, but her mother had other plans. Against her will, Charlie was sent to Salem to live with her sister, within that small town Charlie found her memories and so much more.Her story begins now.Ibsn: 9781301864768Word count: 104k

The Illegal Gardener


Sara Alexi - 2012
    Her boys have grown and she has finally divorced her bullying husband. This is her time now.Whilst making her new home habitable, Juliet discovers she needs a sturdy helping hand with the unruly and neglected garden. Unwilling to share her newfound independence with anyone, but unable to do all the work by herself, she reluctantly enlists casual labour.Aaman has travelled to Greece from Pakistan illegally. Desperate to find a way out of poverty, his challenge is to find work and raise money for the harvester his village urgently need to survive.What he imagined would be a heroic journey in reality is fraught with danger and corruption. Aaman finds himself in Greece, and with each passing day loses a little more of himself as he survives his new life as an immigrant worker; illegal, displaced, unwanted and with no value. Hungry and stranded, how will he ever make it back home to Pakistan?In what begins as an uncomfortable exchange, Juliet hires Aaman to be her gardener, but resents the intrusion even though she needs the help. Aaman needs the work and money but resents the humiliation.In spite of themselves, as the summer progresses, they get to know one another and discover they have something in common. Pieces of their lives they have kept hidden even from themselves are exposed, with each helping the other to face their painful past.Will Juliet and Amaan finally let each other in? And what will be the outcome of this improbable conjoining of two lost souls?

Sing Roses For Me


Ben Marney - 2017
     A friend pulls out a Ouija board and asks you to play. It's just a game, right? But when the Ouija board reveals a secret you've never disclosed, then "the spirit" asks you to warn his living sister that she is about to be murdered. What would you do? This is the scenario that tragically entangles the lives of Max Allen, Carla Cecil and Bradford Doss. Max is a disgraced fallen country music star trying to survive his ignominy by escaping to the islands to find a new direction and purpose for his life. In the islands, he meets and falls in love with, Michelle, a beautiful cruise ship dancer. Bradford Doss, is a revered Texas State Court Judge. He is also a serial murderer. Carla Cecil, is a child genius. At 13 she is the youngest person to ever attend Rice University, the spirit's living sister and tragically... the judges next prey.

Ocean of Storms


Christopher Mari - 2016
    Then a catastrophic explosion on the moon cleaves a vast gash in the lunar surface, and the massive electromagnetic pulse it unleashes obliterates Earth's electrical infrastructure. To plumb the depths of the newly created lunar fissure and excavate the source of the power surge, the feuding nations are forced to cooperate on a high-risk mission to return mankind to the moon.Now, a diverse, highly skilled ensemble of astronauts--and a pair of maverick archaeologists plucked from the Peruvian jungle--will brave conspiracy on Earth and disaster in space to make a shocking discovery.Ocean of Storms is an epic adventure that spans space and time as its heroes race to fulfill an ancient mission that may change the course of humanity's future.

Maniacal


C.M. Sutter - 2016
     The newly promoted Sergeant Jade Monroe, and her partner, Detective Jack Steele, have just been informed of an unidentified male body found at a local lake. The town is in an uproar. The victim was nearly decapitated, and murder simply doesn’t happen in North Bend. As more bodies turn up, the single connection between all of the victims becomes clear—it’s Jade, herself. With each new victim getting one step closer to Jade, time begins to tick away. She must find the person responsible before her loved ones, or herself, are targeted next. Note: All Detective Jade Monroe books are standalone stories, yet they are best read in chronological order. #1 Maniacal #2 Captive #3 Fallacy #4 Premonition

The Rendezvous Series: Books 1 - 3


Win Blevins - 2017
    “Win Blevins has painted an epic saga of life in the early West on a huge canvas of vivid colors.”–Tony Hillerman "Blevins is a true storyteller in the tradition of Native American people.” Lee Francis, Director, Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers. In 1822, Sam Morgan dreams of following in the footsteps of the Lewis and Clark expedition. When he steals away on a flatboat headed west, Sam’s epic adventure begins. Along the way, he meets a cast of unforgettable characters, including Capt. William Clark himself and fur traders Jedediah Smith and Irish Tom Fitzpatrick, mountain men well on their way to becoming legends. In a brigade led by the heroic Smith, Sam crosses the fierce deserts to California—a first. But the land of the Golden Bear confronts him with dazzling perils. He must trek the Sierra Nevada and walk thirsty across the Great Basin Desert to save his comrades. Sam learns that he can survive, love, live with nature, and thrive, by trusting himself, by pushing himself—and his dreams—to the limit. REVIEWS "The glory years of frontier life, fresh and rich.”—Kirkus Reviews “Blevins’ sweeping vision of the American frontier is just plain irresistible.” – Michael and Kathleen Gear, The First Americans series. “No one writes about the fur trappers' westering experience better than Blevins. He has a poet's way with words, and imagery to match the wilderness reality. Win has re-created that long-ago world where the improbable was commonplace, where courage and audacity made anything possible.”—Lucia St. Clair Robson, author of Ride the Wind, member of the Western Writers Hall of Fame. SO WILD A DREAM In the Ree villages, Sam faces treachery and death. While among the Crows, he falls in love with a woman named Meadowlark. From the Bois Brulés, Snakes, and Pawnees, he learns native crafts, lore, and mysticism. But Sam’s best teacher is hard-won experience. On a grueling seven-hundred-mile trek, alone and on foot, across the Great Plains to Fort Atkinson on the Missouri River, he endures a devastating prairie fire and comes to grips with the price of survival. BEAUTY FOR ASHES Rich in historical detail, Beauty for Ashes continues Sam Morgan’s epic quest. Sam yearns for more than wealth—he dreams of Meadowlark, the Crow Indian woman who taught him love. When his companions set a course for the Wind River country and Meadowlark’s village, Sam will have one more chance to win his heart’s desire. First, however, he must survive the arduous journey, from cruel winter storms to debilitating illnesses. Sam learns to hunt buffalo and track beaver, and battles warriors of the Pawnee, Lakota, and Blackfeet tribes. Held captive by the Sioux, he makes a daring escape, and faces his most difficult challenge yet when Meadowlark’s family demands that he perform a great deed to prove himself worthy of her love. DANCING WITH THE GOLDEN BEAR Sam faces his harshest test yet. Jedediah Smith puts together a brigade for a trip into uncharted territory—Mexican California. Sam Morgan eagerly joins up, bringing his Crow wife, Meadowlark, along.

You Were Made for This


Michelle Sacks - 2018
    and friendship. Doting wife, devoted husband, cherished child. Merry, Sam, and Conor are the perfect family in the perfect place. Merry adores the domestic life: baking, gardening, caring for her infant son. Sam, formerly an academic, is pursuing a new career as a filmmaker. Sometimes they can hardly believe how lucky they are. What perfect new lives they've built.When Merry's childhood friend Frank visits their Swedish paradise, she immediately becomes part of the family. She bonds with Conor. And with Sam. She befriends the neighbors, and even finds herself embracing the domesticity she's always seemed to scorn.All their lives, Frank and Merry have been more like sisters than best friends. And that's why Frank soon sees the things others might miss. Treacherous things, which are almost impossible to believe when looking at this perfect family. But Frank, of all people, knows that the truth is rarely what you want the world to see.

The Punished


Peter Meredith - 2011
    The house takes them, flies in the web, and won't let them go. The house is beautiful and silent as a tomb. There are children at play, pretending to live as their souls are sucked out of them. There is no way out. The doors are locked and the windows hammered shut. Some have been there for years, their minds warped into insanity by the fear and pain. Curt is new and can't understand why no one speaks and why the only sounds come from the night. He wonders what it is that comes out of the basement when the sun goes down. There is no way out until you are cold and stiff. What the readers say about The Punished: "I did not expect the chilling supernatural story that is The Punished." "...and I will never forget this one. Five stars, 100%, I give it the highest praise I have to offer." "...and it left me spinning in my chair. There’s more to it than horror; there’s mystery and nail-biting suspense."

Sleepless


Romy HausmannRomy Hausmann - 2020
    After being released from prison, she's wanted nothing more than to live a normal life: nice flat, steady job, even a few friends. But when one of those friends, Laura von Hoven--free-spirited beauty and wife of Nadja's boss--kills her lover and begs Nadja for her help, Nadja can't seem to refuse.The two women make for a remote house in the woods, the perfect place to bury a body. But their plan quickly falls apart and Nadja finds herself outplayed, a pawn in a bizarre game in which she is both the perfect victim and the perfect murderer...

The Walls


Hollie Overton - 2017
    Her job exposes Kristy to the worst of humanity and it's one that's beginning to take its toll.So when Kristy meets Lance Dobson, her son's martial arts instructor, she believes she finally found her happy ending. She was wrong.Kristy soon discovers that Lance is a monster. Forced to endure his verbal and physical abuse, Kristy is serving her own life sentence . . . unless she's willing to take matters into her hands. Perfectly poised to exploit the criminal justice system she knows so well, Kristy sets out to get rid of Lance - permanently.The Walls explores domestic violence, the morality of murder and how far one woman will go to protect her family.

Dark Secrets


Angela M. Hudson - 2013
    They look just like me, just like you. But they can kill. They do kill. And I’ve fallen in love with one.I wish I’d walked away. I wish I’d followed my gut. I wish he’d been there when I became the victim.You’ll love this fresh take on a tired genre, because vampires should be bad, and they should do it well. So hurry and start the series today. Don’t be the last to discover it.