Book picks similar to
The Girl on the Red Pillow by Angelika Rust
first-reads
indie-and-self-published
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interesting
The Truth She Knew
J.A. Owenby - 2016
In fact, she would’ve traded my soul back for someone different if God would’ve let her, but he didn’t, so she was stuck with me.For eighteen-year-old Lacey, life at home is a rollercoaster. She doesn’t think she’ll ever be good enough to truly deserve Mama’s love.But when Lacey enters college and meets Walker, everything starts to change. Suddenly, Lacey is face to face with the realization that maybe what she’s always seen as normal really isn’t. Her entire life—and everything she’s ever believed about herself and her family—is abruptly hanging in midair. Lacey is left facing two paths, and she has to make a choice. The first means walking away from everything she’s ever known. The other means never really knowing the truth.The Truth She Knew offers an honest and powerful glimpse into mental illness, the meaning of true love, and the psychological waltz that a daughter dances as she endures her mother’s unpredictable emotions, manipulation, and abuse.***Ages 17+ Contains language, sex, and violence
Kinder Than Solitude
Yiyun Li - 2013
Moving back and forth in time, between America today and China in the 1990s, Kinder Than Solitude is the story of three people whose lives are changed by a murder one of them may have committed. As one of the three observes, “Even the most innocent person, when cornered, is capable of a heartless crime.” When Moran, Ruyu, and Boyang were young, they were involved in a mysterious “accident” in which a friend of theirs was poisoned. Grown up, the three friends are separated by distance and personal estrangement. Moran and Ruyu live in the United States, Boyang in China; all three are haunted by what really happened in their youth, and by doubt about themselves. In California, Ruyu helps a local woman care for her family and home, and avoids entanglements, as she has done all her life. In Wisconsin, Moran visits her ex-husband, whose kindness once overcame her flight into solitude. In Beijing, Boyang struggles to deal with an inability to love, and with the outcome of what happened among the three friends twenty years ago. Brilliantly written, a breathtaking page-turner, Kinder Than Solitude resonates with provocative observations about human nature and life. In mesmerizing prose, and with profound insight, Yiyun Li unfolds this remarkable story, even as she explores the impact of personality and the past on the shape of a person’s present and future.
Merge Ahead
Tanya Chris - 2016
Or that the man responsible is sitting next to him waiting for the same delayed flight. Adam Summers is confident, successful, gorgeous, and about to sign the contract that will cost Will his job. Corporate policy says they should keep their hands off each other, but they can’t. Is their growing affection worth the risk to Adam’s career? And what will Will’s future look like when their companies, and their lives, have merged? Merge Ahead is a full-length, standalone MM romance.
A Very Nice Girl
Imogen Crimp - 2022
Not with her wealthy classmates at the selective London Conservatory where she unexpectedly wins a place after university, not with the family she left behind, and definitely not with Max, a man she meets in the bar where she sings for cash. He’s everything she’s not—rich, tailored to precision, impossible to read—and before long Anna is hooked, desperate to hold his attention, and determined to ignore the warning signs that this might be a toxic relationship.As Anna shuttles from grueling rehearsals to brutal auditions, she finds herself torn between two conflicting desires: the drive to nurture her fledgling singing career, which requires her undivided attention, and the longing for human connection. When the stakes increase, and the roles she’s playing—both on stage and off—begin to feel all-consuming, Anna must reckon with the fact that, in carefully performing what’s expected of her as a woman, she risks losing sight of herself completely.Both exceedingly contemporary and classic, A Very Nice Girl reminds us that even once we have taken possession of our destinies we still have the power to set all we hold dear on fire.
Mr. Good Enough
Jamie Farrell - 2014
She’s simply tired of waiting for the universe to deliver her Mr. Perfect. So she’s turning to the dating website she created, MisterGoodEnough.com, to finally find her future.Online matchmaking is perfect for Maddie, because:A) History has proven she’s a poor judge of decent husband material.B) The dating pool in her crumbling little hometown is all but dried up.C) She wants babies.Trent Sawyer is not Mr. Good Enough material, because:A) Twelve years ago, he stomped the stuffing out of Maddie’s naïve little teenage heart.B) The man might look good in a tool belt, but she’s sure he’s up to something nefarious.C) He doesn’t want kids. Ever.But if Maddie were to fall for a guy like Trent, it would only be because:A) When he apologizes, he apologizes big.B) He’s fixing their little farm town, one dilapidated home at a time.C) Her world is a brighter place with him in it.So should Maddie:A) Go for Mr. Second Best and the family she’s always wanted?B) Take her Mr. Almost Perfect without the babies she craves?Either way, there’s nothing simple about settling for Mr. Good Enough.
Leaning On Water
Joan June Chen - 2018
A mysterious Bionic.A dark past that threatens the future...LIVINTHEA PARK has the Mark of Dresden mutation, only she doesn't know about it.When a tragic accident exposes this hidden secret, her life as Galactic's top pilot quickly unravels. The Bionics barge in and stake their claim, whisking her away from her beloved home to the otherworldly Atlas Station I.Though these mysterious Bionics look human, with nanobots coursing through their veins, they are anything but just plain human... especially the one with the steel grey eyes.Commissioned since the turn of the millennium with guarding the Erlion System against a dark menace, the Bionics take Livi on a cosmic journey where wonders abound, mysteries unfold, and a heroine rises.*Latest edition available August 23, 2019.
How Not to Save the World
Jessica Yinka Thomas - 2011
Frustrated by her inability to raise funds and faced with the imminent closure of the APC, Remi turns to a life of crime to keep her nonprofit afloat.From Sydney, to Tokyo, Geneva and Cape Town, Remi transforms from a fundraiser too shy to speak during staff meetings into a daring international art thief who must stop a war from breaking out and figure out how to save herself from a life behind bars.With the help of her best friend, a designer and inventor who creates gadget-packed gowns, Remi eludes a dashing insurance agent and a terrifying stalker, all while redistributing the wealth of the world, one work of art at a time.
The Archer's Son
M.E. Hubbs - 2014
The breast of the mail bore a ragged hole and the heavy links were sticky. It took a moment for Hedyn to realize it was soaked in drying blood.“A bascinet and hauberk?” he asked.“Aye, you shall need these before the night is done.” . . . Treachery, disease, hunger, and death plague their steps as King Henry’s men near their fateful battle with the French army at Agincourt. Eager to see the world that lies beyond his small Cornish village, 12 year ol Hedyn, son of an archer and serf, is thrilled to be chosen to join King Henry’s army as it advances on Normandy. His excitement quickly gives way to exhaustion in body and spirit, as well as worry for the safety of his newfound friends and comrades. Can a mysterious stranger with a secretive past offer Hedyn hope amidst the horrors of battle?
Captivated
Emily Jane Trent - 2013
He’s a romantic Italian on vacation, surfing at Ella’s beach. But the gorgeous billionaire has secrets. Ella feels like she’s known him forever, but fears she will lose him. Can you meet your soul mate, only to lose him in the same instant?
Adam shouldn't involve Ella in the evil he must face in Brazil. But will he stay away from her?
Ella Walker, still suffering from issues of mental abuse, turns twenty-one and meets the man of her dreams. Can she break the bonds of her emotional prison and be the woman he desires? As an aspiring romance author, Ella struggles to find passion in her work. When Adam Bianci, the gorgeous Italian billionaire appears in her life, he lights up her drab existence. She’s determined not to let him slip through her grasp. But will his secrets and the tangled web of his own abuse keep them apart?
Sakura: A Secret Kiss
Alexia Praks - 2014
When she is adopted by the wealthy Princeton family, her seven brothers refuse to accept her, and her two sisters constantly bully her. Instead of admitting defeat, she gladly takes on her new life with a brave face, working hard to earn her new siblings’ trust and love. Her endeavor, however, ultimately leads to a series of unfortunate incidents.Now years later, the twenty-three-year-old beauty dreads the moment she once again has to meet the drop-dead gorgeous brothers, due to arrive for their cousin’s wedding. Dodging their very presence is next to impossible since the brothers, who have forgotten who she is entirely, are attracted to her like moths to a flame and thwart her escapes at every turn. This, of course, leads to ungodly, tempting situations, awakens forbidden feelings, and ignites old flames that have been suppressed and laid dormant for many years. When she finds them competing for her—NOT for her sisterly affection, which she still deeply craves, but for her love as a woman—she is torn between Sebastian Princeton, the brother who loves her and watches over her from a distance, and Darcy Princeton, the brother who was once her best friend and now secretly yearns for her forgiveness and her love once again.
Forever and Always: A lesbian wolf story
Charlie Conwell - 2018
What would you do to protect yours? Meghan, is a member of the Redstone Timberwolf Pack. She has been under the control of Calisse, the Alpha of the pack with some of the other females. Her life is mere existence and unhappiness. When her family decides to flee and seek refuge with Adrianna, Alpha of the Errigal Druid Pack, Meghan finds something more than what she bargained for. Will Calisse just let them leave? Delve into a world of pack rules, order, jealousy, domination and a battle to the death.
Shark & The Wolf: Predators and Prey
Daniel D. Shields - 2011
Escape into an exotic untamed world in this sci-fi adventure that has been called a cross between Gladiator, Planet of the Apes and The Hunger Games. In Las Vegas, Shaw, billionaire casino magnate and self proclaimed world's greatest showman, nears completion on the massive Serengeti Resort & Casino. Its amphitheater is being transformed into an authentic slice of African savanna for the show Predators and Prey which will savagely pit animal against animal in the bloodiest gladiatorial spectacle ever created for human entertainment. The only thing missing is the main attraction - which Shaw soon finds in Shark, the world's only Great White Half Man Half Shark Hybrid to be exact. Shaw envisions the show's tagline as "Come One - Come All To See - The Only Great White Shark In Captivity" but soon learns that capturing the world's top predator and delivering him to Vegas is easier said than done. This daunting task will require the cruel tactics of the evil animal slave trading hyena, Old Jack. The heartbreaking plans they devise and innocent pawns they use to try to coerce Sharks allegiance will force all to rely on primitive instincts to survive.
Project Paradise
Phoebe Alexander - 2018
She doesn't enjoy baking, never goes to Starbucks, and wouldn't be caught dead in yoga pants.So what does Valley like?Sex. And lots of it.Her poor husband David is having a hard time keeping up (pardon the pun).If she has her say, they'll soon be turning 6 Juniper Court into a swinger paradise. And Valley doesn't give one f*ck what the neighbors think.
Struggles of a Dreamer: The Battle Between a Dream and Tradition
Yahaya Baruwa - 2010
You will encounter the struggles of a dreamer as he faces the challenges of the limiting boundaries of his tradition. You will laugh, cry, experience romance, be frightened, and be held in suspense as you find out how Toku'te manages to remain afloat in a world that requires everyone to fit the same mold.