Book picks similar to
The Unwrapping of Theodora Quirke by Caroline Smailes
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A Case of Serendipity
K.J. Farnham - 2018
If Bucky’s Beans doesn’t stop spamming her phone with discount codes for frou-frou java concoctions, she’s going to flip. After multiple failed attempts to unsubscribe, Ruth takes to the company’s Facebook page to vent her frustration over the never-ending texts.When attorney, Henry Mancuso, stumbles upon Ruth’s complaint, he has no idea that a simple Facebook scroll is going to change his life. Now, he has to get Ruth to agree to a class action lawsuit when she’s just looking for some peace on her mobile device—not a drawn-out case against a coffeehouse giant.As Ruth and Henry battle the legal waters, a friendship full of fun and spontaneity blooms. But could something more be brewing between these two and this coffeehouse case?
Factory Girl
Josanne La Valley - 2017
There she finds arduous and degrading conditions and contempt for her minority (Uyghur) background. Sustained by her bond with other Uyghur girls, Roshen is resolved to endure all to help her family and ultimately her people. A workplace survival story, this gritty, poignant account focuses on a courageous teen and illuminates the value—and cost—of freedom.
Coal
Constance Burris - 2015
Coal has lived most of his life in the fey realm with his elven best friend, but when a human child he promised to protect unintentionally breaks a law in front of the fey elite, he will have to choose between betraying his best friend or saving the child’s life.
Before Everything
Victoria Redel - 2017
They’ve faced everything together, from youthful sprees and scrapes to mid-life turning points. Now, as Anna, the group’s trailblazer and brightest spark, enters hospice, they gather to do what they’ve always done—talk and laugh and help each other make choices and plans, this time in Anna’s rural Massachusetts home. Helen, Anna’s best friend and a celebrated painter, is about to remarry. The others face their own challenges—Caroline with her sister’s mental health crisis; Molly with a teenage daughter’s rebellion; Ming with her law practice—dilemmas with kids and work and love. Before Everything is as funny as it is bittersweet, as the friends revel in the hilarious mistakes they’ve seen each another through, the secrets kept, and adventures shared. But now all sense of time has shifted, and the pattern of their lives together takes on new meaning. The novel offers a brilliant, emotionally charged portrait, deftly conveying the sweep of time over everyday lives, and showing how even in difficult endings, gifts can unfold. Above all it is an ode to friendship, and to how one person shapes the journeys of those around her.
Ashes of Life
Erica Lucke Dean - 2015
A must read!" ~ Kate Moretti, NYT Bestselling Author of "Thought I Knew You" ""An emotionally rewarding story of hope, commitment, and the modern family." ~ Claire Ashby, NYT Bestselling Author of "When You Make It Home" "An exquisite tale of love and acceptance, rich with unforgettable characters." ~ Kelly Stone Gamble, Author of They Call Me Crazy Married for just three months, Alex Barrett is stunned when her husband, David, dies in a tragic accident. And the absolute last thing the pregnant young widow wants is to take on responsibility for his teenage daughter, Maddie. Reeling from loss, Alex struggles to deal with her grief and her troubled stepdaughter, but one question haunts her: why was David with his ex-wife when he died? All Maddie Barrett wanted was for her parents to get back together, but an icy road took that dream away. Afterward, Maddie is riddled with guilt that she can’t share with anyone. Feeling angry and alone, she lays all the blame on Alex. Alex and Maddie must find a way to move past their pain—shared, yet separate. Thrown together in an untenable arrangement, they fight through a frozen landscape of sorrow and redemption while redefining love, forgiveness, and family.
The Things I Didn't Say
Kylie Fornasier - 2016
I've used up every dandelion wish since I was ten wishing for the power to speak whenever I want to. I'm starting to wonder if there are enough dandelions.After losing her best friend that night, Piper Rhodes changes schools, determined that her final year will be different. She will be different. Then she meets West: school captain, star soccer player, the boy everyone talks about. Despite her fear of losing everything all over again, Piper falls in love - and West with her - without Piper ever speaking one word to him. But will it last?
Home of the Floating Lily
Silmy Abdullah - 2021
A young woman moves to Toronto after getting married but soon discovers her husband is not who she believes him to be. A mother reconciles her heartbreak when her sons defy her expectations and choose their own paths in life. A lonely international student returns to Bangladesh and forms an unexpected bond with her domestic helper. A working-class woman, caught between her love for Bangladesh and her determination to raise her daughter in Canada, makes a life-altering decision after a dark secret from the past is revealed.In each of the stories, characters embark on difficult journeys in search of love, dignity, and a sense of belonging.
Dear Dylan
Siobhan Curham - 2010
And waiting for other people to make me happy and they don’t. And if no-one else is going to make you happy, well maybe you just have to do it for yourself?”Fourteen year old Georgie Harris feels as if the summer holidays are over before they have even begun. Banned from going to the local drama workshop by her bully of a step-dad and her increasingly fragile mum, she is consigned to six long weeks of looking after her tooth-fairy obsessed kid sister. Sick of feeling like the outsider at home and at school, she starts emailing the one person she thinks might understand; Dylan Curtland, star of the popular soap opera Jessop Close. And when Dylan starts emailing back, Georgie finally feels a spark of hope. At last she has someone who really gets her, someone who really wants to help. But in the faceless world of email all is not as it seems…
Totally Killer: A Novel
Greg Olear - 2009
Totally Killer nails, without mercy, the mood and minutiae of a weary America at the end of the 20th century.”—Brad Listi, author of Attention. Deficit. Disorder. Debut novelist Greg Olear gets nostalgic for a recently bygone era with Totally Killer—a quirky, darkly funny, and fiendishly clever noirish tale of intrigue and suspense. The ’90s are back in this brilliant collision of conspiracy theory and pop culture that ingeniously blends assassination, politics, paranoia, Dick Cheney, CIA duplicity, and Duran Duran. The raves are already rolling in for this wonderfully twisted tale of an innocent and beautiful young Midwestern girl who finds a “totally killer” job through a most unusual employment agency in New York City. Jerry Stahl, bestselling author of Permanent Midnight, says, “The title doesn’t lie—Totally Killer truly is.”
Midnight Mistletoe
Kathleen Lee - 2014
Until he runs across an old friend who seems more than happy to see him, and the attraction is instantaneous. But can the magic of Christmas and a love he'd never known be enough to make him think about giving up his wandering ways? Through the years, Kevin found himself wondering about Peter and where he wound up when he was pulled from their community into yet another "home." But when they reconnect again, he discovers that in all his travels, Peter never had a real home. As Kevin's feelings deepen, he knows the one thing he needs to do to keep Peter is show him that true happiness boils down to opening yourself to love. And a little mistletoe doesn't hurt either.
Belt Three
John Ayliff - 2015
As he and his crew flee they are kidnapped by a pirate to be mind-wiped and sold into slavery, a fate worse than death in this shattered universe.But Captain Reinhardt is hiding a secret. The real Gabriel Reinhardt died six years ago, and in his place is Jonas, one of the millions of clones produced for menial labour by the last descendants of Earth.Forced to aid the pirate Keldra’s obsessive campaign against the Worldbreakers in exchange for his life, Jonas discovers that humanity’s last hope might just be found in the very machines that have destroyed it.
I'll Be Home for Christmas
Tom BeckerCat Clarke - 2016
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Jealousy
Jenna Galicki - 2013
Two best friends, a straight woman and a gay man, struggle to find someone to love as much as they love each other.He’s the shoulder she leans on.He worships her.She shields and protects him.He watches over her.They’re soul mates for life.They’re not lovers; they’re best friends.Their struggle to find someone who can handle their intense bond is met with a roller coaster of raw emotion, loyalty and heartache. Follow their journey to find love.When Heather Cooper married Peter, she thought that she had finally found someone who could handle the inseparable bond she shares with her gay best friend, Justin Perrotta. It’s only a matter of time, however, before jealousy rears its ugly head and Peter’s true feelings emerge. He starts drinking, and his erratic behavior threatens their marriage.Burned by an ex-boyfriend, Justin refuses to open his heart to love again. Wild relationships and one-night stands leave him lonely and unfulfilled, even though he won’t admit it. He finds love when he least expects it, but his fear of commitment threatens to ruin the best thing that has ever happened to him. In this unique read, the reader gets two separate romances – Heather’s (m/f) and Justin’s (m/m) and their friendship, which is the real romance.
Ripple
Heather Smith Meloche - 2016
So she finds a shot of much-needed power and confidence by hooking up with boys, even though it means cheating on her boyfriend. But when she's finally caught red-handed, she’ll do anything she can to cover up what she's done.Jack is a prankster who bucks the system every chance he gets—each transgression getting riskier and riskier. He loves the thrill, and each adventure allows a little release because his smug smile and suave demeanor in the face of authority doesn’t make life at home with his mom any less tough. He tries to take care of her, but the truth is he's powerless in the face of her fragile mental health. So he copes in his own way, by defacing public property and pulling elaborate pranks, though he knows in the end this’ll only screw up his life even more.As they both try not to let their self-destructive patterns get the best of them, Tessa and Jack gravitate toward one another, discovering the best parts of themselves in the process. An honest portrayal of the urges that drive us and finding the strength to overcome them, Ripple is a stunning debut from a powerful new voice.