Book picks similar to
Only About Love by Debbi Voisey
netgalley
literary-fiction
fairlight-moderns
british-literature
The Moment I Met You
Debbie Johnson - 2022
It was terrible, and frightening, and it taught me a lot of things I never wanted to know."Elena Godwin has scrimped and saved for a relaxing dream holiday in Mexico with her handsome but laddish boyfriend Harry. Life has felt a bit less exciting than she'd imagined her twenties would be, and she's hoping the trip will add some sizzle. But on a gorgeous summer evening an earthquake strikes--shattering their peaceful vacation. The trauma changes Elena's life forever.Ten years later, Elena still can't forget the face of the stranger she met that night--the man who may have saved her life. When they're suddenly and unexpectedly thrown back together again, Elena starts to uncover the truth around that fateful night, and question whether she should have lived her life differently in the years afterwards.What if it's not too late?
Swimming Home
Deborah Levy - 2011
Set in a summer villa, the story is tautly structured, taking place over a week in which a group of beautiful, flawed tourists in the French Riviera comes loose at the seams. Shortlisted for the 2012 Man Booker Prize.
The Syndicate Six Murder
Geoffrey Osborne - 2020
These two men had history. Ashington never forgave Blade for marrying his former girlfriend, Julie, and he was convinced that Blades’ son was his own.Now Ashington is dead, murdered at the world-famous Police Staff College in the heart of rural Hampshire. And Julie can’t explain why she had planned to meet him on the night he died.HAS A FORGOTTEN LOVE TRIANGLE TURNED DEADLY?But Ashington was a bully and a blackmailer, and widely disliked. There are plenty of other suspects — and all of them are either senior police officers or closely connected to the force.Then Blade’s prime suspect and one of his team are brutally attacked and left for dead.CAN BLADE AND HIS NEW SECOND-IN-COMMAND DETECTIVE DOROTHY FRASER UNCOVER WHO HAS MOTIVE, MEANS AND OPPORTUNITY?
Time's Arrow
Martin Amis - 1991
Friendly dies and then feels markedly better, breaks up with his lovers as a prelude to seducing them, and mangles his patients before he sends them home. And all the while Tod's life races backward in time toward the one appalling moment in modern history when such reversals make sense.
Look at Me
Anita Brookner - 1983
A lonely art historian absorbed in her research seizes the opportunity to share in the joys and pleasures of the lives of a glittering couple, only to find her hopes of companionship and happiness shattered.
My Sweet Friend
H.A. Leuschel - 2017
She brings a much-needed breath of fresh air into the office and ambitiously throws herself into her new job and friendships. But is Alexa all she claims to be? As her life intertwines with Rosie and Jack’s, they must all decide what separates truth from fiction. Will the stories that unfold unite or divide them? Can first impressions ever be trusted?In this original novella, H.A. Leuschel evokes the powerful hold of appearances and what a person is prepared to do to keep up the facade. If you like thought-provoking and compelling reads with intriguing characters, My Sweet Friend is for you.
The Luminara Series: Box Set Volume 1: Lussuria - L'amore -Lucca's Lust
S.J. Molloy - 2015
Box Set – Volume 1 Books 1 - 3 Lussuria – L’amore – Lucca’s Lust Dark. It’s all dark. Darker than you could ever possibly imagine. Not even a candle can flicker an incandescent light in front of me. Even now, years after I escaped, I’m still living in darkness. I’m still running. I’ve spent my entire life gazing at the stars, wondering if I’ll ever get to live in the light. It must be dazzling and wonderful. You’ve read about tortured souls, but you’ve never read about mine. I was taken before I was even born. It was my destiny and written in my stars. My soul’s not just tortured, it’s unrepairable and hollow. I left part of it back in Hell, and I can’t go back. I won’t go back. Not ever. You think you’ve read it all? You haven’t. And sadly … it’s all true. It happened to me. And I hate that it’s my life. I shouldn't be alive. Life was never my own. Nothing was given to me and everything was taken from me. I ran. I fought. I stayed alive. Well, my body survived, my mind didn't. I’m damaged beyond repair. I live on my nerves. I feel emotions bigger than myself, and I am many things. Vulnerable Anxious. . Paranoid. Guarded. . Ashamed. Dirty. Exposed. And I feel alone. I pray that one day I will be free. But that means placing trust and letting someone in. Would they make me brighter? Would they make me believe? Would I make them dark? I’ve never wanted to feel for someone else because I’m far too broken and deep. It scares me. I don’t trust easily. I’m curious, but I’m nervous. I’ve never felt lust, or love, or light. Until now. I feel Lucca Caruso, and everything he symbolises. He desires me. He wants me. He worships me. He loves me. He protects me. He makes me feel alive. He sets my body on fire. He melts my heart. He gives me him. All of him. He is lust. He is love. He is light. I trust him. I want him. I need him. He is everything I have fought my entire life to avoid. He makes me feel. He is taking me places I never imagined could be possible. He is giving me new life. He is keeping me in his light. He is giving me his heart, body, mind, and soul. I love it … I love him. And there is no other place I want to be other than in his arms. With Lucca … I feel like I can breathe. I’m alive. I need him to keep me here. I’m Lexi and this is my story about a world of darkness and a journey towards the light. *** *This book contains adult content.
Very Like a Queen
Martin Lake - 2016
As the King’s favorite, she enjoys his protection, but after seeing the downfall of three of his wives, she’s determined to avoid the same fate. Alice must walk a fine line between mistress and wife.She finds a powerful protector in Thomas Cromwell, and Alice has every reason to believe that she will continue to enjoy a life of wealth and comfort at Court…until she puts everything at risk by falling in love with a Frenchman, Nicholas Bourbon.When Cromwell is executed, Alice loses her only ally and flees to France. There she hopes to live in peace with Nicholas. But Alice is lured into a perilous game of treason, and peace doesn’t last long. Will Alice get back the life and love she’s fought for? Or will she lose herself to the whims of a capricious monarch?
Loving Mindy
Karen Erickson - 2013
Now available individually!He's the one who got away. She's the one he can't forget…Mindy McKenzie’s day has gone from bad to worse. First, her ex whisked her kids away to attend his elopement, leaving her alone for the holidays. And then the man whose heart she broke years ago winds up on her doorstep—stranded. Josh Powers still has a body that can make her mouth water, but unfortunately, she’s sure she missed her chance with him.Waiting out a storm with an attractive woman isn’t normally a bad thing. But when it’s the woman Josh Powers has never been able to get out of his head, it’s pure torture. Especially since he knows she’ll never feel the same way. Mindy is just as sexy and tempting as he remembers, but he can’t risk his heart a second time.
The Country Village Summer Fete
Cathy Lake - 2021
On the cusp of her 50th birthday, she suddenly realises that she doesn't have many meaningful relationships in her life. She's single, successful, living alone and thinks she's loving it, but being so focussed on work and always online means she's lost any real connection to people.When Emma gets a call to say her ageing father is becoming increasingly confused, she decides that she should go back home to the countryside to spend some time with him. But returning to Little Bramble, the village she grew up in, after all these years, is filled with complications of its own and people she'd rather avoid.As Emma starts to settle in to her childhood home, she finds herself loving village life - much to her surprise. When the opportunity to get involved in the running of the summer fete comes her way, before she knows it she's embracing jam making, cake baking and bunting. And with romance brewing, Emma begins to doubt the glamorous life in London that she worked so hard to build . . .
Bottled Goods
Sophie van Llewyn - 2018
She and her husband Liviu are teachers in their twenties, living under the repressive regime of Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in the Socialist Republic of Romania in the 1970s. But after her brother-in-law defects, Alina and Liviu fall under suspicion and surveillance, and their lives are suddenly turned upside down--just like the glasses in her superstitious Aunt Theresa's house that are used to ward off evil spirits.But Alina's evil spirits are more corporeal: a suffocating, manipulative mother; a student who accuses her; and a menacing Secret Services agent who makes one-too-many visits. As the couple continues to be harassed, their marriage soon deteriorates. With the government watching--and most likely listening--escape seems impossible . . . until Alina's mystical aunt proposes a surprising solution to reduce her problems to a manageable size.Weaving elements of magic realism, Romanian folklore, and Kafkaesque paranoia into a gritty and moving depiction of one woman's struggle for personal and political freedom, Bottled Goods is written in short bursts of "flash fiction" and explores universal themes of empowerment, liberty, family, and loyalty.