Book picks similar to
Will Rise from Ashes by Jean M. Grant


contemporary
women-s-fiction
apocalyptic
full-reviews

Secession: The Storm


Joe Nobody - 2014
    Working a series of heinous crimes, Zach uncovers a dark, treacherous secret – a conspiracy that could alter America’s future and result in the secession of Texas. Co-authored by P.A. Troit and bestselling writer Joe Nobody, Secession explores a world where a hopelessly gridlocked government fuels an ever-deepening divide between right and left. The public’s frustration with the country’s direction forces desperate leaders on both sides of the political spectrum to consider splitting the union.Based on actual historic events, current economic realities, and a growing global trend, Secession immerses the reader in a lifelike scenario that could be America’s future.

Aliens Wrecked Our Kegger (Shingles #4)


Drew Hayes - 2018
    Unfortunately, that was before two dudes wielding high-tech gadgets made off with both his kegs and his brother. Now Clyde has to hunt down his sibling with only his most trusted lackey along to help. Will he manage to recover both his beer and Dougie? Will they survive the night as they unveil the mysterious secret of the kidnappers? Will the Earth be destroyed thanks to their bumbling incompetence? Probably that last one, but you’ll have to read it to find out.

The Coilhunter Chronicles - Omnibus Books 1-3


Dean F. Wilson - 2018
    Or the dangers of something else. Meet Nox, the Coilhunter. A mechanic and toymaker by trade, a bounty hunter by circumstance. He isn't in it for the money. He's in it for justice, and there's a lot of justice that needs to be paid. Between each kill, he's looking for someone who has kept out of his crosshairs for quite a while—the person who murdered his wife and children. The trail has long gone cold, but there are changes happening, the kind of changes that uncover footprints and spent bullet casings. Plagued by nightmares, he's made himself into a living one, the kind the criminals and conmen fear. So, welcome, fair folk, to the Wild North. If the land doesn't get you, the Coilhunter will. RUSTKILLER Welcome to the Rust Valley. The Wild North is full of nasty places, but there are some places you just don’t go. One of them is that scrapyard desert known as the Rust Valley. It’s where vehicles go to die. That’s why you don’t go in after them. The bounty hunter Nox made a promise to himself that he’d never be caught dead there. Yet, when a couple of kids end up wandering inside that metal maze, he finds himself with no other choice. He decks himself out in his finest armour. He’ll need it. That land is where the rust-covered Clockwork Commune live, and if they don’t scavenge the metal off you, they’ll scavenge the flesh instead. Nox is used to being called the Coilhunter, but this time he’s saddling up with a new, more fitting title: the Rustkiller. DUSTRUNNER Nox is a wanted man. While searching for a criminal, the fabled Coilhunter wanders into a tribal village massacre. He didn’t do it, but that doesn’t matter. The clues point to him, and he’s made a lot of enemies over the years. Many would happily see the tables turned. His pleas of innocence fall on deaf ears. No sooner does he try to find the real killers than posters go up across the Wild North—posters with his face and his name. He isn’t the only bounty hunter out there. Dozens assemble to cash him in. Tasked with finding out who’s framed him, Nox must also survive the constant onslaught of frontier law. He’s used to hunting others. He’s not so used to life on the run.

Yellow Zone: A Journal Documentation of the End of America


Jacqueline Druga - 2010
    The virus is deadly and highly contagious. It spreads like wildfire, infecting and killing almost everyone it hits. In order to prevent the worldwide spread of the disease and for the preservation of all mankind, The United States of America is shut down. Quarantined from and by the rest of the world for a period of five years or until a cure is found. In the interest of the human race, those who remain inside the isolated United States are forgotten and left to fend for themselves until the quarantine is lifted. This is a journal documentation of just a few of those survivors, those abandoned and left behind to witness the end of the once Greatest Nation in the World, The United States of America. October 2013 bring you a completely new formatted and edited version.

The Final Enemy


Dan Petrosini - 2017
    As his frustration mounts, it hits him that no one has died in over three days. Jack's odd observation becomes something far stranger when he connects a meteorite to the bizarre phenomenon. Seizing the opportunity, Jack breaks the story and after a struggle to control the meteorite’s power is resolved, a swelling population begins to create havoc. With the survival of the human race hanging in the balance, politicians enact increasingly horrific measures and desperate citizens take matters into their own hands. Jack's in a position to not just report the news, but change it, and his decisions and observations creates an epic thriller that pits the potential of human immortality against a force designed to change - or obliterate - humanity itself. Only one man might stand in its way ... the man buried in the obits department. The Final Enemy is a story of social disintegration as well as a saga of survival. Secret plans, starvation, suicide, and a series of events that spiral the human race into a desperate survival mode evolve from a seemingly singular event and leads to a fast-paced action story that delights with its penchant for the unexpected. In the Matthew Mather and A.G. Riddle tradition, The Final Enemy is a gripping blend of thriller and science fiction that will prove hard to put down.

Valley Fever


Tessa Bowen - 2015
     Shy and modest Lina Montez has been infatuated with Tobias Langthorne, heir to a Napa Valley land fortune, for as long as she can remember. Growing up alongside the intoxicatingly handsome bully on his family’s fabled vineyard and estate was an experience she will never forget. The young “lord of the manor” spent countless hours tormenting the housekeeper’s daughter as well as inspiring her budding sexual desire. Ten years later Lina finds Tobias as provocative and dangerous as ever, but embittered by divorce and haunted by his own demons of the past. Now Lina must battle her old playmate to save the land she loves, but this time she won’t be intimidated by her sexually magnetic business partner. The biggest struggle of all, however, is the one within herself. Can she fight off an attraction that is as ripe and full bodied as the lush cabernet grapes they farm? And will she breathe new life into the forsaken ranch as well as polish the rust from her tarnished hero?

Survival


Rhonda Hopkins - 2014
    With her coworker weakened by cancer treatments, her sister still imprisoned, and the dead looking for an easy meal, Sarah’s only plan, if she can pull it off, is Survival. Survival is a 14,000 word (approx. 45 pages) short story and was originally published in the Let's Scare Cancer to Death anthology.

Rebel Radio


Boyd Craven - 2015
    Can be read on it's own or as a companion after The World Burns 5: The World Bleeds!Life after an EMP puts the USA in the dark ages is not an easy one. Life is dangerous and difficult enough without humans preying on each other. Don, an alcoholic and a gamer girl called 'Z' make an odd introduction together and find themselves thrust into a survival situation neither of them are prepared to endure. A ghost from Don's past surfaces, one who's responsible for his pain and suffering. Can both Don and Z endure in a world that has gone crazy, when all they want to do is keep on living?

Edge of Collapse: An EMP Post-Apocalyptic Survival Prepper Series (American Fallout Book 1)


Alex Gunwick - 2017
    In seconds, his routine business trip becomes a nightmarish struggle to survive. After narrowly escaping a nuclear explosion in San Francisco, the Navy SEAL must travel through a world without rule of law. Relying on his skills and the items in his Bug Out Bag, he fights an epic battle as he struggles to get home. Nothing will stop him from getting back to his family. As his resources run out, his resourcefulness kicks in. His family’s depending on him and he won’t let them down—even if it means leaving a trail of destruction in his wake. Liz can’t believe they’re under attack. At first, it seems like things won’t be too bad. Yet within hours, it seems like the whole world’s gone crazy. With communication lines down, she’s unable to reach her husband, Luke. Getting her kids to their Bug Out Location won’t be easy, but she’s determined to make it. It’s well stocked and safely tucked away in a canyon. But as people begin to flee the cities, a new darkness spreads across America. Her struggle to survive rips apart her core values and forces her to examine what it means to be a mother, a wife, and a survivor. American Fallout is a thrilling post-apocalyptic survival prepper EMP fiction series that makes you step back and ask: Could this happen tomorrow? What would happen if the world’s nuclear arsenal was unleashed? What would you do if it happened while you were away from home? And how would your family survive?

Jesse's Girl


Tara September - 2019
    After all, he has been secretly and painfully enamored with Jesse’s girl, Gwen, for nearly a decade. It was love at first sight for him, but sadly she’s not his girl. She belongs to the one man who betrayed him and knows Reade’s hidden family secret. Yet Reade can’t seem to love anyone except the one woman he can't have. Or can he make her mine? When Gwen Clark’s senator husband runs off with his intern and all their money, the ensuing scandal turns her life upside down. Deserted, penniless and desperate to provide for her six-year-old daughter, Gwen has no one to turn to but Reade Walker. The one man her heart desperately wants, but her pride dreads having to ask for help. Despite welcoming them into his home, it seems like Reade can barely stand being in the same room with her anymore, let alone under the same roof—in the same bedroom. But Gwen is determined to get her life back on track. It is past time to rediscover her own dreams…if only she can keep her aching heart from breaking all over again. *Song lyrics by Rick Springfield Jessie’s Girl, 1981 ABOUT: -HEA (Happily Ever After) ENDING -STANDALONE (not part of a series, no cliffhanger, fully wrapped-up novella) -"FRIENDS-TO-LOVERS" CONTEMPORARY ADULT ROMANCE -INSTA-LOVE with a MEET CUTE -CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE based on the pop song of the same title. -HEAT LEVEL: HOT AWARD WINNING NOVELLA: - 2018 Orange Rose First Place Winner for Best Romance Novella by OCCRWA.org - 2018 Cleveland Rocks Romance Contest 1st Place Winner for Contemporary Short - The Catherine 2018 2nd Place Winner from Toronto Romance Writers - 2018 Unpublished Maggie Awards Finalist - 2018 Golden Rose Contest Finalist – 2nd Place - 2018 Unpublished Maggie Awards Finalist - Maine Romance Writers 2017 Strut Your Stuff Finalist - Pages from the Heart 2017 Finalist – Third Place

When Robins Appear


Densie Webb - 2020
    But her daughter, Amanda, is heading to college soon, and Deborah worries about having an empty nest. She thinks another child might be the answer. Her husband, Richard, however, may not be willing to start over so late in life.Amanda is excited about attending NYU next year, but she meets Graham, a handsome older boy, falls hard, and considers postponing her education to stay close to him. Her mother takes an instant dislike to Graham, but Amanda refuses to let her keep them apart.As Deborah watches her daughter rush headlong toward heartache on an all-too-familiar path, the secrets lurking in Deborah’s past continue to echo in her present. When tragedy strikes, Deborah faces a future she could never have imagined.

Is This Tomorrow


Caroline Leavitt - 2013
    Lewis yearns for his absent father, befriending the only other fatherless kids: Jimmy and Rose. One afternoon, Jimmy goes missing. The neighborhood in the era of the Cold War, bomb scares, and paranoia seizes the opportunity to further ostracize Ava and her son. Lewis never recovers from the disappearance of his childhood friend. By the time he reaches his twenties, he's living a directionless life, a failure in love, estranged from his mother. Rose is now a schoolteacher in another city, watching over children as she was never able to watch over her own brother. Ava is building a new life for herself in a new decade. When the mystery of Jimmy's disappearance is unexpectedly solved, all three must try to reclaim what they have lost.

Broomsticks and Board Games


Amy McNulty - 2020
    Dahlia has to perform at least one good deed per day—or she’s one step closer to turning to stone.Fortunately, the residents of Luna Lane have plenty of tasks for Dahlia to complete to avert the curse until Cable Woodward, fetching professor and nephew of her elderly neighbor, stops by for the semester on sabbatical. Attempting to help Cable’s uncle work through the trauma of losing his wife, Dahlia uncovers the man’s collection of board games, which leads to him reminiscing about the long-forgotten Luna Lane Games Club.Dahlia reestablishes Games Club, only to find evidence of a number of horrible demises connected to the original group. While trying to uncover the truth about the deaths, Dahlia has to fight off her curse, protect her elderly neighbor from becoming the next victim, and most vexing of all, keep Cable from figuring out Luna Lane’s supernatural secrets. Only with eerie board games like these, there may not be a loser—or even a winner—who survives.

Staunch


Eleanor Wood - 2020
    How did she get here?Truthfully, it could be for any one of the below reasons, if not all combined:• Stepmum dying/Stepdad leaving – family falling apart, subsequent psychotic break; both parents now on third marriage• Breaking up with J after 12 years – breaking up a whole life, a whole fucking universe – for reasons that may have been… misguided?• New boyfriend moving in immediately, me insisting ‘it’s not a rebound!’ even after everyone has stopped listening, being cited in his messy divorce, him being sectioned, then breaking up with me• Going into therapy after dating a potentially violent, certainly threatening, narcissist (the most pertinent point of which should be noted: I did not break up with him – he ghosted me)How to address this situation? Take a trip to India with your octogenarian nan and two great aunts of course. The perfect, if somewhat unusual, distraction from Eleanor’s ongoing crisis.But the trip offers so much more than Eleanor could ever have hoped for.Through the vivid and worldly older women in her life, she learns what it means to be staunch in the face of true adversity.

One Less Problem Without You


Beth Harbison - 2016
    Prinny is the owner of Cosmos, a shop that sells crystals, potions, candles, and hope. It’s also a place where no one turns down a little extra-special cocktail that can work as a romance potion or heal a broken heart. But Prinny is in love with her married lawyer and she’ll need nothing short of magic to forget about him.Chelsea works as a living statue at tourist sites around Washington, DC. It's a thankless job, but it helps pay the rent. That, and her part-time job at Cosmos. As her dream of becoming a successful actress starts to seem more remote and the possibility of being a permanently struggling one seems more realistic, Chelsea begins to wonder: at one point do you give up on your dreams? And will love ever be in the cards for her?Diana Tiesman is married to Leif, a charismatic man who isn’t faithful. But no matter how many times he lets her down, Diana just can't let him go. She knows the only way she can truly breakaway is if she leaves and goes where he will never think to follow. So she ends up at Cosmos with Leif’s stepsister, where she makes her homemade teas and tinctures as she figures out whether she'd rather be lonely alone than lonely in love.In Beth Harbison's One Less Problem Without You, three women suddenly find themselves together at their own very different crossroads. It will take hope, love, strength and a little bit of magic for them to find their way together.