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Unwanted: The true story of a new life grown from love, loss and the ultimate betrayal


Suz Evasdaughter - 2020
    Confused, little Suz begins to blame herself for her mother's death. Her father eventually brings them back, but instead of finding a safe haven to rebuild their family, Suz finds herself plunged into a life of misery at the mercy of an uncaring and brutal stepmother.Unwanted tells the story of Suz's struggle to escape from her broken home and leave her fractured past behind her. But lurking in the shadows is a dark family secret...

Violet


S.J.I. Holliday - 2019
    She is also desperate for a ticket on the Trans-Siberian Express, but there is nothing available.When the two women meet in a Beijing Hotel, Carrie makes the impulsive decision to invite Violet to take her best friend's place.Thrown together in a strange country, and the cramped cabin of the train, the women soon form a bond. But as the journey continues, through Mongolia and into Russia, things start to unravel – because one of these women is not who she claims to be…A tense and twisted psychological thriller about obsession, manipulation and toxic friendships, Violet also reminds us that there's a reason why mother told us not to talk to strangers...

Appetite for Innocence


Lucinda Berry - 2017
    Your next check-in might lead him right to you...A serial rapist is kidnapping teenage girls. But he’s not interested in just any teenage girls—only virgins. He hunts them by following their status updates and check-ins on social media. Once he’s captured them, they’re locked away in his sound-proof basement until they’re groomed and ready. He throws them away like pieces of trash after he’s stolen their innocence. Nobody escapes alive. Until Ella. Ella risks it all to escape, setting herself and the other girls free. But only Sarah—the girl whose been captive the longest—gets out with her. The girls are hospitalized and surrounded by FBI agents who will stop at nothing to find the man responsible. Ella and Sarah are the key to their investigation, but Sarah’s hiding something and it isn’t long before Ella discovers her nightmare is far from over. Fans of The Butterfly Garden and The Girl Before will devour Appetite for Innocence.Warning: Contains sexual violence which may be a trigger for some readers.

The Healer's Secret


Helen Pryke - 2020
    This family has a secret worse than most.Jennifer’s life isn’t going as she planned. Fired from her job and on the brink of divorce, her only salvation lies at the bottom of a wine bottle. When her mother insists she get away from everything, she reluctantly agrees to explore her Italian roots in Tuscany.Staying in her family’s centuries-old cottage, she becomes embroiled in a mysterious tragedy involving her great-grandmother. As she delves further into her ancestors’ history, she discovers there is more to her heritage than meets the eye.Ghosts from the past could give Jennifer something she thought she’d never have: a future. But that depends on whether she can resist temptation and avoid slipping back into her old ways.Will she be able to conquer her inner demons and discover the healer’s secret?Helen Pryke is also the author of the Maggie Turner mysteries. The Healer's Secret is a compelling saga with a touch of romance. It's the perfect read for fans of authors like Philippa Gregory, Lindsey Jayne Ashford and Dinah Jefferies.

While the Sun Is Above Us


Melanie Schnell - 2012
    In the midst of a bloody civil war, Adut is brutally captured and held as a slave for eight years. Sandra, fleeing her life in Canada, travels to South Sudan as an aid worker but soon finds herself unwittingly embroiled in a violent local conflict. When chance brings Adut and Sandra together in a brief but profound moment, their lives change forever.In captivating prose, Melanie Schnell offers imaginative insight into the lives of innocents in a land at war, rendering horrific experiences with exquisite clarity. While The Sun Is Above Us explores the immense power of the imagination, the human desire for connection, and the endurance of hope.“Schnell’s prose is transparent and true, and her voice is haunting, full of emotional clout. Hers are characters made of flesh and blood—they are brave, vulnerable, strong and, ultimately, alive with hope.”—Lisa Moore ”An urgent and powerful story about two women speaking to each other across every imaginable divide. This is a story that needs to be told!”—Buffy Cram, author of Radio Belly

Capture


Olivia Ryann - 2018
     One day, I’m cooking dinner for my brothers and dreaming about going off to college. I’m a good girl, protected by the family. After all, my dad is a big mob boss in New Orleans. The next day, I’m stuffed into the back of an SUV against my will. Kidnapped. Shaking with fear. I try to run, try to escape… but I don’t realize that I am just a pawn. I don’t see the larger picture, or the shadowed man pulling the strings. I don’t realize that he is going to capture me. Or that I will be lost from the first moment I look into his eyes… Reading Order: Capture (Cherish Series FREE Prequel) Control (Cherish Series Book 1) Covet (Cherish Series Book 2) Cherish (Cherish Series Book 3)

And Then She Was Gone


Rosalind Noonan - 2013
    Six years later, her parents Rachel and Dan still tirelessly scour their Oregon hometown and beyond, always believing Lauren will be found. Then one day, the call comes.Lauren has been rescued from a secluded farm mere miles away, and her abductor has confessed. Yet her return is nothing like Rachel imagined. Though the revelations about what Lauren endured are shocking, most heartbreaking of all is to see the bright-eyed, assertive daughter she knew transformed into a wary, polite stranger. Lauren's first instinct is to flee. For years she's been told her parents forgot her; now she doubts the pieces of her life can ever fit together again. But Rachel refuses to lose her a second time. Little by little they must relearn what it means to be a family, trusting that their bond is strong enough to guide them back to each other. Intensely moving and absorbing, this is an extraordinary story told with sensitivity and grace, and filled with the depth and breadth of a mother's love. Praise for Rosalind Noonan"Noonan has a knack for page-turners and doesn't disappoint." --Publishers Weekly on All She Ever Wanted "The author once again takes on an emotional topic with great sensitivity." --Booklist on The Daughter She Used to Be"Reminiscent of Jodi Picoult's kind of tale. . .it's a keeper!" --New York Times bestselling author Lisa Jackson on One September Morning

Bonus Time: A true story of surviving the worst and discovering the magic of every day


Brian Pennie - 2020
    

Mystic Mountains


Tricia McGill - 2005
    Isabella O'Shea is transported to New South Wales for wounding a member of the British aristocracy who raped her, so it is understandable that she loathes members of the upper class and the system that punished her; sentenced her to seven years transportation.Tiger Carstairs is rich, ambitious and English-so is it any wonder she is determined to hate her new master. Tiger dreams of making a new life beyond the aptly named Blue Mountains, so called because of the perpetual haze of blue surrounding them.Mystic Mountains is a story of courage and persistence-traits that were essential for the settlers who carved out a new life in a raw land where suffering and heartbreak were commonplace.Isabella and Tiger face tragedy and many hardships in their quest for a new life in this untamed land.Reviews:“Tricia McGill has written a sweeping love story of two people fighting for their places in an unfair world among the wild, untamed vistas of Australia. The strong plot reveals much about the early settlement days of the continent of Australia and is a history lesson in itself besides a sizzling romance. A job well done by Ms. McGill.” Lani Roberts 5 stars ***** Affaire de Coeur“Sometimes we in America forget that Australia is an equally young country, complete with tales of adventure about the settlement of the land. In this story of love adventure and hardship, we see a man and a woman work together to survive and overcome the harsh land that is Australia. A thoroughly enjoyable book, well-written and exciting.”Deborah Brent for Romantic Times book club **** four stars

A Stolen Life


Jaycee Dugard - 2011
    It was the last her family and friends saw of her for over eighteen years. On 26 August 2009, Dugard, her daughters, and Phillip Craig Garrido appeared in the office of her kidnapper's parole officer in California. Their unusual behaviour sparked an investigation that led to the positive identification of Jaycee Lee Dugard, living in a tent behind Garrido's home. During her time in captivity, at the age of fourteen and seventeen, she gave birth to two daughters, both fathered by Garrido. Dugard's memoir is written by the 30-year-old herself and covers the period from the time of her abduction in 1991 up until the present. In her stark, utterly honest and unflinching narrative, Jaycee opens up about what she experienced, including how she feels now, a year after being found. Garrido and his wife Nancy have since pleaded guilty to their crimes.

Beastly Bullies


Evie Rae - 2021
    They’ll be the villains in her new story.Once upon a time, I had everything. Status. Wealth. Access.Now, I’m the fallen. The daughter of a disgraced Wall Street king who’s serving time. After my father’s conviction and my mother’s suicide, I was shipped off to what I hoped would be a fresh start with my uncle. My new home in Little Creek is far from the city, far from my prestigious former academy, and far from anyone who knew me when I was the Princess of Chauncey Park. New family, new school, new me. Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite work out that way.I’m not the anonymous girl I need to be. The princes that rule this rural school know the secrets that haunt my past, know the transgressions that torment me. They’re not content to let me hide in the shadows and finish out my high school career in peace. No, they want me front and center and miserable every day of my sentence in this little podunk town. Their reason? That’s a mystery for me to solve.Once upon a time, I was a princess. Now, I’m just the whipping girl.Beastly Bullies is dark high school enemies to lovers reverse harem romance with bully themes. Contains cursing, sexual situations, and scenes that some may find triggering.

Living Dead Girl


Elizabeth Scott - 2008
     Once upon a time, my name was not Alice. Once upon a time, I didn't know how lucky I was. When Alice was ten, Ray took her away from her family, her friends -- her life. She learned to give up all power, to endure all pain. She waited for the nightmare to be over. Now Alice is fifteen and Ray still has her, but he speaks more and more of her death. He does not know it is what she longs for. She does not know he has something more terrifying than death in mind for her. This is Alice's story. It is one you have never heard, and one you will never, ever forget.

Alpha for Valentines


Sky Winters - 2020
    Swipe right to find the shifter of your dreams this Valentine’s Day! Omega Lucy I’m an omega who can’t stand alphas. Their cocky swagger, their entitlement, their ridiculously muscular bodies—everything. My father was an alpha, and a liar. How can I ever trust one again? And now I lost a bet and have to go on five dates, on the Alpha Meets Omega dating App. Good thing I’m immune to an alphas charm. Alpha Ryan I became a cop to protect. I’d do anything to keep drug dealers off the street. Which is why I can’t start a family. My job is my life. But now I’m being pressured to find a date For the Valentine’s dance. It was just a date with an omega, Some stupid dating app. And now my whole world has been turned upside down. I can’t let her destroy everything I built. But I have to keep her safe… 18+Only

Stolen Grace


Arianne Richmonde - 2014
    But with the recession on their heels, Tommy leaves for LA for a job interview, and Ruth, a friend of Sylvia's comes to stay.In an unexpected turn of events, a family tragedy forces Sylvia to leave Ruth in charge of little Grace for just one day. A decision that will tear their lives apart.Stolen Grace is a roller coaster of emotions with twists and turns, a tale of lies and deception, of redemption and forgiveness.And ultimately, a story about love.

Finding Me: A Decade of Darkness, a Life Reclaimed - A Memoir of the Cleveland Kidnappings


Michelle Knight - 2014
    Michelle was a young single mother when she was kidnapped by a local school bus driver named Ariel Castro. For more than a decade afterward, she endured unimaginable torture at the hand of her abductor. In 2003 Amanda Berry joined her in captivity, followed by Gina DeJesus in 2004. Their escape on May 6, 2013, made headlines around the world.Barely out of her own tumultuous childhood, Michelle was estranged from her family and fighting for custody of her young son when she disappeared. Local police believed she had run away, so they removed her from the missing persons lists fifteen months after she vanished. Castro tormented her with these facts, reminding her that no one was looking for her, that the outside world had forgotten her. But Michelle would not be broken.In Finding Me, Michelle will reveal the heartbreaking details of her story, including the thoughts and prayers that helped her find courage to endure her unimaginable circumstances and now build a life worth living. By sharing both her past and her efforts to create a future, Michelle becomes a voice for the voiceless and a powerful symbol of hope for the thousands of children and young adults who go missing every year.