Book picks similar to
Initiation by Phil M. Williams


young-adult
sports
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Wicked Wedding


Brooke Page - 2017
    Now I'm not only mortified from Malcolm's cold feet, I'm stuck in front of my peers, putting on a smile as if I'm as strong as my parents desire for me to be. Little did I know, the bartender my parents hired would be a steamy blast from the past, and Malcolm's most despised college acquaintance. Pouring drinks never looked so sexy on Josh Titlist, especially when having a quick fling with him could help cure the sting of being ditched. That is if the chemistry we shared in the past won't create another explosion... This is the first book in the Wicked Wedding Series.

Making Lemonade


Muriel Ellis Pritchett - 2016
    Instead, a university student totaled her car, her boss – after 16 years of loyal and excellent service – gave her a letter of termination, and her professor husband of 32 years asked for a divorce so he could marry his post-doc student with the 18-inch waist and perky boobs. Half a century old, jobless, and with only a high school diploma, Missouri must take the lemons that life has thrown her and make the best lemonade ever – even if it means traveling to Italy alone to do it.

Girl With No Fingerprints


Mark Bailey - 2017
    A drug bust at a sex orgy forces a life change and a chance to start again in a new place where nobody knows her. But will her inner demons drive her back on a path of self-destruction? Like Milly Siobhan Russell is pretty and smart. Unlike Milly, she has all the advantages of a loving family. But is she too about to risk everything? From Perth, Western Australia, to a love story in Scotland and a vicious murder in a cheap motel in London; no relationship is safe, most are troubled. Lies and half-truths are told, the truth often far away, until a startling revelation reveals everything. You will never see it coming. This is the only crime thriller you will need to read this year.

The Madams of Mischief


Sherry M. Siska - 2012
    I lifted the hinged lid of the trash can, swung it open, and tossed in the diaper. That's when Destiny not only called my name, she also spit in my face, thumbed her nose, and blew me a big old raspberry. Lucky me."         Those crazy Madams of Mischief, Destiny, Lady Luck, and Fate seem to be out to get Marty Sheffield! Marty just wants to live her quiet life in her quiet town while recovering from being left at the altar by up-and-coming country music star, Ricky Ray Riley. The Doom Divas seem to  have other ideas, though. While babysitting her sister's kids, Marty finds the body of a former classmate wedged in a ninety-gallon trash container at a local park. With the help of her sister, Marty sets out to solve the mystery and save her own hide before it's too late.    Also available in the Doom Divas series of humorous mystery novels for Kindle and in paperback: The Divas of Doom (Doom Divas Book 2) and The Floozies of Fate (Doom Divas Book 3)

Impact


David E. Stevens - 2019
    and wakes up in a genetically perfect body. His fighter catches on fire during a routine test flight. Preventing it from hitting a neighborhood, he ejects too late. A year later, he wakes up in a city hospital looking like an omni-racial Olympic athlete. His body wasn’t repaired ... it was replaced. He's GMO, a genetic blend of humanity's best genes with one-in-a-billion abilities, but a voice in his head tells him an apocalyptic disaster will soon erase most life on earth. A Navy pilot brought back from the dead ... to save the world? The most likely explanation is paranoid schizophrenia with delusions of grandeur, but with no identity and few options, he uses his insider knowledge of classified military projects to create a fake black program. Recruiting a brilliant international team, they secretly develop the world’s most powerful weapon to ... protect humanity? The Fuzed Trilogy is Bourne Identity meets Avatar and Interstellar. A USA TODAY Bestseller, winner of the Eric Hoffer Award, Epic eBook Award and ForeWord Reviews Book of the Year, IMPACT is a true story we hope never happens. With a team of advisers that include astrophysicists, astronauts, admirals and intelligence operatives, the science behind the threats is real. These extinction level events are statistically inevitable but also preventable ... if we take action. A portion of the series profits go to non-profits working to protect humanity. Fuzed.org

Living with Markus


Florence Osmund - 2016
     Having put an embittered past behind him, Marc builds a successful landscaping business with clientele from the affluent suburbs of Chicago and starts to appreciate the finer things in life—and he's found the perfect woman to share in it. But when his alcoholic sister and her two young sons enter into the picture, Marc falls victim to their helplessness and temporarily puts his own life aside. When his despondent father is added to the mix, it doesn’t take long for Marc to completely lose sight of his own dreams—and his girlfriend. Does Marc save his relatives from their ill-fated lives, or save himself from entering into a life of self-sacrifice and missed opportunities? Painful soul-searching and late-night talks with the captivating tenant downstairs guide him to an unexpected decision and discovery of his true purpose in life.

Top Notch


Nicole Richard - 2020
    First baseman for one of major league baseball’s hottest teams, he’s lived most of his adult years playing the field. But the time has come for him to work just as hard off it as he has on it. That is, if he wants the girl. And for the first time, he wants the girl. He wants Rowan Landry. A top-notch civil engineer, she's made her place in this so-called man's world. Rowan knows her worth, and the dedication it takes to get to the top, but she isn't stopping there.Nothing will stand in her way of what she's worked so hard for... until he actually does.With chemistry so undeniable, it's no wonder their torrid one-night stand holds enough heat to burn up the sheets. But when a pertinent piece of information complicates things and a make-or-break decision leaves unanswered questions, they come to realize this just might be the final inning.

Summer at Sea


Beth Labonte - 2015
     Have you ever helped your parents pack for a weeklong cruise? No? I didn't think so. So shut it. So begins vacation for Summer Hartwell - twenty-six years old, living with her anxiety-ridden parents, and unwillingly booked by her brother on a weeklong cruise to Bermuda. Despite the nightmare of being trapped aboard a cruise ship with Mom and Dad, Summer sees a rare opportunity to fulfill The Prophecy – her mother’s declaration that she will live at home until she gets married. With two thousand passengers onboard, at least one of them must be husband material, right? The only problem is Graham Blenderman – her brother’s best friend who is joining them for the week, in all of his tall, blonde, extroverted glory. Graham doesn’t believe Summer needs a husband in order to break free from her parents. He thinks she just needs a little bit of nerve. And to Summer’s introverted horror, he’s willing to spend the entire week proving that he’s right.

Tropical Knights


John F. Beckman - 2012
    He has left behind the Vietnam War, the SEC, the IRS, and a scheming ex-wife. Life is good. And then he meets Amy, the half Cuban beauty who invites him on the adventure of a lifetime. The Latin lovely offers Jack the opportunity to save the eastern U.S. from annihilation by a dying Castro, the dictator of Cuba. Jack wants nothing to do with this woman or her mission. But before he knows it Jack is involved with the Cuban Mafia, the CIA, and duplicitous politicians. When his brother is kidnapped Jack is torn between saving America or saving his only benefactor. Jack has an impossible decision to make. Sail along with Jack and Amy on the life or death voyage which makes Jack’s existence more complicated than he ever dreamed possible.

Hunter's Chase


Val Penny - 2018
    Shortly after the post-mortem, Hunter witnesses a second murder, but that is not the end of the slaughter. With a young woman's life also hanging in the balance, the last thing Hunter needs is a new man on his team: Detective Constable Tim Myerscough, the son of his nemesis, the former Chief Constable Sir Peter Myerscough. Hunter's perseverance and patience are put to the test time after time in this first novel in The Edinburgh Crime Mysteries series.

The Unusual Suspects (The Unusual Suspects #1)


Dominic Carrillo - 2018
    On the way, she meets a geriatric American named Kurt who has a knack for killing people unintentionally. On the lam across Eastern Europe, where will Kurt and Nia’s intersecting journeys lead them? The Unusual Suspects is a wise, heart-warming, coming-of-age adventure.

Mele Keahi's Ghostly Mysteries (Destiny Bay Mysteries #1-3)


J.D. Winters - 2016
    She came to the California coast for the peace and comfort of family, but suddenly she seems to be a magnet for murders. They’re dropping like flies all around her, and she's the only one who can solve them - with the help of some ancestral spirits, and, of course, a trusty black cat. But even with her ghosts, her wits, and her family at her side, she wonders - could the next new ghost in town be her? A GHOST FOR CHRISTMAS—Mele is home for the holidays, only to find a dead man in the front yard. Could her beloved Aunt Bebe be the murderer? GHOST ON DUTY—Mele is nervous to meet with the mean old rich man in the mansion, but it’s even more chilling to find him dead! Does his silver cat carry a clue to the killer? A GHOST IN TIME—This time Aunt Bebe is really in trouble-it seems obvious that she is the one who ran down the victim. But who really engineered the crime? Delicious Hawaiian recipes included!

Red Mountain


Boo Walker - 2016
    Otis Till, the area's visionary winemaker, has been known to howl at the moon--fully nude. Single mother Margot Pierce moved across the country to build an inn, but so far all she does is binge on gelato, the Hallmark Channel, and fantasies of murdering her ex. High school senior Emilia Forester is the daughter of celebrity parents struggling to build her own life outside of their shadow. And Brooks Baker is a man haunted by his past spent living on the streets as an orphan. Somehow, everyone lives together harmoniously, their lives intertwined like the vines in Red Mountain's beautiful and renowned vineyards.But in a place where everyone knows each other, secrets are like poison...and right now Otis, Margot, Emilia, and Brooks all have something to hide. When their secrets come to light, will their small mountain be stronger for it--or will lives be torn apart?Heartfelt and wonderfully descriptive, Red Mountain is the story of four complicated people living in a beautiful landscape unlike anywhere else. Told from multiple perspectives and rich with vivid descriptions of wine life, this novel will transport you from the first page to the last.Boo writes contemporary dysfunctional fiction for open-minded soul searchers that enjoy books by such authors as Pat Conroy, Liane Moriarty, Amor Towles, Jojo Moyes, and Celeste Ng. Look out for the sequel, Red Mountain Rising, coming soon!

Leftover Girl


C.C. Bolick - 2016
    At fifteen, she has adjusted to moving without notice and never fitting in, but everything changes with her adopted mom's hometown. There Jes falls for her mom's nephew, a love she hides when his betrayal leaves her isolated and driven to unravel the past.After Jes befriends a strange new student, she discovers an amazing secret: he's from another planet and searching for a missing girl who might be her. As Jes will learn, truth comes at a cost, but will she give up love to find out?

The Jess Williams Trilogy: The Reckoning / Brother's Keeper / Sins of the Father


Robert J. Thomas - 2017
    This trilogy will only be offered for a limited time in e-format. It includes the full copies of the first three books in the long-running series of Jess Williams adventures. Note: If you have already purchased the first three books in the series, don’t buy this unless you just want to add it to your collection. If you haven’t read a Jess Williams western yet, this is the perfect time to get the first three books in their entirety. Hopefully, you will enjoy them and continue on with the rest of the series. Description of the books in this Trilogy... THE RECKONING starts out this western series with the adventures of Jess Williams. He is an ordinary young boy with a loving family growing up in Black Creek, Kansas. That all changes when he comes home and finds his family brutally murdered. Forced to become a man overnight, he vows to avenge his family’s savage deaths. He begins to practice with his pa’s Colt .45 and then a stroke of destiny arrives when he discovers a new pistol and holster that mysteriously appears. Jess practices with it relentlessly until he becomes so quick that he is truly unbeatable on the draw. He leaves home transformed from a boy to a highly skilled shootist with no reason to live except to hunt down and kill each of the men responsible for the murders. As he begins his journey, he does so with a pistol and holster that no one has ever seen before—and won’t again for almost one-hundred years. In BROTHER’S KEEPER, Jess Williams returns home to Black Creek, Kansas, after hunting down and killing the three men who brutally murdered his family. When he arrives, he finds himself in the midst of a bloody war with Dick Carter and his hired guns. Carter wants revenge for the death of his only son, Red, and Jess is the one who did the killing. Jess’s first job is to eliminate Carter and his hired guns and then finish his search for the brother he never knew he had. SINS OF THE FATHER has Jess hunting down his real father, Eddie Sloan. After two years, he finally has him in his sight when a desperate call for help comes in from U.S. Marshal Frank Reedy. Jess answers the call for help and heads for Timber, Texas, and straight into a bloody range war between two cattle barons. Rance Madden and his hired guns have no idea of the trouble heading their way. Jess arrives and men start dying one by one. Madden begins to feel the grip of death at his throat—and Jess is slowly tightening the noose.