The Darker Side of Love


Jessica Ruston - 2011
    To mask betrayal, or deceit. But what happens when those lies start to catch up with us? When our lives begin to be shaped by the lies of others?The late 'noughties'. A global recession looms. A group of old friends, all leading outwardly successful, interesting lives. All in apparently loving, secure relationships. Yet all, in some way, lying to those closest to them, concealing secret worries, jealousies, desires. This group of friends is about to discover that the truth won't stay buried for ever...Welcome to the darker side of love.

Paragon Place


Harry Bowling - 1990
    But it's taken its toll on a hard-working and tight-knit community. Despite going through the very worst of times - the never-ending fight against poverty, rationing and bombs - the residents of Paragon Place have been brought closer together by laughter and tears in the face of despair. There is Sally Brady, who is torn between two men, local drunk Alf Porter, the prim Carey sisters, the gossips and the villains. After surviving the horror of the war, they face new dramas as they rebuild their lives together...

Lights Of London


Gilda O'Neill - 1998
    Until the feisty young prostitute, Tibs Tyler, takes her under her wing, and the two girls, one dark, one fair, set themselves up as a music hall act. As they desperately try to break free from Tibs's violent pimp, and to avoid the educated and wealthy yet sinister Dr Tressing, they are also hoping to make a new life for themselves as the new century breaks.

The Return of the Hippy


David Luddington - 2010
    He thought he understood the way the world worked, but now, as a sacrificial lamb of the credit crunch he finds himself drifting... drifting into the clutches of the ever resourceful Pete who could find the angle in a Fairy Liquid bubble... and into the arms of the enigmatic hippy girl, Astrid, who’s about to introduce Tony to rabbits, magic caves and the joys of mushrooms. eBook of the Month Club describes ‘The Return of the Hippy’ as “The funniest and most heart warming novel of the year.”

FURY RISING (Children of the Mountain Book 4)


R.A. Hakok - 2019
     Exiled from Mount Weather, Gabe, Mags and Johnny make their way north, seeking shelter from the coming storms. With the furies awakening across the country they stumble into the middle of a feud between two unlikely adversaries.

The Hurting Circus: Blood Red Turns Dollar Green Volume 3


Paul O'Brien - 2014
    Twelve years since millions of dollars were lost because of a single bullet. Twelve years since Lenny Long last saw his family before being thrown in jail for killing Danno Garland. Now, Lenny has walked out of jail a changed man.Back on the outside, things haven’t gotten any easier. Danno’s death has made the spotlight shine on the world of professional wrestling a little too brightly for the comfort of many. Senator Tanenbaum is leading the charge to shut the whole thing down, while the other wrestling bosses haven’t wasted any time in trying to consolidate their territories and grab new ones. But Danno’s old crew isn’t about to let the other promoters take what is rightfully theirs, at least not without a fight. And, try as he might to get home, Lenny’s role in it all isn’t over.In this thrilling final chapter of Paul O’Brien’s gritty Blood Red Turns Dollar Green trilogy, it all comes down to Lenny. And twelve years is a long time to think and to plan.

Down the Memory Hole


Bonnie Turner - 2005
    The thought of giving up his friendship is bad enough. But how can he relate to someone who forgets his grandson's name, wears adult diapers, and thinks dog biscuits are people cookies-someone who could die in the night and scare Buzz right out of puberty. Buzz thinks Alzheimer's is caused by a traumatic event, such as the train accident that killed Grandpa's brother Barkley in childhood. The situation turns deadly when Buzz and Mitch-whose friendship Buzz refuses to end-attempt to cure Grandpa of Alzheimer's disease by recreating the train accident on a hot summer day. (Ages 12-14/YA)

Playing with the Enemy


Madison Wright - 2019
    Tall, Dark and Douchey is causing me all kinds of problems... Working 3 jobs while at college and struggling to maintain my GPA, I crashed pretty hard. The result. I’m being punished and I have to share a room with the biggest name and hearth-throb on campus. The trouble: • He’s the burning hot, bad-boy superstar of the football team • Biggest sports star on campus and even bigger jerk • Sexy as hell My only problem, I’m a SUCKER for a bad boy and damn if his dominant attitude isn’t skin tingling. And now he sleeps on a bed only a few feet from mine! One game day with him and my life changes forever. Will I be able to make it through this semester with my GPA and dignity intact?…

Shadow Baby


Alison McGhee - 2000
    When Clara begins interviewing Georg Kominsky--her elderly neighbor--she finds that he is equally reticent about his own concealed history. Precocious and imaginative, Clara invents versions of Mr. Kominsky’s past, just as she invents lives for the people missing from her own shadowy history. Her journey of discovery is at the heart of this beautiful story about unlikely friendship and communion, about discovering what matters most in life, and about the search to find the missing pieces of ourselves.

Long Way Back


Brendan Halpin - 2007
    It’s firmly rooted in familial embarrassment (the Kellys’ house is “decorated like the inside of somebody’s hut in Guatemala”), reinforced by an abiding love of Dee Dee Ramone and other (lesser) gods of the rock pantheon, and cemented by the secret of a remarkable religious epiphany Francis experiences at the age of twelve.Clare and Francis become happy adults with rewarding careers and loving spouses. But when tragedy strikes, Francis finds his faith shattered and his life horribly transformed, and Clare doesn’t know how to help the brother she loves but has never fully understood.Nearly flattened by sadness, Francis turns to the angry, propulsive music that sustained him through adolescence and finds that you’re never too old to be punk rock. With the help of a bass guitar and the support of Clare and some unlikely new friends, Francis gradually finds his way back from the depths of despair to a life that feels worth living.Told in Clare’s wry, compassionate voice, Long Way Back is an original, moving novel about grief, guitars, and grace. It shows that the Velvet Underground didn’t lie: Your life really can be saved by rock and roll.From the Hardcover edition.

Players


Joyce Sweeney - 2000
    Philip's varsity basketball -- a team that's poised to make all-city. There is only one slot to fill on the roster, and the team chooses hot-shot transfer student Noah Travers for its second string. But Noah's ambitions are bigger -- he wants, and expects, to play starting center.When starting-center Luke mysteriously faints before a game, and Theo suddenly quits the team, everyone suspects Noah is at the root of the trouble -- everyone except Corey. Corey can't believe anyone would be malicious enough to drug one player and force another off the team.But as each player is sabotaged and the trust among the teammates disintegrates, Corey can no longer ignore the obvious. The all-city championship is too important, and he must find out the truth before he becomes the next target.

Something's Wrong with Your Scale!: A Romantic Comedy


Van Whitfield - 1999
    Nice Guy who's found companionship and comfort with Marsha.  The only problem is that he's become too comfortable.  Weighing seventy-five pounds more than when the courtship first began, the newly food-obsessed Sonny just can't stay away from Marsha's marvelous dishes, even in the middle of their breakup conversation.Determined to slim down and get his girlfriend back, Sonny joins the FutraSystem weight-loss center and meets potential love interest Kayla, as well as a host of other colorful characters. In a heartwarming tale that is alternately hilarious, wise, and ultimately self-affirming, Whitfield has created a thoroughly delicious and engaging novel sure to be enjoyed by those who have waged the battle of the bulge, or know someone who has.

The Warden's Son


C.G. Cooper - 2019
    I was ten. I made a new best friend. And, I became a murderer. Yep. You heard right. The summer of 1987 was the ninth stop for yours truly on the great prison tour of my childhood. Every year a new town and a new prison to explore. I wasn’t yet a murderer. Not at the beginning. Just the plain old son of a warden in jeans with permanent grass stains and threadbare sneakers that wore me more than I wore them. Life as the son of a Federal prison warden never felt weird until I turned 10. I was still a naive little waif until that nasty summer when everything changed. Now I sit here in my suit, so far removed from the boy of 1987 Virginia that I feel like I’m perfectly qualified to judge him. But when the window’s open, all I have to do is get a breeze from which I can detect the gluey stink of split black locust, or hear the froggy grind of a woodcock’s call, and then I’m no longer qualified. There I am, back under the hot sun, at the edge of the creek stinking of heat and moss. I am that boy again. And I can make out the line of Redcoats marching in ramrod-straight formation along a pink-feathered sea of mountain laurel in the distance..." What happens when a ten-year-old boy becomes friends with an inmate? Jimmy Allen's about to find out, and the crash of reality will stick with him for an eternity. The author of the USA Today bestselling Corps Justice series pens a coming of age story about youth, strength and the bravery of bonds between friends.

Son of Anger: A fast-paced Viking Saga filled with action and adventure


Donovan Cook - 2020
    This tale of vengeance is nothing short of exciting." Reedsy ReviewUlf is like a storm, slowly building up its power, he grows more dangerous with each passing moment. And like all storms, he will eventually break. When he does, he will destroy everything in his path.Ulf is one of a long line of famous Norse warriors. His ancestor Tyr was no ordinary man, but the Norse God of War. Ulf, however, knows nothing about being a warrior.Everything changes when a stranger arrives on Ulf’s small farm in Vikenfjord. The only family he’s ever known are slaughtered and the one reminder of his father is stolen -- Ulf’s father’s sword, Ormstunga. Ulf’s destiny is decided.Are the gods punishing him? All Ulf knows is that he has to avenge his family. He sets off on an adventure that will take him across oceans, into the eye of danger, on a quest to reclaim his family’s honour.The gods are roused. One warrior can answer to them. The Son of Anger.

Wired


Sigmund Brouwer - 1996
    Snowboard tracks leading away from the trap are the only clue as to who might be responsible. Keegan teaches himself to snowboard so he can find the culprit on the snowboarding slopes. When Keegan discovers that someone has been stealing snowboards and skis at Bear Mountain resort, and the girl he's just met is somehow involved, he must face his fears and test his new snowboarding skills in a run for safety.