Book picks similar to
Walk Into My Parlor by Rona Randall
gothic
gothic-romance
romantic-suspense
contemporary-mid-century
Words of Conviction
Linda J. White - 2014
Can the message be decoded in time?When Zoe, the five-year-daughter of a powerful Senator, is abducted, the FBI brings in Special Agent MacKenzie Graham, a forensic psycholinguist, to analyze the written threats of the vengeful kidnapper. An expert at what she does, Kenzie probes criminal minds more accurately than she does her own heart.Working alongside fellow FBI agent John Crowfeather, Kenzie refuses to acknowledge her mysterious attraction to John, and continues to build walls she believes will protect her not only from men but God as well. John is no fan of hers, either, but they have little time to dwell on it as the case grows more dangerous.When the perpetrator begins posting messages on the Internet, the race is on to save Zoe. Can Kenzie and John rescue the girl before it's too late? Or will their misguided convictions cost a little girl her life?
Motormouth
Courtney Lynn Rose - 2020
A mercenary all my life, I wouldn’t trade it for anything. After the death of my mentor, I assemble a team to continue his work in protecting the citizens of Hollow Ridge. But The Lady Depot Club is about to bring a lot more trouble than some egotistical strippers. In my line of work, love is the last thing I’m looking for. But that doesn’t stop the new club DJ from catching my eye. Chris “Preacher” Boseman is a walking wet dream . . . and despite trying to ignore his advances, I’ve got no problem getting on my knees to pray in front of this guy. Even though I should be used to secrets, the one Preacher is keeping doesn’t just have the power to destroy us, but everything I’ve worked my life to build. When lines are drawn the truth comes tumbling out, everyone has to pick a side— but my choice might be the one that gets us all killed.
The Vanishing
Wendy Webb - 2014
So when a stranger appears on her doorstep with a job offer, she finds herself accepting the mysterious yet unique position: caretaker to his mother, Amaris Sinclair, the famous and rather eccentric horror novelist whom Julia has always admired…and who the world believes is dead.When she arrives at the Sinclairs' enormous estate on Lake Superior, Julia begins to suspect that there may be sinister undercurrents to her "too-good-to-be-true" position. As Julia delves into the reasons of why Amaris chose to abandon her successful writing career and withdraw from the public eye, her search leads to unsettling connections to her own family tree, making her wonder why she really was invited to Havenwood in the first place, and what monstrous secrets are still held prisoner within its walls.
The Shadowing
Rhiannon Ward - 2021
Mercy was pregnant - both her and the baby are said to be dead of cholera, but the workhouse hasn't had an outbreak for years.Hester discovers a strange trend in the workhouse of children going missing. One woman tells her about the Pale Lady, a ghostly figure that steals babies in the night. Is this lady a myth or is something more sinister afoot at the Southwell poorhouse?As Hester investigates, she uncovers a conspiracy, one that someone is determined to keep a secret, no matter the cost...
Secrets of Hallstead House
Amy M. Reade - 2014
Go away from Hallstead Island or you will be very sorry you stayed.”Macy Stoddard had hoped to ease the grief of losing her parents in a fiery car crash by accepting a job as a private nurse to the wealthy and widowed Alexandria Hallstead. But her first sight of Hallstead House is of a dark and forbidding home. She quickly finds its winding halls and shadowy rooms filled with secrets and suspicions. Alex seems happy to have Macy’s help, but others on the island, including Alex’s sinister servants and hostile relatives, are far less welcoming. Watching eyes, veiled threats…slowly, surely, the menacing spirit of Hallstead Island closes in around Macy. And she can only wonder if her story will become just one of the many secrets of Hallstead House…
Dark Masquerade
Jennifer Blake - 1974
She arrives at the grand Louisiana plantation of Ellen Marie's late husband, wearing traditional black widow's weeds and carrying the baby -- determined that the boy will reach maturity and inherit his rightful fortune... The family at Oak Shade doesn't suspect they're harboring an imposter; still, they treat her with only frosty politeness. More disturbing are the unusual accidents that seem to be following in her wake, as if planned for her. And now, the dark Creole, Bernard Delacroix, seems to be seeing through her assumed persona, right into her soul -- where passion and desire war with her "widow's" dark masquerade.
Wild
Kenzie Macallan - 2021
He’ll endure hell to bring her home. Sparks fly, but will romance die on the wrong side of a bullet?Security firm owner Sean Knight always follows the action. So the former Navy SEAL doesn’t hesitate to head to Afghanistan to extract a world renowned hacker. But when he finds his childhood best friend is being held captive, old feelings come flooding back and he’ll protect her with his life.Investigator reporter Jess Wilander doesn’t lack courage. So when she discovers her sister’s been kidnapped by an Afghan warlord, she agrees to write an article on him in order to stage a rescue. But her plans go sideways when the man sent to get them out is the guy who secretly broke her heart.As Sean seeks a way to free everyone, his growing attraction to the one regret from his past threatens to jeopardize the mission. And though Jess yearns to share her heart with him, she struggles to trust he won’t betray her again.Can these friends become lovers and make it out alive to finally find happily ever after?WILD is the first book in the pulse-pounding Deep 8 romantic suspense series. If you like steamy scenes, action-packed plots, and love rising above violence, then you’ll adore Kenzie Macallan’s scintillating tale.Add WILD to you TBR list and go on an international adventure!
Gods and Monsters Box Set 1
Quinn Blackbird - 2020
“I could kill you a thousand different ways where you sit.”The nail cut deeper. Blood beaded, then spilled down my front, over my breasts. I choked on a whimper.“Now tell me everything.”1. Prince PoisonFew knew Valissa's secret but it already carried a death toll. One.If the Gods ever discovered what she was, they would capture and flay her alive.But in the land of Gods and Monsters, no secret stays hidden for long.Lissa—drunk on the high of a midnight party that's rife with mysterious pirates—gets too close to one of the pirates, who turns out to have secrets of his own.Jasper is no pirate. He is a servant of the Gods. And the moment she touches him, she steals his power.He kidnaps Lissa, and he's taking her to one of the most brutal Gods in all the lands ... He's taking her to Prince Poison.Prince Poison's mere touch kills and his cruelty is said to stretch beyond even the darkest pits of Lissa's soul. But when she's standing in front of this fearsome God, ready to face her gruesome fate, the Prince might see more in her than she ever thought possible.2. CaptiveValissa is an abomination among Gods and Monsters.She's cursed with the unexplained ability to steal power from the children of the Gods. It's a curse worthy of death, but her fate is much worse than that.Prince Poison, the cruelest of them all, keeps her captive in the stardust palace, where she's forced to train her abilities into something that terrifies her, while evading the malicious interest of those around her.What's worse than holding the interest of a God whose touch kills and whose lips enchant?Becoming his captive...3. PhantomValissa’s death toll is on the rise:One—before she was stolen away to the cruel Prince Poison. Seven—under the Prince’s malicious watch.The worst part? Valissa just doesn’t care anymore, not about the lives of those she doesn’t know when her own life is falling apart all around her.Ava’s not speaking to her. Jasper pushes her in training to the point of exhaustion. And though Valissa does everything he wants, the Prince grows distant.Valissa finds the closest thing to a friend in the mysteriously dark stranger who haunts her in the stardust palace. Damianos; a God or aniel she most definitely knows better than to trust.In the Land of Gods, is it really ‘better the devil you know’? And what about when the devil you don’t know is just so damn intoxicating?What’s worse than being the prisoner of a God?Abandoning all hopes of freedom.This is Box Set 1 of 2. It includes the first three books in the Gods and Monsters 6-book series.Box Set 2 is available for preorder, release date: January 2020.Disclaimer: Please read content warnings.
Mountain Struggle
J.R. Pace - 2021
The only wrinkle in the plan is the boy’s very handsome and very single father, Damien.He’s a single father, a protector, a hero. His heart is the only thing he can’t afford to give.Damien Gray, commander of the Chamonix Search & Rescue unit, is used to being in control. After all, he and his team are responsible for safety on Mont Blanc, one of the highest and most dangerous mountains in Europe.All semblance of control disappears when Jamie, his six-year-old son, and Tess, the boy’s nanny, go missing in the mountains. To get them back, and keep them safe, Damien needs to figure out who would want to hurt his son—and the woman he’s come to consider his.Action, adventure, romance … in the heart of the Alps.
Heroes Are My Weakness
Susan Elizabeth Phillips - 2014
She's a down-on-her-luck actress reduced to staging kids' puppet shows. He knows a dozen ways to kill with his bare hands. She knows a dozen ways to kill with laughs.But she's not laughing now. When she was a teenager, he terrified her. Now they're trapped together on a snowy island off the coast of Maine. Is he the villain she remembers or has he changed? Her head says no. Her heart says yes.It's going to be a long, hot winter.
Penetralia
Jordan Krall - 2012
Using the knowledge left by his father, the Plague Doctor, he seeks to unlock the secrets of the universe, but weakness of the flesh won’t be ignored. The sordid overtures of his nymphomaniac sister, combined with his own perverse desires, soil his subjects before revelation can be found.Now the return of Philip’s father is imminent. Judgment is at hand, and if the fate of his mother taught him anything, it’s that one mustn’t disappoint the Plague Doctor.
The Alpha's Daughter (Wolfsong Book 1)
Lenai McGoveran - 2020
The House on Foster Hill
Jaime Jo Wright - 2017
When her husband died two years ago, her pleas for further investigation into his suspicious death fell on deaf ears. In desperate need of a fresh start, Kaine purchases an old house sight unseen in her grandfather's Wisconsin hometown. But one look at the eerie, abandoned house immediately leaves her questioning her rash decision. And when the house's dark history comes back with a vengeance, Kaine is forced to face the terrifying realization she has nowhere left to hide. A century earlier, the house on Foster Hill holds nothing but painful memories for Ivy Thorpe. When an unidentified woman is found dead on the property, Ivy is compelled to discover her identity. Ivy's search leads her into dangerous waters and, even as she works together with a man from her past, can she unravel the mystery before any other lives—including her own—are lost?
Rose Gardner Mystery Box Set #3
Denise Grover Swank - 2016
Includes: Ripple of Secrets (novella) Thirty-Four and a Half Predicaments Thirty-Four and a Half Predicaments Bonus Chapters Thirty-Five and a Half Conspiracies Thirty-Six and a Half Motives Sins of the Father (novella) Preview of Center Stage (Magnolia Steele Mystery #1)