Book picks similar to
Tamara's Child by B.K. Mayo


fiction
contemporary
adoption
contemporary-fiction

Private Eyes


Rene Fomby - 2017
    In less than 48 hours, his best friend has a date with the needle, the kind of date you don’t walk away from with a kiss. Moose has to find out who framed his pit bull buddy for the savage slaying of a French poodle — and then convince the humans that he’s nailed the right guy. But with no leads and little evidence to go on, there’s only one person in Chicago that has a prayer of hunting down the real killer in time: Antonio Gattogrosso, legendary proprietor of the Feline Detective Agency. Fat Tony. The rave reviews are pouring in: "It's a great summer read. Just like me, you'll want to keep an eye out for it!" - Fisheye Martinez "I predict it will be a smashing success, dahlinks!" - Madame LuLu, astrologer to the stars "Buy dis book if you knows what's good for youse." - Fat Tony Gattogrosso

Amelia Anne Is Dead and Gone


Kat Rosenfield - 2012
    But the discovery of an unidentified dead girl on the side of a dirt road sends the town--and Becca--into a tailspin. Unable to make sense of the violence of the outside world creeping into her backyard, Becca finds herself retreating inward, paralyzed from moving forward for the first time in her life. Short chapters detailing the last days of Amelia Anne Richardson's life are intercut with Becca's own summer as the parallel stories of two young women struggling with self-identity and relationships on the edge twist the reader closer and closer to the truth about Amelia's death.

The Deuce


F.P. Lione - 2005
    The crime and corruption he sees on the job combined with a failing family life leave Tony feeling drained, lost, and frightfully alone, causing him to look for happiness in all the wrong places. Just when he is about to give up, Tony is partnered with Joe Fiore, another Italian-American cop who exudes the strength and confidence that Tony has been searching for. Though wary of his new partner, Tony finds that the day-to-day toils of his job force him to swallow his pride and look to Fiore for help. Writing with grit, freshness, and authenticity, authors Frank and Pam Lione, born-and-bred native New Yorkers themselves, bring to life the loneliness that haunts even New York's finest

Lost Summer


M.T. Stone - 2016
    Now I've Been Given Chance To Save Her... Hopefully It's Not Too Late! DylanWe had the time of our lives and I finally stole her innocence. Then someone stole her. Now I’m stuck in the hot seat, being grilled under the bright lights. Sitting here, all I can think about is going out there and finding her. At this point, however, it’s going to take a miracle just to stay out of jail. Unfortunately, I’m not the type who attracts miracles or even luck for that matter.CarsonOlivia Bennett is the only woman I’ve ever loved, but I lost her after choosing the Marines instead of college. Now her daughter is missing and the blame has been pinned on my only nephew. With twenty years of military and DEA experience, I know I can hunt down the bastard who took her and bring her back alive. If I succeed, it will heal some old wounds with my family and give me another shot at winning back the woman of my dreams.SummerI return to consciousness being face down on a stinky piece of cheap, prickly carpet. My head is pounding. I can’t open my eyes. I try to move my arms, then my legs, but both are tightly bound. All I hear is the sound of tires humming against the pavement. I try to scream, but my lips are pressed so tightly together that I can barely muster a moan. My mind goes blank as I scramble to think of any way of improving my odds. I have no idea where I am, where I’m headed, who has taken me or why? My heart races out of control as tears soak the blindfold that relentlessly keeps me in the dark. I find myself spiraling into utter despair.**Lost Summer is a full-length (92,000 words) stand alone Romantic Suspense with No Rape Scenes, No Cheating and No Cliffhanger. If you like a fast-paced book that you can’t put down, you will love this one!

All Those Who Came Before: The Sixth Spookie Town Murder Mystery (Spookie Town Murder Mysteries Book 6)


Kathryn Meyer Griffith - 2020
    It’s their turn. First off, it at long last solves the enigma of Abigail’s first husband Joel Sutton’s disappearance, and death, a decade before…the tragic event that sent Abigail to Spookie in the first place to begin a new life. The new life that would grow so big as to include a new love, a new family, quirky, but well-meaning friends, and the strange murder mysteries her new friends would drag her into over the years. As an unsolicited, and unwanted, envelope arrives from Abigail’s now dead detective she’d hired a decade before to find her missing first husband, its contents sends Frank searching for the truth. The envelope’s files are full of disturbing facts concerning the unsolved crime and it piques Frank’s interest. Soon, against Abby’s wishes, he’s on the cold trail of what actually happened to Joel Sutton–had he been a victim of just an accident, as some have always believed, or did someone murder him? In his search for the truth, Frank ends up in lethal danger when the investigation comes to a violent conclusion. This story is also about an infamous haunted house at 707 Suncrest, in the woods; about the cold blooded murders of a whole family that occurred there forty years before. Is the house on Suncrest truly haunted by the ghosts of the dead family? Is it dangerous? When Abby decides to paint a series of canvases of the spooky old house, she’ll find out. Then along with those two new mysteries to unravel, of course, all of Spookie’s quirky town characters have returned to irritate, amuse and sleuth with Abby and Frank. Will they get out of these new mysteries alive, too? Perhaps.

Hardy Boys


Spotlight Productions
    Read the great reviews for these dynamic new titles. Expect more titles to come.

Pretty Crooked


Elisa Ludwig - 2012
    Bilking her “friends”-known to everyone as the Glitterati-without them suspecting a thing, is far from easy. Learning how to pick pockets and break into lockers is as difficult as she’d thought it’d be. Delivering care packages to the scholarship girls, who are ostracized just for being from the “wrong” side of town, is way more fun than she’d expected.The complication Willa didn’t expect, though, is Aidan Murphy, Valley Prep’s most notorious (and gorgeous) ace-degenerate. His mere existence is distracting Willa from what matters most to her-evening the social playing field between the have and have-nots. There’s no time for crushes and flirting with boys, especially conceited and obnoxious trust-funders like Aidan.But when the cops start investigating the string of burglaries at Valley Prep and the Glitterati begin to seek revenge, could he wind up being the person that Willa trusts most?

Gnome or Mr Nice Guy (The Rooks Ridge Series)


Rosalind Winter - 2009
    He strikes in broad daylight, yet no one ever sees him.His target?Garden gnomes ...

Streetlights Like Fireworks


David Pandolfe - 2014
    That’s just their first date.Jack has been getting on his parents’ nerves for some time. Bad enough he’s a rock musician, has crappy grades and hangs out with his “loser” friends. But Jack’s ability to predict the future — well, that just annoys the hell out of them.Jack’s classmate, Lauren, is said to have unique abilities too. The town still talks about when she kept badgering her mother about the money in their wall. For the longest time, Lauren’s mother didn’t listen. Finally, she did and she hasn’t had to work since. Jack would really like to connect with Lauren but can’t figure out how. She’s never looked at him twice. But when he experiences a mystifying event involving visions, voices and spectral visits, Jack figures there’s only one person to help him understand who’s calling out to him and why. Before long, Jack and Lauren are off on a road trip of discovery that could provide answers to a mystery left unsolved for twenty years. More importantly, they might even unravel the greatest mystery of all — how every so often someone will accept you for who you are.

Trust Me, I'm Lying


Mary Elizabeth Summer - 2014
    A lot of them. She’s a con artist, a master of disguise, and a sophomore at Chicago’s swanky St. Agatha High, where her father, an old-school grifter with a weakness for the ponies, sends her to so she can learn to mingle with the upper crust. For extra spending money Julep doesn’t rely on her dad—she runs petty scams for her classmates while dodging the dean of students and maintaining an A+ (okay, A-) average.But when she comes home one day to a ransacked apartment and her father gone, Julep’s carefully laid plans for an expenses-paid golden ticket to Yale start to unravel. Even with help from St. Agatha’s resident Prince Charming, Tyler Richland, and her loyal hacker sidekick, Sam, Julep struggles to trace her dad’s trail of clues through a maze of creepy stalkers, hit attempts, family secrets, and worse, the threat of foster care. With everything she has at stake, Julep’s in way over her head . . . but that’s not going to stop her from using every trick in the book to find her dad before his mark finds her. Because that would be criminal.Fans of Ally Carter, especially her Heist Society readers, will love this teen mystery/thriller with sarcastic wit, a hint of romance, and Ocean’s Eleven–inspired action.

Beside the Rose Petal Beach


Dorothy Koomson - 2012
    When Tami finds out who Scott’s accuser is, we can only watch as her whole life starts to fall apart. We see many of the events of The Rose Petal Beach through Tami’s eyes, but Beside The Rose Petal Beach will give you another perspective on the story. You’ll see how one of the minor - but important - characters in the book experiences some of the key scenes … And how he is slowly being changed by spending time with the Tami and the others.You don’t need to have already read The Rose Petal Beach to enjoy Beside The Rose Petal Beach, but if you have, it’ll hopefully add another dimension to your understanding of the book.

The Port Elspeth Jewelry Making Club


Holly Tierney-Bedord - 2018
    It's been five years since the idyllic oceanside town of Port Elspeth was rocked by tragedy. Shortly after their high school graduation, Evangeline Maddingly, daughter of one of the town's wealthiest old-money families, and Oliver Prescott, son of one of the town's wealthiest new-money families, were found dead in an isolated cabin in the woods outside of town. The circumstances surrounding their untimely deaths are murky at best, thanks in large part to a coroner with connections to the town's founding families and a sweeping effort from those in power to shut down any negative publicity that could harm the reputation of their pristine community.Five years later, a small group of strangers gather to create jewelry for one of Port Elspeth's many fundraisers. Before long, friendships are forming and old secrets are being revealed. Along with solving the mystery of how to make a perfect pair of chandelier earrings or cabochon necklace, these unlikely friends find themselves at the heart of solving the murders that took place half a decade earlier.

File Under Fidelity


Geraldine wall - 2015
    Distraction comes in the form a wealthy young American who wants to trace his Shropshire family. One question leads to another and the final revelations shock and almost overwhelm him. Meanwhile, Anna faces tragedy in her own family and struggles to come to terms with the chaos of her emotions, plunging deeper and deeper into flight and denial. In the process she almost loses the people she loves most. This is a tale of the deep story of the heart told with humour and compassion and relentless honesty. This is the last novel in the trilogy of Anna Ames books.

Critical Care


Candace Calvert - 2009
    She's determined to make a fresh start--new hospital, new career in nursing education--move forward, no turning back. But her plans fall apart when she's called to offer stress counseling for medical staff after a heartbreaking day care center explosion. Worse, she's forced back to the ER, where she clashes with Logan Caldwell, a doctor who believes touchy-feely counseling is a waste of time. He demands his staff be as tough as he is. Yet he finds himself drawn to this nurse educator . . . who just might teach him the true meaning of healing.

ONE MISSION: Something you knew isn't something you know


Manith J. - 2016
    She went on this secret journey to pursue a nuclear weapon and it brought her to meet two good men who changed her life from bad to good and from good to bad at the same time.