Book picks similar to
The Power of Persuasion by Shelagh Watkins
fiction
jane-austen
psy
novel
Jet
Russell Blake - 2012
But the past doesn't give up on its secrets easily.When her new life on a tranquil island is shattered by a brutal attack, Jet must return to a clandestine existence of savagery and deception to save herself and those she loves. A gritty, unflinching roller-coaster of high-stakes twists and shocking turns, JET features a new breed of protagonist that breaks the mold.Fans of Lizbeth Salander, SALT, and the Bourne trilogy will find themselves carried along at Lamborghini speed to a conclusion as jarring and surprising as the story's heroine is unconventional.
The Theory Of Invisibility
Aimee Pitta - 2014
we stop being seen Set against the backdrop of California’s beautiful Venice Canals The Theory of Invisibility is a modern day fable that uses magical realism as an expression of one’s loss of faith. Emme Taylor, haunted by the death of her husband and son, and unable to interact with the world as she’s known it, slips into a state of invisibility. When Emme seemingly disappears, Morgan, Emme’s sister, immediately fears the worse and shines a spotlight of suspicion on Phil, Emme’s co-worker. As Emme struggles through her haze of grief she must decide if she should sacrifice her cloak of invisibility in order to save the ones she loves.
Click Date Repeat
K.J. Farnham - 2014
But back in 2003, the whole concept of internet dating was still quite new, with a stigma attached to it that meant those who were willing to test the waters faced a fair amount of skepticism from friends and family. Such is the case for Chloe Thompson, a restless 20-something tired of the typical dating scene and curious about what she might find inside her parents' computer. With two serious but failed relationships behind her, Chloe isn't even entirely sure what she's looking for. She just knows that whatever it is, she wants to find it.Chloe's foray into online dating involves a head-first dive into a world of matches, ice breakers and the occasional offer of dick pics, all while Chloe strives to shake herself of the ex who just refuses to disappear. Will she simultaneously find herself and "the one" online, or will the ever-growing pile of humorous and downright disastrous dates only prove her friends and family right? There's only one way to find out...Click. Date. Repeat.
Snow Soldiers
Carrie Crafton - 2012
A husband she loved, two little boys that were the center of her life, and even a mother-in-law who adored her. So why was she being packed up and shipped off from her home in Ireland back to her own country? Was it really up to everybody else to tell her she needed to find herself again?But, when she's reunited with her best friend and the other women in her life she left behind, the key to the person she once was dangles in front of her enticingly. Will she be able to reach out and grab it?
Little Broken Things
Nicole Baart - 2017
When Quinn Cruz receives that cryptic text message from her older sister Nora, she doesn’t think much of it. They haven’t seen each other in nearly a year and thanks to Nora’s fierce aloofness, their relationship consists mostly of infrequent phone calls and an occasional email or text. But when a haunted Nora shows up at the lake near Quinn's house just hours later, a chain reaction is set into motion that will change both of their lives forever. Nora’s “something” is more shocking than Quinn could have ever imagined: a little girl, cowering, wide-eyed, and tight-lipped. Nora hands her over to Quinn with instructions to keep her safe, and not to utter a word about the child to anyone, especially not their buttoned-up mother who seems determined to pretend everything is perfect. But before Quinn can ask even one of the million questions swirling around her head, Nora disappears, and Quinn finds herself the unlikely caretaker of a girl introduced simply as Lucy. While Quinn struggles to honor her sister’s desperate request and care for the lost, scared Lucy, she fears that Nora may have gotten involved in something way over her head—something that will threaten them all. But Quinn’s worries are nothing compared to the firestorm that Nora is facing. It’s a matter of life and death, of family and freedom, and ultimately, about the lengths a woman will go to protect the ones she loves.
The Last of the Moon Girls
Barbara Davis - 2020
Eight years ago, she left the land that nine generations of gifted healers had tended, determined to distance herself from the whispers about her family’s strange legacy. But when her beloved grandmother Althea dies, Lizzy must return and face the tragedy still hanging over the farm’s withered lavender fields: the unsolved murders of two young girls, and the cruel accusations that followed Althea to her grave.Lizzy wants nothing more than to sell the farm and return to her life in New York, until she discovers a journal Althea left for her—a Book of Remembrances meant to help Lizzy embrace her own special gifts. When she reconnects with Andrew Greyson, one of the few in town who believed in Althea’s innocence, she resolves to clear her grandmother’s name.But to do so, she’ll have to decide if she can accept her legacy and whether to follow in the footsteps of all the Moon women who came before her.
Opposites Attack: A Novel with Recipes Provencal
Jo Maeder - 2013
Enter the très different, exasperating Jean-Luc. Fleeing to a total immersion language school in the idyllic South of France, Alyce puts love and her failed career on hold to do an extreme makeover on herself. While she struggles to learn French and attain some degree of chic, she attracts the attention of several locals, with disastrous results. Tension escalates to a new level when she’s forced to stay at the guest cottage of the enigmatic author Jean-Luc. She finds herself strangely attracted to him, though he seems to despise her and they communicate mostly through bickering. Soon, Alyce must choose between what she thought she wanted and something totally different. Set against the alluring background of the Mediterranean with recipes inspired by Provence, Opposites Attack is a fast-paced romantic comedy with a French twist.
An Unfinished Story
Boo Walker - 2020
Claire finally finds the courage to move on; then she discovers among the remnants of her shattered world her husband’s last manuscript. It’s intimate, stirring—and unfinished. An idea comes to her…What if she can find someone to give David’s novel the ending it deserves?Whitaker Grant is famous for his one and only bestselling novel—a masterpiece that became a hit film. But after being crippled by the pressure of success and his failed marriage, Whitaker retreated from the public eye in his native St. Petersburg, Florida. Years later, he’s struggling through a deep midlife crisis. Until he receives an intriguing request from a lonely widow. To honor David’s story, Whitaker must understand, heart and soul, the man who wrote it and the woman he left behind.There’s more to the novel than anyone dreamed. Something personal. Something true. Maybe, in bringing a chapter of David’s life to a close, Claire and Whitaker can find hope for a new beginning.
The Center of Winter
Marya Hornbacher - 2005
The luminous first novel by Marya Hornbacher, the acclaimed author of Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia, is a moving and passionate story of a death from despair -- and a stricken family's passage through grief toward the hope, solace, and understanding that waits for them somewhere beyond the center of winter.
Year of the Chick
Romi Moondi - 2011
It's the sort of thing that would turn almost anyone into a man-crazy freak with romance tunnel-vision, and that's exactly what happens to her. All the while, a lack of inspiration in her corporate job leads Romi to her love of writing, in what quickly becomes a man-quest play-by-play.From whiskey-breath scum bags to uni-brow creeps and everything in between, Romi and her wingmen come up empty time after time. And that's when she meets a fellow writer.On the Internet.So will it be arranged marriage doom, or an Internet affair that's not as creepy as "To Catch a Predator"?Time will tell in the "year of the chick," a twelve-month quest to find love.Tick-tock.
5ive Speed
Charley Warady - 2011
Time to move up.When Donald was a kid in the late 60's on the South Side of Chicago, he had a Schwinn Sting Ray bike. Everyone did. But everyone else had a five-speed. Donald's was a three-speed. It was good enough, as was explained by his parents, just as their Ford Maverick wasn't the neighbor's Le Mans, but it was good enough. And that's the way Donald was taught to live his life. It was a three-speed life. It was good enough. He marries Emily because she's good enough. Emily marries Donald because that's what she had planned, and she is not going to experience divorce as did her parents. Donald opens a law practice with his two best friends and roommates from college because it's good enough.Then the Roths meet their son's future in-laws and everything changes. Donald wonders if, in fact, he could get that five-speed.In this hilarious and thought-provoking novel, the whole concept of morals and convention is turned inside out. Everything is perception. If you like Richard Russo, Tom Perotta, and Jonathan Franzen, you're going to love this book.
I'm Fine and Neither Are You
Camille Pagán - 2019
Mother. Breadwinner. Penelope Ruiz-Kar is doing it all—and barely keeping it together. Meanwhile, her best friend, Jenny Sweet, appears to be sailing through life. As close as the two women are, Jenny’s passionate marriage, pristine house, and ultra-polite child stand in stark contrast to Penelope’s underemployed husband, Sanjay, their unruly brood, and the daily grind she calls a career.Then a shocking tragedy reveals that Jenny’s life is far from perfect. Reeling, Penelope vows to stop keeping the peace and finally deal with the issues in her relationship. So she and Sanjay agree to a radical proposal: both will write a list of changes they want each other to make—then commit to complete and total honesty.What seems like a smart idea quickly spirals out of control, revealing new rifts and even deeper secrets. As Penelope stares down the possible implosion of her marriage, she must ask herself: When it comes to love, is honesty really the best policy?
The Enchanted Orchards
Kristin Maddock - 2012
But she is haunted by the tragic secret of her sister’s death and even her beloved orchards can’t seem to save her. Refusing to give into sorrow, a desperate Fern goes in search of the courage she once had in order to live and dream again. She gets more than she bargained for when she finds friendship, understanding—and even love—in unexpected places. Soon, her summer of hopeless grief turns into an enchanted journey of healing that will be life-altering and unforgettable. Sometimes all of life’s answers can be wrapped up in one hot summer. Especially if peaches are involved…
The Broken Teaglass
Emily Arsenault - 2009
. . a hidden cache of coded clues . . . a story written by a phantom author . . . an unsolved murder in a gritty urban park-- all collide memorably in Emily Arsenault's magnificent debut, at once a teasing literary puzzle, an ingenious suspense novel, and an exploration of definitions: of words, of who we are, and of the stories we choose to define us.
In the maze of cubicles at Samuelson Company, editors toil away in silence, studying the English language, poring over new expressions and freshly coined words-- all in preparation for the next new edition of the Samuelson Dictionary. Among them is editorial assistant Billy Webb, just out of college, struggling to stay awake and appear competent. But there are a few distractions. His intriguing coworker Mona Minot may or may not be flirting with him. And he's starting to sense something suspicious going on beneath this company's academic facade.Mona has just made a startling discovery: a trove of puzzling citations, all taken from the same book, The Broken Teaglass. Billy and Mona soon learn that no such book exists. And the quotations from it are far too long, twisting, and bizarre for any dictionary. They read like a confessional, coyly hinting at a hidden identity, a secret liaison, a crime. As Billy and Mona ransack the office files, a chilling story begins to emerge: a story about a lonely young woman, a long-unsolved mystery, a moment of shattering violence. And as they piece together its fragments, the puzzle begins to take on bigger personal meaning for both of them, compelling them to redefine their notions of themselves and each other.Charged with wit and intelligence, set against a sweetly cautious love story, The Broken Teaglass is a tale that will delight lovers of words, lovers of mysteries, and fans of smart, funny, brilliantly inventive fiction.
As a Decade Fades
Joshua Fields Millburn - 2012
While he stares at the rubble of his one-hit-wonder musical career, his mother is diagnosed with lung cancer, his marriage ends abruptly, and Jody starts drinking heavily to deaden his new reality.When he hasn't a single reason left to live, he attempts suicide and ends up in a psych ward where he's prodded by doctors and social workers with questions he isn't yet prepared to answer. Amid the tailspin, Jody receives a phone call from his recently estranged girlfriend and she has unexpected news: she's pregnant.As a Decade Fades begins with this phone call. As his twenties twilight, Jody Grafton grapples with loneliness, depression, lust, and infatuation, while glancing at the mounting wreckage in his rearview. When he can't fit--or force--the pieces of his life back together, he leaves his native Ohio to search for answers in the most unlikely of places: Brooklyn.Cover design by Spyr Media · Published by Asymmetrical Press