Book picks similar to
Centaur by H.E. Fairbanks


romance
first-reads
suspense
essentials

What Happened in Granite Creek


Robyn Bradley - 2011
    Jamie resents being "babysat" every day. Koty resents her lot in life: almost 30, mother of three, and trapped in an unhappy marriage in Granite Creek, a small New Hampshire town. But when Koty and Jamie come together in a sexually-charged situation, everything changes.While Koty continues to explore her relationship with Jamie, her life at home spirals out of control: her sometimes-abusive husband drinks too much, and her middle daughter is on a destructive path, skipping school and getting into fights, while Koty's other two girls are left to watch.What happens next, however, leaves everyone reeling, and the Fowler family must learn how to move forward, even as they struggle to understand what happened in their own backyard.Told in multiple viewpoints and spanning across nearly two decades, "What Happened in Granite Creek" brings readers on a journey of intrigue and unexpected twists while reminding us that nothing is ever what it seems.

Hide and Seek


Jennifer Hayden - 2011
    When several women close to her are murdered and her former lover is wanted for the crimes, her seemingly perfect world shatters. Her ex disappears, and under a cloud of suspicion, Baylie is forced to leave her job behind and attempt to start over in the big city of Seattle. Just as she settles in, scandal finds her again. Her co-worker disappears and the cryptic phone calls begin. The cycle of murder is repeating itself and Baylie finds herself under fire a second time, with nowhere to run and no place to hide. With no one else to turn to, she joins forces with Detective Dylan Stone. Though Dylan mistrusts her immediately, he realizes there is more to this compelling woman than meets the eye. A long and painful trip through Baylie's past slowly begins to unleash memories locked away so deeply inside the mind of a once traumatized child that they are basically non-existent. Dylan soon realizes that Baylie is the key to a murderer's rage and his protective instincts are aroused. Before long, he finds himself risking not only his job and his sanity, but also his life to keep her safe.This is Book 1 in the Hide and Seek Mystery Series. Book 2 - Unbroken and Book 3 - Collision are available now. For more information check out www.jenniferhaydenbooks.com.

Hearts United - The Re-Election


Iris Bolling - 2020
    If he fails, the experiment known as AMERICA, is in danger.President Jeffrey “JD” Harrison’s day began with an explosion in a small town, that opened the door to a thirty-year-old plot to take over the presidency. It went downhill from there. His Vice President is abandoning the ticket to oppose him in the upcoming election. A plot to tamper with voting machines across the country has come to light, and there is an enemy within the West Wing leading all the chaos.AND THAT IS JUST THE BEGINNING OF HIS PROBLEMS.On the home front, JD’s wife Tracy, the love of his life, is keeping a secret from him. His once predictable son wants to take a gap year before college to travel around the world with his friends. His teenage-daughter is at odds with his wife, and he discovers his three-year-old son has a special gift, that is literally a threat to national security.Here’s what JD knows for certain…. Turning this country over to people who would do anything to win, will not do. If they go this far to get into power, what will they do once they have it? He must stop it from happening. The integrity of the democracy of the United States is at risk. He took an oath to protect and defend the constitution. If he fails, the experiment known as AMERICA, is in danger. He also knows, with all the craziness, his family is his foundation and he will not allow it to crack.JD throws everything into the mix to ensure, whether he win or lose, the election will leave the country and his family with Hearts United.

Riversong


Tess Thompson - 2011
     In the wake of her husband's tragic death, Lee is pregnant and one million dollars in debt to a dangerous loan shark willing to do anything to collect. Out of money and options, Lee seeks refuge in the small Oregon town where her mother's dilapidated home sits vacant, as desperate for a fresh start as Lee herself.With a baby on the way and a living to make, Lee opens a restaurant and begins to rebuild her life. But just as she catches her breath, and the eye of a local musician offering a second chance at love, she finds herself right back in the clutches of the debt collector with more to lose than ever.

In the Dark


Loreth Anne White - 2019
    The perfect getaway. So remote no one will ever find you.The promise of a luxury vacation at a secluded wilderness spa has brought together eight lucky guests. But nothing is what they were led to believe. As a fierce storm barrels down and all contact with the outside is cut off, the guests fear that it’s not a getaway. It’s a trap.Each one has a secret. Each one has something to hide. And now, as darkness closes in, they all have something to fear—including one another.Alerted to the vanished party of strangers, homicide cop Mason Deniaud and search and rescue expert Callie Sutton must brave the brutal elements of the mountains to find them. But even Mason and Callie have no idea how precious time is. Because the clock is ticking, and one by one, the guests of Forest Shadow Lodge are being hunted. For them, surviving becomes part of a diabolical game.

The Truth in My Lies


Ivy Smoak - 2018
    But what my husband doesn't know won't kill him. I break his rules every morning on my runs. It's always been best when I have a routine. So every day I wake up, run, clean the house, wish for a better life, repeat. And every day is exactly the same. Except for Thursdays. I live and breathe for Thursdays. It's when he comes. I watch him from a distance. I can't help myself. But I was never supposed to talk to him. I know what you're thinking. But you don't know my story. You don't know the kind of monster my husband is. And trust me, you have no idea who I am.

Cold Fear


Suzanne Brandyn - 2013
    When she regains consciousness, her daughter is missing.As the police widen their futile search, Macy struggles to pick up the pieces of an unimaginable life. Urged to take a break she heads to an isolated cabin with a girlfriend to recuperate so she can continue searching, only to face her worse nightmare - times ten.Trapped by a man she believed dead, he demands she play a game. She runs, he hunts. There is no place to hide...

Four Novellas of Fear: Eyes That Watch You, The Night I Died, You'll Never See Me Again, Murder Always Gathers Momentum


Cornell Woolrich - 2010
    In his tales of terror, ordinary people find themselves in the most extraordinary circumstances—and, as readers, we share their spine-tingling tension every step of the way. Here, collected for the first time, are four of his most nail-biting novellas.Eyes That Watch YouGreedy Vera Miller plots her husband’s murder right under the nose of her mute, paralyzed mother-in-law. After all, the old lady won’t be able to tell anyone about the crime. Or will she?The Night I DiedNice guy Ben Cook, goaded by his scheming common-law wife, fakes his own suicide and moves to another town—all to trick his life insurance company into making a large payout. No one en route or at the new address will recognize him, will they?You’ll Never See Me AgainEd Bliss’s new bride, miffed by her husband’s insults about her biscuits, promises that Ed will never have to see her again—and storms out! When she doesn’t return within a few days, Ed begins to suspect foul play—but when he reports the crime to the police, he’s the first one they suspect!Murder Always Gathers MomentumFor his wife’s sake, Dick Paine approaches a former employer for back wages he is owed—but things go terribly wrong and the old boss ends up dead. Now the guilt-ridden Paine, who’d never before committed a crime, is convinced that people will figure out what happened. As his paranoia gathers momentum, anyone he meets is at risk of becoming his next victim.

Everything We Keep


Kerry Lonsdale - 2016
    But when her fiancé, James Donato, vanishes in a boating accident, her well-baked future is swept out to sea. Instead of walking down the aisle on their wedding day, Aimee is at James’s funeral—a funeral that leaves her more unsettled than at peace.As Aimee struggles to reconstruct her life, she delves deeper into James’s disappearance. What she uncovers is an ocean of secrets that make her question everything about the life they built together. And just below the surface is a truth that may set Aimee free…or shatter her forever.

Hold Me: A Rock Star Box Set


Arell Rivers - 2021
    All along, publicist Rose Morgan has been at his side, either covering up his indiscretions or promoting his new songs and fake relationships. When Cole unexpectedly focuses his attention on his quiet publicist, neither can predict the dangerous events looming ahead.So, crowd surf into the second chance romance box set with this captivating couple. And before the World Tour concludes, you’ll be begging Cole, “Hold Me”!

The Woman


David Bishop - 2011
    This is a story of just one woman. As the story unfolds Linda gradually learns that some people do deserve to die, but that she is not one of those people. Linda Darby is a seven-year divorcee, living quietly in a small let-the-world-go-by beach town on the coast of Oregon, who day trades for a living. Her only close friend is a widowed elderly woman who manages a small consulting company, which, as is later discovered, never has visitors, sends and receives its business correspondence only by courier, and is not listed in any phone directory. No one in town knows what kind of consulting the company does, but the rumor is that whatever they do is done for the government. Linda doesn’t date local men. When her celibacy grows intolerable, she visits nearby towns to frequent the watering holes of successful men. Her motto: No relationships. No second dates. No use of her real name during one-night stands. Then one evening, Linda goes for a walk and nothing for her is ever the same. She is dragged into an alley by two men, but saved by a third, a stranger who disappears as suddenly as he appeared. The next day she finds out the two men in the alley had been killed, the town’s first murders ever. The following day she learns that hours before she had been dragged into the alley, her close friend was tortured and killed.

Deadly Cover-Up


Julie Anne Lindsey - 2020
    In order to discover the truth, Violet insists she and Wyatt work together—but trusting him with her and her baby girl’s lives is a different matter. As their investigation heats up, they uncover a scandalous town secret, and a determined killer takes aim at Violet. Now, in a race against time, it’s not always obvious who is friend and who is foe…

The Young Lions


Tony Maxwell - 2013
    Her long dark auburn hair cascaded over her shoulders and her pale, attractive face, wide set eyes and full sensuous lips took his breath away. Robert could not help staring at her in frank amazement. He found it difficult to equate this alluring woman with the tall, awkward girl he vaguely remembered while a young boy at Fairlee Manor in Scotland.* * *Action, adventure and erotic entanglements loom large in young Robert Hamilton’s future as he seeks to make his fortune in the rough and tumble world of the Johannesburg goldfields in the closing years of the nineteenth century.Robert’s business interests and adventures in the wilds of South Africa, bring him into close contact with the Boer peoples of the Transvaal Republic. As the threat of a British invasion looms large over the country, his support for the Boer cause finds him on the opposing side to his fellow uitlanders – foreigners. He is dismayed to discover that both of his brothers have enlisted in Canadian regiments ready to fight on the side of Britain in the Anglo-Boer War.

Kill Me First


Kate Morgenroth - 1999
    When he kidnaps Sarah, his evil reaches new heights.

Revenge of the Mistress


Cydney Rax - 2017
    The perfect plan for payback. And fallout so explosive even winning may mean losing it all. . .The new Mrs. Rashad Eason can't believe it. She dreamed, schemed, and seduced her way to media adoration and a fairy tale wedding to the lover she stole from his wife. But the honeymoon phase turns into something more shattering when the groom begins to reminisce about his ex, Kiara, and devises a plan to win her back. No way is Nicole going to stand for this. If she can't be the picket-fence wife, she'll be the picture-perfect, very rich widow. And sexing her ex-con first love will ensure his help--and keep her hot and satisfied through those lonely grieving nights. . .But in the game of love and revenge, everyone has a score to settle. And when karma rears its ugly head, no one can stay safe. To keep her own hands clean, Nicole must spin new lies, flip new scripts--and deal with the ultimate betrayal. Keeping her enemies close means igniting secrets and revelations even Nicole doesn't see coming. And as an avalanche of scandal threatens to shatter everything she's trying to keep, the last woman standing may be the biggest loser of all . . .Praise for If Your Wife Only Knew"A dramatic tale of betrayal." --Booklist"Secrets, scandal, betrayal and revenge-there are no clean hands in the first book of this saga." --RT Book Reviews