Book picks similar to
Acts of Love by Judith Michael


romance
fiction
judith-michael
contemporary-romance

Lost & Found


Jacqueline Sheehan - 2007
    . . with the help of one not-so-little dogRocky's husband Bob was just forty-two when she discovered him lying cold and lifeless on the bathroom floor . . . and Rocky's world changed forever. Quitting her job, chopping off all her hair, she leaves Massachusetts—reinventing her past and taking a job as Animal Control Warden on Peak's Island, a tiny speck off the coast of Maine and a million miles away from everything she's lost. She leaves her career as a psychologist behind, only to find friendship with a woman whose brain misfires in the most wonderful way and a young girl who is trying to disappear. Rocky, a quirky and fallible character, discovers the healing process to be agonizingly slow.But then she meets Lloyd.A large black Labrador retriever, Lloyd enters Rocky's world with a primitive arrow sticking out of his shoulder. And so begins a remarkable friendship between a wounded woman and a wounded, lovable beast. As the unraveling mystery of Lloyd's accident and missing owner leads Rocky to an archery instructor who draws her in even as she finds every reason to mistrust him, she discovers the life-altering revelation that grief can be transformed . . . and joy does exist in unexpected places.

A Little Hope


Ethan Joella - 2021
    But when Greg is diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of cancer, the sense of certainty they once knew evaporates. Throughout their town, friends and neighbors face the most difficult of life’s challenges and are figuring out how to survive thanks to love, grace, and hope. “A quietly powerful portrait of small-town life…told with wisdom and tenderness” (Mary Beth Keane, author of Ask Again, Yes) A Little Hope is a deeply resonant debut that immerses the reader in a community and celebrates the importance of small moments of connection.

The Unremembered Girl


Eliza Maxwell - 2017
    It’s all he can do to keep his compassionate but ailing mother and his stepfather—a fanatical grassroots minister with a bruising rhetoric—from ruin. But they have no idea they’ve become the obsession of the girl in the woods.Abandoned and nearly feral, Eve has been watching them, seduced by the notion of family—something she’s known only in the most brutal sense. Soon she can’t resist the temptation to get close. Where Henry’s mother sees a poor girl in need, his father sees only wickedness. When Henry forges an unexpected bond with Eve, he believes he might be able to save her. He doesn’t know how wrong he is.Eve is about to take charge of her own destiny—and that of Henry’s family. As both their worlds spin violently out of control, Henry must make an impossible choice: protect the broken young woman who’s claimed a piece of his soul, or put everyone he loves at risk in order to do the right thing.

A Beautiful Lie


T.E. Sivec - 2013
    They shared in each other's joy during graduations, promotions, and engagements. They consoled one another through heartache and loss.When one of the friend's life is tragically cut short, it's up to the two left behind to pick up the pieces and find out the truth - no matter the cost. As they slowly start to uncover the nature of his deception, and the very powerful people behind it, they begin to question everyone and everything, even themselves.Everyone has secrets - some do it for love while others do it for power. Those secrets can change perceptions, alter reality and sometimes destroy lives.What do you do when you find out your whole life has been a lie?

Make Me Forget


Anna Brooks - 2014
    She knows she’ll see him when she moves back to Wisconsin. She’s planning on it, the connection she still feels to him after all these years is undeniable. But one lie tore them apart years ago, and she’s afraid some mistakes can’t be forgiven.Travis Parker doesn’t like liars. When he was younger, lies burned him in a bad way. It only took one summer with Charlotte’s innocence to know that she was it for him. When he thought he finally had something to look forward to, one misguided lie shattered everything he believed.Now, Char’s back, but she’s not the same girl he once knew.Make Me Forget is the first book in a series of second chance romances featuring the most loyal men as they battle their past in order to secure a future with their one true love. Defeat is not an option when their hearts are on the line. Each emotional and angsty story can be read as a standalone.

The Jump


Martina Cole - 1995
    Georgio swears he's been set up and persuades Donna to help him escape.Implementing 'the jump' takes Donna into a twilight world she never believed existed - a world of brutal sex and casual violence. Finally, she is confronted by a series of shattering revelations that threaten not only everything she believes in but also, ultimately, her own life . . .

The First Wives Club


Olivia Goldsmith - 1992
    Get everything. When their best friend commits suicide over her divorce, Elise, Brenda and Annie decide enough is enough. Each was crucial to her husband's career. But now that the men are successful, they've traded in their wives for newer, blonder models. Over lunch one day they form the First Wives Club. But this is no support group. This is the SAS in Chanel. Painstakingly, inexorably, they plan the downfall of the men who've wrecked their lives—and know that revenge has never tasted sweeter...

Bad Behaviour


Sheila O'Flanagan - 2007
    Darcey and Nieve were the closest and best of friends, through school, as neighbours, travelling round Europe: this was a friendship for life. Until Nieve, returning from Europe a little later than her friend, stole the heart of Aidan, the boy Darcey had fallen in love with in her absence. Aidan was going to propose the very night Nieve caught his eye, and Darcey knew it. For the next ten years she's haunted by the memory of her humiliation. No business success - and there are many - no comfort her warm if eccentric family can offer, not even marriage to Neil, can console her. And then the invitation comes: to the wedding of Aidan and Nieve, neither of whom she's seen since they left Ireland for life in the USA. They're coming home to have the wedding of a lifetime at Ireland's most expensive hotel. Will Darcey be there? Will there be fireworks? And can the past be put to rest at last?

The Cows


Dawn O'Porter - 2017
    /ka?/A piece of meat; born to breed; past its sell-by-date; one of the herd.Women don’t have to fall into a stereotype.The Cows is a powerful novel about three women. In all the noise of modern life, each needs to find their own voice.It’s about friendship and being female.It’s bold and brilliant.It’s searingly perceptive.It's about never following the herd.And everyone is going to be talking about it.

Marrying for Money


Chris Manby - 2006
    Gorgeous Grace and Charming Charity are soon hot favourites on everybody's guest-list. Except that of their neighbour, Marcella Hunter. Heiress Marcella doesn't want the competition and when Grace starts dating Marcella's 'Plan B' man - dull but extraordinarily rich Choate Fitzgerald - the gloves are off. Marcella determines to find out where the sisters really came from. And exactly how they can afford to rent a six-bedroom beach house in this millionaires' playground. In the process, however, it's discovered that quite a few of the people spending that summer in Little Elbow are not exactly what they seem...

The Island House


Nancy Thayer - 2016
     Courtney Hendricks will never forget the magical summers she spent on Nantucket with her college roommate, Robin Vickerey, and Robin's charismatic, turbulent, larger-than-life family, in their gorgeous island house. Now a college English professor in Kansas City, Courtney is determined to experience one more summer in this sun-swept paradise. Her reason for going is personal: Courtney needs to know whether Robin's brother James shares the feelings she's secretly had for him. Time with the Vickerey family always involves love and laughter, and this season is no different. Vivacious matriarch Susanna Vickerey is celebrating her sixtieth birthday, but beneath the merriment, trouble is brewing. The family patriarch, Dr. Alastair Vickerey, is quiet and detached, while unspoken tension looms over oldest son Henry, a respected young surgeon. Warm and witty Robin, the most grounded of the siblings, is keeping a secret from her parents. Iris, the colorful baby of the brood, remains rudderless and in need of guidance. And the sexy, stunningly handsome, untouchable James--to Courtney's dismay--may be in love with a beautiful and vibrant local artist. As the summer unfolds, a crisis escalates, surprising truths are revealed, and Courtney will at last find out where her heart and her future lie. Weaving the trials and uncertainty of real life into a tapestry of passion, hope, and courage, The Island House is a beautifully told story about the ties that bind us--and how the blessings of love and family heal us in ways we never dream possible. Praise for The Island House -Thayer's latest should be filed under a Best Beach Reads of 2016 list. . . . The characters are complex and their struggles and concerns feel real. . . . Thayer has a really wonderful ability to showcase the meaning of family.---RT Reviews -A perfect book to read while sticking your toes in the sand this summer!- --Bookish Devices -A touching story about friendship, family, and the uncertainty of love.---Bustle Praise for Nancy Thayer The Guest Cottage -A sweet book with romance, laughter, and love after loss . . . Thayer knows her Nantucket history, and it shines in this book.---RT Book Reviews -It's a pleasant escape to a state of mind in which rebuilding a life is as simple as pitching an umbrella and spreading out a towel.---Kirkus Reviews Nantucket Sisters -Thayer obviously knows her Nantucket, and the strong sense of place makes this the perfect escapist book for the summer, particularly for fans of Elin Hilderbrand.---Booklist -Thayer keeps readers on the edge of their seats with her dramatic story spanning the girls' childhood to adulthood. This wonderful beach read packs a punch.---Library Journal Island Girls -A book to be savored and passed on to the good women in your life.---Susan Wiggs -Full of emotion and just plain fun, this novel is delightful.- --Romance Reviews Today

Exocet


Jack Higgins - 1983
    The wild card is the Exocet -- the enemy, close to acquiring the deadly French missile, will soon be capable of smashing British defenses -- and throwing the global balance of power into chaos.