Book picks similar to
Run J Run by Su J. Sokol
fiction
lgbt
mental-illness
family-relationships
Out of the Blue
Lila Rose - 2018
What he doesn’t expect is instead of a wife in the picture, his mind keeps conjuring up images of two men. One, his partner in the force, who is as straight as they came, the other an ex, who he’d hurt but never forgot. After an incident leaves Lan injured, the two men rally around him… only maybe they shouldn’t have. It seems a medicated Lan is a truthful one. Parker Wilding is pissed at the world. His anger builds when his partner refuses medical care after an attack. Instead, Lan entrusts his neighbour to take care of him—a guy Parker doesn’t trust. While he’s aware they share a history, when the past is revealed, the truth shocks the hell out of him. Being emotionally crushed ten years ago, Easton Ravel hoped he would never have to see the man who broke him again. Hope is a fickle b*itch. And now he’s not sure how to handle being face-to-face with the man he once loved. Add in the mix the annoying, testy Parker, and Easton finds his limits are pushed. Just not in the way he thought they would be. What happens next sure does come out of the blue. *PLEASE NOTE* For 18+ only.
Safe Haven
Caitlin Ricci - 2016
Now things might be very different.At seven years old, Blake’s life was destroyed when he and his parents were abducted and he watched them being murdered. Now, twenty years later, he refuses to leave the house and he lives in a constant state of fear. He has a bodyguard around the clock, a housekeeper who has never seen his face and an uncle who checks on him often but isn’t all that close to him. Blake likes his isolation where only his cat really knows him.His bodyguard of eight years is ready to retire, leaving his life in turmoil again. Blake isn’t good with people in general, and new people are the worst. But he needs someone in his house all the time to make him feel safe. His uncle hires a team of bodyguards to replace his old one—Malcolm, CJ and Rex. They come highly recommended, and they’re good at what they do.They’re also together and it’s a relationship that Blake is instantly fascinated by. He’s never been interested in another person before, and he hasn’t had a real friend since his parents died, because he has refused to leave the house. But with the three of them trying to be there for him, he begins to want a life he has been convinced up to now would be completely impossible.General Release Date: 8th November 2016
By Nightfall
Michael Cunningham - 2010
With a spacious loft, a college-age daughter in Boston, and lively friends, they are admirable, enviable contemporary urbanites with every reason, it seems, to be happy. Then Rebecca’s much younger look-alike brother, Ethan (known in thefamily as Mizzy, “the mistake”), shows up for a visit. A beautiful, beguiling twenty-three-year-old with a history of drug problems, Mizzy is wayward, at loose ends, looking for direction. And in his presence, Peter finds himself questioning his artists, their work, his career—the entire world he has so carefully constructed.Like his legendary, Pulitzer Prize–winning novel, The Hours, Michael Cunningham’s masterly new novel is a heartbreaking look at the way we live now. Full of shocks and aftershocks, it makes us think and feel deeply about the uses and meaning of beauty and the place of love in our lives.<
Witches of Ash and Ruin
E. Latimer - 2020
Schwab's Shades of Magic trilogy and A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES.Seventeen-year-old Dayna Walsh is struggling to cope with her somatic OCD; the aftermath of being outed as bisexual in her conservative Irish town; and the return of her long-absent mother, who barely seems like a parent. But all that really matters to her is ascending and finally, finally becoming a full witch-plans that are complicated when another coven, rumored to have a sordid history with black magic, arrives in town with premonitions of death. Dayna immediately finds herself at odds with the bewitchingly frustrating Meiner King, the granddaughter of their coven leader.And then a witch turns up murdered at a local sacred site, along with the blood symbol of the Butcher of Manchester-an infamous serial killer whose trail has long gone cold. The killer's motives are enmeshed in a complex web of witches and gods, and Dayna and Meiner soon find themselves at the center of it all. If they don't stop the Butcher, one of them will be next.With razor-sharp prose and achingly real characters, E. Latimer crafts a sweeping, mesmerizing story of dark magic and brutal mythology set against a backdrop of contemporary Ireland that's impossible to put down.
Written on the Body
Jeanette Winterson - 1992
In places the palimpsest is so heavily worked that the letters feel like braille. I like to keep my body rolled away from prying eyes, never unfold too much, tell the whole story. I didn't know that Louise would have reading hands. She has translated me into her own book.
Once Broken
D.M. Hamblin - 2016
It's a story about a single mother, Jackie Martin, who has two objectives: First to raise her daughter, Gina with her self-esteem unscathed by her father’s abandonment; Second, to see her daughter’s father, Tony Salvucci suffer for his abandonment. Both objectives come to pass. With lots of twists and turns and memorable characters, Once Broken is an inspirational story about forgiveness vs. revenge and living one's life moving forward, no matter how painful the past.
10 Things I Can See from Here
Carrie Mac - 2017
Don’t worry; be happy. Keep calm and carry on.Maeve has heard it all before. She’s been struggling with severe anxiety for a long time, and as much as she wishes it was something she could just talk herself out of, it’s not. She constantly imagines the worst, composes obituaries in her head, and is always ready for things to fall apart. To add to her troubles, her mom—the only one who really gets what Maeve goes through—is leaving for six months, so Maeve will be sent to live with her dad in Vancouver.Vancouver brings a slew of new worries, but Maeve finds brief moments of calm (as well as even more worries) with Salix, a local girl who doesn’t seem to worry about anything. Between her dad’s wavering sobriety, her very pregnant stepmom insisting on a home birth, and her bumbling courtship with Salix, this summer brings more catastrophes than even Maeve could have foreseen. Will she be able to navigate through all the chaos to be there for the people she loves?
Arrows Through Archer
Nash Summers - 2017
Each day, he struggles his way through classes, parties, and trying to put on a good front for the sake of his best friend. But at night, he falls asleep to the sound of gunshots ringing in his ears.Mallory is a man fighting a war of emotions all his own. When his son invites his best friend back home to Banff over a college break, he’s happy for the company.Some time during the late-night talks, subtle smiles, and long, long silences, the two men begin to find solace in one another.But love isn’t always easy, especially when it strikes you straight through the heart.
Third Rail
Santino Hassell - 2017
No straight guy would have low-key lusted after his childhood best friend, right? Unfortunately, a combination of insecurity and overall lack of game has prevented him from further exploring his sexuality. That changes once he agrees to participate in a photoshoot for a queer dating app and meets Jace Fairbairn.Jace is beautiful, fey-like, and in an open polyamorous relationship with his gorgeous linebacker-looking husband Aiden. Once they set eyes on Chris, they’re instantly in lust and determined to broaden his sexual horizons. But what’s supposed to be a straight-forward sexual encounter gets complicated once a one-night-stand has repeat performances, and Jace and Aiden begin to fall in love.This collection of shorts explores the start of a relationship that eventually blossoms into something the three men realize they cannot do without.
The Impossible Boy
Anna Martin - 2017
Ben Easton is not your average romantic hero. He’s a tattooed, badass, guitarist in a band, working in a perfectly horrible dive bar in Camden Town. His life is good, and he’s totally unprepared for how one man will turn it upside down. Stan isn’t your average heroine. As a gender-fluid man, he proudly wears his blond hair long, his heels sky-high, and his makeup perfectly executed. A fashion industry prodigy, Stan is in London after stints working in Italy and New York City, and he quickly falls for Ben’s devil-may-care attitude and the warm, soft heart Ben hides behind it. Beneath the perfect, elegant exterior, Stan has plenty of scars from teenage battles with anorexia. And it only takes the slightest slip for his demons to rush back in while Ben is away touring with his band, Ares. With Ares on the brink of a breakthrough, Ben is forced to find a way to balance the opportunity of a lifetime with caring for his beautiful, impossible boyfriend.
Altogether
Brill Harper - 2018
It’s not like I’m having the time of my life anyway—I’m your basic late bloomer. A socially awkward freshman who’s never even been kissed.My best friend from back home has other ideas, though, and somehow convinces her older brother and his friend to take me on as a third roommate in their house near campus. Her very hot brother and his equally gorgeous best friend. It’s basically chiseled bodies, piercing eyes, strong hands, and testosterone twenty-four-seven at my house. They’re the kind of guys a nerdy girl like me could never even dream about. Though, that doesn’t stop me from my lurid fantasies.But the day Shane finds my secret notebook, the one where I outline my plan to lose my flower using the scientific method, he offers me another proposition: He and Fletch will tutor me until I’m ready to take what I learn from our lessons out of the house and into the wild. Now I’ve got two virile men giving me a very adult education, and the one thing I’ve always been good at is being a star pupil. The best part is I don’t have to choose—I get them both and can literally do anything I want to them.Except keep them.
Nights in Norcoast
Sybil Smith - 2018
When they get trapped inside a cabin together for a week, what could possibly go wrong?
April Bauer packed her bags and fled from her abusive ex-husband overnight, only to land in a secluded farming town, Norcoast, without a clue. With the approaching winter weather, no farming skills to speak of, and hardly any money to her name, how the hell was she supposed to survive out here on her own?Not only that, but her new life felt lonelier than ever. She awoke alone, ate alone, slept alone, and didn’t see that changing anytime soon. How could it? Her heart needed as much mending as her drafty cabin, and that was saying something. Danny Irving, professional cowgirl and heartbreaker extraordinaire, wanted more out of life. She was tired of manning her parents’ farm day in and day out with nothing to show for it. When was she going to find her happy ending? The woman of her dreams? All she had was a handful of men drooling over her, a broken plow, and a bedroom she shared with two of her siblings. At twenty-four, she expected more than this monotonous existence she’d been living. But when her father sends her over to a neighbor’s house before the oncoming storm, she never anticipated what would happen next.
Slow burn, HEA novel. Book 1 of 2.
Wonder Boy
Bain Taylor - 2016
It is his one great escape from a world that doesn't always look kindly on gay teenagers; a world that can oftentimes be downright dangerous. But as he enters into high school, he quickly learns that trying to fly quietly under the gay radar, and having unbridled speed out on the running track, make for a conflicted pairing. The super jocks of the school take notice of Devon's amazing talent, and dub him a 'phenom'. He is immediately adopted into a popular circle of some of the hottest athletes he'd ever laid eyes on - the kind of guys that could snap him like a twig for staring at their ripped bodies for a second too long - guys that should be avoided at all costs. And yet, the kind of guys that love you like a brother when you win races for the team. *This Novella is intended for a mature audience.
Fighting For Love Bundle
J.P. Oliver - 2019
Luke’s life couldn’t get any worse. His parents are gone, the family bar is failing, and he's had to drop out of college. On top of everything else, now he's engaged in a custody battle with his grandparents over his younger brother. Adam is a drop-dead gorgeous lawyer, representing a certain pair of grandparents in the custody battle. He isn’t pleased to be involved with such snobby clients, and he’s definitely miffed to be shipped out to the Midwest for this case. That all changes when he meets Luke. The man is handsome, charming, and he gets Adam’s sense of humor. Worse, he definitely deserves to win the case. They’re not supposed to talk to one another, much less date, but both Adam and Luke feel a connection they can’t ignore. Can they figure out a way to make it work? Or will the case – and the things they have to do to win it – tear them apart? If you love tense, sensual, heartwarming gay romance, dive in to Fighting for Love tonight. Delight in desperation and a guaranteed happy ending. Get this and five other books with steamy, sweet stories in the Fighting for Love Bundle!