Book picks similar to
Freedom Within The Heart by Mark Mahon


historical-fiction
less-than-1-000-reviews
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Aroon


M.B. Gibson - 2016
    A desolate maid. And one cold corpse. Richard Lynche, heir of an 18th century Tipperary estate, can find no peace. His bookish ways disgust his bullying letch of a father. His heartsick mother sinks ever-deeper into a drug-induced lethargy. The teen’s only solace are the loving arms of the homesick new maid, Eveleen. Meanwhile jealousy, lust, and oppression lead to gruesome visions, causing Richard to question his own sanity. Desperate to prevail over his demons, he determines there is only one way to stop the torture—a killing. Aroon is a cauldron of old-fashioned Irish stew. Spiced heavily with Downton Abbey, sprinkled with Shakespeare’s Hamlet and a dash of The Godfather’s Michael Corleone, it explores the underbelly of life during the Protestant Ascendancy.

Mattie: The Story of an Australian Convict Child


Sheila Hunter - 2015
    She meets another convict woman who at her death gives Mattie a chance for a new life. Mattie makes the most of everything that comes her way. She earns her freedom, falls in love, marries and becomes a mother. Life is not kind to her. She meets bushrangers; moves to the Gold Fields in Bathurst and starts a store. Mattie is the kind of woman that made Australia what it is today.

The Eyes of Others


Mikael Carlson - 2015
    Intelligence analyst Eugene "Boston" Hollinger wants to escape from his. Hampered by strange dreams since he was severely injured by a roadside bomb in ISIS-occupied Iraq, he enlists the help of an attractive, yet quirky dream therapist to get to the bottom of the mystery. Together they come to understand the true nature of Boston’s condition - he is not dreaming, but somehow accessing the memories of others while he sleeps.As Boston comes to grips with his condition, the nation’s intelligence community is in a panic. A mole with high-level access to classified intel is passing secrets to the enemy, and the pressure to catch him is increasing by the minute. With soldiers and informants dying every day, and the government all pointing fingers at each other, Boston realizes his strange dreams are about the mole, and could hold the only key to finding him before it’s too late. Now armed with a new tool to track him down, he enlists the help of some old friends and his current fiancée to help bring the traitor to justice at any cost. As forces within the government seek to silence him, it becomes a race against time - find the mole or become the scapegoat in one of the deadliest intelligence breaches ever uncovered. The Eyes of Others follows the struggles of five people caught up in a maelstrom of bureaucratic wrangling, politics, and one of the most desperate, high-stakes mole hunts in American history. Lives will be lost and tensions high, but can the mole be found in time when the only clues can be found by dreaming about memories seen through the eyes of others?

The Eagle and the Tiger


Tim Davis - 2015
    The deceptive, crooked path that led him to today began a few months back. Born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, nineteen-year old Fleming was a professional baseball pitcher with the Chicago White Sox. His successful first year in the minor leagues was waylaid when he received his draft notice. Through a series of misadventures, he ended up enlisting for four years in an elite unit called the A.S.A. or Army Security Agency; the army’s equivalent to the N.S.A. or the National Security Agency. Once in the army, Fleming learned that the recruiter had manipulated him with a host of untruths. Then, to his dismay, he learned that the army had lost his orders and he was placed in an infantry unit. Once in Vietnam, Platoon Sergeant, Levine questioned Fleming and dragged out of him the sad story of how he had enlisted for four years and ended up in an infantry unit. He became the butt of the platoon’s jokes and underwent vicious ribbing by the other platoon members. That day, the platoon was ordered back to their base camp: L.Z. English. Before leaving, they endured a mortar attack and then a ground probe. Fleming’s foxhole mate was critically wounded. Fleming did everything he could to save the man but his wounds were too severe and he died in Fleming’s arms. Repulsed by the ordeal, Fleming was left wondering if he could endure a whole year of this. Twelve-year old Van Phan Duc and his two friends twelve-year old Hoi Anh Vanh and Dan Tri Quang lived happily in their village until the day a N.V.A. invaded and forced them to join their struggle and fight the invading Americans. They were then assigned to a Viet Cong unit where they met Sergeant Chi, the man who would train them to be soldiers for the revolution and lead them into battle. Three American soldiers had been captured. Chi ordered the three boys to participate in brutally torturing the Americans. Dan embraced the torture and it turned him into a brutal fighting machine, much to Chi’s satisfaction. On the other hand, Hoi was repulsed by the events and a part of him died that day. He performed the torture but it wasn’t to Chi’s satisfaction. Van, a devout Buddhist, was also repulsed. He realized that life, as a soldier was three hundred and sixty degrees opposite of Buddha’s spiritual path. The 173rd’s area of operations was the Central Highlands. The 173rd’s home base was in and around the town of Bong Son, but they patrolled all over the province of Binh Dinh. For the next few months, Fleming and Van’s units met on numerous occasions. The first time they engaged each other in combat was in a simple ambush that lasted only two minutes. Both men were left repulsed by the carnage that could take place in only two minutes. Right after the ambush, Fleming’s company was deployed in a battalion-sized operation located in the Dak To mountain range. It was an area where numerous North Vietnamese soldiers infiltrated into South Vietnam from neighboring Cambodia and Laos. Fleming’s company was dropped into an area far from Dak To and the men were forced to march (hump) to their final destination. During the trek, they had to carve their way through impenetrable jungle and cross leach infested rivers to reach their destination, all the while suffering under Vietnam’s oppressive heat. Van’s Viet Cong unit was sent to the Dak To mountain range to do battle with Fleming and his company. Months passed with Van and Fleming’s units constantly meeting. Both men had similar personalities. Both men overcame their initial shock at war’s brutality and became highly competent soldiers who bravely fought the enemy. Both men were ultimately made into squad leaders. Both men continued to hate the war, yet were entrapped in the insanity that was war. They both recognized what war was—a brutally insane series of events where lives were lost and where dreams died.

Two for Joy: The Uplifting True Story of One Courageous Family’s Life of Happiness With Severely Disabled Twins


James Melville-Ross - 2016
    James Melville-Ross, their father, tells of how the twins not only survived—despite being given the last rites as babies—but also thrived. From the dramatic first few months of the twins’ lives—when Alice suffered a heart attack when only a day old, and Thomas’s lungs filled with blood, leaving him only 20 minutes away from death—Two for Joy reveals the path that James and his wife Georgie have followed as parents to two severely disabled children. After the initial anger came the sheer hard work: the sleepless nights; the hospital dashes; the curious stares and unwelcome comment from strangers. But slowly came acceptance and, eventually, celebration of the joy that the medical marvels Thomas and Alice—now happy and energetic ten year olds—have brought to their lives. Finally they understood that disability might have turned their world upside down, but that it has also provided rewards beyond anything they could have imagined. This story is for any parent experiencing the shock of having extremely premature babies or coming to terms with having a child diagnosed with a disability. More than that, this story will change people’s attitudes to disability, and show that love and true happiness can be found in even the most challenging of circumstances.

Willows: The Creole (The Delegate Book 3)


Cyndie Shaffstall - 2015
     The Heir The Arceneaux family has a long history of falling victim to circumstance--madness, embezzlement, even murder--but when the last of the unmarried females inherits the family plantation, she is determined their unfortunate legacy will end with her. After her father is imprisoned in New York, she embarks on a new life in New Orleans with what is left of all the hope she can muster. What she finds is an abandoned house, a fractured family, and an oppressed people. Determined to find her own way, she confronts the challenges head on, and soon realizes change is not something needed only for her, but for many. People of Color In the decades before the Civil War, Louisiana was the most advanced state on the topic of freedom. People of color were successful in business and owned property--some of which they acquired through the gifts or wills of white fathers whose black and mulatto wives and mistresses exacted better lives for their children. A Step Backward The Civil War brought change--any black lineage became cause for discrimination, even in Louisiana--and many blacks and mixed-race persons were relegated to occupations not unlike those of their ancestors. Women, though white, were expected to be hostesses and leave business to men--especially the business of voting. A Family Reunited Willows Plantation, still worked by the descendants of the slaves who built it, becomes the anchor to affect change and in a historical fiction story spanning five generations, author Cyndie Shaffstall, takes you on a journey through abolition and suffrage efforts of the 1700s and 1800s. A Voodoo priestess, a French artist, the first woman presidential candidate, and the world’s fair shed light on issues and provide opportunities to reunite and strengthen an entire family.Each book of The Delegate series reads as though you've come across someone's journal. While you read, the saga envelopes you, and it becomes your journal, and your story, as you are transported through time.

Widowmaker Jones


Brett Cogburn - 2016
    Marshal Rooster Cogburn comes an authentic new "True Grit" Western classic.With a bag full of gold dust, Newt "Widowmaker" Jones is set for life. Then he makes his first mistake, trusting a cheerful stranger. By dawn the stranger--Javier Cortina, the son of the famous Texas border bandit, Juan "Red" Cortina--is gone. So is the gold. So are Newt's horse and even his fearsome Colt .44. It's enough to make a man want vengeance. And vengeance will be Newt's. Newt chases Cortina into Mexico, where the man is legendary for the horses he's stolen, the women he's bedded, and the men he's killed. As for Newt, he has a unique talent for choosing the wrong partners, from an angry, addled judge named Roy Bean to a brother and sister pair of circus gypsies, Fonzo Grey and Buckshot Annie. The more Newt pursues the cunning and deadly Cortina, the angrier he gets, until somewhere on the border the whole crazy journey explodes into an all-out battle of bullets and blood. . .. Praise for Spur Award winner Brett Cogburn:"Fans of frontier arcana will revel in Cogburn's readable prose and lively characters." --Publishers Weekly on Rooster"Cogburn amazes and astounds." --Booklist

The Reform Artists: A Legal Thriller (First Book in The Reform Artists Spy Novel Series)


Jon Reisfeld - 2010
    An enjoyable read!" -- Readers' Favorite"Kramer vs. Kramer" Meets "Mission Impossible" in this Legal Suspense / Spy Thriller about the Perils of Modern-Day Divorce.If You Like Complex, Contemporary Legal Thrillers with Courtroom Drama, Real-World Scenarios, Emotional Insights, and Techno-Thriller Intrigue, You'll Love The Reform Artists.First book in the Reform Artists Legal Thriller / Spy Novel Series.Readers Praise Jon Reisfeld and The Reform Artists:“Grabs you by the collar and sweeps you along on a nightmarish journey through the legal system." -- Jamie Bruno“So well-written, it kept me hooked!” -- Helen Deakin“An exciting and thoroughly suspenseful read! -- Roger Corea“A page turner. Sharply drawn characters. Illuminating, imaginative and enjoyable.” -- Mary (Amazon customer)"A brilliantly-crafted legal thriller full of suspense, wit and a hint of science fiction." -- Amanda HeadleeBook Description:Who are the Reform Artists?That's the question plaguing Martin Silkwood, successful CPA and devoted dad, as his life spirals out of control. Martin has one week in which to prove he's innocent of the domestic violence charges his estranged wife, Katie, has brought against him. If he fails, he could lose everything.Martin can either play by the rules and trust a legal system that presumes he's guilty, or he can accept help from a covert reform group that will go to extremes to achieve its ends. Either way, his life will never be the same.Follow the action as the clock ticks down to the final, courtroom trial -- and stunning conclusion -- to this page-turning, legal thriller / spy novel.

Jonathan’s Locket


Lorraine Carey - 2012
    This famous shipwreck was known as the Wreck of the Ten Sails. Jonathan was not lucky enough to survive the wreck along with eight other seamen. Problem was, no one ever knew he was even on board.Two centuries later strange sightings have been reported of ghost ships, screams and eerie lights off the east end of Grand Cayman. Brandon Wallace, a troubled teen seems to acquire a strange affliction and begins to have bizarre encounters from the sea where he befriends a mystical sea turtle who holds the secrets to the mysterious sightings as he plunges into the world of the paranormal . Here he is compelled to embark on a dangerous journey, risking his life to uncover the dark secret of Jonathan’s death. This task proves to be even more dangerous when one of Brandon’s closest friends has other plans for him.

Ride Your Heart 'Til It Breaks


Deborah Hawkins - 2014
    But now Stan knew he didn’t want to be the shallow bad boy Marilyn had described. He wanted to be the man Carrie Moon had loved. Loving him was all that had kept her alive. The emptiness of her marriage had made the ache of lost love burrow deeper into her heart and soul. Carrie stood transfixed between worlds: life, but emotional death if she left alone as he wanted, or death in all forms if she stayed, and the fires reached them. On a cool October evening in 1994, attorney Karen Moon enters an enchanting little jazz club, in San Diego and unexpectedly falls hopelessly in love with the star attraction, trumpeter Stan Benedict. Although Stan is a world class flirt, who has every woman in the audience longing to go home with him, Karen hears a deeper truth in his music. Behind the performer’s confident, shallow mask is a vulnerable, lonely man longing to be loved. Karen risks her chance of partnership at Warrick, Thompson by secretly crossing ethical boundaries to save the club from destruction by her client, Waterfront Development. She and Stan begin a tumultuous affair that culminates in an unplanned pregnancy and a hasty marriage. But their relationship is increasingly threatened by the demands of Karen’s job as a highly paid securities lawyer and by the rising crescendo of Stan’s frequent infidelities. Through mounting heartbreak, Karen struggles to hold on to Stan until they are swept apart by a tide of personal and professional loss. Thirteen years later, longing for forgiveness, Stan reappears in Karen’s life. Now a superior court judge and married to Warrick, Thompson partner Howard Morgan, Karen is faced with Howard’s threats to destroy her if she leaves their marriage. Ride Your Heart ‘Til It Breaks is an unforgettable, intricately woven tale of passion, loss, self-discovery, and redemption.

Badge Without Honor


Emily Kendricks - 2017
    Making matters worse, his new love interest, Dianne Lawson, becomes the next target, forcing Bocello to go head-to-head with the most diabolical killer of his career, who has been hiding in plain sight. Unable to trust anyone around him, he tracks the killer who seems to always stay one step ahead of the investigation…until everything comes to a heart-pounding climax as Bocello races against time to reach his love before it’s too late.

Last Bird Singing


Jane Holland - 2015
    But her days are running out. Perhaps some lives are not worth saving ... A dark and disturbing psychological thriller set in Newcastle of the nineties, from the author of GIRL NUMBER ONE and MIRANDA. A gritty urban read, this contains graphic language and scenes of violence.

A Gangster's Grip (The Riverhill Trilogy Book 2)


Heather Burnside - 2015
    But once back she finds a cuckoo in the family nest – a dope-smoking 'businessman' called Leroy. Worse, he is her sister Jenny's boyfriend, and father of her unborn child. Rita and Yansis retreat to stay with friends Julie and Vinny, now living in a comfortable suburb of the city. But Rita is anxious to find out just what hold Leroy has over her family, and she'll stop at nothing to find out. The more she learns about Leroy, the more she realises her family are playing a very risky game. Rita's quest is pitting her against some of the most ruthless men in a very dangerous city, but ultimately she knows it is up to her to expose the truth, whatever the consequences might be.

Valley of the Purple Hearts (The Vietnam War #3)


Rick DeStefanis - 2017
    When eighteen-year-old Buck Marino first meets Rolley Zwyrkowski, he little realizes how much the young sergeant and their next year together in Vietnam will change his life forever. The months following the 1968 Tet Offensive and the battles of the 101st Airborne between Hue and Phu Bai, and westward into the A Shau Valley, provide the backdrop for a story about boys becoming men in a paradoxical war. And when he meets Army nurse Janie Jorgensen, Buck believes he has found the love of his life only to crash into the reality that the war has left his heart and soul lost in a futureless void. Historical military fiction, Valley of The Purple Hearts follows the men of Second Squad through the shadowy jungles and mountains of I-Corps as they fight main force Viet Cong and NVA regulars. With constant enemy contact, booby-traps, sniper fire and all-out firefights, Buck and his buddies follow their squad leader, Rolley, who puts the lives of his men first. As Rolley faces the young and inept Lieutenant Mallon, Buck realizes his squad leader is becoming jaded and has lost his sense of humor. When the young sergeant sacrifices his safety for that of his men, Buck must step up to face Mallon in the heat of battle, and try to save his friend.

Jayadratha


Anant Pai - 2011
    In the Mahabharata battle, Jayadratha had shamelessly hidden himself away, for Arjuna had taken a terrible vow to put an end to his own life if he failed to kill the villain before sunset that day. With the wise Krishna by his side, would the mighty Arjuna fail to find his mark?