Book picks similar to
The Keeper of Dawn by J.B. Hickman
young-adult
first-reads
fiction
coming-of-age
With this Kiss
Victoria Lynne - 1999
But Julia's bold gaze lit other fires he had long suppressed. And now this glorious stranger was his bride. But when he tried to claim his husbandly rights, she demanded three months grace--three months to know a stranger's mind, to touch a stranger's soul, to go where no woman had ever gone before. Into his lonely heart . . . With This Kiss.
The Summer I Learned to Dive
Shannon McCrimmon - 2012
On the night of her high school graduation, things take a dramatic turn when she discovers that her mother has been keeping a secret from her—a secret that causes Finn to do something she had never done before—veer off her plan. In the middle of the night, Finn packs her bags and travels by bus to Graceville, SC seeking the truth. In Graceville, Finn has experiences that change her life forever; a summer of love, forgiveness and revelations. She learns to take chances, to take the plunge and to dive right in to what life has to offer.
The Hazards of Skinny Dipping
Alyssa Rose Ivy - 2013
If you want a book like that, I'd be happy to recommend one, but I don't have that kind of story to tell. Instead my story is about rash decisions and finding out that your dream guy is bad in bed. It's the story of when I finally went skinny dipping, and how my life was never the same again. Oh, and it's also the story of my freshman year of college and realizing Mr. Right might have been there all along.
Arcadia Falls
Carol Goodman - 2010
. . . Meg Rosenthal is driving toward the next chapter in her life. Winding along a wooded roadway, her car moves through a dense forest setting not unlike one in the bedtime stories Meg used to read to her daughter, Sally. But the girl riding beside Meg is a teenager now, and has exchanged the land of make-believe for an iPod and some personal space. Too much space, it seems, as the chasm between them has grown since the sudden, unexpected death of Meg’s husband. Dire financial straits and a desire for a fresh start take Meg and Sally from a comfortable life on Long Island to a tucked-away hamlet in upstate New York: Arcadia Falls, where Meg has accepted a teaching position at a boarding school. The creaky, neglected cottage Meg and Sally are to call home feels like an ill portent of things to come, but Meg is determined to make the best of it and to make a good impression on the school’s dean, the diminutive, elegant Ivy St. Clare.St. Claire, however, is distracted by a shocking crisis: During Arcadia’s First Night bonfire, one of Meg’s folklore students, Isabel Cheney, plunges to her death in a campus gorge. Sheriff Callum Reade finds Isabel’s death suspicious, but then, he is a man with secrets and a dark past himself. Meg is unnerved by Reade’s interest in the girl’s death, and as long-buried secrets emerge, she must face down her own demons and the danger threatening to envelop Sally. As the past clings tight to the present, the shadows, as if in a terrifying fairy tale, grow longer and deadlier. In Arcadia Falls, award-winning author Carol Goodman deftly weaves a mesmerizing narrative of passion: for revenge, for art, for love.
The Do-Over
Kathy Dunnehoff - 2011
She realizes that one foamy soak probably won't cure what ails her, so she takes a 30 day vacation from her life. (What woman doesn't need one of those?) As her 30 days sail by, Mara Jane Mulligan discovers she has a decision to make that even Dorothy couldn't avoid... Will she click her heels for home or kick them up for good?
Read all Kathy's women's fiction:
The Do-Over - what woman doesn't need a vacation from herlife?
Plan On It - 6 men, 6 months!
Back To U - taking her daughter's place at college seemedlike a good idea...
Hollywood Beginnings - her mother was once a star, butdoes fame and love skip a generation?
Over 100 FIVE STAR reviews! "Make mine a Do-Over..."
The Do-Over is an IndieReader.com Top 10, a BookRooster.com Reviewers Pick and a Top Amazon Bestseller."The writing is witty, the plot clever, the theme universal. I can't wait for this author's next book!" P.A. Moore, author of Courthouse Cowboys (5-stars)
Kathy is the National Bestselling author of The Do-Over, Plan On It, Back to U & Hollywood Beginnings. She has
an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Montana,an encouraging husband, two creative daughters, and the ability to bringwriting and life together with insight and humor. She teaches writing and creativity workshops, her screenplays have placed in numerous competitions,and she was a recipient of a Zola Award for fiction from the PacificNorthwest Writer's Association.
The Mist on Brontë Moor
Aviva Orr - 2012
Heather gets her wish when her concerned parents send her to stay with her great-aunt in West Yorkshire. But shortly after she arrives, she becomes lost on the moors and is swept through the mist back to the year 1833. There she encounters fifteen-year-old Emily Bronte and is given refuge in the Bronte Parsonage.Unaware of her host family s genius and future fame, Heather struggles to cope with alopecia amongst strangers in a world completely foreign to her. While Heather finds comfort and strength in her growing friendship with Emily and in the embrace of the close-knit Bronte family, her emotions are stretched to the limit when she falls for Emily's brilliant but troubled brother, Branwell. Will Heather return to the comforts and conveniences of the twenty-first century? Or will she choose love and remain in the harsh world of nineteenth-century Haworth?
Perception
Lee Strauss - 2012
Zoe’s carefree life takes a traumatic turn when her brother Liam is murdered.The only one who can help her find out what happened is Noah Brody, the last guy on earth she should trust. Noah Brody is a natural who lives on the outside. He leads protests against the GAPs and detests the widening chasm they’ve created between those who have and those who don’t. He doesn’t like girls like Zoe and he has good reason not to like her specifically. He's not sure why he's agreed to help her, but what he finds out when he does, will change his life forever.PERCEPTION is a near-future mystery that can be read alone.
A Beautiful Poison
Lydia Kang - 2017
But with so many victims in her close circle, young socialite Allene questions if the flu is really to blame. All appear to have been poisoned—and every death was accompanied by a mysterious note.Desperate for answers and dreading her own engagement to a wealthy gentleman, Allene returns to her passion for scientific discovery and recruits her long-lost friends, Jasper and Birdie, for help. The investigation brings her closer to Jasper, an apprentice medical examiner at Bellevue Hospital who still holds her heart, and offers the delicate Birdie a last-ditch chance to find a safe haven before her fragile health fails.As more of their friends and family die, alliances shift, lives become entangled, and the three begin to suspect everyone—even each other. As they race to find the culprit, Allene, Birdie, and Jasper must once again trust each other, before one of them becomes the next victim.
Jenny Pox
J.L. Bryan - 2010
A lifetime of avoiding any physical contact with others has made her isolated and painfully lonely in her small rural town.Then she meets the one boy she can touch. Jenny feels herself falling for Seth...but if she's going to be with him, Jenny must learn to use the deadly pox inside her to confront his ruthless and manipulative girlfriend Ashleigh, who secretly wields the most dangerous power of all.* * *Not recommended for readers under eighteen.BONUS: Includes an excerpt of Glimpse by Stacey Wallace Benefiel.
Casting Shadows Everywhere
L.T. Vargus - 2013
Physically harder, I mean. On TV a guy strangles someone for like 5 seconds and the body slumps to the ground in a heap of dead just like that. In real life, it takes so long you wouldn't believe it. "Catcher in the Rye meets Fight Club." "Fantastic psychological journey." "Holden Caulfield on steroids!" Jake saw something unspeakable when he was nine. An act of violence. Brutal. He doesn't know it, but this trauma will play a key role in shaping him later in life. Now, he's fifteen. A wimp. He flinches. Always. He's too timid to make a move on Beth, the buxom girl of his dreams, and too busy getting face-slammed into lockers by bullies to do much else. He seeks the guidance of the biggest bad ass he knows, his cousin Nick. Nick is a professional burglar and makes Jake his apprentice. They stalk suburban neighborhoods night after night, ransacking houses for jewelry and sweet valuables. Nick teaches Jake the finer points of breaking and entering along with his dark philosophy -- that there is no right or wrong in the world, just a series of events that happen without meaning. At first, adopting Nick's callous worldview helps Jake get over his fears and confront his tormentors, but he also unleashes an aggression in himself he never thought possible. And as he learns more about his cousin, he realizes that Nick's crimes go way beyond burglary. In the end, Jake must face not only the monster in his cousin but also the one in his own heart. Casting Shadows Everywhere is a dark and twisty psychological thriller perfect for fans of Gillian Flynn, Lucinda Berry, A.J. Finn, and Paula Hawkins.
Cracked Up to Be
Courtney Summers - 2008
She's quit the cheerleading squad, she's dumped her perfect boyfriend, and she's failing school. Her parents are on a constant suicide watch and her counselors think she's playing games, but they don't know that the real reason for this whole mess isn't something she can say out loud. It isn't even something she can say to herself. A horrible thing has happened and it just might be her fault. If she can just remove herself from everybody--be totally alone--then everything will be okay...The problem is, nobody will let her.
Wicked Sense
Fabio Bueno - 2012
Things get complicated when Skye meets a charming new classmate, Drake. Skye’s job becomes even trickier when she clashes with Jane, an intimidating rival witch.Drake falls for the mysterious Skye, but odd accidents, potion mix-ups, and the occasional brush with death kind of get in the way of romance. Once he discovers Skye is a witch, he goes to war for her, even though his only weapons are a nice set of abs and a sharp sense of humor.Fighting off wicked Jane and the other dark forces hell-bent on seizing the Singularity's immense power, Skye and Drake will risk everything to save the covens.Going on a date has never been harder.
The Key
Kathryn Hughes - 2018
'Riveting' Lesley Pearse on The Letter. 'Gripping' Good Housekeeping on The Secret.
1956 It's Ellen Crosby's first day at work as a student nurse at Ambergate County Lunatic Asylum. When she meets a young girl committed by her father, and a pioneering physician keen to try out the various 'cures' available for mental illness, little does Ellen know that a choice she will make is to change all their lives for ever...2006Sarah is drawn to the abandoned Ambergate Asylum and whilst exploring the old corridors she discovers a suitcase in an attic belonging to a female patient who was admitted to the asylum fifty years earlier. The shocking contents of the suitcase lead Sarah to unravel a forgotten story of tragedy, lost love and an old wrong that only Sarah may have the power to put right.
Join the hundreds of thousands of readers worldwide who have lost their hearts to Kathryn Hughes' novels:
'I cried buckets of tears reading it'
'You cannot fail to fall for this story'
'I went through every emotion under the sun'
'One of the finest stories I have ever read'
'I have finished this book with tears in my eyes but a smile on my face'
'I feel like I'm a better person for reading it'
Tropical Knights
John F. Beckman - 2012
He has left behind the Vietnam War, the SEC, the IRS, and a scheming ex-wife. Life is good. And then he meets Amy, the half Cuban beauty who invites him on the adventure of a lifetime. The Latin lovely offers Jack the opportunity to save the eastern U.S. from annihilation by a dying Castro, the dictator of Cuba. Jack wants nothing to do with this woman or her mission. But before he knows it Jack is involved with the Cuban Mafia, the CIA, and duplicitous politicians. When his brother is kidnapped Jack is torn between saving America or saving his only benefactor. Jack has an impossible decision to make. Sail along with Jack and Amy on the life or death voyage which makes Jack’s existence more complicated than he ever dreamed possible.
Dragonfly Dreams
Jennifer J. Chow - 2015
Chow, author of the award-winning THE 228 LEGACY, comes a young adult novel about immigrant struggles and family conflict.It’s 1880 in Fresno, California when 17-year-old Topaz Woo dies after giving birth. She can get an extension in a non-physical body—if she uses The Ten Commandments to influence her newborn. Over the course of ten years, she finds herself stymied in parenting by intergenerational drama and spiritual battle. Will she adjust to an otherworldly existence and give her daughter a solid foundation? Or will she become mired in family disputes and forfeit her soul to evil?