Book picks similar to
Sparks by David Michael Slater
contemporary
crime-time
disability-rep
mystery
The Inheritance Games
Jennifer Lynn Barnes - 2020
Avery Grambs has a plan for a better future: survive high school, win a scholarship, and get out. But her fortunes change in an instant when billionaire Tobias Hawthorne dies and leaves Avery virtually his entire fortune. The catch? Avery has no idea why--or even who Tobias Hawthorne is. To receive her inheritance, Avery must move into sprawling, secret passage-filled Hawthorne House, where every room bears the old man's touch--and his love of puzzles, riddles, and codes. Unfortunately for Avery, Hawthorne House is also occupied by the family that Tobias Hawthorne just dispossessed. This includes the four Hawthorne grandsons: dangerous, magnetic, brilliant boys who grew up with every expectation that one day, they would inherit billions. Heir apparent Grayson Hawthorne is convinced that Avery must be a con-woman, and he's determined to take her down. His brother, Jameson, views her as their grandfather's last hurrah: a twisted riddle, a puzzle to be solved. Caught in a world of wealth and privilege, with danger around every turn, Avery will have to play the game herself just to survive.
Sleeper agent
John Birmingham - 2021
Since the car accident that wiped his memories, Cooper has been...a little foggy. Cooper doesn’t know how to do much, but one thing he instinctively seems to know about is strength training, and with his help, Gainesville High’s football team has just won the Mid-States final. With Cooper the hero of the hour, the whole town is getting ready to celebrate in style.When three strangers crash the party and decide to pick on the harmless-looking guy carrying a cooler full of sodas, they trigger something inside Cooper. Afterwards, the folks in Gainesville can never look at him in quite the same way. Is he really just a regular guy who suffered a brain injury in a car crash, or is he someone else? Or something else?As Cooper tries to come to terms with baffling new memories, he’s about to be plunged into a terrifying world of secret experiments and covert assassins that will test his new-found abilities to the limit.
Small Town Secrets
Alys Murray - 2021
One year’s room and board provided.”I should have known it was too good to be true when I first saw the ad. It turns out that Fortune Springs, Colorado isn’t just a one-horse town, it’s a two-woman one, and this is their attempt to keep the community alive. I want to say the scheme is ridiculous, totally outdated, but I’m carrying everything I own in my canvas backpack and the greyhound I stepped off this morning is long gone. If this is my chance at a fresh start, I’d better grab it with both hands.I know I should feel guilty about pretending to be a lonely heart willing to help repopulate this rural logging town, but all I feel is relief at having escaped the apartment in Savannah. And after all, what’s one more secret to add to the pile? I only hope I’ve hidden my tracks well enough, and that the kind Fortune Springs locals who’ve opened their doors to me will never find out what made me run away in the first place…An emotional, gripping story full of family drama. Fans of Carolyn Brown, Robyn Carr and Debbie Macomber will be hooked.
Why we don't die in Dreams
Debbie Zello - 2016
Gavin McLean is an astute, accomplished and dedicated homicide detective. His days are filled with solving brutal murder cases, delving into the psyches of the worst humanity has to offer. His work comes first, to the detriment of his personal life. His sleeping hours are plagued by a reoccurring dream of a beautiful naked woman with long brown hair. He's mesmerized by her shapely backside, which is all he can see in the vision. The dream is erratic, with no patterns to help discern frequency or cause ... with one complicated exception. She is always suspended by her hands, from a meat hook, on the ceiling, and pleads for her life. With his personal life in turmoil and dreams shortening his sleep, he struggles to keep his world in operating order. He distracts himself by having an encounter with a frequent lover. Then fate steps in when a woman is found naked and dead, in a dumpster. Is Gavin's dream becoming his reality. Sometimes nothing is as it seems.
Adventures in Funeral Crashing
Milda Harris - 2011
At one of these, Kait is outted by the most popular guy in school, Ethan Ripley. Yet, instead of humiliating her for all the world to see, he asks for her help, and Kait finds herself entangled in a murder mystery. Not only is the thrill of the mystery exciting, but more importantly Ethan knows her name! A little sleuthing is well worth that!
Plague
Gregg Luke - 2019
Mitch has uncovered a startling pattern: dramatic environmental changes always occurred prior to devastating outbreaks, and current climate change may be such a catalyst. But before his plane lands, Mitch’s journey takes a terrifying turn. He is intercepted by a woman who represents a dangerous faction whose interest in Mitch’s research opposes his mission to save lives. To secure Mitch’s cooperation, his research assistant is being held hostage. With so many lives on the line, Mitch embarks on a turbulent trip around the world, uncovering pieces of the puzzle until he ultimately holds the key to prevent — or precipitate — global devastation. Unless he can find a way to stop the lunatics behind his abduction, a plague the likes of which the world has never known will be unleashed.
Guardians of the Garden (Guardians Book I)
Theresa Pocock
At least there she would be free from the garden’s magic, free to lead her own life, and free to never again think about ancient apples, or duty, or life unending. Seth Johnson's sister is losing her battle with cancer, and his parents seem to have given up on trying to save her. He cannot let her die. He will do anything to stop it including cutting a deal with a mercenary. Neither Seth nor Miriam want to be caught up in the tide of fate and feelings destined for them, but with such harshly opposing goals their worlds are bound to collide. If Miriam and Seth cannot find a way to have faith in each other this will end with the death of a beloved sister, a destroyed relationship, and the secret of immortality revealed to a pre-apocalyptic world.Pocock takes her readers to a land where myth, folklore and reality merge, where love is strong, fear runs deep, and the end of the world is coming.
The Missing Piece
Catherine Miller - 2020
Keisha Grant learnt that the hard way.Fifteen years ago, when she was a teenager being raised by her single dad, something happened on an ordinary Wednesday. Something that imploded her world, shattering her life as she knew it. It changed her forever – the girl she used to be is nothing but a faded memory.Ever since then, Keisha’s been in survival mode. She won’t let herself cry, won’t let herself think – what happened is hidden in a little box in the far corner of her mind. Just one look into her emerald-green eyes and you can see the shadow that haunts her.The scar she covers with a tattoo is an important reminder: your heart can’t break if you don’t let it feel in the first place. It’s an insurance policy she lives by. She won’t let anyone close enough to do real damage, and when happiness taps her on the shoulder, she turns the other way.But the problem is that Keisha isn’t living – she’s simply existing. What will it take to convince her that someone out there could be her missing piece? And can she ever face up to her past, so that she can have a future?For anyone who has ever felt the pang of heartbreak and feared you might never heal, this beautiful tale teaches us how to dust ourselves off and seek happiness again. Fans of Jojo Moyes, Josie Silver and Diane Chamberlain will love this moving and uplifting story.
The Jo Modeen Box Set: Books 1-3
Frank H. Jordan - 2016
With a salute to characters like Russell Blake’s thrilling Jet and Lee Child's tough-as-nails Jack Reacher, THE MODEEN FACTOR, book one in the series, introduces Josephine Dakota Modeen MG, the kick-ass heroine we’d all like to have on our side. Following a distinguished military career - having successfully passed the gruelling entry programme to be the first woman accepted into Australia’s elite SASR and earning the Medal for Gallantry in action - Modeen is left wondering what’s next. And for someone with her unique skills, the options are limited. When unexpectedly contacted by her old CO Ben Logan VC MG, now a team leader with Australia’s national security agency, she knows it's not a social call. What she doesn’t know is how it will change her life…. In book two, THE MODEEN TRANSFORMATION, Modeen’s team is in pursuit of ruthless kidnappers and their high-profile hostages, abducted during the 2014 international G20 Summit in Brisbane, Queensland. Always a step behind but remaining hopeful of finding the captives alive, the team tracks the wily kidnappers from the state’s south to its far north. And along the way they make a shocking discovery … of how close to home the threat lies. In book three, MODEEN: BLACK OPS, Modeen is faced with a dilemma – should she follow her orders or her instincts? Her team disperses under deep cover to unravel the web of secrets surrounding their latest mission, which takes them from country Victoria to Australia’s national capital, and across the ocean to Kabul in Afghanistan. And the stakes couldn’t be higher....
A Bride for the Texas Ranger
Charlotte Dearing - 2019
He must, however, work a deal with her. She needs money to save her ranch and he needs access to the spring on her property. Seems simple, right? But nothing’s ever easy with Pearl. The woman is steely and stubborn, but she’s lovely too, with a carefully concealed, vulnerable side. As much as he tries not to notice, thoughts of Pearl distract him plenty. She stirs all sorts of protective notions. He yearns to shield her from the dangerous outlaws that lurk in the nearby canyons. When whispered rumors turn into deadly threats, Levi vows to do whatever it takes to keep Pearl safe.
The Twilight Saga - Eclipse Songbook: Music from the Motion Picture Score
Hal Leonard Corporation - 2010
The third installment of the mega-hit Twilight saga stormed movie theatres nationwide. This songbook includes 10 selections from the score penned by Howard Shore, arranged for piano solo: As Easy as Breathing * Compromise/Bella's Theme * Eclipse (All Yours) * First Kiss * Imprinting * Jacob's Theme * Jasper * The Kiss * Victoria * Wedding Plans. Includes fabulous color photos of Bella, Edward and Jacob!
Gored of the Rings
Elise Sax - 2020
The three years have been quiet, filled with marital bliss and absolutely no murder. Without a mystery to solve, Gladie has grown bored, even as she has exceled as a matchmaker with more than a little psychic ability. Now, her Grandma Zelda has decided to expand the family business to wedding planning, and Gladie is going to be in charge of it. * Her first customer wants a wedding with all the trimmings, including an axe-throwing room, a tractor parade, and a longhorn bull instead of a limo to the ceremony. When one of the wedding party winds up dead, a freak accident is blamed. But Gladie’s murder antennae are up, and she’s determined to prove that it’s murder and bring the killer to justice. * Gored of the Rings is the first book in the Matchmaker Marriage Mysteries, the continuing adventures of Gladie Burger with all of the regular characters from the Matchmaker Mysteries. It’s perfect for fans of Miss Fortune, Stephanie Plum, and small-town, funny mysteries. * Matchmaker Marriage Mysteries…sometimes love comes with a few dead ends. * “Sax will make you laugh. Her larger-than-life characters jump off the page and make crazy seem like a fun place to hang out.”—New York Times bestselling author Christie Craig * “With quirky characters reminiscent of Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series and a small-town heroine redolent of Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse” --RT Book Reviews
Mad Miss Mimic
Sarah Henstra - 2015
Born into an affluent family, Leo outwardly seems like a typical daughter of English privilege in the 1870s: she lives with her wealthy married sister Christabel, and lacks for neither dresses nor trinkets. But Leo has a crippling speech impediment that makes it difficult for her to speak but curiously allows her to mimic other people's voices flawlessly. Servants and ladies alike call her "Mad Miss Mimic" behind her back... and watch as she unintentionally scares off every potential suitor. Only the impossibly handsome Mr. Thornfax seems interested in Leo...but why? And does he have a connection to the mysterious Black Glove group that has London in its terrifying grasp? Trapped in a city under siege by terror attacks and gripped by opium fever, where doctors (including her brother-in-law) race to patent an injectable formula, Leo must search for truth in increasingly dangerous situations - but to do so, she must first find her voice.
The Cove / The Maze / Eleventh Hour
Catherine Coulter - 2004
Into The Cove comes Sally Brainerd, daughter of murdered Amory St. John of Washington, D.C., seeking sanctuary, and FBI Special Agent James Quinlan who's undercover and after her. He's got a murder to solve, and he believes she's the key. But is she really?The Maze (Susan Ericksen, Ruth Bloomquist, Jill Sovis): Lacey Sherlock's life is forever changed when her older sister's body is discovered in an abandoned warehouse. She is the fourth victim of the String Killer, the name given by the media to a murderer who leads his victims into a maze with a ball of twine. Seven years after Belinda's death, Lacey, now an FBI agent, is paired up with computer whiz Dillon Savich, who has developed a predictive program to aid in the apprehension of serial killers. When the String Killer strikes again, Lacey spots his handiwork, resulting in his capture. The suspect confesses, but maintains that he did not kill Belinda. No sooner does Lacey confirm his innocence of that crime, than an attempt is made on her life. Suspecting her attacker is the same person who murdered her sister, Lacey and Dillon know they must solve the mystery - before they become the killer's next victims.Eleventh Hour (Sandra Burr, Ruth Bloomquist, Mike Council): When FBI agent Dane Carver's twin brother, Father Michael Joseph, is brutally murdered in his San Francisco church, husband-and-wife agents Lacey Sherlock and Dillon Savich take a personal interest in the investigation. Then Nicola "Nick" Jones, a homeless woman and the only witness to the shooting, is scared out of her mind because she is trying to hide from her own monsters - who are drawing closer and closer. The chase goes from San Francisco to the Premiere Studios in Los Angeles and its new television hit, a show all about murder.
Variant
Robison Wells - 2011
A school where video cameras monitor his every move. Where there are no adults. Where the kids have split into groups in order to survive.Where breaking the rules equals death.But when Benson stumbles upon the school’s real secret, he realizes that playing by the rules could spell a fate worse than death, and that escape—his only real hope for survival—may be impossible.
