Book picks similar to
All But One by Julie Oleszek


coming-of-age
contemporary
year-8-9-summer
depression

Unending Havoc: Montana Mayhem Book 1 | America's New Apocalypse


Millie Copper - 2021
    In the old world, home was only a quick hour and a half drive away. But now that cars and fuel are a thing of the past, nothing is quick, and it's certainly not easy.It's not even safe.Can Tamra and her children survive this dangerous journey? Was her hometown affected by these devastating attacks against the US? Are her parents even alive?Unending Havoc, Book 1 of Montana Mayhem, is the highly anticipated follow-up story to the bestselling Havoc in Wyoming Christian Futuristic series, which follows societal collapse from a small-town perspective. Featuring engaging scenarios, riveting action, and flawed yet strong and complex women, the Montana Mayhem series is perfect for fans of Mark Goodwin, Jamie Lee Grey, and Kyla Stone.Download today and discover why readers love this twist on the Post-Apocalyptic genre!The Montana Mayhem series can be described as “Cozy” Apocalypse and contains no profanity, gratuitous sex scenes, or overly detailed gruesome death scenes.

This Much Huxley Knows


Gail Aldwin - 2021
    Trouble is, no one gets my jokes. And Breaks-it isn’t helping. Ha! You get it, don’t you? Brexit means everyone’s falling out and breaking up.Huxley is growing up in the suburbs of London at a time of community tensions. To make matters worse, a gang of youths is targeting isolated residents. When Leonard, an elderly newcomer chats with Huxley, his parents are suspicious. But Huxley is lonely and thinks Leonard is too. Can they become friends?Funny and compassionate, this contemporary novel for adults explores issues of belonging, friendship and what it means to trust.“Read this and feel young again” – Joe Siple, author of THE FIVE WISHES OF MR. MURRAY McBRIDE 'Moving and ultimately upbeat” – Christopher Wakling, author of WHAT I DID“A joy of a novel, with a wonderfully exuberant character in Huxley” – Sara Gethin, author of NOT THOMAS

Don't Let Me Go


Catherine Ryan Hyde - 2011
    He has glimpsed his neighbors—beautiful manicurist Rayleen, lonely old Ms. Hinman, bigoted and angry Mr. Lafferty, kind-hearted Felipe, and 9-year-old Grace and her former addict mother Eileen. But most of them have never seen Billy. Not until Grace begins to sit outside on the building’s front stoop for hours every day, inches from Billy’s patio. Troubled by this change in the natural order, Billy makes it far enough out onto his porch to ask Grace why she doesn’t sit inside where it’s safe. Her answer: “If I sit inside, then nobody will know I’m in trouble. And then nobody will help me.” Her answer changes everything.

The bench by Cromer beach


R.J. Gould - 2020
    One year that changes everything. They seem to have it all. They’re in good health and are financially secure. They live in a pleasant and comfortable town. But as their lives intertwine, cracks emerge and restlessness grows. For Clive, is retirement the beginning of the end? Can fun-loving Saskia break free from her adulterous husband? Will Andy marry his childhood sweetheart? Is Jamie prepared to change his dishonest ways? Might Ellie’s happy marriage be shattered by temptation?Heart-warming and heart-breaking collide in this novel about aspirations, expectations and the realities of everyday life.

Friends and Neighbours: A heart-warming journey of self-discovery


Ruth Torjussen - 2021
    But when your best friend has died and your other friends have moved away it can suddenly get a whole lot tougher. Now heartbroken Jenny has a female shaped hole in her life which - despite the presence of many women - won’t go away. Grief has turned her into a first class snob.Husband Lonny preps the house for climate change and is unable to halt Jenny’s unravelling. Then gorgeous Trudi wafts into the creative writing class bringing some much needed hope.Feeling that this is the only way out of her depression, Jenny’s intention to befriend Trudi builds to an obsession while facing all manner of setbacks. A motley crew of unsuitable local women is encroaching while lovely Trudi remains elusive. Why is something that used to be so easy, now so hard?Mixing serious issues with much hilarity ‘Friends and Neighbours’ is a feel-good story for our times.‘This book made me laugh out loud in many places and shed a tear in others’ Siobhan Curham. Author. 'An American in Paris'

My Temporary Life


Martin Crosbie - 2011
    Growing up, he's raised by a promiscuous mother who can't stay out of trouble, his best friend is a thirteen-year-old alcoholic, and the masters at his tough Scottish school are always raising their canes in his direction. When he becomes an adult, he escapes, and chooses the safe route, watching the world from a distance.Everything changes the day he meets the beautiful, alluring, green-eyed Heather, and when he learns of Heather's own abusive childhood and the horrific secret she's been carrying, Malcolm decides to help her. And, this time he's not backing down, whatever the cost.

The Incredible Life Of Jonathan Doe


Carol Coffey - 2013
    Brendan spends his days happily labouring on building sites and his evenings drinking alone in bars and hooking up with a constant stream of one-night stands. Following a second DUI, Brendan’s peaceful and predictable life ends abruptly and he is forced to go to live in the town of Dover, New Jersey, with his overbearing uncle. There he forms an unlikely friendship with his meek, downtrodden cousin Eileen. Forced into completing his community service, he meets Jonathan Doe, an intriguing man living in a local homeless shelter whose amazing stories of a happy childhood in the Appalachian Mountains captivate him. Within weeks of his arrival in Dover, Brendan loses himself in the strange man’s incredible stories. Fascinated by the fact that Jonathan Doe can no longer remember exactly where he is from, Brendan becomes obsessed with helping his new friend find his way back to the kind of home he himself has always dreamed of. But is Jonathan’s past real or are his memories the product of a deeply troubled mind? The closer Brendan gets to the truth, the more he realises that all is not what it seems with Jonathan Doe.

EMP Desolation


S.A. Ison - 2019
    His future is before him, but it is a new beginning he'd not counted on. An EMP changes the course of his life. Tomi leads his friend and other to a safe haven, but they must journey through a gauntlet of danger, betrayal and desolation. With a 90% die off rate, the once powerful United States becomes something medieval and lawless. Where desolation reigns.

Love Like Crazy


Megan Squires - 2014
    She’s not waiting on the handsome prince with his white horse to come to her rescue. But even though she’s not waiting on it, that doesn’t stop nineteen-year-old Lincoln Ross from driving straight into her heart with his teal and white campervan and his too tall stature and perpetually goofy grin.It’s difficult to believe in a happily ever after when a happy now is quite hard to find. But Lincoln gives Eppie hope that despite the odds, a true and unconditional love might actually be out there. A revised fairytale. A new kind of love story.But then again, that might just be plain crazy.(Love Like Crazy is an upper YA novel.)

Breaking Twig


Deborah Epperson - 2011
    Not even Twig’s vivid imagination, keen wit, and dark sense of humor is enough to help her survive the escalating assaults of Helen and a new stepbrother, but help comes from an unexpected source—Frank, her stepfather. Sometimes, having one person who loves and believes in you is all a girl needs to keep hope alive. Often raw and irreverent and sprinkled with all the Southern flavoring found in a good bowl of chicken and dumplings, BREAKING TWIG, is about finding love where we least expect it, destroying lives with easy lies, and realizing each of us determine our own truth. (Taken from author's website.)

Perfect


Rachel Joyce - 2013
    It was in order to balance clock time with the movement of the earth. Byron Hemming knew this because James Lowe had told him and James was the cleverest boy at school. But how could time change? The steady movement of hands around a clock was as certain as their golden futures.Then Byron's mother, late for the school run, makes a devastating mistake. Byron's perfect world is shattered. Were those two extra seconds to blame? Can what follows ever be set right?

Someone Like You


Suzanne Jenkins - 2013
    But a babysitter introduces them both to Jay Malik, a medical student from India who becomes their lifeline to happiness, forgiveness and healing. "Another tear-jerker from Jenkins. Have the tissue ready."

The Theory Of Invisibility


Aimee Pitta - 2014
    we stop being seen Set against the backdrop of California’s beautiful Venice Canals The Theory of Invisibility is a modern day fable that uses magical realism as an expression of one’s loss of faith. Emme Taylor, haunted by the death of her husband and son, and unable to interact with the world as she’s known it, slips into a state of invisibility. When Emme seemingly disappears, Morgan, Emme’s sister, immediately fears the worse and shines a spotlight of suspicion on Phil, Emme’s co-worker. As Emme struggles through her haze of grief she must decide if she should sacrifice her cloak of invisibility in order to save the ones she loves.

The Inn at Cranberry Cove (Cranberry Cove Series Book 1)


June Foster - 2020
    She’s inherited her aunt’s B&B and is determined to carry on her legacy. Upon preparing for guests, she learns of a century-old tale of treasure within the inn. Many have searched for the illusive gems but to no avail. She discovers a man working on the inn’s grounds, but is he the gardener Gina Price hired? Perhaps he’s searching for the hidden treasure.James Atwood, corporate executive, works in the Atwood’s thriving cranberry business. Tragedy strikes, and he’s numb and riddled with guilt. Befriended by Gina Price, he finds solace working evening and weekends in the fresh earth, fescue grass, and aromatic blossoms of the inn’s gardens, helping to divert his mind from his dishonest cousin Robert, bent on destroying the Atwood business. He continues tending the grounds after Gina passes, and the new owner believes he’s a gardener. After she calls late one night upon hearing a prowler, James races to her rescue and discovers his feelings are more than protective.Ashton’s first guests, the Claxton’s, appear out of nowhere saying they’ve had reservations for a year though she finds no record of a deposit. She chalks the failure up to faulty accounting before she arrived. When an elusive intruder continues to make frightening midnight visits, Ashton fears for her own safety and that of the Claxtons. But then, their odd comings and goings cause Ashton to wonder. Are they really vacationing visitors from California, or do they have other motives for staying at the inn?Can two people allow the majestic northwest and fragrant coastal air heal their wounded hearts? Will they discover the secret of The Inn at Cranberry Cove?

The Madness of Grief


Panayotis Cacoyannis - 2018
    While men are walking on the moon, life in London for sixteen-year-old Jane takes unexpected turns. On the point of falling in love with her best friend Karl, she discovers that there's more to her father's spectacular girlfriend than at first meets the eye. In the sweltering heat of a fast-moving evening, other revelations quickly follow, reconciling Jane with her father but also reopening wounds from the past, laying bare raw emotions kept suppressed for too long. And as the evening draws to a close, the night's drama has only just begun, unfolding in a sequence of violent events that threaten to have lasting repercussions for Jane and the people she loves...Lightened by a gentle touch of humor, with magic tricks, sexuality and family secrets all playing a prominent part, The Madness of Grief is a mystery and a thriller contained in a coming-of-age tale of friendship, betrayal and loss.