Book picks similar to
Mandolyn's Masquerade by Jennifer M. Oddo


book-club
daughter-read
grad-school
pie-plate-publishing-co

Overgrown


Betsy Price - 2020
    every morning, feverishly hot, her heart racing and mind whirring with every worst-case scenario imaginable. She's snappy, exhausted and has developed an alarming inability to remember simple nouns.When a friend has the audacity to suggest that forty-five-year-old landscape gardener Eliza Hamilton is hurtling toward menopause, she is naturally appalled. Menopause is something that happens to other women, older women.As Eliza tries to negotiate this new and confusing landscape, she also embarks on the biggest challenge of her career so far. But she soon discovers that juggling erratic mood swings with motherhood, demanding family members and domestic drudgery is far from the harmonious scenario she'd envisaged.If Eliza wants to embrace midlife without the crisis, she must first make some grown up choices and face some uncomfortable truths.Hilarious, gritty and brutally honest, Overgrown will have you laughing, crying and rooting for its quirky yet relatable characters. A much-needed novel every woman approaching midlife should read.

I Hate Your Face ...And Other Things I Wish I Could Tell My Coworkers


Connie O'Reyes - 2018
    In her debut collection of humor essays, Connie provides entertainment with hysterical stories about awkward workplace situations, ridiculous coworkers, and enough happy hour cocktails to make you question her life choices. From low paying high school gigs to “real world” marketing jobs in Chicago, Connie presents stories about life both in and out of the office that will have you laughing out loud in the break room.

The Curious Charms Of Arthur Pepper: Free Sample


Phaedra Patrick - 2016
     8 Golden Charms. One Man’s Journey of Discovery. “[A] charming, unforgettable story.” – Harper’s BazaarHaving been married for over 40 years, 69-year-old Arthur Pepper is mourning the loss of his wife. On the anniversary of her death, he finally musters the courage to go through her possessions, and happens upon a charm bracelet that he has never seen before.What follows is a surprising adventure that takes Arthur from London to Paris and India in an epic quest to find out the truth about his wife’s secret life before they met, a journey that leads him to find healing, self-discovery, and love in the most unexpected of places.

Dirtiest Revenge


Cha'Bella Don - 2011
    But being with a boss doesn’t come easy, and Momma always said what glitters isn’t always gold. Lies, deceit, and trust issues are becoming Kendra's worse nightmare. With deception in her view and Wiz nearby, Kendra is ready to move on until the unthinkable happens. Dreams, hopes, and love aren’t enough anymore! Will she go to depth’s end to seek the Dirtiest Revenge?

The Elegance of the Hedgehog


Jesse Russell - 2012
    The book follows events in the life of a concierge, Ren e Michel, whose deliberately concealed intelligence is uncovered by an unstable but intellectually precocious girl named Paloma Josse. Paloma is the daughter of an upper-class family living in the upscale Parisian apartment building where Ren e works.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan


Lambert M. Surhone - 2010
    In her introduction to the novel, See writes that Lily, the narrator, was born in 1823 -- "the third year of Emperor Daoguangs reign."The novel begins in 1903, when Lily is 80 years old. During her lifetime, Lily lives through the reigns of four emperors: Emperor Daoguang (1820-1850); Emperor Xianfeng (1850-1861); Emperor Tongzhi (1861-1875); and Emperor Guangxu (1875-1908).

The Blue Hour


M.J. Greenwood - 2021
    She hopes a combination of countryside and coast will heal her shattered heart. But she has yet to face tyrannical Tilly Barwise; the 89-year-old she will be looking after. Sharp, cantankerous and with an acid tongue, Tilly is the polar opposite of a sweet old lady. She has lived a thrillingly full life of romance and intrigue - and is determined shy Ava will follow in her doddering footsteps.Through Tilly's outrageous antics and bittersweet reminiscences, she shows Ava what it is to embrace life. As the pair form an unlikely bond, Tilly reveals the details of a wartime love affair with an American that ended in tragedy - but not quite in the way Tilly always believed.M J Greenwood has drawn a rich, funny, and poignant portrait of two women reluctantly bound by circumstance amid a landscape that retains a unique beauty, even in the midst of unwelcome change.

Naughty Bedtime Stories: First Taste


Olivia HarperLexi Ostrow - 2014
    Friends seeing each other with new eyes. The hesitant touch of new lovers. A first glance. A first word. A first touch. A first kiss. Take a journey through thirteen erotic shorts, poems and art to relive that first-time feeling. Naughty Bedtime Stories: First Taste will stir the butterflies, curl the toes and send hearts racing. After all, nothing tastes as good as naughty feels…

The Uglies


Thomas Burchfield - 2012
    The time: closer than we may realize.Unemployment is in high double-digits. The acrid stench of civil war smokes the air. The 1930s Great Depression all over . . . just a little more high-tech.Arch and Tess Uglias are blue-collar residents of the desolate Rust Belt city of Gary, Indiana. Arch, an unemployed auto-plant worker and ex-race car driver, and Tess, an unemployed nurse, are both staring homelessness and starvation in face.Meanwhile, Frank Regis, an aging disciple of the legendary bank robber Willie Sutton, is masterminding a string of bank robberies throughout Indiana. The Regis gang is a fractious collage of professional criminals, like Frank, and once law-abiding folks who have turned to crime out of desperation.After one of their drivers is killed during a getaway, the Regis gang goes in search of a replacement, a road that leads them to Arch Uglias. Though a law-abiding citizen and square guy his whole life, Arch, like some of the other gang members, feels compelled to take the wheel. And Tess becomes an outspoken, unwilling, uncooperative part of the package.From there, it’s a boisterous, bawdy and dangerous drive through a desperate world for the Regis gang, from the ruins of the Midwest to the ruins of the West Coast with ruthless law enforcement in pursuit and mistrust and murder blossoming among them. In the end, the war that has been raging at the edges suddenly draws them into its bloody vortex, leading to a fierce climax of double cross and desperate escape.“The Uglies,” an original screenplay by Thomas Burchfield (“Dragon’s Ark,” “Whackers”), drives the same perilous roads as such classics as “Bonnie and Clyde” and “The Getaway. It is a wild, bawdy, and action-packed saga about crime and pursuit, friendship and survival. It’s also the story of people who realize the need to stick together as the world around them falls to pieces.

The Week I Ruined My Life: A powerful thought provoking story of being true to yourself


Caroline Grace-Cassidy - 2016
    She seeks solace from her toxic relationship by throwing herself into a new job that she loves, by confiding in her best friend Corina and, most dangerously of all, by spending more and more time with her workmate Owen – who just so happens to be passionate, charming and everything her husband used to be.Then one heat-of-the-moment decision on a business trip to Amsterdam sets off a series of events that will change the course of all their lives forever.

Death's Witness


Paul Batista - 2006
    When Tom Perini, a legendary Heisman Trophy winner turned criminal lawyer, is found brutally murdered in Central Park, his widow Julie Perini suspects a wider conspiracy.  Not only was her husband part of the defense team for a Congressman on trial for bribery, her intuition also tells her that the FBI is not too eager to find the killer.Relying on her skills as a journalist, Julie begins her own investigation and soon discovers her late husband’s secret underworld associations; ties that now threaten her and her toddler’s lives.  Fighting grief and a sense of betrayal, Julie is pulled into an inescapable labyrinth of organized crime dealings, political corruption, brutal power grabs and murder. Desperate, Julie turns to Vincent Sorrentino, Tom’s defense partner, for help, and the two discover a shocking and terrifying truth that threatens to paralyze them.  But it may also hold the key—the only key—to saving the lives of Julie and her daughter.Renowned attorney Paul Batista seamlessly combines crack legal expertise with suspenseful storytelling to produce a pulse-pounding action story and a first rate courtroom procedural; a legal thriller so authentic, it reads like tomorrow’s headlines.

My Wife's Baby: I Am Not A Murder


R.M. Johnson - 2014
    They discussed this over bottles of red wine the night they met and promised, if ever they became a couple, they would remain childless and forever the other’s priority. One year after being married, Erica tells Stan she’s pregnant: news she’s very happy about. Stan considers talking Erica out of it, but that would mean aborting her child, something he knows Erica would never do. Two months into the pregnancy, Stan notices changes: times he and Erica enjoyed as a fun-loving childless couple are no longer; Erica’s attention is occupied with all things related to the forthcoming baby, and Stan has gone without sex for months. The child arrives and things get even worse; Stan feels like an outsider: a stranger living among his wife and her son. Erica gives all her time, attention and love to the infant, leaving none for her husband. Stan becomes envious; he looks at the newborn as a threat, tells himself something must be done—but what? He fights his jealous thoughts, knowing horrible things would happen if he were ever to act on them. But one night while drunk, Stan attempts to make love to his wife but is once again rejected. His pride hurt and feeling disowned, Stan stumbles into the baby’s room with intentions of eliminating his problem once and for all, knowing there can only be one man in Erica’s life. That is the promise his wife had made him on the night they met, and it is the promise he intends to make her keep.

Faraway Child


Amy Maida Wadsworth - 2005
    But now Jen's life seems to be crumbling around her. Her husband Adam is suddenly without a job, her sister is moving far away, and people increasingly describe her two-year-old daughter as a difficult child. This is not the way Jen dreamed parenthood would be, especially with her youngest daughter.In the middle of each night, Kaye wakes up screaming. Human interactions and parental guidance have little meaning for her. Jen makes jokes about Kaye's public behavior to push away the pain. Marie, her four-year-old daughter, wants to know, "Why won't Kaye play with me?" Then Jen's new visiting teacher asks if Kaye is autistic. In Faraway Child, Amy Maida Wadsworth shares her most personal novel to date with a story about a family who faces shattered expectations, and then learns to reach out to family, ward members, and to God.

Perfect on Paper


Gillian Harvey - 2021
    Successful career, loving husband, two kids and a gorgeous townhouse. At least, that's how it looks like from the outside.In fact, she's never felt more invisible. Her boss barely remembers her name, her husband is distracted by his new TV job and her daughter has never found her more embarrassing!But when she's given a chance to turn her life upside-down she wonders whether she should risk everything she loves for a life that's more than just 'perfect on paper'...?

The Complete Helen Forrester 4-Book Memoir: Twopence to Cross the Mersey / Liverpool Miss / By the Waters of Liverpool / Lime Street at Two


Helen Forrester - 1990
    672p hardback, a fresh copy, clean, firm binding, dustjacket in excellent condition, like new, signed by the author