Book picks similar to
Left Hanging: What price would you pay to save your marriage? by Maria Frankland
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The Couple in The Photograph
Valerie Keogh - 2021
. .He does. And he doesn’t take it well. When he says she’ll regret it, Keri grows concerned. A funeral wreath is delivered to their home—and then an employee at Keri and Nathan’s company is murdered.Now Keri is faced with some pressing questions: Is her ex-lover responsible or is someone else behind the threats? Can her marriage survive? And is it always right to tell the truth?
Her Pretty Face
Robyn Harding - 2018
A stay-at-home mom whose troubled son is her full-time job, she thought that the day he got accepted into the elite Forrester Academy would be the day she started living her life. Overweight, insecure, and lonely, she is desperate to fit into Forrester’s world, but after a disturbing incident at the school leads the other children and their families to ostracize the Metcalfes, she feels more alone than ever before--until she meets Kate Randolph. Kate is everything Frances is not: beautiful, wealthy, powerful, and confident. And for some reason, she’s not interested in being friends with any of the other Forrester moms—only Frances. As the two bond over their disdain of the Forrester snobs and the fierce love they have for their sons, a startling secret threatens to tear them apart.
Goodnight Beautiful
Aimee Molloy - 2020
Or, it turns out, a life where Annie spends most of her time alone while Sam, her therapist husband, works long hours in his downstairs office, tending to the egos of his (mostly female) clientele.Little does Sam know that through a vent in his ceiling, every word of his sessions can be heard from the room upstairs. The pharmacist's wife, contemplating a divorce. The well-known painter whose boyfriend doesn’t satisfy her in bed. Who could resist listening? Everything is fine until the French girl in the green mini Cooper shows up, and Sam decides to go to work and not come home, throwing a wrench into Sam and Annie's happily ever after.
My Sister's Lies
Rachel Hargrove - 2018
But I played by the rules. I stepped aside. I honored their sham of a marriage and watched a good man rot while my sister destroyed him from within. But then...my sister went missing. So I saved her husband's life. I loved him like he was my own. And I protected him from the truth. I had to do it. You would've done the same. From the author of Sick Girl comes a mind-blowing psychological thriller that'll keep you turning the pages until the dramatic final twist. Read the gripping novel readers are calling "Gone Girl on steroids!"
You Can Trust Me
Emma Rowley - 2019
And now she's releasing her tell-all autobiography.Nicky is the ghostwriter tasked with coaxing out the full story - including details of the tragic accident that blighted Olivia's golden childhood.But, as she delves into Olivia's life, Nicky discovers cracks appearing in the glamorous façade. From money worries to Olivia's strained relationship with her handsome husband, the truth belies her perfect image.As Olivia becomes increasingly hostile to the woman she's let into her life, Nicky becomes ever more relentless in her hunt for the truth.Has Olivia really escaped the ghosts of her past - or will Nicky find there are more sinister reasons she wants to leave an old tragedy well alone?
Too Good to Be True
Carola Lovering - 2021
TWO MARRIAGES. THREE VERSIONS OF THE TRUTH.Skye Starling is overjoyed when her boyfriend, Burke Michaels, proposes after a whirlwind courtship. Though Skye seems to have the world at her fingertips―she’s smart, beautiful, and from a well-off family―she’s also battled crippling OCD ever since her mother’s death when she was eleven, and her romantic relationships have suffered as a result.But now Burke―handsome, older, and more emotionally mature than any man she’s met before―says he wants her. Forever. Except, Burke isn’t who he claims to be. And interspersed letters to his therapist reveal the truth: he’s happily married, and using Skye for his own, deceptive ends.In a third perspective, set thirty years earlier, a scrappy seventeen-year-old named Heather is determined to end things with Burke, a local bad boy, and make a better life for herself in New York City. But can her adolescent love stay firmly in her past―or will he find his way into her future?On a collision course she doesn’t see coming, Skye throws herself into wedding planning, as Burke’s scheme grows ever more twisted. But of course, even the best laid plans can go astray. And just when you think you know where this story is going, you’ll discover that there’s more than one way to spin the truth.
The Adulterer's Wife
Leigh Russell - 2018
It seems her life can’t get any worse - until she comes home to find his dead body in their bed. When the police establish he was murdered, Julie is the obvious suspect. To protect her son from the terrible situation, Julie sends the teenage boy to his grandparents in Edinburgh while she fights to prove her innocence. With all the evidence pointing to her, the only way she can escape conviction is by discovering the true identity of her husband’s killer. But who really did murder Paul? The truth is never straightforward…
Friends Like These
Sarah Alderson - 2018
And she flaunts her perfect life all over social media.It drove her colleague Lizzie mad, but she couldn't stop looking. They were never really friends - and yet Lizzie knew everything about her.Or did she?When chance, and a terrible mistake, pulls Lizzie back into Becca's orbit years after they lost touch, she'll realise that you can't always believe what you see online... and that finding out the truth might be the worst thing you can do.There's no such thing as a perfect life. Only a perfect lie.
The Silent Daughter
Claire Amarti - 2020
Blonde hair waterfalling over her shoulders, serious eyes, lips a little parted like she's about to speak. That's when I realize I've been holding my breath, because the gasp when I inhale almost chokes me.Sadie Kelly has lost her job. Until last month, she was a teacher at Horton College – the same high school she went to ten years ago along with her best friend, Fiona. But Fiona died in an accident on their graduation night, in circumstances Sadie's spent the last ten years trying to forget, and since then nothing's been the same.Now Sadie's back in the small Connecticut town where she grew up, jobless and living temporarily with Fiona's mother. But when she hears that a Horton schoolgirl has gone missing, everything changes. Because the missing girl is Devon Hundley - daughter of Philip Hundley, a man Sadie knows all too well…
The Beloveds
Maureen Lindley - 2018
Everything falls into their laps without effort: happiness, beauty, good fortune, allure. Betty Stash is not a Beloved—but her little sister, the delightful Gloria, is. She’s the one with the golden curls and sunny disposition and captivating smile, the one whose best friend used to be Betty’s, the one whose husband should have been Betty’s. And then, to everyone’s surprise, Gloria inherits the family manse—a vast, gorgeous pile of ancient stone, imposing timbers, and lush gardens—that was never meant to be hers. Losing what Betty considers her rightful inheritance is the final indignity. As she single-mindedly pursues her plan to see the estate returned to her in all its glory, her determined and increasingly unhinged behavior—aided by poisonous mushrooms, talking walls, and a phantom dog—escalates to the point of no return. The Beloveds will have you wondering if there’s a length to which an envious sister won’t go.
The Light Through the Leaves
Glendy Vanderah - 2021
But when she returns, Viola is gone. A breaking point in an already fractured marriage, Viola’s abduction causes Ellis to disappear as well—into grief, guilt, and addiction. Convinced she can only do more harm to her family, Ellis leaves her husband and young sons, burying her desperate ache for her children deeper with every step into the mountain wildernesses she treks alone.In a remote area of Washington, a young girl named Raven keeps secrets inside, too. She must never speak to outsiders about how her mother makes miracles spring from the earth, or about her father, whose mysterious presence sometimes frightens her. Raven spends her days learning how to use her rare gifts—and more important, how to hide them. With each lesson comes a warning of what dangers lie in the world beyond her isolated haven. But despite her mother’s cautions, Raven finds herself longing for something more.As Ellis and Raven each confront their powerful longings, their journeys will converge in unexpected and hopeful ways, pulled together by the forces of nature, love, and family.
Playing Nice
J.P. Delaney - 2020
. . .Pete Riley answers the door one morning and lets in a parent's worst nightmare. On his doorstep is Miles Lambert, a stranger who breaks the devastating news that Pete's son, Theo, isn't actually his son--he is the Lamberts', switched at birth by an understaffed hospital while their real son was sent home with Miles and his wife, Lucy. For Pete, his partner Maddie, and the little boy they've been raising for the past two years, life will never be the same again.The two families, reeling from the shock, take comfort in shared good intentions, eagerly entwining their very different lives in the hope of becoming one unconventional modern family. But a plan to sue the hospital triggers an official investigation that unearths some disturbing questions about the night their children were switched. How much can they trust the other parents--or even each other? What secrets are hidden behind the Lamberts' glossy front door? Stretched to the breaking point, Pete and Maddie discover they will each stop at nothing to keep their family safe.They are done playing nice.
Hope Close
Tina Seskis - 2020
Perfect homes. Not so perfect lives.
Hope Close: a leafy, tranquil backwater in the heart of the English countryside. But when Andy Meyer moves in, it soon becomes clear that picture-perfect homes can hide less-than-perfect lives. Fresh from rehab and with no interest in meeting his neighbours, Andy erects forbidding gates to keep the ghosts of his past—and any prying eyes—at bay.Next door, in the grandest house, Layla is unhappily married to a much older man and desperately misses her young son, who has been banished to boarding school. When lonely Nicole from over the road confides her own secret heartache to Layla, the two women form an unlikely bond—until one of them attracts the attention of their mysterious new neighbour.The only person to sense something dangerous about Andy is busybody Joan. But will her suspicions bring her more than she bargains for?As the past catches up with the residents of Hope Close, it becomes clear that the intriguing new neighbour isn’t the only one with something to hide…
The Perfect Couple
Lisa Hall - 2020
For good.To the outside world, they really seem to be a perfect match. There’s just the small issue of what really happened to Rupert’s first wife…A gripping, razor-sharp game of cat and mouse, from the bestselling author, Lisa Hall.Praise for The Perfect Couple:‘Chillingly believable and utterly compelling with thrills aplenty — I loved this book’ Lucy Foley, No.1 bestselling author of The Hunting Party‘The Perfect Couple is the perfect summer read. A classy thriller that’s stylish, twisty and full of suspense, Hall’s novel is garnished with echoes of the classics such as Rebecca and Gaslight, but is very much a delicious cocktail all of its own’ Sarah Pinborough, No.1 bestselling author of Behind Her Eyes‘I raced through The Perfect Couple. It’s the perfect one-sitting read. Chock-full of menace, red herrings, and well-drawn characters who pull you one way, then hurl you in the opposite direction. I had my theories – they were all wrong! Highly recommended’ Caz Frear, No.1 bestselling author of Sweet Little Lies‘Think Rebecca, Body Heat, and Gaslight. Lisa Hall’s dark thriller plays on three classic tropes and does the seemingly unimaginable: it improves on them. You’re going to devour this one’ Christina Dalcher, bestselling author of Vox and Q‘Darkly addictive and impossible to predict, this is Lisa Hall at her absolute best’ CWA Dagger-winning author Chris Whitaker
As Long as We Both Shall Live
JoAnn Chaney - 2018
They start a search, but they aren't hopeful: no one could have survived that fall. It was a tragic accident.But Matt's first wife also died in suspicious circumstances. And when the police pull a body out of the river, they have a lot more questions for Matt.Detectives Loren and Spengler want to know if Matt is a grieving, twice-unlucky husband or a cold-blooded murderer. They dig into the couple's lives to see what they can unearth. And they find that love's got teeth, it's got claws, and once it hitches you to a person, it's tough to rip yourself free.So what happens when you're done making it work?