Book picks similar to
Ballad of a Ghetto Poet by A.J. White


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Access Road


Maurice Gee - 2009
    Rowan too, otherwise safe in her 'upper crusty' suburb, is drawn more and more strongly 'out west'.  The past is dangerously alive. Clyde Buckley - violent as a boy; enigmatic, subterranean as an old man - returns to his childhood territory. What does he want? What crimes does he hide? And how is Lionel involved? Rowan must abandon safety if she is to find out . . . Maurice Gee is a master storyteller. Access Road is at once a novel of chilling tension and expansive humanity; both a beautifully crafted work of literature and an effortlessly seductive family story.

Prairie Marriages: A Bestselling Romance Anthology


Debbie Macomber - 2019
    His ranch will be a good place for her sons to grow up, a place to escape big-city influences. Then she learns—from a stranger named Sam Dakota—that her grandfather is ill. Possibly dying. Molly packs up the kids without a second thought and makes the long drive to Sweetgrass, Montana.Once she arrives, she immediately has questions about Sam Dakota. Why is he working on her grandfather’s ranch? Why doesn’t the sheriff trust him? Just who is he? But despite everything, Molly can’t deny her attraction to Sam—until her ailing grandfather tries to push them into marriage.Moving to the state of Montana is one thing; entering the state of matrimony is another! Some borders aren’t so easy to cross… Dakota Farm First published in 2012 as The Farmer Takes a Wife.Dave Stafford reckons he’s got enough to offer a woman: he’s decent and hardworking, and his farm in Buffalo Valley does all right. But there aren’t many women in town, so he places a personal ad. And he gets one single reply. Only Emma Fowler, a woman from Seattle, is interested. But when she arrives in North Dakota, she’s a little different from the picture she sent—and that’s not all Emma hasn’t been completely honest about. Emma is desperate to change her hectic, stretched-thin life, for her own sake…and for her three-year-old daughter. She’s been lonely, too, and is hoping that this practical match will be the solution for her bruised heart. Dave and Emma will discover they can make a family, once they get used to the fact that they are husband and wife!

The Lake


Natasha Preston - 2021
    They're excited to be back this year as CITs (counselors in training). Esme loves the little girls in her cabin and thinks it's funny how scared they are of everything--spiders, the surly head counselor, the dark, boys . . . even swimming in the lake! It reminds her a little of how she and Kayla used to be, once. Before . . . it happened.Because Esme and Kayla did something bad when they were campers. Afterwards, the girls agreed to keep it secret. They've moved on--or so they say--and this summer is going to be great. Two months of sun, s'mores, and flirting with the cute boy counselors. But then they get a note. THE LAKE NEVER FORGETS. And the secret they've kept buried for so many years is about to resurface.

Billionaire’s Haunting Secrets


Destiny Davis - 2016
     What few people don’t know, however, is that he’s struggling to raise two children alone after his wife’s death. In spite of his playboy reputation, Byron had all but given up on love, choosing instead to devote himself to his work and kids. Until he meets feisty Ashley Mathews. An elementary school art teacher, Ashley takes an instant dislike to the arrogant billionaire but soon realizes there’s more to him that meets the eye. In spite of their mutual reservations, they are irrevocably drawn to each other and embark on a torrid whirlwind romance. What Byron does not know, however, is that she’s hiding the one secret that could forever break them apart. Will Ashley ever come clean about her past? And what happens when he discovers what she’s running from? **** This is a standalone full length BWWM romance novel with an HEA. **** Your copy of "Billionaire’s Haunting Secrets" (approximately 53,000 words) includes a BONUS BOOK by Raven Rivers, "On the Run" (approximately 50,000 words)

Closing Time: A True Story of Robbery and Double Murder


Anita Paddock - 2017
     In the vein of In Cold Blood, Closing Time is the stunning story of good and evil colliding in the most tragic of ways, both for the victims and their loved ones left behind to re-live their horror. Kenneth Staton was the well-respected owner of a jewelry store in Van Buren, Arkansas. Although crippled with rheumatoid arthritis and unable to walk without crutches, he had built his business through excellent watch repair work, fine quality jewelry sold at fair prices, and a dedication to his customers that surpassed all other merchants. He was the quintessential gentleman in all aspects of his life, and a beloved father. Unknown to him, two men—a seasoned criminal with a propensity for violence and a younger man, handsome, but broke and with an obsessive thirst for alcohol—plotted to rob the jewelry store at closing time on September 10, 1980. The thugs had only met each other days before, and it was the younger one's first venture into armed robbery. When Staton and his daughter Suzanne didn't show up for supper, his other two daughters became alarmed and went to the store. There they found the bodies of their father and youngest sister lying in pools of blood, gagged, hogtied, and shot twice in the head. Close to $100,000 dollars in diamonds and other jewelry had been stolen. This senseless, bloody crime rocked the town of Van Buren and set its lawmen, sworn to find the killers, on a fiercely determined hunt that led from Rogers, Arkansas to Jacksonville, Florida, and all the way to Vancouver, Canada. Seventeen years later, was justice served? Praise for Closing Time “Anita Paddock is the newest and strongest voice in true crime writing. Closing Time makes you feel as if you are there, seeing what happened, and feeling the terror and sorrow of those felled by these brutal crimes.” – Marla Cantrell, Editor of Do South Magazine and an Arkansas Art Council Fellow “Anita Paddock delivers again. Closing Time reveals an unvarnished truth that will, at times, leave her readers breathless. Those familiar with her work will quickly conclude that Closing Time is a worthy successor to her previous best seller, Blind Rage. Get ready for some late nights because you won’t be able to put this one down.” – Greg Shepard, author of Earthstains, the story of Matt and George Kimes who came of age in the Roaring Twenties with a string of sensational bank robberies.

Captiva Island


Kathy Lee Sumner - 2009
    No journalist, reporter or talk show host had been granted the privilege to interview the 86-year-old recluse throughout her 21-book career. Julia's intrigue as to why she's the chosen one sends her packing and on a plane headed South in a hurry. Nestled among a canopy of banyan trees and palms, beneath the roof of Mrs. Van Buren's gingerbread island cottage, Julia finds one last unpublished manuscript. As the fragile old woman reads aloud to Julia from delicate pages that take us back to 1930s Macon, Georgia, and on up the road to Atlanta during days of the "Gone with the Wind" premier, secrets that have been held captive for over half a century surface that connect these women in more ways than either of them ever imagined.

Retaliation


Yasmin Shiraz - 2007
    Retaliation exposes the corrupting existence of violence in our communities and the retaliatory measures families go through to protect themselves and their children.

Shit Happens


Eileen Wharton - 2012
    She's got problems though when bits of her ex-husband turn up in different places and the slimy DI Savage seems to be bending the evidence to link her to the death. Add the fact that she's being pressured into taking a ‘job’ by hard-nosed Vera Devlin from the estate and having to work in a topless bar to make ends meet and you can see she's up against it. Desperate to extricate herself from the mess she breaks into her old marital home to find the diary of her dead husband, except that his mother has taken up residence and arrives back early from bingo… Set against a backdrop of Northern council estate life, this fast paced, humorous novel exemplifies the problems caused by poverty, piles and unruly children, think Jeremy Kyle meets the Thorn Birds and you won't be far wrong!

Mirror Mirror


Nick Louth - 2016
    So when he is offered a lucrative job in London as close protection officer to one of the world’s most beautiful women, he can hardly believe his luck. How hard can it be?Twenty-three-year-old Mira Roskova is admired, envied and desired. With a world-famous footballer for a boyfriend, her rise to celebrity and wealth comes with what her millions of Facebook and Instagram followers imagine to be a perfect life. But celebrity extracts a price. Mira is assailed on all sides. Trailed by those who adore her, threatened and stalked by strangers online, and beaten up by a man she trusted. Virgil finds this isn’t the cushy number he imagined. Her home isn’t safe, her friends can’t be trusted, and her freedoms melt away. Then there is the enigma of the woman herself: where does the image end and the person begin?As the threats multiply, the biggest danger is overlooked. In Broadmoor, Britain’s most notorious psychiatric hospital, one man has long been obsessed with Mira. His crimes are so awful that a judge ruled they must never been revealed to the public. But his plans to possess a unique beauty are well advanced, and he has the charm and the cunning to make them work.As Mira’s agent remarks, fame has a habit of devouring its most perfect children.

No Sweat Pants Allowed - Wine Club


Jan Romes - 2015
    They quickly become friends and form the No Sweat Pants Allowed - Wine Club. This newly found alliance brings about some humorous escapades, a few tears, and a bond so strong no man can break as they try to cling to the past and finally step out of their comfort zones to find a happiness they thought they'd never feel again. Discover Elaina Samuels, Tawny Westerfield, Stephanie Mathews, and Grace Cordray.

I Still Want It


Derrick Jaxn - 2015
     Dark truths of his lustful past, revelations during his ongoing battle with heartbreak, and empowering words of wisdom leave readers with a renewed faith in a love they may have lost hope in finding. His signature way with words seasons all 178 pages of "I Still Want It" which will not only evoke a cocktail of emotions but leave the unforgettable and gratifying taste that Derrick is known for in his previous titles.

The Legend of Little Sharpshooter


K.D. Kinney - 2015
    Her pa was once a famed Texas Ranger and the list of those who want to see him dead is long. When the Anthony brothers gun him down in a cold-blooded act of revenge, the sixteen-year-old didn’t play the game as well as she could have when the outlaws escape with their lives, and she’s left injured and on her own. Afraid they’ll come back for her, a wounded Randy plans on leaving the New Mexico Territory to head west with her temperamental horse Al, her gun Pearl, and the ashes of her family as her only companions. A Horse Thief with Heart: All Trevor wants is a decent horse. When he sees the best-looking horse he's ever laid eyes on and tries to steal it, he finds himself in an awful predicament when he discovers he wasn’t fighting a boy but a very sick girl with a mean punch. He decides to save her life instead and he is smitten. The Real Journey Begins: Randy has a new traveling companion but finds she is in over her head when they run into an old family friend that knows she’s a great shot, a skilled sharpshooter of the likes of Annie Oakley. He exploits her amazing skill and her name quickly rises to fame as they cross the West. Because no one knows her pa is gone, the mob of outlaws on their tail is growing and they’re dead set on revenge She might be a prodigy with a gun but becoming legendary as Miranda Carter was not what she wanted. Neither was falling in love. What must Randy sacrifice to find the peace she was looking for?

Tenderness


Robert Cormier - 1997
    Now he's looking for tenderness--tenderness he finds in killing girls. Fifteen-year-old Lori has run away from home again. Emotionally naive and sexually precocious, she is also looking for tenderness--tenderness that she finds in Eric. Will Lori and Eric be each other's salvation or destruction? An ALA Best Book for Young Adults.

Jessamine


Shani Struthers - 2014
    As a way of coping with her grief, she keeps him 'alive' in her imagination - talking to him every day, laughing with him, remembering the good times they had together. She thinks she will 'hear' him better if she goes somewhere quieter, away from the hustle and bustle of her hometown, Brighton. Her destination is Glenelk in the Highlands of Scotland, a region her grandfather hailed from and the subject of a much-loved painting from her childhood. Arriving in the village late at night, it is a bleak and forbidding place. However, the house she is renting - Skye Croft - is warm and welcoming. Quickly she meets the locals. Her landlord, Fionnlagh Maccaillin, is an ex-army man with obvious and not so obvious injuries. Maggie, who runs the village shop, is also an enigma, startling her with her strange 'insights'. But it is Stan she instantly connects with. Maccaillin's grandfather and a frail, old man, he is grief-stricken from the recent loss of his beloved Beth. All four are caught in the past. All four are unable to let go. Their lives entwining in mysterious ways, can they help each other to move on or will they always belong to the ghosts that haunt them? From the author of the bestselling The Haunting of Highdown Hall.

Master's Toy: Dark Mafia Romance


Faye Pierce - 2021