Book picks similar to
Edgewise by Jan Stites


fiction
contemporary
z-unread-digital
friendship

In Woolen Bikinis (Jean & Rosie, #2)


Catherine Dougherty - 2013
    . .Jean and Rosie are involved in a new adventure together—one they’re both excited about—and they’ll introduce you to some interesting characters along the way.While Jean is also busy dealing with numerous man issues, her best friend, Rosie, has plenty of issues of her own: she’s facing empty nest syndrome, her husband is recovering from heart surgery, and she’s finally prepared to solve a deep, dark secret from her past. Then, there’s the unexpected news that could shatter her optimism and faith. In Woolen Bikinis is an engaging story about the unexpected twists and turns that can happen in any woman’s life, as well as a strong friendship, one Jean and Rosie are fortunate to have, that can help carry one through.It’s also about Simple Pleasures, plenty of them (like woolen bikinis). Be prepared to be delighted!

Clean


Amy Reed - 2011
    I’m still wondering the same thing.Olivia, Kelly, Christopher, Jason, and Eva have one thing in common: They’re addicts. Addicts who have hit rock bottom and been stuck together in rehab to face their problems, face sobriety, and face themselves. None of them wants to be there. None of them wants to confront the truths about their pasts. And they certainly don’t want to share their darkest secrets and most desperate fears with a room of strangers. But they’ll all have to deal with themselves—and one another—if they want to learn how to live. Because when you get that high, there’s nowhere to go but down, down, down.

Nina is Not OK


Shappi Khorsandi - 2016
    She likes a drink, sure. But what 17-year-old doesn’t?Nina’s mum isn’t so sure. But she’s busy with her new husband and five year old Katie. And Nina’s almost an adult after all.And if Nina sometimes wakes up with little memory of what happened the night before, then her friends are all too happy to fill in the blanks. Nina’s drunken exploits are the stuff of college legend.But then one dark Sunday morning, even her friends can’t help piece together Saturday night. All Nina feels is a deep sense of shame, that something very bad has happened to her…A dark, funny - sometimes shocking - coming of age novel from one of the UK’s leading comedians. NINA IS NOT O.K. will appeal to fans of Caitlin Moran and Lena Dunham.

Sisters in Sanity


Gayle Forman - 2007
    At Red Rock, Brit is forced into therapy, and her only hope of getting her life back is in the hands of an underqualified staff of counselors. Brit's dad thinks Red Rock can save her, but the truth is it's doing more harm than good. No girl could survive Red Rock alone--but at a treatment center where you earn privileges for ratting out your peers, it's hard to know who you can trust. For Brit, everything changes when she meets V, Bebe, Martha, and Cassie, four girls who keep her from going over the edge. Together they'll hold on to their sanity and their sisterhood while trying to keep their Red Rock reality from becoming a full-on nightmare.

Saved By the Music


Selene Castrovilla - 2009
    In Saved by the Music, Willow thinks she’s alone until she meets Axel, an older teen who lives isolated from the world on the sailboat docked nearby. An unlikely romance sparks as the two grapple with their darkest secrets and bond through shared pain and laughter. It is a summer where music must do more than just soothe the soul.

Raising John


Jennifer Lesher - 2014
    He assumes that, as usual, he’ll sleep it off, then return to the routine of golf games, broker meetings, symphony dates and nightcaps that make up his life. Then his lawyer delivers the news: Robert is responsible for an accident that has killed a young mother and orphaned her young son, John. Robert is quickly yanked from his life of privilege and sent to prison to atone for his crimes. Defiant at first, Robert believes he’s better than his fellow inmates and that unlike them, he has no room for improvement. But, as the months wear on, Robert’s fellow inmates push him to confront his actions and the choices that brought him to prison. Meanwhile, as John grows up under the care of his maternal grandmother, he must come to terms with losing his mother and decide whether he can forgive the man who destroyed his childhood. Spanning three generations, Raising John tells the story of John’s bittersweet childhood, the history of the mother he never knew, and of Robert’s collapse and redemption.

Sparks Will Fly


Daniel Banner - 2017
    But when a black-haired beauty crosses his path during a competition adventure race, he wonders if his bachelor days are numbered. Lucy Avila, recent college grad and former university mascot, isn’t looking for love when she travels to Utah with her friends to compete in Questival. She just wants the grand prize of a trip to Cusco, Peru to meet the grandmother she’s never seen, before her little Abuelita’s time is up. But standing between her and the grand prize is a Spartan-like leader of a team of firemen. Lucy likes the guy, but isn’t crazy about her chances against his team. No sooner do Lucy and Blue hit it off than they realize he was the star quarterback for her university’s biggest rival. To make matters worse, their families have long histories and prominent positions with their respective universities. From a Skylodge on the side of a Peruvian mountain to the Skybox of a football stadium, their love blossoms as they put aside rivalries. But one bad decision by Lucy pulls in hundreds of frenzied fans and causes damage to Blue’s family that may be irreparable. The only thing that is for sure … Sparks Will Fly. More books in the Park City Firefighter Romance: Station 2 Series will be available early 2018: Stone Cold Sparks by Cami Checkouts Untitled Sparks by Sarah Gay (These books are loosely related and can be read in any order.)

Sleep In Heavenly Peace Inn


Malinda Martin - 2014
     What could be a better destination for the holidays than a peaceful inn tucked in the picturesque mountains of Vermont? But when a blizzard hits, three couples will be forced to deal not only with the weather but also with the reality of their relationships. Mary Michaels, competent innkeeper is very good at her job. And at hiding her growing attraction for the inn’s handyman, Joe Puletti. Friend of her late husband, Joe is a great catch, but with a five-year old son and complications from her past, Mary is not. Lila Benson needs to reinvent her life. What the quiet, second grade teacher doesn’t need is to run into a face from her past—Dan Hamilton, football star that she helped tutor in high school. And fell hopelessly in love with. Celia and Richard Davis have brought their children Kevin and Jenna for a family vacation. It will be their last since the divorce will be final soon. However, Kevin and Jenna have hopes that a little time together is all their parents need to heal their family. Can these relationships be saved? Anything’s possible at Christmas. Especially with the help of three children, a man with a white beard, the inn’s mysterious manager, and a reindeer.

The Snake Handler


Anthony Doerr - 2011
    Carlos Ninguna is seventeen. His father is a snake-handler and Carlos is his apprentice. When a man who may or may not be on the FBI's Most Wanted List moves into the apartment above them, Carlos is faced with a whole tangle of complicated decisions.Anthony Doerr is one of the country's most honored young story writers. His short stories have appeared in the Atlantic, McSweeney's, the Paris Review, and Zoetrope: All-Story, where "The Snake Handler" originally appeared. His most recent collection, Memory Wall, won the 2010 Story Prize.

Cut


Patricia McCormick - 2000
    Never too deep, never enough to die. But enough to feel the pain. Enough to feel the scream inside.Now she's at Sea Pines, a "residential treatment facility" filled with girls struggling with problems of their own. Callie doesn't want to have anything to do with them. She doesn't want to have anything to do with anyone. She won't even speak.But Callie can only stay silent for so long...

The Mixtape


Brittainy C. Cherry - 2021
    Emery finds him first.Emery has never felt more alone. Raising her daughter is both her pleasure and her pain as she struggles to hold on to her job as a bartender and keep a roof over their heads. With no one to help them—no support system—any unexpected expense or late bill could turn their whole world upside down.Reeling from the death of his twin brother and bandmate, rock star Oliver Smith is trying to drink his problems away. Apparently he isn’t very good at it; they follow him wherever he goes. Also in hot pursuit are the paparazzi, who catch Oliver at his lowest low.He could have walked into any bar in California, but he walked into hers. Emery helps Oliver lose the crowd, and they find themselves alone: two people whose paths are marked with loss and pain. However, they hold an unshakable hope for healing. They find solace together, but can their love withstand the world?

Paramparca Bir Kiz


Kathleen Glasgow - 2016
    At seventeen she’s already lost more than most people lose in a lifetime. But she’s learned how to forget. The thick glass of a mason jar cuts deep, and the pain washes away the sorrow until there is nothing but calm. You don’t have to think about your father and the river. Your best friend, who is gone forever. Or your mother, who has nothing left to give you.Every new scar hardens Charlie’s heart just a little more, yet it still hurts so much. It hurts enough to not care anymore, which is sometimes what has to happen before you can find your way back from the edge.

My Better Half Forever


Arushi Vats - 2021
    Her life once revolved around her brother who later became a memory of the past. With a dysfunctional family and grieving the loss of her brother, Malvika decides to begin a new chapter in life by stepping into the gates of college, not knowing what fate awaits her. One glance at Rahul on the first day and she feels something mysterious. The smart and confident Rahul looks at her and it appears to him like they are soulmates, waiting to have their lives entangled in unconditional love.

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine: A Novel


Gayle Honeyman - 2018
    Meet Eleanor Oliphant: She struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she’s thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding social interactions, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy. But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office. When she and Raymond together save Sammy, an elderly gentleman who has fallen on the sidewalk, the three become the kinds of friends who rescue one another from the lives of isolation they have each been living. And it is Raymond’s big heart that will ultimately help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one.

Girl Over the Edge


Amy Kinzer - 2011
     Seventeen-year-old best friends Beckett Smith and Chloe Baker can’t shake their reputations after taking risqué photos at a college party. The pictures are distributed to the North Lake High School student body sending the best friends to the bottom rung of the social ladder right before senior year. When Beckett and Chloe return to school, they find themselves ill prepared for the harassment and bullying that follows. Beckett has an easier time being reaccepted than Chloe. And she’ll do anything to be part of her old clique and to get a second chance at a relationship with her ex-boyfriend, star running back Kale Fenton. But Beckett’s attempts at a normal senior year are at odds with Chloe’s increasingly anti-social behavior. As Chloe’s life spirals out of control she becomes obsessed with the Aurora Bridge in Seattle, also known as Suicide Bridge, a place known for the jumpers. And after everyone’s abandoned Chloe, Beckett is the one person who can prevent Chloe from making the jump. GIRL OVER THE EDGE is a novel about best friends, damaged relationships, and the help that sometimes comes from unexpected places.