Book picks similar to
Say Never by Janis Thomas


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The Three of Us


Kim Lock - 2018
    A love that should never have been hidden.In the small town of Gawler, South Australia, the tang of cut grass and eucalyptus mingles on the warm air. The neat houses perched under the big gum trees on Church Street have been home to many over the years. Years of sprinklers stuttering over clipped lawns, children playing behind low brick walls. Family barbecues. Gossipy neighbours. Arguments. Accidents. Births, deaths, marriages. This ordinary street has seen it all.Until the arrival of newlyweds Thomas and Elsie Mullet. And when one day Elsie spies a face in the window of the silent house next door, nothing will ever be ordinary again...In Kim Lock's third novel of what really goes on behind closed doors, she weaves the tale of three people with one big secret; a story of fifty years of friendship, betrayal, loss and laughter in a heartwarming depiction of love against the odds."With great care and compassion for the lives and losses of human beings, Kim Lock artfully weaves a moving and surprising story of the simple compexity of relationships and how they shape us" Sophie Green, author of The Inaugural Meeting of the Fairvale Ladies Book Club

Before I Knew Him


Anna Ralph - 2008
    But he doesn’t see much to look forward to. Leo doesn’t fit in. But nothing ever happens to Leo; he never has a story. Then he meets David. Moody, resentful and tough, David is everything Leo is not and an unlikely friendship soon grows between them.Events that summer take a dangerous and disturbing turn, and the results are devastating for both boys and their friendship. In the aftermath, traumatized, they pledge to keep their shared secret, never to meet again, and above all — to forget. But when the terrible truth re-emerges ten years later and forces David and Leo back together, everything and nothing has changed.

One Small Thing


Jessica Barksdale Inclán - 2004
    She has all she ever wanted except for one small thing...a baby. And after two years of unsuccessful fertility treatments, hope is running thin.Then her husband, Dan, discovers he has a ten-year-old son he never knew about. With the boy's mother now deceased, Dan is the new rightful guardian. He's anxious to bring his son into their life. But for Avery, this child is a constant reminder of her own inability to conceive-and of Dan's secret past, a sordid life she knew nothing about until now. Only when Avery is able to open her heart to all of life's possibilities will she begin to appreciate her imperfect, unexpected family for what it truly is: a perfect blessing.

The Secrets Women Keep


Fanny Blake - 2013
    The text reads simply: 'Miss you. Love you. Come back soon.'Daniel has always been popular with women, she knows that. But until this moment she has had no cause for worry. Has something shifted within their marriage without her realising?As the family gathers for the summer break, Rose's faith in Daniel is shaken. How well does she really know him? She fears that, after decades of marriage and children, the man who lies beside her at night is lying in other ways too. Then events take a tragic turn.Wise, wry and richly entertaining, THE SECRETS WOMEN KEEP celebrates the passionate, emotional lives women lead as wives, mothers and grandmothers.

Heavenly Blessing


Becca Fisher - 2012
    To work in her families quilt shop and marry one of the local boys. But when she meets a handsome outsider, plans start to change, forcing Abigail to make the decision of a lifetime.

Abi's House


Jenny Kane - 2015
    As a child on holiday in a Cornwall she fell in love with a cottage – the prophetically named Abbey’s House. Now she is going to see if she can find the place again, relive the happy memories … maybe even buy a place of her own nearby?On impulse Abi sets off to Cornwall, where a chance meeting in a village pub brings new friends Beth and Max into her life. Beth, like Abi, has a life-changing decision to make. Max, Beth’s best mate, soon helps Abi track down the house of her dreams … but things aren’t quite that simple. There’s the complicated life Abi left behind, including her late husband’s brother, Simon – a man with more than friendship on his mind …Will Abi’s house remain a dream, or will the bricks and mortar become a reality?

How Shall I Know You?: A Short Story


Hilary Mantel - 2014
    She had a face of feral sweetness, its color yellow; her eyes were long and dark, her mouth a taut bow, her nostrils upturned as if she were scenting the wind."In "How Shall I Know You?," a melancholic and ailing writer reluctantly travels east of London to give a lecture before a literary society. Mr. Simister, the organization's secretary, lures the world-weary novelist turned biographer with promises of a modest stipend and lodging at a charming bed-and-breakfast for her trouble. Nevertheless, on that rainy day she meets Mr. Simister at the train station, she wonders why she ever agreed to come in the first place. Driving past steel-shuttered windows and Day-Glo banners, Mr. Simister takes the writer to her hotel for the evening, which turns out to be crumbling and isolated rather than picturesque. As she crosses the threshold into the dank stench of Eccles House she is faced with the feral porter, Louise, and suffers through an evening that may be more than she bargained for.From Hilary Mantel's brilliant and darkly comic collection of contemporary stories, The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher, comes a tale told with her distinctive blend of subversive wit and gimlet-eyed characterization. "How Shall I Know You?" showcases the extraordinary genius of Hilary Mantel, called one of our "greatest living novelists" (NPR).

The Promise


Michelle Vernal - 2021
    1944 The Isle of Wight - Sixteen-year-old Constance’s life on the island is sheltered until the death of her brother, brings the reality of war crashing down around her. He leaves behind his pregnant widow, Ginny. When Constance meets a handsome Canadian airforce man, she’s eager to escape her grief and be swept up by first love. It’s a love which has ramifications she could never envisage.Present Day - When young British backpacker, Isabel Stark happens across a car accident on a lonely stretch of road in the South Island of New Zealand her life changes forever. The sole passenger, Ginny Havelock asks her to make a promise before she passes away - to find Constance and to say she’s sorry.Isabel, a lost soul, is haunted by her promise on her return to the United Kingdom and the only clue as to finding Constance lies within a conversation held at Ginny’s funeral. It leads her to Isle of Wight.When Isabel and Constance’s paths finally cross will Ginny’s last words be enough for Constance to make peace with her past? And in fulfilling her promise will Isabel find a place to call home?

Shanghai Girl


Vivian Yang - 2001
    Shan Hai Gaaru". This 2011 U.S. edition features an excerpt of the author’s WNYC Leonard Lopate Essay Contest-winning new novel "Memoirs of a Eurasian". In the post-Cultural Revolution Shanghai of 1984, university senior Sha-fei Hong longs to study in the U.S. for graduate school, ostensibly to pursue the American Dream, but partly to escape her sexually-harassing Communist cadre stepfather. She meets the visiting Chinese-American businessman Gordon Lou, who has political ambitions and ties to the Chinatown underworld in the U.S. He takes Sha-fei to the American Consulate in Shanghai to look into studying in America. There, Sha-fei meets the intern Edward Cook, a young, Caucasian American lawyer who has a strong preference for all things Asian. Within a year, these three people of entirely different cultural and socio-economic backgrounds cross paths in New York. Value systems and self-interests clash. The curtain falls on a dramatic stage of ambition, sex, intrigue, and murder.

Skyfall


Saba Karim Khan - 2020
    Despite the worst of humanity every day – her madrassa running father selling her mother's body and beating her sister – Rania remains the 'Troublemaker', unable to give up on her dreams.When an Indian filmmaker encourages her to enrol in a music contest that can take her to New York, her dreams take flight. But even as she wins the hearts of her listeners, a family secret threatens to bring her life in Heera Mandi back in sharp relief, upending the new life she has built for herself.From the oppressive walls of religious hypocrisy to the orange jumpsuits of American prisons, Skyfall is a tender, piercing debut that teaches us the strength of human endeavour and our desire for love in a time of hate.

In the Market for Love: A Small-Town Romance Novel


Megan Squires - 2019
    Running both a thriving flower farm and successful Farmers’ Market, she’s living out her dreams in the idyllic Northern California town of Fairvale. While Sophie might be able to create stunning bouquets, she withers when it comes to romance. Content with her single status, she resolves to focus on her work, until a lost piece of luggage lands a handsome stranger on her porch. Landscape architect, Cole Blankenship, has always lived in his father’s shadow. When he’s selected as the designer for a popular backyard contest, a trip out west offers an opportunity to finally prove himself. He meets the charismatic florist who farms the same plot of land and tensions grow, along with unexpected feelings. But any sort of relationship is prohibited and could cost Cole the first place title and Sophie, her livelihood. Will Sophie and Cole let a contest dictate their love lives? Or will they discover that love grows best when you follow your heart and not the rules?

Put a Spell on You


Karen Clarke - 2015
    Her boyfriend Will has become a donkey-loving hippy and her best friend Lara has baby-brain. She desperately needs to find the perfect location for a film shoot, or her career may implode. Her eccentric grandma has always said that Josie will inherit a book of spells on her birthday, but since she doesn’t believe in magic, nothing will improve; or will it?

The Truth About Love and Dogs


Lilly Bartlett
    ‘Shannon!’There’s just one problem: her name isn’t Shannon.Rewind six months and Scarlett and Rufus aren’t in the honeymoon stage anymore so much as the honey-should-we-bother phase. Desperate to get their sparkle back, Scarlett has plotted, planned and waxed more than any woman should have to, but none of it is working. Which makes it very hard to start the family they want. At least her business is going strong, even if her marriage isn’t. She and her best friend spend their days tangled up in dog leads and covered in fur. Scarlett is the fairy dogmother, training hopeless pets like compulsive eater Barkley, impulsive Romeo Murphy and bossy Biscuit. Meanwhile, her best friend walks the dogs and pines for the man who doesn’t know she exists. Thank goodness the women have each other. If only Scarlett could work out how to get her marriage back on track. But Rufus isn’t sharing his feelings with her. He is, though, sharing with her best friend. Her best friend, Shannon.

The Pet Shop at Pennycombe Bay: An uplifting story about community and friendship


Sheila Norton - 2019
    However it isn’t the new beginning she was hoping for – she enjoys her new job at the local pet shop but feels like she’s treading on eggshells living with her moody cousin Ruth.When she meets handsome stranger, Nick, on the beach, she thinks she’s made a new friend or something more. Although her hopes of romance are quickly dashed when she finds out he’s seeing another woman…Can Jess make Pennycombe feel like home?Fans of Cathy Bramley, Carole Matthews and Katie Fforde will love Sheila Norton’s charming, wonderfully warm, feel-good books.*You can now pre-order Sheila's new novel, The Lonely Hearts Dog Walkers*

Sweet Pastries & Sourdough: (Little Duck Pond Cafe, Book 15)


Rosie Green - 2021
    But when Katja's ski-ing holiday ends in disaster, a new teacher must be found very quickly. Anita is up for the challenge, but - fresh from a break-up and an operation that's left her feeling physically and emotionally vulnerable - the last thing she's looking for when she moves to Sunnybrook is a new relationship. So it's Sod's law that she should find herself with not one but two guys vying for her attention. Sven, from Denmark, is a bit of an enigma - but maybe passion lurks beneath his cool reserve? And as for twenty-five-year-old football coach Ross - surely she'd be asking for trouble getting involved with a gorgeous man a decade her junior? (Although her football-mad son Rufus seems to love him.)Moving in with Bertha proves a real comfort - but can Anita get to the bottom of what's troubling the older woman?Anita's job at the True Loaf Bakery is only temporary, but she finds herself drawn ever deeper into life in the village - especially when she finds a child's bracelet from long ago, in the rubble of the newly-renovated building. Solving the mystery of who it belongs to takes Anita on a journey of discovery - a journey that might just help her discover what her own heart really needs...