Book picks similar to
Dry Heat: a Novel by Len Joy


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Fire Me I Beg You: Quit Your Miserable Job (Without Risking it All)


Robbie Abed - 2018
    Maybe you’re stuck in a boring industry. Maybe your boss likes to slam doors. The truth is that many smart, motivated people would quit in a heartbeat if they weren’t afraid of the financial risks…and, well, the unknown. Whether you want to upgrade your 9-5 or start your own company, Robbie Abed presents a foolproof strategy to find a better job—without stressing, worrying your family, or losing money. You’re talented. Talent is in high demand. You just have to know where to look. In this accessible handbook, full of anecdotes, stories, and tips, you’ll learn how to reconnect with your interests, sharpen your talents, build a network, experiment with ideas for next steps, elicit job offers, and negotiate for higher salaries than your last. Oh, and how to quit your job with aplomb (goodbye email template included). You’ve been miserable for long enough. Look at it this way: hating your job might be the best thing that could’ve happened to you. It’s a kick in the pants to learn survival skills for the coming jobpocalypse. As our machines get smarter, robots, cognitive machines, and the simple software on your computer will render old jobs obsolete. In other words, there is no such thing as job security. The goal of this book is twofold: to help you get out before the music stops, and to teach you skills to find a job you love. Not just once, but anytime, anywhere, in any economic climate, with almost any salary goal. You didn’t hear that wrong.

The Nanny: A Single Dad Romance


Aria Ford - 2018
    My new boss is going to be trouble. I’m the new nanny. I’m here to take care of his daughter, not get caught up in the drama with his ex or, worse, fall for him. Because he’s gorgeous, sexy, ferocious in the most incredible way. He’s rude and demanding, except when it comes to his little girl. He’s so kind and loving with Ivy. It melts my heart the same way his amazing body nearly melts my panties right off. His daughter needs me, so it’s Ivy who keeps me there when Isaac is unreasonable. He’s even starting to let me in, to let me see the real him, the strong and powerful man who is so afraid to risk falling in love again. I know I shouldn’t get involved with my boss. But I just can’t help myself. He’s irresistible. I can see through his temper, his anger—he needs me. This is a standalone, full-length 50,000+ words novel . No cheating, no cliffhanger, and a guaranteed happily ever after. Also includes New Secret Baby Romance. Bonus content!

Dirty Little Secrets


Elise Noble - 2021
    She’s been in love with her brother’s best friend for half her life, her dirty little secret. With Luca on the other side of the world, the temptation stayed out of reach, but now he’s back, and he’s not the only one. Brooke’s stalker is watching from the shadows, and he’s got his own ideas about her future…Luca Mendez’s time in the army taught him two lessons—that to survive, he has to shoot straight and guard his heart. But when the woman he turned down all those years ago asks him for help, he finds he’ll do anything to see her smile again.

The Fossil 2: Science Fiction Thriller (Secrets Of Mars Book 2)


Joshua T. Calvert - 2021
    All that matters is finding out what happened on her mission there, and why she can’t remember any of it. But when she finally discovers the truth, it blows her whole world apart.Meanwhile, on Earth, Agatha Devenworth and Pano Hofer have a new mission: travel from the Human Foundation’s secret underground base to New York to uncover what the enemy is plotting. Can they find a way forward for humanity in the midst of this clash of otherworldly forces?

Short Stories


Thomas Ryan - 2013
    Ryan believes all good short stories should have unexpected twists and turns. Applying his thriller techniques he manages to achieve this end. Readers will find Ryan’s short story writing gripping and easy to read.In this first collection one of the short story’s ‘Ruth’ was included in an anthology recently published in the USA.Quoting a recent reviewer, ‘these are very intriguing, original stories, all well written and enjoyable. Ryan really gets inside his characters and makes their world our world, whatever its moral code or unwritten rules. These stories are powerful and stay with you once you've finished them.’Short Stories by Thomas Ryan are a must read.

Merry Little Wedding: A Curvy Girl Holiday Insta Love Romance


Tarin Lex - 2021
    ;)But you can eighty-six the mistletoe, babe…Cuz these two are headed straight for bed. <3Kisses, Tarin

A Map for Wrecked Girls


Jessica Taylor - 2017
    We'd been so sure someone would find us by now. Emma had always orbited Henri, her fierce, magnetic queen bee of an older sister, and the two had always been best friends. Until something happened that wrecked them. I'd trusted Henri more than I'd trusted myself. Wherever she told me to go, I'd follow. Then the unthinkable occurs—a watery nightmare off the dazzling coast. The girls wash up on shore, stranded. Their only companion is Alex, a troubled boy agonizing over his own secrets. Trapped in this gorgeous hell, Emma and Alex fall together as Emma and Henri fall catastrophically apart. For the first time, I was afraid we'd die on this shore. To find their way home, the sisters must find their way back to each other. But there’s no map for this—or anything. Can they survive the unearthing of the past and the upheaval of the present?

Gone Too Far


Natalie D. Richards - 2015
    Richards, the New York Times bestselling author of mystery books for teens, comes a YA psychological thriller book about a girl pulled into a dangerous revenge plot she can't escape, perfect for fans of Karen McManus and Natasha Preston.Piper Woods can't wait to graduate and leave high school—and all its annoying cliques—behind. But when she finds a mysterious notebook filled with the sins of her fellow students, Piper is suddenly drowning in their secrets.And she's not the only one who knows them. An anonymous text invites Piper to choose to punish the cheater, the bully, or the shoplifter. The popular kids with their dirty little secrets. With one text, Piper can make them pay.But the truth can be dangerous…A great buy for readers who want:Teen fiction with romance and suspensePulse-pounding twists and turnsShocking mysteriesPraise for Natalie D. Richards:"As addictive as it is unpredictable. Natalie will keep you second guessing until the nail-biting end."—NATASHA PRESTON, New York Times bestselling author of The Cabin on My Secret to Tell"Brimming with suspense and intrigue."—MEGAN MIRANDA, New York Times bestselling author of All the Missing Girls on My Secret to TellAlso by Natalie D. Richards:Five Total StrangersSix Months LaterMy Secret to TellOne Was LostWe All Fall DownWhat You Hide

Trust Me, I'm Lying


Mary Elizabeth Summer - 2014
    A lot of them. She’s a con artist, a master of disguise, and a sophomore at Chicago’s swanky St. Agatha High, where her father, an old-school grifter with a weakness for the ponies, sends her to so she can learn to mingle with the upper crust. For extra spending money Julep doesn’t rely on her dad—she runs petty scams for her classmates while dodging the dean of students and maintaining an A+ (okay, A-) average.But when she comes home one day to a ransacked apartment and her father gone, Julep’s carefully laid plans for an expenses-paid golden ticket to Yale start to unravel. Even with help from St. Agatha’s resident Prince Charming, Tyler Richland, and her loyal hacker sidekick, Sam, Julep struggles to trace her dad’s trail of clues through a maze of creepy stalkers, hit attempts, family secrets, and worse, the threat of foster care. With everything she has at stake, Julep’s in way over her head . . . but that’s not going to stop her from using every trick in the book to find her dad before his mark finds her. Because that would be criminal.Fans of Ally Carter, especially her Heist Society readers, will love this teen mystery/thriller with sarcastic wit, a hint of romance, and Ocean’s Eleven–inspired action.

Spies, Lies & Red Tape: A Spy-Military-Political Fiction Thriller based on the Indian Subcontinent


Amit Bagaria - 2019
    How could their Prime Minister speak to them like that? How does the Constitution of India allow such people, with just 35 seats out of 543 in the Lok Sabha, to become the PM?The Indian PM's aircraft took off from Islamabad Airport at 7:45 am IST and was scheduled to land at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) in New Delhi at 9:10 am IST. When the aircraft started deviating from its scheduled route, there was panic at the IGIA air traffic control tower. By 9:15 am IST, the aircraft was seen heading south, when it became out of range of the radars at IGIA. Had the PM's aircraft been hijacked? Was it headed to Sri Lanka or the Maldives?The defence minister, external affairs minister and the NSA had accompanied the PM to Islamabad. In their absence, the best men to contact the Indian Air Force Chief were the cabinet secretary or the defence secretary. Both men tried to get hold of him, but to no avail. He was not answering his office or mobile phone. They tried the Vice Chief and got no response either. What in hell was going on?By 9:45 am IST, Indian Army soldiers in battle gear began arriving in army trucks at North and South Block, and at various other ministry buildings spread across Lutyens' Delhi. Hundreds of soldiers also arrived at the residences of the union ministers in the 28.7 km2 Lutyens Bungalow Zone.At 9:45 pm Pakistan Time, about five hours after the Indian generals had finished the press conference in New Delhi and about two hours after millions had started demonstrating on roads across fifty-plus Indian cities, Prime Minister Irfan Khan chaired a meeting of Pakistan's National Security Council. A plan of action was framed.

A Nearly Normal Family


M.T. Edvardsson - 2018
    Edvardsson's A Nearly Normal Family and lauds it as a "page-turner" that forces the reader to confront "the compromises we make with ourselves to be the people we believe our beloveds expect." (NYTimes Book Review Summer Reading Issue)When the teenage daughter of responsible, upstanding parents is accused of murder, a family realizes that it isn't love that will keep them together: it's lies.Eighteen-year-old Stella Sandell stands accused of the brutal murder of a man almost fifteen years her senior. She is an ordinary teenager from a respectable local family. What reason could she have to know a shady businessman, let alone to kill him?Told in an unusual three-part structure, this gripping, domestic drama pushes a family to its limits. The father, a pastor, believes his daughter can only be innocent, despite mounting evidence. The mother, a defense attorney, believes no one is telling the truth. And the daughter, desperate for her dreams of the future, believes no one understands how far she is willing to go.In this complex, multi-layered novel, every character's loyalty and morality is tested. Are we duty-bound to defend our family, even with the evidence against them? Is anyone who they seem on the surface? And what are we willing to compromise to keep our lives, as we know them, intact?

My Perfect Sister


Penny Batchelor - 2020
    Does a faded photograph in her sister’s old room hold the key to the past?Desperate for clues, she delves deeper in search of the truth. But is it safer to be kept in the dark? Annie is about to find out…

My Mother's Eyes: A Short Story


Jeremy Ray - 2021
    You’ll see. Draw me just one more time.”No one knows if his mother will come out of her coma, so fourteen-year-old Jordie memorializes her in the only way he knows how: by drawing her. His older brother doesn’t approve of these sketches, but Jordie’s determined to capture the person she used to be. Unfortunately, Jordie must draw her from memory because his mom didn’t keep pictures, and her body in the hospital no longer looks like her. But the images of her are quickly fading, and if he doesn’t get a drawing right soon, the mother he remembers may slip away forever. No matter how close Jordie gets to completing a drawing, his mom’s most vital feature always evades him.Will Jordie capture his mother’s eyes? Or are they and his mother gone forever?Content Warning:SuicideDeathAnimal Death​Reader discretion advised

The Special Ones


Em Bailey - 2016
    The Special Ones are not allowed to leave, but why would they want to? Here, they are safe from toxic modern life, safe from a meaningless existence, safe in their endless work. He watches them every moment of every day, ready to punish them if they forget who they are – all while broadcasting their lives to eager followers on the outside.Esther knows he will renew her if she stops being Special. And yet she also knows she's a fake. She has no ancient wisdom, no genuine advice to offer her followers. But like an actor caught up in an endless play, she must keep up the performance if she wants to survive long enough to escape.

Desperate


Daniel Palmer - 2014
    . . Gage Dekker still blames himself for the car accident that claimed the lives of his first wife and young son. Then he meets Anna, who understands grief all too well. Within a year, Gage and Anna are married, his career is thriving, and both feel ready to become parents once more.After a heartbreaking miscarriage, they begin the long adoption process, until fate brings Lily into their lives. Young, pregnant, and homeless, Lily agrees to give her baby to Gage and Anna in exchange for financial support. It's the perfect arrangement for everyone. Seeing his wife's happiness and optimism for their new life and child, Gage begins to feel a sense of hope he thought he'd lost forever.But something isn't right once Lily enters their lives. At work and at home, Gage is being sabotaged, first in subtle ways, then things take a more sinister turn. Every attempt he makes to uncover the truth only drives a wedge between him and Anna. Even as he's propelled toward an unthinkable choice to save his marriage and his job, Gage discovers that the most chilling revelations are still to come. . .