Little Voices


Vanessa Lillie - 2019
    She knows he’s innocent.Devon Burges is in the throes of a high-risk birth when she learns of her dear friend’s murder. The police quickly name another friend as the chief suspect, but Devon doesn’t buy it—and despite her difficult recovery, she decides to investigate.Haunted by postpartum problems that manifest as a cruel voice in her head, Devon is barely getting by. Yet her instincts are still sharp, and she’s bent on proving her friend’s innocence.But as Devon digs into the evidence, the voice in her head grows more insistent, the danger more intense. Each layer is darker, more disturbing, and she’s not sure she—or her baby—can survive what lies at the truth.

Jameela Green Ruins Everything


Zarqa Nawaz
     To see her memoir on the New York Times bestseller list. When her dream doesn’t come true, she seeks spiritual guidance at her local mosque. New imam and recent immigrant Ibrahim Sultan is appalled by Jameela’s shallowness, but agrees to assist her on one condition: that she perform a good deed.  Jameela reluctantly accepts his terms, kicking off a chain of absurd and unfortunate events. When the person the two do-gooders try to help is recruited by a terrorist group called D.I.C.K.—Dominion of the Islamic Caliphate and Kingdoms—the federal authorities become suspicious of Ibrahim, and soon after, the imam mysteriously disappears.   Certain that the CIA have captured Ibrahim for interrogation via torture, Jameela decides to set off on a one-woman operation to rescue him. Her quixotic quest soon finds her entangled in an international plan targeting the egomaniacal leader of the terrorist organization—a scheme that puts Jameela, and countless others, including her hapless husband and clever but disapproving daughter, at risk.   For fans of Where'd You Go, Bernadette? and My Sister, the Serial Killer, Jameela Green Ruins Everything is a whip-smart black comedy about the price of success, ​​and a biting look at what has gone wrong with American foreign policy in the Middle East. It is a compulsively readable, yet unexpectedly touching novel about one woman's search for meaning and connection, and about the lengths we go for those we love.

Walk Into Silence


Susan McBride - 2016
    Did she simply run off, or is something darker at play?When Patrick Dielman shows up at Detective Jo Larsen’s desk insisting that his wife, Jenny, is missing, Jo wonders if it’s a case of a bored housewife running away.But as she digs deeper into Jenny’s life, Jo learns that Dielman keeps a stranglehold on the family finances, down to the last nickel, and that Jenny’s first marriage dissolved following the death of her young son. By all accounts—including her doctor’s—she never recovered from the loss. Between a controlling husband, a tragic past, and a callous ex-husband, Jo can’t be sure if she should suspect foul play or accept that the woman may have wanted to disappear.For Jo, whose own demons are shadowing her every step, finding Jenny becomes more than the typical protect-and-serve.

Lola


Melissa Scrivner Love - 2017
    To outsiders, the Crenshaw Six appear to be led by a man named Garcia . . . but what no one has figured out is that the gang's real leader (and secret weapon) is Garcia's girlfriend, a brilliant young woman named Lola. Lola has mastered playing the role of submissive girlfriend, and in the man's world she inhabits she is consistently underestimated. But in truth she is much, much smarter--and in many ways tougher and more ruthless--than any of the men around her, and as the gang is increasingly sucked into a world of high-stakes betrayal and brutal violence, her skills and leadership become their only hope of survival. "Lola "marks the debut of a hugely exciting new thriller writer, and of a singular, magnificent character unlike anyone else in fiction."

Indigo Hill


Liz Rosenberg - 2018
    And when Alma starts hinting at a long-kept secret, they are even more caught off guard. Their mother's life was an open book, so what could she possibly have kept from them?After Alma’s will is read revealing the secret, her last words take on new meaning. They also bring back decades-old memories of a terrible fire on Indigo Hill—a fiery explosion that killed five of their friends. For Louisa, the eldest daughter, those scars are still with her. Now, with their mother's past out in the open, Louisa and Michelle must confront their own secrets in the present to have any chance at a meaningful future.Indigo Hill is a darkly funny, bittersweet novel about guilt, love, family, and memory.

The Sweeney Sisters


Lian Dolan - 2020
    But their mother’s death from cancer fifteen years ago tarnished their golden-hued memories, and the sisters drifted apart. Their one touchstone is their father, Bill Sweeney, an internationally famous literary lion and college professor universally adored by critics, publishers, and book lovers. When Bill dies unexpectedly one cool June night, his shell-shocked daughters return to their childhood home. They aren’t quite sure what the future holds without their larger-than-life father, but they do know how to throw an Irish wake to honor a man of his stature.But as guests pay their respects and reminisce, one stranger, emboldened by whiskey, has crashed the party. It turns out that she too is a Sweeney sister.When Washington, DC based journalist Serena Tucker had her DNA tested on a whim a few weeks earlier, she learned she had a 50% genetic match with a childhood neighbor—Maggie Sweeney of Southport, Connecticut. It seems Serena’s chilly WASP mother, Birdie, had a history with Bill Sweeney—one that has remained totally secret until now.Once the shock wears off, questions abound. What does this mean for William’s literary legacy? Where is the unfinished memoir he’s stashed away, and what will it reveal? And how will a fourth Sweeney sister—a blond among redheads—fit into their story?By turns revealing, insightful, and uproarious, The Sweeney Sisters is equal parts cautionary tale and celebration—a festive and heartfelt look at what truly makes a family.

The Body in the Boot


Patrick C. Walsh - 2015
    Now a private detective and, after bereavement and pain, he doubts himself and is no longer sure if he has the will or the energy to make a success of his new career. His first case comes by chance as a mother’s grief sends him into a town’s red light district to find out how her daughter died. Mac soon finds himself working with a team of local police detectives who are hot on the trail of a cold-blooded serial killer. Mac has to dig deep and rediscover all his talents in order to solve the case of The Body in the Boot. ALSO AVAILABLE - THE DEAD SQUIRREL - The second Mac Maguire mystery. THE WEEPING WOMEN - The third Mac Maguire mystery

When We Were Brave


Karla M. Jay - 2019
    TICHELAAR AWARD for BEST HISTORICAL FICTION — MARQUETTE FICTION2020 First Place Award, Historical Fiction for Reader's View Contest2020 Book Excellence Award for Historical Fiction2019 Distinguished Favorite for the New York City Big Book Award.2019 Silver Medal Winner, Historical Fiction, Readers Favorite Contest. Combining excellent historical research with a compelling storyline, the hard work of author Karla M. Jay really pays off the more deeply involved you become with the characters in her plot...As the plot threads and connections slowly come together, the conclusion marks the realities of war and sticks in your mind for a long time after. When We Were Brave is a highly recommended historical read.2019 FINALIST in The Wishing Shelf Book Awards- Adult FictionAug. 2019 Silver medal winner in Reader's Favorite Contest for historical fiction. Nov. 2019 New York City Big Book Award® Distinguished FavoritesIn WHEN WE WERE BRAVE, we find a conflicted SS officer, Wilhelm Falk, who risks everything to escape the Wehrmacht and get out the message about the death camps. Izaak is a young Jewish boy whose positive outlook is challenged daily as each new perilous situation comes along. American citizens, Herbert Müller, and his family are sent back to the hellish landscape of Germany because of the DNA coursing through their veins. In the panorama of World War II, these are the high-stakes plots and endearing characters whose braided fates we pray will work out in the end.

Sleepless


Romy HausmannRomy Hausmann - 2020
    After being released from prison, she's wanted nothing more than to live a normal life: nice flat, steady job, even a few friends. But when one of those friends, Laura von Hoven--free-spirited beauty and wife of Nadja's boss--kills her lover and begs Nadja for her help, Nadja can't seem to refuse.The two women make for a remote house in the woods, the perfect place to bury a body. But their plan quickly falls apart and Nadja finds herself outplayed, a pawn in a bizarre game in which she is both the perfect victim and the perfect murderer...

Where Flowers Bloom


Nikki Vale - 2020
    A timeworn mansion full of secrets. When future bliss means braving the past, can she write her own happily ever after?Author Kendyll Jamison yearns to reignite love's spark. So when an opportunity arises for her to relocate with her fianc� to North Carolina, she jumps at the chance to find the perfect home for their fresh start. And when she tours a creaky old manor, she's sold the moment she sways into the haunting ballroom.Hiring a considerate local contractor to breathe life into the plantation, she's pulled back into a recurring childhood dream and captivated by the gentle stranger's empathy. But the land's bones are calling for redemption, and the price the courageous woman must pay to heal their unresolved wounds could crush her with an agonizing choice...Will Kendyll put a tragic history to rest before all she loves goes up in flames?Where Flowers Bloom is an enduring standalone women's fiction novel. If you like kind-hearted heroines, historical fantasy, and soul-rending stakes, you'll adore Nikki Vale's enthralling tale.Buy Where Flowers Bloom to rebuild tomorrow today!

The Places Left Unfilled


M.C. Cauley - 2020
    But when her close friendship with an older neighbor begins to attract suspicion, and connecting with her birth father isn’t at all how she imagined it would be, Morgan’s long-held hope begins to dwindle. That is, until, at the age of fourteen, Morgan meets Bill – her forty-five-year-old martial arts instructor.At first a teacher and father figure who Morgan can confide in, Bill soon reveals that his interest in her isn’t entirely paternal. Despite her initial fear, Morgan craves the attention Bill is more than willing to lavish upon her, resulting in a several-months-long affair that will alter the course of both of their lives.Spanning four years of Cauley’s adolescence, The Places Left Unfilled explores in harrowing detail the circumstances that may lead a child to find solace in their sexual abuse. Told with immediacy and remarkable candor, Cauley’s gripping narrative will stay with you long after you’ve turned the final page.

Girls of Brackenhill


Kate Moretti - 2020
    It’s been seventeen years, and though desperate to start a new life with her fiancé, Hannah is compelled to question the events of her last summer at Brackenhill.When a human bone is found near the estate, Hannah is convinced it belongs to her long-lost sister. She launches her own investigation into that magical summer that ended in a nightmare. As strange happenings plague the castle, Hannah uncovers disturbing details about the past and startling realizations about her own repressed childhood memories.Fueled by guilt over her sister’s vanishing, Hannah becomes obsessed with discovering what happened all those years ago, but by the time Hannah realizes some mysteries are best left buried, it’s too late to stop digging. Overwhelmed by what she has exposed, Hannah isn’t sure her new life can survive her old ghosts.

Best Eaten Cold


Tony Salter - 2017
    Someone you once knew, but have almost forgotten. Now, imagine that they are clever, patient and will not stop. They'll get inside your head and make you doubt yourself. They'll make you question who you are, and ensure that everyone you care for starts to doubt you too. Each perfectly-orchestrated doubt will slowly, steadily, build to a crescendo and destroy you. This is real and it could be happening to you. Best Eaten Cold is a chilling reminder of how quickly – and how blindly – we have learnt to trust in the online world, despite the somewhat ironic fact that none of us really understand it at all.Fabiola lives an idyllic life in Oxford – beautiful house, adoring husband, happy healthy baby. She thinks she’s left her past behind her. But in a world of smartphones and social media, it’s not so easy to wipe the slate clean. Best Eaten Cold is a terrifying psychological thriller of gaslighting, technological trickery and the depths of human vindictiveness. It is a nail-biting story that could happen to any one of us in this digital age.

The Means That Make Us Strangers


Christine Kindberg - 2019
    But who are your people?Adelaide has lived her whole life in rural Ethiopia, where she and her family are the only white people she knows. Then her family moves to South Carolina, in 1964.Adelaide promises she'll return to Ethiopia and become part of the village for good. But until she turns eighteen, Adelaide must adjust to this strange, white place everyone tells her is home. Then Adelaide becomes friends with the five African-American students who sued for admission into the white high school. As life in Greenville becomes more interesting, home becomes a much more complex equation.Adelaide must finally choose where she belongs: the Ethiopian village where she grew up, to which she promised to return? Or this new place where she's become part of something bigger?

Turning Back Time: Sweet and Wholesome with a Fun Matchmaking Twist (Crestfield Inn, #1)


Elsie Davis - 2020
    He’s intent on filling in the missing links on his family tree. When they both end up researching the early 1800s, will history get in the way of the future?All Sarah’s life, stories had been told—handed down from generation to generation. Captain Tremont had gone to his watery grave committing a crime…bootlegging. But a message discovered in her grandmother’s trunk addressed to her great-grandfather six times removed, leads Sarah to believe there is another explanation.Blake is delivering a load of antiques to the local B&B when a gorgeous woman just about knocks him off his feet—literally and figuratively. An antique lamp gets broken and the air is rife with tension, but when they meet again at the library, Blake offers to team up in their research efforts by way of apology. Strictly business of course.But as they wind their way through history, it would seem there are some strange things happening when the resident spirit gets involved. Will the truth bring them happiness or drive them apart forever?