Book picks similar to
A Beautiful Moon Waiting: An Adoption Memoir by Ashley Banion


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The Wrong Woman


Daniel Hurst - 2021
    But they picked the wrong woman...Simone used to be the woman that other women would use if they suspected that their partner was cheating. She would investigate, find out the truth, and if the men were guilty, exact revenge. But after things went wrong with one couple, Simone was forced to go into hiding to evade the law.Having assumed a new identity, Simone is now Mary, a mild-mannered woman who doesn't raise her voice or get angry, meaning nobody would suspect her of being capable of the things she used to do for a living. But when she finds out that her new boyfriend is having an affair, it awakens in her the person she used to be.That means Simone is back. It also means that her boyfriend and his mistress are in for the shock of their lives...Another gripping psychological thriller from the bestselling author of Til Death Do Us Part and The Passenger

NOT MINE TO TAKE: a dark and twisty, psychological thriller


Keiron Cosgrave - 2021
    What starts out as an escape soon becomes something far more sinister.The locals in the nearby town seem resentful of her presence and Erin can't understand why?Alone and isolated, cut off from the mainland twice a day, Erin's imagination runs wild.Is someone out there? Is someone watching her every move?Is someone biding their time?Not Mine to take was briefly published under the pan name CB Cox.

Twice a Daughter, A Search for Identity, Family, and Belonging


Julie Ryan McGue - 2021
    She is also a twin. Because their adoption was closed, she and her sister lack both a health history and their adoption papers―which becomes an issue for Julie when, at forty-eight years old, she finds herself facing several serious health issues.To launch the probe into her closed adoption, Julie first needs the support of her sister. The twins talk things over, and make a pact: Julie will approach their adoptive parents for the adoption paperwork and investigate search options, and the sisters will split the costs involved in locating their birth relatives. But their adoptive parents aren't happy that their daughters want to locate their birth parents―and that is only the first of many obstacles Julie will come up against as she digs into her background.Julie's search for her birth relatives spans years and involves a search agency, a PI, a confidential intermediary, a judge, an adoption agency, a social worker, and a genealogist. By journey's end, what began as a simple desire for a family medical history has evolved into a complicated quest―one that unearths secrets, lies, and family members that are literally right next door.

Where the Truth Hides (Investigation Duo, #1)


Liane Carmen - 2020
    She insists she’s fine, but it quickly becomes clear she’s changed. She’s forgetful, paranoid, short-tempered. Her husband wants to write off her change in personality to the IVF hormones she's taking in an attempt to get pregnant.Becky's best friend, Jules Dalton, is a gorgeous, single woman, with a habit of sabotaging relationships. When Jules loses the man who could have been “the one,” she confronts the realization that being adopted at birth is contributing to her trust issues. She’s obsessed with finding out why she was given up and turns to DNA testing in hopes her matches will lead to her birth parents.As Jules dives into her DNA results, Becky’s life soon becomes one she doesn’t recognize. Those closest to her are accusing her of things she simply can’t explain or remember. She’s terrified of losing everything: her career, her marriage, and her dream of becoming a mother.Desperate to put the pieces of her shattered life back together, Becky needs her best friend more than ever. What she doesn’t realize is that Jules knows something that could explain everything away.Becky has a dark past she’s unaware of. A darkness that’s coming for her.It could also get her killed.

Small Town Secrets


Alys Murray - 2021
    One year’s room and board provided.”I should have known it was too good to be true when I first saw the ad. It turns out that Fortune Springs, Colorado isn’t just a one-horse town, it’s a two-woman one, and this is their attempt to keep the community alive. I want to say the scheme is ridiculous, totally outdated, but I’m carrying everything I own in my canvas backpack and the greyhound I stepped off this morning is long gone. If this is my chance at a fresh start, I’d better grab it with both hands.I know I should feel guilty about pretending to be a lonely heart willing to help repopulate this rural logging town, but all I feel is relief at having escaped the apartment in Savannah. And after all, what’s one more secret to add to the pile? I only hope I’ve hidden my tracks well enough, and that the kind Fortune Springs locals who’ve opened their doors to me will never find out what made me run away in the first place…An emotional, gripping story full of family drama. Fans of Carolyn Brown, Robyn Carr and Debbie Macomber will be hooked.

YOU DID THIS


Jamie Millen - 2022
    A homicide detective’s destiny.Everybody loves Claire’s little sister, Tina. But only Claire sees the twisted psychopath hiding behind her sister’s angelic face. When Tina is brutally murdered on her fourteenth birthday, the day Claire failed to walk her home from school, Claire never forgives herself. And neither does their mother.Twelve years later, more girls turn up dead in Newburgh exactly like Tina. Claire, now a police detective, suspects that her sister’s murderer is still on the prowl. But the serial killer stumps the FBI forensic profiler assisting the case and Special Agent Robert Cline—Claire’s old flame.When Claire becomes the lead suspect in the murder investigation, the system turns against her. Unable to trust anyone—not even herself—Claire must break every rule in the book to save the next girl.With time running out in this nerve-shredding psychological thriller and harrowing family drama, a shocking discovery changes everything. Is Claire’s sister truly dead—or is she playing one final lethal prank?YOU DID THIS is the first book in the Claire Wolfe Thrillers series and can be read as a standalone mystery. Fans of Mike Omer, Robert Dugoni, Melinda Leigh, and Karin Slaughter should get to know Claire Wolfe.

Never Tell Them


N.L. Hinkens - 2021
    Ray’s young son, Henry—traumatized from the recent loss of his mother—acts like he barely knows his father.But things soon take a turn for the worse when Ray is involved in a multi-vehicle wreck, and suffers a brain injury and subsequent memory loss. Sonia steps in to care for Henry, but soon becomes alarmed at the disturbing things he tells her. Determined to get to the bottom of who her neighbor really is, she snoops around in his house. The shocking clues she uncovers shake her to the core. Her own life is in danger from the deadly lie he is living.The more she digs, the more she finds that some lies are best left buried.- A gripping tale of explosive secrets with a jaw-dropping twist! -Will you enjoy Never Tell Them? If you read any of my favorite psychological and domestic suspense thriller authors including K.L. Slater, Shalini Boland, Adam Croft, Kathryn Croft, Kiersten Modglin, Mark Edwards, Lisa Gardner, Louise Jensen, or Rachel Caine, the answer is a resounding yes!

She's Missing


Cole Baxter - 2019
    She shouldn’t have trusted a stranger… When Ellen arrives at the Land’s Edge Bed and Breakfast with her baby and the man pretending to be her husband, she thinks she’s escaped her tortured past. But when her baby disappears two days later, a desperate search quickly involves the police, who become suspicious about her strained relationship with her “husband.” Daniel thought he was doing the right thing by helping the frantic woman and her baby and pretending she was his wife. The fact that he had ulterior motives was irrelevant, but the missing baby draws him into a deepening mystery with so many twists and turns, it makes his head spin. Who is Ellen and what is she running from? Did a monster from her past finally catch up with her and her child, or is there another suspect lurking in the shadows? When the truth finally surfaces, no one will be safe from the fall-out… A thrilling psychological thriller that you won't be able to put down!

Two Little Girls: A Memoir of Adoption


Theresa Reid - 2006
    What was missing from their lives was children. But they knew in Eastern Europe, there were children who were missing parents-and they set out to find their family. This is Theresa's account of how Natalie and Lana came to be her daughters-a journey that takes readers not only to Moscow and Kiev but into the deepest parts of a mother's heart. Reid addresses the issues that arise for many an adoptive parent- including the guilt over taking children away from their roots, and the slow, stumbling steps toward trust and tenderness that played out between them. For any parent, adoptive or not, this book offers not only a compelling story but valuable insights into the transformative power of loving a child.

A Mother's Lie


Leah Mercer - 2021
    But how do I keep you safe?When Ali retreats to her seaside cottage, all she wants is to be alone. To reconnect with a place that has always felt like home until her baby is born.But then her life collides with the people living in the house next door, Michael and Meg, and she is immediately welcomed into their perfect life with their beautiful baby Jem. As they help her prepare for her own arrival, Ali knows she has made the right choice for her baby in returning to Seashine Cottage.When Michael leaves suddenly for a work trip, and Meg impulsively invites Ali to move in, it becomes clear things aren’t as perfect as they first seemed.Meg is holding on to a dark secret. And as her behaviour becomes ever more erratic – leaning on Ali for increasing amounts of help – while Michael shows no signs of returning, Ali begins to worry.Does she need to protect herself and her unborn child from the new friend she thought would help keep her safe? And what about her own devastating secret… the one she’s been running from?From the bestselling author of Who We Were Before comes an unputdownable and heartbreaking read about how far we will go to protect those we love the most. Perfect for fans of The Silent Daughter, Diane Chamberlain and Kerry Lonsdale.This book was previously titled Safe From Harm.

Blue-Eyed Son


Nicky Campbell - 2004
    His father – an ex-army man – and his mother helped him to a good school and a good university. Nicky rarely thought of his birth parents, until a combination of an imploding marriage and a chance meeting with a private detective led him to track his mother down. Nicky Campbell brilliantly recalls their reunion and tentative steps towards a relationship, evoking all the complex and deep-seated emotions that being reunited elicited in each of them. But as they talked it became clear that there was more to Nicky’s background than he expected. . . In this emotionally gripping and refreshingly honest memoir, Nicky Campbell describes the many sides of a family’s dark history, and how it feels to find out where you come from.

Devotion


Alex Sinclair - 2019
    He is angry with her and careless toward Ava.Something has changed. Something is wrong.As Katherine feels her mind slipping away from her, she wonders if she has been wrong about the man she loves. Is Corey really that bad? Katherine is about to find out… Alex Sinclair is also the author of He's At Your Door. Devotion is an unmissable psychological thriller, which readers of domestic noir will love. It will also appeal to fans of authors like Cara Hunter, Lucy Dawson and Samantha Hayes.

The Lost Twin


Diana Finley - 2020
    Penniless and alone, Marie is forced to make an impossible choice. One she will regret for the rest of her life.Against the odds, Marie raises her son Barry and gives him a good life. Yet she can never bring herself to tell him that somewhere out there, he has a twin brother.But secrets can’t stay buried forever. And when Barry learns the truth, it threatens to tear mother and son apart all over again.Will the family ever be reunited? And can the scars of a lifetime ever truly heal?

Becoming Amish: A family's search for faith, community and purpose


Jeff Smith - 2016
    No more architectural or medical careers. Instead, the Mosers drew close with their children, built pallets for money, wore homemade clothes, and bonded with people of their Amish faith and community. Here, in Becoming Amish, they offer a modern couple's honest perspective on that separate and seemingly cloistered world, a perspective that is uniquely insider and outsider at the same time.The Mosers' journey is rich and fascinating all on its own as we learn about the inner workings of the Amish faith, ways and culture—what their church services are like, how their businesses succeed at such a high rate, how they are so remarkably connected on a human scale (without Facebook!), how they balance technology in their lives, and more.But though the couple's decision can seem extreme, it can also serve as a mirror that helps us reflect upon our own choices, our own beliefs and values. If we were to be as intentional about our lives, how would we realign our choices big and small to achieve a fulfilling life?Becoming Amish rounds out the Mosers' tale with interviews, vignettes, and information that adds context, perspective and insight into the Amish community. The reader learns of a startlingly violent book—published in 1660—that is central to this pacifist people’s belief and is in nearly every Amish home. The reader visits a “plain” community in the hills of Kentucky—a community that lives even more simply than most Amish—to discuss “the whys” of a low-technology life and faith. The reader contemplates an interview with the Lutheran minister who helped lead the Supreme Court case back in 1972 that allowed the Amish to pull their children from public school after 8th grade—what compelled him to do that? becomingamish@gmail.com.

The Love We Left Behind


Katherine Slee - 2021
    With her adoring fiancé, financial independence and a close-knit group of friends, Erika should have life all figured out—but she can’t shake the feeling that there’s something missing. And when she stumbles upon a reminder of her past one day, she’s confronted with a part of her life she’s spent almost twenty years trying to forget.1995. Smart, tenacious Niamh is in her second year at Oxford University. Unlike her best friend Erika, she’s shy and feels like she doesn’t belong, so she’s happy to let Erika take the lead in their friendship. But everything changes when she meets Leo and feels the uplifting power of love for the first time.As Erika’s story takes us back into the past, Niamh’s brings us forward towards the present, until the two meet one fateful summer’s night that will change the path of their friendship forever.