Book picks similar to
Mothers Don't Lie by Jo Crow
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And Then You Were Gone
R.J. Jacobs - 2019
Even better, her life is coming together: she’s got a great job, her own place, and a boyfriend, Paolo, who adores her. So when Paolo suggests a weekend sailing trip, Emily agrees—wine, water, and the man she loves? What could be better? But when Emily wakes the morning after they set sail, the boat is still adrift…and Paolo is gone.A strong swimmer, there’s no way Paolo drowned, but Emily is at a loss for any other explanation. Where else could he have gone? And why? As the hours and days pass by, each moment marking Paolo’s disappearance, Emily’s hard-won stability begins to slip.But when Emily uncovers evidence suggesting Paolo was murdered, the investigation throws her mania into overdrive, even as she becomes a person of interest in her own personal tragedy. To clear her name, Emily must find the truth—but can she hold onto her own sanity in the process?
The Twins
J.S. Lark - 2020
Through good and bad, the girls will always be together…forever. Until they meet Jonny. Older, charming, and handsome, Jonny offers the girls the much-needed love and attention they crave. But he can only choose one and for the first time in their lives, the girls find themselves split apart – the invisible thread that binds them severed.Set-free from her twin, Sarah builds a new life for herself, marries, has a daughter. But Susan’s life spirals further and further out of control.And now Susan is back. And she’s determined to reclaim everything she feels Sarah has taken from her. Her home, her husband…her life?
The Other Daughter
Shalini Boland - 2019
And now she’s back. Two-and-a-half-year-old Holly is playing happily in a pink plastic playhouse, while her mother Rachel sips coffee and chats with a friend nearby. It should be an ordinary day for all of them. But, in the blink of an eye, it turns into every family’s worst nightmare. Holly is taken by a stranger and never found. Nine years later, Rachel is living a quiet life in Dorset. She’s tried to keep things together since the traumatic day when she lost her eldest daughter. She has a new family, a loving partner and her secrets are locked away in her painful past. Until one afternoon when Rachel meets a new school parent Kate and her teenage daughter Bella. Rachel’s world is instantly turned upside down – she’s seen Bella before. She’d recognise that face anywhere – it’s her missing child. And she will stop at nothing to get her back…
Southern Gothic
Dale Wiley - 2017
Meredith can keep the manuscript to herself, or publish it under her own name. Her decision results in a bestseller, but the novel contains a coded secret; one that will put her on trial for murder and in hiding from "the blood stalker," proving too late that making a deal with the devil comes at a heavy price.
Lavina
Mary Marcus - 2015
A child of Louisiana in the early sixties, she found little in common with most of the people in her community and in her household, and her best friend was Lavina, the black woman who cooked and cleaned for her family. Now, in the early nineties, Mary Jacob has escaped her history and established a fresh, if imperfect, life for herself in New York. But when she learns of her father's critical illness, she needs to go back home. To a disapproving father and a spiteful sister. To a town decades out of alignment with Mary Jacob's new world. To the memories of Billy Ray, Lavina's son who grew up to be a musical legend whose star burned much too bright.And to the echoes of a fateful day three decades earlier when three lives changed forever.A decades-spanning story both intimate and enormous in scope, LAVINA is a novel rich in humanity, sharp in its indictments, and stunning in its resolution.
When I Was Ten
Fiona Cummins - 2020
Their Dad was the local GP and they lived in the beautiful house on the hill. Their best friend, Brinley Booth, lived next door. They would do anything for each other but everything shifted on that fateful day when Dr Richard Carter and his wife Pamela were stabbed fourteen times with a pair of scissors in what has become the most talked about double murder of the modern age.The girls were aged ten and twelve at the time. One, nicknamed the Angel of Death, spent eight years in a children’s secure unit accused of the brutal killings. The other lived in foster care out of the limelight and prying questions. Now, on the anniversary of the trial, a documentary team has tracked down one of the sisters, persuading her to speak about the events of that night for the first time.Her explosive interview sparks national headlines and Brinley Booth, now a journalist, is tasked with covering the news story which brings to light fresh evidence and triggers a chain of events which will have devastating consequences.
My Sweet Friend
H.A. Leuschel - 2017
She brings a much-needed breath of fresh air into the office and ambitiously throws herself into her new job and friendships. But is Alexa all she claims to be? As her life intertwines with Rosie and Jack’s, they must all decide what separates truth from fiction. Will the stories that unfold unite or divide them? Can first impressions ever be trusted?In this original novella, H.A. Leuschel evokes the powerful hold of appearances and what a person is prepared to do to keep up the facade. If you like thought-provoking and compelling reads with intriguing characters, My Sweet Friend is for you.
The Dilemma
B.A. Paris - 2019
Keeping it secret will destroy him.It’s Livia’s 40th birthday, and her husband Adam is throwing her the party of a lifetime to make up for the wedding they never had. Everyone she loves will be there, except her daughter Marnie, who’s studying abroad. But Livia is secretly glad Marnie won’t be there. Livia has recently uncovered a secret about their daughter which, if revealed, will shake the foundation of their family to its core. She needs to tell Adam, but she’s waiting until the party is over so they can have this last happy time together.Adam, meanwhile, has his own surprise for Livia: he’s arranged for Marnie to secretly fly back for the party. But before Marnie arrives, Adam hears some terrible news. Now he too is faced with a dilemma: Does he share what he's learned with his wife? Is hiding the truth the same as telling a lie? And how far are Adam and Livia willing to go to protect the ones they love—and give each other a last few hours of happiness?
The Girl With No Past
Kathryn Croft - 2015
It is a lonely life, without a social life or friends until – longing for a connection – she meets Julian. For the first time she dares to believe she can live a normal life.Then, on the fourteenth anniversary of that day, she receives a card. Someone knows the truth about what happened. Someone who won’t stop until they’ve destroyed the life Leah has created.But is Leah all she seems? Or does she deserve everything she gets?Everyone has secrets. But some are deadly.
The Other Gloria
L.A. Villafane - 2019
There is another who harbors her unspeakable secrets. Meeting her is where the danger lies. On a dark January night in 2019, Gloria finds herself behind the wheel of a car, beaten and covered in blood. She has no idea where she’s coming from, or where she might be headed. After pulling to the side of the road, she begins to fade out of consciousness. The next thing she experiences is waking in bed next to a man who should be her beloved fiancé, Rick. However, she soon discovers it is her dangerous ex-husband, Charles, whom she thought she had escaped two years earlier, in 2017. She eventually finds that the year she was woken to is 2003, and she is living her life with this abusive man all over again. Due to the abuse she endured, Gloria suffers from dissociative disorder, which has stolen the memories of her two young daughters growing up. There is another who holds these memories; the Other Gloria. She thinks maybe God has given her a do-over, and she might be able to do better, stay present, and recover the lost memories of their childhood. She knows, to do this, she must escape Charles once again. Gloria’s plan for escaping this time around includes finding Rick, who doesn’t know she exists in 2003, but she soon comes to the realization that meeting Rick will not be enough. She knows she must do the one thing she never wanted to do – meet the Other Gloria and finally discover the unspeakable secrets she holds. For those who enjoyed The Girl on the Train, Behind Closed Doors, or The Wife Between Us. Villafane has managed to write that type of story that keeps the readers on their toes the whole time and, just when they think they have figured out what’s going on, bam! An amazing twist shocks them out of their comfort zone. Just brilliant! Brunella Costagliola, Best Selling Ghost Writer
Close To Me
Amanda Reynolds - 2017
Her husband wants to keep it that way.
When Jo Harding falls down the stairs at home, she wakes up in hospital with partial amnesia - she's lost a whole year of memories. A lot can happen in a year. Was Jo having an affair? Lying to her family? Starting a new life?She can't remember what she did - or what happened the night she fell.
But she's beginning to realise she might not be as good a wife and mother as she thought.
The Forgotten Child
D.E. White - 2019
She yanked the wheel as she felt the impact from the car behind her. There was a sharp pain, and then a bang in front of her, and after that nothing but darkness.Holly Kendal is trying to put her painful past and broken marriage behind her and focus on her beloved son, Milo. But while driving him home on a dark February night, Holly loses control on the rain-slicked tarmac, and her car spirals off the road. When Holly regains consciousness, everything is silent and in the dark, she can’t see Milo. Desperately, she claws her way out of the car and forces the back door open. To her relief, Milo is where she left him, injured but breathing – but then she sees something that makes her heart stop. Milo isn't the only child in the car. Next to him is another little boy, unharmed but unconscious. And Holly has absolutely no idea who he is.
The Family Across the Street
Nicole Trope - 2021
How well do you know the people next door…?Everybody wants to live on Hogarth Street, the pretty, tree-lined avenue with its white houses. The new family, The Wests, are a perfect fit. Katherine and John* seem so in love and their gorgeous five-year-old twins race screeching around their beautiful emerald-green lawn.But soon people start to notice: why don’t they join backyard barbecues? Why do they brush away offers to babysit? Why, when you knock at the door, do they shut you out, rather than inviting you in?Every family has secrets, and on the hottest day of the year, the truth is about to come out. As a tragedy unfolds behind closed doors, the dawn chorus is split by the wail of sirens. And one by one the families who tried so hard to welcome the Wests begin to realise: Hogarth Street will never be the same again.A completely gripping, twist-packed psychological thriller, perfect for fans of Liane Moriarty, Sally Hepworth and Lisa Jewell.(*there is a typo on the back cover that calls him Josh)
Not Her Daughter
Rea Frey - 2018
Five years old. Gray eyes, brown hair. Missing since June.Emma is lonely. Living with her cruel mother and clueless father, Emma retreats into her own world of quiet and solitude.Sarah Walker. Successful entrepreneur. Broken-hearted. Kidnapper.Sarah has never seen a girl so precious as the gray-eyed child in a crowded airport terminal. When a second-chance encounter with Emma presents itself, Sarah takes her—far away from home. But if it’s to rescue a little girl from her damaging mother, is kidnapping wrong?Amy Townsend. Unhappy wife. Unfit mother. Unsure whether she wants her daughter back.Amy’s life is a string of disappointments, but her biggest issue is her inability to connect with her daughter. And now Emma is gone without a trace.As Sarah and Emma avoid the nationwide hunt, they form an unshakeable bond. But what about Emma’s real mother, back at home?
In Her Words
J.S. Ellis - 2019
When gorgeous and carefree Michael Frisk walks into her life, he offers the excitement and passion she desires.Sophie is willing to risk everything she has. After all, she is used to concealing things from her husband—like her alcoholism, her unhappiness. But soon she has more to hide. She wakes up one morning in an alcoholic haze and finds bruises on her body, but has no recollection of what happened to her. Was she raped?When unsettling notes and mysterious phone calls start, Sophie wonders whom she should turn to. Is Michael the cause of the frightening things happening in her life, or is he the answer to her problems?