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If These Trees Could Talk by Brian W. Smith
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Princess
Staci Stallings - 2012
As the star basketball player on a winning college team, everybody knows him and loves him. His face is plastered on publicity poster after publicity poster. He's even gotten offers from the pros to forego his senior year for the glitz and glamour of the Big Show. But Anthony has a secret that's threatening to swallow his life whole… Heather Nolan would be the perfect poster-girl for academic overachievers. She's got straight A's and every professor in her cheering corner. But the life Heather thought she was studying so hard for is in danger of coming to a neck-snapping halt if she can't come up with a way to pay the bills. Bitter and angry that the basketball team seems to get the royal treatment while "real students" are forced to scrape by, Heather spitefully takes the only job available-tutoring. However, the lessons she teaches about English and what she learns about basketball soon pale in comparison with what she learns about herself. PRINCESS represents the collision of two college students, both with dreams and goals, both with real-to-life issues that are complicating everything. Like many new adults, Heather wants to manage life on her own terms, but paying for everything has become impossible. Anthony, on the other hand, seems to have it made, but in this contemporary romance, not everything is as it seems. The meeting of these two souls challenges both of them to let go of pride, prejudices, and pre-conceived notions about life and each other. Watching the coming of age journey is fascinating. *~* EXCERPT *~* Taking the concrete steps two at a time, Anthony Russell hurried to the front door of the Language Building, which he opened with barely a yank. He was late, and he knew it. “God, please don’t let her leave. Please,” he begged as he all-but ran down the hall to the Conference Rooms. “She’s my last chance.” With no pretense, he yanked that door open and strode into the room. … This was not the way he had wanted to start out. At the end of the hall, he pushed the door open with one shove, and half-an-instant later heard the crash on the other side as the door hit a chair that was standing too close. CRASH! The girl seated at the tiny table jumped up so fast, she knocked her own chair to the floor as well, and when it hit the floor, she jumped again. “Oh, man.” Anthony held a hand up to calm the all-out panic in her face. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I am so sorry.” A fall of wavy brown hair followed her motion as she reached down to yank her chair from the floor. “Here, let me get that for you,” Anthony said, mortified by his clumsiness. As he crossed the room in one stride, he slung his books onto the little table. But just as he reached for her chair, he heard the first book hit the floor on the table’s other side, and then from his vantage point looking under the table, he saw the papers from his notebook slide from the table onto the floor with a slow-motion waterfall effect. “Oh, no.” He righted her chair in one sweep and quickly knelt down under the table to retrieve his wayward belongings. He pulled the last paper off the floor and got his feet under him to stand, but he didn’t judge the table right and smacked his head on the edge of it. “Ow!” he yelped, rubbing the skin at the top of his head. Putting a hand above him to judge the table, he stood slowly, making sure to leave plenty of room between his head and the table this time. She’s going to think I’m a complete idiot.
Bring Me Back
Taryn Plendl - 2012
For two years, Ally has gotten through her very routine life by giving into her fears, living alone.Ian is grieving the recent death of his young fiancé. Unsure of how to move on, he moves into a house in the mountains just down the shared drive from Ally, where he wants nothing more than to be by himself.When Ally finds herself needing help for the first time in two years, she has no choice but to turn to Ian. Together, Ally and Ian are forced to deal with their own fears to get them through the next few weeks. What they never planned on was the deep feelings they would develop for each other, but is it enough to bring them back from the pain of their pasts?**Contains adult content. Recommended for 17+
Harry's Justice (Harry Windsor Book 1)
Andy Wiseman - 2017
But he's finding it difficult. Following a chance meeting with a man whose daughter has gone missing and an offer of payment to find her, Harry begins a search. The consequences of which, take him back into London's criminal underworld and where he encounters the ruthlessness of Russian organised crime, the cunning of his former crime boss and the police, wanting to arrest him for murder.The search becomes one of survival as Harry deals retribution and justice in equal measure, yet torn between whether or not to break his vow to save the girl.Harry's journey is one of self-discovery and dark secrets while facing fears to exorcise the demons of the past - but how will his journey end?(contains some violence)
Eightysixed: Life Lessons Learned
Emily Belden - 2014
But if “figuring it all out” and “wanting it all” were Olympic sports, Emily would have been a gold medalist in both categories. Never one to admit defeat in the face of the enemy, Emily gets back in the dating ring again and again. But, the more she tries to make her therapist proud, the deeper down the rabbit hole she goes. While recovering the pieces of her broken heart, straight-A Emily’s dating world morphs into a mad soirée of drug addicts, embezzlers, perverts, and pimps. Just as she begins to believe that a bottle of wine might be her only shot at happiness, a chance encounter with a man she should never should have met resets Emily’s buttons. What she experience next satiates her heart, her soul, and her stomach, as she frees herself from the perils of her mid-twenties and becomes exactly who she is supposed to be.
Let Me Be the One
Lily Foster - 2014
Her boyfriend? The guy who came off as sweet and devoted, the life of the party? Try obsessed, out of control and hell-bent on ruining her life.One year later, a new and improved Darcy Donovan is back on campus and she’s got a plan. That plan doesn’t include Tom Farrell, or any other guy for that matter. He’s surfer-boy hot and he talks a good game, but don’t they all?Hell to the yes…She’s back.Going after his friend’s girl is wrong, but Tom is too hung up on Darcy to care. Screw principles, screw ethics, screw the bro code. An hour in her presence would lead the best of men to veer off the high road.And he has his work cut out for him. She still thinks he’s a joke, nothing more than a walking, talking one-night stand. What she doesn’t know is that Tom has spent the past year changing his ways. He’s not all talk, and he’ll do whatever it takes to prove it.But when a menace from Darcy’s past resurfaces and Tom’s past comes back to bite him hard, their one shot at happily ever after may be shot to hell.What you don’t know? Turns out that it can hurt you.Let Me Be the One is the first book in Lily Foster's Let Me series. Gripping and emotional, these stand-alone romances are intended for the 18 and older crowd due to mature language and sexual content.
In the Dismal Swamp
Patrick Balester - 2008
He is quickly disappointed when a dead body turns up floating in the Great Dismal Swamp. And this is not just any dead body. Ashley Myrtle was the wife of a prominent local politician. Greg soon discovers that Ashley, an apparent drowning victim, may have been murdered. Unfortunately, no one wants to believe him. The mayor, the woman's husband, an old boyfriend and even her coworkers seem eager to rule her death an accidental drowning. With help from a reluctant FBI agent, Greg follows a trail of small town secrets and lies to discover what really happened on that cold spring day. Refusing to give up, he discovers a vital clue deep in the swamp that leads to the killer. But justice won't be served until he can prove it was a case of murder.
How to Say Goodbye
Amber Lin - 2014
She doesn’t even know how to hug. Everyone thinks she’s smart, but straight A's are way easier than making friends. Then she meets Dane, a golden-haired surfer whose easy charm and hot touch teach her what she longs to know.Dane lives for the salty breeze and a sweet wave, because that’s all he has. He’s been on the streets since he was fourteen. A drifter. Homeless. Then he meets Amy. Smart and accomplished, she’s everything he’s not. He wants to be the sort of man who deserves her.Except that means facing down his past—and that past might very well swallow them both.
Melt
Shane M. Brown - 2013
A schoolboy. A CEO. A UPS delivery driver. A retired schoolteacher. A computer gamer. A hunter. They are just everyday people with nothing in common.No ransom is demanded. No one knows why they are taken. And no one could possibly imagine the horrors they've been chosen to face. Given no instructions, totally isolated from the outside world, all they find is ice.From the moment they awaken, the ice begins to melt and their terrifying struggle for survival begins. The ice will push them beyond their limits of endurance. It will reveal their personal secrets. It will torture them in ways they hadn't imagined possible, but it is also their only hope of escape.As cryptic patterns emerge, the ice reveals its rules. Rules they must obey or die. Thrust into the most horrifying ordeal of their lives, seven strangers must band together to survive. But as the ice melts, what they find inside begins to tear their group apart.They will learn terrible things about each other. They will learn their own personal limits. Scariest of all, they will learn what humans are capable of when pushed to the edge of sanity.
3 Action-Packed Ryan Lock Novels: The Innocent; Fire Point; The Edge of Alone
Sean Black - 2016
In the US or Canada? Then don't miss the sale price on the first 4 books in this series: "4 Action-Packed Ryan Lock Thrillers: Lockdown; Deadlock; Lock & Load; Gridlock" Follow former military men turned private security operators, Ryan Lock, and Ty Johnson, as they confront a dark conspiracy in a remote college town (THE INNOCENT), hunt down a cult-like group snatching young women from the streets of Los Angeles (FIRE POINT) and help a desperate father save his only child from an abusive school for teens (THE EDGE OF ALONE). "This is a writer, and a hero, to watch." - Geoffrey Wansell, The Daily Mail "This series is ace. There are deservedly strong Lee Child comparisons as the author is also a Brit, his novels US-based, his character appealing, and his publisher the same." - Sarah Broadhurst, The Bookseller "Black's style is supremely slick." - Jeremy Jehu, The Daily Telegraph "The pace of Lee Child, and the heart of Harlan Coben." - Joseph Finder, New York Times Bestseller (Paranoia, Buried Secrets) 'Ryan Lock (is) a protagonist tough enough to take on the Jacks of this world (that's Bauer and Reacher)' - Russel McLean Over a thousand pages of bestselling, action-packed, heart-pounding suspense for one very low price. Books included (in order): THE INNOCENT When college basketball coach Malik Shaw goes missing after a family tragedy, it looks like just another retired athlete gone off the rails. But Malik’s childhood friend, private security specialist Ty Johnson, quickly begins to suspect that there is more to it. Chasing the truth, Ty and his business partner, Ryan Lock, begin to uncover a sinister conspiracy of silence in a sleepy Minnesota college town. FIRE POINT Ryan Lock and Ty Johnson are in Los Angeles and on the trail of an unlikely cult who are planning on taking their message to the world in the most devastating fashion imaginable. THE EDGE OF ALONE An isolated school for troubled teens. A series of mysterious deaths. A father frantically trying to rescue his daughter before it's too late. But when the law won't listen, who can he turn to?
Seeing Julia
Katherine Owen - 2011
A weak moment. One Kiss. Jake Winston has always done the right thing, which is why he walked out of his best friend's wedding over a year ago and took the job in London to avoid meeting up with Evan's beautiful, young bride. But now, Julia needs him, and he can't just walk away this time.Julia Hamilton is well acquainted with grief, but when she carelessly imbibes in a deadly combination of pain killers and martinis at her dead husband's funeral and confides to a complete stranger that she's unsure she can start over again, it leads to an inexplicable connection that never should have happened. After all, Julia loved Evan, didn't she? And, it turns out; Jake Winston has secrets of his own. Julia explains it away by telling her well-meaning friends that it was just one kiss in a weak moment for both of them. It doesn't change anything. Or, does it change everything? And, therein lies the problem.
Please be advised that SEEING JULIA contains adult language and adult situations and is not appropriate for young readers. (New Adult Fiction, Contemporary Romance)
The Dressmaker's Son
Abbi Sherman Schaefer - 2013
Rachael's family comes to America to start a new life after fleeing the pogroms in Russia. Rebekah comes to America with her son, Samuel, fleeing his father, Misha, a Russian soldier with whom she had an affair and has threatened to take him away from her so he will not grow up as a Jew and the son of a cobbler. Set in the Lower East Side of New York and pre-revolutionary St. Petersburg, Russia, both women adjust to life in America until Misha kidnaps Samuel and returns with him to Russia. How Rebekah rises to the challenge of earning enough money as a designer of women's gowns to return to St. Petersburg to find her son, and the difficulties she encounters while there, including murder and prison, show the reader the full extent of a mother's ingenuity and determination when it comes to her child. Rachael also faces the possibility of losing a child to war when her son Solomon enlists in the army as America's entry into World War I approaches.
Death And Deception
B.A. Steadman - 2016
And the clock is ticking …This is the first Detective Dan Hellier novel.
Happy(ish)
Cara Trautman - 2013
When she’s not covered in fake fur, she sleeps with the wrong men, avoids laundry, sets her vibrator on fire, and dodges her mother’s demanding phone calls. Surrounded by eccentric friends, an offbeat family, peculiar coworkers, and a twenty-four-year-old goldfish, Jane searches for happiness through a maze of dirty clothes and hard lessons.Happy(ish) is set in Ferndale and the metro Detroit area.
The Case of the Exploding Speakeasy
David E. Fessenden - 2013
Watson’s son, in 1920s Philadelphia to investigate the mysterious explosion at a speakeasy, which killed the owner and his car-playing buddies.
American Goth
Cyn Mackley - 2016
Trinity’s ready to lace up her Doc Marten boots to be a church lady and bake pies for the county fair, but is her hometown ready to welcome her back? With some help from her old friend Deputy Bobby Grace, she tries to solve the mystery of her Grandfather’s death and track down just who has been hell-bent on ruining her reputation. What she finds out could get her killed. You can take the girl out of the country, put red streaks in her hair, and dress her all in black, but you can’t take the country out of the girl. Pitchfork in hand, this American Goth is ready to find a killer, save the farm, win a blue ribbon for jam, and just maybe snag herself a good ole country boy.