Book picks similar to
It Wasn't Love by J.S. Lee


memoirs-or-based-on-true-stories
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china
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A Rosie Life In Italy: Why Are We Here?


Rosie Meleady - 2020
    Everyone dismisses her long-term dream to live in Italy as another ‘mad hippy whim.’ While she’s busy planning other people’s happy endings, grief, eviction and debt nip at her heels. Trying to stabilise her life as an entrepreneur in the middle of an economic crash is almost impossible.When her landlord suddenly doubles the rent, Rosie is left with no choice but to pack up her family, two dogs and possessions into a 20-year-old camper van and head off in search of her own happy ending in sunny Italy.She soon discovers integrating into life in a new country isn’t as easy as it looks on TV, especially when the language is a minefield of accidental sexual innuendo. And trying to buy an abandoned villa in Umbria from eight crazy cousins with a longstanding family battle bubbling under the surface doesn’t make it any easier. While Rosie is determined to create the perfect life for her family in Italy, despite a hurricane, a raucous family dispute and a little thing called a global pandemic to top it all off, she begins to realise that the Italian dream may be too big for her. Will she ever get to live her rosy life in Italy? Or has she bitten off more than she can chew?

Something Only We Know


Kate Long - 2014
    Her sister, Helen, is beautiful but damaged, and hides a secret that has affected the whole family, one they cannot escape but one she is trying to move on from. As Helen learns to become a whole person once again, her family struggles with the past, and how they will move forward together. And Jen realises that the one person she needs to help her through is the one person she cannot have - Helen's boyfriend, Ned...

The David Rivers Series: Books 1-3: Greatest Enemy, Offer of Revenge, and Dark Redemption


Jason Kasper - 2018
    Now an international bestseller. Book 1: Greatest Enemy Army Ranger David Rivers enters the covert underworld of ex-special operators for hire. His new team serves a faceless mastermind known as the Handler. But as the stakes continue to rise, he learns that his new employer is more ruthless than anyone he's faced in combat—and he just might be David's greatest enemy. Book 2: Offer of Revenge David Rivers wants vengeance. But to get it, he must join the secretive organization that slaughtered the only family he had. Sent into battle against a savage force of enemy fighters in Somalia, David realizes that someone inside the organization seems to know his true purpose…and has been waiting for him all along. Book 3: Dark Redemption The path to revenge leads David Rivers into a labyrinth of twisted loyalties in the violent slums of Rio de Janeiro—where he learns the betrayal of his team was just the beginning. And nothing in David’s murderous past can prepare him for what happens when he finally meets his greatest enemy face-to-face.

He's Saved...But is He For Real? (Official Re-Release)


Kim Brooks - 2008
    Since then, Michelle’s friendship with her church buddy David has deepened into something sweet and special, but learning that Pierre has called off his wedding throws her into confusion. When Pierre wants Michelle back, she’s forced to make a choice—one she may regret.Liz Coleman has two great blessings; her calling as an evangelist, and a saved man who truly loves her. But Liz’s insecurity and jealousy are eating at her peace of mind and threatening her relationship. Will she ever discover her source of insecurity, and will she lose her man in the process? Sandy has found the strength to get her ex out of her life. But meeting a loving, godly l man to replace him isn’t easy, and soon her loneliness leads her to the one brother who should be off-limits...The love journeys of good friends Michelle, Liz and Sandy continue in this bestselling sequel to, "He's Fine...But is He Saved?" as they all now ask the question, "He's Saved...But is He For Real?"

The Fortunes


Peter Ho Davies - 2016
    Sly, funny, intelligent, and artfully structured, The Fortunes recasts American history through the lives of Chinese Americans and reimagines the multigenerational novel through the fractures of immigrant family experience.Inhabiting four lives—a railroad baron’s valet who unwittingly ignites an explosion in Chinese labor, Hollywood's first Chinese movie star, a hate-crime victim whose death mobilizes Asian Americans, and a biracial writer visiting China for an adoption—this novel captures and capsizes over a century of our history, showing that even as family bonds are denied and broken, a community can survive—as much through love as blood.Building fact into fiction, spinning fiction around fact, Davies uses each of these stories—three inspired by real historical characters—to examine the process of becoming not only Chinese American, but American.

Up to the Mountains and Down to the Countryside


Quincy Carroll - 2015
    The first, Thomas, is an entitled deadbeat, content to pass the rest of his days in Asia skating by on the fact that he's white, while the second, a recent college graduate named Daniel, is an idealist at heart. Over the course of the novel, these two characters fight to establish primacy in Ningyuan, a remote town in the south of Hunan, with one of their more overzealous students, Bella, caught in between. Quincy Carroll's cleverly written debut novel examines what we bring from one country to another.

Billionaire Boss, Undercover Affair


Kyra Radcliff - 2020
    As the successful owner of one of the richest old money industrialist conglomerates in the world, he is under pressure of a different kind when his daughter Alicia becomes involved with internet entrepreneur Miles Middleton.With an ego as big as his bank balance, Miles has a reputation for a string of affairs and Charles doesn’t want his daughter anywhere near him. And so he enlists Susan, as a Trojan Horse, burying her deep within Miles’ business interests in the hope that she can sabotage his relationship with Alicia.It isn’t long before the plan seems to be working and Miles is missing lunches, dinners and other dates with Alicia in favour of making money and sealing deals. But it’s when he takes Susan away on a business trip and tries to seduce her that she sees him for what he really is. But now that she is close to her goal, Susan suddenly has a crisis of confidence? Is she really still working for Charles or is she now pursuing her own agenda with Miles?As he continues to get under her skin with his continuous attempts at seduction, Susan finds that she is more conflicted than ever. And the closer she gets to completing the assignment, the greater the chances are that Miles will discover her secret.

Ten Thousand Sorrows : The Extraordinary Journey of a Korean War Orphan


Elizabeth Kim - 2000
    Omma had committed the sin of sleeping with an American soldier, and producing not just a bastard, but a mixed-race child, considered worthless. Abandoned at a Christian orphanage in post-war Seoul like so much garbage, bleeding and terrified, Kim unwittingly embarked on the next phase of her extraordinary journey. Left at a Christian orphanage in postwar Seoul like garbage, bleeding and terrified, Kim unwittingly embarked on the next phase of her extraordinary life when she was adopted by a childless Fundamentalist pastor and his wife in the United States. Unfamiliar with Western customs and language, but terrified that she would be sent back to the orphanage, or even killed, Kim trained herself to be the perfect child. But just as her Western features doomed her in Korea, so her Asian features served as a constant reminder that she wasn't good enough for her new, all-white environment. After escaping her adoptive parents' home, only to find herself in an abusive and controlling marriage, Kim finally made a break for herself by having a daughter and running away with her to a safer haven--something Omma could not do for her. Unflinching in her narration, Kim tells of her sorrows with a steady and riveting voice, and ultimately transcends them by laying claim to all the joys to which she is entitled.

The God Thought


Dave Cravens - 2015
    levels a small town in Kansas and rips apart the commercial airliner flying overhead. The wife and child of Oliver Wells are among the thousands reported dead. Authorities blame the tragedy on an accident at a fertilizer plant not up to code. A year later, still grappling with his depression, Oliver is accosted by a mysterious stranger who offers another answer: A FARMER CAUSED THE EXPLOSION. AN EXPLOSION BORN OF THOUGHT. A THOUGHT SO PERFECT AND DIVINE IT'S SAID TO MIRROR WHAT GOD THOUGHT TO CONCEIVE THE UNIVERSE. Thrust into a hidden world of conspirators and luminaries who would do anything to attain the farmer's knowledge, Oliver finds himself in a race to confront the man who killed his family. To do so, he must test the limits of his sanity... AND UNLOCK THE POWER OF THE GOD THOUGHT FOR HIMSELF."

Evolution Cradle: The Aryan Origin


Charith Pidikiti - 2020
    Here, in the lap of a timeless civilization, they find a fellow seeker in historian Geeta. Together, the trio begin a thrilling odyssey of discovery, which spans continents and cultures, challenges life-long religious and scientific truths and puts their lives in grave danger. They are horrified to learn that they are mere puppets, their fate controlled by an all-seeing sinister villain, who yearns to "cleanse" the world and create a new order. As they connect the dots, they join forces with an Afghan professor, a British archaeologist and an American General. Finally, a mind-bending, unpredictable climax which stuns the world's brightest minds... Even as it answers many questions, it throws up new ones.Based on two years of research, The Evolution Cradle is an unputdownable book, which blurs the lines between reality and imagination, ancient and modern, fact and faith. Breathless in its pace, the rollercoaster narrative is packed with non-stop action, escapes and chases, thrills and chills, and edge-of-the-seat twists and turns. It continues to haunt the reader long after the last page is turned.

Son of Rosemary/Rosemary's Baby


Ira Levin - 2013
    

A Single Woman


Maggie Christensen - 2019
    headmistress at an elite girl’s school in Glasgow, is determinedly single, adroitly avoiding all attempts at matchmaking by a close friend.Widower Alasdair MacLeod is grieving for the wife he lost two years earlier, struggling as the single father of two teenagers, and frustrated by the well-meaning interference of his in-laws.When a proposed school trip to France brings Isla and Alasdair together, they find a connection in the discovery that each is suffering the loss of a loved one, but neither is interested in forming a relationship,As their friendship grows, Alasdair struggles with his increasing attraction to the elegant schoolmistress, while Isla harbours concerns about the complications a relationship with him would bring.Can Alasdair overcome his natural reserve, and can Isla open her heart to love again? ***Readers of Christensen’s earlier books, The Good Sister and Isobel’s Promise, will love reconnecting with Bel and Matt while enjoying Isla Cameron’s unique story.

Midnite's Daughter


Rick Gualtieri - 2017
     All Kisaki really wants is to belong *somewhere*, but there are few places half demons can safely call home. Raised in isolation within the celestial palace, she longs to escape and explore the strange planet below - Earth. So when an opportunity presents itself, she takes it, inadvertently stealing her mother’s greatest treasure in the process – the Blade of Heaven. Exploring a whole new world is terrifying enough, but hot on her heels is her so-called guardian, the tiger-spirit Shitoro. If he catches her, he'll drag her straight back home. She thinks it’s to punish her. But in actuality it’s to save her. She doesn’t know it yet, but there’s a very good reason Kisaki has been kept hidden away. Half-breeds such as her are not tolerated by the demon lords. If they find her, they’ll stop at nothing to take the blade and use it to erase Kisaki, her mother, and everyone she cares about from existence.

The Waters of Star Lake


Sara Lindsay Rath - 2012
    But the wilderness conceals more than one perilous mystery. Where in Wisconsin's Northwoods did the notorious gangster John Dillinger hide $210,000 following a violent FBI shootout? And why do the local timberwolves incite so much rage among Natalie's neighbors? As predators circle and howl in the dark, Ginger, the bartender at the nearby Star Lake Saloon, draws Natalie deep into the secrets not only of Dillinger but of the ecologies of family, forest, and heart. With the reluctant support of her granddaughter and advice from a handsome wolf biologist, Natalie is forced to choose between adversity and adventure. Sara Rath continues her popular Northwoods saga in this affirming and often humorous tale of romance, betrayal, and danger.

Live Lead Learn: My Stories of Life and Leadership


Gail Kelly - 2017
    The first female CEO of one of Australia's big four banks, listed by Forbes in 2010 as the 8th most powerful woman in the world, and mother of four (including triplets), Gail is celebrated as one of our finest, most innovative thinkers on leadership and workplace culture.In these personal, practical chapters, Gail Kelly shares what she's learned over her remarkable career, drawing from her personal and professional life. As a leader, she argues passionately for the importance of putting people and customers at the heart of a business; of leading with courage and generosity of spirit; and of resilience. Some of those lessons were learnt at times of high pressure, and Gail takes us into her thinking as she led Westpac through the global financial crisis and the merger with St. George.But Gail's voice speaks to each of us, whatever our role in life. She explores the absolute importance of loving what you do; learning to learn; backing yourself; and most importantly, placing your family above all things.At the heart of Gail's refreshing, authentic, integrated approach is how both individuals and companies thrive when they openly address the meaning of what they do, and understand the need to live a whole life. Live, Lead, Learn is the inspiring story of one of the world's most prominent business people, who started as a Latin teacher and became mother of four and CEO of Westpac - and everything she has learned along the way.