The Silver Linings Playbook


Matthew Quick - 2008
    Pat has a theory: his life is a movie produced by God. And his God-given mission is to become physically fit and emotionally literate, whereupon God will ensure a happy ending for him—the return of his estranged wife, Nikki. (It might not come as a surprise to learn that Pat has spent time in a mental health facility.) The problem is, Pat's now home, and everything feels off. No one will talk to him about Nikki; his beloved Philadelphia Eagles keep losing; he's being pursued by the deeply odd Tiffany; his new therapist seems to recommend adultery as a form of therapy. Plus, he's being hunted by Kenny G!In this enchanting novel, Matthew Quick takes us inside Pat's mind, showing us the world from his distorted yet endearing perspective. As the award-winning novelist Justin Cronin put it: "Tender, soulful, hilarious, and true, The Silver Linings Playbook is a wonderful debut."

Tender Triumph


Judith McNaught - 1983
    By Sunday, her life is irrevocably changed forever.Katie Connelly submerges her painful past in a promising career, an elegant apartment, and uncomplicated, commitment-free romantic liaisons. Yet something vital is missing from her life and she’s uncertain what it is—until she meets proud, rugged Ramon Galverra.With his charm and passionate nature, Ramon gives her a love she has never known. She is still, however, afraid to surrender her heart to this strong, willful, secretive man—a man from a different world, a man with a daring, uncertain future. Will Katie’s relationship with Ramon survive once the initial thrill of their simmering passion subsides?In this bold and heartfelt novel, perfect for fans of Julie Garwood and Lisa Kleypas, Judith McNaught proves once again that she “not only spins dreams, but she makes them come true” (RT Book Reviews).

Nightfall


L.J. Smith - 2009
    But when he is lured away from Fell's Church, sleek, powerful Damon seizes his chance to win Elena over, unaware of the danger they're both in. A malevolent being has infiltrated the town and is growing stronger. Able to possess Damon at will, the creature is also drawn to Elena and the new power she has acquired. But it's after more than Elena's power: It thirsts for her death.Elena's story continues in shadow souls!

Storm and Stone


Joss Stirling - 2014
    American student Raven Stone has noticed something is horribly wrong. First there were the unexplained disappearances. Then there were the teachers' lies. And now the death threats ...Also entangled in the disturbing turn of events is the enigmatic Kieran Storm - a fellow student with a killer intellect and a body to die for. He's heading for trouble and taking her with him. Raven can feel herself falling in love, but can she trust a boy she knows almost nothing about?

The Lover's Dictionary


David Levithan - 2011
    And if the moment does pass, it never goes that far. It stands in the distance, ready for whenever you want it back. Sometimes it's even there when you thought you were searching for something else, like an escape route, or your lover's face.How does one talk about love? Do we even have the right words to describe something that can be both utterly mundane and completely transcendent, pulling us out of our everyday lives and making us feel a part of something greater than ourselves? Taking a unique approach to this problem, the nameless narrator of David Levithan's The Lover's Dictionary has constructed the story of his relationship as a dictionary. Through these short entries, he provides an intimate window into the great events and quotidian trifles of being within a couple, giving us an indelible and deeply moving portrait of love in our time.

Drop Dead: A Niki Marwah Mystery


Swati Kaushal - 2012
    And, with all due respect, sir, who the hell are you?'When a body mysteriously appears at the bottom of the otherwise serene hills of Sonargam in peak tourist season, Superintendent of Police, Shimla, Niki Marwah, and her crack team of investigators must act quickly to find out how Rak Mehta, the hotshot President & CEO of a super-successful publishing company, landed there.As they scour the grounds of the luxurious Lotus Resort, where Indigo's employees have checked in for their annual conference, the police team uncovers bitter rivalries, secret grudges and vicious lies – not to mention the victim's own sordid past that has made him more enemies than friends.Lipstick stains, condoms, a notebook full of rambling code; bribery, mind games, broken promises - everything points to murder. And, with the list of suspects growing, it will take all of Niki’s ingenuity and skill to catch the killer before Sonargam's idyllic landscape is disrupted once again...

On Mystic Lake


Kristin Hannah - 1999
    Devastated, Annie retreats to the small town where she grew up. There, she is reunited with her first love, Nick Delacroix, a recent widower who is unable to cope with his silent, emotionally scarred young daughter. Together, the three of them begin to heal. But just when Annie believes she’s been given a second chance at happiness, her world is turned upside down again, and she is forced to make a choice that no woman in love should ever have to make.

Baby, Don't Go


Susan Andersen - 2000
    And now he wants to hire her as his bodyguard. She wants to tell him where he can go, but her fledgling company desperately needs the cash flow. She once broke her own rules, only to watch his sexy self run for the door. Providing round-the-clock protection for him is out of the question . . . right?Nick needs Daisy around to keep the hired thugs who are out for his blood from actually getting it. If he can make amends for the way he screwed up nine years ago in the process, then so much the better. Except time has done nothing to dull the memory of how Daisy once rocked his world off its axis, and her cocky attitude and mouthwatering curves still have the power to turn his brain to mush.Now two people who once were friends and used to be lovers will discover whether love and trust can come from a passion that breaks every rule.

The One That I Want


Jennifer Echols - 2011
    Max is totally swoon-worthy, and even gets her quirky sense of humor. So when he asks out her so-called best friend Addison, Gemma's heartbroken.Then Addison pressures Gemma to join the date with one of Max's friends. But the more time they all spend together, the harder Gemma falls for Max. She can't help thinking that Max likes her back; it's just too bad he's already dating Addison. How can Gemma get the guy she wants without going after her best friend's?

The Carousel


Rosamunde Pilcher - 1982
    Pressured by her mother to make a conventional and dull marriage, she is delighted to escape London and seek retreat with her eccentric and bohemian aunt in Cornwall.A chance encounter with an attractice young artist on the seashore leads to day after idyllic summer's day of exploring the Cornish countryside and coast. But there is something troubling Daniel, and Prue, now deeply entangled, feels compelled to discover what it is...

Attachments


Rainbow Rowell - 2011
    (Everybody in the newsroom knows. It's company policy.) But they can't quite bring themselves to take it seriously. They go on sending each other endless and endlessly hilarious e-mails, discussing every aspect of their personal lives.Meanwhile, Lincoln O'Neill can't believe this is his job now—reading other people's e-mail. When he applied to be "internet security officer," he pictured himself building firewalls and crushing hackers—not writing up a report every time a sports reporter forwards a dirty joke.When Lincoln comes across Beth's and Jennifer's messages, he knows he should turn them in. But he can't help being entertained—and captivated—by their stories.By the time Lincoln realizes he's falling for Beth, it's way too late to introduce himself.What would he say . . . ?

The Yoga of Max's Discontent


Karan Bajaj - 2015
    1 bestseller in India—a young American travels to India and finds himself tested physically, emotionally, and spiritually.Max Pzoras is the poster child for the American Dream. The child of Greek immigrants who grew up in a dangerous New York housing project, he triumphed over his upbringing and became a successful Wall Street analyst. Yet on the frigid December night he’s involved in a violent street scuffle, Max begins to confront questions about suffering and mortality that have dogged him since his mother’s death.His search takes him to the farthest reaches of India, where he encounters a mysterious night market, almost freezes to death on a hike up the Himalayas, and finds himself in an ashram in a drought-stricken village in South India. As Max seeks answers to questions that have bedeviled him—can yogis walk on water and live for 200 years without aging? Can a flesh-and-blood man ever achieve nirvana?—he struggles to overcome his skepticism and the pull of family tugging him home. In an ultimate bid for answers, he embarks on a dangerous solitary meditation in a freezing Himalayan cave, where his physical and spiritual endurance is put to its most extreme test.By turns a gripping adventure story and a journey of tremendous inner transformation, The Yoga of Max's Discontent is a contemporary take on man's classic quest for transcendence.

When I Hit You: Or, A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife


Meena Kandasamy - 2017
    As he sets about reducing her to his idealised version of a kept woman, bullying her out of her life as an academic and writer in the process, she attempts to push back - a resistance he resolves to break with violence and rape. Smart, fierce and courageous When I Hit You is a dissection of what love meant, means and will come to mean when trust is undermined by violence; a brilliant, throat-tightening feminist discourse on battered faces and bruised male egos; and a scathing portrait of traditional wedlock in modern India.

She's Dating the Gangster


Bianca B. Bernardino - 2013
    All of a sudden, she finds herself pretending—unwillingly at that—to be his girlfriend to make his ex jealous.Now, not only does she have to deal with dirty looks from the girls in school who want Kenji for themselves, but her supposed boyfriend is getting on her nerves. He's hotheaded, never seems to agree with her on anything—and everything about him screams gangster.Has Athena gotten herself into more trouble than she can handle? Or has she actually found herself a boy she can call hers—gangster be damned?

ज़िन्दगी आइस पाइस [Zindagi Aais Pais]


Nikhil Sachan - 2015
    In this book, Nikhil continues taking his readers along for a journey which try to solve the riddles of basic human existence - riddles of love, of childhood's lost and found, of relationships and of our day to day trials.His characters vary from a gangster who chooses love over looting, a couple trying to steal their first kiss in a right-wing nightmare, children playing one-tip one-hand cricket to an early jobber trying to rise above his mundane job to an old man contemplating the purpose of life after getting replaced by technology.Nikhil's characters are immensely relatable and his stories are his voice speaking out your own stories. This book reminds you of the smell of summer sunshine hitting garden leaves and takes you to back to a kinder gentler and simpler time.