Book picks similar to
Touching Shadows by Gracie O'Neil


romantic-suspense
new-zealand
nz-authors
paranormal-romance

Fortis Security Vol 2


Maddie Wade - 2019
     The men and women of Fortis Security must overcome a series of obstacles to find true love including a cult that wants to take over the world, bombs exploding, and the loss of close friends. Broken Butterfly: Can Zin save Celeste from the forces of evil that are determined to keep them apart? Arctic Fire: Kanan and Roz must overcome their pasts in order to forge a future together. That is, if they both survive long enough to have a future. Phoenix Rising: Daniel is like a phoenix rising from the ashes when he finds a new love with Megan that is destined to last a lifetime. Nate and Skye: A Fortis wedding novella: You are hereby invited to join Nate and Skye as they finally have their Christmas wedding. Unfortunately, the path to the alter doesn’t always run smooth.

Lost and Found: My story of heartbreak and hope


Toni Street - 2021
    

The Secret Life of James Cook


Graeme Lay - 2013
    Drawing on his personal knowledge of the South Pacific and Australasia, novelist Graeme Lay recreates the peerless navigator's life up to, and including, his first circumnavigation of the world. In particular, Graeme explores the relationship between James and his remarkable wife Elizabeth, the woman he married when he was 34 and she 21 and by whom he had six children, all born while he was away at sea.This novel also depicts the often stormy relationship between the self-made English naval commander and the dashing, privileged naturalist Joseph Banks, who accompanied Cook on his first world voyage.

The Larnachs


Owen Marshall - 2011
    It is our private journey, and only we understand how it came about; only we know the fitness and the wonder of it.'William James Mudie Larnach's name resonates in New Zealand history - the politician and self-made man who built the famous 'castle' on Otago Peninsula. In 1891, after the death of his first two wives, he married the much younger Constance de Bathe Brandon. But the marriage that began with such happiness was to end in tragedy.The story of the growing relationship between Conny and William's younger son, Dougie, lies at the heart of this subtle and compelling novel. The socially restrictive world of late nineteenth-century Dunedin and Wellington springs vividly to life as Marshall traces the deepening love between stepmother and stepson, and the slow disintegration of the domineering yet vulnerable figure of Larnach himself.Can love ever really be its own world, free of morality and judgement and scandal?

The Virgin and the Whale


Carl Nixon - 2013
    Elizabeth Whitman is working as a nurse in the local hospital, waiting for her husband to return from war, though he is missing in action, 'presumed dead'. She keeps him alive for their four-year-old son, Jack, by telling the story of a man she calls The Balloonist, who went away in a hot-air balloon and has adventures in exotic countries. When she is asked to nurse a returned soldier whose head injury has reduced him to an animal-like state with no memory, Elizabeth starts telling stories to him. It is through them that she manages to engage his interest and offer him a new life . . . in more ways than one.

Victory Park


Rachel Kerr - 2020
    But the truth is life is threadbare and unpromising until the mysterious Bridget moves in to the Park. The wife of a disgraced Ponzi schemer, she brings with her glamour and wild dreams and an unexpected friendship. Drawn in, Kara forgets for a moment who she’s there to protect.

Bennett Sisters Box Set


Kate Allenton - 2012
    A man digging for the truth. A passion they can’t fight. A family secret of special abilities has Café Owner, Emma Bennett, running for her life from a deranged psychopath bloodthirsty for revenge. Can she keep her growing desire and secrets hidden from the one man sent to protect her or will misplaced trust cost her not only her heart, but her life too? While on vacation, bodyguard and business owner, Jake Donavan, was shocked to find out his old Military friend, Mike Bennett has three beautiful sisters. His impromptu visit was definitely starting to look up. When Mike needs him to keep Emma safe for just one night after a failed attempt on her life, fate steps in and changes his life forever. Keeping his hands off the curvy brunette is a challenge he’s not sure he can win. He’ll use all of his skills and resources necessary to make sure the little spitfire stays safe and sound in his arms, right where she belongs.They may just discover more than they bargained for.Touch of Fate- Bennett Sisters Series Book 2Forensic Investigator, Abby Bennett believes only in the facts. When a case she’s working on takes a deadly turn in her direction, she’s now more determined than ever to catch the killer running rampant in her town.When fate steps in and brings FBI agent, Ryan Douglas, into her case, she never expected to see the only man who crushed her heart 18 years ago that left her alone and pregnant. Can she put her hurt aside and work with the only man who holds the answers or will she end up dead trying, when the killer sets his eyes on her?Mind Play- Bennett Sisters Series Book 3When the oldest Bennett sister and popular socialite, Claire Bennett discovers several thousand dollars worth of donations missing from her charity fundraiser, she will do almost anything to clear her name and find the person responsible. Even if that means relying on the one man who could potentially break down the barriers she’s erected around her heart. Bodyguard and family friend, Butch Edwards knows all about the Bennett family secrets considering his boss married one of the sisters. When Claire Bennett's morals prevent her from using her gifts to save herself, Butch steps in and offers up his services in any way the blonde beauty will take them. Can she find the culprit behind her string of bad luck, before Butch breaks down every barrier she’s put in place? Or will his wild and flirty ways, scare her off before they can uncover the secrets around the threat?Reckoning- Bennett Sisters Series Book 4Dr. Elizabeth Lister has successfully eluded a stalker since graduating med school. When her luck runs out and threats start up again, she runs right into the arms of the one man who knows how to make her blood pressure rise and her heart skip a beat. Detective Mike Bennett has been a thorn in her side since moving to the small town. The only man she’d met that not only sparks her irritation, but reminds her she’s a woman with needs of her own. Can she set aside her conflicting feelings to let him protect her, or is running again the only viable option to keeping her sanity and heart intact? Police Detective, Mike Bennett has had enough to deal with the way his sisters attract trouble. Between keeping them safe and searching for the man who killed his father, there’s been no extra time for a relationship.

Saved By a Beast


Jade Royal - 2018
    But what she had was the furthest from blissful as it could get. In a fight to free herself from the prison that was her relationship, Bliss ended up paying with the ultimate price. Her life. Struggling through his own personal battles, Kellan Sebastian was frightened by the sudden captivation he experienced when he stumbled upon Bliss. The moment the beast inside him came alive at Bliss’s scent; he knew their lives would forever be entangled. Instantly, her body responds intimately for the man who’d saved her. With the both of them running from undesirable pasts their obvious attraction to each other doesn’t make things easy. But Kellan introduces Bliss to a new world, with new rules and powers she never imagined in her wildest dreams. And with a new outlook on life Bliss decides she is capable of settling the score with the man who gave her hell in her past. But that is not her only task. She needed to fight her fears of commitment and move forward with the bond that she develops with the beast that saved her.

Iceland


Dominic Hoey - 2017
    We drifted through neighbourhoods in small packs, clinging to each other, all but alone. Our parents had given up. Packed their photos and furniture and moved to the forest to live simpler lives. But we stayed because there was nowhere else to go. We sold everything for rent — time, dignity, self-respect. Beneath the shiny new paint jobs and streets paved with debt lay our home."Stuck in a dead-end office job, Zlata hopes for a record deal so she can escape Auckland city. Then at party she meets Hamish, a graffiti artist and part-time drug dealer. Each has their own ideas about the other’s life, and surrounded by a makeshift family of friends and ex-lovers, their dreams of music, art and travel take shape.But as quickly as things come together, they can be torn apart — unravelling relationships and lives.

Catching the Current


Jenny Pattrick - 2005
    However Conrad - a talented and impetuous Faroeman - finds he cannot escape his past.In this companion novel to the bestselling Denniston novels, a free spirit is pitted against the forces of tradition. This is Conrad's story, and that of the unusual woman Anahuia. It is a tale of new lands and old songs, of seafaring and war and the search for love.

Mazarine


Charlotte Grimshaw - 2018
    What clues can Frances find in her own history, and who is the mysterious Mazarine? Following the narrative thread left by her daughter, she travels through cities touched by terrorism and surveillance, where ways of relating are subtly changed, and a startling new fiction seems to be constructing itself.

She's a Killer


Kirsten McDougall - 2021
    Alice’s imaginary friend, Simp, has shown up, with a running commentary on her failings. ‘I mean, can you even calculate the square root of 762 anymore?’ The last time Simp was here was when Alice was seven, on the night a fire burned down the family home. Now Simp seems to be plotting something.When Alice meets a wealthugee named Pablo, she thinks she’s found a way out of her dull existence. But then she meets Pablo’s teenage daughter, Erika – an actual genius full of terrifying ambition.She’s a Killer is the story of a brilliant and stubborn slacker who is drawn into a radical action. It’s about what happens when we refuse to face our most demanding problems, told by a woman who is a strange and calculating force of chaos.‘A claustrophobic eco-thriller with a gloriously unreliable narrator, She’s a Killer is tense and sharp, and feels unnervingly prescient.’ –Brannavan Gnanalingam‘Equipped with an exhilaratingly badly-behaved protagonist, She’s a Killer builds from a slice of very strange life into a thriller by way of a succession of stunning comic set pieces. You’ll laugh—a lot. And then you’ll cry and be really surprised about it since you were laughing so much.’ –Elizabeth Knox

Bucket List of an Idiot


Dom Harvey - 2012
    No two bucket lists are the same, but each list has the same ultimate goal—to make the list maker feel like they are doing something useful with their life instead of just sitting around, writing lists, and watching Morgan Freeman movies. Dom had seen some of those lists and they looked so difficult that he wondered whether dying would be a better option than actually ticking off the items. "I am a paid-up life-member of a place called the comfort zone. People always go on about the importance of getting out of your comfort zone. Not me. Any day I can stay inside it is a good day. All of which makes it a bit odd that I decided to complete a bucket list of my own. Not just any bucket list though. This is a reverse bucket list—a bunch of stuff that I could have happily passed away without ever doing—stuff like getting a tattoo I'd instantly regret, arm wrestling a professional rugby player, and being the model for a life drawing class—and I recruited some of my closest family and friends to compile it for me. In hindsight, this was a bad idea. But here it is—my pain, discomfort, and humiliation for your pleasure."

Black Hands: Inside the Bain Family Murders


Martin Van Beynen - 2020
    One lay dead from a single bullet to the head. The other was the only survivor: David Bain. Since then, the country has asked: Who killed the Bain family? David, or his father Robin? And why?Award-winning journalist Martin van Beynen has covered the Bain story closely for decades. His 2017 Stuff podcast, Black Hands - based on the manuscript for this book - topped the charts in New Zealand and around the world and has been downloaded more than 5 million times. Now, his book brings the story completely up to date: exploring the case from start to finish, picking through evidence old and new, plumbing the mysteries and motives, interviewing never-before-spoken-to witnesses andguiding readers through the complex police investigation and court cases, seeking to finally answer the question: Who was the killer?Black Hands is a riveting read from the first word to the last, by a skilled writer who knows his subject inside out.“If anyone can pass judgement it can only be those who sat through the whole trial.” - David Bain in New Idea

King Rich


Joe Bennett - 2015
    Of sorts.At dusk he lights the candelabrum, creating an island of light in the centre of the room, animating the faces of the two dressed mannequins, glinting off the cutlery, the long array of glasses, the cellophane wrappers on the biscuits, the chocolate's silver foil. And the margins of the room are lost in the murk, might as well not exist. Richard smiles at the effect, at the little oasis of festivity and commemoration in a wide dark world. Christchurch, days after the February 2011 earthquake. Richard hides, with a lost dog, in an abandoned, leaning hotel. Annie returns from England, seeking a lost father in her battered home town. Vince relives the most significant emotional experience of his life. What binds these lives together, and what tore them apart?Joe Bennett's first novel is the work of a superb writer at the top of his game.