Book picks similar to
Flesh: The Disappearance of Portia Barrington by Keith Lee Johnson


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Romancing the Null


Tina Gower - 2016
    Lies the fates spin as half truths. Lies of destined love. And statistics. As a fateless, Kate Hale is immune to the first two, but the third kind of lie is her profession. After spending years as an actuary for the Traffic Department, Kate is promoted to Accidental Death Predictions. It’s all she’s worked toward, and her career is finally on track. But when an oracle delivers an impossible death prediction and insists on her help to solve the case, she might lose any chance of impressing the brass. Her only hope comes in the form of the police liaison assigned to her department, latent werewolf Ian Becker. Becker can grant her the clearance to find answers, but he’s a wild card with a shady past who doesn’t play well with others. Every prediction has a loophole, but if Kate can’t solve the case before the crime is fated to occur she won’t just lose her job–she’ll have the blood of an oracle on her hands. Romancing the Null is the first book in an exciting new urban fantasy romance series. Fans of Mercy Thompson, Charley Davidson, or The Dresden Files will likely enjoy this series. The Outlier Prophecy Series: Romancing the Null (book one) Big Bad Becker (Novella) Conditional Probability of Attraction (book two) The Werewolf Coefficient (book three) Standard Deviation of Death (book four) Shifter Variance (book five ~ fall 2016)

Murdergram


Nisa Santiago - 2014
    Four broke girlfriends go into a Long Island church looking for a job. Four trained assassins come out. The Cristal Clique is born when these young killers are immersed in the intense underworld of murder-for-hire.But with youth comes naivete. When heartache, betrayal, and revenge lurk behind every door, these Brooklyn girls must remain on point if they want to stay alive.

Emmanuel


Shantaé - 2020
    On the streets of Houston it holds major weight and is never to be taken lightly. In their hood it brings status, garners respect, and defines loyalty. To break bread with a Broadus is an honor but to actually be a Broadus is to be part of a brotherhood. A legacy. A bond so unbreakable that it would take several armies of adversaries to penetrate it.Emmanuel, the quick tempered baby boy, has easily lived up to every expectation there is when it comes to carrying the Broadus name but history has shown that during the reign of every great King, there is always someone looking to knock them off the throne.Being solid and thorough doesn’t guarantee immunity to post traumatic stress and that’s the exact state he finds himself in months after being gunned down on New Year’s Eve. In the midst of his storm, he encounters another troubled soul who despite her own struggles, brings him a peace he’s never known. With her, he’s at ease and free to be himself but between the stresses of the street life, managing an up and coming singing sensation, and battling his own inner demons, Emmanuel must figure out a way to balance his love for Kambré while still living up to his surname.Accustomed to getting what he wants, Emmanuel finds himself unable to deal with Kambré’s indifference when it comes to their relationship. Advice from different sources on his situation tends to go in one ear and out the other but when his plus sized beauty becomes fed up with his antics and walks away, will Emmanuel find himself at risk for spiraling even further down a dark road or will her departure be the wake up call he needed all along?

Witch Hunt


S.M. Reine - 2014
    Yeah, maybe he brought the waitress home for some fun — he was too drunk to remember it — but he knows for a fact that he didn’t kill her. He’s an agent with the Office of Preternatural Affairs. He doesn’t hurt people. He saves them.The cops disagree. Now Cèsar is running.The search for a shaman.Isobel Stonecrow speaks with the dead…for the right price. She brings closure to the bereaved and heals broken hearts. But when she resurrects someone for the wrong client, she ends up on the OPA’s most wanted list.One risky solution.Tracking down Isobel is the last case assigned to Cèsar before he bolts. If he finds her, he can prove that he didn’t kill that waitress. He can clear his name, get his job back, and bring justice to the victim.She’s just one witch. Cèsar has bagged a dozen witches before.How hard can one more be?

The First


Jason Mott - 2013
    Read how it all begins in this short story, The First.It's been just over a year since Edmund Blithe died, and just over a month since his fiancée, Emily, stopped wearing her engagement ring. Emily has finally begun to move on… Until Edmund mysteriously and inexplicably returns, sending the world—and Emily—into a tailspin.Edmund is only just the beginning. Around the world, people's loved ones are returning from beyond, seeking only to reenter the lives they left behind. As the world dives deep into uncertainty, Emily and Edmund are determined to find their way back to one another…even if it means risking everything.The reappearances continue in The Sparrow, and look for The Returned from Harlequin MIRA, a moving tale of a family given a second chance at life and a world where nothing—not even death—is certain.

The Sweetest Seduction


Crista McHugh - 2013
    Having had her dreams ripped away from her before, she’ll do everything in her power to keep her restaurant. Her fate hangs on the whims of the frustratingly handsome Adam Kelly.Adam has spent years trying to convince world famous chef Amadeus Schlittler to open a restaurant in Chicago, but he wants the prime location held by Lia. Business has always come first...until sparks fly when Adam meets her. When things get hot outside the kitchen, though, they’re both in danger of getting burned.

You Needed Me


Shvonne Latrice - 2016
    But things take a dramatic turn when they become acquainted with the well known, rich, and sexy Quintons, TQ, Lendsey, Britain, and Rhys. The four boys, along with their parents and sister run the infamous Quinton Crime Family, committing all types of crimes from green card fraud to importing illegal drugs. Life is smooth sailing for both sets of people, that is until their worlds start to become one. With drama at every corner, and haters lurking in the shadows, will these unions be able to build a strong bond? Or will the brothers prove to be just another disappointment for the girls?

The Silent Deal


Levi Stack - 2013
    As the blood brothers struggle to survive, their search for answers takes them through gambling parlors, fortune-teller dens, and moonlit forests full of monsters and men alike. But even with the help of their friends, can they escape the dark experiments that their foe is creating in Staryi Castle? ** THE SILENT DEAL is an explosive mix of mystery, adventure, and magic, whose wide cast includes gypsies, gamblers, fire-jugglers, and thieves. The Card Game awaits… ** WINNER of 'Outstanding Fiction' at the 2013 California Writers Con.

The Setup


Pamela Samuels Young - 2011
    is on the verge of a racial explosion. Enter a lawyer who comes to the cop's defense . . . but a desire for justice has nothing to do with it.

No One's Angel


Kelly Walker - 2013
    No One's Angel's angel is a New Adult (NA) Contemporary Romance about a girl learning to fight back and a boy learning to let go. Tess used to spend more hours than she'd care to admit playing her favorite computer game, using the nickname Angel. She could pretend her life was different, and she could pretend Arion was just a friend. But a girl needs more to keep her warm at night than pixels, and she traded her virtual heaven for a real-life hell. Now she's on the run from a past she won't talk about, and the only place she has to go is the doorstep of the friend she's never actually met.When Angel disappeared from their nightly games, it nearly destroyed Arion. He threw himself into work and women, but he can't help knowing the one-night stands will never compare to the angel who haunts his dreams. At first, when she shows up soaking wet and scared-shitless on his doorstep, he thinks his prayers have been answered.But the more Arion tries to keep Angel close, the more her fear drives her away. If they are ever going to have a chance for a future, they'll first have to deal with the past that hasn't forgotten her any more than she's forgotten it--and Arion will have to learn how to let her go.

I'll Cry Alone


Jacqueline Druga - 2011
    What you don't know won't hurt you. What you don't fear… will kill you. The unthinkable has happened. We are at war. Across a crippled America struggling to rebuild in the after effects of what has happened, one woman faces a different battle. Separated from her family in the midst of a violent war upon American soil, she returns home to find her husband has died, her mother has been murdered and her children are gone. Through the chaotic torn country, with limited means of resources and communication, she begins a search. A search she will not give up no matter what the cost until she is reunited with her children or finds a painful truth in what has become of them. This new version contains the originally omitted epilogue.

Faith


Jennifer Haigh - 2011
    Award-winning author Jennifer Haigh follows her critically acclaimed novels Mrs. Kimble and The Condition with a captivating, vividly rendered portrait of fraying family ties, and the trials of belief and devotion, in Faith.

Secrets of a Kept Woman


Shani Greene-Dowdell - 2009
    Entering the drug game is his ticket to the finer things in life, but it’s called a game for a reason. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. After marrying Shayla, attaining a lakeside property, and having anything he wants at his fingertips, he should be living the good life. But there’s always someone coming for the number one spot.Shayla Wilson gives up everything for her first love. Her pursuit of being a psychiatrist to help the mentally ill, attending church, and ties with her family are all broken when she marries Titus. However, she loves him too much to let go. Along with Titus, her best friends Gladys LaQuinn and Rhonda Jackson are all Shayla needs until the day she finds out that the people closest to her are not who they say they are. What will Shayla do when her beautiful, expensive, expertly designed house of lies threatens to fall?As rival drug cartels invade their lakeside property and friends unveil themselves as foes, will the walls come falling down around Titus and Shayla, or will they survive the darkest test of their lives?This is the second edition of Secrets of a Kept Woman, which has been edited and revised with 10,000 words of new content added.

The Orphans of Race Point


Patry Francis - 2014
    Their friendship evolves into an enduring and passionate love that will ask more of them than they ever imagined.On the night of their high school prom, a terrible tragedy devastates their relationship and profoundly alters the course of their lives. And when, a decade later, Gus—now a priest—becomes entangled with a distraught woman named Ava and her daughter Mila, troubled souls who bring back vivid memories of his own damaged past, the unthinkable happens: he is charged with murder. Can Hallie save the man she’s never stopped loving, by not only freeing him from prison but also—finally—the curse of his past?Told in alternating voices, The Orphans of Race Point illuminates the transformative power of love and the myriad ways we find meaning in our lives.

Her Dear and Loving Husband


Meredith Allard - 2011
    With elements of Twilight and The Crucible, Her Dear & Loving Husband is a story for anyone who believes that true love never dies. James Wentworth has a secret. He lives quietly in Salem, Massachusetts, making few ties anywhere. One night his private world is turned upside down when he meets Sarah Alexander, a dead ringer for his wife, Elizabeth. Though it has been years since Elizabeth's death, James cannot move on. Sarah also has a secret. She is haunted by nightmares about the Salem Witch Trials, and every night she is awakened by visions of hangings, being arrested, and dying in jail. Despite the obstacles of their secrets, James and Sarah fall in love. As James comes to terms with his feelings for Sarah, he must dodge accusations from a reporter desperate to prove that James is not who, or what, he seems to be. With the help of their friends, witches Jennifer and Olivia, James and Sarah piece their stories together and discover a mystery that may bind them in ways they never imagined. Will James make the ultimate sacrifice to protect Sarah and prevent a new hunt from bringing hysteria to Salem again?