Book picks similar to
The Unusual Man by David R. Davis


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Nobody Girl


Leslie DuBois - 2011
    This might explain why she fell for a no good womanizer like Jason James. When their short painful marriage comes to a heartbreaking end, Delia must find the courage to start her life again. A new successful career as a high school teacher and a passionate summer romance with sexy Chase Donovan finally make her feel like she’s more than just a nobody. But her world is shattered once again when Chase turns out to be one of her students.

The Book of Lost Friends


Lisa Wingate - 2020
    Each carries private wounds and powerful secrets as they head for Texas, following dangerous roads rife with ruthless vigilantes and soldiers still fighting a war lost a decade before. For Lavinia and Juneau Jane, the journey is one of inheritance and financial desperation, but for Hannie, torn from her mother and eight siblings before slavery's end, the pilgrimage westward reignites an agonizing question: Could her long-lost family still be out there? Beyond the swamps lie the seemingly limitless frontiers of Texas and, improbably, hope.Louisiana, 1987 For first-year teacher Benedetta Silva, a subsidized job at a poor rural school seems like the ticket to canceling her hefty student debt--until she lands in a tiny, out-of-step Mississippi River town. Augustine, Louisiana, seems suspicious of new ideas and new people, and Benny can scarcely comprehend the lives of her poverty-stricken students. But amid the gnarled oaks and run-down plantation homes lies the century-old history of three young women, a long-ago journey, and a hidden book that could change everything.

Becoming Mrs. Lewis


Patti Callahan - 2018
    In a world where women were silenced, she found her voice.From New York Times bestselling author Patti Callahan comes an exquisite novel of Joy Davidman, the woman C. S. Lewis called “my whole world.” When poet and writer Joy Davidman began writing letters to C. S. Lewis—known as Jack—she was looking for spiritual answers, not love. Love, after all, wasn’t holding together her crumbling marriage. Everything about New Yorker Joy seemed ill-matched for an Oxford don and the beloved writer of Narnia, yet their minds bonded over their letters. Embarking on the adventure of her life, Joy traveled from America to England and back again, facing heartbreak and poverty, discovering friendship and faith, and against all odds, finding a love that even the threat of death couldn’t destroy.In this masterful exploration of one of the greatest love stories of modern times, we meet a brilliant writer, a fiercely independent mother, and a passionate woman who changed the life of this respected author and inspired books that still enchant us and change us. Joy lived at a time when women weren’t meant to have a voice—and yet her love for Jack gave them both voices they didn’t know they had.At once a fascinating historical novel and a glimpse into a writer’s life, Becoming Mrs. Lewis is above all a love story—a love of literature and ideas and a love between a husband and wife that, in the end, was not impossible at all.

Marilla of Green Gables


Sarah McCoy - 2018
    . . before Anne: A marvelously entertaining and moving historical novel, set in rural Prince Edward Island in the nineteenth century, that imagines the young life of spinster Marilla Cuthbert, and the choices that will open her life to the possibility of heartbreak—and unimaginable greatnessPlucky and ambitious, Marilla Cuthbert is thirteen years old when her world is turned upside down. Her beloved mother has dies in childbirth, and Marilla suddenly must bear the responsibilities of a farm wife: cooking, sewing, keeping house, and overseeing the day-to-day life of Green Gables with her brother, Matthew and father, Hugh.In Avonlea—a small, tight-knit farming town on a remote island—life holds few options for farm girls. Her one connection to the wider world is Aunt Elizabeth “Izzy” Johnson, her mother’s sister, who managed to escape from Avonlea to the bustling city of St. Catharines. An opinionated spinster, Aunt Izzy’s talent as a seamstress has allowed her to build a thriving business and make her own way in the world.Emboldened by her aunt, Marilla dares to venture beyond the safety of Green Gables and discovers new friends and new opportunities. Joining the Ladies Aid Society, she raises funds for an orphanage run by the Sisters of Charity in nearby Nova Scotia that secretly serves as a way station for runaway slaves from America. Her budding romance with John Blythe, the charming son of a neighbor, offers her a possibility of future happiness—Marilla is in no rush to trade one farm life for another. She soon finds herself caught up in the dangerous work of politics, and abolition—jeopardizing all she cherishes, including her bond with her dearest John Blythe. Now Marilla must face a reckoning between her dreams of making a difference in the wider world and the small-town reality of life at Green Gables.

The Perfume Collector


Kathleen Tessaro - 2013
    When she receives an unexpected inheritance from a complete stranger, Madame Eva d’Orsey, Grace is drawn to uncover the identity of her mysterious benefactor.Weaving through the decades, from 1920s New York to Monte Carlo, Paris, and London, the story Grace uncovers is that of an extraordinary women who inspired one of Paris’s greatest perfumers. Immortalized in three evocative perfumes, Eva d’Orsey’s history will transform Grace’s life forever, forcing her to choose between the woman she is expected to be and the person she really is.The Perfume Collector explores the complex and obsessive love between muse and artist, and the tremendous power of memory and scent.

Mr Nice Guy (Hot Boy Summer)


Joe Satoria - 2021
    Man shows Boy what he's been missing. A daddy.Broke student, Dorian Lanter, is pet sitting for his aunt in Spain. That's where he spies a man undressing from the balcony. Does he dare take a closer look?Nearing forty, Roscoe Stone trains hard and keeps himself harder. He doesn't mind being watched, even by the guy in Mrs Gould's apartment. Can he entice him over?A virgin desperate to find love. A Daddy searching for passion. Can they find what they're looking for in each other? Or will it all be too much?MR NICE GUY is an age gap gay romance with light bedroom age play. HEA. This is a standalone book in the Hot Boy Summer age gap romance series.

Almost Famous Women: Stories


Megan Mayhew Bergman - 2015
    Now Megan Mayhew Bergman, author of Birds of a Lesser Paradise, resurrects these women, lets them live in the reader's imagination, so we can explore their difficult choices. Nearly every story in this dazzling collection is based on a woman who attained some celebrity—she raced speed boats or was a conjoined twin in show business; a reclusive painter of renown; a member of the first all-female, integrated swing band. We see Lord Byron's illegitimate daughter, Allegra; Oscar Wilde's troubled niece, Dolly; West With the Night author Beryl Markham; Edna St. Vincent Millay's sister, Norma. These extraordinary stories travel the world, explore the past (and delve into the future), and portray fiercely independent women defined by their acts of bravery, creative impulses, and sometimes reckless decisions.The world hasn't always been kind to unusual women, but through Megan Mayhew Bergman's alluring depictions they finally receive the attention they deserve. Almost Famous Women is a gorgeous collection from an "accomplished writer of short fiction" (Booklist).

The Liar


Jennifer Wells - 2016
    Transfixed by the sight of a stranger; Emma becomes convinced that the girl is her long-lost daughter taken from her at birth. There is only one problem: Emma’s daughter is dead. So who is the stranger? THE LIAR follows Emma’s journey as she tries to find out what really happened to her daughter - a journey that unearths secrets from the past and ends in obsession...

Mulberry Bay: A Novel


Melissa Hill - 2015
     'A warm, beautifully crafted read with a storyline that will make you forget about everything except turning those pages...' SCOTTISH DAILY RECORD The Bay Hotel, perched on a clifftop above a sweeping bay, was once the heart and soul of pretty Irish seaside town Mulberry Bay. Run by the Harte family, the place was as beloved as cheery landlady Anna, and visitors from far and wide came for the warm welcome and charming surroundings. The hotel was also once home to thirty-something sisters Eleanor and Penny, and while youngest sister Penny still lives close by, it's been some time since Elle has been back. But following a family tragedy, she is forced to return from her busy London world and confront the reality of the life she left behind. When it becomes apparent that the property may need to be sold, the sisters are unprepared by the reaction of their father, Ned. He steadfastly refuses to give up their mum’s legacy, revealing that the family has given up something equally precious once before. Intrigued by their father's revelation, the sisters unite, with the local community behind them in their efforts to save the hotel - and, in the process, help heal the fractures in the Harte family. 'A little bit of heartbreak, a little bit of romance, Hill has the ability to make each page delicious with her light and entertaining story-telling ability.' Sunshine Coast Sunday 'If you miss Maeve Binchy .... (Melissa Hill) will cheer you up. A jewel of a novel, sparkling with warm yet delightfully flawed characters' Romantic Times 'Doesn't get much better than this sweet and romantic page-turner' Closer

The Sound of Sch: A Mental Breakdown, A Life Journey


Danielle Lim - 2014
    The story takes place between 1961 and 1994, backdropped by a fast-globalising Singapore where stigmatisation of persons afflicted with mental illness nevertheless remains deep-seated. Unflinchingly raw and honest in its portrayal of living with schizophrenia, The Sound of Sch is a moving account of human resiliency and sacrifice in the face of brokenness.

Swimming Lessons


Claire Fuller - 2017
    When Ingrid has written her final letter she disappears from a Dorset beach, leaving behind her beautiful but dilapidated house by the sea, her husband, and her two daughters, Flora and Nan.Twelve years later, Gil thinks he sees Ingrid from a bookshop window, but he’s getting older and this unlikely sighting is chalked up to senility. Flora, who has never believed her mother drowned, returns home to care for her father and to try to finally discover what happened to Ingrid. But what Flora doesn’t realize is that the answers to her questions are hidden in the books that surround her. Scandalous and whip-smart, Swimming Lessons holds the Coleman family up to the light, exposing the mysterious truths of a passionate and troubled marriage.

600 Hours of Edward


Craig Lancaster - 2009
    His carefully constructed routine includes tracking his most common waking time (7:38 a.m.), refusing to start his therapy sessions even a minute before the appointed hour (10:00 a.m.), and watching one episode of the 1960s cop show Dragnet each night (10:00 p.m.).But when a single mother and her nine-year-old son move in across the street, Edward’s timetable comes undone. Over the course of a momentous 600 hours, he opens up to his new neighbors and confronts old grievances with his estranged parents. Exposed to both the joys and heartaches of friendship, Edward must ultimately decide whether to embrace the world outside his door or retreat to his solitary ways.Heartfelt and hilarious, this moving novel will appeal to fans of Daniel Keyes’s classic Flowers for Algernon and to any reader who loves an underdog.

Lies in High Places


Dana Killion - 2017
    A sniper. A city on edge. As investigative journalist Andrea Kellner is heading out of Chicago for a long weekend, a driver in front of her is shot and killed. The city’s gang violence problems have spilled onto a major expressway for the third time in a month. Or is something else at play? Her career faltering and marriage all but over, Andrea desperately needs a win, provided she can find out what’s really behind the shootings. With a boss who wants her sitting on the sidelines—or back in his bed, a competitive co-worker who just wants her gone, and a detective blinded by his own past, Andrea must look past CPD’s explanation and discover the truth behind the shootings. Provided she can live to tell the story. Lies in High Places is the first book in the Andrea Kellner crime fiction series. If you like complex plots and smart, ballsy, crime-solving women, you’ll love Dana Killion’s page-turning debut.

Conditions


Christoph Fischer - 2014
    The conflict is drawn out over materialistic issues, but there are other underlying problems which go to the heart of what it means to be part of a family which, in one way or another. has cast one aside. Prejudice, misconceptions and the human condition in all forms feature in this contemporary drama revolving around a group of people who attend the subsequent funeral at the British South Coast. Meet flamboyant gardener Charles, loner Simon, selfless psychic Elaine, narcissistic body-builder Edgar, Martha and her version of unconditional love and many others as they try to deal with the event and its aftermath.

Meg and Jo


Virginia Kantra - 2019
    When Jo followed her ambitions to New York City, she never thought her career in journalism would come crashing down, leaving her struggling to stay afloat in a gig economy as a prep cook and secret food blogger.Meg appears to have the life she always planned—the handsome husband, the adorable toddlers, the house in a charming subdivision. But sometimes getting everything you’ve ever wanted isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.When their mother’s illness forces the sisters home to North Carolina for the holidays, they’ll rediscover what really matters.One thing’s for sure—they’ll need the strength of family and the power of sisterhood to remake their lives and reimagine their dreams.