Book picks similar to
Twenty-One Trees by Linda Cousine


fiction
romance
cheating
contemporary-fiction

How to Mend a Broken Heart


Amy Andrews - 2012
    Impossible when your husband’s the one man it hurts your heart to touch...but the one man you can’t resist...

Getting Even


Danesha Little - 2020
    To her, forgiveness can only happen after she gets even. Unfortunately, one night with male stripper, Philip "Ian" Nichols, turns her entire life upside down.Rashad Richards knows that he messed up when he cheated on his wife and is trying to do everything in his power to piece his family back together. He quickly learns that some mistakes you can't come back from when he finds out that he's not the only one fighting for his wife's affection.Can a marriage that experiences infidelity on both sides survive the aftermath?

We Could Fall


Kate Moschandreas - 2015
    Jack, her husband of 22 years, wants to call off their long-planned divorce. Duncan Grier, a famous actor, wants to be her therapy client. “I’m guessing it could be more complicated seeing me than with your other clients,” is what Duncan says in his first voicemail to Emmy. It is, indeed, more complicated. In the four short weeks that follow, Emmy must wrestle with her professionalism, her desire and her marriage as she ultimately decides who and what should hold her trust.

Crazy Over You


Carol Thomas - 2015
    in more ways than one! When Abby met Simon, it was the start of something special, a love Abby believed would last a lifetime. A wedding, two daughters and fifteen years later, Abby's world is falling apart. Having discovered Simon has had an affair, her normally ordered mind is spiralling out of control. Crushed by the betrayal and shocked by her own reaction, she knows she needs to get herself together; she's just not sure where to start. With Simon on a mission to win her back and a close friend hiding a secret that could push her further over the edge, Abby finds strength and support where she least expects it. But as she attempts to gain control of her life and make decisions about her future, it may be more than the limits of Abby's mind that are put to the test!

All We Have Lost


Aimee Alexander - 2003
    In private, Kim dreams of writing 'the great novel' and spending more time with her young family. Then, one day, she does it. She folds her business to follow her dream. Only to discover that the 'great novel' is, in fact, a great struggle. Life as a domestic goddess has (many) hidden challenges. And her relationship with her husband, Ian, is losing equilibrium. As the perfect life Kim has built for herself starts to crumble comes the revelation that will make her doubt everything she had taken for granted...

A Time to Mend


Sally John - 2007
    A broken vow. A tragic fire. Sometimes there are wounds that even time can't heal.Max and Claire Beaumont seem to have the perfect marriage. They live in a beautiful home, have four wonderful children and everything else that success and money can buy. Yet beneath this picture-perfect exterior, Claire's life is falling apart. She can no longer hold her peace and keep up appearances.After all the silent years, she must speak the truth.As their lives unravel, deep needs and even deeper hurts are revealed. Not only the wounds between husband and wife, but family wounds as well. Will this time of soul-searching and conflict bring them closer together--or tear their marriage apart?It's a strange irony to leave home in search of a safe harbor. Yet that is often where the journey begins . . . especially when it is time to mend.A Time to Mend is the first novel in the Safe Harbor series. Drawing on the insights of best-selling marriage expert Gary Smalley, the series explores the joys and struggles of marriage, family, and faith.

Another Summer


Sue Lilley - 2014
    Is forgiveness out of the question? A race against time and an impossible dilemma. Steamy, passionate and unpredictable romance.Who does Evie truly want – the mesmerising rock singer or the bad-boy soulmate who broke her heart?Stranded in remote and stormy Cornwall, Evie is staring into an empty future. Joe is the only man she ever loved, since that long hot summer when she was sixteen. But he wrecked everything and their marriage is over.Rocker Jake is hot and tempting. He sweeps her off her feet, promising escape and adventure. It’s her chance to show Joe she doesn’t need him. To grasp her own happy ending. But Joe has come to his senses. He sets off on a perilous road-trip. He’s determined to convince Evie he loves her and bring her home. But how will he persuade her to give him one last chance? Does he even deserve one?As Evie prepares to leave with Jake, Joe’s in a race against the clock. Road conditions are treacherous. Will he be trapped in the floods and run out of time?Set in the windswept wilds of Poldark country, this award-winning romance is the sizzling second-chances page-turner you won’t want to miss.Winner of the Literary Titan Silver Award, Another Summer is a sexy tale of bad choices and new beginnings. Scroll up to get your copy now. Evie’s dilemma is sure to melt your heart.

Stormy Surrender


Nicole Andrews Moore - 2013
    Sometimes the pain of the past overshadows the future. And sometimes to start over you have to go back to where it all began. That’s how it was for Joe Masters. That’s how he ended up back in New Hope. And that’s why he was in his thirties and had nothing to show for his life. He needed a complete overhaul, just like his father’s old house. Instead of a fast track, he had slowed down and was on a ten year plan. These days that was more his speed. And as much as he tried to fight the inevitable, he was learning to accept and surrender.Martha had weathered her fair share of storms in Vermont, was accustomed to the cold, both the chill in the air and the cold shoulder in her marriage, but after the miscarriage she felt like she would never get warm again. So she did the research from the laptop while sitting in front of the fireplace. She knew what she needed when she Googled ‘hope,’ she just never imagined that it would bring her to New Hope, South Carolina. She never imagined that her husband would trick her into leaving and never follow. She never imagined that a southern storm with all its force and fury could be so destructive. But after the storm, the land is washed clean. It’s perfect for a fresh start, a clean slate, and a new love.

Secondhand Sinners


Genevieve Lynne - 2016
    The sins of her past still haunt her, but when her brother lands in jail, she has no choice but to go back and face her old demons.Miller Anderson has never forgotten about the girl who ran out of his life thirteen years ago… And with the secret he’s keeping from Emily, he knows he most likely never will. But when his daughter Abby plays matchmaker to set him up with his lost love, he can’t resist the resurgence of emotion that has them reliving their high school glory days.Evil has a way of waiting for what it wants…Just when Emily and Miller discover their old flame hasn’t died, they learn another fire has been smoldering in Bokchito. Her family’s long line of sins, kindled with a generation-old grudge, ignites when Emily discovers the truth about Miller’s daughter and is forced to choose between protecting Miller’s secret and the one thing she can’t afford to lose…her son Jack. Caught up in a game of lies and dirt road scandal, Emily must risk everything to save her son and preserve Miller’s good name, or let her family’s darkest secret ruin them both.

Once More With Feeling


Megan Crane - 2012
    If only she could figure out how she got into this position in the first place, Sarah is sure she could fix it. Somehow. But when Sarah digs into her past, she finds she has to face all the ghosts she left behind—and the reason she left them there. One very tall, very sexy reason named Alec Frasier, who might hold the key to the kind of future Sarah used to dream about. Yet when Tim wakes up and can’t remember what he did, Sarah has the chance to slip back into her old life as if she never left it. Trouble is, she’s no longer sure it fits…

Dry as Rain


Gina Holmes - 2011
    From the bestselling author of Crossing Oceans comes a powerfully moving story that tests the limits of love's forgiveness. Like many marriages, Eric and Kyra Yoshida's has fallen apart slowly, one lost dream and misunderstanding at a time, until the ultimate betrayal finally pushes them beyond reconciliation. Just when it looks like forgive and forget is no longer an option, a car accident gives Eric the second chance of a lifetime. A concussion causes his wife to forget details of her life, including the chasm between them. No one knows when--or if--Kyra's memory will return, but Eric seizes the opportunity to win back the woman he's never stopped loving.

Contingency


Paula Wiseman - 2010
    The email teases, "My whole evening is free again." After an angry confrontation with Chuck, she is left with the broken remains of an eighteen year marriage. Where is God? Bobbi agrees forgiving Chuck is the right thing, the God-honoring thing to do, but it leaves her empty and isolated. Teaching her second-graders is a burden. Taking care of her boys saps all her energy. It seems God Himself has walked away, leaving her to struggle alone. Is God faithful? Bobbi can't deny the transformation in Chuck, but genuine forgiveness requires trust, and trust is a risk she's not willing to take. Can she let go of her deepest, most primal fears and save her marriage?

Divine Moves


Ellyn Oaksmith - 2013
    Meryl Howe thinks she's outrun her trailer trash past with a prosperous husband, private schools for her children and winning, after much kowtowing to the elite, the chairmanship of Seattle Children's Hospital Guild. But one horrible night her world and her marriage and her life implodes. Just when Meryl thinks things have hit rock bottom, her estranged mother blows in from Vegas with plans to save her daughter's marriage. After four years of sobriety, Faye's brought along Hot Jesus - a saintly apparition who rides shotgun in her life. Faye, a former stripper and veteran of multiple marriages, plans on talking her daughter into opening an exotic dance and fitness studio. But Meryl has other plans. She's falling for a Sheriff who is accusing her of crimes she didn't commit. Mostly. As Faye steamrolls ahead, Meryl must learn a few of her mother's sexy moves in order to shake the sad memories of her past.

Brian


Glenna Sinclair - 2016
    The first time was when the love of my life stole my heart and then broke it into a million pieces. Brian Callahan. I’ve never been able to get over how deeply that hurt, that feeling of betrayal mixed with anger and unending heartbreak. The second time was over twenty-seven years later when someone kidnapped the person who meant the most to me…my daughter. I was getting these texts on my phone and pictures of her, threats of what they’d do if I didn’t follow their instructions. Their instructions wanted me to go back into my past, to the darkest moments of my life, and revive them. They wanted me to look up the man who crushed my heart under his heel like it didn’t matter and help them…destroy him. Brian I may be a billionaire CEO of a successful conglomeration of businesses, but I’m not a good guy. I have a dark past, which leaks into my present more times than I care to admit. When I met Cassidy twenty-seven years ago, it was love at first sight. Cassidy and I shared our hopes and dreams with each other. I promised her the moon…and then I let it all come crashing down on her. I’ve thought about her more than I should have over the years, but when she showed up in my life by chance, I knew that this time I couldn’t let her go. Note: Brian is the first book in The Callahans series. It can be read as a standalone romance. My second box-set is included as a bonus :)

Unwrapping the Castelli Secret


Caitlin Crews - 2015
    Nothing could make Lily return to the irresistible Italian’s demanding world.Now, when their paths cross again, Lily is desperate to retain her freedom and claims amnesia has blocked her memories of him. Yet all deception is quickly burnt away by the incredible attraction that still simmers between them.But he’s found her, and she knows Rafael will soon discover her greatest secret…their son!Secret Heirs of Billionaires There are some things money can’t buy…