Book picks similar to
The Far Away Girl by Sharon Maas


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Heartless Boy


Jenna Rose - 2021
    She’s rich, I’m poor. We come from two different worlds and her parents would never let a princess like her get with a bad boy like me. Which is probably best, seeing as how I lost my ability to love a long time ago. Good girls stay away from me. They know better than to get close.But Maddie wants out of her life. She thinks I can save her from the path that’s been chosen from her. But I’ve seen this plenty of times before. Rich girls like her aren’t serious about guys like me. If she wants to me mine, she’s going to have to prove she can live in my world. But if she’s smart, she’ll stay as far away from me as she can, because this heartless boy will be her ruin…

Bring Him Home


Nicole Trope - 2021
    Please keep him safe, I silently beg, please, please just keep him safe.‘Your son is missing,’ they say, and life as I know it is over. ‘Where would he go?’ the police ask. ‘Where would he be?’ my daughter begs.My heart races as images flash in my mind. The cabin we rent every autumn, surrounded by fiery red maple trees. Voices raised. Tears falling. A marriage falling apart. And worst of all my husband telling our child, Theo, to run.The rest is a blank in my memory. If I close my eyes I can almost see it. A betrayal that has left me alone, in tatters, grieving for what we had.It wasn’t meant to be like that. It should have been precious time as a family, with boardgames, walks in the mountain and pancakes for breakfast.Instead my little one has vanished. ‘They are looking for him,’ the nurse told me, ‘but the storm is slowing down the search.’The police think Theo has the answers, that he knows what tore our family apart. But I have no idea where he is. No clue if he is safe. And that’s the most terrifying thing of all…A completely gripping, beautifully written and totally heartbreaking page-turner, which examines what happens behind closed doors, and the secrets that can shatter a family. Fans of Jodi Picoult, Diane Chamberlain and Liane Moriarty will be totally addicted to this breathtaking novel.

City of Fallen Angels


Paul Buchanan - 2020
    A scorching heatwave is suffocating L.A. PI John Keegan is offered a small fortune to find a beautiful woman from a set of photographs. He refuses; the job seems suspicious.But the next day the same woman, Eve, turns up, unbidden, on his doorstep. Eve fears for her safety. She is being watched. Before Keegan knows it, someone has been killed with Keegan s own gun, and he gets sucked into a world of suspicion and betrayal where he s never quite sure where the truth lies. Before long he s the prime suspect in a murder he didn't commit, and all the evidence seems to point in his direction.It s almost like someone planned it that way.

Sanguine Scent


Reina Torres - 2021
    And not in that order. He’s as wild as they come, but when he crashes a garden party he discovers the one woman who may be able to tame the wild within.Then she’s snatched from him and he has hell to pay.What’s the use of vampiric immortality if he’s forced to live alone forever? All he has left is a thirst for revenge.But when his friend brings him to Othercross he catches a glimpse at a second chance…Alba Pacetti uses her love of nature to create the most beautiful gardens in the world. Her ability to tap into the magic of the earth makes her a hot commodity for the warlock who wants to own her, but her heart belongs to someone else. Someone she lost a long time ago.When Amaro finds himself within reach of the woman who was torn from his arms, he’ll stop at nothing to make her his Beloved.**Part of the "Real Men Romance" multi-author world.**

Grumpy Best Friend


B.B. Hamel - 2021
    I had to escape my drunk, abusive father, but leaving her behind was the biggest mistake of my life.Now I have another shot at making things right. Jude’s new boss wants to build a factory outside of Philadelphia, and she brings me in to help.I’m thrust back into Jude’s world, and not much has changed. She’s still beautiful, still hilarious, and still hates my guts.Little by little, she’ll remember why we fell in love back in high school. I’ll make her pout, then make her laugh— then make her strip down and kiss me.And soon I’ll have her back, all grown up and perfect.Or else I'll lose the empire I built with my own calloused hands.Another hot grumpy man! Watch Lady Fluke’s assistant Jude find her happily-ever-after with Bret while they both face their broken pasts and grow together. It’s steamy and fun and I think you’ll fall in love with protective, growly Bret just like I did. As always, Grumpy Best Friend is a full length standalone novel with no cheating, no cliffhanger, and a happily-ever-after guaranteed. Enjoy! XO BB

Rainbow Milk


Paul Mendez - 2020
    In the 1950s, ex-boxer Norman Alonso is a determined and humble Jamaican who has immigrated to Britain with his wife and children to secure a brighter future. Blighted with unexpected illness and racism, Norman and his family are resilient, but are all too aware that their family will need more than just hope to survive in their new country. At the turn of the millennium, Jesse seeks a fresh start in London, escaping a broken immediate family, a repressive religious community and his depressed hometown in the industrial Black Country. But once he arrives he finds himself at a loss for a new center of gravity, and turns to sex work, music and art to create his own notions of love, masculinity and spirituality. A wholly original novel as tender as it is visceral, Rainbow Milk is a bold reckoning with race, class, sexuality, freedom and religion across generations, time and cultures.

Beyond This Broken Sky


Siobhan Curham - 2021
    With each survivor she pulls from the rubble, she is helping to fight back against the enemy bombers, who leave nothing but destruction in their wake.Assigned to her crew is Joseph, who is unable to fight but will stop at nothing to save innocent lives. Because he is not in uniform, people treat him with suspicion and Ruby becomes determined to protect this brave, compassionate man who has rescued so many, and captured her heart. Even if it means making an unthinkable choice between saving her own life and risking everything for his…2019: Recently divorced Edi feels lost and alone when she moves to London to start a new life. Until she makes a discovery, hidden beneath a loose floorboard in her attic, that reveals a secret about the people who lived there in the 1940s. As she gradually uncovers a wartime love story full of danger and betrayal, Edi becomes inspired by the heroism of one incredible woman and the legacy that can be left behind by a single act of courage…A sweeping tale of bravery and self-sacrifice that shows that even in the midst of war, hope and love can bloom. Perfect for fans of The Alice Network, The Secret Messenger and The Lost Girls of Paris.

Sugar Money


Jane Harris - 2017
    They must return to Grenada, the island they once called home, and smuggle back the 42 slaves claimed by English invaders at the hospital plantation in Fort Royal. While Lucien, barely in his teens, sees the trip as a great adventure, the older and worldlier Emile has no illusions about the dangers they will face. But with no choice other than to obey Cleophas - and sensing the possibility, however remote, of finding his first love Celeste - he sets out with his brother on this 'reckless venture'.With great characters, a superb narrative set up, and language that is witty, bawdy and thrillingly alive, Sugar Money is a novel to treasure.

The Orphan's Daughter


Sandy Taylor - 2020
    For thirteen-year-old Nora Doyle every day is a fight for survival. In the rural Irish village she calls home, she is no stranger to funerals or feeling the cold wind blowing through the windows of the small cottage where she lives with her family. Somehow Nora manages to keep smiling, but she longs to escape the poverty surrounding her. One day, Nora’s life changes when her sense of adventure leads her and her best friend, Kitty, through a hole in the wall of the huge house on the top of the hill. In the secluded, carefully tended garden they discover on the other side, Nora and Kitty meet Edward, the young boy who lives there, and they instantly form a strong bond. Soon Nora is spending every moment she can spare in the secret garden. But in escaping from her life in the village, Nora is going against the wishes of her family, who have forbidden any contact with the big house. Because Edward holds the key to a family secret that will change Nora’s life forever, and force her to make an impossible choice between her family and her future… A heart-wrenching story of love, loss and the power of friendship during unimaginable hardship. This book is perfect for fans of Orphan Train and The Girl With No Name.

The Little Orchard on the Lane


Tilly Tennant - 2021
    Adopted when she was just a baby, Posy is excited to re-connect with her birth family and help out on the family cider farm with its old stone walls and bees buzzing in the hedgerows.There’s just one tiny problem – her new next-door neighbour, haughty, handsome vineyard-owner Lachlan. Lachlan has taken an instant dislike to Posy, and after a furious argument when she ventures on his land, she’s pretty certain there’s not a heart of gold beneath his frosty exterior.Yet as she falls in love with the flower-filled hedgerows and apple-green fields of her new life, she discovers more about her grumpy neighbour. Even though he acts like the world is out to get him, she can’t ignore the sad expression in his dark eyes.And when Posy discovers the heartbreaking secret that is tearing Lachlan apart, she understands why he has shut the door on the world and vows to help him, as well as the vineyard, which has fallen on hard times. Yet just as Lachlan lets Posy in, a terrible night threatens to destroy everything she has begun to care about and puts someone she loves at risk. Will her dream life in the country come at an awful price?If you love Nicola May, Debbie Macomber and Milly Johnson, then you will adore The Little Orchard on the Lane. An enchanting summer romance about new beginnings, second chances and trusting your heart.

Spring Siren: Escape this spring to the Boardwalk by the Sea (The Boardwalk by the Sea series, Book 4)


Georgina Troy - 2021
    

Black Cake


Charmaine Wilkerson - 2022
     We can't choose what we inherit. But can we choose who we become?In present-day California, Eleanor Bennett's death leaves behind a puzzling inheritance for her two children, Byron and Benny: a traditional Caribbean black cake, made from a family recipe with a long history, and a voice recording. In her message, Eleanor shares a tumultuous story about a headstrong young swimmer who escapes her island home under suspicion of murder. The heartbreaking tale Eleanor unfolds, the secrets she still holds back, and the mystery of a long-lost child, challenge everything the siblings thought they knew about their lineage, and themselves.Can Byron and Benny reclaim their once-close relationship, piece together Eleanor's true history, and fulfill her final request to "share the black cake when the time is right"? Will their mother's revelations bring them back together or leave them feeling more lost than ever?Charmaine Wilkerson's debut novel is a story of how the inheritance of betrayals, secrets, memories, and even names, can shape relationships and history. Deeply evocative and beautifully written, Black Cake is an extraordinary journey through the life of a family changed forever by the choices of its matriarch.

The Love Island Bookshop (A Romantic Escape, #5)


Kate Frost - 2021
    Will Freya's opportunity of a lifetime end in tears? When Freya leaves her publishing job in London to be a barefoot bookseller in the Maldives, it's the push she needs to move on from her sadness and reignite her passion for life.While resort owner Zander is charming, it's handsome dive instructor Aaron who befriends her when she needs it most. But all is not what it seems and there's trouble brewing in paradise.Taking a chance on happiness is harder than she imagined. Can Freya let go of her heartache and allow herself to fall in love again?

Out of Darkness, Shining Light


Petina Gappah - 2019
    Livingstone's body, his papers and maps, fifteen hundred miles across the continent of Africa, so his remains could be returned home to England and his work preserved there. Narrated by Halima, the doctor's sharp-tongued cook, and Jacob Wainwright, a rigidly pious freed slave, this is a story that encompasses all of the hypocrisy of slavery and colonization—the hypocrisy at the core of the human heart—while celebrating resilience, loyalty, and love.

The Vets at Hope Green


Sheila Norton - 2017
    Unsure whether a busy city life is for her, she flees to her Nana Peggy’s idyllic country village.But despite the rolling hills and its charming feel, life in Hope Green is far from peaceful. On first meeting Joe, the abrupt and bad-tempered local vet, Sam knows she must get him on side, but that is easier said than done...With her dream close enough to touch, will she get there, or will events conspire against her...?