Book picks similar to
The Blood Feud by Shelley Young


freebie
suspense
contemporary-romance
suspense-thriller

Dodge the Bullet


Christy Hayes - 2011
    But Sarah doesn’t know a Colorado Senator has earmarked her ranch for purchase and he’ll do anything to get it. Unwilling to sell, she dismisses his continued offers and moves ahead by improving the land with the help of a sexy stranger. A.J. Dodge is a man with a past. He’s returned to his hometown ready to set down roots and make things right with his family and whatever anyone else thinks he doesn’t give a damn. Until his old friend Tommy Thornton asks a favor, a favor he can’t refuse, and Dodge becomes involved with the beautiful widow Sarah Woodward. She’s alone with her young sons on a dilapidated ranch she’s determined to get up and running with or without his help. Under pressure to deliver the Woodward ranch to a land developer with shady connections, the senator sets in motion a dangerous plot to convince Sarah to sell. Dodge will risk everything to protect Sarah and the boys including his heart.

Testarossa


J.D. Cary - 2010
     John Testarossa is an LAPD cop with an NYPD attitude who has seen it all. The dead, the dying and the decomposing are all in a day’s work for the red-headed Italian from Brooklyn. After an arm rolls up on a Santa Monica beach, and the dead body to which the arm was once attached is discovered, John and his partner, Alex Ortiz, enter the world of college sports, athletes, and the illegal drugs that enhance their performance. Rage and revenge come together in a toxic cocktail John is all too familiar with. It defined him as a young boy, and ultimately still does as a man. He carries a dark secret. It is in the beautiful Dr. Karen Gennaro—who has a few secrets of her own— that John finds a soft place to land. Even as he knows all too well what falling in love with a cop can do to a woman. What sustains this hard-boiled detective is the bond he shares with his brave and dedicated partners. When that bond is destroyed in a senseless act of violence, will his past, and a desire for vengeance, destroy him? From Los Angeles, where Venice Beach, Marina del Rey, and the dream of Abbot Kinney’s Venice Canals paint a picture of bliss, Testarossa will take you on a deeper, darker journey.

Beautifully Broken Pieces


Catherine Cowles - 2019
    Taylor is looking for peace and quiet away from the memories of all she’s lost. A small mountain town where no one knows her seems like the perfect escape.A man battling the ghosts of his past. Walker loves his life just the way it is. His town, his family, his brothers in blue. Everything simple and easy—until a chance encounter changes it all. When Taylor’s solitude is interrupted by the rugged cop, they find that the very thing they were avoiding might be just what they both need. As their iron wills clash and passion flares…a killer lurks. And you never know who might be caught in the crosshairs.

Healing Danger


Maddie Wade - 2016
    Protecting people is his job...until a serial killer targets Lauren Cassidy and makes it personal.Dane never imagined the woman who’d left him for another man, ripping away his chance at a family, would become his most dangerous client. Racing to keep Lauren safe from a deadly killer with an agenda, Dane makes a split-second decision. A decision neither of them may survive.

While You Were Dead


C.J. Snyder - 2011
    To be qualified to earn the coveted prize, a book (published in 2011), must score higher than 8.0 on twenty questions provided to six randomly selected reader judges. This year's winners were the best of the best!NEW FORMATTING!Lies have consequences…Twelve years ago, Max Crayton had no choices. Honor bound to hunt a traitor, the government declared him dead to the outside world. He completed his mission, but lost the only woman he ever loved and a child he never knew existed.And so does breaking a woman’s heart…Max was her life, her very heartbeat. After his death, alone and haunted by a dangerous past, Kat Jannsen made the ultimate sacrifice to keep their daughter safe.When Kat discovers Max is alive her carefully constructed jigsaw puzzle life is torn to pieces. But an old enemy has been watching…waiting to strike. As the danger mounts, she has nowhere to turn but to Max. She can trust him with her life, but does she dare trust him with her heart?

Targeted to Kill


Riley McKissack - 2013
    Sometimes redemption and second chances at love come with the worst circumstances. Guilt and grief were copartners in the death of Mick Hampton and Becca Jefferson's love. But, now, FBI agent Mick Hampton must stop a horrific attack on American soil as well as save the woman he has loved for most of his life. The undercover operation to stop an attack takes a dramatic left turn when Mick’s former fiancé is kidnapped by the terrorists. Is Becca Jefferson’s kidnapping a matter of simple revenge? Or do the terrorists know more than Mick thinks they do? The operation becomes a desperate attempt to survive for Becca and Mick, while still preventing the murder of countless innocent civilians. Love may be the prize, if they survive.

The Scent of Lies


Debra Burroughs - 2012
    He wishes he didn’t want her. Can they stave off a killer long enough to give love a second chance?Emily lost her P.I. husband far too soon. To pay the mounting bills and solve his cold-case murder, she dives headfirst into the family business. When she takes the case of a wrongfully accused wife, Emily’s biggest obstacle is a sexy cop who refuses to back down.Detective Colin Andrews catches killers to forget his tragic past. When a cute PI doubts his hunch about a murderer, he can’t close the case or get the gorgeous rival off his mind. But if he’s not careful, his budding feelings may prove to be a fatal distraction.As Emily and Colin’s clash brings them closer, can they uncover the truth before a murderer kills off their happy ending?The Scent of Lies is the first book in the Paradise Valley romantic cozy mystery series. If you like captivating characters, juicy intrigue, and clean romance, then you’ll love New York Times bestselling author Debra Burroughs’ engaging stories.

Darby Stansfield Thriller Series (Books 1-3 & Bonus Novella)


Ty Hutchinson - 2012
    Readers have described the series as Tarantino meets The Office with a splash of romance.Also includes BONUS CONTENT - THE ST. PETERSBURG CONFESSIONS (The prequel to the Ghostface character in STROGANOV)The bundle includes the following novels:CHOP SUEYWhen disgraced sales associate Darby Stansfield discovers he has six months to save his job, he does what any normal person would do. He freaks. Desperate to resurrect his career at Teleco Wireless, Darby conjures up an international scheme filled with the promise of endless, high-spending clients. It’s brilliant, it’s international, it would have his boss snooping and his best friend sweating, but it has Darby on a plane to Hong Kong where he signs his latest client, a Chinese gang.Meanwhile, bodies are piling up in San Francisco and Darby has no idea that his brilliant plan has just put him on collision course with the killer. To make matters worse, those closest to him find themselves caught up in his dangerous plan. Darby must now make a tough decision — give up on the one good idea he ever had or risk it all.STROGANOVDiscover how one act of kindness can bring on a world of pain.In Stroganov, a smarter, more confident Darby Stansfield continues his life as the telecommunication consultant to the criminal underworld. This time he’s in bed with the Russians and everything is peachy, so far.With his career back on track, Darby focuses on improving his personal life. However, his unconventional methods for finding love land him in the middle of a war between the Ukrainian government and a dangerous sex trafficking ring. That’s his life. Wrong place. Wrong time. All of the time.Anxious to get out of the situation, he reluctantly offers his help to the authorities in hopes of a clean break. What he gets instead is the attention of Russia’s most feared criminal.LOCO MOCOThe world’s only consultant to the criminal underworld has just experienced his closest brush with death yet, and wonders if it’s time to quit the biz. In need of some serious soul searching, Darby Stansfield and his girlfriend, Izzy Weber, set off for a summer surfing adventure in Hawaii. But what the land of Aloha offers instead, is the same temptations he’s eager to escape—one in particular, the North Beach Boys. Hoping to resist the lure of the local gang, Darby focuses on improving his relationship with Izzy. All is fun in the sun until their beach house is broken into.From there, the mysterious threats begin to escalate, forcing Darby and Izzy to hire a local private detective. Between the PI working the case and the security improvements made around their place, the ideal summer appears to be back on track. Wrong. What they don’t realize is that a stranger is watching them and someone is going to die.THE ST. PETERSBURG CONFESSIONS (BONUS CONTENT)“I have sins to confess.”“Tell me, what evil have you done?”It’s St. Petersburg, right before the fall of Communism. Father Fedor, an Orthodox priest at St. Catherine’s Cathedral, is locking up after the late night mass when he hears a stranger’s voice call out to him. The man begs to confess immediately, afraid that if he waits he will become a lost soul. Of course Father Fedor accepts, but what he doesn’t know, what he isn’t expecting, is that this madman has committed the same sin ninety-nine times.

Silence


Natasha Preston - 2012
    At the age of five, she stopped talking, and no one seems to know why. Refusing to communicate beyond a few physical actions, Oakley remains in her own little world. Bullied at school, she has just one friend, Cole Benson. Cole stands by her, refusing to believe that she is not perfect the way she is. Over the years, they have developed their own version of a normal friendship. However, will it still work as they start to grow even closer? When Oakley is forced to face someone from her past, can she hold her secret in any longer?

Shadow of Danger


Kristine Mason - 2013
    The only witness, clairvoyant Celeste Risinski, observes these brutal murders through violent nightmares and hellish visions. The local sheriff, who believes in Celeste’s abilities and wants to rid their peaceful community of a killer, enlists the help of an old friend, Ian Scott, owner of a private criminal investigation agency, CORE. Because of Ian’s dark history with Celeste’s family, a history she knows nothing about, he sends his top criminalist, former FBI agent John Kain to investigate. John doesn’t believe in Celeste’s mystic hocus-pocus, or in her visions of the murders. But just when he’s certain they’ve solved the crimes, with the use of science and evidence, more dead bodies are discovered. Could this somehow be the work of the same killer or were they dealing with a copycat? To catch a vicious murderer, the skeptical criminalist reluctantly turns to the sensual psychic for help. Yet with each step closer to finding the killer, John finds himself one step closer to losing his heart.

What If It's True?


Dixie Burns - 2015
    Our dreams are haunted with them. For unclear reasons, some of them won’t go away, leaving our collective heads to hang in shame. Or worse, create celebrity out of all proportion.We live in narrow spaces. Believing me-and-mine are special but not vulnerable. Evil exists, just not on our street. We carry the rumors with us. Like sand in our shoes, the stories seldom stop us in our tracks. We will deal with them later.But the grit in our soles whispers, “What if it’s true?”What If It’s True? Takes place in a small Southern town. A good solid town. Neat and efficient in all its circumstances. A woman of a different truth moves there coincidentally with rumored sins of the faithful. The truth of this book is secrecy can become malignant in a community until an outsider raises questions.

Above and Beyond


Kathryn Shay - 2017
    Read about the Marino clan in this fast-paced, emotional new series, To Serve and Protect, by NYT bestselling author Kathryn Shay. Nick Marino is the top guy on POTUS’s Secret Service detail. But he’s temporarily sent to upstate New York to guard the president’s sister, Isabelle Barton, who is being threatened in anonymous notes. There, Nick becomes involved with the widowed mom and twin boys, who quickly win over what he thought was his hardened heart. Amidst the heightened anxiety of tracking down the threats, the constant vigilance and an ever-growing sexual attraction between Isabelle and Nick, these two people must uncover not only the plot against her, but determine what to do about their impossible romance. ABOVE AND BEYOND provides a deep dive into the life of a Secret Service agent and a close look at being related to the most powerful man in the world, along with the glamor of Washington, D.C. politics.

The Irish Cottage: Finding Elizabeth


Juliet Gauvin - 2014
    Book 1 of 3. Elizabeth Lara built a perfect life as San Francisco’s top divorce attorney, but when she loses her great-aunt Mags, the woman who raised her, she boards a plane and leaves it all behind.The Irish shores welcome her as she learns a shocking truth, kept secret for thirty-five years. Devastated and now alone in the world, Beth tries to find peace in a beautiful cottage by Lough Rhiannon, but peace isn’t what fate had in mind. Almost as soon as she arrives, Beth’s solitary retreat into the magic wilds of Ireland is interrupted by Connor Bannon. A man with light brown hair, ice blue eyes and a secret of his own. He’s gorgeous, grieving, and completely unexpected. With the help of Mags’ letters, the colorful townspeople of Dingle, and Connor, Elizabeth might just find a way back to the girl she lost long ago and become the woman she always wanted to be.

Memory House


Bette Lee Crosby - 2015
    She knows because she’s been granted the unique gift of finding and caring for those forgotten memories. But now she’s nearing ninety, and Browne women seldom live beyond ninety. Before time runs out Ophelia must find a successor. Someone who can take hold of the gifts and keep the memories from fading. When broken-hearted Annie Cross shows up on the doorstep of The Memory House Bed and Breakfast, Ophelia knows she is the one. The two women forge a bond of friendship as they sip magical dandelion tea and share stories. When Annie starts to sense the memories Ophelia is delighted, but then a thread of violence begins to unravel and Ophelia fears things have gone too far.

Sycamore Bluff


Jude Hardin - 2013
    Given a set of rules and the promise of a generous compensation package at the end, can several hundred people govern themselves and live in relative harmony for six years? The experiment, designed to mimic future colonization on a distant planet, appears to be a huge success. Until something goes terribly wrong… Two undercover operatives from an ultra-clandestine government agency called The Circle are sent to investigate. When Diana Dawkins and Nicholas Colt discover the shocking truth, it’s clear the experiment must be stopped. What isn’t clear is if they’ll make it out alive.