Book picks similar to
The Kilwade Tragedy by Terry Keys


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young-adult
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The River Widow


Ann Howard Creel - 2018
    Essentially trapped, Adah must plan an escape.But when she develops feelings for the one person essential to her plan’s success, she faces a painful choice: Will she choose to risk everything saving Daisy or take the new life offered by a loving man?

Deliberate Duplicity (Detective Sasha Frank Mysteries, #1)


David Rohlfing
    A complicated web of clues leaves Sasha and his team with more questions than answers: What's the killer's motive? And how are the victims connected to one another? As the story begins to unravel, the ordinarily calm and collected Sasha begins to feel the immense pressure of the case. Will he be able to solve the mystery before time runs out and bring justice to all who were affected?

Blind Ambition


Lutishia Lovely - 2021
    But she's seldom seen her Hollywood-based sibling. More on the shy side, Chantel is perfectly happy with her own modest singing career and quiet Missouri hometown life. But when their mother dies and Chantel's world is upended, she hopes that moving to Los Angeles will give her a fresh start--and a chance to know Jett better. But the truth is, she doesn't know Jett at all.When Jett rebuffs her efforts to bond, Chantel learns a devastating secret she never could have imagined. Reeling and angry, Chantel soon comes up with the perfect vengeful weapon: a bestselling tell-all book that will reveal Jett's stormy past--and wreak havoc on the stardom she prizes more than anything or anyone. But Jett guards her private life for a reason and will stop at nothing to keep the past from being exposed. Now, between hard hidden truths and bitter new revelations, Chantel must decide how much payback is too much--and if the reward is worth the life-altering price.

The Other Family


Loretta Nyhan - 2020
    Her greatest concerns, though, are the health problems of her young daughter, Kylie. Symptoms point to a compromised immune system, but every doctor they’ve seen has a different theory. Then comes hope for some clarity.It’s possible that Kylie’s illness is genetic, but Ally is adopted. A DNA test opens up an entirely new path. And where it leads is a surprise: to an aunt Ally never knew existed. She’s a little wild, very welcoming, and ready to share more of the family history than Ally ever imagined.Coping with a skeptical soon-to-be-ex husband, weathering the cautions of her own resistant mother, and getting maddeningly close to the healing Kylie needs, Ally is determined to regain control of her life. This is her chance to embrace uncertainty and the beauty of family—both the one she was born into and the one she chose.

The Truth About Gretchen


Alretha Thomas - 2019
    Gretchen believes making the movie will be cathartic. But instead of freeing her, embarking upon the film production unleashes a sequence of events that lead Gretchen to conclude that she’s the reincarnation of the young man. Regina Wilson has always wanted to be an actress. When her agent gets her an audition for a role in Gretchen’s film, which eerily mirrors one of the worst events of her life—the unsolved murder of her older brother, Robert—she’s hard-pressed to go through with it. Upon fleeing, she leaves behind a keepsake that features Robert’s photo. Gretchen sees the picture and recognizes Robert from her dreams. She tracks down Regina, and after being rebuffed and called crazy, Gretchen’s unexplainable knowledge of events in Robert’s life eventually convinces Regina that Gretchen is Robert reincarnated.The two decide to have his case reopened, but their significant others are dead set against it, and the police, who believe that Robert’s death was gang-related, are less than cooperative. However, Gretchen is desperate to get justice for her former self, and Regina wants justice for her brother. The women piece together the final week of Robert’s life. And the deeper they delve into his past; one shocking revelation follows another, leaving them wondering who they can trust and if they’ll live long enough to find Robert’s killer and bring him to justice.

The Big Wide Calm


Rich Marcello - 2014
    The world just doesn't know it yet. She's got the charisma, the drive, and, of course, the mega-musical skills. All she needs is to make her debut album, one that will change the world, inspire revolutions--and make her galactically famous along the way.When John Bustin, a former semi-famous singer/songwriter offers to record Paige's album for free, it feels like destiny, like the next step on her way to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Guitar in hand, Paige sets off to John's recording compound, ready to unfold her future.But the ever-elusive John, with his mysterious history, and Paige, a big dreamer but naive about her footing in life, clash as much as they coalesce. Before they can change the world through Paige's music, the improbable duo must learn to work together.A coming of age story and retrospective, The Big Wide Calm focuses on human nature and the complexities of love through the eyes of young and old on the journey of creating the perfect album.

The Lie: When DNA Reveals the Family Secret


Heather Dawn Gray - 2019
    Jahana continues to struggle with her grief a year after her mother's death. She wishes she knew her maternal relatives, but her mother refused to talk about them. To help her move on, Jahana's husband buys her a DNA kit. When the results come in, she discovers more than she bargained for. Her DNA reveals a family secret she would like to ignore, but can't. The Lie is too big.

Final Balance


Stephen Black - 2015
    What lies on the other side and what will it be like? This mind expanding story takes you on a supernatural journey through the Afterworld in a quest for truth and understanding about what resides in our own soul and in the souls of others. Even more importantly - What is our ultimate destiny?While FINAL BALANCE can easily be read as a standalone work, it's actually follow-on from my first book, THE ZOO: An Allegorical Adventure. In the first book, a major metropolitan city was utterly destroyed and reduced to an uninhabited state of rubble, abandoned and desolate for all eternity. That book explored the behaviors seen by a society and its leadership and the extreme consequences of the actions the characters took. FINAL BALANCE goes well beyond the original work with an entirely different setting and experience for the reader. In the new book, Dan Alexander, the central character from THE ZOO, travels on a supernatural journey through the Afterworld exploring the ultimate consequences of his earthly existence. Both books, FINAL BALANCE and THE ZOO, go beyond conventional boundaries. In a fictional and entertaining way, they provide a social commentary that resonates with our times. At the core, both books aim to enlighten others about the personal and material consequences associated with the decisions taken by society and its leadership.

The Black Ledger


D.G. Allen - 2017
    Gangs shoot up the streets, while corrupt politicians and predatory businesses get rich by stealing from the poor. In a place fraught with danger and fueled by poverty, a young white man named Ron Pickles discovers a resilient people with an indestructible spirit. But, there are sinister forces looking to create misfortune and reap profits at the expense of people that society cares little about. Ron soon learns that it isn’t the ghetto he needs to fear, but the corrupt insurance agency that recruited him in the first place. Inspired by a true story, “The Black Ledger” is a multi-cultural/mystery crime thriller that will take you into the heart of Chicago’s most dangerous neighborhoods and experience a life you couldn’t imagine existed in the United States. “D.G. Allen’s The Black Ledger is a smart, often funny, and compelling look at the dirty business of “death insurance” on the West Side of Chicago. Allen has vividly recreated the time and place with impeccable detail, colorful characters, and crackling dialogue; not to mention a heartbreaking murder mystery that always keeps you guessing. It may be set in the 80’s but it is a powerful message about race and corruption still resonating today!” - Tim Sulka, screenwriter: “Children of the Corn 666: Isaac’s Return” Author: Prime Cuts (graphic novel) “I grew up in the Chicago community depicted in this novel. D.G. Allen depicts a much darker but funnier side of that neighborhood that I could ever have imagined. It is a captivating and wonderfully written story. A MUST READ!” - Debra Wright Hughes “This novel breaks the barriers of the thriller genre. I have never read something so unique as this world that D.G. Allen has created.” - John Franklin, screenwriter: “Children of the Corn 666: Isaac’s Return” Author: Prime Cuts (graphic novel) “Highly recommended! This story takes us into a world most of us will never see and into a business that most of us never dreamed existed. He writes with such skill that you will laugh one minute, cry the next, and never even realize your jaw has dropped. His characters are believable and fascinating! I became engrossed in this book from start to finish. A unique and mesmerizing novel…don’t miss it!” - Elizabeth Benney MA. DT. CIMI, Director LTP Center

Killing the Secret


Donna Welch Jones - 2011
    Lexie's investigation intensifies when a local woman is murdered, and the citizens blame her for the death. When Lexie discovers there are three secrets she fears more will die while the investigation goes in multiple directions. Her dilemma is further magnified by the the fact that one of the women may be the next First Lady of the United States—provided she doesn't die first.

The Mall


Megan McCafferty - 2020
    Scrunchies, mixtapes and 90210 are, like, totally fresh. Cassie Worthy is psyched to spend the summer after graduation working at the Parkway Center Mall. In six weeks, she and her boyfriend head off to college in NYC to fulfill The Plan: higher education and happily ever after.But you know what they say about the best laid plans...Set entirely in a classic “monument to consumerism,” the novel follows Cassie as she finds friendship, love, and ultimately herself, in the most unexpected of places. Megan McCafferty, beloved New York Times bestselling author of the Jessica Darling series, takes readers on an epic trip back in time to The Mall.

A Cross of Crocuses


Ken Ross - 2018
    There are many surprises, and shocks too, as events steer them on an unpredictable course. They learn that their children are not the individuals they had imagined them to be; their perception of each changes and they suffer bitter disappointment. Is there any escape for either of them, and if there is, will their health allow it?

Yerba Buena


Nina LaCourNina LaCour
    Years later, in Los Angeles, she is a sought-after bartender, renowned as much for her brilliant cocktails as for the mystery that clings to her. Across the city, Emilie Dubois is in a holding pattern. In her seventh year and fifth major as an undergraduate, she yearns for the beauty and community her Creole grandparents cultivated but is unable to commit. On a whim, she takes a job arranging flowers at the glamorous restaurant Yerba Buena and embarks on an affair with the married owner.When Sara catches sight of Emilie one morning at Yerba Buena, their connection is immediate. But the damage both women carry, and the choices they have made, pulls them apart again and again. When Sara's old life catches up to her, upending everything she thought she wanted just as Emilie has finally gained her own sense of purpose, they must decide if their love is more powerful than their pasts.At once exquisite and expansive, astonishing in its humanity and heart, Yerba Buena is a love story for our time and a propulsive journey through the lives of two women finding their way in the world.

Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance


Alison EspachAlison Espach
    It's full of family trips to the beach and long afternoons at the local pool with her older sister Kathy, which they mostly use as an excuse to ogle Billy Barnes, who works the concession stand there. A rising senior and local basketball star, Billy has been an unending source of intrigue for both girls since he jumped off the school roof in fifth grade, and their fascination with him is one of the few things the increasingly different sisters have in common. By summer’s end Billy and Kathy are an item—an unthinkable stroke of luck that ends in an even more unthinkable tragedy.Set over the course of fifteen years, Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance is narrated by Sally as she addresses Kathy before, during, and after her death. We watch as Kathy’s absence creates a gaping hole that only Billy—now firmly off-limits to Sally—understands and might possibly begin to fill. Charting years of their shared history and missed connections, Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance is both a breathtaking love story between two broken people who are unexplainably, inconveniently drawn to each other, and a wry, sharply observant coming-of-age story that looks at the ways the people we love the most continue to shape our lives long after they’re gone.

Over the Borderline


Leanna Floyd - 2019
    She convinces her childhood friend, Jacob, to move to Tampa after his latest fiasco, where he finds a job at a legal firm, which is defending Zach Barton, a rich, young entrepreneur who is accused of murdering his ex-girlfriend. When Brooke has to provide expert testimony in Barton’s trial, Jacob and Brooke end up on opposite sides of the courtroom. As Brooke prepares to testify, she discovers a pattern of violent, impulsive behavior in Barton’s past, eerily similar to those of the Surfside Killer, the case she has been asked to help profile for the FBI. Brooke is swirling in dangerous waters with the killer lurking on the fringe of her life. Who will be his next victim? Will Brooke’s knack for profiling be enough to keep her safe?