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Bad Series: Books 1-3 (Bad Box Sets Book 1) (affiliate link)
The protagonists of this story all went to school together, but despite the years that have followed, the Bad Friends have remained in touch. Eight people, all with different outlooks and careers, have always been there for one another.
Yet some are about to discover that longstanding dynamics might not survive betrayal, lies and a newcomer intent on stirring up trouble.
The story opens with the friends in their mid-20s, careers still up in the air, romantic relationships disastrous and secrets buried deep.
By the end of this saga, everything will have changed. Not all will stick around and some bonds which previously appeared unbreakable will be smashed to smithereens.
A darkness exists just beneath the surface and will slowly unravel. Will justice prevail? Find out . . .
Little Tea (affiliate link)
One phone call from Renny to come home and “see about” the capricious Ava and Celia Wakefield decides to overlook her distressful past in the name of friendship.
For three reflective days at Renny’s lake house in Heber Springs, Arkansas, the three childhood friends reunite and examine life, love, marriage, and the ties that bind, even though Celia’s personal story has yet to be healed. When the past arrives at the lake house door in the form of her old boyfriend, Celia must revisit the life she’d tried to outrun.
As her idyllic coming of age alongside her best friend, Little Tea, on her family’s ancestral grounds in bucolic Como, Mississippi unfolds, Celia realizes there is no better place to accept her own story than in this circle of friends who have remained beside her throughout the years. Theirs is a friendship that can talk any life sorrow into a comic tragedy, and now that the racial divide in the Deep South has evolved, Celia wonders if friendship can triumph over history.
The Social Affair (New Hope Series Book 1) (affiliate link)
A timeless, perfect couple waltzes into the small coffee shop where Izzy Lewis works. Instantly enamored, she does what she always does in situations like these: she searches them out on social media.
Just like that—with the tap of a screen—she’s given a front-row seat to the Dunns’ picturesque life. This time, she’s certain she’s found what she’s been searching for. This time, she’ll go to whatever lengths it takes to ensure she gets it right—even if this means doing the unthinkable.
Intense and original, The Social Affair is a disturbing psychological thriller that explores what can happen when privacy is traded for convenience.
The Invisible Assistant (The Eli Marks Mysteries) (affiliate link)
There’s no question it was murder. But who killed whom?
What begins as a typical corporate event for magician Eli Marks turns into a twisted mystery when he is called to the site of a recent murder/suicide. Confronted by the details of the grisly crime scene, Eli must sort through the post-mortem clues – and the bickering of the officials as well as a poorly-timed allergy attack – to determine just who murdered whom.
Dead Drift (Jack Lunn Book 1) (affiliate link)
Former Detective Inspector Jack Lunn is enjoying the quiet life.
Twenty years on from being medically retired from the job with Hampshire Police, he’s earned his quiet routine of long walks in the New Forest.
However, Jack’s peace is shattered when he discovers the body of a friend and local landowner while on a fishing trip.
Drawn into the investigation, he comes face to face with an old colleague, and the police investigation machine he thought he had left behind.
As family secrets are exposed and a reporter takes an interest, Jack and his partner’s eldest daughter Gemma, a former military intelligence officer set to work to uncover who killed his friend.
Tripped Up Love (The New Ever After Book 1) (affiliate link)
When Heather Meadows loses the only man she’s ever loved, her perfect, ordinary life is turned upside down. The happily ever after her late husband promised disappears in the blink of an eye. As she picks up the pieces of her shattered world and puts on a brace face for her three children, her life becomes the subject of scrutiny and pity from her well-intentioned friends and neighbors who do more harm than good. Life in suburbia is not for the faint of heart.
Little does she know that her world is about to be turned upside down again when one wrong step puts her in the path of a new destiny. Heather finds a reason to smile again, but she wonders how she’ll handle the prying eyes and unspoken judgements of those closest to her.
Make Love Better: How to Own Your Story, Connect with Your Partner, and Deepen Your Relationship Practice (affiliate link)
If you’re like many people, your relationship resume reads something like a spatter pattern. Confusing experiences lie in your wake, and you can’t decipher the learning. Maybe your relationship is littered with messy conflicts or scorched by the ills of the world. Maybe you are lonely–and looking for a partner, or you feel you just aren’t any good at relationships–and you want to get better.
Using stories from her own colorful relationship life and from her work with clients from diverse backgrounds around the world, Jan Dworkin, PhD, lays bare her missteps and triumphs both in and out of the bedroom with honesty, humor, and depth. She offers concrete tools to help couples navigate power dynamics and conflicts that arise from differences in gender, class, race, sexual desire, communication styles, dreams and opposing points of view. Through sassy stories, step-by-step exercises, and hard-earned wisdom, Dworkin guides readers to build their very own “relationship practice.”
Whether you are embarking on a new relationship, striving to improve an existing one, or recouping after a breakup, prepare yourself to laugh, cry, and gain the education of a lifetime. This is the real world of relationships with no holds barred.
One Motion More (Consistently Inconsistent Book 1) (affiliate link)
Actions speak louder than words.
Long-haired bad-boy guitarist Xander has skeletons in his closest that refuse to stay dead. After a series of setbacks, Xander hits new lows, almost costing himself his reputation and career. While trying to take steps in the right direction toward better decisions and good choices, he meets Natalie, and for the first time—maybe ever—Xander sees past himself and past the music his rock band is famous for.
Their relationship is an unlikely one, with outside factors creating obstacles the two would have to tackle to make their love work.
He is reckless while she is responsible.
He thrives in the spotlight while she will do anything to avoid it.
He speaks fluent profanity while she doesn’t speak at all.
He works to win her heart, despite having to overcome the communication barrier, while she tries to look past the intensity of the spotlight they find themselves in.
One Good Thing (affiliate link)
The Power of Hex: Spells, Incantations, and Rituals (affiliate link)
This beautifully illustrated guide introduces new witches to sigils, amulets, potions, and spells that will encourage them to reclaim and use their power as a catalyst for social change.
In The Power of Hex, author Shawn Engel shows young witches how to use their own power in an inclusive way and empowers them to create their own spells with their new knowledge.
Beginning with the definition of hexing, unpacking the ethics, and showing how disenfranchised groups have used this type of magic throughout history for protection, The Power of Hex leads into modern takes on the practice. From there, an overview of focusing energy in different rituals leads into four main spell chapters, rounding out to a chapter dedicated to building your own spells using aligned ingredients.
This book sets itself apart because it aims to simplify this powerful type of magic while enforcing morality. We don’t want to sink to the level of those we are cursing; hexing is meant to protect and arm.
In Service to the Senator (affiliate link)
Terrell Warren is a rising star within the ranks of the Democratic Party. Buoyed his former heroic exploits in Desert Storm, the two-term senator has ascended quickly, currently being vetted as a part of the party’s presidential ticket in the upcoming election cycle, entering rarified air as an African-American politician. He’s charismatic, devilishly handsome, and possesses both the pedigree and the type of bipartisan support that could have him sitting in the Oval Office as Commander-in-Chief in the near future.
Even his unconventional marriage to the stunning Kianna Warren doesn’t seem to sway the public, as rumors from media circuits continue to swirl around their alternative proclivities. After all, who wouldn’t want to surrender and be in service to the powerful, irresistible statesman? He has managed to claim the American public’s imagination, providing the catalyst as the face of the wave of the future of the party.
Unfortunately, there are forces at work that wish to derail the inevitable, and they will stop at nothing to ensure that Senator Warren is discredited.
… See the rest of today ‘s Book Picks here on page 2Page 2