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Blood in the Bayou (FBI Agent Jade Monroe Live or Die Series Book 1) (affiliate link)
On her first assignment since her promotion to SSA status in the Serial Crimes Unit of the FBI, Jade Monroe and her new partner, Lorenzo DeLeon, are tasked to southern Louisiana, where disturbing discoveries have been made. Human bones have been found in numerous sites deep in bayou country, and the locals aren’t too excited about having outsiders poking around in their business.
When Jade has a chance meeting with a local hunter, she finds his assistance exactly what she needs to break through that unwelcoming barrier. She brings him on board as their go-between. The hunter inserts himself into their investigation and gains Jade’s trust, but is he authentic, or does he have his own agenda?
A bone-chilling blindside and a dangerous chase through the Louisiana swamps is just the beginning, but the question remains—is Jade the hunter, or is she the one being hunted?
Should Have Known Better (affiliate link)
It’s the moment single-mum Kate has been dreading.
With her only daughter, Chloe, about to leave home, she’s terrified by the prospect of an empty nest.
That is until she meets charming lawyer, Adam. He could be the perfect catch – if it wasn’t for his clingy son.
Because Ben has a crush on Chloe. A crush that is fast becoming an obsession.
Flattered by the attention, Chloe is happy to string him along – for now at least.
But Kate can see the danger signs, even if her daughter can’t.
And when Chloe’s life begins spiralling out of control, Kate must make a choice – trust her instincts or lose her daughter forever…
The Gossiping Gourmet (Murder in Marin Book 1) (affiliate link)
Sunshine and Second Chances (affiliate link)
Four life-long friends. One life-changing holiday.
On the surface Liv has the perfect life. But honestly? She’s running on empty. Worn out after running around after her needy family, she knows that she needs to make some changes, but can’t work out what they are. As she and her three life-long best friends turn fifty, they honour their promise to each other made on a beach at sunrise twenty-nine years before, that wherever they were in life they would celebrate this milestone together.
Liv’s friends can’t wait to escape with her: Debs is newly single, Fiona is caring for her mum, and Samantha is grieving. Life has lost its sparkle for all of them and they all need a reset. They have so much life left, so much to give and deserve to live their best lives – they just need to work out how.
It begins as a birthday reunion in the sunshine, but little do the four friends know what life-changing decisions they’ll all be making before their flight home…
Mr. Pizza (The Tony Piza Novels) (affiliate link)
Just about everyone makes a really off-the-wall decision at some point. Usually it’s no big deal. But if it ends up changing people’s lives. . .
It’s 1973, and Tony Piza (long “i”, my friends) decides he needs a carefree year off after college—with pay.
To the shock of his tight-knit family and closest friends, he postpones law school and talks his way into a job teaching sixth grade at a Catholic school in Staten Island, N. Y.
A paid vacation if ever there was one! Yeah, right.
Say hi to the Moby Dick of miscalculations. His pathetic effort is making him look bad, especially compared to the other sixth-grade instructor, Sister Theresa, an energetic young nun whose sunny disposition could have turned Attila the Hun into a daisy-picking philanthropist.
It’s also crimping his efforts to enchant Colleen O’Brien, a stunning, straight-talking teacher who sees right through him.
The Essential Family Therapy Workbook: Improve Communication, Resolve Conflict, and Build Connection (affiliate link)
Form a stronger bond as a family
Families are complicated—and fostering healthy relationships often takes work. This supportive guide provides you and your loved ones with the therapeutic tools you need to strengthen your connection. Guided by simple exercises, your family will learn how to reduce conflict, boost communication, and build strong bonds.
Try different approaches—This workbook introduces a variety of family therapy techniques, including dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and narrative therapy, helping you find the right tools for you and your family.
Focus on core family dynamics—Learn how to address and improve the eight traits fundamental to healthy families, including mutual respect, affirmation and support, and setting boundaries.
Explore engaging exercises—Put your newfound knowledge into practice with a range of prompts and activities, such as kindness meditations, conversation calendars, and positive affirmation checklists.
Heart Breaker (Out of Uniform Book 1) (affiliate link)
In tight quarters, anything can happen…
Fresh off a six-month deployment, Navy SEAL Cash McCoy is determined to end his celibacy streak with a night of down and dirty fun. Instead, he gets an interrupted hook-up with a hot blonde who vanishes without a way for him to contact her.
When he’s asked to keep an eye on—and hands off—his commanding officer’s sister for a few weeks and guard her from a psycho-stalker ex, Cash accepts the assignment as a distraction…and gets the surprise of his life.
Jen Scott knows she needs protection, although she’s not looking forward to being babysat by some straight-laced yes-man her overprotective brother can boss around. But finding out her new roomie is none other than the sexy stranger who was seconds away from shaking her world apart? That changes everything.
The Accident (affiliate link)
If only she’d said no…
Katherine knew she’d had too many drinks, but they were only going a short distance, and as Eve pointed out, it was late, there was no traffic anyway…
Now Katherine would do anything to turn back the clock. If anyone ever found out about the accident, it would ruin her life.
But no one needs to know because Eve was there too, and she’s going to help make it all go away.
Except something isn’t right with Eve, and by the time Katherine realizes that… it’s too late.
Don’t Think, Dear: On Loving and Leaving Ballet (affiliate link)
An incisive exploration of ballet’s role in the modern world, told through the experience of the author and her classmates at the most elite ballet school in the country: the School of American Ballet.
Growing up, Alice Robb dreamed of becoming a ballet dancer. But by age fifteen, she had to face the reality that she would never meet the impossibly high standards of the hyper-competitive ballet world. After she quit, she tried to avoid ballet—only to realize, years later, that she was still haunted by the lessons she had absorbed in the mirror-lined studios of Lincoln Center, and that they had served her well in the wider world. The traits ballet takes to an extreme—stoicism, silence, submission—are valued in girls and women everywhere.
Profound, nuanced, and passionately researched, Don’t Think, Dear is Robb’s excavation of her adolescent years as a dancer and an exploration of how those days informed her life for years to come.
Lily and the Octopus (affiliate link)
Ted—a gay, single, struggling writer is stuck: unable to open himself up to intimacy except through the steadfast companionship of Lily, his elderly dachshund. When Lily’s health is compromised, Ted vows to save her by any means necessary. By turns hilarious and poignant, an adventure with spins into magic realism and beautifully evoked truths of loss and longing, Lily and the Octopus reminds us how it feels to love fiercely, how difficult it can be to let go, and how the fight for those we love is the greatest fight of all.
Introducing a dazzling and completely original new voice in fiction and an unforgettable hound that will break your heart—and put it back together again. Remember the last book you told someone they had to read? Lily and the Octopus is the next one.
Some Sort of Crazy (Natalie and Miles): A Happy Crazy Love Novel (affiliate link)
When a psychic tells Natalie Nixon her life is about to be upended by a mysterious stranger, she laughs it off. After all, she has everything she’s ever wanted—a successful bakery, the perfect boyfriend, and the keys to her dream house.
Who could possibly make her want to throw all that away?
Then Miles Haas comes back to town.
But he’s no stranger—they’ve known each other since grade school. Plus, he’s only around for the summer, he’s still a shameless playboy, and he makes a living writing articles for a men’s magazine with titles like ‘Should You Bang the Boss’s Daughter? A Flowchart’ and ‘Backdoor Stuff for Beginners: A Field Guide.’
Except he makes her laugh like no one else, smells like heaven, and wears those panty-melting glasses. But he’s not the man of her dreams, and she’s not about to abandon everything she’s worked so hard for just for a little fun.
The Hallows (affiliate link)
Ruthless defense attorney Tatum Graham has been living large in Miami, but when his recently acquitted client claims another victim, Tatum has a crisis of conscience. Disillusioned, he heads to his small Utah hometown for a simpler life…but that’s not what he finds.
Soon after he arrives, Tatum’s childhood crush offers him a job at the county attorney’s office and assigns him a murder case. The victim is a teenage girl not unlike the victim in the last case he tried. Now a prosecutor, Tatum sees a chance for redemption, but politics, corruption, and a killer defense threaten to thwart justice.
To complicate matters, Tatum’s estranged father has terminal cancer, and the time to reconcile is running out. Tatum moved to Utah to find clarity, but his thoughts swirl with old feelings and present dangers. As the case heats up, so does the risk, threatening to adjourn Tatum’s new life before it begins.
… See the rest of today ‘s Book Picks here on page 2Page 2