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The Girl on the Boat (The Emerald Sisters) (affiliate link)
Germany 1939: “No, please don’t make me leave you!” Sophie cries, desperately trying to hold her loved ones in her arms before she is pulled away. “I can’t leave without you, I can’t bear it…”
When Sophie Weiss boards the SS St Louis, the Nazis have taken everything from her, and her last hope is to escape. But when she meets fellow Jewish refugees Rosa, Hannah and Rachel on board, their friendship gives Sophie hope there might be happiness in her future, after all.
But when the boat is refused entry at a port they thought would be safe, the women face a terrifying return to Europe. Until word reaches the ship that a friend of her family is willing to take Sophie in—but only her. Quickly, Sophie unpicks the lining of her coat and breaks her late mother’s emerald into four parts. Handing a piece to each of her friends, the women promise to meet in Paris when this nightmare is over.
When a dead car battery turns into something far more devious…
Terrorized by a man who won’t leave her alone, Federal prosecutor Nicole Strickland doesn’t know what to do. Everywhere she turns, she feels eyes on her, watching. Her brother, FBI Agent Cash Strickland, knows she needs help, but there’s no actionable proof to stop the man that’s hunting her.
With no evidence and even little hope, Cash turns to the one person he thinks might be able to help, only because she bends the law getting justice for those who need her – former Chicago PD cold case detective, Emily Tizzano.
But Cash and Emily have unfinished business. She’s suspicious of his motives and even more suspicious of his sister’s job as a prosecutor.
Is he really worried about his sister and her safety, or is it a set up?
Moonstone: A Wolfes of Manhattan Novel (affiliate link)
She’s rebuilding a life from the ruins of her past. He’s on the run—and hoping he’s finally found the one place he can hide.
As “Moonstone,” Katelyn Brooks was held captive on a tropical island and subjected to treatment that scarred her heart and soul. With the help of the Wolfe family, she’s finally free and is determined to rebuild her life. The last thing she needs is a gorgeous man with a mysterious past of his own.
Luke Johnson is a man in recovery who needs to fly under the radar. Love and redemption have never been part of Luke’s plan—until Katelyn walks through the doors of the restaurant where he works.
Their chance meeting proves that what happens in the shadows will always come to light, but Luke has a secret—a big one—that could spell danger for both of them.
Casey is pregnant. And she’s not happy about it.
Casey Samms always knew she wanted to be a mom. She just didn’t expect it to happen courtesy of a tipsy night with her hot, commitment-phobic roommate J.B.—and an expired condom.
Now, her carefully laid plan to go it alone with a sperm donor has been replaced with morning sickness, unsolicited belly rubs, and the world’s most unexpected co-parent. J.B., with his string of exes and fear of adulting, should’ve bolted. Instead, he’s sticking around. He’s reading baby books, coming to OB visits, and—was that a hand on her bump and a soft smile?
Casey’s got nine months to prepare for motherhood solo… but J.B. isn’t exactly stepping aside.
One night changed everything.
Cold Feet (Good Girls Don’t Come Last) (affiliate link)
Moving back home to live with her parents was not part of Albany’s plan.
Neither was doing the alterations on the wedding dress of her high school nemesis, who happens to be marrying the man who broke her heart.
She’s going to need ice cream to drown her frustrations. Lots of it! Oh, and a Netflix binge session might help too.
Sea Sick (Ravaged World Trilogy Book 1) (affiliate link)
A luxury cruise. A deadly virus. And one man trapped in a never-ending nightmare.
Jack Wardsley thought a week aboard the Spirit of Kirkpatrick would be his chance to relax. Five-star dining, exotic destinations, and a much-needed break from the Police Force. But when a deadly infection turns passengers into flesh-hungry monsters, paradise turns to hell.
There’s no way off the ship. Nowhere to hide. And worst of all… Jack has lived this nightmarish voyage before.
Every time he dies, he wakes up on the day of the deadly outbreak—trapped in a time loop with a terrible, repeating fate. Everybody dies. But each repeat gives him a chance to uncover the truth:
* Can he stop the outbreak before it begins?
* Who—or what—is behind the endless cycle of horror?
* And how many times can a man die before he loses his mind?
Between Friends (affiliate link)
Jillian Lawton and Lesley Adamski. Two girls from very different backgrounds become best friends in the turbulent 1960s, but their circumstances and choices—and their mistakes—take them in opposite directions. Lesley stays in their hometown. She marries young, living a life defined by the demands of small children, never enough money, and an unfaithful husband. Jill lives those years on a college campus shaken by the Vietnam War, and then as an idealistic young lawyer in New York City.
But they always remain friends.
Through the years and across the miles, Jill and Lesley confide everything to each other—every grief and joy. Because the quality of a friendship is the quality of a life.
The Vineyard at Painted Moon: A Novel (affiliate link)
Mackenzie Dienes seems to have it all—a beautiful home, close friends and a successful career as an elite winemaker with the family winery. There’s just one problem—it’s not her family, it’s her husband’s. In fact, everything in her life is tied to him—his mother is the closest thing to a mom that she’s ever had, their home is on the family compound, his sister is her best friend. So when she and her husband admit their marriage is over, her pain goes beyond heartbreak. She’s on the brink of losing everything. Her job, her home, her friends and, worst of all, her family.
Staying is an option. She can continue to work at the winery, be friends with her mother-in-law, hug her nieces and nephews—but as an employee, nothing more. Or she can surrender every piece of her heart in order to build a legacy of her own. If she can dare to let go of the life she thought she wanted, she might discover something even more beautiful waiting for her beneath a painted moon.
The Man in my Attic (affiliate link)
He’s in our house.
I never imagined that moving into our dream home, a beautiful Virginia Colonial, would unravel my life. The renovations are finally complete and I revel in the quiet moments, sipping coffee in the morning sun.
But something is off. At first, it’s little things — a creak in the floorboards, a misplaced item. I brush them off, chalking it up to the house settling. My husband Jacob is more distant, buried in late-night meetings and coming home reeking of whiskey and lies.
But I love my life. So I let things go, sweeping them under the rug, because it’s easier that way. That my husband is having an affair isn’t an idea I’m ready to face or believe yet, either.
Our four-year-old son Noah mentions his new friend, Billy, who lives in the walls. I dismiss it as a child’s imagination. Maybe he’s picked up on the strains in our marriage.
The Lost Years (affiliate link)
Dr. Jonathan Lyons, a seventy-year-old biblical scholar, believes he has found the rarest of parchments—a letter that may have been written by Jesus Christ. Stolen from the Vatican library in the fifteenth century, it was assumed to be lost forever. Under the promise of secrecy, Jonathan attempts to confirm his findings with several other biblical experts. But on the eve before his own murder, he confides to Father Aiden O’Brien, a family friend, that one of those whom he trusted most is determined to keep it from being returned to the Vatican.
The next evening Jonathan Lyons is found shot to death in his New Jersey home. His daughter, twenty-seven year old Mariah, finds her father’s body sprawled over his desk in his study, a fatal bullet wound in the back of his neck, and her mother, Kathleen, an Alzheimer’s victim, hiding in the study closet, incoherent and clutching the murder weapon. The police suspect that Kathleen, who in her lucid moments knows that Jonathan was involved with a much younger woman Lily Stewart, has committed the murder.
The Letter (The Rosecraddick Chronicles) (affiliate link)
Her name was erased. Her love forbidden. But her story will be told.
When young widow Chloe Pencarrow retreats to the rugged coast of Cornwall to grieve, she stumbles upon a crumbling manor house – and a century old secret that refuses to stay buried.
A hundred years before, on the eve of World War I, Kit Rivers, heir to Rosecraddick Manor, is torn between duty and a love so forbidden it could destroy him. The woman he loves is lost to history, her name erased and her story stolen by time, but she will never forget him. She will never stop loving him. And she will never rest until the truth is uncovered.
As Chloe uncovers the tragic tale of a love that defied all odds, she is forced to confront her own shattered heart – and the dark, long-hidden secrets that link her grief to Kit’s. When the present and past collide, Chloe must face a devastating betrayal that could destroy everything she hold dear.
When Lena inherits her grandmother Ingrid’s Victorian house in the quaint town of New Oslo, she expects a fresh start and a slower pace of life in her hometown. Instead, she finds herself thrust into a web of secrets, lies, and unexpected danger.
As Lena settles into her new home, strange occurrences and an overwhelming sense of unease plague her. Could it be mere imagination, or is there something more sinister at play? When a ghostly encounter reveals a shocking truth about her grandmother’s passing, Lena’s world is turned upside down.
Armed with nothing but her wits, a nose that twitches at the first sign of trouble, and the help of her childhood friend Charlie, Lena embarks on a quest to uncover the truth. But in a town where everyone seems to have something to hide, who can she really trust?
… See the rest of today ‘s Book Picks here on page 2Page 2