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The Sound of Silence (affiliate link)
Gianna
There’s a common expression I remind myself of every day: that which does not kill us, makes us stronger.
People think I live an idyllic life with my perfect husband, but they don’t know what lies beneath the façade.
Like the delicate petals of the daisies he loved to give, I was easily crushed—broken, just as he wanted me to be.
I’ve learned to accept what is, but I won’t let it destroy me.
Instead, I do the only thing I can to survive—I run.
Derek
I knew she had a story. I knew it most likely contained violence.
But never did I imagine the horrors she’d been through.
I’d waited so long and she’d experienced so much.
She was perfectly imperfect, her scars more than skin deep.
And yet, I couldn’t help wanting to get closer.
She was strong and there was beauty in strength.
I was drawn to it—drawn to her.
I wanted to erase her horrors and give her something new to dream about.
Shakedowners (affiliate link)
To boldly go where no losers have gone before…
Some starship captains explore strange new worlds, seeking out new life and new civilisations. Some lead missions of discovery through wormholes to the other side of the galaxy. Then there’s Captain Iridius B. Franklin, someone who spent too long seeking out strange new bars and new alien cocktails.
After graduating bottom of his class at Space Command Academy Iridius Franklin hasn’t had the glamorous career he envisioned, instead he hauls cargo ships full of mining waste, alien land whale dung, and artificially intelligent toy dogs across the stars.
Iridius does have talent though – he is exceptionally good at breaking starships. So, when not hauling freight, he is captain of a shakedown crew, a skeleton crew used to test newly constructed ships for faults before the real crew takes over.
While on a routine shakedown mission aboard the FSC Gallaway, soon to be pride of the Federation Fleet, Earth is attacked by an unknown alien life-form. With the galaxy in chaos, Captain Iridius B. Franklin finds himself, unqualified, understaffed and completely unprepared, in command of the most advanced starship in the galaxy.
Thyme to Kill: Haunted Lodge (affiliate link)
Now, Toni needs to find a way to clear her new friend of murder while searching for a job and figuring out what to do with the lodge she’d pinned her dreams on.
Throw in a goofy dog who needs a home, a ghost reluctant to share his space, and a handsome neighbor eager to help her rebuild, and she’s got her hands full. Determined to make her fresh start a success, she rolls up her sleeves and gets to work, but will it be enough?
The Dirty Duet (Dirty Universe Book 1) (affiliate link)
When I met Donovan Kincaid, I knew he was rich. I didn’t know he was filthy. Truth be told, I was only trying to get his best friend to notice me.
I knew poor scholarship girls like me didn’t stand a chance against guys like Weston King and Donovan Kincaid, but I was in love with his world, their world, of parties and sex and power. I knew what I wanted—I knew who I wanted—until one night, their world tried to bite me back and Donovan saved me. He saved me, and then Weston finally noticed me, and I finally learned what it was to be in their world.
And then what it was like to lose it.
Ten years later, I’ve found my way back. Back to their world. Back to him.
This time, I’m ready. I’ve been down this road before, and I know all the dirty, filthy ways
Carbon-14: The Shroud of Turin (Amari Johnston Book 1) (affiliate link)
More than 99 percent of the evidence proves the Shroud of Turin is the authentic burial cloth of Jesus Christ. Only one test says otherwise—the carbon date performed in 1988.
A serial killer with a fetish for fire targets the faithful of Tucson, Arizona. Homicide detective, Pete Johnston, works to catch the killer before more clergy are killed, before more churches are burned.
His daughter, Amari, is a criminal justice major at the University of Arizona. When the Shroud is carbon dated at her university, the results reveal that the relic is a medieval forgery. Amari investigates this ancient cold case file for a class project and makes a shocking discovery that could alter the fate of Christianity.
She teams up with Dr. Kevin Brenner, a brilliant young experimental physicist, and together they gather evidence so they can plead their case to the Vatican—unless the killer can stop them first. Her father desperately tries to protect her and catch the killer before she becomes his next victim.
The Black Chip (affiliate link)
THE BLACK CHIP is the story of Noly Boots, an ex-private detective that must re-enter the violent world he left in order to rescue his girlfriend and her daughter, abducted as pawns in a multi-million dollar theft.
As the novel opens, Sarah Benson, and her twelve year-old daughter, Kacy, learn about the gangland-style murder of Sarah’s brother. In fear for herself and her daughter, Sarah attempts to flee with Kacy, but is instead abducted by a mob-connected criminal and his cruel, unstable accomplice. Now Noly, using a network of friends, must find the two most important people in his life–and heaven help the bastards that took them, because Noly will show them no mercy.
Zero Footprint: The True Story of a Private Military Contractor’s Covert Assignments (affiliate link)
This national bestseller is a dramatic insider account of the world of private military contracting.
Armored cars, burner phones, top-notch weaponry and top-secret missions — this is the life of today’s private military contractor. Like author Simon Chase, many PMCs were once the world’s top military operatives, and since retiring from outfits like US Navy SEAL TEAM Six and the UK’s Special Boat Service, they have devoted their lives to executing sensitive and hazardous missions overseas.
Working at the request of U.S. and British government entities as well as for private clients, he takes on jobs that require “zero footprint,” with no trace of their actions left behind. Chase delivers firsthand accounts of tracking Bin Laden in Afghanistan and being one of the first responders after the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi. We see his teams defuse terrorist bombs, guard dignitaries, and protect convoys traveling through perilous territory — and then there are the really big jobs: top-secret “zero footprint” missions that include searching for High Value Targets and setting up arms shipping networks.
Unequal Affections: A Pride and Prejudice Retelling (affiliate link)
When Elizabeth Bennet first knew Mr. Darcy, she despised him and was sure he felt the same. Angered by his pride and reserve, influenced by the lies of the charming Mr. Wickham, she never troubled herself to believe he was anything other than the worst of men—until, one day, he unexpectedly proposed.
Mr. Darcy’s passionate avowal of love causes Elizabeth to reevaluate everything she thought she knew about him. What she knows is that he is rich, handsome, clever, and very much in love with her. She, on the other hand, is poor, and can expect a future of increasing poverty if she does not marry. The incentives for her to accept him are strong, but she is honest enough to tell him that she does not return his affections. He says he can accept that—but will either of them ever be truly happy in a relationship of unequal affection?
Diverging from Jane Austen’s classic novel Pride and Prejudice at the proposal in the Hunsford parsonage, this story explores the kind of man Darcy is, even before his “proper humbling,” and how such a man, so full of pride, so much in love, might have behaved had Elizabeth chosen to accept his original proposal.
The Phantom of Fifth Avenue: The Mysterious Life and Scandalous Death of Heiress Huguette Clark (affiliate link)
Born in 1906, Huguette Clark grew up in her family’s 121-room Beaux Arts mansion in New York and was one of the leading celebrities of her day. Her father William Andrews Clark, was a copper magnate, the second richest man in America, and not above bribing his way into the Senate.
Huguette attended the coronation of King George V. And at twenty-two with a personal fortune of $50 million to her name, she married a Princeton man and childhood friend William MacDonald Gower. Two-years later the couple divorced. After a series of failed romances, Huguette began to withdraw from society–first living with her mother in a kind of Grey Gardens isolation then as a modern-day Miss Havisham, spending her days in a vast apartment overlooking Central Park, eating crackers and watching The Flintstones with only servants for company.
All her money and all her real estate could not protect her in her later life from being manipulated by shady hangers-on and hospitals that were only too happy to admit (and bill) a healthy woman. But what happened to Huguette that turned a vivacious, young socialite into a recluse?
This Violent Heart (affiliate link)
In this haunting journey into the confusion and desires of growing up, a therapist reluctantly returns to her hometown, where she revisits the memories that could reveal what really killed her best friend all those years ago.
Devon Mayes thought she was done with the small conservative town she once called home. She fled when she was eighteen after her best friend Summer took her own life, leaving Summer’s twin brother, Keaton, lost in his grief. But when tragedy strikes again, Devon has nowhere to turn but back to the place that first broke her heart.
Being back in Arkana means struggling with the old guilt that shrouds her bisexuality and her feelings for Keaton. There’s so much she’s still hiding from him—and so much of their shared past that’s now resurfacing.
It’s not long before Devon has reason to believe Summer’s tragic death wasn’t suicide after all. Summer had secrets, too…and she wasn’t the only one who didn’t want them exposed.
Dork Diaries 4: Tales from a Not-So-Graceful Ice Princess (affiliate link)
Closest Kept: A Novel (affiliate link)
Best friends Lily and Inga do everything together—they even meet their future loves at the same bar. After one serendipitous night, it seems like it’s going to be Lily and Alex and Inga and Matt forever.
But life gets more complicated. A job offer moves Inga and Matt from Norwich to London. Lily, who craves stability after a traumatic childhood, is already struggling with the change when Inga confides in her a secret that could tear the group apart for good. At the same time, Lily’s friendship with Matt deepens, and she wonders if she was always meant to be with him instead of Alex.
As the two couples try to hold on to their dreams and one another, Lily’s life is further upended by the reappearance of her long-lost sister—and all the terrible truths she brings home. Lily needs her chosen family more than ever, but in order to heal the rifts, she must find the courage to be honest with herself and reveal the secrets she’s kept hidden from her loved ones for too long.
… See the rest of today ‘s Book Picks here on page 2Page 2