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Charmed by the Bartender (Modern Love Series Book 1) (affiliate link)
Armed with comfy pants, overpriced coffee, and a highly anxious emotional-support corgi, I prepare to face him.
Corporate boss.
Villain.
I step into his office. His perfect mouth twists into a sneer.
There is no heart of gold beneath that suit, just a big black pit. He’s a shark in the frothy waters of high-stakes finance.
He might be the quintessential asshole CEO, causing all in his path to quake in fear, but he’s never had to face down a basic bitch in her thirties.
I am exactly like the other girls—I adore Starbucks, greige home decor, and making snarky jokes with my bestie. I’ve even inherited a stalker from an ill-advised singles party.
Yeah, the stalker is… a problem, one I’m hoping will just go away if I ignore it.
ABSOLUTION (Detectives Anderson and Costello Mystery Book 1) (affiliate link)
A serial killer is stalking Glasgow.
A woman is found dead in her own home. No sign of forced entry. But she is posed as though on the cross. Ripped open and bled to death. With a blistering of chloroform round her mouth and nose.
She’s not the first victim found like this.
Detectives Anderson and Costello are on the case. But their boss, DCI Alan McAlpine, is unravelling before their eyes.
The past holds horrific memories for McAlpine. He last worked this beat some twenty years earlier, when he was assigned to guard a woman, faceless after a sadistic acid attack. He couldn’t protect her.
The past is resurfacing.
Three women are dead.
Can they stop a serial killer who’s terrifying the gritty streets of Glasgow?
A Deadly Game (affiliate link)
When local college student, Jaden Pierce, disappears one night playing ‘Manhunt in the Woods’ with his fraternity brothers, Nicole, an empathetic stay-at-home mom living a blissful life, joins the search party.
Combing through the wooded area, Nicole unearths her son Kyle’s license and withholds this potential piece of evidence. She trusts him, but a sliver of doubt festers below the surface, thanks to one unresolved incident from middle school and his shady pastime. After he is officially named a person of interest, she must decide what to do next. Unsettled but determined to protect him, Nicole searches for the answers on her own.
While probing deeper, surprised by her unethical actions interfering with the investigation, Nicole realizes she’s being followed. As the situation deteriorates, she is blindsided by the truth, suddenly shattering her trust in people as well as her entire belief system. Now, unsure who to believe and running out of time, Nicole faces her most challenging moral dilemma: With someone’s fate resting in her hands, will she reveal what she’s learned or keep it to herself?
This Baby Business (Love at first flight) (affiliate link)
A single dad, a nanny, a baby, and a fake engagement…it’s all baby business!
When the hot single dad next door asks me to babysit one morning in a pinch, I figure I can help him out temporarily. I’m supposed to be the resident baby expert at RockYourBaby, after all. Unfortunately, behind the computer monitor, my entire life is one big, fat lie. It’s my late mother who was the baby whisperer and I’m simply trying to keep her online baby business afloat until we can sell it to the highest bidder.
But soon Levi is struggling to keep custody when Grace’s maternal grandparents arrive in town. When I get the bright idea that they might be happy to know Levi and I are engaged, I have no idea what I’ve started. Now Levi is upset, the grandparents are happy, and Grace might be teething.
Who knew this baby business was so complicated…
“So it’s agreed–as part of your parole, you’ll become principal of Cape High,” Mastermental says.
“No, it’s not agreed,” Nico snaps. He takes a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. “It is not agreed, because none of the super parents will want their children taught by a super villain. Ask them! I’m sure they’re all listening right now–heck, I’m betting this little interview is on Super TV right this instant.” He looks to the flashing light he’s finally noticed, knowing that he’s being recorded. “For your kids’ sakes, call right now and tell Double M that he’s insane.”
This is how it starts, for us, the super kids, the cape brats, the students of Cape High.
The Reluctant RV Wife (affiliate link)
Follow a reluctant wife and her excited husband through two humorously-conflicted years of RV travel.
He wanted to go; she wanted to stay. They both learn, grow, and change as a new level of freedom evolves.
This book is light-hearted and humorous but at the same time serious. While not a How-To book, it gives lots of basic information about RVing. And while not a travelogue, it touches upon many travel destinations in the United States and Canada. On deeper levels, the book is about marital relationships, retiring and getting old, and finding a new kind of freedom through a minimalistic lifestyle.
After reading this book, you’ll never again look at one of those huge monstrosities driving down the road in quite the same way. The book answers questions for non-RVers and triggers chuckles of recognition from experienced RVers.
The Weight of Water (affiliate link)
Rachel and Talia Fontenot are sisters born into brutal, rural poverty of southeastern Louisiana in the 1960s.
Raised with one another until tragic circumstances intervene and they are separated. Talia disappearing into a life of drugs and petty crime, Rachel fleeing to New Orleans. It is now present day and Talia has been missing for many years. Rachel in New Orleans is living what appears to be the perfect life, but underneath she is struggling with constant anxiety, prescription drug abuse and tremendous grief over the loss of her missing sister, as well as her oldest son to an accident several years earlier.
One night, she receives a call from a nurse she’s not heard from since Hurricane Katrina. The information she is given sets in motion a series of events that will unravel Rachel’s life, forcing her to examine her past choices and taking her on a psychologically arduous journey to save her sister.
Hero: A (Alpha Mountain Book 1) (affiliate link)
Before he died, I promised I’d never touch her.
After years in the military, I’m back in Montana determined to clear his name.
No one’s hero. Just a mountain man. A mercenary set on revenge.
Now, I owe it to my friend to protect his sister.
Except being near her shreds my resolve. She tempts me at every turn.
Each day is a brutal torment, and my honor and willpower
…are about to snap.
Where the Wind Blows (A Prairie Hearts Novel Book 1) (affiliate link)
In the free and untamed Wild West, love might blossom in the most unexpected place…
When the man from the orphanage mistakes Chase Logan for Jessie Strong’s husband, the least Chase can do is help Jessie adopt the child she so desperately wants, the little girl who will be Jessie’s only family in the Wyoming wilderness. Three days are all she asks. Three days pretending to love a woman who is unlike any he has ever known…
Jessie knows it’s chivalry, plain and simple, that spurs Chase Logan to come to her rescue the day little Sarah arrives at her door. A man like him isn’t made for settling down; he is as wild as the land he roams. She should know better than to let down her guard, to allow herself to long for a family and a life with someone she hardly knows. And yet she dares to hope that maybe, just maybe, Chase Logan is the man destined to make all of her dreams come true.
The Sand Pebbles (affiliate link)
As a spirit of nationalism inspired by Chiang Kai-shek’s leadership begins to sweep through China, the river gunship San Pablo is ordered to patrol the region and to protect US citizens. Jack Holman is a machinist aboard the San Pablo, who has joined the navy in order to avoid jail time. Because he is so fiercely independent, Jake remains a relative loner and is uncomfortable with navy protocol and discipline.
Holman’s independent mind chafes against military hierarchy and also ensures that he does not share his shipmates’ disdain for the Chinese. Instead, Holman is fascinated with the culture and the people that surround him and develops emotional bonds that prove quite thorny when the circumstances become more tumultuous and more dire.
The Waiting Room (affiliate link)
Ever since her husband’s death collided with the birth of her daughter, postpartum depression has taken hold of Veronica Shelton. She can’t sleep, can’t work, and can’t bear to touch her beautiful baby girl. Her emotional state is whispering lies in Veronica’s ear: You’re a bad mother. Your baby would be better off without you. But not everything can be reasoned away by Veronica’s despair. Can it?
After all, the break-in at her house happened. The disturbing sketches she found in her studio are real. So is the fear for her daughter’s safety—especially when Veronica comes home to a cold, silent nursery and a missing baby.
As she turns from victim into primary suspect, Veronica realizes that only she can find her daughter. Authorities aren’t helping. They’re only watching. Veronica’s concerned mother has suddenly vanished from her life. And a new friend seems to be keeping secrets from her too. Now, reality is waiting for Veronica in a dark place—because someone’s mind games have only just begun.
… See the rest of today ‘s Book Picks here on page 2Page 2