realistic fiction novel ideas Audiobooks

An enthralling, atmospheric new novel from Emily Littlejohn, the author of acclaimed debut Inherit the Bones , featuring Colorado police officer Gemma Monroe. "Recommend to fans of Louise Penny's Inspector Gamache novels." Booklist On a bright Saturday in early spring, Detective Gemma Monroe responds to a missing person call at Lost Lake, near the small town of Cedar Valley, Colorado. With its sapphire waters and abundance of wildflowers, the lake is a popular camping destination in the summer. But for now, ice still grips the lake and snow buries the flowers. When Gemma arrives at the shore, she meets three friends who have been camping there: the fourth of their group, Sari Chesney, has disappeared in the night without a trace. Sari is an assistant curator at the local museum, which is set to host a gala that night―a project she’s worked on for months and would never intentionally miss. As Gemma begins to understand the complex dynamics of the supposedly close-knit friendship group, she realizes that more than one person is lying to her―and that the beautiful, still waters of Lost Lake may hide more terrible secrets . . .

When Lady Elizabet Harding’s family is targeted by the notorious Highland Highwayman, she finds herself wounded and an unwelcome guest of the charming outlaw who’d ruined her reputation earlier that day. Elizabet only wants to get even for her family’s downfall, but the more time she spends with the scoundrel, the more complicated her feelings become. By day, Laird John MacGregor graces the court of Charles II. By night, he exacts revenge on his enemies – one of whom is betrothed to the fiery heiress who has, quite literally, fallen into his arms. The daughter of one enemy and promised to another, Elizabet should be the last person John wants. Yet even as she exasperates him, she is all he has ever desired for himself. When her life is put in danger, he will do anything necessary to protect the women he never expected to love…even if it means they cannot be together. Each book in the MacGregor Lairds series is STANDALONE: * How to Lose a Highlander * How to Ensnare a Highlander * How to Blackmail a Highlander * How to Forgive a Highlander

THE MURDER OF MARION MILEY is the novelization of the 1941 murder of a nationally beloved ladies golf star. This novel has been described as Sea Biscuit meets In Cold Blood and The Lovely Bones . In the early morning of September 28, six shots ring out on the otherwise quiet grounds of the Lexington Country Club. As dawn breaks, news spreads that golf champion Marion Miley – winner of every US women’s amateur tournament save the National Title – has been brutally murdered. A giant manhunt begins, and a flood of support pours in from around the country to bring the killers to justice. Bell’s novelization of the Kentucky murder, which hit headlines across the world, captures the chaos of the first three weeks following Marion’s death, and then oscillates between three voices through the sensational trial: Marion’s father, Fred; her best friend, Fritz; and the first man to confess to the crime, Tom Penney. Marion's determination and success against the odds, as the daughter of a golf pro competing against high society darlings, endeared her to everyone who crossed her path, including jazz crooner Bing Crosby. Young Marion’s high-flying ambition and her killers’ low, scheming tactics explore the impact of class, family, and opportunity.

Just a second ago, Dustin Clay was a penniless nobody. In the blink of an eye, he’s obscenely rich, with unimaginable resources at his fingertips. “I have nothing in my life but money,” he says, expression upset.

This spectacular pause-resisting novel is part war story, part love letter to small-town America and the people who live there, and it features one of the most compelling and surprising duos in King fiction, who set out to avenge the crimes of an extraordinarily evil man.

I’ve been here a long ass time. Lonely as hell and wishing for a wife. When a woman arrives she thinks she’s time-travelled to a prehistoric nightmare. I think she’s finally come home. She’s innocent, curvy, and all kinds of cute. And she thinks I’m nothing but a cave man. Growly. Grumpy. Gruff. She’s not wrong. She also has ideas about marriage. She’s planning on wearing white, with her father walking her down the aisle of a church. That’s not happening here in the jungle. Closest thing to a chapel is a cave and I have no intention on her staying pure until her wedding. I want her now. Today. She thinks her father would never give her away to me … but she’s wrong. Besides, I’m not asking for her hand, I’m taking it. Dear Reader, This one’s raunchy, racy, and a little bit ridiculous. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. Xo, Frankie

In this international bestseller by the award-winning novelist Mariana Leky, a heartwarming story unfolds about a small town, a grandmother whose dreams foretell a coming death, and the young woman forever changed by these losses and her loving, endearingly oddball community On a beautiful spring day, a small village in Western Germany wakes up to an omen: Selma has dreamed of an okapi. Someone is about to die. Luisa, Selma’s ten-year-old granddaughter, looks on as the predictable characters of her small world begin acting strangely. Protesting that they are not superstitious, each of the villagers grapples with the buried secrets and deferred decisions that have suddenly become urgent in the face of death. Luisa’s mother struggles to decide whether to end her marriage. An old family friend, known only as the optician, tries to find the courage to tell Selma he loves her. Only Sad Marlies remains unchanged, still moping around her house and cooking terrible food. But when death finally comes, the circumstances are outside anyone’s expectations. Across three defining moments in her life, Luisa grapples with life's big questions alongside her devoted friends, young and old. A story about the absurdity of life and death, a bittersweet portrait of village life and the wider world that beckons beyond, it is also a thoughtful meditation on the way loss and love shape not just a person, but a community. Mariana Leky's What You Can See from Here is a charmer―a moving novel of grief, first love, reluctant love, late love, and finding one's place in the world, even if that place is right where you started.

A series of unfortunate events befell Severin Feuillet and led him to a five-year prison sentence, but by the time he was released, he had acquired wisdom from the teachings of a savant. Once Severin stepped back into society, he was prepared to give his all for his fiancee, but she had cheated on him and married an assaulter. Unbeknownst to him, the president of a certain company—a beauty in the finest—had given birth to his adorable baby daughter in secret. She had waited five insufferable years for him, and so thus began Severin's most daunting challenge yet, becoming a father.

The next Kirk McGarvey novel, Gambit , is an international thriller with non-stop action, perfect for fans of Jason Bourne. “If you like thrillers full of international intrigue, Hagberg is a major find.” —Dean Koontz, New York Times bestselling author An American billionaire and a Russian oligarch want Kirk McGarvey dead. First they send a South African assassin, and when Mac kills him, they commission a Canadian sniper for the kill. When Mac put him down, they hire a team of highly specialized Chinese killers called “Scorpions.” When Mac dispatches them, they send a squad of Russian special ops armed to the teeth with high-tech firepower. Mac's only chance of survival is to turn on the tables on the people behind this assassination conspiracy, that is, if he can find them. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Summer fiction at its page-turning best for fans of Elin Hilderbrand, Holly Chamberlin, and Nancy Thayer! Colleen French, acclaimed author of The Summer I Found Myself , brings readers to Albany Beach, Delaware, where one woman must decide whether to seek out the daughter she gave up for adoption. Each year, the start of summer brings bustle and much-needed tourist dollars to the little town of Albany Beach, Delaware. For Natalie Sullivan, this season is proving more stressful than others. It’s make-or-break time for the Irish pub her husband, Conor, recently bought with his brothers. Their two children are thriving, but she’s experiencing pangs of loss at the end of her childbearing years. When sixteen-year-old McKenzie starts gushing about Bella, the new coworker at her summer job, Natalie suddenly finds her past and present in conflict. Bella, two years older than McKenzie, looks so similar that a customer remarks that they could be sisters. And when Natalie learns that Bella was adopted, she is propelled back into a heartbreaking decision. As a college student, Natalie became pregnant and put her baby up for adoption. Now, the more McKenzie talks about Bella, the more Natalie wonders: could Bella be her daughter? Conor insists it’s a mistake to pursue the matter. Natalie’s child belongs to another family now; that was the agreement in the closed adoption. Still, Natalie can’t resist spending time with Bella. As their bond deepens, McKenzie accuses her mother of caring more for a stranger than for her, and Natalie begins imagining what it would be like to have Bella as a second daughter. What will the impact be if Bella really is her biological child? And if she isn’t, can Natalie embrace the joy and potential in her own family, without always wondering about what could have been?