We’re time traveling. How is it already June?! 2016 started maybe two months ago.
I’m sorry for being kind of inactive the past few days, life has been throwing things in my face that I needed to take care of first. Nothing concerning, but I was super busy and too tired at the end of the day to write a blog post, so I didn’t bother to write something half-hearted. Anyways, here I am writing one, let’s jump right in!
There’s quite a lot of books that are amazing, but rarely get picked up by readers, because they’re written by lesser known authors, indie authors, published by a small publisher, etc. Here’s to all the books that deserve a lot more recognition! I’ve compiled a list of seven books, one of which is only available in German. Hopefully you’ll find one or more to add to your list! (And don’t worry about your TBR, it’ll be worth it.)
Im Ozean des Himmels by Ewa Aukett
If you speak German and would like to read a heartfelt short story that will make you cry, look no further. This is the story you’ve been searching for.
Blurb from goodreads: Susan ist wunschlos glücklich. Seit fast vierzig Jahren mit ihrer Jugendliebe liiert, zwei erwachsene Kinder, ein sorgenfreies Leben … doch dann ändert sich alles.
For Real by Chelsea M. Cameron
Fake relationship anyone? Two years after reading this and sometimes I still find myself thinking about it. The two characters are absolute sweethearts and their friends are hilarious. I really should pick the second book up soon.
Blurb from goodreads: Two people. One fake relationship. What could go wrong?
When virgin Shannon Travers gets fed up with her friends demanding that she find a boyfriend, she enlists the help of tattooed, mohawk-rocking graphic design student Jett. He’s more than happy to play along with their Fake Relationship, including the Ten Rules of Fake Dating that control-freak Shannon comes up with. Even if he likes to violate them. Repeatedly.
But what happens when Fake Dating starts to feel… not fake anymore? Will Shannon be willing to let go and embrace the first thing in her life that’s ever felt REAL?
New Adult Contemporary Romance *17 & up
As Darkness Falls by Bronwyn Parry
Set in Australia? Yes, please! Our MC (main character) here is a country police officer who is recalled to duty to solve a murder. I actually have a review on goodreads up for this, it’s written in German, but the conclusion is also in English. You can find it here.
Blurb from goodreads: As Darkness Falls is set in the isolation of a small town on the edge of the New South Wales outback. Haunted by her failures, country police officer Detective Isabelle O’Connell is recalled to duty by Detective Alec Goddard to investigate the abduction of yet another child from her old home town.
With the killer playing a game of cat and mouse and targeting Bella, they have only days in which to find the girl alive, but they have very few clues, a whole town of suspects, and a vast wilderness to search. For Bella, this case is already personal; for Alec his best intentions to keep it purely professional soon dissolve. He starts to think of the missing child as if she were his own, and his anguish over Bella’s safety moves beyond the just his concern for a colleague. Their mutual attraction leaves them both vulnerable to their private nightmares – nightmares that the killer ruthlessly exploits.
Undone by Cat Clarke
Major trigger warning: Suicide!
This story is heartbreaking. The last sentence killed me. I don’t want to spoil anything, therefore I won’t say more to this. Just read it.
Blurb from goodreads: Jem Halliday is in love with her gay best friend. Not exactly ideal, but she’s learning to live with it.
Then the unspeakable happens. Kai is outed online … and he kills himself.
Jem knows nothing she can say or do will bring him back. But she wants to know who was responsible. And she wants to take them down.
A searing story of love, revenge and betrayal from a bestselling author.
Red At Night by Katie McGarry
This is “only” a short story, but it’s amazing either way. And you can get it for free, click here to buy it from amazon.
Blurb from goodreads: In Red at Night, Stella and Jonah are total opposites. She’s the girl with purple hair from the wrong part of town. He’s a high school senior who hangs with the cool crowd. Until a car accident leaves him haunted by guilt, and Jonah starts spending time at Stella’s favorite refuge…the local cemetery.
Stella knows she should keep her distance—after all, she spent her girlhood being bullied by Jonah’s friends. Once he’s sorted out his tangled emotions, Jonah won’t have time for her anymore. Too bad she’s already fallen for him.
Phoenix by Raine Anthony
Yes, I’m recommending a book with lots of steamy parts. And I mean a lot. Not recommended for readers under 18. Both of the main characters ran away from their past and you’ll definitely want to find out from what.
Blurb from goodreads: In a small town in Cornwall, a fighter and a schoolteacher meet.
Dangerous. Bad News. Killer. This is what Phoenix sees when he looks in the mirror.
Shy. Timid. Afraid. This is what Eve sees in her own reflection.
But when Eve looks at Phoenix she sees a strong, handsome, sensual man. And when Phoenix looks at Eve he sees a beautiful, untouchable, heavenly creature. Together they will help each other to escape the labels they have lived with for so long.
Will the ghosts of their pasts return to hinder their happiness?
Or will true love lead to freedom?
Phoenix is a story of two lonely souls trying to find solace in one another’s hearts.
**Suitable for readers 18 years and over.**
Love and Truth by Kathryn Vance-Perez
Anybody interested in traveling to Japan? You can by reading this lovely story. I rated it three stars when I read it, but thinking about it, four stars would have fit better. Since a lot of popular fiction books are set in America, Love and Truth provides a sweet story and change of scenery.
Blurb from goodreads: Eighteen-year-old Nicole Harrison has spent her high school years devoted to academics and dance, leaving no time for a boyfriend and a life. Her parents’ shocking divorce causes Nicole to believe that true love is impossible to find. After spending her life in a small Texas town, Nicole joins a foreign exchange student dance program in the country where she was born. After years dreaming about her birthplace, she boldly leaves her world behind and moves in with a host family on the island of Okinawa in Japan. She anxiously awaits a year of improving her dance technique while enjoying a world of new experiences
Jonathan Hayes was born to a Japanese mother and American Marine father via a surrogate in the States. After his father’s tragic death in Iraq when Jonathan was only a baby, his mother moved them back to her home in Okinawa. As a child, Jonathan’s mother immersed him in American culture to honor his father. His good looks and immense musical talent have left him with no shortage of female admirers. But after a bad break-up from his girlfriend of two years, Jonathan plunges into a playboy lifestyle that leads him along a destructive path. As his wounds begin to slowly heal, he tries regaining his self-respect by living on the straight and narrow. But his heart remains closed to the idea of love; that is, until the night he sees the beautiful and innocent Nicole Harrison, upon the balcony of his neighbor’s home.
While Nicole tries to navigate an unfamiliar country, she also has to learn how to navigate the unfamiliar and unwanted feelings she’s developing for Jonathan through some very heart-wrenching and trying times.
Will her fears push him away, or will Jonathan show her the truth of loyal love…
That’s it for today! Are any of these on your TBR or have you already read them? Could I convince you to give one (or more) of these a try?
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