With or Without You – Domenica Ruta

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With or Without You - Domenica RutaWith or Without You
Domenica Ruta

Domenica Ruta grew up in Danvers, Massachusetts, in a ramshackle, rundown, trash-filled house with her mother, a drug dealer and user who raised Domenica on a steady diet of Oxycontin. Growing up, Domenica knew she didn’t fit in -she was far smarter and worse dressed than everyone else she knew, and she clearly had the most flamboyant mother of anyone in town – but she found solace in writing and reading. As she grew older, though, and as her mother’s behavior grew increasingly outrageous and her home life increasingly untenable, Domenica fled Danvers only to become ensared by the demons of addiction.

A thoroughly textured and masterfully written book, layered with wildly colorful characters, a biting sense of humor, and penetrating, deeply sympathetic insights, With or Without You finally ends with Domenica’s increasing awareness that she must leave the life she grew up with in order to survive.

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Warm Bodies – Isaac Marion

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Warm Bodies - Isaac MarionWarm Bodies
Isaac Marion

‘R’ is a zombie. He has no name, no memories, and no pulse, but he has dreams. He is a little different from his fellow Dead.

Amongst the ruins of an abandoned city, R meets a girl. Her name is Julie and she is the opposite of everything he knows – warm and bright and very much alive, she is a blast of colour in a dreary grey landscape. For reasons he can’t understand, R chooses to save Julie instead of eating her, and a tense yet strangely tender relationship begins.

This has never happened before. It breaks the rules and defies logic, but R is no longer content with life in the grave. He wants to breathe again, he wants to live, and Julie wants to help him. But their grim, rotting world won’t be changed without a fight…

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Night Road – Kristin Hannah

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Night Road - Kristin HannahNight Road
Kristin Hannah

Lexi and Mia are inseparable from the moment they start high school. Different in so many ways – Lexi is an orphan and lives with her aunt on a trailer park, while Mia is a golden girl blessed with a loving family, and a beautiful home. Yet they recognize something in each other which sets them apart from the crowd, and Mia comes to rely heavily on Lexi’s steadfast friendship.

Mia’s beloved, and incredibly good-looking, twin brother Zach, finds life much less complicated than his sister. Jude thought she’d never have to worry about her son, that he’d always sail through life easily achieving whatever he, and his family, wanted and expected – but then he fell in love.

The summer they graduated is a time they will always remember, and one they could never forget. It is a summer of love, best friends, shared confidences and promises. Then one moment one night changes them all forever. As hearts are broken, loyalties challenged and hopes dashed, the time has come to leave childhood behind and learn to face the future.

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The Haunted – Niki Valentine

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The Haunted - Niki ValentineThe Haunted
Niki Valentine

They wanted a honeymoon adventure. They found a place of nightmares.

Arriving in the Scottish highlands, Martin and Sue decide to escape their luxury hotel, heading out for a night of back-to-basics living in an abandoned shack. When a storm strikes, they find themselves stranded in the simple hut, miles from anywhere and completely isolated. As gentle bickering leads to violent arguments, Sue starts to sense they are not truly alone – especially when a deep, dark presence seems to takes hold of the pair.

With no way to escape, Sue and Martin must try to hold on to their sanity as the shelter quickly becomes a prison – and their thoughts begin to turn murderous…

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Cold Earth – Sarah Moss

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Cold Earth - Sarah MossCold Earth
Sarah Moss

Six young people meet on an archaeological dig in a remote corner of Greenland. Excavating the unsettling remains of a Norse society under attack, they also come to uncover some of their own demons, as it becomes apparent that a plague pandemic is sweeping across the planet and communication with the outside world is breaking down.

Increasingly unsure whether their missives will ever reach their destination, each of the characters writes a letter to someone close to them, trying to make sense of their situation and expressing their fears and dwindling hope of ever getting back home…

In fluid, witty prose, Moss weaves a rich tapestry of personal narratives, history, ghost stories, love stories, stories of grief and naked survival. Through these missives, the author explores themes that are at the very heart of our existence: What do people do in extremis? What do they think when faced with near-certain death? How do the group dynamics shift under such strain?

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Annie May’s Black Book – Debby Holt

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Annie May's Black Book - Debby HoltAnnie May’s Black Book
Debby Holt

Entries from Annie May’s Black Book:

“October 15th, 1974: Miss Baker for telling me how to blow my nose and not believing when I still couldn’t do it.

February 6th, 1977: David Llewellyn for saying my landscape painting looked like a pig’s trough and then making honking noises every time he saw me.

April 12th, 1987: Peter Elton for ‘borrowing’ my cigarettes and never buying any of his own.

9th February, 1988: BEN SEYMOUR FOR EVERYTHING FOR EVER!”

In her Black Book, Annie May has recorded the name and offence of everyone who has ever done her wrong. The greatest transgressor of them all was Ben Seymour: the man who jilted her at the altar seventeen years ago. Now he’s moving into a house round the corner…

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Sex On Tuesdays – June Whyte

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Sex on Tuesdays - June WhyteSex on Tuesdays
June Whyte

When the Tribute’s sex-therapist chokes to death at her desk, Danielle Summers takes over the woman’s daily Sex On… column. Dani, unlike her predecessor, Daisy Mae, has no qualifications or background knowledge for the job. Instead she procures her answers from the Internet, self-help books and Megan, a retired prostitute who’s had sex with thousands of guys.

About to turn 50, Dani yearns for more than one toothbrush in the bathroom, more than one car in the garage and definitely more than a greyhound with flatulence sharing her bed at night. The solution, she decides, is to start dating.

Meanwhile, one of Dani’s readers (known only as Distinctly Frustrated) has written in asking her for advice. He complains his wife is not concentrating during sex, so Dani suggests foreplay using chocolate sauce and dress-ups. However, much to Dani’s horror, a saboteur changes her reply to ‘Shove something hot down the bitch’s throat.’

The following morning, Distinctly Frustrated discovers his wife dead. Someone has indeed followed Dani’s advice and ‘shoved something hot’ down the wife’s throat. A red hot poker.

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