Hello, fellow bookworms! As summer approaches its peak, avid readers are on the lookout for captivating books to get lost in during those lazy, sun-drenched afternoons. Fortunately, Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited subscription service continues to be a treasure trove of literary gems, offering a vast array of titles to satisfy every reading preference. In this month’s edition of “What To Read on Kindle Unlimited,” we’ve curated an eclectic mix of thrilling novels, heartwarming stories, and thought-provoking non-fiction that are sure to captivate your imagination. So, let’s dive right into the reading list for August 2023!
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The Way I Hate Him
by Meghan Quinn
Why am I holding a box of stolen memorabilia formerly owned by my ex-boyfriend’s boss in my arms? It’s called . . . revenge.
After failing my last semester for my masters degree, I decided to come back to my hometown of Almond Bay and wallow in self pity while my boyfriend told me everything was going to be okay. To my dismay, instead of open arms, he greeted me with a box to move my things.
Now I’m not a petty person, but when he told me he broke up with me because I was boring, there’s only so much of the higher road I can take. Hence the box of memorabilia I took from him.
The plan? To give it back to his boss, who happens to be my brother’s nemesis, and get the ex fired. But plans never go the way you want them, because instead of dropping off the box with a note, I’m pinned with the crime by Hayes Farrow himself.
And because my life is so pathetic, he gives me two options: turn me into the police and press full charges or . . . work it off. How could I possibly work for someone I can’t stand? Easy, I don’t look good in orange.
But working for Hayes isn’t as horrible as I thought it would be. The hate I had for him begins to turn into something else – something deeper, something I never thought I’d feel.
Unfortunately there are still old grudges and family drama to deal with. And what happens when my brother finds out that I’m working for the guy he hates more than anyone else in the world? Will I be able to follow my heart or will the way I hate him blind me from the love I feel?
My Fiancé’s New Best Friend
by H.T. Night
Being the new guy in town is always tough.
Luckily, I find a job working for a local attorney named Jack. He has me fixing up his rundown classic cars.
Each day I work on the cars, his fiancé Tawny makes her way out to the backyard where I’m working and gives me a glass of iced tea. We talk about our lives but not about our secrets. I’m careful not to say too much about myself. It could jeopardize my new employment with Jack.
Jack is hard to read because he’s constantly giving me mixed signals. Some days he acts as if we are best friends and other days he seems to despise me.
On the outside, Jack and Tawny seem to have the perfect relationship. But as I get to know them both, I’m certain trouble lurks on the horizon.
Secrets and lies seem to be the norm. I’m finding myself increasingly caught up in the middle. Hopefully, I don’t reveal too much about my past; if so, I’m going to have a lot of explaining to do.
After all, there’s a reason why they are called buried secrets.
To Die For
by Lisa Gray
In the elite world of luxury real estate, it is often kill or be killed, something agent Andi Hart knows all too well—and after recent events, she’s ready to set her own rules. So when her boss challenges the team to find a buyer for a glitzy Malibu beach house, with a prize commission of a cool $1 million, she knows it’s her ticket to a new life.
But she’s not the only one who not only wants but needs the money. Each of her four colleagues has secrets they’re eager to hide—secrets $1 million would go a long way in concealing. And soon, it becomes clear all five would do just about anything to get their hands on it…
When a dead body is found at the open house, the dream home becomes a nightmarish crime scene. Has the contest reached a deadly new level, or is there something more sinister at work?
Watching You
by Lisa Jewell
Melville Heights is one of the nicest neighborhoods in Bristol, England; home to doctors and lawyers and old-money academics. It’s not the sort of place where people are brutally murdered in their own kitchens. But it is the sort of place where everyone has a secret. And everyone is watching you.
As the headmaster credited with turning around the local school, Tom Fitzwilliam is beloved by one and all—including Joey Mullen, his new neighbor, who quickly develops an intense infatuation with this thoroughly charming yet unavailable man. Joey thinks her crush is a secret, but Tom’s teenaged son Freddie—a prodigy with aspirations of becoming a spy for MI5—excels in observing people and has witnessed Joey behaving strangely around his father.
One of Tom’s students, Jenna Tripp, also lives on the same street, and she’s not convinced her teacher is as squeaky clean as he seems. For one thing, he has taken a particular liking to her best friend and fellow classmate, and Jenna’s mother—whose mental health has admittedly been deteriorating in recent years—is convinced that Mr. Fitzwilliam is stalking her.
Meanwhile, twenty years earlier, a schoolgirl writes in her diary, charting her doomed obsession with a handsome young English teacher named Mr. Fitzwilliam…
The Rosie Project
by Graeme Simsion
Meet Don Tillman.
Don is getting married.
He just doesn’t know who to yet.
But he has designed a very detailed questionnaire to help him find the perfect woman.
One thing he already knows, though, is that it’s not Rosie.
Absolutely, completely, definitely not.
Don Tillman is a socially challenged genetics professor who’s decided the time has come to find a wife. His questionnaire is intended to weed out anyone who’s unsuitable. The trouble is, Don has rather high standards and doesn’t really do flexible so, despite lots of takers, he’s not having much success in identifying The One.
When Rosie Jarman comes to his office, Don assumes it’s to apply for the Wife Project – and duly discounts her on the grounds she smokes, drinks, doesn’t eat meat, and is incapable of punctuality. However, Rosie has no interest in becoming Mrs Tillman and is actually there to enlist Don’s assistance in a professional capacity: to help her find her biological father.
Sometimes, though, you don’t find love: love finds you…
After Death
by Dean Koontz
Michael Mace, head of security at a top-secret research facility, opens his eyes in a makeshift morgue twenty-four hours following an event in which everyone perished—including him and his best friend, Shelby Shrewsberry.
Having awakened with an extraordinary ability unlike anything he—or anyone else—has ever imagined, Michael is capable of being as elusive as a ghost. He sets out to honor his late friend by helping Nina Dozier and her son, John, whom Shelby greatly admired. Although what Michael does for Nina is life changing, his actions also evoke the wrath of John’s father, a member of one of the most vicious street gangs in Los Angeles.
But an even greater threat is descending: the Internal Security Agency’s most vicious assassin, Durand Calaphas. Calaphas will stop at nothing to get his man. If Michael dies twice, he will not live a third time.
From the tarnished glamour of Beverly Hills to the streets of South Central to a walled estate in Rancho Santa Fe, only Michael can protect Nina and John—and ensure that light survives in a rapidly darkening world.
Hello, Sunshine
by Laura Dave
Sunshine Mackenzie has it all…until her secrets come to light.
Sunshine Mackenzie is living the dream—she’s a culinary star with millions of fans, a line of #1 bestselling cookbooks, and a devoted husband happy to support her every endeavor.
And then she gets hacked.
When Sunshine’s secrets are revealed, her fall from grace is catastrophic. She loses the husband, her show, the fans, and her apartment. She’s forced to return to the childhood home—and the estranged sister—she’s tried hard to forget. But what Sunshine does amid the ashes of her own destruction may well save her life.
In a world where celebrity is a careful construct, Hello, Sunshine is a compelling, funny, and evocative novel about what it means to live an authentic life in an inauthentic age.
The Road To Bittersweet
by Donna Everhart
Set in the Carolinas in the 1940s, The Road to Bittersweet is a beautifully written, evocative account of a young woman reckoning not just with the unforgiving landscape, but with the rocky emotional terrain that leads from innocence to wisdom.
For fourteen-year-old Wallis Ann Stamper and her family, life in the Appalachian Mountains is simple and satisfying, though not for the tenderhearted. While her older sister, Laci—a mute, musically gifted savant—is constantly watched over and protected, Wallis Ann is as practical and sturdy as her name. When the Tuckasegee River bursts its banks, forcing them to flee in the middle of the night, those qualities save her life. But though her family is eventually reunited, the tragedy opens Wallis Ann’s eyes to a world beyond the creek that’s borne their name for generations.
Carrying what’s left of their possessions, the Stampers begin another perilous journey from their ruined home to the hill country of South Carolina. Wallis Ann’s blossoming friendship with Clayton, a high diving performer for a traveling show, sparks a new opportunity, and the family joins as a singing group. But Clayton’s attention to Laci drives a wedge between the two sisters. As jealousy and betrayal threaten to accomplish what hardship never could—divide the family for good—Wallis Ann makes a decision that will transform them all in unforeseeable ways . . .
The Simplicity of Cider
by Amy E. Reichert
Focused and unassuming fifth generation cider-maker Sanna Lund has one desire: to live a simple, quiet life on her family’s apple orchard in Door County, Wisconsin. Although her business is struggling, Sanna remains fiercely devoted to the orchard, despite her brother’s attempts to convince their aging father to sell the land.
Single dad Isaac Banks has spent years trying to shield his son Sebastian from his troubled mother. Fleeing heartbreak at home, Isaac packed up their lives and the two headed out on an adventure, driving across the country. Chance—or fate—led them straight to Sanna’s orchard.
Isaac’s helping hands are much appreciated at the apple farm, even more when Sanna’s father is injured in an accident. As Sanna’s formerly simple life becomes increasingly complicated, she finds solace in unexpected places—friendship with young Sebastian and something more deliciously complex with Isaac—until an outside threat infiltrates the farm.
The Little Bookshop On The Seine
by Rebecca Raisin
When bookshop owner Sarah Smith is offered the opportunity for a job exchange with her Parisian friend, Sophie, saying yes is a no-brainer—after all, what kind of romantic would turn down six months in Paris? Sarah is sure she’s in for the experience of a lifetime—days spent surrounded by literature in a gorgeous bookshop, and the chance to watch the snow fall on the Eiffel Tower. Plus, now she can meet up with her journalist boyfriend, Ridge, when his job takes him around the globe.
But her expectations cool faster than her café au lait soon after she lands in the City of Light—she’s a fish out of water in Paris. The customers are rude, her new coworkers suspicious, and her relationship with Ridge has been reduced to a long-distance game of phone tag, leaving Sarah to wonder if he’ll ever put her first over his busy career. As Christmas approaches, Sarah is determined to get the shop—and her life—back in order . . . and make her dreams of a Parisian happily ever after come true.
The People Next Door
by Keri Beevis
Her new house has a mysterious past—and her new life in the English countryside is about to take a dark turn . . .
When Ellie and Ash move into a beautiful old house in rural Norfolk, England, they believe they’ve found their perfect home. Intrigued by the people next door, Ellie befriends shy but sweet Benjamin, and as time goes by, becomes ever more curious about his elusive sister, Virginia.
But when she discovers that her new home has a darker past and that Ash has been keeping secrets, what she thought was a perfect life in the countryside begins to unravel. Is her best friend to be trusted, are the new neighbours all that they really seem, and why is her new puppy so obsessed with the cellar? Most worrying of all is the mystery of what happened to the former occupants of the house.
When Ash goes away on business and strange things begin to happen, Ellie’s paranoia goes into overdrive. But are these all coincidences—or is she really in danger?
Miss Pearly’s Girls
by ReShonda Tate Billingsley
Four estranged sisters must return to rural Arkansas when their mother is diagnosed with a terminal illness. Their mother wants them to repair their shattered relationships, but first they’ll have to face the lies and obstacles they’ve worked so hard to leave behind…
Raising four very different daughters on her own in rural Arkansas wasn’t easy for Miss Pearly Bell. And she’s always regretted that the sisters went their separate ways for good—and never wanted to see each other again. But when Pearly is stricken with a terminal illness, she summons them all home—determined to somehow help them get right with each other and forgive. . . But that means dealing with past secrets and lies first.
As the oldest sister, pastor’s wife Maxine took her responsibility way too seriously—and never fails to judge everyone else. But a secret she can no longer keep will explode everything she stands for. Youngest sister Leslie is all about making a very different life with her new love—but she didn’t expect a shattering past truth to be suddenly revealed and uproot everything she ever thought she knew. Elegant PR professional Stella and her earthy twin, Star, don’t see eye-to-eye on anything—and now a long-ago deception could wipe out their last chance at a relationship.
Soon each sister must confront the illusions they’ve taken refuge in for so long and deal with each other woman-to-woman. But can building an all-too-fragile trust repair the damage done—and help them come together when they are needed most?
Omen Of Ice
by Jus Accardo
Keltania Tunne has spent her whole life training to become a bodyguard for a Winter Fae. It’s the highest of honors for a druid…only when Tania arrives at the Winter Court for the first time, nothing is what she expected.
Her assignment is the heir to the throne, Valen, and he doesn’t want her protection. In fact, he wants her gone. Yesterday. But Tania will not compromise, even if he is the most arrogant jackass she’s ever met―because something isn’t right in the Winter Court.
Everyone has secrets. From the Winter Lord to the kitchen maids to the rising faction that wants the prince dead―no one is who they seem. And now it’s up to Tania to keep her sacred oath and protect Valen, even when his smart mouth makes her skate the razor-thin edge between love and hate.
But the more she gets to know him, the more she realizes his secret is the biggest of all―and might just get them both killed.
True Believer
by Nicholas Sparks
Part love story and part ghost story, this is an unforgettable New York Times bestseller about a science journalist and a North Carolina librarian who dare to believe in the impossible.
As a science journalist with a regular column in Scientific American, Jeremy Marsh specializes in debunking the supernatural-until he falls in love with the granddaughter of the town psychic.
When Jeremy receives a letter from Boone Creek, North Carolina, about ghostly lights appearing in a cemetery, he can’t resist driving down to investigate. Here, in this tightly knit community, Lexie Darnell runs the town’s library. Disappointed by past relationships, she is sure of one thing: her future is in Boone Creek, close to all the people she loves. From the moment Jeremy sets eyes on Lexie, he is intrigued. And Lexie, while hesitating to trust this outsider, finds herself thinking of him more than she cares to admit. Now, if they are to be together, Jeremy must do something he’s never done before-take a giant leap of faith.
Bone Deep:
Untangling The Betsy Faria Murder Case
by Charles Bosworth Jr. & Joel J. Schwartz
Two days after Christmas in 2011, Russell Faria returned to his Troy, Missouri home to find his wife, Betsy, dead, a knife still lodged in her neck. She had been stabbed fifty-five times in a brutal murder that would set off a chain of events leading to one man’s wrongful conviction and imprisonment, another man’s death, the revelation of a diabolical scheme, and an astounding miscarriage of justice left unresolved for another ten years.
First responders concluded that Betsy had been dead for hours when Russ discovered her. No blood was found implicating Russ, and surveillance video, receipts, and friends’ testimony all supported his alibi–yet incredibly, police and the prosecuting attorney ignored the evidence. In their minds, Russ was guilty, but prominent defense attorney Joel J. Schwartz quickly recognized the real killer.
The motive was clear. Days before her murder, the terminally ill Betsy replaced her husband with her friend, Pamela Hupp, as her life insurance beneficiary. Still, despite the prosecution’s flimsy case and Hupp’s transparent lies, Russ was convicted–leaving Hupp free to kill again.
Bone Deep takes readers through the perfect storm of miscalculations and missteps that led to an innocent man’s conviction–and recounts Schwartz’s successful battle to have that conviction overturned. Written with Russ Faria’s cooperation, and filled with chilling new revelations and previously undisclosed evidence, this is the story of what can happen when police, prosecutor, judge, and jury all fail in their duty to protect the innocent–and let a killer get away with murder.