Books like 'The Ninth Step'
Readers who enjoyed The Ninth Step by Barbara Taylor Sissel also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary romance mystery psychological literary-fiction domestic-drama family
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In an Instant by Suzanne Redfearn
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 61 ratingsLife is over in an instant for sixteen-year-old Finn Miller when a devastating car accident tumbles her and ten others over the side of a mountain. Suspended between worlds, she watches helplessly as those she loves struggle to survive.Impossible choices are made, decisions that leave the survivors tormented with grief and regret...Categorized as:
family literary-fiction action-adventure audiobook book coming-of-age contemporary crime -
Perfect Target by Barbara Freethy
Rated: 4.58 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsWhen a yacht blows up in the Newport Beach Harbor killing a California congressman, FBI Agent Beck Murray is reminded of another night ten years earlier when a mega-yacht caught fire. Then a rookie cop, he pulled popular teenage TV star Piper Nolan out of the water. He's never forgotten her terror or her rambling story, but the investigation was shut down before it even got started... -
Blue Ink by Tess Thompson
Rated: 4.75 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsCharlotte Wilde gives her heart to the wrong men. The last one left with her life savings and their nubile neighbor. Her first published cozy mystery is a flop. Her literary agent’s about to dump her. She has a serious case of writer’s block. And she’s dead broke. Which is how she finds herself in rural Idaho looking after her former boss's elderly mother-in-law. While Mrs... -
Blue String by Tess Thompson
Rated: 4.60 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsShe's a single mom happily raising her son with the help of her family. He's a country music star reeling from tragedy. When he shows up on her doorstep asking for a safe place to hide from the world, will she let him into her heart and family?Costume designer Teagan Lanigan only has time to love her work and the young son she’s raising by herself... -
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Blue Twilight by Tess Thompson
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsDeath came between them in high school. Will solving a painful cold case bring them together at last?Carlie Webster remains haunted by the past. After a messy failed marriage sends her packing for her small hometown, she relives the memories of her sister’s thirty-year-old unsolved murder...Categorized as:
family literary-fiction fiction contemporary small-town psychological sad young-adult -
The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 44 ratingsPAT CONROY has created a huge, brash thunderstorm of a novel, stinging with honesty and resounding with drama. Spanning forty years, this is the story of turbulent Tom Wingo, his gifted and troubled twin sister Savannah, and their struggle to triumph over the dark and tragic legacy of the extraordinary family into which they were born... -
Night Road by Kristin Hannah
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsJude Farraday is a happily married, stay-at-home mom who puts everyone’s needs above her own. Her twins, Mia and Zach, are bright and happy teenagers. When Lexi Baill enters their lives, no one is more supportive than Jude. A former foster child with a dark past, Lexi quickly becomes Mia’s best friend. Then Zach falls in love with Lexi and the three become inseparable... -
Blue Moon by Tess Thompson
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsPlayboy Ciaran Lanigan was the party. Executive Bliss Heywood was the library. When they meet, sparks fly and so begins an uncontrollable attraction that neither is strong enough to escape, regardless that it’s fraught with lies, secrets and family complexities. But ‘party boy’ Ciaran isn’t everything he appears. Lurking beneath the surface of his charming grin is a man haunted by fears...Categorized as:
family literary-fiction romance suspense contemporary christian audiobook womens-fiction -
Nelumbo Nucifera by Cristina Slough
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsOn the surface, Gaby Parker has it all; however, behind closed doors, is a woman who lives in constant fear of the man who was supposed to love her: her husband, Kyle. Beaten, desperate, and broken, Gaby realizes the only way to escape from her violent husband is to kill herself — on paper... -
Thunder and Rain by Charles Martin
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThird generation Texas Ranger Tyler Steele is the last of a dying breed-- a modern day cowboy hero living in a world that doesn't quite understand his powerful sense of right and wrong and instinct to defend those who can't defend themselves. Despite his strong moral compass, Ty has trouble seeing his greatest weakness... -
Before I Break by Portia Moore
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsOut of the past six years of my life, I only remember about half of it. After a dozen doctors and thousands in medical bills, I was diagnosed with a rare neurological disorder--one that causes me to lose track of time. Sometimes it’s hours, days or even weeks with no recollection of anything. The good thing is it's been almost two years since I had my last ‘black out’... -
Nantucket News by Pamela M. Kelley
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsCharleston native, Taylor Abbott, has just relocated to Nantucket for her dream job as a junior news reporter at the local paper. Ten years ago she was Abby Hodges college roommate and is looking forward to living near her best friend again.Until her rental cottage is available, she's going to stay at the Beach Plum Cove Inn, Abby's mother's bed and breakfast... -
Second Chances in Chianti by T.A. Williams
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAlice thought her future was set in stone, until her past came knocking... Alice Butler starred in a successful US sitcom until tensions in the cast and crew caused the show to be cancelled. Now, five years later and working towards her dream job in art history, she’s called back for a revival of the show...Categorized as:
family contemporary humor womens-fiction psychological suspense mystery action-adventure -
The Patron by Tess Thompson
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsShe’s afraid to take risks. He’s an incurable daredevil. When tragedy throws them together, will it spark a lasting devotion?Crystal Whalen isn’t sure why she should go on. Two years after her husband’s death on a ski trip, she’s devastated when a fire destroys her quiet Colorado mountain home... -
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Black Contract by Charlotte Byrd
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsI don’t belong with her. Born into darkness, life made me a cynic incapable of love. But then Ellie waltzed in. Innocent, optimistic, kind. She’s the opposite of what I deserve. I bought her, but she she stole my heart. Now my business is going up in flames. I have only one chance to make it right. That’s where it happens…something I can never take back... -
Shattered Pieces by Portia Moore
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThis is book 4 in the IF I Break Series. It is strongly suggested to start at book 1 which is currently free. When you're heartbroken, it lies beneath everything that you do. It's in all of who you are. Foreshadows who you'll be. It hides underneath your smile, rests between your laugh, revels in your tears and taunts your every thought. You wish it away but are too terrified to let it go... -
Tell Me to Lie by Charlotte Byrd
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThere was a time when my debt was the only link we had. There was a time when I couldn’t tell him how much I loved him and he couldn’t tell me. There was a time when I thought I could never have enough money. Now, everything is different. Nicholas Crawford is a stranger who is becoming more strange with every moment. I used to think I could make a life with him, but now I’m not so sure... -
A Stranger in the Family by Jane Casey
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe gripping new thriller featuring DS Maeve Kerrigan and DI Josh Derwent from the Top Ten Sunday Times bestselling authorEvery mother's worst nightmare . . .When nine-year-old Rosalie Marshall vanished from her bed one summer night, her disappearance tore her family apart.Now, sixteen years later, her mother Helena is found dead, her husband by her side... -
You're Not Safe by Mary Burton
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsHE WILL NEVER FORGET The broken body hanging from a tree in Texas Hill Country . . . the frozen figure huddled in a meat locker…only at second glance does the truth become apparent. What seems like suicide is far more sinister, and the terror is only beginning . . . NEVER FORGIVE One devastating moment changed Greer Templeton’s life and ended two others... -
Improbably Yours by Kerry Anne King
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsAn unusual inheritance leads to a life-changing journey in a novel of romance, secrets, and the treasure of found family.Blythe Harmon is on the fast track to a life she never wanted...Categorized as:
literary-fiction family romance fiction mystery contemporary audiobook womens-fiction -
Magic Hour by Kristin Hannah
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsDr. Julia Cates was one of the country's preeminent child psychiatrists until a shocking tragedy ruined her career. Retreating to her small western Washington hometown, Julia meets an extraordinary six-year-old girl who has inexplicably emerged from the deep woods nearby—a child locked in a world of unimaginable fear and isolation... -
In Her Father's Shadow by Quinn Avery
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsSienna Rivers’s aspirations for a normal childhood came crashing down the night they discovered her father was a serial killer. Once her mother’s illusion of a perfect family is destroyed, Sienna is sent to live with the only other “family” she knows... -
The Loft by Bette Lee Crosby
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratings50 YEARS OF MEMORIES ARE HIDDEN IN THE WALLS OF THE LOFT... Annie only needs to find one... the one that will save Oliver's life. On the day of their wedding, Annie saw nothing but happiness ahead, but when an accident calls her back to Memory House, her world is changed forever... -
To Provence, with Love by T A Williams
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsEscape to the south of France with this perfect feel-good summer romance! Anything is possible… Struggling writer Faye Carter just can’t believe her luck...Categorized as:
literary-fiction family romance humor contemporary womens-fiction fiction psychological -
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Breaking the Silence by Diane Chamberlain
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsLaura Brandon had promised her dying father she would visit Sarah Tolley, but her own agony is drowning out the old woman's ramblings. Her husband killed himself, and the only witness--her daughter, Emma--now refuses to speak. Desperate, Laura turns to a man she met once five years ago: Emma's real father... -
The Day She Came Back by Amanda Prowse
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsWhen her loving, free-spirited grandmother Primrose passes away, Victoria is bereft, yet resilient—she has survived tragedy before. But even her strength is tested when a mysterious woman attends Prim’s funeral and claims to be the mother Victoria thought was dead...Categorized as:
domestic-drama family literary-fiction audiobook book coming-of-age contemporary drama -
Tell me to Fight by Charlotte Byrd
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsI’m a man who takes what he wants. What do I want? Her. Olive Kernes owned me a debt and she thought that she had paid it back. But now I want more. I want more than just her time. I want more than just her body. Her new life has torn us apart. Now, it’s up to me to make things right. I will make the pieces of our love fit back together if it’s the last thing I do... -
Diamonds in the Rough: A Diamond Magnate Novel by Charmaine Pauls
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsA DARK MAFIA ROMANCEGirls like me, we know how to survive.We each have our own little ways, but we acquire those skills at the same tender age.If you ask me how many times a person can die, I’ll tell you many times. As many times as a man stabs you in the stomach with betrayal and wrings out your heart with lies.Girls like me, we live.We don’t get a choice.We step over the cliff and fall...Categorized as:
domestic-drama literary-fiction action-adventure adult age-gap alpha-mc angst anti-hero -
Psychos by Sheridan Anne
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsEeny, meeny, miny, moe.Catch three psychos by the toe.If I squeal, they won’t let me go.Eeny, meeny, miny, moe. Roman. Levi. Marcus.Psychos—that's what they are.The DeAngelis Brothers.Men tremble at the sound of their names while women run, their lives flashing before their eyes. They’re the monsters under your bed, the boogeymen in your closet. Every living soul fears them... -
Between Now and Forever by Barbara Freethy
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsFrom #1 NY Times Bestselling Author Barbara Freethy comes a romantic and suspenseful new novel in the popular family series, The Callaways. Nicole met Ryan when he was a handsome, cocky teenager with a desire to fly high above the clouds... -
Cub Creek by Grace Greene
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIn the heart of Virginia, where the forests shelter secrets and the creeks run strong and deep ~ Libbie Havens doesn’t need anyone. She’s fine on her own. When she chances upon the secluded house on Cub Creek she purchases it. She’ll show her cousin Liz, and other doubters, that she can rise above her past and live happily and successfully on her own terms... -
What I Remember Most by Cathy Lamb
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIn a new novel rich in grace, warmth, and courage, acclaimed author Cathy Lamb tells of one woman's journey of reinvention in the wake of deep betrayal.Grenadine Scotch Wild has only vague memories of the parents she last saw when she was six years old. But she's never forgotten their final, panicked words to her, urging Grenadine to run... -
The Kill by Allison Brennan
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsHer worst nightmare brought back to life, she risks everything for a second shot at justice. For thirty years, FBI scientist Olivia St. Martin has lived with guilt and one abiding certainty–that while she wasn’t able to save her sister’s life, she did testify and helped to convict the rapist and killer... -
Cover Your Eyes by Mary Burton
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsNow stunningly repackaged and reissued, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Mary Burton unleashes her trademark hard-edged suspense in the first Morgans of Nashville book, as a public defender must seek justice for a murder from the past to prevent new killings in the horrifying present...DON'T LOOKAt first, they struggle to escape... -
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Crank by Ellen Hopkins
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsIn Crank, Ellen Hopkins chronicles the turbulent and often disturbing relationship between Kristina, a character based on her own daughter, and the "monster," the highly addictive drug crystal meth, or "crank." Kristina is introduced to the drug while visiting her largely absent and ne'er-do-well father... -
Everything We Give by Kerry Lonsdale
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsFrom the author of Everything We Keep comes the final novel in the Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestselling Everything Series. Brimming with suspense, mystery, and romance, Everything We Give brings to a powerful close the gripping series of love, lies, and the secrets families keep... -
The Night of Many Endings by Melissa Payne
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFrom Melissa Payne, bestselling author of Memories in the Drift, comes an emotionally rich, feel-good novel about hope, second chances, and seeing the world through someone else’s eyes.Orphaned at a young age and witness to her brother’s decline into addiction, Nora Martinez has every excuse to question the fairness of life... -
When Never Comes by Barbara Davis
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsAuthor Barbara Davis deftly explores an emotionally charged landscape of pain, loss, and despair—and the risk one woman will take in the hope of loving again.As a teenage runaway and child of an addict, Christy-Lynn learned the hard way that no address was permanent, and no promise sacred... -
What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 45 ratingsAlice Love is twenty-nine, crazy about her husband, and pregnant with her first child. So imagine Alice’s surprise when she comes to on the floor of a gym (a gym! She HATES the gym) and is whisked off to the hospital where she discovers the honeymoon is truly over — she’s getting divorced, she has three kids, and she’s actually 39 years old... -
Broken Circle by Amy McKinley
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsLife with Alex is simple and secure - everything she's ever wanted. Or so she thought...Upper East Side artist, Olivia Wrightwood is ready for a change. Marrying Alex Mudarra, a dedicated and up-and-coming NYPD detective, is exactly what she needs to escape the clutches and scrutiny of her family's political dynasty...Categorized as:
literary-fiction action-adventure adult audiobook book contemporary fiction historical-fiction -
Christmas at the Cornish Confetti Agency by Daisy James
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIt's Christmas at The Cornish Confetti Agency!When Lexie Harrington is asked to choreograph Phoebe and Sam’s Christmas-themed wedding, she can’t wait to create the perfect winter wonderland - elegantly dressed fir trees, glossy garlands of holly and mistletoe, baskets of yule logs and pine cones, and the mouth-watering fragrance of gingerbread, cinnamon sticks and warm mulled wine floating... -
A Spell of Rowans by Byrd Nash
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsRaised by a narcissistic mother, the Rowan children’s magical talents were twisted to fit her needs. When Rachel dies, her children must confront the past to have a future.Rachel Rowan could sniff out secrets and her antique shop, Rosemary Thyme, was a front to torment the residents of Grimsby. When she dies, her children are faced with the deadly fallout of blackmail, murder, and magic...Categorized as:
family literary-fiction romance fantasy mystery fiction magical-realism contemporary -
Curves Ahead by Andi Jaxon
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsEveryone knows appearances can be deceiving, and in my case, even I’ve been fooled. The last thing I need is immature man-child, Alexander Bennet, trying to smile his way into my pants. I hate everything about him; his stupid smirk, his rumbling chuckle, and the way butterflies riot in my stomach when he aims them at me... -
Riverstar by Tess Thompson
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsAfter ending an affair with a married movie producer, feisty Hollywood makeup artist Bella Webber finds herself back in the quaint Oregon town of River Valley, the location of a famous director’s latest film... -
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Close Encounter, Part 1 by Stephanie St. Klaire
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratings...Categorized as:
literary-fiction romance mystery contemporary suspense fiction anthologies psychological -
The Accused by Jana Deleon
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIn USA TODAY bestselling author Jana DeLeon's new trilogy, Mystere Parish: Family Inheritance, the first LeBeau sister returns to Calais with hopes of reuniting with her long-lost family... -
Chasing River by K.A. Tucker
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsArmed with two years' worth of savings and the need to experience life outside the bubble of her Oregon small town, twenty-five-year old Amber Welles is prepared for anything. Except dying in Dublin. Had it not been for the bravery of a stranger, she might have. But he takes off before she has the chance to offer her gratitude. Twenty-four-year-old River Delaney is rattled...Categorized as:
family literary-fiction action-adventure alpha-mc audiobook book coming-of-age contemporary -
Lost in Me by Lexi Ryan
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsThe last thing I remember is having drinks at Brady’s and trying to avoid eye-contact with my life-long crush—the gorgeous, unattainable Maximilian Hallowell. They tell me that was a year ago, but I have no memories of anything since then. What I do have is this ring on my finger that Max says he gave me, and this much-thinner body I’ve dreamed of most of my life... -
The Passing Storm by Christine Nolfi
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsA gripping, openhearted novel about family, reconciliation, and bringing closure to the secrets of the past.Early into the tempestuous decade of her thirties, Rae Langdon struggles to work through a grief she never anticipated. With her father, Connor, she tends to their Ohio farm, a forty-acre spread that itself has enjoyed better days... -
The Arrangement by Kiersten Modglin
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsAinsley Greenburg is a fixer. It’s what she prides herself on. So, when she realizes her marriage is at its breaking point, she makes a decision to repair it, no matter the cost. Approaching her husband to propose the arrangement is supposed to be the hard part, but Peter agrees to the salacious plan almost immediately.The rules are simple:They will each date someone new once a week...Categorized as:
domestic-drama romance mystery audiobook fiction suspense psychological contemporary
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