Books like 'The Last to Let Go'

Readers who enjoyed The Last to Let Go by Amber Smith also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.

contemporary  mystery  psychological  lgbtq  realistic  family  wlw  high-school  domestic-drama  sad 

  • Identical by Ellen Hopkins

    Identical by Ellen Hopkins

    Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars
    · 32 ratings
    Kaeleigh and Raeanne are 16-year-old identical twins, the daughters of a district court judge father and politician mother running for US Congress. Everything on the surface seems fine, but underneath run very deep and damaging secrets. When the girls were 9, Daddy started to turn to his beloved Kaeleigh in ways a father never should and has been sexually abusing her for years...
  • I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb

    I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb

    Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars
    · 44 ratings
    This powerful, heartwrenching drama draws on the deepest human emotions - the need to know oneself, the responsibility to the family, and the influence of hidden history. The result is a highly acclaimed novel of survival and great sensitivity...
  • You'd Be Home Now by Kathleen Glasgow

    You'd Be Home Now by Kathleen Glasgow

    Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    From the New York Times bestselling author of Girl in Pieces comes a breathtaking story about a town, its tragedies, and the quiet beauty of everyday life.For all of Emory's life she's been told who she is. In town she's the rich one--the great-great-granddaughter of the mill's founder. At school she's hot Maddie Ward's younger sister...
    Categorized as:
    coming-of-age  crime  dark  drama  family  high-school  realistic  sad
  • The Boy Under the Table by Nicole Trope

    The Boy Under the Table by Nicole Trope

    Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings
    Tina is a young woman hiding from her grief on the streets of the Cross. On a cold night in the middle of winter she breaks all her own rules when she agrees to go home with a customer.What she finds in his house will change her life forever.Across the country Sarah and Doug are trapped in limbo, struggling to accept the loss that now governs their lives...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  family  abuse  adult  book  contemporary  fiction
  • A List of Cages by Robin Roe

    A List of Cages by Robin Roe

    Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars
    · 26 ratings
    When Adam Blake lands the best elective ever in his senior year, serving as an aide to the school psychologist, he thinks he’s got it made. Sure, it means a lot of sitting around, which isn’t easy for a guy with ADHD, but he can’t complain, since he gets to spend the period texting all his friends...
    Categorized as:
    coming-of-age  dark  drama  family  high-school  lgbtq  realistic  sad
  • Heroine by Mindy McGinnis, Brittany Pressley

    Heroine by Mindy McGinnis, Brittany Pressley

    Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars
    · 20 ratings
    A captivating and powerful exploration of the opioid crisis—the deadliest drug epidemic in American history—through the eyes of a college-bound softball star. Edgar Award-winning author Mindy McGinnis delivers a visceral and necessary novel about addiction, family, friendship, and hope...
    Categorized as:
    coming-of-age  crime  dark  drama  family  high-school  realistic  sad
  • GUIDE STAR a gripping and emotional rollercoaster of a novel about love, life and not giving up by Joy Ellis

    GUIDE STAR a gripping and emotional rollercoaster of a novel about love, life and not giving up by Joy Ellis

    Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    Do you love emotional and gripping fiction full of twists about people fighting back against what life throws at them? Then try this book by a #1 best-selling author now. You won't want to put it down. WHO DO YOU TURN TO WHEN LIFE GOES WRONG? WHO IS YOUR GUIDE STAR? What readers are saying about GUIDE STAR “ Loved this book...
    Categorized as:
    crime  domestic-drama  family  sad  adult  audiobook  book  breakup
  • The Day She Came Back by Amanda Prowse

    The Day She Came Back by Amanda Prowse

    Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    When 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...
  • What Unbreakable Looks Like by Kate McLaughlin

    What Unbreakable Looks Like by Kate McLaughlin

    Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    Lex was taken – trafficked - and now she’s Poppy. Kept in a hotel with other girls, her old life is a distant memory. But when the girls are rescued, she doesn’t quite know how to be Lex again. After she moves in with her aunt and uncle, for the first time in a long time, she knows what it is to feel truly safe. Except, she doesn’t trust it. Doesn't trust her new home...
    Categorized as:
    coming-of-age  crime  dark  family  high-school  realistic  sad  abuse
  • At the Edge of the Universe by Shaun David Hutchinson

    At the Edge of the Universe by Shaun David Hutchinson

    Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    From the author of We Are the Ants comes “another winner” (Booklist, starred review) about a boy who believes the universe is slowly shrinking as the things he remembers are being erased from others’ memories.Tommy and Ozzie have been best friends since the second grade, and boyfriends since eighth. They spent countless days dreaming of escaping their small town—and then Tommy vanished...
    Categorized as:
    coming-of-age  dark  drama  family  high-school  lgbtq  realistic  sad
  • Crank by Ellen Hopkins

    Crank by Ellen Hopkins

    Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars
    · 41 ratings
    In 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...
  • Scars by Cheryl Rainfield

    Scars by Cheryl Rainfield

    Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    Kendra, fifteen, hasn't felt safe since she began to recall devastating memories of childhood sexual abuse, especially because she still can't remember the most important detail-- her abuser's identity. Frightened, Kendra believes someone is always watching and following her, leaving menacing messages only she understands...
  • Saving Noah by Lucinda Berry

    Saving Noah by Lucinda Berry

    Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    We forgive murderers, not pedophiles. Not since Lionel Shriver brought us We Need to Talk About Kevin has a writer delved into the complexities of a disturbed mother/son relationship. Until now. Meet Noah—an A-honor roll student, award-winning swimmer, and small-town star destined for greatness...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  drama  family  sad  abuse  adult  audiobook
  • Secrets Mothers Keep by Anya Mora

    Secrets Mothers Keep by Anya Mora

    Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    On Friday night in the clay fields of Bethel Creek, seventeen-year-old Daniel Reyes is found brutally attacked and left for dead. 
On Saturday morning, Cora Maxwell finds her teenage son’s clothes covered in blood.
A small town torn apart by a horrific hate crime. 
An investigative reporter hell bent on finding the truth. 
A mother’s worst nightmare...
  • Deserve To Die by Miranda Rijks

    Deserve To Die by Miranda Rijks

    Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    Dom and Stacey have the perfect life. Until they meet Tamara. Brilliant, beautiful, she hides a horrifying secret. One that may destroy them all.Happily married with two wonderful children, Dom and Stacey are living the dream. He runs a successful design agency, she is finding fame as an author of children’s books.Everything is perfect...
  • Clean by Juno Dawson

    Clean by Juno Dawson

    Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    I can feel it swimming through my veins like glitter ... it's liquid gold.When socialite Lexi Volkov almost overdoses, she thinks she's hit rock bottom.She's wrong. Rock bottom is when she's forced into an exclusive rehab facility.From there, the only way is up for Lexi and her fellow inmates, including the mysterious Brady...
  • The Art of Hiding by Amanda Prowse

    The Art of Hiding by Amanda Prowse

    Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    What would you do if you learned that the life you lived was a lie? Nina McCarrick lives the perfect life, until her husband, Finn, is killed in a car accident and everything Nina thought she could rely on unravels.Alone, bereft and faced with a mountain of debt, Nina quickly loses her life of luxury and she begins to question whether she ever really knew the man she married...
    Categorized as:
    drama  family  realistic  sad  adult  audiobook  book  contemporary
  • Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas, Abby McDonald

    Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas, Abby McDonald

    Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars
    · 26 ratings
    It's Spring Break of senior year. Anna, her boyfriend Tate, her best friend Elise, and a few other close friends are off on a debaucherous trip to Aruba that promises to be the time of their lives. But when Elise is found brutally murdered, Anna finds herself trapped in a country not her own, fighting against vile and contemptuous accusations...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  domestic-drama  drama  high-school  lgbtq  realistic  wlw
  • The Last Time We Say Goodbye by Cynthia Hand

    The Last Time We Say Goodbye by Cynthia Hand

    Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars
    · 26 ratings
    There's death all around us.We just don't pay attention.Until we do.The last time Lex was happy, it was before. When she had a family that was whole. A boyfriend she loved. Friends who didn't look at her like she might break down at any moment.Now she's just the girl whose brother killed himself. And it feels like that's all she'll ever be...
  • If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch

    If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch

    Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars
    · 27 ratings
    There are some things you can’t leave behind… A broken-down camper hidden deep in a national forest is the only home fifteen year-old Carey can remember. The trees keep guard over her threadbare existence, with the one bright spot being Carey’s younger sister, Jenessa, who depends on Carey for her very survival...
    Categorized as:
    coming-of-age  crime  dark  drama  family  high-school  realistic  sad
  • White Oleander by Janet Fitch

    White Oleander by Janet Fitch

    Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars
    · 45 ratings
    Alternate cover for this ISBN can be found hereEverywhere hailed as a novel of rare beauty and power, White Oleander tells the unforgettable story of Ingrid, a brilliant poet imprisoned for murder, and her daughter, Astrid, whose odyssey through a series of Los Angeles foster homes--each its own universe, with its own laws, its own dangers, its own hard lessons to be learned--becomes a redeeming...
  • The Best of Friends by Lucinda Berry

    The Best of Friends by Lucinda Berry

    Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars
    · 32 ratings
    Best friends Lindsey, Kendra, and Dani endure every parent's nightmare when a tragic accident befalls their teenage boys, leaving one dead, another in a coma, and a third too traumatized to speak. Reeling from the worst night of their lives, the three mothers plunge into a desperate investigation of the bizarre incident...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  domestic-drama  drama  family  realistic  adult  audiobook
  • The Rise by Shari King, Shari Low

    The Rise by Shari King, Shari Low

    Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    When we bury our secrets, they always come back to haunt us...Their rise was meteoric.Only a few years before, they had been three friends from Glasgow, just trying to survive tough lives of danger and dysfunction.But on one Hollywood evening in 1993, they were on the world’s biggest stage, accepting their Oscar in front of the watching world.That night was the beginning of their careers...
  • A Bend in the Road by Nicholas Sparks

    A Bend in the Road by Nicholas Sparks

    Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars
    · 41 ratings
    Miles Ryan's life seemed to end the day his wife was killed in a hit-and-run accident two years ago. Missy had been his first love, and Miles fervently believes she will be his last. As a deputy in the North Carolina town of New Bern, Miles Ryan not only grieves for Missy, but also longs to bring the unknown driver to justice. Then Miles meets Sarah Andrews...
    Categorized as:
    crime  drama  family  high-school  realistic  sad  audiobook  book
  • Mad Girl by A.A. Dark, Alaska Angelini

    Mad Girl by A.A. Dark, Alaska Angelini

    Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    **CAUTION-------PITCH BLACK READ** My mother was the Madison Ridge Killer … and I helped her. At nine, I was given a new start—a new life. My adoptive parents did everything they could to help me forget my past, and for a while, they succeeded. But I was never normal. I never truly forgot all I saw or did.Now, twenty years later, I work in the billing department for a small city newspaper...
    Categorized as:
    dark  crime  wlw  drama  lgbtq  horror  abuse  steamy
  • Things We Never Say by Caitlin Weaver

    Things We Never Say by Caitlin Weaver

    Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    Three mothers. Three secrets. One devastating scandal.Anna has always been the quiet one, the soft-spoken mother who kept her head down and her secrets close. But when she's thrown together with Maggie and Rhea on a PTA project, they begin to bond over wine and gossip, and slowly share the truths behind their picture-perfect lives...
  • Freeze Frame by Heidi Ayarbe

    Freeze Frame by Heidi Ayarbe

    Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    No matter how many times Kyle rewrites the scene, he can't get it right. He tries it in the style of Hitchcock, Tarantino, Eastwood, all of his favorite directors—but regardless of the style, he can't remember what happened that day in the shed. The day Jason died...
  • Learning Not to Drown by Anna Shinoda

    Learning Not to Drown by Anna Shinoda

    Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    Family secrets cut to the bone in this mesmerizing debut novel about a teen whose drug-addicted brother is the prodigal son one time too many.There is a pecking order to every family. Seventeen-year old Clare is the overprotected baby; Peter is the typical, rebellious middle child; and Luke is the oldest, the can’t-do-wrong favorite. To their mother, they are a normal, happy family...
  • Exquisite by Sarah Stovell

    Exquisite by Sarah Stovell

    Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    Bo Luxton has it all - a loving family, a beautiful home in the Lake District, and a clutch of bestselling books to her name. Enter Alice Dark, an aspiring writer who is drifting through life, with a series of dead-end jobs and a freeloading boyfriend. When they meet at a writers' retreat, the chemistry is instant, and a sinister relationship develops ..
    Categorized as:
    crime  domestic-drama  drama  family  lgbtq  wlw  adult  audiobook
  • Cause for Alarm by Erica Spindler

    Cause for Alarm by Erica Spindler

    Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    Cause For Alarm by Erica Spindler released on Jan 25, 1999 is available now for purchase...
  • Dear Mother by Angela Marsons

    Dear Mother by Angela Marsons

    Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    A story about three sisters brought together by the death of their cruel and abusive mother. Alex, the youngest, is a bitter, unforgiving woman who refuses to face the events of her childhood. She hides in a bottle and destroys any chance of happiness that comes her way. Her life is spiralling dangerously out of control but she doesn't have the strength to stop it...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  domestic-drama  drama  family  adult  book  child-abuse
  • Here Lies Daniel Tate by Cristin Terrill

    Here Lies Daniel Tate by Cristin Terrill

    Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    A young, street-savvy runaway looking for a place to call home realizes he might have conned his way into the wrong family in this fast-paced and thrilling novel from award-winning author Cristin Terrill.When ten-year-old Daniel Tate went missing from one of California's most elite communities, he left no trace. He simply vanished...
  • The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth

    The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth

    Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars
    · 19 ratings
    Get ready for a thrilling, addictive novel about marriage, betrayal, and the secrets that push us to the edge in Sally Hepworth's The Soulmate.There’s a cottage on a cliff. Gabe and Pippa’s dream home in a sleepy coastal town. But their perfect house hides something sinister. The tall cliffs have become a popular spot for people to end their lives...
  • What I Lost by Alexandra Ballard

    What I Lost by Alexandra Ballard

    Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars
    · 19 ratings
    A searing yet ultimately uplifting young adult novel about a teenage girl's recovery from anorexia.Sixteen-year-old Elizabeth has honed a dangerous skill: starving herself. Even when her parents send her to a treatment center, she can't stop. Then she begins receiving packages from someone she doesn't know...
  • Golden Boy by Abigail Tarttelin

    Golden Boy by Abigail Tarttelin

    Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars
    · 20 ratings
    The Walker family is good at keeping secrets from the world. They are even better at keeping them from each other. Max Walker is a golden boy, with a secret that the world may not be ready for. This novel is a riveting tale of a family in crisis, a fascinating exploration of identity, and a coming-of-age story like no other...
    Categorized as:
    coming-of-age  dark  drama  family  high-school  lgbtq  realistic  sad
  • The Pact by Jodi Picoult

    The Pact by Jodi Picoult

    Rated: 4.02 of 5 stars
    · 42 ratings
    For eighteen years the Hartes and the Golds have lived next door to each other, sharing everything from Chinese food to chicken pox to carpool duty—they've grown so close it seems they have always been a part of each other's lives. Parents and children alike have been best friends, so it's no surprise that in high school Chris and Emily's friendship blossoms into something more...
    Categorized as:
    coming-of-age  crime  dark  drama  family  high-school  realistic  sad
  • Hate List by Jennifer Brown

    Hate List by Jennifer Brown

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 33 ratings
    Five months ago, Valerie Leftman's boyfriend, Nick, opened fire on their school cafeteria. Shot trying to stop him, Valerie inadvertently saved the life of a classmate, but was implicated in the shootings because of the list she helped create. A list of people and things she and Nick hated. The list he used to pick his targets...
    Categorized as:
    coming-of-age  crime  dark  drama  family  high-school  realistic  sad
  • Hold Still by Nina LaCour, Nina Schindler

    Hold Still by Nina LaCour, Nina Schindler

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 27 ratings
    An arresting story about starting over after a friend’s suicide, from a breakthrough new voice in YA fiction.dear caitlin, there are so many things that i want so badly to tell you but i just can’t.Devastating, hopeful, hopeless, playful . . . in words and illustrations, Ingrid left behind a painful farewell in her journal for Caitlin...
    Categorized as:
    coming-of-age  dark  drama  family  high-school  lgbtq  realistic  sad
  • Asking For It by Louise O'Neill

    Asking For It by Louise O'Neill

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    In a small town, where everyone knows everyone, Emma O'Donovan is different. She is the special one - beautiful, popular, powerful. And she works hard to keep it that way.Until that night...Now, she's an embarrassment. Now, she is a slut. Now, she is nothing.And those pictures - those pictures that everyone has seen - mean she can never forget...
    Categorized as:
    coming-of-age  crime  dark  drama  family  high-school  realistic  sad
  • Drowning Instinct by Ilsa J. Bick

    Drowning Instinct by Ilsa J. Bick

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 19 ratings
    There are stories where the girl gets her prince, and they live happily ever after. (This is not one of those stories.) Jenna Lord’s first sixteen years were not exactly a fairytale. Her father is a controlling psycho and her mother is a drunk. She used to count on her older brother—until he shipped off to Afghanistan. And then, of course, there was the time she almost died in a fire...
    Categorized as:
    coming-of-age  dark  drama  family  high-school  realistic  sad  abuse
  • Split by Swati Avasthi

    Split by Swati Avasthi

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    Sixteen-Year-Old Jace Witherspoon arrives at the doorstep of his estranged brother Christian with a re-landscaped face (courtesy of his father’s fist), $3.84, and a secret...
  • What It Seems by Emily Bleeker

    What It Seems by Emily Bleeker

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    A page-turning novel of suspense about the perfect family, and the perfect lies, by the bestselling author of When I’m Gone and The Waiting Room.Adopted by her controlling foster mother at the age of eight, twenty-year-old Tara has seen little of the outside world. Lonely, punished for the slightest offense, her only distraction comes from watching the Feely family’s online videos...
  • The Mother by Jane Caro

    The Mother by Jane Caro

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings
    Just like the garden, the fuse box, the bills, bin night and blown light bulbs, this was just something else she'd now have to take care of herself.Recently widowed, Miriam Duffy is a respectable North Shore real estate agent and devoted mother and grandmother...
  • Good Little Liars by Sarah Clutton

    Good Little Liars by Sarah Clutton

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    Emma held the photo for a long moment before her eyes focused on the girl’s face. She dropped it and let out a muted cry.The girl in the photograph was Tessa.Twenty-five years after losing her friend Tessa in a tragic accident, Emma’s life is happy and settled. She rarely thinks about the day that Tessa fell to her death, or the secret that she made Emma swear to keep just hours before...
  • Rape Girl by Alina Klein

    Rape Girl by Alina Klein

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    Valerie always wanted to be the smart girl. The pretty girl. The popular girl.But not the rape girl.That’s who she is now. Rape Girl. Because everyone seems to think they know the truth about what happened with Adam that day, and they don’t think Valerie’s telling it.Before, she had a best friend, a crush, and a close-knit family...
  • Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

    Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

    Rated: 3.99 of 5 stars
    · 83 ratings
    Melinda Sordino busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops. Now her old friends won't talk to her, and people she doesn't even know hate her from a distance. The safest place to be is alone, inside her own head. But even that's not safe...
    Categorized as:
    coming-of-age  crime  dark  drama  family  high-school  realistic  sad
  • The Girl Before by Rena Olsen

    The Girl Before by Rena Olsen

    Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    In this powerful psychological suspense debut, when a woman’s life is shattered, she is faced with a devastating question: What if everything she thought was normal and good and true . . . wasn’t? Clara Lawson is torn from her life in an instant. Without warning, her home is invaded by armed men, and she finds herself separated from her beloved husband and daughters...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  domestic-drama  drama  family  realistic  abuse  audiobook
  • I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga

    I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga

    Rated: 4.02 of 5 stars
    · 30 ratings
    What if the world's worst serial killer...was your dad?Jasper "Jazz" Dent is a likable teenager. A charmer, one might say.But he's also the son of the world's most infamous serial killer, and for Dear Old Dad, Take Your Son to Work Day was year-round. Jazz has witnessed crime scenes the way cops wish they could—from the criminal's point of view.And now bodies are piling up in Lobo's Nod...
  • Working Fire by Emily Bleeker

    Working Fire by Emily Bleeker

    Rated: 3.95 of 5 stars
    · 20 ratings
    From the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of When I’m Gone comes a compelling novel of a bond between sisters, tested by tragedy…Ellie Brown thought she’d finally escaped her stifling hometown of Broadlands, Illinois; med school was supposed to be her ticket out...
    Categorized as:
    crime  domestic-drama  drama  family  realistic  adult  audiobook  book
  • Without Merit by Colleen Hoover

    Without Merit by Colleen Hoover

    Rated: 3.95 of 5 stars
    · 42 ratings
    Not every mistake deserves a consequence. Sometimes the only thing it deserves is forgiveness.The Voss family is anything but normal. They live in a repurposed church, newly baptized Dollar Voss...
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