The Orchid Girls


Book Description

‘By far the best book I have read in 2018!... A gripping, brilliant, have-you-on-the-edge-of-your-seat-in-suspense psychological thriller! From the very first page I was enthralled and hooked... Kept me guessing... The ending will knock you square off of your feet!... Amazing 5 star read.' Goodreads Reviewer, 5 stars 'Now we are bound forever,' she says, her eyes determined. 'I will never tell anyone, I swear. This is between you and me. Now you swear too.' They called them the Orchid Girls. Grace. Molly. Charlotte. One of them is in love. One of them is a liar. One of them is dead. On a jagged Dorset cliff, wind whipping their hair, waves crashing on the rocks below, three friends became two when Charlotte’s body was pulled out of the sea. Fifteen years later Grace and Molly are worlds apart. Grace has a glittering career and a loving husband. Molly is a lonely, unemployed alcoholic. Grace has everything to lose. Molly has nothing. They have moved on from the tragic accident that shadowed their childhood. But somewhere lies a photograph waiting to be unearthed – waiting to reveal a secret that one of the Orchid Girls is desperate to keep hidden... The Orchid Girls is a breathless, gripping and twisty story of love, obsession and dark, shocking secrets. Fans of KL Slater, The Wife Between Us and The Girl on the Train – read this one with the lights on… Readers absolutely love The Orchid Girls: ‘Loved this. A gripping thriller full of secrets and lies.’ Laura Marshall, author of Friend Request ‘I loved this book!! I was hooked from the first page and highly recommend… Absolutely twisted and amazing!!’ Goodreads Reviewer ‘Amazing… A compelling tale of secrets, lies, manipulation, obsession, first love, addiction, denial, friendships and relationships… Had me hooked in and totally enthralled from the very first page… Keeps the reader guessing… Highly recommended.’ Niki’s Life of Crime, 5 stars ‘Wow. I’m speechless… Enthralling story… My, my, my you have to read it… The first one read by Lesley Sanderson and it won’t be the last! Kept me wanting more!!!!!’ Goodreads Reviewer, 5 stars ‘Excellent read! Just when I thought I knew what was going on, bam, a twist!... The characters are complex and richly detailed. This is a book that will keep you guessing till the climatic ending… Well written with a superb storyline... If you like psychological suspense then you will love this book.’ Goodreads Reviewer ‘I just finished The Orchid Girls and what a crazy, messed-up ride! I was hooked from first few pages and it only got more intense!... D R A M A and secrets and twisted lies on lies on lies… And the end made me gasp with twisty delight… Delighted because a final twist was delivered with a thunderous boom!!!... This one is gonna be hot!... Five stars!!!!!’ Goodreads Reviewer, 5 stars ‘WOW… WOW. ONE. CRAZY. RIDE!... A thriller that had me wrapped up in everything about this book! The characters were cray cray I literally was screaming at some of them in my head… I can’t wait to read more from Lesley!’ Steph and Chris’s Book Review ‘Wow! This book had me up late, flipping pages and needing to know everything and everyone that was involved…. Thrilling, chilling and absolutely unputdownable! Will be highly recommending!’ Chapter Chatter Pub, 5 stars ‘Managed to finish this book in a couple of sittings!’ Goodreads Reviewer ‘Fabulous… Really difficult to put down!’ Goodreads Reviewer ‘A gripping psychological thriller... but it is also so much more. It's evocative, engaging, and utterly enthralling.’ The Bandwagon, 5 stars ‘Really gripped me and I was nearly late for work as I was desperate to finish it!’ Goodreads Reviewer, 5 stars [not enough space on KDP from here on in!] ‘Had me hooked from the start… The author does a very good job at keeping the reader guessing and speculating about the shocking truth.’ Goodreads Reviewer ‘I was hooked… It's a great psychological thriller that will have you guessing… I just loved it… Amazing book.’ Goodreads Reviewer ‘The story drew me in from the very first page… I loved it.’ Beauty Balm, 5 stars ‘This was so good!... I just flew through it, and ended up finishing the whole book in two sittings. I absolutely love books that keep me thinking about them even after I've finished reading them, and this one has really stayed with me… A fast, nail-biting read.’ Goodreads Reviewer ‘First class… A thrilling multi-faceted story.’ Goodreads Reviewer




The Forbidden Orchid


Book Description

The adventures of a British girl in China, hunting for the orchid that will save her family. Staid, responsible Elodie Buchanan is the eldest of ten sisters growing up in a small English market town in 1861. The girls barely know their father, a plant hunter usually off adventuring through China, more myth than man. Then disaster strikes: Mr. Buchanan reneges on his contract to collect an extremely rare and valuable orchid. He will be thrown into debtors’ prison while his daughters are sent to the orphanage and the workhouse. Elodie can’t stand by and see her family destroyed, so she persuades her father to return to China once more to try to hunt down the flower—only this time, despite everything she knows about her place in society, Elodie goes with him. She has never before left her village, but what starts as fear turns to wonder as she adapts to seafaring life aboard the tea clipper The Osprey, and later to the new sights, dangers, and romance of China. She comes to find that both the world and her place in it are so much bigger than she’d ever dreamed. But now, even if she can find the orchid, how can she ever go back to being the staid, responsible Elodie that everybody needs?




Girls on the Verge


Book Description

"Absolutely essential, as is the underlying message that girls take care of each other when no one else will." —Booklist, Starred Review A 2020 YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Selection Girls on the Verge is an incredibly timely novel about a woman’s right to choose. Sharon Biggs Waller brings to life a narrative that has to continue to fight for its right to be told, and honored. Camille couldn't be having a better summer—she kills it as Ophelia in her community theater's production of Hamlet, catches the eye of the cutest boy in the play, and nabs a spot in a prestigious theater program. But on the very night she learns she got into the program, she also finds out she’s pregnant. She definitely can’t tell her parents. And her best friend Bea doesn’t agree with the decision Camille has made. Camille is forced to try to solve her problem alone...and the system is very much working against her. At her most vulnerable, Camille reaches out to Annabelle Ponsonby, a girl she only barely knows from the theater. Happily, Annabelle agrees to drive her wherever she needs to go. And in a last minute change of heart, Bea decides to come with. Over the course of more than a thousand miles, friendships will be tested and dreams will be challenged. But ultimately, the girls will realize that friends are the real heroes in every story. "[C]ompelling... This title offers realistic viewpoints on teenage pregnancy, along with what it is like to have the right to choose, wanting that right, and living knowing that you will be judged for having exercised it." —School Library Journal, Starred Review




Dangerous Plays


Book Description

Dad, Bess, and I are all set for London when Ned's Shakespeare professor asks us to do a simple favor: to take a look at his townhouse while we're there, since he can't seem to locate the housekeeper and fears something's wrong. Sounds easy enough, so I take the key. Eager to cross the favor off our list, we stop by 53 Banbury Square shortly after we land. And let's just say things in the townhouse aren't quite tip-top. And the key? Well, it unlocks a Pandora's box of serious trouble.




Blood Orchids


Book Description




Nothing Daunted


Book Description

From the author of The Agitators, the acclaimed and captivating true story of two restless society girls who left their affluent lives to “rough it” as teachers in the wilds of Colorado in 1916. In the summer of 1916, Dorothy Woodruff and Rosamond Underwood, bored by society luncheons, charity work, and the effete men who courted them, left their families in Auburn, New York, to teach school in the wilds of northwestern Colorado. They lived with a family of homesteaders in the Elkhead Mountains and rode to school on horseback, often in blinding blizzards. Their students walked or skied, in tattered clothes and shoes tied together with string. The young cattle rancher who had lured them west, Ferry Carpenter, had promised them the adventure of a lifetime. He hadn’t let on that they would be considered dazzling prospective brides for the locals. Nearly a hundred years later, Dorothy Wickenden, the granddaughter of Dorothy Woodruff, found the teachers’ buoyant letters home, which captured the voices of the pioneer women, the children, and other unforgettable people the women got to know. In reconstructing their journey, Wickenden has created an exhilarating saga about two intrepid women and the “settling up” of the West.




The Orchid and the Dandelion


Book Description

"Based on groundbreaking research that has the power to change the lives of countless children--and the adults who love them." --Susan Cain, author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts. A book that offers hope and a pathway to success for parents, teachers, psychologists, and child development experts coping with difficult children. In Tom Boyce's extraordinary new book, he explores the "dandelion" child (hardy, resilient, healthy), able to survive and flourish under most circumstances, and the "orchid" child (sensitive, susceptible, fragile), who, given the right support, can thrive as much as, if not more than, other children. Boyce writes of his pathfinding research as a developmental pediatrician working with troubled children in child-development research for almost four decades, and explores his major discovery that reveals how genetic make-up and environment shape behavior. He writes that certain variant genes can increase a person's susceptibility to depression, anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and antisocial, sociopathic, or violent behaviors. But rather than seeing this "risk" gene as a liability, Boyce, through his daring research, has recast the way we think of human frailty, and has shown that while these "bad" genes can create problems, they can also, in the right setting and the right environment, result in producing children who not only do better than before but far exceed their peers. Orchid children, Boyce makes clear, are not failed dandelions; they are a different category of child, with special sensitivities and strengths, and need to be nurtured and taught in special ways. And in The Orchid and the Dandelion, Boyce shows us how to understand these children for their unique sensibilities, their considerable challenges, their remarkable gifts.




Wild Orchid


Book Description

Taylor Jane Simon, a teenager with an autistic condition, spends the summer with her mother in Prince Albert National Park, and learns how to make her own path in life.




Power of Lies


Book Description

Everyone lies. When working for a sex mage, it's the only way to stay safe. That's the first thing Jaeda learns when she's named as the Chosen. The mage needs a sacrifice, and she's willing to give it. Maybe too willing. After all, this man is lust incarnate; a woman would have to be insane not to want him, even if he is dangerous. But desiring someone's body is very different from falling in love. In her line of work, the two must never be confused. She doesn't even know his name! He's simply The Jackal, a terrifyingly powerful sex mage, and she's his altar. Her lust fuels him. He needs it. And that puts her in control. Now, she gets to spend her days with a mage who wields sex like a weapon and his assistant who's as irresistible as some long-lost god brought to life. The things they do to her body are amazing, and the rest? These men want to spoil her with the kind of riches she's always dreamed of. It's the best job she can imagine. Unfortunately, it's never that easy. This is supposed to be about making magic - that's it. Feelings have no place in a mage's temple. Affection is a curse. But when the enemy decides she'll make the perfect weapon to steal the Jackal's power, what's she supposed to do? After all, she's just a stupid girl caught in the middle. Her job is to just lie back and take it. Except, someone's been lying. It might even be her. POWER OF LIES is a complete novel with a reverse harem, polyamorous storyline. It is intended for a mature audience due to the presence of consensual sex, group sex, M/M scenes, and plenty of vulgar language - as well as some potentially triggering violence since the bad guys don't always play nice. While this is a love story, it may not be right for all readers.




Every Time I Fall


Book Description

New York Times bestselling author Lexi Ryan brings you Every Time I Fall, a sexy standalone romance about a woman learning to love herself and the guy who’s loved her all along. He’s my brother’s best friend. The hot guy with the heart of gold I’ve never let myself want. Guys like Dean don’t go for girls like me. Curvy. Thick. A big girl. Whatever label you put on me, I know who I am and what it means. And that’s fine. I’m content to be Dean’s buddy and nothing more. Or so I thought. But when Dean finds out about my bedroom issues and decides to help me fix them, everything changes. He swears there’s no such thing as “bad in bed” and pleasure is all about chemistry. I’m not convinced, but he intends to prove it. With his mouth. With his body. With his dirty texts and whispered promises. I know from the first kiss that I’m going to fall hard. That this can’t last, and the end might break me. But, for these days and nights with Dean, all the hurt might be worth it.