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Necessary Lies
After losing her parents, fifteen-year-old Ivy Hart is left to care for her grandmother, older sister and nephew as tenants on a small tobacco farm. As she struggles with her grandmother’s aging, her sister’s mental illness and her own epilepsy, she realizes they might need more than she can give.
The First Lie
In this short story prequel to Necessary Lies, The First Lie gives readers an early glimpse into the life of thirteen-year-old Ivy Hart. It’s 1958 in rural North Carolina, where Ivy lives with her grandmother and sister on a tobacco farm. As tenant farmers, Ivy and her family don’t have much freedom, though she and her best friend, Henry, often sneak away in search of adventure…and their truest selves.
Her Mother's Shadow
Her Mother’s Shadow is the third book in the Keeper of the Light trilogy. Visiting the O’Neill family once again in the haunting setting of Kiss River, Her Mother’s Shadow tells the story of the adult Lacey O’Neill as she’s thrust into the role of mother before she’s had a chance to truly grow up herself.
The Good Father
Four years ago, nineteen-year-old Travis Brown made a choice: to raise his newborn daughter on his own. While most of his friends were out partying and meeting girls, Travis was at home, changing diapers and worrying about keeping food on the table. He’s never regretted his decision: Bella is the light of his life. But after Travis loses his job and his home, the security he’s worked so hard to create for his daughter begins to crumble.
Kiss River
Kiss River is the second book in the Keeper of the Light trilogy. Set eleven years after the first book, the O’Neill family finds itself facing new challenges in the form of a stranger obsessed by the old Kiss River Lighthouse.
Separated by a continent from her child, Gina Higgins comes to Kiss River with little more than a desperate plan. Now, saving her daughter depends on whether she can uncover a message buried deep below the ocean’s surface.
The Midwife's Confession
Dear Anna,
What I have to tell you is difficult to write, but I know it will be far more difficult for you to hear, and I’m so sorry. . .
The unfinished letter is the only clue Tara and Emerson have to the reason behind their close friend Noelle’s suicide. Everything they knew about Noelle-her calling as a midwife, her passion for causes, her love for her friends and family-described a woman who embraced life.
Keeper of the Light
In this, the first book of the Keeper of the Light trilogy,…
Dr. Olivia Simon is on duty in the emergency room of North Carolina’s Outer Banks Hospital when a gunshot victim is brought in. Midway through the desperate effort to save the young woman’s life, Olivia realizes who she is-Annie O’Neill. The woman Olivia’s husband, Paul, is in love with.
The Shadow Wife
Note: The Shadow Wife was originally published as Cypress Point
Joelle D’Angelo’s best friend, Mara, is left with brain damage after she suffers an aneurysm giving birth to her son. Alone and grieving, Joelle turns to the only other person who understands her pain: her colleague—and Mara’s husband–Liam. What starts out as comfort between friends gradually becomes something more. . . something undeniable.
The Lies We Told
Maya and Rebecca Ward are both accomplished physicians, but that’s where the sisters’ similarities end. As teenagers, they witnessed their parents’ murder, but it was Rebecca who saved Maya from becoming another of the gunman’s victims. The tragedy left Maya cautious and timid, settling for a sedate medical practice with her husband, Adam, while Rebecca became the risk taker.
Summers Child
Early one morning, on the beach beside her North Carolina home, eleven-year-old Daria Cato receives an unbelievable gift from the sea–an abandoned newborn baby. When the infant’s identity cannot be uncovered, she is adopted by Daria’s loving family. But her silent secrets continue to haunt Daria and her family.
Breaking the Silence
Laura Brandon’s promise to her dying father was simple: to visit an elderly woman she’d never heard him speak of before. A woman who remembers nothing–except the distant past. Visiting Sarah Tolley seemed a small enough sacrifice to make.
Secrets She Left Behind
Secrets She Left Behind is the sequel to Before the Storm. One afternoon, single mother Sara Weston says that she’s going to the store—and never returns. In her absence, she leaves her teenaged son alone with his damaged past and a legacy of secrets.
The Courage Tree
Eight-year-old Sophie Donohue wanted to be like every other little girl, which is why her mother, Janine, reluctantly agreed to let her go on a camping trip with her Brownie troop. But when Janine arrives to pick up Sophie after the trip, her daughter is not among the others. Somehow, along the forested route from West Virginia, Sophie has disappeared.
Before the Storm
Before the Storm is the first of two books about the Lockwood family. Their story is continued in Secrets She Left Behind. It’s often difficult for me to characterize my books, and Before the Storm is no exception. It’s part suspense, part mystery, and one hundred percent family drama. It’s about how far family members will go to protect one another. It’s about the choices people make that come back to haunt them. And it’s about the gradual unfolding of truths that keep the characters on edge and those pages turning.
The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes
Twenty-eight years ago, a North Carolina governor’s young, pregnant wife was kidnapped. Now, her remains have been found and a man charged with her murder. Only one person-CeeCee Wilkes-can refute the charges against him. But CeeCee disappeared years ago. . .
The Bay At Midnight
Her family’s cottage on the New Jersey shore was a place of freedom and innocence for Julie Bauer—until her seventeen-year-old sister, Isabel, was murdered.
It’s been more than forty years since that August night, but Julie’s memories of her sister’s death still shape her world. Now someone from her past is raising questions about what really happened that night. About Julie’s own complicity. About a devastating secret her mother kept from them all. About the person who went to prison for Izzy’s murder—and the person who didn’t.