27 books like Second Wind

This book ticks all my must-haves in a great movie: a compelling story, characters, and setting. Shortly after losing her husband to a debilitating illness, Emma Dance unexpectedly inherits her great-aunt’s beach house where she’d spent happy childhood days. Located at the North Carolina coast, it’s a perfect place to try to hide from the grief and emotional drain of the past few years. Despite her desire to lock herself away from the world, Emma slowly emerges and makes friends, possibly even a new romance. Eventually she finds joy once more in everyday life. While delivering an emotionally satisfying story, the author perfectly captures life at the beach—from the breath-stealing beauty of sunrise and sunset, to the force of a storm’s wind shrieking through the seaside house. 

This story is a good mystery, but more importantly, it makes me laugh (in a good way). I think it would be a great date-night movie. Brand-new private investigator Alex O’Hara inherits her father’s PI agency and (oh, joy!) snags her first paying client. Thus begins the fun. With sharp writing, a crafty plot, a light romance, and fun and relatable characters (including a heroine who is a bit of a klutz—a woman after my own heart), the author leads the reader on a fun and engaging search for a missing man. 

One thing I look for in my “screen” entertainment is a fascinating location. This story takes place in Yosemite National Park and Lake Tahoe. I’ve never been to either, but both are described so well in this book, I feel like I might have visited at some point. The story follows Raine Endicott, Levi Hill, and several other members of their former college hiking club through a 60-mile, four-day trek through the national park. When one of the members is found dead, the danger for our couple starts. While suspensefully leading the reader through the murder investigation, the author weaves in details of outdoor life—like coming upon bears on the trail—and paints a vivid picture of the beauty and majesty of the settings. 

Every once in a while, I like a good, scary movie (as long as there’s a limit on the gore). Little Darlings is one of a collection of short stories featuring a murder taking place on Friday the 13th. I made the dubious decision to start reading it one night before bed. Immediately, I was sucked into the story of three friends on a weekend getaway who find themselves terrorized by four black-eyed children who come knocking. The author did a fantastic job of creeping me out to the point where I was listening for the story’s “little darlings” long after turning out my light. Needless to say, I didn’t sleep well that night. I see this as an episode in a Twilight Zone-type series.

I loved this work!  And its realism truly frightened me. 

James Lawler, a legendary CIA officer, has followed his brilliant debut novel (Living Lies: A Novel of the Iranian Nuclear Weapons Program) with a very frightening and all-too-contemporary thriller about bioweapons. This is not science fiction, and the fields of bioweapons and neuro weapons - think ‘Havana Syndrome’ or lethal viruses such as COVID and EBOLA - have been extensively studied by America’s adversaries.

Jim has told a gripping, taut, and exciting tale of Russia’s and North Korea’s collaboration in the development of such bioweapons. The characters are fascinating and believable, as is the plot line.  Lawler’s novel combines espionage, mystery, and science fiction – or not! – in a terrifying, real-world, 21st-century mystery thriller.

I adore the Auntie Lily character who has a penchant for telling silly stories. Each of these stories composed in clever rhymes feature a silly animal doing something outrageous. Children become interactive partners visualizing and acting out the hijinks like a stork riding on a subway train or a fly that works for the FBI. The fun continues because readers get ten riddles to solve at the end of the tale. This book is fun for the whole family from preschooler to grandma!

I recommend this book because it is a page-turner from the very beginning with a sick plot thanks to the warped mind of its featured killer. With no time to lose, veteran homicide detectives Sam Kovack and Nikki Liska aided by the FBI race to stop a serial killer who is brutalizing women. I love the strong relationships between partners, Kovack and Liska but also the level of tension between Kate Conlan and FBI Profiler, John Quinn. The characters are well-written and come to life before your eyes. I am personally drawn to the strength of the female crime fighters in this book. The gruesome crimes are thankfully overshadowed by the developed and relatable characters. 

Definitely a page-turner. A dark mystery/thriller/romance that is fed to you through FBI profiler Lilah Love's eyes. FBI agent Lilah Love leads a complicated life. She's engaged to Kane Mendez, a man most call dangerous, but hey birds of a feather, do flock together. She's dangerous, too, and in ways only Kane understands. As for their happily ever after, well that might have to wait. Right now, an old enemy who should be dead is still living, Junior, her mystery letter writer, is stirring up trouble, and her family is trying to prove they're crazier than her. On top of that, she has a new case: a dead woman in a bloody wedding dress. And since Lilah knows all too well there is no such thing as coincidence, clearly, someone is sending her yet another message. If you love romantic suspense novels, secrets, and scandals with a bit of profiling… show more.

I love kids. Maybe that’s why a child in peril story pulls me in. I can feel the parents’ desperation and the urgency of the detectives. A book like this shows the terror, without any gore. Not only do we feel for the families, but the detective has her own story and personal demons. The story is full of twists, and you don’t truly know who the bad guy is until the end.

A romantic suspense with an unlikely hero with a dark, murderous past and a female FBI agent with a history that haunts her.

It is packed with action and an ending that will shock you. It’s a story of redemption, self-forgiveness, and righting wrongs. A real page-turner.

Alex Parker has become one of my all-time favorite characters. A former CIA agent and now a computer wizard is forced to kill those that escape justice to settle a debt.