Showing results by publisher "Hachette UK - Bookouture" in Psychological

Emma and I were inseparable. Growing up, we did everything together. Until the unspeakable night that everything changed. So I ran away—from my mom, my sister, everything I knew, and Emma and I haven’t spoken since. My sister, Lily, was at the beach that night too. She hasn’t been able to utter a single word since. That was 10 years ago. Now, Mom and Lily need my help, and I realize I can’t run from the past forever. I’m ready to talk to Emma, ready to try to move on.

One tropical island. Four couples. They believe they’re on a TV show to save their marriages. But the people behind the cameras know all their secrets. They’re going to be revealed, one by one. Because everyone has something to hide…

Some people think I’m jealous of my sister, but it isn’t true. I love her confidence; her free spirit. She’s the reckless one in the family, always wearing skimpy clothes and posting her life on social media. I prefer reading, walking my rescue dog and early nights in my New York apartment. It’s not that I meant to keep her a secret from my boyfriend, Bradley, but she just didn’t come up in conversation.

We were the perfect family once. Shep, my handsome husband. My darling little boy… and our tiny baby girl. The night she died I lost everything. I know without a shadow of a doubt that I would never, ever have hurt her. I was trying to save her. But nobody believed me. So, I can only watch through the rain-streaked window as Shep’s new girlfriend plays mother to my son. Hugs him, holds him. Does he even remember me? Now I am finally out of the hospital, I will make sure everyone knows what really happened. I will get my son back. The doctors might say my nightmares are dangerous…

My sister died. Her friends lied. And now that I’ve brought them all together, I’m going to learn the truth....

Ethan gently squeezes my hand as he slides the golden ring onto my finger. But I know we aren’t worthy of happiness. As I look down at my wedding ring, in a blistering flash, I suddenly remember another piece of that pitch-black, rainy night… but I try to focus on Ethan’s gorgeous blue eyes. I know exactly what he’s thinking. We can never tell. All our family, friends and loved ones smile as they watch Ethan and I promise to be together until death us do part. But only we know what that really means…Because we have already killed someone.

All Ria ever wanted was a family. Growing up alone in foster care, she imagined just how it would be. So when she fell in love with Grayson and had their daughter Shelley, she was determined to make his family love her too. Until one morning, Grayson leaves the house for work and never comes home. Left to raise Shelley alone, Ria is forced to turn to her husband’s family, to let her intimidating mother-in-law into her life, allow her to babysit Shelley, and accept her financial support. But Ria is about to learn that every Parker wife has secrets.

I wake on the sofa, my head throbbing. Why did I fall asleep here? In the darkness, I make my way to my bedroom. I know immediately something is wrong. The sheets I tucked in so carefully this morning are rumpled, disturbed. I turn on the lights. And then I scream. There’s a body in my bed. And I know this man: We went on two dates together. Who could have killed him? And how did he get into this house? Only two people have a key: me and my ex-husband, Matthew. I cast my mind desperately back to last night, to the last few painful months.

Since Katie’s dad left, it’s just been the two of us, but we’re a team – singing in the kitchen at cheesy pop songs, tackling her homework. My teenage daughter is everything to me. But one night, as we’re curled up in front of the TV, the messages start. I keep my phone away from Katie so she can’t see the terrifying words: I know what you did. Now you’re going to do something for me....

It's a warm, cloudless morning on the day the envelope arrives for Daisy. Soft sunlight streams into the apartment she shares with her partner, Anderson, who is sleeping peacefully. Daisy's fought hard for this happiness, worked her way up from being a vulnerable teenage runaway to a woman with a stable job and a loving boyfriend.

Every Monday, I meet my writing group in a warm, lively bar to drink a glass of wine or two and share our work. It’s the highlight of my week. I don’t go out much, otherwise. For the last ten years, every time I’ve relaxed, the messages have started again. The black hearts. They’re a warning to remember, as if I could ever forget. Whoever sent them wants to hurt me. They’ve lost me jobs and boyfriends. Is it any wonder I like to hide in fiction?

Whisper Falls is a fresh start for Madison and her fiancé Cooper. The safe, quiet town on the shores of a beautiful lake is the perfect place to spend the rest of their lives. But then Madison learns that Cooper’s high school girlfriend Celia disappeared after a party. Three days later, her body was found in the lake. And the town thinks it wasn’t an accident. Madison loves Cooper, but she can’t help wondering. She has to know the truth. But if she starts asking questions, what other secrets will be revealed? Will she meet the same fate as the woman who came before her?

We danced together that night, our dresses glittering in the swirling lights. We couldn’t have known that for one of us, it would be our last night alive. Back in my hometown a decade later—the place I’ve avoided because of the memories—I can’t shake the feeling that I am being followed. I tell myself it’s all in my head, but the prickle on the back of my neck feels like a warning. Then the anonymous messages land in my inbox: I’m watching. I’ve been waiting for you.

I stand at the very edge of the cliff face, looking at the roaring ocean below my feet. I’m in no danger; in fact, my husband and his sister talk just feet away from me, watching my every move. Since the car accident, I’ve struggled to remember a lot of important things in my life, like giving birth to my daughter, Violet. Or how perfect my marriage is. As I stare at the expanse of blue before me, I have a flashback to the crash—a detail so small it might seem insignificant to some, but to me it’s everything. So why is it so different from what everyone is telling me?

Everyone thinks my life is bliss. The love of my life, Cary, and I live in our dream home and we have a beautiful little girl, Harper. I may not have given birth to her, but I’m her mommy now. But there’s one thing we never talk about… Cary’s wife before me, Presley, was perfect in every way. But she went missing a long time ago. Cary was distraught when he told me how she was abducted from her car, leaving behind a pool of blood. No one saw a thing. The neighbors are always gossiping about Presley. I try to ignore them, but one day I hear something that makes my stomach flip.

Maura was perfect. A perfect liar. One humid summer evening, Officer Maura Walsh is lead to her table at a local restaurant - it’s a trendy place with cocktails on the menu, full of office workers leaning across the bar to flirt. She’s prettier than most of the women here, but everybody gives her a wide berth. She doesn’t eat or drink anything. She doesn’t meet anyone’s eye. An hour later, Maura is dead. Her silky red hair swirls in the dirty puddles beneath her body. The dank walls of a forgotten alley are the last thing she ever saw.

My stomach flutters as I try on my shimmering wedding dress with my two closest friends. In just a few weeks I'm going to marry the man of my dreams. I can't believe the next time Nathan sees me it'll be when I walk down the aisle. I've never told him my real name, and I hate lying to him. But it's for his own good, and nobody could love him more than me. I've been through so much; don't I deserve this happiness?

I haven’t spoken to my mother or sisters in years, but everything changes when I lose my husband. And I know it’s finally time to tell them why I’ve pushed them away. But as I approach my childhood home, my heart drops at the sight of police tape across the porch, and it shatters when I’m told my mother’s body has been recovered from the lake behind the house. I’m too late. Pushing all our differences aside, my sisters and I desperately search her house for answers. But something isn’t right. Her clothes are missing, and everything is covered in a thick layer of dust.

I finally have everything I’ve ever wanted: a career saving lives, my dream home among the pines, and my caring fiancé, Elton. He doesn’t know about my past. And I’ll do anything to keep it that way....

Working as a marriage counselor, I’m used to the tragedies that come out of nowhere. People trust me to help them through life’s big moments. The things that leave you questioning everything you thought you knew about the person you love the most. But I never thought trouble would land on my own doorstep. As I start to piece together our last conversation desperate for any clues I can find, the cop standing in front of me reveals that my husband never told his coworkers he was married. He was seemingly living a double life right in front of me.