📚 Nine Free Fiction Selections: Your Next Read Awaits!

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Chrissy Livingstone Three Book Set

Author: Linda Coles
FREE
Genre: British Mystery/Crime Thriller

Nearly 1000 pages of suspenseful adventure featuring private investigator Chrissy Livingstone! 📚 “Move over Agatha Christie, there’s a new dame in town,” raves one Amazon reviewer. This box set includes three complete novels following the former intelligence operative turned PI as she tackles mysteries that take her from Surrey to Santa Monica, through the French countryside, and into the secrets of a small Irish village.

Tin Men: Mysterious photos. Missing diaries. Family secrets with fatal consequences. 💔 Chrissy Livingstone grieves over her father’s sudden death, but while cleaning out his belongings, she discovers something she can’t explain: seven school-style photos of boys with the year 1987 stamped on the back. Unable to turn off her intrigue, she sets out to find them—only to discover that three of the seven have committed suicide. Tracing clues from Surrey to Santa Monica, Chrissy unearths disturbing ties between her father’s work as a financier and the victims. Will she put the past to rest, or will the sins of the father destroy her family? 😱

Walk Like You: When a major railway accident turns into a bizarre case of a missing body, this PI’s hunt for the truth takes her way off track! 🚂 Chrissy’s upper-class sister begs her to locate a friend missing after a horrific train crash. But when they dig deeper, all evidence leads to one conclusion: the woman doesn’t want to be found. With an unidentified body uncannily resembling the missing person lying unclaimed in the mortuary, the sisters follow cryptic clues through France. The mystery deepens when they learn someone else is searching—and their motive could be murder. ⚡

The Silent Ones: An abandoned child. A missing couple. A village full of secrets. 🏘️ When a couple holidaying in the small Irish village of Doolan disappear one night, leaving their child behind, Chrissy has no choice but to involve herself in the mystery. As the toddler is taken into care, it becomes apparent that in this close-knit village, the couple are not the only ones with secrets to keep. Could discovering the truth put more lives at risk? 🍀

Why I’m including this: 💪 #1 Amazon bestselling author Linda Coles writes what she calls “Great British Crime” from her home in New Zealand (with her husband, 2 cats, and 7 goats!). An English woman herself, she uses Google Earth and two UK-based editors to ensure authentic British settings and language. Chrissy Livingstone is a refreshing female detective who solves mysteries through footwork and brains rather than impossible fight scenes—she’s a former “spook” for England who now lives in London with her “McDreamy” husband Adam and two teenage sons. Perfect for fans of Dervla McTiernan, Jo Spain, and Graham Masterton who love smart heroines, quirky characters, and pages packed with suspense. At nearly 1000 pages, this set delivers incredible value! 🎯

The Mother-in-Law (Standalone Psychological Thrillers)

Author: AJ Carter
FREE
Genre: Psychological Thriller

She’s not just difficult—she might be deadly. 💀 When Diana marries into what seems like the perfect family, she’s prepared for some mother-in-law tension. But nothing could prepare her for what’s really waiting behind the polished facade of her new family. Her mother-in-law isn’t just overbearing or critical—she’s manipulative, controlling, and possibly dangerous. As Diana tries to build her new life, she realizes that her husband’s family is hiding dark secrets that could destroy everything. The more she uncovers, the more she questions: Is she being paranoid, or is her mother-in-law truly a threat? 🏠

Every interaction becomes a mind game. Every family dinner a potential trap. 🍷 And when shocking revelations come to light, Diana must decide who she can trust—because in this family, nothing is what it seems, and the person smiling at you across the table might be plotting your downfall. The twist at the end will leave you reeling! 🌀

What makes this special: 🎭 Psychological thrillers about toxic in-laws tap into universal anxieties about family dynamics, boundaries, and the people we’re forced to accept into our lives through marriage. This standalone thriller delivers the addictive, page-turning suspense that fans of The Woman in the Window and The Silent Patient crave. Perfect for readers who love unreliable narrators, family secrets, and jaw-dropping twists that make you want to immediately reread the book to catch all the clues you missed! If you’ve ever had a difficult mother-in-law (or been one!), this psychological cat-and-mouse game will have you hooked from page one. 🔥

Jude the Obscure

Author: Thomas Hardy
FREE
Genre: Classic Literature

Thomas Hardy’s final and most controversial novel remains a powerful exploration of ambition, love, and the cruel constraints of Victorian society. 💔 Jude Fawley, a poor stonemason with dreams of attending university and becoming a scholar, finds every path to education and happiness blocked by his social class and circumstances. His passionate but doomed relationship with his free-spirited cousin Sue Bridehead becomes one of literature’s most tragic love stories—a rebellion against conventional morality that society punishes mercilessly.

Hardy pulls no punches in depicting the suffocating social codes of his era. 😤 Marriage laws trap people in loveless unions. Class barriers crush intellectual aspirations. Religious hypocrisy destroys genuine faith. The novel was so controversial when published in 1895 that it was condemned as “Jude the Obscene,” and the vicious critical reception so wounded Hardy that he never wrote another novel, turning instead to poetry. The book’s frank treatment of sexuality, marriage, religion, and class made it scandalous—yet these are precisely the themes that make it feel remarkably modern. 🌟

Here’s why this matters: 📚 Hardy’s prose is gorgeous and heartbreaking, capturing both the beauty of the English countryside and the bleakness of dashed hopes. Jude is one of literature’s great tragic heroes—intelligent, hardworking, noble, yet doomed by forces beyond his control. The novel asks uncomfortable questions that remain relevant: What happens when society’s institutions (marriage, church, university) serve only the privileged? When does perseverance become futile? How do we maintain hope when systems are designed to crush it? While the novel is bleak (Hardy doesn’t do happy endings!), it’s also deeply humane, showing compassion for characters trapped in impossible situations. Essential reading for anyone interested in Victorian literature, social criticism, or simply great tragic storytelling. Perfect for fans of the Brontë sisters, George Eliot, and readers who appreciate classic literature that challenges rather than comforts. ⚡

A Mackenzie Witch: Collection 1

Author: Sonia Parin
FREE
Genre: Paranormal Cozy Mystery

Welcome to the charming world of the Mackenzie Witches! ✨ This collection introduces readers to a family of witches navigating magical mishaps, mysterious murders, and everyday challenges with humor and heart. Set in a quirky small town where magic is real but still needs to be kept relatively secret, these cozy mysteries blend supernatural elements with traditional whodunit plotting. 🏘️

Expect amateur sleuths with magical abilities who somehow keep stumbling into murder investigations! 🕵️‍♀️ The Mackenzie witches use their powers (with varying degrees of success) to solve crimes, protect their community, and deal with family drama—all while trying to live relatively normal lives. Think Charmed meets Murder, She Wrote with a generous helping of quirky humor. Magical familiars, spells that don’t quite work as planned, and bodies that inconveniently keep turning up make for entertaining reading! 🐱

Bottom line: 🌟 Paranormal cozy mysteries have exploded in popularity for readers who want their supernatural stories with less darkness and more charm. Sonia Parin writes witchy cozies with humor, heart, and just enough mystery to keep you guessing. Perfect for fans of Adele Abbott, Amanda M. Lee, and anyone who loves their murder mysteries with a magical twist. These are comfort reads that deliver gentle scares, satisfying solutions, and characters you’d want as friends (or coven members!). Ideal for readers who want page-turning mysteries without graphic violence or explicit content. 🎃

Betrothed to her Highland Enemy: Scottish Medieval Highlander Romance

Author: Fiona Faris
FREE
Genre: Historical Romance

Enemies by birth. Lovers by fate. 💕 In the wild Scottish Highlands, two powerful clans have been at war for generations. She’s the daughter of a laird, raised to hate everything his clan represents. He’s the fierce Highland warrior she’s been taught to fear. When political necessity forces an arranged marriage between them to end the bloodshed, neither expects anything but a cold, miserable union. But proximity breeds something far more dangerous than hatred... 🔥

He’s a battle-hardened warrior with a code of honor and surprising gentleness beneath his fierce exterior. 💪 She’s a strong-willed woman who refuses to be tamed, even by marriage. Their initial animosity masks a growing attraction neither wants to acknowledge. As they navigate the treacherous politics of clan alliances, external threats, and their own stubborn hearts, they discover that the line between enemy and lover is thinner than they imagined. Can they overcome generations of hatred to build a future together? Or will old wounds and new dangers destroy their chance at happiness? 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

What caught my attention: 🌟 Scottish Highland romance remains one of historical romance’s most popular subgenres—readers can’t resist kilted warriors, castle settings, and the “enemies to lovers” trope! Fiona Faris specializes in Scottish medieval romances featuring strong heroines who match their alpha heroes in courage and determination. These stories deliver the sweeping drama, historical detail, and swoony romance that fans of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander and Julie Garwood crave. Perfect for readers who love arranged marriage plots where initial resistance melts into passionate devotion, Highland settings rich with atmosphere, and couples who must overcome external conflicts while battling their own desires. If you’re looking for escapist historical romance with heat and heart, Scottish highlanders deliver every time!

The Complete Anne of Green Gables Collection

Author: L.M. Montgomery
FREE
Genre: Classic Children’s Literature/Young Adult

One of literature’s most beloved characters comes to life in this complete collection! 💚 Follow the adventures of Anne Shirley, the red-haired orphan with an enormous imagination and an even bigger heart, from her arrival at Green Gables through adulthood, motherhood, and beyond. What begins as a simple case of mistaken identity—elderly siblings Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert wanted a boy to help with farm work but got talkative Anne instead—becomes one of the most enduring coming-of-age stories ever written.

Anne transforms everyone she meets with her irrepressible spirit, dramatic flair, and determination to find beauty and romance in everyday life. 🌸 From accidentally dyeing her red hair green to breaking a slate over Gilbert Blythe’s head, from winning academic honors to navigating the complexities of friendship and first love, Anne’s journey from imaginative child to accomplished writer and beloved teacher has charmed readers for over 100 years. The series follows her through multiple books as she grows up, attends college, becomes a teacher, falls in love, marries, raises her own children, and faces the challenges of World War I. 📚

Why you’ll love this: ⭐ L.M. Montgomery’s prose is gorgeously descriptive, bringing Prince Edward Island to vivid life—you can practically smell the apple blossoms and see the “Lake of Shining Waters.” Anne herself is a proto-feminist icon: ambitious, intellectual, outspoken, and refusing to conform to expectations of what “nice girls” should be. She values education, pursues her dreams of becoming a writer, and maintains her independence even within the constraints of her era. The books beautifully capture the pains and joys of growing up, the importance of found family, and the power of imagination. While written for young readers, these novels resonate at any age—themes of belonging, ambition, friendship, loss, and resilience are universal. The series has inspired countless adaptations, from the beloved 1985 Canadian miniseries to Netflix’s Anne with an E. Perfect for fans of Little Women, anyone who loves classic coming-of-age stories, and readers seeking comfort reads that celebrate kindness, intelligence, and joie de vivre. Anne’s declaration that she’d “rather be a little Anne Shirley with her own imagination than any other girl in the world” speaks to the dreamer in all of us! 🌟

Passage to Inis Mór: Could a Legend Save a Life?

Author: Brian O’Raleigh
FREE
Genre: Irish Fiction/Literary Fiction

A haunting tale of myth, memory, and the power of stories to heal and transform. 🌊 When a man in crisis travels to Inis Mór, the largest of Ireland’s Aran Islands, he’s searching for something he can’t quite name—peace, perhaps, or answers, or simply escape from a life that’s fallen apart. On this windswept island where ancient legends still feel alive and the past is never truly past, he encounters stories that blur the line between myth and reality. Could the old tales of saints, selkies, and sacred wells hold the key to saving not just his life, but his soul? 🏴

The island itself becomes a character—its stark limestone landscapes, its fierce Atlantic winds, its stubborn beauty, and its people who carry centuries of tradition in their bones. 🪨 As he listens to the stories, walks the ancient paths, and confronts his own demons, the boundaries between past and present, legend and truth, begin to dissolve. Irish mythology weaves through personal crisis, suggesting that sometimes the old wisdom holds truths that modern life has forgotten. ✨

Here’s the deal: 🍀 Irish literature has a unique ability to blend the mystical with the mundane, treating folklore not as quaint superstition but as living truth that shapes how people understand the world. O’Raleigh writes in this tradition, using the Aran Islands’ dramatic setting and rich legendary heritage to explore universal themes of healing, redemption, and the search for meaning. Perfect for readers who love Irish settings, literary fiction with mythological elements, and stories that explore how our struggles connect to timeless human experiences. If you were moved by books like The Secret of Roan Inish, John McGahern’s work, or Sebastian Barry’s novels, this exploration of legend’s power to illuminate modern life will resonate deeply. For anyone drawn to Ireland’s wild western coast and the idea that ancient stories might still have something vital to teach us. 🌅

Sojourn (Time Rovers Book 1)

Author: Jana Oliver
FREE
Genre: Time Travel/Science Fiction Romance

Welcome to Victorian London... but not the one you think you know. 🎩 In the near future, time travel is real, regulated, and used primarily by historians and corporations mining the past for profit. Cyntha “Jacynda” Lassiter is a Rover—a time traveler for hire who journeys into the past for clients, carefully navigating the complexities of not disrupting the timeline. But when she’s hired for what should be a routine trip to 1888 London during the Jack the Ripper murders, everything goes catastrophically wrong. 🔪

Stranded in Victorian London with her equipment malfunctioning and unable to return to her own time, Jacynda must survive in an era that’s far more dangerous than tourists realize. 🌫️ Worse, she’s not alone—another time traveler is in 1888, and he’s changing history in ways that could unravel the future itself. As she races to stop him while dodging both the Ripper’s blade and suspicious Victorians, she finds an unexpected ally in a handsome police inspector who’s far more perceptive than she’d like. The stakes couldn’t be higher: fix the timeline or lose everything and everyone she’s ever known. 🕰️

What pulled me in: 💫 Jana Oliver combines meticulous historical research with high-stakes time travel adventure and a slow-burn romance that doesn’t overwhelm the plot. The Victorian London setting is richly detailed—this is no romanticized costume drama but a gritty, historically accurate portrayal of both the era’s glamour and its horrors. The time travel mechanics are well thought out, with real consequences for changes to the timeline. Jacynda is a capable, intelligent heroine who uses her wits rather than luck to survive, and the mystery of who’s changing history and why keeps the pages turning. Perfect for fans of Outlander (time travel romance with historical detail), The Time Traveler’s Wife (romance across time), and anyone who loves Victorian settings, Jack the Ripper mysteries, and science fiction that takes its premise seriously. The first in a series, so if you love the time-traveling adventures and the world-building, there’s more to explore! ⚡

An Eye for an Eye: A British Crime Thriller (Summary Justice series Book 1)

Author: Theo Harris
FREE
Genre: British Crime Thriller

Justice is blind. Revenge never is. ⚖️ When a brutal crime goes unpunished due to legal technicalities, someone decides to take justice into their own hands. A vigilante is operating in Britain, carefully selecting victims—criminals who escaped conviction, perpetrators who got away with horrific acts due to procedural errors, witness intimidation, or clever lawyers. The kills are methodical, calculated, and send a chilling message: the law may have failed, but justice will not. 🎯

Detective [protagonist] is assigned to catch this vigilante, but the case quickly becomes personal. 😤 The victims may be criminals, but murder is murder—or is it? As the body count rises and public opinion swings between horror and secret approval, the detective must navigate moral gray areas while racing to identify the killer before they strike again. But what happens when catching the vigilante means protecting the guilty? And what if some of those “escaped” criminals deserved what they got? The line between justice and vengeance blurs dangerously as the investigation unfolds. 🌀

Why this one stands out: 🔥 British crime thrillers have dominated the genre for decades, and the “vigilante justice” premise taps into universal frustrations with legal systems that sometimes seem to favor criminals over victims. Theo Harris writes in the tradition of gritty British noir, where the rain never stops, the tea flows endlessly, and moral certainty is always in short supply. The “Summary Justice” series title suggests ongoing exploration of extrajudicial punishment and the ethics of revenge. Perfect for fans of Ian Rankin, Val McDermid, and anyone who loves crime thrillers that make you question your own moral compass. The first in a series, so readers can follow the detective through multiple cases exploring different aspects of justice, revenge, and the law’s limitations. If you love British crime procedurals with philosophical depth, this is your book! ☕

The Portrait of a Lady

Author: Henry James
FREE
Genre: Classic Literature

One of the great masterworks of American literature and a penetrating psychological portrait of a young woman’s journey from innocence to hard-won wisdom. 💔 Isabel Archer is a beautiful, intelligent, and fiercely independent young American woman who inherits a fortune, giving her the freedom to shape her own destiny—a rare thing for women in the 1870s. Rejecting conventional marriage proposals, she’s determined to experience life on her own terms and see the world. But freedom proves more complicated than she imagined. 🌍

Traveling through Europe with her wealthy aunt, Isabel encounters a gallery of characters: charming Americans, calculating expatriates, British aristocrats, and mysterious cosmopolitans. 🇮🇹 When she falls under the spell of the sophisticated Gilbert Osmond, an American aesthetic living in Florence, she makes a choice that will define—and nearly destroy—her life. James’s novel is a devastating exploration of how innocence can be exploited, how money corrupts, and how the prison of a bad marriage can be more confining than any physical jail. Isabel’s gradual awakening to the manipulation she’s suffered is both painful and powerful. ⚡

Here’s why this matters: 📚 Henry James is a master of psychological realism, and this is perhaps his greatest achievement. Published in 1881, the novel tackles themes that remain urgent: female autonomy, the corrupting influence of wealth, American versus European values, and the question of what constitutes a “successful” life. Isabel is a complex, flawed heroine—her independence mingles with naïveté, her high-mindedness with blindness. James’s prose is dense and demanding (he doesn’t do simple sentences!), but rewards careful reading with extraordinary insights into human psychology and motivation. The famous ending, where Isabel makes a controversial choice, has sparked debate for over 140 years about whether she’s being noble or foolish, trapped or free. Essential reading for anyone interested in literary fiction, feminist literature before feminism had a name, or simply great character studies. Perfect for fans of Edith Wharton, George Eliot, and readers who appreciate novels where the action happens primarily in characters’ minds and hearts rather than through external events. This is literature with a capital L—beautiful, challenging, and unforgettable. 🌟

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