Book picks similar to
Dare to Love My Grumpy Boss by Ellie Hall
romance
contemporary
romcom
ku-tbr
Battle Royal
Lucy Parker - 2021
Her ingenious, colorful creations captivated viewers and intrigued all but one of the judges, Dominic De Vere, the hottest pastry chef in London. When her glittery unicorn cake went spectacularly sideways, Dominic was quick to vote her off the show. Since then, Sylvie has managed to use her fame to help fulfill her dream of opening a bakery, Sugar Fair. The toast of Instagram, Sugar Fair has captured the attention of the Operation Cake producers…and a princess.Set…Dominic is His Majesty the King’s favorite baker, the go-to for sweet-toothed A-List celebrities, and a veritable British institution. He’s brilliant, talented, hard-working. And an icy, starchy grouch. Learning that the irksome Sylvie will be joining him on the Operation Cake judging panel is enough to make the famously dour baker even more grim. Her fantastical baking is only slightly more troublesome than the fact that he can’t stop thinking about her pink-streaked hair and irrepressible dimple.Match…When Dominic and Sylvie learn they will be fighting for the once in a lifetime opportunity to bake a cake for the upcoming wedding of Princess Rose, the flour begins to fly as they’re both determined to come out on top.The bride adores Sylvie’s quirky style. The palace wants Dominic’s classic perfection.In this royal battle, can there be room for two?
Twisted Love
Ana Huang - 2021
Alex Volkov is a devil blessed with the face of an angel and cursed with a past he can’t escape. Driven by a tragedy that has haunted him for most of his life, his ruthless pursuits for success and vengeance leave little room for matters of the heart. But when he’s forced to look after his best friend’s sister, he starts to feel something in his chest:A crack.A melt.A fire that could end his world as he knew it.***Ava Chen is a free spirit trapped by nightmares of a childhood she can’t remember.But despite her broken past, she’s never stopped seeing the beauty in the world…including the heart beneath the icy exterior of a man she shouldn’t want. Her brother’s best friend. Her neighbor.Her savior and her downfall.Theirs is a love that was never supposed to happen—but when it does, it unleashes secrets that could destroy them both…and everything they hold dear.
Twisted Love is a brother’s best friend/opposites attract romance with a hint of suspense. It's book one in the Twisted series but can be read as a standalone.WARNING: This book contains a possessive, morally gray alphahole; explicit sexual content, and profanity. No cheating or menage, but if you're looking for a traditionally sweet, loveable hero, this is not the book for you. Recommended for 18+.
Petal Plucker
Iris Morland - 2019
No man has hosed my hyacinth. Fondled my freesia. Diddled my daffodil.You get the point.My excuse?I was too busy running my family’s flower shop and winning floral design competitions.Suddenly that whole pesky virginity thing becomes a big deal when Jacob West walks back into my life. The boy I once loved. The same boy who humiliated me when he stood me up for prom.This Jacob is no boy, though: he’s all man now—confident, charming, and so sexy my metaphorical blossoms are getting scorched. I can almost forget I’m supposed to hate him forever. Almost.To make things worse, he’s my main competition now, since he took over his parents’ flower shop. If I give into this sizzling attraction between us, it could jeopardize everything I’ve worked so hard to achieve.But if I’m not careful, he might not just be the first man to pluck my petals—he might also be the only man to capture my heart.
Moti on the Water
Leylah Attar - 2019
An Indian family. A summer wedding on the Aegean coast…Meet Moti Ferreira—spectacularly jinxed from the day she’s born.Saddled with an eccentric mother, she stumbles upon the one man who holds the key to her freedom—the best man at her cousin’s upcoming wedding.All Moti has to do is overcome her fear of water, board a yacht to the Greek Isles, seduce the dreamy Nikos Manolas, and survive two weeks at sea with her oddball family.The only obstacle Moti doesn’t see coming is Alexandros Veronis, the onboard chef and star witness to her awkward mishaps. He transforms onions into chocolate and aroma into nostalgia. Day by day, his alchemy works its magic on Moti. But she’s not the only one falling under his spell. Everyone has a secret, growing round and ripe at Chef Alex’s table. When the masks fall off, they spill out one by one, and everything blows up in their faces.Now Moti’s truth is exposed, and worse, she’s hooked on more than Alex's midnight snacks. But this time, screwing up could be the best thing she’s ever done…
The Wedding Ringer
Kerry Rea - 2021
But after finding her fiancé in bed with her best friend, she now spends her days performing at children's birthday parties in a ball gown that makes her look like a walking bottle of Pepto Bismol. Willa dreams of starting fresh, where no one knows who she used to be, but first she needs to save up enough money to make it happen.Maisie Mitchell needs something too: another bridesmaid for her wedding. After a chance encounter at a coffee shop, Maisie offers to pay Willa to be in her bridal party. Willa wants nothing to do with weddings--or Maisie--but the money will give her the freedom to start the new life she so badly desires.Willa's bridesmaid duties thrust her into Maisie's high-energy world and into the path of hotshot doctor Liam Rafferty. But as Willa and Maisie form a real friendship, and Liam's annoyingly irresistible smile makes her reconsider her mantra that all men are trash, Willa's exit strategy becomes way more complicated. And when a secret from Maisie's past threatens to derail the wedding, Willa must consider whether friendship--and romance--are worth sticking around for.
Dating Season Bundle 1
Laurelin Paige - 2021
And another.I’m on the wrong side of my quarter-life crisis. Dead-end job, lease ending, and single af. It’s made all the harder by knowing exactly who the perfect man for me is: my super hot, incredibly kind, and extremely taken friend Austin. What’s a girl to do but drown her troubles in pinot and let her bestie open her an account on a dating app?Spring is for new beginnings, and Finn’s abs are a perfect introduction to dating.Boulder is starting to thaw, seeds are being planted, and I am determined that I will sprout this season too. Starting with one particularly muscular, earnest trainer:First I get to enjoy his rock-hard body.Then he’ll help me get one of my own.It’ll end with a different kind of rock altogether.All I have to do is become the kind of girl who doesn’t mostly just rock paint-stained pajamas.Summer is for throwing caution to the wind, and Dune’s a bad boy that lives for danger. Colorado is heating up, much like my newly re-discovered libido, and I’m hoping like hell that my new blind date’s hot, too. Fate ( and my bestie) truly deliver a doozy: He rides motorcycles.His tattoos are insanely hot.The mystery of his life is all but unsolvable. This good girl is about to get a little bit bolder in search of truth, justice, and a rebellious phase.
Very Bad Things
Ilsa Madden-Mills - 2013
And why wouldn't they? Valedictorian of her class and a Texas beauty queen, she's well on her way to Princeton after kissing everyone goodbye at graduation.Until the day she cracks wide open in front of the entire school.Leo Tate is a tattooed bad boy who's sworn to never fall in love, especially with a high school girl.But she keeps showing up at his gym, wearing short skirts and tempting him with her list of bad things.He wants to resist her, but with one touch of her lips, forbidden love has never tasted so sweet.Welcome to Briarwood Academy . . . where sometimes, the best things in life are Very Bad Things.*Mature Content**Author’s note: Each book in the BW series is written as a stand-alone love story following a new couple, but you’ll enjoy reading the other titles and seeing familiar faces return.1: VERY BAD THINGS (Nora and Leo)2: VERY WICKED THINGS (Dovey and Cuba)3. VERY TWISTED THINGS (Violet and Sebastian)
Snowfall and Secrets
Kierra Quinn - 2016
She needs to find someplace to lay low and hide from her overbearing family. Mackinac Island, Michigan, should be the perfect place to hide out. However, her timing is a little off, it's the dead of winter and she's never been in temperatures below fifty degrees. Just her luck, her landlord, Lukas, is as hot as the sun. He's also moody and hiding secrets as well. Which suits Tess fine. A man is the last complication she needs. A Michigan blizzard leaves them trapped in the same house together and things heat up, fast. Tess finds herself falling for Lukas, in spite of the secrets that could ruin everything before it even begins.
Dating Dr. Dil
Nisha Sharma - 2022
Dil features a love-phobic TV doctor who must convince a love-obsessed homebody they are destined to be together. Kareena Mann dreams of having a love story like her parents, but she prefers restoring her classic car to swiping right on dating apps. When her father announces he’s selling her mother’s home, Kareena makes a deal with him: he’ll gift her the house if she can get engaged in four months. Her search for her soulmate becomes impossible when her argument with Dr. Prem Verma, host of The Dr. Dil Show, goes viral. Now the only man in her life is the one she doesn’t want.Dr. Prem Verma is dedicated to building a local community health center, but he needs to get donors with deep pockets. The Dr. Dil Show was doing just that, until his argument with Kareena went viral, and he’s left short changed. That’s when Kareena’s meddling aunties presented him with a solution: convince Kareena he’s her soulmate and they’ll fund his clinic. Even though they have conflicting views on love-matches and arranged-matches, the more time Prem spends with Kareena, the more he begins to believe she’s the woman he wants to spend the rest of his life with. But for Prem and Kareena to find their happily ever after, they must admit that hate has turned into fate.
Well Met
Jen DeLuca - 2019
Yet on the faire grounds he becomes a different person, flirting freely with Emily when she's in her revealing wench's costume. But is this attraction real, or just part of the characters they're portraying?This summer was only ever supposed to be a pit stop on the way to somewhere else for Emily, but soon she can't seem to shake the fantasy of establishing something more with Simon, or a permanent home of her own in Willow Creek.
The Trouble with Flying
Rochelle Morgan - 2014
Aiden won’t shut up. When they find themselves next to each other on a plane, unexpected sparks begin to fly …- - -Sarah doesn’t talk to strangers. It’s awkward, stressful, and there’s the uncontrollable blushing to worry about. When she boards a plane to fly home after an overseas holiday, she plans to stick her nose in a book and ignore everyone around her.Aiden’s terrified of flying, and it’s his first time on a plane. If he can distract himself by talking non-stop for the entire flight, he will. Too bad for Sarah he’s sitting right next to her.Against all Sarah’s expectations, she ends up enjoying Aiden’s company. They laugh, argue, concoct stories about other passengers, and accidentally hold hands during the turbulence. When the time comes to say goodbye, Sarah can’t help the crazy thought that she shouldn’t let Aiden go. Then he kisses her.And then he’s gone.With her world turning upside down in more ways than one, Sarah has to make a decision: stick with the safe, predictable life that’s been mapped out for her, or find the courage to go after what she truly wants.- - -Nominated as an InD’tale RONE Award Finalist in 2015, The Trouble with Flying is a sweet, clean contemporary romance that can be read as a standalone novel.
Just a Fling
Charity Ferrell - 2017
He’s her new bodyguard. He didn't plan for her to offer no-strings attached sex with his employment.
Business has officially mixed with pleasure.
StellaAfter going through a messy public breakup, I've sworn off dating. That pact changes when my new bodyguard walks through the front door. Hudson is nothing like the men in the industry.He's callous, cold, and doesn't want to spend a second longer with me than he has to.All that changes when I start to defrost his iciness and find the real man hidden inside.HudsonI want nothing to do with the Hollywood life. Having my face plastered on magazine covers does not sound like a good time. This job is temporary and was taken as a favor to my brother taking care of his sick wife. My problem? I get to know the real Stella, not the woman seen on TV. I try to fight my attraction and keep our relationship professional until she lays an offer on the table: sex while I'm here and then we go our separate ways.How can I say no to that?(Just Her Bodyguard was previously titled as Make Me Yours.)
Lost & Found
Nicole Williams - 2013
And there’s Rowen Sterling.After numbing pain for the past five years with boys, alcohol, and all-around apathy, she finds herself on a Greyhound bus to nowhere Montana the summer after she graduates high school. Her mom agreed to front the bill to Rowen’s dream art school only if Rowen proves she can work hard and stay out of trouble at Willow Springs Ranch. Cooking breakfast at the crack of dawn for a couple dozen ranch hands and mucking out horse stalls are the last things in the world Rowen wants to spend her summer doing.Until Jesse Walker saunters into her life wearing a pair of painted-on jeans, a cowboy hat, and a grin that makes something in her chest she’d thought was frozen go boom-boom. Jesse’s like no one else, and certainly nothing like her. He’s the bright and shiny to her dark and jaded.Rowen knows there’s no happily-ever-after for the golden boy and the rebel girl—happily-right-now is a stretch—so she tries to forget and ignore the boy who makes her feel things she’s not sure she’s ready to feel. But the more she pushes him away, the closer he seems to get. The more she convinces herself she doesn’t care, the harder she falls.When her dark secrets refuse to stay locked behind the walls she’s kept up for years, Rowen realizes it’s not just everyone else she needs to be honest with. It’s herself.
Just the Essentials
Shari L. Tapscott - 2015
But when she arrives, she finds a patchy roof, a death-trap deck, and rosebushes that threaten to swallow her whole. Just when Kinsley's ready to cut her losses and return home, she meets Jack—the local handyman with hazel eyes and a wicked smirk. Thinking Jack is precisely the meaningless summer distraction she needs, Kinsley resolves to rough it in the cabin despite its current lack of water, electricity, Internet, cell phone service, and heat. But soon Kinsley realizes that Jack isn’t distraction material. He might just end up being something a little more essential…
Unforgettable
S.B. Alexander - 2019
She’s the daughter of a Texas senator. Their chemistry is like oil and water. My name is Ryker James. I hate when people tell me what to do. I’m cocky, ornery, and I take things when I want them. Caring isn’t in my vocabulary unless it’s related to football or my family, and I just lost my entire family in a blink of an eye.Now all I have is football. The problem is the misery, the drinking, and the parties have more appeal to me. But Lakemont University wants that championship. Fans want to see wins on the scoreboard, and my teammates salivate to crush our opponents every game. Yet the only pass I might be throwing is at the auburn-haired girl who waltzes into my life. She’s fire. I’m ice. A combination that doesn’t work. So let the games begin.My name is Haven Hale, and I’ve been tucked away in a boarding school most of my life. Now I’m a big-time college girl, and all I see is freedom in front of me. But first, I have to agree to my father’s demands—no media attention and no sororities. If I can follow those two edicts, then college life should be a breeze. Until one close encounter with Ryker James, and Father Dearest has changed the game. Stay away from the big, bad quarterback, or face my father’s wrath. There’s only one problem. I can’t help who I’m attracted to.And Ryker James is a magnet, built to attract any female, constructed to make any girl’s heart sputter, and my heart is beating off the charts. But it’s time to choose between the devil I know and the one I don’t.