Book picks similar to
Kept: A Second Chance Fairy Tale by A.C. Bextor
contemporary
contemporary-romance
romance
standalone
Stay
Tia Louise - 2019
He’s arrogant. He’s smart as a whip and sexy AF. He has too much money. He’s bossy, and he’s usually right. All I saw were his clear blue eyes, tight butt, and ripped torso. I gladly handed him my V-card that night, ten years ago. I was so stupid. I swore I’d never be that stupid again… Emmy Barton works for a dry cleaner? Yes, that Emmy Barton—long, blonde hair, bright blue eyes, pretty smile… Sexy little body. Smart mouth. She was the only girl who interested me, but I was leaving to be an officer in the Navy. Now I’m home, running my business. My life is perfectly ordered until I bump into her, divorced and struggling to make ends meet. I hate seeing her like this. I hate that she married Burt “The Dick” Dickerson. What an a--hole. She says she hates me, but when we fight, it’s all heat and lust. I won’t leave her this way. She will let me help her and her son. She will stay… It’s a thin line between love and hate, and
this line is on fire.
(STAY is a STAND-ALONE enemies-to-lovers, second-chance, marriage of convenience romance. No cheating. No cliffhangers.)
The Truth about Heartbreak
B. Celeste - 2019
The guy I could never touch.Then one night changed everything for us. But there was one huge problem.He belonged to her.
Waterfall Effect
K.K. Allen - 2018
Allen comes a new and suspenseful small town mountain romance.Lost in the shadows of a tragedy that stripped Aurora June of everything she once loved, she’s back in the small town of Balsam Grove, North Carolina, ready to face all she’s kept locked away for seven years. Or so she thinks.As one of the victims of a string of mysterious disappearances in the small, picturesque Appalachian Mountain town, darkness has become her home—her safe blanket when the world reveals its true colors. But as the walls of darkness start to move in on her, she knows the only way to free herself from her past is to face it, head-on. She just needs to figure out how.Upon arrival, Aurora isn’t expecting her first collision to be with the boy she left all those years ago. The boy who betrayed her trust with no regrets. The boy who is no longer a boy, but a man with the same stormy eyes that swept her into his current before she ever learned to swim.She’d thought he was safe. He’d thought their path was mapped out. Turns out neither of them was ready for the crash at the bottom of the cascade.
Dangerous Temptations
Brooke Cumberland - 2015
To society, I was the girl only after his money. I was the party-goer who managed to seduce a man twice my age to have the lifestyle some could only dream of. I was every magazine’s cliché of what a gold-digging whore was.I wanted to prove them wrong—that our love was real and that I wasn’t that girl.But then everything changed. One wrong decision. One unfaithful night. One haunting reality.Perhaps they were right. The media didn’t see it coming... and neither did I. This is a stand alone romance suspense novel with no cliffhanger. HEA depends on who you ask. Recommended for readers 18 and up due to strong language and explicit sexual content.
The Best Thing
Mariana Zapata - 2019
Other things… not so much. Lenny DeMaio made herself a promise: she was done. Done thinking about him. Done worrying about him. Done reaching out to a man who clearly didn’t want to be found. Too bad no one gave Jonah Collins the memo.
Mourning Wood
Heather M. Orgeron - 2021
Keeping my growing feelings tucked away should be a piece of cake. Except, seeing him every day definitely throws a wrench in that plan.Before I know it, we’re trading favors for dates, and as much I don’t want to admit it, the feelings for him I thought were dead and buried are taking root and growing into something that looks a lot like love.
Daigle Family Funeral Services… don’t be caught dead any place else.
Destroyed
Pepper Winters - 2014
Not broken or ruined or running from a past I can’t face. Just complicated. I thought my life couldn’t get any more tangled in deceit and confusion. But I hadn’t met him. I hadn't realized how far I could fall or what I'd do to get free. He has a secret.I’ve never pretended to be good or deserving. I chase who I want, do what I want, act how I want.I didn’t have time to lust after a woman I had no right to lust after. I told myself to shut up and stay hidden. But then she tried to run. I’d tasted what she could offer me and damned if I would let her go.One secret destroys them.
Thicker Than Water
Dylan Allen - 2017
Her book, Throw Away the Key has taken the country by storm. And now it’s being made into a movie. After years of chasing it, she can finally taste freedom. Reece Carras is one of the most powerful men in Hollywood. Handsome, rich and generous, he’s everything girls like her aren’t supposed to dream of. But dream she does. And in his strong arms she finds a freedom she never even knew existed. Falling in love was the easy part… Cruel twists of fate and torn loyalties will make staying together seem impossible. Sacrifices will have to be made. And they will learn that blood may be thicker than water, but nothing is more powerful than two hearts that beat for each other.
Rock Bottom Girl
Lucy Score - 2019
Not much has changed in Culpepper. The cool kids are still cool. Now they just own car dealerships and live in McMansions next door. Oh, and the whole town is still talking about that Homecoming she ruined her senior year. Desperate for a new start, Marley accepts a temporary teaching position. Can the girl banned from all future Culpepper High Homecomings keep the losing-est girls soccer team in school history from killing each other and prevent carpal tunnel in a bunch of phone-clutching gym class students? Maybe with the help of Jake Weston, high school bad boy turned sexy good guy. When the school rumor mill sends Marley to the principal’s office to sign an ethics contract, the tattooed track coach, dog dad, and teacher of the year becomes her new fake boyfriend and alibi—for a price. The Deal: He’ll teach her how to coach if she teaches him how to be in a relationship. Who knew a fake boyfriend could deliver such real orgasms? But it’s all temporary. The guy. The job. The team. There’s too much history. Rock bottom can’t turn into a foundation for happily ever after. Can it? Warning: Story also includes a meet-puke, a bouffanted nemesis, a yard swan and donkey basketball, a teenage-orchestrated makeover, and a fake relationship that gets a little too real between the sheets.
Don't Make Me Beautiful
Elle Casey - 2013
If you liked the movie "Sleeping With the Enemy", then you might like this story too. No one knew a woman lived there or that she even existed. A monster, living in darkness...At twenty-two, Nicole doesn't even look human anymore. The beast made sure of that. So she hides. A monster, consigned to a life of fear and solitude. This is all she deserves, she is quite sure of that. And then one day out of the blue, the autographed baseball caught by Brian Jensen at the latest Marlins game enters her prison and manages to turn her world completely upside down.Temptation comes in the form of pity at first, and then perhaps something more. Does she dare to believe the things she's told, that this is not the life she was meant to live? That being a monster is not her forever-fate? And will she be willing to risk everything, to reach out and accept the helping hands around her and share her deepest, darkest secrets? She knows only too well that hands can hurt. Finding out whether they can also heal is a risky proposition, especially when the beast is still out there. Looking for her.Content warning: Violence, foul language, and adult situations. Not meant for younger readers. A note from Elle about this book: A really long time ago, I read an article in a newspaper or a magazine (I haven’t been able to locate the original) about a woman who was so badly beaten over a long period of time, she couldn’t leave her house. I thought about that woman a lot over the years and about what her thoughts might have been, her fears, her reality … and this book was my attempt to both exorcise those thoughts from my brain and also shed some light on a subject —domestic violence— that I feel should never be left in darkness.
The Player Next Door
K.A. Tucker - 2020
With a teaching job secured and an adorable fixer-upper to call home, things in her life are finally looking up.That is, until she finds out that Shane Beckett lives next door.Shane Beckett, the handsome and charismatic high school star quarterback who smashed her heart. The lying, cheating player who was supposed to be long gone, living the pro football dream and fooling women into thinking he's Prince Charming. Shane Beckett, who is as attractive as ever and flashing his dimples at her as if he has done no wrong.Scarlet makes it abundantly clear that old wounds have not been forgotten. Neighbors they may be, but friends they most certainly are not. She won't allow herself to fall for the single father and firefighter again, no matter how many apologies he offers, how many times he rushes to her aid, or how hard he makes her heart pound.But as she spends more time with him, she begins to fear that maybe she's wrong. Maybe Shane has changed.And maybe this time she's the one playing herself—out of a chance at true happiness.
Serenading Heartbreak
Ella Fields - 2019
A lead singer in their band.A picture of rugged perfection. And a drunk soul mate who couldn’t commit.My second love was an arrogant baseball player.A player in every sense of the word.A smooth-talking, reliable best friend. And a chance at something beautiful and true.The problem with having a first and second love? That would be loving them at the same time. My story isn’t some sexy triangle. It’s exquisite agony.Fate gave me two men to love, but none of us knew which one I could keep.
Beautifully Damaged
L.A. Fiore - 2012
A little tomboyish from being raised by her father, Ember packs a punch when a stranger gets pushy with her in a bar, catching the steely blue eyes of a tall, gorgeous tattooed man—Trace Montgomery. Still damaged from her last disastrous relationship and warned off the bad boy by friends, Ember fights the smoldering heat that Trace sparks in her when he begins shadowing her like a dark angel.Burdened by a lifetime of horror and heartbreak, amateur fighter Trace doesn’t want to want Ember. His deep self-loathing keeps him from having any meaningful relationships, but Ember is an itch he can’t scratch. The two push and pull, slowly crumbling their walls, seemingly brought together by fate, because the turmoil that haunts their pasts is interlinked in undeniable ways. But can these two fighters finally lay down their arms?In Beautifully Damaged, L.A. Fiore delves into deep scars and lets love and forgiveness uncover redemption.
Breaker
Harloe Rae - 2019
Cloaked by the black sky under a blanket of stars, it was easy to get lost. He didn’t have any good memories of his own and needed to borrow mine. I would willingly give him anything. Being infatuated with that boy was a beautiful curse. What could have been special didn’t get the chance to bloom. He’d never see me as more than his best friend’s kid sister. That was a hard lesson to learn, but not the most difficult. Grady had always been struggling against the odds. Eventually he quit fighting and let his family’s reputation own him. Try as I might, those influences were beyond my reach. He didn’t mean to break my heart. Or maybe he did. I shouldn’t have made it so easy for him. Either way, our wrongs against each other carved new lines between us. I went four years without seeing Grady—each one more painful than the last. That distance did nothing to dull my feelings toward him. But things are different now. Most noticeably is Grady. I barely recognize this man he’s become. And that’s the way he intends to keep it. Not that it really matters. Grady Bowen stopped being my happy something long ago.
Hate to Love You
Elise Alden - 2014
But it turns out all those sex-ed teachers aren’t just trying to scare you. The faint positive on a budget pregnancy test sent me spinning, moments before meeting my sister’s snooty new fiancé.Shaking hands with upper-crusty James was like downing a triple shot of vodka. Dizzy with desire, confused by my body’s reaction, and shocked by the possessiveness flashing in his eyes, I deceived him that night and told the world at their wedding reception.The truth?I slept with my sister’s fiancé. Hot and sweaty, all night long in a room so dark he couldn’t tell I wasn’t her.The lie? Said fiancé is the father of my child. The one I signed over my rights to just before he was born.That was seven years ago. It’s time to come clean.95,000 words
