Book picks similar to
If Ever I Would Leave You by Susan May Warren


christian-fiction
christian
contemporary
romance

Arms of Promise


Crystal Walton - 2016
    A soldier indebted to a promise. The only thing more dangerous than the threat pitting them together is the secret keeping them apart.Contemporary dancer Anna Madison is determined to honor her mom’s memory. With the life she’s built in downtown Chicago hinging on an upcoming audition, now’s the worst time for her childhood best friend—and the only man she’s ever loved—to reenter her world. Her dad’s current DA case instigates enough danger without adding on the risk of losing her heart. Again.Army Ranger Evan O’Riley has always known his place in Anna’s life. Letting his feelings compromise her safety simply isn't an option. Especially when his promise to protect her drives him off the sidelines and into the one place even his special ops training can't save him from. Anna's arms.Keeping her from uncovering the real reason Evan returns is one thing. Trying to hide the reason he left to begin with could destroy them both. But when the past they’ve both tried to outrun launches them down a heart-pounding road of threats, secrets, and attraction, resisting love may turn into the greatest risk they face.If you like emotional romances mixed with humor, depth, and characters who come alive on the page, then you'll love Crystal Walton's moving story of love and forgiveness. Read Arms of Promise today and be swept into a moving tale of romance and suspense that'll have you turning pages until the end.

Welcome to Last Chance


Cathleen Armstrong - 2013
    But as she encounters the people who make Last Chance their home, it’s her heart that is flashing bright red warning lights. These people are entirely too nice, too accommodating, and too interested in her personal life for Lainie’s comfort-especially since she’s on the run and hoping to slip away unnoticed.Yet in spite of herself, Lainie finds that she is increasingly drawn in to the dramas of small town life. An old church lady who always has room for a stranger. A handsome bartender with a secret life. A single mom running her diner and worrying over her teenage son. Could Lainie actually make a life in this little hick town? Or will the past catch up to her even here in the middle of nowhere?Cathleen Armstrong pens a debut novel filled with complex, lovable characters making their way through life and relationships the best they can. Her evocative descriptions, observational humor, and talent at rendering romantic scenes will earn her many fans.

Miramar Bay


Davis Bunn - 2017
    He had not come all this way just to break another woman's heart. When Connor Larkin boards a late night bus in downtown LA, he's not sure where he's going or for what he's looking. Putting his acting career and his fiancee on hold, he's searching for something he can't define, a part of himself he lost on the road to success. Once he dreamed of being a singer in the classic style of Sinatra and Bennett. But his lean good looks soon landed him in movies as the sexy bad guy and in the arms of a famous young heiress. Now, with his wedding day approaching, Connor finds himself stepping into the sleepy seaside town of Miramar Bay where one remarkable woman inspires him to rethink all of his choices.She needed to know his secrets, and to see if he'd tell her the truth. Sylvie Cassick is nothing like the pretentious starlets back in Hollywood. The daughter of a nomadic painter, she's had to work hard for everything unlike Connor's fiancee. When Connor hears familiar music drifting out of Sylvie's restaurant, he feels as if he's finally come home. Sylvie isn't sure what to think when this impossibly handsome stranger applies for a waiter's job. Yet once he serenades her customers and slowly works his way into her heart she realizes there's more to him than he's letting on. And Connor realizes he's found his destiny. But as the outside world encroaches, threatening their fragile bond, Connor will have to risk losing everything to gain the life he longs for, and be the man Sylvie deserves.Filled with bittersweet longing, Miramar Bay is an unforgettable journey through doubt and desire to the truth that can be discovered along the road less taken.

The Bookshop on the Corner


Rebecca Raisin - 2014
    The meet-cute, the passion, the drama and the gorgeous men! Now this wouldn’t have been such an issue if she hadn’t been the owner of the only bookshop in Ashford, Connecticut.Ever since her close friend Lil, from The Gingerbread Café, had become engaged she had been yearning for a little love to turn up in her life. Except Sarah knew a good man was hard to find – especially in a tiny town like Ashford. That was until New York journalist, Ridge Warner stepped into her bookshop…Love could be just around the corner for Sarah, but will she be able to truly believe that happy-ever-after can happen in real-life too!

The Amish Midwife


Mindy Starns Clark - 2011
    There she meets Marta Bayer, a mysterious lay-midwife who desperately needs help after an Amish client and her baby die.Lexie steps in to assume Marta’s patient load even as she continues the search for her birth family, and from her patients she learns the true meaning of the Pennsylvania Dutch word demut, which means “to let be” as she changes from a woman who wants to control everything to a woman who depends on God.A compelling story about a search for identity and the ability to trust that God securely holds our whole life—past, present, and future.

The Lost Castle


Kristy Cambron - 2018
    It survived a sacking in the French Revolution, was brought back to life and fashioned into a storybook chateau in the Gilded Age, and was eventually felled and deserted after a disastrous fire in the 1930s.As Ellie Carver sits by her grandmother's bedside, she hears stories of a castle . . . of lost love and a hidden chapel that played host to a secret fight in the World War II French resistance. But her grandmother is quickly slipping into the locked-down world of Alzheimer's, and Ellie must act fast if she wants to uncover the truth of her family's history.Sparked by the discovery of a long forgotten family heirloom, Ellie embarks on a journey to French wine country to uncover the mystery surrounding The Sleeping Beauty--the castle so named for Charles Perrault's beloved fairy tale--and unearth its secrets before they're finally silenced by time.Set in three different time periods--the French Revolution, World War II, and present day--The Lost Castle is a story of loves won and lost, of battles waged, and an enchanted castle that inspired the epic fairy tales time left behind.

Prize of My Heart


Lisa Norato - 2012
    Will His Love Endure Once He Learns Her Secret?Three years ago, Captain Brogan Talvis's late wife abandoned their son, leaving no clue as to the boy's whereabouts. After searching relentlessly, Brogan discovers his son was adopted by a New England shipbuilder. And the man's daughter, Lorena Huntley, acts as loving guardian to the child.Lorena, who hides a dark truth, finds herself falling for the handsome captain and ex-privateer who's come to secure ownership of one of her father's ships. She's unaware of Brogan's own secret when another's deceit has her sailing toward Europe against her will.Haunted by thoughts of Lorena in peril, Brogan is compelled to choose between the boy he longs for and the woman who has captured his heart.

The Christmas Shoppe


Melody Carlson - 2011
    A strange older woman with scraggly gray hair and jewelry that jangles as she walks, Matilda is certainly not the most likely person to buy the old Barton Building on the town's quaint main street. When it becomes apparent that her new shop doesn't fit the expectations of Parrish Springs residents, a brouhaha erupts. After all, Christmas is approaching, and the last thing the town needs is a junky shop run by someone who looks and acts like a gypsy. But as townsfolk venture into the strange store, they discover that old memories can bring new life and healing.Once again, Melody Carlson delivers a Christmas story that will touch hearts and delight the senses. Sure to be a classic, The Christmas Shoppe is filled with the special magic the best Christmas stories share--that intangible mixture of nostalgia, joy, and a little bit of magic.

Delivered with Love


Sherry Kyle - 2011
     Claire James, age twenty-three, is ready to make it on her own.  When she's fired from her job as a waitress and subsequently kicked out of her sister's home, she sees it as an opportunity to start over.  But even before moving, a thirty-five-year-old love letter written to her mother keeps Claire stuck in the past.  Michael Thompson, a middle-aged real estate agent, wants to keep the past where it belongs--at least until his grown daughter is married.  But, then a young woman comes to town . . .

A Doctor's Promise


Laura Scott - 2019
    Jared O'Connor has given his parents a promise--to find his dead brother's fiancee and child. But his mission is derailed when he meets beautiful flight nurse Shelly Bennett. The sadness in her eyes, mirrors his own, and he is drawn to her and to her young son in a way he's never experienced before. Shelly can't afford to be distracted by Jared's attention. Her son's upcoming testing may confirm he has kidney failure--there's no room for anything else in her life. But when Jared uncovers the truth, she realizes her days of running from the past are over. But can she forgive Jared long enough to accept his love?

Secretly Yours


Valerie Comer - 2015
    Seriously? How could he have changed that much? Nick Harrison has prayed for years for an opportunity to make amends. Now Lindsey's back in Riverbend and won't give him the time of day. What's a guy to do except leave a trail of gifts from a secret admirer?Lindsey's heart takes a beating when she realizes the boy who was never good enough is now a far better man than she deserves.

Ivy and Intrigue: A Very Selwick Christmas


Lauren Willig - 2008
    In this novella (a sequel to "The Secret History of the Pink Carnation"), the newly married spy, the Purple Gentian, and his bride find more than mince pie when they head home for the holidays.

Where Love Finds You


Marilyn Grey - 2013
    She left her number, but he never called. Wondering if he somehow missed the note on the back of the receipt, she spent her twenties waiting for this man to walk into her life again. After all this time, will Ella finally discover “the one” she’s been waiting for? Or, after being sent on various blind dates, will she give her heart to someone else?Meanwhile, Matthew Ryan breaks up with his long-time girlfriend. Searching his heart he wonders if there is really a “one” for every person, or if there is simply a good, better, and best. Where does Lydia, the girl who would do anything for him, fit into the story of his life? Confused, Matthew sets out to explore his options and find the love he’s been looking for his entire life. Will he find love before it’s too late or will he lose everything?

Uncharted


Tracey Garvis Graves - 2013
    - return in this companion novella to the New York Times bestseller On the Island.When twenty-three-year-old dot-com millionaire Owen Sparks walked away from his charmed life, he had one goal in mind: get as far away as possible from the people who resented his success, or had their hand out for a piece of it. A remote uncharted island halfway around the world seemed like a perfectly logical place to get away from it all. Calia Reed wasn't part of Owen's plans. The beautiful British girl - on holiday in the Maldives with her brother, James - made Owen wonder if getting away from it all might be a lot more enjoyable with a carefree girl who didn't know anything about the life he left behind. But Owen had no idea how much his carefully detailed plans would go awry. Nor did he realize that a decision he made would have such a catastrophic effect on two passengers who boarded a plane in Chicago. And when Owen shows up at Anna and T.J.'s door with an incredible story to tell, everyone involved will learn just how much their lives are intertwined. Uncharted includes an early look at Covet, coming September 2013.

The Irish Cottage: Finding Elizabeth


Juliet Gauvin - 2014
    Book 1 of 3. Elizabeth Lara built a perfect life as San Francisco’s top divorce attorney, but when she loses her great-aunt Mags, the woman who raised her, she boards a plane and leaves it all behind.The Irish shores welcome her as she learns a shocking truth, kept secret for thirty-five years. Devastated and now alone in the world, Beth tries to find peace in a beautiful cottage by Lough Rhiannon, but peace isn’t what fate had in mind. Almost as soon as she arrives, Beth’s solitary retreat into the magic wilds of Ireland is interrupted by Connor Bannon. A man with light brown hair, ice blue eyes and a secret of his own. He’s gorgeous, grieving, and completely unexpected. With the help of Mags’ letters, the colorful townspeople of Dingle, and Connor, Elizabeth might just find a way back to the girl she lost long ago and become the woman she always wanted to be.