Book picks similar to
Barely Breathing by Erica Marselas


second-chance
romance
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second-chances

Sinners' Playground


Caroline Peckham - 2020
    Because it sure as hell wasn’t for the surf. But what else was I supposed to do when I found myself in Sunset Cove with twenty bucks to my name, the key to my enemies’ secrets hanging around my neck and a mouth full of grave dirt that wouldn’t wash clean?I hate the Harlequin boys.But this is the perfect opportunity to take what they owe me. Because once upon a time, they broke my heart, stole my life and sent me away from everything I’d ever known.Fox, JJ, Chase and Maverick.The four names tattooed onto my heart more permanently than any of the ink on my skin. They don’t just live in this town anymore, they rule it. And the view here may be beautiful, but the sun, sea and sand hide dark secrets.The gangs.The lies.The violence.It all lurks beneath a veil so thin that once you’ve seen through it, you can never close your eyes to the truth again.But I don’t plan on closing my eyes. I have four devils set in my sights. And this dead girl no longer has anything to lose.This is an enemies to lovers contemporary series where the girl will end up with multiple love interests and all of the characters are in their late twenties. Trigger warning: this series features gangs, violence, dark romance and jealous/possessive themes.

The Contradiction of Solitude


A. Meredith Walters - 2015
    He tells me that I'm beautiful.That I'm an enigma wrapped in irresistibly complicated skin.Elian says that he loves me.These words terrify me.I can't trust love.Or hope.Or truth.Because I fear the beast inside.It threatens to drown Elian and his sweet, unconditional love.It's a beast that will destroy everything.*This is a psychological thriller and very different than my previous books*

Brand New Man


Weston Parker - 2019
    To them. Not me. Women swoon over my wallet, but it’s a façade. A ruse. I keep to myself and always will. Besides, one thing I’ve learned is you never pursue romantic relationships at work. Especially not as the boss. The billionaire. The top shit.A girl from my past shows up at a fundraiser. The one that got away in college. She needs help changing the city for the better with a children’s home, but I have different ideas. Crazily enough, the more money I spend, the more time I get with her. And this time, I’m willing to pull out all the stops. It’s hard not to slip back into my old ways, but this woman is the one. She makes me want to be a brand new man.

The Leader


Shanna Bell - 2019
    HIM...I will avenge my parents’ deaths.I will make those who are responsible suffer.All I need is her; the key to my plans.HER...I’m going to leave everything behind and start over.I won’t bow down to anyone.The last thing I need is him; the shackles to my freedom.Game on...

Prophet


S.M. West - 2018
    Solving problems, my trade. Until the tables turn, and trouble finds me. Now on the run, I need a plan. But not before I’m blindsided by a pain-in-the-ass stranger. Maggie. Curves, startling blue eyes, and she hates me. I don’t trust her and with good reason. My plan is simple: use her. Then I kiss her. Touch her. Crave her. She was my way out, now she’s my downfall. Prophet is book 1 in the Scarred Hearts series of standalone novels about brooding heroes. Prophet is a full length, standalone enemies-to-lovers romance with a HEA.

Sloth


Ella James - 2015
    – I am writing to express my gratitude for your gift. There are no sufficient words, but please accept my sincerest thank you. Yours, R. She writes me back. I didn’t expect that. She tells me she’s a lover of chicken pizza and video games, a hot sorority girl with the nickname Sloth. She wants to know something about me in return. She says I owe her. This is how she saves my life. She doesn’t even know it. We’ve never even seen each other. But I need a reason. Just one reason to continue. She becomes mine.The anonymity is good. She doesn’t need to know me, but I need her kindness. We both live our lives: a letter here, a post card there. For three years, I escape my demons. And then one day I’m pulled back in. I’ve resigned myself to what I know is coming. Until the girl I’m spanking gives her safe word: Sloth. And then the lie I’m living starts to unravel. --Sloth is a 500-page, 150,000-word stand alone novel with many twists, one huge secret, and a non-cliffhanger ending. It will wreck you, but you'll like it. BTW: Part of the fun of reading this book is trying to guess the secret. I would appreciate it if you could avoid spoilers in reviews and review headlines, so others will be able to enjoy the guessing game.*Sloth is part of a collection of stand-alones inspired by a sin, and centered around a terrible secret. The second stand-alone, My Heart for Yours, is inspired by the sin of murder, and is the story of Kellan's oldest brother, Barrett Drake. It's free via Kindle Unlimited and also for sale here in the Kindle Store.*This book was updated and re-edited in fall 2017, and now includes a bonus story.

Cards of Love: Five of Cups


Trisha Wolfe - 2018
    West? Half full, or half empty? Her life depends on your answer.”Dr. Ian West is the best trial consultant in the city, and he knows it. He’s made a living—a damn good one—helping lawyers win cases through his special brand of trial science. As a natural people reader, West’s one grave error presents in the form of a murderer named Quentin Shaver.Amid Shaver’s trial, a dangerous bargain is struck, and—impressed with Dr. West’s abilities—Shaver engages him in a battle of wits. The prize? One gritty defense attorney from West’s past—the one woman West could fall for.Loss broke West once before. Grief his sole companion, until Porter breaks down his defenses. But just as West is about to take a chance on love again, Porter becomes leverage in a sadistic game between doctor and madman. Can Dr. West save the woman he loves before the last cup runs empty?

Poison


Leanne Davis - 2013
    John Tyler now hates her as much as he once loved her--but Cassie has no choice. John's quiet life as a small town doctor in Seaclusion, Washington has no place in it for the woman he turned his back on ten years ago. But when Cassie and her son land on his doorstep, he can't turn them away. The longer she stays, though, the harder it is to remember why he stopped loving her. With her ex-husband closing in, Cassie soon realizes that only she can end what he has started. And as John and Cassie's mutual attraction reignites, she vows to do anything to protect her son and grab the happiness that has escaped her for so long.

Unloved


Katy Regnery - 2017
    My name is Cassidy Porter...My father, Paul Isaac Porter, was executed twenty years ago for the brutal murder of twelve innocent girls.Though I was only eight-years-old at the time, I am aware - every day of my life - that I am his child, his only son.To protect the world from the poison in my veins, I live a quiet life, off the grid, away from humanity.I promised myself, and my mother, not to infect innocent lives with the darkness that swirls within me, waiting to make itself known.It's a promise I would have kept...if Brynn Cadogan hadn't stumbled into my life.Now I exist between heaven and hell: falling for a woman who wants to love me, while all along reminding myself that I must remain...Unloved.**NOTE: This book is intended for readers 18+**

Carter


Brie Paisley - 2016
    CarterShe’s always been the one for me.The one that I knew would be mine forever, until I made the biggest mistake of my life. I’ve tried to move on, and I’ve tried to put the memory of her behind me, but she’s always there, consuming my thoughts. Now, she’s back in our hometown, trying to rebuild a new life, but I know deep down, that she’s keeping secrets. She tries to hide them from me, but I will do whatever it takes to prove that I’m the one she needs. Shelby Ross is the other part of me that I can’t live without, and I refuse to let her go again. ShelbyHe broke my heart.I never thought that I would be able to pick up the pieces he left behind, so when he let me go, I ran away from it all, thinking it was the easiest thing to do. However, running always has a price, and I’ve paid it in full for years. Now, I’m back to where it all began, and it should’ve been easy. Carter Harlow is slowly reawakening long buried emotions that I thought were gone. He wants to make me his again, but I can’t let that happen. He ruined me once, and then broke my heart, and now, I’m afraid I’ll never survive it a second time around. This is a standalone series, and it does not have to be read in order.*

Nocte


Courtney Cole - 2014
    I'm eighteen years old, and I'm one half of a whole. My other half—my twin brother, my Finn—is crazy. I love him. More than life, more than anything. And even though I'm terrified he'll suck me down with him, no one can save him but me. I'm doing all I can to stay afloat in a sea of insanity, but I'm drowning more and more each day. So I reach out for a lifeline. Dare DuBray. He's my savior and my anti-Christ. His arms are where I feel safe, where I'm afraid, where I belong, where I'm lost. He will heal me, break me, love me and hate me. He has the power to destroy me. Maybe that's ok. Because I can't seem to save Finn and love Dare without everyone getting hurt. Why? Because of a secret. A secret I'm so busy trying to figure out, that I never see it coming. You won't either.

Machiavellian


Bella Di Corte - 2020
     I hungered to be seen. There were three things I knew about Capo Macchiavello: He was gorgeous. He was reclusive. He was considered one of New York’s most savage animals. And he wanted me as his wife. A simple arrangement – you do for me, I do for you. Nothing owed, no expectations. Except for one: never leave. Life was never that simple, though. By the age of twenty-one, I was parentless, jobless, and homeless, and I had come to learn the hard way that nothing was ever free. Even kindness comes with strings. Capo might’ve been the only man to ever see me, but I had made a vow to myself: I would never owe anyone anything. Most of all, the man I called boss. I killed to stay hidden. Mariposa Flores thought she owed nothing to no one, but she owed everything…to me, the ghost the world had once called The Machiavellian Prince of New York.

For the Fight


Leah Ashton - 2018
    He’s a SWAT team operator who broke her heart.The gunman holding them hostage? He’s got no idea who he’s dealing with...Luella Brayshaw doesn’t think when she sees Nate Rivers, twelve years since he walked away. She just feels – all the hurt, and all the heat – and she runs. But by the time her brain clicks into gear she’s on a random train, with Nate – and that’s when it all goes very, very wrong.Driven and dedicated, Elite SWAT tactical operator Nate Rivers knows he made the right decision all those years ago. Although it’s hard to remember why with Lou right in front of him, all strong, gorgeous and justifiably furious with him.But then a gunman takes their carriage hostage… and suddenly the past doesn’t matter. Now it’s up to Nate and Lou – unarmed - to save everyone on that train.When their past and present collide, passion ignites – as hot and as powerful as a decade before. But can the mistakes of the past be forgiven? Or will they destroy any chance of a future together?** For the Fight is the first book in the Elite SWAT series. Each book is a stand-alone, with no cliff-hanger endings. For the Fight was previously published as Undaunted (WASP Team #1).

Cards of Love: Justice


Amelia Wilde - 2019
    She's mine for a week...but I want forever.The richest families in the world don't bother with courtrooms to enforce their codes of honor.No—they come to me.The sight of Justice set my blood ablaze.Delivered to me by her family, she's in my hands now.But my entire existence depends on discretion.If I step out of line, the consequences will be deadly.Playing with her is a dangerous game.Only one of us will win.

Callum


Dani René - 2016
    The overconfident rock star wants her, and he'll stop at nothing to get her. For Callum Hayes, life hasn't been as easy as the press portrays. There is more to the handsome singer than meets the eye, and all he wants is for his new employee to look beneath the sparkling exterior and find the man under the glitz. Can Tayla and Callum make it work? Or will his infamous reputation be the end of their romance?