Book picks similar to
A Painted Summer by Amy Matayo


novella
contemporary
romance
new-adult

The Pepper in the Gumbo


Mary Jane Hathaway - 2014
    If only more people would turn off the TV and shut down the computer, the world wouldn't be in the mess it's in. If only she can get the teens she loves to step away from the screens, they might be able to hold on to their Creole culture. The only person who seems to understand her passion for classic literature is the mysterious website owner, Browning Wordsworth Keats.Paul Olivier comes back to his home town determined to show the people of Cane River that he's not the poor, nerdy kid he once was. He's made a fortune designing video games and opening a giant electronics store right in the snooty historic district will be the crowning glory of his career. Unfortunately, one bookish anti-tech fanatic has decided to do everything she can to keep that from happening. Even worse, she doesn't know that in cyber space, they're best friends and kindred spirits. Alice and Paul clash from the start, but nothing is ever quite as it seems. When secrets are revealed, will there be a second chance- for both of them?A romance that brings the humor of You've Got Mail and the deep friendships of 84, Charring Cross Road, this romance will touch the classic literature lover in everyone.

P.S. Goodbye


Tari Faris - 2019
    When a wounded former Special Forces operator walks back into her life looking for a job, she decides to work with him—a win-win for them both. ​If Caroline Williams had her way, she’d help everyone in town find their purpose in life—unfortunately, no one seems to want her help. But she refuses to give up, and her new status as a certified life coach should provide her with some badly needed credibility. All she needs is her first client. When Grant Quinn walks in looking for a job, Caroline knows he needs more than that—he needs a new plan for his life. But when Grant refuses to be honest about his dreams and his struggles, Caroline’s business might come crashing down before it starts. Wounded former Special Forces operator Grant Quinn understood the cost when he enlisted and served his country with pride. The scars on his face are reminders of what he lost, but he is moving on—now if he could just convince his family that he’s fine. When Caroline steps back into his life and offers to help find him a job in exchange for being her Guinea pig in her new life coaching business, he agrees. After all, what better way to show his family he’s okay than with a new, stable job? But when the anxiety he’s been running from ruins his one interview, his plans come crashing down. Can he trust Caroline enough to be honest about everything?

Sell Out


Tammy L. Gray - 2015
    Survival is simple: keep your head down, don’t say a word, and never question school royalty. Cody James, a former victim of Madison’s vicious brand of hazing, wants nothing more than to graduate without breaking the unspoken rules that could land him back in social exile. Cody has breached the elusive inner circle, and he has no intention of losing his hard-earned security. But a beautiful new student shakes up his plan to coast by and causes him question his role as sidekick to the king of the school. As the only daughter of rock legend Donnie Wyld, Skylar has been homeschooled her entire life. Now she wants normal, and she hopes that Madison High will offer her an escape from her father’s deteriorating health. She never intended on catching the eye of the school’s self-elected king or falling for his confusing best friend. But one look at Cody James, and she is drawn in by his guarded vulnerability. When an average Friday night party turns into a nightmare, Cody is forced to make a decision—fight or follow. But standing up for the bullied and broken means facing a past he’s long buried and risking the future he’s worked so hard to achieve.

Not Pretending Anymore


Penelope Ward - 2021
    I was starting to lose hope. Until a knock at my door came and God answered my prayers. Except…uh…wrong prayer, God. I’d definitely requested the big guy find me a drop-dead gorgeous man on more than one occasion...just not as my roommate. Declan Tate talked me into interviewing him anyway. While he was amusing and charismatic, I wouldn’t have been comfortable living with a man, so I regretfully declined. Then cupcakes showed up at my door—freshly baked by Declan and just as sinfully delicious as he was. You could say he was persistent. I eventually folded. It wasn’t like I had another viable candidate anyway. Plus, I was interested in someone else. And Declan was into another woman. So it wasn’t like anything would happen romantically. After he moved in, the two of us became the best of friends. We even started to give each other advice on getting our crushes to notice us. Eventually, Declan concocted an idea: we should pretend to be a couple to make our love interests jealous. I was hesitant, but went along with it anyway. To my utter shock, his crazy plan worked. Now I was dating the supposed man of my dreams, and my best friend had the woman of his. But there was one problem. I couldn’t stop thinking about Declan. Those feelings we were trying to fake? Yeah…I wasn’t pretending anymore.

When Mountains Sing


Stacy Monson - 2019
    A medical crisis reveals a 30-year-old secret that turns everything she’s known and believed upside down, unraveling her dreams and her identity.In search of answers, she follows a trail from Minnesota to Colorado and discovers more unwelcome secrets even as she falls in love with the majestic beauty of the Rocky Mountains, and a wilderness camp leader who shares the greatest secret of all.Knowing her life can never go back to what it was, she must make decisions that will impact far more than just her future.

Mirror


Cassia Leo - 2012
    When Brina Kingston is hired by Luke’s competitor as a corporate spy, Brina successfully works her way into a position as Luke Maxwell’s new executive assistant. What Brina doesn’t expect is to find herself in a compromising position in his bed.Brina thinks she has the savvy to see past Luke’s cunning intellect and extract the trade secrets she was hired to acquire. But she soon finds herself falling for his charms and risking the most important assignment of her career and, possibly, the greatest relationship of her life.This is the first installment in the LUKE Series.

Bridge of Faith


Catherine West - 2015
    If only they believed in second chances. Julia Connelly is finally free from twelve long years in an abusive relationship. Now able to live the life she’s longed for, Julia takes her two children back home to Vermont, hoping for peace and healing. The last person she expects to see is the man she eloped with at eighteen—who then abandoned her two months into their marriage, with little explanation. When an assignment in the Middle East ends in tragedy, popular news correspondent, Reid Wallace, returns to his hometown seeking answers and peace of mind. Confronting his past was not in the plan. Now he’s asking different questions. Like why the only woman he’s ever really loved still mesmerizes him. Why the haunted expression she wears reaches right into his soul. And why her twelve year-old son looks just like him. They say you can’t go home again. Sometimes you don’t have a choice.

Live Without You


Sarah Grace Grzy - 2019
    Everyone she loves has abandoned her and opening her heart to others is just asking for more pain. She can't help but blame herself for her brother's tragic death six years ago, and in her guilt, she shuts herself off from the world. No one could love her-not even the God who promised to be there for her but wasn't. For paramedic Ezra Bryant, failure is not an option. He's had enough of it, and only by God's grace is he able to put it behind him. But when a traumatic event brings Piper's greatest fear and Ezra's failures to light, can they use that event to allow God to mend their broken pieces? Can love triumph over fear, and grace over guilt?

Always the Baker, Never the Bride


Sandra D. Bricker - 2010
    But here's the rub about her job as a baker ... Emma is diabetic. When she tastes her creations, it can only be in the most minute portions. Emma is considered an artisan for the stunning crEme brulee wedding cake that won her the Passionate Palette Award last year, but she's never even had one full slice of it.When Jackson Drake hears about this local baker who has won a prestigious award for her wedding cake artistry, he tells his assistant to be sure and include her in the pastry tastings scheduled at his new wedding destination hotel the following week. And for Jackson, that particular day has started out badly with two workmen trapped in a broken elevator and a delivery of several dozen 300-thread-count bed linens in the wrong size abandoned in the lobby. But when the arrogant baker he met a week prior in Roswell stumbles into the dining room with a platter of pastries and a bucketful of orders, he knows for certain: It's going to be a really rotten day.Can these two ill-suited players master the high-wire act and make a go of their new business venture? Or will they take each other crashing downward, without a net? And will the surprise wedding at The Tanglewood be theirs?

So I'm a Double Threat


Julie Prestsater - 2009
    Expectations and hopes are high for their Freshman year. Meggie wants nothing more than to experience all high school has to offer – growing freedom, hot boys, parties, make-out sessions, and did I mention hot boys? Enter Alex Aguilar. At seventeen, he is Carver High’s sports superstar and dreamy superstud. Yet, despite the hype, Alex is undeniably sweet, and Meggie is beyond smitten. But, of course, he is a SENIOR. So, ought to be completely off limits for a ninth grader, right? Age doesn’t always dictate whom you will love, though. So I’m A Double Threat is the start of their journey. Will young love survive the challenges presented them or is friendship all they can only really hope for? Backs will be stabbed, hearts will be broken, tears will be shed. But, despite this, Meggie’s strong-willed determination, loyalty, and zest for fun, will ensure the ride is a memorable one. (This book has mature content intended for older young adult audiences.)

His First Love (Ivory Peaks #1)


Liz Isaacson - 2020
    He's back in town after finishing a degree at MIT, ready to start his job at the family company. Can Hunter and Molly find their way through their pasts to build a future together?On his first Sunday back in Ivory Peaks after finishing his technology degree at MIT, Hunter Hammond comes face-to-face with Molly Benson. He's just lost track of his little brother, but the old flame he's harbored for Molly since she ended their high school relationship a decade ago is rekindled instantly.Molly Benson, after succumbing to parental pressure and wanting to explore other options for a boyfriend, did break-up with Hunter back in high school. She's never forgotten him though, even when she married another man. Now that she's divorced, she carries emotional scars and personal feelings of unworthiness from a marriage she should've never agreed to.Hunter's kissed a lot of girls since his teenage relationship with Molly, just like his uncle once advised him to do. He inherited his two billion from his father when he turned 21, earned a degree in bioinfotronics from MIT, founded an organization to help injured military personnel and police officers, and fell in love with another woman—all while wearing his cowboy hat in Cambridge.Their paths diverged, and when Hunter finishes up his work with his foundation, he returns to Ivory Peaks to start working in the labs at HMC, the family company.Through it all, his heart has never recovered the piece he gave to Molly all those years ago... Can his first love be the one that becomes forever?Get more Hammond family saga and amazing inspirational cowboy romance in HIS FIRST LOVE, a brand new novel that starts a brand new series in beautiful, mountainous Ivory Peaks!