Book picks similar to
Forgotten Sweethearts by Melissa Bender


romance
marriage-in-trouble
second-chance
contemporary

Next to Never


Penelope Douglas - 2017
    And when a family friend—several years older—from her childhood captures her heart, she knows they’re going to be a problem. Lucas Morrow is a man—experienced, sophisticated, and important. And knowing her brothers, he may as well be forbidden.But Lucas left town years ago and shows no signs of returning. Quinn knows she shouldn’t wait for him anymore.But then a package turns up on her doorstep with no return address and its contents reveal family secrets that threaten to turn Quinn’s world upside down. She’s never asked about the tumultuous path of her parents’ romantic history, but she soon learns their happy marriage had a very rocky and passionate start.As she begins to see things around her with new eyes, Quinn will have to make tough choices about whether she’ll keep waiting…or finally go after what she really wants.*Next to Never is a 60,000 word novella from Quinn's point-of-view. It is not her love story. That will be a full-length novel eventually. This story covers some family history, introduces the new generation, and catches up with the original couples.

Hustle


Ashley Claudy - 2015
    College was supposed to be Brook's chance to escape the rumors and the harassment that plagued her at home, but she hadn't planned on meeting Andrew Fayden. Now, she's finding it hard to think of anything else or anyone else. She's determined to wipe him from her mind though because he is the definition of unavailable. He's got an on and off again girlfriend always on the sidelines and a flood of girls willing to take over that position.And his popularity makes it hard to keep a low profile, something she needs to do if she doesn't want to be pulled back into the drama of her past.Despite all the warnings, she's finding it hard to resist—and he's making it hard to say no.

Devil May Care


Angel Lawson - 2020
    They wanted me to leave, too, but I refused. I’m sticking around to make sure they follow through on the deal the snobby, elite crew of jocks made with the administration.The arrangement is simple. No one ever speaks about what happened to Skylar again, and no one gets punished.But that's not exactly true, is it? I still get punished, each and every day that I walk down the halls. No one speaks to me. No one looks at me. No one even admits I exist.It doesn’t matter. I know what they did. And I know who’s in charge; Hamilton Bates.Handsome, smart, and ridiculously privileged.He’s the lead Devil, and my hatred for him is all in the details.All it takes is one slip, one heated argument, one mistake, and everything gets even more complicated.We get complicated.Is this love or has the Devil found a new plaything?Devil May Care is the gripping, angsty, enemies to lovers, bully romance, by USA Today Best Selling Author, Angel Lawson, you’ve been waiting for!

The Bet


J.L. Beck - 2019
    “Yeah, so was I but you seem to have forgotten that part of your life.” The bet was simple. You draw a name from the hat. That’s the girl you have to seduce. The girl you have to make fall head over heels in love with you. It wasn’t hard for me to do, in fact, it was something I did all the time. I was known for breaking hearts. Sex was just that, sex. And it didn’t take me very long to get a woman on her back. And then I drew her name: Jules Peterson. My former best friend. My first kiss. My first love. She shattered my heart into a million pieces three years ago. She left me right when I needed her most. And as fate who have it, she had entered my life once again, at almost the perfect time. She was a transfer, fresh meat, and she had just put a target on her back. It was my turn to make her pay. It was my turn to break her heart. Holding onto that hate, that anger, that f*cking heartbreak. It does something to you. It breaks you, and it broke me, it tainted me, just like I would do to Jules. She used to be my everything, but now she was nothing but The Bet. **The Bet is book one in the North Woods University series. It is a full length, standalone, novel. It contains adult themes, and content not suitable for all readers. It is NOT a young adult novel.**Dear Reader, We're so happy that you are thinking about reading our newest book The Bet. We hope you enjoy it to your fullest and we cannot wait to read your reviews on it. However, we wanted to leave a little note to warn readers with sensitivity to dubious content, sexual themes, and verbal abuse. For those readers, this book may not be a good read for them. We also would like to say that while the book is entirely fiction we know that abuse, sexual, physical, and verbal is a very real thing in our world and that we do NOT condone any behavior of that nature nor do we think that it's okay to treat someone that way. Just like the makers of gory horror movies dont actually want people to be brutally murdered, we do not want anyone to be bullied or abused in any way.Again, this is fiction and while we don't always agree with the things our fictional characters do, sometimes it works for a story line. As writers, it is our job to draw out real emotions. Sometimes we will make you fall in love with a character and other times we might have you yelling at the book. With love, J.L. Beck & C. Hallman

Seducing Simon


Maya Banks - 2006
    Two problems-he doesn't remember a thing that happened and now she's pregnant. Toni Langston has been in love with Simon, her best friend, for years. The night Simon breaks up with his long time girlfriend, he and Toni make love. Toni is devastated and humiliated when, in the heat of the moment, he calls her by his girlfriend's name. The next morning, Simon remembers nothing of the previous night and Toni is only too relieved not to remind him. Two months later, she discovers she's pregnant. She wants Simon to love her, apart from any obligation he might feel because of the baby. So she embarks on a quest to seduce her best friend, to make him see her as more than a little sister, to make him love her as much as she loves him. It works. Maybe too well. Now when things are perfect, she faces telling him of the secret she's kept.

Depraved


Eva Charles - 2019
    Wilder, and it takes a lot to shame me, but we’re about to see where you draw the line. Gabrielle Duval once belonged to me. And like it or not, she'll be mine again. In a world where money, power and corruption rule, I'm prepared to do whatever it takes. Although nothing with that woman is ever easy. But believe me when I tell you, I'll enjoy every minute of the fight. Pick-up a copy of Depraved today, and let Eva Charles take you on a deliciously decadent journey. Buckle up. **Those who are sensitive to dark storylines, please proceed cautiously!**

Torn


Carian Cole - 2016
    When I turned eighteen, I made it clear I still felt the same. The problem? He's fifteen years older than me, and he's my father's best friend.Toren Grace. My pseudo-uncle. He's always been my rock--the one I should never, ever want. But I do want him, and I love him. I always have.Tor's one of the good guys. He's loving and devoted with a strong moral compass. One unexpected kiss between us rocked him clear off his axis. Now, we can't forget how that kiss felt, and what it changed. Nothing will ever be the same between us.But I'm not a little girl anymore, and he's everything I want.I'm everything he wants, too.I know he's struggling, but I'm determined. With a last name of Valentine, I've got cupid in my veins. The heart wants what the heart wants, and it doesn't care about age or how we met. My father cares, though. And he's the one person neither one of us can stand to betray or hurt.We're all being torn apart, and I don't know how to make everyone see that the wrongs are actually right.* Torn can be read as a single book.

The Wolf and the Sheep


Penelope Sky - 2018
     My father married me off to one of the most powerful men in Italy. Maverick DeVille. But I call him the wolf. He calls me his sheep. The arranged marriage was detested by us both, but we had to make sacrifices for the right reasons. He needed to avenge his mother and I needed protection from the mobs that want to torture me. He's not what I pictured for my husband. He's ruthless, calloused, and cold. His walls are higher than mine. He possesses cruelty that makes him feared. But it doesn't take long for me to respect him...even like him. I rely on my husband more than anyone else in the world. He provides for me, protects me, and chases away all my fears. He lets me graze in the meadow...not a care in the world. Because the wolf is always watching. "When people look in the darkness, they see shadows. I see monsters. And I kill the monsters that hunt my sheep." I hated this marriage in the beginning, but now I realize how lucky I am. How lucky I am to be the sheep the wolf protects...and doesn't eat.

Always in My Heart


Catherine Anderson - 2002
    But now she doesn't bat an eye when "their song" comes on the radio. She's unfazed by the thought of Tucker's perky new girlfriend. Ellie Grant is over him. And things are better for Tucker as well. The single life agrees with him. And certainly they've both done a good job of being civil to each other, for the kids' sake.But the kids aren't buying it. Zach and Kody are convinced that deep down, their parents are still meant to be together. Up to their elbows in scheming and dreaming, the brothers hatch a plan. They'll run away from home into the Oregon wilderness and stay there until their parents agree to get back together. Surely Ellie and Tucker will come to the rescue --- and to their senses.Let the games begin and the sparks fly ...

Three Wishes


Kristen Ashley - 2011
    Her family had three wishes and they’d only ever used one so Fazire was stuck in the human world. This worked since he’d become a member of the family anyway. Even with a genie, Lily's young life wasn’t perfect. To escape the kids making her miserable at school, Lily buried herself in romance novels. One day, when the teasing was just too much, she used one of her wishes. She told Fazire she wanted to find a man like in her books and she made the most complicated wish Fazire had ever heard. Her wished-for man had to be impossibly handsome, virile, fierce, rugged and ruthless (amongst a dozen other things). He also had to think she was beautiful and he had to love her more than anything in the world. Nathaniel McAllister wasn’t born to a life where there were such things as genies granting wishes. His life was filled with drugs, crime and neglect. He was running errands for a gangster before he was in his teens and, even though life and hard work led him to wealth and respectability, he always knew, deep down, he was dirty. When Nate met Lily he knew he was no good for her but as virile, fierce, rugged and ruthless as he was, Nate was no match for the pull of sweet, innocent Lily. Unfortunately, Lily’s wish included that she and her hero go through trials and tribulations to test their love. And Fazire wasn’t only a good genie, he loved Lily – so he gave her exactly what she wanted.

Virgin Mistress, Scandalous Love-Child


Jennie Lucas - 2008
    But, having taken her virginity, the Brazilian billionaire wants nothing more to do with her--until he discovers she's pregnant!Diogo will accept nothing less than taking Ellie as his bride. Their marriage is passionate by night, but tense and empty by day. Ellie realizes that she's in an impossible situation: Diogo's dark past has frozen his heart, but she's fallen in love with her husband....

The Billionaire's Pregnant Mistress


Lucy Monroe - 2003
    For all the intense passion they've shared, she's never let him into her heart, and such a commitment-shy woman could never be his wife....But after their split Dimitri discovers that Xandra Fortune is not who he thought she was--and she is also pregnant with his child. Now he has to track her down and claim his mistress as his wife!

The Sun and Her Star


Dylan Allen - 2018
    Once upon a time, that star shone only for me. Now, I have to share him with the rest of the world. For a while, I thought I could do it. Because, beneath the hypnotic smile, gorgeous body and God-given charm that made him famous, I still caught glimpses of my best friend.Of the boy who called me sunshine and loved me. I wore that love like a crown . . . until he placed it on another’s head. Losing him was agony, distance felt like the only cure. When tragedy reunites us after years apart, it only takes one touch to erase the past. Just like that, I'm back in his arms. He promises this time will be different. But I’m afraid to believe him. Because behind his star’s blinding brilliance is a darkness that doesn’t want to let him go. I know a star that bright can’t belong to just one person, but my jealous heart doesn’t want to share him.I want all of him . . . even if wanting what doesn't belong to me leads me to ruin.

His Hollow Heart


Rachel Leigh - 2021
    Two orphans who vowed to never part. I was selfish. For once, I had to be. The last time I saw Callum he was standing at the dormer window as I sat in the back seat of the car. His dark eyes foreign to me. The hatred that radiated from his glare shot through me with more force than a silver bullet. In a matter of minutes he had become a stranger. No longer my best friend. He was now a boy with a hollow heart who was headed down a dark path. A path I knew I’d never cross again. Or, so I thought. CallumWe had a deal—always stay together. The day Bella left, I vowed I would find her. And when I did, she would feel what I felt as I watched her pull away into a new life, with a new family. Leaving me behind to endure a life that was wrapped inside the hands of a monster.It’s been twelve years, but I’ve finally found her. Now it’s time for her to bask in the darkness she’s created inside of me.

Then There Was You


Claire Contreras - 2018
    Love is about walking to the edge of the cliff and taking the leap together.Timing was never on our side.My first mistake was hooking up with my best friend.My second came years later, when we met again, and I fell for her. My third was letting her go, because I had to. Because a love like this wasn't built to withstand the winds coming in our direction.Love and timing.I didn't believe in either. Then there was you . . .