Book picks similar to
The Girl Behind the Red Door by Cassie Graham
romance
audiobooks
chick-lit
contemporary-romance
The Layover
Lacie Waldon - 2021
She's got one trip left before she bids her old life farewell, and she plans to enjoy every second of it. But then she discovers that former pilot Jack Stone -- the absurdly gorgeous, ridiculously cocky man she's held a secret grudge against for years -- is on her flight. And he has the nerve to flirt with her, as if he doesn't remember the role he played in the most humiliating night of her life. Good thing she never has to see him again after they land....But when their plane encounters mechanical problems, what should have been a quick stop at the Belize airport suddenly becomes a weekend layover. Getting stuck on a three-hour flight with her nemesis was bad enough. Being stranded with him at a luxury resort in paradise? Even with the sultry breeze and white sand to distract her, it will take all the rum punch in the country to drown out his larger-than-life presence.Yet the more time Ava spends with him under the hot Caribbean sun, the more she begins to second-guess everything she thought she knew about him... and everything she thought she wanted from her life. And all too soon, she might have to choose between keeping her feet on the ground and her head in the clouds....An unexpected tropical layover with her nemesis turns a flight attendant's life upside down in this witty, breezy debut romantic comedy about life -- and love -- 30,000 feet above the ground.
Miss You
Kate Eberlen - 2016
They just haven't met properly yet. And perhaps they never will . . . Today is the first day of the rest of your life is the motto on a plate in the kitchen at home, and Tess can't get it out of her head, even though she's in Florence for a final, idyllic holiday before university. Her life is about to change forever - but not in the way she expects. Gus and his parents are also on holiday in Florence. Their lives have already changed suddenly and dramatically. Gus tries to be a dutiful son, but longs to escape and discover what sort of person he is going to be. For one day, the paths of an eighteen-year-old girl and boy criss-cross before they each return to England.Over the course of the next sixteen years, life and love will offer them very different challenges. Separated by distance and fate, there's no way the two of them are ever going to meet each other properly . . . or is there?
The View Was Exhausting
Mikaella Clements - 2021
. .The world can see that international A-list actress Whitman ("Win") Tagore and jet-setting playboy Leo Milanowski are made for each other. Their kisses start Twitter trends and their fights break the internet. From red carpet appearances to Met Gala mishaps, their on-again, off-again romance has titillated the public and the press for almost a decade. But it's all a lie.As a woman of color, Win knows the Hollywood deck is stacked against her, so she's perfected the art of controlling her public persona. Whenever she nears scandal, she calls in Leo, with his endearingly reckless attitude, for a staged date. Each public display of affection shifts the headlines back in Win's favor, and Leo uses the good press to draw attention away from his dysfunctional family. Pretending to be in a passionate romance is one thing, but Win knows that a real relationship would lead to nothing but trouble. So instead they settle for friendship, with a side of sky-rocketing chemistry. Except this time, on the French Riviera, something is off. A shocking secret in Leo's past sets Win's personal and professional lives on a catastrophic collision course. Behind the scenes of their yacht-trips and PDA, the world's favorite couple is at each other's throats. Now they must finally confront the many truths and lies of their relationship, and Win is forced to consider what is more important: a rising career, or a risky shot at real love?The View Was Exhausting is a funny, wickedly observant modern love story set against the backdrop of exotic locales and the realities of being a woman of color in a world run by men.
This Love Story Will Self-Destruct
Leslie Cohen - 2018
She’s a dreamer, a feeler, a careening well of sensitivities who can’t quite keep her feet on the ground, or steer clear of trouble. She’s a laugher, a crier, a quirky and quick-witted bleeding-heart-worrier. Meet Ben. He’s an engineer, an expert at leveling floors who likes order, structure, and straight lines. He doesn’t opine, he doesn’t ruminate, he doesn’t simmer until he boils over. So naturally, when the two first cross paths, sparks don’t exactly fly. But then they meet again. And again. And then, finally, they find themselves with a deep yet fragile connection that will change the course of their relationship—possibly forever. Follow Eve and Ben as they navigate their twenties on a winding journey through first jobs, first dates, and first breakups; through first reunions, first betrayals and, maybe, first love. This is When Harry Met Sally reimagined; a charming tale told from two unapologetically original points of view. With an acerbic edge and heartwarming humor, debut novelist Leslie Cohen takes us on a tour of what life looks like when it doesn’t go according to plan, and explores the complexity, chaos, and comedy in finding a relationship built to last.
Dirty Letters
Vi Keeland - 2019
Over the years, through hundreds of letters, we became best friends, sharing our deepest, darkest secrets and forming a connection I never thought could break.Until one day it did.Then, out of the blue, a new letter arrived. A scathing one—one with eight years of pent-up anger. I had no choice but to finally come clean as to why I stopped writing.Griffin forgave me, and somehow we were able to rekindle our childhood connection. Only now we were adults, and that connection had grown to a spark. Our letters quickly went from fun to flirty to downright dirty, revealing our wildest fantasies. So it only made sense that we would take our relationship to the next level and see each other in person.Only Griff didn’t want to meet. He asked that I trust him and said it was for the best. But I wanted more—more Griff, in the flesh—so I took a big chance and went looking for him. People have done crazier things for love.But what I found could change everything.
Little Lies
H. Hunting - 2020
You mean nothing to me. I never loved you. I turned my words into swords.And I cut her down. Shoved the blade in and watched her fall. I said I’d never hurt her, and I did. Years later, I’m faced with all the little lies, the untruths, the false realities, the damage I inflicted, when all I wanted was to indulge my obsession. Lavender Waters is the princess in the tower. Even her name is the thing fairy tales are made of. I used to be the one who saved her. Over and over again. But I don’t want to save her anymore. I just want to pretend the lies are still the truth.A standalone angsty new adult romance. Heroine: Lavender Waters (Alex and Violet Waters’ youngest daughter, PUCKED and FOREVER PUCKED couple origin, Pucked Series )Hero: Kodiak (Kody) Bowman (Rook and Lainey Bowman’s son, A LIE FOR A LIE couple origin, All In Series )
Trailer Park Heart
Rachel Higginson - 2018
It’s my legacy. That’s how my mama lived. And that’s how her mama lived. It’s the life I was born into and it’s the life I swore I would leave the second I was old enough to make it out. Only legacies have a funny way of sneaking up on you. An innocent decision the night of high school graduation led to a series of complications in my plans to escape. Seven years later, I’ve resigned myself to this small town and the roots I’m tied to. Nothing could make me leave. And nothing could make me spill the secrets that keep me here. Until he walks back into town with a chip on his shoulder and a stupid hunch nobody else in town has been smart enough to follow. Levi Cole is my opposite. Born on the right side of the tracks with family money to spare, he’s the kind of black sheep that can afford to be rebellious—because his family will always pay for his mistakes. He’s also the only living heir to Cole Family Farms, after his brother Logan was killed in duty seven years ago. He sees something in my life that he thinks he has a right to. But he’s wrong. And obnoxious. And he needs to take his stubborn good looks and that intense way he looks at me and go back to wherever it was he came from. I know better than to trust men like him. I was born and raised in a trailer park, I know nothing good happens to girls like me—girls with trailer park lives and trailer park hearts. Especially from gorgeous, kind, pigheaded men like him.
We Were Once
S.L. Scott - 2020
Scott, crafts her signature heartfelt style into a brand new emotional, second chance, standalone romance. I have three goals: graduate from an Ivy League university, get into medical school, and follow in my father’s well-established footsteps. Everything was going exactly as planned until the local bad boy was delivered to my doorstep. Literally.From the moment we meet, my old life becomes unrecognizable, but I have no regrets. I’m utterly captivated by him. His smirk. His heart. His sharp wit. He pushes me to live, to be wild, to pursue the dream I’ve always hidden inside.To the rest of the world, we make no sense.Me, the girl from the gilded New England coast.Joshua, from the small city of New Haven.To us, we’re destiny.Together, we had it all. Desperately. Madly. In love.Until we didn’t. One tragic night changed everything.
Well Met
Jen DeLuca - 2019
Yet on the faire grounds he becomes a different person, flirting freely with Emily when she's in her revealing wench's costume. But is this attraction real, or just part of the characters they're portraying?This summer was only ever supposed to be a pit stop on the way to somewhere else for Emily, but soon she can't seem to shake the fantasy of establishing something more with Simon, or a permanent home of her own in Willow Creek.
The Ex Hex
Erin Sterling - 2021
Sure, Vivi knows she shouldn’t use her magic this way, but with only an “orchard hayride” scented candle on hand, she isn’t worried it will cause him anything more than a bad hair day or two.That is until Rhys Penhallow, descendent of the town’s ancestors, breaker of hearts, and annoyingly just as gorgeous as he always was, returns to Graves Glen, Georgia. What should be a quick trip to recharge the town’s ley lines and make an appearance at the annual fall festival turns disastrously wrong. With one calamity after another striking Rhys, Vivi realizes her silly little Ex Hex may not have been so harmless after all.Suddenly, Graves Glen is under attack from murderous wind-up toys, a pissed off ghost, and a talking cat with some interesting things to say. Vivi and Rhys have to ignore their off the charts chemistry to work together to save the town and find a way to break the break-up curse before it’s too late.
Behind His Eyes
Claire Kingsley - 2016
But here she is, more beautiful than I remember.She’s been hurt, and I understand pain all too well. But I shouldn’t be the guy to help her through it. I came home to get my own life together. I can’t pick up the pieces of hers.Ryan Jacobsen and I were kids together, but he’s all man, now. Sexy and sweet, with brooding green eyes that hide a universe of secrets.His stubbly jaw, delicious abs, and artistic soul make him irresistible. (And have I mentioned the things he can do with his tongue?) My heart—and my body—want more. They want everything.Although the gravity between us is inescapable, he tries to push me away. The pain behind his eyes holds him back, and it just might tear us apart.Behind His Eyes was previously titled Must Be Love
Raine's Haven
Shari J. Ryan - 2017
From inside of my house, he was perfect. Then I found out everything looked different from afar. Raine, a blunt and hot tempered man was living a life he wasn't proud of, and I found myself oddly attracted to the sickening reality he opened my eyes to.RaineShe thought I'd fall for her seductive ploy and scarlet-glossed lips. She was right. Every person in this small town had something negative to say about Haven Leigh's life—the girl who had been handed everything on a silver platter. I ignored the rumors, and instead, searched for her truths.While struggling with disabling side-effects left behind by my coke-addict mother, Haven became the hope I needed. She was the good I wanted to be.But, as it turns out, she was the trouble I should have stayed away from.
When He Falls
Michelle Jo Quinn - 2017
WHEN HE FALLS ~Maggie~ I thought I had found the man I was going to spend the rest of my life with – until he ran off with my best friend on our wedding day. I had to get away from it all - my meddling mother, the cheating couple of the year, and the embarrassment of being stood up at the altar. My sister’s house in San Francisco is the perfect escape. I can get lost in a big city where nobody knows who I am, where I can mend my broken heart in silence. But someone crashes my pity party. Zach Faustino was the quiet boy who lived next door ten years ago. He was my first kiss and - if a young heart can be trusted - my first love. That was before he and his mother left without saying goodbye. Ten years have shaped him into an irresistible, charming young man. But the same ten years have also sharpened his edges, his dark past paving the way to a career that could end in a heartbeat. And despite it all, Zach hopes to change my mind about giving love another chance. But is a broken heart a willing heart? And if we’re both broken, is a second chance at love enough to fix us?
Blind Kiss
Renee Carlino - 2018
Fourteen years ago, this shop was her childhood dance studio... Now she’s a suburban housewife, dreading the moment her son departs for MIT, leaving her with an impeccably decorated McMansion and a failing marriage. She had her chance at wild, stars-in-her-eyes happiness, but that was a lifetime ago. After The Kiss. Before The Decision.The Kiss was soulful. Magical. Earth-shattering, And it was all for a free gift card. Asked to participate in a psych study that posed the question, “Can you have sexual chemistry without knowing what the other person looks like?” Penny agreed to be blindfolded, make polite conversation with a total stranger, and kiss him. She never expected The Kiss to change her life forever and introduce her to Gavin: tattooed, gorgeous, and spontaneous enough to ask her out seconds after the blindfolds came off.For a year, they danced between friendship and romance—until Penny made The Decision that forced them to settle for friendship. Now, fourteen years later, both of their lives are about to radically change—and it’s his turn to decide what will become of their once-in-a-lifetime connection."
Take Me Back
Meghan March - 2017
It should have been perfect, but saying “I do” doesn’t guarantee a happily-ever-after.Two years later, I barely recognize either of us behind the walls we’ve built.It’s time to bring it full circle. Back to a tropical paradise. Back to find out if we can still make this work.I’m not willing to give her up, but to save us, I have to risk everything. Two damaged people. Countless secrets. The fight of our lives.We might be broken, but we’re not done.