Book picks similar to
Essential Beginnings by Kennedy Layne
romance
post-apocalyptic
contemporary
dystopia
Slim To None
Freya Barker - 2014
Life has been pretty good, that is until she received a strange phone call that starts an alarming chain of events. Investigator Gus Flemming is hot on the trail of a bail skip with organized crime connections that bring him to Cedar Tree. Once there, the focus of his investigation lands squarely on the gently rounded shoulders of a vivacious red haired Emma, whose physical limitations have done nothing to dampen her zest for life. When it becomes clear that Emma is at risk, Gus does't hesitate to step in and protect her. Call it a job with some very hot benefits...... **Due to content of a sexually explicit nature, this book is recommended for a mature audience only.**
Long Time Coming
Edie Claire - 2003
But back at home, the past is ready and waiting to haunt her...Eighteen years have passed since Joy's childhood best friend, Jenny, met her death in a tragic car accident just a few days after their senior prom. A broken Joy left their small Kentucky hometown shortly after - determined never to come back. But when her father's illness forces her to return, she realizes that neither time nor distance have truly healed her troubled soul.Plagued with nightmares of the accident and crippled by a vague fear whose source she can't identify, Joy realizes that in order to move on she must face the truth behind several disturbing gaps in her memory of that fateful spring. But the only person who can help her is a man she despises - Jenny's erstwhile boyfriend Jeff, now a respected doctor, whose carelessness as a teenager was the cause of Jenny's horrendous death - and Joy's own emotional destruction. Can she ever forgive? She may have no choice but to try. Because both the danger she sensed - and the childhood friendship she treasured - now suddenly seem very much alive...
Cyclone
Janie Crouch - 2018
You don't try to power through anything. We go as slow as you need."Meet Zac Mackay. Military codename: Cyclone.He's a widower, a protector, a hero.And the person who could destroy Anne's life.Doctor Anne Griffin is back in Oak Creek, Wyoming, only because she has no other options. Here, she was always the shy, stuttering girl, invisible to everyone.Except Zac. The very reason she left in the first place.Zac's years in Special Forces taught him survival skills, and he's created a company--Linear Tactical--to teach those skills to others, so they never have to live in fear.Then why is Annie, the last person he'd ever want to hurt, afraid of him?Zac's determined to wipe the fear from the eyes of the woman who has never been far from his mind. And fix the mistakes--his mistakes--that put that look there in the first place.But a predator has set his sights on Annie. And now survival skills will become much more than lessons...From USA Today bestselling author Janie Crouch--a small town love story packed with mystery. A tough former-military alpha hero leaves his pain behind to claim the woman he never knew had gotten away. Full-length romance novel with a guaranteed Happily Ever After.
Surviving Passion
Maia Underwood - 2010
Every day is a lone struggle for survival in the wilderness, more than a decade after the fall of modern civilization. No longer subject to law, order, or the social norms of its domestic past, the primal nature of man has reared its head with alarming swiftness. From her own frightening experiences, Selena has learned just how dangerous men are. Now, she avoids them at all costs, mastering a thoroughly elusive lifestyle, until she meets her match. After a chance encounter, Selena's life is swept on a tide of chaotic involvement with Dan, an intense but disciplined leader who clashes with her approach to survival on every level. Through her wild experiences with this frightening but captivating man, Selena learns that the human animal loves as passionately as it kills.Note: This novel is more dramatic, suspenseful and adventurous than sweet, loving and traditional.Caution: Contains explicit sex scenes.
One to Hold
Tia Louise - 2013
Melissa Jones is a small-town girl trying to escape her troubled past. When the two intersect in a bar in Arizona, their sexual chemistry is off the charts. But what is revealed during their "one week stand" only complicates matters. Because she'll do everything in her power to get away from the past, but he'll do everything he can to hold her. Adult Contemporary Romance: Due to strong language and sexual content, this book is not intended for readers under the age of 18. (M/F)
Chasing The Dragon
T.K. Leigh - 2015
She's the target. Can he resist falling for her?Mackenzie Delano craves control in every aspect of her life. From her business life. To her social life.To her love life…Until she crosses paths with a mysterious man who seems to break down the walls she spent the past several years erecting.Tyler Burnham has lived the past few years with one rule in mind...Never fall in love.But when he must form an intimate relationship with a sharp-tongued woman in order to obtain the location of a man deemed an enemy of the State, he finds himself straying from that rule.Will Tyler be able push his feelings aside and recover the information he needs?Or will he risk his mission and their lives in order to follow his heart?Chasing the Dragon is the first book of the Deception Duet, a part of the Beautiful Mess series. Pick up this gripping story of secrets, intrigue, and betrayal today.Beautiful Mess Series Recommended Reading Order:1. A Beautiful Mess (Beautiful Mess Trilogy #1)2. A Tragic Wreck (Beautiful Mess Trilogy #2)3. Gorgeous Chaos (Beautiful Mess Trilogy #3)4. Chasing the Dragon (Deception Duet #1)5. Slaying the Dragon (Deception Duet #2)6. Vanished (A Beautiful Mess Series Standalone)7. Heart of Light (A Beautiful Mess Series Standalone)***Author's Note: While it is not necessary to read the Beautiful Mess Trilogy prior to reading the Deception Duet or the Beautiful Mess Series standalones, the above is the recommended reading order for the best reading experience.
Alex
Irish Winters - 2013
. . Alex Stewart, ex-Marine and tough as nails boss, ditches the success of his fledgling business and flees to his cabin in the deep woods. He’s had enough. Four years after the deaths of his wife and daughter, he’s stuck in the anger stage of grief. He wants to be left alone. Life used to make sense. It just doesn’t bring him joy. Nothing does. She’s trying to remember . . . Left to die in those same deep woods, Kelsey is the last thing Alex expects to find at his cabin. She’s everything he’s running away from. Responsibility. Memories. Having to care about someone else beside himself. To make matters worse, she can’t remember anything except her first name. Neither can she explain the marks on her body, nor why two darling baby boys haunt her dreams. But Alex can . . .
Stone Cold Heart
Lisa Hughey - 2013
But on a humanitarian mission to aid an earthquake ravaged country, finally she finds a place where she fits, in Colin Davies' arms, and working for Global Humanitarian Relief, her big brother's company. But can the former SAS thaw Jess's stone cold heart?
Fall Out
Zoe York - 2014
Until Annie Martin shows up on his doorstep, scared out of her mind, and all of a sudden, keeping her safe becomes the most important mission of his life.And this time, he’s on his own.Fall Out is a 30,000 word novella, first published as part of the SEALs of Summer boxed set, now available on its own.
Out of the Mist
Lauren Giordano - 2017
. .
Beaten and left for dead, Juliet awakens with no memory of how she ended up alone on an isolated road. After another attempt on her life, she's forced to rely on a man who's made it clear he doesn't trust her. Hunting a ruthless drug deler, injured DEA agent Matt Barnes has seen just about everything in a decade battling the worst humanity has to offer. But he's never seen anything like Julie-- a beautiful blonde who reminds him more of sorority Barbie than a ruthless drug kingpin. But looks can be deceiving. He's got the bullet hole to prove it. In a case going nowhere, Julie and her memory are all he has. To erase the worst mistake of his career, his team will use her to lure the most dangerous drug lord he's ever battled. But will the woman he's fallen in love with ever forgive him for making her the bait?
Saved
Angel Payne - 2013
Garrett Hawkins is the most valuable asset to his Special Forces unit, because, frankly, the guy doesn’t care if he lives or dies anymore. Since the love of his life, Sage Weston, was kidnapped and killed with her medical unit a year ago, Garrett has turned the shell of his soul into the armor of a finely tuned fighting machine. Being the first tapped for the unit’s craziest missions is just fine by him. The less time for memories and the agony they carve into his soul, the better. It’s a plan that works, until Garrett’s world is upended one night in the jungles of Thailand. Memories become reality when the unit is called to rescue a group of kidnapped aid workers, and they discover Sage and her teammate among the retrieved women. Now that Sage is back in his arms, Garrett doesn’t know what to do. He has changed in dramatic ways, especially in the darker tastes of his passion. If he touches Sage again, he’ll want to claim her, restrain her...dominate her. Is Sage’s love strong enough to let Garrett back in, not only as her fiancé but her Dominant? Can she trust that visiting the new shadows of his life will lead her to ecstasy and not ruin? Or can Garrett’s discipline be exactly what her soul needs to find its way back to life—and love—again?
Behind Closed Doors
Shannon McKenna - 2002
. .Surveillance expert Seth Mackey knows everything about the women that his millionaire boss toys with–and tosses aside. Raine Cameron is something different. Night after night, Seth watches her on a dozen different video screens. Her vulnerable beauty haunts him and her fresh innocence stirs a white-hot passion that he can barely control. Raine is pure temptation, but Seth has something more important to take care of first. He’s convinced that his boss, Victor Lazar, is responsible for his half-brother’s murder. He cannot put his secret investigation at risk, but he can’t stop wanting her–craving her–and soon he knows he can’t let Victor have her. For Raine may be Victor’s next victim…EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE . . .Raine knows she’s being watched–but no one can see the secrets in her heart. She has reasons of her own to seek revenge on Victor Lazar, and she will, despite her fear–and the distracting presence of Seth Mackey. Though Raine has little experience with men, Seth’s fiercely masculine good looks and animal sensuality stir her most erotic fantasies when she’s alone . . . and lead her to a bold plan. Offering her body to him, surrendering totally to his ruthless desire might well push her beyond all emotional limits–and beyond fear itself.
Shooter
Dahlia West - 2013
He only wants to focus on holding what's left of his old unit together, running his garage where he builds custom bikes and cars, and pretending that his murdered father's motorcycle gang doesn't exist. Hayley Turner is a young woman with her own traumatic past. Fresh off the bus from Nowhere, USA, all she wants is a job and a place to live, until it's time for her to leave again. She doesn't want to make friends, or enemies, least of all the ex-Army Ranger who obviously doesn't like her. She bristles under his watchful eye. He's even got her convinced she's bad news. But circumstances force two people who don't need anyone to need each other more and more. The more Chris gets to know Hayley, the harder it is to stay detached. And the more Hayley gets to know Chris, the more she realizes she's been alone for so long she might never recover from it.
Dangerous Secrets
Abbie Zanders - 2014
one passionate love story. Taryn Malone is stranded, broke, and desperate for help. But even if the sexy bartender she's been eyeing offers her a job for the evening... even if he seduces her with his impossibly intense blue eyes... even if every fiber of her heart tells her to stay with him... she can't. Because Taryn Malone doesn't exist.Jake Callaghan has been running the family's Irish pub for years now. When he sees Taryn standing out alone in the rain, he does what he's been trained to do as a SEAL - he rescues her. It has nothing to do with her full, firm curves, or her loose, golden-blonde hair, or the way she brushes against him that sends lightning bolts through his body. It's just the right thing to do. Really. But both Taryn and Jake are hiding secrets from each other. Dangerous secrets. And neither one of them knows just how dangerous it can be to fall in love...
Giving Chase
Lauren Dane - 2006
Ridiculously hot and notoriously single.When landscaper Kyle Chase takes notice of Maggie Wright, all of Petal, Georgia, wonders what the quiet schoolteacher is hiding underneath her tight bun and boring blouses. Even Maggie doesn’t quite get it, but after a failed relationship and a disastrous attempt to get back out there, she’s no match against the famous Chase charm, and Kyle has it in spades. Kyle wants Maggie in his life—and in his bed—and he doesn’t mind getting down and dirty to prove it. For years he’s avoided the kind of trouble that comes with “good girls” like her, but Maggie’s the best trouble he’s ever been in. He craves more of it. And more of her.But even as their love grows into thoughts of forever, a hidden danger from Maggie’s past threatens to tear them apart. And when Maggie suddenly disappears, Kyle must put his faith in his family and race to save the love of his life before he loses her forever.The Chase is on. One small town. Four hot brothers. And enough heat to burn up anyone who dares to get close. Don’t miss the next books: Taking Chase, Chased and Making Chase.