Book picks similar to
The Bitter Rival by L.M. Fox


contemporary
contemporary-romance
freebie
single-parent

Tattered


Devney Perry - 2018
    It’s somewhere just above the trash can her mother dumped her in as a newborn but below the class where much comes easy. With her tattered shoes and bargain-bin clothes, her life has never been full of glamour. So when a rich and charismatic man takes interest, she doesn’t fool herself into thinking their encounter is anything more than a one-night stand. Months later, she’s kicking herself for not getting his phone number. Or his last name. She’s given up hope of seeing him ever again.Until one day, years later, Logan Kendrick waltzes into her life once more and turns everything she’s built upside down. This time around, she won’t make the same mistake. She’s going to fight to keep him in her life—not for herself.But for their daughter.

Friction


Emily Snow - 2017
    Recent divorce, check. Pending lawsuit, check. A move back to Boston to live with her mother, triple check. It can't get much worse, right? When she starts her new marketing job at EXtreme Effects, she's positive shit’s stopped hitting the fan. Sure, what she's advertising is a little ... unorthodox, but it pays the bills. And since she's seconds away from becoming Lucy Williams: Wednesday Night Bingo Enthusiast, she needs money to get the hell out of her mother’s house. The only problem is her boss, Mr. Extreme himself: Jace Exley. He’s everything any sane woman dreams of—alpha, successful, ridiculously gorgeous. He's also Lucy’s worst nightmare. Because like every overachiever, she has that underachiever she brushed off. The slacker who, once upon a time ago, was the object of her dirtiest schoolgirl fantasies. Jace Exley—with his sarcastic smirk and delicious accent—just happens to be that guy. And the friction between them? Well, that's the only adulting Lucy seems to be winning at

Games We Play


Dana Isaly - 2021
    He makes a living playing video games and using his gravelly voice to bring people’s sexual fantasies to life.When the top gaming site on the West Coast sends someone out to interview him, Quinlan walks into his apartment with her auburn curls and thick curves, and they’re instantly drawn to each other.Quinlan has no idea of the monster that lurks beneath the surface of his calm demeanor. Jack is quicksand, pulling her down into the dark underbelly of his desires. To get out unscathed, she’ll need to give into the hunger she has always tried to deny.

A Reason to Breathe


C.P. Smith - 2014
    Jack Gunnison has a problem. Well, two, actually. One is 5'5", and the other? . . . A killer. Jennifer Stewart needs a change after losing her husband and sending her daughter off to College. Jenn moves to the high country of Colorado to start her life over and follow her dreams. Unfortunately, she gets more than she bargained for when she attracts the eye of a killer. Together, Jack and Jenn must figure out his identity before he strikes again.Mature readers only due to erotic content and language.

Dangerous Vow


S.R. Jones - 2021
    He sees me as prey. He doesn’t know what I’m capable of or the terrible secrets I hide.Giovanni Bianchi: Handsome, wealthy, and controlling.He’s the man who has it all—except me.When he offers me the opportunity to work as a librarian for his estate, I can’t turn him down despite my father’s deathbed warning. I have nothing to lose. My father is dead. My home is in danger. My fortune gone. Yet, still he takes from me. I should have listened to the warnings.Giovanni tempts me with books, lures me with sunshine, and wraps me in sin. But all is not well in our Eden, and my secrets refuse to stay hidden. Will he leave when he sees the real me? Maybe, but I’m starting to understand my Italian Prince.He’s not just powerful, he’s the devil in disguise.Our twisted game will bring danger to us both, and our lives will never be the same again. Secrets are spilled, battle lines are drawn, but Giovanni won’t let me go.And this time he’s playing for keeps.

Boss Rules


Jenna Gunn - 2020
    Today my off-limits Boss..It was supposed to be my dream job.Ocean rescuer on the highly respected Southern California team.But he happened.A few hours ago Bryce Archer wasn’t my boss.Or my anything for that matter.He was a one night indulgence.One that left my voice shredded and my body in withdrawal.But my new job on his team doesn’t allow us to mix business and pleasure.The rule book says we’re done.But the electricity between us says we’re not.So my dream job hangs in peril.If I become the secret lover…it could all come crashing down.This badass job and perfect seaside town are everything I want.But now I want him too.Enough to risk it all.Enough to follow his reckless lead and break all the rules.It’s a dumpster fire in the making.One that might leave me knocked up, broken hearted, with my dreams in tatters.Boss Rules is a steamy stand-alone book in the Archer Brother's series. Scorching passion, plenty of humor, and lots of adventure action set this seaside love affair apart from the rest of the pack. No cliff-hangers and no cheating in this HEA. This one will melt you and your Kindle!

Mr. Sin


S.J. Tilly - 2021
    SinI should have run the other way. Paid my tab and gone back to my room. But he was there. And he was… everything. I figured what’s the harm in letting passion rule my decisions for one night? So what if he looks like the Devil in a suit. I’d be leaving in the morning. Flying home, back to my pleasant but predictable life. I’d never see him again.Except I do. In the last place I expected. And now everything I’ve worked so hard for is in jeopardy.We can’t stop what we’ve started, but this is bigger than the two of us.And when his past comes back to haunt him, love might not be enough to save me.

The Executive


Winter Renshaw - 2018
    He was the pen. I was the company ink. Though if you want to get technical, we were more like colleagues-who-hated-each-other … with benefits.Everything was fine until the charming jerk went behind my back, stole my promotion, and became my boss—literally overnight.Refusing to work beneath him (professionally speaking and otherwise), I transferred 2,014 miles away to our Chicago division, and I’ve spent the past year trying to remember how much I hated his panty-melting smirk so I can forget how much I secretly loved the way his ocean eyes lit every time I walked into the room.But he’s just announced a last-minute site visit the week between Christmas and New Year’s, and on top of that, he’s audaciously designated me as his ‘right hand gal’ during his visit. If he thinks he has a snowball’s chance in this hell at getting back in my good graces, he’s got another thing coming.Reed York might be a man used to getting everything he’s ever wanted, but Joa Jolivet is a woman that never forgets.He can put me on his Christmas list all he wants, but everyone knows naughty boys only get coal.

Broken


A.E. Murphy - 2014
    He is hers and she is his. Life can't get much better and their love can't get any stronger. That is until mistakes are made and their world comes crumbling down. She's left alone with no money, no home and a growing person invading her stomach. How will she survive? Forced to leave culinary school, the job she needs and the home they made together. Gwen finds a knight in the most unlikely source. Caleb's brother Nathan. A complex man with a phobia she doesn't understand and mannerisms that aren't of this day and age, will she be able to melt his seemingly frozen heart and become his friend? Or will he forever push her away and wallow in his loneliness and self loathing?

One Percent of You


Michelle Gross - 2019
    I know what I look like to others. Young, government-aided, pregnant mom. They see Lucy on my hip, and they see a mistake. I mean, why else would someone have a child so young, right? They couldn’t be more wrong. I’m too busy most days between parenting, work, and finishing up my last year of nursing school to let their judging gaze tear me down until he moves in the vacant house next to the apartments I live in. His cold, blunt observation of us doesn’t differ from any other stranger. He doesn’t know me, but he’s already painting a picture of who he thinks I am in his mind. He judges my very round belly, Lucy’s inability to leave him alone, the bags under my eyes, and the fact that I could not care less what I look like anymore. He’s a rude guy. Stays that way for months too. Then something happens, I’m not even sure what. Judgmental Guy decides Lucy and me — as well as baby Eli — are worth his friendship. Turns out, Judgmental Guy isn’t too mean — okay, he kind of still is. But he graduates to Elijah. I build an unlikely friendship with him which deems it necessary for him to start smiling around me and my kids. I’m wrong again. Elijah isn’t rude. He’s terrifying. His strange acts of kindness are unraveling me. Elijah is only my friend. Right? Oh, fudge. I think I’m wrong. Again.

Texas Hold Em'


Ali Parker - 2021
    Either way, this Texas boy ain’t scared. I’m looking for love in all the wrong places.

The Brave Line


Kate Stewart - 2017
    With a fresh perspective on life, she trades her tragic past in California for the coastal waters of Charleston. Fueled by a new career as a dispatcher, she’s determined not to let her scars weigh her down. She apologizes for nothing, especially her insatiable need for a certain police officer.Rowdy is a newly minted sergeant dedicated to his job, but the life of a Charleston police officer has never been more dangerous. With his need to take order of a city spiraling out of control, the last thing he wants is an entanglement with a mouthy dispatcher. But, there’s just one problem. He can’t get enough of her.As the heat rises between the unlikely pair, so does the tension.Three months of summer was all it took to shake their foundations, rattle their walls, and bring them crashing down.It was lust.It was love.It was real.And it would have been perfect . . . if it wasn't already over.Note to reader:This book has several elements and explores topics that some may consider triggers. For mature audiences only. Explicit sex, violence and language. (less)

His Captive Asset


Una Rohr - 2020
    

Sugar Daddies


Jade West - 2016
    Someone who can entertain them, amuse them, fit in with their corporate schedule. And sex. They want sex. Lots of sex.Bonus, right? One major dose of epic win. Of course, guys like Carl and Rick have their conditions. One being that they come together, or not at all. Hell, I can live with that.And there are no skeletons in their designer closet, none that I can find. Just two hot sugar daddies, with particular tastes, nothing to worry about.Until Carl and Rick spill the big one, the one that sends the girls running. A whole string of them before me, running to the hills without so much as a backward glance. Maybe I should run, too. Thanks but no thanks, see you around, guys, nice knowing you. But I’m already in way too deep for that. Warning – as with every other Jade West book, reader discretion is highly advised. This novel contains vivid depictions of MMF / MM relationships, and Jade’s characters, as always, have very filthy mouths. Mature readers only, please.

The Wrong Kind of Love


Lexi Ryan - 2018
    Or the moment your twin sister pukes on your bouquet and confesses she’s pregnant... with your fiancé’s baby.I wanted to get away, to hide until my heart mended. I found myself in a strange town with a mysterious stranger whose talented mouth and hands almost made me forget it was supposed to be my wedding night.Afraid to go home to face my broken life, I pretend to be my twin so I can take her job in Jackson Harbor caring for a six-year-old girl. Imagine my surprise when I find out my new boss is my mysterious stranger — Dr. Ethan Jackson.I never meant for Ethan to discover my secrets. I never meant for them to matter. But the longer I work with him and his sweet daughter, the harder I fall, and the clearer it becomes that I’m not the only one carrying a secret that could tear us apart.Get ready to fall for the boys of Jackson Harbor in Lexi Ryan’s sexy new contemporary romance series. These books can all be read as standalones, but you’ll enjoy reading them as a series!