Book picks similar to
Take My Hand by Nicola Haken
romance
new-adult
contemporary
college
Undertow
Elizabeth O'Roark - 2013
It almost seems like enough until Nate Sullivan comes home. Nate – her childhood best friend, her first love. The boy who left without a trace one night and broke her heart. When their attraction threatens the future she and her parents have so carefully crafted, loyalties will be tested and secrets will be uncovered. Giving in may cost her everything. But how do you resist the only thing you’ve ever really wanted?
Spark
Brooke Cumberland - 2013
Weak, powerless, and fearing the one person who has hurt her the most…can she overcome the barriers to move forward?Being saved by a muscled Godsend was never on her agenda, but when firefighter, Eric Reilley comes into her life unexpectedly, everything changes. Velaney has never felt loved or cared for, and her past prevents her from letting anyone in. Eric manages to break down her walls—despite the repercussions that come for them afterwards.They have an undeniable spark—something she has never felt before, but will it be enough? Can love overcome all obstacles? Can they save each other to protect their love or will her past shatter everything she never knew she needed…?**Spark is for mature audiences only – strong language, explicit sexual content, and sexual abuse are apparent.**
This is Falling
Ginger Scott - 2014
Then, I had to learn how to survive. Two years, three months and sixteen days had passed since I was the Rowe Stanton from before, since tragedy stole my youth and my heart went along with it. When I left for college, I put a thousand miles between my future and my past. I’d made a choice—I was going to cross back to the other side, to live with the living. I just didn’t know how. And then I met Nate Preeter. An All-American baseball player, Nate wasn’t supposed to notice a ghost-of-a-girl like me. But he did. He shouldn’t want to know my name. But he did. And when he learned my secret and saw the scars it left behind, he was supposed to run. But he didn’t. My heart was dead, and I was never supposed to belong to anyone. But Nate Preeter had me feeling, and he made me want to be his. He showed me everything I was missing. And then he showed me how to fall. *This is a standalone in a three-part series that will focus on different characters. Each book can be read on its own.
Catching Liam
Gennifer Albin - 2013
Boy-catching isn't just a game for Jillian and her friends, it's a lifestyle. After all, boys might be good for a dance or a drink and certainly a little under-cover action of the scandalous variety, but expect much else and you're bound for heart ache.So when her best friends and fellow boy catchers start dropping like flies junior year, Jillian is determined to keep boys in her bedroom and out of her heart. Until she meets Liam McAvoy, the kind of guy that sticks around to make waffles and who can't—or perhaps won't—take a hint. Study abroad student Liam doesn't want to be another notch on Jillian's bedpost. Actually he has much more interesting ideas for Jillian and her bedposts, but his student visa's set expiration date means he can't promise her forever. That doesn't mean he's going to walk away from the challenge of discovering why Jillian is hell-bent at keeping people at a distance. Before long, neither is sure who is catching who—or if they're playing for keeps. Jillian knows one thing though: falling in love will not only break the only rule of boy-catching, it could also break her heart.
Pieces of You & Me
Pamela Ann - 2014
Olivia Taylor’s life turned upside down when she found out her mother was moving into her boyfriend’s home. The glitch? The boyfriend had a son named Greyson—the guy she loathed more than anything. Greyson Edwards was your typical arrogant self-entitled jerk. He loved to taunt and tease Olivia. But the more time they got to spend together, the more complicated things became. Will these two stubborn folks ever figure things out? Will they let themselves feel what was truly boiling underneath the angst and unveil the passion that’s only a mere kiss away?
I Surrender
Monica James - 2013
Returning home to Los Angeles was never going to be easy for Ava, as her heart has been shattered to smithereens and she’s convinced it’ll never heal. Or, so she thought.Enter Jasper White.Unbeknown to Ava, he will change her life forever.The attraction is instantaneous, which troubles Ava, who has sworn off men indefinitely. Yet, she is finding resisting Jasper—with his tousled bedroom hair and piercing cerulean eyes—harder than she ever imagined. That’s because Jasper knows what he wants … and he wants her.Can Ava surrender to her feelings for the one man who compels her to love again? What happens if love isn’t enough?
Love Love
Beth Michele - 2013
She's funny. And oh yes, she's a bit klutzy.
When Gabrielle left sunny California bound for the energy of Manhattan, she was willingly leaving the life she had known for the new life she would create. But was she really leaving something behind or was she running away?On the outside, Gabrielle Willis had it all under control. A new life in Manhattan, a great roommate, and a good job. But she was haunted. Haunted by a memory she'd tried to forget and by a family who'd abandoned her. Enter Dane Rhodes. He was gorgeous, smart, and sexy as hell. Just what Gabby wanted, or so she thought. But when she met Brad Dixon, the sweet guy with the crooked smile, he began to make her see that the very thing she was trying to run from, was the very thing that just might push her to see the light.**This Contemporary Romance contains mature language and sexual content and is only recommended for readers 17 and older.**
Coming Home
Priscilla Glenn - 2014
After discovering the man she loved had manipulated and deceived her, she refuses to even entertain the idea of a relationship. Instead, she focuses her attention on taking care of her family, a role she’s assumed since the death of her mother and the one place she knows her kindness won't be taken advantage of again. When a nostalgic trip back to her childhood home results in a chance encounter with Danny DeLuca, a smart-mouthed mechanic who’s as attractive as he is mysterious, Leah's carefully cultivated walls begin to crumble. She finds herself unexpectedly drawn to Danny, despite his unreliable behavior and mixed signals. But Danny has a secret...One that could shake Leah's already precarious foundation and bring her world crashing down around her. Suddenly, she's faced with an incredibly difficult decision--is she willing to risk everything for the chance at finding the love she's always wanted? Or are some obstacles just too big for the heart to overcome?
Cruel and Beautiful
A.M. Hargrove - 2015
(Rated R)
Cate Forbes
, a dedicated college student with a carefully plotted future, doesn’t know the first thing about love. When she accepts a blind date with a rumored tasty piece of eye candy, she thinks she can get by with a night of fun. Cate’s plans quickly unravel when she gets one look at the sexy…
Drew McKnight.
The relentless hockey-playing medical resident knows what he wants— a career in Oncology and Cate. Although he’s heard the gorgeous brunette is a little relationship skittish, a single night out isn’t what he has in mind. Determined to have her — in every way possible— he shows her just what a future with him would hold. Only life has other plans. The unthinkable happens and everything begins to shatter. Both in too deep, they will have to fight the cruel and hang onto the beautiful.
Pretty Little Things
Teresa Mummert - 2014
Colin became the one person that I could count on to protect me. He suffered for the both of us by carrying the burden of our secret.We were the lucky few that got a chance to start over. A fake family, a new home and a pretty little life built on lies. But while our lives continued to intertwine, we were put on very different paths. Now it was only a matter of time before they collide and the beast behind the beauty is exposed.
Bad Romeo
Leisa Rayven - 2014
She was the good girl actress. He was the bad boy about campus. But one fated casting choice for Romeo and Juliet changed it all. Like the characters they were playing, Cassie and Ethan's romance seemed destined. Until he broke her heart and betrayed her trust. Now the A-list heartthrob is back in her life and turning her world around. One touch at a time. Cast as romantic leads once again, they're forced to confront raw memories of the heartbreaking lows and pulse-pounding highs of their secret college affair. But they'll also discover that people who rub each other the wrong way often make the best sparks
Keep You from Harm
Debra Doxer - 2013
I’ve kept a secret all my life. It’s my mother’s secret, too. I inherited it from her along with a unique ability that only we possess. She’s gone now, another victim of addiction. If her death isn’t enough to bring me to my knees, her betrayal flays me to the bone. Because the secret my mother and I have been keeping is just one of many she’d kept. She never told me I have an older brother. And now he’s here, eager to be my guardian.There is no one else. So I move across the country to live with this stranger, my brother. But experience has taught me that most situations are temporary and forming attachments only leads to hurt in the end. That’s why I’m determined to keep to myself in this new place, struggling to seem aloof while I’m quietly breaking apart. Then I meet Lucas…His magnetism is hard to resist, and most girls at school aren’t resisting. I don’t fall so easily though, especially not for guys who use their good looks as a weapon. From the start, our interactions are tense and volatile. I know it’s because I’m denying the unwelcome desire that grips me when he’s near. I think he feels it, too. He looks at me with an intensity that threatens to unhinge my resolve. Soon he’s trying to break through the walls that past hurts have built. But I’m not what I appear to be, and it wouldn’t be fair to get involved with him. At least that’s what I tell myself. Until a terrible act of violence reveals that Lucas has a secret, too. It’s a secret that links us together and ties us to an evil history I could never have imagined.
Beautiful Oblivion
Jamie McGuire - 2014
She has held down a job since before she could drive, and moved into her own apartment after her freshman year of college. Now tending bar at The Red Door, Cami doesn’t have time for much else besides work and classes, until a trip to see her boyfriend is cancelled, leaving her with a first weekend off in almost a year.Trenton Maddox was the king of Eastern State University, dating co-eds before he even graduated high school. His friends wanted to be him, and women wanted to tame him, but after a tragic accident turned his world upside down, Trenton leaves campus to come to grips with the crushing guilt. Eighteen months later, Trenton is living at home with his widower father, and works full-time at a local tattoo parlor to help with the bills. Just when he thinks his life is returning to normal, he notices Cami sitting alone at a table at The Red. As the baby sister of four rowdy brothers, Cami believes she’ll have no problem keeping her new friendship with Trenton Maddox strictly platonic. But when a Maddox boy falls in love, he loves forever—even if she is the only reason their already broken family could fall apart.
Rotten
J.L. Brooks - 2013
Years later, Toni is lost in a dead end marriage and makes a painful confession that sends her back to the one place she always wanted to escape. But can she really right the wrongs that haunt her? Toni soon finds that the only place where things stay the same is in your mind.When her path crosses with David Stark, childhood playmate turned one night stand, she cannot deny the spike in temperature she feels every time he's near or the scorching dreams that flood her at night.Digging through the years of heartache, Toni soon finds herself torn between the man she is committed to and the one who has always held her heart. As each layer unfolds before her, she discovers the root cause of her pain. Always believing the source was external, nothing could prepare her for the truth.*This book contains sexual content and adult language. Intended for readers 17+.
Silent No More
N.E. Henderson - 2013
Life couldn’t get any better—or so she thought. Just when you think you have it all, add in a little betrayal and a few lies and you have the perfect mixture for a storm, strong enough to send you spiraling into a life full of unknowns—or could that have been the point? When traveling down the wrong path sometimes we need to be blown into a different direction. Now unsure of everything she had planned for herself, Shannon is on a mission to forget, but what she isn’t expecting to run into is the arrogant, womanizing, control freak that clearly thinks he’s a gift to all women. That may be for most women, but not this one. Meet Nicholas Lockhart. He’s sexy, domineering, and has a temper that is easily triggered, but those things are a must when in the business environment that he is. To be successful means to be the best, the alpha, controlling all others. Meeting a woman who can turn his world upside down is not in the cards, not part of the plan. Why have one woman when there are so many appetizing ones to taste? A renowned eligible bachelor is the person he likes to be, that is until the defiant, redhead turns his head and puts him in his place. Their quick and intense passion takes them both by surprise, eliciting a relationship neither expected. When her past collides with her present, Shannon is forced to confront it head on, tangling her in a web of lies and twisted truths that soon leave both bare and vulnerable. Sometimes the only option is to be silent no more…