Book picks similar to
Wherever You Will Go by Stephanie Smith


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contemporary

Barely Breathing


Pamela Clare - 2016
    Now, here she is—over thirty, out of a job and with little choice but to move back in with her father. Lexi knows it’s just a matter of time before she runs into Austin Taylor, her first boyfriend and her first heartbreak. She’s determined to show him she’s over him—until he steps out of a pickup truck and back into her life, looking sexy as hell in his mountain ranger uniform.As far as Austin is concerned, Lexi can turn her snazzy little convertible around and drive back to Chicago. After all, she ripped his teenage heart apart and turned her back on the town he loves. But from the moment he sees her again, he can’t get her out of his mind. Even her smile messes with his head. When an evening of conversation turns into something else, Lexi and Austin agree to be friends again—with benefits. But as Lexi starts making plans to return to the big city, Austin realizes he’ll lose her a second time unless he can show her that what she’s searching for has been right here all along.Note to readers: This is straight contemporary romance, not romantic suspense.

Hard Glamour


Maggie Marr - 2014
    Honoring her mother's last wish, Lane Channing vows to follow her dreams. She takes the 'big risk' and leaves her small Kansas town behind and heads to LA, the city of dreams. She's got a stellar job lined up, an old jeep, and 20 bucks to last her to her first paycheck. Her hopes shatter when she arrives to find her job's been given to someone else. Now she's broke and if she doesn't do something fast will soon be living on the streets. Welcome to cutthroat -- Lane is most certainly not in Kansas anymore. On the cusp of success... Dillon MacAvoy has one goal -- to become a star -- whatever it takes. Even if it means honing his bad-boy can't-be-tamed-and-forever-single image. Besides the image isn't far from the truth. Dillon cares only about his younger brother and his career. He's on the brink of superstardom if he can just decide on the next right script. But for that, he needs a script reader he can trust. In a strange twist of fate... Lane Channing is Dillon's last chance. If Lane lasts the summer without becoming MacAvoy's latest conquest, she's guaranteed a job in entertainment. No problem, as long as she can ignore the heat that pulses through her every time Dillon is in the room. After all, love and commitment with a sweet, hometown girl would only ruin the Dillon MacAvoy brand.

Cree


H.J. Bellus - 2014
    A broken family, an asshole husband and the loss of loved ones have left me crying Uncle, and declaring a serious case of the Fuck-Its! I had my heart broken, stomped on and shattered before I ever started on my journey to find my little piece of happiness. With a bucket list, a '66 Ford and wild dreams, I set out on an adventure that changed my life forever. I found Cree… A pirate with a little princess and they swept me off my ever lovin' feet, filling my world with sprinkles, mac n’ cheese and the courage to live again. They forced my fragile heart to trust and love without fear. But the truth is, nobody’s past stays hidden forever. It’s an invisible monster waiting to attack and destroy. It has the capability to ruin everything you’ve worked to set right. All it takes is one final blow to the gut to end everything… Mature Content Warning. Recommended for ages 17+ due to language and sexual content. Please note: this book was previously named My Now & Forever.

Inhibitions


Kimberly Bracco - 2015
    She walked in on her boyfriend with another woman, leaving her needing a new place to live and a mountain of debt. As if that wasn’t enough, her ex convinces her that his infidelity is her fault for being unadventurous in bed.Deep down Ashley has always had the desire to be wild but has been held back by her own insecurities. She’s desperate to break free, but she's fearful of how people will judge her if they know her inner desires. She wants nothing more than to lose herself in sex that pushes her to the limit, but she hasn’t found anyone she trusts enough to take her there until she meets Tanner.Tanner doesn’t trust anyone outside of his inner circle easily. The infamous, media proclaimed playboy, quarterback is tired of people using him for money, connections and to get their fifteen minutes of fame. Determined to protect his image and himself, he makes sure to keep most people at arm’s length until Ashley is thrown into his life. He’s inexplicably drawn to her, and she needs his help in more than ways than one. But to help her, he’ll need to let her in.There’s an immediate attraction and connection that neither can deny, but can both of them get past their inhibitions and find what they are looking for in each other or will everything backfire in their faces?

Faster Harder


Colleen Masters - 2013
    The esteemed daughter of Alfonso Lazio, the greatest driver F1 has ever seen, Siena seems to have it all figured out. All she has to do is uphold her family's honor and ensure her brother Enzo's public image is pristine while he rises to fame and clenches the title as Formula One's new champion.Everything is perfect......Until she's swept mercilessly off her feet by the one man she can never be with. The one man who can fuck it all up.Harrison Davies is Team McClain's secret weapon and he's the only driver who threatens to steal the championship from Enzo. The tattooed British bad boy knows how to get what he wants. And always gets what he wants.Harrison and Siena fall deeper and deeper with each secret tryst. Passion flares, reality fades, and the lines between right and wrong begin to blur. Driven by lust and ambition the couple delves into a world of treachery, deceit, lies, and ultimate betrayal. Is Siena ready to place her fragile heart into the hands of a speed demon and will the thrill of falling for him be worth it when they wreck?Full length New Adult Contemporary Romance novel. Readers 18+ only. Contains adult themes and explicit sexual content.

Worth the Weight


Mara Jacobs - 2012
    A new life. An old flame?Lizzie Hampton is literally a shadow of her former self. Having lost half her body weight, she's headed to her small hometown to test out her new body on an old flame. Just a harmless fling to get her self-confidence back before she returns to the city and the new man in her life.But Lizzie's plan has a few bumps in the road.Finn Robbins can't believe Liz is back in town. Desperate to be the holder of her innocence eighteen years ago, he never got the chance. Now she's back and he can finally check her off his to do list. But her friends, his son, and the mysterious Annie may have something to say about that.

Beautiful Oblivion


Addison Moore - 2013
    She’s tired of dating Warren McCarthy just to make her father happy. Reese has long since had her eye on someone else, and this summer she’s determined to make it happen.Growing up in Lake Loveless there has always been a strict monetary divide—there was the rest of the Lake and then there were the Waterman’s. Ace Waterman has worked for everything he has, and he doesn’t have a lot. He breaks his back doing grunt work while putting himself through college. He’s used to life passing him by.Reese has loved Ace from afar for as long as she can remember. The summer of her freshman year she comes home with plans to land Ace in her bed at least for a few short weeks, and, if she’s lucky, forever.Ace has loved Reese for as long as he can remember, but their friendship has never graduated beyond platonic, so when Reese comes home from her first year away and proposes the two of them have a summer fling, Ace is quick to comply. The rules: no strings, no expectations, just something hotter than the sun to set the sheets on fire.But when their worlds collide, and neither of them is willing to admit to having true feelings, it becomes clear to Ace he’s nothing more than a dirty little secret—that the summer fling was just something meaningless to pass the time.Reese wonders if she can ever stop trying to please her father, and it’s only through her mother’s letters that she finds the answers she truly seeks, but will they be the ones she wants to hear?As summer draws to a close, Ace and Reese are still very much enraptured even though the time has come to douse the flame and move on—but neither one of them is prepared to leave this BEAUTIFUL OBLIVION.

Mad For You


Anna Antonia - 2013
    Despite his heavenly name and matching beauty, Gabriel was anything but angelic. Rich, spoiled, and far too cynical for his age, he could easily charm the skirt off a prim beauty or a young teacher or two. Gabriel Gordon was mad, bad, and ...well, you probably know the rest.The years hadn't changed him, despite taking over his father's company and expanding it into a multinational corporation. Unfortunately, it was just my luck that I found myself working in Gabriel's building. Although I had managed to avoid him for the better part of a month, a chance encounter in the elevator proved he was still an arrogant man who showed far too much interest in the shape of my mouth and nape of my neck.From then on, Gabriel bedeviled me, teased me, and more often than not, made me want to throw things at his head. Still, just as in high school, I couldn't help but see the pain behind his lazy grin and the shadows in his crystalline gaze. When Gabriel confessed his love for me, I should have been the happiest woman in the world. Too bad I couldn't believe him...Emma Adams had always considered herself level-headed, even-tempered, and most of all, sane. So how did she become someone who couldn't seem to push Gabriel Gordon away? No matter how sweet his words could be or how easily passion exploded between them, getting involved with the outrageously wealthy playboy had to be the height of insanity. Given their tumultuous natures and personal demons, there was only way a relationship between them could survive: in madness.

No Reverse


Marion Croslydon - 2013
    No need to say: their shotgun wedding was low-key. But when there was no baby anymore, they went their separate ways.Five years later, Josh has breezed through Georgetown and is about to finish his post-grad degree at Oxford University. He is set to join a lobbying group on Capitol Hill, owned by his new fiancée’s father. For Josh, the sky is now the limit… only he must first take care of a tiny legal matter: technically, he’s still married to the girl who broke his heart. Meanwhile, Cassie has been waiting tables in Steep Hill to pay for her sick grandmother’s care. On the day of the old lady’s funeral, Cassie is served with two sets of papers. Josh is asking for a divorce. Her heart squeezes, but, well, he moved on a long time ago. But the second envelope shakes Cassie to the core. So, for the first time, she leaves Kansas and heads to good ol’ England.There, Cassie finds that Josh has not just “moved on,” he’s freakin’ engaged to some blue-blooded heiress. The feelings Cassie had buried deep rush back to her. But no matter if he keeps thrusting the divorce papers under her nose, she needs him to save the only person she loves more than Josh, more than life itself…

Good Girl Gone Plaid


Shelli Stevens - 2013
    In high school Sarah fell for her best friend’s older brother—one of the sexy, Scottish McLaughlin boys. But a painful betrayal showed her she’d been a fool to give her heart to a bad boy. At least it made it easier to leave him and move halfway around the world when her Navy dad got stationed in Japan. Eleven years later, the death of her grandmother has forced Sarah back to Whidbey Island for a month. It’s the length of time she must stay in her inherited house before she’s allowed to sell it, take the money and run. But when she sees Ian, bad as ever and still looking like sin on a stick, she can’t keep her mouth from watering. One look at Sarah stirs up the regret lingering in Ian’s heart—and never-forgotten desire lingering in his body. He should walk away, especially since divorced single mothers aren’t his style. But when she starts showing up at his family’s pub, he can’t resist a little casual seduction for old time’s sake. One thing quickly becomes clear, though. The heat between them is causing an avalanche of secrets and betrayal and nothing will ever be the same.Product Warnings: A bad-boy hero who’s good with his hands, a heroine who’s trying to be good. Contains liberal consumption of Scotch whisky, a Highland Games competition, men in kilts wielding large poles, and a potential Sarah McLaughlin of the non-musical kind.

I Stand Before You


S.R. Grey - 2013
    How can you move forward when you're anchored to the past?When it comes to tattooed bad boys, Chase Gartner was the real deal. Partying, engaging in meaningless sex, getting into fights---Chase indulged in it all during his late teen years, thus firmly solidifying his status as a heartbreakingly gorgeous but way-too-dangerous-to-trust guy in his hometown of Harmony Creek, Ohio. Then, following one fateful night of reckless decisions, Chase's actions finally caught up to him and landed him in prison.Now, four years have passed and Chase finds himself a free man. He returns to Harmony Creek, ready to pick up the pieces and start rebuilding his shattered life. Things are off to a promising start when he meets Kay Stanton, a young woman with a tragic past of her own. Despite a powerful attraction, Chase and Kay are naturally hesitant to become involved. That's why friendship feels like the safest option. But when passions ignite and love blossoms, a relationship that is destined and meant to be can only be resisted for so long. When Chase and Kay finally succumb to their feelings they realize being together feels more right and true than anything they have ever experienced. But their love is soon tested. Chase's wild past still haunts and tempts him, and Kay is keeping a secret that could tear them apart. I Stand Before You is a journey of hope and forgiveness, coming to terms with the past and moving forward. But mostly it's a story of two damaged people who take a chance, open their hearts, and find true love. New Adult/Contemporary Romance genres. First in a series. ***warning: contains explicit sexual situations, drug use, some violence, and profanity***

Bury the Hatchet


Catherine Gayle - 2015
    Now he needs to prove to the watchful eyes that he’s changed for the better. But cozying up to Little-Miss-Perfect-Gone-Bad isn’t his idea of making amends.Agreeing to marry a hockey star to clear her “bad girl” reputation is the worst idea Oklahoma’s former sweetheart, Tallulah Belle Roth, has ever heard. With cameras constantly in their faces, Hunter and Tallie need to prove their sickeningly-sweet, do-good lives are the real deal—just to Bury the Hatchet once and for all.But when the cameras are off, desire burns hot. Can fake and just for show turn into something real and forever?

Scorned


S.L. Scott - 2014
    It was all encompassing. I thought our love could withstand time and anything thrown our way. I was wrong. So wrong.I used to be happy. I used to be Juliette Weston when Dylan Somers filled my life with promises of love and a happy ever after. But when he took my heart and broke it into a million pieces, I became someone else entirely. In one afternoon, I lost my soul mate. I lost everything I knew myself to be. Three years later, the man who destroyed me is back. To assuage his guilt? To finish the job? It doesn’t matter… I won’t let him this time. I’m stronger. I’ve moved on. He won’t affect me. This is a story of love and betrayal. Pain and loss. Happiness and fate. It’s about finding your true destiny.This is our story.And it’s not for the faint of heart.

This Magic Moment


Virna DePaul - 2010
    She prides herself on being a lady in public, but after she's dumped yet again for being a lady in the bedroom, she's ready to go back to school.Determined to find her inner sex diva, she enlists her childhood friend, Max Dalton, to tutor her after hours. Instead, she ends up in the wrong bed and gets a lesson in passion from Max's twin brother, Rhys Dalton, a man Melina's always secretly wanted but never thought she could have. Despite craving the occasional adventure, Melina's a small-town girl who wants roots and a family. Rhys and Max, on the other hand, are celebrities who travel from one city to another, changing bed partners as easily as plane flights. Rhys is outwardly the more reserved of the two but, unable to believe his good luck when he finds Melina waiting for him, he gives Melina her first taste of multiples right out the gate. Come morning, she's so mortified that she threw herself at Rhys that she blurts out the truth about her tutoring experiment. Not about to let her get away from him, Rhys convinces Melina that when it comes to sexual lessons, he's more than man enough for the job. His biggest challenge is teaching Melina that when it comes to pleasure, the key to his own is hers.Can a woman who's always longed for hearth and home find satisfaction with a man whose entire life has been about moving on to the next big thing?

Burn For Me


J.H. Croix - 2017
    I f*cked up.Once upon a time, Amelia was my everything.Until she wasn't.I'm home now, and I want her back.She's never forgiven me for something I didn't even do.I've never forgiven her for believing the worst.One look and the years apart go up in smoke.The minute I lay eyes on Amelia, I'm hard for her.Again.That smart mouth and curvy body is all I ever wanted.This time, I'll have her and she'll have me.Every inch of me.This is my second chance. I won't back down.She'll be mine. For good this time.*This is a steamy, full-length standalone romance with a guaranteed happily-ever-after. No cliffhangers. Nothing but steamy romance & HEA!