Book picks similar to
Returning Home by Riann C. Miller


second-chance
military
romance
second-chance-romance

Commitment


T.K. Leigh - 2018
    After all, she's my sister's best friend. Not to mention, she buried any animosity she held toward me and helped raise my two little girls when my ex split without a single glance back.But when I learn the man she's been dating has proposed, I'm faced with a decision.Do I finally tell Brooklyn the reason I betrayed her trust all those years ago?Or do I watch her marry another man to protect her from suffering any more heartache?
Commitment is the first book in the Redemption Duet. Binge-read this angst-filled second chance, best friend's brother romance today!

Wicked Beautiful


J.T. Geissinger - 2015
    What she doesn’t have—and doesn’t want—is a husband. Fifteen years ago her high school flame broke her heart so badly she swore she’d never love again. Drop-dead sexy restauranteur and infamous playboy Parker Maxwell has only three rules for the women he dates: no questions about his past, no expectations for the future, and no spending the night. When he meets Victoria, however, he’s willing to break his own rules if it means sating the explosive desire she arouses in him. What he doesn’t know is that the alluring Victoria Price used to be the mousy Isabel Diaz, the girl he deflowered and dumped long ago. Presented with a perfect opportunity for revenge, Victoria decides the game is on. But when her connection with Parker proves more than just skin deep, she has to make a choice: continue with her plan for payback, or risk her career, her reputation, and her heart by taking a second chance on love?

A Love So Tragic


Stevie J. Cole - 2016
    We all make them. Sometimes we break them. But what happens when the promise you break haunts your dreams, when that moment of betrayal echoes within every last beat of your heart? Love. Love is passionate, painful, and all consuming in the most brutal yet beautiful way. How many people have you said 'I love you' to? Five, ten, maybe no one? I've said that word to two men, but only one where I felt it. Tragic. This word sums up my relationship with Nicolas: devastating, painful, depressing. A first love that should have lasted a lifetime, but I ruined with a stupid decision. Nicolas is my star crossed lover, and even though Shakespeare has taught me that stories such as ours always end in tragedy, I can't not love him, even if I'm married to someone else.

Revelry


Kandi Steiner - 2017
     She never expected to be divorced at twenty-seven, but now that the court date has passed, it’s official. The paperwork is final. Her feelings on it aren’t. Spending the summer in a small mountain town outside Seattle is exactly what she needs. The peaceful scenery is a given, the cat with the croaky meow is a surprise, but the real kicker? A broody neighbor with nice arms, a strange reputation, and absolutely no interest in her. Anderson Black is perfectly fine being lost. He doesn’t care about the town’s new resident — he’s too busy fighting his own demons. But when he’s brought face to face with Wren, he can see her still-fresh wounds from a mile away. What he doesn’t see coming is his need to know who put them there — or his desperation to mend them. Sometimes getting lost is the way to find yourself. Sometimes healing only adds a new scar. And sometimes the last place you expected to be is exactly where you find home.

The Perfect One: A Second Chance Romance


Scarlet West - 2019
     Next thing I knew he had me bent over my own countertop. Nolan is back in town, And I never planned on making him stay... But the world works in mysterious ways. Who knew having a crush for over a decade would blossom into something so amazing?

See Through Heart


Amie Knight - 2016
     It wasn’t our quiet nights by the creek or stolen kisses surrounded by a sea of cotton that saved me. It was her. She was my comfort when life threw one ugly tragedy after another at me. Until she dealt me the greatest blow. Now, abandonment, betrayal, and death darken every corner of my life. Anger and hurt burn bright where love and trust once lived. But, now, she’s back. Sure, she’s changed, but I see through it—straight to her heart.

Holding Out for You


Anna Paige - 2020
    He was my friend, my ally, my protector all my life. Everyone loved him, looked up to him almost as much as me.My big brother’s best friend, though?He was my nemesis, my tormentor, my least favorite person on earth. Ashton Hunter was a complete jerk.And yet, like my brother, everyone loved him. Not me, though. No way. Not after a lifetime of his snide comments and not-so-subtle jabs. Years of treating me like the bratty little sister he barely tolerated. But I refused to let him deter me from seeing my brother.I’d just have to ignore him. Like I always had. Or—more accurately—like I always pretended to. I was used to pretending when it came to Ash.But some feelings refuse to stay hidden forever. ***My best friend was better than all the other friends on earth. Hands down. My partner in crime, my ride or die, my brother in every way that counted. His little sister, though?She was an entirely different story.Blair Martell was…complicated. Where her brother acted like she was made of glass, I tried to make her shatter. When others bowed to her wishes, I challenged every word out of her pouty little mouth. She wasn’t meant to be on some pedestal. And I made sure she knew it. Maybe she hated me for the way I treated her, But I knew exactly what she needed.Even when she didn’t know.And after so many years of biding my time, I was finally going to be the man to give it to her.

Until You're Mine


Jenika Snow - 2018
    That was the hardest time of my life. Xavier was the boy who’d sneak into my bed at night and hold me as my parents fought in the next room. My protector. My best friend. The man I was in love with. The man I’d saved my virginity for. And now he was back home for good. Too much time had passed. I was done keeping us in the friend zone. I wanted him in my life in every way that counted. So if he wasn’t going to make the first move then I would, even if it might ruin what we had. Because I had to take that chance. Xavier She was my life, the very reason I breathed. I saved my virginity for Cora because no one else compared. No one else ever would. It was time I man up and tell Cora that she was the only girl I’d ever loved, that no matter how much time had passed she’d been it for me. But how could I go about doing that when eight years had gone by? Admitting how I felt was hard as hell seeing as we’d always just been friends. How could I not cross any lines and screw up the relationship we had? Easy. I’d tell her I loved her and propose. Warning: Sit back, relax, and dive into a double virgin friends-to-lovers romance that’s so sugary sweet your teeth will ache. Although it’ll tug at your heartstrings, make no mistake it’s as filthy as can be. A standalone romance with no drama and just the juicy bits, this story features cameo appearances by Asher, Cash, and Trevor Mayson from Aurora Rose Reynolds Until series.

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.

Christmas in Tinsel Town


Teagan Brooks - 2019
     This year is going to be different though. When her granddaughter comes to visit, expecting a life-size Tinsel Town with all the holiday miracles, Jacquelyn turns to the only person close enough to make it happen... Her live-in bodyguard—Ronan Pierce. Ronan‘s job is to protect Jacquelyn at all costs. But when she needs him to help set up Tinsel Town, he can’t refuse. After years of being around her, watching her work so hard to put together a charity event makes him fall harder for her. When plans fall through and Ronan has to step in and fill some big shoes, he convinces Jacquelyn to be his Mrs. Claus and vows to make her his love for the rest of his life. Adult Content Warning - Intended for audiences 18 years old and older.

Running on Empty


L.B. Simmons - 2013
     Beautiful and loving husband.Three gorgeous little girls. Successful career. The only thing missing was the white picket fence. I really wanted that fence. Three years ago, I lost that life. I lost my husband. And I lost myself. But, eventually, I found my way through the darkness. I’ve made peace with my new life. I have my girls, and that’s all that matters. They are my world. I have no illusions of ever falling in love again or getting whisked away on a white horse. But then he came back into my life. On a freakin’ motorcycle.There’s no way I’ll let him turn my life completely upside down. Absolutely no way. The question is…How long can I keep pretending that I’m happy with my life being right-side up?

Love Realized


Melanie Codina - 2013
    Resolved to the fate that she couldn't be his, he locked up the deeper emotions he felt for her and loved her as a friend. As friends, they went through it all together. Marriages, births, divorces and even death. But when a shameful secret Gillan has kept from her friends is revealed, Jake realizes that she needs him more than ever. He knew what it was like to go through heartbreak and he wasn't about to stand back and watch her endure it alone. He also knew she would turn to him for support. What he wasn't prepared for was the return of the emotions he had long ago locked away. Could he control these emotions again and did he even want to? Could he make her realize his love for her was real, or would she slip through his fingers again?

Dane


Liliana Hart - 2011
    It's been ten years since he left the woman he loved behind to make a name for himself, and now he's bound and determined to claim her once and for all.But Charlotte Munroe has no desire to welcome home the Prodigal Son with a fatted calf. The bitterness of Dane's betrayal runs deep, and she has no plans of letting him back into her life.Especially since she's trying to protect the son Dane isn't aware exists from heartbreak, since she's sure he's only going to walk out of their lives again.

Mack Daddy


Penelope Ward - 2017
     They called him Mack Daddy. No, seriously, his name was Mack. Short for Mackenzie. Thus, the nickname. Perfect, right? So was he: perfect. The perfect physical male specimen. At the private school where I taught, Mack Morrison was the only man around in a sea of women. Everyone wanted a piece of the hot single father of the sweet little boy. I was riddled with jealousy, because they didn’t know that—to me—he was much more. They didn’t know about our past. He’d chosen my school for his son on purpose, because Mack and I, we had unfinished business. As my friend, Lorelai, so eloquently put it: “Unfinished business between two people who are clearly attracted to each other is like an eternal case of blue balls.” And I was suffering in pain from my case. I was still intensely attracted to Mack. I tried to resist him, immersing myself further into a relationship with another man just to protect my heart. Not to mention, getting involved with a parent was strictly against school rules. But seeing Mack day in and day out was breaking me down. And soon I might be breaking all the rules. Author's note – Told in alternating points of view, Mack Daddy is a full-length standalone novel.

The Sweet Gum Tree


Katherine Allred - 2005
    But nothing was ordinary about the day she met ten-year-old Nick Anderson, a boy from the wrong side of town. Armed with only a tin of bee balm and steely determination, Alix treats the raw evidence of a recent beating that mars his back, an act that changes both of their lives forever.Through childhood disasters and teenage woes they cling together as friendship turns to love. The future looks rosy until the fateful night when Frank Anderson, Nick's abusive father, is shot to death in his filthy trailer.Suddenly, Nick is gone—leaving Alix alone, confused and pregnant. For the next fifteen years she wrestles with the pain of Nick's abandonment, a bad marriage, her family and friends. But finally, she's starting to get her life back together. Her divorce is almost final, her business is booming, and she's content if not happy—until the day she looks up and sees Nick standing across the counter. He's back…and he's not alone.Once again Alix is plunged into turmoil and pain as Nick tries to win her love, something she resists with all her strength. Only one thing might break the protective wall she's built around her emotions—the truth about Frank Anderson's death. But when that truth comes out and those walls crumble, neither Alix nor Nick is prepared for the emotional explosion that could destroy as well as heal.