Book picks similar to
Above The Surface by Serena Akeroyd


sports
contemporary-romance
virgin-heroine
not-safe

Taunt Her


Caitlyn Dare - 2020
    She wants to hate him. Remi Tanner wasn’t part of the plan. But when I see my uncle doting on her, I know she’s going to help me destroy him. I’ll taunt her. Test her. In the end, I’ll break her. Ace Jagger wasn’t a good guy. But he swept into my life like a storm, and I’m caught up in the aftermath. He’s cruel. Calculating. In the end, I never stood a chance. She might be a Sterling Prep princess, and I might be the guy from the wrong side of the tracks, but one thing's for sure... I won’t stop until I get what I want. Revenge. Taunt Her is a dark high school bully romance. If possessive, tattooed, motorcycle-riding alphaholes aren't your thing, you probably won't like this book!

Everlasting Sin


J.S. Cooper - 2014
    Hot. My best friend's brother. Off-limits, except for that one night. That One Night Cannot be spoken of. Cannot be thought of. Cannot allow myself to daydream. Daydream That I’m going to become someone. That he can see me as someone. Someone To love. To forget. To believe. To taste. To make me forget my everlasting sin once and for all.

Obsessed


R.J. Lewis - 2016
    He became my addiction the moment I met him at 10 years old. He was my best friend from childhood. He protected me and guided me. I loved him fiercely long before I really understood what love was. We were inseparable. He knew how I felt, and sometimes he would stare at me in ways that made me breathless. But there were boundaries. Lines that couldn't be crossed. Looks that shouldn't be exchanged. Lips that shouldn't be kissed. We weren't supposed to love each other. Not in **that** way. Because, you see, Aston was also my adopted brother... Aston Elise was off-limits, a temptation that cursed my existence with this visceral hunger to have her, possess her, and taste her like she was made for me. I was tormented and on the brink of falling. If I stepped over that boundary, if I gave into my want, I wasn’t sure I could survive the disappointment of my adopted parents. We would all be affected. Our lives wouldn’t be the way it was. That change was irreversible, and the damage would be permanent. It was a scary thought, destroying a foundation and rebuilding it without knowing what it might end up looking like. But my want for her…it sat in the core of me, growing and growing. And want is a dangerous fucking thing. It clouds your judgment, it makes you weak, and I knew…I knew without a doubt, it was only a matter of time before I cracked. Obsession was devotion. Obsession was mania and need. It was a compulsive urge to self-gratify by wanting, and wanting, and wanting ‘til it hurt, ‘til you could feel it there in your bones, gnawing its way deeper within you. Obsession was my craze for Elise. She was my impulse. My…pulse itself. It wasn’t healthy. I knew that. I didn’t fucking care either.

For Everly


Raine Thomas - 2013
    She’s consumed with school, caring for her ailing grandfather, and figuring out how to pay the next bill. The last thing she wants is a relationship, but it just might be the one thing she needs.Major League pitcher Cole Parker hasn’t fought for anything in his life. He went from a privileged upbringing to a multimillion dollar All-Star career. But when his pitching shoulder starts to give him trouble at only twenty-four years old, he faces the possibility of his injury becoming public knowledge and costing him everything.In a desperate bid to save his career, Cole decides to hire someone to treat his injury, someone who will keep things off the record and out of the media. He finds the perfect solution in Everly. As mysterious as she is beautiful, she provides an enticing distraction from his pain. Soon, physical therapy is the last thing on his mind.When an act of betrayal brings the truths they both fear to light, Cole will have to fight for the first time in his life…not just for his career, but for Everly’s love.

See No Evil


Ivy Fox - 2020
    They have been sentenced. All that remains is their execution.No one goes unpunished. We’ll make sure of it.We are The Society and all who dare cross us will find their miserable end by our hand.Don’t be fooled. This is not their story.It’s ours.FinnAs long as I can remember, I’ve played by the rules.On and off the football field, I’ve done everything that has been expected of me.Until that fatal night.Now my life and the lives of my best friends hang in the balance, hung there by a sadistic sinister shadow forcing us to do their will.And it’s just my damn luck that I’m the first to be put on their butcher’s block.I must prove my worth by eradicating a certain pebble in their shoe.The order is simple.To save ourselves, I must ruin another—a life for a life.Meaning Stone Bennett’s life is about to be forfeited in exchange for my own.The poor girl never stood a chance.StoneHe’s all American perfection.I’m the poster child for this country’s rejects.He’s old Asheville money and privilege.I’m the Southie eyesore people stay clear from.He’s caviar dreams and champagne wishes.I’m the trailer trash his momma probably warned him about.I doubt it can get any further away from the elitist’s social spectrum than the two of us.So why the hell is Finn Walker, Richfield’s football god, suddenly all in my face wanting my attention?Nothing good can come from this.I can feel it.*The Society is an Enemies to Lovers, New Adult College Romance.*Each book can be read as standalones. However all four books in this series have an entwined subplot, that will only be resolved in the final book.*Recommended 18+ due to mature language and situations.

Travesty


Carrie Thomas - 2016
    How can she not know who she is? How has she ended up chained in a basement? Trying to work through her fear, she sets her sights on escaping. When an opportunity arises, she puts her trust in a boy she doesn’t know, praying he will save her life.At age four, Abram Scott learned life owes him nothing, while fourteen taught him how to throw a punch—and take one. Seventeen though… seventeen provides him with the best and worst year of his life. Before he is old enough to fight for his country, he will escape his own personal hell, save a life, live a lie, break the law, fall in love, betray that love… then lose it.Letting Sophia go while not knowing if she will return, turns into the scariest decision Abram will ever make. But that’s the problem with living a lie; at some point, you have to decide which one is your truth.

Ruthless Love


Penelope Bloom - 2020
     That is, until I move next door to Parker High’s most eligible bastard, Tristan Blackwood. He’s gorgeous. Eyes as cold as moonlight. Lips made for cruel kisses. The entire town knows it, too. Apparently being able to throw a football elevates you to god status around here. He could have anything he wanted. Anyone. But somehow, all he wanted was to torment me. Me, trapped in my mom’s protective bubble: homeschooled and invisible, stuck in a wheelchair and saddled with more medical issues than I could count. Normal? I might as well wish to be a fairytale princess. There aren’t any princesses or knights in my fairytale. Just the dark prince who lives next door. Parker High royalty in the flesh. My very own devil in a letterman jacket. His life should be a dream, but the only thing he cares about is becoming my nightmare. And when my pride isn’t enough for him, he decides he wants my body. He wants my heart. He wants every last inch of me to himself.

Hustle


Ashley Claudy - 2015
    College was supposed to be Brook's chance to escape the rumors and the harassment that plagued her at home, but she hadn't planned on meeting Andrew Fayden. Now, she's finding it hard to think of anything else or anyone else. She's determined to wipe him from her mind though because he is the definition of unavailable. He's got an on and off again girlfriend always on the sidelines and a flood of girls willing to take over that position.And his popularity makes it hard to keep a low profile, something she needs to do if she doesn't want to be pulled back into the drama of her past.Despite all the warnings, she's finding it hard to resist—and he's making it hard to say no.

Fighting Silence


Aly Martinez - 2015
    We spend our lives blocking out the static in order to focus on what we believe is important. But what if, when the clarity fades into silence, it's the obscure background noise that you would give anything to hold on to? I've always been a fighter. With parents who barely managed to stay out of jail and two little brothers who narrowly avoided foster care, I became skilled at dodging the punches life threw at me. Growing up, I didn’t have anything I could call my own, but from the moment I met Eliza Reynolds, she was always mine. I became utterly addicted to her and the escape from reality we provided each other. Throughout the years, she had boyfriends and I had girlfriends, but there wasn't a single night that I didn’t hear her voice. You see, meeting the love of my life at age thirteen was never part of my plan. However, neither was gradually going deaf at the age of twenty-one. They both happened anyway. Now, I'm on the ropes during the toughest battles of my life. Fighting for my career. Fighting the impending silence. Fighting for her. Every night, just before falling asleep, she sighs as a final conscious breath leaves her. I think that's the sound I'll miss the most. Each book in this series can be read as a standalone.

The Bet


J.L. Beck - 2019
    “Yeah, so was I but you seem to have forgotten that part of your life.” The bet was simple. You draw a name from the hat. That’s the girl you have to seduce. The girl you have to make fall head over heels in love with you. It wasn’t hard for me to do, in fact, it was something I did all the time. I was known for breaking hearts. Sex was just that, sex. And it didn’t take me very long to get a woman on her back. And then I drew her name: Jules Peterson. My former best friend. My first kiss. My first love. She shattered my heart into a million pieces three years ago. She left me right when I needed her most. And as fate who have it, she had entered my life once again, at almost the perfect time. She was a transfer, fresh meat, and she had just put a target on her back. It was my turn to make her pay. It was my turn to break her heart. Holding onto that hate, that anger, that f*cking heartbreak. It does something to you. It breaks you, and it broke me, it tainted me, just like I would do to Jules. She used to be my everything, but now she was nothing but The Bet. **The Bet is book one in the North Woods University series. It is a full length, standalone, novel. It contains adult themes, and content not suitable for all readers. It is NOT a young adult novel.**Dear Reader, We're so happy that you are thinking about reading our newest book The Bet. We hope you enjoy it to your fullest and we cannot wait to read your reviews on it. However, we wanted to leave a little note to warn readers with sensitivity to dubious content, sexual themes, and verbal abuse. For those readers, this book may not be a good read for them. We also would like to say that while the book is entirely fiction we know that abuse, sexual, physical, and verbal is a very real thing in our world and that we do NOT condone any behavior of that nature nor do we think that it's okay to treat someone that way. Just like the makers of gory horror movies dont actually want people to be brutally murdered, we do not want anyone to be bullied or abused in any way.Again, this is fiction and while we don't always agree with the things our fictional characters do, sometimes it works for a story line. As writers, it is our job to draw out real emotions. Sometimes we will make you fall in love with a character and other times we might have you yelling at the book. With love, J.L. Beck & C. Hallman

A Vow Of Hate


Lylah James - 2021
    We were poison together and there was no antidote.Our story began like any other fairy tale ended.With a beautiful wedding.One kiss.Two rings.Three vows.Killian Spencer became my lawfully wedded husband and I, his dutiful wife.But he was no Prince Charming. He didn’t come to save me… and he vowed there would be no happily ever after.And me?Just like the legends I'd read as a little girl, I always thought I’d be the princess in my fairy tale.Well, I was the villain of our love story.“Till death do us part…”

Find Me


Ashley N. Rostek - 2021
    My parents. My twin sister. All of them murdered by the man who has stalked me for years. He nearly killed me, too. But I got away and he’s still out there, searching for me. He won’t find me. At least, I hope not. Thanks to WITSEC, I’ve been given a new life with a new identity.The present…My uncle, my only living relative, has helped me glue myself back together and given me the tools I’ll need to survive. I’m not fixed and my grief is heavy, but I’m at a point where I can put one foot in front of the other to try to move on.I know my future will be hard and lonely. I must stay strong and focus on the good. I’m getting a second chance at life. I am safe. My new home is beautiful. The four brothers who live next door are even more so. Little do I know that Colt, Creed, Keelan, and Knox will soon become my everything. It’s as if my lonely heart screamed out for someone good to find me. Four answered back.***WARNING This is a reverse harem romance. Contains violence, graphic killing, foul language, and sexual content. Some parts may be triggering.***

Clear


Jessica Park - 2015
    But the Sam she once knew now has painful secrets.Stella is determined to heal them both. Healing, however, is a challenge when the walls of her everyday existence collapse. And when Sam’s best friend is his worst enemy.When the line between life and death blurs.When an end is just a beginning.When lust and rage rule.Yet during extraordinary chaos, there can be extraordinary love, even if that love comes with a twist.Welcome to death tripping.A thriller, a paranormal, and a passionate romance, CLEAR crosses genres and breaks boundaries.

Bending the Rules


Mariah Dietz - 2020
    It started with a crush.The best stories always do.Our story sounds predictable, short-lived, and destined for failure.Lincoln Beckett is the star wide receiver at Brighton University--smart, funny, and like many would guess,heartbreak shines in his dark eyes and is etched across his jaw.He's popular,a guaranteed draft pick,and worst of all: my brother's best friend.I tried not to like him.I have an entire list of reasons, reasons that have become my rules for dating.Rules that Lincoln continues bending.

Beg for Mercy


L.A. Hart - 2019
     The only problem is that Aric’s also a rich, arrogant, and gigantic prick. Nothing but filth and insults come out of his smirking mouth, constantly reminding me that poor, trailer park trash girls like myself don’t belong in his pretentious academy. Aric and his best friends all think they’re untouchable. But the cocky bastard is finally going down this year. I’ve hit the motherload of blackmail on the jerk, pun intended, and I can’t wait to give him exactly what he deserves. Aric Prince’s reign at the academy is coming to an end. Before I’m done with him, he’ll be on his knees, begging for mercy. WHILE BEG FOR MERCY IS A HIGH SCHOOL BULLY ROMANCE, IT CONTAINS DARK THEMES, EXPLICIT SEXUAL CONTENT, AND GRAPHIC LANGUAGE THAT IS INTENDED FOR MATURE READERS.