Book picks similar to
Elusion by C.G. Blaine


new-adult
angst
contemporary-romance
drama

Dare You to Hate Me


B. Celeste - 2021
    Lindon U’s star tight end.⁣⁣Still as attractive. Still as dedicated.⁣⁣With rumors of him being drafted to the NFL coming to fruition, I know it’s only a matter of time before we have to say goodbye again.⁣⁣But he can’t seem to let me go no matter what I say, and I don’t think I want him to.⁣

The Study Date


Jessa Wilder - 2021
    Off the market?Smart, driven, and always in control, Sidney King feels unstoppable. It’s her last semester of college and she isn’t letting anything get in the way of landing her dream job. Especially not the super hot, soon-to-be world famous rockstar she’s been forced to study with….No, definitely not him. No way. Jax Rider is flying high. His chart-topping rock band is about to go off on their first major tour. Only one semester stands between him and the sweet freedom of the stage. The last thing he expects is the feisty brunette who crashes into his life. They both have one rule: no attachments. Not when all their dreams are about to come true. This is strictly business. They’re study partners and nothing more. THE STUDY DATE is book #1 in the GLASSHOUSE SERIES

Broken Elite: An Angsty College Romance (The Darlington Elite)


Waverly Alexander - 2021
    I don't know what she's hiding, but I've made it my mission to break her down until I know every last detail. Our broken pieces will match, and she'll know the soul-crushing agony I feel when I look at her. I hate that I want her. Unequivocally, the need I feel for her is stronger than I'll ever be. If she thinks she isn't still mine, she's lying to herself, too. She used to look at me like I was everything to her. She'll look at me that way again. I can promise you that. Everly My best friend is dead, and I can't tell anyone her secret. Patrick thinks I'm protecting myself. But really, I'm protecting him. He's in pain, and knowing I'm the reason is utter torture. The truth will cut him far deeper than losing whatever it is we had. I'll give him what he needs, even if it means he'll hate me forever. He wants to break me. He's too late. My world shattered the day I chose to lie to him. Includes a happily ever after, but main plot points continue on to the next book in the series. Each book features a new couple in The Darlington Elite world. This book discusses adult themes and is suitable for 18+ readers.

Sin & Discipline


Lily White - 2019
    That moment should have been the last of us; our beginning and end. Fate, it seems, had other plans.A dedicated musician, Lennon would become my mentor, my shadow, my protector and nightmare.We were two discordant notes that somehow blended with perfect harmony.Challenged to become a pianist as talented as him, I became Lennon's SIN, while he became my DISCIPLINE.(A Taboo Student/Teacher Romance)

Rising


Jessica Ruben - 2018
    Anonymity is key in my neighborhood—particularly as a lone female walking at night. All I want is to leave my crime-ridden shadow of a home in New York City. I’ve done everything I can to keep my head down and focus on my studies. College is my only goal; love has never been on the map… That is, until my sister brings me to an underground fight, where I meet a gorgeous and mysterious man: Vincent. He is the ghost in my shadows, showing up to feed me pieces of his upper-crust life, then evaporating into darkness until his next visit. I’m falling hard and fast. How can I trust him amidst the depth of his secrets? Vincent may be even more dangerous than the dark world I’m trying to escape.

Playing Patience


Tabatha Vargo - 2013
    Being a punching bag for his alcoholic father has turned him into stone. Not even the dodgy trailer park he lives in can scare him. Fighting is his release and sex, drugs, and his guitar bring him peace, but deep down Zeke isn't quite as hard as he makes himself out to be. When he meets Patience, she finds all his broken pieces and puts him back together. She's a ray of light in his shadowed life and the last thing he wants to do is bring her into his dark world. Playing careless is easy, playing the bad guy can be fun, but playing Patience is impossible, especially when she can see right through him. Zeke isn't the only one who's broken, and for the first time in a long time, Patience feels alive. Her black and white world gets a shot of color when she meets Zeke. With his tattoos, piercings, and blunt honesty, he's unlike anyone she's ever met. She wants nothing more than to let go and ride the wild side with him, but some wounds never heal and the broken pieces of Patience aren't so easy to find.

Heart Strings


Melanie Moreland - 2020
    Invisible. A man that notices it all. Sees her. The only thing that gets Charlotte Prescott through the day is the haunting eyes and magnetic voice uplifting her in the subway station every evening. All Montgomery Logan wants to do is ease the pain of the woman he feels a strange, protective pull to. He serenades her from afar, knowing their worlds will never intersect.Until the day they do. And everything changes. Will their differences make them stronger or tear them apart? A standalone contemporary romance coming October 12, 2020 from NYT/USA Today Bestselling Author Melanie Moreland.

Burying Water


K.A. Tucker - 2014
    Refusing to answer to “Jane Doe” for another day, the woman renames herself “Water” for the tiny, hidden marking on her body—the only clue to her past. Taken in by old Ginny Fitzgerald, a crotchety but kind lady living on a nearby horse farm, Water slowly begins building a new life. But as she attempts to piece together the fleeting slivers of her memory, more questions emerge: Who is the next-door neighbor, quietly toiling under the hood of his Barracuda? Why won’t Ginny let him step foot on her property? And why does Water feel she recognizes him?Twenty-four-year-old Jesse Welles doesn’t know how long it will be before Water gets her memory back. For her sake, Jesse hopes the answer is never. He knows that she’ll stay so much safer—and happier—that way. And that’s why, as hard as it is, he needs to keep his distance. Because getting too close could flood her with realities better left buried.The trouble is, water always seems to find its way to the surface.The top-selling, beloved indie author of Ten Tiny Breaths returns with a new romance about a young woman who loses her memory—and the man who knows that the only way to protect her is to stay away.

Those Three Words


Alexis Winter - 2022
    I never thought getting fired from my dream job would change my life.And I certainly never imagined three little words would be my undoing.Trust me—they’re not the words you’re thinking.Those three delicious, toe-curling words whispered by my boss were where it all changed.When budget cuts at my local school leave me scrambling to find a job before I get evicted, I stumble upon the listing of a lifetime.How hard can being a live-in nanny for a little five year old girl be?Especially when it’s double the salary and comes with a sexy, single dad.But the moment I step inside Graham Hayes multi-million dollar estate and meet the grumpy billionaire—I know I’m in way over my head.It’s not just that he’s quite possibly the most attractive man I’ve ever seen, it’s the way he stares at me like it takes everything he has to keep from devouring me.The way he curls his hands into fists to avoid touching me.The way he reprimands me through gritted teeth while his lust filled eyes burn through me.The naughty things he whispers against my lips as his hands explore me.Way over my head.Caring for his daughter is a dream—even his mother loves me.Soon, I’m head over heels in this fantasy I’m living.I’m even able to ignore the cryptic threats from his house-keeper who’s hellbent on getting me fired.But I’m not prepared for the world of high-powered billionaires and glitzy parties.Besides, Graham isn’t like these people—he’s different.At least, I think he is…until a shady character I’ve tried to leave in the past reappears as Graham’s new business partner and I’m reminded that I don’t belong in this world.Sometimes life changing news comes in the form of just three simple words.Sometimes it comes in the form of an unexpected, heart-wrenching secret and the fairytale is shattered.Sometimes, it comes in the form of the opportunity of a fresh new start.You just have to be willing to take the risk and walk away or maybe…there’s three little words that can fix it all.Those Three Words is a steamy, sexy billionaire stand-alone with no cheating and a satisfying happily ever after.

Unbreakable


Rebecca Shea - 2013
    She’s a good daughter, makes excellent grades, and always strays on the safe side of life. The last thing she thought would ever happen was falling in love with her best friend’s brother. But sometimes fate just has a way of bringing two people together. Wide receiver for the University of Arizona, Gabe Garcia, seems to have it all. When his feelings for Jessica come to surface, Gabe will give up everything to be with her. But what happens when a tragedy abruptly changes the course of your life? For Jessica and Gabe, everything they thought they knew about each other will be questioned. Sometimes, there are scars in life that are cut too deep to completely heal. Will their love prove to be unbreakable, or will it shatter and prove fate is just another lie?*This book contains mature subject matter and is not intended for those under 17 years of age.*

Beautifully Insightful


K.C. Lynn - 2015
    I see the world differently than everyone else, I feel everything differently and I reflect on life differently. And being different in my world is not a good thing.I live in a place that’s divided between the rich and the poor, the beautiful and the unbeautiful, the prestigious and the mediocre. I have always belonged in the first category, because my father was the Governor of Georgia. Growing up around people I could never relate with, my life had always been lonely, that was until my senior year when I met the one boy who would change my life forever. A boy who my parents would never approve of because he didn’t come from money or the same social class. He rode a motorcycle, had tattoos and was considered to be from the wrong side of the tracks. Yet he was still envied by many.Ryder Jameson was someone who every guy feared, and one who every girl wanted to be touched by. He didn’t do attachments, or have friends… until me. And for the first time in my life I finally felt like I belonged. When I was with him, my different didn’t feel wrong or ugly. He made me feel beautiful- insightfully beautiful. Then one day my world came crashing down on me, and it would be six years before I'd once again see the boy I fell in love with.RYDER JAMESON ~ After working my ass off I am given the opportunity of a lifetime, and if I pull it off I will be the youngest FBI agent to run one of the biggest undercover operations in history. Only the case that gets thrown in front of me leads me back to the one place I swore I would never return to, and to the only girl who’s ever mattered to me. Except Emily Michaels is not the same girl I left behind. She still looks the same, she’s still beautiful inside and out, but there’s one thing that’s very different about her, one very big thing, and it’s something I didn’t think was possible.Ryder and I come from a world where politics separates us and wealth defines us, but even after all this time we will not let it divide us. Here is our story.

Dirty Ties


Pam Godwin - 2015
    I race to finance it. I evade to protect it. I kill to attain it. I planned everything. Except her. The alluring, curvaceous blonde at the finish line. With sapphire eyes that cheat and lie. Whose powerful family murdered mine. I hate her. I want her. I know she’s hiding something. But so am I.

Hushed


Kelley York - 2011
    He’s loved her. He’s killed for her.Eighteen-year-old Archer couldn’t protect his best friend, Vivian, from what happened when they were kids, so he’s never stopped trying to protect her from everything else. It doesn’t matter that Vivian only uses him when hopping from one toxic relationship to another—Archer is always there, waiting to be noticed.Then along comes Evan, the only person who’s ever cared about Archer without a single string attached. The harder he falls for Evan, the more Archer sees Vivian for the manipulative hot-mess she really is.But Viv has her hooks in deep, and when she finds out about the murders Archer’s committed and his relationship with Evan, she threatens to turn him in if she doesn’t get what she wants… And what she wants is Evan’s death, and for Archer to forfeit his last chance at redemption.

Repeat


Kylie Scott - 2019
    Now she has to figure out who she was and why she made the choices she did - which includes leaving the supposed love of her life, tattoo artist Ed Larsen, only a month before. Ed can hardly believe it when his ex shows up at his tattoo parlor with no memory of their past, asking about the breakup that nearly destroyed him. The last thing he needs is more heartache, but he can't seem to let her go again. Should they walk away for good, or does their love deserve a repeat performance?Listening Length: 6 hours and 47 minutes

Unconscious Hearts


Harper Sloan - 2018
    Alone and stricken with grief, she shouldered the blame and eventually closed her heart off, refusing to open it for another. After all, anytime she tried, guilt and regret were waiting in the wings to remind her how painful it was.A bet and one steamy night with a stranger force Ari to confront all she’s been hiding behind. She tries to move on, but he refuses to stand down, wanting what she is terrified to give—herself. This man may very well destroy her in the end, especially when it’s clear he has his own demons. What happens when two broken souls come together, finally allowing themselves to believe in the beauty of love … only to have to fight harder than ever to keep it.