Book picks similar to
The Bun And The Gun by Vanessa Gray Bartal


romance
contemporary
contemporary-romance
dnf

Imperfect Chemistry


Mary Frame - 2014
    Having obtained her PhD in microbiology by the age of 20, she's amassed a wealth of knowledge, but one subject still eludes her - people. The pendulum of passions experienced by those around her confuses and intrigues her, so when she's offered a grant to study emotion as a pathogen, she jumps on the opportunity.Enter Jensen Walker, Lucy's neighbor and the one person she finds appealing. Jensen's life is the stuff of campus legend: messy, emotional, and complicated. Basically, the perfect starting point for Lucy's study. When her tenaciousness wears him down and he consents to help her, sparks fly. To her surprise, Lucy finds herself battling with her own emotions, as foreign as they are intense. With the clock ticking on her deadline, Lucy must decide what's more important: analyzing her passions... or giving in to them?

Artistic License


Elle Pierson - 2013
    She’s completely fascinated and attracted by the striking planes and angles of his unusual face, and can’t resist sneaking out her pencil when he’s not looking. Security consultant Mick Hollister is used to women looking at his ugly mug – but not with the genuine pleasure he sees in the face of the girl with the charcoal-smudged fingers and terrible skills at covert surveillance. A security breach brings the two into fast and furious collision, and an unlikely friendship begins to blossom. And an even more unlikely – and very reluctant – love. Introvert Sophy is content with her independence and solitude. She’s never looked for a long-term relationship, and isn’t sure she wants one now. Mick, apparently born with a face that not even a mother could love, has given up all hope of having one. They have nothing in common. They shouldn’t even like each other. And they can’t stay away from one another.

Loving the Mountain Man


Jeanette Lewis - 2020
    Ledger Price spends his days doing what he loves–hiking, fishing, hunting, and exploring the mountains around his hometown of Tamarack Ridge, Montana, all while filming for his popular MyHeartChannel, Montana Mountain Man. The only downside is his daughter, Aubrey, who loves to come on his excursions, but also yearns for someone with a feminine touch. But Ledger is not relationship material; he tried with Aubrey’s mom discovered marriage is not worth giving up his freedom. Brynn Ramsey is building a successful career as a real estate agent to the wealthy in San Clemente, California. Sure, it’s stressful, but Brynn figures it’s all part of paying her dues. When she starts having debilitating panic attacks, her mentor sends her home to Tamarack Ridge for some R&R. It’s only supposed to be for six weeks and then she’ll be back to the sunny beaches of Southern California. But when she reconnects with Ledger, her dreams begin to shift from palm trees to pines. As their relationship grows more serious, Brynn and Ledger have to make a choice. Is love worth any sacrifice?

The Unexpected Fall


Anna Salcedo - 2021
    Despite her dreams of creating music, she’s been stuck as an assistant who spends most of her day answering emails, taking notes in painfully long meetings, and avoiding Will Kobayashi, the six-two bane of her existence.She was just about to throw in the towel when her job announced an opportunity that could change everything—a work contest that would allow two employees the opportunity to have their song on the label’s highly anticipated collaborative album, which features music from all their hottest artists. Getting her name on that album would almost be a guarantee that she’d finally get to say good-bye to being an assistant and hello to producing music. But her plans take an unexpected turn when she finds out that she gets paired with Will, who she is humanly incapable of getting along with.They have three months to create a song that will impress the record label enough to make both of their dreams come true. But the one thing Genesis could’ve never seen coming is that the only thing harder than getting along is not falling in love …

The Ex Talk


Rachel Lynn Solomon - 2021
    But lately it's been a constant clash between her and her newest colleague, Dominic Yun, who's fresh off a journalism master's program and convinced he knows everything about public radio.When the struggling station needs a new concept, Shay proposes a show that her boss green-lights with excitement. On The Ex Talk, two exes will deliver relationship advice live, on air. Their boss decides Shay and Dominic are the perfect co-hosts, given how much they already despise each other. Neither loves the idea of lying to listeners, but it's this or unemployment. Their audience gets invested fast, and it's not long before The Ex Talk becomes a must-listen in Seattle and climbs podcast charts.As the show gets bigger, so does their deception, especially when Shay and Dominic start to fall for each other. In an industry that values truth, getting caught could mean the end of more than just their careers.

Park Avenue Player


Penelope Ward - 2019
     Then the fender bender happened. The guy I collided with drove an expensive car and was drop-dead gorgeous. Too bad he was also a total jerk. We argued over whose fault it was and any other thing that came out of his condescending mouth. Eventually, the police came and we went our separate ways. The insurance companies would have to figure things out. I had a job interview to get to anyway—one I was excited about. Though that excitement changed to disappointment the moment the person interviewing me walked in. The guy from the accident. Whoops! Yeah, so I didn’t get the position. The problem was, I really wanted it. No, I needed it. Anything to get me out of my current career and back into working with kids. So, even though Hollis LaCroix was as intimidating as he was devastatingly handsome, I went back to see him and begged for a chance. To my surprise, he gave me a shot taking care of his troubled niece. At least my attraction to him wouldn’t be able to go anywhere. I wasn’t about to jeopardize my job or the strong bond Hailey and I formed. But resisting the magnetic pull between us wasn’t that simple. (Then there was our little underwear game—don’t ask.) We continued to flirt without crossing the line—until it finally happened. This is the part of the story where we fall in love and live happily ever after, right? Well, life has a way of throwing some major curveballs. Ours was one I didn’t see coming.

Mr. Perfect


J.A. Huss - 2016
    I just know what I like.A powerful billionaire in a suit wasn’t even my first choice. McAllister Stonewall was never on my radar, I didn’t even know he existed.But I do now.His hands are all over me at work. The heat of his chest pressing against my bare back as he bends me over the desk is the only thing on my mind.He is my most forbidden desires unleashed. He is my new secret obsession. He is my Mr. Perfect.Until the moment I realize… There’s no such thing as perfect.

Remedial Rocket Science


Susannah Nix - 2017
    Not only does the hunky blast from her past work at the same aerospace company where she's just started in the IT department, he's the CEO's son.Jeremy's got a girlfriend and a reputation as a bad boy, so Melody resolves to keep her distance and focus on building a new life for herself in Los Angeles. But despite her good intentions, she can't seem to stay away from the heavenly-smelling paragon of hotness.As the two begin to forge an unlikely friendship, Melody's attraction to Jeremy grows deeper than she's ready to admit. Can the woman who always plays it safe take a risk on the man who's all wrong for her in all the right ways?

10 Dates


Emily James - 2017
    However, when her engagement starts to look more stalemate than soulmate, her best friend stages an intervention sure to make even the most hardened, serial daters wince: 10 Dates in 10 Days. Statistically, if you kiss a lot of frogs there's bound to be at least one that's not a complete toad, isn't there? With nothing to lose, Joanie embarks on a crazy rollercoaster of blind dates. After all, what can possibly go wrong in the search for Mr. Right? 10 Dates is a standalone, sexy, laugh out loud romantic comedy with a happy ending. It is not for the feint hearted and is best suited for readers over the age of eighteen due to sexual themes and mature content.

The Rule Book


Jennifer Blackwood - 2016
    Don't call your hot boss the antichrist to his face. 2. Don't stare at hot boss's, um, package or his full sleeve of tattoos. (No. Really. Stop!) 3. Don't get on the malicious first assistant's bad side.4. Don't forget to memorize the 300-page employee manual.5. If you value your cashmere, steer clear of boss’s dog.6. Boss’s dimples are lust-inducing. Do. Not. Give. In. 7. “The elevator ate your clothes” is not a valid excuse for showing up to important meetings half dressed. 8. Don't break seven of the rules within the first week of employment if you, ya know, are in dire need of money to support your sick mom.9. Whatever you do, don’t fall for the boss. See rule eight about sick mom.10. Never forget the rules.

I Temporarily Do


Ellie Cahill - 2017
    A little white wedding. A pair of roommates in over their heads. Days before she's set to move across the country and start a prestigious graduate program, a con artist leaves Emmy with no where to live and less than zero dollars in her bank account. But her day doesn't seem quite so bad compared to Beckett's--his fiancée called off their wedding just days before they tie the knot. Now he's single and ineligible for his place in married student housing. So what are a girl without a home and a guy without a wife supposed to do? A quickie wedding in Vegas will solve both their problems. It's a business arrangement, and no one even needs to know. They'll just get an annulment in a few months. What could go wrong? Only Beckett forgot to mention his new apartment is a one-bedroom. And neither of them counted on their new friends at Middlesex University thinking they're a great couple. The platonic newlywed game might be harder to play than Emmy thought. Especially when it starts to feel less than platonic. I Temporarily Do is a Stand-Alone Romantic Comedy.

Weight Expectations


M.E. Carter - 2019
    Little did she know she was about to add hundred and ninety pounds of swoonworthy abdominal muscles and arrogance to her life.Every day in Rians’s life follows a predictable pattern, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. She’s got a nice job, a nice place to live, and a nice family – even if they are a little wedding-zilla-ish at the moment.She doesn’t need anything spectacular to be happy. She just needs to get healthy – mentally, physically. . . and maybe spiritually if that happens. But she’ll settle for two out of three until her sister finally gets hitched.Carlos Davies thought his life was perfect. Little did he know it was about to be turned upside down by a woman who is not his type.In Carlos’s mind, his life is damn near perfect. He’s got a great job, a great place to live, and a great stash of pick up lines that always work. It has occurred to him that maybe no one actually takes him all that seriously. But with these bulging biceps and thick, dark hair, does that even matter since he’s never sleeping alone?Welcome to Weight Expectations, where great—and unexpected—things happen.

The Groomsman


Marcia Lynn McClure - 2018
    Although she had not had a good, solid look at him, she could sense he was very handsome. His voice alone revealed he was—the deep, rich nature of it. In truth, his voice made her feel—well, it somehow whisked her back—whisked her back four years, bathing her in memories of another supper and a voice she’d heard that night—a voice as deep and rich, as warm and wonderful as molasses taffy. “It seems we cross paths again, Miss Ambria Blanchard,” the man said. And she knew then. Ambria knew that the voice and the man were not simply similar to the voice and the man that had changed her life four years before—but that the same man himself was sitting next to her. Thinking of the worn photograph she still cached in a secret space in her wallet, Ambria turned and nearly fainted with euphoric shock when she found herself gazing into the blue, blue, bluest eyes of the most gorgeous, beefcaked, super-stud lady-killer she’d ever seen.

The Roommate Situation


Katie Bailey - 2021
    Ever. He’s also my new roommate. In the past few days, I became jobless, homeless, and boyfriendless. So, I did what any 28-year-old woman with her life together would do: I ran. Far, far away from my life in New York and straight to my big brother’s house in Atlanta. Only, it turns out that my brother is away on a business trip. And, he failed to tell me that a full-on, godlike hottie—who happens to be a premier house flipper—has taken up residence in the spare bedroom while his enormous new house is being renovated. There’s a million reasons why I shouldn’t fall for Conor. But our chemistry is undeniable. Which means I have a teeny, tiny situation on my hands… The Roommate Situation is a laugh-out-loud funny, swoony, closed door romantic comedy. Expect some mild language and suggestive jokes alongside sizzling hot chemistry and tension you could cut with a knife—all without the explicit scenes.