Book picks similar to
Summer's Passing by Randy Mixter


romance
paranormal
mystery
contemporary-romance

The Light of the Fireflies


Paul Pen - 2013
    Before he was born, his family was disfigured by a fire. His sister wears a white mask to cover her burns.He spends his hours with his cactus, reading his book on insects, or touching the one ray of sunlight that filters in through a crack in the ceiling. Ever since his sister had a baby, everyone’s been acting very strangely. The boy begins to wonder why they never say who the father is, about what happened before his own birth, about why they’re shut away.A few days ago, some fireflies arrived in the basement. His grandma said, There’s no creature more amazing than one that can make its own light. That light makes the boy want to escape, to know the outside world. Problem is, all the doors are locked. And he doesn’t know how to get out.…

Nightfall


L.H. Cosway - 2012
    None of them, however, have anything on the handsome stranger who comes in one night and helps her fend off an armed robber. He looks the thief directly in the eye and without confrontation convinces him to turn around and walk out the door.Tegan has never seen anything like it, nor does she understand why he then lays those mesmerising eyes on her and tells her to forget they ever met. She shrugs it off as just another weird night shift encounter, until the following evening when her best friend produces free passes to a new club in the city. Tegan agrees to go and is pleasantly surprised by the tasteful, classy décor and oddly beautiful, intensely ethereal clientele. To her surprise, her mysterious stranger is sitting smack dab in the VIP section. What are the chances?!Tegan is struck by the coincidence of bumping into him again so soon, while he is furious that she remembers him when he insisted she forget their meeting. Tegan has no idea that she’s taken a misstep into a whole new world inhabited by vampires, slayers, dhampirs, witches and warlocks. All of whom display a wholly disconcerting interest in what makes her unique from the rest of the clueless humans who populate the city. On top of this, her handsome stranger keeps turning up at her work and seems intent on getting to know her a whole lot better.Nightfall is book one in L.H. Cosway’s Blood Magic Series. A previous, unedited version of this story was published under the title Tegan’s Blood.

The Wedding Trap


Adrienne Bell - 2013
    Everyone is expecting her successful music executive boyfriend, Charlie, to be her date for her best friend’s wedding. There’s one hitch: Charlie doesn’t exist. Unless she can think of something fast, she’s headed for the most humiliating weekend of her life.Alex Tanner has a problem. The former Navy SEAL's search for a double agent lands him at the Kensington Hotel, and he needs a cover to finish the job. When the sexy maid of honor blackmails him into pretending to be her lover, he thinks he's been handed the solution.Except Beth has a way of stumbling into trouble, and when the man Alex is hunting starts targeting Beth, Alex has to decide between duty and the woman who has stolen his heart.

While You Were Dead


C.J. Snyder - 2011
    To be qualified to earn the coveted prize, a book (published in 2011), must score higher than 8.0 on twenty questions provided to six randomly selected reader judges. This year's winners were the best of the best!NEW FORMATTING!Lies have consequences…Twelve years ago, Max Crayton had no choices. Honor bound to hunt a traitor, the government declared him dead to the outside world. He completed his mission, but lost the only woman he ever loved and a child he never knew existed.And so does breaking a woman’s heart…Max was her life, her very heartbeat. After his death, alone and haunted by a dangerous past, Kat Jannsen made the ultimate sacrifice to keep their daughter safe.When Kat discovers Max is alive her carefully constructed jigsaw puzzle life is torn to pieces. But an old enemy has been watching…waiting to strike. As the danger mounts, she has nowhere to turn but to Max. She can trust him with her life, but does she dare trust him with her heart?

To Catch a Bad Guy


Marie Astor - 2012
    When she lands a job at one of New York’s premier boutique investment firms, Janet begins to hope that her luck is finally turning for the better. Not only is she happy with her new paycheck, but things also seem to be looking up on the personal front, as the company’s handsome attorney expresses keen interest in Janet. However, her euphoria is short-lived, as Janet soon discovers alarming facts about her new employer’s business tactics. When her boss dismisses her suspicions as groundless, Janet finds herself confiding to a cute IT engineer, Dean Snider. The closer she gets to Dean, the more Janet is tempted to break her rule of not dating co-workers, but what she doesn’t realize is that everything she knows about Dean, including his occupation and even his name, is a lie.Dennis Walker is a top-notch white collar crime investigator who will stop at nothing to put culprits away. When an opportunity for an undercover assignment at one of New York’s premier boutique broker dealers comes up, Dennis jumps at the chance, adopting a persona of geeky IT engineer, Dean Snider. While he may be an ace at his job, years of experience fail him when Dennis meets Janet Maple and finds himself torn between his professional obligations and his personal desires. Will he have to choose between his feelings and duty, or will he find a way to satisfy both?

The Fortune Quilt


Lani Diane Rich - 2007
    And it does. She loses her job and her best friend (who proclaims his unrequited love for her). And her mother, who deserted the family seventeen years ago, returns, sending Carly into a serious tilt. Convinced it's the quilt's fault, Carly races down to the small artists' community of Bilby, Arizona, to confront its maker, and ends up renting a cabin from her. Carly even starts to enjoy her reimagined life, until her old life comes calling. Now Carly has to decide what parts of each world she wants to patchwork in...and how much she's willing to leave to fate.

Wild Men of Alaska


Tiffinie Helmer - 2012
    She's vowed never to lay eyes on him again. Wrecked in a small plane, with an arctic storm bearing down, they won't survive if they don't survive each other... Moosed Up ...Rugged He's big and hot and hungry for a mate, but has a secret that seems destined to ruin his chances at love. She can't trust herself when it comes to men and knows next to knowing about surviving Alaska. The moose are loose and the men are hungry... Dreamweaver ...SexyHe led a charmed life until he was murdered. Now he's a desperate man who can only touch her in her dreams. She's a tempted woman who thinks she's going crazy when she starts having out-of-this-world sex with a dream lover. Is their love real? Or is it just a dream... Bearing All ...Untamed He's lured her to the edge of Alaska, hoping enough time has passed that her heart has softened and her knives have dulled. She's been sent to assassinate him. Again. This time she intends to succeed without ending up in his bed. They'll be stripped bare before the night is over...

Dex


Jayne Blue - 2015
    and the strong women they love. Dex - When they locked me away for another man’s crime they called it justice. When they set me free they called that justice too. But their damned justice cost me my freedom, my family, my club, and the only woman I ever wanted ... Ava. Now I’m back. Only two things have kept me sane all these years. I want to hurt the man responsible for sending me to prison and end his hold over the Great Wolves M.C. forever. And I want the feel of Ava’s body beneath mine again. I need to watch the way she surrenders only to me and makes me whole. It’s selfish of me to think Ava would wait for me. But, I’m a selfish man and it’s time for me to take back what’s mine. Ava - At night, sometimes I still dream of what it felt like when Dex touched me. He awakened things in me, made me burn for him like no other man has since. But those are just dreams, aren’t they? The years, distance, and the battles I’ve fought have made me remember Dex as something more than he really was. Except now he’s back, stirring my body and heart even though my head knows better. I can’t let him take me back into his world...the club, the violence, the heartache. I don’t know if I can survive loving or losing him all over again and we both know there’s only one way this can end.

Mountain Angel


Suzie O'Connell - 2012
    When a call from her stalker makes it clear he wasn’t deterred, Aelissm asks her overprotective uncle for advice. His decision to send Patrick O’Neil to keep her safe might become an even bigger problem. Pat is a haunted man with a kind smile and sad eyes. Aelissm knows he will leave, but there is something irresistible about him. He could be the best thing to ever happen to her… if she can convince him to stay.

Eye of the Abductor


Elaine Meece - 2012
    To regain custody of her four year old son. If the courts won’t give him back, she has a backup plan. Abduct him.The hotter-than-hell detective living above her not only finds his way into her dreams, but also into her life. As Detective Brance Stone gets acquainted with the sexy woman living in the apartment below him, he makes plans to get the lady into his bed. But she makes it clear she's not looking for a relationship with him or any man. That doesn't stop Brance from trying. He soon discovers she's a felon hoping to regain custody of her little boy and decides to help, despite the fact that his involvement could possibly destroy his career and alienate his all-cop family. When a big-time drug lord comes looking for Allison and the five million her dead ex-husband stole from him, she has to take drastic measures to ensure her safety as well as her son's. She doesn't have the money, but she doubts anyone believes her, and she has no idea who to trust anymore.Is Brance just another dirty cop, or will he be able to save her heart along with her life?

Angels & Whiskey


Kimberly Knight - 2015
    Serving his country was his destiny. Until he fell in love…When Gabe’s love affair is cut short, he turns to whiskey for comfort and swears he will never fall in love again.Until he bumps into an unexpected angel…By all appearances, Autumn Jones has the perfect life. Her husband, Richard, is a loving man who wants to be a father to her unborn children. But Autumn knows the truth. Richard has a controlling, dark side that leaves nothing to chance, especially Autumn. He’ll stop at nothing to make her the trophy wife he wants her to be.When Autumn bumps into Gabe, he consumes her every thought, but she can’t act on her feelings. She’s married to a dark man she can never leave. When he learns who Autumn’s husband really is, Gabe knows he will stop at nothing to protect her. Or is it too late for him to save his angel?

Murder at Sunrise Lake


Christine Feehan - 2021
    It starts in her dreams. Hideous flashes from a nightmare only she can stop. Images of a murderer stalking the ones she cares about most... Stella Harrison thought she got away from the traumas of her past. Running the Sunrise Lake resort high in the Sierra Nevada mountains has brought her peace, even though she doesn't truly share her quiet life with anyone. Not even Sam, the hired handyman that notices everything and always seems to know exactly what she needs.Stella doesn't know anything about Sam's past, but somehow over the last two years his slow, steady presence has slipped past her defenses. Still, she knows she can't tell him about her recent premonitions. So far there's been no murder. No body. No way to prove what's about to happen without destroying the life she's built for herself.But a killer is out there. And Stella knows that this time she'll do whatever it takes to stop him.