Book picks similar to
Houseful of Strangers by Linda Barrett


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A Hero to Keep


Susan Gable - 2009
    So she lives, loves, and lets go. She’s not looking for a hero.But with custody of her traumatized six-year-old nephew on the line, she needs help. Charming Greg Hawkins, a comic book artist and art therapist insists he can coax Ryan into speaking again, enabling the boy to reveal what he saw the night of his mother’s death at his father’s hands. And though Shannon’s skeptical of Greg’s methods, there’s no denying that he brings light and color to their lives.Greg, one of twelve siblings, knows anything worth having is worth fighting for. If anyone can prepare Shannon for the upcoming battle, it’s Greg and his family.But will she fight to keep him, too?A Hero to Keep is a contemporary family drama romance set near Lake Erie, featuring the Hawkins Family.***This book was originally published under the title A Kid to the Rescue.***

The Billionaire's Baby Swap


Rebecca Winters - 2016
    But why does he look nothing like her? Gorgeous billionaire Giovanni Laurito bonded with his new baby, Vito, after a difficult divorce, so discovering Vito and Ric were swapped at birth is a huge shock! When Valentina and Giovanni meet to reclaim their children, sparks fly. They've already fallen for each other's babies… Could this unexpected beginning create the family of their dreams?

Second Chance


Danielle Steel - 2004
    A widower with two daughters, John was as conservative as Fiona was freewheeling, both amused and appalled by her world of high-strung designers, anorexic models, Fendi-stuffed closets, and Sir Winston, her snoring bulldog. But after Fiona impulsively invited John to the Paris couture shows, somewhere between the magic of the runway and the stroll along the Seine, she let him into her heart. And within weeks of their return to New York, John was making friends with Sir Winston-–and Fiona was making room in her closets.It didn’t take long for the dominoes to start falling. First, John introduced Fiona to his hostile daughters and their bloodthirsty Pekingese and snarling housekeeper. Then, after a disastrous dinner party with John’s biggest client, Fiona and John’s relationship began to unravel with alarming speed. What happens next will set Fiona on a journey filled with pain, revelation, and awakening. When she risks everything and returns to Paris alone, an extraordinary series of events begins to unfold. And as the snow falls on the city of light, the curtain will rise on a second act Fiona never saw coming.In a dazzling tale of modern misadventures and career-crossed relationships, Danielle Steel captures the heady magic of instant attraction, the challenges of change-–and the hope that comes when we dare to do it all over again.

Paradise


Judith McNaught - 1991
    A long way from the country club where, feeling like an outsider, he had dared to fall in love with a beautiful blonde named Meredith Bancroft, and known a once-in-a-lifetime passion and betrayal that still haunted his memory... Now world leaders courted him, the media watched his every move, and he was ready to move in on the Bancroft empire.A cool, poised executive in her family's legendary department store chain, Meredith had once defied her father for the sexually magnetic, intense Matt Farrell -- and their brief, ill-fated marriage was the disastrous outcome. Now, as the Bancroft firm is threatened by a hostile takeover, Meredith is forced to confront Matt. As tensions build between them, bittersweet memories rise to the surface, leaving them suspicious, restless, and uncertain. Will they be able to believe in each other -- and grasp the tender miracle that is before them?

Master of Seduction


Kinley MacGregor - 2000
    But the dashing brigand may have met his match in the fiery beauty who has vowed to bring him to justice . . .A fearless, flame-haired enchantress, Lorelei Dupree believes she has a duty to her fiancé and to the city of Charleston to help end the reign of the notorious Black Jack. But when the bold pirate eludes her carefully set trap, she suddenly finds herself the prisoner of the irresistible criminal they call "Master of Seduction." Once trapped in Jack's intoxicating gaze, Lorelei feels herself falling under the handsome rogue's sensuous spell. And now the terror of the high seas faces the one peril he never anticipated—for though he has stolen so many hearts, he never dreamed he'd meet a woman who could so effortlessly conquer his own.

Terms of Surrender


Janet Dailey - 1982
    Seven years under the hot Texas sun had changed the handsome youth into a rugged, powerful man. And Angie was no longer his unsure teenage bride, but a beautiful, proud woman. Now she has come back to claim the one special joy that has been missing from her life--their daughter.

Healing the Girl Dad


Fern Fraser - 2021
    The next thing I know, I’m on the ice, flat on my back. Broken. Paralyzed.Surgery is risky, but if I don’t agree, management will drop me from the team. As a widower and single dad, the stakes are high.Hockey is my life, or was, until I met Doctor Trina Reeves, my surgeon and sexiest woman alive. She’s older, smarter and prejudiced against a jock like me.I may be broken, but I’m tough and determined to prove myself worthy of her love.I want Trina and I won’t stop until I make her mine.TRINA REEVESA lifelong hockey fan, I was at the match when Benji’s sickening accident happened. The sound of his daughter crying out for her daddy broke my heart in two.Benji and I are opposites in every way. He’s younger, but he’s bossy, tough and definitely the one in charge. After one unexpected night, he teaches me that we really aren’t that different.My job as his surgeon is to heal him but team politics make my work impossible.I lost my heart the day I met him, but can I do what needs to be done without losing my head and risking it all?If you love instalove, opposites attract, reverse age gap steamy short romance, you’ll love Benji and Trina. Safe, with a steamy sweet HEA guaranteed.

My Best Friend's Girl


Dorothy Koomson - 2006
    From the moment they met in college, best friends Adele Brannon and Kamryn Matika thought nothing could come between them—until Adele did the unthinkable and slept with Kamryn’s fiancé, Nate. Now, after years of silence, the two women are reuniting, and Adele has a stunning request for her old friend: she wants Kamryn to adopt her five-year-old daughter, Tegan.Besides the difference in skin color—many will assume that headstrong, impulsive Kamryn is Tegan’s nanny—there’s the inconvenient truth that Kamryn is wholly unprepared to take care of anyone, especially someone who reminds her so much of Nate. With crises brewing at work and her love life in shambles, can Kamryn somehow become the mother a little girl needs her to be? In My Best Friend’s Girl, Dorothy Koomson takes us on a warm and wondrous journey through laughter and tears, forgiveness and hope—and the enduring love forged by the unlikeliest of families.

The Sparkling One


Susan Mallery - 2003
    There's only one hitch: the father of the groom, Zach Stryker, who is adamantly opposed to his son marrying so young. Now, despite her instant attraction to the handsome, arrogant attorney, Katie must approach with caution: Zach, who hired Katie for a major fund-raiser, holds the fate of her business in his hands -- and how can she trust a man who is willing to break her sister's heart? It will take a passionate battle of wills to determine if wedding bells will ring for a Marcelli bride, and to unlock the deepest desires -- for family, love, and home -- inside a strong-willed man's heart. Meet the Marcelli family in a wonderful series that's warm, witty, and stunningly sensual. Look for The Sassy One, The Seductive One, and The Marcelli Bride, all available from Pocket Star Books!

The Secret Pearl


Mary Balogh - 1991
    To the woman known simply as Fleur, the well-dressed gentleman with the mesmerizing eyes is an unlikely savior. And when she takes the stranger to her bed, she never expects to see him again. But then Fleur accepts a position as governess to a young girl…and is stunned to discover that her midnight lover is a powerful nobleman. As two wary hearts ignite—and the threat of scandal hovers over them—one question remains: will she be mistress or wife?

Second Nature


Nora Roberts - 1985
    But when the master of the supernatural turned out to be a dark-eyed master of seduction, Lee knew that it would take more than just good interviewing skills to get her an exclusive. Digging into private lives was her business, but now Hunter Brown had turned the tables. With one smoldering kiss he had exacted his price.

North River


Pete Hamill - 2007
    With enormous compassion, Dr. James Delaney tends to his hurt, sick, and poor neighbors, who include gangsters, day laborers, prostitutes, and housewives. If they can't pay, he treats them anyway. But in his own life, Delaney is emotionally numb, haunted by the slaughters of the Great War. His only daughter has left for Mexico, and his wife Molly vanished months before, leaving him to wonder if she is alive or dead. Then, on a snowy New Year's Day, the doctor returns home to find his three-year-old grandson on his doorstep, left by his mother in Delaney's care. Coping with this unexpected arrival, Delaney hires Rose, a tough, decent Sicilian woman with a secret in her past. Slowly, as Rose and the boy begin to care for the good doctor, the numbness in Delaney begins to melt. Recreating 1930s New York with the vibrancy and rich detail that are his trademarks, Pete Hamill weaves a story of honor, family, and one man's simple courage that no reader will soon forget.

1-900-Lover


Rhonda Nelson - 2004
    Only, when Will Foster dials her number, Rowan is the one who ends up getting all worked up....Will Foster can't believe that a woman as sexy as Rowan has to resort to giving phone sex to strangers...especially when he wants her to give it to him instead! And once she does, it doesn't take long to convince her that burning up the sheets is better than burning up the phone lines. Still, Rowan is fiercely independent and will give up the job only when she's ready.So what else can Will do but make sure Rowan is too "busy" to answer her phone...?

Chase The Wind


Janelle Taylor - 1994
    Special Agent Navarro Breed and his beautiful undercover partner embark on a perilous mission to save Geronimo . . . and fall passionately in love.

The Baby Switch!


Melissa Senate - 2018
    But the unthinkable has happened--his beloved baby isn't really his! And Shelby Ingalls is reeling to discover that her baby was accidentally switched with Liam's. Their solution? Marriage! And in this new Wyoming Multiples miniseries by the former Meg Maxwell, the sparks flying in this marriage of convenience sure look a lot like love.