Book picks similar to
The Guestbook by Andrea Hurst


romance
fiction
chick-lit
contemporary

The Magic of Found Objects


Maddie Dawson - 2021
    All her life she’s been torn between the two. But now that she’s been betrayed by both love and the mother she once idolized, her rational side is winning.So when her best friend from childhood proposes that they give up on romance and marry each other, Phronsie agrees. Who better to spend your life with than your best friend? Maybe the connection they already have is love. Maybe there’s no falling to be done. But immediately after they announce their engagement, she encounters someone who makes a very charming and compelling argument for revisiting romance.While her even-keeled stepmother argues for the safety that comes with her new engagement and her mother relays messages from the universe to hold out for true love, Phronsie must look to her own heart to find the answers that have been there all along.

Life, Unscheduled


Kristin Rockaway - 2021
    As a user experience designer at Virtuality, an artificial intelligence company in Los Angeles, Nicole is at her desk from sunrise to sunset. She doesn’t have time for a social life (or a love life), but that’s perfectly fine with her. Until her best friend, Parisa Shahin, announces her engagement and asks Nicole to be her maid of honor.That’s when Nicole decides to meticulously schedule out the next six months of her life—from her project due dates to her dress-fitting appointments to how many hours she plans to sleep each night. If she can stick to her schedule, she’ll balance everything fine. Of course, that’s a really big if. And after she crosses paths with emerging restaurateur Brandon Phelps, Nicole is feeling feelings she hasn’t felt in…well, ever. But scheduling time to fall in love might push even the most meticulous plans into pure chaos.

The Marriage Pact


M.J. Pullen - 2011
    A large but cozy suburban home shared with a charming husband and two brilliant children. A celebrated career as a writer, complete with mahogany shelves and a summer book tour. A life full of adventure with her friends and family by her side.Instead, Marci lives alone in 480 square feet of converted motel space next to a punk rock band, hundreds of miles from her friends and family. She works in a temporary accounting assignment that has somehow stretched from two weeks into nine months. And the only bright spot in her life, not to mention the only sex she’s had in two years, is an illicit affair with her married boss, Doug. Thirty is not at all what it is cracked up to be.Then the reappearance of an old friend with whom she had made a drunken marriage pact ten years earlier opens a long-forgotten door, and the lines between right and wrong, heartache and happiness are all about to get very blurry, as Marci faces the most difficult choices of her life. Following in the footsteps of Something Borrowed and Something Blue, The Marriage Pact is a delightful debut that will have readers laughing, crying, and falling completely in love.

Lingerie Wars


Janet Elizabeth Henderson - 2013
    It was a big mistake. His sister has been steadily flushing his money down the drain – and now he wants it back. Years in the special forces taught Lake that if you want a job done, do it yourself. So he steps in to make the shop profitable, sell it and get his money back. The only problem is, the business is an underwear shop. And all Lake knows about underwear can be summed up in how fast he can unsnap a bra. To make matters worse, the tiny highland town already has a lingerie shop. A successful one, run by an ex-lingerie model. A very gorgeous ex-lingerie model, who’s distracting him from his mission more than he’d like to admit. If Lake wants to get his savings back, and get out of Scotland, he only has one option – wipe out the competition. Kirsty Campbell has spent years rebuilding her life after she woke up in hospital in Spain to find her body scarred, and her ex-fiance had run off with all her money. The last thing she needs is a cocky, English soldier-boy trying to ruin all she has left. Her home town is only too happy to help her fight the latest English invasion, although Lake is beginning to sway them with his sex appeal and cut price knickers. With the help of her mother, and the retired ladies of Knit or Die, Kirsty sets about making sure that her shop is the last one standing in Invertary.It’s Scotland versus England as you’ve never seen it before. It’s lingerie war.This is Book 1 in the Invertary series. Book 2 is Goody Two Shoes.

First Class to New York


A.J. Harmon - 2012
    Trying to escape the oppressive loss and hopelessness of a life without him, Janie sets off on the adventure she has dreamed about since she was a little girl. Exploring New York City, she secretly hopes that this landmark event will free her from her grief and unlock a future as wonderful as the life she had lost with Robert’s passing.After a series of embarrassing encounters with a man in a dark grey suit during the flight, Janie wonders if this trip might be more than she bargained for. At 42, she is much too young to spend the rest of her days as a lonely widow, but is resolved to the fact that, like lightning, a love like that of her first marriage rarely strikes twice.When she accepts his invitation to dinner that evening, Janie is terrified at the realization that she’s actually attracted to him. The handsome and wealthy Matt Lathem is sexy as hell, but, as Janie comes to realize, has baggage of his own. Can they help to heal each other in time to realize that a second chance at love is within their grasp?‘First Class to New York’ is a contemporary, adult romance novel

Secrets on the Sand


Roxanne St. Claire - 2013
    But Zeke sits on that mountain all alone, longing for the one thing money cannot buy: the true love of a lifelong partner. Zeke grew up near Barefoot Bay and is staying at the resort for a week while he’s in town for a family event. Enter Mandy Mitchell...the maid. Except to Zeke, Mandy is much more than that—she was the object of his every teenage fantasy back in the days when she was known as “Mandy the Magnificent” and he had the unflattering high school nickname of “Ezekiel the Geekiel.”Zeke is no longer a geek—he’s gorgeous. And Mandy doesn’t feel so magnificent since her marriage fell apart and left her up to her eyeballs in debt and despair. One look at Zeke, and she knows he’s exactly the kind of trouble she should avoid. One look at Mandy, and Zeke turns his relentless ability to get what he wants into a full-on seduction. But can Mandy face down the secrets of her past to find a fairy-tale future with Zeke?

Mason


S.J. McCoy - 2015
    It seemed they'd found their forever early in life. But somehow it all went wrong. Now — ten years later — Gina's back in town. This time he doesn't intend to let her leave. Mason spent the years he lost with Gina building a business, breeding and training horses, and helping keep his family's ranch going. Gina threw herself into a life in New York City where she has a career as a photographer… and a fiancé. Gina needs to sell the ranch where she grew up and move her dad to New York. When she returns to Paradise Valley to finally close that chapter of her life, the last person she wants to see is the man who broke her heart all those years ago. Mason isn't going to let the only woman he's ever loved walk out of his life forever without explaining what went wrong. He never understood why she left. Now he has one last shot to make her stay. (This book is intended for adult readers aged 18+.) *************************************** Each Remington Ranch Romance can be read as a standalone. No cliffhangers here! Each book contains one couple's story. Book 1: Mason Look out for the other brothers, who will each get their own book: ShaneCarterBeau

The Sisters Café


Carolyn Brown - 2013
    She's taken step one and gotten engaged to a reliable man, but she's beginning to question their relationship. Does he really love her, or is she just arm candy for his political career? Why is her future mother-in-law getting increasingly hostile? Worse, why does he stand up for his mother when she says those awful things, instead of protecting her? Cathy is full of self-doubt. Both of her options—going through with the wedding or breaking off her engagement—are beginning to look like a nightmare either way. She knows her friends will back her up, but she's the one who has to make a decision that's going to tear her apart.

Millie's Fling


Jill Mansell - 2001
    Actually, Millie's relieved. She's happy to enjoy a man-free summer in Cornwall. But Orla has other ideas. She's determined that Millie should meet the man of her dreams. Trouble is, Millie's taste in men doesn't tally with Orla's. The one who really interests her is Hugh Emerson, and he's the man with whom Orla's adamant she mustn't get involved...

Tangled Beauty


K.L. Middleton - 2013
    That is, until she met Reed, Jesse's sexy as hell older brother, and ends up getting much more than what she'd bargained for.Reed Eddington assumed his future was settled until he met Sinclair, his brother's so-called "girlfriend," but the raw, sexual tension between them is hard to ignore. As he watches their ruse from the sidelines, he finds himself wanting to uncover more than just their amusing little facade.Due to sexual content and heavy subject matter, this book is recommended for ages 18+.

The Memory of You


Laurie Kellogg - 2012
    

Summer at Sea


Beth Labonte - 2015
     Have you ever helped your parents pack for a weeklong cruise? No? I didn't think so. So shut it. So begins vacation for Summer Hartwell - twenty-six years old, living with her anxiety-ridden parents, and unwillingly booked by her brother on a weeklong cruise to Bermuda. Despite the nightmare of being trapped aboard a cruise ship with Mom and Dad, Summer sees a rare opportunity to fulfill The Prophecy – her mother’s declaration that she will live at home until she gets married. With two thousand passengers onboard, at least one of them must be husband material, right? The only problem is Graham Blenderman – her brother’s best friend who is joining them for the week, in all of his tall, blonde, extroverted glory. Graham doesn’t believe Summer needs a husband in order to break free from her parents. He thinks she just needs a little bit of nerve. And to Summer’s introverted horror, he’s willing to spend the entire week proving that he’s right.

Wild Irish Ride


Jennifer Saints - 2008
    Now he's back in Savannah with his highly successful security company to put the Weldon name on the right side of the tracks. Unfortunately, before he can even make a move in that direction, he runs into Alexandria Jordan and ends up making the same mistake he did before. He succumbs to her allure, but this time, he plans on getting her out of his system for good and walking away.Except for a few wild moments with Jesse at seventeen, Alexi Jordan has followed the life expected of her. But a Wedding Day betrayal from her blue-blooded fiancé has her running from her life and right into the arms of the man she'd never forgotten, Jesse. Yet as she forges a new future for herself amid the scandal of her aborted wedding, Alexi finds herself the target of a twisted killer and both her and Jesse's days are now numbered.Excerpt:"Still a virgin on the run after all these years, Lexi?" he drawled.  His voice, as steamy and seductive as Southern summer day, challenged her on an elemental level, a sensual one. "Almost," Alexi said, letting the last illicit picture she had of Roger fall from her grasp to the ground.  She'd only ever been with Roger and he didn't count.  Not anymore.  She sucked in air, latching onto Jesse's appeal.  The reporters encircled them.  Jesse lifted his hot gaze to her eyes and smiled. "Almost?"  Slow and sexual, his grin spread awareness over her.  "Sounds frustrating.  Interested in changing that?"  He ran his finger under her chin and she caught her breath. Yes, some part deep inside her shouted.  Yes, she wanted to change that.  Here was one situation her grandmother couldn't smooth over with a lie.  With the cameras rolling, Roger and her grandmother would get a clear picture that Alexi meant it when she said she wasn't marrying Roger ever. "Yes," Alexi said to Jesse, stepping closer to him.  Waves of his sex appeal washed over her.  Waves she had no trouble remembering, though she'd only been seventeen when she'd last dipped into them.  His nearness and touch sparked something inside of her that wanted to rebel against everything that had just happened to her.  "Kiss me," she demanded, loudly.Jesse arched his brow and asked softly, "What's your game Lexi?"  His slid an arm around her and pulled her flush to his chest, her breasts to his hard muscle.  Then his mouth covered hers.  She gasped at the desire shooting through her as his tongue entered her mouth, and his gaze dared her to respond. She wound her arms around his neck, pressed closer to him, and met his tongue with hers.  His eyes widened with surprise, telling her that he'd expected her to put him off rather than to take him up on his challenge.  After that first moment, he didn't hesitate in delivering a four-alarm kiss.  He bent her back over his arm, inserted his leg between hers and had one hand cupping her butt.  In one kiss he ravished her from the inside out and she burned for more.  By delivering a message to her grandmother, what message had she delivered to herself? He ended the kiss, but kept her captive in his embrace as he stared into her eyes.  The cameras continued to flash and the world swirled crazily.

Shameless


Cheryl Douglas - 2012
    He’s desperate to make amends for the mistakes he’s made and convince Sierra their love deserves a second chance. Sierra Brooks is happy for the first time since her divorce. She has a career she loves and a fiancé who loves her. Unfortunately, her fiancé isn’t the only man professing his love. He may be able to offer her safety and security, but will she decide to risk everything for another chance with the man who broke her heart?

Gone to Green


Judy Christie - 2009
    The paper was an unexpected inheritance from a close colleague, and Lois must keep it for at least a year, bringing a host of challenges, lessons, and blessings into her life.When Lois pulls into Green on New Year’s Day, she expects a charming little town full of smiling people. She quickly realizes her mistake. After settling into a loaned house out on Route 2, she finds herself battling town prejudices and inner doubts and making friends with the most surprising people: troubled teenager Katy, good-looking catfish farmer Chris, wise and feisty Aunt Helen, and a female African-American physician named Kevin.Whether fighting a greedy, deceitful politician or rescuing a dog she fears, Lois notices the headlines in her life have definitely improved. She learns how to provide small-town news in a big-hearted way and realizes that life is full of newsworthy moments. When she encounters racial prejudice and financial corruption, Lois also discovers more about the goodness of real people and the importance of being part of a community.While secretly preparing the paper for a sale, Lois begins to realize that God might indeed have a plan for her life and that perhaps the allure of city life and career ambition are not what she wants after all.