Book picks similar to
The Girl I Was Before by Izzy Bayliss
chick-lit
romance
fiction
contemporary
After the Sky Fell Down
Megan Nugen Isbell - 2012
But when tragedy strikes, she is left to pick up the pieces of her now shattered life. As she tries to make sense of her new reality, life takes another startling turn, leading her down a path she never imagined. Through it all she finds comfort in a surprising companion who becomes her best friend and rock as she tries to rebuild her life. But when she unexpectedly meets someone, whose kindness and understanding offers her a chance at a fresh start, she struggles to move forward, afraid to leave her past behind. Will she be able to move on and find peace with her past in order to discover her future or will she let her past condemn her to a life of loneliness, unable to let go of a life that can never be?
Fur Coat No Knickers
C.B. Martin - 2014
And as for mum - she's only been tending my recently-rehabilitated sister's cannabis bush, thinking it's a tomato plant!
Hurtling through her thirties, Tara is still yet to find her perfect man, despite gruelling efforts to transform herself into the perfect woman. Tara's prayers appear to have been answered when she miraculously falls into the arms of Travis Coleman - the famed, silver-tongued sex demon. It would seem the years of curling, plucking, painting and waxing may have finally paid off... However, Tara's fairy-tale soon spirals out of control when Travis inexplicably ceases all contact with her. Distraught and desperately stumbling from one crisis to another, Tara ultimately loses her mind, her dignity and - shamefully - her Knickers.
Fur Coat No Knickers is a hilarious, touching and outrageous tale; bound to relate to any woman
The Single Wife
Ella King - 2021
but you can never really know anyone - can you?A group of college friends on the verge of summer graduation wonder about what the future holds - marriage and motherhood, world domination, or a better life elsewhere?One thing they do know is that they'll always be friends, but before life takes them in different directions, they make a pact to reunite in five years to see how their predictions turned out.But over time, it's pretty clear that life hasn't gone according to plan.And all too soon the women find themselves forced into a very different kind of reunion. Realising that sometimes, it's better not to tempt fate ...
Home Place: A Novel
Sally Crosiar - 2020
Whip Tyler of all people! Hasn't their family lost enough at Whip's hands?Hasn't Paul Patterson caused enough damage in Whip's life? But if he won't take the job, Paul will get someone else - a developer who will rape the land and throw Kat's hopes to the wind. It would be easier if Whip didn't care. Or if that long-ago promise didn't stand between him and Kat.
Second Chances
Bria Marche - 2015
Thomas for Abby Melrose Bellavance, or so she thinks. That is, until her husband Remy steals her trust fund and disappears for parts unknown. Now, with five million reasons to write off men for good, she returns to Charleston, broke and groveling at her mother’s feet.Living again in the opulent mansion on South Battery, Abby is thrown another curve ball. Her mother passes away, leaving Abby with an enormous home but no money to support it.Turning the mansion into a boardinghouse has its advantage—immediate cash—and disadvantage—two of the hottest men in Charleston are now Abby’s tenants.Abby wants love again, especially with hunky Erik, the handyman, and sexy Brandon, the prominent attorney, living in the mansion with her. They are so different, yet they’re similar in one way she needs to avoid—they are men, and she should keep her distance.As the southern summer blazes on, Abby’s life becomes even more complicated. Personal secrets are revealed, and fate deals her one final blow. She wonders if she will ever be given a second chance at falling in love.
Kiss Me, Dancer
Alicia Street - 2011
Dance instructor Casey Richardson takes an immediate dislike to the brash, arrogant Drew Byrne when he pulls his nine-year-old son out of her “silly” dance class. Still, she cannot help noticing his smoking hot body and bedroom eyes. A working class girl raised in the small fishing and farming community on Long Island’s rural North Fork, Casey knows all too well how easily a girl can get hurt by the notorious womanizing hunks that flourish on the South Fork in the Hamptons. Men like Drew Byrne. The last thing she needs is for him to be the only one who can save her from losing her dance academy, the dream she has worked so hard to turn into a reality.Remarrying is definitely off Drew’s list of things to do. As head of his Fortune 500 trucking company, he enjoys his wealth and has no problem keeping it a game with some of the world’s most beautiful women. So why should his son’s challenging, straight talking dance teacher get under his skin in a way no other female has? Sure, Casey Richardson has luminous brown eyes and a lean, taut body that drives him nuts, but he’s seen plenty in his day with the supermodels he is used to dating. He tells himself it is because Casey is the only one who was able to bring his shy, uncommunicative son out of his shell. But even that isn’t it. Bewildered, Drew decides he just might make use of those ridiculous psychic readings he won at North Cove’s Annual Fourth Of July Bazaar raffle. Little does he know the local psychic who donated the readings has taken off last minute for some trekking in Tibet —and Casey was swayed into substituting for her with phone readings to the anonymous winner. Add in a stint on a hit TV dance-off series, a cozy local coffee shop, a narcissistic rock star and a protective big brother to make KISS ME, DANCER a sexy, heartfelt and fun read.In addition to being part of today’s Indie author movement, Alicia and Roy Street are also traditionally published (under another penname). In 2009 they received a Daphne Du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense.
Christmas in Peakview Box Set
Jill Haymaker - 2019
If you love small town western romances you'll love these stories of hope and second chances. COLORADO COWBOY CHRISTMAS Cynthia Welch has made a name for herself as one of Chicago’s top divorce attorneys at the expense of her personal life. Burnt out, she heads to Peaktop Guest Ranch for a couple of months of solitude over the holidays. AJ Coulter, a cowboy from Wyoming, has been a loner and a drifter ever since his divorce and his teenage daughters leaving for college. He finds a temporary job at Peaktop Ranch as the head wrangler. When their paths cross, Cynthia begins to question her life in Chicago, and AJ struggles to find a way to keep her in Colorado. Can the spirit of Christmas bring these two people from very different worlds together and help them find their way to true love? COLORADO GOLDEN SUNRISE Forty-three year old, Kelly Charm, feels her life slipping away in Prairie, Nebraska. A single mom, she longs for a better life for herself and her teenage son, Ethan. Having scoured online job ads for months, she finally finds an ad for a hardware store manager in picturesque Peakview, Colorado and decides to take a chance. Forty-six year old, Jake Midnight, is Peakview County’s most beloved EMT. He’s the best at what he does—professionally, that is. After a failed marriage, which ended over twenty years ago, he’s put his personal life on hold. He’s content to live alone. That is if you don’t count his three horses, two dogs, five cats, and two pigmy goats. When the unfamiliar high altitude of the Colorado Rockies causes Ethan to have an asthma attack, Jake is quick to jump to the conclusion that Kelly is an irresponsible parent. Kelly is furious at the arrogance of this man who know nothing about her or her son. Sparks fly, but there’s no denying the underlying attraction that sizzles between them. The warmth of the holiday season has been known to melt hearts, even one’s which have been closed for years. A PEAKVIEW CHRISTMAS Only five days until Christmas, and FAITH OWENS has had enough. Not willing to spend one more holiday with her abusive, alcoholic husband, she loads her two young daughters, Gracie and Hope, in her car and leaves her life in Scorpion, New Mexico behind. Newly divorced, ZANE WILDER, faces his first Christmas without his son, Ace. He can’t wait for the holiday to be over. To escape sitting home sulking, he travels from Montana to Colorado to spend the week training his young horse, Storm Cloud. When their paths collide at Hearts Haven Bed and Breakfast near scenic Peakview, Colorado, they find more than a place to rest. Two lonely, cautious hearts are brought together by the magic of Christmas, with a little help from Violet Crandall or maybe Santa himself. Will their budding romance continue when the holiday ends? Can two broken families find the missing pieces that lead to happiness? This Christmas, come home to Peakview, Colorado where everyone has a chance at love.
Finding Hope's Ridge
Silver McKenzie - 2020
However, he’s stunned to discover he still has feelings he can’t ignore for his sister’s best friend, the one woman in Hope’s Ridge who’s hated him since high school.When her business plans crumble overnight, Asha Jones is wrong to assume life can’t get any worse. She’s made an enemy of an influential local property developer, and the man who crushed her heart ten years earlier has returned to town. Sure, she can do her best to ignore Zane’s existence, but what will she do when her feelings resurface for him? She can’t go there again…can she?Zane needs to redeem himself and fight for a second chance. But is working with the man who wants to destroy Asha’s business a guaranteed way to reignite her hate - or could it be an opportunity to change her opinion of him?Finding Hope’s Ridge is the first story in the Hope’s Ridge small town series.
Eleven Days: An Unexpected Love
Lora Lindy - 2012
Little does she know she would meet that one special love, an unexpected love. That one true love is Mike Ramsey and he's a U.S. Marshal. As their love grows, so do their troubles. Someone is stalking Lana. Mike has to figure out who it is before the stalker gets Lana. Not only does he have to protect her, he must find the connection between Lana and the killer before it's too late. They soon find out this stalker also wants Mike dead, and he'll go through any lengths for that to happen. Mike's team find out how desperate this man is when he starts murdering.
Romance Series Starter Bundle: Caden + Chaos & the Geek
Elizabeth Stevens - 2021
Featuring the first books in the LOVING THE SYKES and the GRACE GRAYSON SECURITY series.Loving the Sykes #1: CADENCADENI just have to hope I haven't waited too long. And that her three big brothers, the only family I have left, aren't the thing that finally manage to kill me.I need to make her my girl.LUCYI don't know if he'll ever see me as anything more than a little sister. Not with another in his heart. But, I'm willing to do whatever it takes.I've always been his girl.Grace Grayson Security #1: CHAOS & THE GEEKAMBERHow do you politely refuse when the only guy to star in any of your dirty fantasies has just offered to put you up for the foreseeable future and your brother’s just accepted like you were in fact still thirteen and couldn’t make decisions for yourself? You don’t.KITWhen I find out about my best mate’s little sister’s situation, the offer is out of my mouth before I can stop it; Hawk’s like a brother to me even if Amber’s never looked twice at me. It might just be time that this chaos gets a little geek.
Bluestone Homecoming
M.J. Fredrick - 2012
Leo doesn’t know how to be a single parent since the death of his wife, and he certainly has no desire to return to Bluestone. But he needs a place for his son, a place where he’ll be with family, while Leo does his job. He’ll stay long enough to get Max settled, then go back to work.School counselor Trinity Madison watches Leo struggle with his son, trying to overcome the mental barricade she’s erected against the man who sent his son away when he’s perfectly capable of caring for the child. The situation brings about her own unsettled feelings about giving her child up for adoption when she was young. But as she observes Leo’s difficulties, his sacrifices, she softens toward the man.While he’s in town, he ends up working with some old friends and Trinity on a committee to revitalize Bluestone. The former resort town is struggling and looking for ways to bring tourists back. Leo finds himself charmed, then smitten with the feisty counselor, but will he still love her when he learns her secret?
Seven Days of Friday
Alex A. King - 2014
They’re picking apart her sanity, one stitch at a time. She’s crawling along rock bottom when the arrival of a mysterious package opens a new door to a new country. A desperate Vivi dives headfirst into the quicksand that is Greece—her parents’ birthplace.But it’s a paradise far from perfect, and instead of the new beginning she covets, Vivi discovers trouble is determined to keep her in its pocket. Soon she’s fighting for her daughter’s life in a Greek hospital, clashing with her Greek relatives, and cobbling together an inadequate cage around her heart, lest she fall for an unavailable man.Before this story ends, somebody will be dead. And if some people are to be believed, this particular death is a good thing. A blessing, of sorts . . . .
Walk With Me, One Hundred Days of Crazy
Ernesto H. Lee - 2019
As a successful commodities trader with one of the leading London trading houses, he was happy, healthy and, engaged to be married to the woman he loved. Then came the devastating news that would change his life forever. Less than two years later, his health is in tatters, his fiancée is gone, and his life is reduced to nothing more than a series of difficult choices and harsh realities. In search of answers and, in search of a drink, he walks an unfamiliar part of London. He doesn’t find the answers he is looking for, but he does find Karen. With Karen, he finds hope. With Karen, he finds love. With Karen, nothing is ever going to be the same again.Reviewed By K.C. Finn for Readers' Favorite- 5 StarsWalk With Me: One Hundred Days of Crazy is a romantic and bitter sweet work of fiction penned by author Ernesto H Lee. Written for mature audiences, but not overly graphic in its romantic content, this tale focuses on love later in life. Our central hero Mark Rennie is a man who once thought he had a perfect life all figured out, but then his life and health fall apart aged forty-one. In a world of difficult choices, Mark chooses to drift the streets of London in search of some kind of answer. When he finds Karen, however, he gets a lot more than he was looking for.This is an emotional and unusual love story in the realm of tragic romances, but it has so many beautiful and uplifting qualities in spite of the situation that Mark finds himself in. The back drop of London is well drawn to bring out the atmosphere of each moment in Mark and Karen's relationship, and author Ernesto H Lee has a cinematic sense of how to construct scenes and move the plot along without any unnecessary details derailing it. The narration is personal, close to the characters, and sensitive in matters of health, the future and the notion of hope. What results is an emotionally intelligent and realistic romance that will grip its readers from start to finish. Overall, Walk With Me: One Hundred Days of Crazy is a rollercoaster ride with stylish narration, compelling dialogue and a plot you'll cry over again and again.Reviewed By Rabia Tanveer for Readers' Favorite- 5 StarsWalk With Me: One Hundred Days of Crazy by Ernesto H Lee is a novel about love, acceptance, and learning to live in the moment. We are all guilty of it and we all take our present for granted while we push for the future. This is something that happened to Mark Rennie in this novel. He kept looking forward and worked hard, only to have his life slip away from him. His story is heartbreaking as well as encouraging.The author did a great job of creating an atmosphere that is sensitive yet hopeful. There were emotional ups and downs in the story, but the author kept the momentum going and ensured that the reader enjoyed the journey with Mark and Karen. While the topic of cancer is very bleak,the author added as much hope and happiness to the story as possible. To say that I got emotional reading this novel would be an understatement. I was so involved and invested in Mark and Karen that I just didn't want their story to end. Absolutely beautiful! “Walk With Me, One Hundred Days of Crazy is a novel with a powerful tale of romance and one that explores the deep longings of the human heart.” Ruffina Oserio for Readers Favorite. “Walk With Me, One Hundred Days of Crazy by Ernesto H Lee is a fascinating book packed with craziness, emotions, family, and love (lots of love).” Ankita Shukla for Readers Favorite.
Her Unexpected Roommate
Laura Ann - 2021
The situation leaves her alone in the world, but offers something she's always dreamed of. The opportunity to open a bed and breakfast, turning her broken down inheritance into a place of light and laughter. Her dreams crash, however, when a handsome stranger shows up claiming he owns half of the seaside mansion and he's not willing to sell.Cooper James couldn't believe his luck when his estranged grandfather left him a half ownership in home in Oregon. It was the perfect opportunity for Cooper to start fresh in a place where no one knew the mistakes of his past. His patience is tested when the other owner, a beautiful but angry woman, demands to open a bed and breakfast, a situation that would be in direct contrast to his hopes for a refuge in which to build a new life.Can these two set aside their differences long enough to test the attraction simmering between them? Or will their fighting cost them everything?
In Search of a Love Story
Rachel Schurig - 2012
They’re convinced her bad luck with men is directly related to her life-long lack of interest in all things romantic. When Emily’s latest relationship crashes and burns, she decides to go along with her friends’ plans for a romance research project. Sure, the idea that she’ll have better luck if she learns about the great romances of literature and film seems a little silly, but Emily figures it can’t hurt.In no time at all, Emily finds herself buried under a mountain of romance novels, chick flicks, and sappy love songs, hopeful that her hard work will pay off with true love. When she meets Greg, Ashley and Ryan are convinced she’s found prince charming—after all, he’s rich, handsome, and totally into Emily. What more could she want? And why does it seem that her friend Elliot isn’t exactly happy for her?Faced with misunderstandings, miscommunications, and a seemingly endless string of missteps, she is nevertheless determined to give true love a try. In doing so, Emily will eventually find that true romance, the kind that lasts, has little to do with stereotypes or clichés, and everything to do with finding out what’s in her own heart.