Book picks similar to
Play the Man by Ketley Allison


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The Midwife's Playlist


Piper Lennox - 2019
    The day he left, he ruined every single song.My name is Easton, and I catch babies. When I’m called to a teen mom’s birth in the middle of a thunderstorm, the last person I expect to see is Caroline. No, scratch that: the last person I expect to see—the last person I want to see—is her brother. Six years, and the sight of Ford still wrings my heart dry. His voice still melts me. His smirk still pisses me off in ways he can’t even imagine. Our small, Southern town broadcasts rumors 24/7, yet no one thought to tell me Ford was back. And now I’m stuck living near him all over again—stuck replaying the hell he put me through the last summer I saw him. I swore I wouldn’t give him the time of day. I failed. But I sure as hell won’t give him a second chance.* * *Once upon a time, I thought Easton Lawrence would be the girl who saved me. I didn’t return to sleepy little Hillford for redemption; I don’t deserve it. I didn’t even return for her. I came back because my family needs me. As soon as this is over, I’m out of here. Gone. A ghost.At least, that was my plan. I didn’t count on seeing Easton again—much less confessing I’m still in love with her. The day we met, she hated me: eight years old and sworn enemies. But as the years passed, I changed her mind. So maybe there’s hope. Maybe I can change it again.

Her Billionaire Inventor


Dobi Daniels - 2018
    She’d been emotionally scarred from her last relationship and has just managed to pay off the mountain of debts she was saddled with.Now all she wants for Christmas is to rediscover Christmas joy—no love in the equation, and what better place than her hometown Dexington where she recalled spending the happiest times of her life. She is determined to stick with her plan and not even a chance encounter with Phillip—billionaire hospital heir and inventor, and the town’s most eligible bachelor—can change her mind.Until she discovers he is the boy she kissed in high school.Phillip Dexington is finally about to launch a new medical device after having his last invention stolen by his former girlfriend and sold to his archenemy. He’s determined that nothing must go wrong this time around—which means avoiding a relationship at all costs—and is content with spending Christmas with the children at the orphanage.But when Phillip runs into Sarah Nash, the girl who stole his heart in high school, his world flips upside down. She’s only in town for Christmas, and the time before the launch party is Phillip’s only chance at determining if she is the one.Will they open their hearts to the fullness of Christmas and give love a second chance, or will their trust issues rob them of a happily ever after?This is a sweet/clean emotional scars Christmas medical billionaire romance with no cliffhangers and a guaranteed HEA.

Revival


M.K. Gilher - 2014
    I feel as if I know him, yet I'm sure I don't. Dr. Jacade J. Jordan, my mystifying sex god on a stick.Damn, she's delectable. My sweet Ivy. I want to eat her alive. But how can I possess her when she doesn't even know me? When the deception runs too deep? When I've killed for her and would do it again in a heartbeat? How can I watch her submit so perfectly when I am the one at her feet?Enjoy the ride in the Windy City as Ivy and Jacade's timeless love story unfolds in the Return to Us Trilogy.55,700 words (approximately 222 pages)

Rotten Apple


Kate Allenton - 2019
     Gwen Bennett As an operative with a hidden talent, I know how to keep my clients safe. It’s ingrained in my unusual DNA, and I’m damn good at my job. So, when a thief swindles my grandmother out of a fortune and flees to a private island that’s by invite only, I’m determined to find access, even if that means taking a job I don’t want for a family I’d rather avoid. Maxwell Pierce She needs me. There’s desperation in her eyes. I have something she wants. And I know it. When my brother sends me to recruit Gwen Bennett for a job after she’s turned him down, I thought it would be more difficult to make a deal. Offering to share my island suite and my bed was more than enough to get her to agree. Now I just need to get her to realize that my sister's life is on line and that's worth more than any money she can hope to recoup. They’ll have to get creative to keep from losing it all when lives, a family fortune, and their hearts hang in the balance.

Crossing Boundaries


Sandra Alex - 2020
    An abandoned medical degree. And a woman who will make Daniel forget all that.Kayla marries Nick when she isn’t old enough to know better. With an ever-ailing mother and co-ownership of Nick’s company, Kayla is too busy to see what everyone else does until it is too late. With no children, an unfinished education, and both the intelligence and drive to move mountains, nothing can stand in Kayla’s way…until the first day of school.Daniel is hard-nosed, has a chip on his shoulder, and he has neither the time nor the desire for anything other than work. Pre-med and former military, Daniel is the chosen sibling to watch his father post-stroke, adding fuel to his ire, as his already busy life has been put on hold. He’s a loner, hard-working, he’s rich…and he is about as sexy as they come.Kayla and Daniel have a very awkward meeting….at least on the second attempt. Daniel can’t stand the once-too-forward girl he met when forced to go out with his friends, and Kayla begrudges her friends for forcing her to slip off her wedding ring and party before the ink dried on her divorce papers. Kayla never expected things to end up the way that they did, and if she could take it back, she would. But life’s like that.Everything is all perfunctory between Daniel and Kayla until Daniel learns something about her that compels him to help her in a way that nobody else can. While she refuses to take the hand that he’s offering her, she soon realizes that when it comes down to it, he is all that she’s got, and he soon realizes that she’s all that he’s ever wanted…he just never knew it. A once-hardened man softens and learns to open his heart, because his heart will take nothing less than hers.A heartbreaking yet heartwarming love story about what happens in real life when two people are forced together under difficult circumstances. Daniel and Kayla will warm your heart and renew your belief that true love is really out there, even when you’re not necessarily looking for it. Pick up your copy today!

Rocky Mountain Hook Up


Kate Fargo - 2015
    Isabel Chapel is scared spitless. She’s losing clients faster than broncos toss cowboys at the Calgary Stampede. Tuition is due for her daughters, the advance for her second book is already spent… she can’t afford to lose her practice. Reluctantly, she agrees to some ‘field study’… just to observe… One buff psych student … Tray Taylor is a studious and buff farmer who just returned to university after working the farm during his father’s illness. Despite his killer looks and winning charm, he doesn’t have much confidence with women and he’s determined to find a teacher – his own personal Mrs. Robinson… One Hookup is all they need … When Isabel arrives at The Shore – a club with a certain reputation for older women and younger men – she’s not sure she can go through with it. But when she meets Tray, sparks fly, tempers flare, and she finds herself way outside her comfort zone … She needs to get more in touch with her sexual side. He needs to learn more about pleasuring women. In one night, they both get what they need. But will one night be enough for them to get what they want? Warning: Hot dancing, public seduction, and no holds barred horizontal mambo. Ready to get hooked up?

The Target: A Dark Mafia Romance (The Syndicate's Revenge Book 1)


Mara McQueen - 2020
    Now she's forced to be his.When a Clan wedding turns into a massacre, Emiliana "Ella" Caputo, the Syndicate's First Daughter, will do anything to find out who killed her dad—even marry the vicious Brotherhood Commander. The Shadow. The Gunman. A man as ruthless as he is gorgeous.Now the enemy she has despised all her life might steal her heart.The last thing Axton wants is a fiancé. Damn spitfire reminds him he has a soul. And that mouth of hers… But if she finds out Axton knows who killed her father, all hell will break loose.Can two lost souls find themselves and love in the dangerous Underworld?When the Clans clash, which side will you choose? #SyndicateVSBrotherhoodDelve into the twisted Underworld of The Target, book 1 in The Syndicate's Revenge, a Dark Enemies-To-Lovers Mafia Gothic Romance series. The novel can be read as a standalone, but the series has an overarching mystery plot. The novel has steamy scenes and mentions of violence.

Love Me True


Melissa Crosby - 2019
     Aspiring author, Amy Mitchell, used to believe in romance and happily ever after. That was, until her husband cheated on her. Now, she just writes about it. When she takes on a part-time job as a babysitter to the daughter of a deliciously handsome, but self-entitled single dad; the last thing she expected was to fall for him. For Sam Whitford, life ended the day his wife left him and their young daughter because of a lost inheritance. Sick of the consequences of being a billionaire’s heir, he bites the bullet and moves away to the small town of Willow Oaks. But when Sam learns that his domineering mother is coming to town, he knows that it will only be a matter of time before she meddles in his love life again; so he convinces Amy to be his pretend girlfriend. Tensions rise as Amy and Sam spend time together, but so do their feelings for each other. And the longer they spend entangled in their fictitious relationship, the harder it becomes for them to know what’s real and what’s not. Will Amy and Sam get the Happily Ever-After they both deserve?

Rushing Into Love: A small-town sports romance


Kara Kendrick - 2021
    Work. Football. That’s my life summed up in three words.Sure, I used to be a pro NFL baller, but now I’m perfectly content with a quiet life in my small hometown of Peachtree Grove, Georgia.That is until Bree, a beautiful blonde dating expert, gets tackled at my Pee Wee football practice, knocking me off my game.I swore I’d never get involved again after my messy divorce left me reeling, but one date with Bree and I’m dropping all my hesitations—along with my jersey. Now she has me rethinking my plays.But will the tabloids, my ex, and Bree’s complicated past keep us in the friendzone?

Wicked Rich: A Dark College Bully Romance (An Ivy League Alpha Novel Book 1)


C. Morgan - 2021
    Hate me all you want, 'cause loving me might just be harder.No one is standing in my way of being the first to graduate from an Ivy League school.Especially not my flaming-hot first love.With his golden blond hair, tanned skin, sparkling blue eyes, and surfer’s body, every girl wants him and every guy wants to be him.It doesn’t hurt that he has a boatload of money backing him up or that his family name is on the gym at our college.When we meet again, there’s nothing left of the boy I used to know in the man he’s become.He looks at me like I’m the enemy and I know I am because, once upon a time, I broke his heart.Now, he’s out for revenge and he won’t stop until he gets it.Bring it, wicked rich bad boy.Bring it.

Deceived


Danielle Pays - 2019
    Their current demand? A prominent local winery-and the land it sits on. No doubt it would only take one visit for him to charm the owners into selling.But his plan hits a snag the second he lays eyes on the alluring woman, dead-set on maintaining her family legacy. For the first time, he can see a forever with a woman. A forever that’s threatened when she discovers who he really is.Then the unthinkable happens: Declan is arrested for a catastrophic attack, threatening both their livelihoods and futures. And even though he maintains he’s innocent, Brooke’s trust is stretched so thin she doesn’t know what to believe.Or who’s really to blame. Who do you trust when everyone lies?This is a steamy, stand-alone, HEA romantic suspense.

Velvet Fire


K.B. Winters - 2020
    Kill or be killed. I was born into this grim reality. MaisieI never thought I’d fall in love with a cold blooded killer.But with those dreamy eyes and that smile that won’t quit.I find I’m thinking of Virgil more and more.So what if he’s a criminal.My brothers are too. I’ve been around bad boys all of my life.And I’m not sure,Is he really that bad?Even after he saves my life?VirgilI’m not a knight in shining armor,Or even one of the good guys,But I really screw up when I kidnap the wrong girl.Maisie from Texas, with curves in all the right places.She thinks I’m her salvation—her rescuer.Not the guy who drugged her...But they say everything happens for a reason,And she’s my reason.For everything.I’ll rise up for her. Protect her.Crush those who are out to hurt her,And prove not all Prince Charmings ride a white stallion.Some wear a gun.And I’ll do it for her.For us.And when she’s safe, I’ll make her mine.

Provoked


Sarah Bailey - 2020
    He was my downfall.They say your parents are the two people who are meant to love you and keep you safe.So what does that say about mine?My father gave me to a man as a gift.A man who wears many masks.A man who terrifies me.Why then do I want to know what lies beneath?Why does a single touch send shivers down my spine?I know what he wants.My body. My words. My mind.I can’t run. I can’t hide. And I can’t give in to him.My name is Liora Stewart.And Dante Benson is my Master.A dark captive romance set in Sarah Bailey's Dark Universe.This is a DARK romance and therefore comes with a content warning. Please see authors website for full details.

KISSED


Carla Krae - 2013
    Best friends. It was only a crush Beth harbored for Jacob until she was eighteen. Until London. Neighbors. Best friends. That was all Jacob thought of her until London. Until she kissed him and stole his heart. It's funny what Geometry class and a shared backyard wall can bring about. With a two-year age difference, Beth and Jacob were firmly in the Friend Zone during high school, but a pre-college trip to London will change their lives forever. Kissed is the first of five books in the My Once and Future Love Revisited series exploring Beth and Jacob's relationship with all its joys, flaws, and heartache. New Adult Contemporary Romance saga.

Choices


Michelle Lynn - 2016
    But nothing was ever that simple. When she envisioned what her life would entail, she freaked and fled to her brother’s apartment in the city. Straight into the arms of his best friend, Jason Marks.  Jason--a hardworking, bar owner--scraped together a life anyone would be proud of. Anyone, but Michaela’s family. Theirs was a match made in desperation. Kindling, just waiting to be set aflame. When the reality of their separate worlds neared, would it be enough to light the blaze? The New Beginnings series: Choices - A Sweet Romance Promises - A Friends to Lovers Romance Dreams - A Sweet Hockey Romance Confessions - A Second Chance Romance