Book picks similar to
Unlocking Fear by Kennedy Layne


romance
romantic-suspense
contemporary
suspense

Defending Keirnan


P.J. Fiala - 2020
    Having realized that dream, she’s focusing on helping the local library with desperately needed repairs so she has a place to host her growing reading program. Just when her life is beginning to look like a storybook, an enemy of her father's threatens her very existence. Single father Dane Copeland has known his share of heartaches. He put love on the back burner to finish his career as a special operative with the Army and raise his daughter. Fate intervenes when he meets Keirnan, who brings a new zest for life and the promise of a new start. But it all comes crashing down when she is kidnapped and local law enforcement is unable, or unwilling, to mount a rescue. Partnering with Auggie Vickers, GHOST is born, and all of their lives are irreparably changed as the details behind Keirnan's abduction are revealed and time becomes their enemy.

Sweet Thing


Emily Leigh - 2016
    Her discerning mother taught her to choose the right clothes, the right career, and the right men. But when her father dies and leaves Violet a ramshackle building on a lifeless street, Violet starts to question whether her choices are really her own. Building Sugar Babies Sweet Shop seems like the right thing for her and Violet thinks she may have her new life all figured out until Nick Morello steps through her doors and rocks the world beneath her feet. Too bad for her, he has a huge chip on his shoulder and the kind of swagger her mother disapproves of. Nick Morello knows he has a lot of mistakes to make up for. His best shot at becoming a partner in the family construction business lies in the successful completion of Violet Calloway’s Sugar Babies. Get the bakery done and the rest of the business on Hale Street just might fall in line. He’s got this, he’s so got this, until he comes face to face with Violet and realizes that she may be his biggest mistake yet.

If I Didn't Care


Kait Nolan - 2016
    While he might once have dreamed of a different future for them, everything changed the day her father tried to kill them both. Determined to keep her safe, Judd put his feelings aside and turned his focus to protecting her, always.She leads a double lifeNobody in their small town would ever dream that Autumn, Wishful's friendly librarian, is really successful erotic romantic suspense author, Rumor Fairchild. No one knows that the swoon-worthy hero of her series is based on her best friend, Judd. He's been fulfilling her rescue fantasies for years, and now she's ready to catapult them out of the friend zone to make her real life romance come true.Their nightmare returnsBut when the past comes full circle and Autumn's father returns to Wishful, even the power of Judd's badge isn't enough to keep her safe from the madman. If he wants the chance at a future with the one girl he's always loved, Judd may have to toss everything he's worked for aside to do the one job that matters.

Anchor


Nicole Blanchard - 2015
     A woman I’ve never met, whose name I don’t even know, gambled her own life to protect my child. In return, she was taken by a mad man. I’ll put my career, my security, and my life on the line to get her back, even if it means facing the truth about my own mistakes. The only thing she can't trust me with... is her heart. This is a FULL LENGTH, STANDALONE with a HEA and NO CLIFFHANGER.

The Last Goodbye


Kay Lyons - 2020
    It’s her effort to force him from his work desk to the coast and the peacefulness she’d found at the Carolina Cove Inn.Innkeeper Ireland Cohen is a single mom with an impressionable son, and after the kid gets himself into trouble, Dominic offers to lend a hand. It’s the least he can do when Ireland was such a good friend to his wife after her diagnosis.As the hot summer days at the beach turn into breezy evenings, Ireland and Dominic find their shared memories and friendship turning into more. They’re drawn to each other, fighting an attraction neither of them want because of their pasts.He’s only visiting, and Ireland has a strict rule about dating tourists. But as his trip draws to a close, they both wonder—is this their last goodbye?The Last Goodbye is the first book in a five book series set along North Carolina's beautiful Wilmington coast.

The Broke Billionaire / The Billionaire's Brother / The Billionairess


Ann Omasta - 2018
     The Broke Billionaire: Despite rolling in cash, Trey Donovan feels broke in the ways that truly matter… friendship, loyalty, desire, passion, intimacy, and love. Will Ellie Thorne change that or break him for good? The Billionaire’s Brother: Sparks fly when Trevor Donovan meets the dynamic woman who can help him run his brother’s empire. Will these two be able to resist a forbidden office romance, or will they choose love over money? The Billionairess: Selena Chase is strong, smart, sexy, rich, and… lonely. What if having it all isn’t enough? Can an ordinary guy help Selena find the happiness she craves? Trey, Trevor, and Selena aren’t stereotypical dominant, power-hungry billionaires. Underneath their bristly outer shells, they are sweet, sensitive, and utterly alone. Will they be able to find love––the one thing money can’t buy them? Or will they remain broke billionaires forever? Find out NOW in The Broke Billionaires Club ~ Three sweet billionaire romance reads.

Lucky Me


Kelly Moran - 2016
    For the past one-hundred years, bad things happen if they fall in love. So Declan lives his life one woman at a time. Until he meets Lily Durand and he finds himself wishing for a forever that can never be. Yet their fate encounter and one week of bliss just might be enough to turn his luck around. *Be sure to check out SHEER LUCK featuring both sexy Irish brothers in one set!* Stand-Alone Novel. No Cliffhanger.

Torrid


Jayne Blue - 2015
    The perfect family. The perfect life. In one horrible year, it went away. I can never have it back but I can hurt the man responsible for taking what was left. I know how to steal something even more important from him. He doesn’t see how she looks at me instead of him. I can make her burn for me, make her addicted to me before I send her back.And it will be so easy.Tora - I’ll cross any line to get to the truth, no matter who I have to hurt. I don’t have a choice. I’m not afraid to use sex to get what I want. I know you think that makes me a whore. But until you understand what’s at stake, you can’t know.Don’t judge me until you do.Sometimes, you have to take what you want no matter what it costs.This is part one in a sizzling new erotic romance series by Jayne Blue. It contains strong sexual content and is intended for mature readers.Book Categories

Close Encounter, Part 1


Stephanie St. Klaire - 2019
    When witness protection fails, more than once, he's the only one who can protect her.As the only surviving victim of an international serial killer, she comes with a hell of a lot of baggage and...other needs Cane is happy to fulfill.Hiding out in one of the most secure cities, they keep each other company while Cane has eyes everywhere searching for the killer with unfinished business...Charlie.The day started with a quick screw, a couple of quirky two-bit cons and ended with a diabolical serial killer. What do you do when the lights go out? Run.

Blowback


Lisa Hughey - 2011
    Now she lives alone, works alone, survives alone. When a covert mission goes horribly wrong, suddenly she can trust no one. Not her boss, not her agency, not even herself. Lucas Goodman, former FBI agent turned PI, is on the trail of a missing teenager when his investigation leads him to Jamie. Despite her attempts to ditch him, Lucas tenaciously continues to shadow Jamie, realizing he doesn’t just want information...he wants her. When their investigations collide and her sister is in danger, Jamie is forced to team up with Lucas. Together they must expose the connection between agents’ murders, a missing teenager, and a sixty-year-old government conspiracy. But can she open her heart to find the truth within the lies? been odd man out in his family. Not the oldest, not the most charming, he'd had a lock on the youngest until another half-sibling came to live with them, so he raised hell in his youth. Con knows now the only way to redeem himself is with deeds, not words and sets out to prove once and for all he is worthy of the Stone family. When his older brother asks him to take care of business, Con finally will have redemption he craves. Except when Ava Sanchez, his brother's assistant, is threatened, he must choose between saving the girl and protecting his family. Will his choice bring him love or break his heart?

Evening Shadows


Sheila Kell - 2019
    When faced with the chance to move them from friends to lovers, forces out of his control make the stakes impossibly high. His mission to win her heart becomes a frantic task to save both of their lives.To survive a new injury and being captured by their target, Ken must rely on the woman he loves but no longer trusts. With Sugar’s difficulty to separate truth from deception, Ken’s only chance is to convince the agent who holds his heart that the forces working against them are the true enemy.EVENING SHADOWS is the first book in the Agents of H I S romantic suspense series. Agents of H I S is a spin-off series of the original award-winning H I S series. Just like in the H I S series, each Agents of H I S novel is a standalone novel.If you enjoy a thrilling, edge of your seat read with sizzling sex scenes, then you’ll love this installment of Sheila Kell’s new romantic suspense series.Pick up your copy of EVENING SHADOWS to meet the hot-bodied agents of H I S today!

Ruthless


Michelle St. James - 2015
     But all of that changes the night she’s kidnapped. Thrown into a windowless room, Angelica is positive there’s been some kind of mistake — until she meets Nico Vitale. Gorgeous and frightening, Nico became the boss of New York City’s Vitale crime family after the execution style murder of his parents two years earlier. Since then he’s turned the old-school mob into a sleek, modern army of ruthless men who understand that physical violence — while always an option — isn’t the only way to get what you want. Now Angel is forced to face the truth; Her father is not the man she believed him to be. Nico Vitale is dangerous, possibly lethal. She is falling in love with Nico Vitale. This is not your mother's mob. ★★★★★ "Nail-biting, heart-pounding romance!”★★★★★ "Everything a mafia romance should be."★★★★★ "Nico is not your daddy's mob boss… the kind of serious bad boy you can't help but root for." ★★★★★ "Written flawlessly and hotter than sin!" ★★★★★ "Perfect for readers who like their romance steamy with a shot of adrenaline and intrigue!" ★★★★★ "Nico could kidnap me any day!" ★★★★★ "The kind of mob boss I love to read about." ★★★★★ "The tension and chemistry between the two were off the charts... I could not put these books down."

Maximum Risk


Jennifer Lowery - 2014
    When he fast-ropes down to save missing humanitarian aid worker, Avery Marks, in the remote mountains of Azbakastan he isn’t prepared for the brave, stubborn woman who challenges the rules he wrote in order to protect her. But when it comes to matters of the heart nothing is simple… Avery Marks learned a long time ago to take care of herself, but when her convoy is attacked, her friends and coworkers murdered, she has to rely on the aid of intensely capable and handsome, Quinn Wolff to get her safely out of the country. His skills keep her alive, but his kisses put her in danger. In danger of losing her heart. That’s a risk she can’t take ever again. Content Warning: Sexual content

Phantom


R.J. Gray - 2021
    The mountains beckon to him, and he followed them home to Colorado. Purchasing thousands of acres of land, he is determined to create an escape for injured warriors and a community for veterans, who, like him, are trying to figure out what is next.What he wasn’t expecting was the feisty, red headed nurse, Samantha O’Riley. The youngest charge nurse in the Emergency Department’s history, Sam is a no-nonsense, take-charge type of woman who has no interest in military men, they are not her kind. She and Hudson clash from the very beginning.When a violent drug cartel targets Samantha, she finds herself under the protection of Hudson. Soon, his protection is not the only thing she is under.The veterans of Valhalla rush to protect Sam and their community. Will Samantha find herself falling for Hudson after all? Or will she walk away?

Happy Truth About Love


Karice Bolton - 2017
    Instead of overthinking what’s right in front of her, she embraces the freedom of the unknown and the thrill of leaving everything behind and moves to the small mountain town of Silver Ridge. It isn’t until she arrives at her late uncle’s Bed and Breakfast that she begins to doubt her newfound ability to throw caution to the wind. From the moment she opens the barely hanging front door and steps inside to see peeling wallpaper and a broken banister, she realizes this inheritance might not have been a gift at all. Her uncle had to be using the term Bed and Breakfast loosely in his will because it was more of a deathtrap than anything. But she does love her new town. And the overly helpful Joel North, who is exactly everything she’s told herself to stay away from. He’s gorgeous, somewhat mysterious, and he’s sprinkled with the power to make Autumn blush off just one look, which is completely unacceptable in the real world, but she just can’t help herself. What Autumn doesn’t expect to uncover are secrets that change everything she’s known about her family and the life she’s led. It doesn’t help that Joel seems to hold the answers to some of her darkest questions and there’s one he just won’t answer. As she rebuilds the old mansion, she realizes her uncle’s real gift wasn’t the B&B, but the truth that rested behind its walls.