The Substitute


Xavier Neal - 2017
    It's sensible. Logical. Abandoning my plans for a career in the film industry and a life full of fun, albeit slightly reckless, actions was the responsible thing to do. That's who I am now. That's who I've become. Mr. Boring. Mr. Predictable. Mr. Anal Retentive. At least that's what I thought until one irresistible student breathes life back into the version of me I've been desperately trying to suffocate. Being with Ainsley isn't a want. It's a need. And I'm willing do anything to fulfill it. Ainsley I've spent my entire life ashamed of who I am. Who my mother is. What she does. Being forced to attend a private school where people endlessly whisper about it is only bearable because I know exactly what's in my future. I know exactly where I'm going. I know exactly what to do to get there. Or at least I thought I did. One class with him and suddenly my entire world was missing one very important piece. Being with Nate isn't just about sex. It's about loving life in a way I never imagined. The situation isn't ideal, but I'll do whatever it takes to be with him.

Romeo, Romeo


Robin Kaye - 2008
    Telling her the truth would blow her whole career, and their relationship too.

Me Before You


Jojo Moyes - 2012
    . .Louisa Clark is an ordinary girl living an exceedingly ordinary life—steady boyfriend, close family—who has barely been farther afield than their tiny village. She takes a badly needed job working for ex–Master of the Universe Will Traynor, who is wheelchair bound after an accident. Will has always lived a huge life—big deals, extreme sports, worldwide travel—and now he’s pretty sure he cannot live the way he is.Will is acerbic, moody, bossy—but Lou refuses to treat him with kid gloves, and soon his happiness means more to her than she expected. When she learns that Will has shocking plans of his own, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living.A Love Story for this generation and perfect for fans of John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars, Me Before You brings to life two people who couldn’t have less in common—a heartbreakingly romantic novel that asks, What do you do when making the person you love happy also means breaking your own heart?

If You Stay


Courtney Cole - 1999
    Seriously. He’s a tattooed, rock-hard bad-boy with a bad attitude to match. But he’s got his reasons. His mother died when Pax was seven, leaving a hole in his heart filled with guilt although he doesn’t understand why. What he does know is that he and his dad are left alone and with more issues than they can count. As Pax grew up, he tried to be the kid his father always wanted; the perfect golden boy, but it didn’t work. His dad couldn’t overcome his grief long enough to notice and Pax couldn’t keep up the impossible perfect façade. So he slipped far, far from it. Now, he uses drugs and women to cope with the ugliness, the black void that he doesn’t want to deal with. If he pretends that the emptiness isn’t there, then it isn’t, right? Wrong. And it’s never more apparent than when he meets Mila. Sweet, beautiful Mila Hill is the fresh air to his hardened frown, the beauty to his ugly heart. He doesn’t know how to not hurt her, but he quickly realizes that he’s got to figure it out because he needs her to breathe.When memories of his mother’s death resurface from where he’s repressed them for so long, Mila is there to catch him when the guilt starts making sense. Mila is the one…the one who can save him from his broken troubled heart; from his issues, from the emptiness. But only if he can stop being an asshole long enough to allow it. He knows that. And he’s working on it. But is that enough to make her stay?

Broken at Love


Lyla Payne - 2013
    A rich kid who’s not used to being disappointed by life, Quinn and his sociopathic half-brother Sebastian create a frat house game intended to treat girls how they see them—as simple game pieces to be manipulated for their pleasure.College sophomore Emilie Swanson knows Quinn’s reputation—after all, he did send one of her sorority sisters into therapy earlier in the semester—but the game and his charm bring them closer together and soon she starts to believe there’s more to Quinn than people think.But what if the more is something darker than a game of toying with emotions and breaking hearts?Quinn and Emilie might be falling for each other, but there are secrets he’s not ready to tell—and lifestyle changes he’s reluctant to make. She willingly stepped on the court, but if Emilie finds out she started out as nothing as a pawn in Quinn and Sebastian’s twisted game, she might never forgive him.To his surprise, Quinn finds that he might finally care about someone more than he cares about himself…even if that means letting Emilie walk away for good.

All the Pretty Lies


Michelle Leighton - 2013
    However, with a history like hers, she can understand why her brothers and her father want so much to protect her. She has gone along with it for twenty long years, but those days are over. For the girl who never makes promises, Sloane has made a pact with herself that things will change on her twenty-first birthday. So when the clock strikes midnight, Sloane strikes out to spread her wings and break a few rules.Him…In addition to inking skin, Hemi Spencer possesses many talents. Controlling himself has never been one of them. It’s never had to be. He’s lived a life of indulgence for as long as he can remember. Right up until tragedy struck. Now, he’s nothing but controlled. He’s a man on a mission, one who will let nothing and no one stand in his way.Them…Nothing in their lives could’ve prepared Sloane and Hemi for what they’d find in each other—distraction and obsession, love and possession. But the one thing they can’t find is a future. Neither one has been totally honest. And they’ll soon learn that the devil is in the details. In the details and in the lies.How far will two people go to live in the now when the now is all they’ve got?

The Love Game


Emma Hart - 2013
    Arrogant, egotistical, and the playboy of the University of California, Berkeley, he's everything her brother Pearce has taught her to despise. So why, when the girls challenge her to play the player, why doesn't she say no? She doesn't know either.Braden wanted fiery little Maddie the second he laid eyes on her - and he'd do anything to have her, hence why he's agreed to make her fall in love with him. After all, it's the only way he'll get what he wants. Sex.But, as Braden discovers, there's more to the girl from Brooklyn than he ever imagined - and he can't help but care about the broken girl behind those pretty green eyes.Maddie finds Braden isn't just a walking erection - he actually has feelings. He can be sweet, funny and his good looks don't exactly hurt. That means trouble - but when her brother Pearce turns up in Berkeley begging for her help, she realises Braden and Pearce aren't so alike anymore.And maybe, just maybe, they're exactly what each other needs.

A Beautiful Wedding


Jamie McGuire - 2013
    Maddox. But what do you really know?Why did Abby pop the question?What secrets were shared before the ceremony? Where did they spend their wedding night?Who else knew about it . . . and didn’t tell?Everything about Abby and Travis’s elopement was top-secret . . . until now. Fans of Beautiful Disaster and Walking Disaster will get all of their questions answered in this whirlwind tale of the wedding day (and night!)—and as with all good stories, this one will definitely have been worth the wait.

Black Love White Lies 1


Genesis Woods - 2015
    With an ex who she assumes left her for the next, a mother who is always on her about her weight, and a current boyfriend whom she finds in an awkward position on their anniversary, she’s still optimistic that true love will happen for her one day. After having her heart broken for the last time, she decides to take a small break from men and just focus on her thriving shoe store she owns with her sister Ariana. Cairo Broussard wasn’t looking for love, but at the same time, was open for it to happen if it came. He never thought in a million years that he’d practically fall in love at first sight after walking into the custom shoe store one of his players told him about. When his ex-girlfriend Alexandra Tate offers him a proposition to manipulate his inheritance, will he marry her for the money or will he follow his heart and be the man that Audrielle needs him to be? Watch what happens and unfolds when your back is up against the wall and people from your past pop up to either make your life better or ruin it all together. Black love is a very strong and powerful thing, but with white lies in the mix, who knows what will happen?

Paper Princess


Erin Watt - 2016
    She’s spent her whole life moving from town to town with her flighty mother, struggling to make ends meet and believing that someday she’ll climb out of the gutter. After her mother’s death, Ella is truly alone. Until Callum Royal appears, plucking Ella out of poverty and tossing her into his posh mansion among his five sons who all hate her. Each Royal boy is more magnetic than the last, but none as captivating as Reed Royal, the boy who is determined to send her back to the slums she came from.Reed doesn’t want her. He says she doesn’t belong with the Royals.He might be right.Wealth. Excess. Deception. It’s like nothing Ella has ever experienced, and if she’s going to survive her time in the Royal palace, she’ll need to learn to issue her own Royal decrees.

Annihilate Him: Omnibus


Christina Ross - 2015
    Only ramped up in ways that you never expected. This is ANNIHILATE ME at its best! And it's packed with more than 250,000 words! DESCRIPTION: In ANNIHILATE HIM: OMNIBUS, love is tested. Lives are claimed. Nothing is certain. In a flash, one can lose it all. But what happens to those who are left behind? Jennifer Wenn and her husband, Alex, must face just that when a crisis first takes hold of Wenn Enterprises—and then when a second, wholly unexpected crisis throws everything into turmoil. Is love enough to see Jennifer, Alex, Tank, Lisa, and Blackwell's two daughters through one of the most terrifying events of their lives? As this this harrowing love story and adventure unfolds, the suspense deepens, people rise up, enemies dig in, secrets are exposed, love burns hard—and a white-hot war takes place that will rattle Wenn Enterprises to its core.

The Control Series


Anna Edwards - 2021
    She does the job reluctantly…but there’s no hesitation when she meets a mesmerizing, sophisticated stranger while on holiday. Under his skilled hand, she’ll learn the depth of her own strength even as she surrenders to his masterful control. When innocence and experience collide, the volcanic explosion may burn everything in its path…including the couple’s fledgling love. Divided Control It’s been months since Amy last saw James…months since she’s felt the aching pleasure of his touch. In that time, she’s achieved a measure of her own success, but is she truly living her life fully? Or has she taken a page from James’ old book, hiding behind work while denying her true needs? This next chapter in James and Amy’s journey will test the couple’s emotions—and control—to the max. Misguided Control To the world at large, Marie Easton is the cliché jealous secretary, lusting after her powerful boss, James North. Behind closed doors, she’s a desperate woman, willing to do whatever it takes to protect her family from a menacing threat. She’d be unwise to let anyone in…especially the new finance director at North Enterprises, who makes her crave things she never thought to want. Controlling Darkness Sonia Anderson may be young, but the highly recommended bodyguard is well trained and expertly skilled. She’s more than up to the task of her new job, protecting Amy North. Of course, no employment psych evaluation could ever reveal the skeletons in Sonia’s painful past…or the secret scars born of a world out of her control. When two pained souls come together, they’ll either help each other heal…or hurt each other beyond repair. Controlling Heritage Sophie North witnessed firsthand the brutal repercussions of her brother’s lifestyle choices. Though she’s cut from similar cloth, fear of being judged for her needs has her living an unassuming life as a personal assistant. Easily overlooked, Sophie hides under the massive shadow of her employer—privately wishing to be under him in other, more carnal ways. Controlling Disgrace She’s the cause of James North’s worst suffering, but Colette Fisher is also a victim of sorts. After years of oppression, she’s a prisoner of her own making, denying her innermost desires until she’s driven to her breaking point. It’s then, during her lowest low, when she meets the one man who could give her the strength to accept the woman she’s meant to be. Controlling The Past It’s been over three decades since James and Sophie North’s parents saw their family savagely torn apart by the cruel actions of one malicious man. Both of them lost a vital piece of themselves that night so long ago. Pete was left a shadow of his former self, having failed to protect his only love. Miranda persevered for the sake of their children, but her grief remained. Now, more than thirty years later, the child cruelly ripped from their arms has suddenly resurfaced—and all the love in the world may not be enough to reconcile their tragic pasts. For even as Pete and Miranda are still reeling from the knowledge of their newfound son, the powerful malevolence of their old enemy is already reaching out to destroy them again…this time from beyond the grave. 5 STARS - Beautifully written story that keeps you gripped from page one and keeps you on your toes.

This Beautiful Thing


Amanda Heath - 2012
    Her twin brothers have made sure of that. Until one night at a college party she gives them the slip, finding herself in the arms of the most amazing guy she has ever met. Now she's on a mission to find him since she ran from his bed. And forgot to ask his name...Declan Sage has had control over his entire life. But that is all about to change when the girl who ran out of his bed turns his life upside down. She is about to throw that control out the window. But he’s pretty sure that’s a good thing seeing as she stole his heart...

The Girl in the Garden


Kamala Nair - 2011
    The redemptive journey of a young woman unsure of her engagement, who revisits in memory the events of one scorching childhood summer when her beautiful yet troubled mother spirits her away from her home to an Indian village untouched by time, where she discovers in the jungle behind her ancestral house a spellbinding garden that harbors a terrifying secret.

Rae


E.R. Wade - 2017
    As a rule, I don’t date. Spending one night with the gorgeous Cole Mardsen is as far as I’m willing to go, that is, until he has me wanting to break all my rules for him.Cole MardsenI saw her as soon as she walked into the bar, looking beautiful and elegant, and I was immediately drawn to her. But Rae resists me at every turn. She’s about to find out how determined I can be when I want something - and I definitely want her. And not just for one night.Rae is a stand-alone romance novella with a guaranteed HEA.