Book picks similar to
Grind by Joanna Blake


romance
joanna-blake
contemporary-romance
standalone

Dirty Prince (A Royal Romance)


Vanessa Waltz - 2016
    They call Prince Liam the Dirty Prince. I met him. I slapped him. It was hate at first sight, and, believe me, he's even filthier than they say. How do I know?I married him.The closest I ever got to a castle back home was in a mouse’s theme park. Now I’m a princess stuck in the world’s naughtiest fairy tale. Liam expects me to act like a princess, but the Dirty Prince doesn't get to teach ME how to behave. I'd love to catch the first pumpkin carriage out of this kingdom, but Liam’s giving me more happy ever afters than I ever thought possible. And what's even worse? I think his smart mouth and cocky attitude might be growing on me.But just when I think I might be falling for my prince, fate intervenes. Our Once Upon a Time may be over.But what if I’m not ready for this fairy tale to end?

Dominic


L.A. Casey - 2014
    If she doesn't befriend people, talk to them or acknowledge them in any way they leave her alone just like she wants. When Dominic Slater enters her life, ignoring him is all she has to do to get his attention. Dominic is used to attention, and when he and his brothers move to Dublin, Ireland for family business, he gets nothing but attention. Attention from everyone except the beautiful brunette with a sharp tongue. Dominic wants Bronagh and the only way he can get to her, is by dragging her from the boxed off corner she has herself trapped in the only way he knows how... by force. Dominic wants her, and what Dominic wants, Dominic gets.

Because You're Mine


Claire Contreras - 2018
    They're the ones with experience. The ones with secrets. The ones that exude sex just by saying your name.From the minute I laid eyes on Lorenzo, I knew he wasn't just bad news. He was the headline.My opinion didn't change on our second meeting. Or our third. But my head and my heart are at war. He’s too mysterious, too gorgeous, too wild, and now, he wants me. I should run far away. So why am I racing toward him? I’m totally going to get burned. I know it. A man like Lorenzo won’t leave me unscathed.He'll make ashes of me.

Valentine's Rose


Dani Wyatt - 2017
    Growing the world's rarest and most coveted roses is this mountain man's obsession until he walks into her flower shop and his new obsession takes over. There's just one thing holding him back from staking his claim that ring on her finger. Rose Everhart spends her days arranging flowers. On this Valentine’s Day, she lets it slip that although she's send out thousands of arrangements to other lucky recipients, she's never been the receiver of flowers herself. What she doesn't know, is wearing her grandmother's scratched and worn rose gold wedding band has kept the hulky flannel wearing rose grower that's filled her fantasies for months at a distance for too long. Will these two unlucky at love introverts finally discover what it's like to discover your one and only? Only, will someone from Rose's past force her to retreat back into her solitary world just as she's beginning to understand the power of true love? Author's Note: This indulgent treat smells like roses and tastes like chocolate. Well, maybe not really. But if you like happily ever after and believe in love at first sight this sweet, filthy treat is just for you. Always safe, always smutty and utterly swoon worthy.

The Playbook


Kelly Elliott - 2016
    Football and my cock. And not necessarily in that order. Being the head football coach for a top university in Texas had its ups and its downs. The ups? Endless women to f*ck.The downs? The politics that came with the job. From the moment Aubrey Cain walked into my office, she turned my world upside down. Being forced to have her follow me around for a month was going to be a pain in the ass. Especially since I couldn’t keep my eyes off of her.The best I’d hoped to come out of this was a few nights with her in my bed. I never imagined she’d be the game changer. Brett Owens was my assignment. Head football coach for a top college, bad boy reputation, short temper, and handsome good looks should have scared me off. But I was tougher than that. From the first words out of his obnoxious, dirty-talking mouth, I knew it was going to be a long month. It wasn’t five minutes after meeting him, he hit on me. If only I had known his blue eyes would haunt my dreams and awaken a desire inside of me I never knew existed.This was business. There was no way I would be tempted by him no matter how good looking he was or how many things he whispered in my ear.He was only supposed to be my assignment. Not the man who threatened to destroy both my heart and my career. I would follow along with his playbook for now. But who would end up winning was anyone’s guess. The Playbook is a stand-alone novel.

Two Truths and a Lie


Ashley Stoyanoff - 2015
    I left everything behind—family, friends, school. It seemed like a good idea at the time. My only option, really, until I realized running from a police officer isn’t as easy as I thought it would be.It’s been exactly three-hundred and sixty-five days since I left home, but I’m finally ready to take the step I should have taken a year ago. I’m done hiding. I’m done running. I’m going to take my life back.It was supposed to be easy. A meeting with Jason Pierce, a private investigator, was set up for me. All I had to do was go to him, let him do his thing, and then I could go home, or so I thought.That is, until I met Jason and things got … complicated.

The Bet


J.L. Beck - 2019
    “Yeah, so was I but you seem to have forgotten that part of your life.” The bet was simple. You draw a name from the hat. That’s the girl you have to seduce. The girl you have to make fall head over heels in love with you. It wasn’t hard for me to do, in fact, it was something I did all the time. I was known for breaking hearts. Sex was just that, sex. And it didn’t take me very long to get a woman on her back. And then I drew her name: Jules Peterson. My former best friend. My first kiss. My first love. She shattered my heart into a million pieces three years ago. She left me right when I needed her most. And as fate who have it, she had entered my life once again, at almost the perfect time. She was a transfer, fresh meat, and she had just put a target on her back. It was my turn to make her pay. It was my turn to break her heart. Holding onto that hate, that anger, that f*cking heartbreak. It does something to you. It breaks you, and it broke me, it tainted me, just like I would do to Jules. She used to be my everything, but now she was nothing but The Bet. **The Bet is book one in the North Woods University series. It is a full length, standalone, novel. It contains adult themes, and content not suitable for all readers. It is NOT a young adult novel.**Dear Reader, We're so happy that you are thinking about reading our newest book The Bet. We hope you enjoy it to your fullest and we cannot wait to read your reviews on it. However, we wanted to leave a little note to warn readers with sensitivity to dubious content, sexual themes, and verbal abuse. For those readers, this book may not be a good read for them. We also would like to say that while the book is entirely fiction we know that abuse, sexual, physical, and verbal is a very real thing in our world and that we do NOT condone any behavior of that nature nor do we think that it's okay to treat someone that way. Just like the makers of gory horror movies dont actually want people to be brutally murdered, we do not want anyone to be bullied or abused in any way.Again, this is fiction and while we don't always agree with the things our fictional characters do, sometimes it works for a story line. As writers, it is our job to draw out real emotions. Sometimes we will make you fall in love with a character and other times we might have you yelling at the book. With love, J.L. Beck & C. Hallman

Torn


Carian Cole - 2016
    When I turned eighteen, I made it clear I still felt the same. The problem? He's fifteen years older than me, and he's my father's best friend.Toren Grace. My pseudo-uncle. He's always been my rock--the one I should never, ever want. But I do want him, and I love him. I always have.Tor's one of the good guys. He's loving and devoted with a strong moral compass. One unexpected kiss between us rocked him clear off his axis. Now, we can't forget how that kiss felt, and what it changed. Nothing will ever be the same between us.But I'm not a little girl anymore, and he's everything I want.I'm everything he wants, too.I know he's struggling, but I'm determined. With a last name of Valentine, I've got cupid in my veins. The heart wants what the heart wants, and it doesn't care about age or how we met. My father cares, though. And he's the one person neither one of us can stand to betray or hurt.We're all being torn apart, and I don't know how to make everyone see that the wrongs are actually right.* Torn can be read as a single book.

Beautifully Insightful


K.C. Lynn - 2015
    I see the world differently than everyone else, I feel everything differently and I reflect on life differently. And being different in my world is not a good thing.I live in a place that’s divided between the rich and the poor, the beautiful and the unbeautiful, the prestigious and the mediocre. I have always belonged in the first category, because my father was the Governor of Georgia. Growing up around people I could never relate with, my life had always been lonely, that was until my senior year when I met the one boy who would change my life forever. A boy who my parents would never approve of because he didn’t come from money or the same social class. He rode a motorcycle, had tattoos and was considered to be from the wrong side of the tracks. Yet he was still envied by many.Ryder Jameson was someone who every guy feared, and one who every girl wanted to be touched by. He didn’t do attachments, or have friends… until me. And for the first time in my life I finally felt like I belonged. When I was with him, my different didn’t feel wrong or ugly. He made me feel beautiful- insightfully beautiful. Then one day my world came crashing down on me, and it would be six years before I'd once again see the boy I fell in love with.RYDER JAMESON ~ After working my ass off I am given the opportunity of a lifetime, and if I pull it off I will be the youngest FBI agent to run one of the biggest undercover operations in history. Only the case that gets thrown in front of me leads me back to the one place I swore I would never return to, and to the only girl who’s ever mattered to me. Except Emily Michaels is not the same girl I left behind. She still looks the same, she’s still beautiful inside and out, but there’s one thing that’s very different about her, one very big thing, and it’s something I didn’t think was possible.Ryder and I come from a world where politics separates us and wealth defines us, but even after all this time we will not let it divide us. Here is our story.

Eden I


Georgia Le Carre - 2015
    At thirty Jake Eden has everything: looks to die for, money, power and a never-ending line of twisted, fucked-up women willing to do anything to get with him. Love? Love was for pussies…until a woman with the stage name of ‘Jewel’ arrives on the scene. She alone is different from all the others.Oozing pure, unadulterated sex, strong, intelligent and independent, she is everything he should stay away from, but she makes him itch to tame her and keep her for himself. Her lure is addictive and undeniable and soon he is hooked. But when the line between betrayal and loyalty is put to test…Will love be stronger than revenge? Book 1 of a new trilogy.

367 Days


Jessica Gadziala - 2016
    But he’s everything you’d want in a private investigator- calm, capable, experienced, and just jaded enough by the darkness he’d seen to take a chance on some random girl who insists something more sinister must have happened to her than simple memory loss.But thrown together, trying to get to the root of my mystery, feelings that were most definitely not client/professional start to emerge.(( Link for possible triggers to post here closer to the release ))

The Do-Over


M.K. Schiller - 2013
    Attorney Lanie Carmichael’s appearance is no surprise. She is dowdy, awkward, and dressed in so many layers she resembles a wedding cake, but not in an edible way. Her brazen attitude though, astonishes him, especially when she explains she has no interest in gorgeous Kyle. Lanie Carmichael is in love with Brad, and wants Kyle’s assistance in winning his best friend’s heart. Kyle gradually accepts, justifying that the mystery of Lanie has sparked his natural, thirsty curiosity. As an ambitious journalist, he also can’t resist the Pulitzer worthy scoop she offers him. However, as Lanie sheds more layers, both emotionally and physically, Kyle begins to examine his life choices, and his true feelings for this enigmatic girl. With Kyle’s support, Lanie begins to unravel the secrets of her past, and the deep pain that has quietly defined her life. As they each learn more about themselves and each other, both question how a relationship built on fraudulent lies between two broken people could ever survive.

Unconscious Hearts


Harper Sloan - 2018
    Alone and stricken with grief, she shouldered the blame and eventually closed her heart off, refusing to open it for another. After all, anytime she tried, guilt and regret were waiting in the wings to remind her how painful it was.A bet and one steamy night with a stranger force Ari to confront all she’s been hiding behind. She tries to move on, but he refuses to stand down, wanting what she is terrified to give—herself. This man may very well destroy her in the end, especially when it’s clear he has his own demons. What happens when two broken souls come together, finally allowing themselves to believe in the beauty of love … only to have to fight harder than ever to keep it.

Beautiful Beast


Aubrey Irons - 2017
    He’s the anti-prince-charming. This is our happy ever disaster. Anastasia Here’s the first thing you should know: this is not a fairytale. Happily-ever-afters are fables, and Prince Charming is a sweet little lie. I know all this because he taught me. Once upon a lifetime ago, the rich, arrogant, sinfully gorgeous, and tragically broken dark prince of the Hamptons was my tormentor. My darkness, my shameful attraction, my all-consuming, forbidden temptation. I hate Sebastian Crown because nine years ago, for one night, I was stupid enough to think I loved him. And I’ve been paying for it ever since. Except now, he needs me to help him save his empire. …And he’s not taking no for answer. Bastian She’s my nemesis. My addiction. My weakness. My obsession. I used to tell myself I hated Anastasia Bell - for being poor, for not worshipping the ground I walked on, for looking at me like she pitied me for being me. When the rest of my world always told me yes, she was the ever-provoking no.
 She thinks I’m a monster - a tragic, f**ed-up, broken beast. She doesn’t know the half of it. Because she can’t begin to know the crimes of my past, or imagine the things I’ve done to her behind the scenes since she left this place. Years ago, I thought breaking her would fix me. I was wrong. Now I’ve got her in my sights again, and this time, I won’t be letting her go. Even if it means we both go down in flames... Authors's note: Beautiful Beast is a full-length, standalone romance (approximately 101,000 words) with a HEA and NO cliffhanger. For a limited time, I've included a copy of my second chance romance, Thief, in this new-release edition! Please note that Beautiful Beast finished at roughly the 2/3rds mark in this book ;).

Revue


K.M. Golland - 2015
    He thrives on the limelight and the attention of women who throw themselves at him. Josh is a jerk who lives for his next one-night-stand, and his latest target is Corinne Lee, Wild Nights' new professional photographer.Except Corinne isn't interested in Josh or his antics. She's there to take his picture, nothing more, nothing less.Or so she thinks.