Book picks similar to
Southern Comforts by JoAnn Ross


romance
contemporary
romantic-suspense
fiction

Crossing The Line


Lori Wilde - 2008
    Our latest staff addition is Dr. Dante Nash, an extraordinary specimen of hotness...er, professionalism. In fact, nurse Elle Kingston can't seem to keep her eyes-- and her lusty thoughts--off him But Dante is more than a sexy-pants practitioner who makes Elle weak in the knees--and in other parts.He's also undercover for the FBI. There have been some illicit goings-on here at Confidential Rejuvenations. Dangerous ones. And it isn't just Elle and Dante's sizzling affair that's about to blaze out of control...

Pursuit


Karen Robards - 2005
    He needs Jess to meet First Lady Annette Cooper, for whom Davenport is a personal lawyer, at a Washington, D.C., hotel. Jess is thrilled: this high-profile assignment must mean that she's earned her boss's trust and she's on her way to bigger things. But unfortunately, bigger isn't always better.Jess doesn't remember much --- only that in the course of the late-night meeting with Annette Cooper, she ended up in the backseat of a car, speeding off into the darkness. All Jess knows is that the car crashed en route, and the other three passengers were killed, including the First Lady. Badly injured, Jess is the only survivor of what is trumpeted around the world as a tragic accident.Although she has no memory about the events leading up to the accident, Jess is still bothered by one question: Was it really an accident? The Secret Service agent on the case, Mark Ryan, gets the feeling that Jess is hiding something. As his suspicions grow, Jess's world starts falling apart. First, she is brutally attacked in the hospital, barely escaping with her life. Then her boss dies under questionable circumstances. In fact, everyone who might possibly know the details about the First Lady's last few hours starts turning up dead. And then Jess understands: If she remembers that night, she'll be dead too.Terrified and certain that the First Lady's death was no accident, Jess has only Mark Ryan to turn to ...

Unzipped


Lois Greiman - 2005
    Even if she can’t quite shed her too-loud, too-curvy alter ego–or the brawling family that insists on claiming kinship. So when her most famous client, buff football star “Bomber” Bomstad, starts chasing her around her desk and getting, well…unzipped…Christina gets just a little miffed–until Bomber has the bad manners to drop dead at her feet.Enter Jack Rivera, a no-nonsense detective with a grim attitude and a great butt, who’s determined to prove this cocktail-waitress-turned-shrink was engaging in some very unethical behavior. Persuading Rivera that she’s not a murderer isn’t going to be easy. Plunging headfirst into a city full of people in need of some serious therapy, Chrissy will have to use all her street smarts, a good deal of sex appeal, and a little love to clear her name–and cancel an appointment with a killer.

Bluegrass Undercover


Kathleen Brooks - 2012
    And something is trying to kill his players. He’s been too busy trying to keep his players alive, while also avoiding the Davies Brothers marriage trap set by half the town, to pay attention and to the fiery redhead who has swept into his small town.DEA Agent Annie Blake was undercover to bust a drug ring that preys on high school athletes in the adorable, small town of Keeneston. She had thought to keep her head down and listen to the local gossip to find the maker of this deadly drug. What Annie didn’t count on was becoming the local gossip. With marriage bets being placed and an entire town aiming to win the pot, Annie looks to Cade for help in bringing down the drug ring before another kid is killed. What she didn’t intend on was becoming the next target.(Alternate cover editions for this title can be found here and here.)

Alpha


Jasinda Wilder - 2014
    Bills were piling up, adding up to more money than I could ever make. Mom's hospital bills. My baby brother's tuition. My tuition. Rent. Electricity. All of it on my shoulders. And I had just lost my job. There was no hope, no money in my account, no work to be found. And then, just when I thought all hope was lost, I found an envelope in the mail. No return address. My name on the front, my address. Inside was a check, made out to me, in the amount of ten thousand dollars. Enough to pay the bills and leave me some left over to live on until I found a job. Enough to let me focus on classes. There was no name on the check, just "VRI Inc.," and a post office box address for somewhere in the city. No hint of identity or reason for the check or anything. No mention of repayment, interest, nothing…except a single word, on the notes line: "You." Just those three letters.If you receive a mysterious check, for enough money to erase all your worries, would you cash it?I did.The next month, I received another check, again from VRI Incorporated. It too contained a single word: "belong."A third check, the next month. This time, two words. Four letters. "To me."The checks kept coming. The notes stopped. Ten thousand dollars, every month. A girl gets used to that, real quick. It let me pay the bills without going into debt. Let me keep my baby brother in school and Mom's hospice care paid for. How do you turn down what seems like free money, when you're desperate? You don't. I didn't.And then, after a year, there was a knock on my door. A sleek black limousine sat on the curb in front of my house. A driver stood in front of me, and he spoke six words: "It's time to pay your debt."Would you have gotten in?I did.It turns out $120,000 doesn't come free.

A Cutthroat Business


Jenna Bennett - 2010
    But Savannah doesn’t think she’s supposed to take the warning literally ... until an early morning phone call sends her to an empty house on the ‘bad’ side of town, where she finds herself standing over the butchered body of a competitor, face to face with the boy her mother always warned her about. Rafe Collier is six feet three inches of testosterone and trouble; tall, dark, and dangerous, with a murky past and no future—not the kind of guy a perfect Southern Belle should want to tangle with. In any way. But wherever Savannah turns, there he is, and making no bones about what he wants from her. Now Savannah must figure out who killed real estate queen Brenda Puckett, make a success of her new career, and avoid getting killed—or kissed—by Rafe, all before the money in her savings account runs out and she has to go back to selling make-up at the mall.

The Cutting Edge


Linda Howard - 1985
    When he's tasked with cracking an internal embezzlement case, he meets firm accountant Tessa Conway. She's beautiful and interested, but falling for her will not only test Brett's control, it may also jeopardize the case—especially since she's the prime suspect.

Witness: Defending His Own / Guarding Jeannie


Beverly Barton - 2010
    Then he'd disappeared, leaving Deborah with nothing…except their son. Now Ashe was back, insisting she play the part of his lover.Ashe had never forgotten Deborah and the night of passion they'd shared, or the way her father had railroaded him out of town. But as the star witness in a murder trial, Deborah needed Ashe, and he would do anything to keep her safe.Guarding JeannieFor six years, Jeannie Alverson had thought about Sam Dundee's haunting blue eyes, his warm touch. His was the face she saw in her dreams. He was the man she never expected to see again. But now he had returned…to protect her.Sam couldn't turn his back on Jeannie. Once she had saved his life, and now she needed him. He vowed to guard her against all danger, but who would protect him from the innocence and love shining in her eyes?

Love Me Anyway


J.L. Redington - 2013
    Greyson Beauchene, Head Ranger of Alaska’s Denali National Park is certain he will never have to deal with that because his park is too ‘out of the way.’ However, Ranger Beauchene soon finds out he is dead wrong. Greyson and his two assistants are flown by helicopter into a remote section of the park where hikers have found a casket, one of the biggest indicators the serial killer has found Denali. Greyson’s team is joined by one incredibly irritating and extremely demanding FBI Profiler and her two Agents. Very good at what she does, Aspen O’Connell sets out to take control of the crime scene and everyone involved in it, and Greyson is having none of it. Greyson, Aspen and their teams must work together to find this killer before he kills again. Events move quickly as the group pieces together clues from the crime scene and a profile is established. As they work through abduction attempts and visible threats, Greyson and Aspen struggle to put their growing feelings for each other in a place that will keep them focused on finding an evil, evil man and bringing justice to innocent victims.

Tell Me When It Hurts


Christine M. Whitehead - 2009
    A magna cum laude graduate of Smith College, with a law degree from Columbia, Archer has a great husband, a wonderful daughter, and a fulfilling career. Add to that a slot on the U.S. Equestrian Team and Archer can almost forget her mysterious past, her violent history. Almost perfect. But nothing stays at equipoise forever. When Archer's daughter, Annie, is murdered, her life shatters and deadly skills, long dormant, emerge as highly relevant. As Archer embarks on her own path to salvation, she snips all ties with the past. Love is now an extravagance, no longer affordable for her.At her darkest ebb, Connor McCall, Harvard-educated financial baron turned Wyoming rancher, stumbles into Archer's life and presses her to start reconnecting the dots. It's an edgy blend of La Femme Nikita, The Horse Whisperer, and something else.In Tell Me When It Hurts, memories can sustain or sink you, all in the same night and all the same memories*READERS FAVORITE HONORABLE MENTION AWARD8

Causing Havoc


Lori Foster - 2007
    To stop his sister from marrying a sleazeball, Dean finds himself teaming up with her pretty-but-smart-mouthed friend Eve—who's heard of Havoc's reputation and doesn't need some hunk trampling on her heart. Now all Dean has to do is protect his sisters, win Eve over, and expose a devious criminal. And he thought winning the heavyweight belt was hard.