Book picks similar to
Hope's River by Margaret McHeyzer


romance
contemporary
second-chance-romance
dnf

For Now and Forever


Sophie Love - 2016
    When her boyfriend of 7 years takes her out for their long-awaited anniversary dinner, Emily is sure that this time will be different, that this time she will finally get the ring.When he gives her a small bottle of perfume instead, Emily knows the time has come to break up with him--and for her entire life to have a fresh start.Reeling from her unsatisfying, high-pressure life, Emily decides she needs a change. She decides on a whim to drive to her father's abandoned home on the coast of Maine, a sprawling, historic house where she'd spent magical summers as a child. But the house, long-neglected, is in dire need of repair, and the winter is no time to be in Maine. Emily hasn't been there in 20 years, when a tragic accident changed her sister's life and shattered her family. Her parents divorced, her father disappeared, and Emily was never able to bring herself to step foot in that house again.Now, for some reason, with her life reeling, Emily feels drawn to the only childhood place she ever knew. She plans on going just for a weekend, to clear her head. But something about the house, its numerous secrets, its memories of her father, its oceanfront allure, its small-town setting--and most of all, its gorgeous, mysterious caretaker--doesn't want to let her leave. Can she find the answers she's been looking for here, in the most unexpected place of all?Can a weekend become a lifetime?

Healing Touch (A Place to Call Home, #1)


Laura Browning - 2017
    Luke knows he needs to be a better daddy for his troubled kids, but his work as a veterinarian made it difficult in the past. He’s vowed to change, but he needs help while he settles into his new position with the local animal hospital.Rachel Hastings is a woman with a healing touch. She takes in injured and orphaned animals, so helping out with two new-to-town children shouldn’t be tough. What she hasn’t counted on is their sexy father, her secret crush from back in their high school days.Their attraction is immediate, but so many obstacles stand in the way. Luke and his family still grapple with the shock of the accident that killed his wife. Rachel carries baggage from her own failed marriage. Worst of all, Luke’s children hide a secret that is tearing them apart and may destroy any chance Luke and Rachel have of building a future together.Don’t miss Healing Touch, book one of a sexy new contemporary series from author Laura Browning.

Avalanche


Cambria Hebert - 2018
     Through a bullet hole in a wall, I watch a man bleed to death. Those responsible think their crime died with the victim, until I identify them. What’s a girl to do when she’s being hunted by murderers witness protection can’t even stop? Run. My only refuge is a place I vowed to never go again. When it’s do or die, an eight-year-old heartache suddenly seems trivial. Besides, he won’t be there anyway. But he is. Turns out my old pain feels brand new the second his eyes meet mine. I can’t leave. I can’t stay. This snowy town that’s supposed to be my shelter suddenly exposes me more than before. With no one else to lean on, Liam becomes my lifeline. Now we’re both running for our lives, trying not to get swept away.

Losing Faith


Jeremy Asher - 2013
    After climbing the music charts and making his dreams come true, his life took a turn that he’d never expected, causing him to lose it all. But Seth is determined to do whatever it takes to get it all back, even if that includes doing the one thing he swore he’d never do.After turning his back on his career, music, and the life he had worked so hard to build, Seth embarks on a journey to make things right and get his life back.Along the way, Seth encounters a storm that threatens his chances at getting back the one thing that could fix his broken life: his daughter, Faith. Forced to travel with strangers, Seth discovers that his success and failure are not just at the hands of fate, but that they also rest within his traveling companions.This is a story about how far a man will go when he has nothing to lose and only one chance at getting it all back to honor a promise he made to his little girl. The road to picking up the pieces of his broken life places him face-to-face with his demons, leading him to realize that nothing is worse than Losing Faith.

The Lies that Save Us


J.L. Redington - 2013
    She purchased a diner in the quiet out of the way town of Startup, Washington and hired employees to help run it. She’s just beginning to feel secure in her loneliness. <br>Suddenly her world is jolted awake by Cayman, a handsome young stranger that enters her diner seemingly from nowhere. Event’s happen quickly, and soon Alexa is deep into secret lives, deception and desire. <br>Will she figure out the riddle of her father’s death? Will she be able to resist the temptation to fall in love with Cayman in spite of her suspicions? Will she live to tell the tale?

Bennett


Seraphina Donavan - 2015
    She takes care of her ailing mother, she manages PR for the family’s distillery, Fire Creek. And every day she quietly resents the fact that he stepped in and kept her from being with the one man she loved… a man who still lives there in their small town of Fontaine, Kentucky and who haunts her every minute of the day, waking or asleep. Bennett Hayes has loved Mia his whole life, and for one brief moment, when they were young and full of hope, it seemed like even the long history of bad blood between their families wasn’t enough to keep them apart. But he’d been wrong. Mia never showed the night they were supposed to run away together and when he confronted her about it, she broke his heart. But fate and circumstance throw them together again and the fire that raged between them at eighteen is even hotter now. The burn is inevitable. But there are forces at play, people on the periphery of their lives whose agenda goes far beyond just keeping them apart… they will stop at nothing to keep their secrets, even if it means murder.

Running on Empty


L.B. Simmons - 2013
     Beautiful and loving husband.Three gorgeous little girls. Successful career. The only thing missing was the white picket fence. I really wanted that fence. Three years ago, I lost that life. I lost my husband. And I lost myself. But, eventually, I found my way through the darkness. I’ve made peace with my new life. I have my girls, and that’s all that matters. They are my world. I have no illusions of ever falling in love again or getting whisked away on a white horse. But then he came back into my life. On a freakin’ motorcycle.There’s no way I’ll let him turn my life completely upside down. Absolutely no way. The question is…How long can I keep pretending that I’m happy with my life being right-side up?

When Love Comes


J.H. Croix - 2014
    Once wild and impulsive, she shut her heart off to love and adventure after her parents died. When she meets Luke Winters, their immediate attraction is overwhelming.Burned once before, Luke has committed himself to nothing but casual dalliances with women. Rugged and smoldering, he finds no shortage of women happy to oblige. When Hannah comes along, he questions what he might be missing. Both fight the depth of their feelings—love is not part of the plan.Hannah’s sense of identity is shaken when she unearths a surprising truth about her family. Meanwhile, Luke’s interfering family and complications from his past challenge Hannah and Luke to face their true feelings for each other. Can two people who don’t believe love is worth the risk find the courage to face their fears and open their hearts?

Mason


S.J. McCoy - 2015
    It seemed they'd found their forever early in life. But somehow it all went wrong. Now — ten years later — Gina's back in town. This time he doesn't intend to let her leave. Mason spent the years he lost with Gina building a business, breeding and training horses, and helping keep his family's ranch going. Gina threw herself into a life in New York City where she has a career as a photographer… and a fiancé. Gina needs to sell the ranch where she grew up and move her dad to New York. When she returns to Paradise Valley to finally close that chapter of her life, the last person she wants to see is the man who broke her heart all those years ago. Mason isn't going to let the only woman he's ever loved walk out of his life forever without explaining what went wrong. He never understood why she left. Now he has one last shot to make her stay. (This book is intended for adult readers aged 18+.) *************************************** Each Remington Ranch Romance can be read as a standalone. No cliffhangers here! Each book contains one couple's story. Book 1: Mason Look out for the other brothers, who will each get their own book: ShaneCarterBeau

Jase


M.J. Fields - 2013
    He can't seem to get the beautifully innocent, blonde college girl out of his head. So what she's the cousin of a friend who does not approve? Jase has never exercised self-control when it came to getting a woman, and he wasn't going to start now.After tricking Carly into “fake dating," it turns out the joke's on him, as Jase falls hard and fast for her. But as painful secrets from his past come to light, Jase will have to man up and bare it all to Carly, even if the ugly truth could tare them apart forever.JASE is book 1 in the bestselling erotica series MEN OF STEEL by MJ Fields.

Nothing Stays In Vegas


Elena Aitken - 2011
    After all, how else could she ignore the fact that her husband is never home, her son barely knows him and the last time she had sex, well, who can remember? With her life crumbling, the last thing she wants to do is go on a trip, especially back to Vegas; a city full of glitz, excess, and Leo, the man she's spent the last six years trying to forget. But when her best friend announces she's getting married, Lexi doesn't have a choice. Besides, it's ridiculous to avoid an entire city because of one guy. Even if he is the father of your child.Face to face with memories of the past and the gorgeous man who started it all, Lexi can no longer deny the truth to anyone, especially Leo. But honesty will come at a price, and Lexi must decide if she's wiling to take that risk. And what exactly will she tell her husband?Because as she now knows, NOTHING STAYS IN VEGAS.

Come Home Again


Nana Malone - 2014
    She prides herself on being able to handle anything. But when she’s asked to fix the new CEO of Synth Games, she never dreams she’ll come face to face with the only man to ever break her heart. The past can't always be fixed... When a friend calls in a long ago favor, reformed hacker, Nate Williams, worries that his shady past will come back to haunt him. As acting CEO of Synth Games, he needs to make the world believe he’s CEO material. Too bad the one person who can help him is the one woman he had to leave behind. Will Nate bury his demons for good or will his past dictate his future? Can Delilah rise to this challenge or will Nate shatter her heart…again.

Georgia on My Mind


Marie Force - 2011
    Stuck running the senior center her mother founded in Newport, RI, until a replacement director is found, Georgie dreams of returning to her glamorous life in Atlanta. As that life begins to unravel, she discovers a whole new one in Newport where the jogger turns out to be sexy detective and tree hugger Nathan Caldwell. Determined to get her mind off her many problems—including a possible threat to her own health—Georgie indulges in what she intends to be a no-holds-barred one-night stand with Nathan. Unfortunately, Nathan has other ideas and sets out to have a relationship with her.Tess, on the run from an abusive husband, and Cat, who raised her younger brother and sister, hook up with Nathan's brothers, Ben, an injured Iraqi war veteran, and Ian, a single-father and talented musician. Add a zany cast of seniors who seem determined to drive Georgie slowly mad with their never-ending needs and comparisons to her sainted mother, and you've got the ingredients for a fast-paced, often comical, emotional journey that leads Georgie straight to the home of her heart.Three romances for the price of one!

Pink Slips and Glass Slippers


J.P. Hansen - 2012
    Her widowed father did his best to raise his baby girl to be a strong-minded business woman. Then she found Tanner. Just when her world seemed perfect, everything turned upside down.Following Tanner’s tragic death, Brooke joins a start-up company that is developing a cure for the disease that killed the love of her life. Just before the treatment is ready to market, the company is gobbled up by a giant conglomerate. She moves to the acquiring company as its youngest VP and becomes enamored with CEO Chase Allman—only to be betrayed by him.Brooke rebounds again and sets out on a personal journey to discover what will truly make her happy. Sparks fly when she and Chase cross paths again in an unlikely way. Now, they need each other to find an abducted child and save thousands of people.

Charmed by the Bartender


Piper Rayne - 2017
    Probably not in retrospect. In my defense I had just moved back into my grandparent’s house, I’d lost my dream job, and a guy on Tinder had stood me up. It was like life had suddenly stamped ‘LOSER’ on my forehead. So when the guy behind the bar started giving me THE look…you know, the one that promised I’d be screaming his name into the wee hours of the morning? When that guy also has the perfect amount of scruff on his chiseled chin, biceps bulging out of his t-shirt, and a cocky grin you knew he’d earned in the sack…when he gives you that look, you don’t bother to figure out what your six degrees of separation are. You jump on that horse and ride it! Pun fully and completely intended. And accurate by the way. I fully admit to feeling sorry for myself and acting impulsively, but by the time I’d figured out WHO the bartender was, I was already falling for him.