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The One I'm With by Jamie Bennett


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Impact


Haley Jenner - 2019
    Before. š˜ˆš˜§š˜µš˜¦š˜³. You donā€™t need to know too much of my life before. Itā€™s no longer relevant to my story. The damage is mine. Iā€™m a ghost. The shell of the girl from š˜£š˜¦š˜§š˜°š˜³š˜¦ striving to survive in the š˜¢š˜§š˜µš˜¦š˜³. Love. Life. Friendship. Iā€™ve pushed it all away in my fight to breathe another day. Who am I? No one. Worse, Iā€™ve lost sight of š˜øš˜©š˜ŗ I continue to endure. Until him. Until he reminds me of the girl of before.

The Cheat Sheet


Sarah AdamsSarah Adams - 2021
    The first step is admitting, right? Except, I can never admit it to him because he clearly doesnā€™t see me that way, and the last thing I want is for things to get weird between us.Nothing but good old-fashioned, no-touching-the-sexiest-man-alive, platonic friendship for us! Everything is exactly how I like it! Yes. Good. (Iā€™m not crying, Iā€™m just peeling an onion.)Our friendship is going swimmingly until I accidentally spill my beans to a reporter over too much tequila, and now the world seems to think me and Nathan belong together. Oh, and did I mention we have to date publicly for three weeks until after the Super Bowl because we signed a contract with...oops, forgot I canā€™t tell anyone about that! Bottom line is, now my best friend is smudging all the lines and acting very un-platonic, and Iā€™m just trying to keep my body from bursting into flames every time he touches me.How am I going to make it through three weeks of fake dating Nathan without anything changing between us? Especially when it almost-sort-a-kinda seems like heā€™s fighting for a completely different outcome?Send help.XO Bree

Withering Hope


Layla Hagen - 2015
    Her dress, her fiancĆ© and the locationā€”the idyllic holiday ranch in Brazilā€”are perfect. But all Aimeeā€™s plans come crashing down when the private jet thatā€™s taking her from the U.S. to the ranchā€”where her fiancĆ© awaits herā€”defects mid-flight and the pilot is forced to perform an emergency landing in the heart of the Amazon rainforest. With no way to reach civilisation, being rescued is Aimee and Tristanā€™sā€”the pilotā€”only hope. A slim one that slowly withers away, desperation taking its place. Because death wanders in the jungle under many forms: starvation, diseases. Beasts. As Aimee and Tristan fight to find ways to survive, they grow closer. Together they discover that facing old, inner agonies carved by painful pasts takes just as much courage, if not even more, than facing the rainforest. Despite her devotion to her fiancĆ©, Aimee canā€™t hide her feelings for Tristanā€”the man for whom sheā€™s slowly becoming everything. You can hide many things in the rainforest. But not lies. Or love.Withering Hope is the story of a man who desperately needs forgiveness and the woman who brings him hope. It is a story in which hope births wings and blooms into a love that is as beautiful and intense as it is forbidden.

This Much is True


Katherine Owen - 2013
    A ballerina who lies. A baseball player who believes her. Well, the truth changes everything. Tally Landon just wants to escape her tragic story if just for one night. She doesn't count on meeting Lincoln Presley, Stanford's baseball wonder, but plans to add him to her long list of one-night stands. That's the plan. Lying to him about her age and her name is just a part of her don't-get-emotionally-attached style. She doesn't count on being found out, nor on ever seeing Linc again or falling in love. Lincoln Presley's life is all mapped out. There is only baseball. With the major leagues circling their favorite prospect with a lucrative offer, he cannot afford to mess up. And, he doesn't; until he meets up with the girl he saved from the burning wreckage on the 101 on Valentine's Day months before. By the time he learns her real name and of all the lies she's told, he's in far too deep to ever really let her go. When fame and lies tear them apart, one truth remains; and fate, most definitely, has a different set of plans. This much is true.Author's Note: A coming of age story? Could be. A powerful love story? Most definitely. An unforgettable read? Most likely. Intended for mature audiences, ages 17+? Absolutely. This best selling new adult contemporary romance novel will take you on an emotional roller coaster ride and is the first book (which should really be two books) in the Truth In Lies series, but it can be read as a standalone. It is 432 pages long in 12-point type so carve out some time.

On Her Six


Christina Elle - 2016
    Especially ones as suspicious and brooding as the guy who just moved in next door. So when the dangerous but sexy stranger seems to be involved in something illegal ā€” the aspiring cop in her takes action. If only she could stop thinking about how he looks naked...All DEA agent Ash Cooper wants to do is lay low and survive this crap surveillance assignment. But after a run-in with his attractive neighbor, he realizes thatā€™s going to be much harder than he planned. Keeping the woman out of trouble is hard enough, but keeping his hands off her is near impossible.

Chasing Sunshine


Hannah Gray
    Get drafted into the NFL and escape the shadow of his spiteful father. Eyes forward, no distractions. That is, until Cameran Steele crashes into his life, and suddenly, all of those self-made rules get thrown out the window after one look into her sad blue eyes. He knows sheā€™s running from something, and he wants to be her escape. But what happens when the one who might be his exception pushes him away?Cameran Steele has experienced her fair share of tragedy and heartache. When she lost her parents at the age of seventeen, she thought it couldnā€™t get much worse. Boy, was she wrong. After escaping her own personal hell four years later, she finds herself at New England University, eager for a fresh start. Her eyes are on the prizeā€”graduation and a better life for herself. Nothing can get in her way. But when a cocky and persistent football player sets his eyes on her, she struggles not to give in. She knows heā€™s the one without a doubt in her mind. But sometimes, even the right one comes along at the wrong time.

Slow Heat in Heaven


Sandra Brown - 1988
    Now a crisis has brought her home to a family in conflict, a logging empire on the brink of disaster, and seething secrets that make Heaven hotter than hell. Everyone in Heaven has a secret: Schyler's beautiful younger sister, Tricia, with her cruel lies; Ken, Tricia's handsome husband, who married the wrong sister; Jigger, the pimp and ruffian with plans of his own; and Cash, a proud, mysterious, and complex bad boy with a wild reputation. It is dangerous for Schyler to even be near him, yet she must dare to confront the past -- if there is to be any peace in Heaven.

Beautifully Damaged


Gina Sevani - 2015
    Living with the all-consuming darkness of her tragic past, sheā€™s always kept everyone and everything at a distance. And love? Impossible!Not if she wanted her past to stay in the past or her dark secrets to remain secrets. The future was never even a real possibility, but between Damonā€™s lyrical voice and devastating good looks, sheā€™s finding it hard to stay away. Their white hot chemistry has her re-thinking everything. For the first time since sheā€™s lost her family, Ariel dreams of a life she knows sheā€™ll never deserve.Heā€™s determined to win her heart, body, and soul.But can she trust him?Trust his promise to save her from herself?Or will his attention be the final catalyst that breaks her forever?

The Not-Outcast


Tijan - 2020
    I was an outcast.He was best friends with my stepbrother, that same stepbrother who hated me.His two parents loved him. My mom was a junkie. My dad barely knew me.Years passed.I got my life together.Cut went onto NHL stardom.Then there was a text.I was drinking.There was a party.Cut was there...I loved Cutler Ryder since the first moment I saw him.The only problem? He never knew I existed.

Once Upon a Rose


Laura Florand - 2015
    That old, half-forgotten heritage in a valley of roses seems like a good place to soothe a wounded heart. She certainly doesnā€™t expect the most dangerous threat to her heart to pounce on her as soon as she sets foot on the land.He wants them back.Matt didnā€™t mean to growl at her quite that loudly. Butā€”his roses! She canā€™t have his roses. Even if she does have all those curls and green eyes and, and, andā€¦what was he growling about again?Or maybe he just wants her.When an enemy invades his valley and threatens his home, heart, and livelihood, Matthieu Rosier really knows only one way to defend himself.It might involve kissing.

The Last Guy


Ilsa Madden-Mills - 2017
     But one look at Cade Hill, the sexy new sports director, and uptight reporter Rebecca Fieldstone is daydreaming about other things. Sex in his officeā€¦ Sex in the on-set kitchenā€¦ Sex in the supply closetā€¦ She canā€™t stop thinking about the former NFL quarterback and how perfect heā€™d look between her sheetsā€”except heā€™s an arrogant jerk with a hugeā€¦ ego. Heā€™s the last guy sheā€™d ever have a one-night stand with. Cade Hill draws a thick professional line on office romanceā€”until it comes to the hyper-focused Rebecca. He wants her, and he gets his wish when a chance encounter has them having the hottest sex of their lives. Itā€™s just a hook-up, she says. When can we do it again? he says. With Rebecca determined to keep Cade in the friend zone, itā€™s going to be an uphill battle for Cade to convince her heā€™s the last guy sheā€™ll ever want. THE LAST GUY is the first white-hot CONTEMPORARY ROMANTIC COMEDY from Wall Street Journal bestselling author Ilsa Madden-Mills and Tia Louise. It features Fireball-fueled hookups, Doritos Locos Tacos, attack monkeys, toddlers in tiaras, and one fabulous drag queen. Prepare for frantic clicking (or page flipping!) and smoking-hot sexytimes all the way to the out-of-this-world happily-ever-after.

Devious Minds


K.F. Germaine - 2015
    Landing a job on campus as an irreverent radio personality, she uses the anonymity to air all the campus dirty laundryā€”earning the infamous Sunday Lane more than a few enemies. But her true passion is spinning records, even if Drunk Earl is her biggest fan. Sydneyā€™s junior year kicks off with the promise to be amazing. Or at least it does until Gray Peters, hotshot quarterback, unexpectedly reenters the scene. His presence threatens to destroy everything she has going, as well as resurrecting a night Sydney never wants to remember or repeat. Sheā€™d run away like a coward, but this time she's determined to stay and fight. A twisted battle of wit and trickery ensues, with one common goalā€”vengeance. Sydney and Gray set out to make each other miserable. But misery loves company, and soon, walls are destroyed and truths are revealed that could change their future forever. *** Contains mature situations and language ***

It's Not PMS, It's You


Rich Amooi - 2019
    That includes men, relationships, and that dreaded F word, FEELINGSā€”distractions she eliminated long ago. After the worst day ever (a near-death experience and a public wedgie, for starters), Ruth realizes she doesnā€™t want to live and die alone. She puts together a business plan to find the perfect man and dives head first into the murky online dating pool. All she wants is a high-powered executive who understands how important her career is. If only it were that easy. Problem is most men are intimidated by Ruthā€™s confidence and shocked by her bluntness. The exception being her landscape designer, Nick, whose cool demeanor and unsolicited dating advice are driving her nuts. Heā€™s the antithesis of the business-oriented man Ruth envisions for herself, so why do all signs keep pointing back to him?

The Good Life


Jodie Beau - 2013
    She doubts she can ever be the person she once was.But when Roxie's charmed life is turned upside down, her best-friend creates The Good Life List to help turn it back around. The instructions are simple: Complete each task on the Good Life List by the end of the summer.With list in hand and the help of a sexy and charismatic guy from her past, Roxie is only a few check marks away from living the good life, even if it means getting thrown out of a bar or skinny-dipping in the neighbor's pool at 3am.Coming on April 9!

For the Longest Time


Kendra Leigh Castle - 2014
    Ā  After a perfect storm of events leaves Sam high, dry, and jobless, she has to head home to Harvest Cove to regroup. Growing up, she was the town misfit, and a brief high school romance that resulted in heartbreak made her realize she was never going to fit in. But now with the support of her mother and an unexpected circle of allies, Sam starts to wonder if sheā€™s misjudged the town all these years. Ā  Lifeā€™s been good to Jake Smith. He transitioned from popular jock to town veterinarian without any trouble. But Samā€™s homecoming makes him question his choices. The sharp-tongued beauty was never a good fit for the small community, but heā€™s never forgotten herā€”or how good they were together. While she makes it clear sheā€™s not about to repeat the past, Jakeā€™s determined to convince her to give himā€”and Harvest Coveā€”a second chance.