Book picks similar to
Inspire by Heather Buchine


new-adult
mature-young-adult
romance
contemporary

First Comes Love (Love & Marriage, #1)


Emily Goodwin - 2016
    Then comes marriage. Then comes a—Hold up. You’re joking right? As if life works off a neat little list like that, moving down, checking things off before jumping to the next task. We’re not married. We’re not lovers. Hell, we’re hardly even friends. Noah Wilson isn’t exactly “life partner” material, and he sure as hell isn’t “father material”. He’s my older brother’s best friend, and has been off limits, sworn off, locked in the highest tower and out of reach since we met over ten years ago. With his devilish good looks, tattoos, motorcycle, and trail of broken hearts and tears, I’ve had good reason to stay away from the bad boy my mother warned me about.Until one night. One stupid, regrettable night that changed both of our lives forever. And now I only have nine months to decide our fate, to see if Noah’s rebel heart is capable of anything more than a one night stand.This isn’t a love story. This is a life story. And life doesn’t go according to plan.

I'll Be Here


Autumn Doughton - 2012
    Willow and Dustin have lots of plans. Plans for college, prom, tonight actually. So, when the unthinkable happens, and Dustin breaks up with Willow over a plate of cheese fries at a steak house, she is left stunned and heartbroken. With less than two months until graduation, Willow has to start a new life from scratch. She'll have to revisit old wrongs along the way and make the most important decision of all: who does she want to be? She’s going to have help from her wacky ex-best friend, her bohemian mother, and an old flame that is suddenly and somewhat inconveniently back in her life.

Kian


Tijan - 2015
    Mysterious. Gorgeous. Loved by all the girls. Respected by all the guys. ...that was Kian Maston. As the heir to a billion dollar empire, his future was promising until the day he saved my life. Everything changed for both of us, and there was one more word that could be used to describe him—dangerous. The nation fell in love with him while falling in hate with me. He was sent to prison, and as far as they were concerned, it was my fault. I was forced to go into hiding until today. Kian's being released from prison, and he should go back to being the golden boy he always was supposed to be. I should remain in hiding, living my life as normal as could be. That's what we should do...

Catching Liam


Gennifer Albin - 2013
    Boy-catching isn't just a game for Jillian and her friends, it's a lifestyle. After all, boys might be good for a dance or a drink and certainly a little under-cover action of the scandalous variety, but expect much else and you're bound for heart ache.So when her best friends and fellow boy catchers start dropping like flies junior year, Jillian is determined to keep boys in her bedroom and out of her heart. Until she meets Liam McAvoy, the kind of guy that sticks around to make waffles and who can't—or perhaps won't—take a hint. Study abroad student Liam doesn't want to be another notch on Jillian's bedpost. Actually he has much more interesting ideas for Jillian and her bedposts, but his student visa's set expiration date means he can't promise her forever. That doesn't mean he's going to walk away from the challenge of discovering why Jillian is hell-bent at keeping people at a distance. Before long, neither is sure who is catching who—or if they're playing for keeps. Jillian knows one thing though: falling in love will not only break the only rule of boy-catching, it could also break her heart.

Twisted


Amity Hope - 2012
    For the past six years she’s constantly been on the move with her mom. When another disaster strikes, she finds herself back in her childhood hometown of Beaumont, living with her older sister for her senior year.A chance meeting reacquaints her with Ben McCaffey, a long-forgotten classmate from her past. After the death of his girlfriend, Ben has become a social outcast. He’s despised by some and feared by most. Determined to become Ben’s friend, Maya begins to break through his layers of emotional protection. It isn’t long before they realize that they both have secrets in their pasts. As the line between dealing with grief and struggling with a desire for revenge begins to fade, the secrets that draw them together may be what will ultimately tear them apart. Because the closer Maya gets to Ben, the more dangerous her situation becomes.

Make Me


Amanda Heath - 2013
    Make me fall. Push me, shove me, just make sure I get there.” I shout at him, taking a step back. His eyes clash with mine. I read the challenge there, making me take another step back.He stalks the few steps to me and grabs my arms slamming his forehead down on mine, “I’ll make you.” His lips skim against mine as he continues to speak, “And I’ll be falling right there with you.”Paisley Vaughn grew up on the wrong side of the tracks. After finding her mother dead from an overdose, Paisley and her baby sister are shipped off to live with her maternal grandparents. She always knew they were rich, she just didn’t realize how rich they were. Now she’s being forced to go to a prestigious high school. One where the tuition is more money then she’s ever seen. Thinking these rich kids are going to be snobbish and rude, she’s surprised to find the Vaughn name means she is untouchable. Well unless your name is Channing Southerland. Paisley has to navigate her new life and all the new people in it. While her mother might have lied about her grandparents, no one is lying about Channing. He’s beautiful, mean, arrogant, and turning her on. Before long a war is fought, leaving Paisley wondering if she’ll be ruined or made. Though she might just fall irrevocably in love.

Without Merit


Colleen Hoover - 2017
    Sometimes the only thing it deserves is forgiveness.The Voss family is anything but normal. They live in a repurposed church, newly baptized Dollar Voss. The once cancer-stricken mother lives in the basement, the father is married to the mother’s former nurse, the little half-brother isn’t allowed to do or eat anything fun, and the eldest siblings are irritatingly perfect. Then, there’s Merit.Merit Voss collects trophies she hasn’t earned and secrets her family forces her to keep. While browsing the local antiques shop for her next trophy, she finds Sagan. His wit and unapologetic idealism disarm and spark renewed life into her—until she discovers that he’s completely unavailable. Merit retreats deeper into herself, watching her family from the sidelines when she learns a secret that no trophy in the world can fix.Fed up with the lies, Merit decides to shatter the happy family illusion that she’s never been a part of before leaving them behind for good. When her escape plan fails, Merit is forced to deal with the staggering consequences of telling the truth and losing the one boy she loves.

A Different Blue


Amy Harmon - 2013
    She doesn't know her real name or when she was born. Abandoned at two and raised by a drifter, she didn't attend school until she was ten years old. At nineteen, when most kids her age are attending college or moving on with life, she is just a senior in high school. With no mother, no father, no faith, and no future, Blue Echohawk is a difficult student, to say the least. Tough, hard and overtly sexy, she is the complete opposite of the young British teacher who decides he is up for the challenge, and takes the troublemaker under his wing. This is the story of a nobody who becomes somebody. It is the story of an unlikely friendship, where hope fosters healing and redemption becomes love. But falling in love can be hard when you don't know who you are. Falling in love with someone who knows exactly who they are and exactly why they can't love you back might be impossible.

Something in the Way


Jessica Hawkins - 2017
    Under the sweat and dirt, Manning Sutter was as handsome as the sun was bright. He was older, darker, experienced. I wore a smiley-face t-shirt and had never even been kissed. Yet we saw something in each other that would link us in ways that couldn’t be broken...no matter how hard we tried.I loved Manning before I knew the meaning of the word. I was too young, he said. I would wait. Through all the carefully-chosen words hiding what we knew to be true, through his struggle to keep me innocent, and through infinitely-starry nights—I would wait. But I’d learn that life isn’t always fair. That no matter how much you achieve, none of it matters if you suffer the heartbreak that comes with falling for someone you can never have. Because even though I saw Manning first, that didn’t matter. My older sister saw him next.

Cruel Boy


Clarissa Wild - 2019
    Rich boys sin best.Gossip always goes around at Falcon Elite Prep.Everyone knows Nate Wilson, the most popular football quarterback and every girl’s crush.But there’s more behind those drop-dead gorgeous eyes and that killer smile …He’s a notorious heartbreaker …And he’s got his eyes set on me.The twisted games he plays are cruel and dangerous.He teases and tempts me … just to ruin me.Because I know the one thing he doesn’t want anyone to know.A big, dirty secret …And there’s nothing bad boys won’t do to keep a secret buried.

Isn't She Lovely


Lauren Layne - 2013
    Lauren Layne puts a New Adult spin on Pygmalion, also the inspiration for Pretty Woman, and gives the classic love story its edgiest twist yet."Who knew that pretending you're not falling for someone would be so much more difficult than pretending that you are?"Stephanie Kendrick gave up her whole summer to ace her NYU film school screenwriting course, so she's pissed to be stuck with a preppy, spoiled frat boy as her writing partner. Then again, with her piercings, black-rimmed eyes, and Goth wardrobe, Stephanie isn't exactly Ethan Price's type, either. He's probably got his eye on some leggy blonde with a trust fund... or does he?As the summer scene kicks off in the Hamptons, Ethan is desperate to make his snobbish mother forget the pedigreed girl who broke his heart. While Stephanie's a stretch as a decoy, the right makeover and a pastel cardigan just might do the trick. She may not love the idea of playing Ethan's brainless Barbie girlfriend, but the free rent and luxurious digs make a tempting offer. So does the promise of a ready-made screenplay idea inspired by their charade.But when Stephanie steps into Ethan's privileged world, the "acting" begins to feel all too real. The kissing and touching that were intended to fool the Hamptons crowd wind up manipulating "them." And Stephanie faces a question she's too afraid to ask: Is Ethan falling for the real her or for the dolled-up princess he wants to see?

The Bride


S. Doyle - 2017
    I’m sixteen and I’m getting married. Super weird, I know.My dad is a cattle rancher in Montana. Or he was, until he died suddenly, leaving me an orphan (which is still a thing). I’m sixteen months away from being a legal adult, so I have two choices.Foster home, or married. To Jake Talley. The foreman of the ranch and my best friend.It’s legal. It solves all my problems. Except now I’m living with Riverbend’s hottest cowboy - my husband (in name only of course) - and I’m still in high school. Trust me, no one wants to date Weird Married Ellie.But it’s cool. All we have to do is wait it out until I'm eighteen and we'll get a divorce. Then Jake and I will go back to being normal. We’ve got this.Right?JakeI’m twenty-six, and I never saw this coming. Married. To a kid I’ve known her whole life. But there was no way in hell I was going to let her live at a foster home, instead of at the ranch where she belongs.Sure we’re married but it’s not real. Just a piece of paper. My girlfriend is furious but I know I’m doing the right thing - for Ellie. For sixteen months, it’s me and her against the world - until the divorce. No big deal.Or is it?

Learn to Fly


Heidi Hutchinson - 2013
    Welcome to life after the cliché."Book #1 of the Double Blind Study series.A fallen from grace athlete runs away with rock stars.The plan was simple: get a job, get out of town, don't get attached.Lenny Evans felt like her life was suffocating her. She would do just about anything to change that, which is how she ended up taking a job that landed her on tour with the biggest rock band in the world.But Lenny has never met anyone like the members of Double Blind Study and they easily adopt her into their makeshift family. Now, Lenny finds herself caring far too deeply for these tattooed misfits, daily bringing them closer and closer to revealing Lenny's true past and everything she's running from.Sometimes crashing headlong into the unknown isn't the worst thing.PG16: contains foul-mouthed rock stars, light heat, irritating exes, loud music, an overworked tour manager and random shenanigans.

The Studying Hours


Sara Ney - 2016
    ARROGANT. A**HOLE. No doubt about it, Sebastian ‘Oz’ Osborne is the university’s most celebrated student athlete—and possibly the biggest douchebag. A walking, talking cliché, he has a filthy mouth, a fantastic body, and doesn’t give a sh*t about what you or anyone else thinks. SMART. CLASSY. CONSERVATIVE. Make no mistake, Jameson Clarke may be the university’s most diligent student—but she is no prude. Spending most of her time in the hallowed halls of the library, James is wary of pervs, jocks, and douchebags—and Oz Osborne is all three. She’s smart, sarcastic—and not what he expected. …EVERY DOUCHBAG HAS HIS WEAKNESS. He wants to be friends. He wants to spend time with her. He wants to drive her crazy. He wants… Her.

October Breezes


Maria Rachel Hooley - 2009
    And now Warren Jacobs tries to sweep her Mom off her feet. But Warren's not the only concern rocking Skye's world. Devin Abbott, a guy she's known since kindergarten, has changed. He's become a tall, broad-shouldered guy she might date-if he wasn't her best friend. Skye swears there's nothing between them, but everyone else thinks differently. Devin doesn't act the way he used to, especially when Kellin Morgan, senior quarterback, asks Skye out. Flattered, she accepts, and, Devin sulls up-and he isn't the only one. Kellin's best friend, Tyler Rutherford, gets bent out of shape, too, as he's always wanted Skye for himself. When Kellin and Skye attend one of Tyler's famous parties, neither senses the impending disaster that will change not only her life but also that of everyone who loves her.