Book picks similar to
Brief Encounters by Scarlett Hopper
sports
romance
new-adult
contemporary
Self Destruct
K.D. Carrillo - 2013
But one unexpected encounter at a lake house would stir up every dark emotion she worked so hard to forget. There wasn’t anyone Aiden Ryan hated more than himself… Plagued with a life filled with manipulation and regret, he will try anything to ignore the guilt that eats him alive, even if it means more pain for him in the long run. It’s not until he meets Becca that things start to change. There’s only one problem—he’s stuck in a relationship he can’t get out of with a woman he doesn’t care about. Love is complicated, but when two people have demons they refuse to face, love could destroy them. Together, Becca and Aiden try and let go of their painful pasts to be together. But will their pasts let go of them?
Billionaire Cowboy's Runaway Bride
Hope Moore - 2020
He’s a confirmed bachelor, she’s a runaway bride who needs his help.After confirmed bachelor, Cole Tanner catches the garter at his friend’s wedding he finds a dazed and confused runaway bride limping along the back roads of his hometown of True Love, Texas and stops to help.Tulip Jones obviously can’t say no to public marriage proposals—this is her second time to be a runaway bride! She needs help in more ways than one—can Cole teach her how to become a confirmed bachelorette and learn to say no?They’re a perfect match until love gets in the way!The billionaire bachelors of True Love, Texas are about to meet their matches...
Someday Girl
Melanie Shawn - 2014
Going away to college meant a fresh and new start for the girl who lived locked away in a prison of insecurities. She was ready to experience new things and meet new people. But she wasn’t ready for him…Jace Butler had experienced things that no person should have to. Trying to come to terms with his past and live in the present was a constant struggle for the man whose demons lie dormant beneath the skin of his rippling body and sexy smile. But when she walked into his life, the chance for a better life came with her…After finding each other, Cat and Jace also find that both past and present issues are trying to ruin their chance for a better future. Issues that will have to be dealt with for once and for all…together or apart.
Love and Skate
Lila Felix - 2012
But Nellie’s been hurt, only once, but it was enough to make her look at life through different eyes and off the rink she’s a timid girl who loves with no pretenses. A long time ago Owen Black was betrayed by the girl he thought he loved and the guy he called his best friend. The anguish set off a domino effect of negativity in his life and he never has fully recovered. He meets Nellie Forrester and thinks he can let it go for her. But how can you love someone when the wounds from your past are still wide open?
Rock & Regrets
Cassandra Lawson - 2018
I was a fool! Austin was no Prince Charming. Rather than sweeping me off my feet, he broke my heart.That was fourteen years ago, and I am completely over Austin. He is in my past, and that’s where he’s going to stay. At least, that’s what I thought until he moved back to the San Francisco Bay Area. Now, he’s determined to win me over. It won’t work. I will not think about how good Austin looks playing the drums shirtless, or what an incredible kisser he is. All right, I might think about those things a little, but I’m definitely not going to fall for him again.AustinI’ve never been the guy who rides off into the sunset with the girl and makes all her dreams come true. I’ve always been the rebound guy, the one who helps rebuild a woman’s confidence after a breakup. It hasn’t been a bad gig. I got all the benefits with none of the drama. It was all I wanted until Piper walked back into my life.She’s not ready to forgive me, and I don’t deserve a second chance. I should just leave her alone, but after seeing her smile, I can’t do that. I’m done being the rebound guy. Piper doesn’t know it yet, but I’m going to do everything in my power to make her love me again. This time, I’m not letting her go.
Repercussions
B.L. Olson - 2019
I think somewhere along the way it just became who I was and I gracefully accepted the role… I feel so utterly stuck. Unwanted by anyone I could ever see myself with and alone despite having two “roommates” who constantly hover and meddle in my life. There are definitely repercussions for not pushing myself to be who I want to be. When I met my new next door neighbor Wyatt, I didn’t think he would be the one to constantly challenge me. Tear me open and put me back together again in an entirely different way. The one who is dealing with his own repercussions as well...
Little Lies
H. Hunting - 2020
You mean nothing to me. I never loved you. I turned my words into swords.And I cut her down. Shoved the blade in and watched her fall. I said I’d never hurt her, and I did. Years later, I’m faced with all the little lies, the untruths, the false realities, the damage I inflicted, when all I wanted was to indulge my obsession. Lavender Waters is the princess in the tower. Even her name is the thing fairy tales are made of. I used to be the one who saved her. Over and over again. But I don’t want to save her anymore. I just want to pretend the lies are still the truth.A standalone angsty new adult romance. Heroine: Lavender Waters (Alex and Violet Waters’ youngest daughter, PUCKED and FOREVER PUCKED couple origin, Pucked Series )Hero: Kodiak (Kody) Bowman (Rook and Lainey Bowman’s son, A LIE FOR A LIE couple origin, All In Series )
Gloves Dropped
Camellia Tate - 2020
I’m not giving her a chance to do it a second time.I’ve made mistakes.Mistakes that I’ve learned from.I’ve come a long way to make it as captain of the Salt Lake Pumas.So of course, that’s when she comes back.The girl who ruined my life twelve years ago.But not again.I’m a changed man. I’ve worked hard for this.My head knows I need to ignore the woman El has become.My body’s much more easily swayed.The fire in her eyes burns through my cool-headed defenses.No one told me that giving in to the sparks between us might make me change all over again.
Enraptured
Alannah Carbonneau - 2013
Loving her has never come with choice – it consumed and burned and before I knew it I was hers. DaceA man is defined by the secrets he keeps and the demons he carries. I never knew I longed for light until the rays burned me. Now, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do to hold tightly to the light I’ve captured. She’s a good girl and she’s come from a good world. We’re as opposite as opposite can be, but she’s the other side of my coin – the day to my night. She’s the truth to my secrets and the redemption to my sins. Her heart is my salvation and her body is my obsession. But loving her comes with a risk I’m not sure I can take. Ella He’s become my safe place when everything I knew disintegrated around me. In his arms, I find solace and safety and laughter in a time where I’m suffocated by pain. He came into my world without any warning, conquering and claiming. They tell me he’s dark and dangerous. I’ve been warned and I know I should stay away, but I can’t seem to help myself. He’s a craving I can’t deny when the world keeps tossing us together. I know there are things I don’t know, but every layer I uncover reveals a man my soul seems to recognize. He’s chiseling away my heart, but I’m unsure if he’s invading the fractured pieces, or stealing them. Either way, I don’t think I have the strength to deny him. Even if I did, I don’t know if I would. Is it really up to me to decide if love prevails over darkness? Or, are some plans fated long before we come to be? I’m beginning to believe I was fated for him – crafted entirely to enrapture all that he is.
Picture Perfect
Alessandra Thomas - 2013
After two years of runway modeling for easy cash, an accident shattered her lower leg bone and her self-esteem in just one swift fall. Ten months of no exercise, prescription steroids, comfort eating and yoga pants meant returning to campus as a size twelve instead of her former size two. When her gorgeous long-time friend with benefits sees her for the first time after her accident and snubs her in front of all her friends, Cat’s self-image hits rock bottom. Her sorority sisters all insist that she looks gorgeous, but all Cat sees is the roll of her stomach when she sits down, or the dimpling at the back of her thighs that wasn't there last year. Cat’s therapist prescribes something radical to stop the downward spiral - nude modeling for a nearby college's human form drawing classes. When Cat faces her fears and bares it all for the class, she realizes that she's posing naked in front the most gorgeous, buffest guy she's ever seen in her life. He asks her out after the class, and after one steamy night together, Cat's absolutely smitten.Nate’s pretty close to perfect – he takes Cat rock climbing when he discovers that it makes her feel strong and becomes a great chef after he learns that the perfect pesto sauce makes her swoon. Cat starts to feel like her old self again - confident and beautiful - as long as Nate's around. Even when he discourages her from entering the Real Woman Project, a design competition for plus-sized apparel, she reasons that he's just trying to prevent old body image wounds from splitting wide open again.But when Cat goes home with Nate for Thanksgiving, she discovers something shocking from his recent past that proves that he hasn’t always been so encouraging of women of all shapes and sizes. Cat has no idea what to think, but she does know one thing - this might destroy their relationship before it's even had a chance to get off the ground. Before Cat can figure out whether the real Nate is the sensitive, adoring guy she fell in love with, or an undercover asshole, she'll have to finally feel comfortable in her own skin - even if it means leaving him forever.(This book contains sex and adult language.)
Three Days
Michael Wojciechowski - 2019
When she does, her nosy seatmate, Paul, asks if she liked it. She claims it’s average at best and argues that McCarthy has lost his edge. Unbeknownst to her, her seatmate is Kurt McCarthy. Kurt McCarthy is Paul’s penname—a secret Paul doesn’t reveal.Paul’s headed to Chicago for his first public reading—a sold out performance in which Kadie has a ticket. However, minutes before Paul takes the stage, Kadie calls and asks him to meet her for dinner. Paul abandons the reading and his 1500 fans.Over the next three days, they fall in love. Paul never reveals he’s Kurt McCarthy, and he flies home promising Kadie he’ll return in two weeks. Unfortunately, an unexpected development unfolds, preventing him from returning. Can they reunite, or will the prospect of what might have been haunt them forever?
Game Changer
Charissa Stastny - 2017
Meridee Mansford wants nothing to do with the popular crowd. She’s comfortable being invisible. But that doesn’t stop her from dreaming about the hunky football player who visits the campus ice cream shop where she works. Still, she’s smart enough to know he’d never notice a girl like her, and she’d never want him even if he did. Too much unwelcome attention. Parker Harrington basks in the glory that’s been his since the game-changing passes he caught pre-season that pushed his team into the national spotlight. Sticky Fingers is his media moniker now, and the cheerleaders who used to ignore him when he sat the bench have become his most devoted fans. But when he accidentally crashes into a quiet coed and covers her in orange chicken, it throws off his offensive game and makes him question why he is drawn to a princess when he already has the queen. As fate, ice cream, and orange chicken throw the opposites together, they will discover that skin deep magnificence can't compare to true beauty deep within a soul. Will Parker continue keeping company with women he knows are only using him for his fame, or will he change up the game and risk his heart on a genuine girl who despises the attention he craves? *** In this new set of stand-alone stories—the Ruled Out Romances—star-crossed lovers meet, but rule each other out as dating options. But life, with its quirky twists and tangled turns, brings each of the unlikely duos back together again until they discover their unique happily-ever-afters.
Resisting Him
Leslie Johnson - 2018
I've moved on with my life and I can't wait to return home for good. The home where seven-years earlier I met my best friend and former lover Marcus Johnson. How was I to know our parents had other plans? Even with a new boyfriend, and all the time apart, there is always one lingering thought. Marcus. Why? The more I try to forget him, the stronger my desire becomes. We had to breakup, but did we want to? Now my life will be even more complicated with Marcus so near. Don’t miss the scorching hot Resisting Him a stand-alone novel by Leslie Johnson.
The Trouble with Flying
Rochelle Morgan - 2014
Aiden won’t shut up. When they find themselves next to each other on a plane, unexpected sparks begin to fly …- - -Sarah doesn’t talk to strangers. It’s awkward, stressful, and there’s the uncontrollable blushing to worry about. When she boards a plane to fly home after an overseas holiday, she plans to stick her nose in a book and ignore everyone around her.Aiden’s terrified of flying, and it’s his first time on a plane. If he can distract himself by talking non-stop for the entire flight, he will. Too bad for Sarah he’s sitting right next to her.Against all Sarah’s expectations, she ends up enjoying Aiden’s company. They laugh, argue, concoct stories about other passengers, and accidentally hold hands during the turbulence. When the time comes to say goodbye, Sarah can’t help the crazy thought that she shouldn’t let Aiden go. Then he kisses her.And then he’s gone.With her world turning upside down in more ways than one, Sarah has to make a decision: stick with the safe, predictable life that’s been mapped out for her, or find the courage to go after what she truly wants.- - -Nominated as an InD’tale RONE Award Finalist in 2015, The Trouble with Flying is a sweet, clean contemporary romance that can be read as a standalone novel.