Book picks similar to
Come Closer by Brenda Rothert
romance
romantic-suspense
suspense
contemporary
Brant’s Return
Mia Sheridan - 2018
When he learns that his estranged father is dying, he must return to his family’s Kentucky horse farm - and to a past he thought he left behind. While facing long-buried truths, he collides with his father’s secretary, Isabelle Farris. Despite his undeniable attraction to the beautiful, independent young woman, he sees secrets in her eyes and believes she has designs on Graystone Hill. Now the one woman he can’t afford to trust is about to become the one he can’t let go.
When August Ends
Penelope Ward - 2019
Things didn’t exactly get off on the right foot with Noah Cavallari. Our first encounter was embarrassing, to say the least.But despite that, I found myself waking up every day with a newfound energy. Nothing exciting ever happened on the lake—not until Noah moved into the small boathouse on our property. He’d booked it for the entire summer…and I was still trying to figure out why.When my mother became ill, I inherited the responsibility of making sure our guests were well taken care of. I should have been in college. Instead, I was living my best life…as a maid.Dark, handsome, and mysterious, everything about Noah screamed forbidden. I knew he was just passing through town for the summer.I knew he was probably too old for me.Yet, I was drawn to him.Not to mention, he tried to save my life when he mistakenly thought I was drowning.I wanted him and made no secret of it.His own attempts to warn me away soon gave way to late-night moonlight chats by the lake. We were slowly easing into a friendship that was gearing up to explode into something I might not recover from. Because he’s leaving at the end of the summer.And I have no idea what I’ll do when August ends.
Weightless
Kandi Steiner - 2016
I remember I wanted to photograph them, the way the red and blue splashed across his cold, emotionless face. But I knew even if my feet could move from the place where they had cemented themselves to the ground and I could run for my camera, I wouldn’t be able to capture that moment. I had trusted him, I had loved him, and even though my body had changed that summer, he’d made sure to help me hold on to who I was inside, regardless of how the exterior altered. But then everything changed. He stole my innocence. He scarred my heart. He took everything I thought I knew about my life and fast-pitched it out the window, shattering the glass that held my world together in the process. I remember the lights. The passionate, desperate, hot strikes of red. The harsh, cruel, icy bolts of blue. They symbolized everything I endured that summer. And everything I would never face again.
Birthday Girl
Penelope Douglas - 2018
He doesn’t use me, hurt me, or forget about me. He listens to me, protects me, and sees me. I can feel his eyes on me over the breakfast table, and my heart pumps so hard when I hear him pull in the driveway after work. I have to stop this. It can’t happen. My sister once told me there are no good men, and if you find one, he’s probably unavailable. Only Pike Lawson isn’t the unavailable one. I am. PIKEI took her in, because I thought I was helping. As the days go by, though, it’s becoming anything but easy. I have to stop my mind from drifting to her and stop holding my breath every time I bump into her in the house. I can’t touch her, and I shouldn’t want to. But we’re not free to give into this. She’s nineteen, and I’m thirty-eight. And her boyfriend’s father. Unfortunately, they both just moved into my house.
Black Rainbow
J.J. McAvoy - 2015
McAvoy… After an erotic one-week fling with a musician she meets in a bar, Thea Cunning never expects to see Levi Black again. Then Monday morning comes around, and she discovers that her former lover is not only her professor, but he’s also one of the top criminal lawyers in the state of Massachusetts. With everyone in class vying to be one of the twelve disciples—a group of twelve students that Professor Black takes under his wing—tensions run high. Thea considers dropping his class, given their passionate week together and their undeniable chemistry. After all, there are other (less infuriatingly sexy) law professors on campus. But to accomplish her goal and get her father out of prison, Thea knows she needs to learn under the best of the best—and that’s Levi Black. But can she learn under the best, without being under the best?
Waterfall Effect
K.K. Allen - 2018
Allen comes a new and suspenseful small town mountain romance.Lost in the shadows of a tragedy that stripped Aurora June of everything she once loved, she’s back in the small town of Balsam Grove, North Carolina, ready to face all she’s kept locked away for seven years. Or so she thinks.As one of the victims of a string of mysterious disappearances in the small, picturesque Appalachian Mountain town, darkness has become her home—her safe blanket when the world reveals its true colors. But as the walls of darkness start to move in on her, she knows the only way to free herself from her past is to face it, head-on. She just needs to figure out how.Upon arrival, Aurora isn’t expecting her first collision to be with the boy she left all those years ago. The boy who betrayed her trust with no regrets. The boy who is no longer a boy, but a man with the same stormy eyes that swept her into his current before she ever learned to swim.She’d thought he was safe. He’d thought their path was mapped out. Turns out neither of them was ready for the crash at the bottom of the cascade.
Medicine Man
Saffron A. Kent - 2018
But this is no ordinary castle. It’s called Heartstone Psychiatric hospital and it houses forty other patients. It has nurses with mean faces and techs with permanent frowns.It has a man, as well. A man who is cold and distant. Whose voice drips with authority. And whose piercing gray eyes hide secrets, and maybe linger on her face a second too long. Willow isn’t supposed to look deep into those eyes. She isn’t supposed to try to read his tightly leashed emotions. And neither is she supposed to touch herself at night, imagining his powerful voice and that cold but beautiful face.No, Willow Taylor shouldn’t be attracted to Simon Blackwood, at all. Because she’s a patient and he’s her doctor. Her psychiatrist. The medicine man. WARNING: This book discusses sensitive issues including but not limited to, depression and suicide.
All the Little Lights
Jamie McGuire - 2018
Both Elliott and Catherine feel like outcasts, yet they find an easy friendship with each other. But when Catherine needs him most, Elliott is forced to leave town.Elliott finally returns, but he and Catherine are now different people. He’s a star high school athlete, and she spends all her free time working at her mother’s mysterious bed-and-breakfast. Catherine hasn’t forgiven Elliott for abandoning her, but he’s determined to win back her friendship…and her heart.Just when Catherine is ready to fully trust Elliott, he becomes the prime suspect in a local tragedy. Despite the town’s growing suspicions, Catherine clings to her love for Elliott. But a devastating secret that Catherine has buried could destroy whatever chance of happiness they have left.
The Truth About Lies
Aly Martinez - 2018
And I was helpless to save her. Consumed by hate and rage, I spent four years running from my memories. Until a shattered woman gave me a reason to stop. Cora lived in a nightmare, but through sheer force of will, she’d turned it into something beautiful. She had a smile that could pierce the darkest soul. And with one glance, she shredded mine. Lie: I was only there for a fresh start. Lie: I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Lie: There was nothing I could do to save her, either. But that’s the thing about lies—you never know who to believe.
Still Beating
Jennifer Hartmann - 2020
This book contains subject matter that may be sensitive for some readers, including rape, as well as strong language and explicit sex. 18+ only. Please read responsibly. When Cora attends her sister’s birthday party, she expects at most a hangover or a walk of shame. She doesn’t anticipate a stolen wallet, leaving her stranded and dependent on Dean—her arch nemesis and ultimate thorn in her side. And she really doesn’t anticipate waking up in shackles in a madman’s basement.To make matters worse, Dean shares the space in his own set of chains.After fifteen years of teasing, insults, and practical jokes, the ultimate joke seems to be on them. The two people who always thought they’d end up killing each other must now work together if they want to survive.But Cora and Dean have no idea their abductor has a plan for them. A plan that will alter the course of their relationship, blur the line between hate and love, and shackle them together with far more than just chains.
Grayson
Lisa Eugene - 2014
After all, she’s never even seen him. He remains sequestered upstairs in a house that looks like it should be the main feature in an episode of Hoarders. She had no idea the house was such a dump when she took the job. But she’s concerned about the safety and health of the old man living under such horrid conditions.What she got was a mystery…Despite warnings not to venture upstairs, she wanders up to the second floor. What she sees is shocking. The man she finds is a gorgeous, sexy, middle-aged man-- and he's stepping out of the shower. But something is definitely not right. Why would this wealthy, handsome man live in a house in such disrepair while his nine-teen year old son resides in a lavish penthouse? Why does he hide away from society? Why does he come to her rescue and then run away?What she discovered was heartbreaking…Angie learns that forty-four year old Grayson Whitmore suffers from schizophrenia. Paranoid, he retreats into his own world.What she ended up with was a treasure…Angie is determined to get through to Grayson. They form a friendship that blazes into an inconceivable love fired with raging passion. Angie must now come to Grayson’s rescue because the wicked that has been perpetrated on him is unconscionable. First, though, she must gain the trust of a man whose mind does not allow for such a thing.
From Ashes To Flames
A.M. Hargrove - 2018
It is a stand alone contemporary romance.
When Unconventional Ended Up Being Unthinkably Hot
I had it all--the dream job, a wonderful boyfriend, a fabulous life.Or that's what I thought.Then my life took an unexpected turn and I found myself working as a nanny for the hot-tempered Dr. West.He and his regimented spreadsheets and rude attitude were more than anyone should have to take.If that jerkface thought he could order me around, he'd better think again.Then one day I discovered his secrets, which explained why he acted the way he did.I never expected my heart to soften towards him so much.I never expected to have such sexy dreams about him.Nor did I expect to want him the way I did.But he was my boss, older than me, and off-limits.And if I wasn't careful, everything, including my heart, would go up in flames.Librarian's note: See alternate cover edition with this ASIN here.
Slammer
Tabatha Vargo - 2015
Ten years later, the boy he used to be is gone. In his place is the shell of a man with murder under his belt. Any emotion he once had was left under the gavel when he was given life in prison. That is until the new nurse in the infirmary joins the block. Putting your hands on a prison employee will get you the hole, but some things are worth their punishment, and something tells him Lyla will be worth more than he bargained for. Lyla Evans isn’t sure about her new job at a maximum security prison, but showing uncertainty and weakness isn’t an option. Taking care of murderers and rapists isn’t ideal, but survival is key. She’s warned ahead of time about a prisoner named X, but when she’s attacked, it’s the dangerous X that saves her. Fraternizing with the prisoners is forbidden, but sometimes the most forbidden things are the sweetest.
Canary
Tijan - 2021
Names didn’t exist.I joined anyway. I had no other choice because they took my sister.Join. Find her. Try and make it out alive.Then he won me in a poker game.I hated him instantly, thinking he was like my other bosses before him.He wasn’t. He was worse.He wasn’t just cold. He was dead inside.It didn’t matter that he was gorgeous.He was the most lethal thing I’d ever met.He was also the only person who could keep me alive, if he didn’t kill me himself.A/N This is a 102k mafia/cartel standalone.This is the most violent book Tijan has ever written.Trigger warning: references to sexual violence“Canaries sing to save lives. I sing and people die.”
Untouchable
Isabel Love - 2017
One-hundred percent untouchable. Too bad I didn't know that when we first met. We were just two strangers in a club, drawn together by chemistry. Hot, SIZZLING chemistry. Imagine my surprise when I discover that she's my new boss.And now that we work together, she's determined to keep it professional. My problem? I can't forget the night we met. That searing kiss. The way she felt in my hands. I find myself willing to break the rules to get closer to her.Though she tries to fight it, I know she feels it, too. This pull. It's all in the way she fidgets whenever I'm around. It's all in those lingering, hungry looks she casts my way when she thinks no one is watching. Despite the risk to my job that comes with pursuing her, I can't seem to stay away from her.I want to forget about the rules and make her mine. Warning: This book is recommended for readers over 18 years of age.