Book picks similar to
Once In A Big Dream by Alexa Bloom


contemporary-romance
novella
romance
bloom-alexa

Mangled Hearts


Felicia Tatum - 2013
    Until the person she blames for her heartache is assigned as her new client. Cade doesn’t take life seriously, finding it easier to drink his problems away than deal with them. But when Francesca steps back into his life, he’s forced to revisit the past. Can he bring himself to tell her the truth about her sister’s death? Will the truth bring them back together, or push them further apart?

On the Rocks


Sawyer Bennett - 2014
    Now he’s returned home to the sand and salty breeze of the North Carolina Outer Banks so he can open The Last Call, a beach bar nestled among the dunes of the Atlantic.Five years ago, Gabby Ward drunkenly threw herself at her best friend’s brother, only to have her young heart crushed. Hunter is back but Gabby is content to stay far away from him and his dangerously charming ways. Gabby’s well-schemed plans to ignore Hunter go up in flames when he presents her an offer she simply can’t refuse. Working together day in and day out proves problematic for two reasons—Gabby realizes her feelings for Hunter are still very much alive, while Hunter struggles to break through to Gabby’s cold heart. What starts out as a mutual business arrangement soon turns into a passion that neither can deny.But when the pro surfing tour comes knocking and Hunter has a chance to reclaim his former glory, hard choices lie ahead for both of them.Choices that could destroy what they have built or take them further than they could ever dare to hope in their second chance at romance.

The Space Between


Victoria H. Smith - 2013
    Losing high-stakes poker has its consequences, but he’d repeatedly face them just to hear Lacey Douglas sing. Drake sees Lacey light up the stage, and he has to have her. But his intentions for being on her side of town turn out to be the reason he can’t. Chicago native Lacey has dreams of the opera, but life has its obstacles. Lacey has come to know her hardships as part of living in the real world and accepts them fully. When Lacey meets the intense and invigorating Drake, a fire is lit inside her, unleashing those dreams again.Two paths that should have never crossed prove to create the exact pairing the other needs. But when their worlds take time to catch up, everything they have is tested. Finding the space between the two sides that challenge them will be hard, but it’s the only place that will keep them together.The Space Between is a new adult contemporary romance.

Sweet Girl


Cristin Harber - 2014
     Nicola Hart grew up under the heels of her older brother and his sexy best friend, Cash Garrison. Years of ignoring her spark with Cash has transformed their friendship into a slow burning sizzle. One night with him could ruin everything. Or it could be more than she ever dreamed. They play. They flirt. But they haven't crossed the line because too much is at stake. Family. Friendship. And the deepest kind of love that she'd have to be crazy to walk away from. She's his best friend's little sister. The definition of hands off. Cash has tried to ignore her for years. Those innocent eyes and her smile that screams kiss-me-if-you-dare... Instead, he's looked at every pretty little thing who's crossed his path, all to ignore the girl he seems destined to want. But when his hard partying ways get old and everyone at school is interested in Nicola, it's time to stake a claim. To make Nicola his girl, no matter the risks, and hold the hand of the one he really loves.

Wanted by You


Steph Nuss - 2014
    Carter was captivated by Ellyson Evans the moment he laid eyes on her, but she was the one girl who didn't beg for his attention.He wanted her.Ellyson vowed to never fall in love, because love can destroy you, but then she met Carter Jennings.She wanted him.Unwilling to risk their comfortable friendship, neither confessed their desires.Losing touch after college, a chance meeting reconnects them.They want each other.But love in the city is never quite that easy.

Wasted


Suzannah Daniels - 2014
    It was part of his job after all, and he needed the tips—badly. When Lexi Swafford plopped her pretty little tail down on the bar stool, Mason offered her a drink. He had no idea that he would soon be working with her or that he’d be letting her room with him until her new apartment was ready.In fact, once Lexi Swafford landed in Creekview, Tennessee, life as Mason Cambridge knew it would cease to exist…because after a night of drinking away the agony of his loneliness, one touch from her would change everything.WASTED is a new adult contemporary romance recommended for adult readers due to mature content.It is the first book in the WHISKEY NIGHTS series. Since each book in this series will focus on a different couple, they can be read as stand-alones. Many readers may prefer to read them in order for maximum enjoyment.WHISKEY NIGHTS series order:Wasted #1Ignited #2Deceived #3Betrayed #4Seduced #5 (Release date to be announced.)

The Last Single Girl


Bria Quinlan - 2012
    Last minute. Who doesn't already have plans on the busiest date night of the year.But, so far the best part of the search for a great date has been the cute café I found and the geeky-hot owner who keeps rescuing me from these crazy eLove.com dates. This should be easy-peasy. The internet is the home of all your hopes and needs, right?Spoiler Alert: it isn't.Between the bromance date and the crazed single dad who needs to hire a nanny and housekeeper, not get a date, I'm running out of options. If only a certain cutey didn't have a phone call with "sweetheart" every day.The weirder things get, the more I think just going solo is very I Am Woman, blah blah blah. Forget about the fact that my heart keeps bringing me back to a certain café even when I don't need to be there...I mean, my heart doesn't always get what it wants, does it?

Twisted Love


Brenda Ford - 2019
    None of them have a straight forward love life…even the ones that think they do. However, Brad’s 35th birthday sparks a change for all of them. Unraveling everything that they thought they knew. Angelo wants his brother to find love, ignoring his own issues. Alex is addicted to the girl he can’t have. Oliver is hopelessly in love with the girl next door, while Nelson eyes her mother. And Wesley… well, his mess is a permanent one. There’s no escaping now!

The Shy Bride


Lucy Monroe - 2010
    Once a year she shares her musical passion by offering lessons in a charity auction… This year money talks… The winning bid $100,000!Enter Neo Stamos, arrogant Greek tycoon. He wants Cass with a burning desire, though he knows that, shy and sweet, she will need a gentle awakening… But Neo’s the master of seduction!Traditional Greek HusbandsNotorious Greek tycoons seek brides!

Ever After Drake


Keary Taylor - 2014
    But I got dumped that morning. Via text. And then one of my students hit on me. And the rest of the day was a complete mess. The beautifully single Mr. Drake McCain found me in my classroom, feeling sorry for myself. And not sixty seconds later he had me laughing and electricity racing through my blood.My family is broken and complicated. I literally don’t know my biological father’s name. My mother is absent and my half-brother barely knows who she is. But Drake? He’s not complicated. He’s sweet and kind and insanely adorable, and comes from a wonderful family. He is everything I want.The chemistry between us? It’s there in spades. I keep telling myself that I should be feeling really awful and depressed since I just got dumped a few days ago. But I keep getting this ridiculous smile on my face every time Drake is around and it’s kind of hard to keep telling myself that.I’m Kaylee Ray. I believe in fairy tales and happily ever after’s, and maybe the search for Prince Charming is over.Cue reality check.

Club Privé: Book I


M.S. Parker - 2014
    Is he stalking her, or is it fate?Despite telling herself that she doesn't have time for a relationship, she finds his persistent attention flattering, and can't help but be attracted to those deep blue eyes. An evening of fun and dancing turns into the most incredible night of her life, and she still doesn't have a clue about Gavin. All she knows is he's an amazing lover.Don't miss Book 1 of the hottest erotic romance series of the year, but be warned – you might need a cold shower after this one.

Love, Chocolate, and Beer


Violet Duke - 2014
    After moving his chocolate shop, and newly single life, to the quirky town of Cactus Creek, Luke wants nothing more than to devote all his energy into making his business a success—by taking the romance market by storm. But his grand plans get thrown for a loop when he locks horns with the feisty beer-brewing beauty next door who calls his ‘romantic idealism’ a load of fairytale bull. Soon, driving the woman sparking nuts becomes another wickedly fun priority he simply can’t get enough of.In his defense, she’s addictively easy to incite…and plain impossible to resist.Beloved local brewmaster Dani Dobson is beyond riled up. It’s bad enough the new shop owner in town comes locked and loaded with both a distractingly rugged charm and sexy flashing dimples, but the whole only-in-the-movies variety of romance he’s selling—the kind her world has been crushed by before—is really doing a number on her allergy to unrealistic clichés. What’s worse, he’s created an annoyingly clever ad campaign that dubs ‘beer joints’ like hers as the “cave where romance goes to hibernate.” The nerve of that man.Combustible chemistry or not, damn it, this means war. The stakes…very likely, her heart.

Killer Cupcakes


Leighann Dobbs - 2012
    She's finally opened her dream bakery, gotten rid of her cheating boyfriend and settled into her grandmothers house with her perky dog Sprinkles at her side.But her blissful life doesn't last long. When her ex boyfriend is found poisoned with cupcakes from her bakery, Lexy finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation headed up by her hunky neighbor detective Jack Perillo.With the help of a gang of iPad toting, would-be detective grandmothers, Lexy decides to take it upon herself to find the real murderer in order to clear her name and get her bakery back in business. As things heat up on the murder trail, in the kitchen and between Lexy and the hunky detective, it's a race against time to put the real murderer behind bars and get back to baking.Will Lexy get her man?

Fix Her Up


Carey Heywood - 2017
    Fresh off a bad divorce, she decides to rebuild her life from the ground up - starting with a fixer-upper that's got more leaks than the Titanic. Deciding to tackle this project alone might be her biggest mistake of all.... That is, until Noah Thompson shows up at her front door like a knight in a shining tool belt and makes her an offer she'd be crazy to refuse.Noah's sexy, rugged, and good with his hands, but Finley swears she doesn't need his help - in the basement, or in the bedroom. Can this unlikely couple build a future together? Or will this be one fixer-upper that is better off left alone?(A fun and sexy Contemporary Romance, ages 17+.)

The Marriage Pact


M.J. Pullen - 2011
    A large but cozy suburban home shared with a charming husband and two brilliant children. A celebrated career as a writer, complete with mahogany shelves and a summer book tour. A life full of adventure with her friends and family by her side.Instead, Marci lives alone in 480 square feet of converted motel space next to a punk rock band, hundreds of miles from her friends and family. She works in a temporary accounting assignment that has somehow stretched from two weeks into nine months. And the only bright spot in her life, not to mention the only sex she’s had in two years, is an illicit affair with her married boss, Doug. Thirty is not at all what it is cracked up to be.Then the reappearance of an old friend with whom she had made a drunken marriage pact ten years earlier opens a long-forgotten door, and the lines between right and wrong, heartache and happiness are all about to get very blurry, as Marci faces the most difficult choices of her life. Following in the footsteps of Something Borrowed and Something Blue, The Marriage Pact is a delightful debut that will have readers laughing, crying, and falling completely in love.