Book picks similar to
The Novice by M.S. Parker


romance
not-interested
dnf
contemporary

Pretty Monsters (Pretty Monsters Trilogy, #1)


Kimberly Carrillo - 2020
    Here we don't hide in the shadows. I am vengeance wrapped in a pretty package, but you can call me Sin, everyone else does. I’m a weapon and as such I live for one thing only, to bring death where I’m aimed. That is until the night she walks into the moonlight. Raven Blackthorne taunts me with her beauty and innocence. She doesn’t belong in my world, even if it is her father who’s trapped me here. I’m not good for her, but maybe I’m exactly who she needs to help her escape it. Unless I break her first.

Ground Zero: Mission Ready


Jessika Klide - 2021
    There are no rules, no restrictions, no reason not to be together. After rescuing a young girl from human traffickers, I make a decision to continue to fight for freedom, forming a private security company, and I want Nina Fox, Bravo’s Targeting Officer, by my side. Military restrictions forbade our relationship, but she is my Ground Zero and our time has finally come.When we meet again, will she want to remain strictly teammates, or will the spark between us erupt with the freedom to act upon it? I am mission ready to make Foxtrot mine. * * * * * * * From the queen of short sexy military stories comes an action and adventure, romantic suspense book about taking a stand for freedom and love. GROUND ZERO is the first book in the Born To Fight Task Force Missions Series of interconnected novels.

Blood and Bone


Tara Brown - 2013
    Listen, listen to the sounds of old. Listen, listen as my hopes are drowned. Listen, listen to the sounds that bullets make of blood and bones. Where will you run today? How will you ever get away?” This is NOT a romance. This is a ride. Blood and Bone The hollow sound of a casing hitting the floor. The clicking of heels walking in a misty alley. The ability to tie a cherry stem with her tongue. A haunting song no one else knows. That's all that's left of Jane's memories. What would you do if the life you lived was a lie, and everyone knew but you? Where do you run when there is no one on your side? Jane discovers that deep inside her mind there is a map. What she doesn't know is that there is also a man who will do anything to get it. But what he doesn't know is that Jane hasn't always been honest about the things she remembers. There are paces inside of Jane that even she doesn't like to go. What would you do if the secret you kept was the only thing keeping you alive? But keeping it meant someone else had to die. Don't miss out on the new dark read by Tara Brown!

Limited Time Offer


Kelly Jamieson - 2015
    Sure, they’re all puffed up, strutting egos, but they’re also the best and brightest creatives in Chicago. Including the newest recruit, disturbingly attractive Levi Wolcott.Award-winning copywriter Levi is pumped to have been headhunted to Huxworth Packard to work on the beer account. But he’s not off to a good start when he and Sloane first meet in an embarrassing encounter in a hotel hall, and the Brew Crew’s merciless new-guy hazing doesn’t improve his shaky first impression. Even worse, Levi can’t ignore the intense attraction he has to Sloane.Despite their mutual “hell no” when it comes to love, a moment of weakness makes Sloan and Levi believe business and pleasure can be kept separate, and maybe a little harmless sex isn’t that dangerous.Or maybe it’s as harmless as a bomb with a lit fuse…Warning: This book contains a hero with an award-winning, panty-melting vocabulary intent on the hard sell, and a take-charge businesswoman who doesn’t mind giving up control in the bedroom…and thinks panties are overrated, anyway.

The Start of Something Good


Jennifer Probst - 2018
    As a former Special Forces paratrooper, he saw his fair share of conflict, and he came home with wounds, inside and out. At his sisters’ B & B and farm, he can keep all his pain at a safe distance. But quiet time isn’t easy when a fiery woman explodes into his life…It’s business—not pleasure—that brings Manhattan PR agent Mia Thrush reluctantly to the farm. Tightly wound and quick tempered, Mia clashes immediately with the brooding Ethan. Everything about him is irritating—from his lean muscles and piercing blue eyes to his scent of sweat and musk.But as the summer unfolds and temperatures rise, Ethan and Mia discover how much they have in common: their guarded histories, an uncontrollable desire, and a passion for the future that could heal two broken hearts. But will their pasts threaten their fragile chance at a brand-new future?

Tell Me to Stop


Charlotte Byrd - 2019
    The kind money can’t repay. He wants something else: me, for one year. But I don’t even know who he is… 365 days and nights doing everything he wants…except that. “I’m not going to sleep with you,” I say categorically. He laughs. “I’m going to make you a promise,” his eyes challenge mine. “Before our time is up, you’ll beg me for it.”

Shades of Pink


Gina LaManna - 2017
    One failed psychic. A tale as old as time... Lola Pink He schedules everything. And I mean everything. I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I took this job. I thought it would be simple—pretend to be Mr. Dane Clark’s personal assistant, find the missing blueprints, and get out of the Clark Castle for good. But, somehow this socially awkward, tech-genius billionaire has wormed his way into my heart. And even if we survive this mess, I’m not sure I want to leave. Dane Clark How do I put this? She’s…pink. So very pink. Bright and sunny and peppy. I mean, she has at least one hundred and four pairs of sunglasses. Why? I’ve never seen a woman wear so many sunglasses before: red, pink, blue, green, glitter-encrusted. I don’t understand it. As for her organizational skills? Abysmal. Her attention to detail? Non-existent. Her ability to frustrate me to no end? Spot on. I never should have hired her. Lola Pink does not fit into my schedule. Nevertheless, she whirled into my life anyway; and she changed everything. Now I’m stuck trying to keep my company afloat and the two of us alive, while Lola turns my life all shades of pink. ** ** ** ** This novel is a full-length, humorous romantic mystery featuring a splash of humor, a hint of mystery, and a dash of romance. It's rated PG-13 due to some strong language. Though it's the beginning of a series, this book can be read and enjoyed completely as a standalone.

The Sapphire Affair


Lauren Blakely - 2016
    So when a group of swindled shareholders hires him to trail their former CEO, Jake expects a quick trip to the Cayman Islands to close another case. Until a devastatingly beautiful woman gets in the way.Steph Anderson is visiting the Caymans for a rock climbing and dive trip—or so she tells Jake. She’s really trying to find out whether or not her stepfather embezzled money from his company. The last thing Steph needs is the distraction of a sexy, charming man whose kisses drive her wild.Soon, the pair discover they’re after the same target—and millions in jewels. While Jake can’t be certain Steph isn’t working for her stepfather, and Steph can’t be certain Jake isn’t after the diamonds for himself, they can agree the heat between them is intense, and neither can deny the passion for long.But the morning after, Steph discovers that she just might have slept with the enemy, and now she’ll have to outwit him to get everything she needs…

I Am Her...


Sarah Ann Walker - 2012
    She is every name everyone has ever called her. She is nameless. She has a good job, a beautiful home and a wonderful husband. She is everything she was supposed to be. She has structure and stability, but she is lost.She is trying. Her whole life is spent trying; yet her whole life has been nothing but an apology. She is so tired of trying and failing.In just one week, she learns her entire life is a series of brutalities. She learns intense, consuming passion for the first time with a beautiful stranger. She learns love within this passion, and she learns heartbreak while without.Slowly her breakdown overcomes her. She tries to rise above her circumstances, but when she has nothing left to fight with; she tries to ease the pain forever.Desperately, she fights her way through the agony of life, and she returns with a gentle hope. She wants to live, and she wants to love, for the first time in her life. Now, she has a name. Now, she can be 'her'... Any HER that she wants to be.

Under Fyre: A Dark Stalker Romance (Fyre & Ashes Book 2)


Logan Fox - 2021
    This fear. But I'm experiencing phobias I never had before. Feelings I've never had before.I want to be normal again. I want to be whole. Gideon told me it's a process that takes time and pain to complete.Now I'm all mixed up inside. I don't know up from down in the dark. I don't know right from wrong when I'm hurting. And I can't tell good from evil when love keeps getting in the way.Submission is my only choice, but it feels so wrong to give up.To surrender and succumb to his dark needs.Gideon may be my captor, but in a way, he's still my teacher.Because every day he holds me captive and forces me to do those dark things, I learn how strong I really am.

Break My Fall


M. Mabie - 2018
    The second time was for Myra." For twelve years, I lived alone in my cabin, building a life with my two bare hands. I was free from their rules, their policies, and their lies. They are a cult. My father is their leader. To protect my brother's widow, I'm making her my wife. It's her only way out. But drawn to the purity in her deep blue eyes and the innocence of her gentle voice, I wonder if I'm not the biggest monster of them all. I have to save her from them and myself. Because every second I spend with this timid woman, I fight the urge to claim her. Own her. Make her truly mine. And I know it's wrong. I will break her fall—if I don't break her first.

Lost in Distraction


B.J. Harvey - 2013
    A sexy stranger paid to protect her. Alone and shut off from the world, Elise Halliwell is simply going through the motions, waiting for the next step in her pre-destined life. Until a chance meeting with the dark-haired, blue-eyed Brax James shakes her to the core, achieving what everyone else before him has failed to do; he makes her feel again. As much as Brax wishes things were different, fate has not brought him into Elise’s life. His job is to keep her safe, not fall for the very woman he’s supposed to protect. Elise has no idea of the threat she faces and Brax wants it to stay that way. Unfortunately for both of them, they’ll have no say in the matter. Full of twists, turns, and revelations no-one sees coming, you won’t be the only one lost in distraction.*This book contains adult situations and explicit content/language.*

Her First Kiss


M.J. Fields - 2017
     Having experienced a lifetime’s amount of loss and love under the spotlight of her stepfather and stepbrother’s rock and roll stardom, London Fields decides now is her time to shine. Leaving for college with a clear focus and big dreams around her musical theater major, she is ready to take on the world … under an assumed name. Protecting her identity will allow her the freedom to experience life and maybe love for the very first time. One man with a second chance to live for himself. A horrible accident devastated life as Logan Links and his family knew it. He spent a semester off from college to help them begin to heal and returns to school just in time to play one more season of college football. Only one thing can make things … hard. Logan and London have had a tumultuous relationship since he was twelve and she was eight. One that has always been buffered by their families' close connection. Now, they are on their own. What happens when these two repeatedly run into each other without the watchful eyes of others? Will London’s daydreams of Logan Links being the first man she kisses become a heavenly reality, or will his devil dimples lead her straight to hell?

Combative


Jay McLean - 2015
    A way to escape. And he found it in the most unlikely friendship. But at seventeen, tragedy struck, and he made himself disappear. Now, at twenty-four, Kyler’s past is knocking on his door, offering a deal he has no choice but to take… a deal that will help bring justice—not just for him, but for his brothers.The problem?He’s distracted by the girl across the hall. Madison comes with her own past, her own secrets... and her own deal. And those deals? They’re ticking time bombs.Ones they didn’t know existed.Tick.Tock.

Defend Me (A Frazier Falls Small Town Novel Book 3)


Kelly Collins - 2020
    He’s an introvert. Can polar opposites find happiness together? As a teenager, Rose Rogers couldn’t wait to get out of Frazier Falls. She took the first chance she got and left for New York, where she made a name for herself at Flair Magazine. Until now, she’s never looked back. But when her heart is crushed by the man she thought she’d grow old with, she heads home to lick her wounds. The last thing she expects is to find Paxton Cooper—the boy she teased relentlessly—all grown up and gorgeous. After surviving the bullies of high school, quiet and intelligent Paxton Cooper has made a good life for himself as a partner in Cooper Construction. He’s his own man and confident that he’s left the past where it belongs. When Rose Rogers shows up in town, it all comes flooding back—the hate, the hurt, the attraction. Will Rose be able to mend the fences she tore down in her youth? Will Paxton send her back to New York empty-hearted? Find out in Defend Me.