Book picks similar to
Before You by Marni Mann


romance
contemporary-romance
contemporary
age-gap

How to Save a Life


Emma Scott - 2016
    A harrowing past haunts her every time she looks in the mirror, and she can’t escape the violence of her everyday life. More and more, her thoughts turn to Evan Salinger, the boy she knew in high school. The boy they called a mental case. A loner. A freak. The boy who seemed to know things no one could know. For a few short weeks, Jo had found perfect solace in Evan’s company, sneaking every night to meet him at the local pool. In the cool of the water and the warmth of Evan’s arms around her, Jo had tasted something close to happiness. Cruel circumstances tore them apart, and four years later, the sweet memory of their time together is dissolving under the punishing reality of Jo’s life now. Evan seems like a fading dream…until he reappears at the moment she needs him most. Guided by Evan’s strange intuition, they flee her small Louisiana town, and Jo begins to suspect there is something more to his sudden return than he admits.Over twelve days across America’s heartland, deep secrets come to light, buried pasts are unearthed, and the line between dreams and reality is blurred as Evan and Jo fight to hold on to their soul-deep love, and discover that there is more than one way to save a life.***How to Save a Life is a complete second-chance STANDALONE novel with shades of the paranormal. It carries the characters from high school through to their early twenties. It is not YA; mature subject matter, and sexual situations. TRIGGER WARNING: domestic violence (on the page) and mention of sexual abuse (off the page) For readers 18 years and up.The Dreamcatcher novels are a series of interconnected STANDALONES, each with shades of the paranormal. It is NOT necessary to read them in order, though some characters appear in other novels.

Alex in Wonderland


Max Monroe - 2017
     I’m Matt Hadder. I’ve been called ruthless, savage—even brutal—by the men and women who work for me. And I’ve earned my reputation. Wonderland Inc., a party planning organization for every major player in the world, is Oz, and I’m its Wizard. I can make anything—drugs, prostitutes, deals—appear for a night and disappear just as quickly. This doesn’t make me good or bad—it makes me essential. Wonderland Inc. was my life, until a beautiful contradiction of innocence and impurity, obedience and rebelliousness named Alex Little stepped in and turned both of our worlds upside down. Welcome to Wonderland, Alex. A place where everything appears normal. But we’re all mad.

Denial


Lisa Renee Jones - 2015
    This is a standalone spin-off of the INSIDE OUT series (soon to be a TV show) that follows Ella Ferguson, Sara McMillan's best friend.Ella Ferguson awakes alone in Italy, unsure of who she is, and a gorgeous man has claimed her as his own. He’s tall, dark, and sexy, with money and power, the kind of man who makes a girl want to be possessed. And he does possess her, whispering wicked wonderful promises to her, stealing her trust and her heart. Soon though, the past finds her, yanking her from a cocoon of passion and safety. Everything is not how it seems. The truth will shatter her world, but it can set her free, if it doesn't destroy her first.

This Love Hurts


W. Winters - 2020
    Some love stories are a slow burn. Others are quick to ignite, scorching and branding your very soul before you’ve taken that first breath. You’re never given a chance to run from it. That’s how I’d describe what happened to us.Everything around me blurred and all that existed were his lips, his touch… The chase and the heat between us became addictive.Our nights together were a distraction; one we craved to the point of letting the world crumble around us.We should have paid attention; we should have known that it would come to this.We both knew it couldn’t last, but that didn’t change what we desired most. All we wanted was each other…

The Consequence of Falling


Claire Contreras - 2019
    Not even my soon-to-be ex-husband is on that list. Nope. I save only the worst of the worst, the crème de la crème, the absolute I cannot even for this list . . .1. Black coffee2. Rude people3. Nathaniel BradleyWhich is why when my father informs me that he’s making Nathaniel Bradley his new business partner, and in turn, my boss, I flip out. 1. He’s an annoying know-it-all. 2. He calls me a spoiled princess every chance he gets. 3. He disapproves of everything I do.I go into this knowing I’ll hate every second in his presence. Except the longer he’s around, the more I find myself staring at his lips and remembering the one time they were on mine. I randomly find myself looking at his hands and wondering how they’d feel on my skin. I try to snap out of it, but I guess I’m not as smart as I thought I was. No matter how many times I remind myself of the times I’ve practically thrown myself at him and he’s pushed me away, I keep falling little by little.I’d always heard that it was a bad idea to mix business with pleasure and if that’s the case, this thing with Nathaniel has demise written all over it.

It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time


Kylie Scott - 2018
    If being sent away at eighteen hadn’t been bad enough, the mess she left behind when she made a pass at her dad’s business partner sure was.Fifteen years older than her, Pete had been her crush for as long as she could remember. But she’d misread the situation—confusing friendliness for undying love. Awkward. Add her father to the misunderstanding, and Pete had been left with a broken nose and a business on the edge of ruin. The man had to be just as glad as everyone else when she left town.Seven years on, things are different. Adele is no longer a kid, but a fully grown adult more than capable of getting through the wedding and being polite. But all it takes is seeing him again to bring back all those old feelings.Sometimes first loves are the truest.

Wounded


Jasinda Wilder - 2012
    My family. My home. My innocence. In a country blasted by war and wracked by economic hardship, a young orphan girl like me has very few options when it comes to survival. Thus, I do what I must to live, to eat, and I try very hard to not consider the cost to my soul. My heart is empty, and my existence brutal. The one impossibility in my life is love.And then I meet HIM.War is hell. It takes a chunk out of a man's very soul to do the kinds of things war demands of you. You live with fear, you live with guilt, and you live with nightmares. If you haven't been through it, there's no understanding it. War leaves no room for love, no room for tenderness or softness. You gotta be hard, closed off, and ready to fight every moment of every day. Lose focus for a split second, and you're dead.Now the only thing that can save me is HER.

Enshrine


Chelle Bliss - 2016
    Alone and afraid, I clung to the one man I shouldn’t. I was warned about him and told to stay away. “He’s dangerous,” they said. But the man who could hurt me the most, gave me the greatest comfort. "He's not who they think," I told myself. But just like an illusion, things are never what they seem.

Shades of Twilight


Linda Howard - 1996
    But everyone expected Webb to marry their ravishing cousin, Jessie. When he did, Roanna's desire became no more than the stuff of dreams -- until the night Jessie was found bludgeoned to death. After the shocking murder of his wife, Webb left for Arizona, abandoning the legacy that he had once believed was all he wanted. But then an all-grown-up Roanna walked into a dingy bar in Nogales to bring him home; the mischievous sprite he had known ten years earlier was no more. Gone, too, was her fire. In its place was ice that melted at his touch. Webb is drawn back to Davencourt, to Roanna, and to the killer that once destroyed his life and waits only for the chance to finish the job....

Until Harry


L.A. Casey - 2016
    Hard because Harry, her beloved uncle, has died suddenly, but also because of him. Kale.Kale Hunt has been her best friend since childhood. But it was never that simple. He was Lane’s reason for leaving home and moving to New York. Seeing him with someone else, in love with someone else, shouldn’t have hurt. But it did. It really, really did. So she upped sticks and left, started a new life and cut herself off from her past.But now she’s back, and all the feelings are right there. As if she had never left.Emotions are running high for everyone, and tragedy has a funny way of bringing people together. But is Lane reading the signs right? Are they still just friends, or is there something more?

Misconduct


Penelope Douglas - 2015
    What brought her to this stage in her life isn’t important. She can’t let it be. But now one parent-teacher meeting may be her undoing…Meeting Tyler Marek for the first time makes it easy for Easton to see why his son is having trouble in school. The man knows how to manage businesses and wealth, not a teenage boy. Or a young teacher, for that matter, though he tries to. And yet…there is something about him that draws Easton in—a hint of vulnerability, a flash of attraction, a spark that might burn.Wanting him is taboo. Needing him is undeniable. And his long-awaited touch will weaken Easton’s resolve—and reveal what should stay hidden…(*STANDALONE, NO CLIFFHANGER*)

Darling Venom


Parker S. Huntington - 2021
    Huntington comes a broken love story laced with angst and forbidden romance.I wasn’t supposed to be on that roof on Valentine’s Day.Neither was Kellan Marchetti, the school’s designated freak.We met on the verge of ending our lives.Somehow, the tattered strings of our tragedies tangled and tightened into an unlikely bond.We decided not to take the plunge and agreed to check on each other every Valentine’s Day until school ended.Same time.One roof.Two restless souls.We kept our promise for three years.On the fourth, Kellan made a decision, and I was left to deal with the consequences.Just when I thought our story ended, another one began.They say all love stories look the same and taste different.Mine was venomous, disgraceful, and written in scarlet scars.My name is Charlotte Richards, but you can call me Venom.

Renegade


Laramie Briscoe - 2017
    I make up my mind and stay in my lane, never veering off the course I set for myself. Going into the military? Did it. Serving overseas? Did it. Youngest member of the Moonshine Task Force? That’s me. Get my best friend’s older sister in bed? It was my pleasure. Convince the older sister to give me a chance? Working on it. Age means nothing to me. I’ve seen and done things men half my age never will. What I want more than anything is someone to share my life with. The work I do is dangerous and knowing I have someone at home might keep me under control. Everybody says I need a woman, and I know I do, but I also know which one I want. That woman, whether she admits it or not, is Whitney Trumbolt. Whitney Trumbolt Ryan is ten years my junior, but damn, being a cougar never felt as good as it did the night we spent together. Now all I want to do is go back to how things were before. But Ryan is my younger brother’s best friend, and where Trevor goes, Ryan goes. Instead I put my head in the sand and do my best to go about my life. Build up my confidence from a horrible divorce? Working on it. Make my wedding planning company the best in the south? Did it. Ignore the way my body trembles when I see Ryan? Epic fail. Freak out when I see a positive pregnancy test staring back at me? Complete with mascara running down my face and clutching my pearls. Looks like things aren’t gonna go back to the way they were. There’s a man in my life that won’t take no for an answer. Gone is sweet Ryan, and in his place is the one who makes my blood run hot, my cheeks turn red, and my heart beat heavily within my chest. The one I’m up against is the one I can’t say no to. Not when he becomes Renegade.

Chase the Butterflies


Monica James - 2018
    I had it all until one fateful evening transformed my life in ways I never imagined.Nine months later, I move to a sleepy little town, hoping to escape the demons of my past. As I attempt to claim back my life, Jude Montgomery enters my world, and things begin to change.I thought running would appease the nightmares, but I soon discover my past won’t let go. Things are not what they seem, and I begin to question the world as I know it. Jude may hold the answers, but will my love for him blind me to the truth?Does the flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas? In my case, yes, it does.Will the truth set me free? Or will it imprison us both?My name is Victoria Armstrong, and this is my story…I think.

Irish Crown


Nashoda Rose - 2018
    I never thought I would.And then, the six foot three cement graffiti wall of badass strides back into my life, and does it full force.Now he’s protecting me from his past and I’m protecting myself against the heated chaos he erupts in my body. It doesn’t help that he can do playful and sweet, when he’s not doing bossy. But the overly confident, playboy Deaglan Kane is danger, has no boundaries, and is totally off limits. And I know behind his walls there’s a man with a dark and damaged past.A man more dangerous. A man who may be the greatest threat of all. The Irish Crown.*May contain triggers. 18+