Book picks similar to
From the Wreckage by Melissa Collins


romance
arc
contemporary-romance
firefighter

Flirting with Fire


Piper Rayne - 2018
    Even back when I was 'Fatty Maddie' to all my classmates, I had eyes for the quarterback of our football team. Not like I was the only one.Mauro Bianco may fight fires for a living, but he still sets my heart ablaze. One look at the rugged, muscular man he's turned into and I want to slide down his pole. One date. That's all I'm committed to. A few hours and I can tuck him back into that tattered old shoebox in my closet.As always, the universe has other plans. I never would've predicted that in a matter of days he'd turn from my dream guy into my business partner — and that's when things got interesting.

Wasted Words


Staci Hart - 2016
    Spaghetti and meatballs are best friends forever. And guys like Tyler Knight don’t go for girls like Cam Emerson.She knew from the second she met him that he didn’t belong on her bookshelf, the six-foot-six ex-tight end with a face so all-American, it could have sold apple pie. So she shelved him next to the supermodels and rock stars and took her place on her own shelf — the one with the flannel-clad, pasty-faced comic book nerds. Most of her boyfriends have existed between the pages of books, but rather than worrying over her own lacking love life, she puts all her energy into playing Cupid, using her job at the book bar, Wasted Words, as her stomping ground.Tyler Knight always looks on the bright side. His career-ending injury turned into a job as a sports agent. A horrible breakup led him to Cam, his quirky, smart roommate who is far more beautiful than she realizes. She’s made it perfectly clear she’s not interested in him — not like that at least — but if she ever changes her mind, he won’t hesitate. Because he doesn’t see the lines she’s drawn between them, as much as she insists that they’re there. Deep down he knows that despite their differences, they’re a match well made.*A romantic comedy inspired by Jane Austen’s Emma.*

Torch


Cambria Hebert - 2013
    All she’s ever wanted is a place to call her own—a life that is wholly hers that no one can take away. She thought she finally had it, but with the strike of a single match, everything she worked so hard for is reduced to a pile of smoking ash. And she almost is too.Now she’s being stalked by someone who’s decided it’s her time to die. The only thing standing in the path of her blazing death is sexy firefighter Holt Arkain.Katie’s body might be safe with Holt… but her heart is another story.As the danger heats up, sparks fly and the only thing Katie knows for sure is that her whole life is about to go up in flames.

The Do-Over


Julie A. Richman - 2017
    Richman a new, stand alone Second Chance Romance ~ Sometimes, one degree is all that separates you from the one you were meant to be with ~ Wes Bergman was sex on a stick. We’d been circling one another our entire lives, mingling at the same clubs... attending the same events…sharing mutual acquaintances…yet we’d never actually met. Until…we both boarded a Windjammer Cruise in the Caribbean. And it was like meeting my long, lost best friend for the first time. I hadn’t ever connected with a guy that way before.But Wes had a girlfriend. So, when the week was over, he walked off the ship, unknowingly taking a piece of my heart with him.Now, over a decade later, newly divorced, I’m the proverbial fish out of water. Dating has totally changed. Apps. Swipe left. Swipe right. Catfishing. Men my age want two things: twenty-five-year-olds—like my ex’s new child bride of a wife—or just a quick hook-up.After a string of bad dates, I finally did something I never thought I’d do. I had a hot one-night stand with a really handsome guy I met online who didn’t even know my real name.Turned out Mr. Fling is a big shot for my company’s newest client. And just my luck, that client’s CEO is none other than...Wes Bergman.Now I’m separated by one degree again from the man who stole my heart. And Mr. Fling could destroy my chance of what I want most – a Do-Over with Wes.

Kaleidoscope Hearts


Claire Contreras - 2015
    And all those feelings I’d turned into anger are brewing into something else, something that terrifies me. He broke my heart last time. This time he'll obliterate it.This is a standalone.

On the Rocks


Kandi Steiner - 2019
    It's what the town said when his father died and the Becker brothers went wild. And it's on repeat in my mind the day I walk into the whiskey distillery where he works to buy a wedding gift for my fiancé.He's trouble. Dirty, sweaty, rude trouble. No matter how many times I repeat it, I can't escape Noah in our small Tennessee town. And the more I run into him, the more he infuriates me. Because he sees what no one else does.He sees me—the real me. The me I'm not sure I'm allowed to be.I'm Ruby Grace Barnett, the mayor's daughter. Soon to be a politician's wife, just like Mama and Daddy always wanted. Soon to fulfill my family's legacy, just like I always knew I would.Until the boy everyone warned me about makes me question everything, like whether the wedding I'm planning is one I even want. Everyone says Noah Becker is nothing but trouble.If only I had listened.

One & Only


Viv Daniels - 2013
    Tess McMann lives her life according to the secrets she's sworn to keep: the father who won't acknowledge her, the sister who doesn't know she exists, and the mother who's content playing mistress to a prominent businessman. When she meets the distractingly cute Dylan Kingsley at a prestigious summer program and falls in love, Tess allows herself to imagine a life beyond these secrets. But when summer ends, so does their relationship -- Dylan heads off to Canton College while Tess enrolls at the state university. One love they can't ignore... Two years later, a scholarship brings Tess to Canton and back into Dylan's life. Their attraction is as strong as ever, but Dylan has a girlfriend…who also happens to be Tess's legitimate half-sister. Tess refuses to follow in her mother's footsteps, which leaves her only one choice: break the rules she’s always followed, or allow Dylan to slip away for a second time. ...And only one chance to get things right.

Up in the Treehouse


K.K. Allen
    Then again, she never imagined she would fall in love with him either. When she finally reveals her feelings, rejection shatters her, rendering her vulnerable and sending her straight into the destructive arms of the wrong guy.The Rhodes twins never saw the betrayal coming. Chloe has always been their forbidden fantasy--sweet, beautiful, and tempting. But soon the lines between family, friendship, and love become as tangled as the roots of the treehouse they once shared.Now it's too late . . .Four years after a devastating tragedy, Chloe and Gavin find themselves crashing back into each other's lives. Haunted by the past, they're forced to come to terms with all that has transpired to find the peace they deserve. Except they can't seem to get near each other without combatting an intense emotional connection that brings them right back to where it all started . . . their childhood treehouse.Chloe still holds her secrets close, but this time she isn't the only one with something to hide. Can their deep-rooted connection survive the destruction of innocence?

Throttled


Elizabeth Lee - 2015
    Becoming Motocross royalty was always the plan, and he was willing to make sacrifices along the way to reach his goal. Sacrifices he thought he could live with until he returned to the small town where he grew up and learned to ride, and, more importantly, where he fell in love.When fate sends Nora Bennett back into his life, he takes one look at her and realizes that he made a huge mistake breaking up with her seven years ago. Now, he'll do whatever it takes to win her back. As Reid sets out to earn her forgiveness and convince her that the guy she's dating is not the one for her, Nora finds herself torn between what her head is telling her and what her heart wants. It's a race he never expected to be in, for a girl he can't stand to lose again.

On a Tuesday


Whitney G. - 2017
    Became best friends, then lovers, on a Tuesday. And everything fell apart on a Tuesday... Charlotte Taylor has three automatic strikes in my book: 1) She hates me. She also claims that I'm a "domineering jerk with a huge, overbearing ego." (I do have something huge. It's not my ego, though.) 2) She takes our mandatory tutoring sessions way too seriously. 3) She's sexy as hell...And a virgin. At least, those were her strikes before our study sessions started lasting longer than they were supposed to. Until one innocent kiss became a hundred dirty ones, and until she became the first woman I ever fell hard for. Our future together after graduation was supposed to be set: Professional football for me. Law school for her. But she left me at the end of the semester with no explanation, and then she completely disappeared from my life. Until tonight.We met on a Tuesday. Became everything, then nothing, on a Tuesday. And now it's seven years later, on a Tuesday... **This is a full length second chance romance, inspired by Adele's "When We Were Young"**

Bigger Than the Sky


Harper Bentley - 2014
    No, I’m not an idiot.Yes, I had my reasons. Now I’ve made a new life for myself working at a large firm in Richmond and I’ve left the past behind. Or so I thought.Upon returning to my hometown of Serenity Point, Virginia, to take care of some business, I find that Kade’s now home for good and he’s none too happy about my being here. Two months. That’s all I’m staying then I’m out of here. Unless I believe the town’s pink-haired psychic’s prediction. Or embrace the sense of belonging I feel at being back home. Or give in to the emotions stirring inside when Kade's attention is suddenly on me. He scares the crap out of me. He thrills me. He used to tell me our love was bigger than the sky. I always knew ours was a once-in-a-lifetime love. So how can he be so sure it can happen again?

Wilder Love


Emery Rose - 2019
    He was my strength. Until I destroyed him.I was infatuated with Shane Wilder since the first time I saw him surfing. But we couldn’t be together. Not yet, anyway. I was too young and screwed up. He was too focused on chasing his dream.So we became friends. We met on the rooftop for late-night confessions under the stars. Cruised along the Pacific Coast Highway with the wind in our hair and the sun on our faces.I took photos of all the beautiful and ugly and interesting things, while he traveled the world in search of the perfect waves.I told him I would wait for him. I never meant to lie.I never meant to ruin his life.I. Destroyed. Him. As his star faded, mine burned bright. But as everyone knows, all that glitters is not gold. Now I’m back after seven long years, hoping for a chance to right my wrongs and fix what I’ve broken. This time I can only hope that loving Shane Wilder will be enough to save him.

The Player Next Door


K.A. Tucker - 2020
    With a teaching job secured and an adorable fixer-upper to call home, things in her life are finally looking up.That is, until she finds out that Shane Beckett lives next door.Shane Beckett, the handsome and charismatic high school star quarterback who smashed her heart. The lying, cheating player who was supposed to be long gone, living the pro football dream and fooling women into thinking he's Prince Charming. Shane Beckett, who is as attractive as ever and flashing his dimples at her as if he has done no wrong.Scarlet makes it abundantly clear that old wounds have not been forgotten. Neighbors they may be, but friends they most certainly are not. She won't allow herself to fall for the single father and firefighter again, no matter how many apologies he offers, how many times he rushes to her aid, or how hard he makes her heart pound.But as she spends more time with him, she begins to fear that maybe she's wrong. Maybe Shane has changed.And maybe this time she's the one playing herself—out of a chance at true happiness.

Wild Card


Karina Halle - 2017
    Rough, raw & rugged.As the man in charge at Ravenswood Ranch, Shane Nelson has never been afraid to get his hands dirty. His sculpted physique isn't the product of a gym, but of years of hard labor under a relentless sun. His straightforward, alpha tendencies come from a man who knows what he wants and goes after it.And what he wants is Rachel Waters.He's never stopped wanting her.They were childhood best friends, then teenage lovers who evolved into soulmates. But on one fateful night, Shane made a grave mistake, breaking both their hearts in the process.Now, after six years, Rachel is back in the small, wild mountain town of North Ridge, BC.Ready to face her past.Ready to face Shane.Ready to face his dark secret.But is a second-chance at a one true love in the cards? Or will their wild hearts be broken once again?WILD CARD is a complete standalone novel and the first book about the Nelson brothers of North Ridge.

The Kingmaker


Kennedy Ryan - 2019
    In a world of haves and have nots, my family has it all, and I want nothing to do with it.My path takes me far from home and paints me as the black sheep. At odds with my father, I’m determined to build my own empire. I have rules, but Lennix Hunter is the exception to every one of them. From the moment we meet, something sparks between us. But my family stole from hers and my father is the man she hates most. I lied to have her, and would do anything to keep her. Though she tries to hate me, too, the inexorable pull between us will not be denied.And neither will I.