Book picks similar to
When We Collide by A.L. Jackson
romance
favorites
new-adult
contemporary
Ghosted
J.M. Darhower - 2017
Through scandal after scandal, addiction on top of addiction, a flurry of paparazzi hunt him as he fights to conquer his demons.She's a single mother, assistant manager at a grocery store, existing in monotony with her five-year-old daughter. Every day when she goes to work, lurid tabloids surround her, the face of a notorious bad boy haunting her from their covers.A man and a woman, living vastly different lives, but that wasn't always the case. Once, they were just a boy and a girl who bonded over comic books and fell in love unexpectedly.When Kennedy Garfield met Jonathan Cunningham back in high school, she knew he had all the makings of a tragic hero. With stars in his eyes, and her heart on her sleeve, the pair ran away together to follow their dreams.But dreams, sometimes, turn into nightmares.Now, years later, the only thing they share is a daughter—one who has no idea her father plays her favorite superhero. But Jonathan is desperate to make amends, and at the top of his list is the woman who gave up everything for him and the little girl he hasn't yet met.
This Much is True
Katherine Owen - 2013
A ballerina who lies. A baseball player who believes her. Well, the truth changes everything. Tally Landon just wants to escape her tragic story if just for one night. She doesn't count on meeting Lincoln Presley, Stanford's baseball wonder, but plans to add him to her long list of one-night stands. That's the plan. Lying to him about her age and her name is just a part of her don't-get-emotionally-attached style. She doesn't count on being found out, nor on ever seeing Linc again or falling in love. Lincoln Presley's life is all mapped out. There is only baseball. With the major leagues circling their favorite prospect with a lucrative offer, he cannot afford to mess up. And, he doesn't; until he meets up with the girl he saved from the burning wreckage on the 101 on Valentine's Day months before. By the time he learns her real name and of all the lies she's told, he's in far too deep to ever really let her go. When fame and lies tear them apart, one truth remains; and fate, most definitely, has a different set of plans. This much is true.Author's Note: A coming of age story? Could be. A powerful love story? Most definitely. An unforgettable read? Most likely. Intended for mature audiences, ages 17+? Absolutely. This best selling new adult contemporary romance novel will take you on an emotional roller coaster ride and is the first book (which should really be two books) in the Truth In Lies series, but it can be read as a standalone. It is 432 pages long in 12-point type so carve out some time.
Bad Romeo
Leisa Rayven - 2014
She was the good girl actress. He was the bad boy about campus. But one fated casting choice for Romeo and Juliet changed it all. Like the characters they were playing, Cassie and Ethan's romance seemed destined. Until he broke her heart and betrayed her trust. Now the A-list heartthrob is back in her life and turning her world around. One touch at a time. Cast as romantic leads once again, they're forced to confront raw memories of the heartbreaking lows and pulse-pounding highs of their secret college affair. But they'll also discover that people who rub each other the wrong way often make the best sparks
Come Back to Me
Mila Gray - 2014
Jessa's finally following her dreams and Kit's discovered there's someone he'd sacrifice everything for.Jessa's prepared to wait for Kit no matter what. But when something more than distance and time rips them apart they're forced to decide whether what they have is really worth fighting for.
Perfectly Imperfect
Harper Sloan - 2015
A fairy tale that had girls pretending they were the fairest, the most beautiful, and the most entitled. A fairy tale most couldn’t grow out of turned my haunted childhood memories into a living nightmare. Girls who grew up believing that pile of garbage became the meanest of all ‘mean girls.’And those mean girls were right – it was a line meant for all the beautiful people in the world – and I knew the answer would never be me.The women with long legs, flat stomachs, and perfect chests.The type of women Kane Masters gravitated toward.Well, that’s definitely not Willow Tate.No. That will never be me.Because I’m completely imperfect.And … I hate myself.I have no idea what Kane could possibly see in someone like me when he could have them.
Beautiful Oblivion
Jamie McGuire - 2014
She has held down a job since before she could drive, and moved into her own apartment after her freshman year of college. Now tending bar at The Red Door, Cami doesn’t have time for much else besides work and classes, until a trip to see her boyfriend is cancelled, leaving her with a first weekend off in almost a year.Trenton Maddox was the king of Eastern State University, dating co-eds before he even graduated high school. His friends wanted to be him, and women wanted to tame him, but after a tragic accident turned his world upside down, Trenton leaves campus to come to grips with the crushing guilt. Eighteen months later, Trenton is living at home with his widower father, and works full-time at a local tattoo parlor to help with the bills. Just when he thinks his life is returning to normal, he notices Cami sitting alone at a table at The Red. As the baby sister of four rowdy brothers, Cami believes she’ll have no problem keeping her new friendship with Trenton Maddox strictly platonic. But when a Maddox boy falls in love, he loves forever—even if she is the only reason their already broken family could fall apart.
Hate to Love You
Elise Alden - 2014
But it turns out all those sex-ed teachers aren’t just trying to scare you. The faint positive on a budget pregnancy test sent me spinning, moments before meeting my sister’s snooty new fiancé.Shaking hands with upper-crusty James was like downing a triple shot of vodka. Dizzy with desire, confused by my body’s reaction, and shocked by the possessiveness flashing in his eyes, I deceived him that night and told the world at their wedding reception.The truth?I slept with my sister’s fiancé. Hot and sweaty, all night long in a room so dark he couldn’t tell I wasn’t her.The lie? Said fiancé is the father of my child. The one I signed over my rights to just before he was born.That was seven years ago. It’s time to come clean.95,000 words
Sloth
Ella James - 2015
– I am writing to express my gratitude for your gift. There are no sufficient words, but please accept my sincerest thank you. Yours, R. She writes me back. I didn’t expect that. She tells me she’s a lover of chicken pizza and video games, a hot sorority girl with the nickname Sloth. She wants to know something about me in return. She says I owe her. This is how she saves my life. She doesn’t even know it. We’ve never even seen each other. But I need a reason. Just one reason to continue. She becomes mine.The anonymity is good. She doesn’t need to know me, but I need her kindness. We both live our lives: a letter here, a post card there. For three years, I escape my demons. And then one day I’m pulled back in. I’ve resigned myself to what I know is coming. Until the girl I’m spanking gives her safe word: Sloth. And then the lie I’m living starts to unravel. --Sloth is a 500-page, 150,000-word stand alone novel with many twists, one huge secret, and a non-cliffhanger ending. It will wreck you, but you'll like it. BTW: Part of the fun of reading this book is trying to guess the secret. I would appreciate it if you could avoid spoilers in reviews and review headlines, so others will be able to enjoy the guessing game.*Sloth is part of a collection of stand-alones inspired by a sin, and centered around a terrible secret. The second stand-alone, My Heart for Yours, is inspired by the sin of murder, and is the story of Kellan's oldest brother, Barrett Drake. It's free via Kindle Unlimited and also for sale here in the Kindle Store.*This book was updated and re-edited in fall 2017, and now includes a bonus story.
Unteachable
Leah Raeder - 2013
The summer before senior year, she has plans: get into a great film school, convince her mom to go into rehab, and absolutely do not, under any circumstances, screw up her own future.But life has a way of throwing her plans into free-fall.When Maise meets Evan at a carnival one night, their chemistry is immediate, intense, and short-lived. Which is exactly how she likes it: no strings. But afterward, she can’t get Evan out of her head. He’s taught her that a hookup can be something more. It can be an unexpected connection with someone who truly understands her. Someone who sees beyond her bravado to the scared but strong girl inside.That someone turns out to be her new film class teacher, Mr. Evan Wilke.Maise and Evan resolve to keep their hands off each other, but the attraction is too much to bear. Together, they’re real and genuine; apart, they’re just actors playing their parts for everyone else. And their masks are slipping. People start to notice. Rumors fly. When the truth comes to light in a shocking way, they may learn they were just playing parts for each other, too.Smart, sexy, and provocative, Unteachable is about what happens when a love story goes off-script.
The Summer Remains
Seth King - 2015
The first is that due to a quickly worsening medical condition, she faces a risky surgery in three months’ time that may or may not end in her death. The second is that she would like to fall in love before then.As spring sinks into her namesake season on the Florida coastline, Summer plays the odds and downloads a new dating app - and after one intriguing message from a beautiful surfer named Cooper Nichols, it becomes clear that the story of what may be her last few months under the sun is about to be completely revised. All she has to do now is write something worth reading.Tender, honest, devastating and triumphant, The Summer Remains explores a very human battle being waged in a very digital age: the search for a love that will outlast this temporary borrowing of bones. In an era when many feel compelled to share and re-share anything about everything, prepare to feel a love so special, you will want to hug it close and make it yours forever.
Shuttergirl
C.D. Reiss - 2015
A girl paparazzi. What could go wrong?I never forgot her. Not for one minute. Not from the last time I saw her, at seventeen, to today. I measured all women against her and all women came up short.But being with her was unfeasible in high school, and it’s taboo now.I see her sometimes, but I’ve never spoken to her. She runs, or I run. We’re in the same town, on the same block, in the same building, and the gulf between us is just too wide to cross.Until tonight.He was my high school crush, back when I lived in a world that didn’t want me. He was the perfect boy, and I was the outcast kid from the other side of town. And when he held my hand I thought I could fit in, just a little. I thought I could be his and he could be mine.Then he left, and my life fell apart.Now we are the king and queen of opposite sides of Hollywood. And we haven’t spoken a word to each other.Until tonight.
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.
Worth the Wait
Claudia Connor - 2017
When he finds out just how badly, it will break his too.
Nick Walker found the love of his life when he was just nineteen.Found her.Loved her.Lost her.It's been ten years since Nick watched the only woman he ever loved walk out of his life. Now this FBI Special Agent will do anything to win her back.But it won’t be easy…Mia’s heart was shattered by Nick. They'll have to face their painful past if they want a future, including Mia's own secret about that day it all fell apart. Do you believe in second chances?
Take Care, Sara
Lindy Zart - 2013
Sara Walker knows firsthand what it feels like to have your reality ripped away, scrambled, and shoved back at you in an undone puzzle where pieces are missing and nothing fits. She's lost so much and is struggling to live and to find the strength to forgive herself for being human. With the help of Lincoln, her husband's brother, Sara realizes it's not about finding who she used to be, but about finding who she is now.You breathe in, you breathe out, and everything you know isn't gone, but reborn.
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"**