Book picks similar to
Mending Fences by Lucy Francis


romance
contemporary-romance
contemporary
freebie

Across the Creek


Jeremy Asher - 2012
    An unlikely childhood romance between a poor boy and a wealthy girl began the day Jesse decided to do the impossible and cross the creek. A love was born, one that would become their shelter, protecting them from the storms of their lives, until the day Jesse witnessed his mother’s murder, forcing him to leave his childhood home…and first love. Ten years later, life has finally gotten better for Jesse. He has a loving family, a charming pet shop to run, and one semester left before graduating with a degree in architecture. Everything is great, until the day fate intervenes and his long-lost love walks into his shop and back into his life.Sarah, engaged to a budding attorney, is struggling to keep everything together. Her father, diagnosed with terminal cancer, is running out of time. Sarah races to build their dream business while planning her wedding in time for her father to walk her down the aisle.Their brief encounter starts a series of events that neither Jesse nor Sarah expects. After a decade of running, Jesse is now forced to face the demons from his past, while Sarah has to choose between her handsome attorney and her first love. Just when they think love has given them a second chance, Jesse is faced with an impossible decision, one that will change their lives forever.Across the Creek is the first in a 2-book series. Beneath the Willow is the second.

Love By Accident


Michelle Beattie - 2011
    Overwhelmed by guilt, Lauren leaves town, leaves Matt and lives a life as a shadow of the woman she used to be.Matt Skarpinksy overcame all odds and learned to walk again. Now, after tracking Lauren down, he moves to Jasper to confront the woman he’s always loved. Why did she leave him when he most needed her? What isn’t she telling him about the accident he doesn’t remember? And, just as their friendship turns to love, will Gil always stand between them?Well, Matt’s about to find out as Gil, in the form of a ghost, guides Matt toward what really happened four years ago. But will the truth set Matt and Lauren free, or tear them apart once and for all?

A Needful Heart


J.M. Madden - 2012
    He’s not relationship material, but he doesn’t expect it to get that far. He just wants to talk to her, man to woman, and put himself out of his misery once and for all. Things never go as planned, though, and when fantasy crashes and burns into reality, Gina pays the price.Gina doesn’t blame Matt for her injury, but she is appreciative when he steps into her crazy life to help out. Proximity fires sudden attraction between them and Gina can’t believe she’s overlooked the sexy carpenter for this long. Tattooed and intimidating, he’s not the type she’s normally drawn to, but something about him tugs at her heartstrings.When an explosive situation develops and they have to save a little boy, Matt loses control of his tightly held anger. Though his heart aches, Matt walks away, both for Gina’s safety and his own sanity. It’s up to Gina to convince him love can heal any heartache.

Kiss In The Dark


Tiffany White - 1994
    Expecting a nice little old lady, Brittany is shocked to instead find notorious playboy Ethan Moss. Temporarily blinded, Ethan was in hiding.It is the perfect opportunity for a shy book editor to live out her fantasy of having a wild fling with the man of her erotic dreams.But how will she bear it when the fantasy ends and Ethan no longer needs her?

The Doctor Wears A Stetson


Anne Marie Novark - 2010
    She lost her heart that night, but his plans didn't change. He left their small town to pursue his dreams.Seventeen years later, a trip home leads Cameron McCade back to Salt Fork, Texas and the newly widowed Jessie Devine. Since his return, the fire between them burns as hot as ever. Can they take up where they left off? Can Jessie risk her heart again?

Broken


Kelly Elliott - 2013
    With no running water or electricity in their home, no parents around to protect them, they quickly learned how to survive and depend only on each other.When a tragic accident takes Mike away from Layton, and the only other person that he ever let into his heart walked away from him, leaving his heart shattered, Layton focuses all of his time and energy into the ranch he and his brother dreamed of. He makes a vow to himself to never let love in again. The last thing Layton needed or wanted was more heartache.Whitley Reynolds grew up in a privileged home in upstate New York. When she landed the star football player in high school no one was surprised, not even Whitley. She dreamed of a life with Roger living in New York City and happily followed him there. The first time Roger hit her for arguing with him about a dinner party, she forgave him. The more it happened, the further Whitley withdrew from her friends and family. One fateful day things go to far. Whitley makes a promise to herself and finds the courage to do the one thing she thought she’d never be able to do.Fleeing with her best friend Courtney, Whitley was determined to put her past behind her and start a new life in the small town of Llano, Texas, where no one would ever find out about her past.Will they both ever learn to trust and love again, or will their pasts come back to haunt them, keeping them both alone and…Broken.

Body Double


Alane Hudson - 2013
    Two years ago, her fiancé failed to show up on the day of their wedding, forever changing her outlook on marriage. Now she’s being offered enough money to solve her financial woes in exchange for acting as proxy for another woman—Andrea's double—in her marriage to handsome and rich Blake Thomas. All Andrea has to do is play the part of the bride in the wedding and then share a two-week honeymoon in Hawaii with Blake.Old fears of being jilted resurface as the wedding day approaches. But after she meets the dashing groom, her ability to distance herself from the job becomes more challenging every day. Will Andrea be able to cash out of this arrangement with her heart intact when Blake’s new wife claims her place at his side?

Flawless


Jan Moran - 2014
    After her parents are killed in an automobile accident, she becomes the sole provider for her younger twin sisters and her grandmother. Instead of attending college with her friends as planned, she rises to the challenge to guide and expand her family's business. She is in the midst of a critical international expansion into Asia when her carefully organized life begins to unravel.Verena is shaken to discover that her fiancé, Derrick, might be behind a scheme to take over her growing company. While she struggles to save the business that means everything to her, she meets Lance, an executive chef at the Beverly Hills Hotel. She encounters this intriguing man again while on a business trip to Paris, and soon gains a new perspective on love, romance, and relationships.When the unthinkable occurs and Verena's world collapses, her friends rally around her, among them Scarlett Sandoval, a top intellectual property attorney; Dahlia DuBois, a perfumer from an esteemed line of French perfumers; and Fianna Fitzgerald, a fashion designer with her own trendy boutique.Ultimately, Verena learns that truth, family, friendship, and love are the unshakable pillars of life. But will she get a second chance in business, or in love?Flawless is the first book in the Love, California series. Follow a group of smart, stylish, entrepreneurial friends as they navigate the turbulences of modern life in the business of beauty. Set in Beverly Hills with action flung across the globe, this engaging series features gutsy, determined best friends, and how they manage to live the lives of their dreams.

His Princess


Abigail Graham - 2016
    The Crown Prince took me prisoner. You read that right. Crown Prince. Castle, throne, the whole nine yards. The monarch of a totalitarian regime has locked me up in his fortress, and he demands that I marry him... and provide him with an heir!Me. The girl from Jersey. Trust me, I'm no princess. He's the last man I'd choose for my prince.He's an arrogant jerk and has a stick up his...you know where. But that dark hair, those deep blue eyes, those strong arms, those perfect abs, that humongous... sword. I can't stand him, but I can't take my eyes off him.I'm not marrying him and I'm definitely not his subject. If he wants me to be his princess, he better treat me like one or he can take his crown and shove it.

My Savior Forever


Vicki Green - 2013
    At a young age she was placed in Foster care that moved her around from one place to the other. Finally being freed at 18, she was left with no money and nowhere to go until she finds a small town in Kansas where she can start over.Little did she know her life was going to be uprooted again when she is kidnapped and brutally raped.Jesse is considered HOT in most women’s eyes, but has little time for Romance. While searching for his Mother’s killers, he witnesses a young girl being kidnapped. He now faces decisions that he must make quickly.Will Jesse rescue Cassie? Will Cassie ever find the happiness she longs for?*Due to strong language and sexual content, this book is not intended for readers under the age of 18.

Save The Best For Last (Gen/Liv/Cesca Book 1)


Bettye Griffin - 2009
     THE LAW AND THE LADY . . . Graphic artist Genevieve L'Esperance has got it all together, even by tough New York standards: A thriving career, a spacious Upper East Side condo, even a sort-of boyfriend named Barry. But the one thing she *doesn't* have is something Americans take for granted . . . and if she's found out it'll mean the end of life as she knows it. And now the law is closing in on her . . . THE LADY AND THE LAWYER . . . Gen's friend Barry comes up with a solution and quickly moves her to a rented room uptown while he finalizes arrangements to keep her safe. While Gen is grateful to him, she can't help feeling that she's sold out her future. But then Barry's master plan gets delayed, and when she meets Dexter Gray, the struggling law student who occupies the other room on the floor, things *really* start to get complicated . . .

Swipe Right for a Cowboy


Karen Foley - 2020
    She needs the kind of man who can make her lying, cheating, no-good ex-boyfriend insane with jealousy. The same ex-boyfriend who is now engaged to her sister, and whose extravagant wedding she must suffer through in just three weeks’ time.She selects the perfect candidate through an online dating app, but instead of the smooth, sophisticated software magnate she expects, a rugged cowboy shows up instead. He’s the complete opposite of everything Emma is looking for. In fact, he’s exactly the kind of man she swore to her Texas ranching family she would never fall for.Which makes Cort Channing kinda perfect. Only before the weekend is over, Emma finds herself wishing she could keep her fake boyfriend, spurs, chaps, and all. Can this committed city girl take the biggest chance of her life, and swipe right for a cowboy?

Love Letters


Geraldine Solon - 2011
    The sparks between Chloe and Josh fly, but Richard provides safety, financial security. Should she follow her heart or her head? The answer comes in a surprise twist. While cleaning her attic, she stumbles upon love letters written to her estranged mother forty years ago from a man she loved. When Chloe secretly brings them together again and sees how much time they’ve lost, she is challenged not to make the same mistake her mother made. Will Chloe opt for security or will she risk her heart and marry her true love?

The House on the Beach


Linda Barrett - 2004
    A script that doesn’t play well for a single woman. Happy childhood summers in Pilgrim Cove pull her back to town and a stay in Sea View House. Matthew Parker, his two young sons and his dad have shared a home since both men were widowed several years ago. And now, no women are needed in the Parker domain. But when Matt meets Laura, he discovers that his home might be missing something vital — a woman’s love. Can these two determined people figure out what’s important and take a chance on a new beginning?

Charmed by the Bartender


Piper Rayne - 2017
    Probably not in retrospect. In my defense I had just moved back into my grandparent’s house, I’d lost my dream job, and a guy on Tinder had stood me up. It was like life had suddenly stamped ‘LOSER’ on my forehead. So when the guy behind the bar started giving me THE look…you know, the one that promised I’d be screaming his name into the wee hours of the morning? When that guy also has the perfect amount of scruff on his chiseled chin, biceps bulging out of his t-shirt, and a cocky grin you knew he’d earned in the sack…when he gives you that look, you don’t bother to figure out what your six degrees of separation are. You jump on that horse and ride it! Pun fully and completely intended. And accurate by the way. I fully admit to feeling sorry for myself and acting impulsively, but by the time I’d figured out WHO the bartender was, I was already falling for him.