Book picks similar to
I Promise by Joan Johnston


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romance
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romance-contemporary

Don't Tell


Karen Rose - 2003
    But Mary Grace Winters knew the only way to save herself and her child from her abusive cop husband was to stage their own death. Now all that remains of their former life is at the bottom of a lake. Armed with a new identity in a new town, she and her son have found refuge hundreds of miles away. As Caroline Stewart, she has almost forgotten the nightmare she left behind nine years ago. She is even taking a chance on love with Max Hunter, a man with wounds of his own. But her past is about to collide with the present when her husband uncovers her trail and threatens her hard-won peace. Step by step, he's closing in on her—and everything and everyone she loves.

No Perfect Hero


Nicole Snow - 2019
    Heart of stone. Snarly mess next door.Send help before I'm prick-matized...My next big mistake has a name.Warren Ford. Best kept secret in this weird little town.An alpha's alpha. Spartan abs. Too blunt for everybody's good.Moody, broody, mysterious, and totally up in my business.I thought Heart's Edge would be safe.No two timing exes. No pink slips. No hulking, loud, inked up -Oh. Right.Leave it to a badass to bring the drama piping hot.Then he goes and saves a cat who means the world to my little niece.Making me a mushy little puddle of wishes.Wishing I didn't know his savage kiss like my own reflection.Or how erasing tears must be his superpower.Wishing I'd never poked his scary past.Or heard him growl when he swears it's not our future.There's no way this works.He's no white knight. I'm no princess.I need to go. He says stay.Even our sheet-ripping nights can't work miracles.Only an answer as the danger closes in.Is Warren my perfect slice of hero?From Wall Street Journal bestselling author Nicole Snow - a twisted small town love story. See how far a damaged alpha goes to claim the feisty damsel in distress under his skin. Full length romance novel with a rollicking Happily Ever After.

If You Must Know


Jamie Beck - 2020
    Amanda follows the rules—at the school where she works; in her community; and as a picture-perfect daughter, wife, and mother-to-be. Erin follows her heart—in love and otherwise—living a bohemian lifestyle on a shoestring budget and honoring her late father’s memory with a passion for music and her fledgling bath-products business.The sisters are content leading separate but happy lives in their hometown of Potomac Point until everything is upended by lies that force them to confront unsettling truths about their family, themselves, and each other. For sisters as different as these two, building trust doesn’t come easily—especially with one secret still between them—but it may be the only way to save their family.

Take Me Back


Meghan March - 2017
    It should have been perfect, but saying “I do” doesn’t guarantee a happily-ever-after.Two years later, I barely recognize either of us behind the walls we’ve built.It’s time to bring it full circle. Back to a tropical paradise. Back to find out if we can still make this work.I’m not willing to give her up, but to save us, I have to risk everything. Two damaged people. Countless secrets. The fight of our lives.We might be broken, but we’re not done.

The Inn at Eagle Point


Sherryl Woods - 2009
    Original.It's been years since Abby O'Brien Winters set foot in Chesapeake Shores. The Maryland town her father built has too many sad memories and Abby too few spare moments, thanks to her demanding Wall Street career, the crumbling of her marriage and energetic twin daughters. Then one panicked phone call from her youngest sister brings her racing back home to protect Jess's dream of renovating the charming Inn at Eagle Point.But saving the inn from foreclosure means dealing not only with her own fractured family, but also with Trace Riley, the man Abby left ten years ago. Trace can be a roadblock to her plans...or proof that second chances happen in the most unexpected ways.

Untraceable


Laura Griffin - 2009
    TURNS OUT, SHE'S NOT THE ONLY ONE. Private investigator Alexandra Lovell uses computer skills and cunning to help clients drop off the radar and begin new lives in safety. Melanie Bess, desperate to escape her abusive cop husband, was one of those clients. But when Melanie vanishes for real, Alex fears the worst, and sets out to discover what happened. Using every resource she can get her hands on -- including an elite team of forensic scientists known as the Tracers, and a jaded, sexy Austin PD detective -- Alex embarks on a mission to uncover the truth. As far as homicide cop Nathan Deveraux is concerned, no body means no case. But as much as he wants to believe that Alex's hunch about Melanie's murder is wrong, his instincts -- and their visceral attraction -- won't let him walk away. As a grim picture of what really happened begins to emerge, Nathan realizes this investigation runs deeper than they could ever have guessed. And each step nearer the truth puts Alex in danger of being the next to disappear....

Smooth-Talking Cowboy


Maisey Yates - 2018
    But first she needs to find a man who’s willing to play along. With his laid-back cowboy charm and knack for getting under her skin, Luke Hollister is an unlikely hero—but he wants her help convincing her father to sell him land, which means he needs her as much as she needs him.Luke likes his life—and his women—uncomplicated. So why does good girl Olivia heat his blood like no one else? She’s always been off-limits, but the more time they spend as Gold Valley’s hottest new “couple,” the more real it’s starting to feel. Luke was supposed to help her win back another man…not keep her in his arms. But now that he has her there, he’s not sure he’ll ever let go.

Twisted


Aleatha Romig - 2019
    It’s a world where knowledge means power, power money, and money everything. While I paid the ultimate price to have it all, it wasn’t my decision to give my life.. That doesn’t mean I ceased to exist, only to live.Going where the job takes me and living in the shadows, with deadly accuracy I utilize the skills inherent to me, not knowing from where they came, not recalling what I’d lost. And then I saw her.Laurel Carlson.I shouldn’t want her, desire her, or need her, yet with each sighting I know she is exactly what I have to have. Laurel has the ability to do what I thought was impossible. She sees what others don’t. My gut tells me that it’s a deadly mistake to change my plans and open my world to her. My mind says she’ll be repulsed by my twisted existence. None of that matters, because my body won’t take no for an answer. I’ve made dangerous mistakes before.This time, will the price be too high?From New York Times bestselling author Aleatha Romig comes a brand-new dark romance bringing us back to the same dangerous underworld as SECRETS. You do not need to read the Web of Sin trilogy to get caught in this new and intriguing saga, Tangled Web. TWISTED is book one of the TANGLED WEB trilogy which will continue in OBSESSED and conclude in BOUND.Have you been Aleatha’d?

Midnight Lily


Mia Sheridan - 2016
    At least he was before he lost it all... or more to the point, before he threw it all away. Now he's out of a job, out of the public's good graces, and perhaps just a little out of his mind. So when a friend offers up his remote lodge in the wilds of Colorado, giving Holden some time away to get his life back on track, he can hardly say no. The last thing he expects is to see a beautiful girl in the woods—one wearing a white, lace dress who appears in the moonlight, and leaves no footprints behind. Is she a dream? A ghost? A product of his muddled imagination? Or something entirely different? Midnight Lily is the haunting love story of two lost souls reaching for each other in the dark. A tale of healing, acceptance, and the worlds we create to protect our own hearts. It is a story of being lost, of being found, and of being in the place between. This is a stand-alone Sign of Love novel, inspired by Virgo Due to strong language and sexual content, this book is not intended for readers under the age of 18.

Sweet Anger


Erin St. Claire - 1985
    McKee branded him a thief in the media, then dared to send Kari roses to apologize for hurting her. Soon, her anger against McKee starts affecting her objective reporting and jeopardizing her job. Worse, the feelings that explode every time they meet are disturbing her peace of mind. But as Kari desperately searches for the truth about her husband's death, the man who destroyed his reputation -- the one she should really hate -- is awakening a passion that she has never known.

Scandal Never Sleeps


Shayla Black - 2015
    . .They are the Perfect Gentlemen of Creighton Academy: privileged, wealthy, powerful friends with a wild side. But a deadly scandal is about to tear down their seemingly ideal lives . . .Maddox Crawford’s sudden death sends Gabriel Bond reeling. Not only is he burying his best friend, he’s cleaning up Mad’s messes, including his troubled company. Grieving and restless, Gabe escapes his worries in the arms of a beautiful stranger. But his mind-blowing one-night stand is about to come back to haunt him . . .Mad groomed Everly Parker to be a rising star in the executive world. Now that he’s gone, she’s sure her job will be the next thing she mourns, especially after she ends up accidentally sleeping with her new boss. If only their night together hadn’t been so incendiary—or Gabe like a fantasy come true . . .As Gabe and Everly struggle to control the heated tension between them, they discover evidence that Mad’s death was no accident. Now they must bank their smoldering passions to hunt down a murderer—because Mad had secrets that someone was willing to kill for, and Gabe or Everly could be the next target . . .From the Trade Paperback edition.

Adam


Jennifer Ashley - 2015
    He settles in to heal at his family's ranch, where his four brothers, famous trick riders, train horses.Adam is stunned to find Bailey Farrell working there—she was the shy girl who'd helped Adam graduate high school so he could run off to Hollywood. Except the budding Bailey, with whom Adam had a brief but intense affair, has blossomed into a beautiful woman. Now the sparks that had once ignited between them threaten to explode.Adam is beaten-up, broken-down, and has lost his nerve—the stunt that injured him also killed his best friend. The only one he can turn to is Bailey, but will Bailey, who has come back to Riverbend to lick her wounds after a painful divorce, be willing to help him again?Book 1 of Riding Hard. A 230-page (approx) novel—20 chapters, plus bonus sneak peek at Grant's book and a recipe for Mrs. Ward's Harvest Pie.

The Christmas Wedding


James Patterson - 2011
    Since her husband died three years ago, Gaby's four children have drifted apart, each consumed by the turbulence of their own lives. They haven't celebrated Christmas together since their father's death, but when Gaby announces that she's getting married--and that the groom will remain a secret until the wedding day--she may finally be able to bring them home for the holidays.But the wedding isn't Gaby's only surprise--she has one more gift for her children, and it could change all their lives forever. With deeply affecting characters and the emotional twists of a James Patterson thriller, The Christmas Wedding is a fresh look at family and the magic of the season.

Steel Resolve


B.J. Daniels - 2019
    How could she know her words would bring the gorgeous cowboy back to Big Sky, Montana--with an unstable and dangerous stalker following close behind? Now Chase wants to prove that their love deserves a second chance. And this time, nothing will keep him from his heart's desire...not even a killer.

Midnight Sins


Lora Leigh - 2011
    He was a kid from the wrong side of the tracks who fought through life the only way he knew how: with his fists. But Rafer never meant to bring any harm to Cambria Flannigan, the girl—the lover—whose sister he’d been unable to save… Cami lost her sister in the brutal murders that rocked her hometown so many years ago. Some still believe that Rafe, along with his friends Logan and Crowe, were involved. But how could Rafe—who haunted her girlish dreams, then her adult fantasies—be a killer? That is the question that keeps her up at night. Now a prosperous ranch owner, Rafe is trying to build a new legacy for himself. It’s finally time to settle the score with Cami—and make her his. But old wounds open up with a series of new murders…and each of the victims has a connection to Rafe, Logan, and Crowe. With suspicion, fear, and loyalty tearing her apart, Cami is once again at risk of losing her heart—or her life.