Book picks similar to
The Bar Next Door by Katia Rose


romance
contemporary-romance
contemporary
new-adult

Kiss Me Not


Emma Hart - 2019
    Not a lick. Not at all. Nuh-uh-freakin’-uh.I do care that he’s doing it six feet away from me behind a gaudy velvet curtain—making him my competition in this year’s kissing contest.Why do I care, you ask? Because I’ve had an unfortunate crush on the insufferable idiot since I was sixteen years old, but I also know it’s never going to happen.He’s the Creek Falls bachelor to die for, and I’m the Creek Falls racoon lady who puts peanut butter sandwiches out for them every night.I’m not going to let him break my four-year-long reign—no matter how many times he breaks the rules and slides the curtain across to do the one thing he’s not allowed to:Kiss me.

King of Code


C.D. Reiss - 2017
    Step by step, and for every step she'll unlock a piece of his system.Kissing unlocks a partition.Touching unlocks another.Using your mouth to…How far is this crazy woman going to go?They hate each other. They can't keep away from each other. They're decoding each other with every step, until all Harper's secrets are revealed, and Taylor risks losing his heart as well as his company.

The Wrong Brother


Alexis Winter - 2020
    Rock bottom has a basement—and I just found it.I’ve been head over heels, write it in my diary over and over in love with my best friend Preston Young, pretty much my entire life.You’d think after decades of hiding my feelings I’d want to reveal my lifelong secret love to my best friend privately, but NOPE.As the queen of ridiculously grand romantic gestures,I chose a Jerry Springer style television reveal.I’ll spare you the anxiety inducing details and just say, it didn’t...work out the way I thought it would.Cue crawling into a deep dark hole of wine, ice cream and sad ass movies.I’m never showing my face again.Okay, so maybe he stormed off the stage and rejected me on live television.And maybe when his older brother came over to comfort me...I kissed him.So much for getting my sh*t together.It was just a kiss.And then a few more.And then so many toe-curling O’s my brains are permanently scrambled.One minute I’m pining for my best friend,The next I’m falling for his brother,And to make matters worse...now my best friend thinks he might be in love with me?I didn’t know it was even possible to screw up this bad.Am I destined to make one giant laughable mistake out of my life,Or did I miss what’s been right in front of me this entire time?

Temporary Bliss


B.J. Harvey - 2013
    Temporary feelings. Until a late-night encounter creates a permanent longing for bliss of another kind… Makenna Lewis cringes at any mention of the word commitment. Her past experience with the L-word did little more than teach her that anything involving feelings is a dangerous path indeed. She no longer wants or needs a relationship, but she still enjoys men. Even if her attachment to them is only temporary.That is, until a late night encounter with the delicious Daniel Winters turns her preconceived notion of commitment completely on its head. He makes her feel things she vowed to never feel again, and when Daniel pushes for more than she’s willing to give, she falters.What do you do when something that you’ve known to be so wrong in the past feels so damn right in the present?If you’re Mac, you run and hide.Lucky for Mac, Daniel isn’t the type of man who takes no for an answer.

His Banana


Penelope Bloom - 2018
    Seriously. The guy is like a potassium addict. Of course, I touched it. If you want to get technical, I actually put it in my mouth. I chewed it up, too... I even swallowed.I know. Bad, bad, girl.Then I saw him, and believe it or not, choking on a guy's banana does not make the best first impression. I should backtrack a little here. Before I ever touched a billionaire’s banana, I got my first real assignment as a business reporter. This wasn’t the same old bottom-of-the-barrel assignment I always got. I wasn’t going to interview a garbage man about his favorite routes or write a piece on how picking up dog poop from people’s yards is the next big thing. Nope. None of the above, thank you very much.This was my big break. My chance to prove I wasn’t a bumbling, clumsy, accident-prone walking disaster. I was infiltrating Galleon Enterprises to follow up on suspicions of corruption. Cue the James Bond music.I could do this. All I had to do was land the position as an intern and nail my interview with Bruce Chamberson.Forget the fact that he looked like somebody carved him out of liquid female desire, then sprinkled on some "makes men question their sexuality" for good measure. I needed to make this work. No accidents. No disasters. No clumsiness. All I needed to do was hold it together for less than an hour.Fast forward to the conference room before the interview, and that's where you would find me with a banana in my hand. A banana that literally had his name on it in big, black sharpie. It was a few seconds later when he walked in and caught me yellow-handed. A few seconds after that was when he hired me. Yeah. I know. It didn't seem like a good sign to me, either.

One S'more Summer


Beth Merlin - 2017
    She knows it’s wrong and it has to stop, but she hasn’t been able to let go ever since they all met on the bus to summer camp back when they were 7 years old. The same week that her best friends finally announce their wedding date, Gigi loses her high-profile design job. With all of her dreams unravelling, she runs to the last place she remembers being happy.Taking the Head Counselor position at Camp Chinooka, Gigi hopes to reclaim the joy she felt as a camper, but the job isn’t all campfire songs and toasting marshmallows. Gigi’s girls are determined to make her look bad in front of the boys’ Head Counselor—the sexy but infuriating Perry—and every scrap of the campground is laced with memories.When Gigi finally realizes she can’t escape the present by returning to her past, she’s forced to reexamine her life and find the true meaning of love. But will she be able to mend fences and forgive herself before she loses her one real shot at happiness?The Campfire Series1. One S’more Summer—Releases May 30, 2017!2. S'more to Lose—Coming December 2017!

Obsidian Liquor


Scarlett Dawn - 2014
    But when she’s caught red-handed by a man who kills for a living, her enmity rapidly turns to fear. Daniil Kozar isn't a man to trifle with, and Elizabeth is forced to strike a deal with the mafia king. Her every action is watched, and she needs to decide how to handle the gun-toting criminal--and his seductive charm.Daniil may be the devil her father warned about. Or he may be the sensual awakening Elizabeth never knew she needed. Somewhere, Elizabeth's dad is screaming a prayer...*Originally published in The Obsidian Collection**This work contains sexual material intended for readers 18+*

Oops, I've Fallen


Max Monroe - 2021
    Oops, I’ve fallen, and my heart doesn’t want to come back.”But, holy bingo night, is my attraction to the sexy, broody businessman so much more complicated than the chorus of a song.His dad lives right next to my mom, and after the two of them suffered an unexplained accident while taking down holiday decorations, both Ryan and I were forced to become the only thirtysomething residents of Sunny Creek Village Independent Senior Living Community.Temporarily moving in might seem like overkill for a fractured tailbone and a severely pulled groin muscle, but believe me, when your mom is as wild as mine and your dad is as cantankerous as Ryan’s, they need supervision to ensure they stick to doctor’s orders.Constantly thrown together by the antics of our crazy parents and the tough-as-nails community enforcer, Betty Matthews, Ryan and I formed an alliance for the sole purpose of survival.But I never expected to be so interested in finding out what he was hiding beneath his grumpy, serious demeanor. More than that, I never dreamed what I found would be the kind of man women sell their souls to the devil for.Unfortunately, our little one-hit wonder on the airwaves has more to say before it comes to an end.Although, finishing the outro to this song is a real doozy...Tell me…what lyric rhymes with Oops, I’ve fallen for my future stepbrother?

Magnificent Bastard


Lili Valente - 2016
    Sometimes, you need a Magnificent Bastard.Face it, ladies: love sucks and then you cry...while your ex rides off into the sunset banging your best friend. But why let a break-up end in tears when it can end with sweet revenge? Enter Magnificent Bastard Consulting and me, chief executive bastard. I've got it all--looks, brains, a heart of gold, and the killer instinct guaran-damn-teed to make your ex regret the day he said goodbye.With the help of my virtual assistant, I've built an empire giving broken-hearted women the vengeance they deserve, while keeping myself far from the front lines of the heart. Life is a bowl of cherries, until my virtual assistant shows upon my real doorstep for the first time, begging for a Magnificent Bastard intervention of her own.  Damn... She's a bona fide sex kitten. I pride myself on being a true pro, but pretending to be her lover soon leads to giving it to her good, hard, fast, and up against the wall. And somewhere between getting balls deep in my sweet and sexy assistant and watching her ex beg for a second chance, I break every last one of my damn rules--professional and personal.So what's my next move? Fight for the girl who makes me want to get up on a white horse and ride to her rescue, or stay a Magnificent Bastard to the end? Warning: MAGNIFICENT BASTARD is a stand-alone erotic romance told from the hero's point of view. No cliffhanger. Lots of dirty talk. A Sexy Flirty Dirty Standalone Romance

Love, Comment, Subscribe


Cathy Yardley - 2021
    Now, at twenty-eight, she feels like she’s finally on the cusp of succeeding as a beauty influencer—if she can hit five million subscribers, brands will take notice and she could get her own makeup line.Fellow Nerd Herd alum Tobin Bui has had a lot of success as a YouTube gamer. But the road to online stardom has been rocky. First, he disappointed his parents by dropping out of college, and now, after years of pranks, skits, and playthroughs, he’s struggling to come up with new content to satisfy his ever-growing fan base. His agents say he needs cross-audience appeal, a new twist.When Nerd Herd frenemy Lily approaches Tobin about teaming up to do a video to bolster her brand and reinvigorate his, he agrees. But when their first collab video goes viral, their relationship heats up too. With the whole internet watching, will these two former misfits finally realize they’re perfect together?

Melting Steel


C.M. Seabrook - 2017
    Stuck up. Arrogant. The kind of guy who hasn't had to work for a damn thing his entire life. Even his name, Henry Caldwell III, reeks of privilege.And me? Well, let's just say I come with more baggage than a 747 and enough bullsh*t to fuel it.The problem is I want him. Crave him. It's the kind of pure, all-consuming, panty-soaking lust that can make a girl forget why she swore off men to begin with.He thinks I need saving. But this isn't a Cinderella story, and he's no Prince Charming. At least not mine. I learned long ago that trusting any man with my heart isn't just dangerous - it can be deadly.HENRYEmotionally crippled, smart-mouthed, and sexy as sin, the woman is nothing I need and everything I want.Despite her hard edges, tattoos, and reckless spirit, I know she craves more. More from life, more from love, more from me.She thinks I'm just a trust fund brat and maybe she's right. But I've got secrets of my own. I know what darkness is. I've lived it - faced the pit of hell and barely survived.The question is, am I strong enough to face it again? Because if I'm ever going to break through the steel wall she's placed around her heart, it'll mean facing demons we both thought were long dead and buried.

Bentley


Melanie Moreland - 2018
    Their pasts dictate the men they are, but their present shapes their future. What happens when these men meet the one person they are destined to be with? Can they fight their feelings and walk away? Or will they each succumb and learn the sweet agony of love?BentleyThe leader of the group. He is uptight, formal, and cold. Rigid and set in his ways, always following the same path. Until the day, he stumbles upon her. Emmy.She brings with her spontaneity and light. The world she lives in is so different from his, yet he cannot control the draw to her. Nor can he explain the way she makes him feel. Happy. Protective. Loved.

Snowed in with Grumpy


Olivia Noble - 2021
    He only growls.I’m not intimidated. My boss sent me to deep backwoods Vermont to get Garland McGrumpypants—I mean McGuinty, to sell some of his lucrative landholdings on Silver Mountain. And I NEED this commission.McGrumpy only likes kids, animals, and his giant axe… he definitely doesn’t like me.When our meeting goes horribly wrong, and an avalanche causes my car to be nearly crushed under a pile of snow… I’m rescued by the massive hermit himself. No cell service, no road access, no escape. I am STUCK with Grumpy, and this Christmas couldn’t get any worse!GarlandHer name is Ava, and she’s the unluckiest woman I’ve ever met. She spills every drink she touches all over herself, she trips over her shadow… and somehow, when she comes around, the whole mountain falls apart.So why do I have a strange urge to protect her and take care of her?Damn this crazy woman. She will be the death of me.A sweet and steamy holiday romance with a guaranteed HEA!

Masterson


Lisa Lang Blakeney - 2015
    That was my first mistake…A dangerous professional fixer. A sweet computer nerd. A passion that borders on the possessive. An attraction that’s completely off limits to explore… After Elizabeth Hill is brutally attacked in her apartment by an intruder and then unceremoniously dumped by her ex-boyfriend, she moves in with family that she barely knows for protection. All she remembers about her aunt’s stepson, Roman, is that he was the moody, mean boy who played a cruel trick on her when she was just six years old; but soon learns that he is now a complex and multi-layered man who has the ability to protect her, ignite her, and challenge her like no one ever has before. Wealthy Roman Masterson makes his fortune by fixing celebrity problems for big money and by any means necessary. He is a foul-mouthed, bad-tempered, manwhore who doesn’t have the time or inclination to babysit a gullible little brat from the suburbs…until he unknowingly spots her in the middle of a crowded dance floor and decides right then and there to claim every one of her orgasms from that moment on. Little does he know that the woman he’s laid claim to is the same girl he’s been sworn to protect. Author Note: Please note that this book was previously published under the title of Cousins and ends on a cliffhanger.

Stuck-Up Suit


Vi Keeland - 2016
    It started out like any other morning on the train.Until I became mesmerized by the guy sitting across the aisle.He was barking at someone on his phone like he ruled the world.Who did the stuck-up suit think he was...God?Actually, he looked like a God. That was about it.When his stop came, he got up suddenly and left. So suddenly, he dropped his phone on the way out.I might have picked it up.I might have gone through all of his photos and called some of the numbers.I might have held onto the mystery man's phone for days―until I finally conjured up the courage to return it.When I traipsed my ass across town to his fancy company, he refused to see me.So, I left the phone on the empty desk outside the arrogant jerk's office.I might have also left behind a dirty picture on it first though.I didn't expect him to text back.I didn't expect our exchanges to be hot as hell.I didn't expect to fall for him―all before we even met.The two of us couldn't have been any more different.Yet, you know what they say about opposites.When we finally came face to face, we found out opposites sometimes do more than attract―we consumed each other.Nothing could have prepared me for the ride he took me on. And I certainly wasn't prepared for where I'd wind up when the ride was over.All good things must come to an end, right?Except our ending was one I didn't see coming.