Book picks similar to
Before Us... There Was Him by Lou Stock


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contemporary

Seeing Stars


J. Sterling - 2014
    Madison Myers is a hard working talent agent assistant thrust into the spotlight one day after Walker pulls her on stage during one of his concerts. She tries to stay away from him, but he keeps chasing her. She is strong in her resolve and he is relentless in his pursuit. The question is... WHY?!?! Tabloid Headline Reads: Walker Rhodes pulls woman on stage during LA concert and serenades her with stars in his eyes and we watched as the sparks flew! But just who is this mystery woman who has stolen Walker's heart? And will she be the one to finally tie down our favorite womanizing gambler? Our readers poll: 80% say no way! The other 20% wish they were her!Read more inside...

Accidentally Matched


Cathryn Brown - 2020
    She needs a ride. There’s just one catch ... Rachel has a mission: get to her brother in small town Alaska and bring him home. She has a job to return to as soon as possible. Even a handsome pilot can’t distract her, and romance isn’t on her schedule.Noah flies for work and play. Ready for a vacation, he accidentally ends up in an adventure with Rachel. His mother’s been busy matchmaking, but Noah and Rachel may have a way to get her to stop. If they can keep their hearts out of it.If you enjoy Hallmark movies, Alaska, and sweet romance with a dash of fun, Accidentally Matched and the Alaska Matchmakers series may be right for you. Pre-order today to get your copy of Accidentally Matched. You may have met Jonah’s brother, Adam, in Crazy About Alaska. Adam has four brothers and each will find love in the Alaska Matchmakers Romances.This is a standalone book which is part of a series. It’s clean and wholesome with no sex or swearing. The author is from Alaska, so she knows the real Alaska.

Dean (Morgan Brothers #1)


Margaret McHeyzer - 2021
    She’s tortured by her history. Will their timid bond flourish into a lifelong love? Dean Morgan is an everyday hero. A well-respected firefighter in a small community, he believes everyone deserves compassion. So when he daringly rescues an unconscious teen from a burning building, the boy’s troubled mother immediately sets his heart ablaze. Joanne Hamilton fears she’ll never escape her imprisoned husband’s abuse. But when the handsome ladder-man plucks her son from the jaws of death, she’s surprised when his presence stirs more than gratitude. And when she witnesses the gorgeous guy’s kind soul in action, she feels her shattered spirit might just have a chance to mend. As Dean forms a fatherly connection with the boy, his protective instincts naturally pull them all closer. But when Joanne’s toxic baggage rears its ugly head, she’s terrified her budding attraction isn’t the only thing in danger. Can they survive a dark past and fan the flames of happiness? Dean is the touching first tale in The Morgan Brothers contemporary romance series. If you like healing hearts, tender embraces, and relearning trust, then you’ll adore Margaret McHeyzer’s uplifting story.

The Sweet Gum Tree


Katherine Allred - 2005
    But nothing was ordinary about the day she met ten-year-old Nick Anderson, a boy from the wrong side of town. Armed with only a tin of bee balm and steely determination, Alix treats the raw evidence of a recent beating that mars his back, an act that changes both of their lives forever.Through childhood disasters and teenage woes they cling together as friendship turns to love. The future looks rosy until the fateful night when Frank Anderson, Nick's abusive father, is shot to death in his filthy trailer.Suddenly, Nick is gone—leaving Alix alone, confused and pregnant. For the next fifteen years she wrestles with the pain of Nick's abandonment, a bad marriage, her family and friends. But finally, she's starting to get her life back together. Her divorce is almost final, her business is booming, and she's content if not happy—until the day she looks up and sees Nick standing across the counter. He's back…and he's not alone.Once again Alix is plunged into turmoil and pain as Nick tries to win her love, something she resists with all her strength. Only one thing might break the protective wall she's built around her emotions—the truth about Frank Anderson's death. But when that truth comes out and those walls crumble, neither Alix nor Nick is prepared for the emotional explosion that could destroy as well as heal.

The Truth About Secrets


L.P. Dover - 2021
    Dover brings you a sexy, contemporary romance mixed with laugh-out-loud comedy about two past lovers who want nothing more than to seek revenge on the other. However, they end up getting way more than they bargained for. Clara and Zac thought they were headed for their happily ever after, until a break-up slathered in betrayal left them both jaded and vindictive. Twelve years have passed since they left Wyoming, and during that time Clara found her calling at a prestigious PR firm in California while Zac moved to New Orleans to join his Broussard cousins at River Enterprises. They thought they could forget each other and move on... until a local charity auction in their hometown of Snowy Creek sets Zac up for the ultimate revenge. If he wins, Clara will be at his mercy, forced to work for him for one full week. Tantalized by the sweet taste of revenge, he eagerly ups the ante to claim his prize. But what starts out as a week of filthy manual labor and bitter rivalry leads to a shocking revelation. Someone has been plotting for over a decade to keep Clara and Zac apart. Can the pair band together to uncover who? Or will their rift from the past continue to ruin their chance at a blissful future?

Inseparable


Siobhan Davis - 2018
    An unbreakable bond. One tragic event that shatters everything. It all started with the boys next door… Devin and Ayden were my best friends. We were practically joined at the hip since age two. When we were kids, we thought we were invincible, inseparable, that nothing or no one could come between us. But we were wrong. Everything turned to crap our senior year of high school. Devin was turning into a clone of his deadbeat lowlife father—fighting, getting wasted, and screwing his way through every girl in town. I’d been hiding a secret crush on him for years. Afraid to tell him how I felt in case I ruined everything. So, I kept quiet and slowly watched him self-destruct with a constant ache in my heart. Where Devin was all brooding darkness, Ayden was the shining light. Our star quarterback with the bright future whom everyone loved. But something wasn’t right. He was so guarded, and he wouldn’t let me in. When Devin publicly shamed me, Ayden took my side, and our awesome-threesome bond was severed. The split was devastating. The heartbreak inevitable. Ayden and I moved on with our lives, but the pain never lessened, and Devin was never far from our thoughts. Until it all came to a head in college, and one eventful night changed everything. Now, I’ve lost the two people who matter more to me than life itself. Nothing will ever be the same again. A standalone new adult contemporary romance with a happy ending. Only suitable for readers aged eighteen and older due to mature content and possible triggers.

Fisher's Light


Tara Sivec - 2015
    For one moment, I actually thought you’d changed your mind, that all the awful things you said to me were just your way of coping after everything you’d been through. I was still here, Fisher. I was still here, holding my breath, waiting for you to come back even though you told me you never would. You always said you’d find your way back to me. Out of all the lies you’ve told me, this one hurts the most. Enclosed you will find the signed divorce papers, as requested. I hope you find what you’re looking for. I’m sorry it wasn’t me. LucyTo get the ending they want, Lucy and Fisher will have to go back to the beginning. Through the good and the bad, they’ll be reminded of why they always made their way back to each other, and why this time, one way or another, it will be the last time.

Before She Was Mine


Amelia Wilde - 2018
    Don’t touch. Those were the rules. It took one heartbeat to fall in love with my best friend’s little sister. One more to know I could never, ever let it show. So I broke her heart and left her behind to go to war. She wasn’t supposed to walk back into the wreckage of my life. Now my Sunny is all grown up. All woman. She has eyes like liquid heat, curves that beg for my hands, and a mouth that’s hungry for mine. I shouldn’t look. I shouldn’t touch. But the rules are no match for one hot, reckless kiss. And this time, I’m not walking away.

Fighting Fate


Linda Kage - 2013
    But Logan Xander isn't quite the murderer she's always believed him to be. A day hasn't passed since the tragedy that Logan doesn't wish he could go back and undo everything. It doesn't take Paige long to realize he's suffered as much as she has. Forgiving him for ruining her life might not be so impossible after all. But when she actually starts to like him and realizes he likes her in return, their true anguish begins.

Honeymoon Angel


Suzanne Halliday - 2017
    Needing closure nearly a decade after their clandestine affair crashed and burned, Angie returns home and sets off a chain of reactions that shakes up Family Justice when the truth finally comes out. Fast-forward one year to a comically packaged happily ever after that’s queued up and raring to go now that they are officially Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan.What better way to start off their new life as a married couple than with a baby-making, naked honeymoon on a lush, private, tropical isle? Parker and Angelina Together at last and up to the hot and steamy antics you’ve come to expect from them!

Lucas


Jay McLean - 2016
    He also has an older sister, five younger brothers and a father who relies on him to make sure those brothers don’t kill each other.  His saving grace? Lois “Laney” Sanders, a girl he started to fall in like with when he was just eleven. A girl who became his best friend, his confidant, his courage.  It took only sixteen clicks and eight seconds for Lucas to realize that his like for Laney had turned into love.   Eight life-changing seconds.  It’s also the exact length of time it took to lose her.

Remembering Us


Stacey Lynn - 2014
    I followed it, begrudgingly, because it’s what was expected. And then one day, everything changed. I woke up. Different. Independent. Free from all the rules that had surrounded me. Only I have no idea how I got to where I am. I have no memory of graduating college. No memory of Adam, the boyfriend I live with. He loves me. And I love him. At least that’s what everyone says. Except when my memories return to me as dreams, I see a different man than the one everyone claims is perfect for me. He terrifies me. He makes my heart race and he makes me feel things I’ve never felt before. I have no idea if I want to welcome the emotional roller-coaster that his piercing brown eyes and messy black hair puts me on every time I get a glimpse of him, or if I want to run back to the safe shelter of the scripted life-plan that used to be mine.

Purple Orchids


Samantha Christy - 2015
    Lovers. Enemies.Sometimes the lines between them are blurred.Gavin McBrideShe blindsided me. Broke me. Shredded me.And now she’s back, thinking I did the very same thing to her.Someone is lying. It's not me. But the thing is - it's not her either.When I reach out to her, I get more than I bargained for. Much more.Baylor MitchellI was eighteen when he left me.I found a way to survive. Without him. Without us. Without the future he promised.Now, a chance meeting threatens everything I know to be true.But loving him again isn't worth the risk I'd have to take or the secret I'd be forced to reveal.Or is it?One day… one moment… one letter.One lie.That’s all it took to change the course of their lives.Get this sizzling second-chance romance now.

Chasing the Moon


S.M. Soto - 2020
    A love like theirs was never destined to last. Selene Drake has always been the girl that blends into the background.The wallflower.Quiet.Unnoticed.Sweet as can be.It never bothered her, she preferred slinking into the shadows.When she first laid eyes on Endymion Black, she fell irrevocably in love with him.The bad boy.Cold.Distant.Handsome as ever.For years, she pined after the unattainable boy who had somehow burrowed his way into her heart.Until everything changed.One unforgettable night bridled with passion and forbidden lust destroyed her naïve heart and reshaped her innocent soul. It sent her fleeing from the only town she’d ever truly known.Six years later, Selene is back in Dunsmuir and the boy she spent years loving in silence, has now turned into a man. A man with his sights set on her. Somehow, the tables have turned, and this time around, he’s the one doing the chasing, determined to claim her heart as his. Only, he doesn’t realize, she has a secret of her own. One with the potential to change their lives forever.Chasing the Moon is a full-length standalone romance with a guaranteed HEA.

Now and Then


Brenda Rothert - 2013
    But then – in the years before she went to art school in Paris – she was a shy, awkward teenager with frizzy hair, a flat chest and a massive crush on the boy across the street, Cole Marlowe. Too bad her incredibly hot neighbor only had eyes for Layla.Cole is now a confident, laid-back attorney who’s even hotter than he used to be. He’s planning to stay single while working his way up the corporate ladder – until he’s knocked off course by a chance run-in with Emma.Everything is different between Cole and Emma now. He finally sees her in a way she only dreamed of, and their hot chemistry is fueled by a growing friendship. But Emma’s deception of her sister – who wants Cole for herself – and the secret Cole’s been keeping for more than a decade threaten to tear apart what’s only just begun. Because sometimes the only thing standing in the way of now is then.