Book picks similar to
Below the Surface by Elizabeth Lee
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second-chances
Summer Heat
Rachel Van Dyken - 2018
Spoiled Princess is what he used to call me.We were an inferno of hate and passion wound up with a dash of chaos.For four years I watched him mow my lawn.For four years I watched my friends make fun of him.For four years I hated myself for wanting him, but even more for the way I treated him.And then I had him.For one night, we put all labels away and I spent the best night of my life in his arms.Then the next day, with my secret night under lock and key, I looked the other way while my friends shamed him.But now the jokes on me, because the scrawny lawn boy who I secretly loved from afar is now the director of Hollywoods most exclusive summer camp.And I'm on his staff.Now it's his turn to punish me.His turn to make me pay.His turn to take his revenge after years of humiliation.He's no longer a boy you can ridicule.But a college graduate who can have any woman he wants.I want him to look at me the way he did that one night we had together, but right nowthe look in his eyes tells me he's going to enjoy having me under him for two straight months.I don't know where his hatred ends, his passion begins.All I know is he wants revenge.And I'm his lucky target.
Enemy Dearest (Monreaux Brothers)
Winter Renshaw - 2021
I lost him. And now he’s back. August Monreaux was a stormy sea of a man, the dark between the stars, an electric chill cutting through a crowded room—all wrapped into one wicked, beautiful package. He was also off-limits. My entire life, I was kept a safe distance from the notoriously virulent Monreauxs, banned from so much as breathing the same air. And like the good daughter I was, I obeyed those rules. Until the one time I didn’t …Only while I sampled him, he devoured me like the forbidden fruit that I was. And in the blink of an eye, my worst enemy became my first love. His poison became my antidote. His touch, my addiction. After we severed our ill-fated ties, I thought I’d never see him again. Until he crashed back into my life at the worst possible moment—and asked me to marry him.But it wasn’t that simple.It never is. Turns out marrying a wealthy powerhouse of a man comes with a price. But walking away, could cost me everything.
Trailer Park Heart
Rachel Higginson - 2018
It’s my legacy. That’s how my mama lived. And that’s how her mama lived. It’s the life I was born into and it’s the life I swore I would leave the second I was old enough to make it out. Only legacies have a funny way of sneaking up on you. An innocent decision the night of high school graduation led to a series of complications in my plans to escape. Seven years later, I’ve resigned myself to this small town and the roots I’m tied to. Nothing could make me leave. And nothing could make me spill the secrets that keep me here. Until he walks back into town with a chip on his shoulder and a stupid hunch nobody else in town has been smart enough to follow. Levi Cole is my opposite. Born on the right side of the tracks with family money to spare, he’s the kind of black sheep that can afford to be rebellious—because his family will always pay for his mistakes. He’s also the only living heir to Cole Family Farms, after his brother Logan was killed in duty seven years ago. He sees something in my life that he thinks he has a right to. But he’s wrong. And obnoxious. And he needs to take his stubborn good looks and that intense way he looks at me and go back to wherever it was he came from. I know better than to trust men like him. I was born and raised in a trailer park, I know nothing good happens to girls like me—girls with trailer park lives and trailer park hearts. Especially from gorgeous, kind, pigheaded men like him.
Hickey
Cora Brent - 2017
Especially if you hate his guts. Yet I can't seem to help myself.Here's the story: A long time ago, in a small town I’ve tried to forget… I married the charismatic all-American king of high school. He was sexy and charming.I was shy and infatuated. We were both eighteen. Of course we did not live happily ever after. We did the opposite.You thought that was the end? So did I.Seven years later and without warning, Branson Hickey is back in my life. Many things have changed and a few things haven’t. I still want him. I still can’t stand him. I still think about him all the time, even after everything we did to each other. I’ve long wondered if I’d ever fall in love again. Now I wonder if I ever really stopped loving him.**HICKEY is a stand alone second chance romance by NYT and USA Today Bestselling author Cora Brent.**
Watching the Sky Cry
J.B. Hartnett
We’d seen our share of ups and downs, but I could honestly say they were mostly up. That’s the thing about happiness though. It lulls you into a false sense of security. I’m sure neither one of us thought we’d ever be touched by crippling loss or immeasurable grief. But not all stories have a happy ending and I knew better than anyone that sometimes, one of you won’t make it till the end. One of you has to go first. And one of you…Will be left behind to pick up the pieces. And that’s me. But starting over isn’t at all what I thought it would be. I needed escape from the memories that plagued me, reminded me. So I went back to where it all began. To the town where I was born. To the place whose beauty could pierce my pain. Where I experienced my first kiss, where I fell in love, where a man was my earth. And I…Was his sky.
The Space Between Us
Anie Michaels
Asher Carmichael steps into her life, provides a steadfast friendship that offers her protection to grow into a beautiful, young woman. As years pass, their friendship evolves into a passionate first love neither one of them can deny. Together they explore a new relationship filled with all the butterflies and heartache expected as two young adults navigate sex, love, and trust.One fateful night, a painful mistake leads to cataclysmic results, setting the lovers on separate paths. Charlie is too hurt to forgive and Asher has never been so lost without his Charlie. Years pass. Hearts remain broken. Neither one can forget their first love or overcome the space between them.Contains sexually explicit language and other mature content. Readers should be 18 or older.
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.
All That's Left to Hold Onto
Ella Fox - 2015
After leaving his hellish roots behind him, Ronan found contentment when he started over. Thoughts of the past had been pushed down for so long; he hardly thought about it at all. He intended to keep it that way.When unexpected circumstances force Ronan to return to Colorado, the Keely he finds is no longer the adolescent girl he remembered. Torn between desire and fear, Ronan struggles with his feelings for Keely and his need to escape the town that scarred him so deeply years ago.Letting go is all Ronan's ever known. Will he realize a life with Keely is something he should hold onto at any cost?
Strangers
A.L. Parks - 2013
She succumbs to a dark existence where loneliness, sadness and nightmares dwell; until handsome, brooding Bryce Holden walks through the door of her favorite coffee shop, wearing the same cloak of despair and grief. Abby discovers in Bryce someone who understands love and loss, and soon their close friendship grows into a deep love. But ghosts make strange bedfellows, and Abby is forced to battle the tormenting images that continue to haunt her, and confront the ethereal presence of a beloved wife to protect her future with Bryce.
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.
Beneath the Stars
Emily McIntire - 2020
I loved him before I knew what lovin' was. I pulled, he pushed. I gave, he took. I loved... I lost. Now he's back. All grown up and sexy as sin. But things changed while he was gone. So, he can show those dimples and flex those muscles all he wants. It won't change a thing. Chase Adams is nothin' but a lost memory. I'll do everything I can to keep him that way.
Chase
Growing up, there were only two women I ever loved. Neither one of them ever really loved me back. Until her. Alina. My Goldi. She was everything that's good. I was the bad. She was the brightest goddamn star. I was the black hole shredding her to pieces.I loved her wrong, losing her to my demons. But now I'm back. A better man. I'll do everything I can to make her remember us, even if all she wants is to forget.***Beneath the Stars is a full-length, interconnected standalone featuring strong language, explicit sexual scenes and mature situations which may be considered triggers for some. Reader discretion is advised. Please note that while there is a HEA for the main characters at the end of this book, since it is an interconnected standalone, there are themes and side stories that run through the series and may not be resolved immediately.
Suddenly Forbidden
Ella Fields - 2018
We were never meant to let go, but it happened anyway. Too bad I didn’t know someone was waiting to take my place, or I would've held on a lot tighter. Two years later, we were exactly where we'd always planned to be. I'd kept my promise. He'd forgotten all about his. Not only had he moved on, but the person he'd moved on with was my best friend, leaving me to begin college with a broken heart. I guess this is the part where I’m supposed to tell you some other guy stepped in, repaired my shattered pieces, and made me smile again. This isn't that kind of story. My heart might have been broken, but it refused to fall out of love. WARNING: this book contains cheating.Each book in the Gray Springs world can be read as a standalone.
Hate to Love You
Isabelle Richards - 2015
Constantly in competition, they fight incessantly, making it nearly impossible for them to be in the same room with each other. Until they slept together. Sex changes everything.In one emotional evening, they go from enemies to lovers. Hate quickly evolves into passionate lust, but old habits die hard. The love growing between them can’t erase a lifetime of animosity. The two quickly fall back into old routines of spite and vengeance, and their relationship crumbles under the weight of their deep-seated distrust.Chase and Arianna spend the next two years on opposite sides of the globe, avoiding each other at all costs. Despite the lies they tell themselves, neither one is ready to let go. Even though they are both engaged to other people, they can’t find it in their hearts to forgive each other or to move forward.A family emergency calls Arianna home, where they have no choice but to face each other again. Will they finally admit the truth, or will they remain forever trapped between love and hate?
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.
The Long Way Home
Jasinda Wilder - 2017
For you. For touch. For a kiss. For the scrape of your hand down my stomach. For the slide of your lips across my hipbone. The sweep of your thigh against mine in the dulcet, drowning darkness. For the warm huff of your breath on my skin and the wet suck of your mouth around me and the building pressure of need reaching release...I am mad with need.Wild with it.I cannot have you. I have lost you, as I have lost myself. And so I go in search. Of myself, and thus the man who might return to you, and take you in his arms.I loathe each of the thousands of miles between us, but I cannot wish them away, for I hope at the end of my journey I shall find you. Or rather, find myself, and thus…you. Myself, and thus us. I am taking the long way home, Ava. ***Christian,I’m losing my mind, and I don’t know how to stop it. I shouldn’t be writing to you, but I am. I’m friendless, loveless, and lifeless. You’re out there somewhere, and still you’re all I really have. I hate my reliance and dependence on you, emotionally and otherwise, and that reliance is something I’m coming to recognize. I hate that I can’t hate you as much as I want to. I hate that I still love you so much. I hate that there’s no clear solution to our conundrum. Even if we could forgive each other, what then? I hate you, Christian. I really do.But most of all, I don’t. It’s complicated. Complicatedly (still) yours,AvaTHE LONG WAY HOME is the story of a married couple, Christian and Ava, both writers, as they cope with the loss of their son and the damage that loss causes to their marriage. This moving story, alternately heartbreaking and heartwarming, is the first in a brand-new contemporary romance series by bestselling author Jasinda Wilder.