Book picks similar to
Diamonds & Desire by Angelita Gill


romance
contemporary
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contemporary-romance

More Than Pancakes


Christine DePetrillo - 2014
    Her nights are filled with the glitz and glamour of upscale parties. Until her grandmother dies and leaves Lily property in wretched Vermont. The woods mean only one thing to Lily—nightmares. When Utopia wants the land for development, Lily is forced to travel to a place she’d rather forget. Rick Stannard makes maple syrup and builds barns in the peace and quiet of picturesque Vermont. Noisy New York City nearly killed him a few years back, and now he lives a calm, simple life with his coyote, Poe, and his beloved book collection. It’s the only way he’s guaranteed to wake up each morning. When Lily marches her expensive boots onto Rick’s land and proposes turning it into a mega resort, the serenity of the woods is shattered. Lily always closes a deal. Rick never intends to sell. They’ll need to compromise, or someone else will do it for them. Someone who is not afraid of the woods or the city. Or spilling a little blood.

Breaching His Defenses


Allyson Lindt - 2014
    A chance encounter in a karaoke bar should have been just a fling for Jared Tippins and Mikki Elford. A smoking hot, memories last forever fling, but still just a fling. Except she works for the competition, and the competition has been up to no good. This fun contemporary romance is book one in Allyson Lindt's sexy new Love Hack series. Years ago, heartbreak corrupted Jared Tippins’s outlook on love. He spun the betrayal into a rapid climb up the corporate ladder, and swore off any relationship with a morning after. Luckily, the playful siren who rescues him from singing a duet alone in a karaoke bar doesn’t want anything long term. If only he could stop fantasizing about ways to make her moan. Sure, she could’ve mentioned he works for the competition. At least she’s not behind the security concerns that have plagued his company for almost six months.If she were, he’d be screwed on a whole new level.Mikki Elford is determined to have the fun she missed out on when she fast-tracked her way through college. But school had its upside, too. She’s qualified to legally hack corporate networks. Best job ever. She also gained an appreciation for the legends in computing — Gates, Jobs, and Tippins. When she meets Jared Tippins and realizes he’s sexy and fluent in programming languages older than she is, no consequence will dissuade her from an impromptu fling. Fortunately, he doesn’t mind that six months ago she compromised his network to land her job.Oh, crap! He doesn't know.

Chasing Justice


Danielle Stewart - 2013
    But her plans of settling into a normal life are derailed when she witnesses a prominent judge in her community committing a violent assault. Running from her own past and fueled by a passion to make the judge answer for his crimes, Piper is forced to decide if she’ll play by the rules or achieve justice in her own way.Complicating things further, Piper finds herself fighting a powerful attraction to rookie cop, Bobby Wright. Although she’s increasingly enamored with Bobby, his staunch belief in the justice system is in stark contrast to her own. She may not share his opinions about the effectiveness of the law, but she certainly can’t deny how safe she feels when she’s in his arms or how every kiss leaves her desperate for more.For Piper, the idea of finally living an ordinary life with a man to love is tempting. However, fate keeps placing the judge, quite literally, in her path. Will she decide the only way to win is to be as wicked as the judge, but with righteous intentions? And more importantly, will Bobby choose to let her go, or follow her as she crosses the line and takes justice into her own hands?

Good Karma


Donya Lynne - 2014
    Bullied as a child, she hides behind an unremarkable wardrobe and relegates herself to the shadows. But when her best friend convinces her to attend a charity benefit in Chicago wearing a stunning red dress that catches the eye of every man in the room, she discovers a surprising side to her personality. One that adores the spotlight but has no idea how to handle the attention.Mark Strong, a wealthy Chicago businessman, is brimming with confidence. He’s in total control. Nothing—and no one—escapes his notice. However, Mark carries a heavy, painful burden. After finding his fiancée with another man six years ago, he’s erected a fortress around his heart, unwilling to let himself fall in love again. But when enchanting Karma snares his gaze from across the room, he has no idea she will shatter his carefully ordered life.What starts out as a casual flirtation takes a series of surprising turns as Mark and Karma embark on a sensual journey destined by fate. Mark is driven to know Karma, understand her…educate her, and Karma is his willing student, eager to experience the pleasure he promises. But when the student becomes the teacher, Mark has to make a choice between taking another chance on love or a future alone.

Tears of Endurance


D.G. Torrens - 2013
    Soon, their relationship blossoms into more than she could ever imagine. However, when a black secret comes crashing down around them, their love faces the ultimate test of endurance while they come to grips with a tragic fate that changes the course of their lives forever...

Close to Home


Suzanne Ferrell - 2012
    I’m Lorna Doone. Yep, spelled just like the cookie and I own the Peaches ‘N Cream Café here in Weston. You might think nothing much happens in a small mid-western town, but as my friend Harriett says, things aren’t always what they appear. Take our girl Emma for example…”Emma Lewis has a lot on her plate. The single mother of two precocious twin boys and an aging mother who is having trouble getting through each day, the last thing Emma needs is a man in her life, especially a doctor. So when the town’s doctor goes on vacation and his handsome nephew takes over, Emma is shocked to not only find him standing in her bedroom, but accusing her of being a neglectful parent.Clint Preston came to Westen for the year to fill in as the town doc while his uncle took a long needed vacation. Clint also needed a sense of peace and calm to try to find his passion for medicine burned out by long shifts in an urban hospital’s ER. Angered to find two boys in his clinic with broken wrists and no accompanying parent, he is determined to confront their mother. The feisty redhead he meets quickly dispels his belief that she’s a neglectful mother, but he can see her situation is more critical than she wishes to face and finds himself volunteering to help care for her sons and the remodeling of her home.As Emma and Clint forge a relationship among the slightly off-beat characters that inhabit Weston a menace from Emma’s past threatens her and her sons. Clint and Emma join forces to prevent the loss of either boy and the love they’ve discovered in each other’s’ arms.

Chasing the Wild Sparks


Ren Alexander - 2013
    Just ask Hadley Beckett.Marriage. Even the mention of the word drives my nuptial-phobic, love-of-my-life boyfriend of three years, Finn Wilder, who is also Richmond’s sexy, golden boy sportscaster and daredevil, to the brink of total madness. Even though the daredevil thrives on adrenaline and danger and eagerly professes his love for me, becoming my husband is a dare he always eludes. What’s more, Finn Wilder is single, according to his coworkers and viewers—Finnatics—as they’re called. I don’t exist.Despite his marriage fears and questionable relationship status, Finn increasingly pressures me to move in with him, but being unusually traditional by today’s standards, I want to be married first, adhering to my moral beliefs, just as he desperately clings to his own religious upbringing regarding starting a family with me. Something he wants no part of either.As much as I love Finn, I’ve reached my limit with the lies, secrets, and his reluctance. Something has got to give. We’re forever at a standstill, a faceoff which one of us will lose. Everything.

Shattered Hearts


Octavia Wildwood - 2014
    Alone. Damaged. After escaping an abusive relationship, Amanda finds work on a remote farm in rural Minnesota. Eager for a fresh start, she tries to will her nightmares away. She also tries to stop daydreaming about her hot boss's hard, chiseled body. She doesn't like him, but he's sure easy on the eyes.Stubborn. Proud. Protective.Hardworking and hard-headed, Nate is determined to save his family's farm and provide for his sister. The last thing he needs is some city girl getting underfoot. Sure, Amanda is a breath of fresh air (and the prettiest little thing he's ever seen) but there's no way he'd ever admit it. Nate doesn't do romance...but he can't stop thinking about doing Amanda!*This is a full-length, standalone novel that contains explicit adult situations.

Love on the Cape


M.K. Meredith - 2017
    But when Van Buren Enterprises announces plans to develop historic Cape Van Buren into a gold-plated playground for the wealthy, Larkin refuses to watch one more beautiful thing in her life be destroyed, so she sets out to preserve the historic cape—and with it, the memory of her son. Only it isn’t the company she needs to fear, it’s the dangerously irresistible CEO who has the power to derail her plans. Annoyingly arrogant one minute and beautifully wounded the next, he awakens something in her heart that had died with her son even as his actions promise to break it once again.Ryker Van Buren needs closure from his dark childhood and the best way to do that is to level his family home. As the rightful owner of the estate, he plans on developing it into a master community—what better way to secure his future than by selling off his past? Until he locks eyes with the passionate conservationist who fights him at every turn for the rights to his legacy. He can’t keep his hands off her, but worse, he can’t get her off his land or out of his dreams.Attraction sparks and two broken souls recognize each other through the pain. Against all odds, love blooms on the cape. But when their pasts collide, will they choose love in the moment, or will they lose their chance at forever?

Cooking Up Love


Gemma Brocato - 2013
    Jemima George leads a charmed life as a personal chef and assistant to reality television's latest darling. But that changes in a New York minute when her Aunt Caro dies under odd circumstances, bequeathing her a small restaurant. Jem plans to sell the cafe and continue her life in NYC, until a dramatic phone call from her cheating boyfriend convinces her to experiment with the ingredients for happiness and accept her Aunt's legacy. Throwing herself into remodeling the restaurant with the help of the town's delicious contractor, Jem revamps the menu and renews her faith in herself. Jack Kerrigan considered Caro a surrogate mother and hates the idea that the cafe could be sold. He doesn't need the remodeling project, but if it means Caro's beautiful, fascinating niece will stay to run the restaurant, he's all in. He wouldn't mind being savory to Jem's sweet. Jack's brassy ex-wife is cooking up a scheme of her own, where Jack tosses Jem like a salad and comes back to her. Fold in a creepy attorney hiding secrets of environmental mayhem, add Jem's claustrophobia, half-pint niece and nephew twins, one mysterious lockbox, and bring to a boil-a recipe for romance. A Lyrical Press Contemporary Romance

Wild Irish Ride


Jennifer Saints - 2008
    Now he's back in Savannah with his highly successful security company to put the Weldon name on the right side of the tracks. Unfortunately, before he can even make a move in that direction, he runs into Alexandria Jordan and ends up making the same mistake he did before. He succumbs to her allure, but this time, he plans on getting her out of his system for good and walking away.Except for a few wild moments with Jesse at seventeen, Alexi Jordan has followed the life expected of her. But a Wedding Day betrayal from her blue-blooded fiancé has her running from her life and right into the arms of the man she'd never forgotten, Jesse. Yet as she forges a new future for herself amid the scandal of her aborted wedding, Alexi finds herself the target of a twisted killer and both her and Jesse's days are now numbered.Excerpt:"Still a virgin on the run after all these years, Lexi?" he drawled.  His voice, as steamy and seductive as Southern summer day, challenged her on an elemental level, a sensual one. "Almost," Alexi said, letting the last illicit picture she had of Roger fall from her grasp to the ground.  She'd only ever been with Roger and he didn't count.  Not anymore.  She sucked in air, latching onto Jesse's appeal.  The reporters encircled them.  Jesse lifted his hot gaze to her eyes and smiled. "Almost?"  Slow and sexual, his grin spread awareness over her.  "Sounds frustrating.  Interested in changing that?"  He ran his finger under her chin and she caught her breath. Yes, some part deep inside her shouted.  Yes, she wanted to change that.  Here was one situation her grandmother couldn't smooth over with a lie.  With the cameras rolling, Roger and her grandmother would get a clear picture that Alexi meant it when she said she wasn't marrying Roger ever. "Yes," Alexi said to Jesse, stepping closer to him.  Waves of his sex appeal washed over her.  Waves she had no trouble remembering, though she'd only been seventeen when she'd last dipped into them.  His nearness and touch sparked something inside of her that wanted to rebel against everything that had just happened to her.  "Kiss me," she demanded, loudly.Jesse arched his brow and asked softly, "What's your game Lexi?"  His slid an arm around her and pulled her flush to his chest, her breasts to his hard muscle.  Then his mouth covered hers.  She gasped at the desire shooting through her as his tongue entered her mouth, and his gaze dared her to respond. She wound her arms around his neck, pressed closer to him, and met his tongue with hers.  His eyes widened with surprise, telling her that he'd expected her to put him off rather than to take him up on his challenge.  After that first moment, he didn't hesitate in delivering a four-alarm kiss.  He bent her back over his arm, inserted his leg between hers and had one hand cupping her butt.  In one kiss he ravished her from the inside out and she burned for more.  By delivering a message to her grandmother, what message had she delivered to herself? He ended the kiss, but kept her captive in his embrace as he stared into her eyes.  The cameras continued to flash and the world swirled crazily.

Wild For Her


J.H. Croix - 2021
    Busy fighting fires in the wilds of Alaska and raising his daughter, he doesn’t have time for romance. He definitely doesn’t have time for Madison, his new neighbor.Madison is about as out of her element in Alaska as a fish hiking a mountain. This homecoming queen lost her crown back in Texas, and Graham figures that’s where she belongs. Except it only takes one kiss to set a thousand fires. He can’t forget that kiss and ignoring Madison turns out to be impossible.Enjoy this preview to Graham & Madison’s smokin’ hot opposites attract romance!Graham & Madison’s story is perfect for readers who love small town romance, hotshot firefighters, sassy heroines, single fathers, neighbors, frenemies to lovers, opposites attract, slow burn, emotional romance with a dash of angst, plenty of swoon, and a grumpy, protective hero with an obnoxious tendency to rescue anyone in need of rescuing.

Fever


Melissa Pearl - 2014
     Ella Simmons does not want to move across the country. But she is, because her boyfriend has persuaded her to join him at UChicago to finish out her college education. Never able to tell him no, she hops on a plane and makes the trek from LA expecting to adjust to life like she's often forced to, but things are not that simple when she hears a luscious voice singing over her shower wall. His deep, sexy tenor makes her weak in the knees, spreading fire through her limbs and making her question everything about her life and relationship. Can one voice really have that much of an impact? Cole Reynolds is on his way out. In his final year at UChicago, the only thing he wants to do is finish school and get on with his life. But the sweet voice that interrupts his morning shower turns his world upside down. Compelled to find his shower songbird, he begins a search across campus. The only thing to distract him from this goal is his roommate's gorgeous girlfriend who's just arrived from LA - Ella Simmons. Relationships are put to the ultimate test as future dreams are questioned and friendships are thrown on the line for love. ALL THE SONGBIRD NOVELS CAN BE READ AS STAND ALONE BOOKS.

Reckless


Maggie Shayne - 1993
    When his two killers see her witnessing their gruesome work, she runs, but she doesn’t get far. FBI agent Nick Manelli has to keep his cover intact and keep the sexy witness alive, and there’s only one way he can think of to do both. He has to kidnap her. RECKLESS (formerly Reckless Angel) was the first published novel of romance superstar Maggie Shayne’s stellar career. This romantic thriller, a RITA Award nominee that garnered raves from RT Book Reviews, has been completely revamped for today’s readers.  Maggie Shayne writes wonderful romance with page turning thrills that have a permanent spot on my keeper shelf.” ~New York Times Bestselling Author Karen Robards Don’t miss Book 2 of THE SHATTERED SISTERS series, FORGOTTEN.

Falling for You


Julie Ortolon - 2002
    Slow and Steady collides with Ms. Full-Speed-Ahead they're both in for the wildest ride of their lives.The forecast is smooth sailing for Oliver Chancellor, scion of Galveston's premier financier. Destined to take his place in the hallowed marble corridors of his family's bank, Chance is content with the future that's been mapped out for him, right down to his upcoming engagement to a prim debutante enthusiastically approved by his socialite mother.But when beautiful Rory St. Claire crosses his path, Chance recklessly plunges into uncharted territory with nothing but his heart to guide him-and a beautiful woman to tempt him.Propelled by a lifelong goal to buy the island home reportedly haunted by her colorful ancestors, Rory desperately needs Chance's help in securing a business loan, and she won't take no for an answer. In the midst of convincing the hesitant blue blood to take a chance on her dream, Rory unexpectedly lands in Chance's arms, stunned by his red-blooded passion-and her own awakened desire. Now, the mismatched pair can't keep their hands off one another, and something tells Rory she's headed for trouble-trouble in the name of love."I had a blast reading Falling for You... As long as Julie Ortolon is writing books like this, romantic comedy is in good hands." --All About Romance"A thoroughly delightful, fast-paced romance about what happens when opposites attract. And the setting is so vividly drawn, you feel part of the surroundings. A lovely story!" --Old Barn Gazette"Full of humor... Very entertaining and well worth your time!" --Huntress Book Reviews