Book picks similar to
That's the Way I Loved You by Carrie Aarons
romance
second-chance
arc
second-chance-romance
Dirty Like Me
Jaine Diamond - 2016
An indecent proposal. How can a girl resist?Struggling barista Katie Bloom doesn’t even know who Jesse Mayes is until she inadvertently wins the coveted role of sex kitten in his hot new music video.But by the time she’s in bed with him, she knows his reputation.Love maker. Heartbreaker. Making out with a stranger in front of a camera crew isn’t how Katie imagined herself getting over a broken heart, but when Jesse touches her, sparks fly. The sex is fake but the chemistry is real, and before long, the steamy video is blazing up the charts.Then Jesse makes Katie a tantalizing offer: act as his girlfriend for six weeks while he promotes his new album. The only catch? Their sizzling make-out sessions will be for the cameras only.Which suits Katie just fine, since she’s not about to trust her heart to rock’s most legendary lover. Her body, though? Maybe.As it turns out, pretending to fall in love is incredibly sexy…And falling in love for real, with a man she promised not to fall for?Irresistible.
Sinners' Playground
Caroline Peckham - 2020
Because it sure as hell wasn’t for the surf. But what else was I supposed to do when I found myself in Sunset Cove with twenty bucks to my name, the key to my enemies’ secrets hanging around my neck and a mouth full of grave dirt that wouldn’t wash clean?I hate the Harlequin boys.But this is the perfect opportunity to take what they owe me. Because once upon a time, they broke my heart, stole my life and sent me away from everything I’d ever known.Fox, JJ, Chase and Maverick.The four names tattooed onto my heart more permanently than any of the ink on my skin. They don’t just live in this town anymore, they rule it. And the view here may be beautiful, but the sun, sea and sand hide dark secrets.The gangs.The lies.The violence.It all lurks beneath a veil so thin that once you’ve seen through it, you can never close your eyes to the truth again.But I don’t plan on closing my eyes. I have four devils set in my sights. And this dead girl no longer has anything to lose.This is an enemies to lovers contemporary series where the girl will end up with multiple love interests and all of the characters are in their late twenties. Trigger warning: this series features gangs, violence, dark romance and jealous/possessive themes.
The Shaadi Set-Up
Lillie Vale - 2021
Now, six years later, Rita has turned her passion for furniture restoration into a career and has an almost-perfect boyfriend, Neil. The last thing she needs is for Milan to re-enter her life, but that’s exactly what happens when her mother, an unfailing believer in second chances, sets them up. Milan is just as charming, cocky, and confident as he was back in school. Only this time, he actually needs her business expertise, not her heart, to flip a hard-to-sell house for his realty agency. While Rita begrudgingly agrees to help, she’s not taking any risks. To prove she’s definitely over him, she signs herself and Neil up on MyShaadi.com, a Desi matchmaking site famous for its success stories and trustworthy enough to convince everyone that she and Neil are the new and improved couple. Instead, she’s shocked when MyShaadi’s perfect match for her isn’t Neil…it’s Milan. Ignoring the website and her mother is one thing, but ignoring Milan proves much more difficult, especially when she promises to help him renovate the beach house of her dreams. And as the two of them dive deeper into work—and their pasts—Rita begins to wonder if maybe her match wasn’t so wrong after all….
Scream For Us
Molly Doyle - 2021
As she immerses herself in a night of both pleasure and pain, she finally has the perfect opportunity to bring her darkest fantasies to life.Or death.-This is a Dark Romance/Suspense, Reverse Harem Novella. Scream For Us contains mature and graphic content that is not suitable for all audiences. Trigger warnings include: graphic sexually explicit scenes, physical assault, attempted sexual assault, mentions of self harm/bullying, blood/gore, mask kink, breath play/choking, knife play, fire play, praise/degradation kink, and murder.
A Question of Us
Mary Jayne Baker - 2019
Eight pub quizzes. One shot at love... There are some people who seem like they have all the answers in life. Clarrie Midwinter isn't one of them. At the age of 26, tomboy Clarrie is still struggling to become a 'proper' grown-up. She's eternally strapped for cash, she hasn't had a date in nearly a year and her attempts to quit smoking tend to take a nosedive after the second pint. Most annoyingly of all, her ladykiller best friend Simon just won't stop asking her out. The only thing keeping her sane is her pub quiz team, the Mighty Morphin Flower Arrangers. But when Simon bets her a date their team will win the quiz league, Clarrie is forced to confront what she really wants out of life – and love. Is it finally time for her to grow up?
Gloriously irreverent, badly behaved romantic comedy from the author of Meet Me at the Lighthouse.
Starry Eyes
Jenn Bennett - 2018
It doesn’t hurt that their families are the modern-day Californian version of the Montagues and Capulets.But when a group camping trip goes south, Zorie and Lennon find themselves stranded in the wilderness. Alone. Together.What could go wrong?With no one but each other for company, Zorie and Lennon have no choice but to hash out their issues via witty jabs and insults as they try to make their way to safety. But fighting each other while also fighting off the forces of nature makes getting out of the woods in one piece less and less likely.And as the two travel deeper into Northern California’s rugged backcountry, secrets and hidden feelings surface. But can Zorie and Lennon’s rekindled connection survive out in the real world? Or was it just a result of the fresh forest air and the magic of the twinkling stars?
Burnout
Coralee June - 2019
Maybe if I were older. Maybe if he wasn’t my brother’s best friend. Maybe if he wasn’t my teacher. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. Having my dirty little secret living down the hall had me obsessing over alternate endings and happily ever afters. I’d never wanted someone so badly, but his hot and cold behavior was giving me emotional whiplash. In the classroom, he practically ignored me. But here? In my brother’s loft? It felt like we were a thick rubber band, pulled so tight we’d snap. Falling for Decker Harris made me realize that life wasn’t as serendipitous as everyone liked to think. We weren’t just a collection of maybes thrust into the world with hope and good intentions. Everything started with a choice, and somewhere between grief and redemption, I chose to make him mine.