Book picks similar to
Mango Summer by Agay Llanera


filipino-authors
romanceclass
romance
contemporary

A Tale of Two Cities: A Christmas Novella


Alexandra Warren - 2018
    But who's to say that's the only one? Director, Dallas Bryant, isn’t looking for love this holiday season, but that all changes when Madison Walker and a mistletoe come in the picture. ;) A Tale of Two Cities Collection: Cute & Sweet Millennial Meets Over a Holiday, All With One Thing In Common; Cities. Note: This is a short novella with a happy-for-now ending. If you prefer your stories longer, I'd recommend checking out another Alexandra Warren project. :)

Shipped


Angie Hockman - 2021
    But when she’s shortlisted for the promotion of her dreams, all her sacrifices finally seem worth it.The only problem? Graeme Crawford-Collins, the remote social media manager and the bane of her existence, is also up for the position. Although they’ve never met in person, their epic email battles are the stuff of office legend.Their boss tasks each of them with drafting a proposal on how to boost bookings in the Galápagos—best proposal wins the promotion. There’s just one catch: they have to go on a company cruise to the Galápagos Islands...together. But when the two meet on the ship, Henley is shocked to discover that the real Graeme is nothing like she imagined. As they explore the Islands together, she soon finds the line between loathing and liking thinner than a postcard.With her career dreams in her sights and a growing attraction to the competition, Henley begins questioning her life choices. Because what’s the point of working all the time if you never actually live?Perfect for fans of Christina Lauren and Sally Thorne, Shipped is a fresh and engaging rom-com that celebrates the power of second chances and the magic of new beginnings.

Simmer Down


Sarah Smith - 2020
    Nikki doesn’t care how delectable the British food truck owner is—he rudely set up shop next to her coveted beach parking spot. He’s stealing her customers and fanning the flames of a public feud that makes her see sparks. The solution? Let the upcoming Maui Food Festival decide their fate. Winner keeps the spot. Loser pounds sand. But the longer their rivalry simmers, the more Nikki starts to see a different side of Callum…a sweet, protective side. Is she brave enough to call a truce? Or will trusting Callum with her heart mean jumping from the frying pan into the fire?

A Kiss at Midnight


J. Nichole - 2020
     Unfortunately, for Kayla, she’s at her company New Year’s Eve party — dateless.  After the party she ends up in an empty elevator with her co-worker, Ben, and she gets her kiss.  What will they do Monday morning though?  Act as if nothing happened or  try their luck with an office romance?

Forbidden Fling


Kat Taylor - 2021
    A last chance to connect with my boyfriend before we take jobs in different cities after graduating college. Apparently he didn’t get the memo, because when we arrive in paradise, it’s to find a bunch of his friends and his dad.His very serious, very stern, very sexy dad.I won’t pretend I haven’t held a secret flame for Mr. Jones since I met him. He’d older and has his life together and something about him just makes my thighs clench. One night, after my boyfriend passes out drunk, that secret flame ignites into an inferno when Mr. Jones kisses me… And it doesn’t stop there.I know I shouldn’t do it, but I can’t help myself. Every time he touches me, I forget that I’m supposed to be a good girl who doesn’t cheat on her boyfriend. I just need one more touch, one more kiss, one more illicit embrace. Just one more. Then I’ll stop. I promise. CW: Cheating, explicit sexAuthor’s Note: While this book does not have a happily-ever-after between the main characters, it does contain many, many happy endings.

I'm Dreaming of a Wyatt Christmas


Tiffany Schmidt - 2021
    But lately she’s bored by the lessons at her dance school, and her friends and father are more bah humbug than Hallmark movie marathon. So when her favorite babysitting clients ask her to accompany them on a ski trip over winter break, she packs her bags for the slopes. It helps that they’re offering double her rate—she’ll need the money for Beacon, an elite ballet academy that’s granted her an audition.  Noelle is ready to “Deck the Halls” and have fa la la la fun, until Wyatt, the older half-brother of her babysitting charges, decides to surprise his family for the holiday. He’s one of the best dancers at Beacon, and makes Noelle’s head spin faster than pirouettes. Unfortunately, she also manages to step on his toes—spoiling his surprise and complicating his secret plans. After a few missteps, Noelle and Wyatt begin to thaw toward each other and bond over the big decisions looming in each of their lives. With enough Christmas magic, Noelle might just start the New Year with lots of babysitting cash in her pocket and a chance with the pas de deux partner of her dreams.

Soft on Soft


Mina Waheed - 2018
    June Bana might post nearly daily makeup looks that gain thousands of likes but Real Life June has built a wall behind which she exists with her two cats.But with messy feelings getting in a way of early hermit life, June begins to realize that she wants more. She wants model/actress, Sunshine Reincarnated Selena Clarke. It doesn't hurt that Selena is amazing with cats and quiets down June's anxiety to bearable levels.June is given the choice of facing her anxieties about relationships to gain not only a girlfriend but also a better understanding of how far she'd go for love. But would she take it? Would she leave her comfort zone for something softer?Soft on Soft is a character-driven without an intense plot or conflict! For fans of something low on the angst and high on the fluff

Seven Days in June


Tia Williams - 2021
    Shane Hall is a reclusive, enigmatic, award-winning literary author who, to everyone's surprise, shows up in New York.When Shane and Eva meet unexpectedly at a literary event, sparks fly, raising not only their past buried traumas, but the eyebrows of New York's Black literati. What no one knows is that twenty years earlier, teenage Eva and Shane spent one crazy, torrid week madly in love. They may be pretending that everything is fine now, but they can't deny their chemistry - or the fact that they've been secretly writing to each other in their books ever since.Over the next seven days in the middle of a steamy Brooklyn summer, Eva and Shane reconnect, but Eva's not sure how she can trust the man who broke her heart, and she needs to get him out of New York so that her life can return to normal. But before Shane disappears again, there are a few questions she needs answered...With its keen observations of Black life and the condition of modern motherhood, as well as the consequences of motherless-ness, Seven Days in June is by turns humorous, warm and deeply sensual.Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781538719107.

Last Tang Standing


Lauren Ho - 2020
    All she has to do is make law partner, and her life will be perfect. And if she’s about to become the lone unmarried member of her generation in the Tang clan–a disappointment her meddling Chinese-Malaysian family won’t let her forget–well, she doesn’t need a man to complete her.Yet when a chance encounter with charming, wealthy entrepreneur Eric Deng offers her a glimpse of an exciting, limitless future, Andrea decides to give Mr. Right-for-her-family a chance. Too bad Suresh Aditparan, her office rival and the last man her family would approve of, keeps throwing a wrench in her plans. Now Andrea can’t help but wonder: In the endless tug-of-war between pleasing others and pleasing herself, is there room for everyone to win?

Float Plan


Trish Doller - 2021
    Impulsively, Anna goes to sea in their sailboat, intending to complete the voyage alone.But after a treacherous night’s sail, she realizes she can’t do it by herself and hires Keane, a professional sailor, to help. Much like Anna, Keane is struggling with a very different future than the one he had planned. As romance rises with the tide, they discover that it’s never too late to chart a new course.In Trish Doller’s unforgettable Float Plan, starting over doesn't mean letting go of your past, it means making room for your future.

The King of Bourbon Street


Thea de Salle - 2017
    Since Hurricane Katrina, his father’s death, and the decision that he and his ex-wife Maddy are far better off friends than lovers, he’s lost interest in almost everything he held dear—parties, people, and pushing limits.All his limits.Then Arianna Barrington checks into his hotel.Twenty-four-year-old Arianna “Rain” Barrington could have been society’s sweetheart. Her family is moneyed, connected press darlings, and make sweeping headlines from coast to coast for reasons both good and bad. But when her mother shoves her at Charles Harwood—the obnoxious, entitled heir of Harwood Corp—to cement a billion-dollar business merger, Rain does the only thing she can think of to escape: she creates a scandal so big Harwood doesn’t want her anymore before fleeing to New Orleans for much-needed rest and relaxation.All she wants is jazz piano, beignets, and to sail the Mississippi. What she gets is Sol DuMont, a whirlwind affair, and a hands-on education in sex, power play, and pushing limits.All her limits.

True Love for Christmas


D. Rose - 2019
    When her best friend, Chris, returned to town unannounced, her world was turned upside down and made better all at once. Chris was determined to shower Noel with holiday cheer by showing her the true meaning of Christmas And the true meaning of love.

The Matchmaker's List


Sonya Lalli - 2019
    Nani always took Raina's side when she tried to push past the traditional expectations of their tight-knit Indian-immigrant community, but now she's ambushing Raina with a list of suitable bachelors. Is it too much to ask for a little space? Besides, what Nani doesn't know won't hurt her...As Raina's life spirals into a parade of Nani-approved bachelors and disastrous blind dates, she must find a way out of this modern-day arranged-marriage trap without shattering her beloved grandmother's dreams.

Faking Under the Mistletoe


Ashley Shepherd - 2019
    Christmas cookies? She’ll take three dozen. Christmas movies? Yeah, she’s seen them all. So it’s no surprise when she’s put in charge of Loveridge & McGowan’s holiday festivities. Secret Santas? Yep. Ice skating? Of course. Holiday trivia? Duh. Christmas-themed bar crawl? That’s one big jingle bell hell yes.Kissing her boss at a Christmas tree lighting in front of his ex-girlfriend? Well… it is the season of giving. And Olivia does not come with a gift receipt. No exchanges. No returns. No refunds. All sales are final.In an effort to ungrinch the grinchiest man she’s ever met, Olivia enlists herself, Santa’s Executive Helper, to scheme up a plan that includes sleigh rides, snow days, and one too many mistletoe kisses, which certainly gets Asher’s tinsel in a tangle. She’s pretty sure that she sleighed this whole fake dating thing.Well… until she realizes there’s nothing fake about her feelings for Asher, and suddenly tangled tinsel, unsolicited Christmas trees, and celebrity heartthrobs are the least of her worries.

A Taste of Her Own Medicine


Tasha L. Harrison - 2019
    Taking the advice of her sister Birdie and her best friend Estelle, she signs up for a six-week course for entrepreneurs; hoping that she will learn everything she needs to know to build a business to support herself and her kids. On the first night of class, Sonja is able to ignore the fact that most of the students were younger than her by ten years or more. It was what she expected. But when the instructor walks in, she debates packing up her new twelve hundred dollar laptop and walking out.Sonja couldn’t remember the last time she looked at a man with little more interest than she give a sturdy dining room table. She was just disinterested. But wow, did Atlas James grab her interest. Atlas hasn’t been interested in dating since he moved back home from California. Adjusting to new found success in the town where everyone sees him as that big, geeky guy who cut grass for pocket change when they were in high school has been awkward. Aside from a couple of one night stands, he hasn’t really wanted to pursue a relationship with anyone until sweet, shy Sonja signs up for his class.Compact, curvy, and juicy in all the right places, being in the same room Sonja Watts ignites all of those giddy feelings he felt when he had his first crush. He wants to know her and he’s pretty sure she wants to know him—despite the age difference that she seems to be so fixated on.With her future riding on the success of her new business, Sonja has no time for distraction. Will she be able to keep her eyes on her own paper or will they remain glued to Atlas’s biceps and thick thighs?