Book picks similar to
The Cafeteria Wars by R.L. Mathewson
r-l-mathewson
funny
contemporary-romance
romance
First Ink
Laura Wright - 2013
Then she walks back into it again. With her mismatched eyes, perfect pink mouth and a laugh that still haunts him, she gave him nothing but marvelous misery. Now she wants his hands on her again. Not for pleasure, but for pain. For Ink. A bleeding heart to match the one she left him with five years ago. AddisonShe can’t forget him. No matter how hard she’s tried. The pain she caused him in the past eats at her daily, and she can’t move on with her life. But she has a plan, a hope for redemption – a way for him to take his revenge out on her flesh. But it’ll only work if he lets her inside his exclusive world, under his famous artist’s needle and into his bed—and heart-once again.*First Ink can also be found in the Wicked Firsts Anthology releasing on August 19, 2013.*
Living in Sin
Isabel Lucero - 2013
Intended for mature audiences only.** Jace Jamison is every woman’s fantasy. He’s a mysterious businessman willing to sweep you off your feet, a tattooed bad boy from the wrong side of the tracks, and a sexy friend you want to take that next step with. Jace is everything and anything you want him to be. He’s a highly paid escort. But nobody knows who Jace really is; the man whose dad abandoned him, whose brother was killed, and who had to take care of his mom at a young age. At the age of nineteen, he was living in Sin City, ready for a life away from stress and struggle. Adrienne has been having a sexual drought since she broke up with her boyfriend. Even then she wasn’t getting fully satisfied. Being an event planner, she’s constantly working at numerous events. Several times she’s seen a man she can only refer to as the God-like creature at her work functions. He’s devastatingly handsome, tall, and has beautiful eyes, but he’s always with a different woman. The last thing she needs is another player in her life. After a few chance encounters with Jace, her best friend convinces her to just get some good sex out of him and not worry about who she’s seen him with. But what happens when she finds out that he isn’t dating these women because he wants to, but because he’s paid to? Keeping his job a secret from Adrienne seems easy at first, but when she begins meeting people he knows in his escort life, and they begin getting closer, he knows he has to tell her before someone else does. When their worlds entwine, and confessions are made, will they be able to work through it? Will she be able to push aside his sins and focus on the good in him? Will Jace get what he’s never had? A woman who wants him despite what he’s done. Or will living in sin cost him what he never knew he wanted? *An erotic, contemporary romance* *Book one in a series, but can be read as a standalone.*--As it's been mentioned a lot, I want to warn you of the first chapter. For some people, it's hot and amazing, and they love it! For others, it's shocking and not for them. However, don't let it scare you away, it's not like that the whole way through. Others who were taken aback by it, ended up giving it 5 stars.It is an erotic book though, so there will be adult situations. ;)--
Stuffed: A Thanksgiving Romance
Jessica Gadziala - 2016
A couple days before I leave to head home, I am informed that my brother's best friend, and also my huge, obnoxious adolescent crush, will be there as well.So among a shaky work situation, a newfound potato chip addiction, and the usual stress of heading home for the holidays, I have a sudden urge to prove that I was no longer the mumbling, bumbling girl in Hogwarts robes and her nose in a book.Not that anything was going to happen between us. Those hopes had died around the time I headed off to college.But maybe....** This is a quick romance full of sweet moments and enough steam to keep you turning the pages.
Stripped
Allie Juliette Mousseau - 2016
While entertaining at the popular L.A. strip club known for catering to the feminine wild, the fever-inducing Aussie with the sex-saturated accent and moves to match is preparing for the audition of a lifetime on the sensational hit reality show Then Prove You Can Dance. When retired principal dancer and ballerina Emilie Cartier stumbles into his dressing room, she’s still reeling from the one wrong spin that altered her entire life and obliterated her dreams. After a humiliating public, albeit meteoric, orgasm—the kind so desperate to escape, it took over her body without her brain's permission—and a second, more intimate and deliriously deliberate one, Emilie makes a deal with Stone: he helps her get her dancing mojo back and she readies him for his national audition. But she insists he keeps his wily, wandering hands to himself and his dirty mouth shut. Of course, that’s going to be an extremely hard challenge—one of herculean proportions. Emilie is not prepared for Stone—the way he spins her mind dizzy, rocks her body into sweet oblivion or dirty dances into her every daydream—and falling in love with him is so definitely not an option. The closer Stone gets to Emilie, the more he realizes he’d do anything to make her his own. Problem is, he’s a real f*ck-up with relationships. And that means he’s dangerously close to becoming her next major f*ck-up. What happens when all of the emotional layers—along with the stage props, their dancewear and every last shred of their clothes—are ultimately stripped?
Kiss This
Hadley Quinn - 2013
When she meets Teague, their attraction to one another is off the charts, and for the first time in two years, she wants to disregard her rule. But Camryn makes a bet that he can't go just one week without kissing her. She's protecting her own fragile heart, but her wit and smart mouth end up driving Teague crazy. When Teague is equally skilled at her challenge, their friendship turns complicated. He's not at all what she assumed, and he makes her feel things she never expected to feel. But sharing her true reasons for the no-kiss bet hurts too much and she keeps him in the dark. Teague has his own secrets to hide, starting with his last name. It's the reason he left town--to lick his wounds until he can piece his life back together. His time with Camryn proves that it might actually be possible, but with the threat of his family and his past ruining all that he's finally gained, can he really take that risk again?Loving might be easy; learning to trust again could be too difficult to achieve...
Fighter
Tijan - 2015
Wanting out of that life, she left for college, but on her first morning back home for the holidays, she’s back to chasing after a bail jumper. When she realizes the jumper is her ex-boyfriend, Jax, Dale gets dragged into helping him evade her brothers so he can win an underground fighting competition. Jax has to win the competition to help his sister, but soon sparks fly between Jax and Dale. Old wounds are reopened, and Dale may need help herself because she’s close to falling back in love with her Fighter. Novella*
The Invasion of Tork
Claire Davis - 2014
Until he meets Tork. Tork is clever and funny. He makes origami models and reads Dickens. Tork has green hair and makes Adam's heart race with longing. But Tork is homeless and not at all impressed with Adam's attitude.Can Adam see past his fear and arrogance? Can Tork give Adam a chance? Can two such different men turn the world upside down and find out what really matters? Read to find out their story.Content Warning: the story includes reference to and description of self-harming.* * * * *A story from Boughs of Evergreen: A Holiday Anthology
Maps
Nash Summers - 2015
If Maps ruled the world, his best pal would still be living next door, and there wouldn’t be any gap-toothed new guy staring at him as if he’s bonkers.Pity Maps doesn’t rule the world . . .
After All
Karina Halle - 2017
Light, fun and sexy as sin, it's the PERFECT SUMMER READ. From the NYT and USA Today bestselling author of The Pact and Before I Ever Met You. Emmett Hill is the perfect gentleman. At least that's what his PR team wants the world to think. Tall, handsome, and wickedly charming, Emmett is in the midst of a career comeback, having landed the role of a villain in a popular TV show. The only problem is, Emmett has come a long way from the "nice guy" characters he used to play and his old squeaky clean image is quickly being tarnished by bar fights, womanizing and bad boy behaviour. Considering he's two years shy of forty, it's an act he needs to drop. And fast. Enter Alyssa Martin. At twenty-eight, Alyssa is tired and ready for a change. Her job as office manager has grown stagnant and unfulfilling, while she's become continuously frustrated with Vancouver's lackluster dating scene, always searching for Mr. Right in a city of Mr. Wrongs. When Emmett and Alyssa's paths cross at a mutual friend's wedding, their chemistry is off-the-charts hot, culminating in a steamy one-night stand. What neither expected was for the media catch wind of their coupling - and run with it. Now Emmett has to convince Alyssa to date him for the sake of his image. Her curvy, cute and "normal" persona is just the ticket to smoothing out his reputation, while Emmett provides Alyssa with the excitement and change her life has been lacking. The only problem is, the two fight like cats and dogs outside of the bedroom. And considering their arrangement is just for show, they shouldn't be in the bedroom with each other anyway. Right? Try telling them that.
Lazy Sundays
K-lee Klein - 2012
Mundane routine helps keep his anxiety and obsessive tendencies under control. Socializing—especially dating—isn’t on his list of strong skills either, and, made worse with the echoes of his disapproving mother. So he’s content to stay at home with his lists and cleaning and wildlife documentaries, until a one-night stand goes unexpectedly right.History has taught Devon DuCaine that dating can be uncomfortable, but there’s just something about Scott. He may be the opposite of Devon’s own long-haired, tattooed, free-wheeling spirit but he brings out the nurturer in Devon. Maybe it’s Scott’s surprising fascination with Devon’s motorcycle, or his shy surprise in moments of affection, but there’s more under those sensible suits than meets the eye. The most important person in Devon’s life, his mom, taught him love and compassion and that’s all he wants to share that with Scott. Their one-night stand turns into a regular thing, but Scott doesn’t trust it to last. He’s pretty sure Devon is hiding something. He’s even more sure that once Devon gets to know him, the attraction will fade. And then there’s his mother. However many sparks fly between them, Devon will have his work cut out to convince Scott they can have their happily ever after.(This book was originally published as 2 short stories. They’re combined here with massive edits and double the content from the originals.)
Changing Everything
Molly McAdams - 2015
But after twelve years of only being his best friend and wingman, the heartache that comes from watching him with countless other women becomes too much, and Paisley decides its time to lay all her feelings on the table.Eli Jenkins has a life most guys would kill for: Dream job, countless women, and his best friend, Paisley, to be the girl he can always count on for everything else. But one conversation not only changes everything between them, it threatens to make him lose the only girl who has ever meant anything to him.When tragedy strikes his family and Eli is forced to reevaluate his life, he realizes a life without Paisley isn’t a life at all. Only now, he may be too late.
Indiscretion: Volume One
Elisabeth Grace - 2014
Pump and dump. Hit it and quit it. One night stand. Didn’t matter how I branded it—that’s all she had wanted it to be. That much was clear when she left me with my pants down and my dick still out.What she hadn’t counted on was fate intervening and our worlds colliding—again.The day I showed back up in the life of Chloe Griffins, I knew I had to have her again. My body was hungry for another taste. Like an addict, I’d been craving another hit for months, and there she was—flesh and bone, tits and ass.The fact that she worked for the competition should’ve been reason enough for me to leave her alone. I had a job to do that summer and f*cking Chloe wasn’t part of it. But I was like a man possessed.I’d do whatever it took to have her again.
Devious Minds
K.F. Germaine - 2015
Landing a job on campus as an irreverent radio personality, she uses the anonymity to air all the campus dirty laundry—earning the infamous Sunday Lane more than a few enemies. But her true passion is spinning records, even if Drunk Earl is her biggest fan. Sydney’s junior year kicks off with the promise to be amazing. Or at least it does until Gray Peters, hotshot quarterback, unexpectedly reenters the scene. His presence threatens to destroy everything she has going, as well as resurrecting a night Sydney never wants to remember or repeat. She’d run away like a coward, but this time she's determined to stay and fight. A twisted battle of wit and trickery ensues, with one common goal—vengeance. Sydney and Gray set out to make each other miserable. But misery loves company, and soon, walls are destroyed and truths are revealed that could change their future forever. *** Contains mature situations and language ***
Savor You
Emily Snow - 2013
Not when their attraction is constantly fueled by lust and proximity—she’s her older brother’s Lucas’s assistant and Wyatt is his best friend and band mate.So when Your Toxic Sequel makes a move to record a new album in Nashville, Kylie decides to make the latest break with Wyatt official by getting the hell out of town. She’ll spend a week in New Orleans. A week to immerse herself in the Mardi Gras scene. One week to not think about the last time she was in New Orleans, seven years ago with Wyatt. Seven days where she won’t have to see Wyatt every day just to fall ridiculously in love with him all over again—where, if she wants to, she can have a normal, no-strings attached fling that won’t end in heartbreak.Too bad Wyatt ruins everything by showing up, as gorgeous and demanding and awful for her as ever.Wyatt refuses to let Kylie give up on him. Not without reminding her why they both fell so far and hard in the first place. Not without making her savor the good memories and what could be their last chance with each other.
Capture
Rachel Van Dyken - 2015
Losing your ability to speak at the age of seventeen; it’s not normal or fair.But trauma, has a way of throwing normality out the window.Dani lives anything but a normal life.Her sister is married to one of the biggest names in Hollywood.Her best friends are rockstar duo AD2.And she has more love around her than most people experience in a lifetime.But that doesn't change the fact their parents are dead.Or that it's her fault.It seems her new normal is being a mute, living on the inside, unable to actually communicate on the outside.That is until Hollywood’s newest heartthrob Lincoln Greene hires her as his assistant for the summer.He's gorgeous, completely unavailable, and unobtainable.But that doesn't stop her from wondering...if things were different...would he want her?If she was whole, would he be the other half?