Book picks similar to
The Forbidden: A Gay Young Adult Romance by Dante Cullen
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hate-love
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Liam Davis & The Raven
Anyta Sunday - 2014
But I’m about to find out.Jock. Big-boned. Broad shoulders. Tall. Runs fingers through hair as though he’s attractive and knows it. Walks into party like he has all the time in the world, slow but oddly graceful. Laugh lines around the mouth, a deep crack in his skin where a dimple might be. That’s how I described him in the notes for my latest party-page column.He fascinates me, but I’m not sure why. Or what to do about it. My belly is a fluttery, twisty mess.Best to focus on my mission to find The Raven—the campus vigilante—and warn him about the hate mail the student paper’s been getting for him.Except . . .Quinn looks at me and his eyes darken. He wants something. But what is it?Why do I want so badly to give it to him?Liam Davis & the Raven is a slow-burn, bi-awakening, New Adult, gay romance set in college. This roommates to lovers story follows quirky, socially awkward Liam to his heartwarming HEA.
The Boy I Love The Most
J.J. Riley - 2020
Hiding among the choir, he was content to be ignored at school. But in order to make his singing dreams come true and win the scholarship, he has to push aside that shyness and stand out. When new kid, Maverick Cole shows up, all of Ashton’s plans are thrown into chaos. Now he has to work with his new duet partner to perfect their song for the biggest choir competition in the country. The moment things start to look up, Ashton suddenly finds himself at the lowest point in his life. His new friend steps in to save him, proving their friendly rivalry might be more than friendship, on and off the stage. If only he could tell Maverick how he really feels. With his heart and his future on the line, will Maverick and Ashton be able to work together to make this work or will the pressure of winning tear them apart? The stakes are high, so Ashton will have to be ready to not only stand out, but come out. Especially if he wants to win both the competition and his Maverick’s heart. Besides, who needs therapy when you have harmony? *The Boy I Love The Most is a young adult gay romance*
Drown
Daryl Leonardo - 2020
Nicholas is an attractive, though somewhat self-absorbed, young man whose life is uprooted when his mother announces her bitter divorce from his father. When the two boys meet, things become increasingly complicated as they strike up a friendship, which quickly develops into something neither party can be certain of.
Secret Admirer
D.J. Jamison - 2020
You won't believe me, because I'm just your brother's best friend, but it’s true. Each day my feelings for you grow, confusing but undeniable.With a few anonymous love tokens, I finally have an outlet for all the things I can't say. And with each gift and note, you smile. For me. Not your brother's straight friend, but something new. Something more. Something that will change everything if we can both find the courage to believe.All I have to do is confess who I really am:Your Secret Admirer
In Too Deep
Kate Sherwood - 2014
Their worlds couldn’t be further apart. Cade is quiet, serious, and determined to succeed; Aiden's a party-loving frat boy. Cade comes from a rough home and worked hard to get the scholarships that make it possible for him to attend college; Aiden's had it all thrown in his lap by supportive, kind, and wealthy parents. Cade wants nothing to do with Aiden, but from the moment they meet, Aiden is determined to find a way to bring their different worlds together. Aiden manages to persuade Cade he’s a decent guy, and a tentative friendship becomes much more. But a trip to Aiden's family cottage puts Cade in the path of a ghost from his past, and a dark secret he never expected to face again. Cade did what he had to do to escape his dead-end life, but now he sees he didn’t leave it as far behind him as he thought.
Gavin's Big Gay Checklist
Chase Connor - 2018
But it's not what you think. Okay, maybe it is. Being half-Mexican, half-white, Jewish and Catholic is hard enough. Being a closeted high school senior just makes things harder to handle. Only Eli, Gavin's best friend who lives next door--and who happens to be a white, straight, home-schooled son of a preacher--knows who Gavin really is inside and out. But that's not enough. Gavin decides to make a list. A checklist of "To Do" items to help him become an open, proud gay man before his high school career is over. Before he heads off to college and leaves behind his mother and father, hopefully with their love and support. However, what the checklist does is educate Gavin about life--not just as a gay man--but simply as a man. It teaches him about friendship, honesty, kindness, duty, responsibility, and family. Maybe...just maybe...it will teach him to not be miserable. Gavin's Big Gay Checklist starts out as the story of how a young gay man sets out to accomplish "gay" tasks on his path to coming out of the closet. But it ends up being about life, friendship, family, all of the misery and happiness along the way...and menudo.
Let There Be Light
A.M. Johnson - 2018
Hard work and drive kept Royal O'Connell one step ahead of his competition. His spot on the swim team, keeping his scholarship, was the only plan that mattered. His world was ebony and ivory. Natural talent and ambition set Camden Morgan apart from the other music majors. His dedication scoring him a full ride. Normally, their paths would have never crossed….But when Royal meets his best friend's new roommate, his big plan and Camden’s controlled environment faces a variable that could destroy it all. Attraction. The world they live in had no room for error. That undeniable pull between them was dangerous and neither one of them could've prepared for the choice they'd have to make. Love isn't always an easy road and, when everything they've worked for is on the line, they'll have to decide if being together is worth the risk. Let There Be Light is a full-length standalone.
A Spirited Match
Jill Wexler - 2018
A fraternity hazing. Two cantankerous ghosts. Jim and Randy have known each other since Kindergarten and have been teased through their teen years for being the textbook definition of “bromance” - never apart, finishing each other’s sentences, only truly happy in the other’s company, completely platonic. Now in their first semester at college together, and pledging the same fraternity, they are sent to stay the night in a supposedly haunted house as part of the hazing process. No big deal, right? The two besties can conquer anything together, right? Except the current resident of the house is grumpy. It’s been too long since Brenden McClain has lived with humans, not since old Linda Richmond had passed on. Since then, he’s only had the joy of toying with the young people who dared to visit the “haunted house” he occupies. In all fairness, he is indeed haunting it but only because he seems to be bound there for no reason other than to be regularly annoyed by Edward, who appears to be stuck on the property as well, though he tends to spend most of his time where the old barn used to be. When Jim and Randy get dropped off on his front porch to stay the night, Brendan nearly swoons over the prospect of having guests to play with. His excitement escalates when he picks up on a very repressed emotion emitting from both young men...and decides to have a different kind of fun with the pair.
Five Dares
Eli Easton - 2017
Over the years, he’s convinced his best friend, Jake Masterson, to perform some dangerous-looking stunts with him. But the dare they attempt on the night of their college graduation goes sideways. The firecrackers explode too soon and both of them end up with badly burned palms.But hey, nothing gets the “terrible two-o” down for long, and they recuperate in style at Andy’s family cottage in Cape Cod. As the weeks go by, both Andy and Jake grow frustrated over the inability to use their hands for all sorts of daily activities—including getting off. So Andy begins a new series of dares that don’t just cross the friendship line, they obliterate it.But what might be mere sexual relief to Andy is serious business to Jake, who only recently got over years of secret pining for his straight best friend. Inevitably, the burns heal, summer ends, and hearts are broken. To fix things, Andy will have to face the greatest dare of all.
Calling the Show
J.A. Rock - 2012
Jesse hates everything about Sim, from his lack of theater experience, to his obsession with LGBTQ politics, to his infatuation with, of all things, Hula hoops. Well, he doesn't hate everything. He doesn't mind Sim's eyes, or hair, or his surprising ability to be cool in a crisis. But Jesse is graduating in just a few months, and if there's one thing he does not have time for, it's a relationship. Sim knows exactly what he likes: civil rights, the circus, and sex. And he knows what he likes about Jesse. In the control booth, Jesse is exactly Sim's type—a natural leader, collected and confident. But outside the booth, he seems reclusive, acerbic and uptight—hardly Sim's type at all. Is a relationship with Jesse a real possibility, just a fantasy, or a hopelessly lost cause? When Sim offers to teach Jesse how to hula hoop as a way to relax and loosen up, the lessons ease the two men into an unexpected shared world of sex, kink, friendship, and eventually love.
An Unforgettable Love
Jerry Cole - 2019
He has plenty to do, being the head ranger of the Tahoe National Forest, but living alone in a cabin in the middle of the woods isn’t exactly the most riveting life. He’s known excitement, too. For many years he served as a sniper in the marine corps, but a devastating shoulder injury has reduced him to civilian duties. These days, a walker’s twisted ankle or a trapped raccoon is about as exciting as it gets. Nothing can prepare him, though, for the day he comes across a man lying in the middle of a lonely forest road. The man is alive, but he’d certainly been left for dead. When he wakes up in the hospital, it becomes obvious that he’s suffering from amnesia. With nothing to identify him save for the huge angel tattoo that spreads across his shoulders, the hospital staff name him Gabriel, and tell Hopper that with nowhere else to send him, once he’s recovered from his injuries he’ll have to be sent out into the world. Against his better judgement, but always a sucker for swarthy looks and piercing blue eyes, Hopper agrees to allow Gabriel to stay with him. Perhaps, together, they can work at finding out who this mystery man is, why he was left lying in the forest, and who could possibly have attacked him so badly. What Hopper can never prepare himself for is how deeply he will fall for this handsome stranger, and how he will be able to let Gabriel go when the past, as it always does, comes to catch up. Please Note: This book contains adult language and steamy adult activities, it is intended for 18+ Adults Only. Novel, approximately 82,000 words in length. HEA (happy ever after ending). Does not end with a "cliffhanger." Themes include: Forest Ranger, Amnesia, Angel tattoo, Lake Tahoe, Falling in love, ex-marine
Project Hero
Briar Prescott - 2020
Not an especially promising start when my plan is to finally let my best friend know I have a crush on him. No worries, though. I have a plan. I just need a complete makeover. Change everything about myself so that when Falcon returns from his summer vacation, he can finally see I’m the love of his life. I totally know what I’m doing here.Well, not really.If I knew what I was doing, I wouldn’t look like every nerd cliché wrapped into one awkward package.In short, I’m screwed.But then Law Anderson enters the picture…Law:It’s all very simple. I need somebody to tutor my hockey team, and Andy needs somebody to help him with his crush. Sounds like a match made in heaven.Only the more time I spend with Andy, the more I like this quirky guy who makes me laugh, and pretty soon I’m the one who’s tutoring Andy in way more than we initially agreed upon.It’s fine.I have it all under control.But as weeks pass and the chemistry between us turns explosive, I’m starting to think that I might be in way over my head with Andy.If only I could make Andy realize that he doesn’t need to change himself for love. If only I could make Andy see that he just needs to be with somebody who has considered him perfect all along…
Want Me
Neve Wilder - 2019
One calculus exam. A whole lot of extracurricular activity.
Nate:Living with four other guys, it's bound to happen.Every guy's been caught taking care of business at least once, right? It shouldn't be a big deal.But I don't know Eric as well as my other roommates, and things are a little awkward now.He's a loner. A mystery. Quietly confident. Smart.Sexy as hell.I've been happily subsisting on the typical frat guy diet of booze and sorority girls.But the way Eric looked at me that night?There was something there.Something that's got me curious.Something that's stirring up feelings I thought I'd left behind for good.Something that's making me think I'm not as straight as I thought I was.I can't get him off of my mind.I don't think I want to.So when he offers to help me study for a midterm, I take him up on it.It's innocent.Probably. Maybe.There's no way I could've known what it'd start...This is a steamy standalone new adult/college mm romance with HEA that unfolds across six "episodes" following Nate and Eric. Now bundled up in one collection with a bonus episode for a seamless reading experience. 87,000 words.
When Red Cried Wolf
Nash Summers - 2019
And now that he’s in college, it’s finally his turn to shine.Asher’s relationship advice column in the school newspaper is his strongest matchmaking instrument, especially when it comes to helping hopeless romantics find their soulmates.But like every heroic quest, there are a few bumps in the road and dragons to slay.There’s a damsel in distress Asher’s best friend thinks is a psychopath, a handsome prince Asher can’t stop drooling over, and a huge, mysterious roommate Asher can’t help but pester.It doesn’t matter though. Nothing will stop Asher when it comes to helping people find their true love.He’s absolutely positive everything will work out in the end.Because love is always like a fairy tale…right?* * *The main romance arc spans across all three novellas. When Red Cried Wolf contains little romance but sets up for the rest of the series.—When Red Cried Wolf is a slow-burn romance with over-the-top characters, fairy tale references, ridiculous texts, and eventually, a happy ever after.