Book picks similar to
The Secret Ingredient by Kilby Blades


romance
chick-lit
contemporary-romance
contemporary

On the Rocks


Sawyer Bennett - 2014
    Now he’s returned home to the sand and salty breeze of the North Carolina Outer Banks so he can open The Last Call, a beach bar nestled among the dunes of the Atlantic.Five years ago, Gabby Ward drunkenly threw herself at her best friend’s brother, only to have her young heart crushed. Hunter is back but Gabby is content to stay far away from him and his dangerously charming ways. Gabby’s well-schemed plans to ignore Hunter go up in flames when he presents her an offer she simply can’t refuse. Working together day in and day out proves problematic for two reasons—Gabby realizes her feelings for Hunter are still very much alive, while Hunter struggles to break through to Gabby’s cold heart. What starts out as a mutual business arrangement soon turns into a passion that neither can deny.But when the pro surfing tour comes knocking and Hunter has a chance to reclaim his former glory, hard choices lie ahead for both of them.Choices that could destroy what they have built or take them further than they could ever dare to hope in their second chance at romance.

Fakers


Meg Collett - 2014
    Her bubbling personality and fresh beauty capture her audience each week, but they don't know the truth-she's just faking it. Beneath the surface of light-hearted smiles is a simmering darkness threatening to pull Kyra under. When Kyra moves to Canaan Island and buys her deceased mother's childhood home, she hopes to confront the lurking shadows haunting her every step. But when she meets her grumpy contractor, even her best-laid plans start to unravel. Hale Cooper is as brutally honest as he is intriguing. He hates fakers, and isn't afraid to call Kyra on her false personality. Yet, she is drawn to him, and the unexpected attraction to a man who challenges her to be her true self lands her in unchartered waters. But if she lowers her guard and allows herself to be honest with Hale, will the darkness creep in too?*This book is recommended for mature readers due to some sexual content and language. Cutting is represented in this book, and scenes may be considered triggering to some.*

Muse in Lingerie


Penelope Sky - 2018
    The bank took the house, and my last living relative was murdered. Knuckles threatened to torture me if I ran. He's counting down the days until he'll claim me...making me treasure my final days of freedom.But I'm not going to wait around. I'm running like hell.To Milan.The greatest lingerie designer in the world is looking for new talent for Barsetti Lingerie. I'm not exactly model material, but maybe I can get a job doing something...and get paid under the table.But when I meet the infamous Conway Barsetti, he has other plans for me.Did I just run away from one monster into the arms of another?

Miss Match


Lindzee Armstrong - 2015
    Luke is her billionaire best friend determined to break them all...Welcome to Toujour Matchmaking Inc., where your happily ever after is guaranteed!Luke has loved Brooke for eight long years. Now that she’s engaged to someone else, he’s given up hope that she’ll ever see him as anything but a best friend. When Brooke begs him for a favor, Luke is leery to accept—until he finds out that if he doesn’t, she’s moving to Italy with her fiancé. And Luke isn’t about to lose his best friend and soul mate in one swoop.Brooke has finally achieved her lifelong dream of becoming a professional matchmaker, and now the company is crumbling around her. But she knows who can help—her billionaire best friend, Luke Ryder. If she can convince him to sign up as her next client, he'll find love and she'll keep her job. It’s a match made in heaven.Everything is going as planned until Brooke realizes that finding Luke love means losing him forever. Suddenly, her rules to keep them in the friend zone seem ridiculous. Maybe she’s picked the wrong man for her happily ever after. Now the only match she’s worried about is the one she can’t have.This is a full-length sweet/clean contemporary romantic comedy that will delight readers who love Hallmark movies. Each book in this series by USA Today bestselling author Lindzee Armstrong can be read as a stand-alone.

Beyond Me


Jennifer Probst - 2014
    But I never expected to meet James Hunt. Sex and frolic? Yes! A relationship? No. But his hot blue eyes and confident manner drew me in. And when he let me see the man behind the mask, I fell hard, foolishly believing there could be a future for us. Of course I never considered our relationship might be based on lies…or that his betrayal could rock my foundation and make me question everything I believed in… OR WILL A LIFE BUILT ON LIES RUIN EVERYTHING? The moment I saw Quinn I knew I had to have her. She hooked me with her cool eyes and don’t touch me attitude. I had it all, money, social status, and looks. I could get any girl I wanted…until her. When my friends challenged me with a bet to get her into bed by the end of the week, I couldn’t pass it up. But sex wasn’t supposed to turn into love. She wasn’t supposed to change me, push me, and make me want more for myself. She wasn’t supposed to wreck me in all ways. And now, if I can’t turn my lies into truth, I just might lose her forever…

Lessons In Love


Jessica Peterson - 2016
    Charming. Funny as hell. Too bad sexy Spaniard Rafa Montoya is off limits.Yeah, I fantasize about what his mouth can do other than speak four languages during our tutoring sessions. But I need to focus on bringing up my crappy grades, not his mouth. And I don't want to fall for yet another guy I can't have in the long run—I'm leaving Madrid to go back home at the end of the semester.The icing on the cake? My best friend Maddie is crushing on Rafa, too. Hard.Keeping my distance shouldn't be difficult, considering the attraction I feel for him is obviously one-sided. Only, it’s not. One earth shattering encounter involving a bathroom stall, a kiss to end all kisses, and a semi-public orgasm tells me he’s feeling it, too. The connection we share is impossible to resist.He wants me. I want him. But I'm leaving Madrid soon. And I know it will break Maddie's heart if she finds out about us.I need to keep things friendly with Rafa before we all get hurt. I just wish he’d stop being so damn wonderful—and so damn great in bed. I never imagined learning Spanish would be this much fun…or cause this much trouble. The books in the STUDY ABROAD series are STANDALONE stories and can be read in any order!

Temporarily Yours


Diane Alberts - 2014
    Men, on the other hand, are unsolvable equations. Now Kayla’s en route to her sister’s wedding—alone and without the fictional boyfriend she invented for her family. Fortunately, her plane comes complete with complimentary cocktails and a ridiculously hot ex-marine in the seat beside her. And that’s all it takes for Kayla’s inhibitions to go sailing out the airlock... Cooper Shillings has soft spot for people in trouble, but he certainly wasn’t expecting to land in it himself—and definitely not while getting naughty mid-air with a sexy southern belle. When he hears Kayla’s predicament, however, he offers his services as a stand-in boyfriend. After all, he’s heading overseas soon...and how could he refuse a little no-strings wickedness? It’s the perfect plan. And all Kayla has to do is ensure her family falls for the ultimate bluff, without falling for it—and Cooper—in the process...

Just Folking Around


Penny Reid - 2021
    . .Raquel Ezra loves to fish. With so many fish in the sea, she’s never had a problem baiting the hook or reeling them in. Raquel is a good actress, she can be anyone’s fantasy for a single night as long as they agree to be hers. Which is why she doesn’t think twice about spending an evening in nowhere Tennessee with a smokin’ hot, well-mannered, and intriguing sheriff’s deputy by the name of Jackson James.Except, when the time comes, Raquel discovers that reality might just be better than any fantasy, and maybe she’s not ready to release this catch.JUST FOLKING AROUND is a 16k words, contemporary romance, a complete standalone, and is the prequel to TOTALLY FOLKED, book #1 in the Good Folk: Modern Folktales series.

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.

Now That I've Found You


Bella Andre - 2016
    Ever. Not when he knows all too well just how destructive painter/muse relationships can be. But on the day Rosa Bouchard walks onto the cliffs outside his Montauk cottage, Drake is so captivated that he can't stop himself from bringing her life on canvas.Shocked and horrified by the nude photos of her that have just hit the Internet, reality TV star Rosa's every instinct is to run from her Miami home and hide. After driving all night, she ends up in Montauk, New York, where she doesn't know a soul and plans to lie low until she can figure out how to deal with the media firestorm--and her own mother, who seems all too happy to sell out Rosa's happiness for more fame, more fans, and more money. The very last thing Rosa expects is to find, and to fall for, a sinfully sexy man like Drake Sullivan.Drake has never felt this way about anything he's painted...and he's definitely never felt this way about a woman. When they kiss, everything but sweet, breathless desire melts away. But can he convince Rosa to trust--and to love--again after such a devastating betrayal?

Next to You


Julia Gabriel - 2014
    Now an adult, he's carefully crafted a pretend life where he can hide his scars and his death row father behind the disguise of a caretaker's pickup truck and a pair of gardening shears. But when a beautiful woman with scars of her own barges into his quiet, solitary life, Jared finds it increasingly difficult to hide from what he really wants.A successful young businesswoman ill at ease in her newfound beauty...Phlox Miller was never the pretty girl and no magic mascara or secret serum was ever going to change that — not even one manufactured by her own company. When an accident at her country home burns her face and body, she spares no expense on her recovery and plastic surgery. Now she turns heads on the street, but can't recognize herself in the mirror — and can't convince the man she loves that he's beautiful, too.Can two people see beyond their physical and emotional scars to find true love and lasting acceptance?

The Last One


Tawdra Kandle - 2014
    The last year has been a roller coaster: her widowed mother just married a long-time family friend. Her younger brother unexpectedly became a father and a husband. Everyone's life is changing. . .except for hers. As she begins her final summer of college, Meghan's looking for excitement and maybe a little romance. Nothing serious; this girl just wants to have fun. But the only man for Meghan turns out to be the last one she expects. Sam Reynolds doesn't need excitement, and he doesn't want romance. Fun is out of the question. He's been the steady, responsible one since his parents were killed, and serious is his way of life. When Sam rescues Meghan alongside a dark Georgia backroad, she falls hard for his deep brown eyes and slow drawl. But making him see her as more than just a party girl won't be easy. Sam's tempted by the fiery young artist, even as he realizes that giving into his feelings will mean radical change. . .maybe more than he can handle. Nobody ever said love was simple.

Second Chances


Bria Marche - 2015
    Thomas for Abby Melrose Bellavance, or so she thinks. That is, until her husband Remy steals her trust fund and disappears for parts unknown. Now, with five million reasons to write off men for good, she returns to Charleston, broke and groveling at her mother’s feet.Living again in the opulent mansion on South Battery, Abby is thrown another curve ball. Her mother passes away, leaving Abby with an enormous home but no money to support it.Turning the mansion into a boardinghouse has its advantage—immediate cash—and disadvantage—two of the hottest men in Charleston are now Abby’s tenants.Abby wants love again, especially with hunky Erik, the handyman, and sexy Brandon, the prominent attorney, living in the mansion with her. They are so different, yet they’re similar in one way she needs to avoid—they are men, and she should keep her distance.As the southern summer blazes on, Abby’s life becomes even more complicated. Personal secrets are revealed, and fate deals her one final blow. She wonders if she will ever be given a second chance at falling in love.

The Wright Brother


K.A. Linde - 2017
    But when I returned home, Jensen Wright crashed into my life with the confidence of a billionaire CEO and the sex appeal of a god. Even I couldn’t resist our charged chemistry, or the way he fit into my life like a missing puzzle piece.Too bad he’d forgotten the one thing that could destroy us.Because Jensen Wright doesn’t share. Not with anyone. And if his brother finds out, this could all go down in flames.When it all was said and done, was he the Wright brother?

Fetching


Kylie Gilmore - 2021
    Only she’s no damsel in distress.WyattI’m a self-made billionaire with a soft spot for damsels in distress, so when I move to the quirky lakeside community of Summerdale, I immediately zero in on the woman I most want to…ahem, rescue. Only the stubborn woman refuses to cooperate.SydneyWhen Satan, aka Wyatt Winters, moves to town, I do my best to be welcoming. After all, I’m the owner of the historic restaurant and bar that he keeps showing up at, despite criticizing nearly everything about it. Deep breath. I might’ve lost my cool and made a rude gesture in his direction. And told him off. How was I to know he was considering investing in my place?Did I mention I’m in debt up to my eyeballs and every bank has turned me down?Still, there’s not a snowball’s chance in hell I’d ever work with him. Or admit he fires me up in every way.And then a snowstorm traps us together and—I’m melting.This romantic comedy stands alone with a swoonworthy happy-ever-after! No cliffhangers.NOTE: A portion of Fetching’s book sales will go to Pets for Vets, a nonprofit that trains shelter dogs to be therapy companions for military veterans with PTSD.