Book picks similar to
River Wild by Samantha Towle


romance
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contemporary-romance
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Park Avenue Player


Penelope Ward - 2019
     Then the fender bender happened. The guy I collided with drove an expensive car and was drop-dead gorgeous. Too bad he was also a total jerk. We argued over whose fault it was and any other thing that came out of his condescending mouth. Eventually, the police came and we went our separate ways. The insurance companies would have to figure things out. I had a job interview to get to anyway—one I was excited about. Though that excitement changed to disappointment the moment the person interviewing me walked in. The guy from the accident. Whoops! Yeah, so I didn’t get the position. The problem was, I really wanted it. No, I needed it. Anything to get me out of my current career and back into working with kids. So, even though Hollis LaCroix was as intimidating as he was devastatingly handsome, I went back to see him and begged for a chance. To my surprise, he gave me a shot taking care of his troubled niece. At least my attraction to him wouldn’t be able to go anywhere. I wasn’t about to jeopardize my job or the strong bond Hailey and I formed. But resisting the magnetic pull between us wasn’t that simple. (Then there was our little underwear game—don’t ask.) We continued to flirt without crossing the line—until it finally happened. This is the part of the story where we fall in love and live happily ever after, right? Well, life has a way of throwing some major curveballs. Ours was one I didn’t see coming.

My Torin


K. Webster - 2018
    A fortune. And horses too.It’s too easy.Nothing in my life has ever been easy.What’s the catch?There’s always a catch.

Perfect Love Story


Natasha Madison - 2018
    That the vows you made to each other were simply empty promises.You pick up and move to the country to start fresh. When life hands you limes, you make sure you have tequila because your life is about to get stirred up.JensenMarried to my high school sweetheart, the best thing she gave me was my baby girl. But we weren't enough for her. I wasn't enough for her. The last thing I expected on my birthday was a Dear John letter, but that’s what I got when she upped and left. Now, it's just me and my girl against the world till the new girl moves in next door. Is there such a thing as a perfect love story?

No Tomorrow


Carian Cole - 2018
    They steal our breath.They steal our sanity.And we let them.Over and over and over again.* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *They say you never forget your first love.Mine was a homeless musician who wandered straight into my soul.He was my first everything. And fourteen years later, I still can't get him out of my head.He broke all my rules.He also broke my heart.I watched him climb to stardom, cheering him on from afar.But I was never a fan; just a girl in love.Like a tornado, he spiraled, leaving a path of destruction in his wake.But love conquers all, right? It has to. Because here I stand, ravaged and ruined, needing it to be true.You can't go back, but I want to. Back to the park. Back to when he sang only for me. Before he was famous. Before he shattered my heart.I thought I knew everything about him.But I could not have been more wrong.He promised me every tomorrow. And here I am, waiting.And hoping.Again. _______________________ Note: This is not a fluffy, light read or a swoony romance. It's a journey of love between two people who can't let each other go, even though they are far from perfect. It's about loving someone who is struggling with mental illness and addiction and all the ups and downs that come with it. It's about finding a happily ever after that works between two people loving each other the best they can with patience, understanding, and unconditional love. Not everyone will agree with this kind of love and acceptance - but it exists, and it's real, and it happens every day.

Tight


Alessandra Torre - 2015
    In my life as a single, thirty-two year old woman. I had a good job, wonderful friends, my independence.I also hadn't got laid in three years. Hadn't been on a date in two. Had stopped counting calories and wearing makeup... a while ago.Then Brett Jacobs waltzed in. Caressed my thigh, dug rough fingers into my hair, lowered his soft mouth to my skin, took sexual control of my mind and stirred it all around with what he packed in his pants. He flipped my quiet life upside down and crawled into a place in my heart I thought was dead.The issue is his secret.The issue is her.The issue is that I don't even know she exists, and he thinks she's dead.The issue is that shit is about to hit the fan and I can't hold on to him tight enough.

Repeat


Kylie Scott - 2019
    Now she has to figure out who she was and why she made the choices she did - which includes leaving the supposed love of her life, tattoo artist Ed Larsen, only a month before. Ed can hardly believe it when his ex shows up at his tattoo parlor with no memory of their past, asking about the breakup that nearly destroyed him. The last thing he needs is more heartache, but he can't seem to let her go again. Should they walk away for good, or does their love deserve a repeat performance?Listening Length: 6 hours and 47 minutes

Still Beating


Jennifer Hartmann - 2020
    This book contains subject matter that may be sensitive for some readers, including rape, as well as strong language and explicit sex. 18+ only. Please read responsibly. When Cora attends her sister’s birthday party, she expects at most a hangover or a walk of shame. She doesn’t anticipate a stolen wallet, leaving her stranded and dependent on Dean—her arch nemesis and ultimate thorn in her side. And she really doesn’t anticipate waking up in shackles in a madman’s basement.To make matters worse, Dean shares the space in his own set of chains.After fifteen years of teasing, insults, and practical jokes, the ultimate joke seems to be on them. The two people who always thought they’d end up killing each other must now work together if they want to survive.But Cora and Dean have no idea their abductor has a plan for them. A plan that will alter the course of their relationship, blur the line between hate and love, and shackle them together with far more than just chains.

Teardrop Shot


Tijan - 2019
    And just like that, our friendship was off to a great start.Reese Forster was the starting point guard for the Seattle Thunder.Gorgeous. Cocky. Loved by the nation.He's also attending preseason basketball training camp where I used to work.Correction: where I work again, because I was fired from my last job.And dumped.And I might have a tiny bit of baggage, but that's normal. Right?Reese and I shouldn't have become friends. We shouldn't have become roommates.And we really shouldn't have started sleeping together ... (Except we did.)I'm adorably psychotic. He's in the NBA.This is not a disaster waiting to happen, at all.

Pocketful of Sand


Michelle Leighton - 2015
    And I’m hope for her heartache.”—Cole Danzer.I don’t know what makes a great love story. Is it that instant attraction when boy meets girl? The passionate kisses and the fairy-tale ending? Or is it a lifetime of tragedy, paid in advance, for a few stolen moments of pure bliss? The pain and the suffering that, in the end, you can say are worth it for having found the missing piece of your soul? The answer is: I don’t know. I don’t know what makes a great love story. I only know what makes my love story. I only know that finding Cole when I did, when Emmy and I were running from a nightmare, was the only thing that saved me. That saved us. He was more broken than I was, but somehow we took each other’s shattered pieces and made a whole. If that is what makes a great love story, if that is what makes an epic romance, then mine…ours is the greatest of them all.**Contains material that some may find disturbing. Not intended for readers under the age of 18**

Savage: The Awakening of Lizzie Danton


L.A. Fiore - 2017
    Pale blue eyes as cold as ice that see right through you. He’s hard. He’s damaged. He’s dangerous. He lives in a castle fit for a fairy tale, but he’s no prince. He’s savage. He’s brutal. He’s a killer. By an act of fate, our worlds collide. They call him a monster, but he is my salvation. Due to strong language and sexual content, this book is not intended for readers under the age of 18.

Hold You Close


Melanie Harlow - 2018
    Every time I see him climbing out of his pool, practically naked and unreasonably sexy, my blood boils.I’ve always loved to loathe him. I never planned to need him.*** London Parish is my little sister’s best friend, not that it stopped me from falling for her.Our history is complicated. The only thing we have in common is being godparents to my sister’s three adorable kids—until our lives are changed in one tragic moment. Now we’re trying to raise the children we love, mourn an unthinkable loss, and fight an undeniable attraction.My life is already upside-down, and the last thing I need is for old feelings to resurface. Because I’ll never be able to keep her, no matter how hard I try to hold her close.

The Best Thing


Mariana Zapata - 2019
    Other things… not so much. Lenny DeMaio made herself a promise: she was done. Done thinking about him. Done worrying about him. Done reaching out to a man who clearly didn’t want to be found. Too bad no one gave Jonah Collins the memo.

Sugar Daddy


Sawyer Bennett - 2016
    Sela Halstead lost her innocence in a way that no sixteen-year-old should ever have to endure. She’s spent years trying to forget that night even while wondering about the identities of the monsters who brutalized her—until a telltale tattoo flashes across Sela’s TV screen. The incriminating ink belongs to Jonathon Townsend, the millionaire founder of The Sugar Bowl, a website that matches rich older men with impressionable young women. Obsessed with revenge, Sela infiltrates Townsend’s world, only to come face-to-face with a tantalizing complication: Beckett North, his charismatic business partner. The tech mastermind behind The Sugar Bowl, Beck always gets what he wants, in business and in bed. And yet, for a man who’s done every dirty thing imaginable, there’s something about the naïve, fresh-faced Sela that sparks his hottest fantasies. Because with her, it’s not just about sex. Beck opens up to her in ways he never has with other girls. So why does he get the feeling that she’s hiding something? In a world of pleasure and power, the shocking truth could turn them against each other—or bind them forever. Note: Sugar Daddy ends on a cliffhanger. Sela and Beck’s story continues in Sugar Rush and Sugar Free!

The Coppersmith Farmhouse


Devney Perry - 2017
    It could also tear them apart.Gigi has just uprooted her whole world to start a new life. The unexpected gift of a farmhouse in small-town Montana is just what she and her daughter need to escape big-city loneliness. The last thing she needs is attitude from the town’s sheriff, the most perfectly attractive and ruggedly handsome man she’s ever laid eyes on—and a complete jerk.Jess knows all about women like Gigi. Beautiful. Sexy. Scheming. She’s stolen his sanctuary, the farmhouse that should have been his. But along with a face full of freckles, she’s got a sharp wit and a backbone of steel—something he doesn’t discover until after making a complete fool of himself. If he can earn back her trust and win her heart, he might just find the home he’s always needed.

Destroyed


Pepper Winters - 2014
    Not broken or ruined or running from a past I can’t face. Just complicated. I thought my life couldn’t get any more tangled in deceit and confusion. But I hadn’t met him. I hadn't realized how far I could fall or what I'd do to get free. He has a secret.I’ve never pretended to be good or deserving. I chase who I want, do what I want, act how I want.I didn’t have time to lust after a woman I had no right to lust after. I told myself to shut up and stay hidden. But then she tried to run. I’d tasted what she could offer me and damned if I would let her go.One secret destroys them.