Book picks similar to
Heart Breaths by K.K. Hendin
new-adult
romance
contemporary
stand-alone
Skipping Stones
J.B. McGee - 2013
Now available**They say there are five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.Not everyone will grieve in this order, nor will everyone go through every stage. It’s during the stage of denial when Alex Hart meets Andrew Foster. He takes her one-step closer to acceptance: the stage when new, meaningful relationships are formed. The stage when the realization occurs that this is now the new state of normal.Just when Alex thinks she is on her way to healing, she enters the bargaining phase. That’s the phase where you wonder what you could have done differently. You wonder “what if?” Specifically, what if the ones you loved hadn’t left you?Leaving…this is what makes heading off to war so difficult and frightening for Alex. She knows all too well what it’s like to be the one on the losing end of life, which is why she’s made it her personal mission in life to save as many lives as possible. The extreme high she gets from treating trauma victims turns into Alex’s own form of therapy, or so she thinks.When faced with her world being turned upside down, Alex may just find that her true therapy is in the one who has always saved her.
More than Music
Elizabeth Briggs - 2014
That is, until tattooed singer Jared Cross catches her playing guitar and invites her to join his band on The Sound, a reality TV show competition.Once on the show, Maddie discovers there's more to Jared than his flirty smile and bad boy reputation. With each performance their attraction becomes impossible to ignore, but when the show pressures them to stay single, they're forced to keep their relationship secret.As the competition heats up, Jared will do whatever it takes for his band to win, and Maddie must decide if following her dream is worth losing her heart.
Happily Whatever After
Stewart Lewis - 2020
Unceremoniously dumped by her boyfriend of four years and fired from her art gallery job in the same week, she flees to Washington, DC, and moves in with her big brother. She hopes the new setting and familial comfort will help her finally find her bearings. What Page finds instead is an unlikely refuge: a park for the neighborhood’s poshest pooches, and a quirky pack of companionable dog-run regulars who become fast friends.Both four-legged and two-, these new allies offer Page a world of possibilities. The woman who hit rock bottom now has dreams: of having her own business, getting her own place, and even wilder ones about the ruggedly handsome owner of a vineyard and two equally fetching Bernese mountain dogs.Unleashed from all that once held her back, Page finds everything might be falling into place. But just when she thinks her life is headed in the right direction, the road takes a sharp turn to show her just how unpredictable second chances can be. Will Page get her happily ever after? Is there even such a thing?Witty, smartly funny, and modernly romantic, Happily Whatever After shows us all that sometimes imperfect can still be good enough.
Where My Heart Breaks
Ivy Sinclair - 2013
Kate’s mission is to prove that she has learned from her mistakes. Almost immediately, Kate is drawn to someone else who understands the unfairness of being judged by actions of the past. Reed Black has his own regrets, but, instead of trying to change the town’s perception of him, he embraced it. When Reed offers to give Kate a crash course in the romanticized history and insight behind the novel that put the Willoughby Inn on the map, Kate is unable can’t resist playing only, even though she knows that just like the plot of the Willoughby Inn story, anything more than friendship is strictly off-limits. This is a full-length, standalone new adult contemporary romance novel intended for readers 18+. The Willoughby Inn Love Story Collection: Where My Heart Breaks Grounded By You
Best Laid Plans
L.K. Farlow - 2018
In a big way. Too bad that the next morning he had no memory of our night together, leaving me heartbroken, and as I later discovered...pregnant.For the last four years, I've been rocking the single mom thing, making sure my daughter comes first. In fact, everything is going fine--until Alden storms back into my life, as my new boss.His reappearance wasn't something I planned for. Add my nosy, meddlesome three-year-old and an overprotective brother, and I'm obviously in way over my head.My only hope now is that I can sway Alden to see things my way...but you know what they say about the best laid plans...
#famous
Jilly Gagnon - 2017
And what starts out as an innocent joke spirals into a whirlwind adventure that could change both their lives—and their hearts—forever. But are fame and love worth the price?Told in alternating points of view, #famous captures the out-of-control thrill ride of falling for someone in front of everyone.
The Summer Remains
Seth King - 2015
The first is that due to a quickly worsening medical condition, she faces a risky surgery in three months’ time that may or may not end in her death. The second is that she would like to fall in love before then.As spring sinks into her namesake season on the Florida coastline, Summer plays the odds and downloads a new dating app - and after one intriguing message from a beautiful surfer named Cooper Nichols, it becomes clear that the story of what may be her last few months under the sun is about to be completely revised. All she has to do now is write something worth reading.Tender, honest, devastating and triumphant, The Summer Remains explores a very human battle being waged in a very digital age: the search for a love that will outlast this temporary borrowing of bones. In an era when many feel compelled to share and re-share anything about everything, prepare to feel a love so special, you will want to hug it close and make it yours forever.
If I Stay
Evan Reeves - 2013
Gemma Davies, at twenty-two, has just learned this. It was also not what she had expected from her long-time and only boyfriend - ever. So when her best friend and roommate drags her out in hopes to help Gemma come alive again, the last thing she expects is to meet someone who manages to do just that. In a passionate night (on so many levels) that leaves her rattled long after she sneaks out of his hotel room. But because nothing in Gemma's whirl-wind life can ever go seamlessly, she soon runs into the man that she'd left naked and in bed just the evening before...in the most unexpected of places. The classroom. As her Professor. ...if only the surprises stopped there.
We Are Still Tornadoes
Michael Kun - 2016
Now they’ve graduated high school, and Cath is off to college while Scott stays at home trying to get his band off the ground. Neither of them realized that their first year after high school would be so hard.Fortunately, Scott and Cath still have each other, and it’s through their letters that they survive heartache, annoying roommates, family dramas, and the pressure of figuring out what to do with the rest of their lives. And through it all, they realize that the only person they’ve ever wanted to turn to is each other. But does that mean they should think about being more than friends? One thing is clear: Change is an inescapable part of growing up, and we share unbreakable bonds with the friends who help us navigate it.
Crush
Mae Wood - 2020
Land a new client. Taste wine. But when the client is a free-spirited bombshell who presses all of his buttons, Ryan's world goes sideways.Kenzie Balfour is entirely irresistible. She's the fourth generation to run The von Eck Estate Winery and she's more intoxicating than any award-winning cabernet.Ryan has been working hard for a promotion at one of the world's top investment banks. If he can close this deal for her legendary winery, he gets the job. He can't let a gorgeous woman with a great laugh get in the way of his goals. Even if she leaves him love drunk.From a trouser-tightening almost-kiss at a restaurant to a seductive walk through a vineyard at sunset, can Ryan keep his crush on his client under control or will a taste of Kenzie be his downfall?Escape to California's wine country in Crush.
Royal Marriage Market
Heather Lyons - 2015
While she wants what's best for her country, she isn't about to jump into an unwanted relationship—let alone a marriage—with a virtual stranger. Of course, her feelings matter little to her parents, whose wheeling and dealings over trade pacts and alliances achieved at her expense begin the moment they set foot in California for the Summit. So when a blindingly handsome royal runs into her, she doesn't hesitate to tell him there's no way she's marrying him.Christian is all too happy to agree: no marriage. As the Hereditary Grand Duke of Aiboland, his main goal is to get through the summit without a bride being foisted on him. Which is why he suggests they help each other field potential intendeds. As Christian slowly gets to know Elsa, though, he realizes they have a lot more in common than just their feelings about the Royal Marriage Market. Only he can't fall for her, because royal or not, they're not meant for each other. Elsa and Christian will have to evaluate matters of the heart verses those of state and crown, and decide whether or not tradition trumps love.
Wide Awake
Shelly Crane - 2013
A coma. A life she can't remember. When Emma Walker wakes up in the hospital with no knowledge of how she got there, she learns that she's been in a coma for six months. Strangers show up and claim to be her parents, but she can't remember them. She can't remember anyone. Not her friends, not even her boyfriend. Even though she can't remember, everyone wants her to just pick up where she left off, but what she learns about the 'old her' makes her start to wish she'd never woken up. Her boyfriend breaks up with the new girl he's dating to be with her, her parents want her to start planning for college, her friends want their leader back, and her physical therapist with the hazel eyes keeps his distance to save his position at the hospital. Will she ever feel like she recognizes the girl in the mirror?
Back to You
Priscilla Glenn - 2012
But Lauren saw something in him that caused her to question his bad-boy persona, and against her better judgment, she took a chance. She had no way of knowing that the unlikely friendship they formed would become so important to her.Or that it would end so painfully.Eight years later, when Lauren begins her new job at Learn and Grow Day Care, Michael is the last person she expects to see. Refusing to revisit the hurt and confusion of their past, Lauren vows to keep her distance from him. But staying away from Michael proves to be more difficult than she thought, despite her lingering grief and her instincts for self-preservation.As Lauren and Michael recall the friendship that changed them forever and the events that tore them apart, will they finally be able to heal? Or will the ghosts of Michael’s past prove to be too much to overcome?
Epic Sins
Trudy Stiles - 2015
These will all be STANDALONE novels focusing on the various characters from the band Epic Fail that were introduced in Dear Emily.Garrett Armstrong, the lead guitarist of Epic Fail, womanizer and not so nice guy, leaves a trail of women in his wake. A recent one-night stand wreaks havoc, and turns his present completely upside down. He’s faced with a reality that he never expected. Never wanted.Samantha Weston can’t escape the black cloud that follows her. She suffered an unspeakable loss as a teenager and has been climbing uphill ever since. As soon as her life starts to become manageable she’s slammed with another tragic event, forcing her to abandon the only thing in life that she cherishes. A heartbreaking situation throws this unlikely pair together. They’re forced to face things that seem impossible. Can Sam get past the demons that haunt her? Can Garrett accept a fate he swore to avoid at all costs?Can they conquer the sins that are poised to destroy them or will they become an Epic Fail?Epic Sins is the first book of the Epic Fail series, a spinoff of The Forever Family series. Reading The Forever Family series is not required as these are all spin-off/standalone novels, but it may enhance your experience.
Escape In You
Rachel Schurig - 2013
A womanizer. A fighter. Dangerous. The type of guy most girls do their best to avoid. But Zoe Janes is no saint herself. In fact, she sees in Jet the perfect opportunity to distract herself from her responsibilities at home and the mistakes that keep her trapped there. He’s gorgeous, likes to party, and is clearly only interested in having fun—just like Zoe. The more time they spend together, the harder it is for Zoe to stick to her “fun only” mantra. Jet is getting under her skin, making her believe things could actually be different. She knows they’re both trapped by the sins of their past but Jet is starting to make her think freedom might actually be possible. And that makes him the most dangerous boy of all.