Book picks similar to
Lies by A.L. Woods


second-chance
contemporary
angst-drama
2nd-chance

The Charlotte Chronicles


Jen Frederick - 2014
    Nate Jackson always viewed her as a pesky kid…until the day she got sick. The one bright spot during her illness? He realized she was all grown up. But just when she allows herself to believe that dreams can come true, Nate disappears from her life, taking her heart with him.Nate knows he lost more than his best friend when he deserted Charlotte to enlist in the Navy. He thought he was doing the right thing, sparing the girl he loves from the shame and humiliation of his actions. Nine years later, it’s time to right his wrongs. He returns home determined to win back his first love…only to find that Charlotte's moved on without him.But if there's one thing that being a Navy SEAL has taught Nate? Never give up, even when all hope seems lost. And Nate's never going to give up on Charlotte. Ever.

We Are Us


Tara Leigh - 2020
    Survivor. Daughter. Sister. Wife.Now I am called something else.Murderer.Believe it or not, this is our love story.

One & Only


Viv Daniels - 2013
    Tess McMann lives her life according to the secrets she's sworn to keep: the father who won't acknowledge her, the sister who doesn't know she exists, and the mother who's content playing mistress to a prominent businessman. When she meets the distractingly cute Dylan Kingsley at a prestigious summer program and falls in love, Tess allows herself to imagine a life beyond these secrets. But when summer ends, so does their relationship -- Dylan heads off to Canton College while Tess enrolls at the state university. One love they can't ignore... Two years later, a scholarship brings Tess to Canton and back into Dylan's life. Their attraction is as strong as ever, but Dylan has a girlfriend…who also happens to be Tess's legitimate half-sister. Tess refuses to follow in her mother's footsteps, which leaves her only one choice: break the rules she’s always followed, or allow Dylan to slip away for a second time. ...And only one chance to get things right.

Uncocky Hero


Alex Grayson - 2021
    Getting cursed out in the middle of the airport isn’t exactly how I pictured meeting the man of my dreams. Then again, fate doesn’t seem to care much about my plans. Thanks to my failing health, I now have a lifetime of things to do, and a limited amount of time to do them. Rhys helps me live a little... and one by one we check off my list. From nude beaches to snorkeling to wedding crashing, I find myself falling for the outspoken stranger hard and fast. He wasn’t on the list... But can the uncocky hero save me before it’s too late?

Never Got Over You


Whitney G. - 2019
    The updated version of this novel--with expanded scenes, will return soon. Nine and a half years ago, you married a man who wasn't me. He wasn't even half of me...Nine and a half hours ago, you walked through the doors of my billion-dollar boardroom for a job interview.Although every person at the table fell for your charm and applauded, I didn't dare. I couldn't help but notice your bare ring finger. Couldn't help but notice that you were even sexier now than you were on the night we first met.I honestly didn't want to hire you, but I had no choice. (I was outvoted 16-1, but trust me, you got this job by default.)When you signed the papers and we shook hands, I didn't bring up the fact that you didn't "wait for me" like you promised to years ago, or that you just moved on with your life like what we had meant nothing. Instead, I insisted that we keep things one-hundred percent professional.So, for the record: I've long forgotten about you and all the times we shared. (This includes the way your body feels under mine, the way your laughter used to make me smile, and the way you used to breathlessly say my name for hours at a time.)I'm definitely not in denial, this is all one hundred percent true. You'll never hear me say that you still have an effect on me, that you're still the best I've ever had, or worse, that I never got over you...*This is a standalone contemporary romance.*

The Best Man


Winter Renshaw - 2020
    Together we watched our young children playing in the sand, the warm ocean lapping at the shore behind them as the setting sun painted the sky. She was my soulmate and this was our life, our beautiful forever … Then I woke up—alone in a hospital room, connected to wires and machines. There was no wife. No kids. Not a single soul waiting for me. That life I dreamt of—never existed. The woman I loved, the woman I knew better than I knew myself—wasn’t real. Until she walked into my life six months later …And it was both the best and worst day of my life because the woman of my dreams—was about to marry my best friend.AUTHOR'S NOTE: This angsty contemporary romance contains NO cheating or love triangles.

Yesterday Is Gone


H.J. Bellus - 2018
    Just not for me. The small, one-horse town that gave me my roots, that made my soul thrive, is also the place I never wanted to set foot in again. I left everything behind and never looked back. Until now. With the death of the man who raised me, I’m forced to return to Boone. Old wounds resurface, and heartache and loss trump everything once more. Seeing the man who shattered my world the night of our high school graduation almost brings me to my knees. Jessie, my once best friend and love of my life, ruined it all for me…for us. I’m back in Boone…and my secret is about to rattle the tiny town.

Fighting Chance


Lea Coll - 2022
    James rejected me in high school. It's her cluttered storefront I have a problem with. Still, it’s hard to stay mad at her when she’s more beautiful than I remember and her son keeps finding new ways to sneak over to my hardware store every chance he gets. While I admit he needs a male figure in his life, I’m the wrong guy for the job. Despite my reluctance, the little guy brings us together even as our pasts keep us apart.I’m falling deeper for this woman, and the more I get to know Savannah, the more I realize I may have misjudged her. Maybe we can get a second chance after all.

Bend


Kivrin Wilson - 2016
    My boyfriend’s best friend. He was never supposed to be anything more—until he was. When my college boyfriend betrayed me and left, breaking my heart, Jay picked a side. He chose me. He stayed, and for the past six years, he’s been my rock, my anchor, my compass…Now we’ve grown up, finished school, and have careers. Me as a nurse practitioner; Jay as a doctor. He’s been everything I needed, but now I want more. I can’t stop thinking about him, and I’m done hiding it.   It’s time to find out if he wants me, too. 
JAY

A friend. Not a lover. That’s who Mia Waters is to me. I’ve tried damn hard to make sure our relationship stays that way. I’m the shoulder she leans on, the last one to talk to her before she goes to sleep at night… And after six years, she means more to me than my own family.The moment I met her, I wanted her. But she belonged to someone else, so I pushed the need down. I didn’t take what I wanted. I’m not that guy. Her happiness meant more.  Until now. Until she asks me a question that shatters our unspoken boundaries. Have you ever thought about having sex with me? Six years of keeping her at arm’s length, and I can feel myself starting to give in and lose control with her.I can’t let it happen. There are reasons I didn’t get close. She hasn’t let go of her ex-boyfriend, not really. And she has no idea about the lies I’ve told her.What if she finds out about me? What if she finds out who I really am?And what will she do when I leave?

Swelter


Nina G. Jones - 2015
    It never feels like the mere passage of time, but a countdown towards something inevitable.Bobby Lightly is selfish, irresponsible, and careless. I haven't seen him since the day I married his brother. He slipped out during the wedding reception without a word.A year later, I heard Bobby was drafted to Korea. He never said goodbye. Never sent a letter. We had all come to terms with the fact that he was probably dead somewhere, either a victim of the war or its aftermath.That is, until in the midst of an unrelenting heatwave, he showed up at the doorstep of the house I lived in with his brother. Everyone thinks I'm cruel. Everyone thinks I should be easy on him. They think I don't understand him. They all think I hate him. But what no one understands is that it was Bobby who broke my heart.And I think he’s back to do it again.

The Fall


Kate Stewart - 2015
    . . and the end of it.I was only fifteen years old when he claimed it and twenty when he took it with him.They say what is meant to be will find a way. But when you have changed to the point of no return, how can anything ever be the same?Seven years later, Dean Martin waltzed back into my life in hopes of resuming what I had fought so hard to forget, but he was in for a wake-up call.I was no longer the naïve woman he had left . . . and I was no longer his.I met the love of my life and my soul mate when I was fifteen. I knew that; he knew that. He wanted that girl back. I wanted to forget she ever existed.DeanWhat I thought was my pre-destined path was very much an illusion. Living seven years with regret, I realized too late that I was broken, and that I only had myself to blame.I thought love could wait . . . but it didn’t. We’d had it all those years ago, and then I foolishly left it behind.She was all that mattered. She was all there ever was.There was no life without Dallas, no reason . . . except her.No matter how hard she tried to convince me, I knew I had to once again make her mine, to make her remember . . . the fall.Explicit sex, strong language.

Harley & Rose


Carmen Jenner - 2016
    So what if this isn’t her actual wedding day, and that she’s only here because Harley was left at the altar just a few hours earlier? Trading San Francisco for paradise and swapping her bridesmaid’s bouquet for a Blue Hawaii, Rose hopes she can finally escape the friend zone. Once upon a time they had been more than friends, but life got in the way. She’s spent every day since wishing Harley would get a clue. She’s always been his best friend. He’s always been hers. She’s in love with him. He’s … not in love with her. He’s … marrying someone else. He’s … hiding something. He’s … well—it’s complicated.

Therapy


Kathryn Perez - 2014
    I’m needy. I’m broken. Cutting breaks through my numbness, but only opens more wounds. Depression, self-harm, bullying....that's my reality. Sex and guys....that's my escape. The space between the truth and lies is blurred leaving me torn, lost and confused. And while the monsters that live in my head try to beat me-- the two men that I love try to save me. This is my story of friendship, heartache, and the grueling journey that is mental-illness.Warning: Due to possible triggering subject matter and some sexual situations this book is not recommended for anyone under the age of 17 years old.

Chasing Spring


R.S. Grey - 2016
    I didn't belong in the small town, but my dad wouldn't listen. He dragged me back home in his beat-up truck and dropped a bomb along the way: Chase Matthews was moving in with us. He was the golden boy of my high school, my former best friend, and the last person I wanted sleeping across the hall. His presence was too great a reminder of the ghosts I was trying to forget.I didn't ask for a hero. I don't want to be saved.To me, Lilah Calloway meant late nights sneakin'; out, moonlit hair, and sparklers in July. She was my best friend until the day she left and I'd assumed Blackwater had seen the last of her. Then, like a tempest, she rolled back into town for the final half of senior year. The chopped hair and dark devil-may-care attitude warned most people away, but I knew if I fought hard enough, I could find the lost girl.I didn't want to be her hero. Some girls don't need to be saved.

A Bridge Between Us


K.K. Allen - 2020
    ⁣⁣As the seasons changed, the corn stalks grew strong, and the grapevines flourished with hope. But none of it mattered, not when the soil at our feet bound us in a century-old rivalry. We’d never even had a chance. ⁣⁣They said life flashed before your eyes on the way to death, but on that night, after my final scream burst from my throat and my world started to fade to black, I only thought of him. Of his sweet chocolate eyes, his desperately cautious stare, and his silence that carried more weight than gold. ⁣⁣I should have died that night. Instead, I crossed the moonlit bridge and never returned. ⁣⁣I let rivalry win. If only that had been enough to keep us all safe. If only we didn’t have a bridge between us.⁣