Book picks similar to
Never Really Over by Jennifer Van Wyk


single-parent
second-chance
contemporary
romance

The Anti-Boyfriend


Penelope Ward - 2020
    When my daughter wouldn’t stop wailing one night, Mr. Manwhore came knocking on my door. Miraculously, at the sound of his voice, Sunny stopped crying. And when he held her…she eventually fell asleep in his arms.Deacon was rough on the exterior, but apparently on the inside? Mr. Single-and-Ready-to-Mingle was a baby whisperer.After that night, we became friends.He’d go for coffee runs. Come over to chat. Normal friend stuff.But over time, our conversations ran deeper. We got closer.Until one night we crossed the line.Our friendship turned into a complicated mess.I’d gone and fallen for a guy who’d sworn off commitment and kids.I knew Deacon was starting to care for me too, even though Sunny and I didn’t fit into any plan he’d ever imagined for himself.He was wrong for me—so wrong that I’d dubbed him the “anti-boyfriend.”Then why did I wish more than anything that I could be the one woman to change him?

The Cowboy's Last Song


Deborah Garland - 2021
    I fell for him seven years ago. I won’t be charmed by him again. Then I met his daughter...Jamie: I chased fame my entire life and it’s been a brutal journey from rising star to damaged goods seven years later. I’ve cleaned up my act since getting custody of my daughter, but balancing being a single dad and music god hasn’t been easy. I’ve lost another contract and have only one more chance in Music City. Now my success rests in the hands of a woman who probably hates me.Harper: I make stars shine and dreams come true. As the Nashville Hitmaker for a small record label, I’m facing my biggest songwriting challenge yet: a hit for Jamie Miller, country music’s bad boy. Blue Rock Records may have overlooked his tattered reputation to boost profits. But all I see is the man who broke my heart seven years ago.I’m determined not to fall under Jamie's spell again. I’m vying to be Blue Rock’s next CEO, that means keeping my relationship with Jamie professional. But when he uses his most irresistible quality to make me melt: his daughter, my resolve crashes harder than his last album.If I give in to some forbidden sexy time with a man I’ve wanted for seven years, will I survive falling for him again when he leaves to go on tour?And will the pain of losing both Jamie and his daughter be the hit I never saw coming?The Cowboy’s Last Song is part of the Wild Texas Heart Cowboy Series but can be read as a standalone. No cheating. No cliffhanger. HEA Guaranteed.

Park Avenue Princess


Tara Leigh - 2021
    Screw me twice . . .Who am I kidding—I don’t believe in second chances anymore.Tripp Montgomery was my first love.I gave him my innocence.Then he broke my heart.And I committed the ultimate betrayal.These Manhattan royals are out for revenge.Sweet, sweet revenge.But there’s something they want more.Their daughter.PARK AVENUE PRINCESS includes the prequel novella THRONE OF LIES.(Note: Park Avenue Princess was previously published as Legacy of Lies)

The Player Next Door


K.A. Tucker - 2020
    With a teaching job secured and an adorable fixer-upper to call home, things in her life are finally looking up.That is, until she finds out that Shane Beckett lives next door.Shane Beckett, the handsome and charismatic high school star quarterback who smashed her heart. The lying, cheating player who was supposed to be long gone, living the pro football dream and fooling women into thinking he's Prince Charming. Shane Beckett, who is as attractive as ever and flashing his dimples at her as if he has done no wrong.Scarlet makes it abundantly clear that old wounds have not been forgotten. Neighbors they may be, but friends they most certainly are not. She won't allow herself to fall for the single father and firefighter again, no matter how many apologies he offers, how many times he rushes to her aid, or how hard he makes her heart pound.But as she spends more time with him, she begins to fear that maybe she's wrong. Maybe Shane has changed.And maybe this time she's the one playing herself—out of a chance at true happiness.

Someone Else's Ocean


Kate Stewart - 2018
    Thomas, I was six years old and we shared a summer beneath the stars.The second time I met Ian Kemp, he was a shell of the boy I once knew. Turbulent and infuriating, he refused my friendship at every turn. Like me, he was a casualty of life’s cruelty, but we were planets apart. We’d both sought refuge on the island, hoping to find our anchor. Instead, we found each other and managed to reclaim our stars...until we both got swept away.

Every Little Piece of Me


Lexi Ryan - 2020
    . . and the wedding invitation that changes it all. The first time I saw Brinley Knox, she was crying and heartbroken at her own sweet sixteen party. The daughter of the wealthiest family in Orchid Valley, she was off limits to someone like me—the teenage charity case, the hired help.But that didn’t stop me from kissing her. Or from promising if she were ever mine, I’d never let her go.The last time I saw Brinley Knox, I made good on that promise. Forget that it was the first time we’d seen each other in ten years, or that we were drunk in Vegas when we said I do. I meant every word, every touch, every promise.The problem? When I came back to the hotel, she was gone—the ring I slipped on her finger and the note she left behind the only reminders she had been there. Well, those and the hole she left in my chest in place of my heart.We haven’t spoken in the six months since, and I’m not the kind of guy who’d file for a divorce he doesn’t want.But when I get the invitation to her wedding to another man, it’s time to return to Orchid Valley and remind the bride-to-be that I’m a man who keeps his promises.Every Little Piece of Me is a sexy, standalone second-chance romance in Lexi Ryan’s all-new Orchid Valley series.

Falling in Fate


Melanie Shawn - 2021
    When she woke up, she expected to walk down the aisle and say, “I do.” Instead, she ended up at a diner commiserating with her sisters as she inhaled a carb heavy breakfast and ate her feelings. With her entire future in limbo, Ava was plotting her next move when she overheard a deep, sexy, blast-from-the-past voice ask for a table for two. She tried to place where she'd heard the baritone vibrato before but it was sort of hard to concentrate with the tiny hairs on the back of her neck standing up, goosebumps lifting on her bare skin, and her lady parts throwing a rave.After nearly twenty years on the force Asher Ford thought he could handle anything, but becoming a single dad to a rebellious teenage girl overnight was proving to be more difficult than he’d expected. In a hail Mary move, he decided to quit his job as a homicide detective in New York City and move his daughter across the country to a simpler life in a small town. Things were going as planned until his fresh start was threatened after running into a breathtakingly beautiful woman whose smile made him feel like a teenager again and he also happened to share a complicated history with.Sometimes it's best to leave the past in the past...spoiler alert: this isn't one of those times.

Sweet Sinful Nights


Lauren Blakely - 2015
    It’s his greatest regret, especially since she’s all but disappeared. But when the gorgeous and captivating woman walks into his life unexpectedly, he’s determined to win her back. Whatever it takes, he won’t make the same mistake twice. Easier said than done… Shannon Paige has hardened her heart to the man she was once engaged to be married to. After the way he left, and after the hell she’s been through with her checkered family, there’s no way she’s letting him into her life again. The problem is, the second she sees him, he’s more handsome and charming than before. And she’s torn between wanting to fight with him and wanting to sleep with him -- Maybe both. Soon they fall into each other’s arms, consumed with a desire that burns through the years. But if these two fiery lovers are going to have a real second chance at this kind of intense, passionate, bone-deep love, he’ll have to give her his whole heart, and she’ll have to give up all the secrets from her messy past. And that messy past is about to spill over into her carefully constructed present… SWEET SINFUL NIGHTS is book one in SINFUL NIGHTS, a four-book series. Each book will follow a new couple.

Sworn to Protect


Kimberly Readnour - 2021
    Bromberg’s Everyday Heroes Worlds project.One promise.One duty.One secret. Decorated, Ranger Regiment surgeon, Nate Dixon, has one wife—his country. With zero plans on retiring, the life mapped out before him gets altered when his best friend dies in his arms and asks him to look after his family.Mackenzie Gillman dreamed of moving away and making something of herself. But at age twenty-eight, she finds herself widowed with two kids and jobless. Moving back to her hometown, Sunnyville, California, she’s determined to start over by finishing her nursing degree. Kids, work, and school are her only priorities. But she didn’t expect to meet the mysterious stranger in town that stirs an array of emotions, none of which a new widow should feel.When Nate’s covert assignment turns complicated and lines begin to blur, the lies and deception become too much to bear. A good soldier never abandons his mission, but a great surgeon knows when to cut ties. And when Mackenzie finds herself at her darkest moment, will the trust she built with Nate be shattered?

The Ones Who Got Away


Roni Loren - 2018
    The man approaching was nothing like the boy she'd known. The bulky football muscles had streamlined into a harder, leaner package and the look in his deep green eyes held no trace of boyish innocence.It's been twelve years since tragedy struck the senior class of Long Acre High School. Only a few students survived that fateful night—a group the media dubbed The Ones Who Got Away.Liv Arias thought she'd never return to Long Acre—until a documentary brings her and the other survivors back home. Suddenly her old flame, Finn Dorsey, is closer than ever, and their attraction is still white-hot. When a searing kiss reignites their passion, Liv realizes this rough-around-the-edges cop might be exactly what she needs...

The Consequence of Falling


Claire Contreras - 2019
    Not even my soon-to-be ex-husband is on that list. Nope. I save only the worst of the worst, the crème de la crème, the absolute I cannot even for this list . . .1. Black coffee2. Rude people3. Nathaniel BradleyWhich is why when my father informs me that he’s making Nathaniel Bradley his new business partner, and in turn, my boss, I flip out. 1. He’s an annoying know-it-all. 2. He calls me a spoiled princess every chance he gets. 3. He disapproves of everything I do.I go into this knowing I’ll hate every second in his presence. Except the longer he’s around, the more I find myself staring at his lips and remembering the one time they were on mine. I randomly find myself looking at his hands and wondering how they’d feel on my skin. I try to snap out of it, but I guess I’m not as smart as I thought I was. No matter how many times I remind myself of the times I’ve practically thrown myself at him and he’s pushed me away, I keep falling little by little.I’d always heard that it was a bad idea to mix business with pleasure and if that’s the case, this thing with Nathaniel has demise written all over it.

Distracted


Michelle Fernandez - 2021
    Our childhood was carefree and full of daring adventures. Then we grew up, pursued our careers, and moved on with our lives. She's the girl I've loved since I was fifteen. The thing is, she doesn't know it, and I never plan on telling her.The death of her parents brought us back to our hometown of Sunnyville six years ago. We reminisced and I was her shoulder to cry on. One thing led to another, giving each other a night I will never forget, and the bond that ended our friendship.Now, another funeral brings me back home, and there she is, with her daughter. Sabrina is everything I want but can't have. I want to talk to her about our awkward night and rectify what we once had.But just when things get right with us, complications arise, and outside forces threaten our lives.Distracted will be written within K. Bromberg’s bestselling Everyday Hero world and the sexy Malone Brothers will definitely make their appearance. It’s an epic crossover from The Broken Hero Series that you’re sure to enjoy!

The Varsity Dad Dilemma


Lex Martin - 2021
    Until someone drops off a baby with a note pinned to her blanket that says one of those jocks—either Rider or one of his roommates—is the father. The problem? Baby mama doesn’t mention which of these numbskulls is the sperm donor.I wouldn’t care about their paternity problems—not the slightest bit—except my brother lives there too. Which means that adorable squawking bundle might be my niece, and there’s no way I’m leaving her unattended with those bumbling football players.They need my help, even if they don’t know it yet. Once we solve this dilemma and figure out who’s the daddy, I’m out.I’ll just ignore Rider and those soul-searing looks he gives me every time I reach for the baby. He broke my heart three years ago. He won’t get a second chance.

Forever Never


Lucy Score - 2021
    Especially when they’re all the same woman.Under Brick Callan’s mile-wide chest beats a loyal heart with a few cracks in it. He’s the steadfast, overprotective type. Especially when it comes to the one woman he can never have. It’s a long, complicated history punctuated by fights, friendship, family, and an attraction that strains his iron willpower.When Remi Ford returns to Mackinac Island in the dead of winter with a secret, Brick makes it his mission to find out what put the shadows in those green eyes. Even if it means breaking down the walls he’s built between them. Even if it means falling for the one girl he’ll never get over.The free-spirited artist just needs to lay low for a few weeks so she can figure a way out of this nightmare. She’s definitely not staying. Not when the man who broke her teenage heart into splinters keeps showing up at her parents’ dinner table. Remi doesn’t need broody, bearded Brick riding to her rescue…again. Not when it will put them both in danger, costing them much more than their hearts.Author’s Note: Frenemies-to-lovers. Opposites attract. Slow burn. Girl in danger. Glorious, glorious banter. Fighting as foreplay. Small-town shenanigans. Big, grumpy, pining, overprotective hero. Wild-child, trouble-finding heroine who keeps on pushing the hero’s buttons. Steam Level: Lava. Suspense: Nail-biting. Feels: Big time.

The Legacy


Dylan Allen - 2018
    I craved every touch, every filthy promise that fell from his beautiful mouth, knowing he could break me. My past had left me battered and bruised, with scars he was determined to heal. Loving him was like drowning—he consumed me, body and soul.But Hayes has secrets of his own. And nothing could prepare me for the shocking pieces of our pasts that threaten to rip us apart. When the truth is revealed will our love be enough to shelter the storm?