Book picks similar to
Hollow by Karlee Winters
romance
contemporary-romance
single-parent
ebook
Black Iris
Leah Raeder - 2015
One stupid gesture for a hopeless crush. Then the rumors began. Slut, they called her. Queer. Psycho. Mentally ill, messed up, so messed up even her own mother decided she wasn't worth sticking around for.If Laney could erase that whole year, she would. College is her chance to start with a clean slate.She's not looking for new friends, but they find her: charming, handsome Armin, the only guy patient enough to work through her thorny defenses—and fiery, filterless Blythe, the bad girl and partner in crime who has thorns of her own.But Laney knows nothing good ever lasts. When a ghost from her past resurfaces—the bully who broke her down completely—she decides it's time to live up to her own legend. And Armin and Blythe are going to help.Which was the plan all along.Because the rumors are true. Every single one. And Laney is going to show them just how true.She's going to show them all.
Burning Muses
J.R. Rogue - 2020
It can be read as a standalone.Don’t let fear sway you. You’re not your past.Seraphina Daniels feels like running—the kind of running that doesn’t include a set destination. So, when her childhood friend calls in distress, she’s more than prepared to leave behind her failed—and famous—relationship, her writer’s block, and her impending thirtieth birthday. But upon her return to the Ozarks—a sharp contrast to New York City—she discovers that everything’s changed. I think I wanted you before I even knew what it was like to want someone.The homecoming brings Sera to Chace Holloway: the man who’s made a home out of the place that was once hers. Romance isn’t an option, but friendship comes easily with the twenty-two-year-old songwriter—despite the attraction they both feel.He is music, and I am merely madness and melancholy.What started as an escape becomes more of a trap when the past begins to wrap around the present. As hope blooms, Sera and Chace face their biggest obstacles—what they each fear, and what old lovers desire.
The Cowboy's Socialite
Carmen Falcone - 2017
Funny, heartwarming and sexy, Falcone blazes into the western romance world with a sure hit." ~ NYT Bestselling Author Cynthia D'Alba Winning the bet should be easy. Keeping their hands off each other is a lot harder… After losing everything, socialite Lola St. James moves to Texas to convert her only possession, Red Oak Ranch, into a luxury bed and breakfast. After all it can't be that hard to trade in a pair of stilettos for cowboy boots. Jack Canyon, her estranged husband and co-owner of the ranch, vows to stop her from turning his home into Barbie's country hotel. He knows her promises are meaningless, and he needs the land’s mineral rights to expand his business. He bets everything she won’t last a week as a cowgirl. She agrees—if he’ll turn over his half of the land. No problem. Except now they’re forced to live together. New flames reignite until Lola and Jack can’t deny the red hot sexual tension between them. But when old betrayals resurrect, Lola must choose between running away or staying in Jack’s arms…
The Thorns Remain
Jennifer Hartmann - 2021
The beast had emerged from its lair with a burning need to destroy the man who tore my marriage apart.And now?Now, it was my lifeline.My dark lover.My. Whole. Purpose.REVENGE.They say it’s sweet in the end, and I believed them. I could almost taste that honey on my tongue, like a balm I needed to quell the bitterness.But it was all a lie.I was blindsided.And not once did I think about who I might hurt along the way. I never considered the casualties that may fall across my path of destruction.No…Revenge is not sweet. Retaliation does not end in reward.Vengeance is not justice.The promises whispered by that beast within?They’re all hollow.All it ever wanted was to be set free.In the end, I never expected things to be worse than when it all began.I never expected the wreckage left in my wake.Ineverexpectedher.*** "The Thorns Remain" is a contemporary romance standalone, previously titled "What We Deserve." ***
Best Man
Katy Evans - 2019
When the wedding of your dreams is just around the corner, everything needs to go as planned. Only problem is, the groom didn’t get the memo.Aaron forgot the rings, and Lia is determined to make the long drive home to get them in time for their “I do’s.”But there’s a catch. There always is with Aaron, isn’t there?Aaron is too hungover to come, and sends a replacement.The best man.Miles Foster. The cocky, arrogant, sexy best man…and the last person Lia wants to be trapped in a car with for hours.But Aaron insists, and Lia wonders if there’s another reason Aaron wants Miles tagging along—aside from sticking her with a hot, surly babysitter.Yet how bad can it be? It’ll be over before she knows it, and she’ll never see him again. Just like in college.But when secrets are revealed, and Lia’s whole world is turned upside down, she realizes she’s been living a lie—and so has her groom.Miles is supposed to be the best man at her wedding.But what if he is simply the best man she has ever known? The best man for her?
Dark Lessons
Julia Sykes - 2017
That’s all it was supposed to be. So when my darkly domineering one-night stand turns out to be one of my instructors at Quantico, my life becomes far too complicated. I’m training as an FBI agent, but Jason has other forms of training in mind. Like bending me over his desk for a spanking.I try to resist him, but soon we’re stealing forbidden hours of lust when no one’s watching. It could cost us both our careers, but I can’t help myself. He’s broken, and I want to be his salvation.In return, he says he wants to protect me, to love me. But can he save me when my new job puts me directly in the path of danger?
How (Not) to Fall in Love
Lisa Brown Roberts - 2015
Even her dog ate gourmet. Then one day, Darcy’s car is repossessed from the parking lot of her elite private school. As her father’s business hit the skids, Dad didn’t just skip town, he bailed on his family.Fortunately, Darcy’s uncle owns a thrift shop where she can hide out from the world. There’s also Lucas, the wickedly hot fix-it guy she can’t stop crushing on, even if she’s not sure they’ll ever get out of the friend zone. But it’s here among the colorful characters of her uncle’s world that Darcy begins to see something more in herself… if she has the courage to follow it.
You Against Me
Jenny Downham - 2010
It's a book about loyalty and the choices that come with it. But above all it's a book about love.
The Do Over
A.L. Zaun - 2013
After a painful and sudden break-up with Rick Marin, Dani hides away from reality, retreating to a world of fiction where she prefers book boyfriends over the hassles of a relationship.Almost two years later, Dani’s friends are tired of watching her in a holding pattern, so they stage an intervention, forcing her back into the real world of dating.Unexpectedly, Dani meets Liam Lucas, a down-to-earth firefighter. He might be the person to show her she’s still worth something. Dani’s hesitant to trust her heart with another man, but their instant and electric chemistry is something she can’t deny.As Dani starts to believe that she’s found her real-life book boyfriend, Rick decides that he’ll go to any lengths to get her back. Seeing Rick as a changed man makes Dani question everything. Can Dani trust her patched-up heart with Liam? Or has Rick transformed into the man she’s always wanted? Written from various points of views, The Do Over is a story of second chances and new beginnings.
Not Alone
Amber Nation - 2013
Everything was perfect until circumstances change and devastating blows occur.Fast forward five years, Emmalynne thinks she is broken, not only emotionally but physically as well, so her confidence was severely lacking. Being a single mother to her son, Tucker, as well as an owner of a small town Bookstore, she does everything she can to keep men at arms-length, not thinking she is worthy anymore with her plus-sized body and scars.Taking it upon themselves, Emmalynne's best friends, Toby and Tessa make it their mission to bring her out of her tight-knitted comfort zone. That is when she locks eyes on the male perfection that is Grady.Grady Finnegan was the gorgeous new guy in town. Recently injured and discharged from the Army, Grady comes to his Uncle’s aid in helping manage the family bar. Not being anywhere near innocent when it comes to women, Grady meets Emmalynne and he knows one thing, that he wants her.Sparks fly and passion ignites, but will that be enough? Not ready to lay her heart on the line, Emmalynne guards it as best she can and ultimately fails. When chaos erupts and Grady's past comes back to haunt him, it leaves Emmalynne's already broken heart, shattered. Will past circumstances prevent Emmalynne from having the future she deserves? Or can Grady help her follow her heart and show her that she is Not Alone.
All I Wanna Do
Kristine Dugger - 2018
One night of letting it all go. Her going outside her comfort zone. Going for the bad boy. Him leaving the country. Enjoying one last taste of American beauty Both of them leaving lasting imprint. His was just a memory. Hers was a little more permanent. What happens when that memory comes face to face with his own eyes. Is it fate? You tell me.
Darkness Matters
Jay McLean - 2017
Good versus evil. Heroes versus villains. Light versus dark. For two years, college freshman Noah Morgan lived his life somewhere in the middle, fighting darkness and light, always searching for answers to a single question: Why, Noah, why? The same three words keep him up at night, struggling for air while gripping a plastic cylinder containing white pills to match the white label with his name printed in ink as deep and dark as his memories—memories that turned him into a recluse. A shut-in. An introvert. Luckily for him, that’s not how the girl next door sees him.
Up in the Treehouse
K.K. Allen
Then again, she never imagined she would fall in love with him either. When she finally reveals her feelings, rejection shatters her, rendering her vulnerable and sending her straight into the destructive arms of the wrong guy.The Rhodes twins never saw the betrayal coming. Chloe has always been their forbidden fantasy--sweet, beautiful, and tempting. But soon the lines between family, friendship, and love become as tangled as the roots of the treehouse they once shared.Now it's too late . . .Four years after a devastating tragedy, Chloe and Gavin find themselves crashing back into each other's lives. Haunted by the past, they're forced to come to terms with all that has transpired to find the peace they deserve. Except they can't seem to get near each other without combatting an intense emotional connection that brings them right back to where it all started . . . their childhood treehouse.Chloe still holds her secrets close, but this time she isn't the only one with something to hide. Can their deep-rooted connection survive the destruction of innocence?
Divided
Livia Jamerlan - 2013
A great job, amazing friends, and a loving fiancé. Traveling to Las Vegas for her bachelorette party, she never expects to come across someone who rocks her world the way Ryan Kraft does. Though they only share a few hours together, the connection she feels with him is undeniable. Thinking that her feelings for him may be cold feet she brushes it off and attempts to focus on her fiancé and their impending nuptials. Heartbroken by her fiancé only days before their wedding, she finds herself needing to escape, needing to hide from reality. Though Alani knows that Ryan lives in Grand Forks, North Dakota, she never thought their paths would cross again while she is there.Their friendship changes to something more with a good night kiss. Needing to be with Ryan, she leaves her old life in New Jersey behind and moves halfway across the country. As they journey together in a new relationship Alani has to adapt to life in a new city, new job, as well as dealing with Ryan's ex-girlfriend Stephanie, who is waiting for the perfect moment to get Ryan back. But will her fiancé let Alani walk away from him without a fight? Will Alani's love for Ryan be enough for her to stay with him through turmoil? Or will Stephanie’s secret tear them apart?