Book picks similar to
Into Dark Water by Regina Bartley
young-adult
1
now-acquired
standalone
Tied Down (Cravotta Crime Family Book 5)
Vanessa Waltz - 2017
Falling for her wasn’t. Before Eva was my wife, she was nothing but a pawn. A piece to be played, my move against theirs. But that was then. Now she’s the woman of my dreams, the love of my life, and the mother of my unborn baby. I'm tied down to the perfect woman. Eva, the mouthy brunette who trapped me with her tempting curves and smoky eyes. I wasn’t supposed to touch her. Now she’s mine and I’ll never let her go. It’s a fake marriage, but I'm keeping her. We're forever until she finds out what I am. And if she does, everything will fall apart. Note: This 65,000-word standalone romance novel builds off events from the series but can be enjoyed without reading them!
Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List
Rachel Cohn - 2007
Soul mates. Or are they? Just to be safe, they've created a NO KISS LIST - their list of people who are absolutely off-kissing-limits for both of them. The NO KISS LIST protects their friendship and ensures that nothing will rock the foundation of Naomi and Ely: the institution.Until Ely kisses Naomi's boyfriend. And a fateful piece of chewing gum in the wrong place at the wrong time changes everything.Soon a rift of universal proportions threatens to destroy their friendship, and it remains to be seen whether Naomi and Ely can find their way toward new soul-mate prospects...and back to one another.Rachel Cohn and David Levithan have written a love story about love of all kinds, one that reminds us that any great friendship can be as confusing, treacherous, inspiring, and wonderful as any great romance.
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.
Frigid
J. Lynn - 2013
They'd been best friends ever since he pushed her down on the playground and she made him eat a mud pie. Somewhere over the years, she fell for him and fell hard. The big problem with that? Kyler puts the 'man' in man-whore. He's never stayed with a girl longer than a few nights, and with it being their last year in college, Syd doesn't want to risk their friendship by declaring her love. Kyler has always put Syd on a pedestal that was too high for him to reach. To him, she's perfect and she's everything. But the feelings he has for her, he's always hidden away or focused on any other female. After all, Kyler will always be the poor boy from the wrong side of tracks, and Syd will always be the one girl he can never have. But when they're stranded together at a posh ski resort due to a massive Nor'easter, there's nothing stopping their red-hot feelings for each other from coming to the surface. Can their friendship survive the attraction? Better yet, can they survive at all? Because as the snow falls, someone is stalking them, and this ski trip may be a life-changer in more ways than one.
Saving Becker
Amber Thielman - 2020
We belong at home, in the kitchen … or so they say.But I made it, and I’m here. I passed the fire department’s strenuous testing, and I’m now I’m the first female firefighter to make it onto the Lakewood Fire Department’s staff.But there’s a problem---a big problem. The men don’t want me here, and neither does anyone else. The only real support I have is from our Captain, Tate Becker, and earning my crew’s trust is a task I feel I might never be able to accomplish.Falling for my capital? I don’t think any of us saw that coming.TateHallie earned her spot on my squad regardless of my men’s feelings towards her. She’s determined, sassy, and she knows exactly what she wants.I like that in a girl.But just when we think the guys might actually accept this newcomer, Hallie is framed, and our department’s trust is shattered.The worst part? I think it’s one of our very own.Proving Hallie’s innocence means finding the real culprit, even if it kills me. I’d do anything for my crew, but Hallie is more than just that ...Because I think I’m falling for her, hard, and I won’t let her go down for this."Hearts On Fire" is a steamy first-responder romance novel. No cheating, No cliffhanger, plenty of heat, and a guaranteed HEA!
Rocking Standby
Cassandra Lawson - 2017
I may not get the private jet, but I always fly first class. Gone are the days when I have to pursue a woman. They toss their panties at me and shove their numbers in the front of my jeans. I am living a charmed life.So, how did I end up stuck as a standby passenger, hoping to get a flight? Not only did I get stuck in coach, I ended up seated next to the girl next door. Bentley seems sweet and genuine, a far cry from the women I normally date. At least, that’s what I believed before finding out Bentley is a deceitful gold-digger.BentleyThere is no room in my life for romance. That’s what I’ve been telling myself since I lost the number of the sweet guy I met on my flight. He somehow managed to turn my bad day around, and for a short time, I considered going out with him. He’d been funny and sweet, or so I’d believed. Boy was I wrong.Gage Addison isn’t just some guy from my flight. He’s lead guitarist of Reckless Release—a freaking rock star! No matter how sweet they seem, I don’t date musicians, especially one who calls me a gold-digging whore the second time he sees me. Getting involved with Gage is not an option, no matter how hot he makes me.
Love, Rosie
Cecelia Ahern - 2004
Best friends since childhood, their relationship gets closer by the day, until Alex gets the news that his family is leaving Dublin and moving to Boston. At 17, Rosie and Alex have just started to see each other in a more romantic light. Devastated, the two make plans for Rosie to apply to colleges in the U.S. She gets into Boston University, Alex gets into Harvard, and everything is falling into place, when on the eve of her departure, Rosie gets news that will change their lives forever: She's pregnant by a boy she'd gone out with while on the rebound from Alex. Her dreams for college, Alex, and a glamorous career dashed, Rosie stays in Dublin to become a single mother, while Alex pursues a medical career and a new love in Boston. But destiny is a funny thing, and in this novel, structured as a series of clever e-mails, letters, notes, and a trail of missed opportunities, Alex and Rosie find out that fate isn't done with them yet.Sometimes you have to look at life in a whole new way...From the bestselling author of PS, I Love You comes a delightfully enchanting novel about what happens when two people who are meant to be together just can't seem to get it right.
How My Summer Went Up in Flames
Jennifer Salvato Doktorski - 2013
She didn’t intend to set her cheating ex-boyfriend’s car on fire. And she never thought her attempts to make amends could be considered stalking. So when she’s served with a temporary restraining order on the first day of summer vacation, she’s heartbroken—and furious.To put distance between Rosie and her ex, Rosie’s parents send her on a cross-country road trip with responsible, reliable neighbor Matty and his two friends. Forget freedom of the road, Rosie wants to hitchhike home and win back her ex. But her determination starts to dwindle with each passing mile. Because Rosie’s spark of anger? It may have just ignited a romance with someone new…
Such a Rush
Jennifer Echols - 2012
If I was doomed to live in a trailer park next to an airport, I could complain about the smell of the jet fuel like my mom, I could drink myself to death over the noise like everybody else, or I could learn to fly.Heaven Beach, South Carolina, is anything but, if you live at the low-rent end of town. All her life, Leah Jones has been the grown-up in her family, while her mother moves from boyfriend to boyfriend, letting any available money slip out of her hands. At school, they may diss Leah as trash, but she’s the one who negotiates with the landlord when the rent’s not paid. At fourteen, she’s the one who gets a job at the nearby airstrip.But there’s one way Leah can escape reality. Saving every penny she can, she begs quiet Mr. Hall, who runs an aerial banner-advertising business at the airstrip and also offers flight lessons, to take her up just once. Leaving the trailer park far beneath her and swooping out over the sea is a rush greater than anything she’s ever experienced, and when Mr. Hall offers to give her cut-rate flight lessons, she feels ready to touch the sky.By the time she’s a high school senior, Leah has become a good enough pilot that Mr. Hall offers her a job flying a banner plane. It seems like a dream come true... but turns out to be just as fleeting as any dream. Mr. Hall dies suddenly, leaving everything he owned in the hands of his teenage sons: golden boy Alec and adrenaline junkie Grayson. And they’re determined to keep the banner planes flying.Though Leah has crushed on Grayson for years, she’s leery of getting involved in what now seems like a doomed business—until Grayson betrays her by digging up her most damning secret. Holding it over her head, he forces her to fly for secret reasons of his own, reasons involving Alec. Now Leah finds herself drawn into a battle between brothers—and the consequences could be deadly.
Taste
Kate Evangelista - 2012
Phoenix McKay soon finds out why when she is left behind at sunset. A group calling themselves night students threaten to taste her flesh until she is saved by a mysterious, alluring boy. With his pale skin, dark eyes, and mesmerizing voice, Demitri is both irresistible and impenetrable. He warns her to stay away from his dangerous world of flesh eaters. Unfortunately, the gorgeous and playful Luka has other plans. When Phoenix is caught between her physical and her emotional attraction, she becomes the keeper of a deadly secret that will rock the foundations of an ancient civilization living beneath Barinkoff Academy. Phoenix doesn't realize until it is too late that the closer she gets to both Demitri and Luka the more she is plunging them all into a centuries old feud.
Love at first sight
Mia Ford - 2018
The raven-haired beauty on the train. I spilled my coffee on her, and she cursed me out. Two weeks later she was back. But she was different. Instead of tearing into me, her sparkling green eyes begged me to make her laugh. Her delicious, plump lips ignited my desire and made me forget the girl who got away. But something’s wrong. She doesn’t remember me. Acts like we just met. I don’t know if she’s messing with me, or if it’s something deeper. But I’m going to find out. I was hurt once. Never again. I’ll prove my love to Tamara and the twins growing inside her. Life used to be boring, now it’s a roller coaster. This time, the girl’s not getting away. This time, I’m chasing after her.
Playing with Fire (Elements of Love, #2)
Callie Sparks - 2014
Not with an autistic brother and a disabled mother to care for. But the man who has been appointed to teach her the ropes isn’t just a chauvinistic jerk . . . he’s much, much worse, and only she knows it.Rhys Bradley doesn’t care what women think about him. To him, they’re good for only one purpose, and his feelings aren’t about to change because one has managed to infiltrate his boardroom.Alex and Rhys have only one thing in common: They’re both planning to make each other’s life a living hell.But life—and love—often have a way of upsetting even the best-laid plans.
By the Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead
Julie Anne Peters - 2009
She starts visiting a website for “completers”— www. through-the-light.com.While she’s on the site, Daelyn blogs about her life, uncovering a history of bullying that goes back to kindergarten. When she’s not on the Web, Daelyn’s at her private school, where she’s known as the freak who doesn’t talk.Then, a boy named Santana begins to sit with her after school while she’s waiting to for her parents to pick her up. Even though she’s made it clear that she wants to be left alone, Santana won’t give up. And it’s too late for Daelyn to be letting people into her life... isn't it?National Book Award finalist Julie Anne Peters shines a light on how bullying can push young people to the very edge.
Little Devil
Bethany Winters - 2021
We’re supposed to smile and look pretty and do as we’re told without argument.I keep my mouth shut for an easy life.A boring life.But then I meet him.Xander Reid doesn’t follow rules.He’s a cocky bad boy with a devil may care attitude and a tongue bar I can’t stop staring at.He treats life like a game and dares me to play with him.And even though I know he's bad for me, I’m not sure how much longer I can resist.XANDERLakewood is supposed to be a punishment.A way to fix me and my unusual take on life.Seven months before the end of my senior year, my parents ship me off to live in a strange town with a family I barely know and a private school full of entitled rich kids.They seem to forget change doesn’t bother me.I get bored easily, can’t sit still for five minutes and nothing holds my attention.But then I meet her.Jordyn James isn’t as innocent as she makes out to be.She’s a bad girl trapped in a life fit for a princess, desperate for freedom from the chains that hold her back.Making her mine just might be the worst thing I’ve ever done, and yet I regret nothing.This is a full length, opposites attract romance with themes some readers might find offensive.Complete standalone with a HEA and no cliffhanger.
Bastard
J.L. Perry - 2015
I was born a bastard and I’ll die a bastard. I learnt it at a young age, and nothing and nobody can change that. I’m on a one-way path of destruction, and god help anyone who gets in my way. I hate my life. Actually, I hate pretty much everything.That’s until I meet the kid next door. Indi-freakin’-ana. My dislike for her is instant. From the moment I lay eyes on her, she ignites something within me. She makes me feel things I thought I was incapable of feeling. I don’t like it, not one bit. When she looks at me with her big, beautiful, haunting, green eyes, it’s like she can see into the depths of my soul. It freaks me the hell out. She’s like sunshine and rainbows in my world of gloom and doom. I hate sunshine and rainbows.******** I’m Indiana Montgomery, my friends call me Indi. Despite losing my mum at the age of six, I have a wonderful life and great friends. My dad more than makes up for the fact that I only have one parent. I’m his little girl, the centre of his world. I adore him. When Carter Reynolds moves in next door, my life takes a turn for the worse. He’s gorgeous—sinfully hot, but that’s where my compliments end. He seems hell bent on making my life miserable. He acts tough, but when I look into his eyes I don’t see it. I see hurt and pain. To me, he seems lost. I should hate him for the way he treats me, but surprisingly I don’t. If anything, I feel sorry for him. I want to help him find peace. Help him find the light that I know is buried somewhere within his darkness, but, he won’t have a bar of it. He’s warned me time and time again to stay away, but I can’t. I’m drawn to him for some reason. He’s always referring to himself as a bastard. That may be true, but to me, he’s more like a beautifully, misunderstood bastard. Whether he likes it or not, I refuse to give up on him.***WARNING This book is recommended for persons over the age of 18 years, due to sexual content and coarse language.