Book picks similar to
Drawing Lessons by Julia Gabriel


romance
contemporary-romance
freebie
stand-alone

Home at Last


Katherine Stone - 1999
    As Lucas Hunter pursues a cunning madman called the Lady Killer who is targeting beautiful, glamorous women who have been close to Lucas, he joins forces with television journalist Galen Chandler, the vicious serial killer's next target.

No One's Angel


Kelly Walker - 2013
    No One's Angel's angel is a New Adult (NA) Contemporary Romance about a girl learning to fight back and a boy learning to let go. Tess used to spend more hours than she'd care to admit playing her favorite computer game, using the nickname Angel. She could pretend her life was different, and she could pretend Arion was just a friend. But a girl needs more to keep her warm at night than pixels, and she traded her virtual heaven for a real-life hell. Now she's on the run from a past she won't talk about, and the only place she has to go is the doorstep of the friend she's never actually met.When Angel disappeared from their nightly games, it nearly destroyed Arion. He threw himself into work and women, but he can't help knowing the one-night stands will never compare to the angel who haunts his dreams. At first, when she shows up soaking wet and scared-shitless on his doorstep, he thinks his prayers have been answered.But the more Arion tries to keep Angel close, the more her fear drives her away. If they are ever going to have a chance for a future, they'll first have to deal with the past that hasn't forgotten her any more than she's forgotten it--and Arion will have to learn how to let her go.

Shuttered Affections


Rene Folsom - 2013
    The crippling memories of an abusive relationship, and the lack of support from her family, lead her to flee her old life and begin anew.After settling into a quaint college town, Juliana finally feels at peace, content to stay under the radar and keep things simple.Until Aiden Stone, her new photography professor, crashes into her life, blurring the line between love and lust. As their torrid affair reaches untold heights, Juliana struggles to keep her shuttered emotions, and growing affections, from throwing her into a relationship she isn't prepared for.With her newfound romance blinding her from the looming shadows of her past, her nightmares become reality, and she is forced to discover her true strength within.Warning: This novel contains sexual situations and is meant for adult readers ages 18 and up.

Wet


Stacy Kestwick - 2015
    Wouldn’t have dived in after him.Wouldn’t have met West Montgomery.The cocky bastard should have been thankful, grateful even. Of course, he wasn’t.That should have been the end of it. Of course, it wasn’t.Damn doughnuts.

Chasing Pebbles


Felicia Blaedel - 2020
    When she suddenly finds herself without a place to stay for the summer, she is forced to go back. A stubborn, foolish part of her wants to show them that she can’t be broken. She’ll hold on to her anger, push the nostalgia away even if the scent of seawater and beach-roses is making it difficult.Ever since Frida left, Oliver’s life has been a little lonelier and a little greyer, despite him staying busy to distract himself. When he realises that Frida, his favourite human, the one person who was always up for his shenanigans is coming home, he knows he has to make it right.She’s hurting, and so much is left unsaid.Frida is afraid to trust. Oliver can’t let go of his guilt.Neither of them is prepared for how everything can feel the same and yet so, so different.Chasing Pebbles takes place in Denmark; it’s a new adult, slow burn, friends to lovers romance with a nerdy, talkative hero and a stubborn, compassionate heroine.Chasing Pebbles is book one in The Without Filter Series and it’s a complete standalone.

Looking for Leon


Shirley Benton - 2011
    That is, until the wheel of fortune steps in and separates them during a fire drill. With next to no info on Leon, Andie finds it impossible to track him down - despite staging a series of publicity stunts to get the media in on the act. Back in Ireland, journalist Andie begins to write a regular newspaper column about her search. Readers love it and a local TV station flies her back to Vegas to take up the hunt for the man she can't forget. What starts off as a simple low-budget documentary spirals into a frenzied national media search. With the world's most ambitious PR agent on board, Andie becomes a heroine for those who are looking for love. But does Leon want to be found?

Stone Lake


Phil M. Williams - 2015
    He toils to keep their construction company afloat while the exes in his life enjoy their honeymoon. Jon meets Morgan when a flock of turkeys and a curvy mountain road aligns with one-in-a-million timing. Despite their attraction, her engagement, and the ire of her family, the pair embarks on a platonic friendship. As their relationship strengthens, they share secrets, but Morgan holds her most important secret tight to her chest, where it beats like a ticking time bomb. It’s not a matter of if, but when. Adult language and content. Beware of spoilers in the reviews.

The Boss's Fiance : The Complete 5-Books Romance Series


Amanda Horton - 2019
     Book 5: The Boss’s Fiance Maxwell I’m used to getting what I want. But now, the board of my company is threatening to throw me out. I have to convince them I’m a good-hearted, responsible guy. And fast. She came into my life at the perfect time. A nurse with a heart of gold – who desperately wants something I just happen to have. I’ve sworn off long-term relationships. But this isn’t a relationship: it’s a business deal. All we have to do is live together for a few months. Killian Until last week, I’d never seen Maxwell Saint. He spent more time in tabloids than in the hospital he runs. But now, he’s offering me my dream come true – if I’ll pose as his fiancee for the hospital board. Maxwell Saint is spoiled. He’s my boss. He’s the last man on earth I’d consider dating. But he’s also incredibly hot. And how hard can a few months of fake fiancee-ship be? Book 4 : The Gypsy Dancers Anna There aren’t a lot of gypsy dancer jobs. That’s why I need this one – desperately. But the head of the dance company is just so...infuriating. Lance is hot. He’s rich. And we had that night together – one night, where I felt a connection I’ve never felt with anyone else. But I care about our culture and I won’t let him ruin it. And I’m not going back, no matter what he says. Lash I’ve got no time for love. After all, I’ve got a dance company to run. And I’ve found the perfect lead – a woman who eats, sleeps, and breathes in gypsy culture. Anna is beautiful. She’s graceful. She’s passionate. We had one great night and I’ve never felt like that before. But she can be so...infuriating. Nothing Anna says will change my mind, but I can't let go of her either. I won't.   Book 3: The Long Shot Every time he looks at me, I struggle for breath, my knees go soft, my heart races. Leon Alvaro is Spain's football captain, and my competitor. He wants to fu*k me....on the biggest deal of my life. He thinks just because of his strong arms, his chiselled body, his salty scent of the ocean… that he will beat me. I will let him touch me, kiss me, run his tongue over my body. I will let him believe that he has me like his other girls for one night, and I'll be done with him - once and for all. But this game is tougher than I thought and this playboy plays dirty. Book 2: High Rise Love Miranda asks America’s toughest CEO for help. Wolfe Hawkins drives a hard bargain. And he wants only one thing in return: Miranda's hand in marriage. Say yes and this might ruin her. So no and she will loose her dream. But this is just a business deal - nothing personal. Or so she thought. Book 1: Conquered The immigration department comes knocking on my door and gives me one week to leave the country. I have seven days to find a husband, or I will lose my son Nikko to my degenerate ex-husband. Then New York's richest billionaires finds me, and promises me U.S. citizenship. I would never even date a spoiled brat billionaire like Hunter – but now, I have to marry him.

The Gull Motel (A Barefoot Book)


Amie Denman - 2014
    Finally finished with college, she heads to her favorite shabby motel on Florida’s Gulf Coast where her aunt and uncle always save her room twenty-four. She quickly finds out, though, that The Gull Motel is not just her home away from home. It’s hers to manage while her aunt and uncle take an extended trip. Skip McComber, The Gull’s former maintenance man, has been working on Savvy’s nuts and bolts for years. Now the new owner of the bar next door, his mission is to renovate a pirate bar while being a walking temptation for the girl he can’t get off his mind.For Savvy, keeping her cool running a motel in Florida heat is one thing, but navigating the steamy waters of a former fling takes a whole other kind of savvy. In addition to the motel and the man next door, Savvy stumbles on a plot to swindle land from the residents of Barefoot Key. Devalued properties tumble like dominoes until Savvy musters her colorful crew from The Gull Motel to make the pillagers walk the plank.

Cowboy Creed


Rhonda Lee Carver - 2020
    For Mindy and Creed the flame remains.Newly divorced and empty nester, Mindy Sage, decided that her hometown might be the perfect place to reinvent herself, or at least find the wild and carefree girl she used to be before she moved away.She’s craving small town comfort, but the problem is, in Cooper’s Hawk, everyone knows everyone. Secrets can feel as tall and wide as the Montana mountains that backdrop the friendly, picturesque town where she’d left her heart in the hands of a handsome cowboy nineteen years ago.Search and Rescue team member, Creed Hawke, understood more than anyone what saving a life meant, but who would save him from the one woman he’d never gotten over? He’d moved on—or at least he thought he had until those old emotions come tumbling back with the vengeance of a forest fire. He’s reminded of how much he’d loved Mindy, wanted her, swore to marry her. Why couldn’t he forget her? Resist her? Deny her his heart?Because he’d fallen for her at ten and never came back up for air.How can he forgive her for stealing his daughter from him? Is love stronger than the mistakes they’ve made? Or are they doomed before they find forever?

The Lakeside Inn


Leeanna Morgan - 2021
    When tragedy strikes, she returns to Sapphire Bay to say goodbye to her grandmother and comfort her parents.The last thing Penny or her sisters expect is to inherit the house her grandma called home. But there's a catch, and it could change their lives forever.Wyatt Johnson didn't move to Sapphire Bay to be harassed by four females and a dog of unknown pedigree. But when the Terry sisters become his neighbors, any chance of completing his latest collection of paintings disappears under a blast of plaster dust and never-ending banging.When Penny needs his help to solve an old family mystery, they're drawn into a web of secrets unlike anything Sapphire Bay has ever seen.This novel can easily be read as a standalone. Each of Leeanna's series are linked so you can find out what happens to your favourite characters in other books. Happy reading!

Falling For You


Charlotte Blake - 2017
    But inside she’s still mourning the loss of her sister two years ago. Losing Mia and a failed engagement have been enough to keep her heart on lockdown ever since. 

 Luke Arnold is tired of relationships that don’t go anywhere. Usually women are all over him, but it’s been years since he’s met someone he could really fall for. 

But when he sees Grace from across the room at the Redview Lodge, he can’t keep his eyes off her. They meet in the New Hampshire mountains over Thanksgiving, and they find in one another something that neither of them expected.

 NOTE: This STAND-ALONE romance contains very steamy love scenes. All of the books in the Great Escapes series can be read in any order.

Find Her, Keep Her, A Martha's Vineyard Love Story


Z.L. Arkadie - 2015
    It's addictive romance reading that gets more satisfying as you journey further into these characters experience. Book one of the LOVE in the USA series features Daisy Blanchard and Belmont (Jack) Lord. Don't be surprised by the hot and fast start, Daisy and Belmont have a lot to learn about love, and here is where their education begins. It was one intense week in late October. I probably should've slowed our pace but I wasn't thinking clearly. I had just learned my boyfriend and best friend were engaged via a Facebook post, which left me heartbroken and wrestling with ghosts from my past.But Belmont Lord was so convincing and uninhibited, unlike me. He also had demons of his own. We threw caution to the wind. Could fate had picked a more perfect time and place for two people to meet?Yes, it was one steamy and surprising week, but was it long enough to make us last forever?Find Her, Keep Her: A Martha's Vineyard Love Story is the first sexy, sensual and addictive contemporary romance in the LOVE in the USA series by author, Z.L. Arkadie.This manuscript has been updated as of 6/18/2017. Sex scenes are still frequent but they are no longer written in graphic detail. Also, some of the details that were hard to swallow have been made palatable. Although, do realize that I had chosen to write two imperfect human beings. In later books, as they choose to make their relationship work, they also choose to resolve their personal issues. After all that is the theme of the LOVE in the USA series--true love, real love is another catalyst in life which helps evolve two people for the better. So I write love stories more than romance, and from book one through twelve of this series, you will be able to read the difference. Visit zlarkadiebooks.com to learn more about the author.

Crumpets and Cowpies


Shanna Hatfield - 2015
    Forced to choose between poverty or marriage to the man, she travels across an ocean and America to build a future on his ranch in Oregon. Love a sweet romance with unforgettable characters? Give the Baker City Brides a try! Crumpets and Cowpies (Book 1) - Rancher Thane Jordan is about it meet his match in the lovely Lady Jemma Bryan. Winner of the Readers' Favorite Silver Award in Christian Fiction Thimbles and Thistles (Book 2) - Maggie Dalton doesn't need a man, especially not one as handsome as charming as Ian MacGregor. Corsets and Cuffs (Book 3) - Sheriff Tully Barrett meets his match when a pampered woman comes to town, catching his eye and capturing his heart. Scroll up and grab your copy today!

Slow Burn


E.B. Walters - 2011
    She pretends to have moved on, is a successful artist and photographer, until the morning she opens her door to a stranger she assumes is a model and asks him to strip to his briefs . He wants to expose the truth.... Wealthy businessman Ron Noble has the body, the jet, the fast cars and the women, but he hides a deadly secret. His father started the fire that killed Ashley’s parents. Now someone is leaving him clues that could exonerate his father and they lead to Ashley’s door. Blindsided by the blazing attraction between them and a merciless killer silencing anyone who was there the night of the fire, Ron dare not tell Ashley the truth. Yet the answer he seeks may very well tear them apart. While a demented arsonist...SLOW BURN(s)...and plots his ultimate revenge.