Book picks similar to
One Step Away by Sydney Bristow


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contemporary-romance
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Earning It


Angela Quarles - 2017
    One case of mistaken identity. One Navy SEAL faced with his high school crush. What could go wrong?Pepper was looking for a simple hookup. She'd just named a Madagascar hissing cockroach after an ex, so yeah, not exactly in the head space for a long-term relationship. She wanted to prove her douchey ex wrong--she wasn't cold.And her blind date? A hot lawyer.It should've been simple. A hot, sweaty afternoon quickie and never the two should boink meet again.But it wasn't simple. The blind date? Her old high school nemesis Luke Haas, or Haashole as she called him. All grown-up and… and… brawny and maddening and omg-so-hot.EARNING IT is a steamy second chance, enemies-to-lovers standalone romantic comedy from RITA Winning and USA Today bestselling author Angela Quarles with a happy-ever-after and no cheating or cliffhangers. Warning: there's a scene where guys get all hot and sweaty playing the ancient Irish sport of hurling, just sayin'.NOTE: This was previously published for 90 days in the boxed set SOME LIKE IT GEEK with the title TO SCORE OR NOT TO SCORE.

The Christmas Honeymoon (Holiday Luv, #1)


Alicia Street - 2013
    Giving back the wedding gifts and enduring the humiliating gossip in her small town proves to be too much for the quiet librarian who’d been the brunt of nerd jokes in high school, and Serena leaves town—only to return a year later determined to take back her life, her pride, and her joy in Christmas. Damien has his own reasons for hating Christmas. No sweet and silly stuff for this handsome Scrooge, who hurls himself into extreme sports, almost daring nature to break through his hard shell. So why does he find his icy heart melting when confronted with the timid librarian whose sweet smile haunts his dreams?

The Last One


Tawdra Kandle - 2014
    The last year has been a roller coaster: her widowed mother just married a long-time family friend. Her younger brother unexpectedly became a father and a husband. Everyone's life is changing. . .except for hers. As she begins her final summer of college, Meghan's looking for excitement and maybe a little romance. Nothing serious; this girl just wants to have fun. But the only man for Meghan turns out to be the last one she expects. Sam Reynolds doesn't need excitement, and he doesn't want romance. Fun is out of the question. He's been the steady, responsible one since his parents were killed, and serious is his way of life. When Sam rescues Meghan alongside a dark Georgia backroad, she falls hard for his deep brown eyes and slow drawl. But making him see her as more than just a party girl won't be easy. Sam's tempted by the fiery young artist, even as he realizes that giving into his feelings will mean radical change. . .maybe more than he can handle. Nobody ever said love was simple.

Rum Punch Regrets


Anne Kemp - 2012
    With hunky men and beaches galore, can she sail into true happiness?Abby George needs a fresh start faster than she can sink a strong Mojito. So when she’s invited by her sister to fix up their father’s Caribbean home, she’s on a plane before you can say, “St. Kitts.” But she’s forced to pause her bikini-clad fantasy when reality presents a dilapidated hotel… and she’s bunked with a totally unruly roommate.Given precious little time for cocktails, a charm bracelet with a mystery, and two mega-hot hunks on her tail, Abby’s vacation feels more like a tsunami. And after discovering her dad’s torrid past holds a pandora’s box of secrets, this wild ride in paradise might just change her life forever.Can Abby take charge and bask in a sun-drenched future?Rum Punch Regrets is the irresistible first book in the Abby George chick lit series. If you like snarky heroines, steamy affairs, and hilarious family scandals, then you’ll love Anne Kemp’s feisty romp.Buy Rum Punch Regrets to soak up some saucy island fun today!***The Abby George books are closed-door romances with a lil' sass. They're PG-13 with a touch of sarcasm and some language (especially from the salty captain!) but are guaranteed to have you laughing out loud as you fall in love!

Set Up For Love


Virna DePaul - 2011
    Three authors. Three kinds of romance. Sweet. Sassy. Sexy. Sweet: The Boyfriend Bylaws by Susan Hatler: Will a woman have to follow her best friend's narrow dating rules in order to find lasting love? Melanie Porter has been dumped-again. When others accuse her of "being in love with being in love," she agrees to let her best friend, Patti, step in and direct her dating life with The Boyfriend Bylaws. Sassy: Blind Date/Check Mate by Delilah Sloan: Should a woman who's unable to forget her first love give "happily ever after" one more try? Shelby Winters' one great love went sour. If she can't feel that way again, why bother? When her best friend sets Shelby up on a blind date with Logan, the one who broke her heart, he pursues her relentlessly, forcing her to make a choice: give her heart what it's always desired and risk total devastation or shut Logan out and lose her only shot at happiness. To Shelby, it's a lose-lose situation. Or is it? Sexy: Wild For Him by Virna DePaul: Can an uptight prosecutor and a laid-back defense attorney find love despite their opposing agendas? Bryn Donovon became a prosecutor for a reason and defense attorney Daniel Mays seems to take his job about as seriously as he does his love life. While straight-laced Bryn can't deny she's attracted to the southern charmer, she's determined to keep her distance. Instead, she ends up finding something she'd lost long ago a willingness to risk all for love. Bonus: My Last Blind Date by Susan Hatler: Should Rachel Price play it safe and spend Valentine's Day at home with her loyal pooch, Chester, or risk another dating disaster by letting her best friend set her up on a blind date?

Chasing Eva


Camellia Hart - 2016
    She’s determined to sway her newfound enemy to reconsider his betrayal. They’re not even halfway through that debate, when they’re drawn to each other with a force neither of them anticipates.Having lived through her share of disloyal relationships Eva’s sworn off heartbreaker men. No way she’ll fall for this assertive, enigmatic playboy.But Clive isn’t one to give up that easily, or at all for that matter. She doesn’t know, he’s been chasing Eva since their first kiss fifteen years ago.*First book in a series of three.*Underlying suspense continues in Loving Eva and concludes in Killing Eva.*Two bonus chapters are at the end.>

Girlfriend, Interrupted: From carefree twenty-something to instant mother-of-two...


Patricia Caliskan - 2018
     Enjoys walking barefoot across shards of broken home. Likes loaded silences, resentment and insomnia. Dislikes romantic weekends, lie-ins and any chance of future happiness. Former GSOH. Developing PTSD. Ella Shawe was undomesticated, unattached and uninhibited. Until she met Dan. Sexy, charming and funny, Dan ticked all the right boxes and Ella threw herself head-first into the whirlwind romance. But now she’s moved into his family home, complete with two demanding children and a hyperactive dog. Throw in Dan’s impossibly perfect ex-wife, Ella’s interfering sex therapist mother and the snooty and dismissive mother-in-law from Hell, and Ella is almost ready to throw in the towel. But, ready or not, Ella is part of the family now, and getting it right for Dan’s kids means getting it right for everyone. She just needs to figure out how to include herself in the mix… Girlfriend, Interrupted will have you laughing-out-loud, gasping in embarrassment and rooting for Ella all the way. This British romantic comedy is packed full of humour and has a delightful contemporary heroine at its heart.

Gifts of the Blood


Vicki Keire - 2010
    Her parents are four years dead; everyday she watches her brother Logan fight his cancer diagnosis. Things get worse for Caspia the day she draws an angry stranger framed by planes of light and violent, bloody images. That exact same stranger walks up to her out of nowhere mere hours later knowing things he shouldn't, like her name, her brother's illness, and her strange ability. That's when Caspia discovers her hometown is a refuge for supernatural beings both Light and Dark, and she and her brother find themselves caught up in a war between the two that predates their very birth. In order to protect herself and her brother, she turns to the one who seems to have started it all: the man who walked out of her sketchbook calling himself Ethan. But Ethan has his own agenda, Logan's getting sicker fast, and Caspia finds that drawing the future isn't the only strange thing she can do. Meanwhile, someone really wants all of them dead. In a town where Dark doesn't equal Evil and Light isn't always Good, Caspia and Ethan find themselves making strange alliances and even stranger sacrifices in order to protect those they love.

The Last Encore


Julia Butler - 2014
    From a family of poor factory workers, Katherine rises far above her station in life and moves to the United States with her successful-though-controlling husband, yet knowing in her heart that her soul mate is still out there. Meanwhile, Daniel Adler, a young German writer is enveloped by a deep sadness from which he cannot escape, sensing a dark secret in his family’s past. Searching for the love he has never known, he embarks on a journey to Los Angeles, obsessed with a red-haired beauty who disappeared after their brief and inexplicable encounter in an ominous forest. An old actress, Lily Bernard, is tormented by guilt for some horrible act she’d been a part of in a distant past. A music appassionato, she finds a chance to atone for her sins when her path crosses Katherine’s. The Last Encore is an erotic tale of unspeakable passion, a sophisticated, timeless-but-modern romance laced with mysterious interconnections of love, conspiracy, and fate.

The Rancher and The Event Planner


Cheryl Gorman - 2013
    Now she must complete thirty days of community service in her home town of Salvation, Texas helping sexy ranch owner and mayor, Rafe McCord revitalize the town for a chance at winning The Best Texas Vacation Contest before she can plan the most important event of her career. JC stopped believing in fairy tales and happily ever after a long time ago. But Rafe is a cowboy fantasy in the flesh and romantic feelings she doesn’t believe exist are growing in her heart. Rafe knows he isn’t good at relationships as he was never able to make his deceased wife happy. Unfortunately, the local judge—his soon-to-be-disowned brother—has saddled him with his best friend’s little sister, Jennifer Barrett to help the town win the contest, give a much needed boost to the economy of Salvation and a chance to host the East Texas Rodeo. Only Jennifer has changed from an ugly duckling into a gorgeous swan and resisting her is impossible.

The Wideness of the Sea


Katie Curtis - 2017
    When she returns home to mid-coast Maine for his funeral, she faces all that she left behind when she left seven years earlier. The pain of her own mother’s death, the fractured relationships with her father, and her first love. The life she had built for herself in New York - the art world, her boyfriend, her roommate who is also her best friend - allowed her to forget the grief and hurt she had left behind in Maine. But when her uncle leaves her a surprising inheritance, if forces her to face them, and the parts of her self she’s buried. As she searches for answers about herself, and where she belongs, she discovers how people and places shape us, and how understanding, forgiveness and grace have the power to transform us and the people we love.

Play for Me


Lois L. Kasznia - 2013
    One minute she's a young, hot shot Vice President in Chicago and now finds herself on the unemployment line. But not for long. In matter of days, she lands a job in Los Angeles working for aging rock star, Jett Robinson who wants her to help get his career back on track. Samantha quickly learns how to deal with wealth, sensitive egos and crazed fans.Ian Andrews, a semi retired Navy Seal and architect, has been hired to do the work on Jett's house in Maui. Ian meets Samantha and is immediately intrigued by Samantha's smoking hot looks, as well as her humor, honesty and outlook on life. At first, Samantha is put off by Ian's model good looks, but soon finds Ian to be an amazing person.Just as things between Ian and Samantha heat up, conflicts between Samantha's overprotective brother, her very opinionated mother and Ian's Seal connections become too much. Both Samantha and Ian want their relationship to work, but can true love really conquer all?

Dream Lover


Kimberley Reeves - 2011
    He grieved for her until the day he died. 115 years later, Rachel Delacourte is suddenly plagued with nightmares where she is entombed alive. But it's not just the nightmares that compel her to seek help from the Covelli sleep clinic, it's the errotic dreams that follow and the disturbing feeling that the man in her dreams is real. He’d never met Rachel, but he knew her intimately all the same. His fingers had sifted through her silky dark hair, traced the line of her delicate jaw, caressed her soft skin. Night after night she came to him while he slept and made love to him in his dreams. For a year now, she has haunted him, consumed his mind both day and night, and it made Nic wonder…was he the one haunting Rachel Delacourte’s dreams as well?

Summer at Sea


Beth Labonte - 2015
     Have you ever helped your parents pack for a weeklong cruise? No? I didn't think so. So shut it. So begins vacation for Summer Hartwell - twenty-six years old, living with her anxiety-ridden parents, and unwillingly booked by her brother on a weeklong cruise to Bermuda. Despite the nightmare of being trapped aboard a cruise ship with Mom and Dad, Summer sees a rare opportunity to fulfill The Prophecy – her mother’s declaration that she will live at home until she gets married. With two thousand passengers onboard, at least one of them must be husband material, right? The only problem is Graham Blenderman – her brother’s best friend who is joining them for the week, in all of his tall, blonde, extroverted glory. Graham doesn’t believe Summer needs a husband in order to break free from her parents. He thinks she just needs a little bit of nerve. And to Summer’s introverted horror, he’s willing to spend the entire week proving that he’s right.

The Distant Shore


Mariam Kobras - 2012
    There's nothing like finding a letter on your breakfast table informing you have a teenage son you knew nothing about, but that's what happens to international rock star, Jonathon Stone. He drops everything to find the boy, and his mother the girl he loved so many years ago who left him when his rock n roll life became too much for her to bear.Seeing her is like falling in love all over again, and everything seems perfect, until someone sets out to destroy their idyllic life.