Who We Were Before


Leah Mercer - 2016
    Of course it wasn’t. But if she’d just grasped harder, run faster, lunged quicker, she might have saved him. And Edward doesn’t really blame her, though his bitter words at the time still haunt her, and he can no more take them back than she can halt the car that killed their son.Two years on, every day is a tragedy. Edward knows they should take healing steps together, but he’s tired of being shut out. For Zoe, it just seems easier to let grief lead the way.A weekend in Paris might be their last hope for reconciliation, but mischance sees them separated before they’ve even left Gare du Nord. Lost and alone, Edward and Zoe must try to find their way back to each other—and find their way back to the people they were before. But is that even possible?

Better Off Without Him


Dee Ernst - 2010
    But when her husband, Brian, leaves her for someone younger, thinner, blonde, and French, she has to step back and take a good, long look at her life.First, her career. She can’t continue to write about “Happily Ever After,” so she changes the heroine of her new book from a hot young thing to a forty-something woman who manages to find happiness without a man. Her agent isn’t too happy—the heroine is how old? She doesn’t get the guy in the end? How is that even possible?But Mona is tough, and she’s got Anthony, her personal assistant, and a few good friends to cheer her on and keep the stiff martinis flowing. And Ben. Ben is her plumber, but not your average plumber. He’s smart enough to know that Brian was never good enough for her, and sexy enough to be cast as the romantic lead in quite a few of her books. The sound of his voice alone can send her imagination into full romantic overdrive.Then she meets Mitch, who might be just the guy for her. And there’s still Ben, who’s managed to come to her rescue more than once. But—there’s a book to publish, a soon-to-be-ex-husband to deal with, and what has Aunt Lily done this time? Can Mona work this all out? Can life imitate art, and can Mona write her own happy ending?

The Crossroads Cafe


Deborah Smith - 2006
    There she finds unexpected love and a new life with a man who lost his family in 9-11.

Anonymity


Janna McMahan - 2012
    Lorelei is street smart, elusive and manipulative. She’s a survivor, always on the move. Always one step ahead of the danger in her past. Emily’s a hard-partying bartender in downtown Austin with problems of her own. When she meets a handsome reporter looking for a photographer, Emily volunteers her camera skills. As she follows him into the sordid world of gutter punks, Emily finds an unexpected friendship that will redefine her life. But Emily realizes too late that each of her attempts to help only puts her new friend in ever increasing peril. Can she unravel the mystery of Lorelei’s past and find a way to protect her? Or would the girl be better off unknown and on her own? Anonymity is a gritty, harrowing account of young people who live life on the edge when all they really want is a safe place to call home.

Wings of Glass


Gina Holmes - 2013
    On the cusp of adulthood, eighteen-year-old Penny Carson is swept off her feet by a handsome farmhand with a confident swagger. Though Trent Taylor seems like Prince Charming and offers an escape from her one-stop-sign town, Penny’s happily-ever-after lasts no longer than their breakneck courtship. Before the ink even dries on their marriage certificate, he hits her for the first time. It isn’t the last, yet the bruises that can’t be seen are the most painful of all.When Trent is injured in a welding accident and his paycheck stops, he has no choice but to finally allow Penny to take a job cleaning houses. Here she meets two women from very different worlds who will teach her to live and laugh again, and lend her their backbones just long enough for her to find her own.Gina Holmes ’ stunning literary talent glistens like crystal in Wings of Glass. With subtle brilliance, she takes us into the very heart of what makes us hungry to love and be loved. Simply stellar!” Susan Meissner, Author of A Sound Among the Trees

Welcome to Paradise


Rosalind James - 2013
    Maybe she'll get closer to her boyfriend, who hasn't been all that nice to her lately. Get fired up about her job again. Who knows, she might even win a million dollars.Gabe Kincaid and his brother Alec are after that million too, though. Mira and Scott are no threat at all, not when everybody involved is going to want to kill Scott after the first day. And there's no bond stronger than a twin's. What could possibly go wrong?Note: Despite the TV cameras, things do heat up a bit in the Idaho summer. If you prefer your romance unheated, this may not be the book for you.

The Daddy Pact


Kristy K. James - 2011
    Frank was everything she'd ever dreamed of and, after spending most of her life in foster homes, all she wants to do is give up... until she discovers she's pregnant with his child. Feeling as though he bears part of the blame, Dan Mulholland made it his mission to help the widow of the man his brother murdered. Little did he know when he knocked on her door, that he would soon find himself married to her... in order to protect her unborn child from a vengeful father-in-law.An alternate cover for this ASIN can be found here, here and here.

Say When


Tara West - 2013
    Not intended for young adult readers.*** He told me to say when, but I can’t. Not with Andrés. It’s so hard to say anything when he’s trailing feather soft kisses down my neck, or when his touch sends hot currents of lust rippling across my skin. Then there’s the way he smiles and offers soft words of encouragement when I’m creating art, almost like he believes I have talent. He’s not like any guy I’ve ever met. Not like my ex-fiancé. Not like my father. He’s got me thinking that maybe we can have something more. More than just lust, degradation, and abuse. And now I’m scared, because that means I’ll have to trust him with more than just my body, but with my heart, too. Christina Duval This is the first book in the Something More Series. Also available are books two, Say Yes, and the third installment, Say Forever. Say Please, book 3.5, is out now.

Swim


Jennifer Weiner - 2006
    When she’s not working, she’s swimming—lap after lap at the local indoor pool, in a desperate attempt to wash away the sting of professional failure and heartbreak that she can’t seem to shake. It takes an unexpected client to show her that appearances can be deceiving, and that sometimes the bravest thing you can do is simply dive back in.

Shoe Strings


Christy Hayes - 2011
    The cabin she rents is perfect, but one look at the owner’s son and Angelita’s in lust big time. She finds resisting the charming Jesse Bloodworth as difficult as maneuvering small town life in her custom made stilettos. Jesse has spent years rebuilding his relationship with his teenaged son and ex-wife after running out on them eleven years ago. But his dad’s not so quick to forgive and forget. The water under the bridge becomes mighty choppy when beautiful Angelita walks into their lives. Jesse’s ex, Kerri Ann, is a far cry from where she thought she’d be in life. Even before she got pregnant with Ty, things between her and Jesse had faltered, and there was only one person to blame: Bryce Jenson. Kerri Ann never expected her long-ago crush to settle back into Sequoyah Falls to practice law. Hell, no one did. Bryce had his reasons for returning home and Kerri Ann was at the very top. They seem destined to remain just friends, until Angelita comes to town and stirs everything up. As Angelita and Jesse embark on a relationship, her father’s demands become threats and she’s forced back to Atlanta. Jesse’s attempt to save her uncovers more of her past than he bargained for. Will Angelita’s prince charming come to her rescue or does Jesse’s love come with Shoe Strings attached?

Vacation


J.C. Miller - 2014
    William Koval, a pragmatist with little faith in humanity, prefers to dwell in the eerily comforting microscopic realm, where he is master of his domain. But his worldview is upended when he decides to go on the English walking tour his wife had been planning before her murder three years earlier. Only when William confronts his past, including his troubled marriage, will he find a way to rejoin the living, to move forward, and perhaps love again. The real journey, he discovers, lies within.

Innocent Lies


J.W. Phillips - 2014
    It's dark, twisted, and not for the faint of heart. If you prefer HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY this is NOT the book for you.Most would view Dylan’s life as a living Hell, but she discovered what Hell really was. Twenty year old, Dylan was minding her own business when twenty-six year old Ethan sat down at her table. All she wanted was peace from her past. He offered her the protection and calm she had never known. That was until she learned how much of that past he was a part of. If life had taught Dylan Summers anything it was that not everyone gets a happily ever after.

Indelible Love - Emily's Story


D.W. Cee - 2012
    Her world shattered, she picks up the pieces when she finds love again with Jake.Dr. Jake Reid - Successful doctor, loving boyfriend, the one who wants to fulfill Emily's happily ever after - falls in love with Emily at first sight and pushes their relationship fast and furious.Max Davis - Reserved, indecisive, Emily's first love - believes he let go of his first love for her sake, for all the right reasons. Eighteen months after the break-up, he's ready to win Emily's heart again.Insecure from her broken relationship, Emily can't fully trust Jake's passion and love for her and struggles between Jake, the man who wants to create a future with her, and Max, the man who wants to relive the past. When both men propose, Emily's indecision causes her to lose her true love. Laugh, cry and cheer for Emily as her relationships unfold through culinary delights that begin in Napa Valley and weaves through eateries in San Francisco, Kyoto, Tokyo, Los Angeles, and Paris. Who she chooses for her happily ever after may surprise you in the end.

When Never Comes


Barbara Davis - 2018
    For a while, she found a safe haven in her marriage to bestselling crime novelist Stephen Ludlow—until his car skidded into Echo Bay. But Stephen’s wasn’t the only body pulled from the icy waters that night. When details about a mysterious violet-eyed blonde become public, a media circus ensues, and Christy-Lynn runs again.Desperate for answers, she’s shattered to learn that Stephen and his mistress had a child—a little girl named Iris, who now lives in poverty with her ailing great-grandmother. The thought of Iris abandoned to the foster care system—as Christy-Lynn once was—is unbearable. But she’s spent her whole life running—determined never to be hurt again. Will she finally stand still long enough to open herself up to forgiveness and love?

The Fortune Quilt


Lani Diane Rich - 2007
    And it does. She loses her job and her best friend (who proclaims his unrequited love for her). And her mother, who deserted the family seventeen years ago, returns, sending Carly into a serious tilt. Convinced it's the quilt's fault, Carly races down to the small artists' community of Bilby, Arizona, to confront its maker, and ends up renting a cabin from her. Carly even starts to enjoy her reimagined life, until her old life comes calling. Now Carly has to decide what parts of each world she wants to patchwork in...and how much she's willing to leave to fate.