Book picks similar to
The Rub Down by Gina Sheldon


contemporary-romance
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romance
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This Sky


Autumn Doughton - 2014
    She’s no stranger to disappointment but nothing could have prepared her for the chaos that unfolded when her celebrity boyfriend publicly humiliated her. Now the fairytale is officially over and Gemma is determined to put the past behind her and strike out to find a new dream. Just a few teeny-tiny details to work out: she’s currently broke, homeless and unemployed. Landon Young has his own worries. Surfer by day and bartender by night, he doesn’t have the interest or the time to be anyone’s happily-ever-after. Weighed down by the memory of what happened two years ago, Landon can barely keep his head above water. This Sky is the thoughtful and often funny story about broken trust, an unexpected love and the hopes we keep sewn in the linings of our pockets.

Micah


Jo Raven - 2015
    There’s me: Micah Owens. Tattoo artist at Damage Control. No parents or siblings. A past that still gives me nightmares. And then there’s her: Evangeline, the girl who saved my life and haunts my more pleasant dreams. Only she doesn’t know who I really am, and telling her might well send her fleeing for the hills. She deserves better than a loser like me. She’s pretty. She’s clever. She’s goddamn sexy and has a heart of gold. Which is why I can’t tell her. A smile from her and I’ll do all I can to make her mine – including pretending to be someone I’m not, someone worth having. Isn’t love weird? Standalone novel. No cliffhanger. *Warning: this book contains graphic language, sex, and violence. Mature readers only. Not intended for young readers.* MICAH is book 1 in the series Damage Control - a series set in the same world as Inked Brotherhood. The boys of Damage Control were taken in by Zane Madden and Rafe Vestri and offered apprenticeship and work in the tattoo shop Damage Control. Next in the Damage Control series: Jesse, Seth, Shane and Ocean.

Being Brooke


Emma Hart - 2016
    I’m a college drop-out working a dead-end job, my best friend Carly’s dog gets more action than I do, and I have more bad dates in my diary than there are movie remakes. Not to mention I'm completely and utterly in love with Cain Elliott.The problem? He’s in a relationship. With a girl who’s so plastic she makes Barbie cry herself to sleep with jealousy. The second problem? He's my best friend.My shut-up-and-put-on-Harry-Potter, yes-this-is-your-shirt, help-I-have-no-power, crap-I’m-out-of-tampons, kinda best friend. And that’s all he can be, right?Right.(Being Brooke is a standalone romantic comedy. Hilarious, super-sexy, and possibly highly inappropriate at times, this is the perfect feel-good read!)

Sweet Dreams


Nina Lane - 2016
    Sugar Rush Candy Company CEO Luke Stone is a devoted businessman who doesn't do relationships. He does short-term affairs with clearly defined rules. But when a sexy bohemian angel propositions him in a bar, Luke is tempted to want more. Polly Lockhart is horrified when she wakes the morning after her twenty-third birthday to realize she made a fool of herself with a sinfully delicious man. She tells herself she doesn't have time for romance anyway, as she's fighting to keep her mother's beloved bakery afloat and finish her culinary studies. That all changes when her class tours the famed Sugar Rush headquarters, and Polly collides with her dream man again. As she succumbs to their hot attraction, Polly soon realizes her bakery isn't the only thing that needs saving. Luke, driven and unyielding, will burn out unless someone convinces him to taste the sweetness of life. But can Polly remember this sugar rush is only temporary?

Sex Says


Max Monroe - 2017
     What happens when the one guy you want to avoid the most, is unavoidable? Lola Sexton is the writer behind Sex Says, a successful relationship column at the San Francisco Times. She’s a pro at advising others on their love lives, but if there’s one thing she isn’t in the market for, it’s love. Reed Luca is a wanderer and a jack of all trades. He doesn’t believe happiness comes from a nine to five job, or that success is delivered through a paycheck. But opportunity often finds its way to those who aren’t looking. When Reed signs up to write an anti-Sex Says relationship column, the result is all out war. Sex Says: If you let guys walk all over you, you could end up smelling like feet. Reed This: Don’t try to change who you are. There’s someone out there for everyone. Take someone with a foot fetish falling in love with someone who smells like feet as an example. Sex Says: Appreciate what you’re given. Reed This: Don’t like what you’re given? Fight for what you want. Sex Says: Don't ever date a guy named Reed Luca. Reed This: Find a woman like Lola Sexton and find her quick. She's a unicorn. Lola hates Reed. Really, she does. It’s just too bad the guy is so likable.

The Lost One


Liz Lovelock - 2014
    Then one day, my dream was torn to shreds, by my sister’s evil boyfriend, Jacob. It’s been three years since she was ripped from my life. She wasn’t just any sister; no, she was my twin, my best friend.Deciding to follow our childhood dream of moving to New York, I head for a life of adventure and fun. A night on the town and I find myself wrapped in the arms of one gorgeous, drop-dead-sexy man, Corban. He has literally swept me off my feet, taken my breath away with a single kiss and left me wanting more, a feeling completely alien to me.Corban Andrews, CEO of Case Construction, rich, sexy and ravishing is set to make my world come undone. I allow myself to put my trust in him, but will his rules and my trust issues let us explore what we could have together? It’s either that or am I at risk of staying lost and alone.When a blast from my past reappears, I know I may be pushed so far down the rabbit hole, Corban and I just may not survive. It all comes down to survival and choices. I have no idea which I will choose.

Picture Perfect


Ella Fox - 2013
    Although he's got a reputation as a player, he’s decided that it’s time to find something real.One look at a photo of Tessa Hamilton had him hooked.Tessa’s teenage celebrity crush was Flynn Rand. Now he was offering her the professional opportunity of a lifetime, a job as the official photographer for the Renegade Saints farewell tour. Assuring herself that her teenage attraction to Flynn wouldn’t hold up when she met him in person, Tessa took the job. The chemistry between them is immediate and powerful, but Tessa is hesitant to explore their connection.Flynn has no intention of giving up, and he intends to prove to her that they are meant to be together.Can Flynn convince Tessa that their attraction to each other is the real thing?

Capture


Rachel Van Dyken - 2015
    Losing your ability to speak at the age of seventeen; it’s not normal or fair.But trauma, has a way of throwing normality out the window.Dani lives anything but a normal life.Her sister is married to one of the biggest names in Hollywood.Her best friends are rockstar duo AD2.And she has more love around her than most people experience in a lifetime.But that doesn't change the fact their parents are dead.Or that it's her fault.It seems her new normal is being a mute, living on the inside, unable to actually communicate on the outside.That is until Hollywood’s newest heartthrob Lincoln Greene hires her as his assistant for the summer.He's gorgeous, completely unavailable, and unobtainable.But that doesn't stop her from wondering...if things were different...would he want her?If she was whole, would he be the other half?

Throb


Vi Keeland - 2015
    One that seemed like a good idea at the time. A handsome bachelor, luxury accommodations, and a chance to win a prize my family desperately needed. There were some rules though. Lots of them actually. Follow the script, no dating, sex, or disclosing the terms of the deal. After my self-imposed moratorium on men the last year, it wouldn’t be hard to live up to my end of the bargain... so I thought. Until I realized the deal I’d made was with the devil... and I was in love with his dirty-talking brother.Can be read as a standalone.

Weak for Him


Lyra Parish - 2014
    Bright lights. Sex.Jennifer is made an offer: sell her virginity to the highest bidder and transform into one of Finnley's girls. But she finds herself weak for him, and doesn't fully realize what she's agreed to until it's too late.Will she rise to the challenge and play by the rules in a land where money is king and love is prohibited? Or will she lose herself and values in the attempt?Weak for Him has unlady-like language, adult subject matter, and s-e-x-ual situations. There is resolution at the end but the story does continue on to Weak Without Him.

Hate to Love You


Isabelle Richards - 2015
    Constantly in competition, they fight incessantly, making it nearly impossible for them to be in the same room with each other. Until they slept together. Sex changes everything.In one emotional evening, they go from enemies to lovers. Hate quickly evolves into passionate lust, but old habits die hard. The love growing between them can’t erase a lifetime of animosity. The two quickly fall back into old routines of spite and vengeance, and their relationship crumbles under the weight of their deep-seated distrust.Chase and Arianna spend the next two years on opposite sides of the globe, avoiding each other at all costs. Despite the lies they tell themselves, neither one is ready to let go. Even though they are both engaged to other people, they can’t find it in their hearts to forgive each other or to move forward.A family emergency calls Arianna home, where they have no choice but to face each other again. Will they finally admit the truth, or will they remain forever trapped between love and hate?

Summer Sky


Lisa Swallow - 2014
     Sky Davis is fed up of boyfriend Grant taking her for granted, and when she comes home to find him wearing a girl, Sky suspects the relationship is over. She takes an unscheduled vacation and leaves the life (and guy) she hates behind. Rock star Dylan Morgan is struggling with fame and infamy, sick of his life being controlled by other people. Dylan cuts his hair and walks away from his role as lead singer of Blue Phoenix, leaving behind chaos and speculation. Outside the English seaside town of Broadbeach, their cars and worlds collide. Sky decides Dylan is an arrogant guy with too many tattoos, and Dylan is amused by the smart-mouthed girl with no idea who he is. Dylan and Sky soon discover they’ve travelled to Broadbeach for the same reason - to escape from reality and head back to a place with happy childhood memories. Losing themselves in a world where they know nothing about each other, Sky and Dylan begin a holiday romance that soon heats up their rainy English summer. Fantasies can’t last forever, and when reality crashes the party, Sky isn’t sure she wants to be more than his ‘summer Sky’ but Dylan doesn’t want to let her go. Returning to the real world, public scrutiny isn’t their only problem. Blue Phoenix lead guitarist, Jem Jones, has a reason for wanting Sky out of Dylan’s life, and is determined to come between them. Some things won’t stay hidden, even when they’re paid to ‘go away’. 
 Summer Sky is a contemporary romance with a rock star flavour where occasionally more than the bacon sizzles. It is the first in the Blue Phoenix series. The Blue Phoenix books are a series of contemporary romance novels and novellas centred on the fictional rock band Blue Phoenix. **This book is not a standalone and has a cliffhanger. Book Two: Falling Sky will be released June 10th 2014** Please note: This is written in UK English and includes English idiom and spelling.

Power Play


Maria Luis - 2017
    She's a (struggling) sports journalist looking for her big break. Charlie Denton has been handed the most impossible assignment from her stick-in-the-mud boss: get an exclusive interview with the NHL's golden boy, Duke Harrison. The catch? She's got eight days or she’ll be demoted. Fired. Kicked to the curb - No way is she letting her future rest on the broad shoulders of a goalie who is at least three seasons past his prime. She has eight days to convince Duke that the loyal fans of The Cambridge Tribune (annual circulation: 1,000) are dying to know about his life, on and off the ice. Eight days to stand toe to toe with a man who is pure sex on a stick. Eight days to remember that every mind-blowing kiss is nothing but a power play. What could go wrong?

Until I Fall


Claudia Y. Burgoa - 2017
    He took it with him to his grave. Eleven years later, ignoring the yawning void is as automatic as breathing. Working brutal hours, dating a comfortably commitment-phobic guy, hanging with my best friends. Anything until exhaustion—or an extra glass of wine—claims my consciousness. My neighbor’s handsome, enigmatic son invades my comfort zone. He says he’s a tattoo artist. But Anderson Hawkins’ piercing green eyes, mastery of the short answer, weird schedule, and military ink tell a different story. His touch ignites a long-dead flame inside me. A flame I’m afraid to examine too closely, even as I’m drawn to its heat. Anderson I retired from Delta Force Now I work at a high-intelligence security agency But working undercover isn’t the adrenaline rush it used to be. For one thing, my Mom’s illness shifted my priorities to finding a way to save her. For another, her neighbor next door, whose prickly defenses belie the unflinchingly caring heart underneath, has slipped under my skin. Now my mission is to convince her it’s safe to unlock her heart. Because I’m ready to give her mine. Note: This contemporary romance contains a wary, overworked doctor who’s a military widow in every way but name, an ex-military hero accustomed to treading dangerous ground, brought together by a few unexpected twists and turns—and maybe the machinations of a cute dog.

Layers


Sigal Ehrlich - 2013
    According to Hayley love is a subject of ridicule, a myth created by hopeless romantics.When Hayley makes a resolution to declare her loose lifestyle era R.I.P, it’s all good in theory…That is until she meets Daniel Stark, a well-respected, mid-thirties business man who is known for his short temper, lack of steady relationships as well as his strict preserve of his private life.Opinionated, sharp tongued Hayley accidently steps into his office leaving Daniel resolved to put Hayley in her place and have her in his bed.Both Hayley and Daniel can’t avoid the immediate instigation of the attraction between them.In a unanimously agreed upon verdict by Hayley and her two best friends, Ian the gay self-absorbed, aspiring model and Natasha the witty, borderline neurotic soul mate, Daniel Stark is to be Hayley’s pure physical attraction, emotions aside era closure.Will it indeed be a closure, or a beginning to something neither Hayley nor Daniel ever bargained for…