Book picks similar to
Petty Cash by Kimberly Vargas


romance
contemporary-romance
chick-lit
contemporary

Chosen for Power


Kathleen Brooks - 2014
    As the CEO of a corporate conglomerate, Elle is used to fighting off challengers. However, this new threat comes at a time when she finally lets her guard down to meet Prince Charming. And it’s unlike anything she’s been up against before. Drake Charles’s work on mobile technology has made him a wealthy, powerful man. But he quickly sheds the fame and publicity for a more private life, which earns him the label as a man of mystery. Drake adds to that mystery every year when he hosts a masquerade ball for charity. It’s also his best chance to find the one thing he really wants . . . true love. Having met behind masks of anonymity, Elle and Drake enjoy a whirlwind night of romance that leaves them both wanting more. But Elle must question everything and everyone as she battles to save her life and career. Can Elle trust Drake to help get her life back or will she lose everything?

Anti-Romance


Cassia Leo - 2016
    This is a hilariously screwed-up love story.- This book does NOT have a typical happily-ever-after.- The hero and heroine in this book are NOT billionaires who look like supermodels. They are normal people, like you and me.Description: Laney Hill is screwed. On the bed. On the treadmill. On the hood of a BMW. And on her boss’s desk. Then she’s screwed again when she steps into the free clinic and finds out she has gonorrhea. That dirty prick gave her gonorrhea! She’s totally going to break up with him...until he breaks up with her...because he’s married!A night out drinking with friends leads to a fateful--yet awkwardly-sloppy--kiss between her and her best friend George Bratton. George has been single and pining for his ex-girlfriend ever since their breakup two years ago. When his ex invites him to her destination wedding in London, self-destructive George and gonorrhea survivor Laney make a deal to go as each other’s dates. It will make great material for Laney’s “Anti-Romance” blog and maybe it will help George finally get over his ex. Nothing could possibly go wrong, right?

Pearl


C.E. Weisman - 2012
    Only ten years old, Pearl was left to care for the family and take over her mother's responsibilities.Eight years later as the approach of midnight beckons, Pearl finds herself on the edge of eighteen and running, as her mother did, in search of freedom and the youth she'd been denied. But freedom has a price.She ends up on foreign turf; a farm in Oregon with her volatile boyfriend, Roy and his family, who seem to hold even more secrets than her own. As time goes by, Pearl is drawn into beautiful but also tumultuous relationships with these strangers in Oregon, all the while losing a bit of herself with each drop of booze Roy drinks.As secrets unfold, Pearl wonders how much of her own past is truth and what has been a lie. And would the answer come too late, as her world spirals down into a path of destruction?

Finding Home


Jackie Weger - 1987
    On the road with two siblings, twelve-year-old Maydean and five-year-old Willie-Boy, Phoebe is out of money, out of gas, and out of patience. The only things she owns in abundance are backbone and pride--neither of which she can trade for food or gas.A collision with Gage Morgan puts Phoebe's mission in even worse jeopardy--until Phoebe discovers Gage owns the perfect place for her clan. However, she soon discovers that Gage is the unlikeliest man in the universe to offer a helping hand.Phoebe wields all the country smarts she owns to worm her way into Gage's heart, but nothing works. With time running against her family, she plies one last inducement--her scarce feminine wiles.

Two Cabins, One Lake


Shaye Marlow - 2015
    She lives a quiet life in the Alaskan bush, alone on her little lake with only a spooky dog and her gun collection for company. But then Gary, the most obnoxious man Helly’s ever met, roars into her life. The mysterious helicopter pilot moves into the cabin across the lake with a vengeance. And fire. And karaoke. He’s a despicably early riser with a penchant for public indecency, a talent for trespassing… and he’s handsome as the devil, with abs she’d like to lick. Helly quickly realizes her little lake isn’t big enough for the two of them. After an initial attempt at being reasonable, and responsible, and mature, she gives up—and gives as good as she gets. What follows is a feud of eardrum-battering intensity; a no-holds-barred water fight to the tune of a screaming chainsaw, with her panties caught in the crossfire. Just when Helly thinks things couldn’t possibly get any worse, her crazy brothers crash the party. In an unforgiving land where even the wildlife is out for blood, can the pair survive long enough for Gary to capture Helly’s heart, along with her wrists? Or will Gary’s past be the final blow, after Helly loses her boat, her dignity, and what’s left of her ammo? For lovers of Alaskan romance and romantic comedy, Two Cabins, One Lake is a sexy, standalone contemporary romance novel with action & adventure, a splash of mystery & suspense, and a satisfying conclusion. Take a vacation to Alaska, where everything's bigger & wilder. You'll laugh out loud!

The Girl with the Cat Tattoo


Theresa Weir - 2012
    A little bit of mystery, a whole lot of whimsy. When a matchmaking cat takes it upon himself to find his young mistress a new mate, he accidentally stirs up memories better left forgotten.Melody’s husband was murdered by what seemed a random act of violence. Two years later, the killer hasn’t been caught, and Melody is coping in unhealthy ways. During the day she’s a mild-mannered children’s librarian, but at night she’s a party girl, hanging out in bars, drinking with new friends, and often bringing home strange men. Although acquaintances have tried to keep in touch, Melody has cut herself off from most of the people in her old life. Max, her eccentric cat, doesn’t approve of her new friends, he’s tired of the parade of losers, and he finally takes it upon himself to find Melody a new man.

Perfect for You


Kate Perry - 2012
    With Freya just hired to redesign the top adult website company in the country, her muse couldn't have chosen a worse time to disappear. Determined to get her sexy back, Freya puts an ad online, hoping to find the right man to inspire her. Unfortunately, all roads point back to her upstairs neighbor Greg Cavanaugh. He's everything she doesn't want: a playboy and scumbag lawyer. Except if he's so wrong for her, why does his touch feel like magic? And why does being with him make her believe anything is possible?

A Cutthroat Business


Jenna Bennett - 2010
    But Savannah doesn’t think she’s supposed to take the warning literally ... until an early morning phone call sends her to an empty house on the ‘bad’ side of town, where she finds herself standing over the butchered body of a competitor, face to face with the boy her mother always warned her about. Rafe Collier is six feet three inches of testosterone and trouble; tall, dark, and dangerous, with a murky past and no future—not the kind of guy a perfect Southern Belle should want to tangle with. In any way. But wherever Savannah turns, there he is, and making no bones about what he wants from her. Now Savannah must figure out who killed real estate queen Brenda Puckett, make a success of her new career, and avoid getting killed—or kissed—by Rafe, all before the money in her savings account runs out and she has to go back to selling make-up at the mall.

Another Saturday Night and I Ain't Got No Body


Jennie Marts - 2012
    Maybe, when her friends decide to find her Mr. Right. Sunny Vale considers herself a dog-loving, romance-reading homebody. But her life goes from dull to deadly when her book club fires her from her own love life and sets her up on six blind dates--one of whom might be with a murderer. More trouble arrives in the dead of night, in the form of Jake Landon, a mysterious stranger, who breaks into her neighbor’s house and possibly her heart. But Jake is packing more than a loaded gun in his well-fitting Levi’s. He brings an arsenal of secrets and plenty of heat to Sunny’s ho-hum summer.Jake Landon finds himself caught up in the capers of the sexy blonde in the house next door. But he has his own agenda which doesn’t involve playing hero to a curvy second-grade teacher and babysitting her panty-puking puppy. He's got other problems like fiery explosions, a missing person...and a parade of jerks Sunny insists on dating. Could Sunny’s Mr. Right be right under her nose? Even though Jake is gorgeous, likes her dog, and has abs she can crack an egg on, can she really go out with him if he’s just murdered her next door neighbor? Women of all ages will enjoy this tale of humorous, women's fiction that also has a touch of cozy mystery in this small town love story.

My Journey to the Ocean


Lena Mikado - 2015
    Her whole picture-perfect existence is planned out and allows for no deviation. She is engaged to be married and intends to be happy. Along with three of her girlfriends, she takes a summer trip across the ocean, to St. Simons Island, United States. Her whole world is about to be rock-n-rolled, and she will have to face a pretty hard choice. It all sounds like a setup for a summer-fling novel, but is it really like that in actuality, or does Miss Real Life have something more conniving under her sleeve? Are there happy endings in real life? This book is a love story. It's about love in all possible representations, forms and masks it can wear. It's a love story of a girl in her 20s, looked back on by a woman in her 30s, who is also trying to take a peek into the future. It's an ageless book, it's a borderless book, it’s a book that focuses on and laughs at our cultural differences, yet sweeps away all man-made boundaries on its way. But I made it sound too complex. It's first and foremost a story about a summer away from home, it's a story about falling in and out of love - it's a story about My Journey to the Ocean.

How (Not) to Kiss a Toad


Elizabeth A. Reeves - 2012
    All her life she's been cursed-- every man she's ever kissed has turned into a toad. Love isn't likely to come her way, she knows.If that weren't a big enough problem, her 'curse' has come to the attention of the Council of Magic and she may never be able to use her powers.Enter the perfect man-- handsome, sweet, and loves food just as much as Cindy does. It would seem to be a match made in Heaven, or is it?Cindy isn't the only one keeping secrets.With toads, cupcakes, romance, magic and ice cream, life never has time to get dull!

Eleven Days: An Unexpected Love


Lora Lindy - 2012
    Little does she know she would meet that one special love, an unexpected love. That one true love is Mike Ramsey and he's a U.S. Marshal. As their love grows, so do their troubles. Someone is stalking Lana. Mike has to figure out who it is before the stalker gets Lana. Not only does he have to protect her, he must find the connection between Lana and the killer before it's too late. They soon find out this stalker also wants Mike dead, and he'll go through any lengths for that to happen. Mike's team find out how desperate this man is when he starts murdering.

Love Muffin and Chai Latte


Anya Wylde - 2015
    Clear your calendar, turn on your voicemail, and get cozy on the sofa as Anya Wylde has decided to dip her toes into the world of contemporary romance …Love Muffin and Chai Latte follows the journey of Tabitha Lee Timmons as she deals with financial stress, loony relatives, some crooks, an unhappy bride-to -be, a grumpy old man, and two heartbreakingly handsome men.

Blissed


Jamie Farrell - 2014
    But it’s redemption time, and she’s putting on her big girl panties to make sure this year’s bridal festival goes off without a hitch. Even if it means she has to play nice with the man who broke her fairy tale.She’s definitely not the one for him. Or is she...World adventurer and reluctant local hero CJ Blue doesn’t want to be in Bliss anymore than Natalie wants him here. But family obligations have brought him back, and now he’s somehow been roped into saving the town tradition he’d rather forget with the woman whose kiss he can’t forget. She frustrates him and drives him nuts but he's had more fun giving her a hard time about the bridal festival than he has in years.And their fun is just starting...Despite their rocky past, these two wounded souls have more in common than they expect. They’ve both loved and lost, they’ve both tried to move on, and now they’ve both been been banned from the local church confessional after...well, they’re not supposed to talk about it. But by joining forces for the sake of Bliss, they might find the courage and the sparks to risk love one more time.Note: BLISSED was previously published for like 5 minutes many years ago as THE HUSBAND GAMES. Publishers Weekly called it a "Marvelous romantic comedy" in a starred review and named it as a "Self-Published Star" of 2014.

Divorced, Desperate and Delicious


Christie Craig - 2007
    But all that changes when the reindeer-antlered Fabio drags in a very desperate, on-the-run detective who decides to take refuge in her house.