Book picks similar to
Rose by Leslie North


netgalley
romance
reviewed
contemporary-romance

The Bossman


Renee Rose - 2014
    Fifteen years later, Joey La Torre, the Don's brother himself, shows up unannounced at her massage studio and wheedles his way into a date. She has no interest in aggressive, macho men like Joey, or so she tries to tell herself, but her body just doesn't get the message. When Joey takes her in hand with a firm bare-bottomed spanking, she ought to be furious, instead, she's aroused. As she explores her physical desires to be dominated, she tries to keep Joey at arm's length emotionally. Joey knows he wants Sophie for keeps from the moment he walks into her life. She is hot, classy and full of fire, even though submission turns her on. But his involvement in the mafia is a hard limit for her, bringing to conflict his own dedication to the Family, the code of silence and his relationship with his older brother. Can he reconcile his duty to the organization and his growing need for Sophie to remain in his life permanently?

Dirty Little Secret


Jess Bentley - 2017
    HEA guaranteed -- and fantastic.

No Way Back


Chloe Adams - 2012
    She lives blissfully unaware of her family’s secrets, until the night she is raped by the son of her father’s greatest political ally.Her father forbids her from going to the police and threatens to throw her out if she does. It’s a critical election year, one that his party might lose, if the public sours on his doting father image when they realize his daughter is an underage lush and party girl. He can’t risk splintering the party in a nasty court battle that’s certain to draw way too much press, even if that means sacrificing his daughter.Mia’s world is shattered twice, once by the men who hurt her, and once by the betrayal of her family. She does what her father says. But the rapists strike again and beat their next victim near death.With the help of her best friend and a couple of unlikely allies, Mia must decide: does she risk losing everything to do what’s right? Or does she turn her back on the truth and preserve the family name?What’s privileged girl to do, when her perfect little world isn't so perfect anymore?

Playing With Trouble


Joya Ryan - 2017
    After a decade away, she’s returning to Yachats, Oregon—the small town she couldn’t wait to leave after graduation—to take over her late mother’s beloved flower shop. Yet once she arrives, Laura discovers the store has been neglected and her father has partnered in construction with Jake Lock. The once-scrawny high school band geek is now successful—and irresistibly sexy—and set to inherit her family’s business. That is, unless Laura can prove in the next thirty days that she has what it takes to run the company.Despite the heat between Jake and Laura, romance is out of the question. After her last disastrous relationship, Laura has sworn off men—especially one bent on crushing her dreams. That’s just fine with Jake, who thinks the gorgeous blonde is a pain in the neck…though admittedly one he’d like to put his lips all over.Jake has a proposal to mix business with pleasure. But when a deal goes south, Laura is ready to pack up and skip town all over again. Does he have what it takes to convince her to stay?

Honeymoon Angel


Suzanne Halliday - 2017
    Needing closure nearly a decade after their clandestine affair crashed and burned, Angie returns home and sets off a chain of reactions that shakes up Family Justice when the truth finally comes out. Fast-forward one year to a comically packaged happily ever after that’s queued up and raring to go now that they are officially Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan.What better way to start off their new life as a married couple than with a baby-making, naked honeymoon on a lush, private, tropical isle? Parker and Angelina Together at last and up to the hot and steamy antics you’ve come to expect from them!

Reasons To Breathe


Chloe Morgan - 2019
     A new place to raise my little one as I worked to pull my life back together. It’s never been an easy life, raising my kiddo alone, but I find strength in the little things. The kind woman that I work for has been like a second mother. And I had no clue how hot her marine son was until he comes home for a visit. The guy is 100% alpha male. Everything I find attractive and usually fall hard for. He’s got a decision to make. Leave the service or reenlist? Time is ticking down. But the longer he stays, the more I want him to stay. Where love didn’t seem like a possibility before, I feel like I’ve found a reason to breathe. Him.

My Fallen Saint


J. Kenner - 2020
    Confident. Powerful. Controlling.A brilliant investor with a Midas touch, Devlin Saint turned a modest inherited fortune into billions, and now operates one of the world’s foremost international philanthropic organizations. He’s a man determined to help the underprivileged, to fight injustice, and to make the world a better place. And that, at least is true.It’s not, however, the full truth.Because Devlin Saint is a man with a dangerous secret. One he’ll do whatever it takes to protect. And when investigative reporter Ellie Holmes turns her attention to an unsolved murder, she finds herself caught in a web of intrigue and passion as Devlin draws her closer and closer. But as the intensity and sensuality of their relationship grows, so do Ellie’s suspicions. Until she is no longer certain if the heat between her and Devlin is real, or only a facade he constructed to hide his dark and twisted secrets.

The Closer You Come


Gena Showalter - 2015
    And now, he has only one goal: stay out of trouble. Strawberry Valley, Oklahoma, sounds like the perfect place for him and his two brothers-by-circumstance to settle down and live a nice, simple life. But model citizen isn’t exactly this rugged bachelor’s default setting—especially when it comes to a certain hot-blooded Southern beauty… Brook Lynn Dillon has always been responsible. Not that it’s done her much good. The down-on-her-luck waitress is broke, single and fun-deprived. Until Jase comes along. He is dangerous, stunningly protective, breathtakingly sexy and as tempting as sin, and the passion sizzling between them is undeniable. But can it melt her resistance? After all, the right kind of trouble might be just what they both need.

Tough Love: A Forced Proximity Romance


Melanie A. Smith - 2021
    Smith comes a standalone steamy contemporary romance about life choices, love, and finding yourself in between. Sometimes you need a bit of tough love to get where you’re supposed to be … Mia Anderson has been living a life that was chosen for her. But her impending thirtieth birthday is the wake-up call she needed to stop wasting time on all the wrong pursuits. Just as she’s figuring out what she wants to do about it, her beloved grandmother falls ill and Mia drops everything to be with her. What she didn’t expect to find in her grandmother’s tiny mountain town is the courage to quit working for her father, supplied by a little tough love from her Gran. Now faced with an uncertain future, the last thing on her mind is finding love. Nate Edwards is living a solitary life deep in the Cascade Mountains of Washington. He’s content, or at least he thinks he is — until the granddaughter of a good friend shows up and he starts having feelings he thought he’d never have again. But Mia’s future isn’t in Alpine Ridge, so acting on it would lead to nothing but heartbreak. Still, their connection is undeniable and circumstances continue to push them together, despite their resistance. Will Mia stick to her decision to carve her own path? And if she does, will it be with Nate? Or is he doomed to an isolated life?

A Kiss by Design


Christy Hayes - 2013
    College sophomore Emily Dilbert has been best friends with Dylan Chamberlain since they were kids. All she wants is for him to be happy and she knows him better than anyone. That's why when she finds an engagement ring in his backpack she has to stop him from marrying the wrong girl. Dylan Chamberlain has been in love with his brother's girlfriend, Emily, since the second grade. When his brother asks for help planning a surprise proposal, Dylan knows it's time to bury his feelings and finally let Emily go. Too bad his heart refuses to cooperate. All of Emily's attempts to lure Dylan away from his girlfriend fail, forcing her to turn up the heat on their friendship. Will Dylan reveal his long-buried secret and tell Emily how he feels? Or will Emily be forced to use any means necessary to show him the error of his ways?

If You Must Know


Jamie Beck - 2020
    Amanda follows the rules—at the school where she works; in her community; and as a picture-perfect daughter, wife, and mother-to-be. Erin follows her heart—in love and otherwise—living a bohemian lifestyle on a shoestring budget and honoring her late father’s memory with a passion for music and her fledgling bath-products business.The sisters are content leading separate but happy lives in their hometown of Potomac Point until everything is upended by lies that force them to confront unsettling truths about their family, themselves, and each other. For sisters as different as these two, building trust doesn’t come easily—especially with one secret still between them—but it may be the only way to save their family.

Game Player


B.J. Harvey - 2016
    Matt Taylor’s motto:“I’m the king of the cut ‘n’ run. I wine them, dine them, then slide inside them, making sure I get up, get dressed and get out before they can even utter the words “second date.” Mia Roberts’ motto:“I’m queen of the chase. I meet them, greet them, date them and leave them. A social butterfly, I’m happily single and happy to stay that way.”The players have been found. The challenge has been set. Whatever happens, they’ll soon find out that playing the game can get you played in the best possible way.

Wanderlove


Rachel Blaufeld - 2019
    On her own for the first time, she heads to the only place her mom ever lived—New York City—desperate to find the woman who dropped her off on her dad’s doorstep. Content to spend the rest of his life in Small Town, Pennsylvania, Price Barnes is plucked out of his idyllic life by his estranged father. Missing his mom and stepfather, he’s dropped in New York City to attend college and live an all-expenses paid lifestyle. Cushy, right? But not the life he wanted.She’s looking to fill a hole in her heart, and he’s looking to forget the man who disrupted his life. Together, they’re both wandering, looking for acceptance and hoping to forget the rejection

Blind Devotion


S. Nelson - 2018
    But in order for that plan to become a reality, I must do everything my father asks, including marrying a man I barely know. Enter Maxton Colter, a walking contradiction and not the man my father chose for me. He’s infuriatingly arrogant… yet charming. He’s inappropriate… yet intriguing. He’s a playboy… yet focuses all his attention on me. He’s doing everything he can to unravel my goal to one day take over the firm. Question is… will I fall prey to the undeniable chemistry between us and allow him to destroy my dream?

Going All The Way


Cynthia Cooke - 2016
    She has been burning the candle at both ends and has the scorch marks to prove it. She returns home to San Francisco to focus on her artwork, relax, and hang out with her friends. A stress-free life. Until a man moves in next door who pushes all her buttons. Between Ryan and his dog, Riley, life is anything but peaceful. But it sure is a whole lot more fun.