Book picks similar to
The Truth in Lies by Jeanne McDonald


new-adult
romance
love-triangle
unrequited-love

Self Destruct


K.D. Carrillo - 2013
    But one unexpected encounter at a lake house would stir up every dark emotion she worked so hard to forget. There wasn’t anyone Aiden Ryan hated more than himself… Plagued with a life filled with manipulation and regret, he will try anything to ignore the guilt that eats him alive, even if it means more pain for him in the long run. It’s not until he meets Becca that things start to change. There’s only one problem—he’s stuck in a relationship he can’t get out of with a woman he doesn’t care about. Love is complicated, but when two people have demons they refuse to face, love could destroy them. Together, Becca and Aiden try and let go of their painful pasts to be together. But will their pasts let go of them?

Dear Emily


Trudy Stiles - 2013
    Comfortable. Blissfully happy. She was surrounded by her best friends in the world, who love and adore her, and would do anything to support her. But one violent night destroys everything, breaking down her perfect world and tearing away her safety. Kyle Finnegan comes into her life when she’s at her lowest. Can he help restore her faith? And can they build a future together?Tabitha Fletcher ran away from a violent and turbulent past. She attempts to hide in a new city, enveloping herself in a veil of safety. Alex Treadway strolls into her life and struggles to break through her protective barrier. As she slowly opens her heart, can she learn to love? Can he help her heal? Tabitha’s demons resurface, threatening to destroy her new life. When she finds herself at rock bottom, a surprise pregnancy only adds to her turmoil.Tabitha must make the ultimate choice to give her unborn child a chance at a wonderful life. The life Tabitha wished she had herself. Free from fear. Free from pain. Carly and Kyle desperately yearn for a family of their own. Will Tabitha’s choice give them that chance?And can they all find what they desire most…Redemption?Love?Family?Dear Emily is the first book in the Forever Family series.This book is not suitable for young readers. It is intended for mature adults only (18+). It contains strong language, adult/sexual situations, non-consensual sex and some violence.

The DUFF: Designated Ugly Fat Friend


Kody Keplinger - 2010
    She's also way too smart to fall for the charms of man-slut and slimy school hottie Wesley Rush. In fact, Bianca hates him. And when he nicknames her "the Duff," she throws her Coke in his face. But things aren't so great at home right now, and Bianca is desperate for a distraction. She ends up kissing Wesley. Worse, she likes it. Eager for escape, Bianca throws herself into a closeted enemies-with-benefits relationship with him. Until it all goes horribly awry. It turns out Wesley isn't such a bad listener, and his life is pretty screwed up, too. Suddenly Bianca realizes with absolute horror that she’s falling for the guy she thought she hated more than anyone.

Sean


Fiona Keane - 2018
    A degree, a job, an amazing group of friends—but there’s one thing missing...To him we’re nothing more than friends—good friends. To me he’s the one man who makes my heart beat faster. It doesn’t matter that his affections are elsewhere, I continue to love him from a distance dreaming of a happily ever after.Then...my world is turned upside down. Even if we manage to find each other through this storm, it will be a race against time. A fight against all the odds. The battle of a lifetime.No matter where this road takes us, I won’t regret a thing. He’s the man who owns my heart, my soul, and everything in between.And his name…is Sean.

Life's A Cappella


Yessi Smith - 2013
    How I lived without regrets. With constant laughter. Without any tears. I want to tell you how I lived each moment to the fullest. How each breath I took was fresh and full of life. With eagerness. Without any fear.I want to tell you all of that, but then my story would be masked with lies and not worth telling.My life didn’t start until I left my past. And I left everything. My mother, my friends, my name.My new name, the name everyone knows me by is Erin Lewis.Four years after finding the courage to leave her hometown in Alabama, Erin is finally happy with where her life has led her. Not only is she secure in her environment, but the relationships she has formed center her, making her forget how damaged she once was. Before she can fully settle into her new life, her past crashes into her present, unraveling a set of events that destroy the very foundation she has built her new life on.

Lengths


Steph Campbell - 2012
    She promptly finds a job at a tattoo parlor, a craptastic first apartment, and one friend—Ryan—who is a little less friend, a little more benefits. Deo Beckett is a soulful surfer with a passion for tattoos and beautiful women. On the eve of his twenty-second birthday, he finds himself living with his grandfather, recently unemployed, and seriously adrift. He doesn’t know much about what he wants out of life, but he does know his current situation isn't cutting it. When Deo meets Whit, she’s all sexy makeup and fierce, smart-ass fun. It doesn’t take him long to see past her tough shell. And when he gets a good look at what's under all the superficial stuff that usually gets his attention, it leaves Deo wondering if there might be more to life than living fast and free. Too bad Whit has a past she doesn't plan on sharing—no matter how hot Deo is. She might want him, but she knows better than to let her guard down. Deo falls for Whit, and falls hard. But everything about her, down to that mysterious tattoo and the way she thrashes in her sleep, tells him that the girl he loves is hiding something. And the more he pushes for answers, the more Whit pulls away. Having your guard up is one thing, but are the lengths Whit goes to to protect her secret worth throwing away the second chance she has at happiness with Deo? LENGTHS is a Contemporary New Adult Romance to be released August 2012.

Promises, Promises


Josie Bordeaux - 2013
    Keeping her secrets guarded closely, she finds solace with a man who is caring, warm, and loving, the complete opposite of what she left behind. Zander can’t trust love. He has a string of bad relationships as proof, and it leaves him wondering if Isabella is just one more temptress who will break his heart. A troubled past threatens the budding relationship between Isabella and Zander. She can’t shake the eerie feeling of her ex lurking in the shadows ready to end her newly found happiness. Unfortunately, she’s right.e that she’s always searched for? Or will he ruin the love that is finally just in her grasp?

The Entitled


Cassandra Robbins - 2018
    I did. I found Reed and loved him more than I loved myself. We were young...beautiful...​entitled​. Money and private schools, our families’ lavish parties and posh New York City apartments—it was all mere window dressing. What was real was our obsessive love, which grew right along with us as we moved toward adulthood. It consumed me, and only in his arms did I feel wanted and safe. But I have a secret. It’s big and to some, unforgivable. And it’s why I let Reed destroy me, or maybe I destroyed us. Either way, I’m worse than broke—I’m broken. Once upon a time, we were happy...Yet privilege has an ugly underside and in the blink of an eye, my world crashed down around me. I don’t feel ​entitled​ anymore. The Entitled​ is the first in The Entitled duet. Their ​story concludes in ​The Enlightened.

Forbidden Ways


Karen Ann Hopkins - 2019
    This is the beginning of CJ and Joshua’s story. CJ West is an aspiring artist, nursing a broken heart. Still recovering from a brutal attack that nearly killed her, she needed to get away. The quaint, tranquil countryside seemed like the perfect place to start over. Joshua Miller is a widower, running a busy farm, and raising three children with help from his grandmother. He came to Blood Rock to escape the ghosts of his past that still haunt him. When CJ rents a cottage from Joshua, sparks fly, and their lives will never be the same again. Because a relationship between the two is strictly forbidden. He’s Amish and she’s an outsider. Even so, their passion for each other is intense and all-consuming. But how can they possibly be together? This is a timeless love story, where beliefs about duty, family bonds, culture, and way of life are challenged. And two people from very different worlds must decide if their deep, heart-wrenching love is worth the inevitable life-altering consequences.

Beautiful Oblivion


Jamie McGuire - 2014
    She has held down a job since before she could drive, and moved into her own apartment after her freshman year of college. Now tending bar at The Red Door, Cami doesn’t have time for much else besides work and classes, until a trip to see her boyfriend is cancelled, leaving her with a first weekend off in almost a year.Trenton Maddox was the king of Eastern State University, dating co-eds before he even graduated high school. His friends wanted to be him, and women wanted to tame him, but after a tragic accident turned his world upside down, Trenton leaves campus to come to grips with the crushing guilt. Eighteen months later, Trenton is living at home with his widower father, and works full-time at a local tattoo parlor to help with the bills. Just when he thinks his life is returning to normal, he notices Cami sitting alone at a table at The Red. As the baby sister of four rowdy brothers, Cami believes she’ll have no problem keeping her new friendship with Trenton Maddox strictly platonic. But when a Maddox boy falls in love, he loves forever—even if she is the only reason their already broken family could fall apart.

The Theory of Unrequited


Len Webster - 2018
     The pact: Stanford. The betrayal: AJ attending Duke. The reason: She did something stupid like fall in love with Evan. The problem: Evan’s not ready to let this betrayal go so easily. The solution: Find AJ and fix them. The Theory of Unrequited, Book One in The Science of Unrequited: The Story of AJ & Evan

Broken


A.E. Murphy - 2014
    He is hers and she is his. Life can't get much better and their love can't get any stronger. That is until mistakes are made and their world comes crumbling down. She's left alone with no money, no home and a growing person invading her stomach. How will she survive? Forced to leave culinary school, the job she needs and the home they made together. Gwen finds a knight in the most unlikely source. Caleb's brother Nathan. A complex man with a phobia she doesn't understand and mannerisms that aren't of this day and age, will she be able to melt his seemingly frozen heart and become his friend? Or will he forever push her away and wallow in his loneliness and self loathing?

Magnolia


Diana Palmer - 1996
    Claire Lang loved her life there, but one man’s presence unsettled her very soul. John Hawthorn’s dark eyes and lean, handsome face captivated Claire more than she wanted to admit. And when tragedy struck, Claire found herself desperate enough to marry him—a man who didn’t retrn her passionate love her. But Claire aroused fierce, unexpected desires in her elusive husband. And once she had tasted his kisses and savored his lovemaking, she dared to fight for him as a sizzling scandal threatened to engulf them and the love she began to believe could be theirs.

Just Human


Kerry Heavens - 2013
    She knows she loves him more than he loves her, so she lets him go without a fight when his parents make him move back to America. She knows she will never love anyone like she loved him, but she has to move on.Danny loves Liv. He knows he loves her more than she loves him, because she does nothing to get him to stay, so he goes quietly when his parents leave the UK. He knows he will never love anyone like he loved her, but he has to move on.Twelve years on, they have made a good job of pretending, they may have almost forgotten. But when they get in touch via Facebook, it seems that it is all still there. They quickly find that they are intensely compatible in ways they hadn’t even begun to explore before they were forced apart. Can they put aside their fears and give it a go? Or will deep rooted doubts and insecurities tear them apart?

Love, Lucy


April Lindner - 2015
    After a whirlwind romance, Lucy returns home, determined to move on from her "vacation flirtation." But just because summer is over doesn't mean Lucy and Jesse have to be, does it?In this stunning novel, April Lindner perfectly captures the highs and lows of a summer love that might just be meant to last beyond the season.