Book picks similar to
Tainted Love by Alison Fraser
harlequin
romance
contemporary
hp
Heart on a Chain
Cindy C. Bennett - 2010
At school, her second-hand clothing marks her as a target. Her refusal to stand up for herself makes her the recipient of her classmates taunts and bullying. That is, until Henry returns. Henry Jamison moved away six years earlier, just as he and Kate had begun to develop feelings for one another. He returns to find the bright, funny, outgoing girl he had known now timidly hiding in corners, barely speaking to anyone around her, suspicious of even him. Kate can't figure out what game Henry is playing with her - for surely it is a game. What else would the gorgeous, popular boy from her past want with her? Kate finally decides to trust Henry's intentions, opening her heart to him. Just when it seems he might be genuine in his friendship, tragedy strikes, threatening everything Kate has worked so hard to gain. Can Henry help her to overcome this new devastation, or will it tear them apart forever?
Don't Be Afraid
C.A. Harms - 2018
That one day when a few little words changed our entire lives forever… Don’t be Afraid, he said. Life can change so quickly. One moment you can be smiling and feeling as if you're walking on clouds and the next, everything you love, everything you treasure crumbles at your feet. I told him to fight, I told him I needed him. We needed him. But there are just some fights that can't be won… He was my angel then, and he’s still my angel now. In a way, I believe he’s still looking out for us, giving us a future. Sometimes it’s as if I can still feel his presence, guiding us and keeping us safe. So, I won’t be Afraid. I'll live. I’ll fight. It’s what he would have wanted. I’ll do it for him…
Most of All You
Mia Sheridan - 2017
. .Crystal learned long ago that love brings only pain. Feeling nothing at all is far better than being hurt again. She guards her wounded heart behind a hard exterior and carries within her a deep mistrust of men, who, in her experience, have only ever used and taken.A man in need of help . . .Then Gabriel Dalton walks into her life. Despite the terrible darkness of his past, there's an undeniable goodness in him. And even though she knows the cost, Crystal finds herself drawn to Gabriel. His quiet strength is wearing down her defenses and his gentle patience is causing her to question everything she thought she knew.Only love can mend a shattered heart . . .Crystal and Gabriel never imagined that the world, which had stolen everything from them, would bring them a deep love like this. Except fate will only take them so far, and now the choice is theirs: Harden their hearts once again or find the courage to shed their painful pasts.
Saved from Sin
Lindsay Armstrong - 1985
He'd made her feel special—witty and rather daring—a person who existed only for him, when all along she'd existed only as his instrument of revenge!Melly's last words the night she'd confronted her father had been, "It's not true! Clay loves me. He does!" And yet she ran away.For three long years Melly had managed to evade the past—until the day she ran right into her husband and a situation she had
The Wedding Ultimatum
Helen Bianchin - 2002
She'd turned to him as a last resort to help her family. The outrageous solution he proposed turned her world upside down!Rafael would make all Danielle's troubles disappear -- if she married him and gave him an heir. The idea was shocking, intriguing, tempting! To marry this devastatingly sexy man, and share his bed? Danielle had 24 hours before Rafael would return to claim her....
Grayson
Lisa Eugene - 2014
After all, she’s never even seen him. He remains sequestered upstairs in a house that looks like it should be the main feature in an episode of Hoarders. She had no idea the house was such a dump when she took the job. But she’s concerned about the safety and health of the old man living under such horrid conditions.What she got was a mystery…Despite warnings not to venture upstairs, she wanders up to the second floor. What she sees is shocking. The man she finds is a gorgeous, sexy, middle-aged man-- and he's stepping out of the shower. But something is definitely not right. Why would this wealthy, handsome man live in a house in such disrepair while his nine-teen year old son resides in a lavish penthouse? Why does he hide away from society? Why does he come to her rescue and then run away?What she discovered was heartbreaking…Angie learns that forty-four year old Grayson Whitmore suffers from schizophrenia. Paranoid, he retreats into his own world.What she ended up with was a treasure…Angie is determined to get through to Grayson. They form a friendship that blazes into an inconceivable love fired with raging passion. Angie must now come to Grayson’s rescue because the wicked that has been perpetrated on him is unconscionable. First, though, she must gain the trust of a man whose mind does not allow for such a thing.
Rock
Anyta Sunday - 2014
There’s Lila, too: The other woman, the one who stole the rock-solid foundation of his life. And then . . . There’s Jace. Lila’s son. Lila’s smug, regurgitated-fish-scale-blue eyed son. All Cooper wants is to have his family back the way it once was, but there’s something about this boy that promises things will never be the same again. Sedimentary. Resisting the realities of his new life, Cooper and Jace get off to a rocky start. But rocky start or not, after hundreds of shared memories together, they forge something new. A close . . . friendship. Because friendship is all they can have. Although it’s not like they are real brothers. Technically, they’re not even stepbrothers . . . Metamorphic. But how does that friendship evolve under the pressures of life? Under pressures of the heart?
Infamous Bargain
Daphne Clair - 1994
Financier Kynan Roth had all the superficial advantages. Briar was looking for other qualities in a husband--compassion, understanding and, above all, trust. But how was she going to convince the cynical Kynan of that, when, to rescue her father, she had just committed the cardinal sin of marrying him for his money....
What Can Be
Mary Calmes - 2011
Now, existing in a new life as Jacob Somerville, he’s again running from fear and memories, only to end up where he started. As Jacob struggles to reconnect with his father and brothers, he realizes that his lover, Craig Zhao, was the only thing filling his empty heart and standing between him and ghosts of the past. It will take the power of love—from his family, from Craig, and from himself—for Jacob to see that his life truly is filled with the promise of what can be.
Heartbreak Warfare
Heather M. Orgeron - 2018
What you didn't know was that I was breaking mine too.I thought they’d be enough–my husband and my son. That I’d get home and everything would go back to the way it was . . .Before the war. Before the ambush. Before you.But, no matter how hard I try, I can’t erase the trauma we shared. I can’t seem to forget the way my heart beat in time with yours. The truth is I’m lost without you.I thought the nightmare was over when they pulled us from that hole in the ground, but nothing could have prepared me for the war I’d face at home.I know it’s selfish of me to ask, but, please, I have to see you one last time. . .All my love, Scottie
Endgame
Chloe Walsh - 2017
1. Don't fall in love in high-school.2. Get through senior year and snag a full-ride scholarship to college.3. Get the hell away from my irresponsible mother.I didn't think that was too much to ask for, and I've worked damn hard to make it a reality. Until my mother went and did the unthinkable!She's pregnant.Yep, the woman-child only went and got herself knocked-up by a man who lives on the other side of the country.As if it wasn't bad enough to uproot my life six weeks before senior year, Mom's new beau comes with baggage.A sweet stepsister, Amelia.And the b*stard of all b*stards, Rourke.Rourke is a senior like me, and he doesn't want me in his town, much less his home. He's also hell bent on making sure I know it. Thing is, I don't want to be there either, and if Rourke expects me to swan in and kiss his ass to make him like me, he has another thing coming.I'm nobody's bitch and he's about to learn that...Endgame is a feisty standalone romance. Due to its explicit content, bad language, and graphic sexual content, Endgame is recommended for mature readers of seventeen years and above.
Deep Blue Eternity
Natasha Boyd - 2015
And she’s escaped to the one place nobody will ever find her.But the isolated cottage isn’t empty. Her refuge is home to a troubled stranger, Tom, there for reasons of his own.In the intimacy of the abandoned cottage, and the remote wilderness of the island, the electrifying connection between them is impossible to ignore. Both running from their histories and shielding dark secrets, their pasts catch up with them and collide in an unimaginable way.Deep emotions and powerful chemistry face a painful battle with the tangle of lies, and scars of the past. When the truth emerges, hearts will be shattered.
True Colors
Susan Kyle - 1991
Now, stronger and wiser, she's back, but this time as the poised, powerful head of a multinational corporation--and she's planning a hostile takeover of Harden Properties.Cy doesn't know the secrets Meredith is hiding, and she has no intention of telling him. She plans to let him think she's the same shy girl he abandoned years ago..but she hasn't counted on the way her body still thrills to his touch. And when Meredith begins to fall for Cy all over again...even her carefully made plans can't protect her.
Hello Stranger
Jade West - 2020
A man so powerful - brooding with darkness and secrets.I knew there was going to be more. I wanted more.When the stranger is reading one of your favourite novels, and you’re reading one of his.When you’re in such a flutter that you drop your treasured bookmark, and the stranger returns it next day.When you think the universe can’t be any kinder, but it truly delivers the jackpot of all jackpots and two opposite worlds collide, as though it was meant to be.Only it could never be so easy, could it?Goodbye stranger…Hello, Dr Hall.When fate turns to love,And love turns to pain,Hope is the saviour,To live through the rain.Authors note:Contains scenes of palliative care – may be emotionally triggering for some readers. Please proceed with caution.
When It Rains
Lisa De Jong - 2013
He was my first crush before everything came crashing down, and now he wants more, but it's more than I can give him. Things are different now. I wish I could tell him why, but I can't. I haven’t told anyone.I never knew how much I really needed him until the day he left for college, and I was completely alone.Then one day, Asher Hunt rides into town with his dark, captivating eyes and cocky grin. He doesn't care who I used to be, he's simply breathing life into what’s left. People warn me to stay away from him, but he helps me forget the pain that has held me hostage for so long; something I thought was impossible before he walked into my life.I’ve been hurt. I’ve been saved. And I’ve found hope. I thought my story was written that night, but now I know it was only a new beginning. Until one secret turns my world upside down…Again.