Book picks similar to
Close-Up by Virginia Kantra


romantic-suspense
romance
virginia-kantra
contemporary-romance

Out of Time


Samantha Graves - 2008
    She never expects it to land her in the middle of a deadly battle for money and power between dangerous underground elements. The object of their greed: an ancient crystal lens that can unlock mysteries from the past... but only for someone with the sight. The one person who doesn't seem to want her dead is a cynical tomb raider who Jillian can only hope is worthy of her trust...HE'S IN TOO DEEP Simon Bonner has paid the last of his debts and is out of the looting game...until the lens lands on his doorstep. The other half of the crystal's secret is locked inside the eyes of a straitlaced psychic who still believes in doing the right thing. Now he must track the mystery deep into Mexico, where his desire to stay alive and his growing passion for the sexy seer make every move a dance with danger.OUT OF TIME Tomorrow could be history.

Silent Confessions


Julie Kenner - 2003
    Verses from Victorian erotica are being left for the victims, and Jack needs to interpret the clues—before someone gets hurt. Thankfully, Ronnie's an expert on naughty turn-of-the-century prose, but if she's going to play teacher, Jack will have to be a dedicated student…. With her own love life stuck in Neutral, Ronnie's sensual studies have piqued her curiosity, and she wonders if reality can be as stimulating as fiction. She agrees to help Jack with his case, if he'll satisfy her wildest, most scandalous desires—a request Jack has no problem accommodating. But the closer they get to each other, the closer the stalker circles in, leaving Jack to question if Ronnie is merely a very skilled scholar—or the key to something far more sinister….

Danger in Paradise


Katie Reus - 2009
    He's never stopped blaming himself. When he finds himself working side by side with a woman identical to his friend, he'll stop at nothing to discover her true identity, even if it means betraying her.What few memories photographer Hope Jennings has of her past aren't pretty. The monsters from her nightmares make it impossible to completely erase her violent history, but she's living her life one day at a time. When a wealthy family hires her for a month down in the Caribbean, she expects to work hard, get the job done, and go home. While there, she finds unexpected passion in the arms of the sexy and dangerous Luke. Unfortunately for her heart, he presents a danger to the safe life she's built for herself. When someone targets her to die, she doesn't know who to trust.Please note that Danger in Paradise was originally published under the title Finding Hope, but has been revised. Category length novel.

Sweet Revenge


Nora Roberts - 1988
    At twenty-five, Princess Adrianne lives a life most people would envy.  Beautiful and elegant, she spends her days dabbling in charities and her nights floating from one glamorous gala to the next.  But her pampered-rich-girl pose is a ruse, a carefully calculated effort to hide a dangerous truth.For ten years Adrianne has lived for revenge.  As a child, she could only watch the cruelty hidden behind the facade of her parents' fairy-tale marriage.  Now she has the perfect plan to make her famous father pay.  She will take possession of the one thing he values above all others--The Sun and the Moon, a fabled necklace beyond price.Yet just as she is poised to take her vengeance, she meets a man who seems to divine her every secret.  Clever, charming, and enigmatic, Philip Chamberlain has his own private reasons for getting close to Princess Adrianne.  And only when it's too late will she see the hidden danger...as she finds herself up against two formidable men--one with the knowledge to take her freedom, the other with the power to take her life.

Hush


Cherry Adair - 2011
    A reckless adventure in a deadly paradise. Thrill seekers Zakary and Gideon Stark travel the globe in search of extreme adventure, but a trip to Venezuela to jump off the world’s highest falls catapults them into a perilous game of life or death—where they don’t know the rules. A one-night stand that will change his life forever. Kidnapped with a woman Zak knows nothing about, the brothers are held prisoner deep in the jungle. A risky, death-defying escape separates them and nearly claims Zak’s life . . . until his recovery reveals a baffling new sixth sense. An unexpected diversion with lethal consequences. Now, to find his missing brother, Zak and the mysterious Acadia Gray will have to out-smart, out-gun, and out-maneuver not just the brutal kidnappers but also a new player who joins the adrenaline game: a ruthless opponent who wants the Stark brothers dead—at any cost.

Once Upon a Wedding


Kathleen Eagle - 2002
    and then you do what any self-respecting mother of the bride would -- you march right out and buy a sky-high stack of bridal magazines. Once upon a Wedding In award-winning author Kathleen Eagle's astonishing and warm new novel, we see just what happens to Camille, her family, and her friends when her beautiful and young daughter, Jordan, speaks those unforgettable words. After all, weddings are a time of unbelievable joy, a few tender tears -- and sometimes one huge headache.So Camille ignores the thought that her baby is simply too young to take such a big step and throws herself into action. There are flower arrangements to be chosen, favors to be lovingly created by her own two hands ... and lives to be put in order. And one of those disorganized lives belongs to her irrepressible, irresponsible, and somehow still irresistibleex-husband.When they were younger -- as young as Jordan is now -- Camille loved Creed Burke with all her heart and soul. This passionate Lakota swept her off her feet and right to the justice of the peace. Their wedding had been hurried, private ... nothing like the extravaganza their daughter is now planning.Creed is a musician who never seems to stay in one place long enough. Yet his wanderlust has never quite quenched his and Camille's passion for each other or his love for their daughter. But it did unravel their marriage.Now after years of cordial and casual, Camille finds that Creed is invading every aspect of her life. When she comes down for breakfast, he's sitting at the table helping himself to coffee. And when she goes out on the town with her girlfriends, he's sure to show up and ask her for a long, slow dance. Slowly but surely, Creed is weaving himself back into the fabric of her life. And their daughter's upcoming wedding brings back so many tender, tempting, and confusing memories of their own fiery union.Her two best girlfriends aren't much help. "Maybe it'll all work out," says gentle Ellie, a not-so-closet romantic who is clearly hoping for a reconciliation. "Don't trust him!" warns Bridget. But can you really trust someone whose husband has just stormed out of the house? As for Camille's own mother, Rosie, who is facing a serious illness and still has an expectant gleam in her eye and a soft spot in her heart for her ex-son-in-law, she declares Life's too short to pass up another shot at happiness.So when the big day arrives Camille realizes there is only one answer: follow her heart. But where will it take her?Kathleen Eagle has written an extraordinary story, filled with the complexity of female friendships, the tempestousness of the mother-daughter relationship, and the power of everlasting love. Anyone who has ever been a mother, daughter, friend, or lover will never forget Once upon a Wedding.

Exchange of Fire


P.A. DePaul - 2014
    Knowing she’s a danger to her team, Sandra goes off the grid, becoming a Shade—an agent declared dead but secretly hiding among the living. She intends to honor her vow never to pull another trigger or have contact with the spy world again. Until she meets Casper Grady…Grady is a former Marine with a troubled past and a debt to pay. His life mission has gone from protecting the nation to helping local children and their families. The moment he meets Sandra, he knows there’s more to her than meets the eye, but he can’t help but be drawn to the mysterious femme fatale. And when Sandra’s past suddenly catches up to her, Grady is determined to protect her at all costs, no matter how dark and dangerous her secrets are.As the danger increases, so does their intense attraction. But when they’re forced to choose between each other and the people they’ve sworn to protect, their growing love might not be enough to keep them together—or alive…

Bodyguard/Husband


Mallory Kane - 2003
    To flush out the stalker, she agreed to a fake marriage with the sexy FBI operative, who promised to protect her at all costs. Within Jack's arms Holly found a safe haven, and in his bed, exquisite passion. But could Jack discover her deadly admirer's identity before the stalker intervened and destroyed their chances at forever?

Maggie's Man


Alicia Scott - 1997
    When shy and reserved Maggie Ferringer was called for jury duty, she never expected to be kidnapped by an escaped convict. But when Cain Cannon, disguised as a prison guard, pulls a gun, she has no choice but to be taken hostage. Cain claims that he’s innocent of killing his girlfriend six years ago and now he wants revenge on the people who put him behind bars. Soon, Maggie becomes more than just a hostage to Cain. As they slowly begin to share the secrets of their respective pasts, Maggie discovers that she wants to fight for Cain’s freedom—because he just might be the kind of man she could love.

Silver Sparks


Starr Ambrose - 2011
    Being raised by hippie parents in the small resort town of Barringer’s Pass, Colorado, they were always considered oddballs, and for a while, they did everything they could to earn the name. But now, older and wiser, they're discovering that it's not so great to be the wild child, and are struggling to earn a new place for themselves in town.When Maggie Larkin resists the come-ons of a sleazy actor in town to shoot a film, she pisses off more than a pretty boy and his manager. Turns out that Rafe DeLuca isn't just a movie star...he's possibly a killer, and Maggie's landed herself in more trouble than she could imagine. Enter Cal Drummond, cop extraordinaire, who's been trailing DeLuca himself for weeks, convinced that his recently murdered sister is one of Rafe's victims. He's determined not to let another woman be victimized by the dangerous Rafe, and if that means sticking like glue to Maggie, so be it.Maggie and Cal seem like perfect opposites, but as we all know...opposites attract!

Up Close and Dangerous


Linda Howard - 2007
    A year later, while flying from Seattle to Denver in a small plane, Bailey nearly dies herself when the engine sputters --- and then fails.Cam Justice, her sexy Texan pilot, manages to crash-land the aircraft. Stranded in the wilderness, and struggling to douse her feelings for the ruggedly handsome man by her side, Bailey begins to wonder whether this was a mere accident. Who tampered with their plane? Who's trying to reunite Bailey and her husband in the afterlife? Cut off from the world, and with little hope of rescue, Bailey must trust her life --- and heart --- to Cam, as they battle the harsh elements to find a way out of the unforgiving wilds and back to civilization ... where a killer may be waiting to finish the job.

When All the Girls Have Gone


Jayne Ann Krentz - 2016
    In a desperate effort to find her, Charlotte joins forces with Max Cutler, a struggling PI who recently moved to Seattle after his previous career as a criminal profiler went down in flames—literally. Burned out, divorced and almost broke, Max needs the job.After surviving a near-fatal attack, Charlotte and Max turn to Jocelyn’s closest friends, women in a Seattle-based online investment club, for answers. But what they find is chilling…When her uneasy alliance with Max turns into a full-blown affair, Charlotte has no choice but to trust him with her life. For the shadows of Jocelyn’s past are threatening to consume her—and anyone else who gets in their way...

First Date


Karen Kendall - 2005
    Their whirlwind courtship has their families in an uproar. In Book One of The Bridesmaid Chronicles, meet Jersey girl Sydney Spinelli, who has her heart set on stopping the wedding between her little sister and her Texan boyfriend of only one month! The only problem is, her heart is getting distraced by the groom's sexy best friend Alex.

Surrender


Stephanie Tyler - 2013
    The son of one of its missing members, he grew up in the shadow of its secrets. All he knew was that it was a cabal of operatives discharged from branches of the military and reassigned to extremely dangerous, off- the-books international missions. And that their handler was as shrouded in mystery as the missions themselves.NOTHING CAN STOP THEM. NOTHING CAN BREAK THEM.Now the handler of Section 8 has given orders to kill any remaining members, along with their families. Dare must save his long-lost half sister, Avery, whom he was never meant to meet. Determined to fight for their lives and find their missing father, Dare and Avery bring together for one last mission those who are in danger because of their relationship to Section 8—to avenge their families and to survive.

Return To Me


Shannon McKenna - 2004
    Reprint.