Book picks similar to
I Never Planned on You by Stefanie Jenkins
romance
contemporary-romance
arc
new-adult
Tycoon
Katy Evans - 2017
This hot. This difficult.Aaric Christos was a guy who protected me. Wanted me. Maybe even loved me.That man is gone.In his place is the most powerful real estate tycoon in the city.He’s a cold, ruthless, aggressive businessman.The only one who can save me and my startup from ruin.It takes every ounce of courage to put my pride aside and ask for his help.I didn’t expect him to offer it easily.And he doesn’t.Instead, he vets me harder than he’s vetted anyone.Don’t invest in what you don’t know, he says.He's assessing every piece of me, to the point I've never felt so bare.I yearn for the boy I once knew, whose touch once craved me.Putting it all on the line will be worth it, I tell myself.Until I realize—too late—that some risks are not worth taking.
Whispered Prayers of a Girl
Alex Grayson - 2017
Her words are agony to my healing heart, but I cherish the sound of them, for that’s the only time I ever hear my beautiful daughter speak. Since her father died two years ago, she’s grown quiet and withdrawn. Cat’s Valley was to be our new beginning, a place where my family and I can heal, but what we find there is so much more.Scars mar his body. Pain has left him in pieces…Four years ago, I lost the two things I cherished most in the world. They were ripped from my arms in the most painful and cruel way. Since then, I’ve kept to myself, preferring to stay away from the pitying looks and murmured rumors. Everything changed when she and her children barged into my life. It was an accident, and I don’t deserve them, but now that they’re here, I’m not sure I can let them go.
Say the Word
Julie Johnson - 2014
When their paths cross again unexpectedly in New York City, Lux does her best to feign indifference toward her first love. But the harder she tries to hold Sebastian at arm’s length, the more determined he becomes to uncover the secrets she’s been keeping about their past… and the true reason she broke his heart seven years earlier.She’s as much in love with him as ever; he’s just as furious at her for leaving. But beneath the anger, forbidden attraction still simmers… and it’s only a matter of time before it boils over. When the past is finally unearthed, the monsters Lux spent seven years running from will finally catch up to her. And nothing – not even her love for Sebastian – will be enough to save her… **SAY THE WORD is a steamy, suspenseful standalone contemporary romance for fans of action and angst. Due to sexual situations, adult language, violence, and thematic elements, it is intended for readers ages 16 and up.**
Chasing Spring
R.S. Grey - 2016
I didn't belong in the small town, but my dad wouldn't listen. He dragged me back home in his beat-up truck and dropped a bomb along the way: Chase Matthews was moving in with us. He was the golden boy of my high school, my former best friend, and the last person I wanted sleeping across the hall. His presence was too great a reminder of the ghosts I was trying to forget.I didn't ask for a hero. I don't want to be saved.To me, Lilah Calloway meant late nights sneakin'; out, moonlit hair, and sparklers in July. She was my best friend until the day she left and I'd assumed Blackwater had seen the last of her. Then, like a tempest, she rolled back into town for the final half of senior year. The chopped hair and dark devil-may-care attitude warned most people away, but I knew if I fought hard enough, I could find the lost girl.I didn't want to be her hero. Some girls don't need to be saved.
Wicked Beautiful
J.T. Geissinger - 2015
What she doesn’t have—and doesn’t want—is a husband. Fifteen years ago her high school flame broke her heart so badly she swore she’d never love again. Drop-dead sexy restauranteur and infamous playboy Parker Maxwell has only three rules for the women he dates: no questions about his past, no expectations for the future, and no spending the night. When he meets Victoria, however, he’s willing to break his own rules if it means sating the explosive desire she arouses in him. What he doesn’t know is that the alluring Victoria Price used to be the mousy Isabel Diaz, the girl he deflowered and dumped long ago. Presented with a perfect opportunity for revenge, Victoria decides the game is on. But when her connection with Parker proves more than just skin deep, she has to make a choice: continue with her plan for payback, or risk her career, her reputation, and her heart by taking a second chance on love?
Flip Trick
Amo Jones - 2018
I had a one-night stand. Then in true me fashion, I left my phone at his house during my desperate venture to escape. I tried hard to ignore the texts sent to my best friend’s phone... Amethyst: Sup, these selfies are cute as shit, but your lips looked better wrapped around my… I did NOT text him back. I DID vow to never speak of him, or that night again... I’m Amethyst Lily Tatum, and up until this point, I’d managed to maintain a fairly low-key life. I’m what you would call a socially unacceptable hot mess. Instead of partying, I’m skating, flipping ollie’s over guys who loved to underestimate me. Then I started college, met a wild girl who I would soon call my best-friend, had my first drunk one-night stand, left my phone at his house, and then, when I finally managed to meet my mom’s new boyfriend, I found out that my one-night stand, was now my new stepbrother. *this is a standalone novel*
The Fall
Kate Stewart - 2015
. . and the end of it.I was only fifteen years old when he claimed it and twenty when he took it with him.They say what is meant to be will find a way. But when you have changed to the point of no return, how can anything ever be the same?Seven years later, Dean Martin waltzed back into my life in hopes of resuming what I had fought so hard to forget, but he was in for a wake-up call.I was no longer the naïve woman he had left . . . and I was no longer his.I met the love of my life and my soul mate when I was fifteen. I knew that; he knew that. He wanted that girl back. I wanted to forget she ever existed.DeanWhat I thought was my pre-destined path was very much an illusion. Living seven years with regret, I realized too late that I was broken, and that I only had myself to blame.I thought love could wait . . . but it didn’t. We’d had it all those years ago, and then I foolishly left it behind.She was all that mattered. She was all there ever was.There was no life without Dallas, no reason . . . except her.No matter how hard she tried to convince me, I knew I had to once again make her mine, to make her remember . . . the fall.Explicit sex, strong language.
Pretty Scars
C.D. Reiss - 2019
Her beauty got her past the velvet ropes and into high society, but it ripped her away from the man she loved and chained her to an unbearable life.Then, in a single night, a song played by a mysterious and secretive musician carries her back to a past ripe with possibilities, when love could open any door.Who is this anonymous performer?How can a man she’s never met tell such a precise story of a boy she loved?She needs to know. But sometimes masks exist for a reason, and this unveiling could scar them both.
Wrecking Ball
B.N. Toler - 2014
A guy who didn’t believe in love at first sight, suddenly believed. A girl who believed a bad boy would always be bad, changed her mind. With Sophia by Brandon’s side, he knew he could conquer the world, and Sophia had never felt more loved or wanted in her life. They were good together.But even the strongest of foundations can be crumbled. Sometimes all it takes is one moment, fleeting as it may be, to crush what was once strong and indestructible, like a wrecking ball. Now Sophia has left and as she rediscovers herself, Brandon is left holding the shattered pieces of their lives, trying to figure out how to put them back together. He loves her.She loves him.All he needs now is to make her remember that.
Away
B.A. Wolfe - 2013
One night of pure weakness and lust has her running away from it all and seeking refuge in Alamosa with her best friend. But it seems life has other plans for her when she finds herself lost in the small town of Keaton. Jason Bradley is a charming country guy. He lives a simple life that’s nothing like what Cassandra is used to. A single moment in life changed everything he thought he once knew, leaving him with a broken heart and an unplanned future. What happens in Keaton is nothing Cassandra or her heart could have ever prepared for. The instant connection she shares with Jason is no secret, but what they're keeping hidden from one another is. Will these two be able to find a way to trust each other or will their secrets tear them apart?
Reckless Memories
Catherine Cowles - 2020
From skinned knees to first dates and everything in between. But he was never mine to love. I settled for friendship, even though I always wanted more. That was before. Before he ripped my world apart and didn’t bother sticking around to help me pick up the pieces. I knit every last shred back together all on my own. And I’ve all but forgotten his name. Now, he’s back, and everything is torn apart once more. But he’s not the only one doing the tearing this time. And there might be no stopping the person who has it out for us both.
Stay
Tia Louise - 2019
He’s arrogant. He’s smart as a whip and sexy AF. He has too much money. He’s bossy, and he’s usually right. All I saw were his clear blue eyes, tight butt, and ripped torso. I gladly handed him my V-card that night, ten years ago. I was so stupid. I swore I’d never be that stupid again… Emmy Barton works for a dry cleaner? Yes, that Emmy Barton—long, blonde hair, bright blue eyes, pretty smile… Sexy little body. Smart mouth. She was the only girl who interested me, but I was leaving to be an officer in the Navy. Now I’m home, running my business. My life is perfectly ordered until I bump into her, divorced and struggling to make ends meet. I hate seeing her like this. I hate that she married Burt “The Dick” Dickerson. What an a--hole. She says she hates me, but when we fight, it’s all heat and lust. I won’t leave her this way. She will let me help her and her son. She will stay… It’s a thin line between love and hate, and
this line is on fire.
(STAY is a STAND-ALONE enemies-to-lovers, second-chance, marriage of convenience romance. No cheating. No cliffhangers.)
All of It
Kim Holden - 2013
On the first day of senior year, she meets DIMITRI GLENN--a mysterious transfer student with gray eyes and a mischievous smile who seems determined to win her heart. But there's something odd about Dimitri, leading Veronica to wonder if there's more to him than meets the eye. Before long, she finds herself in a whirlwind romance that seems too good to be true--until a series of devastating events leaves her questioning everything. It's not until she chooses to think with her heart instead of her mind that she can rise from the ashes to learn the truth of their connection.
One Day Soon
A. Meredith Walters - 2016
I stayed with him through darkness and fire. We loved each other in the moment between innocence and bitter truth. We were the kids easily ignored, who grew into adults we hardly knew. We weren’t meant to last forever. And we didn’t. He ran away. I tried to move on. Yet I never stopped thinking about the boy who had fought to keep me alive in a world that would have swallowed me whole. He was the past that I buried, but never forgot. Until the day I found him again, years after believing I had lost him forever. And in cold, resentful eyes, I saw the heart of the man who had been everything when I had nothing at all. So I vowed to hold onto the second chance that was stolen from the children we had been. Sometimes fate is ugly. Life can be twisted. And who we are can be ruined by who we once were. For two people who had survived so much, we would have to learn how to hold on before we were forced to let go.
Last First Kiss
Jane Anthony - 2019
. . and my first heartbreak.Watching him walk out of my life almost ruined me. But years have passed, and the pain of losing him has long since faded.Or so I thought.One glimpse in his cobalt eyes and those old wounds reopened. Jesse wants a second chance at what might have been, but it’s too late. I’m with someone new. Someone safe. Someone who can’t break me.Yet the heart wants what it wants, and mine has only ever beat for the one who got away. I can’t deny him. I can’t resist him. He consumes my every waking thought and invades my dreams.After all these years, I find myself wondering if I’ll ever truly stop loving the boy who taught my heart to hurt.Jesse abandoned me when things got too difficult once.I’m about to find out if lightning can strike twice.