Book picks similar to
After the Fire by Kathryn Shay
romance
contemporary-romance
contemporary
fiction
Captured Innocence
Kennedy Layne - 2013
A submissive has been murdered in a particularly vicious manner and to bring her killer to justice, he must go undercover. Not hard to do considering he's already part of the BDSM lifestyle.Lauren Bailey, a local vendor of bejeweled erotic implements, lives vicariously through her clients due to her fear of bondage. When Connor's dominant side can't resist trying to ease her anxieties, she accepts his proposal and agrees to one stipulation...keep things casual.When the killer sets his sights on Lauren, Connor is forced to rethink their relationship. He has the training it takes to catch a murdered, but does he have the courage to escape his inner demons and capture Lauren's heart?
A Family Affair
Mary Campisi - 2006
Her father has another family which includes a mistress and a daughter. Determined to uncover the truth behind her father's secret life, Christine heads to Magdalena, prepared to hate the people who have caused her to question everything she thought she knew about her father. But what she finds is a woman who understands her, a half sister who cherishes her, and a man who could love her if she'll let him. The longer she's around them, the more she questions which family is the real one. . . Attention Book Clubs! Included on my website is a Book Club Discussion Guide for A Family Affair. This story is filled with moral ambiguity, difficult choices, and second chances--all great topics for conversation and contemplation. Truth in Lies Series: Book One: A Family Affair Book Two: A Family Affair: Spring Book Three: A Family Affair: Summer Book Four: A Family Affair: Fall Book Five: A Family Affair: Christmas Book Six: A Family Affair: Winter (TBA) Book Seven: A Family Affair: The Promise (TBA)
Tuesday's Child
Dale Mayer - 2011
Shunned and ridiculed all her life for something she can’t control, Samantha Blair hides her psychic abilities and lives on the fringes of society. Against her will, however, she’s tapped into a killer—or rather, his victims. Each woman’s murder, blow-by-blow, ravages her mind until their death releases her back to her body. Sam knows she must go to the authorities, but will the rugged, no-nonsense detective in charge of tracking down the killer believe her? Detective Brandt Sutherland only trusts hard evidence, yet Sam’s visions offer clues he needs to catch a killer. The more he learns about her incredible abilities, however, the clearer it becomes that Sam’s visions have put her in the killer’s line of fire. Now Brandt must save her from something he cannot see or understand…and risk losing his heart in the process. As danger and desire collide, passion raises the stakes in a game Sam and Brandt don’t dare lose. Length - 90,000 words. Excerpt Agony. Pain. Terror. A voice whispered through the blackness of her mind, so odd, so different it caught her attention. She strained to hear the words. “Let go. It’s time to let go.” Sam stared through the flames, stunned. Let go of what? She couldn’t hear over the roaring fire and could barely see, but knowing that someone was there stirred her survival instinct, and she fought with the seatbelt buckle jammed at her side. She was saved. Just another minute and they’d open the door and pull her free. She’d be fine. “Please hurry,” she cried out. “Let go. You don’t need to be in there. Let it all go, and come with me.” She peered through the golden orange windshield to see a strange male face peering at her through the flames. He smiled. “Come with me.” “I want to, damn it. Can’t you see I’m trapped?” she screamed, her vocals crisping in the heat. “Release yourself. Come with me. Say yes.” The pain hit a crescendo. She twisted against it, hearing her spine splinter. The car seat melted into her skin. So much pain, she couldn’t breathe. Blackness crowded into her mind, blessed quiet, soothing darkness. She reached for it. “Let it go. You don’t need to go through this. Hurry.” She started. Why wasn’t he opening the door or getting others to help? He should be trying to save her. Shouldn’t he? Sam, so confused and so tired, she could barely feel the pain overtaking her body. Where had he gone? She tried to concentrate. His face was now only a vague outline that rippled with the heat waves. A soft smile played at the corner of his mouth. The flames burned around him, weird as they centered him in the warm glow. She wanted to be with him. To live. “Here, take my hand.” Dazed and on the brink of death, Sam focused on the hand reaching for her. She struggled to raise the charred piece of flesh that had been her arm and reached out to grasp his. She was free. Overwhelmed, she turned to hug her savior, her head just reaching his shoulder. He stood beside her, the same radiant beaming look on his face. His blond hair glowed, and he had the brightest teeth. She sighed. This beautiful man pointed to her right arm. Confused, Sam glanced down at her burned arm, realizing she could feel none of her injuries. Just like her other one, her broken arm had miraculously healed – whole, smooth and soft. Her skin hadn’t looked this good in ten years. She spun around to find a massive fireball below. What the hell? She had to be dead.
Elemental Pleasure
Mari Carr - 2013
That day has come. Returning to Boston, Carly meets former Marine Lance Glassco, a mathematician for DARPA, and Preston Kim, a celebrated chemist. Though on the surface they have nothing in common, it's clear the Grand Master thinks that together the three of them can do something amazing. And that's why he's declared that Carly, Lance and Preston must unite. In a ménage.Tempers flare as they struggle to understand each other, but their physical attraction is explosive, and the sex leaves all of them begging for more. Pushed beyond her limits, Carly runs from Lance and Preston. What she doesn't understand is that she now belongs to them, body and soul...and they belong to her, too. When Lance uncovers a dangerous crime in Preston's firm, Carly is caught in the crossfire and the struggling lovers are forced to move beyond desire…to trust.The Trinity Masters have the power to make careers and change lives, but there's a price. All members know that the day will come when the Grand Master will select them, and pair them with two others. For the Trinity Masters the strongest bond isn't a pair, but a threesome.Word Count = 45,940
The Woman
David Bishop - 2011
This is a story of just one woman. As the story unfolds Linda gradually learns that some people do deserve to die, but that she is not one of those people. Linda Darby is a seven-year divorcee, living quietly in a small let-the-world-go-by beach town on the coast of Oregon, who day trades for a living. Her only close friend is a widowed elderly woman who manages a small consulting company, which, as is later discovered, never has visitors, sends and receives its business correspondence only by courier, and is not listed in any phone directory. No one in town knows what kind of consulting the company does, but the rumor is that whatever they do is done for the government. Linda doesn’t date local men. When her celibacy grows intolerable, she visits nearby towns to frequent the watering holes of successful men. Her motto: No relationships. No second dates. No use of her real name during one-night stands. Then one evening, Linda goes for a walk and nothing for her is ever the same. She is dragged into an alley by two men, but saved by a third, a stranger who disappears as suddenly as he appeared. The next day she finds out the two men in the alley had been killed, the town’s first murders ever. The following day she learns that hours before she had been dragged into the alley, her close friend was tortured and killed.
Heart Raider
Sophia Knightly - 2013
A scorching summer. Danger lurks... After a raging media storm nearly destroys him, financial whiz Nick Cameron finds himself isolated and laying low on a barrier island off the Florida coast, far away from the reporters and scandals that threaten him. But when little Ronnie Whitcomb shows up on his doorstep, all grown up and breathtakingly beautiful, he tries to deny his feelings for her. Fate intervenes when a hurricane strands them on the island together, and suddenly, keeping Ronnie at arm's length becomes almost impossible. But daredevil TV reporter Veronique Whitcomb has an agenda of her own -- an agenda that could quite possibly get her killed. Recalling the hunky boy who rescued her at summer camp, Ronnie knows there's more to Nick than the hot and juicy scandal he's embroiled in, and she is determined to get the exclusive interview with him that will expose the real criminal. Whether Nick likes it or not, Ronnie refuses to sit by while the world slanders the most honorable and decent man she's ever known...and loved.THE HEARTTHROB SERIES: Book 1: Heart Raider (Nick and Veronique) Book 2: Heart Melter (Ian and Natasha) Book 3: Heart Tamer (Alec and Kate) Book 4: Heart Hunter (Cameron and Evie) Book 5: Heart Tempter (Leo and Teddy)
Branded for You
Cheyenne McCray - 2012
After meeting sexy Ryan McBride, she suspects he might just be the one to change her mind. With her family in danger of losing their restaurant and their home, a sudden illness has everything Megan thought was sure in her life crashing down around her. Finding out Ryan is the one responsible for threatening foreclosure shakes her very foundation.Can Ryan and Megan succeed in overcoming their obstacles and fight for a love that was meant to be?
Love Like This
Sophie Love - 2017
But their culture is brutal, her boss is a monster, and she doesn’t know if she can last for long.That changes when Keira, by a fluke, is handed a coveted assignment and given her big chance: to travel to Ireland for 30 days, witness the legendary Lisdoonvarna festival of love, and to debunk the myth that true love exists. Keira, cynical herself and in a rocky place with her long-term boyfriend, is all too happy to oblige.But when Keira falls in love with Ireland and meets her Irish tour guide, who just may be the man of her dreams, she is no longer sure of anything.A whirlwind romantic comedy that is as profound as it is funny, LOVE LIKE THIS is book #1 in the debut of a dazzling new romance series that will make you laugh, cry, and will keep you turning pages late into the night—and will make you fall in love with romance all over again.
Bennett
Seraphina Donavan - 2015
She takes care of her ailing mother, she manages PR for the family’s distillery, Fire Creek. And every day she quietly resents the fact that he stepped in and kept her from being with the one man she loved… a man who still lives there in their small town of Fontaine, Kentucky and who haunts her every minute of the day, waking or asleep. Bennett Hayes has loved Mia his whole life, and for one brief moment, when they were young and full of hope, it seemed like even the long history of bad blood between their families wasn’t enough to keep them apart. But he’d been wrong. Mia never showed the night they were supposed to run away together and when he confronted her about it, she broke his heart. But fate and circumstance throw them together again and the fire that raged between them at eighteen is even hotter now. The burn is inevitable. But there are forces at play, people on the periphery of their lives whose agenda goes far beyond just keeping them apart… they will stop at nothing to keep their secrets, even if it means murder.
Damian
Jessica Wood - 2013
The man, the legend, the heartbreaker. As a self-proclaimed man-whore, Damian doesn’t believe in love or commitment. In fact, he can’t remember the last time he’s had feeling for a woman that went beyond hot, no-strings-attached sex. The only things he cares about are his bar, his appearance, and his needs.But then he meets Alexis.Meet Alexis Blythe. A small town girl that has lost a lot of love in her life. Wanting to leave her past behind her, she moves to San Francisco looking for a big change. Yet, despite everything she’s gone through, she still believes in true love.But then she meets Damian.When Alexis shows up at his bar, Damian’s caught by surprise. She’s different. She’s sweet, innocent, and feisty. But above all, this woman didn’t respond to his charm and piercing-blue eyes the way every other woman did. To Damian, she’s his ultimate challenge.Could Alexis be the girl that will break through Damian’s wall of perpetual bachelorhood without getting hurt? Or will Damian remain true his ways and break Alexis’s heart and her hopes of true love?
Damsel In Danger
Olivia Jaymes - 2015
With a little help from his friends, Logan Wright and Jared Monroe, he’s starting a new business and moving forward. He only thinks about the past during the long, dark nights. It’s then that he feels most alone. Brinley Snow has moved into her dream home. It’s everything she’s wanted and more although she's facing a mountain of renovation work. Luckily it came with the bonus of a sexier than sin neighbor. One sultry summer night, Brinley gathers up her courage and asks Jason to join her for dinner. They’re instantly attracted to one another but the evening quickly goes down hill as she ends up in the interrogation room of the local police. An unknown dead man had her address clutched in his hand. The authorities – and Jason – think she’s the key to finding a cold-blooded murderer. With a first date like that Brinley’s not sure she’ll survive a second. Then again she’s never met anyone like Jason. He’s not the typical boy-next-door. He’s all man. And with a little luck, he could become all hers. They just have to stay alive long enough to catch a killer.
Trouble in Mudbug
Jana Deleon - 2009
The woman was rude, pushy, manipulative and used her considerable wealth to run herd over the entire town of Mudbug, Louisiana. Unfortunately, death doesn’t slow down Helena one bit.DEA Agent Luc LeJeune is wondering what his undercover assignment investigating the sexy scientist has gotten him into – especially as it seems someone wants her dead. Keeping his secrets while protecting Maryse proves to be easier than fighting his attraction for the brainy beauty. (Note: This book is part of the author’s backlist, originally released in print in 2009 by Dorchester Publishing)
Bury the Hatchet
Catherine Gayle - 2015
Now he needs to prove to the watchful eyes that he’s changed for the better. But cozying up to Little-Miss-Perfect-Gone-Bad isn’t his idea of making amends.Agreeing to marry a hockey star to clear her “bad girl” reputation is the worst idea Oklahoma’s former sweetheart, Tallulah Belle Roth, has ever heard. With cameras constantly in their faces, Hunter and Tallie need to prove their sickeningly-sweet, do-good lives are the real deal—just to Bury the Hatchet once and for all.But when the cameras are off, desire burns hot. Can fake and just for show turn into something real and forever?