Book picks similar to
Destined to Change by Lisa M. Harley


romance
new-adult
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love-triangle

Trust Me


Melanie Walker - 2013
    Pain, Anger, Terror…she also knew Trust. Of all the things her father taught her and her brother, it was her brother Noah who taught her to trust.At fourteen and awakened in the middle of the night by her eighteen year old brother Noah, they run and escape a fate that is worse than death. Years of abuse so severe has left them both strong, wounded and careful. They know to trust one another above all things and promise then and there they will never look back.The summer before her final year at UW Carrie agrees to a date with her long time crush who happens to be her brother Noah’s best friend Chad Blake. The tattooed and sexy as sin front-man for rock band Thick as Thieves and the crowned King of Gig Harbor’s bad boys, Chad is a known for a good time, great music, killer tats and a sweet goodbye the morning after as long as the girl knows the score. Everything he is, is everything Noah wants her safe from. Chad has wanted his best friends sister since she was eighteen but stayed away after Noah warned him that Carrie was off limits. Having been burned in the past, Chad focused on his day job as a tattoo artist and his dream of making it big with his band Thick as Thieves; keeping his bed warm until he had the chance to get Carrie Beckett there and never let her leave. Noah sheltered Carrie as best he could, keeping her as far from his personal life and Chad Blake as he could. He wanted nothing but happiness and freedom for the sister he watched suffer day in and day out.But Carrie is innocent and smart, strong willed with a sassy mouth, all the things Chad loves about her and refuses to deny himself of anymore.Risking it all on a whim, he shows up and asks Carrie to go “All In” and betray her brother for a chance to be together.Carrie is brought into the world of parties, concerts, fangirls and sex - that forces her to face the memories of her past in order to move on with Chad as her future.Knowing that love is a reward, trust, a gift, Carrie and Chad fall with a passion so strong, it threatens to break them both. They will battle back all the bad things in life for just a second of good and all the insecurities will come to an explosive head that may just destroy them both.

Up in the Treehouse


K.K. Allen
    Then again, she never imagined she would fall in love with him either. When she finally reveals her feelings, rejection shatters her, rendering her vulnerable and sending her straight into the destructive arms of the wrong guy.The Rhodes twins never saw the betrayal coming. Chloe has always been their forbidden fantasy--sweet, beautiful, and tempting. But soon the lines between family, friendship, and love become as tangled as the roots of the treehouse they once shared.Now it's too late . . .Four years after a devastating tragedy, Chloe and Gavin find themselves crashing back into each other's lives. Haunted by the past, they're forced to come to terms with all that has transpired to find the peace they deserve. Except they can't seem to get near each other without combatting an intense emotional connection that brings them right back to where it all started . . . their childhood treehouse.Chloe still holds her secrets close, but this time she isn't the only one with something to hide. Can their deep-rooted connection survive the destruction of innocence?

Slip of the Tongue


Jessica Hawkins - 2016
    Nathan Hunt has her coffee waiting every morning. He holds her hand until the last second. He worships the Manhattan sidewalk she walks on. Until one day, he just…stops. And Sadie finds herself in the last place she ever expected to be. Lonely in her marriage.When rugged and sexy Finn Cohen moves into the apartment across the hall, he and Sadie share an immediate spark. Finn reveals dreams for a different life. Sadie wants to save her marriage. Their secrets should keep them apart, not ignite a blistering affair. But while Sadie’s marriage runs colder by the day, she and Finn burn hotter.Her husband doesn’t want her anymore.The man next door would give up everything to have her.Slip of the Tongue is a standalone contemporary romance. The second book in the series, The First Taste, is a standalone about a different couple.

Surrender Your Love


J.C. Reed - 2013
    Dangerous. Better left untouched. And better forgotten. But lightning always strikes twice.Brooke Stewart, a realtor in New York, doesn’t do relationships. When she’s sent to a remote estate to finalize a real estate deal, she discovers her new boss is no other than the guy she left naked in bed.Sexy, dangerously handsome, and arrogant Jett Mayfield attracts trouble, and women, like a lightning rod. But the night he meets Brooke he gets more than he bargained for. The green-eyed millionaire playboy isn’t used to taking no for an answer, and he isn’t about to start now.When he proposes two months of no strings sex, Brooke is intrigued and accepts his proposal. Little does she know Jett’s determined to claim the one woman he can’t have, pulling her deeper into his dangerous world.A man who doesn't take 'no' for an answer.A woman afraid to surrender to love.Two lives that are about to cross...and secrets laid bare.

Kiss and Break Up


Ella Fields - 2019
     Dashiell Thane wasn’t a nice guy. He was an abrasive, demanding, conniving, intolerable brat. Yet somehow, we’d been best friends our whole lives. Until our senior year when I finally decided to dip my toes into the dating pool. All it took was one kiss for jealousy, lies, and betrayal to sweep in and propel us heart first into dizzying, hostile depths. You’re not supposed to kiss your best friend. You’re definitely not supposed to kiss your best friend while you’re dating someone else. And the absolute worst thing you could do is fall for your best friend. Unless, of course, you want to ruin everything.

All My Life


Prescott Lane - 2018
    I loved him while he loved someone else. I loved him when he had a baby with her. I loved him when she left him.The greatest of love stories is that between a dad and his daughter. I should know. I’ve had a front row seat. First steps, first words, all the big moments. Garrett was just a teenager when Mia was born. I’ve watched him braid his daughter’s hair, hold her hand crossing the street, seen her asleep on his chest. I’m the best friend, the one they can count on for everything from dance lessons to motherly advice, anything they need. I’m their go-to girl.The best part of any love story is the happily ever after.But what if the happily ever after doesn’t include you?All my life, that’s how long I’ve loved him.Of course, he’s clueless.

Intoxicated


Jeana E. Mann - 2013
    Tattooed bartender Jack Jameson believes rules are made to be broken. After a passionate night of the hottest sex she’s ever had, she’s hooked on him like a drug. When a woman from his past arrives with a devastating secret, Ally is convinced that he lied to her. Can Jack persuade Ally to reconsider or will she walk away forever? This book is part of a series but can be read as a stand-alone. Warning: This book contains hot sex, drinking, addiction, graphic language, and tattooed alpha males in the setting of an underground heavy metal club.ISBN: 0989771415

Ignite


Tessa Teevan - 2013
    One to the Army; the other in a tragic car accident. Two years after the latter, a ghost from the past reappears, igniting feelings in Alexa she’d thought long dormant.Jace McAllister has spent the last ten years in the Army, defusing bomb after bomb, trying to forget the girl who once set his world on fire. For him, she’s always been the one who got away. After a not-so-chance encounter places her back in his line of sight, he’s locked eyes on target, and won’t let her go without a fight.Ten years ago their chemistry smoldered, and now the sparks threaten to light a fuse leading to an explosion between them even Jace can’t control. Not that he wants to. But when love has slipped through your fingertips before, how can you trust it will once again remain?Will Alexa’s fear of love and loss destroy their second chance at a beautiful future before it can even begin?

Finding Home


Lauren Baker - 2006
    How come it feels so right?When Megan first meets Mouth, a homeless teenage hustler, on the streets of L.A., he's the perfect subject for the street life expose she hopes will help her break into journalism. She doesn't expect to be drawn into his life and become his friend—or to take him in after he's been beaten and robbed by thugs.As they learn to live together, a powerful attraction flourishes between Megan and the young man. Although he's street smart, tough and mature, he's also a youth in transition. When they finally give in to the sexual heat between them, Megan fears she's taking advantage of her position as his mentor.Their relationship challenges every aspect of her life. Megan must make difficult choices between the conflicting demands of her friends and family, her career and love. Warning:Explicit sex, reference to underage sex, graphic language, violence.

Vital Sign


J.L. Mac - 2014
    My little world was bright. I had no complaints. My perfectly simple life made the fall from grace that much more devastating. I plummeted from the heavenly little bubble that I shared with Jake. I fell fast and hard straight into the fiery pits of hell. The knowledge of how things used to be is a bittersweet torture that refuses me even one moment of respite. I live in a painful reverie that I can’t escape. I had it good once.That’s gone now. All of it disappeared like vapor into the ether. I’m a lost woman, wandering through grief and struggling to come to terms with my new title: widow. My family says I need understanding and closure. I say a cigarette and a bottle of wine is a much better option for instant gratification.I’m the awkward, depressed one standing in the corner making everyone around me miserably uncomfortable. I’m the one with vacant eyes that society strives to help but can’t. I’m the one who hands out tight smiles and derisive snorts. I’m the widow adrift in this world with no direction. No meaning. No hope. No vital sign.***Sadie sets out on a journey to healing without knowing that things will get far worse before they get better. Despite her general indifference to organ donation, she finds herself on a journey to seek out the only people who benefited from her husband’s tragic death.Resentment runs rampant as she meets the thriving organ recipients. Anger and jealousy spiral, sending the delicate structure of Sadie’s emotions into a tailspin.Alexander McBride got a second chance—one that he didn’t necessarily want. Alexander is a game changer for Sadie. She hates him for his health but can’t help feeling at home in his presence. He soothes her grief in a way that is intoxicating, addictive even.The heart that once fell in love with her now resides in Alexander McBride’s chest. It’s a circumstance that forces her to wage an internal war fueled by grief, anger, guilt, love, lust, and loyalty.Sadie must discover the things that are vital to going on with her life if she has any hope of finding her way through the all-consuming grief that dominates every waking moment.

Baby Mine


Kennedy Fox - 2019
    Gorgeous. Feisty.I was captivated.But it didn’t matter because when she walks out of my best friend’s bedroom half naked, I know I’ve lost my chance.Now we’re roommates and constantly fighting about our living arrangements. Though we argue about everything, I can’t stop thinking about her in all the wrong ways. I should move out so I can finally get over her, but the selfish part of me can’t let go.When tragedy strikes, we’re left to deal with it together. Instead of pushing her away, I pull her closer.Just as we come to terms with our new reality, she reveals a life changing event that affects us both.And I’m left to make the hardest decision of my life—remain friends or confess my feelings and risk it all.BABY MINE is book 1 in the Hunter & Lennon duet and must be read first.

Why Now?


Carey Heywood
    He's everything I've ever wanted.I should be happy.But there's one problem.My fiancé.

Selling Scarlett


Ella James - 2013
    Dragged out of seclusion by her best friend Suri, Elizabeth is merely playing dress-up, rubbing elbows with a crowd that banished her troubled family years ago.Hunter West is tired. Tired of parties, tired of pretending, and tired of trying to right a wrong that haunts him every day. Bourbon heir and professional poker player by day, by night Hunter is gambling with his life in a high-stakes game of crime and blackmail. When Elizabeth stumbles into Hunter's den of vices, she's a light in the darkness, a flame in the void. And, just like everything he touches, Hunter mars her in a record time. To rectify the damage done, Elizabeth needs money she doesn't have, and she's come up with a foolproof way to get it.Follow Elizabeth - code-named Scarlett - to the lush Nevada brothel where she'll auction her virginity and risk the only thing that's not for sale: her heart. The highest bidder is a familiar face, with wicked hands and the devil's mouth. And a secret so dark that it could cost her life.

The Do Over


A.L. Zaun - 2013
    After a painful and sudden break-up with Rick Marin, Dani hides away from reality, retreating to a world of fiction where she prefers book boyfriends over the hassles of a relationship.Almost two years later, Dani’s friends are tired of watching her in a holding pattern, so they stage an intervention, forcing her back into the real world of dating.Unexpectedly, Dani meets Liam Lucas, a down-to-earth firefighter. He might be the person to show her she’s still worth something. Dani’s hesitant to trust her heart with another man, but their instant and electric chemistry is something she can’t deny.As Dani starts to believe that she’s found her real-life book boyfriend, Rick decides that he’ll go to any lengths to get her back. Seeing Rick as a changed man makes Dani question everything. Can Dani trust her patched-up heart with Liam? Or has Rick transformed into the man she’s always wanted? Written from various points of views, The Do Over is a story of second chances and new beginnings.

Breach


K.I. Lynn - 2013
    To keep myself safe I hide in the world and let life move around me.My new partner, Nathan, isn’t safe. Far from it.The darkness coils around him, hidden by a shield created by a blinding smile. But those who live in darkness see past the façade we create.Even in darkness, there is light. A spark that ignites, then explodes.Every filthy word from his mouth, every possessive touch—I crave them, need them. Violent and passionate and everything I need to fill the void inside me, but one thing is missing.He can never love me.More than my heart is on the line, and I don’t know if I’ll survive our breach.