Book picks similar to
The Flight of Hope by H.J. Bellus


romance
contemporary
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Gemini


Penelope Ward - 2013
    After he abruptly leaves the restaurant, she can’t get him out of her head.She has no idea that he had actually come on a mission to find her.Cedric Callahan wasn’t expecting to fall in love at first sight with the pretty waitress he’d set out to find. In fact, she was the last woman on Earth he should be having feelings for. But his selfish heart had other plans. Feeling compelled to know her before revealing himself, he makes her believe their meetings are coincidental. After a passionate romance ignites, Cedric’s lies and secrets are finally revealed, changing both of their lives forever.

Sex, Not Love


Vi Keeland - 2018
    We met at a wedding—him sitting on the groom’s side, me sitting on the bride’s. Stealing glances at each other throughout the night, there was no denying an intense, mutual attraction. I caught the bouquet; he caught the garter. Hunter held me tightly while we danced and suggested we explore the chemistry sparking between us. His blunt, dirty mouth should’ve turned me off. But for some crazy reason, it had the opposite effect on me.We ended up back in my hotel room. The next morning, I headed home to New York leaving him behind in California with the wrong number.I thought about him often, but after my last relationship, I’d sworn off of charming, cocky, gorgeous-as-sin men. A year later, Hunter and I met again at the birth of our friends’ baby. Our attraction hadn't dulled one bit. After a whirlwind trip, he demanded a real phone number this time. So I left him with my mother’s—she could scare away any man with her talks of babies and marriage—and flew back home.I’d thought it was funny, until the following week when he rang the bell at Mom’s house for Sunday night dinner. The crazy, gorgeous man had won over my mother and taken an eight-week assignment in my city. He proposed we spend that time screwing each other out of our systems. Eight weeks of mind-blowing sex with no strings attached? What did I have to lose?Nothing, I thought.It’s just sex, not love.But you know what they say about the best laid plans…From #1 New York Times Bestseller Vi Keeland, comes a new, sexy standalone novel.

The Wright Brother


K.A. Linde - 2017
    But when I returned home, Jensen Wright crashed into my life with the confidence of a billionaire CEO and the sex appeal of a god. Even I couldn’t resist our charged chemistry, or the way he fit into my life like a missing puzzle piece.Too bad he’d forgotten the one thing that could destroy us.Because Jensen Wright doesn’t share. Not with anyone. And if his brother finds out, this could all go down in flames.When it all was said and done, was he the Wright brother?

Kaleidoscope Hearts


Claire Contreras - 2015
    And all those feelings I’d turned into anger are brewing into something else, something that terrifies me. He broke my heart last time. This time he'll obliterate it.This is a standalone.

The Friend Zone


Abby Jimenez - 2019
    She's also keeping a big secret: facing a medically necessary procedure that will make it impossible for her to have children. Planning her best friend's wedding is bittersweet for Kristen—especially when she meets the best man, Josh Copeland. He's funny, sexy, never offended by her mile-wide streak of sarcasm, and always one chicken enchilada ahead of her hangry. Even her dog, Stuntman Mike, adores him. The only catch: Josh wants a big family someday. Kristen knows he'd be better off with someone else, but as their attraction grows, it's harder and harder to keep him at arm's length. The Friend Zone will have you laughing one moment and grabbing for tissues the next as it tackles the realities of infertility and loss with wit, heart, and a lot of sass.

Withering Hope


Layla Hagen - 2015
    Her dress, her fiancé and the location—the idyllic holiday ranch in Brazil—are perfect. But all Aimee’s plans come crashing down when the private jet that’s taking her from the U.S. to the ranch—where her fiancé awaits her—defects mid-flight and the pilot is forced to perform an emergency landing in the heart of the Amazon rainforest. With no way to reach civilisation, being rescued is Aimee and Tristan’s—the pilot—only hope. A slim one that slowly withers away, desperation taking its place. Because death wanders in the jungle under many forms: starvation, diseases. Beasts. As Aimee and Tristan fight to find ways to survive, they grow closer. Together they discover that facing old, inner agonies carved by painful pasts takes just as much courage, if not even more, than facing the rainforest. Despite her devotion to her fiancé, Aimee can’t hide her feelings for Tristan—the man for whom she’s slowly becoming everything. You can hide many things in the rainforest. But not lies. Or love.Withering Hope is the story of a man who desperately needs forgiveness and the woman who brings him hope. It is a story in which hope births wings and blooms into a love that is as beautiful and intense as it is forbidden.

I Love You to Death


Natalie Ward - 2012
    Refusing to let anyone in for fear of losing them too, she becomes withdrawn, spending her days reliving the nightmares from her past. Until she meets Luke. Initially scared by his intensity and interest in her, Ash tries to push him away. But as Luke slowly starts to chip away at the walls she’s built, Ash finds herself doing the one thing she swore she’d never do again — falling in love. When the familiar feelings Ash had hoped were long buried with her past begin to resurface, she is forced to ask herself if falling in love again is really worth the risk.

What I Didn't Say


Keary Taylor - 2012
    He's been in love with her for years and never had the guts to tell her. Now it's too late. Because after that night, Jake will never be able to talk again.When Jake returns to his small island home, population 5,000, he'll have to learn how to deal with being mute. He also finds that his family isn't limited to his six brothers and sisters, that sometimes an entire island is watching out for you. And when he gets the chance to spend more time with Samantha, she'll help him learn that not being able to talk isn’t the worst thing that could ever happen to you. Maybe, if she'll let him, Jake will finally tell her what he didn't say before, even if he can't actually say it.

The Girl He Used to Know


Tracey Garvis Graves - 2019
    She feels lost in social situations, saying the wrong thing or acting the wrong way. She just can't read people. She prefers the quiet solitude of books or playing chess to being around others. Apart from Jonathan. She liked being around him, but she hasn't seen him for ten years. Until now that is. And she's not sure he'll want to see her again after what happened all those years ago. Annika Rose likes being alone.Except that, actually, she doesn't like being alone at all.The Girl He Used to Know is an uplifting novel full of surprising revelations that keep you turning the page. Perfect for fans of Jojo Moyes, Gail Honeyman, Jill Santopolo and Sliding Doors.

Broken


Megan Hart - 2007
    My name is different every month—Brandy, Honey, Amy…sometimes Joe doesn't even bother to ask—but he never fails to arouse me with his body, his mouth, his touch, no matter what I'm called or where he picks me up. The sex is always amazing, always leaves me itching for more in those long weeks until I see him again. My real name is Sadie, and once a month over lunch Joe tells me about his latest conquest. But what Joe doesn't know is that, in my mind, I'm the star of every X-rated one-night stand he has revealed to me, or that I'm practically obsessed with our imaginary sex life. I know it's wrong. I know my husband wouldn't understand. But I can't stop. Not yet.

If


Randi Cooley Wilson - 2018
    The ifs that linger between the pages of this novel will break your heart and stay with you long after the final chapter. Emerson Shaw thought she’d left her old life behind her, but when she returns home for her best friend’s wedding, she has no idea her past is waiting to reclaim her. Dark and broken, Lincoln Daniels never wanted to find love. But when he met straight-laced Emerson, he fell. Hard. The only thing they seemed to have in common was an undeniable mutual attraction, but from the moment he laid eyes on her, there was something about her that called to him. Until he lost her. Consumed by their pasts, it took years to slowly glue together the shattered pieces of their what ifs. Just when Emerson is finally ready to let go and stop existing in a past full of pain and regret, Lincoln returns, turning her life upside down. What begins as a tentative friendship quickly escalates, and the two soon realize that all the ifs lingering between them no longer matter. What happens when two broken people meet, fall in love, and realize they can never be? What happens when all the what ifs no longer make sense? If you knew your heart would break, would you still fall? This book is intended for mature audiences.

A Place Without You


Jewel E. Ann - 2018
    Then let time pick up the pieces. Everything feels temporary when you’ve experienced tragedy—until Henna Lane meets Bodhi at a music festival. Young and spontaneous, they have a lust for seizing the moment, falling hard and fast. When Bodhi is forced to leave without a goodbye, Henna thinks she’ll never get over him. But then she meets Mr. Malone, her sexy, new guidance counselor. They are reckless. They are forbidden. When their secret is discovered, Henna has to choose between finishing school—banned from seeing Mr. Malone—or dropping out to follow her nomad dreams. Henna chooses her dreams. Over time, she learns that life is not a destination or a journey, some things are more than temporary, and the forbidden can never be ignored. But if she returns for him, will he still be hers? A Place Without You is an emotional story of young love, shattered dreams, and impossible decisions.

Fighting to Breathe


Aurora Rose Reynolds - 2015
    They never imagined the future could hold anything other than together-forever. When Lea's father dies in a tragic fishing accident, she's crushed under the weight of her grief and catches a glimpse of another type of future, one she knows she's not strong enough to face. Austin is angry. For the past fifteen years, he's believed the woman he loved with every ounce of his soul left him without so much as a backwards glance. When Lea unexpectedly returns to their hometown, all the years of heartache inside Austin bubbles to the surface and presents itself as blinding rage. Faced with the truth about the past, a newly discovered secret, these former lovers will learn that if they want to have any chance at the future they'd given up on all those years ago, they will have to rescue one another from drowning in pain so debilitating it will leave them both fighting to breathe. Contains mature themes.

Tempt My Heart


Danielle Jamie - 2014
    After getting engaged to her high school sweetheart her happily ever after seemed to be all planned out. However after 9/11 her fiancé drops out of college to enlist; Brittan’s life takes a swift turn.During his tour she tried to stay strong and hold onto the hope that he'd soon return to her, but then the unthinkable happens and she gets the news every military spouse prays they never have to hear.On the day Cane died, Brittan believed her heart had died along with him...or so she thought until her passion for music causes her to blaze a new trail testing fate and “tempting tomorrow”.Eight years marks the anniversary of Cane’s death when Brittan sets eyes upon Jordon; a guitarist whose shrouded in mystery and a world class bad boy for her bands opening act, Tempting Tomorrow. Will he have that spark to set Brittan’s heart a light? After swearing off love will Brittan allow herself to feel again after years of trying anything to numb her pain and heartache? Does Jordon have what it takes to win her heart and make Brittan love again?Falling for a rock star is a dangerous game, but it’s a hopeless task when you both have hidden demons.For Jordon love does not exist... not until he meets the lovely Brittan who has the power to tame the untameable beast inside of him.Will Brittan open her heart to love or will she sabotage the relationship before it even has a chance?

Love, in English


Karina Halle - 2014
    I’m twenty-three.He speaks Spanish. I speak English.He lives in Spain. I live in Canada.He dresses in thousand-dollar suits. I’m covered in tattoos.He’s married and has a five-year old daughter.I’m single and can’t commit to anyone or anything.Until now. Because when they say you can’t choose who you fall in love with, boy ain’t that the f*#king truth.***To a restless dreamer like Vera Miles, it sounded like the experience of a lifetime. Instead of spending her summer interning for her astronomy major, she would fly to Spain where she’d spend a few weeks teaching conversational English to businessmen and women, all while enjoying free room and board at an isolated resort. But while Vera expected to get a tan, meet new people and stuff herself with wine and paella, she never expected to fall in love.Mateo Casalles is unlike anyone Vera has ever known, let alone anyone she’s usually attracted to. While Vera is a pierced and tatted free spirit with a love for music and freedom, Mateo is a successful businessman from Madrid, all sharp suits and cocky Latino charm. Yet, as the weeks go on, the two grow increasingly close and their relationship changes from purely platonic to something…more.Something that makes Vera feel alive for the first time.Something that can never, ever be.Or so she thinks.