Book picks similar to
Forward by J. Saman


romance
free
contemporary
love-triangle

Undertow


Elizabeth O'Roark - 2013
    It almost seems like enough until Nate Sullivan comes home. Nate – her childhood best friend, her first love. The boy who left without a trace one night and broke her heart. When their attraction threatens the future she and her parents have so carefully crafted, loyalties will be tested and secrets will be uncovered. Giving in may cost her everything. But how do you resist the only thing you’ve ever really wanted?

Bad Boyfriend


Lexi Hart - 2020
    After five years of wasting my Journalism Degree writing an advice column, my editor offers me my first real assignment.Too bad I'll have to work alongside a Private Investigator from out of town.Enter Grayson Cole.The broody and secretive bad boy who took my V-Card eight summers ago then broke my heart.After years of hating Grayson for leaving without saying goodbye, now I'm the only person who can pose as his girlfriend.Between the long hours working together and the public displays of affection, it's getting harder to tell what's real.I need to walk away before history repeats itself.But when Grayson shows up at my door in the middle of the night and tells me why he really came back...What started out as fake, becomes dangerously real…

Mad About Matt


Theresa Paolo - 2017
    Life is good until someone breaks into her shop,making her question if the life she left behind in New York followed her.As the local sheriff, Matt is keeping a close eye on the place and an even closer eye on the beautiful owner who refuses to take the break in seriously. Two conflicting personalities that burn bright on their own become down right explosive when thrown together. But in order to move toward a future together, they will have to let go of their past and accept the mistakes they made.***Welcome to Red Maple Falls, a small town filled with big personalities. Nestled in the White Mountains of New Hampshire it is home to the Hayes siblings, three brothers and three sisters, all awaiting their happily ever after.Book 1: Mad About Matt (Matt and Shay) Book 2: Crushing on Kate (Kate and Caleb) Book 3: Moments with Mason (Mason and Cassie)Book 4: Catching Cooper (Cooper and Sarah) Book 5: Hung Up on Hadley (Hadley and Sam)Book 5.5 A Bride for Sam (Hadley and Sam) Book 6: Dreaming of Daisy (Daisy and Nick) (Coming 2/19/18)

This Love


Anna Bloom - 2015
    That is until her car breaks down outside Bale and Son's mechanics and she meets Freddy Bale. A boy who'd rather live in the moment than make a five-year-plan. Ignoring her friends' warnings, Amber puts all dreams for her perfect future on hold, and dives into the romance heart first. On their last day of school, however, Freddy decides to call off their relationship, and Amber does the only thing she can think of: Run away and never look back. Just like she'd always planned. Ten years pass before Amber sets foot in town again, only returning to look after her ailing mother. While Freddy wants to make amends, Amber is confronted with her own wrong choices from ten years ago. Choices that could change the lives of everyone she's ever loved. When first love is given a second chance and the secrets of the past come hurtling into the present, will Amber and Freddy be able to lay their mistakes to rest and make this love the strongest one of all?

Royal


Winter Renshaw - 2016
    He’s not even a prince - though you could say I loved him once upon a time.He was my older brother’s best friend.Growing up, he sat at our dinner table every Sunday, teased me mercilessly, and pretended I annoyed him.When I was old enough, he took me on my first date.Royal taught me how to drive. Escorted me to my junior prom. Gave me my first kiss…amongst other things. He was my first taste of toe-curling, all-consuming, can’t-sleep love.We had our whole lives ahead of us. There was never anyone else for me but him.And then he disappeared. No letter. No explanation. Not even a goodbye.My sisters and brother never forgave him, and my parents forbade me from speaking his name in our house ever again. For all intents and purposes, we were to pretend Royal Lockhart never existed.I’ve spent the last seven years trying in vain to forget my first love, but just when I think I’ve finally moved on, guess who’s back in town?

Looking for Leon


Shirley Benton - 2011
    That is, until the wheel of fortune steps in and separates them during a fire drill. With next to no info on Leon, Andie finds it impossible to track him down - despite staging a series of publicity stunts to get the media in on the act. Back in Ireland, journalist Andie begins to write a regular newspaper column about her search. Readers love it and a local TV station flies her back to Vegas to take up the hunt for the man she can't forget. What starts off as a simple low-budget documentary spirals into a frenzied national media search. With the world's most ambitious PR agent on board, Andie becomes a heroine for those who are looking for love. But does Leon want to be found?

Can't Shake You


Molly McLain - 2014
    Cue the small town drama.One thing Carissa Brandt knows: spontaneity always gets her in trouble. But she’s gone and jumped head first into an impulsive summer renovation project anyway.When her contractor turns out to be a cheat, her only lifeline is the proffered hand of Josh Hudson—the sexy Marine who left her aching for more than their single night together three years ago.Josh has two hard and fast rules: never mix business with pleasure and never look twice at women his friends have dated, much less loved. It makes life in a small town simple. Or rather it would...If he weren’t keeping a secret that could ruin his good name and the reputation of the woman he can’t get out of his head…The woman who now needs his help.*Can't Shake You can be read as a standalone!

On the Rocks


Sawyer Bennett - 2014
    Now he’s returned home to the sand and salty breeze of the North Carolina Outer Banks so he can open The Last Call, a beach bar nestled among the dunes of the Atlantic.Five years ago, Gabby Ward drunkenly threw herself at her best friend’s brother, only to have her young heart crushed. Hunter is back but Gabby is content to stay far away from him and his dangerously charming ways. Gabby’s well-schemed plans to ignore Hunter go up in flames when he presents her an offer she simply can’t refuse. Working together day in and day out proves problematic for two reasons—Gabby realizes her feelings for Hunter are still very much alive, while Hunter struggles to break through to Gabby’s cold heart. What starts out as a mutual business arrangement soon turns into a passion that neither can deny.But when the pro surfing tour comes knocking and Hunter has a chance to reclaim his former glory, hard choices lie ahead for both of them.Choices that could destroy what they have built or take them further than they could ever dare to hope in their second chance at romance.

The Right Swipe: An Online Dating Romance


Amanda Horton - 2019
    The hot-as-hell footballer Veronica had crushed on in high school. And that he’d ask her out on a date... Veronica Damn Joel Marketis was hot! So why was he asking her out through a dating app? The super hot Patriots footballer didn’t exactly need a dating app to meet women. And if he was like all the rest of the men on those dating apps — players with no manners looking for quick sex — then she wasn't interested. Besides, she was just using the app to prove her point: dating apps have created a terrible hookup culture. But as the dates get hotter, the clothes come off and the sex gets heated, Veronica may just lose track of her goal…but is Joel as nice as he seems? Or is this just an act to promote the dating app. Joel Veronica. His high-school crush. A firecracker lawyer to be. A hot-as-hell woman. He hadn’t planned on meeting her through the app. He hadn’t planned on meeting anyone. He has his sexual needs taken care. Thank you very much. So why is he so attracted? Life of a sportsman with its highs and lows is bringing him down. He is done with one night stands and wants a real woman. Someone he can have a real conversation with. Veronica seems like that person. Except Veronica is nothing like he expected…and what she does to him between the sheets…ahh…. ***The Right Swipe is a standalone online dating romance novel, with plenty of steam, a guaranteed HEA and no cliffhanger ***

Songbird: A Small-Town Romantic Comedy


Caroline Tate - 2018
    He’s a career-focused charmer whose greatest appeal is his nerdy sense of humor. Ellie Stone’s only goal this summer is to get the Southport Music Festival off the ground without a hitch. But when she randomly meets Mason Matthews at a concert in Wilmington, they instantly connect on an honest, soul-stirring level.As they head their separate ways after sharing an almost-night of pure lust, Ellie is ready to focus all of her attention back on festival prep. When plans nosedive and the feature band pulls out of the lineup, she decides to get scrappy and take action, no matter who it involves.After an ego-shattering scuffle with Mason in the middle of town, Ellie has to swallow her pride in exchange for his help promoting the event. But Mason, Editor of the Southport Anchor, swears his hands are tied.While his feelings for Ellie continue to grow, are they strong enough that he’ll risk breaking company policy just to help promote her dream? Or will he leave her hanging on the very last note?

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.

Last Good Man


Theresa Leigh - 2018
    Yes, he’s drool-worthy, with that glint in his blue eyes and the jaw-dropping way he fills out his jeans. Yes, other women might fall all over themselves for a glimpse of his slow, crooked smile. I’m not other women. ​ He hates me. And the feeling is mutual. ​ In a town as small as ours, it’s pretty hard to avoid him...and it’s completely impossible once I wake up in a hospital bed to find Cooper pacing the floor of my room. ​ He’s rumpled. He’s frantic. And he’s swearing I’m his fiancee. ​ What the hell? ​ I hate him, but he saved my life. So when he asks me to lie and pretend we’re engaged, I have no choice but to play along. One moment we’re fighting like usual, the next moment he’s kissing me and slipping a gorgeous ring onto my finger. It’s enough to give me whiplash… again. ​ And maybe it’s the bump on my head, but it’s getting pretty easy to pretend I’m in love with him. ​ Now, instead of avoiding him, I’m surrendering to his crushing kisses. Our fiery hatred for each other isn’t nearly as hot as the nights we spend entwined. The engagement is fake. The love is pretend. ​ But the way I ache for him is real. ​ And now I want to know… Can your worst enemy be your best lover?

You'll Think of Me


Lucia Franco - 2014
    He has his future mapped out, but his plans with Olivia are suddenly derailed when she makes a decision that blindsides him, changing the path they both envisioned.As Luke struggles to keep everything in check during a difficult time in his life, he must put his trust in the one person who broke it to begin with. The last time they saw each other, Olivia busted his heart wide open, turning him into the man he is today.When Olivia returns to her roots, just like Luke said she would, he is shocked for more reasons than one. Nine years have passed since they've seen each other, and when their roads collide unexpectedly, Luke can only push his worry and misgivings away for so long.Things are different now—they are strangers—and the rope that once bound Olivia's heart to South Fork, Georgia is pulling her back in, forcing her to remember how it used to be all those years ago.

Now and Then


Brenda Rothert - 2013
    But then – in the years before she went to art school in Paris – she was a shy, awkward teenager with frizzy hair, a flat chest and a massive crush on the boy across the street, Cole Marlowe. Too bad her incredibly hot neighbor only had eyes for Layla.Cole is now a confident, laid-back attorney who’s even hotter than he used to be. He’s planning to stay single while working his way up the corporate ladder – until he’s knocked off course by a chance run-in with Emma.Everything is different between Cole and Emma now. He finally sees her in a way she only dreamed of, and their hot chemistry is fueled by a growing friendship. But Emma’s deception of her sister – who wants Cole for herself – and the secret Cole’s been keeping for more than a decade threaten to tear apart what’s only just begun. Because sometimes the only thing standing in the way of now is then.

Unlawfully Yours


Ellie Danes - 2017
    A man she met and married in less than 30 days. 18 months later he’s standing on my doorstep with a box of her things and a story I can barely believe. Carter Jones. A name I never wanted to hear again. I’d met him once. The night he took my sister out while we vacationed in Italy. Twenty-four hours she was leaving with him for good. Sure, he was rich and gorgeous and impossible to resist, But he’s my brother-in-law. Or at least he was. Until my sister up and disappeared with a million dollars of his Money… and a whole lot more. Unlawfully Yours is a standalone romance with extra steamy bonus content included!