Book picks similar to
Forgiven by Garrett Leigh


romance
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arc
contemporary-romance

Good Girls Don't


Victoria Dahl - 2011
    Which may explain why Detective Luke Asher barely notices her when he arrives to investigate a break-in at her family's brewery. He's got his own problems - starting with the fact that his partner, Simone, is pregnant and everyone thinks he's the father. Tessa has her hands full, too. Her brother's playboy ways may be threatening the business, and the tension could tear her tight-knit family apart. In fact, the only thing that could unite the Donovan boys is seeing a man come after their "baby" sister. Especially a man like Luke Asher. But Tessa sees past the rumors to the man beneath. He's not who people think he is - and neither is she.

Her Summer with the Marine


Susan Meier - 2014
    Now ex-military, tattooed, and still sexy as hell, Finn is a complication Ellie doesn’t need—she needs to concentrate on saving her family business.Finn’s entire life, Ellie was there, going head-to-head with him in every class, bee, and test. So it’s no surprise she’d show up just as he was about to take over her father's struggling business. It is a surprise, though, that his attraction to her is even more explosive than it had been. Acting on their attraction is one thing, but Finn has to turn a profit to save his own family, and nothing—not even love—will get in his way.

Bittersweet


Sarina Bowen - 2016
    True North is populated by the tough, outdoorsy mountain men that populate the Green Mountain State. They raise cows and they grow apples. They chop a lot of wood, especially when they need to blow off steam. (Beards are optional but encouraged.)If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the orchard.The last person Griffin Shipley expects to find stuck in a ditch on his Vermont country road is his ex-hookup. Five years ago they’d shared a couple of steamy nights together. But that was a lifetime ago. At twenty-seven, Griff is now the accidental patriarch of his family farm. Even his enormous shoulders feel the strain of supporting his mother, three siblings and a dotty grandfather. He doesn’t have time for the sorority girl who’s shown up expecting to buy his harvest at half price.Vermont was never in Audrey Kidder’s travel plans. Neither was Griff Shipley. But she needs a second chance with the restaurant conglomerate employing her. Okay—a fifth chance. And no self-righteous lumbersexual farmer will stand in her way.They’re adversaries. They want entirely different things from life. Too bad their sexual chemistry is as hot as Audrey’s top secret enchilada sauce, and then some.

Second Chance Charmer


Brighton Walsh - 2018
    She’s small town royalty. Their love was doomed from the start.Finn spent his childhood living so far on the wrong side of the tracks, he couldn’t even see them through his trailer window. When he moves back to his small, southern hometown to open the first bar in a formerly dry county, he’s no longer the boy who left—he’s a man with something to prove. As long as he doesn’t allow himself to get sidetracked by the only girl he’s ever loved.Willow learned a long time ago to protect her heart at all costs, so her walls are firmly in place when her ex comes strolling back into town, all cockiness and charm. When they're thrown together on the job, she knows better than to give in to the tug of attraction that still simmers between them. She might be drawn to him, but she certainly doesn't trust him. It's time for her to prove she's not the brokenhearted girl he left behind.There’s no room for second chances in Havenbrook. And Willow’s daddy—the mayor—will do anything to keep it that way.

Hot Stuff


Carly Phillips - 2004
    Now the girls are publicists in their uncle's firm, The Hot Zone. Despite her upbringing, Annabelle is all woman. She's naturally drawn to real men—like her latest client, businessman and former football legend Brandon Vaughn. The chemistry is potent, undeniable, irresistible. Annabelle soon realizes that Brandon is much more than just another jock. And that she'd better hold on tight if she doesn't want to lose her heart.

The Best Is Yet To Come


Bella Riley - 2017
    Now get ready for Calvin's emotional, sexy, and heartwarming second-chance love story in THE BEST IS YET TO COME.  Best friends. High school sweethearts. Passionate lovers. Once upon a time, Sarah Bartow and Calvin Vaughn were everything to each other. Until big dreams—and an even bigger tragedy—tore them apart.  Ten years after good-bye, they're finally together again at Summer Lake in the Adirondacks...and the sparks between them are hotter than ever. Soon one kiss is turning into so much more. Not only breathtaking, sizzling lovemaking—but also deep, honest emotions that can't be denied. Calvin refuses to let the ambitions and disasters that separated them a decade ago wreck them this time. Not when he knows for sure that Sarah is his one—his only—true love. He let her get away once. He won't make the same mistake again. Even if it means risking his entire heart, and every last piece of his soul, to show her they belong together now...and forever.  Note for readers:  THE BEST IS YET TO COME was previously published as Home Sweet Home under a pen name. This new edition has been extensively revised and rewritten.

Hard Rules


Lisa Renee Jones - 2016
    His reckless and ruthless brother, Derek wants to keep Brandon Enterprises cemented in lies, deceit, and corruption. But the harder Shane fights to pull the company back into the light, the darker he has to become. Then he meets Emily Stevens, a woman who not only stirs a voracious sexual need in him, but becomes the only thing anchoring him between good and evil.Emily is consumed by Shane, pushed sexually in ways she never dreamed of, falling deeper into the all-encompassing passion that is this man. She trusts him. He trusts her, but therein lies the danger. Emily has a secret, the very thing that brought her to him in the first place, and that secret could destroy them both.This is book ONE of FOUR in Shane and Emily's story.

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!

Worth the Wait


Claudia Connor - 2017
    When he finds out just how badly, it will break his too. Nick Walker found the love of his life when he was just nineteen.Found her.Loved her.Lost her.It's been ten years since Nick watched the only woman he ever loved walk out of his life. Now this FBI Special Agent will do anything to win her back.But it won’t be easy…Mia’s heart was shattered by Nick. They'll have to face their painful past if they want a future, including Mia's own secret about that day it all fell apart. Do you believe in second chances?

No One's Angel


Kelly Walker - 2013
    No One's Angel's angel is a New Adult (NA) Contemporary Romance about a girl learning to fight back and a boy learning to let go. Tess used to spend more hours than she'd care to admit playing her favorite computer game, using the nickname Angel. She could pretend her life was different, and she could pretend Arion was just a friend. But a girl needs more to keep her warm at night than pixels, and she traded her virtual heaven for a real-life hell. Now she's on the run from a past she won't talk about, and the only place she has to go is the doorstep of the friend she's never actually met.When Angel disappeared from their nightly games, it nearly destroyed Arion. He threw himself into work and women, but he can't help knowing the one-night stands will never compare to the angel who haunts his dreams. At first, when she shows up soaking wet and scared-shitless on his doorstep, he thinks his prayers have been answered.But the more Arion tries to keep Angel close, the more her fear drives her away. If they are ever going to have a chance for a future, they'll first have to deal with the past that hasn't forgotten her any more than she's forgotten it--and Arion will have to learn how to let her go.

The Broken One


Ruth Cardello - 2019
    Even post an online reward for anyone who found the girl’s lost stuffed animal. Who’d have guessed it’d be returned by a drop-dead-sexy man with such sadness in his eyes that she had to reach out to him? To Ava, he’s a hero. To Heather, he’s a fantasy that puts at risk the happy life she’s made for herself.It’s been five years since billionaire developer Sebastian Romano lost his wife and unborn child in a tragic accident. Now he’s all business. No room for emotion. Until he stumbles across that damn stuffed wolf and the beautiful single mother looking for it. Is he ready to give love a second chance?But there’s more to Sebastian, his family, and his past than Heather knows. More than even Sebastian knows. Will the life they’re building together be challenged when the truth is finally revealed?

Misbehaving


Tiffany Reisz - 2014
    So being on deadline the week of her sister’s wedding isn’t as rough as it sounds. There’s just one hitch: Bea’s assignment is to write a review of a sex position manual, but she doesn’t have a plus one to play with.The good news: Ben, the one who got away back in college, is also attending stag--and he's as temptingly gorgeous as ever.The bad news: Ben turned down Bea’s offer of graduation night sex five years ago.The best news: He’s not planning on making the same mistake twice. *A red-hot retelling of Much Ado About Nothing for people who love Shakespeare but thought his plays could use a few more sex scenes. A Cosmo Red-Hot Read

Regret


Christina Lee - 2017
    The last thing he expects is for his friend’s roommate to be the one guy he despises the most. The same guy who stomped on his heart senior year of high school. And by the looks of the girl on his arm, the same man who’s still deep inside the closet. Nicholas Dell never predicted that eleven years later, one of his greatest regrets would show up on his doorstep down on his luck. Nick has made some terrible mistakes—story of his life—and he’s been paying for them ever since. And if the guilt and shame aren’t enough, his first crush had to turn into one of the sexiest men he’s ever laid eyes on. Nick and Brin have weeks to steer clear of each other. Weeks to avoid strangling each other. But when stubbornness leads to skyrocketing sexual tension, hate-sex doesn’t seem like such an awful way to work through their frustration. Except hate is a powerful emotion, especially when it’s turned inward. And in Nick’s case he’s been drowning in a sea of self-loathing for so long, he can’t see his way out. As Brin reconnects with Nick, his perception of what really happened in their past begins to change. He’s finally ready to forgive him and take a second chance on the one guy who stirs him like no other. But Nick’s demons are complicated, heart-wrenching…demanding. So devastating, he might never allow himself true happiness—even with the one man who’s always owned his heart.

Angel After Dark


Kahlen Aymes - 2014
    to the MATTRESSES!Dr. Angeline Hemming is a beautiful, sassy, no-nonsense type of girl who has risen from a difficult past to become one of Chicago’s most successful and respected criminal profilers. In exchange for free commercials to promote her favorite charitable causes, Angel answers calls and gives relationship advice on a Friday night radio program.Alexander Avery is a gorgeous and successful corporate genius who doesn’t believe in love. When his girlfriend-of-convenience calls into Angel’s program, he is furious with the show’s host who doles out (what he considers) blind advice, without knowing all the facts… and he decides to give her a piece of his mind, and his side of the story!When Angel informs Alex he’s the one in need of a much-deserved lesson, all hell breaks loose as these two type-A personalities battle it out for control over minds and hearts, and yes, in bed. Not only are they fighting each other at every turn, but they are also struggling to uphold the convictions they each live by.It’s unclear who is stronger, but both must discover that to get what they desperately want, they may have to give a little… or a lot. *For readers 17+ due to explicit language and sexual situations. *

Lost and Found


Lucy Lennox - 2017
    But when I needed him the most, that was exactly what he did…Wilderness guide Xander Reed has spent fifteen years trying to forget the night he turned to his best friend in his darkest hour, only to find the young man who’d sworn to always have his back was turning his on Xander instead. Two thousand miles and fifteen years of building a new life in the quiet backcountry of the Rocky Mountains should have been enough to put the memory of Bennett Crawford out of his mind forever, but old wounds run deep and when Bennett suddenly reappears in his life as part of a wilderness expedition Xander is guiding, the scars he thought long healed break wide open.I’d only ever wanted to protect Xander from getting hurt again. I never considered the one he needed protection from was me…Bennett Crawford was faced with an impossible choice the night his best friend needed him.He chose wrong.As the only son of one of the wealthiest families in New England, he should have had the world at his feet, but losing his best friend at the tender age of fourteen changed everything. And even though Bennett’s managed to hide behind a mask of contentment as he takes his place at his father’s side in the family business, inside he’s searching for the piece of himself that’s been missing ever since Xander Reed walked out of his life. Bennett’s only saving grace is his work with a group of inner city kids, and when he’s given the chance to show the troubled teens that there’s a bigger world out there waiting for them if they just have the courage to reach for it, he takes it.But when he steps off that bus for what was supposed to be a week of fun and adventure, he’s instantly returned to the past when he discovers their expedition guide is none other than the boy he let go so long ago. Only, the soft-hearted, insecure little boy Bennett once knew is gone, and in his place is a brooding, bitter man who isn’t interested in second chances.People leave. I know that now and nothing Bennett has to say to me will change anything…All Bennett wants is another chance to show Xander that friendship was only the beginning. But when a stubborn Xander refuses to even hear him out, Bennett realizes he’s going to need to fight dirty.Because now that he’s found Xander again, he’s not letting him go a second time…