Book picks similar to
Dry Hustle by Sarah Kernochan


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sexuality
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Little Birds


Anaïs Nin - 1979
    From the beach towns of Normandy to the streets of New Orleans, these thirteen vignettes introduce us to a covetous French painter, a sleepless wanderer of the night, a guitar-playing gypsy, and a host of others who yearn for and dive into the turbulent depths of romantic experience.

A Valentine She'll Remember


Mimi Barbour - 2018
     LOVE OF MY LIFE by Mimi Barbour - A story about abandoned puppies, a controversial businessman and a woman who bought her very first home only to find she’s sharing the duplex with a hero whose heart is as mushy as a young girl’s dream. "A very cute little story about coincidences, in our lives, that sometimes, turn into great happenings! The rough and tumble combination of two adversaries, coming together, in more ways than one, made for a delightful read!" DROP DEAD GORGEOUS by Patricia Rosemoor - Sasha Brozynski arrives at the chapel for her best friend's Valentine's Day wedding, but the bride disappeared without a trace. Nick Donatelli, son of a crime boss, had a reputation as a ladykiller. Was he drop-dead gorgeous or drop-dead guilty? "Drop Dead Enjoyable! Great story, believable characters, and I wanted more ... my heart was racing with the romance and the mystery, and danger!!!" WHEN A MAN LOVES A WOMAN by Taylor Lee - They call her the Blonde Barracuda. The press loves her, the politicians fear her, and the mob is out to get her! "A DOUBLE WOW! Lexie and Jake without a doubt are sexiest special agents ever." SOMEONE LIKE YOU by Suzanne Jenkins - Life gets in the way as upstate NY sisters, Marley and Abigail cling to each other and their young children. But a babysitter introduces them both to Jay Malik, a medical student from India, who becomes their lifeline to happiness, forgiveness and healing. "A tale of two sisters who have been through the ringer of emotions . After reading you feel you know them intimately and find yourself cheering for the sisters. Awesome!" TWO HEARTS UNBROKEN by Tamara Ferguson - Honorably discharged from the Air Force, wounded warrior Sarah Benton accepts a position retraining wounded warriors. When Lieutenant Brand Reardon discovers her cowardly fiancé broke up with Sarah because he couldn’t deal with her injuries, Brand decides to do what he’s wanted to do from the moment they met, and make her his. But can he break through her wounded heart before Valentine’s Day, when he’ll be reassigned? "Her plot is compelling and real, especially those parts concerning the care and rehabilitation of wounded veterans, and her romantic passages are sensitive, caring and tasteful. Each of her stories is inspiring" LOVERS IN TRAINING by Alicia Street - When private fitness trainer Shannon meets her hot new client, loving her job takes on a whole new meaning. "After reading one book by this author, I had to read them all!" ROAD TO REDEMPTION by Natalie Ann - Can the nurse heal the doctor? They say opposites attract, but is Cori’s over the top personality too much introvert Dr. Max Hamilton? “Sometimes love is slow and heartwarming then other times it's fast and fun. This book and this story will amaze you.”

Tease


Alexis Anne - 2014
    He was great in bed and only in town for a few hot nights.There was no way I could have known Adam wouldn't be satisfied with just sex. My craving for his body made me careless. I broke my rules. I let him in. I never thought two weeks could change everything. All I wanted was an escape, what I got was so much more.Something I couldn't live without once I had it.***Alexis Anne novels are explicitly romantic. You will find intense stories of love, passion, and self-discovery, alongside intimately detailed encounters that can only occur when two people are falling hopelessly in love. These novels are best suited for readers seventeen and up due to these exciting reasons. And language. Alexis Anne uses a lot of language.  THE TEASE SERIES Tease (#1) Stripped (#2)Tempt (#3) Burn (#4) *If you love Adam, be sure to check out his cousin Jake in The Storm Inside series!

The Middle-Aged Man and the Sea


Christopher Meeks - 2005
    In one narrative, a man wakes up one morning to find the odor of dead fish won't go away, but no one else can smell it. In another, a couple's visit with friends to watch the Academy Awards has the protagonist envying his friends' lawn and lifestyle. In these and eleven other stories, Christopher Meeks balances tragedy and wit. As novelist David Scott Milton explains, "In this collection, Christopher Meeks examines the small heartbreaks of quiet despair that are so much a part of all our lives. He does it in language that is resonant, poetic, and precise.... If you like Raymond Carver, you'll love Meeks. He may be as good--or better."

In the Lake of the Woods


Tim O'Brien - 1994
    When long-hidden secrets about the atrocities he committed in Vietnam come to light, a candidate for the U.S. Senate retreats with his wife to a lakeside cabin in northern Minnesota. Within days of their arrival, his wife mysteriously vanishes into the watery wilderness.

Almost Paradise


Isabella Ashe - 2012
    Sabrina Chandler volunteers to run a medical clinic on a tropical island, she's running away from her problems -- a broken engagement, a domineering father, and her own insecurities, just for starters. She never anticipated meeting a man as irresistable as dive resort owner Max Donovan. She soon finds that she'd rather face raging typhoons and a dengue fever epidemic than the prospect of a broken heart. Max isn't looking for a wife, and Sabrina has life back in Los Angeles. Is this just a vacation romance, inspired by clear blue water, perfect beaches, and a few steamy nights together? Will they be forced to go their separate ways -- or could this be the real thing?

Riversong


Tess Thompson - 2011
     In the wake of her husband's tragic death, Lee is pregnant and one million dollars in debt to a dangerous loan shark willing to do anything to collect. Out of money and options, Lee seeks refuge in the small Oregon town where her mother's dilapidated home sits vacant, as desperate for a fresh start as Lee herself.With a baby on the way and a living to make, Lee opens a restaurant and begins to rebuild her life. But just as she catches her breath, and the eye of a local musician offering a second chance at love, she finds herself right back in the clutches of the debt collector with more to lose than ever.

I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive


Steve Earle - 2011
    In 1963, ten years after Hank's death, Doc himself is wracked by addiction. Having lost his license to practice medicine, his morphine habit isn't as easy to support as it used to be. So he lives in a rented room in the red-light district on the south side of San Antonio, performing abortions and patching up the odd knife or gunshot wound. But when Graciela, a young Mexican immigrant, appears in the neighborhood in search of Doc's services, miraculous things begin to happen. Graciela sustains a wound on her wrist that never heals, yet she heals others with the touch of her hand. Everyone she meets is transformed for the better, except, maybe, for Hank's angry ghost—who isn't at all pleased to see Doc doing well.  A brilliant excavation of an obscure piece of music history, Steve Earle's I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive is also a marvelous novel in its own right, a ballad of regret and redemption, and of the ways in which we remake ourselves and our world through the smallest of miracles.

The Turnaround


George Pelecanos - 2008
    But another survivor is now out of prison, looking for reparation in any form he can find it.The Turnaround takes us on a journey from the rock-and-soul streets of the '70s to the changing neighborhoods of D.C. today, from the diners and auto garages of the city to the inside of Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital, where wounded men and women have returned to the world in a time of war. A novel of fathers and sons, wives and husbands, loss, victory and violent redemption, The Turnaround is another compelling, highly charged novel from George Pelecanos, "the best crime novelist in America."

The Gift of a Child


Donna K. Weaver - 2018
    She and her two young children must now face a holiday season filled with so many reminders of what they've lost. But when a coworker who’s raising his young nephew moves next door, Rae discovers that the support of a good friend, and the gift of a child, can bring back some of the joy of the season.

Killing Suki Flood


Robert Leininger - 1991
    The moment Frank Limosin sees gorgeous eighteen-year-old Suki Flood sitting on the rear deck of the red Trans Am in the hot empty desert, he feels trouble in the air. The Trans Am has a flat tire. They're over ten miles from the nearest highway. And Suki, dressed in short shorts and a tiny halter top, doesn't know how to change a tire. Against Suki's will, Frank gives her a lesson in tire changing, then he thinks that's it, he'll never see her again. How wrong can one man be? Because Suki turns out to be fifty times more trouble than Frank ever dreamed possible. He saved her once. Now he has to save her again and again and again . . .

Finding Allie


Meli Raine - 2015
     My stepfather turns out to be a rival drug dealer, and I'm pretty sure he killed my mom two years ago. I'm not supposed to fall in love with Chase. He's not supposed to know I even exist. But when he finds me, he can't let go. And when I find myself in his arms? I hold tight. I have to. Because if I don't, I might just die. * * * Read all three books in the Breaking Away series: Finding Allie Chasing Allie Keeping Allie With or without him.

The Good Daughter


Diana Layne - 2012
    Marisa Peruzzo, Mafia princess, would.She owed him for killing her fiance.She owed him for destroying her mother.She owed him for chaining her to the 'family business'.And she owed him for taking away her lifelong friend.Payback's a bitch. ***FBI meets Mafia Princess:Dave sat up straighter when she entered the bar. Sandro had promised the contact would have useful information and be immediately recognizable, but he never specified male or female. Was this his informant? Carlo Peruzzo's daughter. The Mafia princess herself.Her gaze scanned the room until she saw him. Though her lips were pressed in a straight line, a sparkle flashed in her eyes as if she knew just how she had shocked him.Dave realized his heart rate had kicked up a few notches when their eyes had locked. His jaw would have dropped if he hadn't been the kind of guy trained not to show his emotions.She walked purposefully toward him, making her way through the crowded tables. Black designer jeans hugged nice curvy hips, and her full breasts were covered with a pink plaid, pearl-button western shirt. Interesting color choice. A leather belt wrapped around her waist, and his focus narrowed. Best he could tell the belt was pink, too. And there were some kind of pink jewels inlaid in the buckle.He hid a smile. The only thing that would complete the color coordination was if she had on-he looked down, yep, pink cowboy boots. Pretty-in-pink cowgirl-Mafia princess. That certainly wasn't an image he expected to see. With her head high, and her gaze fixed on him she seemed unaware-or unaffected-by the attention she garnered. And she certainly got a fair share of stares. He saw more than one man pause with a drink halfway to his mouth, head swiveling to keep track as she walked past.Dave had never seen the high-and-mighty Mafia daughter in anything other than expensive business suits, with her hair pulled back and her makeup understated, but tonight she wore this chic knock-off cowgirl look well. With her dark wavy hair swinging free around her shoulders, her smooth olive skin glowing, and lips a luscious color of pink to match as well, she could raise the lust level in a saint.Dave was no saint. 94,000 words, 376 pages***Each book in the Vista Security Series is stand alone but if you'd like to read in order:The Good Daughter (Vista Security Origins Book 1)Trust No One (Vista Security Book 2)Edge Of Trust (Vista Security Book 3)Forced To Trust (Coming Soon)and for fans of The Good Daughter:Nia, Be Mine (Coming Soon)

Before


Nicola Marsh - 2013
    Unless Mom’s the town joke and I’ve spent my entire life shying away from her flamboyance. College in Las Vegas should be so much cooler. But it’s not. Bad things happen. Real bad.So when my brother Reid offers me an all-expenses paid vacation to Australia for a month, I am so there. Discounting the deadly snakes on the outback cattle station, I should be safe. Until I meet Jack.Jack defines bad boy and then some. He’s big, buffed, bronzed, and hotter than any guy I’ve ever met. His sexy Aussie accent makes me melt. And the guy can cook.But he’s my brother’s new bestie and he lives on the other side of the world. There’s no future for us.Is there?

Never Close Enough


Anie Michaels - 2013
    At her greatest moment of need, a protective and sexy Porter Masters comes to her rescue. Ella takes a holiday week at the coast to discover herself and finds her attraction to Porter potent and undeniable. Uncertain of their future together, Ella struggles to open her heart to trust again. Porter Masters takes care of his own: his single mother, his company, and now he’s compelled to protect the beauty that walked into his world. Never one for relationships in his past, Porter discovers that he was waiting all along for Ella. As their time together comes to an end, will Porter fight for the woman who stole his heart? Porter will find a way to keep her, despite the obstacles.