Book picks similar to
Tell-Tale by Danielle Allen


romance
stand-alones
black-romance
danielle-allen

Tasting Never


C.M. Stunich - 2012
    She doesn't need any complications in her life, especially not when they're attached to a man that could be her emotional twin.Ty McCabe can't stand Never the first time he meets her. He's aware that the feeling's mutual and the two don't think they'll ever see each other again, but when fate takes a hand and puts them both in the wrong place at the wrong time, Ty and Never form a tentative friendship that opens the door on their dark sides and shows them what it's like to live in the light."Sometimes, the only way to go forward, is to take a few, careful steps back."READING LIST#1: Tasting Never#2: Finding Never#3: Keeping NeverOR Books #1-#3 in one volume: "Tasting, Finding, Keeping: The Story of Never"#4: Never Can Tell#5: Never Let Go#6: Never Did SayTASTING NEVER EXCERPT:Ty's hot mouth is on my neck, and I find myself taking short, sharp, little breaths as I press my shaking hands to his chest. If I sleep with him again, I'll be making the biggest mistake of my life. He's the first real friend I've ever had, and I don't want to cheapen the feelings that are simmering between us. We made that mistake once before, and we survived. We've been through a lot since then, and I know that if I lose him now, I will never be whole again. Ty is my other half, lover or no, and just being around him is enough for me. “Ty,” I say, trying my best to sound stern. Instead, my voice comes out like a butterfly, flutters against Ty's hair and swirls it gently against my lips. I moan and find that my fingers are now curled in the fabric of his T-shirt. “Never,” he says back to me, the word like fire against my skin. In those two syllables, I hear how he feels about me. He thinks he's in love. Ty McCabe thinks he's in love with me. He doesn't say it aloud, but I can tell. Sex isn't the best way for me to show my feelings; I've abused it for far too long that it has somehow lost some of its meaning. I try to tell Ty this, but I can't speak with his lips on my throat and his hand sliding across the nape of my neck. I run my own hands down his chest and put them beneath his shirt, on the hard plane of his belly. His muscles contract as I press my fingers into them, touching, feeling, absorbing the man, the complication, that is Ty McCabe. All the while, my mind is racing in circles trying to talk me out of this.“Kiss me,” Ty says and it's not a question, it's a request, albeit a gentle one. His voice is softer than I've ever heard it. His words are naked, stripped of all the bullshit that's happened to him, all of the horrible things that mirror my own life. Ty and I are like twins, like two halves of the same whole. They say that opposites attract, but Ty and I are very much the same and the attraction between us burns brighter than the sun. “Kiss me,” he says again and I do.

Always Been You


Q.B. Tyler - 2021
    Sinful. Taboo. I know I shouldn't want him. I know I shouldn't touch myself in the middle of the night as thoughts of him run through my mind. Thoughts of his kiss, his touch, his love. I'd spent years obsessing over the man I thought I couldn't have. But as it turns out, he wants me too. And he wants me now.

MILF: Wrong Kind of Love


Erin Noelle - 2015
    Wrong Kind of Love A story of forbidden love with a side of revenge...When my husband of nearly twenty years abruptly left me for another woman, I thought my life was over.But I was wrong...Wrong for thinking I was weak, wrong for assuming I couldn't go on, wrong for believing I wouldn't love again.No matter what anyone else thinks,Wrong never felt so right.

Truly


Carmel Rhodes - 2020
    𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. ⁣⁣

Ecstasy


K.V. Rose - 2020
    Eli is a star athlete with a secret. And Alex? He’s just a f*cking a**hole.Their paths collide one night at a party that quickly spirals out of control. A series of volatile moments follow, enveloping the three of them in a whirlwind of drama, drugs, and destruction.Zara feels like she’s slipping under, losing her grip on reality. And if she isn’t careful, one of the boys just might pull her all the way down.But the thing about almost dying at the hands of someone you hate?In the moment before you take your last breath, the fear can feel a lot like...ecstasy.And that’s a high you only get once in a lifetime.Dark romance, suitable for 18+.

Hawthorne & Heathcliff


R.K. Ryals - 2015
    Two shoes that did. Intense and introspective, seventeen-year-old Hawthorne Macy knows all about being abandoned. She's felt the stark pain of being left behind by the people who are supposed to love her the most; her parents. Raised by her caring uncle on an old plantation, Hawthorne lives her life on the fringes of her small Southern town. Until she meets his shoe. Senior year, last period English class, and a pair of silent tennis shoes resting next to hers in the back of the room throws Hawthorne into a world she'd learned to stay outside of. His name is Max Vincent, but in her mind, he’s Heathcliff. The handsome eighteen-year-old boy behind the shoes will pull Hawthorne into a passionate and unforgettable adventure of self-discovery during a time when love seems impossible. Shoes can tell a lot about a person. The journey they take you on can tell a lot about how they'll hold up.

The Traveling Man


Jane Harvey-Berrick - 2015
    Nice. He was extraordinary. And he wasn’t always nice.Moody and difficult, brilliant and beautiful, Kes scared me and he protected me. He could be incredibly hurtful and incredibly thoughtful. He wasn’t perfect, but he was perfect for me. He challenged me, he took me out of my safe little box and showed me the world could be magnificent. He was everything I wasn’t. Aimee Anderson is ten when the traveling carnival first comes to her nice little town. She doesn’t expect her world to change so completely. But meeting Kestrel Donohue puts her life on a different path.Even though she only sees him for the two weeks of the year when he passes through her home town, his friendship is the most important of her life. As a child’s friendship grows to adult love, the choices become harder, and both Kes and Aimee realize that two weeks a year will never be enough.

Starry Eyes


Jenn Bennett - 2018
    It doesn’t hurt that their families are the modern-day Californian version of the Montagues and Capulets.But when a group camping trip goes south, Zorie and Lennon find themselves stranded in the wilderness. Alone. Together.What could go wrong?With no one but each other for company, Zorie and Lennon have no choice but to hash out their issues via witty jabs and insults as they try to make their way to safety. But fighting each other while also fighting off the forces of nature makes getting out of the woods in one piece less and less likely.And as the two travel deeper into Northern California’s rugged backcountry, secrets and hidden feelings surface. But can Zorie and Lennon’s rekindled connection survive out in the real world? Or was it just a result of the fresh forest air and the magic of the twinkling stars?

Badly Behaved


Meagan Brandy - 2021
    A chameleon. I’m whatever I must be.And what I must be is a flawless daughter, a skilled socialite, and the perfect prize to the man who signed along the dotted line. Not that I’m complaining. I’m all for a contractual agreement, a quick and clean catapult into the next phase of rich girl life. One that takes little thought, less effort, and zero devotion. It’s exactly what I want. An impassive life. A calculated future. Or, it was until the lights went out, darkness took over, and I learned what it meant to live.To feel.To fall. But everyone knows what thrives in the night burns in the light and flames were among us. There is no escape. No turning back. No ending within my control. My mother always says our choices determine our consequences. 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘦’𝘴 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵.

Bad Cruz


L.J. Shen - 2021
    Cruz Costello is my archenemy.But that would require acknowledging one another, which we haven’t done in over a decade.He’s the town’s golden child. The beloved quarterback-turned-physician.I’m the girl who got knocked up at sixteen and now works at a diner.He is Fairhope royalty.I get my monarch dose from tabloid gossip.He’s well-off.I’m…well, off.When our siblings get engaged, Cruz’s parents invite both families to a pre-wedding cruise.Except Cruz and I find ourselves stuck on a different ship from everyone else.Cue ten horrible, insufferable days at sea with a man I cannot stand.(My fault, of course.)But when the alcohol pours in, the secrets spill out, and I’m left with one question:Can I take another chance on love?

Like Dragonflies


K. Webster - 2019
    Pampered. Spoiled.Slowly suffocating under my mother’s stifling thumb.He’s the bad boy from Duncan.Poor. Abused. Criminal.Being swallowed by the darkness each passing second.Two lost souls searching for freedom and happiness.We’re lonely—broken—and trapped.Until the universe brings us together.Sometimes love is instantaneous.A supernova collision of emotions.Something that cannot be ignored.As our hearts tangle to the point they’ll never be able to part, the past comes creeping up like an evil villain. The mistakes of our parents become our consequences to face.We’re madly, deeply, foolishly in love.Soul mates who finally found each other.Two people who share the same father.

Up in Flames


Nicole Williams - 2012
    One smokejumper with a dark past. One summer that will forever change them both. They’re going . . .Up In Flames. Elle’s life couldn’t possibly get any more small town than it already is. She was raised in the same home as the two generations before her were, her family owns the iconic downtown cafe, and she’s been dating the pastor’s son since she was allowed to go on her first date at sixteen. Cole’s life couldn’t possibly get any larger. He’s tried. Roaming from town to town for the past three summers as a smokejumper, Cole dreads the thought of putting down roots. The only thing he avoids more than that is settling down with one woman, especially when there are as many willing women as there are trees in the forest he jumps out of planes to save.Elle Montgomery’s life is going one way. And Cole Carson’s is going the opposite. There’s no reason their paths should ever intersect, even in a small town in central Washington. But summer in the Methow Valley has other plans for Elle and Cole. After an awkward run-in at the local swimming hole, Elle tries to keep away from the guy who looks at her like she’s already lying beneath him in bed. She fails. Cole is about as successful at staying away from the girl who seems immune to his charms.As the summer heats up, and tensions between Elle and Cole run high, he begins to realize there’s more he’s attracted to than Elle’s body, and she discovers there’s a lot more to the man that jumps out of planes into raging forest fires than meets the eye.UP IN FLAMES is a New Adult Romance intended for mature readers due to steamy content and saucy language.

My Skylar


Penelope Ward - 2014
    One thing after another kept us apart, and I’ve spent the last decade in fear of losing her forever. First, it was the cancer, but she survived only to face the unthinkable at my hands. Because of me, she left town. For years, I thought I’d never see her again.But now she’s back…and living with him. I don’t deserve her after everything I’ve put her through, but I can’t live without her. This is my last chance, because she’s about to make the biggest mistake of her life. I can see it her eyes: she doesn’t love him. She still loves me...which is why I have to stop her before it’s too late. My Skylar is a STANDALONE novel and a companion to Jake Undone.**Contains graphic sexual content and harsh language. It is only appropriate for adult readers age 18+

Little Lies


H. Hunting - 2020
    You mean nothing to me. I never loved you. I turned my words into swords.And I cut her down. Shoved the blade in and watched her fall. I said I’d never hurt her, and I did. Years later, I’m faced with all the little lies, the untruths, the false realities, the damage I inflicted, when all I wanted was to indulge my obsession. Lavender Waters is the princess in the tower. Even her name is the thing fairy tales are made of. I used to be the one who saved her. Over and over again. But I don’t want to save her anymore. I just want to pretend the lies are still the truth.A standalone angsty new adult romance. Heroine: Lavender Waters (Alex and Violet Waters’ youngest daughter, PUCKED and FOREVER PUCKED couple origin, Pucked Series )Hero: Kodiak (Kody) Bowman (Rook and Lainey Bowman’s son, A LIE FOR A LIE couple origin, All In Series )

f*ck and fall in love


Nicole Falls - 2019
    for jane and nigel, timing is everything.