Book picks similar to
A White Picket Fence by Laura Branchflower


cheating
favorites
contemporary
second-chance

Abrupt


Kathy Coopmans - 2020
    It owned my charred black soul. That emotion was digging so deep into my bones like a deadly disease.I hid it well. Let people believe I was a kind man.I’m far from one. I’m brash, bold, and angry at the curveball life has thrown at me.My saving grace came in the form of a tiny bundle wrapped in pink.My daughter.The day I learned I’d raise her on my own, was the day I kept the only vow I didn’t intend to break. I wasn’t letting a woman in my bed or my heart. There wasn’t room for one with my daughter owning one half and a woman I let slip through my fingers holding onto the other without her knowing it. I kept that vow until now. She’s back. The one that owns the other half of my heart. She’s carrying more pain than she left with, I can see it in her eyes. I should never have let her go, and now my regret is here, facing me head-on. I made a mistake, one I plan to rectify. I am a Mitchell, after all. I’ll stop at nothing to get what I want. Her. I have to prove to her that there will be no more broken promises, show her that my heart, the half I gave to her so long ago, is still hers.

After All Is Said and Done - A Novel of Infidelity, Healing, & Forgiveness


Belinda G. Buchanan - 2011
    He has spent the better part of a year trying to forgive his wife, Jessica, for her infidelity, but her betrayal with a colleague of his has left him hurt beyond words. That hurt slowly begins to heal with the birth of his son, but it isn't long before he finds out the devastating secret that Jessica has been so desperately trying to keep from him. Ethan's life steadily begins to crumble, and his drinking - fueled by this discovery - slowly engulfs him, leaving him without the ability to control his temper. With his marriage now in pieces and his sanity questionable, Ethan struggles to come to terms with his alcoholism and face a past that he has spent his lifetime trying to forget.

The Greek's Forgotten Wife


Elizabeth Lennox - 2015
    She had tried desperately to turn herself into the perfect wife for his infrequent visits, but no more! She was through trying to become someone she wasn’t. And she was finished reading about his mistresses in the tabloids. She’d had enough! So why did her heart race when he walked through the door? And how did she end up in his bed? Damon Galanos had been forced to marry Sasha to retain ownership of his ancestral home, but he never intending to stay married to the innocent girl. However, after destroying her grandfather for his blackmail, Damon found that he couldn’t get Sasha out of his mind. So he returned to his “wife”, realizing she had become a beautiful woman – one he planned to explore further. Imagine his surprise when his docile wife demanded a divorce!

Swelter


Nina G. Jones - 2015
    It never feels like the mere passage of time, but a countdown towards something inevitable.Bobby Lightly is selfish, irresponsible, and careless. I haven't seen him since the day I married his brother. He slipped out during the wedding reception without a word.A year later, I heard Bobby was drafted to Korea. He never said goodbye. Never sent a letter. We had all come to terms with the fact that he was probably dead somewhere, either a victim of the war or its aftermath.That is, until in the midst of an unrelenting heatwave, he showed up at the doorstep of the house I lived in with his brother. Everyone thinks I'm cruel. Everyone thinks I should be easy on him. They think I don't understand him. They all think I hate him. But what no one understands is that it was Bobby who broke my heart.And I think he’s back to do it again.

Reining Her In


Katie Ashley - 2019
    James was at our rehearsal dinner. That was shortly before he jilted me at the altar. To avoid the swarm of whispers and finger pointing every time I dared to show my face in public, I fled two hours south to Atlanta and never looked back. Over the last decade, I’d planned hundreds of scenarios about how our next meeting would go down. The expletives I’d hurl at him. Which knee I might use to annihilate his balls. Which dimpled cheek on his ridiculously handsome face I would send a stinging slap across. But being elbow deep in a cow’s ass was not one of them. Normally, I didn’t get up close and personal to a bovine’s rectum. At least not since veterinarian school. But desperate times found me back home to attend my grandfather’s funeral, who happened to be the town’s large animal vet. Those two facts had left me wading through manure in Roy Wallace’s pasture to care for a distressed heifer. While time and maturity seemed to have changed him from the boy I knew, I still wasn’t falling for his charm. Or his hard, chiseled body. Or ass you could eat dinner off of. No, I wasn’t going back down that street again. Unfortunately, Declan didn’t seem to get the message. Instead, he seemed as stubborn as he ever was and ready for a fight. It’ll be the fight of his life for me to let him back in my heart.

All My Life


Prescott Lane - 2018
    I loved him while he loved someone else. I loved him when he had a baby with her. I loved him when she left him.The greatest of love stories is that between a dad and his daughter. I should know. I’ve had a front row seat. First steps, first words, all the big moments. Garrett was just a teenager when Mia was born. I’ve watched him braid his daughter’s hair, hold her hand crossing the street, seen her asleep on his chest. I’m the best friend, the one they can count on for everything from dance lessons to motherly advice, anything they need. I’m their go-to girl.The best part of any love story is the happily ever after.But what if the happily ever after doesn’t include you?All my life, that’s how long I’ve loved him.Of course, he’s clueless.

Lady Gallant


Suzanne Robinson - 1991
    A daring spy in Queen Mary's court, she risked her life to rescue the innocent from a terrible fate. Yet it was Nora who needed rescuing when cutthroats attacked her--and when Christian de Rivers, a lusty, sword-wielding rogue, swept her out of harm's way ... and into his arms.A BOLD ADVENTURERAs magnificent and mesmerizing as a hawk, Christian both frightened and excited Nora, even as he pursued her with a single-minded passion that left her longing to be caught. Yet soon she would discover that she had reason to be frightened. For the dashing nobleman had his own secrets to keep, his own enemies to rout--and his own brand of vengeance for a wide-eyed beauty whom he loved only too well....

Reason to Believe


Kathleen Eagle - 1995
    But their marriagecould not endure deception -- or the betrayals of atormented, searching soul. And now, though timeand pain have torn them apart, they reunitefor the sake of their troubled teenaged daughter -- embarking upon a rugged winter journey acrosssacred land in symbolic remembrance ofBen's Lakota ancestors ... and to reclaim somethingbeautiful but lost -- and as eternal as the stars.

Second Time Around


Katherine Allred - 2005
    While he lay in a coma from injuries sustained during an auto accident, the woman he loved divorced him. Or so his father told him. Now he's discovered that his divorce was bogus, and his whole world is spinning out of control. He's tempted to give his wife the quick divorce she wants until he finds out about the son he didn't know existed. Now he's going back to Wyoming to claim what's his, and nothing can stop him...not his father, and certainly not his wife's fiance. It's taken Lanie McAllister five years to get over losing the man she loved with every fiber of her being. Now she's ready to move on with her life, and has even agreed to marry the local veterinarian until Quinn gives her an ultimatum. Give them three months to try to mend the marriage his father tore apart, or he'll fight her tooth and nail for custody of their son. Torn between the man her heart has never quite forgotten and the man she's engaged to, Lanie can only pray that love will truly be better the second time around.

Taking Chances


Molly McAdams - 2012
    Ready to live life her own way and to experience things she's only ever heard of from the jarheads in her father's unit, she's on her way to college at San Diego State University.Thanks to her new roommate, Harper is introduced to a world of parties, gorgeous guys, family, and emotions. She finds herself being torn in two as she quickly falls in love with both her new boyfriend, Brandon, and her roommate's brother, Chase. Despite their dangerous looks and histories, both men adore Harper and would do anything for her, including taking a step back if it would mean she'd be happy.

Sweetest Heartbreak


Heather Bentley - 2017
    With a supportive family, a great job out of college, and her best friend, Eli, by her side, she doesn’t take anything this life has to offer for granted. A lesson she learned when she lost her dad to cancer. Another lesson she’s learned? Don’t date your best friend. But she and Eli worked through the awkwardness and are now firmly planted in the friend zone. Until she meets Eli’s other best friend, Heath, and true feelings are exposed.Fresh out of rehab, Heath Braeburn is Leah’s opposite in every way. Spoiled. Reckless. Impetuous. The only thing they have in common is Eli, who has been by Heath’s side through it all, including when his mom up and left years ago. A fact he’s never gotten over. But at twenty-four years old, it’s time to prove that he’s not the man everyone has come to expect him to be. Starting with Leah. She is his clean slate. His game changer. But will he become Leah’s biggest regret?This is a story of what happens when friendships are tested, words go unspoken, and hearts are broken. And how three friends all manage to find their way back to each other.Due to strong sexual content, coarse language and mature subject matter, this book is not suitable for readers under the age of 18.

Leaving Haven


Kathleen McCleary - 2013
    Through a miraculous egg donation, Georgia is thrilled to find herself pregnant—until she makes a startling discovery that changes her mind about how much she really wants the baby…Georgia’s best friend, Alice, has a happy teenage daughter, a faithful husband, and a perfectly organized life. But her world spins off its axis when she falls for a man who is everything she knows she doesn’t want…Leaving Haven is a provocative and touching novel that will appeal to readers of contemporary fiction and fans of Jodi Picoult, Luanne Rice, and Kristin Hannah.

Sarah's Child


Linda Howard - 1985
    And it robbed Sarah Harper of her best friend. In the two years since the tragedy, Sarah has wanted to reach out to Rome, but she knew she needed to stay away, guarding the secret she had kept from him and Diane all those years -- that she was in love with her best friend's husband. But now Rome needs her. And though another woman will hold his heart forever, Sarah agrees to be his wife, knowing that everything has a price, including love. Then something totally unexpected rekindles her hidden hope that a marriage of convenience will become a union of love. Will Rome keep fighting his own growing need for a woman who dares him to believe there are second chances in life... or will he give in to the healing power of love and miracles?

The Entitled


Cassandra Robbins - 2018
    I did. I found Reed and loved him more than I loved myself. We were young...beautiful...​entitled​. Money and private schools, our families’ lavish parties and posh New York City apartments—it was all mere window dressing. What was real was our obsessive love, which grew right along with us as we moved toward adulthood. It consumed me, and only in his arms did I feel wanted and safe. But I have a secret. It’s big and to some, unforgivable. And it’s why I let Reed destroy me, or maybe I destroyed us. Either way, I’m worse than broke—I’m broken. Once upon a time, we were happy...Yet privilege has an ugly underside and in the blink of an eye, my world crashed down around me. I don’t feel ​entitled​ anymore. The Entitled​ is the first in The Entitled duet. Their ​story concludes in ​The Enlightened.

Whiskey & You


H.J. Bellus - 2018
    Debtors beware. He’ll slit your throat for a nickel. And make no mistake, he will collect. You never screw with a man’s pride, money, or oil. It’s Texas Law. Unwritten, yet gospel. They don’t call him the king of Texas for nothing. When a debtor can’t come up with his money, JJ takes his wife as collateral... What starts out as a trade-off between bitter men turns into an emotional collision of desire and forbidden love so dangerous, it threatens to destroy even the strongest of empires. No amount of money will ever rebuild everything that’s been shattered. Jack is left standing in the middle of his own chaos. Greed and power are the least of his worries now. Death is knocking on his front door, wanting to collect. The woman he’s given his heart to just might become his collateral this time around. Past sins may trump everything...