Book picks similar to
Rotten by J.L. Brooks


romance
new-adult
stand-alone
adult

Fate


Nikki Sex - 2014
     Unfortunately, he just sees her as his friend's little sister. Desperate and infatuated, Emily resorts to lies and deception. She only needs one night with Paul, to finally get over this obsessive crush. But Fate has other ideas. . .

Atheists Who Kneel and Pray


Tarryn Fisher - 2017
    When he first sees her, he knows he's found what he's been looking for.Yara believes she can give David exactly what he needs to reach his full potential:A broken heart.David’s religion is love. Yara’s religion is heartache.Neither is willing to surrender, but religion always requires sacrifice.

Mirage


Ashley Suzanne - 2013
    Two sets of best friends embark on a new adventure together, forming life long bonds. Mira and Danny are looking forward to their future as husband and wife. Everything was going according to plan. That was until tragedy struck them on graduation night leaving three broken people to pick up the pieces. Skylar has always stood in the background, watching his best friend begin a life with the woman he fell in love with until he can no longer keep a distance. Right when Mira thinks her life is back on track it spirals out of control. What if everything you thought you knew was nothing more than a mirage?This is an alternate-cover edition for ASIN B00ESL6T52.

Game On


Katie McCoy - 2015
    Rumor has it Nathan is going to be drafted to the Major league, and yet he still fits an intense training regime around volunteering at a animal shelter. He's a prodigy with a heart of gold, as American as apple pie and has an ass that deserves a trophy all its own. He may be the country's heartthrob, but Sophie isn't going to fall for that. She just has to remain objective and cover the story. But she didn't bet on Nathan's gorgeous green eyes or the way his arms flex with muscle when he's holding a bat. And she certainly didn't think he'd be witty and smart and caring. Nathan is completely untouchable, but she can't help it if those lingering gazes turn into something more. How could she not fall at the thought of the hottest guy she's ever met devoting his limited free time to saving kittens?When Sophie's scoop turns into Nathan's scandal, Nathan needs her more than ever. With both of their careers on the line will they strike out - or hit a home run?

Temporary Bliss


B.J. Harvey - 2013
    Temporary feelings. Until a late-night encounter creates a permanent longing for bliss of another kind… Makenna Lewis cringes at any mention of the word commitment. Her past experience with the L-word did little more than teach her that anything involving feelings is a dangerous path indeed. She no longer wants or needs a relationship, but she still enjoys men. Even if her attachment to them is only temporary.That is, until a late night encounter with the delicious Daniel Winters turns her preconceived notion of commitment completely on its head. He makes her feel things she vowed to never feel again, and when Daniel pushes for more than she’s willing to give, she falters.What do you do when something that you’ve known to be so wrong in the past feels so damn right in the present?If you’re Mac, you run and hide.Lucky for Mac, Daniel isn’t the type of man who takes no for an answer.

The Final Piece


Maggi Myers - 2012
    From the moment a trusted family friend steals her innocence until the moment another rescues her, she struggles to just survive.Surrounded by the comfort and protection of her extended family, Beth embarks on a journey of healing far from the horrors of her home. In her darkest moments, she meets a boy named Ryan. For one incredible summer, Ryan shows Beth what it’s like to act her own age.To feel free and let go.If only for a while.Years later, another tragedy threatens to shatter the life Beth has carefully crafted. When faced, yet again, with more pieces to pick up, Beth begins to question what her choices have cost her.Leaving her old life behind, she sets forth on a pilgrimage that will bring her back to the boy she could never forget. He wants to help her pick up the pieces of her life, but is she willing to do what it takes to become whole again?Can she trust him with a piece of herself?

Promise Me


Barbie Bohrman - 2013
    Drawing strength from him, she left everything behind and sought a new life for herself, far away from the pain and shame.Fast forward ten years: Sabrina is settled in Miami, happy at last—until her best friend urges her to attend her high school reunion and face her painful past once and for all.And…maybe meet the mysterious Tyler once again.Can Sabrina find the courage to face the demons in her past, let go of the pain, and move forward into happiness? Or will insecurity and self-doubt ruin her one chance to get the love she’s not sure she even deserves?

Up in the Treehouse


K.K. Allen
    Then again, she never imagined she would fall in love with him either. When she finally reveals her feelings, rejection shatters her, rendering her vulnerable and sending her straight into the destructive arms of the wrong guy.The Rhodes twins never saw the betrayal coming. Chloe has always been their forbidden fantasy--sweet, beautiful, and tempting. But soon the lines between family, friendship, and love become as tangled as the roots of the treehouse they once shared.Now it's too late . . .Four years after a devastating tragedy, Chloe and Gavin find themselves crashing back into each other's lives. Haunted by the past, they're forced to come to terms with all that has transpired to find the peace they deserve. Except they can't seem to get near each other without combatting an intense emotional connection that brings them right back to where it all started . . . their childhood treehouse.Chloe still holds her secrets close, but this time she isn't the only one with something to hide. Can their deep-rooted connection survive the destruction of innocence?

Life After Taylah


Bella Jewel - 2014
    Until the night she disappeared. Ten years on and my life, my families lives and the world around us has never been the same again. How can it be when you are left not knowing?No leads. No connections. Nothing. Just pure emptiness. My dancing is the only way I can separate myself from the pain that lies in my home, in my father's eyes and in my brother's spirit. They need me and I'll fight with everything I am to be there for them, but who will be there for me?Then I meet Nate. Champion Motocross racer and everything my father doesn't want for me. He's forbidden, he's beautiful, and he's carrying a bundle of his own secrets. When I step into his world, there is no turning back. He will consume me. He will teach me how to breathe again. He will put a tiny piece of my broken heart, back together.

The Plan


Ella James - 2017
    Woman feels her biological clock ticking and gets someone to knock her up. Not for love, for baby. Crazy, right? That’s what I thought. Then I found out my fiancé had a vasectomy. The life I thought I had? Nope. Suddenly I’m 33, and I don’t even have a kissing buddy. When my mom’s health takes a turn and I wind up back in my hometown of Fate, Alabama, I tell myself to leave things up to…well, you know. Then I see Gabriel McKellan. He’s Fate’s most famous son, a bestselling author who is beautiful, complicated, and living just below me. In addition to his plus-sized brain, Gabe’s well-endowed in other ways, and great in bed to boot. I would know. He's my ex husband. When I suggest The Plan, I don't imagine that he'll take the bait. It's been ten years, and we don't work. But Fate has other plans for both of us.

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.

True Love Story


Willow Aster - 2013
    When she meets Ian Sterling, a musician who is rising in popularity, she instantly falls for his charm. The attraction is instant, but their relationship isn't so simple.At different places in their lives, Sparrow is off to college in New York, and Ian is traveling the country with the band. Over a five year span, Sparrow and Ian run into each other in unusual places. Each time, Sparrow has to decide if she can trust him, and if he feels the same for her. It’s hard to not get caught up in the magic they have together. Until something so devastating comes to light that threatens to shatter everything they’ve built with each other.True Love Story is a story about the real highs and lows that come with a relationship—happiness, pain, angst, and finding out if love really is enough.

The Impact of You


Kendall Ryan - 2013
    Keeping a low profile was the plan, falling for the intense frat boy, Jase wasn't. Yet she can't deny how alive she feels when he's near. Even as common sense implores her to stay away, her body begs her to get closer.Jase, numb from his own family drama, has grown bored with weekends fueled by nameless girls and countless bottles when he meets Avery. Helping her cope with her past is better than dealing with the bullshit his own life's served up. Determined to drive away the painful secret she's guarding, he appoints himself her life coach, and challenges her to new experiences. Getting close to her and being the one to make her smile are simply perks of the job.But when Avery's past boldly saunters in, refusing to be forgotten, can Jase live with the truth about the girl he's fallen for?Recommended for 17+ due to mature themes and sexual content.

A Moment


Marie Hall - 2013
    Life didn't turn out the way I'd ever hoped it would. I got pregnant at 14. Same year my mom got diagnosed with MS. Dad bailed on us and my life felt like it suddenly started to spiral out of control. I'm 21 now, I go to college, I work hard, trying to make something of myself. I wasn't supposed to be at that burlesque bar Valentine's Day. I wasn't supposed to meet Ryan Cosgrove, but I did. And now nothing will ever be the same. Love born from pain... I'm a retired Marine, an MMA fighter, and when I was younger something terrible happened to me. Life is hard and I'm so tired of pretending its not. I'm in a burlesque bar, drowning my sorrows, trying to shut out the demons breathing down my neck always reminding me I'm not good enough. Then I see Liliana Delgado and something inside of me- something I'd thought long dead- stirs to life. I wonder... can she save me? I hope she can, because I don't think I can save myself. This is our moment...

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.