Book picks similar to
The Surprise by Kristen Proby


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2nd-chance

Before You


Lisa Cardiff - 2014
    Luckily, she has Camden… Her childhood friend. Her savior. Her boyfriend.Even after Camden leaves their hometown to chase his dream to be a musician, Aubrey can’t imagine her life without Camden and his family.Before starting a job search for her own dream job, Aubrey decides to visit Camden in California for a month. But when she arrives, something unexpected happens…she meets Jax Carmichael, the lead singer in Camden’s band. Jax Carmichael doesn’t have time for a relationship…much less love. Even if Aubrey is irresistible, she’s a complication he doesn’t want or need. He has spent the last few years building Chasing Ruin, and the band is on the verge of being signed. Pursuing Aubrey could destroy his band, and he’s worked too hard to be successful without his family’s money, or connections, to let that happen. Aubrey feels an attraction to Jax like something she’s never experienced before. Confused, she tries to resist, but when her relationship with Cam begins to unravel, she realizes that Jax might just be the one thing she needs.

First Chance


A.L. Wood - 2014
    She hasn't had it easy for years , emotionally. Her one safe haven is music. Soul breaking , body quaking, lyrics sung in such a voice the emotions are conveyed onto you. Enter Ryan "Steele" Hurst , a chart topping lead singer in the rock band "Steele's Army". The bands songs are about cheapening the meaning of love and sex. They project the bad boy sex symbol image. Can these two polar opposites coincide with each other on a summer tour making it out unscathed ?

The Genius and the Muse


Elizabeth Hunter - 2012
    She thought she knew what she wanted in life. She had a great boyfriend, a promising career, and a clear path. How could one simple portrait change all that? A photograph. A sculpture. A painting. One clue leads to another, and Kate learns that pieces of the past might leave unexpected marks on her own future, too. And how, exactly, did she end up in an irritable sculptor's studio? One portrait may hold the answers, but learning its secrets will challenge everything Kate thought she knew about love, art, and life. A single picture can tell more than one story, and in the end, a young artist will discover that every real love story is a unique work of art.

My First: Jason & Katie


Melanie Shawn - 2013
    With his easygoing charm, whiskey-colored brown eyes, and sinfully sexy half smile, women just seem to fall all over themselves when he’s around.Well... most women, anyway. Katie Lawson’s the one woman who isn't putty in his hands, and she's the only one he’s ever wanted in his arms.Katie Lawson left Harper's Crossing in the middle of the night ten years ago, immediately after her high school boyfriend Nick's funeral. She left behind all memories of Nick, and she left behind her life-long best friend, Jason Sloan.Now she's on the fast track to junior partner at one of San Francisco's top law firms. She's made a life for herself that's all about maintaining order and sticking to the rules. Rule #1 is keeping herself WAY too busy to think about all that she ran away from. If she can do that, after all, she can keep everything under control.But that rule is about to be broken. She’s headed back home to be the maid of honor in Nick’s little sister’s wedding. It's time to face the truth she's been avoiding all these years, the same one that sent her running ten years ago - that maybe she didn't lose her first love the summer after high school. Maybe her first love has been waiting for her all this time, at home in Harper's Crossing.

Rock Me


Carly Phillips - 2017
    Ben Hollander has sworn off mixing business with pleasure. But keeping his hands off of the sexy songstress is easier said than done and once the threat is neutralized, will she choose fame over love?

Chasing Butterflies


Jennifer Labelle - 2016
     Eight years ago my sister and I decided to leave our home and drug addict parents behind to build a new life somewhere else. Now that I’ve found my passion in art and tattooing I’m convinced that we’re finally happy…until tragedy changes everything. Deciding that going back to my roots is the best option for me, I return to the Hill Country of Texas, opening my own tattoo shop as a way to start over once again. One thing I didn’t count on…running into a blast from my past. Jagger is more attractive than I remember. He’s all grown up, filling those jeans and cowboy boots with raw muscle and a whole lot of sexy. The problem is, I’ve been forced to guard my heart for so long I don’t know how to let someone in. But Jagger makes it perfectly clear that he always gets what he wants. And what he wants…is me.

Rock'n Tapestries


Shari Copell - 2013
    However, if you like your books to have a neat and tidy happy ending, you probably won't enjoy this one. Life is messy sometimes. This story reflects that. This is not an erotic read! “Asher Pratt had been a drug for me, and I wasn’t sure I wasn’t still addicted.”Chelsea Whitaker works as a waitress at Tapestries, a trendy Pittsburgh bar. She’s doing her best to avoid Asher Pratt, the Pittsburgh rock legend who shattered her heart years ago.When he takes a job at Tapestries just to be near her, Chelsea has some decisions to make. She soon discovers that some things never change. It’s all she can do to keep a tight hold on her heart as Asher takes her for another wild ride.As she struggles to gain some perspective on their relationship, she learns that he’s never needed her more. She must put the past aside for the sake of the future.

Wishful Kisses


Krista Lakes - 2014
    After spending a fantastic week in the summer of 1990 together, handsome and charming Tony Frontera made a promise that he would return to Kim after Operation Desert Storm. Unfortunately, he broke that promise when he was killed in action. Kim spent the next two decades trying to fill the hole that he left in her life, but it never happened. Despite a rewarding career, she never found true happiness, the happiness that she should have had with Tony... When the Fountain of Love suddenly grants her deepest wish, she finds herself back in 1990 in her old body, able to change the hand that fate dealt her. However, the power of the fountain is limited- in order to change Tony's fate, she must do the impossible. Although she had dreamt about saving Tony, she never thought about how she would do it. With only your words, how do you convince your soul mate that you are from the future? How do you tell them to abandon their country and leave everyone they know behind? If you enjoyed Champagne Kisses, you will love this side story to Rachel and Dean's timeless love story. An excerpt: "Who are you?" I whispered, staring at the penny. "My name is Diana. I created this fountain a long time ago," she replied. Her hand released mine. "Does that mean that you're going to grant my wish?" I asked, my voice hopeful. I gripped the penny tightly in my hand, afraid that if I let it go, this really would be nothing but a dream. "That's up to you, child." Diana's perfectly arched brows came together. "It is a larger choice than you think." "But I could have Tony back?" Her face relaxed into a soft smile. "I can send you back in time. Give you the chance to save him." "Tony..." I whispered, not even meaning to speak. "But there is a risk." She touched my cheek, turning me to look into her green eyes. They were magically vibrant, with shades of emerald, green apple, and evergreen. "Playing with time changes everything. Everything you now have will be gone. Choices unmade for better and for worse. You even hazard being written out of time completely." "But I could get Tony back?" I asked stubbornly. She gave a solemn nod. "Then, yes. Whatever I have to do, I say yes." "Are you sure? You risk all," she said. She waved her hand over the water in the basin. Images appeared in the water of my paintings, my apartment, my friends. They all faded into mist and then back to clear water. "You risk all that you are and all that you have by choosing this." I looked at her, meeting her eyes. "Yes. I would risk everything and more to save Tony..."

It Must Have Been the Mistletoe


M.L. Broome - 2021
    I love Christmas, but I’m not in the mood for merriment and mistletoe this year. I have a different plan—camping out at my lakefront cabin to nurse a bottle of wine and a broken heart. It’s all going smooth, until my ex-fiancée, Jackson, shows up on the doorstep with the same plan. There may be a blizzard outside, but I’m far more worried about the inferno smoldering between Jackson and me—one he insists on stoking every chance he gets. Looks like there’s more than one way to keep warm this Christmas.

Mind Games


T.K. Leigh - 2019
    So I did the only thing I could. I walked away with no intention of seeing either man again.Until I step into a bar in Vegas and see a much more mature, much sexier version of Asher York, a guitar strapped to him, his soulful voice reminding me of everything I’ve tried to forget.But there’s no forgetting Asher York. And when he looks at me with the same raw hunger, there’s no denying the fire between us still burns.Can I look past the reason I left all those years ago for one night with him? There’s only one way to find out.Let the games begin.Author's Note: Mind Games can be enjoyed either separate from or in conjunction with the rest of the books in the Dating Games series. This is a short novel written from a different point of view regarding the events that take place during the first 1/3 of the previous book in the series, Wicked Games. In it, two friends are stuck in Vegas during a blackout, each finding their own trouble. Wicked Games was Chloe's story. This is Izzy's story. So if you've read Wicked Games and are wondering what happened between Izzy and Asher that night, this is your answer. If you haven't, you can still read and enjoy this. But if I've done my job right, you'll want to go back and read Wicked Games next.

Corrupt


Jessica Prince - 2017
    After one night that ended with me wanting to punch him in his face, the self-absorbed rockstar has become a permanent fixture in my life...Whether I like it or not.Now I’m forced to see him every day, and that shield I put up to protect my heart is quickly crumbling to the ground. I’ve gone from hating him to craving him. And the scariest part is that he feels the same.He wants to know me.He wants to own me.He wants to corrupt me.And if I’m not careful...I just might let him.

Embracing Her Heart


Melissa Foster - 2018
    Buckle up for a wild ride. Like any Southern girls worth their salt, the sweet-talking, sharp-tongued Montgomery sisters can take men to their knees with one seductive glance or a single sugarcoated sentence.A second chance at their first love…Leaving New York City and returning to her hometown to teach a screenplay writing class seems like just the break Grace Montgomery needs. Until her sisters wake her at four thirty in the morning to watch the hottest guys in town train wild horses and she realizes that escaping her sisters’ drama-filled lives was a lot easier from hundreds of miles away. To make matters worse, she spots the one man she never wanted to see again—ruggedly handsome Reed Cross.Reed was one of Michigan’s leading historical preservation experts, but on the heels of catching his girlfriend in bed with his business partner, his uncle suffers a heart attack. Reed cuts all ties and returns home to Oak Falls to run his uncle’s business. A chance encounter with Grace, his first love, brings back memories he’s spent years trying to escape. Grace is bound and determined not to fall under Reed’s spell again—and Reed wants more than another taste of the woman he’s never forgotten. When a midnight party brings them together, passion ignites and old wounds are opened. Grace sets down the ground rules for the next three weeks. No touching, no kissing, and if she has it her way, no breathing, because every breath he takes steals her ability to think. But Reed has other ideas…~The Bradens & Montgomerys are part of Melissa's Love in Bloom big-family romance collection. All Love in Bloom novels are written to stand alone and may also be enjoyed as part of the larger series, so dive right into this fun, sexy romance.THE BRADENS & MONTGOMERYS (Pleasant Hill - Oak Falls). Order of future books is subject to change Embracing Her HeartAnything For LoveTrails of LoveWild Crazy HeartsMaking You MineSearching for LoveHot for LoveSweet Sexy HeartOur Wicked HeartsClaiming Her HeartRocked by Love**Please note that future books in the original Montgomery series are crossing over to the Bradens at Pleasant Hill, and for this reason I have combined the series into THE BRADENS & MONTGOMERYS (Pleasant Hill - Oak Falls).~Love in Bloom features alpha male heroes and sexy, empowered women. They're flawed, funny, passionate, and relatable to readers who enjoy contemporary romance and women's fiction. Characters from each sub-series appear in future books. All Love in Bloom novels are written to stand alone without any unresolved issues or cliffhangers.

Moose Be Love


Jacqueline Winters - 2020
    One inherited lodge. A charming Alaskan town with its own matchmaking moose. Tragedy brought her back, but love begs her to stay.When Cadence Whitmore and her two sisters inherit the Sunset Ridge Lodge, their immediate plan is to sell it. They’re spread out all over the country, and not one of them is willing to move to Alaska to run an inn they haven’t visited in thirteen years.But Cadence is the only sister who makes the mistake of visiting. The longer she’s in town—and around the kind and attractive caretaker, Ford Harris--the more she yearns to stay. Convincing her sisters to keep the lodge instead of selling it, however, might be an impossible feat.Ford’s younger sister is the only family he has left, and he’d do anything to help make her dreams come true. It’s the single reason he agrees to the death bed wish of Patty Whitmore. If he can convince Cadence to keep the lodge, he’ll receive the money he needs to help put his sister through her dream college.He never planned to fall in love with anyone ever again—especially not Cadence. He’s lost too many loved ones in his lifetime. Yet, he can’t deny how right they are for each other. But if she finds out the secret he’s been keeping, it might cost him everything.This is a sweet small town contemporary romance.Heat Level: Sweet/Mild

Not Today, But Someday


Lori L. Otto - 2012
    Forced to transfer schools mid-year, she wasn't trying to make new friends. In that same month, sophomore Nate Wilson's girlfriend broke up with him. Searching for someone to fill the void left by his first love, he meets Emi in his art class. Nate knows he wants Emi from the moment he sees her. Emi knows she needs Nate after one night together. A life-long friendship is born, and a pact is made to ensure that nothing will come between them. This novella is the prequel to the Emi Lost & Found series. After the 3-volume series was published, readers wanted more. This is for them – the story of how Nate and Emi met – and although it’s a prequel, it can be enjoyed before or after the series.

Hank


Jan Scarbrough - 2017
    Ashleigh, Chaz’s daughter, is new to ranch life. Can she survive the results of her bad judgement and make a home with her father’s new in-laws?On Christmas Eve, Hank accepts the job of ranch foreman over the mountains in the Gallatin Canyon, Montana. But something dark is happening at the Ghost Mountain Ranch, where the past is reaching out in dangerous ways to haunt the living.Hank’s story launches the Ghost Mountain Ranch series by Jan Scarbrough.