Book picks similar to
Tainted by Crazy by Abby McCarthy


romance
freebie
stand-alone
contemporary

Lucky In Love


K.S. Thomas - 2012
    Most days Lucky doesn't mind being single. And why would she? Between her three male roommates, there's always someone around to keep her company. But then as relationships evolve and change, Lucky soon finds herself being left behind. When Lucky's birthday rolls around and she finds herself being the only one without a date in a room full of people, she has to face the sad truth that the three men in her life all have women in their lives that aren't her. Lucky finally asks herself how she wound up there. Has love been avoiding her...or has she been avoiding love?

The Darkest Part


Trisha Wolfe - 2013
    She was engaged to her childhood best friend and high school sweetheart, Tyler Marks, planning an amazing cross-country honeymoon during her college break. But after a hit-and-run leaves her in ruin, she begins seeing Tyler’s fractured, ghostly presence, and her family believes she’s losing her mind. Not until she completes their journey, stopping along the way to scatter Tyler's remains, will Tyler be able cross over. Only...is Sam ready for him to leave her?When the black sheep of the Marks' family, Holden Marks, returns to check on Tyler's case, Sam convinces him to give her his brother's ashes. Despite their shaky history, she needs him...plus, he owes it to Sam and his brother. What she doesn’t count on is Holden’s relentlessness to go on the trip.On the road, Holden realizes just how unhinged Sam has become. Dealing with her psychosis forces him to confront his dark past, making it harder to keep secrets hidden that should remain buried. Especially from Sam, the only woman he’s ever loved. And as Sam starts to unravel the truth, she begins to question if the brother she's unwillingly falling for again is in an even darker place than her. New Adult Contemporary coming this year.

That's a Promise


Victoria Klahr - 2013
    I’ve been to hell only to find it never really leaves when you get back. It haunts me through nightmares, unrequited love, lies, broken hearts, and now death. A monster almost took my life.My best friend carries half my soul a world away. My boyfriend broke my heart but refuses to let me go. And my father is dead.I don’t believe in fate and I don’t believe in happily-ever-afters, but for some reason, I still hope. Live, even with a tainted spirit.Long for my other half to come back to me. Risk another broken heart, just to feel loved again. And refuse to let another horror break me. In the face of my most recent tragedy, I have to decide whether forgiveness is something I can give. But even if that’s an option, can I be forgiven?(That's a Promise is book 1 in a 3 part series, and the new/ updated version will be available 10-10-2014)

She Doesn't Know


Shane Morales - 2017
    You’d think after fourteen years of being an Air Force brat, she’d be used to being the new kid, but it still sucks. At least until she meets charming, charismatic Alex and falls for him hard. But Alex is a year older and is heading off to boarding school in Switzerland. Chloe won’t see him again for nine months and it’s breaking her heart. She doesn’t even know if Alex likes her back until he gifts her his private binder of hand-written stories and song lyrics to remember him by. That has to mean something, right? At long last the wait is over and Alex returns, but he's a haunted shell of his former self. Something bad happened while Alex was away, something that killed the light in his eyes, and Chloe is determined to help him. She has to get the old Alex back. But Chloe doesn’t know you can’t bring someone back from a place you’ve never been. All you can do is be there when they finally decide to come home. Due to strong language and sexual situations, She Doesn't Know is recommended for ages 16+.

After Math


Denise Grover Swank - 2013
    A mathematics major, she goes to her classes, to her job in the tutoring lab, and then hides in the apartment she shares with her friend, Caroline.After junior Tucker Price, Southern University’s star soccer player enters the equation, her carefully plotted life is thrown off its axis. Tucker’s failing his required College Algebra class. With his eligibility is at risk, the university chancellor dangles an expensive piece of computer software for the math department if Scarlett agrees to privately tutor him.Tucker’s bad boy, womanizer reputation makes Scarlett wary of any contact, let alone spending several hours a week in close proximity.But from her first encounter, she realizes Tucker isn’t the person everyone else sees. He carries a mountain of secrets which she suspects hold the reason to his self-destructive behavior. But the deeper she delves into the cause of his pain, the deeper she gets sucked into his chaos. Will Scarlett find the happiness she’s looking for, or will she be caught in Tucker’s aftermath?

The Cinderella Princess


Melissa McClone - 2015
    Relying on a man only leads to heartache. She takes care of herself, and work defines her life. But Emily soon finds herself in the hands of a real-life prince who defines the words charming and sexy. Not to mention reckless. If Prince Lucas doesn’t find a royal bride, Emily’s dream of being named a partner at the advertising firm will die.Luc’s fun-loving ways have made him a magnet for scandal. His father gives Luc an ultimatum—find a wife on a reality TV show or be disowned. Rules require him to marry nobility, but after he meets the uptight American sent to find him find a princess bride, his search for Cinderella might be over. Too bad Emily wants nothing to do with him. Perhaps he can show her that fairytale endings can happen in real life…

Gods & Monsters


Saffron A. Kent - 2018
    She was his muse.To everyone in town, Abel Adams was the devil's spawn, a boy who never should have been born. A monster.To twelve year-old Evie Hart, he was just a boy with golden hair, soft t-shirts and a camera. A boy who loved taking her picture and sneaking her chocolates before dinner. A boy who made her feel special.Despite her family's warnings, she loved him in secret for six years. They met in empty classrooms and kissed in darkened church closets. Until they couldn't.Until the time came to choose between love and family, and Evie chose Abel.Because their love was worth the risk. Their love was the stuff of legend.But the thing about legends is that they are cautionary tales. They are made of choices and mistakes. And for Abel and Evie, the artist and the muse, those mistakes come in the form of lights, camera, sex.NOTE: This is NOT a paranormal or a priest romance.

Talon


Sybil Bartel - 2016
    I fuck. I pretend to smile. Two years ago my life was perfect, until it wasn’t. I scattered my wife’s ashes then walked away from the Marines. I didn’t think I had anything left to lose. I was wrong. The blonde showed up on my doorstep beaten and stabbed. I did what I was trained to do — I stitched her up. I didn’t have a clue who she was and I told myself I didn’t care. Until they came looking for her. I swore I’d take my last breath before I let anyone else hurt her, except I didn’t know she was keeping a deadly secret. Now I had two choices, her life or mine. Marriage and combat taught me the same thing — I was no one’s hero. And I was about to prove it. Warning: This book contains offensive language, violence and sexual situations. Mature audiences only.

Coming Down


Carrie Elks - 2014
    That was before she met Niall Joseph, a gorgeous Irish art student who for one hot summer turned her world upside down.Almost a decade later, Beth is living in London and desperately trying to forget her past. But then Niall walks back into her life, reigniting a desire that threatens to engulf them both.Faced with a choice between her reliable, steady life and the unexpected joy that Niall offers, Beth finds herself torn. Can they remain just good friends, or is their connection too strong to be ignored?

The Harder I Fall


Jessica Gibson - 2014
    For most of her life, she’s had to take care of herself, her younger brother Chad, and her drunk mother. She’s lived under the shadow of what her father did when she was ten years old. Forever branded by his actions.College was her escape, she could get away and finally live. Her dream was to make it in the New York Ballet Company one day. That for her meant a long road full of hard work and dedication. She didn't have time for distractions, and Levi Klein was definitely a distraction.Will Levi be able to crack through her tough exterior and really see the wounded soul underneath? Becca needs to be loved, but the question is, will she let Levi love her?

Love Like Crazy


Megan Squires - 2014
    She’s not waiting on the handsome prince with his white horse to come to her rescue. But even though she’s not waiting on it, that doesn’t stop nineteen-year-old Lincoln Ross from driving straight into her heart with his teal and white campervan and his too tall stature and perpetually goofy grin.It’s difficult to believe in a happily ever after when a happy now is quite hard to find. But Lincoln gives Eppie hope that despite the odds, a true and unconditional love might actually be out there. A revised fairytale. A new kind of love story.But then again, that might just be plain crazy.(Love Like Crazy is an upper YA novel.)

Plan Bea


Hilary Grossman
    But do we ever really?On the outside, Annabel O'Conner has it all - the perfect husband, two adorable children, an amazing job, and a mother from hell! Just when she gives up trying to regain her overbearing mother's love, an unexpected call turns her world around and makes Annabel question everything she believes about her life. Could falling in love give a cold, stubborn, and selfish woman a second chance to open her heart back up to her family?Beatrice Buchanan has spent more years than she can remember distancing herself from everyone close to her. She barely has a relationship with her grandchildren. The only time she manages to have a one way conversation with her daughter is during her weekly fifteen-minute commute to the nail salon. When Bea meets Walter on a cruise she realizes there may be more to life than designer clothes, killer handbags, and impressing the ladies at her posh country club. As the mother and daughter duo team up to plan "Long Island's wedding of the year" they confront the secrets and lies that have defined them. This humorous emotionally honest women's contemporary fiction novel will tug at your heartstrings and the twist ending will shock you."Although a light read, the subject matter was very sad at times and I found myself choking back tears, but in a good way! It was so authentically heart wrenching yet often very funny too. The characters were so well fleshed out and three dimensional - no one was perfect and no one was fatally flawed - like real life. I thought the twist was genius!" - Meredith Schorr Best Selling Author

One


J.M. Walker - 2014
    Not suitable for readers under 18 years of age*** When Mimi Reynolds meets gorgeous multi-millionaire, Bryce Owens, she never expects what he has in store for her. Drinks and dancing turn into heavy seduction and neither can control themselves. After a messy divorce, Bryce needs a night out. Hot. Messy. Fun. He has to have Mimi. He depends on her to take away the pain. To forget that heartache. Passion and lust ensnares them, wrapping them in an unyielding need of desire. But is one night truly enough?

Unteachable


Leah Raeder - 2013
    The summer before senior year, she has plans: get into a great film school, convince her mom to go into rehab, and absolutely do not, under any circumstances, screw up her own future.But life has a way of throwing her plans into free-fall.When Maise meets Evan at a carnival one night, their chemistry is immediate, intense, and short-lived. Which is exactly how she likes it: no strings. But afterward, she can’t get Evan out of her head. He’s taught her that a hookup can be something more. It can be an unexpected connection with someone who truly understands her. Someone who sees beyond her bravado to the scared but strong girl inside.That someone turns out to be her new film class teacher, Mr. Evan Wilke.Maise and Evan resolve to keep their hands off each other, but the attraction is too much to bear. Together, they’re real and genuine; apart, they’re just actors playing their parts for everyone else. And their masks are slipping. People start to notice. Rumors fly. When the truth comes to light in a shocking way, they may learn they were just playing parts for each other, too.Smart, sexy, and provocative, Unteachable is about what happens when a love story goes off-script.

Where My Heart Breaks


Ivy Sinclair - 2013
    Kate’s mission is to prove that she has learned from her mistakes. Almost immediately, Kate is drawn to someone else who understands the unfairness of being judged by actions of the past. Reed Black has his own regrets, but, instead of trying to change the town’s perception of him, he embraced it. When Reed offers to give Kate a crash course in the romanticized history and insight behind the novel that put the Willoughby Inn on the map, Kate is unable can’t resist playing only, even though she knows that just like the plot of the Willoughby Inn story, anything more than friendship is strictly off-limits. This is a full-length, standalone new adult contemporary romance novel intended for readers 18+. The Willoughby Inn Love Story Collection: Where My Heart Breaks Grounded By You